Southend United Pre-Season Begins

Whilst I have been caught up in the “World Cup Bug” that is still sweeping the globe, I now also have thoughts turned towards the start of the new season in August. As soon as the winning team lifts the World Cup Trophy in the Maracana on July 13^th, attention then turns immediately to club teams going through their run of pre-season fixtures before the competitive games kick-off next month.

Already I am excited about what the new season has in store for everyone. Regardless of how well a team is predicted to do over the course of the campaign, most supporters seem to have a sense of optimism at this time of the year and believe that their team can go on to accomplish great things. I too am no different, last season my club Southend United came ever so close to achieving promotion to League One, but just ended up missing out in the end after a League Two Play-Off Semi-Final defeat to Burton Albion. At the time the defeat was frustrating and a little hard to stomach, but now over a month on from the result I have confidence that we can bounce back from it even stronger this season and make another challenge for promotion.

The club have already cleared out the players that manager Phil Brown deemed surplus to requirements at the end of the last campaign and the remainder of squad returned to training this week after their summer break. So far we have made one new addition to the team, winger Myles Weston joined after his contract with Gillingham expired and he gives us a new option on the left-hand side of the pitch after Anthony Straker’s departure to York City. Weston is a former England Under-19 international and a player I do rate after seeing him put in some good displays for Notts County and Brentford in previous years. At only 26, I think he is capable of great things at this level and hopefully he can turn out to be one of our key performers this season.

The addition of Weston is promising, but we do of course need more new players if we are to really challenge again. The club did try and sign defenders John Egan and Jakub Sokolik on permanent deals after impressive spells on loan last season, but Sokolik recently joined Yeovil Town and Egan has just signed a deal with Gillingham, so that means we now need to look elsewhere in that department. We were also linked with midfielder John-Joe O’Toole but he has just completed a move to Northampton Town. With any luck, we will have more players on our radar that we do not know about yet that will hopefully be signed up as soon as possible so we can incorporate them into our current setup quickly and efficiently so that they are all ready and raring to go for the first game of the season against Accrington Stanley on August 9^th.

As well as adding, it is also important to retain. Many supporters feared that missing out on promotion would mean players such as Daniel Bentley, Kevan Hurst and Ryan Leonard would likely leave the club if good enough offers came in for them. So far all three have returned to pre-season training with the rest of the team and no known offers have come in for any of them. It is worth noting that Hurst and Leonard both signed new contracts during the second half of last season and I firmly believe that all three men are committed to us and our cause for the coming season, but ultimately given the level the club is playing at, income is generally very low, and if a good enough offer comes in then we may have to grudgingly accept that they have to move on as that helps ensure that the club itself still continues to maintain financial stability and ensures that it has a future in the game.

The way we play will also be key in knowing whether or not we stand a better chance of getting promotion this time around. Last season Phil Brown often had us playing with a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 system which allowed us to pack the midfield area but required our wingers to work even harder to ensure that our lone striker had enough support going forward. It’s a system that works for teams that play at a higher level, but when I watched us play Bury back in March it did not seem as effective for us. It may have been that we just were not able to use it as well because we were in the middle of a winless run at the time and confidence would have been low, and that is something else we need to ensure does not happen this time around if we are to have a successful campaign. So ultimately, it is up to the manager and his coaching staff to work hard and ensure that we come up with a playing style and system that will work successfully throughout the course of the whole season, and any problems that we encounter are solved as quickly as possible to ensure they don’t leave us struggling to gain enough points to see us over the line towards the end of the season.

To conclude, whilst there is still a lot of work to do, I am hopeful for the new season and believe that with a few more quality additions to the side, we will definitely be near the top of the table again by the time May rolls around. I am also hopeful that despite living over 400 miles away in Edinburgh, I will possibly be able to take in our first home games against Stevenage and Wimbledon in August, and fingers crossed regardless of whether I am there or not, we pick up 6 points from the two games and help get the season off to the best possible start.

My Personal End Of Season Review

The words you are about to read come to you from somewhere in the middle of England as I am currently on board a high speed train from London bound for Edinburgh. Whilst there are limited options for things to do whilst inside a fast moving tube, I feel there is no better time than the present to air my thoughts on another jam packed football season that has just drawn to a conclusion.

I will start by getting my misery out of the way first. My Scottish team Hibernian did themselves no favours whatsoever this season and found themselves relegated from the Scottish Premiership after losing the relegation play-off to Championship side Hamilton Academical. The writing had been on the wall for quite some time, but there just seemed to be no way of halting the slide. The only game I managed to attend this season was the Europa League game against Malmo back in July, and the less said about that game as well the better! One thing I will say is that it helped sum up my opinions of Scottish Football and the rut it’s in as a whole, but I will perhaps go into greater detail on that at a later date.

I still believed the team would be capable enough of finishing in the top half of the league despite the mauling from the Swedes, but it just wasn’t meant to be. A managerial change towards the end of 2013 did nothing to help change things and many would say it only made matters worse. Looking back at the statistics, two wins in the whole of 2014 is relegation form and as much as it pains me to say it, we definitely got what we deserved. The summer clear out at the club has already begun with a host of out-of-contract being told that they will not be given new deals.

More arrivals and departures should be announced over the coming weeks with regards to playing staff, but I do feel that there needs to be change higher up as well unfortunately. The club chairman Rod Petrie strikes me as a man who is more concerned with keeping the financial balance sheets clean and healthy than investing money into improving the actual team. Don’t get me wrong, with Petrie at the helm the club has remained financially stable and now possesses one of the best stadiums and training facilities in the country, but since becoming chairman in 2004, Hibs have never been competitive in the transfer market. I know that resources in Scottish football are limited in comparison to those in England, but given how much money the club have raked in from selling players over the years, I see no good excuse as to why more of that income could not have been invested into building a stronger team. The owner of the club Sir Tom Farmer helped save us from extinction in 1990 and for that, supporters will be forever grateful, but given that Sir Tom possesses next to no interest in football and has left Mr Petrie in charge of handling all of the clubs affairs, I believe the time has come for the club to look at new investment before the situation potentially worsens.

Now onto a slightly more positive topic. My English side Southend United had a far more productive season and got themselves a place in the League Two Play-Offs, but ended up missing out on another trip to Wembley after losing out to Burton Albion 3-2 on aggregate after two games. It was upsetting seeing the team come so close to finally getting out of League Two, but I would like to think that they are more than capable of coming back next season even stronger and giving it a right good go once more.

Most Southend supporters would agree that what cost us an automatic promotion place at the end of the season was our barren run from the end of January to the end of March where we couldn’t win a single game in twelve attempts. I attended the 0-0 draw with Bury in mid-March which gave me a better insight into what was causing the team problems and afterwards I posted on here where I thought we were going wrong. Fortunately it did not take the team long after that game to get back to winning ways and cement a Play-Off place, but had that run been prevented it could well have been a very different story at the end of the season.

Manager Phil Brown appears keen to stay and hopefully a number of key players will stick around too. Resources will once again be limited for the club when it comes to investing in new talent for the team, but I have complete faith in Brown’s ability to find the right players that need to be added to work with the current crop in order to ensure that we are still going to be there or thereabouts at the top of League Two at the end of next season. This season the team had the best defensive record out of all the 24 teams in the league this season and shows that if we can carry on that sort of defensive form next season, improve our scoring statistics and maintain it all throughout the course of the season, there should really be no problems in gaining promotion next time around.

For me as a writer, the season has not quite been as productive as I’d initially hoped for this time last year as work and other commitments have stopped me from contributing articles for my blog and other sites on a regular basis. I did decide last month to start an open college course on Freelance Journalism which will hopefully help me improve my skills and help me find ways of being able to do this sort of thing on a more regular basis. I enjoy giving my views and informing people about what is going on in the world, and I hope my readers also enjoy what I produce. With any luck the course will help me potentially forge a new career path and allow me the chance to make a living out of something that I love doing. In closing, the hard work starts now!

Andrew.

P.S. No picture included with this post. Train wi-fi can only take so much unfortunately!

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Southend United 0-0 Bury - My Thoughts.

    

Yesterday afternoon was my first opportunity to see Southend United compete in the flesh for the first time in almost a year. Now whilst this might prompt some to question my support of the club for not for not attending enough games, those that know me that well enough will know that I actually stay over four hundred miles away in Edinburgh and so only ever really get the chance to see The Blues in action when I am down visiting friends and relatives. I would love to be able to attend every game we play, but like Southend, I’ve not got a huge financial backing behind me and so making regular trips south of the border every second weekend would leave me penniless unfortunately.

As you all know, yesterday The Blues drew 0-0 with Bury at Roots Hall in a game that we’ll be unlikely to ever talk about again once this season is done and dusted. A game filled with few chances and a red card for Barry Corr which helped kill off any slim chance we had of nicking just one goal that would have surely made a big difference for us in both league table standings and team confidence to help get us through the remaining games this season. Whilst it’s harder to really judge a team over one game and just two minutes worth of YouTube highlights every week, I will try and figure out what were the good and bad points from yesterday’s match and how we can potentially fix the problems so that we are still in the fight for promotion at the end of the season.

The first thing I’m going to highlight is formation. We’ve gone with this 4-5-1 system for the majority of this season and now I like many believe that it is time for a change. Clubs who play at a much higher level than us often like to play with just one up front and try and pack the midfield, and whilst I generally don’t have a problem with that, it seems not to be the way to go about business in the lower divisions. Route one football appears more common at this level as it seems to be the main way that teams can grind out results for themselves. I’ll admit right now that I would hate to see Southend constantly playing like this on a regular basis as it would take away some of the enjoyment you get from watching the game, but introducing a small part of this style of playing into our game is something I am less likely to object to when we are in need of goals and points in a big way.

Yesterday there would have been no point in us trying to play the long ball from the back up to the lone striker Freddy Eastwood as the Bury defenders kept a close eye on him for the entire time he spent on the pitch and the lack of a strike partner meant that anytime he did manage to receive a long ball from the goalkeeper of the defence, there was no one for him to give it to, and by the time the midfielders had made themselves available the opposition had already won possession back. The best chance that came Eastwood’s way was in the second half, but he put his shot over the bar after a decent turn. I didn’t think that he would last more than an hour, and I was right when Barry Corr replaced him on 57 minutes, but some feel that the change could have been held off slightly longer as Eastwood was eyeing up a free kick on the edge of the opposition area which of course came to nothing in the end.

A positive from yesterday’s match I felt was how solid we looked defensively. Whilst Bury didn’t create any great chances themselves, given how much bad luck we’ve had with defenders picking up injuries lately, it was good to see us keep a clean sheet for the first time in almost a month. John Egan and Jakub Sokolik looked well placed together and give us something new to work with while Luke Prosser and Adam Thompson return to fitness. With regards to midfield, our wide men showed some promising signs yesterday, with Anthony Straker’s runs at the opposition full backs probably being my personal highlight of the match. The central midfielders worked well with the defence in keeping the likes of Ashley Grimes and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro of Bury quiet, but their communication amongst each other could have been a lot better and I felt that none of them offered us anything special going forward, even though Ryan Leonard fancied a couple of shots from distance that sailed over the bar.

To summarise, if yesterday is anything to go by then we will hopefully have no more defensive calamities before the season concludes in May and we can keep a good looking back four together that will see us through to the end with no major problems. That should then allow us to now turn our attention to improving the product being supplied by the front line. Hopefully Phil Brown will now realise that playing with just the one man up front isn’t going to keep us in the hunt for a top 7 finish and that seeking a new forward to help us in the remaining games shouldn’t be ruled out. It would seem like the best option at the moment as Barry Corr, who will now miss the next game isn’t getting the job done on a regular enough basis, Freddy Eastwood occasionally adds an extra spark to the team but also continues to fade, and Lee Barnard still doesn’t look match fit having missed the whole of the first half of the season except for the odd Southampton reserve game here and there. I am all for giving youth players a try when they are ready, but I’m not sure Jason Williams, for all the promise he is showing can be considered a realistic option for what we are trying to achieve at the moment. A loan move for someone with a little more experience and a poacher’s instinct is what we should be looking at I think.

Whilst this current barren run is something which is getting us all down, we can’t afford to lose the faith. Remarkably we are still 7th in the league and not completely out of the race just yet. I believe that if we change our formation so that we have two men playing up front, it will definitely make us a more threatening force going forward, which will hopefully result in us scoring more goals again. Bristol Rovers away on Friday will be tough, and we follow that game up with one against fellow promotion hopefuls Oxford United on the Monday at Roots Hall in front of the television cameras. If the performance from the defence and midfield yesterday is anything to go by, then once we’ve got the attackers sorted out then the wins will come again, and when they do it will do wonders for our confidence and that will hopefully send us on a decent run that will see us secure a comfortable top 7 finish in May.

Andrew.

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Lukaku Deserves Chelsea Chance

Today I’ve decided to focus on Chelsea, and in particular, who I think should be leading their frontline this season. If they do end up signing Wayne Rooney then he will undoubtedly be the main man at Stamford Bridge given the qualities he has on the pitch and also because of the amount they will end up having to fork out for. But as it stands, United are holding their own and making it abundantly clear that he isn’t for sale, meaning that as it stands, he won’t be wearing Blue on the opening game of the season. So who then should be Chelsea’s main man instead?

For me it has to be Romelu Lukaku, the 20-year-old did more than enough at West Bromwich Albion last season to show that he is capable of scoring a hatful of goals in the Premier League and deserves the chance to become Chelsea’s new main striker. With The Baggies he was able to create his own chances due to him possessing the ability to bully opposition defenders and his goals played a key part in helping the team finish as high as they did in the league table.

Now back at Chelsea, Lukaku should still be allowed the opportunity to take on the best that the Premier League can throw at him, but as well as giving opposition defences a nightmare, he will now get the chance to feed off a much higher standard of supply. Juan Mata led the Premier League assists table last season, with Eden Hazard not too far behind him. With Mata down the right, Hazard down the left, Oscar in the centre and Victor Moses and new signing Andre Schurrle there as good backups, there should be no shortage of goal opportunities this season at Stamford Bridge.

I also feel that Lukaku has earned the right to start ahead of the likes of Demba Ba and Fernando Torres. Ba did prove himself to be very useful at times last season when he joined from Newcastle United in January, but really he is no more than a backup striker at the club. Torres also improved in the second-half of last season, but Chelsea will never see a full return on the £50 million they paid for him in 2011 and with the Spaniard unlikely to be happy with a similar type of role to Ba this season, perhaps the time has come for the club to look at moving him on.

Chelsea play their first game of the season against Hull City on August 18th, but if pre-season form is also anything to go by, Lukaku has earned the right to be in with a shout of starting that game after scoring and impressing in several of the club’s friendlies in the past month. I’m sure that he must be giving manager Jose Mourinho something of a selection headache, but even if he doesn’t get the nod for the Hull match, it’s best not to forget that he is still only 20 and he will surely still keep going from strength to strength this season and beyond.

Andrew.

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Luis Suarez Saga - My Latest Thoughts

Until the respective Bale, Rooney and Suarez situations are sorted out, we will continue to debate them. Over the summer I’ve posted something about all three players, today I am going back to Suarez after reports emerged that he allegedly told The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian that Liverpool said he could leave if they failed to qualify for this season’s Champions League. We still await Liverpool’s response to this, but after a lot of thought on this situation, this is how I see it.

Suarez scored 30 goals in all competitions for Liverpool last season, he finished as the second highest scorer in last season’s Premier League but it still wasn’t enough to get Liverpool into either the Champions League or Europa League. His performances on the pitch have done more than enough to show that he is capable and worthy of playing in the Champions League. Liverpool have every right to feel reluctant about letting him go, but the facts are simple, they didn’t qualify for European competition this season and they should not be holding proven players back that want the opportunity to play there.

So while I believe that Suarez has every right to want a move, he should have looked to have conducted things in a more appropriate manner, especially after all the support the club has given him during his most controversial moments over the years. The fans continue to support him too and this was proven by the reception he was given when he came off the bench for the last 30 minutes of Steven Gerrard’s testimonial match against Olympiacos on Saturday. Surely for the sake of all of those that continue to look up to him, he should be trying to handle things in a different way so that if he does end up leaving, he will still have some respect in tact from many connected with the club.

To conclude, I believe Liverpool should not be as reluctant to let him go, because they are guaranteed to get a good price for him. And whatever money he would end up going for should be invested in either a replacement striker that still has the potential to score lots of goals, because there are plenty of them out there that I am sure would jump at the chance of playing for a club like Liverpool, or perhaps it should go towards investing in youth recruitment so that more young players are coming through the system and will stand a better chance of playing for the first-team instead of being let go at an early age and spending the rest of their career in lower league football. It’s a sticky situation at the moment, but one that both club and player should be looking to resolve as soon as possible so that both will be able to benefit from the eventual outcome. 

Andrew.

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The Future Of Cristiano Ronaldo

There are a couple of Manchester United supporters who I know personally that may not like or agree with this piece that I am about to write, but as it stands, I do not believe that Cristiano Ronaldo will be returning to Old Trafford to play for the Red Devils this season.

While he may not be getting the same kind of attention that Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez are on a daily basis, Ronaldo is still the subject of many discussions and there is a strong belief that he won’t be a Real Madrid player for much longer. But the real question is what do you believe? Reports in Spain say he could be about to sign a new contract with Madrid that will effectively keep him at the club for the rest of his career, but during a recent press conference, Ronaldo basically stated that while he was happy at Madrid for the time being, he did not know what lies in store for his long-term future. Supporters and experts all across the globe have all had their say, and now it is my turn.

I can’t see Ronaldo leaving Madrid this season for any price, sure like every player in Spain, Ronaldo has a release clause in his contract, but that is reportedly around £800 million. New manager at the Bernabeu Carlo Ancelotti has made it pretty obvious that Ronaldo will once again be key to any success Madrid have this season and his inclusion in the club’s pre-season preparations so far don’t seem to suggest otherwise. When Ronaldo signed for the club back in 2009, everybody knew that he was joining his boyhood heroes, 4 years on, the man continues to be the clubs standout star and inspires young children all over the world to try and be the next Real Madrid legend, so what concrete evidence is out there to suggest that he would want to give all of that up now? I’m certain that he wants more success at Madrid, particularly the Champions League trophy, which has evaded him during his time at the club so far. I could be wrong, but from what I have seen and read, this has been enough to make me think that Manchester United supporters will have to wait even longer for any potential return of one of their greatest Number 7’s.

However, until there is any truth to these rumours about the Portuguese winger agreeing a new contract with Madrid, United faithful should not give up hope completely. There is still plenty of time for more developments in the transfer market, and anything can happen in football. If Ronaldo still hasn’t officially agreed to a new Madrid contract, and United end up selling Wayne Rooney for big money, the door then opens for them to break their own transfer record and try to bring the 28-year-old back to Old Trafford. I think it would definitely earn new manager David Moyes more “brownie points” with supporters that maybe still aren’t convinced that he is the right man for the job. Madrid will still likely take a firm approach with regards to transfer offers for Ronaldo and be quick to reject anything that comes in, but if history is anything to go by, keeping a potentially unhappy or unsettled player at your club can have negative effects both off and on the pitch.

I’d relish seeing Ronaldo playing in the Premier League again, but for now I just can’t see it happening. Right now clubs are rejecting big money offers for their players who do want to leave, so the chances of a club accepting a big offer for a player who isn’t as keen for a new challenge seem very slim right now. But, I guess all I can do right now is wait to see what happens next and end this piece with an old cliché. Never Say Never in Football.

Andrew.

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Gareth Bale Transfer Saga - My Thoughts

Along with Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale is another name that just doesn’t seem to be disappearing at the moment when it comes to transfer speculation. Tottenham Hotspur say he isn’t going anywhere and they want to agree a new contract with him, but reports in the Spanish press claim Real Madrid are about to agree a deal with him instead.

I have no doubt in my mind that Gareth Bale would excel in La Liga if he ended up making the move to Madrid, but as long as he was going to be getting enough playing time for the kind of high fee that would likely be agreed for him. If you pay big money for a player, you can’t expect them to be warming the bench almost every game. It would also put him under increased pressure to succeed whenever he would play because supporters would be questioning why such an expensive player isn’t starting in matches and when he does play, he should be expected to play well every time simply because he cost the club so much money. I don’t doubt for one second that the Madrid faithful won’t give him the support he needs to help settle in quickly and feel welcome at the club, but if it takes him too long to start producing the same kind of displays that he has done for Tottenham in recent years, that support won’t last forever.

Personally I’d prefer it if Bale stayed in the Premier League, even if it wasn’t with Spurs, but I think the club are even less likely to sell to a divisional rival for a massive fee. I wouldn’t get the chance to see him play as often if he moved to anywhere else in Europe and his jinxing runs and incredible goals, just to name a couple of traits, would be greatly missed by the Premier League viewing audience. While it is another season in the Europa League for Spurs, the signings of Paulinho and Nacer Chadli look promising and there is still plenty of time for more additions that could help the club take the extra step this season. Should Bale leave, the chances don’t improve unless even more major investment is made to fill the void that he ends up leaving.

Reports that Bale is unsettled don’t surprise me, he is causing a stir in both the English and Spanish media and while it certainly won’t be doing him any favours, it also appears to be driving Tottenham crazy too. His manager and chairman say he isn’t for sale. The club reportedly wanted him to sign a new contract that would allow him to stay at White Hart Lane for another season, but should they fail to qualify for the Champions League again, a minimum fee release clause would then become active and Bale would then become available to anybody for a fixed price. There was no confirmation on whether or not that contract was signed or not, and so it allowed speculation to continue and reach the stage that it has now where all sorts are being said about the player and his whereabouts for the new season.

Like I said, I hope Bale stays in the Premier League, but right now it isn’t looking too promising. The Spanish press work in special ways that help players become unsettled before the big clubs like Real Madrid then have a clear shot at getting their man. Spurs are holding their ground, but it is surely only a matter of time before we are due something of a big breakthrough in this now dragging saga.

Andrew.

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Rain Plays Havoc With Football Again!

                   

Yesterday afternoon I watched the Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur game in the Premier League Asia Trophy, the report I did for the game is available to read on the websites listed at the bottom of the page, but while The Black Cats ran out 3-1 winners in the end, the game was overshadowed slightly by a somewhat controversial incident caused mainly by “Mother Nature”.

The game looked in serious doubt at first as heavy rainfall meant huge puddles were starting to form all around the pitch, particularly in the central area. After consideration from the authorities in charge of running the tournament, it was decided that the Sunderland-Tottenham game and the Manchester City-South China game that followed would both still take place, but with a 30 minute delayed kick-off time and two 40 minute halves being contested instead of the usual 45.

At first I was pretty happy that the game was to go ahead as I was looking forward to reporting, and I’m certain the fans in attendance were even happier as they still got the chance to see some of their favourite players in action instead of having to go home and wait until the next day for the matches to take place. However in the 30 minutes before kick-off, there didn’t appear to be any sign of water being brushed off the pitch or anything else being done to try and get the surface in a slightly safer and better playing condition which surprised me.

I then had a feeling that the standard of football was going to suffer because of the poor conditions and I was absolutely right. The pitch looked like it had just hosted a rugby match beforehand, central based players were struggling to pass the ball properly at times and it certainly made the potential for mistakes to occur during the game and even bigger possibility. Unfortunately there was an injury moment during the game, but just the one. Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen was stretchered off early in the second-half after landing awkwardly during an aerial challenge and damaging his ankle.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted after the game that he was not happy with the conditions and revealed that Vertonghen was due to to go for an MRI Scan today to discover how serious the injury is and if it puts him in doubt for the opening game of the Premier League season next month. While I’m not convinced that the conditions were completely to blame for his injury as players don’t always land in the safest way when challenging for a high ball all the time, but I completely agree about the poor standard of playing conditions.

It reminded me of last year when England travelled to Warsaw to play Poland in a World Cup Qualifier. Despite The National Stadium having a retractable roof, it was left open and on the day of the game, heavy rain fell for an extended period, and by the time night fell and the supporters were turning up to the stadium for the match, the pitch was drenched. Kick-off was delayed and the match was in jeopardy. Instead of looking at trying to close the roof and clear as much water off the pitch as possible, the roof stayed open, and not once, not twice, but three times the referee and his officials came out of the tunnel every 20 minutes or so to throw the ball on the surface and see if it would roll, it turned out to be a complete waste of time, the match was then called off and rearranged for the afternoon of the following day.

Back then the right call was made, but it meant a lot of travelling England fans missed out on seeing the team play the next day as most had flights booked to travel back home and could not rearrange. Rescheduling yesterday’s games for today could have been a much better option if it meant the playing surface would be in slightly better condition. Most fans watching these games in Hong Kong live locally, and any that have travelled from here to see their team play will most likely be there for Saturday’s games as well and will have accommodation and flights booked for after the tournament has finished.

I do have some sympathy for Richard Scudamore and everyone else at The Premier League though. Whatever decision was made was never going to please everybody. If you let the game go ahead like they did, you annoy the staff of the teams involved because you put their player’s health and safety at risk on a bad playing surface, but if you call it off, you disappoint all the fans in attendance that have travelled to the stadium to see some of the best players in the world, and you then have to send them straight home again because you’ve decided they can’t play because of the rain and a pitch not being very well maintained because of it.

Both games went ahead in the end and now Sunderland will face Manchester City in the trophy final on Saturday. Hopefully some lessons will be able to be learnt from this experience and football’s governing bodies may wish to discuss how these issues can be dealt with in a better way than before, but unfortunately because of how unreliable the sky can be, only a certain amount can be done, and football must work around the weather, because the other way round just isn’t scientifically possible.

Andrew.

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Benteke Signs New Villa Contract - My Thoughts

                     

I had been holding off posting for a bit as I felt it might have been too early to start trying to actively start with contributions to the page, but I’ve decided to add something just now to pass the time and air my thoughts on new developments involving Christian Benteke.

Aston Villa’s number 20 has signed a new contract with the club which should pretty much end the speculation of a move away from Villa Park for the Belgian striker. The deal runs till 2017 and certainly puts Aston Villa in a much stronger position for the new season, but I have to admit that even if he had been sold, I’m sure that they would do much better this season compared to the last one.

Villa’s reported asking price was around the £25 million mark, which despite his young age, does seem quite an extravagant price for someone who has only spent one season in the Premier League. Tottenham Hotspur were reportedly the favourites to buy him when he handed in his transfer request earlier in the month, and while I’m sure they could afford it, I couldn’t see Benteke moving for as much as £25 million, if anything I think it would have been more between the £14-21 million mark. With that sort of money coming into Villa, they could have lined up a replacement striker if they wanted to plus other players and give themselves some real strength in depth at what is an already large numbered squad. Even if the new striker wasn’t the same type of striker that Benteke is i.e. a powerhouse who is both strong and quick, it probably wouldn’t matter to Villa supporters just as long as they could score as many goals as possible.

Benteke will now get to work with another new striker that Villa signed this summer, which is Nicklas Helenius. While I’ve not had much of a chance to see the 22-year-old in action, he does come highly rated after winning the Danish Superliga Player of the Year award last season and has made a good start in Villa’s pre-season games so far. The forward had initially expressed disappointment that Benteke had asked to leave Villa, but will obviously now be delighted that he has changed his mind and will now get the chance to work closely with him.

The news about Benteke’s new contract is also likely to push Darren Bent further out the Villa exit door with Newcastle United and now reportedly Fulham interested in his striking services. Questions might also be raised about the futures of younger strikers at the club such as Jordan Bowery and Nathan Delfouneso who may find opportunities in the Villa first-team limited this season. But Villa supporters and manager Paul Lambert will undoubtedly be the happiest with Benteke’s decision to stay. In a Villa side that lacked real quality at times last season, Benteke was still able to power his way past defenders and score 19 league goals and help the team avoid relegation. Now that he is officially staying put, supporters will hope it inspires the other players to learn the lessons from last season and come back even stronger this time around.

I shall be back closer to the start of the new Premier League season to predict exactly how I think Villa and the other teams will do this time around. I Hope you enjoyed this piece and if you have any feedback or questions you’d like me to answer then please leave a comment for me. I’d like to also mention that I have now begun writing for http://www.swol.co/ so if you are a fan of my work, there is somewhere else for you to now check it out. Thanks for reading.

Andrew.

http://www.soccercv.com/articles/latest_news/ < News and Reports by me found here.

http://www.swol.co/profile/show/1390 < News and Reports by me also found here too.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92 < My Twitter, please give me a follow for any and all updates.

Introduction

Welcome readers to my blog. Here is where I shall post my opinions on the goings on in the world of football. I started this page last season, but if you were to take a look back at some of my posts, you would see that I was basically just writing about what was in the news, but telling it how you might see it on a news organisations website. While I am able to do that sort of thing on another site, here I shall just share my opinions and views on the football talking points.

A lot of you might be wondering, “What makes this guys opinions so special?” and “Why should I care what he thinks?” and you would have every right to do so, I’m nobody special, I’m just an ordinary punter who lives a normal enough life and very rarely does anything out of the ordinary, but I have been a football fan for as long as I can remember, and I’d like to think that I’ve gained enough knowledge of the game just by watching and occasionally playing to know what I am talking about and be able to make fair comments and perhaps even get people thinking along the same lines depending on the situation at hand.

The main focus of my opinions will be on the goings-on of the Premier League. The competition I consider to be the best in the world and the one that seems to always have some news about it every day of the year, including during the summer months when no league football is even on. I will occasionally post about other things such as big news involving other clubs and competitions in the world, but as a UK resident, I’ve grown up with the Premier League and will continue to watch it until my last days.

The new Premier League season is only a month away, which means it won’t be long before I start to regularly contribute to this page. I shall share my thoughts on the pre-season period very soon as well and also make predictions on how I think the season will go for each team involved. Hope you enjoyed this introductory post, keep an eye out for more soon!

Andrew.

http://www.soccercv.com/articles/latest_news/ < You can find my news articles here.

http://soccerisma.com/ < When I begin writing match reports for the new season, you can find them here.

https://twitter.com/adnu92 < My Twitter page, please click follow for any and all updates. 

PFA Player of the Year 2013 - Reviewing The Nominees - Part Two

Next weekend, Premier League footballers will descend on London for the annual Professional Footballers’ Association awards. The 6 nominees for Player of the Year have already been announced and the winner will be presented with the coveted award at the ceremony this coming Sunday. This two part article takes a closer look at the nominees, the good season they’ve had and who I consider the favourites are to take the award home.

Juan Mata

Since signing from Valencia in 2011, Juan Mata instantly became one of Chelsea’s key players and while he had a good solid first season with The Blues, his second one has been even better. He currently sits top of the Premier League assists table with 12 in total and has also found the back of the net himself on 10 occasions.

It took Mata a little while to get going before he got his first assist of the season in a 1-0 home victory over Stoke City. A week later however he turned it up in a big way against Arsenal at The Emirates assisting in the first goal and scoring the second in a 2-1 win. It would then trigger more top performances from Mata over the coming games and led to him winning the Player of the Month award for October with the highlight of the month coming at White Hart Lane when he scored a brace and set up the final goal in a big 4-2 win against Tottenham Hotspur. While the results then started to turn sour for Chelsea just a few weeks later, Mata continued to come up big for the team whenever he could and his good work was rewarded in December when he signed a new contract at the club to stay with them until 2018. In January, he came back to haunt Arsenal again as he netted the first goal against The Gunners in another 2-1 victory.

Chelsea are in a great position right now to have a very talented group of creative midfielders in their ranks, and I think it would be fair to say that Juan Mata may well have outshone most of them. Oscar and Eden Hazard are showing great potential and have played a big part in the challenge for a top 4 finish and Frank Lampard has shown that he can still step up and perform when he has to despite his old age, but this season Mata has excelled and shown himself to be one of the best midfielders in the world, let alone the Premier League in my opinion. Almost every time I watch him, I believe something is going to happen. He has the knowledge and the skill that helps him beat players and set up great chances for his teammates to score. He definitely faces some really tough competition to win this award, but I think he is in with a very good chance.

Luis Suarez

If the votes for this award have already been made before the fixtures this past weekend, Luis Suarez is in with a really good chance of winning this award. If not, I’m afraid his chances begin to fade away over one act of stupidity in the game against Chelsea yesterday at Anfield.

Before yesterdays match, Luis Suarez was having the season of his life. The Uruguayan striker is currently the Premier League’s top scorer with 23 goals from 33 appearances. He is currently the only player in the league this season with two hat-tricks to his name, the first coming at Carrow Road in September in a 5-2 victory over Norwich and the second coming at the start of March in a 4-0 win over Wigan at the DW Stadium. Out of his 23 goals he has scored so far, the pick of the bunch surely has to be his goal against Newcastle at Anfield back in November when he expertly controlled a long ball from Jose Enrique on his chest in the 18 yard box, rounded the goalkeeper and slotted the ball into the empty net. It was wonderful to watch and it showed everybody watching exactly how talented Suarez is. As well as scoring goals, he can be very creative as well, as he proved yesterday when he played a great curving ball into Daniel Sturridge who got Liverpool’s equaliser when they were 1-0 down.

Last season was a controversial one for Suarez, and up till the 65th minute of the match yesterday, it looked like he would have been remembered more for the work he did with his feet this season. But despite scoring a last minute goal to level the tie at 2-2, it appears that his bite on Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea is what he will be mostly be remembered for by many this season. It is a real shame given the talent he possesses but when you do stupid things you will get punished for it. He has already been fined and issued a statement apologising to fans and Ivanovic. The FA will likely review the incident and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lengthy retrospective ban is issued. It likely rules Suarez out of the running to win this award now unless the votes were cast before the game on Sunday which is a shame as I felt he was in with a great chance of getting it until he once again made all the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Robin Van Persie

Last year’s winner, Robin Van Persie was another one of the most talked about players this past summer. The Dutchman announced at the start of July that he was not going to sign a new contract at Arsenal and with only 1 year left to run on the deal, The Gunners decided cashing in on their then-captain was the right move to make. Bids reportedly came in from Manchester City, Juventus and Manchester United, and in August Van Persie decided to make the move to the red half of Manchester in a reported £24 million deal.

Once the move was finalised, it didn’t take last season’s top scorer to start firing again. In his first start for his new side he scored against Fulham in a 3-2 win at Old Trafford and it got even better a week later as United travelled to Southampton and won 3-2 again with Van Persie grabbing all 3 goals. As the season went on, he continued to score important goals in big games including the winner against Liverpool in the 2-1 win at Anfield back in September and the first goal of the game against his old side Arsenal in November at Old Trafford which The Red Devils also won 2-1. December was a particularly special month for him and the fans as he won the Player of the Month award for his performances during the busy spell of games in the Premier League that month. The fans favourite moment from that month will be when he scored a free-kick against rivals Manchester City in the 92nd minute at Eastlands to win the game and give his side a 6 point lead in the title race at the time.

Robin Van Persie continued to score goals early into 2013 and helped United to continue extending their lead at the top of the table. The 29 year old suffered a slight blip recently in front of goal going just over two months without scoring for Manchester United until he converted a penalty at Stoke City just over a week ago. But United still picking up the points and City continuing to drop them, the Reds are now just one win away from reclaiming the Premier League title. Out of the 75 league goals United have scored this season, Van Persie has scored 21 of them and sits just 2 goals behind Luis Suarez in the top scorers table. Overall Van Persie’s first season at Old Trafford can be considered a huge success and I would say that a title winning sides top scorers efforts will certainly not go unnoticed and that will mean that he is in with a very good chance of joining the likes of Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo in winning the Player of the Year award two seasons in a row.

Andrew.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92

PFA Player of the Year 2013 - Reviewing The Nominees - Part One

Next weekend, Premier League footballers will descend on London for the annual Professional Footballers’ Association awards. The 6 nominees for Player of the Year have already been announced and the winner will be presented with the coveted award at the ceremony this coming Sunday. This two part article takes a closer look at the nominees, the good season they’ve had and who I consider the favourites are to take the award home.

Gareth Bale

Winner of this award back in 2011, it has been another whirlwind season for the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder. He has so far contributed to Spurs push for a top 4 finish with 18 goals in the Premier League alone. He had a fairly quiet start to the season and it took till the middle of September for him to grab his first goal of the season in Spurs 3-1 away win at Reading. A couple of weeks later however he played a big part in the team’s 3-2 away victory at Manchester United. While that was arguably their biggest win during the first half of the season, it was coupled with some big defeats in October and November to London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal. Bale ended 2012 on a high though scoring a hat-trick at Villa Park in Spurs 4-0 demolition of Aston Villa on Boxing Day and the team finished the year sitting in 3rd place in the table.

2013 would prove to be even better for the Welshman. At the end of January, Bale went on a 5 game scoring run in the Premier League, netting against Norwich City, West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Arsenal. He managed a brace in the games against The Magpies and The Hammers leaving him with 7 goals from the 5 games. His second goal against West Ham is considered a goal of the season contender by many after his 25-yard shot found the top corner in the last minute of the game to win all 3 points for his side. This impressive form also led to him winning the Player of the Month award for February as well. Bales goals and contributions were also part of what was a 12 game unbeaten run in the Premier League that started with their 1-0 win at home to Swansea in mid-December and ended with their 3-2 loss to Liverpool at Anfield just over a month ago. An injury at the start of the month ruled him out for a couple of games but he returned with a bang yesterday as he helped his side pick up a vital 3-1 win over Manchester City at White Hart Lane and leave his side in 5th place but only 2 points behind 3rd placed Arsenal with a game in hand over the Gunners.

To say Tottenham are a one man team would be disrespectful to the other players in the squad, but you can’t deny that whenever they have been in desperate need of a goal this season, Gareth Bale has been there to provide them with it. He is a valuable asset to Spurs and has even had well-known pundits drawing comparisons between him and some of the best players in the world such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi due to his work rate and his contributions to the team. It is clear for all to see that his teammates love playing with him and opposing teams can’t stand playing against him. Regardless of where Tottenham finish in the league this season, Gareth Bale’s efforts will not be forgotten and give him a great chance of winning the award this year.

Michael Carrick

A surprising choice to some, but a deserved choice to others, Michael Carrick has been almost ever-present in Manchester United’s Premier League campaign playing in his trademark central midfield role and playing a key part in what has been a very successful season for The Red Devils who are now on the verge of reclaiming the Premier League title.

While Carrick’s name cannot be seen at the top of scorers and assists charts this season, that doesn’t mean for one second that he hasn’t had a productive season. He has featured in 32 of United’s 33 league games this year with his only absence coming in their 3-1 win at home to Queens Park Rangers back in November. The 31 year old has played a key part in the midfield for United mainly by doing the hard work such as winning the ball back off the opposition and then playing it to more creative teammates who will be able to create a scoring opportunity for them or quite often another teammate. The latter obviously means no assist goes to Carrick in the stats table, but the nomination for this award shows that finally, the hard work is paying off. Carrick’s style of play has made it tough for attacking opposition players and is reflected by the 11 clean sheets United have kept when he has been in the side.

The season as a whole has been good for Michael Carrick and this past month in particular has also been extra special for the Englishman and it could well be even more special before the awards ceremony this Sunday. A Man of the Match display away at Sunderland and a goal at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke as well as the chance to win the league title tonight against Aston Villa means regardless of whether or not Carrick wins the Player of the Year award, he will have enjoyed a great end to the season. I have to admit that I don’t consider him to be one of the favourites to win the award, but at least the nomination shows that his hard work for the team has not gone unnoticed.

Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard was one of the most talked about players in world football this time last season with people wondering where his next move would be after he left Lille OSC in France. In May last year, the Belgian midfielder revealed on Twitter that he would be signing for Chelsea and the move was confirmed by the club a week later for a reported €32 million. Hazard made a good first impression in his Premier League debut in a 2-0 win away at Wigan Athletic by setting up his the first goal for his side and winning them a penalty for the second. His first goal for the club came a week later in a 2-0 home win against Newcastle.

After that win, Chelsea sat at the top of the Premier League table until the start of November when their form began to take a turn for the worse. By the start of December, they had fallen 10 points behind Manchester United and any chance of winning the title was all but gone by then. Hazard continues to contribute goals and assists to at least ensure that the team will still continue to push for a top 4 finish.

As it stands, the 22 year old currently has 9 goals and 9 assists in the Premier League this season, his most recent strike coming in yesterdays 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield. He has been a regular starter for The Blues this season and has always been one of their most consistent performers. One of his best performances in a Blue shirt came just as recently as last month when he assisted the first goal and scored the second in a 2-0 win against West Ham at Stamford Bridge and showing everyone watching exactly what he is capable of doing. I believe his consistency is what has led to him being nominated for this prestigious award. However, when I compare his season with Chelsea teammate and fellow nominee Juan Mata, I can’t help but feel that the Spaniard has probably had the better season of the two and thus makes him stand a better chance of winning the award. But at only 22 years of age, the only way is surely up for Eden Hazard and if this time next season he can better his accomplishments of this season, the next Player of the Year award may very well be his.

Andrew.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92

A Fight To The Bitter End

There is just over one month left of the Premier League season, and the relegation battle continues to heat up and take all sorts of twists and turns. 3 teams will suffer relegation to the Championship and if that wasn’t bad enough, now thanks to Sky and BT, they will also miss out on the millions of pounds that will come from the Premier Leagues new TV deal that kicks in this summer.

Already it is looking highly likely that 2 of those 3 teams will be Reading and Queens Park Rangers. The two southern based sides are not completely dead and buried, but continue to struggle in keeping up with the points totals of the teams above them. At the moment the final relegation spot is held by Wigan Athletic who have a game in hand on most of the sides above them and are also still going strong in the FA Cup. What makes this battle to stay up even more interesting is that sides such as Stoke City and Sunderland who were looking a lot more comfortable one month ago are now in real danger of being dragged into the drop zone. Some people might disagree with me on this, but having looked at the remaining fixtures of all the teams in the Premier League, I would not rule out any of the teams in the lower half of the table being dragged further into relegation trouble before the season reaches its climax in May.

Having watched the Premier League for many years, I know as well as the next person how unpredictable and exciting this league can get. Given that the gap between 11th placed Southampton and 18th placed Wigan is just 6 points, to rule anyone in between and including those sides out of trouble would be absurd. For a team currently outside the bottom 3, all it takes is a loss in their next match, a win for the teams around and below them, an injury or suspension to a key player and they are in even deeper trouble than before. It makes for excellent entertainment for the neutrals such as myself, but does no favours to the nervous systems of the supporters whose clubs league future is in jeopardy.

I don’t doubt that every team will give their all for every remaining game to ensure a happy finish to the season. The toughest games will be against those chasing a top 4 finish and fellow relegation candidates. There is a chance that the best way for teams to pick up points could come from facing the teams in the top half of the table that will most likely just be playing for pride. As we’ve seen in the past, teams can often go into summer holiday mode early when a European place is unachievable and there is no threat of relegation. But at the same time as this is one of the best leagues in the world, the standard will not be allowed to drop too much and the teams in trouble will still have to work their socks off to get the points needed to guarantee safe passage into next seasons Premier League.

This time last season things at the bottom were completely different, the gap between 18th and 11th was a whopping 14 points, and while the battle to stay up lasted all the way until the final day of the season last year, it was overshadowed mainly by the dramatic way Manchester City won the Premier League title that day as well. This time with the trophy looking most likely to go to Manchester United before the final day given the 12 point gap between them and City at the moment, more attention should then go to the bottom half of the table on the final day of the season, and if come that all important day on May 19th the majority of the teams in the bottom half are still fighting to stay up, it is going to make for another incredible end to the Premier League season.

Andrew.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92

Update

While I have had great pleasure since the start of the year contributing to this blog, recently I have not been in a position to contribute as much as I would of liked to keep this as active and interesting as possible. That has mainly been due to work being busy and attempting to juggle other commitments as well. But while that has obviously been a disappointing thing, it has not stopped me from wanting to press on and share my opinions and reporting skills with the rest of the world. So when the season reaches its climax in May I will be closing down "Weekly Football Views" for the Summer and coming up with a new plan over the next couple of months that will enable me to come up with something better for the start of the new season. It will hopefully be better and more consistent than attempting to post things weekly which even at the moment is a bit of a struggle, but I am confident with a new layout and a fresh start come August, I can really get this thing going and make it even better for all viewers. I will continue to contribute to this whenever I can till the end of the season, if you are interested in my work it is worth noting I am also a contributor on http://soccerisma.com/ and you can read some of my work on there, I also occasionally put my articles on http://footballspeak.com/ as well so if you follow me on Twitter you will be able to know when I've made a post on either of those sites. Please also check me out on http://www.soccercv.com/ where I often post short football related stuff on there that might interest you. Thank you for taking the time to read this and enjoy the rest of the footballing season.

Andrew.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92

Dark Times At The Stadium Of Light

Martin O’Neill’s dismissal at Sunderland on Saturday night came as a bit of a surprise to many. Admittedly recent results had not gone their way, but with only 7 games left to play in the Premier League, a managerial change at this stage of the season is a very bold move. With that being said, a replacement has been found quickly, but this replacement is better known for his outlandish behaviour more than his ability to keep teams from avoiding relegation.

Paolo Di Canio joins Sunderland just a month and a half after walking out of League One side Swindon Town. The 44 year old Italian had already been tipped to secure a move to a club in The Championship or The Premier League after leaving the County Ground in February. Di Canio left Swindon reportedly over behind the scenes decisions that included selling a player behind his back. Di Canio made it clear at the time that he felt his position had become untenable but held off handing in his resignation until the night of February 18th when a potential board takeover did not materialise during the day.

Di Canio departed Swindon with the club riding high in 5th place in League One which was an impressive standing given that this was the clubs first season back in the third tier of English league football after Di Canio lead them to the League Two title the previous season. While the promotion was without a doubt his biggest achievement at the club, his spell there was also marred by various other incidents including an altercation with one of his players on the pitch at the end of a game and a verbal attack on officials in a post-match interview after being sent to the stand during a game. Ever since returning to the English game in 2011, Di Canio has made news almost every week for saying or doing something that drives the media crazy and gets the fans talking about him. With that being said, he should have no problems settling into Premier League managerial life.

This move generates interest for two main reasons, Sunderland’s battle to stay in the Premier League and Di Canio’s occasionally volatile personality and behaviour. As a player, Di Canio knows all about trying to keep a team in the Premier League having been involved in relegation dogfights with Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United, he has managed to achieve survival with both teams but with the latter he has also experienced what it is like to lose the fight and that will almost certainly spur him on to make sure that he doesn’t go through that experience again.

This new move has also made national news as as this also sees another departure from The Stadium of Light as David Milliband, South Shields MP and brother of the Labour Party leader Ed, resigned from his position as non-executive vice-chairman of the club due to differing political views with the new manager. Di Canio was quoted in 2005 claiming he was “fascist, not a racist” and was caught on camera performing a Nazi salute towards fans whilst playing for Lazio in the same year. While this really should not affect matters on the pitch for Sunderland, it is leading to some people questioning the Sunderland board’s decision to appoint him given the kind of controversy that this kind of thing can create in this day and age.

The biggest question left is a simple one. Can Di Canio keep Sunderland in the Premier League? While I don’t have any doubts that the man will be able to rally his new players and get their mindset completely focussed on the task at hand, it will take more than that to survive in one of the best leagues in the world. Sunderland’s remaining 7 games are not ideal. Between now and the end of the season they face several teams that are either trying to claim a spot in the top 4 or are also fighting for Premier League survival. As well as that, they’ve also got the Tyne-Wear Derby against Newcastle on April 14th at St James Park which might well be the toughest game of the lot given the pressure put on the players by the fans for a win. To make matters worse, their Captain Lee Cattermole and their leading goal scorer Steven Fletcher have been ruled out for the rest of the season with injury. If Di Canio were to pull off a great escape, it would make him an instant hero at The Stadium of Light.

It is certainly not the most ideal way to end the season and while I do reckon they may just have enough to still remain in with a chance of staying up on the final day of the season, the tough run of fixtures plus the new managers lack of managerial experience in a relegation battle and The Premier League may just cost them in the end, I think the task at hand is too much for Paolo Di Canio and Sunderland, they will give it their all but I’m almost certain that unfortunately, it is a place in next seasons Championship that awaits them.

Andrew.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92

P.S. Sorry for my inactivity, been a hectic month at work.

Can Arsenal Perform A Munich Miracle?

On Wednesday night, Arsenal travel to Germany to face Bayern Munich in their Champions League Round of 16 second leg tie. The Gunners lost the first leg 3-1 at The Emirates Stadium after a very poor performance against a deadly Bayern side and leave themselves needing to score at least 3 goals and hoping the home side score no more than 1 to be in with a chance of reaching the Quarter-Final stage. The question is can this travelling side low on confidence pull off a miracle against a team that is full of it playing in their own backyard?

Since Arsenals last game was on March 7th against Tottenham Hotspur, the team will have had more than enough time to rest and fully prepare for their biggest challenge so far this season. However with that last game against their biggest rivals ending in defeat, momentum and morale might not be on their side and will make the task ahead an even harder one. Bayern won their league game at home to Fortuna Dusseldorf 3-2 on Saturday which sent them 20 points clear at the top of the table. As well as that, the team continue their 100% win record in all competitions in 2013 and remain unbeaten since late October. So while all the odds appear to be stacked against Arsenal, can they still pull of the unthinkable?

To stand any chance of leaving the Allianz Arena with something, Arsenal will have to be organised and avoid making costly mistakes as Bayern will look to pounce on any slip ups the visitors make. The Gunners will likely spend most of the game in their own half defending Bayern attacks and any real chances they get may well come from a counter-attacking move. When that chance comes all the players involved will need to get everything right in making sure they get those all important away goals. One thing for sure is that the players need to go into the game believing they can get the right result and not walk on that pitch at the start of the game thinking the tie is already lost or it is going to be a miserable night for them and their fans.

Many people will say that it will be the performances of players like Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere that will be key in determining whether or not Arsenal can win the game or not, and while I would agree with them, I don’t think the responsibility lies completely on their shoulders. Captain Thomas Vermaelen will be in charge of making sure everybody gives their all that night and he pushes his teammates on to do their best. Other players such as Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott will want to make the headlines by playing the biggest part in a hopeful turnaround by grabbing the goals up front, but I also think the experience of players such as Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski will be crucial for Arsenal. The reason I say this is because both men have featured in the Bundesliga and for the German National Team many times and so will have plenty of experience playing at the Allianz Arena. Whenever I watch games take place there, the fans play a huge part in how the game takes shape from the noise they make and can make it tough for opposition players to play there. Having been on both receiving ends in the stadium many times for club and country, these two players will play a huge part in telling their teammates exactly how to play in the heated atmosphere and not let it prove to be a costly distraction.

Whether or not Arsenal can pull it off a shock is all down to them and the coaching staff. Arsene Wenger knows exactly what his team have got to do, but whether he can inspire them to do it or not remains to be seen. All I know is that one big mistake and Bayern Munich will punish them and it will be game over for sure. The Gunners face a team with the potential to go all the way and win the tournament this year having gone so close last season. The heartache of losing last season’s final in their own stadium to Chelsea will surely push them to go one step further this season and win it at Wembley in May.

I will be watching on Wednesday night with great interest hoping for an entertaining match with a few surprises in store. Arsenal remain the only British side left in the Champions League this season after Manchester United and Celtic’s departures last week, so they will have the backing at home from their own supporters who have not travelling to Germany for the game and those who want the last remaining side from their country to keep going in the tournament. While I may have made out that Arsenal have a great chance of winning from the points I’ve made, it will also take a shocking performance from the home side to help see the visitors all the way through, but I don’t think given how well they’ve performed this season that Bayern are in any real danger of throwing it all away in this upcoming match. Being a realist now, I could see Arsenal sneaking a win in this match if they get everything right, but even if they do that I think winning the overall tie is a real long shot and I predict that when the referee blows for full-time, it will be Bayern Munich celebrating progression into the Quarter-final stage.

Andrew.

https://twitter.com/ADNU92

Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur: Preview and Prediction

Tottenham Hotspur travel north to face Liverpool in the Premier League hoping to gain themselves more points to help solidify a top 4 finish and Champions League football at White Hart Lane next season, while the home side will be looking to finish as high as possible themselves in the hope of securing a place in European competition next season having been knocked out of both domestic cups and this seasons Europa League.

With what is at stake for both clubs in this game, most of the focus and attention will be on two men, the clubs two top goal scorers this season, Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale. Both men are in exceptional form for their respective teams at the moment and without a doubt their performances will play a big part in how the match takes shape. Suarez is the top league goal scorer this season having scored 21 times, his most recent additions to that tally coming in the form of a hat-trick in his last game against Wigan Athletic. The 26 year old Uruguayan has certainly had controversy follow him in recent years for different reasons, but putting that aside, he possesses immense quality on the pitch and has made himself to be someone Liverpool now rely on to help them score goals and change games for the better.

Bale had a good start to the season, but since Tottenham’s 4-0 away victory at Aston Villa on Boxing Day where he scored a hat-trick in that game, he’s continued on a sensational run of form that has helped put Tottenham in a position where the Champions League is a real possibility for them next season. The Welshman has started to draw comparisons to players such as Cristiano Ronaldo due to their similar traits and the difference they have made to their respective teams performances in recent seasons. At only 23, Bale still has the potential to get even better as well and the more he continues to put in outstanding performances, the more the bigger teams will take a closer look at him.

While Suarez and Bale will be the main men to watch at Anfield, the other 20 players on the pitch certainly cannot be ignored. Every defender on the pitch for both sides will have to make sure that while they try and frustrate the key players as much as possible, they don’t lose focus on the other players who can cause a threat to their goal. Liverpool have Phillippe Coutinho and a returning Daniel Sturridge who can cause a threat to the Spurs goal and also have the inspirational Steven Gerrard at the heart of their midfield who will be driving determination into his players to make things happen and cause their visitors problems.

Tottenham themselves aren’t lacking in attacking quality. While Bale causes a serious threat down the left wing, Aaron Lennon also causes problems down the right wing. Both men have the ability to make runs into the box and make space for a shot, but both can also put balls into the danger zone for central minded players to take advantage of. With Bale on the left, Lennon on the right and players like Lewis Holtby in the centre, Tottenham have creative players spread across the whole width of the pitch that will need to be watched carefully.

The last time these two teams met was at the end of November at White Hart Lane. Tottenham won 2-1 with early first half goals from Lennon and Bale. An own goal from the latter in the second half gave Liverpool a chance to get back into the game but Tottenham held on for the 3 points. This game may well have a different story as Liverpool have had over a week to rest and prepare for this fixture while Tottenham are just days removed from beating Inter Milan 3-0 in the Europa League. Fatigue might well be a deciding factor in the end result, but I don’t think it will effect what should be a quality game of football. I predict an entertaining 2-2 draw with Suarez and Bale both scoring at least once in the match.

Andrew.

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