Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Sven pulled a rabbit out of the hat!!

England's famously cautious manager Sven-Goran Eriksson appears to have unearthed a previously unseen dangerous streak - at least as far as football is concerned - now that he has been unburdened with facing any repercussions of his actions.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers:
Robinson (Tottenham)
James (Man City)
Green (Norwich),
Defenders:
G Neville (Man United)
R Ferdinand (Man United)
Terry (Chelsea)
A Cole (Arsenal)
Campbell (Arsenal)
Carragher (Liverpool)
Bridge (Chelsea) Midfielders:
Beckham (Real Madrid)
Carrick (Tottenham)
Lampard (Chelsea)
Gerrard (Liverpool)
Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)
Jenas (Tottenham), Downing (Middlesbrough)
J Cole (Chelsea)
Lennon (Tottenham) Strikers:
Rooney (Man United)
Owen (Newcastle)
Crouch (Liverpool)
Walcott (Arsenal)
The Swede will quit his post with England after their elimination, or triumph, at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and chose to make his last, and most important, squad selection the boldest of his six-year tenure. At England's stage-managed press conference on Monday Eriksson laughed and joked as his 23 man preliminary World Cup squad was unveiled, which contained some startling omissions and inclusions that, by Eriksson's own admission, defied logic. With all attention and conjecture focused intensely on his injury-hit striking line-up Eriksson foiled all sweepstakes on the permutations of his possible selection by naming uncapped 17-year-old striker Theo Walcott as one of only four forwards. Who? You know, the former Southampton striker that has not played a single game for his new club Arsenal since his £12million move in the January transfer window. And while Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's track record of identifying talented youngsters is largely unrivalled, and Walcott's potential is unquestioned, quite why that is enough to win a place on the plane to Germany is mystifying. Walcott's entire league career only amounts to 1,334 minutes and four goals. It would be fair to surmise that no other country taking part in Germany 2006 will be taking a player who has not played a solitary game for his club this season. The inclusion of Walcott, who will become England's youngest-ever player if he takes part in any of the three pre-tournament warm-up matches, is all the more baffling given that Eriksson has only named a striking quartet, rather than the expected quintet, and two of those who have made the final cut are currently injured. Talismanic 20-year-old Wayne Rooney is nursing a broken metatarsal and, at an optimistic estimate, will only return for the quarter-final stages of the World Cup if he enjoys an amazingly rapid recovery. The Manchester United striker took 14 weeks to return from his previous metatarsal injury. Eriksson hopes the oxygen tent Rooney now sleeps in can reduce that time by half. Meanwhile, Michael Owen, Eriksson's most experience and prolific striker, is himself recovering from a metatarsal injury and was not fit enough to take his place in the Newcastle United team that beat Chelsea 1-0 at the weekend. It is a universally accepted truth that Owen is not a player who can quickly return to match sharpness after an injury lay-off and it takes five to six weeks for the 26-year-old to regain any semblance of his previous quality. Owen's old coach at Liverpool, Phil Thompson, has already voiced concerns that his former charge will be off the pace until the knockout stages of the Finals - despite having matches against Belarus, Hungary and Jamaica to aid the ex-Real Madrid forward in his fitness race. In a worst case scenario England could be left with Liverpool's 6'7" striker Peter Crouch and Walcott as their only fit strikers. The pair total only five caps between them and all belong to Crouch. Walcott has only represented England at U17 level and Crouch has only played in one competitive international. Eriksson's explanation for this uncharacteristic behaviour? 'Sometimes things work out without being logic,' the Swede chuckled - although I am beginning to suspect he is in fact an impostor.



Brother Sven and His Bunch Of Knights!!

It is a radical change for Eriksson who has traditionally erred on the side of caution and opted for experience over raw talent. It may have been fathomable, if somewhat unexpected, if the England manager had turned to 31-year-old Robbie Fowler, whose form has just won him a one-year contract with Liverpool, or 40-year-old West Ham United striker Teddy Sheringham whom the role Rooney occupies for England is named after - the Sheringham role. Both would have been a major surprise but neither as much as the inclusion of untested and unproven Walcott. Charlton Athletic striker Darren Bent must be wondering what else he could have done to win a place in the final squad. The 22-year-old is the leading English scorer in the Premiership despite playing for a club in free-fall. And to be ousted by Walcott clearly hurts: 'I am obviously really disappointed,' Bent said in a statement. 'I wasn't taking anything for granted and knew that it was by no means certain that I would be included, but being the leading English goalscorer in the Premiership I was very hopeful of being included.' The disillusioned striker didn't even make the stand-by list. Tottenham's Jermain Defoe and Andy Johnson, who plays for Crystal Palace in the Championship, take those places. Eriksson's new found taste for the unknown also extends to the midfield where many fans will be pleased to see Middlesbrough sensation Stewart Downing (one cap) as cover for the left-wing when he returns from Wednesday's UEFA Cup final and Tottenham's Aaron Lennon (uncapped) as cover for the right. The duo join all the usual suspects in midfield, but at the expense of Shaun Wright-Phillip's, whose ill advised move from Manchester City to Chelsea's bench has proven very costly. At The back their is an abundance of experience and despite the absence of injured Tottenham centre-back Ledley King, Eriksson's selection can boast over 300 caps between them. Overall Eriksson has opted for a very talented an attacking squad and his new found care-free selection policy has the nation focused, even if only briefly, on something other than Rooney's injury. It remains to be seen if the England manager's new found taste for risk taking will transfer itself to the pitch when needed - if his team need to chase a game for instance. Thus far his tenure has been marked with caution, but could this late change in attitude be just what England need at the Finals?

Friday, May 05, 2006

Great Clips

Check out these great four clips...pay special attention to the last one!!










Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Parisian Encounter...

It's exaggerating things just a bit to state that we have the Champions League final everyone wanted. There is after all the small matter of Milan and Villarreal fans' feelings to take into account.


What's not to like? Barca star Ronaldinho.

However, can anyone deny that Barcelona v Arsenal in one of the world's most magnificent capitals represents anything other than a mouth-watering prospect? Fair enough. If we want to be pernickety about it, the game itself takes place in the north-eastern suburb of St. Denis, rather than in central Paris itself. But let's not allow such trivial matters get in the way of our dream final. Often in recent years, the Champions League decider (can we not still call it the European Cup final?) has rather got lost in the commotion of World Cup build-up. Somehow, I don't sense such danger on the horizon in 2006. Stylistically, Barcelona and Arsenal favour playing their football in a manner that attracts the uncommitted. That is of course, if you disregard Arsenal's woefully unadventurous semi-final second leg performance at the Madrigal! Until that game I had never considered Arsenal a defensive side. I still can't quite bring myself to that conclusion, even though parsimony has prevailed over panache in this incredible Champions League run. It's difficult to imagine that Arsène Wenger himself believed his normally free-flowing, risk embracing team could reach the final on the back of a competition record 10 successive clean sheets: a grand total of 919 minutes without shipping a goal, and still counting. All this with a makeshift back four for whom Ivorians Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Eboué have excelled. Still, defending superbly is one thing. Repelling Barcelona is another matter altogether. I'm in the privileged position of getting to see a lot of the blaugrana. I'll concede that they've lost a little bit of their dynamism in recent weeks, and one can justifiably put that down to the thigh injury young Leo Messi picked up on 7 March against Chelsea. But with or without Messi, Barcelona are an absolute joy to watch. Only a philistine could fail to enjoy the verve and charisma of Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Deco. Frank Rijkaard's back four is unfairly maligned. Critics of Oleguer, Gio Van Bronckhorst and goalkeeper Victor Valdes have tried to tell me they're suspect, but surely they're clutching at straws. Have we forgotten that the only goals they've conceded in the knockout stages were an own goal by Thiago Motta at Stamford Bridge, and a dubious stoppage time penalty in the return leg against the Premiership champions? They do tend to play high up the park as a unit, and can be vulnerable to swift balls over the top. This could be grist to Thierry Henry's mill. Certainly the linking up of Cesc Fabregas and his fellow midfield players with the Arsenal captain will have to be much better than it was in Villarreal the other night, if the Gunners are to take advantage.


The Arsenal players celebrate reaching the final of the Champions League in Paris.

I'll have more to say about the match itself in this space as we get closer to the big night. However, it would be remiss of me if I didn't let regular viewers of ESPNSoccernet Press Pass know that we'll be in Paris well ahead of time to bring you lively discussion from our set overlooking the Champs-Elysses. If you enjoyed our shows from Istanbul last year, you're in for more of the same. Our programme on Monday 15 May will be on air at the usual time with a rich Parisien flavour. Tommy Smyth and Janusz Michallik will be with me to help set the table for the week's events. We'll also be with you the following day, Tuesday 16 May, with a special 'eve of the big game' show. Then, on the night of the final, our ESPN coverage begins forty-five minutes before the game and runs until, well, every angle has been covered. As Barcelona and Arsenal fans can testify, tickets are at a premium. An allocation of just over 20,000 per team has been set aside by UEFA, and it's not as if we're talking about two teams with paltry followings. So if getting to Paris is a journey too far, or too difficult, rest assured you'll be able to savour the before, during, and after with us on ESPN. In the meantime, I'm trying to assure Mr. Smyth 'with a y' that escargots are indeed good for you - tasty too.

Money...Penny!!

No returns, no refunds, no satisfaction guaranteed: the football transfer market can be a harsh place, as even the finest managers have discovered.

And even the biggest cheque cannot ensure a successful signing... as the 10 worst signings of the last 12 months prove.

Abel Xavier

• 10. Abel Xavier (Middlesbrough, free)
A one-man boon to the peroxide industry, he illuminated the Riverside, albeit with a beard that, if it glowed any more, would be radioactive. Sadly, his performances were less memorable. Indeed Xavier only managed four matches - one a home defeat to Sunderland - before failing a drug test. His protestations of innocence have fallen on deaf ears; perhaps those four games were enough to convince Steve McClaren he was better off with Stuart Parnaby.

• 9. Zvonimir Vukic (Portsmouth, undisclosed)
It could have been almost any of the arrivals under Alain Perrin; indeed, even in his moment of triumph after preserving Portsmouth's Premiership status, Harry Redknapp was open in his contempt for his predecessor's signings. There were 15 players, he said, who were not good enough to play for Portsmouth. Without a doubt, Zvonimir Vukic was one such. Undistinguished as he appeared, the Serbia and Montenegro midfielder was hardly helped by Perrin's baffling 3-3-3-1 formation. He has vanished under Redknapp, eventually leaving for Partizan Belgrade on a free at the end of the January transfer window, and this is one undisclosed signing that Portsmouth won't be rushing to disclose.

• 8. Per Kroldrup (Everton, £5million)
As compliments go, 'looked good in pre-season' ranks up there with 'good in training'; the unspoken implication is that they are less useful in competitive matches. Dane Per Kroldrup did indeed impress in pre-season, but injuries and a swift decision by David Moyes that he was insufficiently aggressive for the Premiership meant he was limited to a solitary league start. And even that was a 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa. After six months, Moyes cut his losses and sold Kroldrup for £3million, preferring to bring back his predecessor, 34-year-old Alan Stubbs, on a free transfer.

• 7. Diomansy Kamara (West Brom, £1.5million)
While Nathan Ellington and, before his departure, Robert Earnshaw were regular sights on the bench at West Brom, Diomansy Kamara was alone among Bryan Robson's five forwards in invariably starting. Whether as a striker or a left winger, his pace posed problems. The difficulty for West Brom was the Senegalese's capacity to fail to score from practically anywhere. Misses against Aston Villa and Birmingham must rank among the costliest of the season, and he still has a solitary Premiership goal for Albion.

• 6. Walter Pandiani (Birmingham, £3million)
Like a poor man's Christophe Dugarry, he excelled on loan and then failed miserably when the deal was made permanent. Birmingham, however, were £2million poorer after a six-month stint that only yielded two goals. The brothers Gold and David Sullivan can surely afford it, but it set the tone for a season where Birmingham's strikers belied big reputations, price tags and salaries by consistently not scoring.

• 5. Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa, £3.5million)
He arrived as a flagship signing, as part of David O'Leary's long-term plan to upgrade the Aston Villa squad. He ended the season, along with all his team-mates, available for transfer. And in between, little went right for Wilfred Bouma. There was a particularly inauspicious debut - a 4-0 defeat to West Ham - a miserable record (five wins in 20 games) and a demotion to the bench, even when Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen and Mark Delaney were all injured. If further proof of Guus Hiddink's managerial qualities were required, he contrived to take a team including Bouma to the Champions League semi-finals. O'Leary is unlikely to emulate him.

• 4. Jon Stead (Sunderland, £1.8million)
Much of Mick McCarthy's transfer policy can be faulted. A seeming insistence on signing a striker from the Championship resulted in the arrival of Andy Gray (one goal in 22 games). Jon Stead was a rare recruit from the Premiership and has proved still less prolific. He broke his Sunderland duck in his 30th game; his recent record stands at three goals in 67 matches. Reasons abound for Sunderland's relegation, but buying a two-goal strike partnership ranks high among them.

• 3. Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea, £21million)
At Manchester City, he was perhaps the Premiership's best right winger, prolific in an average team and a beguiling combination of fearsome pace and a ferocious shot. At Chelsea, seemingly weighed down by an enormous price tag and confused by Jose Mourinho's definition of a winger, he has failed to score in 37 games. Indeed, he did not rate a place among the substitutes for the FA Cup semi-final, nor rate a mention when Mourinho berated his out-of-form wingers. Yet when he joined Chelsea, John Terry said Wright-Phillips had as much ability as Wayne Rooney; now, their World Cup places are in jeopardy for very different reasons. Another, rather cheaper, move is surely required.

Asier Del Horno

• 2. Asier del Horno (Chelsea, £8million)
Jose Mourinho feels that rightful credit is denied him because of Chelsea's wealth. Soccernet, however, is keen to remedy that; two of the Premiership's three worst signings, at a combined cost of £32million, are Mourinho's buys. Asier del Horno, the league's most expensive left back, has only served to illustrate how William Gallas excels out of position on his flank. Del Horno's despairing lunge at Lionel Messi was a prime cause of Chelsea's Champions League exit and, substituted in the first half against Portsmouth and at the interval against Liverpool, he has become accustomed to not completing games. It is hard to envisage him seeing out his contract at Stamford Bridge, either.

• 1. Albert Luque (Newcastle, £9.5 million)
The Spanish economy has benefited to the tune of £15million from Newcastle's generosity in recent years. First there was Marcelino, the defender sidelined by the most insignificant of injuries. And now there is Albert Luque, signed as the supply line to Alan Shearer and Michael Owen and instead thoroughly upstaged by the teenager Charles N'Zogbia. Newcastle supporters could have been forgiven for wondering whether they had lost their grasp on sanity when Real Madrid expressed an interest in Luque, despite his fine record with Deportivo la Coruna. Because, often omitted from the matchday 16, he has only managed six Premiership starts and one, rather meaningless, goal against Sunderland. When Graeme Souness blunders in the transfer market - as Jean-Alain Boumsong shows - he does so catastrophically; had they succeeded, the Scot might still have a job. Newcastle's next manager may care to note that, at the moment, excelling in La Liga appears a guarantee of infamy on Tyneside.