football | Wait until next year

August 12, 2009

Why I won’t be watching the England/Holland game tonight

OK, so I agreed to an evening out with my Significant Other tonight, forgeting a game was on, but that’s not the reason. Genuinely. Honest.

Even if I wasn’t spending this evening with my S.O. I’m not so sure I’d go out of my way so see tonight’s game, even though ITV are showing it – so I could potentially watch in the comfort of my very own Land of Leather recliner. Mmm. Cheap leather sofa.

But why?

1. Friendlies aren’t much fun

Has there ever been a more meaningless pre-season friendly? I can see that in the year prior to a major tournament it makes sense to have your squad to play together as much as possible. It’s certainly worked in the past for smaller footballing nations such as USA in ’94 and South Korea in 2002. But this doesn’t necessarily make for great viewing. Non-competitive England games tend to fizzle out in a sea of substitutions soon after half-time. It’s hard to get excited over a game that doesn’t matter, essentially an extended training exercise.

2. Terrible, terrible timing

Who schedules an international friendly now? Clubs are reluctant to release players at the best of times, so having an international as Europe’s seasons begin is idiotic. Why not start the season a week earlier and have an international break further into the season?

3. The players don’t want to play

The players themselves aren’t going to want to over-exert themselves for fear of injuring themselves (or even tiring themselves) before the season has even properly begun. Or, in the case of Steven Gerrard and others, they’ll remove themselves entirely, to be fit for the weekend. Sensible, I say.

4. Clive Tyldesley

Clive Tyldesley will probably be commentating. And probably trying to shoehorn in Champions League 99 and 05 references at inappropriate moments.

5. Pizza Express is nicer than pre-season internationals

And we have a voucher! Cheap pizza!

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August 10, 2009

It’s started already? The new football season begins

It’s hard to believe that the new football season has already begun. With post-season internationals and pre-season friendlies it doesn’t feel like there’s been any real break from last season, even without an international tournament this year.

Plus, these are the ‘phoney war’ weeks, with transfers still taking place, teams still being tweaked and the real competitive end of the season still a long, long way off. With sunny skies and the cricket still in flow, there is a certain unreality about August fixtures. There needs to be at least a few games before we see just what the stories of the season might be, such as Hull’s amazing run early last season, that essentially kept them up.

Not that the Premier League has begun of course, but that’s not to say there wasn’t interesting events elsewhere.

I suppose the result of the weekend has to be Colchester’s 7-1 thrashing of Norwich at Carrow Road. Such a heavy home defeat for a newly regulated side, and supposed ‘big club’ of League One was quite the shock. How do you pick yourself up after such a dreadful result, one that saw Norwich fans leave before half-time, with a couple of them throwing their season tickets at manager Bryan Gunn (a little premature, chaps?). Also, how will Colchester build on this, and how annoyed are they that the focus has been on Norwich’s collapse, rather than Colchester’s performance? Probably not that annoyed, but still…

Also, the Sven Show began in style for Notts County with a 5-0 win. How long do we think that will last?

And finally, to put things in perspective, another football death. Espanyol’s captain, Daniel Jarque, died of a heart attack on Saturday, aged 26. A truly shocking and tragic death, but this sort of thing seems to be becoming more and more common. I wonder what research (or at least thought) is going into the possible reasons for this increase in young players dying, and what preventative measures can be put in place.

August 6, 2009

Liverpool Champions League winners 2005 – Where are they now?

I was surprised to read in the coverage of Xabi Alonso’s transfer to Real Madrid, that his departure from Liverpool left only Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher as the only 2005 Champions League winners still on Liverpool’s books.

So, I thought I’d explore what happened to the rest, to coin a phrase – “Where are they now?”

Jerzy Dudek

Alonso will see a familiar face at Real in Jerzy Dudek, who moved there at the end of the 2006/7 season. He hasn’t played much, with Iker Casillas the regular ‘keeper and hard to displace.

Steve Finnan

Steve moved to Espanyol in September last year, in an unlikely transfer, but is now back in England, having signed a one-year contract with Portsmouth.

Jamie Carragher

Still very much a key figure at Liverpool.

Sami Hyypiä

After ten years at Liverpool Sami moved to Bayer Leverkusen this summer, but has suggested that he may well return in the future in a coaching capacity.

Djimi Traoré

Djimi has been something of a journeyman since leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2006, playing for Charlton, Portsmouth, Birmingham (on loan), and recently signed a two-year deal with AS Monaco.

Xabi Alonso

As previously mentioned, moved to Real Madrid this week.

Luis Garcia

Scored that goal to send Liverpool to the final, and seemed to have a knack for scoring crucial goals. He moved to Atlético Madrid in 2007, but has failed to establish himself as a first-team regular.

Steven Gerrard

Chelsea couldn’t tempt him away – and has stated that he’s likely to finish his career at Liverpool.

John Arne Riise

Riise moved to Roma last summer, and scored against both Inter and AC Milan last season.

Harry Kewell

The man fated to get injured in Champions League finals moved to Galatasaray last summer, a controversial move with fans of his old club Leeds, as he had been a Leeds player when two of their fans had been killed prior to a UEFA Cup semi-final with Galatasaray in 2000.

Milan Baroš

Milan left Liverpool in August 2005, soon after the Champions League win. He is another journeyman of sorts, playing for Aston Villa, Lyon and Portsmouth, before joining Galatasaray last summer, finishing up top scorer in the Turkish league.

Substitutes:

Dietmar Hamann

The substitution that perhaps turned that final around. In 2006, after backing off from a deal with Bolton, Didi signed with Manchester City. This summer he was released by City, but there have been reports of him signing with Preston North End, or QPR.

Djibril Cissé

Cissé went on loan to Marseille in July 2006, signing with them permanently a year later. Last season he went on loan again, this time to Sunderland, and in June signed with Panathinaikos.

Vladimír Šmicer

Vladi knew the final would be his last match in a Liverpool shirt, and would move to Bordeaux that summer. In 2007 he returned to his first club, Slavia Prague, but has been plagued with injuries.

So, interesting (I think anyway) to look at where these players ended up. Arguably nobody has gone onto bigger and better things. Is that just down to bad luck and bad decisions? Or were these a reasonably limited group of individuals who worked so much better as a team – the whole being better than the sum of the parts? Being sentimental here, but maybe Istanbul really was a miracle…

August 5, 2009

Liverpool sign Alberto Aquilani

Liverpool haven’t hung around when it comes to replacing Xabi Alonso, signing Roma’s Alberto Aquilani for £18million.

Apart from a few clips on YouTube I haven’t seen much of the guy, but he’s an Italian international, so you’d hope isn’t half bad, although I thought that with Dossena…

Still, credit to Benitez for getting new blood in so quickly after the loss of a key player. The new season is just around the corner, and it’s clear that the squad needs bolstering. Hopefully, one or two more names are on their way, as the stronger the squad the better.

Anyone seen Aquilani? Any thoughts?

August 4, 2009

Xabi Alonso finally leaves Liverpool for Real Madrid

Xabi Alonso appears to be on the verge of leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid. Not a surprise by any means after all the protracted negotiations, but still sad for me as a Liverpool fan. Alonso will go down in Liverpool folklore as part of the 2005 Champions League winning team, particularly for squeezing in that equaliser, but he will be missed for more than purely nostalgic reasons. Last season he was clearly one of Liverpool’s best players, and after the nonsense of Benitez trying to sell him on last summer it was wonderful to see Alonso show just how great a player he is, when lesser personalities might not have made quite the effort.

His passing was metronomic and his presence of mind in the Liverpool midfield will evidently be missed. But not just his passing – the stats also showed that more often that not he was one of the most industrious runners, covering more ground that most, if not all, his team-mates.

I remember reading that Alonso had made a point of actually living in Liverpool, to feel part of the city, rather than living out in the Cheshire footballers heartland. I think that sums up the fantastic attitude he had to playing for the club. I don’t envy whoever steps into his slot.

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