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Flynn Takes Charge As Toshack Walks Away

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Michael Williams

Expressions of the more traditional and less traditional nature could best describe the state of affairs currently surrounding the Welsh FA.

‘A stitch in time saves nine’ is one way to portray John Toshack’s resignation as national team manager this week as the Welsh FA look to nip in the bud their early form in Euro 2012 Qualification Group G.

After six years in charge Toshack explained he felt he’d taken the side as far as he could, giving someone else the opportunity to lead Wales to a first international tournament for over fifty years.

So who now for the Welsh? There hasn’t been many names that jump off the CV so the deciding panel will be under even more pressure to make the right decision.

Only John Hartson has currently declared a definite interest in the job but despite his obvious enthusiasm and determination, a lack of any coaching experience may hinder the former Celtic strikers hopes.

Of the Welsh managers available only Chris Coleman would be a stand out choice. The former Fulham and Coventry boss, currently working as a co-commentator alongside ITV’s finest, would surely jump at the chance to go back into management at a job without doubt at the top of his wish list.

For Gary Speed the timing of the changing of the guard in the Welsh dugout could not have been worse. Had John Toshack resigned only a few weeks previous then Speed would surely have been the bookies favourite for the job but after being handed the reins at Bramall Lane his chance, this time round, may have been and gone.

Another candidate the bookies have down as a possible successor to Toshack is Ryan Giggs. The Man United winger would be the dream appointment for many Welsh fans but with his performances improving further since his retirement from the international game, it’s doubtful he’d take the job and let his focus slide away from his Old Trafford duties.

With a number of high profile players retiring from international football, the reliance on youth has been strong in recent matches. The future, however, looks bright for the Welsh with a number of talented players progressing from the Under-19’s and Under-21’s to the senior squad, Simon Church and Aaron Ramsey just two in particular.

Given the young talent coming through and the need for them to gel quickly into the senior set up, Under-21 manager Brian Flynn could be the ideal candidate to ease the young prodigies in their development.

A familiar face and someone who has been around the Welsh set up for a number of years, Flynn would have no problems adjusting to the new role.

Whoever gets the opportunity to manage Wales will be taking hold of a squad with the main focus on youth and a side whose potential lies beyond this qualification campaign.

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The Future England Team Is Full Of Talent

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Michael Williams

As the final whistle in Bloemfontein signalled the end of England‘s dismal World Cup campaign, the nature of their departure from South Africa became hot topic for journalists and the public alike.

Nerves, tiredness and performance were just a handful of excuses as to why Fabio Capello and his squad failed to deliver but the lack of any young prodigies in the English game gained extra attention.

The seemingly desperate attempts to lure Paul Scholes out of international retirement added fuel to the fire on those claims but, even though Scholes continues to show what the Three Lions are missing, there shouldn’t be cause for concern at the shortage of young English talent. None more so than in the wide areas.

In last Fridays win over Bulgaria, England used four out of their five selected wingers, players who could all feature in at least the next two international tournaments.

Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson, James Milner and Ashley Young, aged between 21 and 25, all have the quality to be integral parts of a new England side for many years to come while all four have differing qualities that make them a nightmare for full backs.

Walcott possesses pace only Usain Bolt fails to be envious of, Milner fuses work ethic with an exceptional ability to place a ball into exactly the right area, Young is equally adaptable on either flank with a talent from set-pieces second to none while Johnson combines all above qualities with trickery of feet despised by opposition defenders.

Position for places on the wings up to and including the next World Cup seem to be firmly in place but beyond the showpiece in Brazil there a positive signs for The FA and co. With promising showings from the likes of Danny Rose and Marc Albrighton at Tottenham and Aston Villa respectively, continuing from the back end of last season, there is certainly talent out there.

Even further down the scale there is evidence of a promising future ahead as England’s Under 17’s returned home from Liechtenstein this summer as European Champions. Even beyond that age bracket there is promising talent coming through and in the shape of Liverpool’s 15 year old winger Raheem Sterling, there is a real exciting talent emerging. Already gifted with pace, Brazilian like skill and the ability to cross a ball, Sterling is one to be watched.

Many may still be suffering from post World Cup depression but there remains hope for the future, especially in the wingers department, and reports to the contrary are certainly wide of the mark.

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Could This Be The Best Premier League Season Ever?

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

In-form Berbatov gets United off to good start against Newcastle

Michael Williams

Expectation was high that the first weekend of the Premier League season would go off with a bang and it didn’t disappoint. In what is expected to be the most interesting campaign in years, the anticipation of the opening weekend was enhanced following the disappointment of this summers World Cup.

During the course of the weekend, and Monday night for those reading from Old Trafford, we witnessed goalkeeping blunders aplenty, managers getting suited to their new environments, summer signings getting their debuts out of the way and Blackpool causing a surprise topped only by Ben Shepherd appearing in a Sky Sports studio.
All in all I think we can call that entertainment.

This three day curtain raiser opened with the team most talked about over this, and soon to be many seasons, as Tottenham had the unenviable task of taking on a Man City side packed with over £60million worth of summer expenditure. Ask any pundit regarding the subject of foreigners in the English game and, after hearing how bad they are for the national team, the phrase ‘settling in’ always attends any conversation on the matter. The quality of players such as Yaya Toure and David Silva in particular is not in any doubt but it was clear at White Hart Lane on Saturday tea time that each player in this new look City side will need time to adjust to not only the Premier League, but to each other.

Malouda mobbed by team-mates after scoring the first

Chelsea appeared to be written off for almost every competition after their Community Shield defeat the previous weekend but they hit back as only champions do. The 6-0 battering of West Brom proved how clinical Ancelotti’s Chelsea continue to be and that the Baggies defence still appear to misread the Premier League once again. Even after one game, both sides got a glimpse of what potentially lies ahead of them this season.

Sandwiched in between events in North and West London on Saturday, the neutral supporter got the result they were after as Ian Holloway’s Blackpool hit the ground running against a laboured Wigan side. As many predict Holloway’s side will suffer a rollercoaster ride of a season his players looked anything but donkeys (no more poor Blackpool puns, we promise) as they strode into a 3-0 lead by halftime, adding one more before Mark Halsey called time on their Premier League debut.

Managers of any newly promoted side will adhere to the fact that team spirit goes along way when attempting to battle the drop, as well as the critics. Ian Holloway, while possessing an underrated tactical nouse, has a great way of bonding his teams together and making them a rock (ok, one more), something that cannot be said of many clubs in the same division.

Other highlights from week one of the Premier League included Everton’s colour choice of away kit, Milan Jovanovic diving for and missing a bouncing ball at Anfield, Fernando Torres receiving a standing ovation from all four sides of the ground for just standing up from his dugout seat in the same game and Joey Barton’s year 10 style facial hair.

Thirteen more days left of the transfer window, thirty seven more games to enjoy and Sky Sports News going High Definition, the coming weeks and months are full of promise for season 2010-11.

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Are The England Players Hungary Enough?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gerrard and co ready for Wembley boo boys

TFT

Fabio Capello’s England team start a new era in 24 hours as they prepare for their European Qualification campaign by taking on Hungary in a friendly at Wembley tomorrow evening. 45 days have past since England’s 4-1 defeat to the hands of the Germans at the World Cup in South Africa which has given the F.A. and Capello plenty of time to think about the future of the national side.

The emphasis on youth will be the latest idea to be instilled into the side after seeing a very youthful Germany rip an ageing England side apart in South Africa earlier in the summer. Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott have been drafted back into contention with new faces such as Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere being named in the squad for the very first time.

Capello’s plan to reduce the average age of the squad got a little easier as Paul Robinson and Wes Brown both decided that enough was enough and retired from the international scene to concentrate on their club careers.

Whether or not the age of a squad has anything to do with winning football matches remains to be seen, especially when you look at the Italian squad that won the World Cup in 2006. We should be holding up our hands and saying ‘we were simply not good enough’ just like what Steven Gerrard told the media in today’s England press conference. The 30-year-old Liverpool midfielder was in honest form ahead of tomorrow’s game and insisted that the players will be ready for new ways and ideas to improve the team’s performance.

“All the players are going to listen very carefully to what he has to say over the next few days and take it on board,” Gerrard explained. We have to listen to the man (Capello) who has got experience in these situations, and follow his lead.

“It was obvious to everyone that things never worked out for us at the World Cup. Hopefully we can regroup and move forward together and turn things around.”

Gerrard will lead the team out once again, with Rio Ferdinand still sidelined, and hopefully guide the team back to winning ways just in time for the start of the European Championship Qualifiers this autumn.

The old debate of having Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in the same starting line-up once again surfaced during the World Cup and for all arguments concerned the verdict is almost unanimous every time with answer being ‘no’ – they can’t play together in the same team. They are, by far, our best two central midfielders in club football but they are not compatible when it comes to the England team. Capello has the difficult decision to make, of which combination to use tomorrow night to try and sort the balance of the midfield. It’s a complex one which requires someone who earns £6millin-a-year to decide – let’s hope he gets it right soon before Gerrard or Lampard retires.

The players have to give it their all tomorrow night because England fans will not settle for anything less. Expect to here a chorus of boos at times and don’t expect to see rapturous applause when an England player makes a 5-yard pass to a team-mate. As friendlies go this one will have edge because after all, we will be witnessing the future of English football and many questions, like the one below, will have to be answered.

Have we got enough talented players, with footballing brains, to become a ‘good’ side in Europe or does Fabio Capello have a very big task on his hands?

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Liverpool Seek ‘Personal Touch’ As Takeover Looms

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Dynamic duo staying at Anfield

Michael Williams

If Liverpool had a to-do list then its goals over the summer would have read, ‘persuade Steven Gerrard to stay, convince Fernando Torres his future lies at Anfield and have new owners in by the end of August.’ So far, in the words of Meatloaf, two out of three isn’t bad.

Now the status of their key players are sorted, Liverpool can now focus on securing new owners and put an end to the infamous reign of Hicks and Gillett in the Anfield boardroom. Since their arrival at the club in 2007, Liverpool fans have seen their club been torn apart from within while promises over a new stadium and transfer budgets fell through, aggravating Kopites further.

The news this week that the club are considering several offers from parties willing to buy out the American duo will have been blissful music to the ears of Reds fans everywhere. Kenny Huang, head of Hong Kong based investment company QSL Sports Ltd, appears to be leading the race for control of Liverpool with, if reports are to believed, intentions on relieving the club of their debt and giving Roy Hodgson a handsome transfer kitty for the remaining weeks of the transfer window.

Money is a premium when takeover talks are the subject matter but in this instance Liverpool require an owner who respects the needs of the supporters and keeps the traditions of the football club intact.

Before David Moores sold up to Hicks and Gillett Liverpool Football Club were known and, more importantly, respected for keeping any in-house matters just that.
In the three years Hicks and Gillett have been at Anfield, they’ve continually fought between themselves, openly offered the managerial role to other candidates and frequently disgruntled fans as they saw the club that was built on the foundations of Shankly being torn apart week by week.

Steve Morgan, Chairman at Wolverhampton Wanderers, had previously expressed his desire to take over from David Moores but the lack of a close relationship between the two saw Morgan’s bid fail before it had even begun. Morgan would have been an ideal candidate for the hot seat in the Anfield boardroom. A self-confessed Kopite, someone who has the club’s future and stature at heart while having the millions to back his manager and to fund stadium plans, Liverpool supporters are envying the Molineux faithful for their devoted chairman.

The need for a personal touch should be just as important as the need for financial security when the five man judging panel decide the fate of Liverpool Football Club next week. The future, not only for this season, but for several more could depend on it.

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The New Premier League Season Is Almost Upon Us

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

New season is upon us

Michael Williams

Never before has a fortnight taken so long to come round. After Andres Iniesta elevated Spain into the history books, the following days of turning on the television at midday and not seeing a game of football taking place was tough to take.

Forward fourteen days and there is an escape from monotonous day time telly, spending time with the kids or even chatting to the spouse because pre-season and the transfer rumour mill are back!

Fans up and down the country have swapped, or maybe set alight, their England shirts for their respective club shirts looking forward to the new season and the excitement could perhaps be no higher than in the Blue half of Manchester.

They’ve already acquired two of La Liga’s finest in Yaya Toure and David Silva but the Man City cheque book appears to be as open as a 24-hour supermarket. Aleksander Kolarov joins Jerome Boateng in giving the City defence some depth but their pursuit of James Milner looks to be the main transfer saga of summer 2010.

When Gareth Barry appeared to be heading for Anfield in the summer of 2008, Martin O’Neill dug his heels in and held out for his desired price tag until Liverpool gave up their interest in the England midfielder. If he wants to he could easily do that again with Milner. Sign him or not though City will certainly be the ones to keep your eyes out for this season.

Just outside of Manchester, and at Old Trafford Alex Ferguson continues to try and kid reporters that he is happy with his current squad and requires no new signings. Javier Hernandez is so far the only signing United have made but with an injury prone Michael Owen in the ranks and with Dimitar Berbatov in the form of his life last campaign you can understand Fergie’s reluctance to spend big this summer.

Round the corner from the Man United supporters club HQ, Chelsea are preparing to defend their title with a record of, so far, two out none in. Joe Cole and Michael Ballack have left The Bridge with no-one as yet passing them on the way in but with Michael Essien returning from injury Carlo Ancelotti will feel as if he has saved a pretty penny.

The week Joe Cole signed in at Liverpool, along with the promising centre half Danny Wilson, the only thing that could’ve made Kopites smile more was if a John Bishop led consortium took control of the club. A new era is about to embark at Anfield as Roy Hodgson takes over the reigns in L4 after a poor showing last term. After finishing 2nd , losing only two games, in 2008/09 Liverpool followed that up with a 7th placed finish in 09/10. It was a similar story under Gerard Houllier in 2002/03 as the Reds finished fifth after being runners up the previous season. Early promise leading to even earlier disappointment, Liverpool committed footballs equivalent of premature ejaculation, but under Hodgson there is a clean slate to work from for a potentially promising season.

North London promises to be an area for intense rivalry from August to May this season as Spurs join rivals Arsenal in the Champions League for the first time. Whether Cesc Fabregas stays at the Emirates could determine how Arsenal’s season pans out, and should he stay his determination and attitude will be under scrutiny each week.

If there’s one man you can rely on for getting the right players in, and at an extremely reasonable price, then Harry Redknapp’s your man. Spurs are going to require players at the very top of their form for their new European adventure and Redknapp knows how hard he’ll have to work in the coming weeks to get the right players in.

While he, and many other managers, try to do that we’ll sit back and thank our lucky stars the Premier League doesn’t have a four year break.

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Who Are The World Cup Winners?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Spain are simply the best

Michael Williams

It may have ended the way many would have predicted but over the past four weeks the World Cup has shocked many while outraging others.
From France’s demolition job all the way through to Spain’s victorious campaign, it’s been quite a month to remember and here are the pick of the best and the worst moments from events from South Africa.

Best Team – Spain

Tough category to win this one, any of the contenders deserve to win but it’s the Spanish who have beaten off competition from Holland, Germany and the combination of Hansen and Seedorf to take the prize. The pre-tournament favourites only scored eight goals but, time and again, beat opponents rarely threatening to escape their own half as they went on to make history.

Worst Team – France

Not a title to be proud of but France do become the proud winners of at least something this summer. It was a close call between Les Bleus and previous champions Italy, who were both back home before the knockout stages began, but verbally abusing the manager and refusal to train has given France the edge in this category.

Surprise Package – Richard Kingson

In a tournament where the worlds best have failed to hit the heights expected of them, the Wigan goalkeeper, along with his national team-mates, have impressed many in their run to the quarter-finals. He may have only played five games during his time in England but after each performance it has become apparent why, but he put all that behind him to help the Black Stars to their best World Cup performance with some fine displays along the way.

Most Agile Player – Nigel De Jong

For the ninety-six goalkeepers that travelled to the World Cup who pride themselves on their agility, non of them can come close to the Holland midfielder. The Man City man had clearly gone overboard on his stretches before Sunday’s World Cup final as Xabi Alonso’s midriff found out. When Alonso looks back on his tournament he’ll have a winners medal and six separate boot marks on his chest to revive good memories.

Best Jekyll and Hyde Moment – Fabio Capello

There aren’t many highlights of England’s World Cup 2010 campaign but the footage of Fabio Capello during his sides 1-0 win over Slovenia is certainly worth looking back on. With everything to lose and qualification to gain the nerves made the Italian a source of comedy. Urging Stuart Pearce up and down with a smile and then immediate frown made the occasion more like a Laurel and Hardy movie than a World Cup fixture.

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Capello Given The Green Light From The F.A.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Lights, camera, action as Capello looks for youngsters to shine

TFT

Fabio Capello was given the go ahead to continue as England Manager last week and try to rebuild the ageing squad for their next challenge, European Championship qualification, which gets under way in September.

From our previous post about the current England situation there were clouds of doubt over Capello and the press were quick to make their own judgements and comment on what action the F.A. should take next. Many papers reported that the Italian would be sacked and that an Englishman, either Roy Hodgson or Harry Redknapp, would be appointed before next month’s friendly match against Hungary.

One of the comments left from the last Capello article outlined why it was important for the Football Association to stick with the current England boss.

“As much as we wish it hadn’t happened at the World Cup, sometimes people need to make mistakes and things need to go wrong before they go right.

Keeping Capello on would be the right decision, he now knows ‘what not to do’ and what the problems are that need to be fixed. Give him the next tournament, then we will see.” – Andi

Other comments also suggested that the root of the problem lies away from Capello and that it is the current crop of players that need to be addressed and improved before the next World Cup in Brazil.

“To remove Capello serves no purpose until the bigger problems are resolved.” – Mark

“It’s more than just the manager, and until the F.A. figure out what it is, simply replacing the man does not resolve the deeper issues.” – Mike

It is clear to see that the teams that have done well at the World Cup in South Africa have a mixed balance of quality, experience and youth in their ranks – just look at Germany as the surprise package this summer with their squad’s average age of just 25. Compare that to teams that fell very short of their expectations at the World Cup; Italy = 28.2, France = 27.4 and England at 28.7. Now can we see why our team looked tired and off the pace.

Expanding on the comments left for ‘The Toughest Football Management Job In The World’ the mistakes the manager made will soon be put right as the inevitable influx of youth will be underlined.

With the lack of English talent out there it will be hard for Capello to bring players straight into the squad at such short notice but there is certainly room for a change in our mentality towards the national side. Will the overpaid players be back in the squad? And if they are selected again, will their attitudes change towards the manager because there was an evident rift between a small select of players and Capello whilst in South Africa.

Going back to the topic of England youngsters and ending on this note – which players should be included in Capello’s new youthful looking squad for next month’s friendly at Wembley?

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Blatter Owes It To The Beautiful Game

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Are we close to introducing goal-line technology?

Michael Williams

Ok, that’s it, enough is enough. Sepp Blatter, and his FIFA henchmen, need to get off their penny-farthings and enter the twenty first century.

Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany on Sunday was the perfect opportunity for Blatter and co. to scrap all their beliefs about football being a sport of human error and introduce much needed technology.

To his credit, FIFA’s President has issued an apology to the FA and insisted that the subject of goal-line technology would be re-opened at a meeting following the World Cup. However, if anyone in football wasn’t fully convinced by Blatter’s promise no one could completely blame them.

For the worlds most popular sport to still be lacking the technology needed to crease out any human error is baffling, even more so considering that there are few sports that are without the use of video replays. Even Snooker has jumped on the hawk-eye bandwagon.

Football surely cant be behind snooker in getting to grips with the times, can it?

The lack of technology becomes more bemusing as it’s rare that you will find a manager, player, commentator, former player, supporters or anyone associated with the sport, who is putting up a protest against the use of the dreaded ‘T’ word.

Should the footballing world and its wife get their wish and see technology used in the game then there would be a few areas to iron out before it is used successfully.
Equality would be a word used more than ever should hawk-eye be allowed access to the sport. A decision to decide who wins the Premier League title and who gets relegated from the Football League are on a par with each other for the matter of importance, but as the Sky cameras would be at Stamford Bridge and not the Kassam Stadium for example, no offence Oxford fans, the injustice would still surface.

Ideally there would be no call for video technology as every decision an official makes would be the correct one, but as we are well aware human error can seep into any game of football. Case upon case has been issued to FIFA for technology to become a fixture of our game but time and again they arrogantly deny it, cowardly suggesting their way is best.

Should a high profile decision surface once more in the remaining games of a World Cup that England fans are attempting to forget, then hopefully Sepp Blatter will follow up his words and implement the equipment that would prevent supporters from continually asking themselves, “what if.”

Unless that decision comes in the last seconds of extra-time in the World Cup final then it seems unlikely we’ll see a change for some time.

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The Toughest Football Management Job In The World

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Will Capello be forced out?

TFT

The Football Theory thought they would get in on the act with the latest England debate. The article below starts off the discussion and with the interaction of comments left by fans we want to build the article even more as the days go on until the F.A. decide whether or not to terminate Fabio Capello’s contract with England. Please leave your thoughts below so we can write about them in our next article.

Being England manager is the toughest job in football, fact. In recent years we have seen the likes of Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren leave the England post with their tales between their legs. One defeat in this job can cost you and with Capello’s reputation being questioned in the days after England’s defeat to Germany the likelihood of the Italian leaving the scene of a crime he did not commit becomes more and more likely.

When it comes to tough jobs we see high salaries being paid, this is true in all business, and the England job is no different especially in today’s multi-billion pound football industry. It is embarrassing to hear that the Football Association will mull over Capello’s future and that his compensation, if he is relieved of duties, is a main factor to the decision. The F.A. know how to waste money, just look at Wembley Stadium and how badly they did with that wasting nearly £800million. A massive contrast can be seen with the stadium in Durban at the World Cup which is of similar design to Wembley. The cost of this stadium to the South Africans -  £300million. Just think, if we had the same common sense as them we would have enough money left over to pay Jose Mourinho £100million-a-year until he would lead us to World Cup glory in 2014.

Back to reality now. An almost blemish free qualifying campaign from England leading up to the World Cup meant that expectations of the media and the public were high for the team to do well. Maybe Capello’s team peaked too soon during the period of qualification because we were a shadow of what we saw against the likes of Ukraine and Croatia.

Were the England players tired?

Maybe Capello was right in saying our players were tired during the World Cup, they certainly looked like they were tired against Algeria and Germany. The expectations of the players to perform were a major factor in the team’s performances and results. Most of our players were placed on huge pedestals which has backfired on us seeing the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney underachieve at this year’s World Cup in South Africa.

We need to change our mentality towards the England team. They maybe high earners and live their lives like Hollywood superstars but at the end of the day they are just human beings who buckle under high pressure. Maybe if we backed off a bit they might give us something to celebrate about. We also need to give Capello time to mould a new team of players together that can play in any system without players questioning the man in charge.

The debate will go on for weeks to come but let’s be realistic about our football team from now on – they are not a world-class team and will not be until we give the current manager a chance to get things right.

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