Playing without fear

Swansea City’s 3-2 win over Arsenal yesterday was a remarkable achievement, and the players and management have rightly received lots of praise in today’s press. The main analysis has revolved around the fact that Swansea managed to have more possession than Arsenal. A year ago, Arsene Wenger could not have envisaged a newly promoted side having 55% possession against his team, who he has worked so hard to make the Premier League passing kings. Yesterday, not only did Swansea have more possession, but they looked more comfortable on the ball and pressed Arsenal into making errors all afternoon.

Brendan Rodgers took over as Manager of Swansea City in July 2010. In his first season he achieved promotion through the play-offs, and now his side sit 10th in the Premier League. His football philosophy was taken on board by the Swansea fans, who Rodgers regards as “knowledgeable and understanding” and the club has not looked back. No matter the opposition, and regardless of whether they are winning or losing, Swansea continue to pass, press and commit numbers forward. This requires courage, and Rodgers has given his players the belief that they can retain possession and continue to play. Brendan Rodgers said last season that “The model of my coaching life has been based around Barcelona, I have spent time in Spain watching them and they are my big influence.” This kind of progressive thinking is delivering results for the club, and proves that Barcelona’s model can be adopted lower down the football order. Brendan Rodgers has players who are comfortable on the ball, and who trust their teammates with delivering or receiving passes.

Barcelona also faced a newly promoted team yesterday, and like Arsenal, they too came up against a side who had more on their mind than simply parking the bus. Pep Guardiola’s team had played 9 home games this season in La Liga, scoring 39 goals and conceding none. Real Betis won the Segunda Division last season with a +41 goal difference, and in January 2011, they beat Barcelona 3-1 in the Copa del Rey although they still went out 6-3 on aggregate.

Last night Betis travelled to the Camp Nou with the full intention of attacking Barcelona. They started brilliantly and created numerous chances early on. Somehow, despite this great start, Barcelona managed to score two quick goals and Betis found themselves 2-0 down after just 12 minutes. At this point, most other visiting teams usually just give up, and do their best to keep the score down, but not Real Betis. Two goals either side of half time got Betis back level, and the Barcelona team were left stunned. Pep Guardiola was irate on the sideline, and although Barcelona eventually went on to win 4-2, they felt threatened for the first time this season in the league at home.

Real Betis, Swansea City and Norwich City have all come up to their top divisions this season, and all three teams are applying themselves so positively that it is hard not to want them to do well. For so long smaller teams have sacrificed any sense of club identity in order to progress up the ladder, but with managers like Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert creating exciting teams and challenging the status quo, football’s top divisions can only benefit.

Tottenham make their game in hand count

Winning a game in hand always seems more precious than a normal win. In this case, Tottenham won a game in hand that they have had since the first day of the season. Spurs put in a solid performance, and after remaining unbeaten over Christmas and New Year they are now level on points with Manchester United and 3 points off the top of the table.

Everton failed to have a single shot on target on Wednesday, and Spurs’ defence looks tougher than ever after keeping their 8th clean sheet of the season. This was despite not having either Ledley King or William Gallas. Michael Dawson came back into the side after a long period out injured and partnered excellently with Younes Kaboul. Jake Livermore was also covering in midfield, where both Scott Parker and Sandro were missing. Tottenham’s squad depth is often overlooked, but with players like Defoe, Pienaar, Pavlyuchenko and Huddlestone in reserve, Spurs have a lot of cover all over the pitch.

Tottenham are now 8 points above Chelsea, 9 points ahead of Arsenal and 11 points clear of Liverpool. Such a strong league position is relatively unknown for Spurs, but it would take a catastrophically bad second half to the season for Spurs not to collect a Champions League place now. Challenging for the title should be Tottenham’s aim now, and falling short of that would be no disgrace. The top of the Premier League has been rather stale for a long time, and you would have had a hard time convincing people five years ago that in 2012 Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur would be battling for the Premier League title. Now that doesn’t seem so implausible.

Beckham’s final farewell

17 June 2007 - David Beckham starts his final game for Real Madrid. Despite limping off after 65 minutes, Beckham still realised his dream of winning La Liga as Madrid beat Mallorca 3-1 at the Bernabéu. A perfect end to his Spanish adventure.

In July 2007 David Beckham joined LA Galaxy to begin a new adventure with broader goals of boosting soccer’s popularity in the United States. Whether this mission has been fully acheived during Beckham’s four and a half year stay is debatable, but one target remains for the Englishman in America.

Beckham has never won the biggest prize in American soccer, the MLS Cup. The strange and convoluted Conference and Playoff system that runs from March to November, culminates in one match where the winner takes all. In 2009 he reached the grand event but ended up on the losing side. Beckham scored in a penalty shootout which LA Galaxy lost 5-4 to Real Salt Lake. This Sunday, LA Galaxy will try again as they take on Houston Dynamo at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles for a chance to lift the MLS Cup.

This season David Beckham has the second highest number of assists in the MLS (15), including a beautiful cross which set up Galaxy’s second goal in the Western Conference Final.

Sunday could be Beckham’s last game for the Galaxy. He has yet to decide whether he will stay on another year in Los Angeles, and there has been speculation that big spending Paris Saint-Germain are looking to bring him to France. Beckham is 36 years old and has spoken many times about how he will carefully consider his future, and do what is best for his family.

20 November 2011 - David Beckham will start what could be his final game for LA Galaxy. At 36 years of age and after a 4 year wait, Beckham could finally lift the MLS Cup and answer his critics in the best possible way, on the pitch. A perfect end to his American adventure.

Wenger sees his opportunity

By 3PM tomorrow, optimism and belief could flood into the veins of Arsenal Football Club, their players and supporters buoyed by a victory which has the potential to turn their season around. At least that is what Arsene Wenger hopes.

Arsenal won only 2 of their first 7 games in the Premier League, and their 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford threatened to ruin their season in confidence shattering style. Yet since losing 4-3 at Ewood Park, Arsenal have won 7 of their last 8 games in all competitions. The worrying trend for Arsenal fans however is that the Gunners have failed in every big challenge so far this season in the Premier League. Arsene Wenger’s side have lost to Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham, which has only fuelled some people’s belief that Arsenal are falling behind following the loss of Fabregas and Nasri in the summer.

Arsenal face their next test in the league tomorrow at Stamford Bridge. Big outsiders at 5/1, not many give Arsenal a chance against Chelsea. However, Andre Villas-Boas’ team have problems of their own at the moment, and Arsene Wenger will see this as his opportunity. Fined £20,000 by the Football Association for failing to control their players last week at QPR, Chelsea have Didier Drogba suspended and John Terry caught up in an investigation over allegations of racist abuse.

Arsenal could welcome back Thomas Vermaelen for his first Premier League appearance since August, after he played midweek in the Carling Cup. Despite his poor form, Andrei Arshavin also looked impressive against Bolton, and Gervinho has been scoring and assisting regularly this season. Robin van Persie, who has scored 6 goals in his last 4 Premier League games, will again be Arsenal’s main and arguably only world class threat. Chelsea will still feel that they should win this match, but Wenger firmly believes that a win for Arsenal is key to their season.

“a win would of course install us among the top teams in the league, but what is very important is that it would strengthen the belief inside the team and would continue our progress" said the Arsenal manager.

A win could change everything. Arsenal could end October a mere 3 points behind Chelsea in the table, which would have seemed highly unlikely even 3 weeks ago. A win tomorrow would give Wenger all the ammunition he needs in the post-match interviews to point to a very impressive run of victories. However, a loss at Chelsea tomorrow would mean another test failed, another dent in Arsenal’s already fragile confidence, and another fall from which Wenger must rise and push on, dragging his team through their broken season.

Bayern Munich 2-0 Manchester City - Germans pass their test

On Tuesday night Bayern Munich beat big spending Manchester City at the Allianz Arena by a surprisingly comfortable 2-0 scoreline. City started well, and while the first 30 minutes were relatively even, two goals from Mario Gomez before half-time sealed the victory. In the second half Man City didn’t put up much of a fight, and with Tevez refusing to come on as a substitute with around 30 minutes still to play, it was a poor night for Mancini’s men.

Manchester City found it difficult to retain possession at crucial times in the game, and Bayern never let them rest, unleashing 24 shots at City’s goal. Joe Hart had an excellent game, but was visibly angry with his defence, who stood almost completely still for both of Bayern’s goals. City struggled to get the ball forward, which meant that Aguero and Dzeko failed to make much of an impact on the match. David Silva was not able to have as much an impact on proceedings as usual, but he was still City’s most dangerous player. Silva completed more passes in the final third than any other City player, creating 3 chances.

David Silva’s commitment to the team couldn't be questioned either. Silva made more tackles than any other Manchester City player, but also committed the most fouls.

Bayern Munich bossed the majority of this match and Manchester City really struggled throughout to deal with Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Ribery was a handful all night for Micah Richards and anyone else who came across to cover. Ribery made more attacking third passes and created more chances than anyone else on the pitch. The Frenchman, who was taking on defenders all night long, was also fouled more than anyone else.

Schweinsteiger and Ribery had a combined 9 shots at goal - the same as the entire Manchester City team.

Mario Gomez once again showed his predatory striking skills, scoring both goals from rebounds off the goalkeeper, in fact all 6 of Gomez’s shots were from inside the penalty area.

Bayern extended their amazing win and clean sheet run to 10 matches. This was meant to be a first real test for both sides, and it was Bayern Munich who passed quite comfortably.

Chalkboards created using the excellent Stats Zone iPhone App from FourFourTwo and Opta - http://fourfourtwo.com/statszone/

Champions League Preview - Bayern Munich v Manchester City

Manchester City travel to Germany tonight to take on Bayern Munich in Group A of the UEFA Champions League. Both teams are flying high in their respective domestic leagues, and their statistics so far this season suggest tonight’s match is a real heavyweight clash.

Bayern Munich are top of the Bundesliga and are in such imperious form that some in Germany believe the title is theirs for the taking. After losing their first match of the season 1-0 at home to Monchengladbach, they have gone on an incredible run of results in all competitions. In Bayern’s last 9 games they have won all 9, keeping a clean sheet in every match and scoring 26 goals.

Manchester City have also enjoyed a very impressive start to the season, and they currently sit second in the Premier League, only behind Manchester United on goal difference. Unbeaten in all competitions so far, City have looked excellent going forward, scoring 19 goals in their 6 League games.

Both teams will see tonight’s match as a real test, and viewers should be treated to an absolutely fascinating tie.

Madrid 4-0 Spurs - Redknapp adds to the confusion

First of all, let me congratulate Real Madrid for an excellent and professional performance last night which saw them all but qualify for the semi-finals. In the second half in particular, Madrid demonstrated perfectly how to pressure and overrun 10 men and fully deserved their 4-0 win.

However I'm not here to talk about that, I'm here to complain bitterly and wonder how it is even possible for Tottenham to capitulate so fast into a confused and disorganised mess. First of all Aaron Lennon is taken ill in the tunnel minutes before kick-off. Then Jermaine Jenas is used to replace him, yet Redknapp decides not to do a straight swap, and finally after conceding an early goal, Peter Crouch loses all sense and gets himself sent off.

I blame Crouch the most, to get sent off for two identical tackles in the first 15 minutes is unforgivable. He let his team-mates down and made the rest of their evening pretty much impossible. Defending for 75 minutes in the Bernabeu with ten men, when already 1-0 down is such a difficult thing to do. Lennon missing was also a massive blow for Spurs. Lennon can often shine on the right hand side when all the attention is on Bale, and together they can be devastating on the counter attack, it is rather disappointing that we never got to see this full strength attack in action.

There is one person who doesn't seem to be getting enough criticism in the press today in my opinion - Harry Redknapp. I don't blame him for what happened after Crouch's sending off, but in the opening 15 minutes Spurs were a complete mess. To me, with Lennon being withdrawn so late, Jermaine Jenas should quite clearly have just slotted straight into Lennon's position on the right side of midfield. Jenas has pace and while this is not his position, I am sure that he could have adapted. This however did not happen, instead Redknapp decided to change the entire shape of the team to accommodate Jenas in the middle. Surely the team have spent the last few days preparing in a very specific way, with Modric and Sandro in the middle and Bale and Lennon on the wings. Redknapp's last minute adjustments meant that Modric was pushed out to the left and Bale didn't seem to know which wing he was playing on as he continually switched early on.

As you can see above, in the first 15 minutes (before Crouch got sent off) Tottenham's midfield was all over the place. It baffles me that after having such a clear formation and game-plan almost right up to kick-off, that the manager would move so many things around at the last minute. It can also be argued that the confusion caused by these changes led to Adebayor's first goal. As the teams were lining up on the pitch, Tottenham's coaching staff can be seen showing Jenas tactical information on a clipboard. In comes the first corner, and Adebayor is left free by Jenas to nod home the opening goal. Surely somebody was assigned to mark Adebayor, and it couldn't have been little Lennon.

Bad decision making from the boss resulted in mass confusion on the pitch, and terrible decision making from the lanky one up front ended all hope of limiting the damage.

Rant over - One bad result won't deter us Spurs fans, we forgive and forget quite easily. We'll just win the second leg 5-0 at White Hart Lane - COYS!

Chalkboard courtesy of the excellent Total Football - Champions League iPhone app.

David Villa - Born to Score (Part 1)

This week, David Villa made history as he moved past Raul to become Spain’s leading International goal scorer of all time. Villa has scored an incredible 46 goals in just 73 International matches, averaging more than a goal every other game. After being the top goal scorer at Euro 2008 and the joint top at last summer’s World Cup, the 29 year old’s International goal scoring record is the current pinnacle of world football. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned his haul of over 250 club goals yet either.

David Villa is a wonderful footballer, he has pace, bundles of technical ability and is a deadly and amazingly consistent finisher. He is arguably the best striker in the world and has a club and international goalscoring record to back that up. The thing is, there are two certain individuals who seem determined to keep Villa confined to the shadows when it comes to goals, and they aren’t even supposed to be strikers. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have left the rest of Europe in their dust by delivering a scarcely believable glut of goals over the last couple of seasons, but David Villa still remains one of the planet’s top forwards.

Arguably, David Villa’s greatest asset is his consistency. In each of the past ten years, Villa has scored 20 or more goals a season. This amazing record spans right back to when Villa first broke into the Sporting Gijon first team at the age of 19. Playing for Gijon in the Segunda División, David Villa scored 40 goals in 85 games before in 2003, newly promoted Real Zaragoza signed the 21 year old for approximately €3m.

In his first season with his new club Villa also won the first silverware of his career, scoring a goal in the Copa del Rey Final in which Zaragoza beat David Beckham’s Real Madrid 3-2 after Extra time. Villa’s time at Zaragoza was a success; in two seasons he helped the newly promoted team to two mid table finishes in La Liga and also got to play in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup as a result of their domestic Cup success. While at Zaragoza, Villa also made his International debut for Spain in February 2005. On the back of this success Quique Sánchez Flores brought the striker to Valencia for €12m in the summer of 2005.

Villa played at Valencia for 5 seasons, making 212 appearances and scoring 129 goals. During this time Valencia achieved 2 third place finishes in the league and also won the 2007/08 Copa del Rey. Villa was Valencia’s top scorer five seasons in a row and made 64 appearances for the Spanish National side during this time, scoring 42 goals. His magnificent record for both Club and Country over half a decade finally paved the way for his richly deserved big-money transfer.

In May 2010, just before the World Cup in South Africa, Barcelona signed David Villa for a fee of around €40 million. After a failed experiment with striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, David Villa was seen by many to be a much safer option than the unpredictable Swede. Already playing alongside many of his future teammates for the Spanish National team, Villa has settled into a familiar system rather effortlessly. Despite some light criticism at the start of the season, Villa has already scored over 20 goals this season, the tenth season in a row that he has achieved this. He has scored important goals too, in particular his brace in the 5-0 Clasico win as well as an important away goal in the Champions League Round of 16 tie against Arsenal.

Despite his wonderful ability to get goals wherever and whenever he plays, surprisingly Villa has never won the Pichichi, and he is almost certain not to win it this season either. David Villa is currently the third top scorer in La Liga 10 behind Messi and Ronaldo, but with Barcelona still fighting for 3 competitions, his goals could yet have a huge impact on where the dust settles in Spain this season.

In part two, I take a more in depth look at Villa’s incredible record for his Country.

Primera Division strikes blocked by Madrid Court

The proposed strikes in Spain have been blocked by a Madrid court and this weekend’s fixtures will go ahead as normal. 14 of the league’s teams threatened a walk-out following a dispute over television rights. The clubs were upset over a rule that states one match per week must be shown on free-to-air television. They argue that the removal of this rule would allow teams to get more money through pay-TV rights.

The remaining six teams were opposed to the strike and started legal proceedings to challenge this action. The six “rebel” teams were Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Real Zaragoza, Espanyol and Villarreal. These teams described the proposed action as "a disproportionate, untimely measure that is contrary to the interests of the clubs, the competition and the fans and is, in addition, contrary to the law". The Madrid based court agreed.

Six Primera Division games are live on Sky Sports this weekend, including a massive match at El Madrigal as leaders Barcelona travel to third place Villarreal on Saturday night:

Saturday, 2 April 2011
Real Madrid v Sporting Gijon, 17:00 (Live on Sky Sports 4)
Getafe v Valencia, 19:00 (Live on Sky Sports 4)
Villarreal v Barcelona, 21:00 (Live on Sky Sports 4)

Sunday, 3 April 2011
Deportivo La Coruna v Mallorca, 16:00
Espanyol v Racing Santander, 16:00
Levante v Malaga, 16:00
Real Sociedad v Hercules, 16:00
Sevilla v Real Zaragoza, 18:00 (Live on Sky Sports 1)
Osasuna v Atletico Madrid, 20:00 (Live on Sky Sports 1)

Monday, 4 April 2011
Almeria v Athletic Bilbao, 20:00 (Live on Sky Sports Online)

Champions League Round of 16 - Brief Analysis Part 2

The second set of Champions League Round of 16 first legs took place this week. This week's entertainment level may have dropped, with only 5 goals being scored as opposed to 11 last week.

Below, I take a look at some points of interest with the aid of the excellent Total Football - Champions League iPhone app.

Impact Substitution
Jose Mourinho has shown this season that he doesn't necessarily trust Karim Benzema at the top end of his team. Emmanuel Adebayor has been brought in on loan from Manchester City, and on Tuesday night he started the match away at Lyon. To say that the ex-Arsenal striker was rather ineffective would be an understatement. Within 40 seconds of coming on as Adebayor's replacement, Karim Benzema grabbed the opening goal against his old side. A great goal after a mazy dribble across the opposition penalty area gave Madrid a crucial away goal to take back to the Bernabeu.

Firing Blanks
Marseille v Manchester United was not the most exciting game. Both sides seemed to be overly cautious, and although Marseille will consider a 0-0 draw a good result, they still have a difficult task of getting a score draw or better at Old Trafford. Manchester United were especially poor going forward, having only 2 shots on target in the match. Their 8 shots at goal was the lowest total of all the 16 teams that played over the last two weeks.

Torres bedding in
Chelsea got a comfortable 2-0 win at Copenhagen on Tuesday night, and look set to make the Quarter Finals with relative ease. They started the game with new signing Fernando Torres partnering Nicolas Anelka up front. The duo managed 13 shots between them and were far too much for Copenhagen to contain. Although Torres did not get a goal, his movement was excellent throughout the game and he got into numerous goalscoring positions. It shouldn't be long before the Spanish striker nets his first goal for his new club.

Bayern show their class
Louis van Gaal's Bayern Munich recorded a fantastic 1-0 away win in their first leg with Internazionale on Wednesday. Inter did have chances of their own, with Samuel Eto'o coming close on a few occasions, but Bayern were bright and bold throughout, and got the winner in the 90th minute through Mario Gomez. Arjen Robben created the goal when he cut in from the right wing and had a shot which was parried by Julio Cesar. Robben tried this all evening, often picking the ball up in a very wide position. The Inter defenders doubled up on him well for most of the match in order to stop him cutting inside, but they ultimately failed.

Bastian Schweinsteiger also had an excellent game, controlling the midfield and dictating Bayern's play throughout. Schweinsteiger attempted and completed the most passes of any player on the pitch. As can be seen on the chalkboard below, the German midfielder concentrated the majority of his balls out wide, looking for the consistently dangerous Robben and Ribery.