October 2011
1 post
10 tags
My England Squad
Following England’s qualification for Euro 2012 last night in Podgorica via a less-than-convincing 2-2 draw against Montenegro, I was left baffled and confused at some of the decisions made by Capello. I do, believe, however, that you can’t criticise the decisions of others without saying your own opinions first, so I present to you my 23-man squad that I would take to the European...
August 2011
1 post
The Weekend Write-Up
So unless you’re a Tottenham or an Everton fan, the season has begun. It was a baptism of fire for QPR and Swansea, both shipping four goals in their first games in the Premier League. Title contenders Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal were left frustrated and it was business as usual for United who scraped a win away at West Brom in spite of a second error in as many weeks from new signing...
June 2011
2 posts
International Football This Summer
It may seem as if the season has just finished to most people, especially those who are celebrating titles and promotions, even more so for those drowning their relegation sorrows, but summer football is already well under way, and there is some decent football on this summer without a doubt. I have ranked the competitions in order of watchability in my opinion, but football is an art, and...
Report Card - England 1-1 Spain (U21)
England’s Under 21 team faced their Spanish counterparts yesterday in the Euro 2011 opener, and safe to say, all went as expected. Thiago Alcantara of Barcelona was the metronome in the middle of the Spanish midfield in a team which included Juan Mata and Jeffren, the former having won the World Cup and the latter having won everything else. England acquitted themselves as well as could have...
May 2011
1 post
Brazilian Migration
Keen followers of European football will have noticed a strange migration recently; that of Brazilians - seemingly in their peak - returning home.
Ronaldinho recently signed for Flamengo, this raised many an eyebrow as he definitely had offers from Europe. Blackburn owners Venky publicised their £6m bid for the former Ballon D’Or winner. However, he chose to go home, a decision made by...
April 2011
2 posts
My Players Of The Season
Here are my top ten players of this Premier League season in no particular order:
Dimitar Berbatov
We begin with the league’s top scorer, the languid Bulgarian has netted 21 goals in only 29 games, a ratio of 0.72 and must be perplexed at Sir Alex’s decision to drop him to the bench in recent games. Unfortunately for Berbatov, Hernandez brings the best out of Rooney whilst also bagging...
Football League Season Finale
This is to be just a short entry, which was initally just a forum post of mine on Spurs Community.
Football League Season Finale
With two games left of the football league season, some of the promotion places have been claimed, but the majority remain up for grabs in a big way. Championship QPR still haven’t claimed promotion mathematically after stuttering to two draws in their last...
March 2011
2 posts
6 tags
Qatargate
On 2nd December 2010, FIFA officials voted to award the right to host - and thus partake in - the World Cup to a country ranked 90th in the world. This should not be allowed to happen. My main idea for a reform is to only let teams in the top 50 in the world host the tournament, which is ideally supposed to have the best 32 teams in the world compete against one another. To have a team qualify...
5 tags
Too Much Too Soon
Many were caught up in the romance of Arles-Avignon’s promotion to the top tier of French football in the summer. They finished third in Ligue 2, cementing their place on the final day of the season, earning them the right to represent themselves in Ligue 1 for the first time in the club’s 98-year history.
Arles players after promotion to Ligue 1
What made their promotion...
February 2011
7 posts
11 tags
Wayne Rooney
This weekend we witnessed what was just another chapter in the saga that is the career of Wayne Rooney. He is the very definition of a maverick. After bursting onto the scene as a sixteen year old with Everton with a superb strike against Arsenal, he has since been signed by England’s biggest club for £25m – a record fee for a teenager – and played in three major international tournaments...
5 tags
Credit Where Credit's Due
Over the last decade or so, I have been one of Bolton’s biggest detractors. They were the epitome of long ball football; massive centrebacks blasting the ball up in the general postcode area of a big striker, in their case, Kevin Davies. The idea was to just let him fight, sometimes literally, against the oppositions backline and let the surrounding midfielders feed off his scraps. The...
3 tags
The Future's Bright
On Wednesday night we witnessed the unthinkable; an English midfielder playing as an equal of Xavi and Iniesta. It wasn’t, however, the talismanic Gerrard, or even the Riquelme-esque Lampard, it was the Stevenage born, 19 year old, Jack Wilshere.
Wilshere against Denmark
He has been turning in one impressive performance after another on the domestic stage, so much so that Capello saw fit...
3 tags
Thank You for the Memories
Today is Valentine’s day, it also the day on which Ronaldo announced his retirement, and not a moment too soon, as he had obviously realised. His contract was to end in almost 12 months time, but he stated “I wanted to continue, but I have to acknowledge that I have lost to my body.” There comes a time in every sportsman’s career where this is the case, and Ronaldo has fought on longer...
5 tags
What A Weekend!
This weeks’ games reminded me why I love football; the most exciting encounter by a long way was Arsenal’s trip to St. James’ to play against an Andy-Carroll-less Newcastle side. All went to plan initially for the North London oufit, racing into a four-goal lead after only 26 minutes only to throw it away in the second half courtesy of some lacklustre defending and a total lack...
4 tags
The Andy Gray Debacle
Andy Gray should have lost his job a long time ago, he is ignorant, incompetent and believes his own hype. However, the reason for his sacking is totally unjust. He is not the first, and won’t be the last, professional pundit to say something relating to female officials. He did not say it on air and it wasn’t intended for mass audiences, he said it, quite clearly jokingly, to a...
3 tags
The Guardian "Exclusive"
For my first post, I have decided to write about the ‘Guardian Exclusive’ regarding Gareth Bale’s potential transfer to Internazionale. For those who missed the whole saga, at 1530, Thursday 27th January The Guardian announced that they were to release an exclusive at 1730. A Guardian journalist then tweeted that it was not to be a Manchester United takeover story but a...
January 2011
1 post
3 tags
I'm new to this
Writing a blog has been a long-ish term ambition for me, and I decided to do it as one of my new year’s resolutions, so here I am.
I am not here to write about myself, simply my views on all things football, from the riches Premier League to the farcical Brazilian league system.
