A look at the bottom.........

As promised, here’s my look at the teams that occupy the bottom five positions of the Premier League at the start of 2009.

West Bromich Albion Currently 20th
It’s hard to see how West Brom can avoid the drop at the end of the season. Tony Mowbray must be commended for sticking to his ideals and belief in the way that the game should be played and at times West Brom have been a joy to watch when they play their flowing passing game and really go at the opposition. Unfortunately they just lack the overall quality to help them stay up and have really missed a front man to put away the chances they have created. Recent wins against Tottenham and Manchester City mean they are not adrift though and still have a lot to play for in the remaining half of the season but their lack of finances, compared with the bigger teams at the wrong end of the table, mean it will be hard to get the quality needed to help them stay up. It’s going to be tight but West Brom will be going down.
Prediction – 20th

Blackburn Rovers – Currently 19th
Blackburn are in an interesting position as they still have many of the squad that finished in the top half of the table last year and their current predicament is only the blame of Paul Ince. The timing of Ince’s appointment to the post was all wrong and ideally he should have spent more time learning his trade and continuing the good work he did at MK Dons rather than taking a big job in the Premier League. Sam Allardyce is a canny appointment and has already shown that he can organise and motivate Rovers and make them very hard to beat. What will certainly help him is that the Rovers squad has players who can put the ball in the back of the net such as McCarthy, Santa Cruz and even Jason Roberts and Matt Derbyshire can weigh in with the goals. I think they’ll stay up but it won’t be easy and it won’t be pretty.
Prediction – 17th

Stoke City – Currently 18th
Stoke have proven that if they do go down they’ll go down fighting. I’ve not seen a team that’s as physical opposing or as competitive as the side Tony Pullis has assembled and although some purists may not like their style of play, I find it refreshing and part of a highly compelling season that is unfolding. Stoke have shown they can battle with anyone and their results so far have been a credit to them but I suspect the lack of a plan B might be there undoing eventually. Another interesting development from Stoke is the Rory Delap throw in, much more deadly and accurate than a free kick, this might be something that a few more teams will specialise with in the future as it really does cause chaos in the oppositions defence. Stoke to go down but only just.
Prediction – 19th

Middlesbrough – Currently 17th
Boro are a team that often flatter to deceive. Blessed with some talented and hard working players they are another team that has fallen victim to a highly competitive and difficult to predict, Premier league. What has probably been there downfall so far this season is the lack of goals from their leading forwards, Alvas, Tuncay, Mido and Aliadiera, with only a measly 13 league goals between the four of them. Otherwise Boro are traditionally strong in defence and often make the bigger teams really work for a result, it is clearly the teams that they should be beating that is causing the problem this year. Bolton, Hull, Fulham and West Brom all have victories over them and it’s these kind of results that see them sit 17th. I think they’ll stay up but only because there are teams worse than them at the bottom already.
Prediction – 16th

Tottenham Hotsputs – Currently 16th
Spurs find themselves at the wrong end of the table due to a disastrous start under former head coach Juande Ramos which saw them with only 2 points from the first few months of the season. Harry Redknapp was brought in and he has brought a sense of belief and motivation back to the spurs team and given them a platform where salvation is realistically in their own hands. Spurs are blessed with talented players but there main problem is that beyond their first 14 the rest of the squad is somewhat bare or is not up to the task. Redknapp needs to bring in another striker and possible two more in midfield to cover these inadequacies but this should be no problem to a man who has an excellent reputation in the transfer market. The quality is there and don’t be surprised if Spurs make a late run up the table, possible even into the top 10.
Prediction – 10th

Regarding the final relegation spot I’ll leave you all in suspense and address this at some point next week.

Top 5 review so far

As we are past the halfway point for the season I thought now would be a good place to look back and assess on how well, or in some cases, how badly, the season has been so far for the 20 clubs that make up the Premier League. Today I’ll look at the top five clubs going into 2009 and tomorrow I’ll do the same but for the teams at the other end of the table.

Liverpool. Currently 1st.

Liverpool have so far managed to cling onto top spot mainly due to the fact that whenever they have dropped points so have Chelsea. Realistically Liverpool should be a few more points clear of the pack but careless draws at home to the likes of West Ham, Stoke and Fulham may cost them towards the end of the season. What is encouraging is that this season has seen them already beat Manchester United and Chelsea which may be very important in the minds of the Liverpool players. They know they can beat the best now and if you can finish above United and Chelsea there is a good chance you’ll finish top of the league.
Prediction – 1st

Chelsea. Currently 2nd

Big Phil has tinkered with the winning formula created by Jose Mourinho to interesting effect. No longer are Chelsea the juggernaut of old but are a team that often play you off the field, best displayed when they passed Portsmouth off the field first day of the season. Key injuries to the likes of Drogba, Ballack and Terry have not helped their cause, nor have the inadequate displays of squad players like Ivanovic and Kalou – who continues to hint at being a good player but never fully delivers. Also Chelsea have struggled at home after losing their 4 year undefeated streak and their sense of invulnerability, but this will surely return once players come to terms with losing their record. With players returning from injury I can see Chelsea pushing Liverpool and United but I suspect they will pull up again just short.
Prediction – 3rd

Manchester United. Currently 3rd

United currently sit 3rd in the table with two games in hand over Liverpool. So far United have failed to reach top gear but must be pleased to still be in contention in the title race. Ronaldo, after missing the first few weeks of the season, has failed to reach the heights of last year and the increasing petulance that is displayed in his game must be of concern to Sir Alex Ferguson. The defence has been as strong as ever and the return of Michael Carrick to centre midfield, whose vision and passing is second to none, must be pleasing to all at Old Trafford. It is in the final third that United have the most troubles, attempting to accommodate Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov into only 2 striking positions. Once they all click I expect United to push Liverpool all the way but see their near neighbours just piping them this year.
Prediction - 2nd

Aston Villa. Currently 4th
Villa have been a breath of fresh air this year and it is great to see another team make a realistic challenge for the top four. With Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor they have players that can really punish the opposition with their skill and pace. What Martin O’Neill has done is bring together a good group of English players hungry for success and coupled this with some decent players from abroad. What is really missing for Villa is the 20 -30 goal a season striker that every team with title ambitions needs and with John Carew’s injuries this season Villa have found themselves rather light upfront at times. If Villa can get themselves a Defoe, or similar player they might find themselves in with a chance to finish in the top four. If they don’t spend this January I think they just don’t have the goals to outlast Arsenal, although I desperately hope to be wrong over this.
Prediction – 5th unless they buy a proven striker this January

Arsenal. Currently – 5th
Arsenal have once again failed to deliver and Arsene Wenger must be bitterly disappointed to find his talented team 10 points behind Liverpool and seemingly out of the title race. The problem with Arsenal is that they are lacking the strong spine of old and are light weight at centre half and centre midfield. Years back you knew that Adams, Vieira and Petit where the strong foundation which Arsenal built around but in 2009 it is a much different story Cesc Fabregas is an awesome player and will only get better but he desperately needs someone to help him out in the Arsenal midfield. A Gattuso/Frings, Mascherano type player is really needed and Wenger needs to address this urgently in the transfer window or risk seeing his squad seek pastures new if the unthinkable happens and they fail to qualify for the Champions league. Upfront they are strong and Samir Nasri has proven to be a wise purchase but Wenger must spend and spend big if he hopes to save his season.
Prediction – 4th

Referee School – Session 2

There are times in life when you simply don’t fancy doing something. Could be the weekly shop, making dinner or even a shower after an evening of football. It’s what I like to refer to as an ‘Urgggg’ moment – when even the thought of it is enough to put you off, resulting in you desperately searching for a good excuse not to do it like, ‘It looks a bit cold’ or ‘I’ll do it right after X factor.’ Yesterday evening I was hit with the urgggg’s big time……

Cramped into Oxford Circus tube station, 4 to 5 people deep, sweating from the heat and my own natural panic of so many people, the thought of just turning back and not going to Welling crossed my mind. It was cold, I was tired and my room still needed sorted out – all the reasons and excuses I could ever want to be honest!

This is what the Colin of previous years would of done though, the new improved 2008 model is a bit more single minded thankfully! After waiting for the third tube I happily popped myself on and continued on my weekly adventure! Easy!

So, I guess you’re all wondering what I learnt last night? Well we covered a couple of issues. Firstly how to use your assistant referees and what they are responsible for. Secondly, how to position yourself on the field of play so that you can see as much as possible, keep up with play and predict how play will run. All really interesting and has got me thinking on a couple of ideas which I will hopefully develop over the next few weeks and put into words!

Just as a little side note – Portsmouth versues AC Milan tonight!!!!!! One to remember as I don’t think it will be happening again any time soon. For some reason I fancy the blues to sneak a win here by the odd goal. Let’s say 2-1 with Distin scoring the winner.

Referee Course - Day 1

Last week I promised to keep all my loyal readers updated on how my referring course went. Unfortunately there’s not really a lot to talk about really, I even think the creative masterminds behind Dear Deirdre would struggle to turn the evening into a tale to catch the imagination of the nation but I’ll do my best. At worst, it’s going to be short and sweet.
Being the absolute paranoid man towards being late and finding places , coupled with my natural hatred of rush hour ,I hoped on a train from Charring Cross far too early and found myself in the culturally backwater that is Welling just after 5pm. After walking through one of the most despair inducing high streets I’ve ever seen I managed, using my legendary powers of map reading, to find the location of my course, in a church just off the main high street.
Satisfied that the church was the correct location I retired to have a quiet beverage in the local drinking parlour to mix with the locals and partake in general merriment. This was thoroughly enjoyable for 2 minutes before I decided that the book in my bag offered considerably more entertainment.
As the hour dawned nearer I went back to the Church only to find its hall occupied by the brownies! After finding out that the start time of 7 for the course was wrong and that the brownies had the hall tell 8 I retired back to the warmth of the pub, cursing the slackness of the FA and the evil masterminds behind the brownies....
Having received a phone call from the guy giving the course, apologising for his boss getting the times royally wrong, I made my way back to the church hall to start the course just after 8. All seemed good with the instructor Owen, telling us all about what a ref needs to do to before a match starts, such as inspect the pitch, equipment (balls, goalposts, corner flags etc ) and players themselves. Did you know the importance of socks pulled up over shin guards? – helps them stay in place, even under a challenge hopefully.
So overall? Enjoyable evening, with some good information and hopefully it will continue in this vain. I’ve got plenty of reading material to mull over so I should be tucking into that during the weekend. I’m guessing I’ll never watch Match of the day in the same light again though.

Small change is best for pies

Wednesday night saw Didier Drogba make a choice that will probably hamper his goal to get back into the Chelsea first team. Due to the outstanding form of Nicholas Anelka, and injury this season, Drogba has hardly featured for the new look Blue’s under Phil Scolari. Given the chance to get some much needed match time against Burnley in the Carling Cup, Drogba seemed to have taken his chance with relish, scoring a tidy finish against the Championship team.

Drogba then celebrated his goal in front of the away fans, causing a small minority to respond to this, throwing coins down towards him on the pitch. Drogba responded to this by giving a single finger gesture and then threw a coin back into the crowd. It is because of this action that Drogba has been charged with violent conduct by the FA, with a hearing planned for Tuesday. He has until Monday evening to respond to these charges.

First of all it is important to realise that both Drogba and the fans who threw the coins, are both equally wrong in their actions. We live in a supposedly civilised world and if you were walking down the street with your sister or mother you would not expect anyone to throw anything at you, you would not even consider it a possibility. My question is this then, why do some football fans, and unfortunately they probably are fans, find that once they get inside a stadium the normal rules of society don’t extend that far, that they can do what they want. A few years back the AC Milan keeper, Dida, got hit by a flare from the crowd, this year a referees assistant got hit by a coin in the head, supposedly intended for Harry Redknapp. These actions clearly need to be stamped out of football. The question is how?

An FA spokesman has said that, “The FA wants anyone found guilty of throwing missiles to face the strongest possible action. That includes life bans from attending football matches." This is a highly encouraging sign from the FA that they acknowledge that any missile from the crowd is unacceptable and that the people doing this have no right to be anywhere need a football ground. The problem is how do you police this? Surely with all the CCTV cameras and stewards in modern grounds today it must be plausible to expect some of the perpetrators of these actions to be identified? But, for whatever reason, this does not seem to happen, or at least, does not happen within the public eye. This is something that the FA, the police and the grounds need to work on together to ensure these people are identified and banned from grounds for life.

This leaves Mr Drogba carrying the can on this coming Tuesday as he was the only individual identifield that evening. Drogba has only himself to blame in this matter and his actions are inexcusable. Even in the heat of the moment one must realise that throwing a coin towards a group of people is a stupid idea at best and it is right that Drogba gets punished for this action. What is equally important is that the people who throw the coins onto the pitch are found and named and shamed as well, so that others are aware of the repercussions of such acts and will hopefully be more inclined to save their spare change for a half time pie.

I'm going to try and be a referee!

Wanker, cu*t, bastard... these are some of the delightful phrases that get hurled at the bastion of justice on the pitch, the man in black, the referee. A thankless task that gets harder and harder every year with every mistake, every error, highlighted beyond comprehension on TV and radio. In comfy studios around the country so called pundits analyse football matches to death and often it is the participation of the ref in the game that forms one of the main taking points. Rarely praised, open to criticism, even hatred, the task of the referee to uphold the laws of the game is a hard one indeed.

Which is why I start on a course to be a ref next week.....

Why on earth do I want to become a referee then? What part of me wants to run the gauntlet of abuse they receive each and every match? Why do I want people who I will never meet potentially hate and loath me like no other? These are questions that I’ve asked myself recently and to be honest I have no real answer to them, they’re not even real considerations to me.

I guess part of it for me is the chance to fully understand the laws of the game. So many times have I watched a match and tried to get my head round the current version of the offside trap or trying to work out why someone got sent off for dangerous play – what on earth constitutes dangerous play these days? Is it just missing a tackle, clattering someone from behind or just the old fashion elbow to the head? Have you ever wondered what is the official definition of dissent and if it’s actually worth a yellow card? All these questions and more lurk in the dark and murky corners of my head, my instinctive lust for knowledge on every aspect of the game drives me to obtain as much as I possibly can.

Having never been blessed with athletic prowess or much confidence as a child, football pretty much passed me by in my school days. No one ever wanted the fat kid on their side, especially if his idea of an attacking run was nipping off to the tuck shop when the ball was down the other end! My own personal love of the game was born the day we got Sky Sports into our home and I was exposed to the Premier league in all its pomp and glory. Soon to follow was a trip to Wembley to see England and then regularly seeing games at Fratton Park, home of the mighty Portsmouth. At the time Portsmouth were a poor side in the old division 1 but I was well and truly hooked, giving up countless hours to radio and TV coverage, computer games, magazines, anything that I could get my hands on really. I grew in love with the game and to this very day that love holds still strong.

Seeing if I can become a referee is a chance for me to try and be counted and give something of myself to help the enjoyment of others. All I think of is the beauty of the game and the need for the man in the middle to keep it beautiful. It’s a responsibility I do not take lightly and one that I’m not even sure if I can do. Still, I look forward to the challenge of it and seeing what can happen. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can update you all on my experiences and maybe see you the other side of it all if it all works out well – who knows? My first lesson is next week so will update my blog from week to week with what happens and how I feel. Hopefully it will be an eye opener for us all.

Colin

The perials of Success: The Champions League

Last night saw another crushing demonstration of the quality that exists within the English Premier League, as Manchester United and Arsenal registered their first wins in this season’s champion’s league. Arsenal toyed with Porto and seemed to almost toy with them, like a cat playing with a crippled bird that it knows can’t get away. You almost felt sorry for them as Arsenal’s young guns played them off the pitch. Europe take heed, this season looks like it will be another one where the English teams thrive in the competition.

Across on mainland Europe United put in a professional display, seeing off the Danes of AaB Aalborg 3-0. It almost seems that when an English team takes to the Champions league it’s felt that whoever is put in front of them will be simply rolled over, unless it’s a team from Spain or Italy. Unfortunately the likes of the French, Germans, Portuguese and the Dutch are simply no longer able to compete with the billion dollar operations behind the teams of the Premier league and as more International businessmen invest their disposable incomes into English teams the situation will only worsen.

At the moment if you win your domestic league you not only get the prestige and money of being Champions of your nation but you also get a chance to partake in the money spinning, dream weaving fiasco that is the Champions league. Thus if your Champions of Denmark then you generate a pull to players within your own league and due to the money that can be made from winning competitions, or even making it to the Champions league, you can attract and afford the best that is available to you. This gives the reigning champions a potential advantage in retaining their own domestic crown and thus, getting back into Europe.

This situation seems to be happening almost everywhere. Think of the last time you saw a Dutch team that was not PSV or Ajax doing well in the Champions league? I bet you can’t. Look on wikipedia and you’ll still not be able to come up with anything. The simple truth is that their continuous involvement in Europe, coupled with their domestic dominance, puts them financially above their peers in their own country and more likely to win their league or qualify for Europe.

Let’s take this concept and apply it to the biggest, most lucrative league in the world, the English Premier League. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and United have been milking the benefits of qualifying for Europe on a yearly basis for many a year now. Each club can generate massive revenue from match day gates or, like Chelsea, have an owner who spends money for fun. It is the dominance of the big four at home and now abroad that is of major concern to me.

It’s almost taken for granted now that the English teams will make it to the knock out stages of the Champions league and to be honest, with the quality of player in their squads, let alone their starting 11, it would be a footballing and financial nightmare if they did not qualify. Each team boasts of some of the best players in the world and more and more seem to come to England to get their slice of the plentiful pie that is on offer. Money talks and a footballers career is short so who wouldn’t want to play over here? Unfortunately it means that a large percentage of world class footballers end up in England and not elsewhere in Europe. Take Nani for example or even Ronaldo. Both left Sporting Lisbon at young ages for big money, just imagine the potential success Lisbon may have had if both were kept and developed...Instead they were cashed in on.

The Champions league is almost becoming boring now as you know the familiar names and faces from Europe will qualify for it and the English clubs will inevitably do well in it. The magic that existed within the game is going as money takes a firmer grip on it and the same teams start to dominate the scene. You might say this is fair enough and is just reward for the efforts of the clubs at the top of the European tree but it just means the competition loses in the end. People will lose interest if it’s always Man United versus AC Milan or Arsenal versus Barcelona in the final. The competition is a victim of its own rewards handed out to the giants of the game, creating a bubble that is hard to pop or even break into. For many years the Scottish game has been mocked for its 2 horse nature but within a few years I feel the Champions league will be in a similar situation, just with a few more horses....