Many people have been impressed with the way Sunderland have been playing this season. Currently lying in 7th position, 3 points off the European positions, their defensive organisation and attacking creativity has been lauded from all quarters, with a rather embarrassing 5-1 defeat to local rivals Newcastle being one of the only blemishes in an otherwise impressive start to the campaign for the Wearsiders.
But has this season only served to highlight that Sunderland have, in fact, been underachieving given the level of investment in the club?
Since 1997, when Sunderland moved from Roker Park to the now 49,000 seater Stadium of Light, there have been serious levels of investment in the club, which up until 2007 yo-yo’d in and out of the top flight.
When the Niall Quinn lead Drumaville Consortium took over at the Stadium of Light in 2006 after the clubs 3rd relegation in a decade, they brought an element of stability to the club, overseeing Sunderland’s promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt in 2007. However, since returning to the top flight, the best Sunderland have managed is a 13th place finish with 44 points, and that was last season.
In May 2009 American businessman Ellis Short purchased a majority share in Sunderland and became sole owner, with Niall Quinn remaining as Chairman, and for now it seems this fresh investment, combined with the astute management of Steve Bruce and some scintillating football on the pitch, has done the trick for the Black Cats.
Having already accumulated 23 points, Sunderland are on course to record their highest Premier League finish since both the1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons, when they finished 7th, with 58 and 57 points respectively. But unlike those seasons, Sunderland need to make sure that their current form is not another false dawn.
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Through varying investments in their squad in recent years, Sunderland have risen through the football ladder to become an established Premier League side, and if this season’s crop of players can continue to play the way they have been, the Black Cats may well add to their sole European appearance in the 1973-74 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
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Full participatory involvement in the running and managing of the club by the fans, it sounds like an ideal situation for every football fan. But this level of direct democracy in a football club is not without its drawbacks.
Ebbsfleet United Football Club from the Conference South has formed the prototype for this kind of experiment. In 2008 the website MyFootballClub bought a majority share in the club becoming the first online community to own a sports club. Yet the dream of an egalitarian club being created through fan involvement does not appear to have materialised.
20,000 members of the online community paid £35 each to gain control of the club and as such, by electronic vote, have control over the side selected as opposed to manager Liam Daish. Involvement has dwindled as the novelty of making decisions for a football club has worn off; now down to 4,000 members only 15% vote on team selection.
Having been around fans and being one myself, I think generally we’re a bit too fickle inpatient and sentimental to have the responsibility of taking a club forward so directly. Indeed it is one of the few instances where football is different to politics and mass participation isn’t really desired.
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Football, and in particular deciding of a team and tactics and therefore transfer policy are all interconnected and require a degree of football knowledge and application. This is why decisions made by the masses could not work. Even if say everyone voting on the possible transfer targets and team selection, was reasonably knowledgeable and engaged with football and the club and not susceptible to voting on a whim then the end result would still be chaotic and not work. As it needs to be a sole mind (the manager) who decides how the team plays, and how can he know how to train them or what tactics to employ if he doesn’t know what eleven is taking the field?
All those who vote could have different desires on how the team should play, one person might be visualising a fluid passing team that press the opposition and maintain possession, another a team that sits deep enticing the team forward before breaking away with pace on the counter. One voter might build his team around congesting the midfield, where as another sees tricky wing play as the way forward. But all these systems can’t be employed at the same time and with it not being one man’s decision you’ll end up with a mishmash that falls far short of playing how anyone desired.
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No the best way to keep fans involved is a system similar to Barcelona’s or St Pauli where fans have a say over the general trend of the club and the way it is going, have a voice on ticket prices and club initiatives. And decide on the major aspects like who leads the club, for a fixed term, but leave the team selection, day to day running of the club and transfer policy to an individual or small team whose job it is to train and assess the playing staff.
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Highly-rated 23-year-old Holland winger Eljero Elia looks set to leave Hamburg this month, but it won’t be on the cheap. The Bundesliga club have told Premier League suitors Liverpool and Wigan that Elia will only move for a hefty sum and have slapped a £12.5 million price tag on him.
Elia is keen to leave Hamburg after falling out with manager Armin Veh earlier in the season, but the German club’s valuation of him could potentially scupper a move. According to the Daily Mail Hamburg have already turned down a loan offer from Wigan and will only let Elia leave on their terms.
Hamburg sporting direct Bastian Reinhardt has said “We do not loan players out, this is a simple conclusion,” and went on to state that “as the current employer of Elia, we require at least 15 million Euros from potential buyers.” It will be interesting to see whether this price tag puts off any potential suitors for the Dutchman who has been capped 15 times by his country.
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez is looking at Elia as a possible replacement for want away midfielder Charles N’Zogbia and has already had a deal until the end of the season turned down. Liverpool were thought to be interested but the departure of Roy Hodgson may have changed things, while Wolfsburg seem to be frontrunners as they look to spend some of the funds recouped on Manchester City’s new £27 million striker Edin Dzeko.
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Steve Bruce has warned his players that English Premier League champions Chelsea come to Sunderland on Tuesday in ‘Big Four’ mood.
The Sunderland manager said: “It’s very unusual to see Chelsea 10 points off the table of the table but the big boys usually come through like trains later in the season.”
“And it’s Chelsea to me who look as though they are most likely to get a real head of steam going and start pushing through.”
“They’ve won three games in a row comfortably and they’ll be looking to come to the Stadium of Light tomorrow to prove a point after we beat them down there.”
Bruce, who is likely to include new signings Stephane Sessegnon and Sulley Muntari in his squad, knows from his own playing days that the turn of the year is usually when the best teams finally start showing their heels to the rest of the pack.
He said: “When I was at Manchester United we would always look to go on a good run in the New Year.”
“It was when the best teams suddenly found their very best form. Things click and you really start producing your best.”
“I can definitely see that happening to Chelsea.”
Bruce’s biggest selection dilemma tomorrow will be where to deploy Kieran Richardson.
The club’s ‘Mr Versatility’ was the star of the show in Sunderland’s last Premier League game, playing just behind main striker Asamoah Gyan at Blackpool and scoring two classy goals in the sparkling 2-1 win on January 22.
The natural inclination would be not to tinker with a winning team.
But Bruce’s masterstroke in Sunderland’s 3-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in November was to select Richardson on the right wing to contain the attacking threat of the Blues’ England right-back Ashley Cole.
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Bruce has been absorbed in his pursuit of Inter Milan’s Muntari and Paris St Germain’s Sessegnon and is thrilled to get his two targets of the transfer window.
But he insists he has not taken his eye off the ball when it comes to the Chelsea game
“All people have wanted to talk about is transfers and I can understand that – that’s what you get with the January transfer window, particularly when it starts coming to the end of it,” he said.
“We can’t guarantee a good result, but hopefully we can guarantee a good performance and if we can do that, then I’ll be happy to accept whatever the night brings.”
Inter Milan defender Cristian Chivu is facing a length ban for punching Bari’s Marco Rossi in the 3-0 win on Thursday.
Chivu lashed out in Inter’s easy win, which came thanks to goals from Houssine Kharja, Wesley Sneijder and the in-form Giampaolo Pazzini.
The 30-year-old Romanian defender was quick to apologise for the incident, which was not seen by referee Andrea Romeo but caught on video.
“It is difficult to explain,” Chivu told Sky Sport Italia.
“I am here because I want to apologise to Rossi, with all the dignity that I have left.”
“I apologise to everyone, above all my two children who one day will watch this clip.”
Replays showed when a free kick was cleared that Chivu lashed out, punching Rossi in the face.
Bari coach Giampiero Ventura forgave Romeo for missing Chivu’s punch.
“I went to speak to the referee after the final whistle and told him he had done well. He simply didn’t see this incident, as it was off the ball,” Ventura said.
“The situation was in the balance until the 90th minute,” he said of the defeat.
Inter scored with their first genuine shot on target and once again Bari played well but failed to finish.
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“This is the biggest problem we have. We took the initiative and created some important scoring opportunities, but nothing seems to go our way and it was a repeat of what happened against Juventus and Cagliari.”
Bari are rooted to the foot of the table and now nine points adrift of the safety zone.
“Clearly the situation is difficult, but if we get two wins then we can close in on safety. I don’t believe in proclamations, but I must praise these lads for fighting so hard despite the difficulties,” Ventura said.
Arsenal fans are currently in jubilant mood following the Gunners’ 2-1 victory over La Liga champions Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium last night in the first leg of the last 16 of the Champions League. The performance from Arsene Wenger’s men certainly impressed a lot of fans, including Arsenal’s rivals for the Premier League title: Manchester United. Here is the match from the perspective of a Man United fan…
Preamble
So the first leg of a potentially pulsating 2-legged knockout tie lived up to the hype and some, proof that maybe Tyldesley isn’t as bad as his Sky counterparts when it comes to over hyping games that inevitably result in drab affairs with barely a sniff of regular goal-scoring opportunities. That said after reflecting on the game, one can’t help but feel a little smug that Barcelona .. the prophets of football were brought down to earth by what many consider the false prophets, a brief playing out of the reformation if you like.. mighty infallible Catholics, found fallible by the Protestants who themselves were just as full of shit as their predecessors.
Anyway a brief recap of both sides tactical set up before we delve into the nitty gritty… Both sides were typical 4-3-3 with interchangeable forwards and scoring on the counter-attack after winning the ball high up the pitch was the name of the game. After a frantic opening exchange in which Arsenal briefly had the upper hand it soon settled into a rather predictable one sided rampage with Barcelona threatening to deflower the Gunners in a brutal manner reminiscent of last years showdown… thankfully for the Arse, they improved in the second half, displaying a hitherto not seen resolve and they took it to the superstars of Catalonia, grabbing two well-deserved goals, the latter which will live long in the memory. Without further ado, here are 5 Things I Noticed…
1. Predictable Walcott
After all the talk about how Barcelona feared the searing speed of ‘THE One’, and were soiling their pants at the thought of how to shackle him, one would not have been blamed for thinking in the summer Arsenal would be more worried about losing Walcott to the Nou Camp Necromancers, rather than their much sought after Captain.
Despite a promising opening in which he showed pretty nifty close control, taking on a few defenders before laying it off to Fabregas who proceeded to lift it over the Barcelona back line locating Van Persie, who was then thwarted by Valdes, Walcott soon lost his lustre and was met with the usual tactic utilised by opponents intent on snuffing him out… sitting back and cutting off the space he can run in behind, and forcing him to be more cute and clever. Its the sort of tactic that has been employed by the likes of Patrice Evra, one which nearly always works and one that Theo has not really showed any signs of overcoming.
What Walcott lacks is quality footwork, more precisely a few tricks in his locker and furthermore he doesn’t utilise his weaker foot enough which renders him rather predictable and devoid of ideas when robbed of his usual tactic of kicking it past a defender and running fast into the space in behind. If Arsenal had Nani in their side tonight on the right wing, the score could’ve been even more devastating in Arsenal’s favour.
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2. Wizardly Wilshere
An excellent display last night, in a role which was more befitting of his talent and experience than the one he was told to take up for England the other night against markedly inferior opponents than Barcelona. Alongside a more mobile defensive midfielder, Wilshere was given licence to break free when in possession instead of having to be careful, conservative and playing the easy pass backwards.
Last night his excellent first touch, brilliant one touch passing, vision and ability to run with the ball all caught the eye, not to mention his quality turns in tight spaces under pressure, reminiscent of another Englishman Paul Scholes. To put in such a beguiling effortless display in such a heated atmosphere (by Emirates standards) and to even stick the foot in with precise tackling when required to, was simply put.. magical.
3. Colossus Koscielny
It is a rare sight to see Arsenal win a game of consequence, a rarer sight still to witness an Arsenal defender garner a great deal of plaudits for his tough no-nonsense defensive display. On a CL week of firsts, (Tottenham showing tactical astuteness and a great deal of grit & determination) Koscielny proved himself to be money well spent earlier in the summer and the wall which Barcelona struggled to climb over.
He possesses a fair bit of pace, a decent amount of strength and is very much Wenger’s version of Vidic-lite to Vermaleans ‘Rio’ impression. That said he has struggled over the course of the season which is fair enough considering its his début season, Gunners fans will hope this coming of age display will settle him down and make him feel like he’s an integral part of the first team for this season and beyond.
Continue to the NEXT PAGE…
4. The Barcelona Triumvirate
We are constantly told by certain footballing aficionados that without Xavi/Iniesta.. Messi would be found wanting and that the recent World Cup was proof of that particular axiom, I on the other hand thought the Argentine was rather impressive despite not hitting the unrealistic heights expected of him by the majority of the footballing world.
Last night despite a 25 min spell in the first half where Xavi and Iniesta pulled the strings with consummate ease, the majority of the game was about Arsenal shackling the all-powerful Messi and creating their own havoc, having successfully subdued the illustrious midfield duo who are usually responsible for providing the foundations behind most of Barcelona’s victories.
It’s not hyperbole to claim that Fabregas and Wilshere outplayed their World-Class counterparts tonight, pressing them if not into mistakes, than more conservative passes than they would usually make and preventing them from recieving as much possession as they would usually be accustomed to. Messi on the other hand, remained Barcelona’s ‘Go To’ player, constantly on the ball, running in between defenders and if not racking up efforts on goal then he was at least slotting team mates in with numerous well-disguised through passes and was unfortunate to have bagged himself a brace.. a brace which would’ve ended that wretched run of having scored no goals in England. He’ll be back in the return leg though, don’t you worry about that.
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5. The Arsenal Triumvirate
In the first half I tweeted, ‘Van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri need to up their game #Arsenal’… little did I know Wenger used my Twitter as a motivational tool at half time.
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In the initial 45 minutes, we were subjected to a out of sorts, still injured Nasri.. not really running directly at the opposition as we know he can, and reluctant to put the ball into the box, likewise Van Persie was also very cumbersome and the pace of the game seemed like it was too much for him and his usually assured touch and underrated heading ability seemed to have deserted him… there were calls in some corners for the introduction of Bendtner.. which would sum up his first half display.
As for Fabregas, whilst he was still pretty influential he was guilty of being caught on the ball in dangerous areas and not the sharpest of players in the final third. He like the aforementioned players, was a man transformed in the second half and if the likes of Wilshere came of age.. the same could be said for this particular trio of players, all of whom are considered very talented yet still to break through into the elite category of the Worlds leading footballers.
Van Persies finish past Valdes was fortunate but also intelligent, in that he seized onto the fact that Valdes had anticipated a cross and left his near post gaping wide… Fabregas’ through ball to unleash Nasri was mesmeric and typically Cesc… and Nasri topped it off with a composed pass across the box, perfectly weighted for Arshavin to expertly tuck away into the right hand corner.
Conclusion (looking towards the 2nd Leg..):
So a gutsy, one of those magical ‘I was there’ nights for the Arsenal. The question is… was this a one off Arsenal flukey display or a genuine coming of age performance which will mark a watershed for the gunners and propel them to the next level.
The answer in my opinion is that Arsenal have undoubtedly progressed in comparison to last season, Wilshere gives their Midfield a new dimension, Nasri likewise has developed into a pivotal figure, Szczesny looks the real deal so far in the problem area of goalkeeper and Koscielny might finally settle down and become the perfect partner for Vermalean if he ever overcomes injury. That said.. the Nou Camp might prove a step too far and one can’t see Barcelona struggling to score goals. The return of Puyol could go one of two ways, one outcome could be that they could tad tighter at the back, but on the other hand will their lack of pace defensively come back to haunt them and will this win give Arsenal the confidence to see it out and expose Barcelona’s shortcomings. The Stage is set for a quite wondrous finale….
It’s a rarity this weekend as we have a full Premier League programme to enjoy, with teams battling for places from the top to the very bottom of the Premier League table. The match that stands out is the one at Anfield on Sunday, with Liverpool and Manchester United going head-to-head and you can bet that the Reds would love to put a dent in Sir Alex Ferguson’s title hopes. Elsewhere Arsenal will look to put the pressure on the Red Devils at The Emirates Stadium against Sunderland, while the West Midlands derby between Birmingham and West Brom at St Andrew’s has big implications at the bottom of the Premier League table. Here is what the experts think…
Continue to the NEXT PAGE for the predictions in full …
Andy Dunn (News of the World)
Arsenal V Sunderland – H
Birmingham V West Brom – A
Blackpool V Chelsea – A
Bolton V Aston Villa – H
Fulham V Blackburn – H
Liverpool V Man United – A
Man City V Wigan – H
Newcastle V Everton – A
West Ham V Stoke – H
Wolves V Tottenham – H
City v Wigan: Wigan’s defending last weekend was amongst the worst I’ve ever seen in the Premier League. If they take that form into this game, they’ll lose – Manchester City win.
Birmingham v West Brom: Birmingham are better than their league position suggests and they will be hugely bouyed up by their Carling Cup success.
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Bolton v Villa: Villa’s disappointing FA Cup exit at Manchester City should spur them into a backlash against Bolton – especially as Gerard Houllier left many of his big guns on the bench against City and will have cup-tied Darren Bent available again.
The Football Association have charged Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson with improper conduct on Thursday.Ferguson was quoted by club channel MUTV as stating he ‘feared the worst’ when he saw referee Martin Atkinson was to take charge for United’s English Premier League clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, before commenting that his side failed to get ‘a fair referee or a strong referee anyway’.The comments were fuelled by Atkinson’s decision not to send off Chelsea’s David Luiz, despite the Brazilian seeming to trip United striker Wayne Rooney while on a yellow card.To rub salt in United’s wounds, the central referee later gave captain Nemanja Vidic his marching orders in second-half injury time, ruling the centre-back out of his side’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday.The 69-year-old Ferguson looks likely to face a two-game touchline ban when his case is heard next week, with the ban delayed given the FA regards such a case as ‘non-standard’.The Scot’s two-game ban is likely given he served two of a suspended four-match ban last season for comments regarding referee Alan Wiley’s fitness.The delay in enforcing the punishment means Ferguson will be allowed in the technical area at Anfield.
Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger believes the gap between Europe’s top nations and its minnows is narrowing.Germany continue their qualifying campaign for the 2012 European Championships when they play host to Group A cellar dwellers Kazakhstan on Saturday.
The 2008 European runners-up are five points clear on the group’s table with straight wins over Belgium, Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as a 3-0 win at Kazakhstan.
But Schweinsteiger cautioned his team-mates not to expect an easy victory when Kazakhstan visit Kaiserslautern, saying minnow nations no longer feel fear at the thought of taking on top sides like Germany.
“It is not easy to scare those teams out of the stadium anymore,” Schweinsteiger said.
“They improve and they learn more these days. Maybe in the past you could go there and devastate them.”
“Today you have to show a good performance in order to achieve a good result.”
“If you look at the match against Azerbaijan last year, we could have only won 2-0 there (Germany won 6-1).”
A visit from Kazakhstan will also serve as preparation of sorts for Germany’s friendly with Asian Cup finalists Australia on Tuesday, though Schweinsteiger said Joachim Loew’s side are more concerned with clinching their berth in the Euro 2012 finals.
“The next three qualifiers (against Kazakhstan and at Austria and Azerbaijan) are very important for us.”
“If we win we can achieve a lead against Austria, Turkey and Belgium. The others will steal points off each other. Therefore it is even more important to win the game on Saturday.”
Schweinsteiger also took the time to defend national team-mate Mirslav Klose, who has not scored a goal for Germany or at club level in almost two months and has fallen behind Mario Gomez in coach Louis van Gaal’s pecking order at club side Bayern Munich.
“He is a very experienced player, who also shows cleverness and knows how to handle certain situations,” Schweinsteiger said.
“Even if it is not very easy for him at the moment, you can see his engagement in the training sessions in Munich.”
“We should be happy to have a striker like him in the background behind Mario Gomez. Gomez and him, they are both quality players.”
In a follow up to the TOP TEN Best moments of the season earlier this week, today I focus on the worst moments of the season, so far. These moments are the worst in the sense that I could not really believe what had happened – for negative reasons. These moments are sensational but are not good for the game. They are more lowlights than highlights that football as a whole could have done without.
I am not going to focus on the worst decisions, I will leave that for later in the year. I am sure everyone will want to have a say on which decisions were the worst and which were most influential. The worst moments for me are ones that have made the Premier League a worse division. I am not intending to criticise the league at all, instead I just want to pick out moments of the season that have been bad for the game.
Of course these will not be every team's worst moments. Arsenal fans will probably think the League Cup final or home defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle were the worst moments of the domestic season. Likewise a Tottenham fan will rue picking up only 1 point from 4 games against the bottom 4 sides in the League. Every side will have their own 'worse moment'.
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Click on Rooney below to see the TEN Worst Moments of the season
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Listen to the first episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O'Reilly and Toploader's Dan Hipgrave makes a special appearance!