Tuesday 11 December 2012

Sports Personality of the Year 2012 - Andy Murray

The case for the tennis player who grew to greatness in front of a nation's eyes

Winning a tennis major is an extraordinary achievement. A player must go on a solo journey through seven matches, each more testing than the last, pushing themselves to their physical limits when at the same time defying nerves that inevitably surface. Winning one with the pressure of 76 years of a nation's pent-up hopes focused entirely on you is something else.


These are the enormous obstacles Andy Murray had to conquer when he beat Novak Djokovic in September to win the US Open, becoming Britain's first grand slam winner since Fred Perry's 1936 triumph.
His victory is even more impressive when you consider that he's competing in arguably the toughest era of men's tennis ever. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic are all multiple grand slam champions and three of the best players to have picked up a racquet. They all possess phenomenal grand slam pedigree and invariably Murray has to overcome any two of them in a slam to win.
While the US Open victory was the greatest achievement of Murray's breakthrough year, the public basked more in his success at the Summer Olympics, where he won singles gold and mixed doubles silver.
photo by Marianne Bevis
As home favourite, Murray was under huge pressure to deliver the title for Team GB. But he did so, and emphatically, losing only one set all tournament and crushing Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the final.
Murray was also making his way to another final with 18-year-old Laura Robson. They forged a fearsome partnership and were only beaten by the No.1 seeds Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirinyi.
Another long-standing record fell to Murray at Wimbledon. He became the first British male to make it to the All England Club final since Bunny Austin in 1938. He was leading Federer too, but dropped intensity at a crucial moment in the second set and from that point momentum was firmly against him.
But Murray won the public's affection with a moving post-match interview on the court. It was a tear-jerking speech that was cruelly conducted immediately after he had lost. Murray poured his heart out to the nation after two emotionally and physically draining weeks. He has been accused before of not showing personality through his play, but in this touching moment at Wimbledon Murray revealed his hopes, motivation and bitter disappointments.
Tennis is an individual sport, where once you're on the court no one can help you. Under the guidance of Ivan Lendl, Murray has shown he can be the very best. It has been a breakthrough year for Andy Murray.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Champion of league champions

Tonight German champions Borussia Dortmund host English champions Manchester City in the final round of Champions League group matches. Regardless of the result, Dortmund are about to be crowned a more impressive kind of champion.

They have won the ultimate 'group of death' - a group that comprises league winners from England, Germany, Netherlands and Spain. Most significantly, they did so with a game to spare. It gives them the unofficial tag 'champion of league champions'.

The seeding system could hardly have produced a tougher group. Indeed, on paper, if any of the four teams should have feared the draw most, it was Dortmund. They were seeded in pool four, but they made a mockery of that, progressing to the knockout stages in first place.

Dortmund are unbeaten in Group D, with three wins and two draws, but it could easily have been five wins out of five. A 90th minute penalty rescued City in game two, and an excellent 89th minute free-kick from Mesut Özil spared Madrid consecutive losses to the Germans.

They have grown in confidence with each game. After a tentative yet solid start, with a 1-0 win over Ajax and a 1-1 draw away to City, Dortmund exploded onto the scene with two outstanding, high tempo performances against Madrid. Then they routed Ajax 4-1 in Amsterdam to emphatically seal the group win.

Dortmund has been restored to its glory days by brilliant young manager Jürgen Klopp, who has built a robust team that plays fast-paced, counter-attacking football, which is leaving the rest of Europe trailing in its wake.

In Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels they have two of the best young talents at centre-back. They are both just 23 years old, stand an intimidating 6'3” and 6'4” and chip in with their fair share of goals too.

A strong Polish contingent is a key part of the Dortmund revolution. Łukasz Piszczek and Jakub Błaszczykowski occupy the right-wing with the energy of many entire teams, and Robert Lewandowski is a one-man force in attack. 

Not many players perform the lone forward role as effectively as Lewandowski. He hit 22 league goals last season - none of which were penalties to cheaply boost numbers - and is the current co-top scorer in this campaign.

They have the current German player of the year in Marco Reus, who fearlessly opened the scoring in Amsterdam, Madrid and Manchester. He is a versatile attacking midfielder and works in combination with playmaker Mario Götze, who was described by former German Football Association technical director Matthias Sammer as “one of the best talents we've ever had.”

They are a devastatingly slick side, who are setting the Champions League alight. Results in this year's competition have shown that any team is beatable. Barcelona were humbled by minnows Celtic.

The tournament has been blown wide open. Dortmund, surely, must be considered as genuine contenders to the grand title of European champions.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

New look Chelsea missing their old guard

This was about as poor a performance from a defending European Champion side as one could wish to see. Juventus swept aside Chelsea, who were fragile as glass in defence and played for 71 minutes without a striker.

Yet it was not the same team that brought them the European Cup. Chelsea were unfortunate to be missing John Terry and Frank Lampard through injury but their failure to replace Didier Drogba is a consequence of their demanding chairman's desire to see his team play attractive football.

Roman Abramovic poured huge sums of money into acquiring the hottest, most exotic attacking midfielders, and neglected the forward department. He led Chelsea into the 2012/13 season with just two strikers: an out of sorts Fernando Torres and rough around the edges Daniel Sturridge.

The lack of faith in Torres was handed a spotlight against Juventus, the £50m man who has returned 11 goals from 58 league starts, as Chelsea fielded six midfielders at his expense.

It felt forced. Light years away from emulating Spain's masterclass in the Euro 2012 final. 

Their opposition, Juventus, also suffer from a case of non-scoring strikers. The difference, though, is Juve are willing to play theirs. While Mirko Vučinić may not be clinical, he drops into midfield and links their play well. Importantly, they are a complete team. 

This was a walk in the park for Juventus as, for all their newfound flair, Chelsea are missing the spine of the team that won them the Champions League.

Chelsea must now win against Nordsjaelland and rely on Shakhtar Donetsk to beat Juventus if they are to avoid becoming the first European Champions to exit at the group stage. It would be an embarrassing outcome for one of the competition's most successful sides of the past decade.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Manchester United chase down leads, Arsenal throw them away

Premier League '12/13, week 11

Arsenal were leading Fulham 2-0. Manchester United were trailing Aston Villa, away, 2-0. Yet the two most successful teams in Premier League history conformed to what is typical of their character. They did what they do best. United swam, and Arsenal sank.

These were two fantastic games, both first-on-Match of the Day worthy. One had to play second fiddle, and Villa-United was considered by the programme editor to be the most special. Fulham will be asking themselves what must they do to be on first, but this was a truly staggering game.

Villa held a comfortable lead, owing to Andrea Weimann's first two goals for the club. The timing of the goals meant their impact was even heavier. One moments before half-time with another tucked in just five minutes into the second-half would have felt like hammer blows to a lesser side.

But Manchester United are not a lesser side. When you have won the European Cup with the other team's colours already decorating the trophy, it gives you the mental strength to believe any situation is rescuable. United typify the never-say-die spirit like no other team.

Their saviour today was Javier Hernandez, who Martin Keown described as a 'modern-day Solskjaer'. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was United's go-to player whenever they needed a goal during the 1990s. Time and time again he would deliver from off the bench. He is a rare type of player whom few teams have in their squads and, despite building a career on starting most matches on the bench, he was never underrated.

It certainly appears that Solskjaer has been reborn in Hernandez.

While Manchester United chased down a lead, Arsenal threw one away. Arsenal are very good at keeping the ball, and enjoy the most possession of the league's 20 teams. But they can't keep an advantage.

For the second game in a row, Arsenal struck first, only to see their lead had evaporated at the final whistle. The nature of the goals they conceded is alarming, too. Fulham's first was a messy goal from a corner that should have been cleared. The second should have been saved. There appears to be a problem with the marking system at Arsenal, and they need a reliable goalkeeper. These are simple issues that can be addressed easily.

The positives for Arsenal lie in that they played their part in a highly entertaining game. Also, they missed a penalty in the last minute, which could easily have gone in on another day.

The negative, perhaps realistic, perspective is that this has been Arsenal's worst start to a league campaign under Wenger. The gap between them and United, City and Chelsea is widening. 

That Alan Shearer stated Everton are favourites to finish fourth speaks greatly about Arsenal's blatantly obvious flaws of character. In comparison to United, they could not be more apparent.

Monday 15 October 2012

'How to be a football journalist' - Guardian Masterclass review

I attended a Guardian 'Masterclass' in how to be a football journalist on October 14. The event was held at the Guardian's [stunning] offices in King's Cross. But at £225 for the day it hardly came cheap, and so I went there brain fully switched on, pen and pad at hand to record any priceless insights. David Hytner and Jacob Steinberg were our tutors.

The day began with David reeling off daunting figures of the success of the Guardian's website. He told stories of and emphasised the human side of football, lamented cliches and praised the Sun for their "incredibly concise and punchy" writing.

The notion that being an excellent writer is the be-all and end-all to becoming a football journalist was quickly dispelled in the first session. "I've worked with people who can barely spell their name," David told. They referenced the 'perspiring journalist' Duncan Jenkins as a case in point. In fact, they said the job of a journalist is roughly only 10% about writing. Being successful in the industry weighs heavily on one thing: contacts.

We were told that "a huge amount" is what you know and who you know - the tutors could not help but use cliches themselves here. The person who knows who punched Alan Shearer in the face, David hypothesised, may be offered the position first.

So, the class was now considering both Who can be a contact? and How do I gather contacts?. The tutors offered useful insight into these million dollar questions:

  • Press officers are the official channel of the club but may not respond nine out of ten times or for two days.
  • Agents are gossips, which is good, but they may have an agenda. It's important to ask yourself the following: What's in it for them? and Why they are telling me this?
  • Players are nowadays inaccessible, ring fenced by so many people and networks of agents. Contacts lower down the food chain are easier to work directly with.
  • Some of the best contacts you can have are other journalists, especially foreign journalists. They can enlighten you about a certain player in the match you are about to report on.

It is important to remember that a contact will only remain a contact if you stay in touch with that person. The tutors advised friendly texts and emails as ways of maintaining the connection. Furthermore, a contact can always be strengthened. Case in point: the Mail on Sunday put considerable groundwork in with Paul Stratford, agent of Wayne Rooney. When the story that Rooney wanted away from Manchester United broke in October 2010, the MoS were answered first with the most fruity details.

The tutors gave full answers to all questions the group had. One of the more straightforward-seeming ones was Are there different types of writers?. Hytner explained that the Guardian's football writers are each assigned to cover a certain geographical area; for example, he rarely reports on football outside of London. He stressed caution at limiting ones field, unless you are very good at a specific type of football writing - as Arseblog, a dedicated Arsenal blogger and Zonal Marking, a website analysing tactics post-match, have successfully managed. For perspiring aspiring journalists, it's better to first hone an all-round set of skills.

The class wanted to know how to get started in journalism. The tutors told us that you don't need a degree: "Get work experience, impress, show you're willing". The local newspaper is an excellent place to start, as everything originates from a local level. The manager of Tooting, for example, might want the Wandsworth Guardian to be nice about him and the team.

Newsworthiness. This singular word explains why Luis Suarez, a controversial and in some arenas hated character, is gold dust for papers. The way he combines being an anti-hero on one level and a genius on another means that everyone has an opinion of him. Regardless of what you think of Suarez, he sells papers. The tutors used the idea of 'A-list' footballers, saying Suarez is an A-lister along with, you guessed it, John Terry and Wayne Rooney.

A discussion ensued, and the hypothesis Do A-listers receive preferential treatment from the press? was considered. The example given was when Robin van Persie appeared to elbow Yohan Cabaye during Manchester United's 3-0 win over Newcastle a week previous on October 7th, yet avoided a media scolding. This example was dismissed by the tutors, as the FA chose not to punish the incident, but it was an interesting consideration whether celebrity footballers may be somewhat 'untouchable' in print.

Thursday 27 September 2012

Inconsistencies galore as Terrygate is finally over

A dispassionate defence of John Terry

A long-running saga was ended on 27 September when the FA charged Chelsea and former England captain John Terry with "using abusive language", a charge which "included a reference to colour and/ or race". Terry now faces a four match suspension and must pay £220,000, should he decline his right to appeal. Terry was acquitted of criminal charges at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 13 July in a rigorous four-day trial but the FA exercised its ability to conduct its own investigation.

Unlike a court of law, the FA doesn't need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to record a conviction. With the torrent of hate being poured at Terry, it's highly likely that the independent panel felt a little pressured to deliver a guilty verdict. That outcome, too, felt inevitable. Football is currently on a mission to purify its game. Terry may have got away with it once but football wasn't going to let him off the hook twice.

In enforcing the charge, the FA has created a platform for Terry-abuse. However, whether it's a fair one is dubious. Terry's defence, that he was repeating what was said to him by Anton Ferdinand, held up in the Magistrates'. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the Magistrates got it right and the FA, acting on behalf of the good of football, got it wrong.

John Obi Mikel was stood beside Terry when the words that landed him in this situation came out. He's one of many black Chelsea players who, not only took no offence to Terry's words, but flew to their captain's defence during the trial. These are people who work with Terry every day and did not hesitate to help him clear his name. In the eyes of these players, it was heat of the moment foul-mouthing from one player to another; nothing more and should have been treated like nothing more. 

Indeed, Ferdinand didn't even hear firsthand what was said to him. He was informed of footage of their argument, and after one thing had led to another, agreed to pursue the matter in a case that rapidly began to gather momentum. As no personal harm was caused at the time of the incident, it feels contrived that such an ordeal would ensue. 

John Terry is far from the only one to come off badly from this affair. The FA look ridiculous having handed Luis Suarez a suspension double the length that Terry received for a racist tirade on Patrice Evra just last year. The offender's intentions in this case were also questionable: Suarez claimed the aggravating word 'negro' is common in latin American countries, and means no harm.  

Followers of football have lamented a lack of continuity as the FA failed to match the charges. Suarez's £40,000 fine is considerably less than Terry's. Because Suarez was banned for longer but Terry was fined more, it's impossible to tell which act of charged racism was deemed worse.

A consequence of the events, which loomed over football for nearly a year, saw Rio Ferdinand's effective eligibility to the England Euro 2012 squad decimated merely for being the brother of Anton. England also lost a manager. For a four match ban and around a fine of a week's wages, it begs the question was the whole thing worth it?

Racism is foul and needs to be tackled in football, as in other arenas of life. Though in the cases of Suarez and Terry the truth may be that a desire to present a tough stance on racism, combined with their high profile personalities, led to their receiving considerably steeper punishment than their actions warranted.

Monday 13 August 2012

Triple Olympic champion - no small feat


No athlete has ever won the same track event at three consecutive Olympics. It appears a feat beyond the parameters of human possibility. To be the fastest or to have the best endurance over a specific distance for the best part of a decade is yet to be crystallised in the form of Olympic domination.

Of course, it is much more complicated than that. Merely being the quickest in your discipline is no assurance of victory. Take Mo Farah in the 5,000m for example: this year ten other runners had posted faster times and seven boasted superior personal bests. 


But when it came to it, at the crucial point - in the final of the Olympic Games - Farah vanquished them all


In the run-up to the Games, Farah stressed how he had configured his training so that he peaked at London. Evidently, this worked wonders - while others were busy setting world-leading times, Farah was quietly timing his preparations to perfection. 


Hitting one's peak at the critical moment is a quality synonymous with
 the last of the 'Flying Finns' Lasse Viren. Viren is the only competitor to win both the 5,000m and 10,000m in consecutive Olympics, and he did so by drifting away from the athletics scene - when he worked as a policeman in his home country - and returning when it mattered most.

The sole athlete who had the chance to earn Olympic track immortality at this Games - in Farah's first conquest, the 10,000m - was Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. This is a runner who has been so successful in his career that on the sparse occasion when he's taken anything but a gold medal, the immediate question to be asked is what went wrong for Bekele - not what went right for the winner.



Kenenisa Bekele leading the pack; by David Leah from Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte


However, even for someone considered to be one of the all-time greats in long-distance running, a third Olympic title proved elusive. There were no excuses from Bekele as he finished in fourth place and out of the medals, and one must assume merely that the years had caught up with him. He has since declared that he will hang up his track boots in order to tackle the marathon, a progression many greats have made before him.

In the sprints, Carl Lewis was 100m champion in 1984 and 1988. Come Barcelona 1992, however, his dominance had waned and Lewis focused on the long jump. To further highlight the difficulties of staying at the top, on only one occasion has the 400m been won by the same man at consecutive Olympics – by ‘Superman’ Michael Johnson in 1996 and 2000.



Is there something about track running that makes the treble so hard to achieve? Rigorous training demands are one small matter as the athlete has a number of factors to contend with cometh the moment. In sprinting, one false start now equates to immediate disqualification and in the longer distances, tactics play a huge part as runners influence the way the race plays out by sticking with their fellow nationals and training partners.

Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the recently crowned double Olympic champions in men's and women's 100m, will each have a chance at Rio 2016 to do what no one has done before and become an Olympic triple track champion. Quite a mouthful, and quite a feat. In fact, as the double winner in the 200m, Bolt will have two opportunities. 


They will both be 29 when the opportunity arises, and age is unlikely to be their stumbling block. For 5"0' Fraser-Pryce, competing in one of the most loaded events, has twice denied the USA and has awakened their wrath. Then, Bolt: who knows where he will be in four years' time? In the world of cricket, motoring on to Wayne Rooney throughballs or tackling the longer sprint, the 400m?


Or maybe, just maybe, he will have stuck around long enough to achieve something that really will make Bolt a legend of athletics.



Usain Bolt after retaining his Olympic 100m crown at London 2012; by Mike Hilton

Friday 10 August 2012

Keri-Anne Payne unable to follow in fellow GB stars' golden footsteps

London Olympics 2012, Women's Open Water Race, 10k/ 6 laps of Hyde Park's Serpentine

The Serpentine: a dauntingly named lake that conjures images of mythical snake beasts. Indeed, its name is derived from its snaking, curving shape. Yet as open water courses go, such thoughts are misleading. The flat tide made for a very fast race in the women’s swimming marathon.

Great Britain’s Keri-Anne Payne was a strong favourite but could only manage fourth place. Perhaps that the winner, Eva Risztov of Hungary, has a rich background in middle-distance pool races suggests the conditions were unfavourable to Payne.

Open water racing is as it sounds: an individualised discipline where swimmers have great freedom to decide how they compete. They can lurk in a chasing pack or lead, drift sideways and take fuel breaks as and when pleased.

Payne appeared to have missed her final drop from her feeding station, which could account for her being off the leaders’ pace. It may be more appropriate, however, to make the point that the waters were too tame to draw the best out of her.

For a swimmer who has encountered jellyfish the size of dinner plates, swam in a river where dead dogs and horses had been dumped and in ice-cold waters without shark nets, the recreational lake would have been like a stroll in the surrounding Hyde Park – a comfort to some but which played competitively to Payne’s disadvantage.

Characteristically Payne, who likes to lead from start to finish, took immediately to the front, only to be hauled back by Hayley Anderson of USA and Risztok, who stretched the field at a ferocious pace.

With one lap of six remaining, the race was already elitist as a ten metre gap separated the first five swimmers. Mercifully, Risztok cranked the intensity to make the gap 20 then 30 metres, putting a clear separation between the rest of the field.

The early race leader, Anderson, was left adrift battling with Payne to catch Germany’s Angela Moura, Italy’s Martina Grimaldi and Risztok who occupied the medal positions.

What happened next was extraordinary, however, as she summoned staggering reserve to surge up to second place, and came close to snatching victory. Payne, too, was swept forward as the end approached, and finished just 0.4 seconds off a podium finish.

Monday 25 June 2012

Resilient, brave, occasionally brilliant - but beaten

Euro 2012 quarter-final: England 0 - 0 Italy (Italy won 4-2 on penalties after extra-time)

In terms of the quality of football played over 120 minutes, England had lost. Long before the actual penalty defeat. It was as if the players felt they were competing a long-distance desert race, desperately attempting to drag their dead, cramping bodies over the extra-time finish line.

Andrea Pirlo, the puppet master, had England at his mercy and the viewing public in horrified awe. His ability to exert a wizard-like influence on the game from such a deep-sitting position proved to be a tactical nightmare and a spectacle scarcely seen. There is no denying his passing was on top form, both in terms of range and accuracy. But he has been performing at that ultimate level all year for Juventus, where he was in many critics’ eyes player of the season. Pirlo was just doing his thing. And we had no plan - or so it seemed - to nullify him.

The problem lay in the position Pirlo operates in; he plays in-between the defence and midfield where he aims to orchestrate the team's tempo and play passes in all directions. Our orthodox 4-4-2 did not naturally lend a player to picking him up, and the result was Pirlo had both plenty of space and time on the ball throughout the match. Free reign to the one player we could not afford to allow free reign. He also roamed to the sides, where his crossing was equally threatening.

Going into the quarter-final there was genuine reason for optimism. England breezed through their group, and with two exciting performances. We showed against Sweden an ability to raise our game, find goals when needed. Against Ukraine, we withstood a barrage from an inspired host nation and there was a genuine feeling of togetherness that has been a missing ingredient of past campaigns. The first half performance was all that was missing, and against Italy we got it. But then we lost it.

In the second half we reverted to the negative mindset we displayed against France. Like someone who had been sat in an uncomfortable chair for too long, we slumped from sitting high with attacking posture to sagging around our box as our goal-threat evaporated.

'Same old England' describes the style of our exit as once again we departed on penalties. But if that is how our tournament is remembered, it will do England an injustice. There were numerous, if disjointed, examples of the talents and capacity needed to form a winning side. We just never managed to display them all together at once.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

England: like a box of chocolates

You never know what you're gonna get

Off-field dispute, injury and unwillingness to be a standby gave Hodgson a rather large headache to select an appropriate back five for Euro 2012. But whilst missing Ferdinand, Cahill and Richards, England's defence comprising two players from Chelsea and two from Man City looked on paper one of the strongest of all nations, and would have been expected by many fans to be the one point they could rely on for consistency. In reality, the ability of Liverpool's Glen Johnson to rapidly recover position was needed on three occasions against Sweden.

The defence gave a stubborn performance in our opening fixture against France, establishing a forcefield around our box and restricting les Bleus to shooting from range. Because of the strength at the back, there was no legitimate claim that 1-1 was an unfair result despite France's domination in other areas. But for 15 minutes of madness at the start of the second half of the second game, England conceded twice to the aerial threat of Olof Mellberg. Their Euro aspirations looked in tatters, and it took a true super-sub performance from Theo Walcott to get England back on track.

Despite boasting a well-rounded set of skills - work-rate, stamina, strength, positioning, crossing - James Milner has disappointed. Extremely un-eye-catching against France, once he picked up a yellow against Sweden his worth as defensive cover on the right flank was severely devalued. Milner was quickly substituted for Walcott to make his first appearance at the tournament, and score a goal from the trequartista position that no one had seen him do before!

Hodgson was credited for the switch as a 'genius tactical move', but even the manager would not have forseen Walcott's impact to be that equalising goal. The Arsenal forward went on to excel himself and ensure the rescue mission that he started was completed. Minutes later, Walcott darted between Sweden's crowded defence and teed up Welbeck to apply a stunning winner. 

Most prominent bearer of the unpredictability factor is the returning Wayne Rooney. It has almost been a case of one step forward and two steps back ever since his introduction to the international scene in 2003. As a teenager Rooney made his mark on major tournament football the following year with two group stage goals against Switzerland. At the following World Cup, however, he was red carded for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho in the crunch, grudge quarter-final affair with Portugal.

Fast forward six years to the present day, and at 26 Rooney is no longer one of the young guns; he is England's talisman up top. Today is the day of redemption for Rooney, England's caged lion is ready to be unleashed on the tournament having waited out a reduced two game ban received at the end of qualification.

After taking four points from two tricky opening fixtures, with experimential lineups, England can really kick on with the team Hodgson envisaged when he took up the reigns. That team will feature Rooney at the heart of all attacks, whether starting a move from dropping deep into midfield or meeting a cross with a precision header. When they take to the field to face Ukraine, England will hope Rooney can be their leader by example, achieving the untarnished progress his country has been waiting for.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

One last hurrah for the Chelsea old guard

Slogged would be the word to describe how Chelsea have made their way to the final of the FA Cup and semi-final of an even more prestigious competition, the Champions League. Despite their shaky league form, could this be the year they claim an unlikely double?

The Londoners will head into the former as favourites having blown away rivals Tottenham 5-1 over the weekend. However, the latter is a different kettle of fish entirely.

Tonight Chelsea go head-to-head once again with Barcelona, the world's greatest team, on the biggest stage in club football. The last time the teams met, Barca scored in the last-minute to progress on away goals rule. This was the infamous match where referee Tom Henning Ovrebo retired after receiving death threats for dismissing multiple Chelsea penalty appeals.

It is three years since that day and Chelsea have only made minor changes to their team; the spine of Cech-Terry-Lampard-Drogba remains the same. With the exception of Juan Mata, who has at times carried Chelsea through rough patches of form, the latest recruits have failed to produce the major impact needed to replace the ageing core four.

Fernando Torres is a shadow of the player he was before his injury and in all honesty it has often been only the £50 million transfer fee that has demanded he be played. Another signing from Liverpool, Raul Meireles, has been criticised for ignoring his defensive duties.

The progress of Salomon Kalou will have greatly disappointed Chelsea fans, as after showing promise he has been confined to only 14 appearances this campaign. Conversely, it has been a breakthrough season for Daniel Sturridge but whether he can be viewed as a world-beater yet is questionable, and is more likely to be reserved for super-sub impact.

In defence, a lot has been said on centre-back not looking like David Luiz's natural position. It led to the signing of Gary Cahill, who has impressed, though not enough to hold down a definite starting position.

The failings of these new signings to integrate themselves as Stamford Bridge favourites could mean it is down to the old guard to once again to fly the flag for Chelsea in Europe.

They did it against Napoli in the quarter-final when firstly Drogba, then Terry, then a Lampard penalty hauled Chelsea back from an adverse 0-2 first-leg scoreline. Such iconic performances will be difficult to repeat against Barca who are now playing their attacking football so confidently that they regularly leave just one player, Carles Puyol, to sit in defence.

It will take an immense effort for a 33-year-old Didier Drogba to be the tormenting menace he was in his prime. However, his well-timed thunderous opener against Spurs on the weekend showed he can still be the big game player when needed. It may have been just what was needed to reinvigorate him.

Chelsea will be hoping Frank Lampard can orchestrate the midfield so Ramires and Mata are free to take the game to Barcelona. They also need their captain to show the kind of commitment as he did in the 2010 World Cup, when in the purest act of devotion he threw his body desperately to block a Slovenian shot.

What’s more, they need to do it not once but twice. Interim manager Roberto Di Matteo will tell his veteran players to seize this chance because the opportunity to realise the Abramovic dream may not come around again.

Friday 13 April 2012

The novelty of Messi will soon wear off

This is a blog about the feared consequences of success. The 2011/12 season has seen Lionel Messi continue his progress to football’s elite and beyond, and in doing so smash almost every goalscoring record in sight. At 24 he is Barcelona’s most prolific marksman and has left journalists scampering to think of a season in which one player has scored more goals. His success, however, has come at a loss to the other Catalan megastars.

As identified in the previous blog Messi has taken on three new roles: that of centre-forward, penalties and free kicks. These I see as mere additions to his arsenal at the expense of others in the Barcelona team. It’s not as if taking these roles has relieved pressure on others so they can perform greater. It’s Messi stealing their thunder.

Such has been his success after six years of first-team club football is that there are now very few records left to break. One more Ballon D’or and a handful more Champions League goals would see him take the outright record in two very good judges of footballing talent. And he is still in his footballer youth.

For these reasons I cannot hide my concern as to how long fans will continue to be blown away by his headline-grabbing performances. Barcelona are at risk of becoming less known for their tiki taka and more for their one source of unbelievable footballing ferocity.

The legendary status that he holds in the game is so immense that ITV recently broadcast a programme called ‘Lionel Messi: World’s Greatest Player’. He has been analysed as if his contribution to football is already so significant that it deserves to be looked back upon a mere third of the way through his professional career.

Will we start to see Messi run off to celebrate but find his teammates can’t match him for speed and have to celebrate alone? Should Messi do what Ronnie O’Sullivan did at snooker and play with his other limb because the sport was too easy for him?

One possible solution to this boredom of goals is a move to the Premier League where Messi, without his reliable henchmen Andres Iniesta and Xavi, will have to prove his worth on a wet Monday evening against Stoke. Unfortunately for Blackburn, due to Messi’s boyhood club loyalty and the obstacle of raising enough money to create civilisation on the moon, this happening is highly improbable.

Instead, the situation where Barca and Spanish fans in general grow distaste for their countrymen being outshone weekly may develop. It is nigh on impossible for Xavi or Iniesta to win Ballon D’or when their teammate is consistently grabbing backpage headlines and outscoring them by a country mile.

The whole Barcelona team, which comprises a minimum six Spanish national team players every game, is tailored to assist Messi in his pursuit of goals. There may come a time when acknowledgement of their wonderful abilities is not enough and they want recognition in the individual form that Messi absorbs as part and parcel of life.

A radical option for Barcelona to take (which I can hardly contemplate enough to write) is they decide to sell their cosmostar. This would happen come the time when opponents have truly run out of ideas to stop him, his teammates are missing out on fulfilling their goalscoring potential and the media have run out of fresh words to use to describe how brilliant he is. Barca would be compelled to get rid of Messi because of his overperformance.

It could even be argued that Barcelona would be more interesting without Messi. It would certainly give a wide range of players a greater responsibility in attack. But imagining Barcelona without Messi is almost unthinkable as he is becoming at the speed of light what Totti is to Roma and Ferguson to Manchester United: bigger than the club.

One about the future is consistent: Messi will continue to improve and the gap between the importance of him and other players to Barcelona is similarly likely to increase, which leads me to the conclusion that the novelty of Messi will begin to wear off. Soon.


Imperious; photo by boldorak2208 (flickr)

Thursday 12 April 2012

Barcelona in 2012: more team Messi than ever before

Barcelona have a maximum of 10 games left to play in the 2011/12 season. Messi has 61 goals from 51 games.

December’s World Club Cup match against Al-Sadd represented a pivotal moment in the future of Barcelona and the career of Lionel Messi. In that match David Villa broke his leg, an injury that would keep him out for the entire season. And an injury that turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Barcelona as will be argued in this post.

Messi assumed Villa’s position as centre-forward and took complete control of the role of team penalty taker. After a few games, coach Pep Guardiola saw Messi’s potential for goals as central attacker and adapted the team so that Messi was supported by his teammates more than ever before.

Lio leads the Barcelona scorer charts with a frankly ludicrous 61; below him is Cesc Fabregas, Xavi and Alexis Sanchez who together have scored 42. In previous seasons pundits would point to the Barcelona front three who together would accumulate over a hundred goals, but in 2012 there is now just one focal point to Barcelona: Lionel Messi, who puts the ball in the back of the net every time.

Barcelona’s enormously successful footballing philosophy that has brought them three of the last six Champions Leagues had always featured a razor sharp three-pronged attack. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why their source of goals is now narrowing to just one man. There appears to be a number of contributory factors instead.

The current squad’s players who would otherwise fulfil the wide positions, Pedro and Sanchez, have been limited to just 26 starting appearances. Taking their place has been Fabregas and recently elevated to the first team Isaac Cuenca.

The rationale for the decreased need for individualistic attacking players appears to be that Messi has now reached the level of excellence to be able to perform all three roles. Having two players either side who assist, rather than score themselves, has been preferred by Guardiola, and the result is Messi’s goal tally has soared.

As the season progressed, Messi has upped his involvement in free-kick taking duty. The responsibility now rests three-way alongside Dani Alves and Xavi. In future seasons, judging by his impeccable improvement curve it would be no surprise to see Messi wrestle the duty away from two of Barca’s most established players. It would further assist the change from FC Barcelona to FC Messi.

Saturday 14 January 2012

Portsmouth FC 0 - 1 West Ham

Having turned Fratton Park into somewhat of a fortress after taking 17 points from a possible 21, and their opponents West Ham without an away win in four matches, Portsmouth would have felt this was the perfect time to challenge the league’s second placed team.

Both teams made a tentative start to the match. Pompey seemed more content to stop any West Ham threat than create chances of their own. Carlton Cole was most aware of this having been flattened twice by Portsmouth’s intimidating centre-back paring of Aaron Mokoena and Tal Ben Haim.

The crowd were freely voicing their opinions on the game too. Referee Kevin Friend knew it was going to be a fiery game and so was choosing to let play run its course. After ignoring a Pompey penalty appeal, much to the outrage of the crowd, he first chose to intervene when Dave Kitson hacked down Joey O’Brien.

West Ham took the free-kick quickly by knocking the ball into the box and were awarded a penalty for shirt tugging. Mark Noble hit the penalty hard to goalkeeper Stephen Henderson’s right, who couldn’t keep the kick out despite getting a hand to it.

Portsmouth threatened late in the first half. Liam Lawrence put a delightful crossfield ball onto the feet of Dave Kitson who flashed across goal a shot that just needed a poacher to tap in. Portsmouth almost scored from the resulting two corners, the first West Ham needed to clear off the line. The third corner was a waste, however, and represented their last chance of the half.

The booing Portsmouth left the field to must have invigorated the players as they engineered a lovely move involving almost the entire midfield and attack at the start of the second half. Kitson played a stylish backheel into Norwegian striker Erik Huseklepp, but Pompey lacked the one killer pass or piece of incision to score.

Arguably the turning point of the match was a red card given to Portsmouth centre-midfielder David Norris. It appeared very harsh and will be of relevance if the laws regarding two footed challenges are to be reviewed, which appears necessary after a number of controversial decisions by referees in recent weeks.

The sending off put the game firmly in the command of West Ham until the introduction at 83 minutes of former Premier League striker Benjani which gave the home side an edge they had missed all game. He functioned as a dangerous target man almost immediately, his knockdown gave Marko Fuctas the opportunity to blast an excellent chance over Robert Green in West Ham’s goal.

West Ham played a gritty game to take the three points. That their manager Sam Allardyce said in the post-match press conference “We are delighted with the performance and the result” was testament to Portsmouth’s recent hot form.