Posts Tagged ‘CFC’

SUPER HANDSHAKE SATURDAY

Posted: January 25, 2012 by onefootinthegame in England, FA Cup, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2
English: John Terry Nederlands: http://www.pos...

Image via Wikipedia

Anton Ferdinand will decide in the next 48 hours whether to shake John Terry’s hand when QPR meet Chelsea in the FA Cup on Saturday. That’s according to this morning’s copy of The Times.

Reports elsewhere say that Ferdinand has already decided to snub the Chelsea captain’s handshake, while others say Ferdinand’s is under strict instructions from his club to politely adhere to the pre-match formalities.

Obviously, no-one knows what will happen when the two men meet. All we do know, is that this is an epoch defining event in football. A point in history against which all future events will be measured.

Already the Olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar Square has been recalibrated, and is now ticking down to 3pm on Saturday.

Crowds have begun to gather in St Marks Square in a 24-hour vigil. And the Pope will lead a service in the hope that God will offer Ferdinand divine guidance on the issue.

So serious are the potential consequences the guardians of the famous ‘Doomsday clock’, which indicates how close the world is to Armageddon, have inched the minute hand one notch closer global catastrophe.

A small number of people have even formed a new cult and retreated to a deserted Scottish Isle. There they will live secluded from the world existing solely by a new code of ethics based on asking themselves: “What would Anton do?”

Meanwhile, for those who have decided to remain in the UK and live through these tumultuous events, Sky News will broadcast rolling coverage of the event. Using helicopters their cameras will track Ferdinand and Terry as they emerge from the tunnel, warm-up, and move down the line of players as they go through the pre-game rituals.

So, with judgement day looming and with the world’s religious leaders calling for peace, we will all continue to count down to the big moment. Only to find out that Anton’s out with a groin strain….

Related articles

The ‘racism’ keeps on coming..

Posted: December 22, 2011 by onefootinthegame in England, Racism
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
7
English: John Terry in action for Chelsea FC

Image via Wikipedia

Things move fast in the world of football and dodgy racial relations. By the time our post on Suarez was up yesterday on the Suarez affair, everyone was starting to move on to John Terry. And while many were contemplating the impact of the John Terry
case a whole load of people moved on to Alan Hansen’s comments on Match of the Day.

Whatever you think about individual cases (some of yesterday’s blog comments showed how important club loyalty can be to an issue) it seems that racism is still an issue in football. The punishment handed out by the FA to Suarez shows that it is willing to punish racist language with a severe penalty. The fact that the CPS is involved in the John Terry incident and it is going to court indicates that what happened was deemed of enough potential seriousness to warrant criminal proceedings. Alan Hansen was clumsy in handling a sensitive topic and used outdated language that showed his age, but was not in any way malicious. I’m pretty sure an apology
will suffice but as an experienced broadcaster you can’t help but think he should have been more considerate given the nature of the issue.

When a club with the standing and profile of Liverpool and a decent sized section of their fans essentially say that racism is ok, as long it’s not really serious racism, then that’s disturbing. When someone like Stan Collymore  is on the receiving end of some horrendous racial abuse on Twitter for ‘daring’ to speak out about racism in the game then you know something is wrong. When the CPS is getting involved in something that happened on the pitch and when the FA is handing out 8 match suspensions to players then things are getting out of hand.

All this adds up to a need for football to have a proper conversation about racism within football and how to deal with it. Organisations such as Kick It Out have done some fantastic work over many years. The change in attitudes over the last 30 years has been a credit to football and in the UK we are miles ahead of some other European countries in terms of that. But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels, there’s still a lot more to do. What that is I don’t know. It won’t be just the one thing that advances it, but a series of smaller things that add up. A softening of hardline ‘my club right or wrong’ attitudes can help people see the bigger picture in individual cases. Being able to speak out against racism and challenge it within grounds without fear will help as well. But football doesn’t exist in isolation and racism is a problem that society as a whole has to tackle. It’s not easy and it’s not simple, but then anything that’s worth doing because it will change things isn’t easy or simple.

Related articles

What I learnt from Chelsea v Arsenal

Posted: October 29, 2011 by onefootinthegame in England, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11
Chelsea Vs Arsenal, 2007 Carling Cup Final, Mi...

Image via Wikipedia

Defending isn’t Chelsea’s or Arsenal’s strong point

Bad defending has been everywhere in the Premier League this season, it’s like some sort of virus. In the first half Chelsea gave Arsenal two guilt edge chances to score, first Gervinho miscued then Van Persie missed from close range and for the Arsenal goal Terry and Ivanovic were so flat footed it was unreal. Even Cech got in on the act moving so slowly for both the 2nd and 3rd Arsenal goals and the backpass and slip by Terry for the 4th was embarrassing.

Not to be outdone Arsenal and Santos in particular (who had a terrible game his goal apart) bent over any time any Chelsea player had the ball. On the other side Djourou was constantly on the back foot in the first half particularly and gave Ashley Cole far too much space and time. As for Per Mertersacker, for someone who is 6’7 he is remarkably poor in the air he was dragged all over the shop for Terry’s goal. I imagine he plays like Peter Crouch would if he was a centre back. Awkwardly. Funny thing is, that come the Euro 2012 tournament you know he’ll have a blinder as Germany trounce England in the Quarter Finals. Again.

If either want to reach their ambitions this season (League for Chelsea, 4th for Arsenal) then they will need to get their defence in order. Quickly.

Robin Van Persie has never been more important to Arsenal

This is an obvious one, without Van Persie Arsenal will not finish in the top four, simple as that really. His hattrick today was helped by defensive mistakes but he took them all fantastically well. He is on the hottest form of his life. How Arsenal keep the man of glass fit I don’t know, but they need to.

Mata is getting on with his business

I wasn’t sure about Mata before he signed, but then I wasn’t sure about David Silva either…

When Mata got on the ball today he was fantastic in the first half especially, he was left one minute and central the next. Comfortable on the ball, smart with his passes and great assist for the first goal (though Santos may as well of lubed up, the way he defended against him). Is he as good as Silva? No, I don’t think so but he is a player than Chelsea needed. He lacked a bit of stamina in the second half it seemed but still when he got on the ball he made things happen. In the second half he drifted and Chelsea didn’t get him on the ball enough, no surprise that this was when Chelsea struggled most. His goal was superb, you knew it was in as soon as he hit it.

Lampard still has something to give but maybe only for 45minutes

He scored a great goal, one that has Lampard written all over it. Running from deep past the forward and getting a goal. But his distribution stood out for me, midway through the first half his first time pass around on the spin for Sturridge to get on to (and miss) was sublime. He may not be everyones cup of tea but with pace of Sturridge, Mata’s class and Rameries legs around him he is still very effective.

Arteta didn’t turn up. Again

2 years ago Arteta was a fantastic player, he stroked the ball around and dominated the midfield for Everton. Injuries have taken their toll on his legs and he’s still not fully fit, add to that the standard in the centre of midfield in the Premier League has risen to new levels and Arteta has been left behind. He was played very deep today perhaps as a deep laying playmaker, but he made 60 successful passes today only 4 of those reached the Chelsea defensive third and none were in the area.

When Arsenal signed Arteta fans and players were crowing that he was the missing piece and a good addition to replace Nasri or Febregas. I was much more skeptical and the way he has played since he arrived hasn’t changed my view at all. Privately Wenger was skeptical himself about Arteta and Mertersacker, seems his gut is still making the right noises, the problem is he isn’t following it anymore.

Related articles

The charge of the Chelsea FC prawn brigade

Posted: October 26, 2011 by onefootinthegame in Champions Leuage, England, FA Cup, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
2

Roy Keane’s famous tirade against the “prawn sandwich brigade” highlighted how football’s traditions and soul were threatened by the creeping corporatisation of football.

Eleven years have now passed since Keane’s spluttered seafood salvo. Since then the inexorable march of commercial interests have made his complaints seem almost trivial, rather than a serious warning about the rot setting in at the heart of the game. The subsequent years of swelling TV revenues and global viewing figures have immunised the Premier League’s members against criticism. And, it seems, irony.

I was confronted with this horrible truth on a recent tube journey. Across the platform from me was a poster for Chelsea Football Club advertising it’s corporate hospitality packages and championing the quality of their prawn sandwiches. On the face of it the adverts seem astonishing. Maybe, they’re a cheeky way of reconnecting with ordinary fans? The answer though is no.

The adverts lack hint of irony or humility. They only impression they convey is arrogance. The sense that ordinary fans concerns about the soul of the game count for nothing against Chelsea’s desire to chase the corporate entertainment shilling. Chelsea are saying: “Football isn’t about you, and we don’t care if you know it.” The Premier League, it seems, has finally eaten itself.

Related articles

Five things I learnt from QPR v Chelsea

Posted: October 24, 2011 by onefootinthegame in England, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0
English football referee Chris Foy

Image via Wikipedia

Chelsea must work on their mental strength

In any local derby, you need cool heads. 2 straight red cards and 7 additional yellows will be an open invitation to the rest of the Premiership that if you get in Chelsea’s faces, and give them a hostile atmosphere, they can’t handle it. While the Bosingwa challenge is open to debate, Drogba’s dangerous challenge certainly wasn’t. By full-time, I was surprised to see David Luiz hadn’t joined them.

QPR can’t rely on graft alone

While the likes of Clint Hill, Shaun Derry and Heider Helguson performed admirably when QPR were up against it, it was telling that even with a two-man advantage the team lacked the personnel to take the game to the opposition. You only had to look at the Who’s Who of solid ex-Championship players on the QPR bench to see that there was nobody to help get that 2nd goal. Barton and Wright-Phillips can’t do it all on their own.

It’s tough playing against 10 men. Tougher still against 9?

For all their indiscipline, Chelsea deserve a lot of credit for their second half performance. QPR didn’t stop working, and though 2 men down Chelsea were able to carve out some great opportunities to equalise – particularly Anelka’s free-header straight at Kenny. Cech didn’t have to make a save all 2nd half, when an onslaught could have been on the cards.

Chris Foy is back on Warnock’s Christmas card list

Foy used to be up there with Graham Poll on Warnock’s most hated referees list. At Sheffield United, he sent Phil Jagielka off twice for highly dubious incidents (not too unlike Bosingwa’s come to think of it), and missed a dreadful tackle on Chris Morgan in 2005 that led to a typically anger-fuelled rant from Warnock. Yesterday’s view: “I was glad to have someone experienced like him in charge” – how things change…

Taarabt needs to grow up

At Fulham, he took the bus home at half time after being subbed. Yesterday, he tried to take his ball and go home with his ridiculous behaviour after the penalty was awarded. Helguson won it, he’s been an established penalty taker everywhere he’s been, and he was first to the ball. That should’ve been the end of the matter. Taarabt is clearly frustrated he might not get the move to a top club that he so desperately wants, but if he isn’t careful he’ll be throwing away his second chance in the Premiership.

Related articles