Posts Tagged ‘Spain’

How clubs use TV to kill football

Posted: January 11, 2011 by onefootinthegame in La Liga, Premier League, SPL
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How many times has one of your mate’s mates told you that the Spanish league is the best in the world? I’m sick of people comparing leagues – it can’t be done.

But the Spanish comparison irks me more than most. How many English people can honestly say they have watched a La Liga game that didn’t involve Barcelona or Real Madrid? You can’t compare entire leagues by the top teams in them.

Deportivo hosted Barcelona last Sunday and the home fans voiced their displeasure. The banner in the photo roughly translates as: “we don’t want another Scottish league” (See picture, right). In other words, the Spanish fans don’t want a league dominated by two clubs. (Or a league that ultimately has to wrangle with its structure to keep it interesting).

But Barcelona and Real Madrid do dominate. Sid Lowe revealed that the two teams “have won 121 of their last 142 relevant games against the league’s other sides” in his Guardian column yesterday. That is, frankly, ridiculous.

Fans of the English Premier League moan about the traditional top four (Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool). But at least that is four teams out of 20 and not two out of 18. That said, it still takes a huge injection of cash from the owner (Man City) or a massive and loyal fan base (Spurs) to make a dent at the top of the Premier League.

The FA and the Premier League should look to the demise of competition in La Liga and prepare to take a firm stance soon. The reason being that it won’t be long before the traditional top four (and, let’s be honest, Man City and Spurs too – right place, right time) look to the demise of competition in La Liga and see an opportunity.

The reason is that Spanish clubs can negotiate their own TV rights. So every Barcelona game and every Real Madrid game is televised. More crucially, it means the clubs can tie up the overseas market.

Under the current Premier League model, a proportion of the Asian money for the viewing of Man United v Chelsea will end up at Stoke, Wolves et al. (Indeed, due to parachute payments, it also ends up at Hull, Middlesborough etc etc).

That doesn’t happen in Spain. And that is a huge factor in the lack of competitiveness in La Liga.

Strong leagues need strong management.

 

England must become a “posh Greece”…

Posted: November 15, 2010 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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Fabio Capello. http://www.postproduktie.nl/voe...

Image via Wikipedia

Fabio Capello’s squad for the friendly against France is a mistake. It’s actually disastrous. It means we no longer have any chance of winning Euro 2012.

It’s not the absence of the squad’s more illustrious names like Rooney, Ashley Cole of Terry. It not the random call ups of Championship players and unproven prospects. It’s the omission of Kevin Davies.

With Kevin Davies England can win Euro 2012.

I don’t just mean in the squad, getting the odd 10 minutes at the end of the game. I mean making Kevin Davies the first name on the team sheet. The tactical centre-piece of the team.

Because it’s time to stop pretending. England aren’t very good. We’ve not been that good for a long time. We’re never going to play football like Spain. We need to dispense with attempts to play attractive football and become the type of team we know deep down we should be.

England must become a ‘posh Greece‘.

Greece won Euro 2004. Unburdened by delusions and ego they got on with executing their plan. England must do likewise. We need to be functional, defensive and crude.
The World Cup showed we don’t have players who string a series of passes together. With ‘posh Greece’ we don’t have to worry about that.

We can forget all that tippy-tap and start hitting some long diagonals. For that we need someone to get on the end of stuff, and hold the ball up. On these shores there is no-one better at that than Kevin Davies.

With Davies up top our midfield will need to deliver the kind of aerial bombardment not seen since the RAF unloaded on Dresden. Then all we need are a couple of willing midfield runners who’ve got the engines to get forward and get on the knock downs.

Players like Cattermole and Barton are cut out for ‘posh Greece‘. We want players who aren’t going to over complicate things. Who when push turns to punch are going to execute the spindly limbed opposition playmaker who’s drifting around in the hole.

There are no doubt some who will be revolted by this prospect. There will be some who say it won’t work, that Greece was a never to be repeated fluke. Well just look how close Holland came to winning the last World Cup.

We have the players to do it. For me the only question is, do we have the will to do it?

A Silva lining?

Posted: July 26, 2010 by onefootinthegame in Premier League
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David Silva: Worth his weight in gold?

Some suggest that Manchester City have a scattergun transfer policy. That Roberto Mancini hands his chairman a list of world-renowned players, and the two of them do all they can to buy every single one, regardless of whether the player is actually required or will indeed strengthen the club. Maybe that is why the £25 million signing of David Silva from Valencia has gone fairly unnoticed.

This is the same David Silva who alongside his namesake David Villa was one of Valencia’s shining lights. For the past four years their names were linked with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

After many valiant efforts to retain both players’ services, Valencia finally succumbed to the clubs’ crippling debt and the two prized assets were sold this summer. On 19 May Valencia’s club captain, David Villa, moved to Barcelona for £34 million in a transfer that many predict will make the all-conquering Catalans even more of an unstoppable force (as if they weren’t exhilarating and fearsome enough already).

Six weeks later, Villa’s former team-mate David Silva was confirmed as Manchester City’s second big money summer signing.

However, whilst David Villa’s transfer to the current La Liga champions has gobbled up many newspaper column inches, you will be hard pressed to find anything other than a whisper about David Silva’s move to nouveau riche Man City.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that during this summer’s World Cup, Villa and not Silva was at the forefront of Spain’s success in the competition. With five goals and some outstanding individual displays, the man nicknamed El Guaje (The Kid) enhanced his reputation as one of the world’s leading strikers.

David Silva, on the other hand, barely featured in any of Spain’s games during the 2010 World Cup. The skillful winger was forced to look on from the bench as his teammates triumphed in South Africa.

This is a shame, as I believe Manchester City have acquired a player who will make a massive impact in the Premier League this season. Something about David Silva excites me. He has guile and skill, and is player with that rare gift to conjure something out of absolutely nothing.

Some will argue that at a meagre 5 foot 7 inches tall, Silva will struggle with the physical nature of the Premier League. That the so-called hatchet men will bully him and nullify his skill. Whilst I admit this is a possibility, Silva’s pace and sharp football brain should be enough for him to out-think and out-manoeuvre even the most robust of defenders.

In a week that many Liverpool fans have championed the free acquisition of Joe Cole, would it be foolish for me to suggest that fans of Manchester City should be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of seeing the younger, dare I say better version of the England international strutting his stuff at Eastlands’ this season?

As a deluge of superstar names continue to be linked with Manchester City, perhaps it won’t be James Milner, Edin Dzeko or Mario Balotelli that provides the final piece to Roberto Mancini’s jigsaw. I for one have a feeling that David Josué Jiménez Silva will be the most valuable piece in the Manchester City boss’ puzzle.

The Stephane Guivarc’h award for most disappointing number 9 goes to….

Posted: July 7, 2010 by onefootinthegame in Awards, World Cup 2010
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Poor man's Stephane Guivarc’h?

Van Persie and Torres: Poor man's Stephane Guivarc’h?

And so it comes down to this. A man to man battle to between two Premier League stars to find out who wins the coveted Stephane Guivarc’h award for most disappointing World Cup winning forward 2010.

Oddly, both Spain and Holland have got to the final carrying their two star number 9’s. Both have been playing with 10 1/2 men.

So much was made of both these players. Pundits wax lyrical on their technique, pace, strength and clinical finishing. In reality, Torres and Van Persie have both looked slow, clumsy, weak and wayward. Torres, plagued by injury all season, has never really looked like the player who scored for fun in Euro 2008 or the Premier League (though admittedly not last season). Surgery and a lack of match practice in a team devoid of confidence has made him a appear like a shadow of his former self.

Van Persie, on the other hand, has always been plagued by injury. One of the most technically gifted players in Europe, he has looked well off the pace in South Africa. The touch and vision is still there, but the legs aren’t working how they should be. So who has been most disappointing? It’s obvious really. But here is a stat attack from FIFA:

Robin Van Persie

Attempted 152 passes, 90 of which have been successful (59% completion rate).
15 shots in total
Offside 9 times
1 goal
2 assists

Torres stats make for painful reading. But here they are:

Fernando Torres

Attempted 64 passes, 31 of those were completed, (48% pass completion rate).
13 shots in total
Offside once
No goals
No assists

The offiside statistic for Torres is remarkable. He usually plays on the shoulder of the last defender, and his goal against Germany in 2008 was a great finish from that position. During the World Cup he has just not been at the races, a pale imitation of his former self.

But how about some context – here are David Villa’s stats:

David Villa

Attempted passes 219, 148 completed (68%)
He has had 26 shots (Twice as many as Torres)
Offside on two occasions (he plays wider so not surprising)
5 goals
1 assist

So we all know that Torres is having a poor World Cup. But “he has been injured” you say, “he shouldn’t have chopped off his blonde hair, therein lies the power” you cry, Liverpool had a poor year, it’s not down to poor baby faced Fernando.

But what is odd is that this isn’t the first time a team, or in this case two, have reached the World Cup finals with their star striker out of form. Four years ago, Italy couldn’t choose between Gilardino or Toni. France 1998 had the cult figure of Stephane Guivarc’h plowing what must have been the most lonely of lone furrows.

So do you really need a real forward to win a World Cup? I’d have to say probably not, (although David Villa is the hole in my argument, as well as the context). As an old coach always said to me: “If you can shut up shop, the team will always get a chance to nick a goal. You got two results to keep you going, the draw and the win. You got to play percentages in this game, defend well and you’ll always get a chance”.

So who wins the Stephane Guivarc’h award? Afraid it has to go to Fernando Torres. I am sure he will be back though, perhaps not next year just like Rooney, Messi, Ronaldo and Kaka.

But worrying for all those players who failed to impress in South Africa is the fact that a World Cup only comes round every four years, and there are going to be a lot of players needing to prove a point in Brazil – but only one can really write themselves into history.

Having said all that,  Liverpool fans needn’t worry too much, as I’m sure Fernando will pick up next season – at Stamford Bridge.