Useless. Flop. Goddamn waste of money. Adjectives are not too hard to come by when Fernando Torres is the topic of discussion. Few footballers have fallen as far and as fast as the former Liverpool hit man has in the past 2 seasons.

Once feared by the world’s finest defenders and revered by Kopites the world over, the Spanish striker has suddenly become something of a cruel joke in the Barclays Premier League. So indelibly has he left his mark in England that his very name has taken on added meaning in the English language:

Nando

Noun – an unbelievably easy goal scoring chance wasted due to woeful finishing.

Example: What a nando from Torres!

Verb – to miss an easy goal scoring opportunity by seemingly defying the laws of Physics.

Example: Dear god, please don’t let Torres nando this one.

But Chelsea didn’t shell out a whopping £50M for Torres to coin words. They need the troubled Spaniard to start hitting the back of the net with regularity. In order for that to happen however, they need to get Torres the one thing he desperately needs – a psychologist. What is psychology going to do that countless hours of training haven’t been able to? The answer is simple; rather than moaning every time Torres misses yet another golden opportunity, a psychologist will address the source of the problem. Consider these points:

1. Fitness

Many commentators like to claim that Torres “doesn’t look fit.” This, of course, is absolute bullshit. Fernando Torres has been available for selection for every single Chelsea game this season bar three – Bolton (away), Everton (home) and QPR (away). And even for those 3 games, he was not missing due to injury. Rather, Mr. Torres was serving a 3 game suspension after picking up a senseless red card versus Swansea.

So Torres is fit. And if even if you’re one of those nitpickers who distinguish between “fitness” and “match fitness” then we can still confidently say that Fernando Torres is match fit. The Spaniard has made 18 appearances in the league to date, even if quite a few have been from the bench. He’s been in the rough and tumble, he’s had to chase balls (haha!) and he’s also been given an extended run in the first team, especially with Didier Drogba off playing in the African Cup of Nations. Clearly then, Torres’ problem is not merely a physical one.

2. Talent

Is Chelsea simply asking too much of poor old Torres? Is Andre Villas Boas demanding the impossible? Hell no. We all saw what Torres did at Liverpool. Is the striker just “past it” then? Over the hill? Unlikely, at 27 years old the lad still has time on his side.

Admittedly, he has shown glimpses of his glorious best on occasion this season: small bursts of speed, clever assists as well as a few deft touches here and there have all been noticed and clutched at by desperate Chelsea supporters. Even if Torres’ performances have been dreadfully inconsistent, it is obvious that ability is not his major problem. He can do all the things he is being asked. He just isn’t.

The harsh reality, dear readers, is that Fernando Torres’ biggest obstacle to recapturing his former glory is his mentality. The man is royally screwed upstairs. Let us address 2 key issues:

1. Pressure

Is there anyone in the Premier League who is under more pressure right now than Fernando Torres? Perhaps not. The hapless duo of David de Gea and Steve Kean are in with a shout, but their troubles only began in August. Torres has been under considerable stress ever since the departure of Rafa Benitez from Liverpool in June 2010.

Hampered by niggling injuries after a goalless World Cup, Torres never really regained his explosive pace and sharpness under new Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson. The drop in his on-field performance, coupled with on-going frustrations with then Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillette ultimately led to his acrimonious transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea in January 2011.

But unknown to (or ignored by) Chelsea was the fact this this was not the Torres of old. Their new signing arrived in London with a lot of mental baggage. Torres was already under extreme pressure to recapture his lost form but now he also had to adjust to new surroundings, prove himself to a new club, face intense competition for a starting berth as well as justify his British record £50M price tag. Mix all of that with the ever present media pressure that hounds Premier League players on a daily basis and what you’re left with is a high-stress cocktail that few people can swallow.

Working in high pressure environments will always cause stress, and stress leads to anxiety. For world class athletes though, performance anxiety can be a motivating factor that’s spurs them to excellence. Increased anxiety leads to increased arousal and if this arousal is within the athlete’s optimal functioning zone, then it will lead to better performances. Pressure can bring out the best in football players. That is why we often see the best matches at major tournaments like the Euros, the Champions League or the World Cup (in the high pressure knockout rounds).

However, no one performs optimally under extreme pressure. Too much pressure will result in excessive arousal outside of the optimal functioning zone and that causes a significant drop in performance.

Fernando Torres needs to realize that being nervous is natural. He needs to harness his anxiety and use it constructively to improve his performances. He is simply becoming too worked up. He needs to relax. If he can’t manage to do that, his woeful form will continue to haunt him as the season progresses.

2. Confidence

Trying too hard without success leads to physical as well as mental frustrations and is a classic sign of a player in a slump. And let’s not ignore the facts; Fernando Torres is in a helluva slump. His confidence is shot. Scoring 2 goals in 23 games can do that to a guy. We can only imagine the mental turmoil he experiences each time he sees Andy Carroll ahead of him in the scoring charts.

The danger of suffering from low confidence is that the situation can quickly spiral out of control. Low confidence leads to a drop in motivation, which in turn causes decreased performance, ultimately resulting in even less confidence. It is like a vicious cycle, which if left unchecked, can completely destroy a player’s season or even his career.

So what can Torres do to help himself and get out of this rut? He needs to focus on the simple things. Uncomplicated gameplay will increase the chances that attempted actions or tasks are successful, resulting in elevated confidence levels. No more flick ons or backheels or stepovers for Pete’s sake. The groans of the crowd when those “tricks” fail to come off are far more damaging than you might think. Just run and shoot, Fernando. That’s all you have to do. Something is bound to go in sooner or later, and when it does you need to milk it and build from there.

As for you Chelsea FC, if you value your£50M investment at all, please get off your collective asses and get this man a shrink. “Run and shoot” is a simple enough command, but we wouldn’t want poor old Torres to take it out of context, now would we?

The author, Demetrie Thompson, is a lifelong football fan and the editor of What Is Psychology.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

John Terry, English FA and why he shouldn’t be anywhere near the England national team until the trial is over.

Episode Four : A New Trial…..

In a time not so long ago, in a world departed from this reality….

A Man divided opinion of what was right and decent

A Man led a country; All its people, All casts,

All its hopes rested on his shoulders

His Name was John Terry…

OH F*#k!! We’re So very Screwed! Cue the music………..

I find myself in exact opposition to a United Legend. A man I believe as surprised a lot of people with his good sense and honesty since taking up with the coin of the Devil which is Sky Sports Inc. He has talked with eloquence and shared an insight into the footballing world that few other ex-pro pundits, such as Jamie [Place ADVERT HERE] Redknapp, Shearer ‘I know nothing….’ et al, have managed with such clarity and legitimacy that others have so lacked. He’s been there, done that and rubbished the T-Shirt…..

But I stand here in exact antipathy. He is wrong on so many levels about this one issue that I feel offended. Wrong because he relates fighting the Rio incident with this same issue. Wrong, because like Liverpool FC and the Suarez case, football has again completely and utterly and absolutely missed the very fundamental premise of this case;

‘John Terry is on trial for making a Racially Aggravated Remark.’

What has gone before us this season, let alone the bad old days of football discrimination, should be enough to ensure everyone’s eyes see the primary truth of this statement.

No-one can rightly accuse John Terry of being ‘A Racist’, as much as we could conclude the same of Luis Suarez. He will not be found innocent or guilty of that. He is not on trial for that. That is in fact not even a crime in British law. There is neither a specific law that transmits exactly as Anti-racial abuse law, but this may fall under the Protection from Harassment Act (1997). This is about whether one man has spoken or done something which in law is deemed offensive in discriminating against another person based on his or her race. Or if that a person’s conduct in question can be considered harassment by a ‘reasonable’ man/woman.

Or it may fall under the Crime and Disorder Act (1998), where the offence committed demonstrates hostility based on the ‘Victim’s’ membership to a racial group or based on hostility towards a group based on their membership to that racial group.

So when he uttered the words he is accused of he may well be considered as acting with hostility towards a player based on the colour of his skin which narrates to the membership to a racial group. This is obviously a very simplified form of what will be a complex and complicated legal fight between the crown prosecution and Mr. Terry’s legal team in his defence.

So if I’m admitting the complexity of it why have I come over all righteous and indignant?

If we look at the reams of media produced by this it’s the simple argument between our Red-Nev and the Times Journalist Matt Dickinson on Twitter. Neville is quoted as saying “To ban without process is to sentence that’s what I fought for back in (2003) and still believe.” He replied to further prompts that the FA should only “ACT if it affects the performance of the team/Individual”. Neville has in one single instance, like many before him, become censure to the decent man’s moral conscience.

Dimitrina Petrova (2000) wrote that the ‘denial of racism is gradually conquering the sphere of manifestations of racism and becoming the most typical and widespread modern form of appearance of racist attitudes, opinions, statements, actions and policies, (European Roma Rights Centre). In categorically denying that the governing body should take action should against John Terry prior to the trial, Gary Neville has placed John Terry’s individual rights above that of football, its patrons the fans and in complete opposition to the implementation of policies to the ‘reasonable’ man. He as inexplicably condoned racism by denial.

Remember Him? The reasonable, Man? He’s not the one earning hundreds of thousands of pounds doing something we have such love and passion for and commands such adoration and hate. Football is tribal. The Vile bilious hatred that drips from the terraces against rivals is an ugly reminder of our darker sides. The respect of others is an argument for another day. But with the tribalism that tears at the very heart of integrity we must rise and say ‘NO’.

Our football club have witnessed firsthand how allowing the rights of an individual, not enjoyed by the rest of society, can poison further British football’s impressive stance and rally against racism. Abuse directed to an Oldham player and our own Patrice Evra under the banner of tribalism and banter as left me sickened. The fact that a respected club like Liverpool FC have effectively propagated Neville’s premise lies in the reactionary argument that other pundits and commentators hold, in that acting suggests judgment and prejudices the verdict and his treatment. It’s flawed and an argument not allowed to the rest of the nation’s workforce.

Footballers already seem to have the idea that ordinary rules of society somehow don’t apply to their world. Why shouldn’t they, they’re treated in equal amounts of loathing and reverence. They’re surrounded by people that tell them they ARE special, why shouldn’t they believe it. Why should they be judged by the same rules as us ordinary folk—– But footballers’ are human and are affected by the same emotions and should be judged and ruled by the same laws and ethics as the reasonable man.

I work for a large organisation. If I was reported as expressing the comments credited to John Terry my work would rightly take it seriously and investigate the matter. Due to the seriousness of this I would be suspended. There’s no doubt about that. That would be on full pay and would have no bearing on the appearance of guilt or innocence.

It’s part of the process. It removes me from being effected or being able to influence the investigation. I cannot influence the statements or attitudes of any witnesses or any potential victim/s. I cannot bring pressure to bear. I would be isolated from work colleagues whilst the investigation is concluded. After that I would be restored to my position or punished as per policy. In this case I would be in all likelihood looking at the sack, even deregistration and the end of my career.

This is another concept alien to footballers who due to their unique standing as ‘Assets’ are precluded from this devastating employment discarding. This I accept, but why Should John Terry be treated any different to me or ANY of the peoples of this great land!??? I am still waiting for a reasonable answer to tell this reasonable man why????

Surely the captains standing, within this insular and protective world that constitutes a footballer’s dressing room, is at the apex of this environment with the influence, power and dominance that role provides. It’s perverse to think that John Terry is still allowed to hold that sway within the international and his club’s dressing rooms. Worse still is that John Terry, as captain of England is our leader on the field.

An emblem of national pride, the badge on his chest and the statements of national fervour only further sully and defile sensibility. Britain has confronted and attempted to address the nature, the history and effects of racism in this country. It is not perfect. But if you compare us to other nations in Europe and around the world it’s a good start. John Terry as England captain carrying the mantle of England onto the field of play who symbolizes a nation is a charade.

Our national game is football, and embodies all its peoples no matter what race, sexual orientation or even tribal group (gulp! yes even the Bitters!!). A man stood accused of the inexcusable utterance of a racial jibe at a fellow professional should not be allowed to continue as a representative of this country. A country whose black men and women serve with distinction in its armed forces and local emergency services or even just scrape a living like the rest of us. How can he represent these people or even any of as a multicultural nation?

Why is there no realisation in football that this is utterly wrong on every level?

Why are we still being stained and ruined by distracters that fail to be guided by conscience who belong to the “if’s” and “Buts” brigade that defend people like Terry and Suarez?

John Terry seems a very unlikable and vile human being. There I’ve said it; this is my personal opinion of the man. He has a highly punch-able face and persona.

I really REALLY do not like Him. Viva John Terry is my ironic roar…..

But my personal feelings do not come into it. If he or football authorities had a shred of decency or principles he would not be representing me or my nation, he would be nowhere near a team that can only be influenced and torn apart by his actions. Like football, he is amoral as there is no glory or money in that direction……………….. Just decency and honour and integrity………….

Why am, I not surprised that these are traits it appears John Terry does not possess?? More surprising is that John Terry remains captain and now is defended by our own Red-Nev. We really are f#*ked!!!

Written by Jony Ball, who contributes on the Manchester United blog RedRants.com, and can also be followed on Twitter.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The supporters of Wigan, Blackburn or West Bromwich Albion understand the searing pangs of incompetency that they face at least 10 times a year, when their sides are drawn against the remodelled top 5. Away at Man City for a team like Wolves can give serious impetus for such a fan to abandon their halfway tickets and choose the theatre with the missus. Away at Old Trafford is an unspeakable; too appalling to comprehend.

So what does an away trip to The Library, or Emirates as it’s more affectionately referred to, mean to a club battling for its television revenue in 2012?

The diversity of revenues and spending predicates the most nauseating of images for those fans that follow the proverbial beggars of English Premier League football. And it is this diversity that can lead to a trip to United becoming an envy-filled 90 minute ogle at the rich merchants of our town; where diatribes will bemoan Nani, Rooney, Vidic sitting on their racing-car-seat viewpoints. But, undoubtedly, the most dissatisfying feature of this whole painstaking ordeal is the petulant arrogance of the opposition fans who belittle, as if their choice of stock gives them privilege over you (you = Neanderthal preferring self-deprivation and perennial unfulfillment them = accustomed to victory and other unimaginable glories).

When your side is worth around 0.84% (West Brom vs Man City) of the opposing squad’s historical book values, it is certainly difficult to feel anything but abject despair, but nevertheless, the human psyche seems to demand a certain optimism. This cruel disposition is the result of the transient nature of the sport itself; for football is surely the one sport in which an upset is more commonplace than most (the rarity of goals ensures this fact). And indeed, this unfledgling positivity, or should I saw fantastical musings, is to some degree warranted by historical performances. It was points against the supposed top 5 that invariably kept a number of clubs afloat last season – most notably Wolves who beat City, Liverpool, Chelsea and United in a simply unbelievable turn of events. Under this milieu, the dream of Grant Holt’s thunderbolt from closer to the circle develops; nay flourishes.

While a match up such as Gareth McAuley vs Sergio Aguero is simply terrifying for any self-respecting Baggie, it surely would be a thing of great savour for the Irishman. For him, and his playing mates, the pressure is largely off. It is one of the few occasions all year where a 3-0 loss could be met with shrugs and despondency from supporters, rather than rage or ridicule on any other Saturday afternoon. Further, with weights of expectations amounting to a paltry feather, what better chance to upstage the young Argentinian with a grumbling studs up boot crusher, or a neat flick of the elbow when rising for a clearance. The risks really are skewed to the upside.

For the gaffer, the prospects are slightly less perfect. Looming camera, radio and print media interviews must be at the forefront of his balding head. Placid dismissal of the result as unimportant, or good experience, could be met with the perpetual lambasting from supporters that the side is unambitious, while an honest appraisal (“they were simply better”) is never a welcome soother for those same fans. For him, the downside is not as negligible, but even the Neil Warnocks or Brendan Rodgers of our universe can appreciate that the scales of expectation are well in their favour.

For the less perceptive of you, playing the biggest teams on the biggest stage is simply the best – for everyone. A cathartic experience for some, a chance to let your wildest fantasies develop, a chance to herald an arrival, or simply a chance to prove to your girlfriend in Sydney that your team actually exists. There really is nothing like an underdog grasping to a 1-0 lead in the 89th minute with all 11 players flooding back to thwart F Lampard et al. A sort of ironic admittance of inferiority that makes the whole sugar-coated predicament all the more delectable. And devouring this satisfying meal is more than enough fuel to last at least a season of drubbings from the burgeoning class of foreign-owned English beneficiaries.

These are the days that fans relish most. Where a loss won’t ruin their evening plans or squander their job performance throughout the “days off football” each week. (Sunday to Friday). While a loss against Bolton midweek could conspire to make living itself a task of extreme difficulty until the next match day. Watching your team defend a lead against Liverpool, where you would have snatched at a point 2 hours ago, is simply incomparable to defending a lead against Blackburn when Formica has space down the right…(even this example is making me uncomfortably shift in my chair).

There is only one scenario where Arsenal (A) breathes a sort of terror into any fan’s perusal of the fixture list. For everyone knows that the last game of the season, where invariably you’ll need points to survive as a newly promoted nobody, is not a time for a team in the big four, top 5, super 6 or even fantastic 15. Give me 20th on the final day every year; please and thank you. But otherwise, give me top of the league each week!

PS: If you don’t believe me and need further proof, see Wolves fans’ reactions when they lost to West Brom.

PPS: Any Spurs fan that thinks it’s a top 6 – fuck off and come back when you’ve won something.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Real Madrid kept up their 100% record in the champions league this season with an impressive 4-0 victory over Lyon. The hosts took the lead on the 18th minute mark when Mesut Ozil’s dangerous corner found Karim Benzema at the back post for an easy tap-in. The hosts looked in control from the outset and after a series of one-twos between Ronaldo and Marcelo the Brazilian flashed a right-footed effort just wide of Lloris’ goal.

Lyon however hit back with a goal of their own, but Gomis’ smart finish was adjudged to have been offside. Mesut Ozil’s shot come cross then deceived the Lyon defence however Lloris reacted just in time push the ball wide of his left hand post. Nevertheless Madrid were not to be denied a second after a slip from Lyon centre back Bakary Kone, Benzema turned provider squaring to Sami Khedira who gratefully obliged sending Lloris the wrong way.

The keeper’s night then went from bad to worse as Lyon failed to clear the ball fell to Ozil who’s cross intended for Benzema was intercepted by the Lyon stopper only to see it deflect off his arm and into his own net. Kaka almost provided the fourth after a neat give and go between himself and Ronaldo the Brazilian drifted into the Lyon penalty area but fired his shot agonisingly wide. The Bernabeu crowd anticipated a fourth after some delightful passing between Ronaldo, Benzema and Marcelo, the Portuguese talisman curled a shot past Lloris, however the goal was chopped off after Kaka who was in an offside position made slight contact with the ball.

Nevertheless the fourth did eventually arrive as Kaka’s corner fell kindly to Sergio Ramos who at the second attempt rifled a left footed shot past Lloris to compound the French side’s misery. And it was almost five when another mover between Higuin and Kaka left the Brazilian bearing down on goal, but Lloris just did enough to knock the ball against the Brazilian and out of play.

The win leaves Real top of their group on nine points, five ahead of Ajax and Lyon with qualification for the knock out rounds proving inevitable. They along with Marseille (who host Arsenal tonight) remain the only two teams with and immaculate record in this season’s Champions League to date with neither team conceding and both with maximum points so far. Madrid who fell at the semi final hurdle to the eventual winners Barcelona, they will be hoping to go one better and win their first Champions League since 2002, and with the way they are going about their business, who would bet against them?

The author of this article, Che Julienne-Chamers, is a student of Sports Journalism at the University of West of Scotland and a massive football fan.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

When Tottenham stepped off the pitch at Tynecastle, having subjected a Hearts team who finished in 3rd place in the SPL last season – and briefly looked to challenge the Old Firm duopoly – the laments for the state of Scottish football were loud and numerous.

It’s not hard to see how this position came about, and as usual, it’s all about money. The club finishing top of the SPL can expect to gain around £2million from TV rights and prize money, whereas the club finishing bottom of the English Premier League will gain around £40million. And it’s as bad in all small nations: Ajax’s European record in recent years is worse than Celtic’s, and the Dutch league receives just 100m Euros a season, a twelfth of the Premier League. Rangers and Celtic are among Europe’s top twenty clubs for matchday income – these are clubs that have done nothing wrong besides being based in their own countries. So what can be done

There’s been much talking about the new Financial Fair Play laws about to be introduced to football. The idea, a direct response to the actions of Chelsea and Manchester City, has been ushered in with the purpose of preventing billionaires from artifically boosting clubs with unsustainable levels of spending. It’s not as cynical as the reigning powers burning the ladder that they ascended to the top – preventing clubs from racking up dangerous levels of debt is a noble goal. But when they come into power, the 518 million or so people who live in European countries outside the ‘big five’ of Spain, England, France, Italy and Germany will feel short-changed, for It will do nothing to address the slow decline that their clubs have suffered.

These clubs still compete in Europe, though only nominally. Since Porto’s triumph in 2004 – a feat for which the club was rewarded by seeing their team instantly dismantled by Europe’s giants – no team from outside the big five leagues has come close to winning the Champions League. Instead, they are often relegated to the dreaded Europa League ,where European has-beens scrap around for a competition that most see as a distraction. The rewards on offer barely register compared to the Champions League – a game between Ajax and Juventus in the group stages of the Champions League is worth many times more than if the two clubs met in a Europa League Semi-Final.

And it’s not just the big clubs that have felt this. Rangers and Celtic have visibly declined over the years, but the gap between the Old Firm and the rest of the league has not diminished. The ‘trickle-down effect’ of money being poured in at the top may be as dubious as it’s supposed social equivalent, but there’s no doubting the impact in prestige. If up-and-coming players don’t want to go to Celtic, they certainly don’t want to go to Kilmarnock.

If there is some hope to be had, it’s that things cannot continue this way forever. Even with the vast TV deals of the big nations, the levels of spending being seen by some clubs are unsustainable. Wages are increasing at a phenomenal rate, and basic economics will tell you that the bubble will burst at some point. Whether it’ll be a slow shuffling decline or a cataclysmic financial apocalypse, we don’t know. But it will happen.

Anyone investing in a football club now is like a property investor of a few years back – making the mistake of assuming that prices will continue to go up and up. Yet football, like all markets, fluctuates. This has been masked by new income sources, but it cannot keep going forever. The limit appears to already have been reached with ticket prices, and when the decline does begin, European football will have to reorder itself on more sustainable terms. But until then, clubs from smaller nations will find themselves like their fans – priced out of the game. We cannot know the future, but when the present is bleak certainty, change can’t come soon enough.

Written by Callum Hamilton from Surreal Football.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

We’re told some Everton fans are desperate. In fact, we’re told it’s not just Everton fans, but their Chairman too. Bill Kenright admitted as much to a supporters group, to discuss their problems. Everton have exhausted their overdraft and the banks, probably sensibly, don’t see any reason to extend it. Everton don’t have the ability to buy unless they sell. Frustratingly, they haven’t been able to raise much from moving on fringe players, so nobody’s been bought. For all that, this might actually be Everton’s best summer for years. There’s no need to panic. Yet.

Last year, as is tradition, Everton started the season in poor form, only to end the season with a strong push for Europe. It wasn’t the new signings that particularly dragged them to that, it was the strong, experienced core: Sylvain Distin, Phil Neville and Tim Howard, all of whom remain. The most important objective now, at this late stage, it to secure loan deals where possible as there’s little chance of permanent transfers. However, this summer, Everton might have lost Phil Jagielka, Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines. They don’t have the ability to refuse large offers for their players, but mainly through luck, no sizeable offers came in. As it stands, Everton have spent no money, and have not come out of the summer noticeably worsened.

That they’ve managed to hold onto Baines, Ashley Cole’s natural successor is a boon. Last season his form was so good that he was linked with Bayern Munich, but turned them down as he anticipated homesickness. This summer, a bid from Liverpool was rumoured, and due to Jose Enrique’s availability at low price no move was forthcoming. Another experienced performer, Tim Cahill, has struggled for goals, but in tandem with a fully fit Marouane Fellaini, the two should spark eventually and they sit in front of central defence of Sylvain Distin and Phil Jagielka. Rarely will Everton experience humilation.

Despite the transfer inaction. there are still few better first teams. The top four, of course, have the resources to refinforce annually in order to stay ahead. Liverpool, and Spurs have similar financial clout, but no others have the ability to add to a squad at a pace that Everton shouldn’t handle. There is little to fear from the rest of the league.

Ross Barkley, just seventeen, is another reason for Everton fans to retain optimism. While he’s still more potential than anything else, there’s no reason to think he won’t make it. Jack Rodwell is an an example of an Everton youngster who made the transition to Premiership performer, coveted by many of the established sides. Should Barkley step up to the Premier League, and Rodwell be able to add consistency to his game, then Everton will have a significantly stronger squad than they did last year. This doesn’t even mention their finest young player, Seamus Coleman, who had a fine breakthrough season.

It always feels risky to invest in youth, because there’s no price tag to hold onto, just the manager’s ability to coach. David Moyes is a manager you can trust to develop young players. Wayne Rooney is blessed with inherent magic in his feet, but there are plenty of Everton players who’ve burst onto the scene and proceeded to disappear completely, who didn’t have Moyes to guide them. If you add the unexciting but utterly competent duo of Leon Osman and Tony Hibbert, there’s no reason to think this cycle of Everton graduates won’t establish themselves in the Premier League, and keep Everton there too.

So, much of Everton are desperate, and in many ways it’s understandable. Liverpool, their rivals and neighbours, are spending again, and under Kenny Dalglish have had their morale lifted. But Everton have their own exceptional manager for the circumstances in David Moyes. While they have managed to keep hold of their best players, the fans should be most thankful that the man charged with keeping Everton competitive, still hasn’t been given the chance elsewhere.

Written by Neil Isaacs from Surreal Football.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

It’s usually wise not to judge a team after just two league games, but in Liverpool’s case it might be possible to make an exception. The problems that Kenny Dalglish failed to address last year still persist, and you can expect to see them outside the Champions League places again this year. The big four are all comfortably stronger – at least Arsenal will be if they actually sign a player for each they have shed.

Liverpool’s biggest problem last season was that Dalglish managed a squad overflowing with mediocrity. This wasn’t his doing, signing the most middling Premiership talent is Liverpool’s established transfer protocol. It has its roots going back to Roy Evans’ days. Rafa Benitez did it out of choice, not just because of the Texan owners: he signed so many players he could have fielded four full teams. Roy Hodgson couldn’t resist similar methods, and he signed Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky to disastrous effect. It got him the sack, alienating the supporters and success at the same time.

This season the problem has not been solved, if anything it has been exacerbated. Jordan Henderson is potential and no product. It’s not to criticise him as a player, it’s just that he’s a signing Liverpool can’t carry right now. It would be fine if Gerrard were still at the top of his game, or Xabi Alonso or Javier Mascherano were still there, but they’re not – there’s no great player to learn from, and he could easily stagnate.

Jose Enrique is a good player with Premier League experience, but he is certainly not good enough to go to a top four team, and let Liverpool challenge for the Champions League places. If he were good enough for one of the Big Four, then they would have bought him. Manchester City even chose the dodgy Gael Clichy instead. That all four chose to ignore him at such a cheap price suggests that Enrique has fulfilled his potential – he is not a defender to significantly improve Liverpool.

Charlie Adam is the definition of mediocrity, looking good in a struggling Blackpool side when he had the ball, he was lazy and dirty without it. He’s easily defined: a good passer and a very poor footballer. Who can he replace of the existing squad? There has been plenty of speculation that he’s the new, Scottish Xabi Alonso. The difficulty with that comparison is that one is tactically astute, bound for greater things, and the brains of a side, whereas the other is Charlie Adam. The biggest worry, though, is not a player Dalglish signed, but one he inherited. Steven Gerrard was a great player, and if it wasn’t for Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, he would be remembered as the best midfielder of the Premier League. Now though, he is facing a decline. His best attribute was his energy and drive – it allowed him to make up for his occasionally wayward shooting and merely competent passing, and this is what his game is now losing. It remains to be seen if he is intelligent enough to evolve and carry the new generation.

Of course, they signed Luis Suarez, a player who is superior to anything offered by Fernando Torres last year and probably this, but it’s not enough. Complemented by an oaf, Andy Carroll, capable of a clean strike and little else, or David N’Gog, capable of little, Suarez is wasted at Liverpool.

The performances of this season match last season so precisely, there’s reason to think that Liverpool will remain the best of midtable once again. Against Sunderland they played well enough for 45 minutes but did not possess the defensive solidity to hang onto a lead nor the attacking guile to score another. The blame lies on all the players, but a strong, intelligent midfield would have addressed both problems most efficiently. None of the new signings offer these qualities in combination, or in some cases, at all.

Against Arsenal, they looked set for a deserved draw, and no more, until the ball hit Aaron Ramsey amusingly in the face. Fans will hope these are early season stumbles and that Kenny Dalglish has the cure for the long term. However, given that the problems he’s got are the problems they’ve had for the past two years, it looks unlikely.

Written by Neil Isaacs from Surreal Football. For more of the same (or to hurl abuse at them), follow Surreal Football on Twitter.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

As Arsenal players struggled to convince Scousers that losing is part of being a trendy North Londoner this weekend, you’d be forgiven for asking exactly where all the adversity came from. A team carrying Robin Van Persie, Andrei Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen shouldn’t struggle very often, yet it couldn’t pull away from a team containing Charlie Adam.

When the players can’t explain a failure, a look at the manager often does. Unfortunately for Arsene Wenger, last month’s assertion that Arsenal wouldn’t be a “big club” if they sold Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri is gone but, like the two players, a long way from forgotten. It’s the essence of Arsenal’s woes. When a manager instils such unwavering faith in one small group of his players, the translation into an equivalent lack of faith in those left behind becomes inevitable. Wenger has, over time, placed absolute faith in individuals, and now they’re gone his team is ready to suffer for it.

The players still around will have watched on as Wenger allowed Fabregas to become an all powerful symbol of his club and his project. Whether it be the tactical room afforded to him, the captaincy gifted to him at such an early age, or the desperate – and costly – fight to keep him from Barcelona’s grasp for one more year, the message resounding around the Emirates and the rest of the Premier League is that his loss is more than just the loss of one player, it’s losing the ol’ heart and soul of the club.

Nasri has undergone similar deification. Like Fabregas, an excellent player, the efforts to keep him this summer – prepared, at one point, to let him leave for zilch in 12 months – still far outweigh anything he has done on the pitch. Arsenal’s struggle to keep simply doesn’t make sense for a player who made neither the top twenty Premier League assist makers last season, nor the top twenty goalscorers.

The disproportionate message spelled out by Wenger was that Arsenal couldn’t afford to lose the excellence of either player and, now that they have – or in the case of Nasri, all but have – the players left behind are playing like they believe it.

The reality should be that the club still holds enough cards to win. Above all else, the most suitable replacements for Nasri and Fabregas are already in place: Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere constitute rare talents; more than that, they can call on experience belying their youth and the paths of the men they’re replacing as evidence of their right to a chance.

Beyond them, the £50million now available could do a nice job of replacing anyone. But Wenger has already given away that he thinks he has a bad hand – and that kind of card player never wins.

Alex Ferguson doesn’t lose very often – his players, notably, aren’t symbols of his club. When it came to shifting Cristiano Ronaldo, pragmatism was the order of what could have been a bleak day: he held on for a year and claimed another Champions League final and another league title before sanctioning an £80million deal for his World Player of the Year. Forced into selling, three years on, Ferguson has won more trophies than Ronaldo.

Where players have threatened to outgrow his club of their own fruition, Ferguson has done everything he can to ship them out on the quiet. Roy Keane, one of the greatest players in a history great players, was shipped out to Celtic in the middle of a January; England’s captain at the time, David Beckham was dismissed as a prima donna and replaced with Ronaldo when Real Madrid came calling for him – only the fans stopped for sentiment. Ferguson only stops to flip two fingers.

Wenger has to be his own man, but learning from Ferguson is rarely a wasted effort. Fabregas and Nasri are very, very good players, but as Wenger has said more recently, everyone is replaceable. When his actions meet that rhetoric, perhaps Arsenals have a chance of beating Liverpool at home.

Written by Ethan Dean-Richards, one of the brilliant minds behind Surreal Football. For more of the same (or to hurl abuse at them), follow Surreal Football on Twitter.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Nearly 25 years have passed since Diego Maradona scored the infamous “hand of God” goal that took England out of the World Cup in1986. A few months before the World Cup in South Africa, Thierry Henry, the French striker, flagrantly used his hand in a play that led to a goal against Ireland disqualifying the Irish from participation in that tournament. In between these two incidences referees have presided over a myriad of questionable calls and missed opportunities.

Football has changed significantly over the last decades as evidenced in the physiological characteristics of the players. Today’s players are taller, faster, stronger and more powerful than their predecessors. They have an overall higher physiological capacity and thus the ability to cover more ground in less time. The dimensions of the pitch have not changed to compensate for the physiological changes. Consequently, the field became congested. It offers less space for stars like Diego Maradona or Zinedine Zidane to leave their mark as they did in years past.

The rules of the game have not evolved alongside these physiological changes. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that determines the laws of the game, comprised of representatives from each of the United Kingdom’s pioneering football associations, and from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), football’s powerful international governing body, have been slow to adapt. Teams play a very physical, regimented, defense-oriented game, relying heavily on tactical schemes and formations. At times it can be hard to watch the excessive defensive nature of games in a pitch that has become increasingly congested.

No rules have been passed to create more space or open up the pitch and make the game more offensive in nature. When a player is sent off with a red card, the game completely changes. Suddenly, space is brought back to the game. Players are able to use their innate talent and ability to really demonstrate their skills.

Every sport evolves with time: technically, tactically and physically. There are many ideas that FIFA could look into in order to redress some of the problems the game is confronted with presently. Simultaneously, the rules of any sport should be revised to accommodate these changes.

Take for example, the case with the National Football League, the governing body of American football, which has a much more progressive approach as evidenced by the constant revisement of its rules in order to make the sport safer, fairer and more entertaining. In contrast, FIFA has not made a major alteration to the laws of the game in years. The fact that FIFA has done so little so far to reverse such situation or at least promote a thorough examination of the rules of the game is simply inexcusable.

The game requires a major revolutionary facelift in the core of its rules in order to address issues related to the new physiological characteristics of the players, missed calls, excessive stoppage time, incessant fouling, low scoring and violence. Below you will find a series of straight forward suggestions in various domains of the game that may revitalize the sport in a way that would allow us to call this Godsend sport, the beautiful game once again.

The Clock/Timing Device Problem

Statistical and data analysis from the last World Cup show that the average playing time during the first and second round of competition was only 54 minutes. All viewers of international football these days know that excessive faking of injury and fouling is killing the game.

Winning teams have all the incentives to stop play, waste time and consequently run the clock out. Some players are so gifted in the art of faking injury that they may potentially be better off on a Broadway stage or with a major acting career in Hollywood. How many times does one see players faking the most horrible injury then only a few seconds later storm back in the field at full speed as if nothing happened? The ridiculous and pernicious theatrics of these actions should be curbed and punished.

Currently the clock does not stop and a few minutes of injury time is given at the end of the match. In the proposed new system of rules, the countdown timing device would be visible for all to see and the game time would stop every instance there is a foul, an injured player on the pitch, a corner kick or a free throw. Therefore, the game time should be adjusted to account for the stoppage. Rather than two 45 minute halves, the game would have two 35 minute halves with no extra injury time. During the last World Cup, fans were only watching about 27 minutes of actual playing time in each half. With the new system, total playing time would be extended. Readjusting the time of each half would be necessary since stoppage within the construct of two 45 minute -halves would be too onerous.

An official time keeper outside the field would start and stop the clock based upon the command of the main referee inside the pitch. The new timing rules would be a major incentive in resuscitating and preserving the fluid nature of the game since there would be no benefit for players to waste time.

Extra Referees

Modern football play takes place at an unprecedented pace. A single referee inside the pitch has a challenging task of covering a sizeable area and therefore is required to maintain a respectable fitness level. Sports such as basketball have three officials circulating a court that is significantly smaller in area than a football pitch.

Referees are human and obviously make mistakes and cannot see all that is happening on the field. Research shows for example, that referees call more fouls against the visiting team, and against bigger players.

Currently, the main referee inside the pitch is supported by only two linesmen. Placing additional referees on the field – one on each half of the pitch and behind each goal watching the activity inside the penalty box – would address many of the issues related to missed calls. There have been reports that FIFA currently is deliberating possibilities into adding extra referees.

Diving/Acting

Players diving in theater-like fashion inside the penalty box attempting to confuse referees into awarding them a penalty kick should be immediately red carded and suspended for two matches.

Consequently, the team committing such an offense inside the penalty box would be required to play with a man down for the rest of the match and would also be subject to a penalty kick. Furthermore, diving in other sections of the field would result in immediate expulsion from the match.

Such flagrant and farcical acting makes a mockery of the rules of the game. Therefore, rigorous penalties should be enforced. These rules would convince players to think twice before engaging in such unsportsmanlike behavior.
 

The Offside Rule

The offside rule in football is probably the most difficult to enforce with precision and one that is greatly under-appreciated. The rule needs to be reformed, yet not completely abolished as some suggest. Without the rule the whole tactical element of the game would be turned upside down and the game would be played in a completely different fashion. Moreover, goal hangers, positioning themselves deep down field in close proximity to the opposition’s goal, would be potentially commonplace in a completely stretched-out pitch.

Reforms to the rule would include the creation of a newly demarcated attacking zone at both ends of the field.  A dotted line would be drawn in between the midfield line and the top of the penalty box.  The offside region (attacking zone) would be the space in between the goal line and the newly created dotted line.  Limiting the offside area would create more open space in the field of play and potentially lead to more goals being scored.
 

Rethinking Fouls

The yellow/red card booking system of the game requires adjustment. There are three categories of fouls in soccer depending partly on whether the offense is careless, reckless or the result of using excessive force.

Ambiguity reigns in the way different referees make use of the yellow card and interpret a play involving a foul. The application and use of the yellow card should be abolished.

A different system in which a certain number of accumulated team fouls would lead to a given player being sent off for an extended amount of time is worth consideration. For example, every time a team commits five fouls they would be punished by the removal of one player off the field for ten minutes and have to defend a penalty kick against them.

All match play fouls and other offenses meriting a yellow card would just count toward the accumulated collective team foul number. The current criteria in place for red card offenses would just continue to be applied in the new system.

Forcing teams to play a man down for 10 minutes every time they commit five fouls collectively would go along way in addressing the issue of excessive stop of play due to fouling and the problem of lack of space that characterizes modern football. No matter what rule you have in place fouls will always be committed. With the new rule teams more than likely would always play parts of the match with a man down since the lower threshold of five collective fouls would always be met. The proposed change would open up space in the pitch more frequently over the course of a game and the brilliance of individual play would once again reign.

The rule is a win-win situation since hypothetically even if a team did not commit any fouls the game would still benefit since there would be less stoppage time and brilliance of individual play would be less targeted physically. Committing fouls would surely turn out to be a huge liability if some of these changes were implemented.

Technology/Instant Replay: A Philosophical Issue

The use of instant replay has been debated over the last several years. It is one that has to be approached with much caution and deliberation since making use of it would fundamentally destroy the philosophical essence of the beautiful game.

Daily living and football play are characterized by a continuous stream of potentially fateful events that cannot be turned back and where there is no reversal of fortunes. To disrupt this essential philosophical dynamic of the game is unnatural, nonhuman and defies the omnipotence of God. It’s a recourse that we do not have in life and we should not have in match play.

A football match – just as life – draws on competing themes such as justice, injustice, victory, defeat, happiness, sadness, tragedy and exhilaration. The complexity and drama surrounding such powerful emotional concepts gives the game a mystical and magical aura. The lure and mystery of the unknown is a central element at the core of daily living and of play in football. The outcome of a game is uncertain and that constant state of unpredictability is what makes football so dramatic, captivating and the passion of the masses.

The excessive use of instant replay, as in other sports such as American football, would be a shot to the heart of soccer, disruptive to the fluid nature of the game and lead to a monotonous character that is prevalent in every other sport that abuses such recourse. American football is characterized by multiple set plays interspersed with a series of stoppage intervals and is not played in a fluid continuous fashion. The concept of instant replay is surely more transferable and less disruptive to the nature of American football than to the fluid nature of soccer.

Bill Shankly, the legendary Scottish manager, once said, “Football is a much more serious matter than life and death.” It is about time that FIFA takes a closer look at the laws governing the beautiful game. The fact that football’s governing body has been extremely conservative and slow to act in pushing for significant changes is unacceptable and at times puts the game to shame. The archaic laws of the game now in place have not advanced concomitantly with the changing physiological capacity of the players and for that the beauty of the sport has taken a beating. Someone high up in the echelons of the football power structure should heed the call for change and usher the game to a new frontier.

The author Ricardo Guerra is an Exercise Physiologist. He has a Masters of Science in Sports Physiology from the Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked with several clubs and teams in the Middle East and Europe, including the Egyptian and Qatari national teams. The writer can be contacted at rvcgf@yahoo.com.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Inter Milan were one goal shy of edging Bayern Munich in Germany when in the 87th minute coach Leanordo looked to the bench for a spark. His solution: newly arrived Japanese left-back Yuto Nagatomo.

The Japan National Team star, currently facing one of the greatest off-pitch challenges of his life with the recent tsunami disaster in his homeland, breathed immediate life into the game and Inter’s crucial 3-2 winner was found just two minutes later.

In a team build-up involving Nagatomo, Cameroonian striker Eto’o dribbled around two defenders in the box before slipping the ball outside for Goran Pandev to expertly bury home.

The recently out-of-form striker’s goal gave Inter its prized third away goal, sending them through to the Champions League quarterfinals on away goals (a 3-3 aggregate scoreline).

Having fallen 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Italy two weeks through a last minute blunder goal, many had vocalized doubt in the club and whispers of the “Mourinho Effect” had begun to spread.

Inter has now silenced their critics and has moved one step closer to what no football club is yet to accomplish: to win the Champion’s League two years in a row.

The last-minute inclusion of Nagatomo, only one of two Japanese players currently in Serie A, roused the Nerrazzuri to defeat Bayern once again. The two clubs last met in last year’s Champions League final, with Inter securing a 2-0 victory through a Diego Miltio brace.

But today there was no Diego Miltio, no club icon in Argetnine Javier Zanetti, nor cup-tied striker Giampaolo Pazzini. The club’s faithful longed to praise the name of a new hero.

He came in the form of a 5 foot 7 inch determined lighting bolt, the first Japanese player to ever don the Internazionale uniform. Having only arrived at the club on-loan in January from newly promoted club Cesena, Nagatomo seems to have won the support of not just the club’s supporters but that of his teammates as well.

Sporting black bands in a sign of solidarity since the Asian nation’s tragedy one week ago, the team rallied behind the high-flying starlet.

Leading Italian paper La Gazetta dello Sporto recently had this to say after the 25-year-old secured his first goal in Blue & Black against Genoa:

“The little samurai became Inzaghi at that instant, spinning to score,” it read. “When he touches the ball, the San Siro comes to life.”

Inter Milan now persists as the only Italian club left in the competition and awaits the quarterfinal draw in one week’s time. Their possible opponents include in-form Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid and a handful of other top clubs.

Written by Mickey Hennessey.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News