Football News And Views

Yesterday saw one of the strangest goals you are ever likely to see not just in the Premiership but at any ground around the world. It came at the Stadium of Light in the match between Sunderland and Liverpool. A Liverpool fan needlessly tossed up a beach ball and smacked it on to the pitch just after kickoff. The Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina then did the sensible thing and place the red inflatable into his goal but then as Sunderland launched an attack in the 5th minute of the game the wind blew the beach ball into the middle of the 6 yard box and as Sunderland were in the middle of an attack nobody could move the inflatable from the playing surface. When the ball came to Sunderland forward Darren Bent he unleashed a shot which hit the beach ball and deflected the football past the reach of Pepe Reina. After deliberation with his linesman the Referee Mike Jones allowed the goal to stand and despite feeling rather aggrieved with their bad luck the Liverpool players seem to accept the decision. It has later emerged that this goal should actually have been disallowed as their is a law that states if there’s an outside interference the game has to be stopped and a drop-ball should be contested at the resumption of play but it would appear that none of he players, the four officials or manager of either side was aware of this law so the goal was aloud to stand. I cant help thinking what the fan who threw the beach ball onto the pitch but be feeling at this moment in time especially if that point costs his team a place in the Champions League next season.

The pain of this incident is still not over for Liverpool fans as when bitter rivals Manchester United visiting Anfield this weekend they are planning a version of Nena’s 99 Red Balloons just to add insult to injury. For Liverpool fans who are interested in purchasing a Liverpool beach ball then it is available as part of the official Liverpool beach set which is currently on sale for the reduced price of £10.

Boot boy James McPike was given an unexpected tip from his assigned Birmingham City player at the end of the football season. McPike had asked player Oliver Kapo for a pair of his old boots as a thank you for a season well-served.

McPike must have done a fabulous job. Instead of used old boots, Kapo gifted McPike with a brand new Mercedes Benz, worth £30,000. A boot boy is an apprentice player who signs with a club and does chores for their assigned professional player.

A source said of the boots: “He was obviously disappointed when Kapo replied he had taken them home with him. He perked up considerably when he was tossed a set of keys.” Kapo will also pay McPike’s insurance for the first year.

I was shocked to read that Martin Taylor has not visited Eduardo in hospital to apologise for the tackle which broke the Croation’s leg. A lot of reports had suggested otherwise including the News of the World interview which Eduardo has claimed was completely made up. When asked about the News of the World story in his first interview since the injury (which was to Croation TV) he said:

I guarantee you that it’s completely made up. This here is my first interview after the injury. I asked them to clarify that it was not an interview with me, and they did, so it’s okay now.

Eduardo also thanked the Arsenal medical staff as well as Gilberto Silva who was on hand to translate for Eduardo who’s English is clearly not 100% yet. You can read the full translated interview here. Once again we wish Eduardo a quick recovery.

It wasn’t that long ago when Liam Miller was scoring for Celtic in the Champions League. Remember this one against Lyon?

It wasn’t long after that he signed for Manchester United. His time at Man Utd never started and he became on of the many Man Utd players to end up at Sunderland who at the time were in the Championship. Miller had some good games for Sunderland and helped them get back into the Premiership. After playing over 50 games for Sunderland and winning more caps for Ireland he has now been told he can leave the club because he has apparently shown up late to training on several occasions. Who knows where Miller would be now if he stayed at Celtic. He might still be there and playing regularly for them. I would imagine he could reestablish himself as a star in Scotland again. he certainly has the ability and he would also do well in the championship but he really hasn’t had much chance to establish himself in the Premiership and he may just be one of those many players who can take the Championship or Scottish Premiership by storm but find it difficult in the Premiership. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.

After suffering a terrible leg break against Birmingham on Saturday we would like to wish Eduardo all the best on his recovery and hope he will be playing again as soon as possible. The Arsenal medical staff are hopeful he will be back playing after 9 months which sounds likely based on previous broken leg injuries. Incidents like this really does put the game into perspective. Arsenal dropped 2 points against Birmingham and they will be gutted about the result but that emotion will be nothing compared to the distraught feelings amongst the Arsenal players after witnessing such a horrific injury. The players at Arsenal do show a bond you don’t often see at football clubs and they are all friends so the injury to Eduardo has really hurt them. Again we wish Eduardo all the best and cannot wait to see him back in action again. He’s a young man and I cannot see this injury ending his career. He’ll be scoring goals again before we know it.

John Hartson has announced his retirement from football at the age of 32. He has been without a club since West Brom terminated his contract and as no other clubs have come in for him it makes sense that he has chosen now to hang up his boots. He has explained his decision by saying he has lost the desire to keep fit.

“I’m going to miss that competitive edge. That was my weekend, letting off steam and terrorising centre-halves.

“But I’m not going to miss training though. To be honest I’d lost my desire to get back into the West Brom side.”

Sounds lazy to me. I saw Hartson in action earlier in the season when he was on loan at Norwich and he did look very out of shape. His presence did lift the team and he had a couple of good chances but overall he looked slow and had certainly put on a few pounds since his Arsenal days.

“I have been fighting my weight for 12 years. I can’t have a burger without putting on half a stone.”

I may be no expert but you could just not eat burgers or any fatty foods. You are, after all, a professional athlete and should be watching your diet. Now Hartson can eat as many Big Macs or Whoppers as he likes and die a happy fat man in his bed with hidden sandwiches and chicken legs under his folds of flab. Okay I’m being mean. Good luck to Hartson in whatever he decides to do. Maybe he will still be involved with a football at a later date, maybe a pundit or a commentator. I doubt he will decide to coach or go into management but one thing for sure is that he should treat himself to a long holiday and let the pounds burn off in the sun.

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has hit back at Brian Barwick’s claims that Premier League clubs have a responsibility to produce more players for England. FA chief executive Barwick said that top clubs must produce more English-born stars but Hill-Wood disagrees and he said:

“It seems to me that the people at the FA are out of touch with reality.

“I can’t think why anyone would make these comments when Arsenal and many Premier League clubs are spending a lot of money on the academies.

“It is not our fault if many English players are not good enough. It is the same for every one of the big clubs now. We find players world-wide. Football is now global.

“I would love to see an Arsenal team with 11 English players but professional football has expanded and developed.

“It is against the law to put a restriction on the number of non-English players in a team and I am pleased about that. If you do that you devalue the currency of the Premier League.

“It is also the same in any industry. You go along with the trends or you suffer badly.”

I do agree with him. What the FA are missing is that Arsenal produce as many young English stars as any other club but when a club is as big as Arsenal it takes a lot for those players to make it into the first team. David Bentley is a great example. He wasn’t getting much first team football because at that stage in his career he was not good enough. He has Arsenal to thanks for his development into the player he is today and he will soon get more chances with the England team. Also Arsenal have a host of young Englishmen who are on the fringes. Justin Hoyte could well be a future England right back and Randall and Gibbs who recently went on loan look like they could be potential stars. If Arsenal were to buy English talent who are good enough for their first 11 they would also need to spend stupid amounts of money. Spurs paid £16.1m for Darren Bent and he is not even good enough to start for them. It’s just a joke and that is something the FA really should be looking at.

Hill-Wood also made reference to previously unsuccessful World Cup campaigns - including 1974 and 1978 when England failed to qualify for the finals.

“There were hardly any foreign players in the English game so what was the excuse then?”

Another point that is falling on deaf ears. Look at the England team we have now. There are some world class superstars there yet as a team they fail. This was mainly down to the manager and he was sacked. Now the FA have a new manager who just happens to be foreign (hypercritical) and if he can make the England team gel then they can win anything.

I was thinking of something offensive and polite to use as the title of this post but couldn’t really find anything to use. What can you say really about Lassana Diarra. He joined Arsenal on deadline day so he could get first team football. No one said he would be promised first team football and surely he should have already known that Arsenal have a handful of really talented centre midfielders, second only to the crop at Manchester United IMO (on paper at least). He soon made it clear he wanted to leave. I find it hard to believe he thought he was in with much of a chance especially as Cesc Fabregas will always start in the middle and Gilberto, Flamini and Diaby are all talented players as well as Denilson who looks promising. Diarra did get his chances in the cup games but didn’t make much impact. All the before mentioned centre midfield players have scored this season already for Arsenal too.

So Diarra was sold to Portsmouth. A little bit of profit was made for Arsenal and Portsmouth got themselves a promising player for a low figure. However no matter how good Diarra is or how good he thinks he is he still lacks any type of personality. He proved this straight away at Portsmouth by saying the following:

Portsmouth is a respectable club, which has achieved a very good start to the season. Some people say I made a mistake by joining Portsmouth considering Les Bleus. I don’t think so. The people at Portsmouth know I will not spend my life at this club. If I shine, if a really big club wants me, I know already that everything will go well.

Nice that he thinks so highly of Portsmouth. They are a mere stepping stone in his bid to get a first team place at a bigger club. Instead of helping his club progress he wants to just help his career and let other scouts see that he is a good player. I hope after this statement he struggles to make an impact at Portsmouth and I hope a big club never comes in for him. At this stage in his career he is not good enough t play in the first teams at Chelsea or Arsenal and he could be a real star at Portsmouth but his attitude could disrupt harmony and as it did at Arsenal it could also restrict his chances.

Joey Barton spoke out over the weekend how Newcastle players are scared of their own fans. Big, fat bald Geordies is enough to scare anyone I think especially when you can’t get a result at the moment. Joey isn’t scared of getting banged up though. He could face a prison term if he is found guilty of assaulting former team mate Osmane Dabo. In these modern times, footballers are basically celebrities so we all know he wont be found guilty and even if he was his sentance would be cut short by about 90%. Let’s just hope if he is found guilty he isn’t sharing a cell with a Newcastle fan as he may find prison very scary if he does.

Has anyone thought that maybe Englishmen are overpaid and therefore that could be a reason why the national team is shit? Have you seen England play with any passion recently? Their top stars get paid mega bucks from a young age due to their talent and this could well hinder their development. After all why should they try and improve when they are making thousands a week? Why should they try harder to help their nation when all they care about is the team that pays their wages? English footballers are celebrities and this could well effect their performance on the pitch especially in national games. The millionaire lifestyle overshadows the football these days but not for Cesc Fabregas who said he would have gone to Madrid in the summer if money was any issue to him.

“I do not even listen to the offers that come in for me because I do not need anything that I haven’t already got at Arsenal. It’s nothing to do with money - if it was I would have gone to Real Madrid last summer.”

“I am not moved by money, I am moved by football. I am playing and I am happy. Being a Gunner is very special, something that I am proud of. This is a small club on the inside, like a family, but it’s huge on the outside.”

I don’t hear this from any Englishmen. After all money is what drove Ashley Cole away from Arsenal, the club he supported as a child, to go to Chelsea. It’s no wonder Wenger buys players like Cesc Fabregas. We all know the true reason behind England’s piss poor state is money. Darren Bent for £16.1m or Fabregas for £500,000? If stupid price tags are put on Englishmen by small monkey clubs like Charlton then they will never develop at a higher level and committed foreigners will take their place. Simple.