Football News And Views

Fulham 2-2 Blackburn

An entertaining second half is the story of this match as Fulham hosted Blackburn at Craven Cottage. The only major incident in the first half was an injury to Benni McCarthy who had to go off with a gashed leg. He was replaced by Jason Roberts. The injury produced 4 minutes of first half injury time and these 4 minutes were more entertaining than the first 45 minutes. Morten Gamst Pederson had a shot blocked as Blackburn looked to take the lead and moments later Kamara also came clsoe with a long range effort.

The second half was like a different game and it was Fulham who took the league through a Danny Murphy penalty who went Brad Friedel the wrong way. Kamara was brought down on the edge of the box by Ryan Nelsen and the referee didn’t hesitate and pointed straight to the spot. Blackburn responded 5 minutes later when Brett Emerton turned well to fire in from a Jason Roberts cross. It looked as if Blackburn would go on and get a second but after another 5 minutes Fulham scored again when a slick move was rounded off by Kamara who was picked out by Simon Davies who had earlier been released on the right hand side. Blackburn again had most of the play and Niemi was force to make a great double save after 75 minutes from Emerton and Pederson shots. But Blackburn did get their equaliser when Jason Roberts again provided a good cross and Warnock made no mistake from close range.

The final few minutes provided great end to end football but neither team could make themselves any clear cut chances. Fulham fans will be glad they didn’t conceed in the final moments like they usually do but they will be disappointed they let the lead go twice but credit to Blackburn who looked the better side throughout most of the match.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Wigan

With Manchester United losing 1-0 to Bolton, Arsenal had the chance to move 3 points clear with a game in hand and they left it late against a resilient Wigan side who had new manager, Steve Bruce watching in the stands. Bruce will be impressed that his Wigan side managed to keep Arsenal at bay for 80 minutes before Gallas and Rosicky got the goals for The Gunners.

There were few chances in the first half. Adebayor had his shot well saved by Pollitt who was called up die to Chris Kirkland’s illness. Adebayor found space in the box after being found by Theo Walcott but he couldn’t direct it past the Wigan goalkeeper who dived to his left to produce a fine save. Marcus Bent came close for Wigan when he saw his header go over the bar but that’s as close as Wigan got all match. Eboue also could have scored for Arsenal in the first half but he mistimed his shot and missed the ball completely from Theo Walcott’s low cross.

Wigan kept Arsenal out for most of the second half and there were not many Arsenal chances. Their passing was not like it has been in recent weeks and Wigan managed to break down a few attacks throughout the game. Pollitt did make another good save after Denilson’s free kick was floated into the area and it looked to have been flicked on by a Wigan player at close range but Pollitt was equal to it. Adebayor also had a chance when he was put through but Boyce managed to tackle him and knock the ball away just as Adebayor was going to pull the trigger.

There was a bit of handbags after Marcus Bent fouled Denilson and Gallas and Heskey found themselves booked. As Arsenal kept pressing Heskey bought down Theo Walcott and the young Englishman had to be stretchered off but it has been confirmed by Arsene Wenger that he is okay. Then the goals finally came for Arsenal. The first was a near post header from Gallas who met a superb cross from Sagna who had played well. A typical Arsenal break saw Bendtner feed the ball to Rosicky who had plenty of space to knock it from an advancing Pollitt from 16 yards. So that leaves Arsenal in a very good position coming into December and they have some tricky matches coming up.

So Steve McClaren has been sacked after Englands miserable display against Croatia meant that they wont be in Euro 2008. I was too young to remember when England last failed to qualify for anything and I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I still expected it. I never thought McClaren was the right man for the job in the first place and he should have quit after the Croatia game to have some dignity left. I remember when Keegan quit after our loss to the Germans a few years ago and I hold a lot of respect for him to quit the way he did. It took a lot of guts but it was his time to go and he knew it. So yet another new era for England will begin when the FA appoints a new man for the job but first they need to find the right man and not rush the appointment like they did with Steve. Let’s look at the contenders.

Jose Mourinho

My top choice by a country mile. I don’t like the guy but he is a great manager and can really bring the best out of England. He is famous for bringing a great philosophy to his players minds and that is certainly something the current England team need. He also wont tollerate failure and England will do everything not to put a foot wrong under him. He is the perfect contrast to the laid back style of McClaren and could be the kick up the backside our national team need.

Martin O Neill

No doubt he is a good manager. He has a past of success and is doing well at Villa. England manager though? Well he nearly was before McClaren was appointed but I just feel that he will be another McClaren. Let’s not forget that McClaren did very well at Boro. O’Neill is a risk that the FA really cannot afford to make.

Sam Alardyce 

No chance. I don’t like him and I don’t like how manages teams. He isn’t doing a great job at Newcastle and after only joining them I cannot see him leaving so soon. Let’s hope not anyway.

Alan Shearer 

No experience but he’s a great guy and one all our players look up to. It is likely he will need a very good assistant manager and coaching staff. It’s a shame he can’t get a few clubs under his belt first. He could also be drafted into the coaching staff to gain much needed experience. I think he will be England manager one day but not just yet.

Fabio Capello

I will be honest. I don’t know much about this guy but his track record speaks for itself. He has had about as much success as you can at club level and has been with some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Would be my second choice after Jose Mouinho.

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.

Reading 1 - 3 Arsenal

Arsenal took their chance to go back above Manchester United in the Premiership to retain top spot with a 3-1 win over Reading on a cold Monday night. Reading went into the game with a defensive approach and managed to frustrate Arsenal for most of the first half. There were little clear cut chances with Adebayor coming the closest when his shot hit the post. Gunnarsson had a 30 yard effort saved by Almunia  as the Royals created little else. The breakthrough did come right before the stroke of half time when a neat bit of play was rounded of with great movement by Hleb who picked out Flamini who opened the scoring despite Stephen Hunt’s best efforts to prevent it.

Arsenal made it 2 shortly after the second half began when typical Arsenal passing between Hleb and Cesc found the ball fall to Adebayor who cooly slotted the ball past Hahnemann in the Reading goal. This was Arsenals 1000th goal in the Premiership. Adebayor should have got a second but was wrongly ruled offside by the linesman who didn’t have the best angle to judge. Hleb then made it 3-0 and he deserved to get his name on the scoresheet. Hleb broke free into the Reading area and took the ball round Hehnemann and made it goal 1001.

Reading never gave up and kept pushing Arsenal until the end and got a goal which they would feel they deserved. The goal was scored in an almost scrappy fashion as Shorey hit the post with his header and the ball fell straight to Stephen Hunt who couldn’t miss from 3 yards. So Arsenal are back on top for a couple of weeks and on this form they will be very hard to dislodge.

The BBC have reported that Juande Ramos and Alex Ferguson have both called for the need of 7 subs to be on the bench for teams in The Premiership. I believe Steve Bruce also mentioned this at the weekend. I think this would be a major change in the game and is something I back 100%. A lot of people will argue it will that smaller clubs will find it hard to fill the bench with 7 players but this is just not the case. You don’t have to fill the extra 2 places on the bench with fringe players as it could be a huge chance for reserve players to get onto the bench and even get some match time. The perfect example of a scenario that explains why this is a good idea would be to have a good striker who can change the game on the bench and one who has just came up from the reserves. You wont throw the reserve one on if you are chasing the game but if you are 2 or 3 goals up with 15 minutes to go you could give the reserve striker a run out which would be a huge boost to him and for those of you who cream your pants every time you see an Englishman on the field this can only be a good way of getting more English players breaking into teams. Even Arsenal could easily fill those extra two places on the bench with young Englishmen.

Another reason why this is a good idea is because of injuries. Typically a team will have  a goalkeeper, a defender, a midfielder and two strikers on the bench. What happens if two defenders or midfielders get injured? Having extra places on the bench means you can put an extra defender or midfielder on there just incase of injuries. Every team have a spare keeper on the bench just incase and the keeper is less likely to get injured than any outfield players so it’s logical to have extra subs just incase of injuries to outfield players. I don’t know how many countries have 7 subs but I know they do in the European tournaments, Internationals and in countries such as Spain so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t follow suit.