All posts by h79snht.top

It’s been in use since 1965, it’s widely accepted without much argument, it’s part of the footballing fabric of cup competitions around the world and I hate it. It’s the away goals rule.

Its intention is simple – designed and brought into being to promote attacking football, to encourage away teams to try and score and reduce the number of dour stalemates.

For me that’s rubbish. I doubt there’s any stats available to prove or disprove the point, but I can’t really see how it has brought about a new wave of exciting, attacking football. I’d say it has done the opposite – causing 1st leg ties to often be dour, miserable affairs as the home side often make it their primary objective not to concede, seeing a 0-0 draw as a good result. But the away team will not be too displeased with a draw away from home either, knowing any victory in the 2nd leg will see them through.

You could argue too that it gives an unfair advantage to the team playing away first, as the home team in the first leg squander their natural advantage by being defensive to avoid conceding.

There are also some strange anomalies around the world. In the Carling Cup, it only applies after extra time in a 2nd leg. This rule prevented Burnley reaching their 1st cup final in 47 years when they went out to Spurs in the semi final of the Carling Cup in 2009, losing the away leg 4-1, but winning the home leg 3-0. Two goals by Spurs in extra time saw them go through instead. In the CONCACAF Champions League the rule applies at the end of the 2nd leg, but not after extra time. Not everyone uses it – the playoffs in the Football League for example.

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But even if it had led to a new era of attacking football, I still would not support it, for one simple reason – I simply don’t think it is fair. If 2 teams have scored and thus conceded the same number of goals over 2 legs, I see no reason why one team is knocked out, and one progresses, due to a seemingly random arbitration process. Yes, the team that progresses scored more goals away from home. So what? They conceded more too. Why are we rewarding attacking away from home over defending? It makes no sense to me. If extra time is involved after the 2nd leg it also means the home team in the 2nd leg has an extra half hour playing at home, though the away team has an extra half hour to score an away goal.

It seems to confuse people sometimes too. Away goals are often said to count double, but they clearly don’t. And when Bayern Munich won 1-0 away to Internazionale the other week, I heard at least 2 commentators mention the crucial away goal of Bayern’s. Only it isn’t crucial as an away goal at all – there is no score in the 2nd leg that would see them go through on away goals.

The odd manager has come out to voice their disapproval at the ruling. Arsene Wenger did in 2008, having discussed it with other managers at a meeting in Vienna. He argued that the rule was created in different era when away teams always looked to defend. Has anything really changed?

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So what do you do if you don’t have away goals? Well of course it will mean a greater dependency on penalties. This is hardly the perfect way to decide matches either, but at least there is some skill involved, and anything is better than the current system that exists in many competitions around the world.

Check out Manchester United’s star of the future, Ravel Morrison…

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Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor hopes to turn his loan move from Manchester City to Real Madrid into a permanent one.The 27-year-old did his cause no harm on Tuesday, with a brace in Real’s 4-0 thrashing of Spurs in their Champions League quarter-final first-leg clash at the Bernabeu.

Adebayor, who has scored five times in 13 games for Real, is hopeful his hard work will pay off with a permanent contract in the Spanish capital under Jose Mourinho.

“I have two months to go and the club will decide what they want to do – but of course I want to stay,” Adebayor said.

“I just have to keep working hard every day in training”.

“They brought me here to help with the run-in to the end of the season – and today I have done that well.”

Adebayor has now scored 10 goals in 10 games against Tottenham, with eight of those coming while playing for Arsenal, and he admits he always looks forward to playing the Londoners.

“I am very happy when I play against Spurs as I always have a chance to score,” he said.

“So now we have to concentrate on the second game to go through to the semi-finals.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has maintained his stance that club captain Cesc Fabregas was misrepresented in a controversial media interview.In an interview published in Spanish magazine Don Balon, Fabregas was quoted as hinting Wenger would have been sacked if he managed a club similar to Arsenal in Spain, due to the fact the club has not won a trophy since 2005.

Wenger responded, suggesting the author had twisted Fabregas’ words and that the club were ‘really upset about it’.

It led to the publishers of Don Balon to post audio of the interview on their website and release a statement stating they had made no changes to the transcript.

But on Friday, Wenger was still seething about the article and maintains the publication broke an agreement with the club.

“What they say is not interesting to us. They did not respect our agreement,” Wenger said.

“They will never get an interview from us again, ever.”

“I stand by my claim 100 percent. We had an agreement they had to send us copy for approval and it was not done.”

“I maintain completely that they did not respect our agreement. The article in itself I do not want to discuss.”

%image% Liverpool’s push to end the season in a European place continued after they brushed aside Newcastle 3-0 to move up to fifth on the table.Goals from Maxi Rodriguez, Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez gave Kenny Dalglish’s side a comfortable 3-0 win at Anfield and sees them overtake Tottenham in fifth place, albeit on goal difference.

The hosts opened the scoring with 10 minutes of the game gone, forward Rodriguez adding to the three goals he bagged against Birmingham last weekend.

Young left-back John Flanagan sent in an inviting cross that was not dealt with by Newcastle defender Mike Williamson, and Rodriguez’s volley from 12 yards took a deflection off Danny Simpson before flying past Krul into the net.

The visitors struggled to get a foot-hold in the game and could not cope with Liverpool’s intensity as the first-half progressed.

Jay Spearing, standing in for the injured Steven Gerrard, then forced Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul into a mistake after his fierce drive was spilled by the 22-year-old, but the stopper recovered the ball with Dirk Kuyt and Raul Meireles closing in.

Winger Jonas Gutierrez was proving difficult to handle down the right flank however it was Liverpool who again threatened.

Midfielder Lucas should have done better with his header after Spearing’s cross and could only send a tame effort straight at Krul to still give Newcastle hope of getting back into the game.

But any chance of that was extinguished when Williamson hauled down striker Suarez just following the re-start after the Uruguayan had beaten him for pace in the box and Kuyt dispatched the ball into the goal from the penalty spot.

And Liverpool made sure of the points five minutes later after some neat inter-changes from Kuyt and Suarez found the latter in space giving him an easy finish from six yards.

The Independent is reporting that Phil Jones has given his strongest indication to where his future may lie – if he were to leave Blackburn. The 19 year old will represent England in the summer U21 European Championship and has been linked with a host of clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs. However, it’s Arsene Wenger’s style that impresses Jones the most.

Jones commented that “I think Arsenal play the prettiest football in the Premier League.”

Arsenal is known to have been monitoring Jones and his Blackburn teammate Steven N’zonzi – but Blackburn has made it clear that any team looking to sign the home-grown player from the club will need to pay a high price. Arsenal may face competition from Liverpool to sign Jones and you might think that Kenny Dalglish would be favourite due to the success he had as Blackburn manager in 1995; bearing in mind Jones has supported Blackburn since childhood. However, as Jones points out he would only have been 3 years old at the time – too young to remember that success under Dalglish.

On his future Jones says “Obviously I want to win things, and hopefully play for England at senior level. Representing your country is a massive achievement.”

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More like this follow James Kent on Twitter @jimlk2007

As the end of season awards and reviews begin to pile in, one particular issue has began to gripe no end – the continual grouping of Man Utd’s twin full-backs Rafael and Fabio under the ‘well they’re twins so they must be the same player’ banner. In reality, the subtle differences in each defenders games mean that they could turn into very different players from one another in the future.

You could be forgiven for not really knowing the difference between Rafael and his twin brother Fabio Da Silva – indeed, in a Carling Cup tie against Barnsley last season, referee Chris Foy even proceeded to book Fabio, despite it being Rafael that had committed the offence in question on Barnsley winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce.

Signed together from Brazilian club Fluminense in January 2008, the pair were initially and now rather laughably likened to a the ‘Brazilian Neville brothers’ – laughable not because the Neville brother were bad of course, but because that has to be the first time that phrase has ever been used in all seriousness.

Rafael has found first-team action easier to come by since the switch, yet back home in Brazil it was Fabio, the captain of the Brazil under-17 World Cup side back in 2007 that was held in higher esteem. By virtue of their natural position, Rafael has been granted more first-team opportunities in the right back slot with no one able to make the position their own at Old Trafford over the last 18 months, whereas Fabio has had to contend with Patrice Evra at left back, one of the best in his position in world football.

Fabio has made a breakthrough of late and now appears to have leapfrogged Rafael in the pecking order and looks the favourite between the two brothers to start the Champions League final against Barcelona after making the right back slot his own in recent weeks.

Yet there are differences between the two defenders and to casually lump them together as readily as everyone else seems content to do to is irritating to say the least. They were brought over to Utd at such a young age simply because they would not get the defensive education that they so required in their native Brazil and their progress at Old Trafford has been excellent.

The role of the full-back has changed exponentially over the last decade or so, but still, there are remnants of a bygone era, whereby a full-backs role is simply to offer an outlet of attack and this is non-best typified than in South American football.

Fabio remains the more attacking of the duo, hence the gradual bedding in since his arrival in comparison to Rafael, as his more natural game needed reigning in to an extent, whereas Rafael‘s seemed more ready for top flight football. Fabio also seems less wasteful on the ball and in possession of a better temperament.

Rafael on the other hand looks the better defender. Positionally there is still a lot of work to do and while not as composed as Fabio on the ball and developing an unwanted reputation for rash challenges, his feistier attitude and combativeness will stand him in good stead in the future and he looks more solid when questions have been asked of him.

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While they are not chalk and cheese, there are already subtle differences developing in each players game and to label them as one and the same seems a tad lazy and dare I say it, ignorant of the players on show’s talents.

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It’s like comparing Maicon and Daniel Alves, the two best right backs in the world at the moment. Both obviously have their strengths going forward, but Maicon is unquestionably the better defender (Bale shockers apart) and Alves the better attacker. One is a monster, the other more technical – as time goes on and they continue to develop, people may begin to notice more of a difference between the Da Silva twins simply beyond their first names.

Certainly it’s early days in the team strengthening job that Paul Lambert has on his hands. However, based on the noises coming from Lambert and the transfer policy we have seen from the Scotsman since he has been at Norwich, we can have some idea on the sort of players he will be going after.

Two words we constantly hear from Paul Lambert, when discussing transfers is young & hungry. However, clearly he would also like Premier League experience where he can get it. His first signing James Vaughan from Everton manages to qualify on all three fronts. At 22 years of age there is no debate about whetever he is young or not. Is he hungry to perform at the Premier League? I think so, when James Vaughan first emerged on the scene as a youngster at Everton it looked as if he was going to have a long career as a Premier League footballer. However, for whatever reason he never really managed to cement his place in the Everton first-team – which is a bit strange given the amount of problems Everton have had with strikers over the years.

A succession of loan spells followed the latest being at Crystal Palace. Now, had Vaughan not signed for Norwich, he would have most likely have signed a permanent deal with Crystal Palace or gone out on loan again. Palace themselves admitted they wanted to sign Vaughan but couldn’t compete with a Premier League club. So it’s fair to say that James Vaughan didn’t expect to be playing Premier League football this season. And given what has gone on with Everton – surely he feels he has something to prove – so surely that is hunger. But he also brings with him that much needed Premier League know-how and he will know what Norwich need to do in order to compete in arguably the world’s best league.

But who else will join Paul Lambert’s Premier League revolution? Time will tell and plenty of names are doing the rounds. But any player that does come in will have been considered for some time and the signing will not be taken lightly. As expected Paul Lambert has recently confirmed he will not be on the lookout for household names and will not be paying out extreme wages. That is exactly the right philosophy and I firmly believe it gives Norwich the best chance of success.

It is all very well clever journalists dropping names like Miroslav Klose into the mix. But anyone that knows the sort of manager Paul Lambert is would have known this one was never going to be a runner. A signing like that would not only demand extremely high wages – but would feel that the team should be built around him and he is bigger than the club. A big part of Norwich City’s success over the last couple of seasons has been a result of the excellent team spirit. Team spirit will be vital for any success Norwich enjoys next season. Any new signing has to fit in to the Norwich City ethos and not upset it.

One player who appears to be close to joining Norwich is Millwall striker Steve Morison. It appears that Norwich has perhaps bid as many as four times for the striker and finally Millwall are happy with the deal on the table – which certainly seems to be in excess of £2m. At 27, the striker should be coming into his prime – although it’s debatable whetever or not he qualifies on the” young” criteria. But if you are going to move into the Premier League then now is the time for Morison and he will certainly be hungry to deliver. Morison has been superb in the past two seasons for Millwall, scoring 20 league goals in League One last season and 15 goals in the Championship this season. So he will know be eager to show what he can do in the Premier League.

Other names that have been in the mix recently include Peterborough striker Craig Mackail Smith and Hull midfielder Jimmy Bullard. We know all about the interest in Mackail Smith – after Paul Lambert made attempts to sign him in January. Jimmy Bullard is more interesting – because at 32 he doesn’t seem to fit the “young” tag. But what he does offer is Premier League experience and real quality – particularly when striking the ball from distant. Craig Mackail Smith offers a fantastic work rate and you can’t really complain with a goals return of 30 league goals, but the difference between League One and Premier League is massive.

However, we don’t know if any bids have been lodged for either of those two players – but we have recently heard that Lambert put in a bid for Leeds midfielder Robert Snodgrass believed to be around £3.5m. The offer though has been turned down and it remains to be seen if Norwich will have another go. Snodgrass though does seem to be the sort of player that you would expect Lambert to be interesting in. He is just 23 years old and recently broken into the full Scotland squad; generally used as a winger – so could give Norwich options in both the diamond or in a more traditional 4-4-2. After playing in Scotland and with Leeds in the Championship and League One – he will now be keen to show what he can do in the Premier League.

Players like Vaughan, Morison and Snodgrass all seem to be the right sort of signings and all British of course. They all seem to be keen to show what they can do and deserve the opportunity. Although, we can’t assume yet that Paul Lambert won’t go for any foreign players – they have to fit into the togetherness and team spirit at Norwich. In general though bringing in players who have that little bit of Premier League experience and the best players from the Championship seems a pretty good way to go. But whetever it will be enough to keep Norwich City in the Premier League – time will tell; but one expects they are giving themselves one hell of a chance. Also a word on the board, after signing James Vaughan for £2.5m, another £2m+ on Morison and further bids of £3.5m+ suggests there is going be a decent transfer spend. And this could turn out to be a classic case of fortune following the brave.

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Sunderland have won the race to sign Korean Ji Dong-Won, beating Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven and Bundesliga outfit Schalke to his signature.The striker’s K-League club, the Chunnam Dragons, said a fee believed to be more than two million pounds had been agreed with the English Premier League side.

Ji, 20, who scored four goals at the Asian Cup in January, is set to sign a three-year deal with the club if he passes a medical after Korea’s Olympic qualifier against Jordan on Thursday.

Chunnam president Yoon Jong-Ho confirmed an agreement had been reached with Sunderland.

“I received the final proposal from the English team on Monday with a transfer fee satisfying enough for us to release Ji,” he told Yonhap News.

It would not be Ji’s first spell in England, having spent time with Championship outfit Reading during his youth career.

He would add to Steve Bruce’s depleted attacking stocks after Danny Welbeck’s loan spell at the Stadium of Light ended and he returned to Manchester United.

Eredivisie side PSV were also looking to sign the Korean and Ji told Yonhap News last week he was considering his options.

“My team and agent are still negotiating closely. I personally want to play for the best team I can and where I can get more chances to play,” he said.

“Eindhoven is a great club that often tops the league. However, I heard that the Dutch league is not like the old days.”

“Sunderland is a mid-level team, so there is always change in the squad, but they are playing on the big stage called the Premier League.”

All the talk around the Emirates, once again this week, has been about players leaving the Gunners with Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas continually linked with a move away. Reports suggest that Nasri is apparently said he will be happy to see out the last year of his contract, although the temptation to cash in on his last year of his contract may force Arsenal’s hand.

At FFC this week we have seen a mixed bag of Gunners blogs that include Wenger’s £20m gamble, a familiar and disturbing trend for Arsenal, while is it time Walcott was given centre stage.

We also look at the best Arsenal articles around the web this week.

*

The 20 ‘Championship Manager’ cult heroes that fell by the wasteside

Were Arsenal right to show their transfer hand?

A familiar and disturbing transfer trend for Arsenal?

Anxious to reassure Arsenal fans

Time Walcott was given the chance to fulfil his original billing?

Breaking Wenger’s rules is necessary

Why Wenger should play them at their own game with ‘transfer talk’

Young Gunners’ to Young Goners’

Wenger’s £20m gamble?

Arsenal eye up £12M Russian playmaker

*Best of WEB*

Wenger on the Verge of Magic again? New Season = New Chance…… – Highbury House

Cesc, time to say goodbye. Arsene, time to buy what we need or you should go with him. – Le Grove

I am not yet looking forward to the new season – Online Gooner

Still A Big Club But Will The Spending Match That Status? – A Cultured Left Foot

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On Cesc Fábregas’ legacy – Arsenal Mania

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Click on image below to see Wes’ latest lady

With a mere seven weeks to go in the summer transfer window, things are beginning to hot up. The papers are full of potential and completed deals, managers’ targets, and failed bids. But all the while, the whole process has to be explained by Her Majesty’s press in a certain way. Teams don’t just enquire about players, bid for them and sign them. That would be far too boring. Instead, we get what were seemingly a random set of flowery descriptions to keep the reader awake. And there seems to be a common theme running throughout.

The one thing that happens most during a transfer window is that a lot of clubs are snubbed. Teams are always being snubbed. It’s just as well clubs have thick skins or they could really suffer a crisis of self-confidence. Often clubs are snubbed by a player they had never even enquired about, which seems like the cruellest of snubs. This has happened to “moneybags” Manchester City a lot recently. A rogue rumour is started up (by an agent) about their interest in someone (usually to get that player an improved contract), the player comes out to say he has no interest in joining Manchester City, and the press dutifully report it as “Player X Snubs Manchester City”, despite the fact Manchester City probably have no idea who he is.

Swooped. Football clubs on the look-out for players are for some reason compared to birds of prey. Clubs appear to sit on tree branches waiting for the right moment, before swooping in on their desired player, and carrying him away in their talons. What happened to the good old days of fax machines and a courtesy phone call?

All the while, the broadcasters are trying to keep up, and pretending they are the ones in the know. A lot of the time Sky Sports News understands, which basically means Sky Sports News has been surfing the internet or reading newspapers. The BBC do this a lot too – it seems a key component of sports broadcasters is the capacity to understand stuff. Empathy, basically. Only today the BBC has published an article on the Carlos Tevez situation in which they understand a whole swathe of things.

Occasionally a team has stolen a march, which sounds like a pretty horrible thing to do, personally (and a logistical nightmare). Manchester City last week stole a march on the race to sign Samir Nasri, but as Nasri has since jetted off on Arsenal’s pre-season tour, it seems the march escaped and is back where it belongs.

Players meanwhile are keen to demand “assurances”. Their written contract is no longer sufficient. They want to know where the club is heading, who they are signing, and the weather for the next two years, otherwise they will have a strop and go on hunger strike until they have forced through a move to Real Madrid.

And most players seem to be described as an ACE. Or if young, they may be a STARLET (especially prevalent with young Belgian players it seems). Wigan lined to Cameroon ACE. Scunthorpe ACE joins Millwall on loan. Belgian STARLET linked with move to Chelsea. You get the idea.

Not everyone can be an ACE or a STARLET though. Some players are described as flops. Football is full of flops. Football players don’t fail, they flop. Flops are not attractive propositions in the transfer market, but flops can be resurrected, so a bargain could be had from buying a flop. Don’t write off flops.

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Back to the jungle, and teams are in the hunt for new players. Manchester United can sign Ashley Young, but only if they can find him. Armed with nothing more than a spear, some camouflage gear and a large net, the hunt begins….and as time passes, Sky Sports News will understand them to be closing in on their target. They make audacious moves (break-dancing?) for players they have been on the trail of, having tracked them for a while (with GPS, presumably).

Most of the news though is nothing more than speculation, normally wild (of course). Again, nature helps us out. Wild speculation is different to your common house-trained domestic speculation, as it is unpredictable, can be aggressive towards humans, and lives in a privet hedge on the outskirts of the Black Forest. Approach with caution.

Clubs eye other teams’ players (across a crowded dance floor?). They pursue players (across fields in little buggies). We hear of price tags, as if players are items of clothing. Can get 20% off with your loyalty card? Clubs are known to be lining up a player (sounds like a firing squad). Or weighing up a move. Negotiations break down (hope the club are with the AA). Teams are alerted by problems with players. Players are poised to sign (try and picture the Karate Kid when he had hurt his foot so fought on one leg). Moves are hijacked by other clubs – players are presumably held on isolated airport runways until the club gets what it wants. In fact, this isn’t far off what Alex Ferguson did when signing Dimitar Berbatov.

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Mostly though, players are approached. I imagine a dark alleyway, long coats, and a man smoking a cheroot (or a Gauloises if in France) sidling up to the designated player under a lamppost with a secret password. Then negotiations can begin.

Unsettled, want-away players are offered an escape route away from clubs, presumably via a secret underground tunnel. That’s after issuing come-and-get-me pleas of course. This leads to a battle for the player, who edges towards a move, before finally sealing a new club.

The rest knuckle down, travel the world and post pictures on Twitter of them planking. But soon, thankfully, it will all be over, for now. Deals will be finalised, players will slip through the grasp of clubs, some players will be captured and we can all get back to watching some football and moaning about Alan Shearer on Match Of The Day. Hallelujah.