Backstabbing Becks?

AC Milan are reportedly trying to sign David Beckham, probably the most marketable, sales boosting player in Europe, for a measly £4.5 million. On top of his worth from a marketing perspective, he still has a fantastic engine, vision, and remarkably precise passing ability. “How dare they try to pry him away from America for so cheap?” you ask. Beckham’s clever lawyers snuck a clause in what must be an elaborate contract, which allows him to leave America FOR FREE next October. When put that way, Milan seems generous.

Too me, a yank who wants nothing more than soccer to become popular in the US, it seems like a slimy move. Although Milan do not realize or care about the negative repercussions of their actions, there will be many.

First, Beckham has obviously become the poster boy for soccer in America. When I first heard about the move to Milan, I was thrilled because it meant that Beckham would stay in shape, continue playing for England, and silence all of the ignorant morons that claim he is a ghost of his former self. From this perspective, he seems to have fully fulfilled at least two of my hopes (regrettably fans of other sports and just generally unknowledgeable people still love to claim that Beckham is “way past his prime”). Unfortunately, my initial euphoria has long since diminished with the increasing prevalence of claims that Beckham will indeed remain with Milan after his loan spell has expired. If Milan were indeed successful in their endeavor to capture his signature, it would be an enormous blow to the chances of soccer catching on in America. Landon Donovan, another MLS/ LA Galaxy poster boy, already looks set to make his move to Bayern Munich a permanent one. Consequently the combined absence of stars in the LA Galaxy, and the loss of those two from the league would be cataclysmic. It would show that not only is the MLS incapable of holding onto it’s talented American players, but it can’t even hold onto the “old-timers” that are supposed to be too old, slow, and greedy to play anywhere else.

Second, Beckham’s move away would confirm that the level of play in the MLS is not satisfactory for world-class players, something that we already knew but are reluctant to admit.

Third, ticket sales will drop significantly without the promise of seeing David Beckham, and the league’s teams may begin to falter in these rough economic times.

The list goes on indefinitely. All I can say is that if Beckham did indeed decide to leave, it would be an act of betrayal towards the fans like me whom have been waiting so long for the coming of the soccer Messiah, who will usher in a new age of enthusiasm towards soccer in this country.

Basics of Arsene's Finances

For some reason, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal is constantly hounded by the English media, more so than other teams. The media accuses the team of having all style, no substance, having no experience, no title credentials and not enough quality. Many of the players are always rumored to be on the leave and the media, ever since Vieira left, has declared the club in crisis mode (how many times in recent memory have pundits agreed Arsenal will fall out of the top four?). Wenger’s team cannot win 1-0 without being questioned (Chelsea and Manchester on the other hand show their “champion’s spirit” by winning a lucky 1-0) and at one point has even been blamed for England’s poor Euro qualification.
Perhaps the reason for this inexplicable hatred toward Arsenal stems from the fact that the team, right down to the manager, is run like a business.
Yes. Football, soccer, calcio, futbol—whatever it’s called, it’s a business. Surprise.
And because it is run like one, unlike Chelsea, Manchester and Liverpool (Gillett and Hicks are actually trying to run LFC like a business, but are failing), expectations are unreasonably high. Yet considering Arsenal’s history and prestige, an average AFC fan should and will harbor lofty ambitions for the club.

Almost all clubs, especially in the Premiership, have substantial debt. Manchester United spends millions (I’m talking £50 million+) annually paying the interest of their debt, which is partially their owner’s fault. Liverpool too, is not economically sound, especially after its American takeover. Chelsea, of course, has Abromavich, who had spent almost $1bn, back when the dollar-pound ratio was around 2:1. I don’t think he’s broken even yet—and after recently losing £3bn from the recession and drop in oil prices, his ‘investments’ don’t look sound. And if he ever pulled out, Chelsea might have to pull a Leeds (kind of).
Arsenal too is in debt, having constructed a £400m stadium in 2006. But unlike the aforementioned teams, Arsenal has strictly limited its budget in order to maintain a manageable debt and have some liquid assets. Let’s crunch some numbers.
This is the Arsenal first team and their approximate costs:
Almunia: £500,000
Sagna: £7.0m
Gallas: -£5.0m (Arsenal made a profit buying Gallas; Cole, who went the other way was free—an academy product)
Toure: £150,000
Clichy: £250,000
Rosicky: £7.0m
Fabregas: Free
Denilson: £3.5m
Nasri: £12.0m
Van Persie: £2.75m
Adebayor: £3.0m
Now the bench:
Fabianski: £2.0m
Djourou: Free
Silvestre: £750,000
Eboue: £1.5m
Diaby: £2.0m
Walcott: £12.0m (Walcott’s original price is £5.0m, rising to £12.0m depending on appearances/caps—I doubt Arsenal have paid the full £12.0m yet)
Eduardo: £7.5m

The entire squad, 18 players, is approximately £55.0m. Now, let’s put that into perspective.
Manchester United spent approximately £57.0m on Berbatov and Rooney.
Liverpool spent approximately £56.0m on Keane, Kuyt and Torres.
Chelsea is absurd.

Now, this isn’t the entire story. Arsenal has a very strict wage structure. Ashley Cole left because Arsene wouldn’t give him £5,000 extra pounds per week (I believe he was offered £50,000 or £55,000 per week at Arsenal). Flamini left Arsenal for AC Milan over about £170,000/yr (for a football player this is four sports cars instead of five... boo hoo)—his contract at Arsenal was worth about £4.9m/yr, while his new Milan contract is worth about £5.05m/yr. Basically, Arsenal lost two key players, and presumably others (possibly Hleb) because Wenger’s strict financial policy and wage cap. In contrast, Manchester United pays Wes Brown £55,000-£60,000/wk to sit on the bench, and Chelsea’s wage is larger than that of the Yankees’ (Chelsea has a couple less players). I’m not sure about Liverpool to be honest.
This method, as results show, is somewhat flawed, considering Arsenal’s league position and how much a player like Flamini could have helped. Yet, at the same time, doing so is economically safe and helps with overall team morale—i.e. imagine if the starting right-back is paid £20,000/wk, but his left-back counterpart earns a new contract, worth £35,000/wk. Not only does this cause some bit of tension between players, but in terms of administration, the next time the right-back negotiates his contract, he will demand at the very least £35,000/wk (probably more).
Regardless, Flamini probably deserved the extra pay-raise (and Pires deserved the 2-year contract back in 2006). But it’s hard to call Wenger’s system defective. It hasn’t brought the short-term results—that’s more the stadium’s fault—but Arsenal is much more financially secure than other three big four teams. Granted, most Arsenal supporters, including myself, believe Wenger should spend this transfer window. But while we blame Wenger’s stubbornness (which he is), I do think most people overlook the fact that even the Premier League is affected by the global recession (the pound especially). 

There must be a point though, in the context of this season, that Wenger realizes he must spend. The Champions League brings a lot of revenue, and missing out on that would be a big hit.

I hope Wenger breaks the bank and buys Jeremy Toulalan. But we know that’s not gonna happen.

Viva Ronaldo

“Special players are maybe worth that. I agree with that. When you are good, when you are a special player, you are more expensive than the other ones. That’s normal.

“It’s like cars. Some cars are better than others, that’s why they’re more expensive. It’s the same with players. But this is only my opinion.”

And almost right on cue, the Man United star struck for a brace against West Bromwich Albion the very next day. So goes the life of Cristiano Ronaldo, who just recently added the FIFA World Player of the Year to a collection that is quickly becoming more valuable than the Louvre Museum's. It has recently been said, however, that all the stardom was catching up with Ronaldo, who has looked out of form for a while. Obviously, trying to match last years tally of 42 goals would be a big ask, even for the man himself, but his comparatively slow first half of the season was beginning to worry the United faithful. I even heard from some Man U fans that they now wished United cashed in on Ronaldo and sold him to Real Madrid over the summer. Always one to prove his doubters wrong, the winker-turned-winger has shown signs of a return to the glorious form that saw him net .91 goals per game in the EPL last season.

"How do I rate last season? I can't say 10 out of 10, so nine. I can improve all the time. Ten is the maximum and I haven’t reached the maximum yet, so I’d give myself nine.

"This season I’d give myself eight out of 10. Some circumstances have gone against me, like at the start of the season when I was injured, but I don’t want to think about that."

With three goals in his last three games, it looks like Ronaldo has turned the corner. The cameo appearance against Championship side Derby in the Carling Cup seems to have done the trick. United Coach Mike Phelan claims that Ronaldo was brought on to restore his confidence (something that must have been aching after he crashed his two-day-old Ferrari into a Manchester tunnel wall), and the move paid off, as Ronaldo calmly scored a penalty in that game before finding the net twice again earlier today. The reasonable question to ask is why has this return to form taken so long? A definite factor is the early-season injury that Ronaldo reffered to in his quote above. Ankle injuries especially, often take a while to fully recover from, and the absence of Ronaldo's Bugatti-like speed in the early part of the season was obvious. Another possibility in that with the addition of Dimitar Berbatov to United's frontline. Ronaldo and company needed time to adapt to the style of the Bulgarian (coincidence that Ronaldo's good form coincides with Berba's recent run?). The movement and fluidity last season of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez seemed almost telepathic, something that was always going to take time to rebuild once a new player is introduced into the fray. Finally, it is my personal opinion that Ronaldo had become a victim of his own celebrity. The pressure placed on someone with as many accolades as Ronaldo has won after his performance last year (Ballon D'Or, FIFPro World Player of the Year, and FIFA World Player of the Year, to name a few), must be absolutely immense. Add that to Cristiano's well-documented personal desire for improvement, and you have many atmospheres of pressure on a lad who many forget is still only 23. It is therefore almost inevitable, that until Ronaldo came to terms with the fact that he would in all likelyhood NOT be able to repeat his heroics of last season, he would only find himself frustrated. In my humble opinion, while Ronaldo's skill has not improved tremendously this season, this campaign has actually been his most important in terms of maturation. Being mature, my friends, can be just as vital to footballing success as being skilled.

"I’ll try to be as good as I was last season, but it’s hard."

"Winning is the most important thing. When you win, everything is good. Winning, scoring and beating defenders – that’s the order in which I like it.”

That's it Ronaldo! We will all be happy as long as you give it your all for the team. And recently, it appears as if he has been giving it his all, and I would not be surprised to see him and United continue their hot streaks for weeks to come.

Talking Point: United's absolutely ridiculously impressive record-breaking streak of not conceding a goal. Consider this, only Nemanja Vidic out of the first choice defense has played more than half of the 11-game 1,030-minute streak.

I wish my kaka was worth £100 million...

Finally things are starting to heat up in the transfer market. Mostly I have only seen the typical trading of reinforcements from squad to squad, though it always pleases me to see an out of favor and offensive player switch teams with the promise of more playing time. Some transfers that have brought a smile to my face with the promise of making the poorer sides in the prem more exciting to watch  are Pennant to Portsmouth, Bullard and Manucho to Hull, Rodallega to Wigan, and Beattie and Etherington to Stoke. I suppose you could throw Defoe into that list seeing as Tottenham are now considered a rubbish side. 

On a separate but related note, it is as if Harry Rednapp is not aware that summer is six months away. He is linked with so many players that sometimes I get the impression that he is trying to bring in a new squad (an activity which typically takes place during the summer if at all). Consequently, it seems he will maintain Tottenham's image as a giant revolving door for players. 

Lastly I would just like to remark that I was happy Kaka did not make his proposed über transfer to Manchester City a reality (and no, that is not my bias speaking). The transfer would have sent a cataclysmic wave through the transfer market, destroying all wage structure and fair transfer pricing. My prediction is that because the price of oil is so low, in a few years the Saudis will turn out just like Abramovic and decide that sinking millions of pounds into a football team without ever seeing any sign of a profit is no fun. You heard it here first. 

Mini midterm forum

Because all the bloggers are going to be so preoccupied with midterms this coming week, I am creating this post as a forum to post whatever quick thoughts that come into your head over the break. You can quickly discuss it without a large time commitment. Good luck on your midterms. 

example:

Wilson Palacios is an excellent player, but 

i) I don't think he is worth 10 mil £

ii) i is even more shocking because Wigan rejected Tottenham's bid!

Fergielicious

I hope everyone enjoyed the very lopsided Man Utd vs. Chelsea game over the weekend. It was certainly a very entertaining game, and some of my favorite moments include Drogba's fluffed attempt at a volley (how far has he fallen?) and Rooney's cheecky volley from between Ashley Cole's legs. The best part of the game for me however, was not actually during the game, but rather in SAF's postgame interview with Sky Sports. For those of you who were unlucky enough to miss it, the Gaffer added another gem to a long list of quotables. Ferguson on remarks made by Rafa Benitez:

"I think he was an angry man and was disturbed and that's all I want to say about it."

Classy. And this is not the first time the red-faced Scot has crossed the line. Just take a look at some of his greatest quotes below.

To the media on Jaun Sebastien Verón:
“On you go. I’m not f**king talking to you. He’s a f**king great player. Yous are f**king idiots.”

On potential retirement:
“I am such a bloody talented guy. I might go into painting or something like that.”

After the 2002/2003 season:
“It’s getting tickly now - squeaky-bum time, I call it”.

On Fillipo Inzaghi:
“Pippo Inzaghi was born in an offside position.”

On United's consistency:
“If we can play like that every week, we’ll get some level of consistency.”

On Dennis Wise:
“He could start a row in an empty house.”

After showing his United squad a picture of Arsene Wenger in the 2002/2003 season:
"That is what a loser looks like. If you want to play for a bunch of losers
then you can all f**k off to Highbury"

On Real Madrid's pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo:
"Do you think I'd sign a contract with the mob. I wouldn't sell them a virus."

To a United physio after famously kicking a boot at David Beckham, leaving him needing stitches above his eye:
“Just f**king patch him up”

What a legend. For entertainment's sake, lets just hope Fergie continues to lose his head as he gets older.

Praise for a Ji-Sung Hero

I am not sure who officially won man of the match, but there was a clear winner in my mind. Ji Sung Park was spectacular for the entire 90 minutes of the 3-0 win against Chelsea this weekend. In addition to his impeccable work rate, Park contributed creativity and intelligence on the ball when his teammates looked short of ideas. Jon Kim has been claiming for months that he and Sir Alex are the only two that have appreciated Park's excellent play, but I have always been a fan of the talented Korean. Despite criticism from the general public (someone once even called him "a poor man's Kuyt!"), Park is an important part to the current United side. He is the only player in the squad that can adequately match up to players like Bosingwa (who he negated on Sunday), and never complains about the dirty assignments he is given on the field. His professional attitude has won my admiration, and I am glad that he unselfishly plays his game for Manchester United. 

Best Goal of 2009 (so far)

This video is better than the one Fisher posted a couple days ago.

enjoy.

Dream team (Part II)

My advice still remains to buy as many Wigan and Manchester United players as you can, but there are a few other players that are worth having in your team even if they only have one game. Gerrard, Pavlyuchenko, and Lampard seem to be the players in the best form at the moment. Wayne Bridge is also a good choice seeing as his price will sky rocket after he starts getting good performances under his belt. Torres is back from injury and is worth his relatively low price. Though that said, Zaki is in form AND has two games. Personally, I am going with Robinho (huge bonus and in decent form), Rooney, and Heskey up top. 

In my midfield I have Cattermole, Palacios (both cheap and on Wigan), Ronaldo and Lampard.

In defense, I am sticking with Paintsil and Bosingwa because of my large bonuses, and then adding Lucas Neil simply because he is the best player I can afford with my remaining funds.

I am also holding onto Given, who I have a decent sized bonus on and is in form. 

Post your teams below and I'll tell you if I have read if they are injured or not going to play. 

Dream team (Part I)

Because I am pressed for time, I am just going to mention a few thoughts on the upcoming weekend fantasy-wise.

I guarantee that all of the top fantasy players are going to offload 80% of their squad (at least) and pick up Manchester/ Wigan players because they are the only teams with two games this weekend. I have never been much of a fan of this tactic, but it seems to work quite well. The reason I don't do it is by the time in the season when there is an abnormal weekend like this one, I have already built up large bonuses on almost every player in my squad, so I figure I'll "take a hit" for this weekend, but do well in the long term. I think I might go a little more gung-ho this weekend considering my bonuses are not all that large. 

My top transfer targets will be Amr Zaki, Rooney, Ronaldo, and Antonio Valencia seeing as they are all guaranteed starts and will be scoring points galore. My secondary picks will be Wilson Palacios and Cattermole, who have been solid performers (especially for their price) throughout the season. 

That's all for now. I'll post more in depth tomorrow, including what my team going into the weekend is likely to be. Feel free to post your team now and I will comment on the choices, tell you if your players are injured or suspended, and provide other options. 

A picture is worth 1000 words, so how many is a video worth?

All of the bloggers are swamped with midterm studying and last minute assignments, so I leave you with this video in lieu of one of our insightful posts. And yes, I am aware that the song that accompanies the video is very Eurotrashy:

Hotspurs and Coldspurs

Tottenham Hotspur today finalized a transfer agreement that will bring Jermain Defoe back to White Hart Lane. The complicated deal is reportedly worth £15 million, a few briefcases more than the reported £7.5 million that Portsmouth paid to lure Defoe away from Spurs only 12 months ago. How the diminutive Englishman became at least twice as good as he previosuly was in his year at Fratton Park is slightly beyond my comprehension. What is not beyond anyone's comprehension (except, it seems, the Tottenham front office's) is that this is a very stupid purchase by a club that has made a number of iffy purchases recently (See below). Despite a rather impressive track record during his time at Pompey, 17 goals in 34 games, it is important to remember that Defoe played in a starring role, a luxury he will not enjoy at Spurs. The price that Spurs reportedly paid for the striker is absurd enough (Something Spurs have become rather good at recently), but what is more ridiculous is what Spurs could have done with the money. Euro 2008 superstar Andrei Arshavin has recently made it clear that a move to England from current club Zenit St. Petersburg is inevitable. While I understand that Spurs claimed to have ended their interest in August, the same also goes for Arsenal, and they are now considered the favorite to land the Russian. What I'm saying, is that with Arshavin looking to move to the exact same part of London, why don't Spurs use the £15 million spent on Defoe towards a £20 million purchase of Andrei Arshavin? Imagine a potential Tottenham front line that would include David Bentley, Luka Modric, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin. IMO that team could easily compete with the best in Europe, nevermind the Premier League. In adding Defoe, the London side have improved their squad marginally, but it will not have a great affect on their season.

Having mentioned the £40+ million trio of Spurs summer signings, Defoe's signing presents us with a good opportunity to examine the individual performances of Bentley, Modric and Pavlyuchenko through the first half of their first season with the club.

David Bentley, signed from Blackburn for £15 million in July 2008:
Apart from a couple of highlight-reel specials, Bentley has largely dissapointed for the White Hart Lane outfit. Having quickly raised enthusiam and his own price-tag with a very impressive season for Blackburn and and couple of dazzling displays for England, Bentley's move to Spurs seemed to be a perfect match. Spurs were about to bring in a couple of top-class attacking options to get on the end of his picture-perfect deliveries, and Bentley would not have the pressure of carrying an entire team on his back (as he did for Rovers during much of his last season there). The 24-year-old has struggled to find his feet at Blackburn, scoring only two goals and provding only 3 in his first year at the club. Bentley's well-known bent, dangerous balls into the box have all-too-often gone astray, and his trademark runs down the right wing are no longer a regular feature of his game. If you ask me, Mr. Bentley needs a long overdue haircut...the buzz worked at Blackburn!

Luka Modric, signed from Dinamo Zagreb for £15.8 million in July 2008:
Modric had terrific Euro 2008, and also generated much excitement when he and his creative playing style moved to the Lane last year. Modric was brought in as the player meant to anchor a free-flowing, goal scoring Tottenham attack. The Croat started off very poorly under then manager Juande Ramos, but given more freedom by Harry Redknapp, he is quickly becoming the player that many Spurs fans hoped he would. Despite having only recently scored his first Spurs goal, Modric has followed it up with a classy header from his belly and is now controlling Tottenham's game with ease from his supporting striker role. Look to see Modric improve even more as he quickly becomes one of the best attacking midfield players in the world.

Roman Pavlyuchenko, signed from Spartak Moscow for £13.8 in August 2008:
Pavlyuchenko, much like his eastern European teammate, generated much hype with his Euro 2008 performance. Pavlyuchenko was hailed as an athletic target man with great aerial abilities and a solid eye for goal. He too, did not play to his potential, but has picked up his act under Redknapp (the entire Spurs team have). The Russian locomotive has scored 10 goals in 20 appearances for Spurs, including 8 under the new manager. I expect the big man to continue to get better as he adjusts to the English game, a process that has historically taken time, especially for foreign strikers.

In short (and I know the article has been everything but), Spurs' summer signings look to be finally producing for the club. Despite a recent lack of form, Tot has managed to overcome a historically dreadful start to the season and climb out of the relegation zone and into 16th place in the Premiership. They seem certain to return to the Carling Cup final after today's 4-1 domination of Burnley and are still alive in Europe. If they play up to their enormous potential, the possibilities seem endless.

What will happen with Spurs and their superstar signings this season? Will they finish in a respectable position in the league? Defened their cup title? Can they even win the UEFA cup?

A yank that went abroad, and never came back

Recent news that Neven Subotic, a mainstay center back in the airtight Borussia Dortmund defense, has opted to play for Serbia instead of the United States made me want to rip my hair out. I have been following Neven for the last couple of seasons with the help of "Yanks-Abroad.com," and if there is one thing I know, it is that this 20-year-old kid is fantastic. In 17 appearances for Dortmund, he has 5 goals. Let's review. 20 years-old, a strike rate most strikers would envy, great defender, starts in the Bundesliga, and American. I guess I shouldn't be as surprised as I am seeing as if I was given that list of 5 adjectives and asked to pick out the one that didn't fit it, I would choose American. 

 

Since Neven has refused to talk to the media about his decision, the reason why he opted to play for Serbia, a country he has never lived in, is merely speculation. This article did nothing to assuage my rage towards the USMNT coaching staff, but at least it shed some light on the subject. It is the best piece of literature I have read on the subject. 

If you are indeed reading this, Neven, all I can say is good luck trying to wrestle a center back spot from Nemanja Vidic or Branislav Ivanovic. You might have had more luck if you had just stuck with the US. Also, don't be surprised if Nemanja breaks your legs during practice for fun.

Conspiracy Theories

In light of today's FA cup draw, I have come to believe the English FA and UEFA rig both the FA Cup and Champions League draws, to a certain extent.

Let's examine the big four FA cup draws.

Liverpool v. Everton

Manchester United v. Tottenham 

Arsenal v. Cardiff City

(probably) Chelsea v. Ipswich Town

Liverpool v. Everton: What are the chances that perhaps one of the biggest BPL rivalries was picked, taking into account there are 32 teams still remaining? Ticket sales perhaps? And not to be outdone, Manchester United get a heavyweight pick too--after all, the FA cannot leave their most profitable team playing league two sides each round. That doesn't draw a crowd. 

Arsenal v. Cardiff City is an interesting one. As Arsenal are known to field substitutes/reserve players for these cups, we can assume it's Aaron Ramsey's homecoming--and hey! They happen to be playing in Cardiff! All Ramsey's former supporters can now boo him.

Now Chelsea is a different story. The club is notorious for often getting easier draws in these cup competitions. I don't know if it's the Russian blood money or the threat of Russian oil magnates spilling blood, but it seems to get Chelsea further in these cups.

Now onto the Champions League draw.

Chelsea v. Juventus: Ranieri gets to go back to his old club, where he failed to win them a Champions League trophy. Oh the drama. If only Inter had been matched up with Chelsea (which would have been impossible because of their group placings). Watch out for this in the quarter finals. (Abromavich's 'influence' doesn't extend to the more lucrative CL of course--they'd make more money from the advertising for a big game)

Instead, Inter get Manchester United: Fergie can rekindle his affair with Mourinho! It's also a gigantic match.

Arsenal get Roma--why are there so many Italian teams playing English teams? I just hope no one gets stabbed.

The Spanish heavy Liverpool get to face Real Madrid. And both are traditional European heavyweights. This will be a field day for the media (especially the Spanish one).

Barcelona get an easy draw because they need to reach the final.

And of course, all the lower league teams can go eliminate each other. We wouldn't want any upsets yet--for the TV rating's sake. 

Why hadn't this been revealed earlier? UEFA and the FA have only recently been whoring themselves out for Euros because of the global economic crisis. 

This is, of course, all true. Time for me to write the wikipedia article before I am kidnapped by Michel Platini and Eric Cantona (the real mastermind behind the FA).

What is this, Ligue 1?

Looking at a spread sheet of all the scores from the 3rd round of the FA cup, I was surprised to see how many low scoring games there were. I am not a master statistician, so maybe the results were not all that shocking, but 14/24 of the games had 2 or fewer goals, and 4 of these games were 0-0 draws. I think that the FA should change the format of the FA cup to eliminate replays for a few reasons:

1. The promise of a replay promotes defensive play by lower league sides.

2. The replays just compound the problem of fixture congestion.

3. Most other leagues in the world realize one and two and have changed their cup format so that after normal time, there is extra time and then penalties. No silly replays.

If Nottingham Forest's 3-0 win against Manchester City (in Eastlands!) can tell us anything, it is that the minnows stand a chance when they come out and play. The promise of penalties will still attract the attention of the most conservative coaches,  but for the reasons above and the hope that teams would come to play, I strongly believe they should abolish replays. 

Do you think the FA should keep the replay system?

The best things in life come in pairs

Following his recent trend, Manchester United gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson has signed another pair of young starlets for 17 million pounds who were previously in the same league. To be honest, I know next to nothing about Zoran Tosic and/or Adem Ljajic. What I knew previously was mainly from youtube. Yet that said, I knew next to nothing about the last pair of 17 million pound starlets, Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Nani. Since this dynamic duo of a 22 year-old and a 20 year-old are now eating too much Tapioca pudding for Fergie's taste, he has decided to bring in some youth to the team. Given the new regime is about to begin, it seems like as good a time as any to analyze how these two "men," Nani and Anderson, are progressing. 

Nani:

Too often have I heard comparisons between Nani and Cron. Imo, they are worlds apart in their play. Nani seems much more conservative than Cron (at least the old Cron that we fell in love with last year), and will frequently let Evra overlap him on the left or pass to the center without beating his man down the wing. He has had a few cracking goals, a couple of which were important, but besides that I haven't seen much that has impressed me from a boy that is only one year younger than Rooney and Cron. He does not have blistering pace, he is not a great dribbler, and he is certainly not a great passer of the ball. Sometimes I feel his only real asset to the team is his vision down the left side, but half the time he does not have the technique to complete the pass that he sees. He still has a long career ahead of him, so there is no rush except if Giggs retires, but that's never going to happen, so I hope he just keeps progressing. 

Anderson:

On the other hand, there has been a lot more promise shown by the young Brazilian. To my knowledge, he is yet to tally a senior goal, but at least he makes his presence felt on the field with his physical play, tough tackling, and accurate passing. Whereas Nani fails to convince me that he can replace Giggs, I have confidence in Anderson to fill the massive hole left by Scholes when he decides to call it quits. And to add insult to injury for the Nani defense, Anderson is two years young than Nani (and three than Roon and Cron for those of you that aren't keeping track). 

What are your thoughts on these players? Do you think Fergie should stay the course and continually invest in youth?

Give me a break

I have always found it interesting that despite the fact that basically every other major European league breaks for the winter, the Premiership accelerates through the holiday season. Although I imagine it is nice for the players to get a little rest and take a relaxing training vacation to a warm destination during such an unpleasant time climate-wise, it seems brilliant on the part of the FA to play as many games as possible during the Holiday season when:

1. Many English people have time off from work and can go to the games

2. English people are spending more money because of their Holiday spirit, and thus people whom are typically too frugal to go to the game might just find it within themselves to sit in the cold and watch their team in person

3. Globally more people will watch the games because their leagues have taken a break

I would think that the players from the other leagues would be fresher because of this break, and therefore excel in competitions like the CL and the UC, yet that is clearly not the case. If I had to venture a guess as to why not, I would bet the money raked in by English clubs during the Holiday season is enough to add quality depth to their squads and therefore offset the rest the players from other leagues receive. 

On a separate yet related note, since most people are just dying to fill the void left by the absence of the other leagues, I propose that the MLS play a mini tournament during this time. For the reasons listed above it is quite possible people might actually watch it.