How To Beat Barcelona: Part 2

In the first part (http://sportdw.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-barcelona-part-1.html), I looked at how to defend against Barcelona, arguably the best team in the world at scoring goals. However, to beat Barcelona, you need to score goals yourself. In this second part, I look at some tactics that Shakhtar could employ to test Barcelona in their Champions League tie.

Attacking Barcelona

Even with the best defensive display, it is highly likely that Barcelona will score at least one goal. Only three teams in the past 80 matches have stopped Barcelona scoring, and in all these games, Barcelona were playing a weakened side. So, in other words, you have to attack Barcelona as well.

Not only does attacking Barcelona mean that you have a chance of scoring goals, it also gives them something else to think about. However, the manner in which you launch the attacks is important.

Switching the Play

Arsenal are probably the second best passing side in world football after Barcelona, but the four matches over the past two seasons have proved that you cannot beat Barcelona in this way. Their incessant pressing game makes it virtually impossible to pass your way through them.

However, as is observed in the excellent book “Brilliant Orange”:

If there were two defenders marking one of our players in one position, it meant that somewhere one of our players was free. So, we tried to find that player... Maybe he is on the other side of the field. So we tried to reach him with one ball back, instant control and a pass. Then the other winger can go.

For example, if the Shakhtar right-back, Darijo Srna, has the ball, he will be closed down by the left forward, David Villa, and the left-sided central midfielder, Andres Iniesta. Lionel Messi will shift across to cover the holding midfielder and Pedro will shift across to cover the left central defender. This leaves Srna with few options.

However, Shakhtar have two very good ball-playing central defenders. Both have played in midfield in their careers, so are good passers of the ball. Srna plays the ball back to his right-sided central defender, Rakitskiy. Whilst he will be under some pressure from Pedro, if he instantly controls the ball, he can shift it out to Razvan Rat on the other side of the pitch, who now has space to run forward with the ball.


This will force Dani Alves to come forward to tackle Rat, leaving Willian in greater space behind him. In turn, this forces the right-sided Barcelona central defender, Carles Puyol, to come out of defence to cover him, leaving a two-on-two situation behind him with Luiz Adriano and the attacking midfielder, Jadson, up against Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique.

Direct Football

The other option is to play a more direct game. With the two Barcelona full-backs playing such an advanced role, it does leave plenty of space in Barcelona’s defensive third.

Once you win the ball back from Barcelona, the two wider players, Douglas Costa and Willian instantly push further up the pitch to provide forward options along with Luiz Adriano. One thing that all three of these players are blessed with is pace.

Once again, the tactical master that is Jose Mourinho got this exactly right in the first leg of the Champions League tie where Inter won 3-1, which could in reality have been even more comprehensive.

When Inter won the ball back, they immediately played long balls over the top of a high Barcelona backline. The pace and intelligence of Milito, Eto’o and Pandev caused problems and as time went on, began to lead to greater success.

To compensate for this, Barcelona were forced to drop their defensive line back, creating more space in the midfield. With longer distances between players, they found it more difficult to play the quick, short passes that they have become famed for. As a result, Inter won the ball more regularly, and launched more and more counter-attacks.

These longer balls not only force Barcelona to change their tactics, but they also help to relieve the pressure on the defence, and bypass the heavy pressing of Barcelona in their attacking third.

Shooting From Distance

One final observation about Barcelona is that Xavi and Iniesta rarely track back to the edge of their own penalty area. This often tends to leave space between the midfield and the defenders, which is only covered by Sergio Busquets. However, often Busquets has dropped deeper into the defensive line.

As a result, if you can get one of the attacking trio of midfielders – Douglas Costa, Jadson and Willian – on the ball in this area, they are likely to have plenty of space to work in. Each of these three has also proven that they are very talented in shooting from range.


Getting just one of these players free in this open area will almost certainly open up the option of the shot, and if they can get it right, it could be a potentially profitable avenue when it comes to trying to grab that all important goal.

Final Comments

Barcelona are a very good outfit, but are not unbeatable. Indeed, their away record in the Champions League is actually quite poor, with only two wins in their past thirteen matches. Whilst only Inter and Arsenal have beaten them, it shows that they do not put ties to rest in the away leg.


On the other hand, since moving to their new stadium, Shakhtar’s home record has been nothing short of imperious. They have won their last 22 games in all competitions at home, and haven’t lost since October 2008. The likes of Tottenham, Arsenal and Roma have all been beaten.

If they can get a decent result at the Nou Camp in the first leg, they will go into the home leg with the confidence that they can get a result. Another boost for them is that their coach, the hugely experienced Mircea Lucescu, is one of only a few managers who has actually gone to the Nou Camp and won. Back in December 2008, Shakhtar beat an inexperienced Barcelona side 3-2 in the final group match.

Whilst it was a weakened side, it does mean that eight of the likely starting line-up for this match have experienced winning at the Nou Camp before. Whether it will have any mental impact is yet to be seen, but who knows.


However, the key to getting a result against Barcelona is organisation and discipline. Without these, whatever tactical approach you take will eventually be broken through. Each game will be one of the toughest 90 minutes, both physically and mentally, that these players will ever have been involved in. But if they can maintain their discipline, work-rate and organisation, anything is possible.

The legendary Italian coach, Arrigo Sacchi, once ran an exercise in training with his wonderful AC Milan side. He took his five defenders and put them up against ten of his best attacking players, including the likes of Gullit, van Basten, Rijkaard, Ancelotti and Donadoni. The fifteen minute match ended goalless. It showed that even against greater numbers and against some of the best attacking players of a generation, a small number of organised players can hold out against all odds.

This is exactly what Shakhtar will have to do. Organisation, discipline and hard-work. And possibly, against all odds, they can spring one of the biggest surprises in Champions League history.

How To Beat Barcelona: Part 1

Barcelona are without a doubt the best club side on the planet at the moment. Some may argue that they are one of the greatest of all time. In Lionel Messi, they have a player who will likely join the likes of Pele and Diego Maradona in the debate on who is the greatest player to have graced the game. Their style of football is viewed as the pinnacle to which all other teams should aspire.

However, despite what some people may claim, they are not unbeatable.

Whilst any side playing Barcelona will need some luck to go their way if they are to beat them, it is not an impossible task. However, they will need to be ultra-fit, tactical perfect and well organised. If they can combine these attributes, it is not infeasible for a side to overcome Barcelona.


In this article, we will look at how exactly Barcelona play, then look at how you would counter their tactics and try and create some chances for yourself. We will use Ukrainian champions, Shakhtar Donetsk, as our example, given they will be the next side to attempt to stop the blue and red juggernaut in the Champions League.

This first part will look at how to defend against Barcelona, whilst the second part will look at some attacking strategies to score the goals to beat them.

How Do Barcelona Play?

In its most simple form, Barcelona’s formation is a straight-forward 4-3-3 with attacking full-backs. At their strongest, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol would play as the two central defenders, with Dani Alves on the right of the defence and Eric Abidal on the left. Sergio Busquets acts as the more defensive member of the trio in midfield, allowing the two creative forces of Xavi and Andres Iniesta to get into more threatening forward positions. David Villa and Pedro play as traditional wide forwards, with Lionel Messi in the traditional number nine position.

However, there are far more subtleties to how Barcelona play than just the simple rigid formation. Much of their play is based around a high pressing system, where they place severe pressure on the player on the ball, even back in the opposition’s defensive third. Whenever an opposition player receives the ball, two Barcelona players converge on them. This often results in teams struggling to get out of their own half and Barcelona get the ball back in already attacking positions.

Despite playing with two wide forwards, much of the width is provided by the two full-backs, who often tend to play as though wingers, rather than defenders. They push forward in almost every attack, whilst Sergio Busquets drops back to make a defensive three to cover. The space for them is created by David Villa and Pedro, who drift inside to drag the opposition central defenders and full-backs narrower, leaving space to exploit on the wings.


The role of Lionel Messi is also an interesting one. Despite starting as the central striker, he often drops deeper as though at the peak of a narrow diamond in midfield.

This tends to drag one of the central defenders out with him, leaving space in behind for balls through to David Villa and Pedro. However, given his immense talent, you clearly cannot just leave him unmarked, so this is another headache for opposition players and managers.

How to Defend Against Barcelona

Formation

So now we have a brief idea of how Barcelona plays, how do you stop them? The first step is to play the right formation. Playing a traditional 4-4-2 formation as several teams have tried is simply not going to work. The two in the centre of midfield will struggle to cope with the trio in the centre of the Barcelona midfield, and it will cause chaos with Messi dropping deep to add to the mix. Similarly, this rules out a 4-4-1-1 type formation.

In my opinion, the ideal formation to counter Barcelona would be a 4-2-3-1 type formation that can easily convert to a 4-5-1 when defending.


Team Instructions

Looking at the overall team instructions first, although a risky strategy, playing with a high defensive line, keeping the formation short and narrow would be a good place to start. Whilst it does leave the risk of Barcelona springing the offside trap and getting the likes of Villa and Pedro in behind, it does help to prevent Barcelona from finding the gaps in between the lines, which they love to play in.

The likes of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta are masters at finding space between the line of four defenders and the midfielders, so by compressing the formation, it begins to cut out these spaces.

It also brings the advantage that when you win the ball back, you are likely to find yourself in a more advanced position on the field.

Another interesting observation came recently as Barcelona drew with Sevilla. Particularly in the second half, Sevilla adopted a very physical approach to dealing with Barcelona, going in hard, but fair, in the tackles. Barcelona were noticeable unsettled by these tactics. We even saw the usually calm Xavi squaring up to Medel in the centre of the field. Anything to unsettle Barcelona can only work to your advantage.

Disciplined Central Defenders

Looking at Shakhtar, they have the experienced Dmytro Chygrynskiy, who had a spell at Barcelona before returning to his native Ukraine, and Ukrainian international, Yaroslav Rakitskiy. Chygrynskiy, whilst not being the quickest, is very good at reading the game, and he is complemented nicely by the more physically talented Rakitskiy.


The two central defenders must be very disciplined in their role. It is important that they concentrate solely on the two wide forwards, David Villa and Pedro. If they are attracted to Lionel Messi dropping into the midfield, they will be dragged out of position, leaving a two-on-one situation against their partner, which Barcelona will invariably punish.

Countering Lionel Messi

The unenviable role of shadowing Lionel Messi must fall to the deepest of the midfield trio. In Shakhtar’s case, Tomas Hubschmann. He will have the role of man-marking Lionel Messi wherever he goes on the field, whether it be dropping deep into the midfield looking for the ball or running beyond Villa and Pedro into the heart of the defence. He cannot leave Messi to the central defenders or they will run the risk of losing one of the two wider forwards.

Tracking the Full-backs

The next important attacking threat that Barcelona possess is that of the full-backs, Dani Alves and Eric Abidal. For me, it is important that the wingers are responsible for picking them up, rather than trying to leave them to the full-backs. Villa and Pedro will look to drag the full-backs inside, helping to cover for the central defenders. If they are also responsible for marking Alves and Abidal, they run the risk of leaving them unmarked.


Instead, if the two wider players of the three more attacking midfielders are responsible for tracking Alves and Abidal back, it ensures they are covered at all times and your own full-backs are free to cover back and help the two central defenders.

In Shakhtar’s case, it would fall to Willian and Douglas Costa to track Alves and Abidal. Whilst both of these players are better going forward, they must maintain their discipline and track back. Nobody is necessarily asking for them to be making inch-perfect tackles. Merely covering the full-backs will help to cut out a key part of the Barcelona attacking options. It would also allow the hugely experienced pair of Shakhtar full-backs, Darijo Srna and Razvan Rat, to drop inside to provide the cover for Chygrynskiy and Rakitskiy.

Stopping Xavi and Iniesta

Next, the other two central midfielders have an important role. They are responsible for pressuring the creative hub of Barcelona - Xavi and Andres Iniesta. These are arguably the two most important players for Barcelona, despite the talents of Lionel Messi. They are masters of passing and moving, and are quite happy to receive the ball under pressure.


However, putting them under constant pressure is vital. Give them time and space and they will undoubtedly punish you with through balls, balls clipped over the top, or majestic dribbles. Playing with a high line will help to confine the space that they have, but keeping two players pressuring them at all times will restrict what they are capable of doing. Despite all their talent, they are still only human, and under heavy pressure, they will be far less able to produce the moments of magic and set players away.

In Shakhtar’s case, Ferdinandinho would be the best option to track the more attacking Andres Iniesta, whilst either Jadson or Henrikh Mkhitaryan would be his partner to pressure Xavi.

This leaves the single striker, most likely Luiz Adriano, the thankless task of trying to close the ball down in the Barcelona defensive third. Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol are all comfortable on the ball, but if these three are playing the ball around the back, you would be relatively happy.

Final Points

You will never stop Barcelona having the majority of the possession, but it is all about where they have the possession. Allowing them to pass the ball around in their own half gives the defenders a brief moment of respite, then pressing hard when they try to come forward.


Jose Mourinho’s ten men demonstrated this to perfection in restricting Barcelona at the Nou Camp last year. They put virtually no pressure on the ball until they reached the attacking third of the pitch, when they gave Barcelona absolutely no room on the ball whatsoever. It resulted in a ridiculous possession statistic where Barcelona had 76% of the possession and every Barcelona player, including Victor Valdes, made more passes than Javier Zanetti, the Inter player who completed the most passes.

However, most of these passes were not in dangerous areas, so Inter were happy to let them pass the ball in front of them.

Ashley Cole: England Captain?

With all the talk at the moment about who will captain England against Wales, and potentially further into the future, there is one name that has not even been mentioned. Arguably one of the very few guaranteed names on the team sheet for every match, the most capped fullback in English history and virtually the only England player who could realistically be put forward for the best in his position in the world. That man is Ashley Cole.

His record as a player is hugely impressive. He has won four league titles, including having been part of the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’, a record that is unlikely to be matched for many years and six FA Cup winner’s medals – more than any other player in history. He is the most capped fullback in English history, and with 87 caps already, it would be no surprise if he were to go on to overtake David Beckham and become England’s most capped outfield player. No England outfield player, including David Beckham, has made more appearances at World Cups than Cole. Indeed, if he is still in the team come 2014, he would break Shilton’s record of 17 appearances. He was named in UEFA’s team of the tournament after Euro 2004.

However, it is reputation off the pitch that people will remember him for, and which is likely to cost him any chance at captaining his country. His acrimonious move from Arsenal to Chelsea, his bitter split with the nation’s sweetheart, Cheryl Cole, and now the incident with the air-rifle has all mounted up to paint an image of a young man out of touch and obsessed with fame and money.

The question is whether a player’s life off the pitch should impact his role on it. Looking around the other candidates for the captaincy, virtually none of them have a clean image. John Terry had the well-publicised affair with the mother of his best friend’s child and rumours concerning a number of affairs have dogged him for years. He was fined in the wake of the 9/11 attacks for drunkenly mocking American tourists at Heathrow and he was arrested in 2002 after an incident at a London nightclub.

The current captain, Rio Ferdinand, was famously banned from football for eight months for missing a drugs test, going shopping instead. He has been banned from driving for a year for drink-driving, and in total, has been banned from driving four times. He attracted complaints for a comment on Chris Moyles’ Radio 1 show in 2006 and also appeared in a sexually explicit video filmed in Ayia Napa alongside Frank Lampard and Kieron Dyer.

Wayne Rooney was also in the spotlight for cheating on his pregnant wife last year and the contract saga that saw him hand in a transfer request at Manchester United. He also caused a backlash when he hit out at England fans at the World Cup last summer for booing the side.

However, putting aside all aspects of the private lives of players off the pitch, let us look at the situation on the pitch. In recent times, both Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand have been picking up injuries with far greater frequency than earlier in their career.

Indeed, Rio Ferdinand has only played in four of the eleven matches since he was appointed captain of England. He has not managed to play even 75% of league games for Manchester United since the 2007/08 season, making only 13 appearances last season and 14 this season.

In his absence, both Michael Dawson and Phil Jagielka have emerged as real contenders for starting spot, and in Dawson’s case, a potential future captain of England. When we add in John Terry as well, Rio Ferdinand’s spot in the England team is in real threat, even at full fitness.

Steven Gerrard has been affected by several injuries this season. He missed several weeks after picking up an injury during England’s friendly with France, then missed the last friendly against Denmark and has now undergone surgery on a groin injury that is expected to keep him out for at least a month.

Frank Lampard captained England in their last friendly, but his position as a first choice in the centre of England’s midfield is under serious jeopardy following the emergence of Jack Wilshere in the past year. Indeed, there were suggestions before Gerrard was ruled out that Wilshere would be starting alongside the Liverpool man against Wales with Lampard left on the bench.

John Terry and Wayne Rooney are the obvious other choices. However, there are still concerns around Rooney’s form, but more particularly, his temperament. He is still prone to outburst at referees and losing his cool on the pitch, which is clearly not a trait that you want from your captain. Furthermore, there is generally a preference for a captain to be a defender or a midfielder, rather than a striker, simply because they are in the midst of the action on a more regular basis.

John Terry is an intriguing option. Stripped of the captaincy after the Wayne Bridge affair, he is undoubtedly the most natural leader that England has had for a long time. Indeed, it appears that is the current front runner for the captaincy for the Wales friendly, and if reports are to be believed, for the longer term.

The treatment of John Terry and the captaincy since he was stripped of it has been nothing short of ridiculous. The friendly against Egypt after he was stripped of it was one example, as was the friendly with Denmark last month, where the armband was passed around four or five players. In the words of Terry, “I felt, ‘OK, I’ve been stripped of the captaincy, but don’t take the piss out of me. I think they would have given it to one of the stewards ahead of me.”

However, John Terry has admitted to being in almost constant pain when he plays, and there has to be questions about his long-term future in the game. He has been picking up more injuries in the past season, and has missed out on four of the last six internationals with a variety of injury problems.

That brings us back to Ashley Cole. It is noticeable that he is almost never injured and so would actually appear regularly on the pitch, unlike many of the other choices.

There is also the other side to Ashley Cole that is often glossed over by the media. Against all expectations, he turned up at the leaving drinks for the former head of media at Arsenal. He has often travelled up to Leicester City when he has the opportunity to support Patrick van Aarnholt, a young left-back who is on loan there from Chelsea, and who looks up to Cole as his mentor. These things do not exactly tally with the image of a self-obsessed, money-hungry individual.

His unpopularity with the fans is often put forward as one of the main things holding him back. However, even if the fans do not like him as a person, there is clearly a respect for him as a player. He was voted England’s player of the year last year by the fans, having been one of the few players to come out of the World Cup with his reputation intact. He won the vote ahead of supposed fan favourites like Steven Gerrard and Adam Johnson.

He has arguably been the one of the, if not the, best left back on the planet for almost a decade. For all the best attempts over the years, no other left back in England has come close to dislodging him from the team. For all the attention he has received for his private life off the pitch, he is the only undisputedly world-class player that England has.

Of course captaincy is about more than just being the best player. However, his consistency, fitness and quality should put him up there, and he did have a very short spell as England captain at the end of the Denmark friendly. If the history surrounding John Terry costs him a return to the captaincy, there would be many worse options than giving it to Ashley Cole.

Let's face it, if we are looking for a captain that has a clean slate off the pitch, we would be struggling...

Stars of the Future - Part 1

In this series of articles, we take a closer look at some of the players that have the potential to be top quality players in the future. I have tried to avoid the more commonly mentioned players as everybody already knows about them. The likes of Jack Wilshere, Romelu Lukaku and Josh McEachran have already been discussed to death in the press, whereas hopefully some of the following players will be new to people.

Chuks Aneke


Chuks Aneke is considerd to be one of the best players in the Arsenal youth academy. Neil Banfield, the head of Arsenal reserves, claimed that he had already reached technical perfection at the age of only 14. He provides the creative spark in the reserve side that scored at will last season and at 1.91m tall, he is an imposing presence in the midfield.

He has already played for England at U16, U17 and U18 level, and it would be no real surprise to see him continue to progress through the levels and one would expect to see him maybe making his full debut in the Carling Cup next season.

Kenneth Zohore


The Danish striker made his debut at only 16 years and 35 days old, making him the youngest player in the history of the Danish top flight. With trials at both Chelsea and Inter Milan already, he looks to have a promising future in the game.

Aged only 17, he is already over six foot tall and a strong physical presence. With nine goals in 13 matches for the Danish U17 side, he has already shown that he has a knack of scoring goals and he plays well in the target man role, creating space and chance for others.

He scored his first senior goal recently against Lyngby Boldklub, making him the second youngster scorer in the Danish top flight and his appearance against Barcelona in the Champions League made him the third youngest player in that tournament.

He has admitted that his dream is to play for Chelsea and if he continues his current progress, it would hardly be surprising if he ultimately reaches his goal.

Luc Castaignos


Already described as the next Thierry Henry, the young Dutchman has been on the rise for a couple of years. Joint top-scorer at the European U17 Championships in 2009, he made his debut for Feyernoord this season and has already grabbed nine goals in his first 24 games to add to his 22 goals in 31 games at U17 and U19 level for the Netherlands.

Despite being over six foot tall, he has electric pace and is a natural finisher meaning that he has all the attributes to become a world class striker. Already linked with most of the big European clubs, he has announced that he will move to Inter Milan in the summer, where he will hope to continue his development.

Eric Lamela


Eric Lamela is one of the most promising players to have come through the famous River Plate youth academy in recent years. Despite only being 18-years old, it was six years ago that River Plate had to fend off approaches from Spanish giants, Barcelona. They reportedly offered to pay Lamela’s family over €100k per year to move the 12-year old to Spain.

He made his debut for River Plate late last year, but the Argentinean club have already had to reject a €12m offer from AC Milan, demanding at least €25m for the youngster. He usually plays as an attacking midfielder or winger and has drawn great praise for his dribbling skills as well as his ability to score from distance. Furthermore, he is the first choice set piece taker, despite being only 18-years old. As far as weaknesses go, he lacks that extra yard of pace and needs to work on his aerial ability, but these will come with age and further training.

Despite his tender age, he is already one of the most talented players in South America, and despite his pledge to remain at River Plate until he has won a major trophy, his resolve will undoubtedly be tested as the giants of European football come knocking.

Thiago Alcantara


The young midfielder is considered to be the best player at Barcelona’s famous La Masia youth academy, and the natural heir to Xavi. Still only 19 years old, he has made eight appearances for the Barcelona first team and scored his first goal last season against Racing Santander. He has been described as Spain’s biggest talent by Fernando Hierro.

He has all the attributes that you would expect from a Brazilian at Barcelona – great vision, a wonderful range of passing and an eye for a goal. If he lives up to the hype, he will become one of the world’s very top midfielders and will slot perfectly into the centre of the Barcelona midfield.

Edwin Cardona


The young Colombian midfielder has proved that he is a real talent with seven goals in seven games at the South American U17 Championships in 2009. He has also impressed in this season’s U20 Sudamericano for his club where he has notched up four goals in six games – an impressive tally for a midfielder.

Like many South Americans, he enjoys running at players with the ball, but also has an excellent eye for a pass and is the set piece expert for both club and country. In an underperforming international side at U20 level, he is proving the standout star, even in the match against the impressive Brazilians. It would be no surprise to see him promoted to the full international side before long, and a move to Europe may not be much further away.

Gary Gardner


The younger brother of Birmingham midfielder, Craig Gardner, Gary was the star of the Aston Villa academy until his development suffered a setback when he tore his ACL last year. He has recently returned and played a starring role in the 10-1 victory against Arsenal reserves. It was also revealed that Rafa Benitez tried to take him to Inter Milan over the summer.

Closely compared in style and ability to Jack Wilshere, the two have played together at the heart of the midfield through all the youth ranks for England and it is surely only a matter of time until they link up again at senior level. He is expected to make his debut for Villa next season once he has fully recovered from his injury and is certainly a player to watch closely.

Lucas


The young attacking midfielder only made his debut for Sao Paulo last season, but by the end of the year, he had established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet. He picked up four goals and four assists in his 22 matches last season and was one of the star players at the South American U20 Championships earlier this year.

He loves to have the ball at his feet and run at defenders, whilst he also has great composure in front of goal. He has already caught the attention of Europe’s elite and it would be no real surprise to see him making the move to one of the big clubs in the coming years.

Juan Manuel Iturbe


The young Argentinean has already been compared to both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the age of only 17. He has made seven appearances for Paraguayan club, Cerro Porteno, but has already agreed a deal to move to Porto on his 18th birthday in June with rumours that it may be a stepping stone on the path to replacing Ryan Giggs at Manchester United.

The winger was one of the stars of the South American U20 Championships earlier this year and appears to be very comfortable with the ball at his feet and has an eye for a pass. Whether he can live up to the high expectations remains to be seen, but the move to Portugal should be the first step on his rise to the top.

Jean-Marie Dongou


The young Cameroon striker has been rapidly progressing through the Barcelona youth system. At only 15-years old, he has become the first player since Lionel Messi to represent Barcelona in three different age groups this season and is regularly playing against players three years older than himself.

He is lightning fast, powerful and a natural finisher and looks to be the next great hope of Cameroonian football. He has already scored well over 100 goals in the past couple of years at youth level and hit a stunning 20 goals in 14 days last month in the matches that he played in.

Whether he can continue his progression remains to be seen, but he has an excellent opportunity at one of the best clubs on the planet.

DW

Thursday Round Up: Diame on Wigan, Ridiculous punishments and Sevilla threats

One sometimes wonders what exactly a player expects when they make the move to certain cities to play their football. Clearly players want to test themselves at a higher level, but would you really fancy swapping Madrid for the joys of a wet and cold evening in front of a half empty stadium in Wigan.

Mohamed Diame, who signed for Wigan for around £3m in August 2009, has clearly been wondering the same following a recent interview, where he gave his impressions of Wigan and life in England:

“The truth about life in Wigan is that there is nothing to do. It is a crappy place. The town is tiny and there is no atmosphere. I go into training, I return home afterwards, and that is all I do.”

One wonders whether having come from Madrid, he expected Wigan to be a hive of cultural activity, but it gives a clear message to all aspiring footballers looking for a move abroad – visit the town before you sign.


However, that was not the only problem that he has with Wigan. Strangely, Wigan turns out to be slightly colder than Madrid as well:

“There is absolutely no comparison between Wigan and Madrid. I was happy there – it was a capital city, and I guess it is the same as any capital. After training, I was able to go for a peaceful stroll. It was never really cold over there. But as for here – don’t get me started. When it snowed, I felt like the temperature was minus 15 and feared I was going to turn into an ice cube.”

To be fair to him, it probably was minus 15 given the winter we have had, but it is no real surprise that it is difficult to compare Madrid and Wigan. Even Wigan chairman, Dave Whelan, had to accept that describing Wigan as having come from a mining and coal background.

However, Diame had one final observation to make on life in Wigan:

“It is rare to see truly beautiful girls when you go out during the day. In Madrid, I had the idea that all the women were beautiful.”

Clearly Mohamed isn’t overly enthralled by the allure of the northern birds. Compared to Madrid, can you really blame him?

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The footballing authorities around the world continue to demonstrate that they have never considered the idea of using any semblance of common sense in decision-making. Last Saturday, Lionel Messi scored a penalty to make it 3-0 to Barcelona. No surprise
there.

However, as he peeled away to celebrate, he pulled up his shirt to reveal a message scrawled on a T-shirt. For this celebration, the Spanish federation decided to fine him €3,000 and retrospectively award him a yellow card under their regulations against messages on shirts. So, what could this message have been that it required such punishment? A political message? A message that could have offended certain groups?


Nothing as strong as that. The message simply read, “Feliz Cumple, Mami.” A happy birthday message to his mother. A simple gesture from a child to his mother.

However, apparently that is no longer allowed. It is almost as ridiculous as the rule that players should be booked for celebrating with the crowd. The idea that a simple sharing of jubilation with the fans who make up the lifeblood of a club and a cynical and potential dangerous challenge should be worthy of the same punishment is simply absurd.

Emotion and common sense no longer have a place in football. Players should score important goals and simply turn around and quietly walk back to their positions. Or at least, that is what it seems the authorities would prefer.

* * *

Clubs and managers often resort to winding up their opponents ahead of big games or employing more subtle mind games to put their opposition off their game. However, Sevilla have taken it one step further. Ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg with Real Madrid, the players mocked up a quick video where they appear to appear topless and smearing themselves with war paint.


All the while, a threatening voice speaks in Portuguese, warning Mourinho that “we will leave you without the title.” There is no denying that it is slightly creepy, and indeed, Martin Caceres actually looks quite bloodthirsty covered in what appears to be blood.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have the desired effect as an early Karim Benzema gave Real Madrid the all important away goal in a 1-0 victory. Maybe next time, they should spend more time preparing for the game than making these ridiculous videos.

World Cup 2018 and 2022: Reasonable or Ridiculous?

So FIFA’s executive committee have made their long-awaited decision on the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Russia needing only two rounds to beat off competition from England, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium to host it in 2018, whilst Qatar were the unexpected choice in 2022, beating off the USA, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Whilst I am very disappointed that England were unsuccessful, I can see the argument for the decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia. However, the decision to take the 2022 World Cup to Qatar is simply ridiculous in my opinion.

Indeed, the decision raises questions on quite how FIFA see their role in the world. They are supposed to be concerning with promoting football and looking after the state of football. Instead, they seem to have an over-inflated opinion of their own power and regard themselves as single-handedly capable of solving all the world’s socio-economic problems simply by giving them the World Cup to host.

2018 – Russia

Russia has been the favourites to win the 2018 vote almost since the prospective hosts were announced. It has never hosted a World Cup before, which automatically makes it an appealing prospect to the people at FIFA, who love their idea of creating a legacy by bringing football to new countries. It also has the full-backing of the powerful Russian government, despite Putin’s decision not to attend the ceremony in Zurich. Combined with the almost bottomless pit of money that they could throw at the event, it was a very strong bid.


Clearly though, it does have its weaknesses. Security always has been, and remains, a major concern in Russia. Murders and kidnappings are commonplace in Russian cities and crime is something that must be addressed ahead of the World Cup. However, similar concerns were raised over South Africa, and the concerns turned out to have no real foundation – virtually no problems with crime affected the fans that travelled out there.

The other major concern is the distance between stadia, transport between them and issues with time-zones. Russia is a vast country, and despite the fact that matches will be restricted to the European part of the country, transport between cities will still be difficult. Given the state airline has one of the worst safety records of any airline, there are potential concerns here.

Finally, the issue of corruption looms large over this decision. The recent WikiLeaks revelations suggest that Russia is virtually a ‘mafia state’, where politicians and the secret service have close links with organised crime. Given the recent allegations against FIFA, one might suggest that the two corrupt entities are a perfect match for each other.

The failure of the English bid is another curious case. According to FIFA’s own delegation, the English bid was rated as the best financially, the best technically and the safest of all the bids, both for 2018 and for 2022. It was the only bid expected to turn a profit. Yet, England gained only two votes out of the 22 possible and was eliminated in the first round.


So, according to the delegations, England had the best bid, yet for the self-obsessed executive committee, only two of them, one of which was Geoff Thompson, the former chairman of the FA, felt that England deserved the award. It will raise questions as to how damaging the Sunday Times and Panorama revelations were, but it raises more questions as to how exactly the executive committee make their decisions and what they really want from a bid.

2022 – Qatar

If the 2018 decision was understandable, the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar can only suggest that the executive committee, with an average age of over 63, has collectively turned senile.

As with the 2018 decision, it raises real questions as to whether the executive committee pay any attention whatsoever to what the actual bid includes and what their own delegations actually think about the bids.

Qatar was described by the technical delegation as a high risk option, with more potential negative points than any other bid for either of the two tournaments. Let us look through a few of the potential problems.

The first issue flagged up was that the country is simply too small. In area, Qatar is smaller than the Falkland Islands and is predominantly desert with a short coastline. It has a population of only 1.7m people. Whilst there is nothing eminently wrong with being a small country, it begs questions of how it intends to cope with the influx of visitors that the World Cup would bring.

In 2010, South Africa welcomed over one million visitors to the country for the World Cup, with many surrounding countries experiencing a dramatic increase during this period as well. Germany saw over two million visitors arrive for the World Cup. How can any country cope with almost doubling its population for a month? They currently welcome 400,000 visitors per year. They can expect at least double that in one month.


Temperatures in Qatar in the summer when the World Cup will be taking place average around 115 degrees Fahrenheit – over 46°C. FIFA regulations set out recommendations aimed at reducing heat risk to players, suggesting that at temperatures over 32.2°C, football should not be played for more than 30 minutes without a break. Qatar comfortably finds itself within the extreme risk category.

The Qatari bid has come up with the revolutionary idea of air conditioning the stadia. It uses revolutionary new technology to cool the pitch area, and to a certain extent, the spectator areas down to a temperature of around 23°C. In a test, the new system effectively achieved this, wowing the delegation from FIFA.

However, it has so far only been tested on five-a-side pitches and a test 500 seat stadium. For the World Cup itself, they intend to use it on a far larger scale in multiple stadia each holding at least 40,000 people. It is vital that they are successfully able to scale up the technology.

One other issue with this is wind. It would appear that if there is some wind, it creates an effect where it effectively scours out the cool air, replacing it with the hot desert air. Given that June and July averages the most wind of any months, and the strongest winds, this is something that needs sorting quickly.

For many fans from throughout the world, the World Cup is a time for celebration, where they come to experience new countries and new cultures. Whether one approves or disapproves, drinking is a vital ingredient to all of this. However, in Qatar, public drunkenness or even openly displaying alcohol in public is illegal. It is unlikely that alcohol would be allowed in grounds or fan areas.

Furthermore, this is a country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by five years in prison. A UN report less than two years ago claimed that the Qatari government "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so."

Now, whilst FIFA is not a political organisation, it must surely take into account aspects such as this. However, their history hardly suggests that this even crosses their minds, given their close relationship with the likes of the Gaddafis in Libya, the oppressive regime of Ben Ali in Tunisia or their ignorance in previous incidents in the likes of Nigeria.


However, for me, one of the biggest problems I have with Qatar winning the 2022 World Cup is that it is not really a footballing nation. The Qatari national football team have never qualified for a world cup. In qualifying for South Africa 2010, they were beaten by the likes of Uzbekistan and Bahrain – hardly footballing superpowers.

Since then, they have suffered friendly defeats in Qatar against the likes of Haiti and Iraq, as well as defeat away from home against Kuwait. If they struggle against teams of that calibre, I shudder to think how they will cope in the World Cup itself.

Similar concerns were raised about South Africa. However, they could call on the likes of Steven Pienaar, Aaron Mokoena and Kagisho Dikgacoi – all players who play in the Premiership. Qatar have only one player who even plays outside of Qatar – Hussein Yasser, who plays in Egypt.

Indeed, they have only made it out of the first round of the Asian Cup once, back in 2000, when they reached the quarter-final as one of the best third placed teams, despite not winning a single match at the tournament.

Finally, one major supposed attraction of their bid was that the stadia could be dissembled and sent to other developing countries to use there. However, given that one of the major things that FIFA supposedly look for in a bid is a lasting legacy in the host country, it seems as though Qatar fall down. How is taking down all of the stadia going to leave a lasting legacy? Indeed, are brand-new state-of-the-art stadia really going to help developing countries?

Conclusion

Now I know this seems fairly negative. I am not of the belief that only established footballing superpowers should be given the World Cup, although they are in the best positions to hold them. The 2002 edition in South Korea and Japan was an excellent tournament, as was the 2010 edition in South Africa.

However, each of these countries has qualified for world cups before. Each of them had achieved relative success on a continental level. It is difficult to see past the accusation that Qatar has won it purely because of money.

Much as I would have liked England to win the 2018 edition, I have no real problems with the Russians hosting it. They had an excellent bid throughout and I expect them to host an excellent tournament.

However, the Qatar decision is simply ludicrous for me. If FIFA are determined to take the World Cup to more developing countries, then that is their decision. But take it to countries with some form of history in football. The iconic stadiums are part of what makes a World Cup. The likes of Wembley, the Nou Camp, the Maracana. Truly iconic names. Qatar will be building virtually all the stadia from scratch. Admittedly South Africa did the same.


The Qatar World Cup may be an excellent tournament. I am not saying that it will be a disaster. But for me, it raises more questions about the real desires of FIFA.

If FIFA are determined to take it to developing countries regardless of the qualities of any other bids, then they should at least be honest about it. Countries such as the USA, Australia and England have all spent millions on putting a serious and competitive bid together. If they have no intention of awarding it to those countries, then why give them the hope that they might. I can probably guess the reason.

And finally, FIFA need to understand their real role in the world. Sepp Blatter has this mission where he is determined to solve global socio-economic problems by taking the World Cup and opening and developing football in new countries. He talks about how hosting the World Cup will improve the lives of poor people in developing countries.

But I would pose the question to Blatter. How exactly are the poorest people benefitting? The contracts and the money flows to the governments, to the existing rich. Have the poorest people in the poorest townships in South Africa found themselves any better off as a result of hosting the World Cup? Indeed, how many people really have benefitted?

I was out there for the tournament, and though it was a wonderful spectacle and occasion, a common question from the locals was what happens once everyone leaves? The brand new stadium in Cape Town is in the middle of the rich, white area of the city. The richer white people play rugby, so will not use the stadium. It is the poorer black population who play football. And they cannot afford to travel to the stadium and use it.

I heard similar concerns echoed in various other cities. It was amazing while the tournament was on, but that they would be burdened with multiple stadia and facilities that would not really be used. Can poorer countries afford this for a short boost? Can they afford to make the legal changes that FIFA demand? Does a World Cup really benefit developing countries?


Sepp Blatter and his executive committee can see their mission succeeding in the short term that they are around and care. But how much do they really care about the future? Blatter’s one-man crusade to solve the world of all its problems is probably good for his already over-inflated ego, but in the end, FIFA is only a football regulatory body. They cannot solve the world’s problems, and if they don’t really know what they are doing, they could hinder future development rather than helping it.

Real Madrid Red Card Fiasco

Jose Mourinho is no stranger to controversy. Supposedly circumventing a touchline ban by hiding in a laundry basket and arguably playing a part in the forced retirement of top referee, Anders Frisk, with his comments after Chelsea’s defeat in Barcelona are just two of the many controversial incidents that Mourinho has found himself at the centre of. And once again, he is back in the headlines.

It started in the 87th minute of the Champions League game in Amsterdam. Real Madrid had put on a masterful performance to crush Ajax and found themselves 4-0 ahead and through to the knockout phase. Xabi Alonso, already on a yellow card, placed the ball down to take a free kick. After gently wandering back to about a fifteen yard run-up, he proceeded to fake taking the kick six times before Scottish referee, Craig Thomson, decided to show him a second yellow card. There was no look of disappointment from Alonso, who just turned and headed for the dugout.


Then less than three minutes later, Real Madrid had a goal-kick. For some unexplained reason, Sergio Ramos decided to take the kick. After placing the ball, he adjusted the tape on both socks, rolled them back down, faked to take the goal-kick once, at which point Craig Thomson showed him a second yellow card. With no complaints, Ramos shook the hand of the referee and headed for the dugout to join Alonso.

So the two players will serve a one-match suspension against Auxerre in a dead rubber for Madrid, and will be back with a clean slate for the knockout phase. Cynics might suggest there is something suspicious going on.

If we look closely at Mourinho through this episode, we see something interesting. Just before Xabi Alonso received his second yellow card for time-wasting, he spoke to Mourinho on the touchline. Moments later, he was headed back to the dugout. We then see Mourinho speaking to substitute keeper, Jerzy Dudek. Dudek then speaks to Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos. Moments later, Ramos is heading back to the dugout.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that there is definitely something dodgy going on. Real Madrid are denying anything untoward has happened. Ramos claims he did not deliberately get given a second yellow card. Casillas has claimed that Dudek was enquiring about his stomach problems, and that he told Ramos to keep an eye on one of the Ajax strikers. Mourinho has claimed that Thomson was at fault and has questioned the standard of Scottish refereeing.


But the question remains – should UEFA really do anything? There is an argument that they have brought the game into disrepute by their actions. But at least they acquired the second yellow cards through time-wasting. They could easily have just fouled Ajax players to get second yellows, potentially putting the Ajax players at risk of injury.

It is not as though this type of thing has not happened before. The highest profile occurrence was England captain, David Beckham, deliberately getting himself booked against Wales in a World Cup qualifier back in 2005. He admitted that he had picked up a rib injury and knew that he would miss the next match anyway, so by picking up a yellow card, he got his suspension out of the way in a game he would not have played in anyway. A smart move, until he explained it to the press.

Indeed, back in 2006, Lyon pair, Cris and Juninho Pernambucano, were fined a combined €25k for deliberately getting booked to miss a dead rubber group match.


It would be a surprise if UEFA took any further action than just fining the two players. They have already set the precedent for this in the Lyon case, so are likely to just follow that. It is a farcical situation, but it is hardly the worst thing ever seen on a football pitch. The commentator last night described it as blatant cheating and that they should be punished with a longer suspension.

As far as I am concerned, it was clearly not in the spirit of the game, but any further punishment other than a fine would be ridiculous. If football’s governing bodies are not willing to extend bans for terrible and dangerous tackles, but are happy to do so for a stupid bit of time-wasting, what does that really say about the state of football today?

DW

Athletic Bilbao - The Success Story of Home-Grown Talent

In an age when the amount of money flying around the game is beginning to pollute the beautiful game, Athletic Bilbao remains a breath of fresh air. They are one of only three teams never to have been relegated from the Primera Liga, along with Barcelona and Real Madrid; in the historical classification of La Liga, they are in fourth place; they have won eight Primera Liga titles and twenty-three Copa del Rey trophies in their history; one of their players still holds the record for the most Primera Liga goals with 252. What makes this all the more remarkable is that ever since 1912, the team has consisted solely of Basque players.

The Basque country is a region that spans the French-Spanish border. The Basque region is fiercely nationalistic and claims its own language, culture and customs. With a population of just over three million people, it is slightly less populous than the West Midlands. However, Athletic Bilbao have achieved all their prior success utilising solely players from this small region.


Over their history, they have been graced by some great names. The prolific Telmo Zarra spent fifteen years at the club, breaking a host of goal-scoring records. His 252 goals in the Primera Liga remains the record, ahead of legendary names such as Hugo Sanchez (234), Raul (228) and Alfredo Di Stefano (227), and he is the only player to win the Pichichi Trophy for top scorer six times. Furthermore, his 81 goals in the Copa del Rey is also an all-time record for the competition.

José Angel Iribar is another Basque legend, who was the first choice keeper at Athletic Bilbao for 16 years and for Spain for twelve years. During the 1970/71 season, he kept an extraordinary ten successive clean sheets at home (1,018 minutes), which remains a record.


The most recent Basque legend is Joseba Etxeberria, who spent 15 years at Athletic Bilbao, as well as making 53 appearances for Spain over seven years. He also put many highly-paid players to shame when he signed a final contract at the club that saw he play for no wages.

Given the limited stock of players that they restrict themselves to, their continued success is a huge credit to everyone involved at the club. They continue to develop top quality players through their academy system – Fernando Llorente and Javi Martinez were both involved in Spain’s victorious 2010 World Cup campaign, whilst the likes of Francisco Yeste, Asier Del Horno, Pablo Orbaiz and Andoni Iraola have all received plaudits both domestically and internationally.

Their latest graduate, Iker Muniain, became the youngest player ever to represent the club last year at 16-years-old, and a week later became the youngster player ever to score for the club. He is also the youngest ever scorer in the history of the Primera Liga and has already attracted the attention of the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City.


There is a legitimate argument that restricting themselves to Basque players has limited the club’s ability to push on and achieve greater success, particularly in modern times. However, in a recent poll of Bilbao supporters, 86% said that they would rather the club was relegated than give up their policy on Basque-only players. In the words of club President, Fernando Garcia Macua, “We would rather go down than change our habits, I know the supporters feel the same.”

Athletic Bilbao, and their policy of Cantera (literally ‘quarry’) remains a refreshing change in a growing world of money, greed and self-interest. Barcelona claim that they are ‘mes que un club’ (‘more than a club’), but Athletic Bilbao take it a step further. Their desire to maintain the policy was strengthened through the Franco era, when the Basque people suffered horrific oppression. Supporting the club was seen as a vote against Franco. The Basque roots are bedded deep within the club and it would be a surprise to see this change any time in the future.

The club’s motto sums up the mentality of the club perfectly:

“Con cantera y aficion, no hace falta importación” – “With home-grown teams and supporters, there is no need for imports.”

DW

Venky's Takeover of Blackburn: Could it be a Curse?

Blackburn today became the ninth Premiership side to come under foreign ownership as Venky’s takeover was confirmed. They join the American-owned Manchester United, Liverpool, Sunderland and Aston Villa, the Russian-owned Chelsea, the Arab-owned Manchester City, Hong Kong-owned Birmingham and Egyptian-owned Fulham.

Blackburn are now the first ever Indian-owned Premiership club after the £46m takeover was completed early this evening. However, any Blackburn fans hoping that the new owners intend to force their way into the top echelons of the Premiership will be disappointed.

Indeed, the comments coming out of the Indian camp, particularly from Anuradha Desai, the woman who has appeared to be the figurehead of the bid, raise questions about their ambitions, and even their knowledge of football in general.


“We don’t expect to be in the top five of the Premier League. We will be happy to be in the top 10 to 12.” This is hardly a statement of real ambition, considering they finished in the top half last season, as they have in four of the past five years. It is not as though Blackburn are a side that are regularly battling to stay in the division.

However, she continued to explain that “our first priority is to get the club on a strong footing and back into the Premier League.” It seems a decent promise for a recently relegated side that are involved in a promotion battle in the Championship. Unfortunately, Blackburn are not in the Championship. So quite how they intend to get Blackburn back into the Premiership when they are already there is to be seen.

Despite these limited, and slightly confusing, ambitions, the new owners have a plan of how they intend to use the transfer market. “We won’t need to buy expensive players, we can always lease them.” Personally, I am not quite sure how the lease market for professional footballers works. There is the loan market, but if the new owners are hoping to get top quality players through loaning them, they have much to learn about football.

As we looked deeper into the details of the recent interviews with the new owners, more worrying facts begin to appear. “The acquisition has been funded by ICICI Bank,” is one such comment that raises disturbing similarities with the style of takeover that has caused so much trauma at both Manchester United and Liverpool. Whilst the scale of the loan is much smaller, the revenue of the club is similarly scaled down.

In the wake of the Portsmouth implosion and Liverpool finding themselves hours away from administration, you would hope that the Premier League have looked into the finer details of this deal in order to ensure that everything is adequate and as it seems. However, given the past record of the Premier League in such matter, my expectations are hardly high.


Furthermore, they were happy to consider the idea of ‘allowing sponsorship of Ewood Park’. For such a historic stadium, could you possibly imagine it changing its name to the Coca Cola Coliseum, the Asda Arena, the Stadium of Npowered Light or the Poundland Pitch?

In the most recent interview, they have stated their desire to “create a whole nation of Blackburn Rovers fans in India.” However, there are two potential obstacles to this ambition. Firstly, outside of the top, famous sides, there is little interest in other Premiership clubs in areas such as India and China. Indeed, there is often the impression that fans support individual players, rather than clubs themselves. With the lack of big names coming in, it may be difficult to attract the interest of Indian football fans.

Secondly, Sam Allardyce’s brand of football is hardly going to grab the attention of the casual Indian football fan. The long ball style has served Big Sam well, but it has not garnered many fans in the wider footballing community, and it may be difficult to sell his brand of football to new Indian fans.

They will initially be making £5m available to buy new players in January with ‘much more’ coming in the summer. In the modern day, £5m would struggle to buy one of the top players in the Premiership. Whilst Blackburn have hardly been big spenders in recent years, it adds more fuel to the speculation that the new owners lack the knowledge about their new acquisition and the state of the league that they play in.


Although, given that they have admitted that much of the reasoning behind buying a football club is to ‘help build our brand’, maybe it is no great surprise that they are not seemingly that bothered about spending big money on the club.

Now, I have absolutely nothing against foreign ownership of Premier League clubs. Whilst it is nice for clubs to be owned by English companies or owners, there is no reason why it should be any better than foreign owners. Indeed, as an Aston Villa supporter, my club has benefitted hugely from the foreign ownership of Aston Villa.

However, it is crucial that foreign owners understand the scale of the English Premier League and the place of the club in the hearts of the communities that they find themselves in. Football clubs are interwoven into almost every aspect of life in almost every large town and city in England – arguably more so than in any other country in the world. And it can be difficult for new foreign owners to understand this link.


Understand this link and you will take a giant stride into gaining the support of the fans. Without the support of the fans, disquiet can spread from the stands to the players. Whatever they said, the problems off the pitch at both Portsmouth and Liverpool clearly had an impact on the pitch.

It will be important for the new owners to gain the support of the fans quickly. However, their early comments barely inspire confidence. Renaming the stadium, funded by the banks, leasing players and returning to the Premiership all suggest they are out of touch with the basics of the industry that they have bought into. And Blackburn Rovers is not just a business – a point that they must realise quickly. For thousands of people and for an entire city, Blackburn is a way of life.

Youth Revolution at Aston Villa

There is a saying that every cloud has a silver lining. Sometimes it can be difficult to find, but it is generally always there. As the injury list at Aston Villa continues to mount, fans could be forgiven for worrying about the upcoming fixtures. However, there is a refreshing air of optimism around the club thanks to the emergence of a new generation of stars.


As of this moment, Aston Villa are without 14 players who could realistically be considered for a place in the squad of 18. In the midfield, they are missing club captain, Stiliyan Petrov, who is set to miss at least three months with a knee ligament injury. In addition, vice-captain Nigel Reo-Coker is out for around three weeks, Steve Sidwell has recently undergone surgery on a troublesome achilles tendon, Fabian Delph is still missing after tearing his cruciate ligament last season, as is promising youngster Gary Gardner.

In attack, Emile Heskey and John Carew are both missing, whilst Gabriel Agbonlahor made his return last weekend against Manchester United, but has withdrawn from the England squad through injury. Hopefully this is just a precaution, but it remains to be seen. Finally, Andreas Weimann, who made his Premiership debut in the season-opener against West Ham has been missing since August with ankle ligament damage.

In defence, Carlos Cuellar, Habib Beye, Richard Dunne and Ciaran Clark are all suffering from various injuries, whilst their likely replacement from the reserve team, Nathan Baker, is also struggling from an unknown injury.

Any club would struggle without 14 first team squad players. However, it has forced Gerard Houllier to give some of the younger players an opportunity to shine. And they have impressed. Most recently, they were magnificent against Manchester United and were unfortunate to lose concentration late on and concede two late goals. However, they will learn from this.


Marc Albrighton has been one of the revelations of the season in the Premiership, and has already been tipped as a future England international. Barry Bannan has come into the centre of the midfield and received high praise from all around, culminating in a first international call after only three Premiership starts.

Ciaran Clark, a central defender by trade, has been deployed in a holding midfield role and has not looked out of place. Comfortable on the ball, good in the air and tough in the tackle, he has a promising future. Having captained England at all levels up to U21, he has the potential to continue his impressive rise.

Nathan Delfouneso was given his first Premiership start against Fulham and scored his first goal of the season against Blackpool to give Villa a 2-1 lead. Jonathan Hogg made his Premiership debut against Manchester United and had a solid game in the centre of the midfield. Fullback Eric Lichaj and midfielder Chris Herd have also made their Premiership debuts in recent weeks.


We may see further debutants in the coming game against Blackburn. With the injury to Richard Dunne, we may see young Australian defender Shane Lowry making his Premiership debut after a spell on loan at Leeds last season.

This first team experience can only benefit these young players. So far, they have been some of the outstanding players for Aston Villa this season. Many of them have played together in the very successful youth and reserve sides – a potentially key factor.

A winning mentality is something that cannot be taught. Players and teams that are used to winning have that edge, and tend to continue winning. Players that haven’t experienced winning sometimes lack that extra something.

Virtually all of the young Villa players have tasted repeated success in the past. The reserve team has won the Premier Reserve League South for three straight seasons, winning the overall title in 2009. The year before, the group won the academy title, reached the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup and won the prestigious Ergenzingen Tournament.


Just behind the current graduates are another promising group. They include 18-year-old goalkeeper, Benjamin Siegrist, who won the Golden Glove award as Switzerland won the U17 World Cup last year and Gary Gardner, who has represented England at U16 and U17 level before suffering a serious knee injury last season, and who has already been linked with a move to Inter. Academy captain, Daniel Johnson, has found himself in the 18 for the senior team in the last two games. Two other names to keep an eye on in the coming years are Courtney Cameron and Samir Carruthers, who have impressed for the academy side this season.

Fans love to see their own academy products succeeding in the first team, and it is this pride that it the source of the optimism around Villa Park at the moment. Not only are they holding their own in the best league in the world, they are turning heads throughout the league.

DW