Football Dissected

Manchester United are now only one point away from retaining the Premier League title, after their hard-fought victory over Wigan at the JJB Stadium. However, Wigan didn’t make it easy for them.

The first half was dominated by Manchester United in terms of possession, yet it was Wigan who went in at half-time 1-0 up. Wigan, playing a 4-5-1 formation, set out their stall straightaway, getting 10 men behind the ball whenever United were in possession. The first chance of the game fell to Wigan’s much-sought-after Antonio Valencia after just a minute. Exploding through the United defence with his electrifying pace, Valencia, one-on-one with Edwin van der Sar, appeared to attempt a lob over the veteran goalkeeper, only for Nemanja Vidić to upset his balance enough for the lob to go well wide. The heavens soon opened up, the rain thrashing down against the evening sky.

United first real chance fell to Wayne Rooney. After some great play from Dimitar Berbatov, the Bulgarian was able to provide a delightful pinpoint cross to the head of Rooney, only for the header to go wide. Ronaldo was then adjudged to be offside by the referee’s assistant when replays showed Wigan’s Mario Melchiot might have just played him on.

Wigan kept defending, the midfield trio of Cattlemole, Brown and Scharner protecting the back-four with great on-the-ball pressure. Cattlemole, despite a few occasions of handling the ball, led the midfield pressure, his engine seemingly going for the full 90 minutes. United though, maintained their grip on possession, gilding the ball around the grass with neat interchanges. Their passing soon allowed them to create another chance. Michael Carrick’s late burst into the box from midfield saw the midfielder’s deflected shot go just over the crossbar.

Then, completely against the run of play, Wigan score. Lee Cattlemole thumps a long-ball into the United box and both Hugo Rodallega and Nemanja Vidic go up for it. As the ball loops over Vidic, the Serbian loses his footing and Rodallega fires it into the back of the net to give Wigan the lead.

Even Ronaldo’s hissy fit goes largely unnoticed. The Portuguese is tackled brilliantly by Lee Cattlemole and Ronaldo throws his arms in disbelief at not getting a free-kick from referee Rob Styles. Yet United maintained possession, with a 64-34 percentage ratio in their favour. And another chance soon followed for the Red Devils. A neat, quick passing sequence between Berbatov, Anderson and Ronaldo created an opening for Rooney, only for the England striker’s shot to go wide. Wigan continuously take the game to United on the counter-attack. Right before half-time they have the opportunity to make it 2-0, only for Rodallega’s left-footed strike to go wide of the far post.

The second half largely resumed where the first half ended, with United controlling possession of the ball with a seemingly iron-fist. The first fifteen minutes continued without any major incidents, only for the fact that Wigan’s goalkeeper Richard Kingson had yet to make a save. But that soon changed as Sir Alex ringed in changes. Anderson departed and Carlos Tevez, in the middle of a storm of media interest surrounding his future, arrived to the fight as the Fab Four attempted to turn the game around as they did against Tottenham several weeks ago. And it wasn’t long before United were back level. Michael Carrick was allowed to much time to get his shot away and his powerful right-footed striker, which was going wide, was neatly found by Tevez, who flicked the ball past Kingson to equalise. And it could have been two within a matter of minutes if Tevez hadn’t been adjudged to be offside by the referee’s assistant. Replays showed he appeared to be played onside by Wigan’s left-back Maynor Figueroa.

Veteran Paul Scholes normally superb passing though, was kept silence for the majority of the game as Wigan constantly put him under pressure. This observation, combined with the fact that he’s now 34 years old, resulted in Sir Alex bringing the midfielder off for another United legend, Ryan Giggs.

As the clock ticked, as Wigan attempted to maintain their constant pressure, United were beginning to find cracks in the Wigan’s defence. The Fab Four were now continuously interchanging positions, opening up the game some more. But 90 minutes of constantly pressuring a team like United is always a difficult task. As the game went on, one could see the Wigan players’ legs beginning to feel the strain from the game. And tired legs usually leads to tired minds. So there’s an air of inevitability surrounding Michael Carrick’s winner minutes from the end. Out on the right wing, Ronaldo, faced by two Wigan players, played a simple pass to John O’Shea who had made a fantastic run into the penalty box from deep. O’Shea played the ball back towards the edge of the box where it found Michael Carrick who superbly controlled his left-footed strike to take United within a point of clinching their 18th league title.

Just 6 games have been played between Malaga and Numancia since 1993. Out of those 6 games, Malaga just have the advantage with their 3 wins against Numancia’s 2. The last encounter between these two took place all the way back in the 2004/05 season where Malaga recorded a 1-0 away victory. Malaga also won the reverse fixture that season, winning comfortably 4-1 in September.

Currently Malaga are among the four teams situated in the bottom half of the table that have 18 points. In the fourteen games played so far, they’ve won 5, drawn 3 and lost 6. At home they’ve done reasonably well compared to teams around them. In the seven games played at the (stadium name), they’ve won 3, drawn 2 and lost 2 to take a total of 11 points, which is 61% of their total points. At home they’ve managed to put the ball into the back of the net a total of 11 times, but their defence is much to be desired with the 12 goals conceded. This home form is currently ranked 11th in the league, not the best but it’s also not the worst. Like with so many teams, away from home seems to be the problem. In seven away games, they’ve won 2, drawn 1, and lost 4 to take just 7 points from a possible 21. And, just like at home, Malaga seem to be suffering at the back. So far they’ve scored 10 goals, but they’ve conceded a massive 13, an average of just under 2 a game. With that basic fact, winning games away from is always going to be difficult. Their goals are widespread in terms of when they’re scored, suggesting a team that’s working their hardest to win games. Conceding, however, is another issue. 52% of the goals they’ve conceded have come in the final 30 minutes, suggesting a problem with fatigue and a loss of concentration that is normally associated with it. Perhaps midfield substitutions, preferably the holding midfielder(s), during this period would aid in keeping the door shut at the back.

These are the facts for Malaga’s last 10 games in all competitions:

• They’ve won 5, drawn 2, and lost 3
• They’ve kept only 2 clean sheets
• They’ve been the first team to score in 6 games
• They’ve not scored at all in just 1 game

Their last league game was the 0-2 defeat away at Deportivo LaCoruna. Malaga will be hoping that Baha, Duda and Eliseu are on form should they be playing, seeing as together the three of them have scored 13 goals between them.

In the fourteen games played so far this season, Numancia have struggled to say the least. In the fourteen games, they’ve won 4, drawn 2 and lost 8, giving them 14 points out of a maximum of 42 and a league position of 15th. But just like Malaga, Numancia can take heart from their home form. In the seven games played so far at the (stadium name), they’ve won 3, drawn 2 and lost 2 to take 11 points from a maximum of 21. At home they’ve scored 9 and conceded 9, including letting Real Betis ship 4 past them back in early November in a 4-2 loss. And like Malaga, away from home seems to be their undoing. Ranked 19th in the league for their away record this season, Numancia have only managed to take 3 points from a possible 21, their only away victory coming in the middle of November with a hearted 4-3 victory over Espanyol. And the bad records don’t stop there. Away from home they’ve scored 8, but with the 20 goals they’ve conceded they have the worst away defence in the league.

Their goals are coming more or less in the first 30 minutes as nearly 48% of their goals have been scored during this period. This suggests a team that flies out of the trap quickly but then can’t maintain that same momentum for the rest of the 90 minutes. This point is proven by the fact that over 50% of the goals they’ve conceded have come during the last fifteen minutes of each half, suggesting again that there is a problem with fatigue and a loss of concentration.

These are the facts for Numancia’s last 10 games in all competitions:

• They’ve won 3, drawn 2, and lost 5
• They’ve kept 1 clean sheet
• They’ve been the first team to score in 4 games
• They’ve not scored at all in 4 games

Their last league game was their 2-1 home win over 14th place Almeria. Like Malaga, they have no injuries but they’ll sure be missing Barkero, their top goal scorer, as he’s suspended after his red card against Almeria.

After losing 2-0 to Deportivo last weekend, Malaga will want nothing more than to get back to winning ways and the perfect time and place to do just that will be this weekend at home. Numancia, on the other hand, will be hoping that come Monday it won’t be seven away defeats.

My Prediction: Malaga 2 – 0 Numancia

Sevilla have had a great season so far, returning to their previous best. They've been terrific at home and fairly good away, which is why I'm tipping them for victory come tomorrow. Here are the stats:

So far this season, Getafe played 10 games winning 3, drawing 4 and losing 3 to take a total of 13 points from a maximum of 30. They've scored just 10 goals, an average of a goal a game, but even worse is that they've conceded 12. They're ranked 16th in La Liga in terms of overall home record. In terms of recent form they've:

• kept 3 clean sheets
• not scored in 2 games
• scored first in 6 games

Getafe seem to perform better in the final 30 minutes than at any other time since 60% of their goals have been scored during this period. However, it would seem that fatigue seems to sets in the final 15 minutes since 33% of the goals they've conceded have come in this time.

Meanwhile, the Andalusians have slowly returning to their best. In the 10 games played so far, they've won 6, drawn 2 and lost 2, taking 20 points from 30. Sevilla have scored twice as more goals as they've conceded (16 to 8), indicating an aggressive, attacking philosophy from manager Manolo Jiménez. Surprisingly, this attacking philosophy seems to be paying dividends for their defence. They've only conceded 8 goals which is the equal best in the league (the other team are league leaders Barcelona). They're ranked as the 5th best team in the league for away record. In terms of recent form they have:

• kept 6 clean sheets
• not scored in 2 games
• scored first in 7 games

Sevilla's goals have mostly come in either the period 16-30 minutes or the final 30 minutes (they've scored 5 goals in each period). In terms of conceding, most of the goals have come in the final 30 minutes of the first half (62.5% in fact), suggesting the teams they've played against only seem to wake up and actually start playing after the first 15 minutes.

In the last 8 games between these two (in the league), Sevilla have the narrow advantage as they've won 3, drawn 3 and lost 2. Out of those 8 games, however, Sevilla have yet to beat Getafe away from home.

After Getafe, Sevilla have four massive games against the teams above them: they're at home to Valencia next week, then they welcome Barcelona the following week, then its away to Real Madrid, and then they play Villarreal at home. As a result Manolo Jiménez will want to get maximum points at Getafe, meaning he'll probably field his best team. Getafe have it diffucult as well. Next they visit the Camp Nou to face Barcelona, then they welcome Real Madrid and then they're away to the Yellow Submarine. Both teams will want to win this game to make sure they have some points before they come up against the top 4.

My Prediction: Getafe 1 - Sevilla 3

I'm going out on a hunch here and saying the Rovers will come out victorious. United player Barcelona midweek in the semi-finals of the Champions League and I think that'll play to Mark Hughes advantage. But here's the stats:

This season Blackburn have played 17 games at Ewood Park, winning 7, drawing 6 and losing 4 to take 27 points from a possible 51. They've scored 22 and conceded 17. They're ranked 11th in the league in terms of home form. In terms of recent from, in their last 10 games they've:

• won 3, drawn 4 and lost 3, taking 15 points from a possible 30
• kept 3 clean sheets
• not scored in 3 games
• scored first in 5 games

Meanwhile, in terms of when they score their goals, it seems Blackburn only wake up in the second half. An amazing 66% of their goals have come in the second half. Unfortunately, they seem to either lose concentration or suffer from fatigue in the last 15 minutes as that is when they've conceded most of their goals (28.57% in fact).

At Old Trafford, United have been unstoppable. But away from home, they've been average. They've played 16 games away from home this season, winning 9, drawing 4 and losing 3 to take 31 points from a possible 48. They've scored 29 goals and conceded 12 away from Old Trafford to give them the second best away from this season (only Chelsea have done better by winning 8 more points away from home). In terms of recent form, in their last 10 games they've:

• won 9 and drawn only 1 (their last away match against Middlesbrough), taking 28 points from a possible 30
• kept 8 clean sheets
• scored in every game
• scored first in 9 games

United goals have mostly come in the last 15 minutes of games (just over 29%). And that doesn't look good for Blackburn. But in terms of conceding, United seem to concede most goals in either the first 15 minutes of the second half (just over 22%) or in the last 15 minutes of games (just under 28%). So maybe there is hope for the Rovers after all.

In the last 10 games between United and Blackburn, United have the advantage with 5 wins, 2 draws and just 3 loses. But ominously for the Red Devils, they've only won once at Ewood Park in 7 visits since 1999 and in the last 4 meetings at Ewood Park, Blackburn have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 1.

United will have Barcelona in midweek, but I'm sure Sir Alex will be driving home the message that there's still work to be done if they want to retain their championship. But still I believe Blackburn have the capability to cause a major upset and to set up a thrilling finale to the season.

My Prediction: Blackburn 2 - 1 Manchester United

The U.S. Soccer Federation have taken the initiative finally to set up academies in the US. The only problem is that without relegation and promotion, how will many "soccer" graduates who leave the academies to go and play in the lower leagues like the USL First Division (or A League) and the National Premier Soccer League be able to move up through the ranks to the highest levels like Major League Soccer or even one of Europe's premier leagues?

Also players shouldn't still be in academies when they're 16 or 17. That's the age that they should be breaking through into the first-team of a club. Here's an example: Cesc Fàbregas is now of the one of the best midfielders and passers in world football. He made his debut for Arsenal when he was just player 16 years and 177 days. He's now 20 (soon to be 21 in May). So that's over 4 years of playing first-team football for Arsenal - 4 years of development. Now I know not every youth player is like Fàbregas - he's unique, exceptionally talented and the fact that he was at the Barcelona's famous academy proves what potential he had. But you see the point. 4 years is a long time for development. With the current structure in the US, whereby the majority of professional players have to come through the college system and only start playing professional when they're 21, 22, or even 23, it's no wonder the US hasn't produced a world-class player like Cesc Fàbregas or Lionel Messi.

Academies offer no guarantees of producing players who have the abilities and talents to succeed as a professional, and with the USSF having already set up 63 academies in the past year with more to come, this may seem a huge cost with little rewards. But it is, of course, a step in the right direction.

The US has the potential to have one of the top three leagues in the world, although I don't think they'll ever have the best as I think that distinction will always remain in Europe. And I believe soccer can be the second biggest sport in the country, although I don't think it'll ever supercede the NFL. The US gave us Happy Days and the next 5 to 10 years will tell us if football, sorry, soccer, is going to be singing.

Depth is an important, fundamental concept in football nowadays, especially at the highest level. And the importance of it was highlighted perfectly on Sunday when Arsenal lost to Manchester United. Questions were already been asked about why Wenger didn’t bring in any players during the January transfer window, but, despite the possibility that he didn’t have any funds to play with, bringing in any extra bodies would have helped.

United midfield probably has the most depth and only Chelsea’s come second. They’ve got ever-impressive Cristiano Ronaldo (best in the world?), former West-Ham graduate Michael Carrick, defensive-shield Owen Hargreaves, Park Ji-Sung, Anderson, Nani, plus they’ve got the experience of veterans Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to rely on. Chelsea have midfield general Frank Lampard, Nigerian John Obi Mikel, Germany’s finest Michael Ballack, the ever-reliable Claude Makélélé, multi-talented Michael Essien, Shaun Wright-Philips, Florent Malouda and step-over "King" Joe Cole. But Arsenal don’t come anyway near United’s and Chelsea’s levels of depth in midfield. They’ve got Cesc Fàbregas, Alex Hleb, Tomáš Rosický (who’s been out for most of the season), Gilberto Silva, Emmanuel Eboué and Mathieu Flamini. Obviously, they have others like Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott. But neither of them have played regularly this season and in the case of Walcott, he’s been more of an impact player when coming off the bench.

There’s been talk of Ricardo Quaremas coming to Arsenal in the summer, but Porto will definitely want at least £20 million for the Portuguese winger. But will Wenger spend that much on one player, or, more importantly, will he have that much to spend in the summer?

I've created another blog with football videos from Youtube, along with the names of the channels they're from. Click on the link at the top.

I read Gabriele Marcotti’s article the other day entitled "Wages tax would aid investment in youth". Here’s the article in its entirety:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article3516816.ece

I have to say the idea of compensation being fixed at a percentage of the players’ wages for the rest of his career sounds a good and fair idea and even Marcotti indicates that it’s only a modest suggestion. But the whole debate about clubs (particularly bigger clubs) "stealing" youngsters got me thinking.

Marcotti gives the example of Giuseppe Rossi. Manchester United signed the forward from Parma in 2004 for a fee of £200,000, which by the way was determined by Uefa’s compensation parameters. United then sold Rossi to Villarreal for £6.7 million, generating a tidy profit of £6.5 million for the Premier League side. Marcotti writes that in most countries clubs can only sign players to professional contracts after they turn 16 and that before that they are, in effect, free agents. So this got me wondering. Instead of having the market determine a player’s worth with compensation fixed at a percentage of the players’ wages for the rest of his career as Marcotti suggests, why not have all youngsters sign a two-year professional contract after they turn 16 with the clubs that developed them? Of course there will be extreme cases where the player may not want to sign for his club, but these can be given special dispensation and can be arbitrated by a tribunal.

Arsenal are a excellent example of clubs "stealing" youngsters. They took Cesc Fàbregas when the midfielder was onlt 16, although it has to be said that Barcelona were more willing in this case to let him go to North London. Nicklas Bendtner is another example. The Danish striker came through the ranks of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub's youth system in Denmark only to then sign for Arsenal when he turned 16. Johan Djourou is yet another example, the Swiss defender having come through the youth system at Etoile Carouge but only then to sign a professional contract with Arsenal when he turned 16.

I realise that my suggestion is a little extreme, but if something isn’t done soon then some club academies could well close their doors. As Marcotti rightly points out, one of the main reasons clubs, particularly the smaller ones, develop youngsters and invest in youth development is that they can then have the opportunity to sell the players on for substantial sums. This is the way many South American clubs operate. Many develop youngsters and then sell them on within a few years while some clubs sell players within a year or two of the player making his first-team debut. A minority even sell players before they’ve even kicked a ball, although the amount clubs receive for these kinds of players is typically small.

So you see the point. I’m not saying financial gain is the only reason clubs invest in youth development, but it is one of the main reasons.

I saw a report recently that argued on three major issues concerning youth development in England. The first issue was that kids in England are playing on full-sized adult pitches when they’re too young. The second was that kids were playing competitive football at too young of an age when compared to their European counterparts. And the third, equally important, was that the kids were unnecessary playing in big teams i.e. 11-a-side.

Regarding playing on full-sized pitches, there’s no doubt that kids shouldn’t be playing on them as it hinders their development. They should be playing on smaller sized pitches, ideally ones that are meant for 5-a-side games. The reasons are simple and straightforward. Playing on a small pitch means corresponds to their young size and levels of technical ability and skill. There are some youth teams of Under 10s who are playing on full-sized pitches whereas most European countries don’t allow their youngsters anyway near a full-sized pitch until they’re at least 12 and in some countries, particularly Spain, until they’re 14.

In the case of boys, it’s often argued that youngsters, even Under 7s, want to play competitive football. But aren’t boys naturally competitive anyway? I know I certainly was. So wouldn’t it be better to have young players focusing more on skill and ability rather than looking to secure 3 points? And wouldn’t this do away with the problem of parents screaming from the touchline? In some European countries they don’t allow competitive football until kids are 10 – in England it’s as low as the Under 7s level. Kids should still play matches, but they shouldn’t be competitive – they shouldn’t be part of a league structure where 3 points is the difference between champions and runners-up.

The problem with playing on unnecessarily big teams is that it prevents the player from getting enough touches of the ball. Ideally, all players under the age of 11 should be playing 5-a-side games. In 5-a-side games, the players all get more touches of the ball when compared to players playing in an 11-a-side team. Getting more touches gradually translates into more confidence when on the ball, which then translates into gradual improvement in ability and skill.

As a volunteer coach of a local football club where I live, I’ve been struck by the fact that the Under 9s practice on a full-size indoor pitch (note: they don’t practice on outside pitches during the winter). And I’ve also been struck by the fact that the kids are playing competitive football on weekends i.e. matches that contribute to a league table. And there are some talented players at the Under 9s, but only time will tell if they’ve been coached properly.

I think the England’s Youth set-up, called in question in recent times, would be best to look at some famous examples:

Clairefontaine

No doubt of the best academies in world football, Clairefontaine is the masterpiece of youth development. Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas, Hatem Ben Arfa and Abou Diaby have all come through the ranks of Clairefontaine.

But in the FA’s defence they did have a national School of Excellence. The School of Excellence based at Lilleshall Hall opened its doors in 1984. Despite the relative success of it, with the likes of Premiership and England stars Michael Owen, Scott Parker, Joe Cole and Wes Brown all coming through it ranks, the school was shut in 1999. It was also criticised for its anti-club stance. But where the English clubs couldn’t co-operate with the School of Excellence, resulting in many of them setting up their own internal academies, the French have embraced Clairefontaine. The French Under-21 coach, René Girard, regularly instructs coaches of the first division clubs in the subject of developing young talent.

Sevilla

There’s no doubt that one of the best club academies in world football has to be that of Sevilla. Jose Antonio Reyes (Athletio Madrid), Julio Batista (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) have all come through the academy at Sevilla. And the current squad boasts players who have come through the club’s academy in recent years. Daniel Alves, arguably one of the best right-backs in the world right now, Jesus Navas and Diego Capel, who has a buy-out clause of 12 million, have all become regulars in the Sevilla first-team. And under brilliant sporting director Ramon Rodríguez Verdejo Monchi, there are sure to be more to come in future years.

Barcelona

And let’s not forget about Barcelona. Xavi Hernandez , Andrés Iniesta, Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkić, and Giovani dos Santos have all come through Barcelona’s youth system and all of them play in the first-team now, some more regularly than others. Cesc Fàbregas was even part of the Barcelona youth set-up until he decided to move aboard to Arsenal.