| Saturday Game Review |
[Aug. 27th, 2006|01:44 pm] |
Everton at Spurs
This man should have been in the England World Cup squad. |
Your would think that Spurs would have no problem seeing off the perpetually scrappy, but rarely actually good Everton at White Hart Lane. You would particularly think this if Everton were forced to play with 10 men for 55 minutes, especially when Martin Jol clearly took a large page out of Arsene Wenger’s book this summer and has spent money stockpiling young talent on the Spurs pitch and bench. Fortunately this is football, and it rarely turns out how you think things might happen.
Shockingly for everyone watching, Spurs were rather anemic in attack, while Everton were incisive. I didn’t see much of Andy Johnson last year, but I have already decided I quite like him. He seems like a slightly slower, but more sane Craig Bellamy, constantly running, creating space, and nipping at defenders’ heels. Regardless of my opinion, Spurs have to hate this guy already, since he and Leon Osman managed to keep Everton’s 10 men dangerous throughout the match, including the clincher on what was a nice single touch just inside Robinson’s goal.
On the other side, it was difficult to tell just how good Everton’s defense is because Spurs looked abysmal. They had no creativity in the midfield, and even when they got numbers forward (which is what you are supposed to do with a man advantage), they failed to create many decisive chances and test Tim Howard. I quite like David Moyes as a manager, but after this match we have little idea just how good they will be over the course of the season.
Regarding Spurs' manager, you could see Martin Jol chewing fucking nails on the sidelines the whole time, twisting them with his tongue and spitting out origami shapes. He got a couple of swans out, watched his defense for a while and shifted into paper tigers, and finally was pissed enough that he was melting the nails and forming bullets. The only question at that point was whether he would have preferred to use them as a motivational device, take out one or two of his own players, or finally use one on himself to end his misery.
Final verdict: This game was an utter beating for Spurs fans. Training at White Hart Lane should be interesting this week.
Arsenal at Manchester City
You know those times where you need to sneeze, but you can’t quite get it out? Your body taunts you again and again with almost sneezing and it actually hurts not to release it but regardless of what you do, it never quite happens. Well that’s what it’s like to watch Arsenal play in the Premier League right now. The Citeh goal was under siege for the entire game, with exquisite displays of control and passing coming from the Gunners. Yet at least a handful of times, I found myself screaming at the television for someone, anyone (except maybe for Gilberto) to shoot the damned ball. It didn’t happen nearly enough, and the scoreline found Arsenal once again wanting in a game where they clearly dominated.
The weak links for Arsenal on this day were Justin Hoyte and (strangely) Thierry Henry. It was Hoyte’s abysmal challenge on Trevor Sinclair that cost the Gunners a penalty towards the end of the first half, and also gift-wrapped most of City’s chances into the waiting hands of Sinclair, Paul Dickov, and Corradi. With Cashley Cole still reportedly on the move, Hoyte’s Hansel and Gretel impression should be particularly troublesome, since they have almost no cover at that position and require Hoyte to learn quickly on the job.
At the other end of the pitch, Arsenal’s often majestic captain was misfiring badly. His immaculate touch was still present in ample doses when the ball was on his feet, but as soon as he went to shoot, he looked as much like “Henry” as Paul Dickov does, which is to say not at all. Arsenal’s raft of possession and good chances all went for naught, and to be honest, City keeper Nicky Weaver did well with the few chances he had to deal with. Much of the blame for this has to be shouldered by Henry, though it’s not as if you would pick anyone else to start in his place. Regardless, bad Hoyte and less than stellar Henry is a scary start to what could be a long season for Gunners fans.
City have at least one good player.... |
To be fair, there were good things in this game for both teams. Corradi’s performance up front for City was workmanlike, young Micah Richards looks impressive, and I find myself growing more a fan of Joey Barton every game I see him. For Arsenal, Rosicky + Fabregas + Henry + Robin van Persie looked insane in attack, assuming they can find an elusive lethal touch once they get in the box. RVP certainly grew up during the World Cup and always looks dangerous now in every facet of his game except crosses. This may be Arsenal’s worst start since the beginning of the Premier League (dropping 5 points in the first two games to two mid-table teams is pretty dismal), but there are still reasons to hope, both in the short and long-term.
Final verdict: A good win for City in a game they didn’t deserve to win, but did just enough to hang on. A worrying start to the season for an Arsenal team that really could have used a good start to the season. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 1st, 2006|12:59 pm] |
Sorry for the delay in the Preview. A working weekend plus other article deadlines postponed things, but it will continue later tonight, so check back then.
--TK |
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| EPL Previews - Blackburn Rovers |
[Jul. 26th, 2006|10:27 am] |
Team: Blackburn
Blackburn Manager Mark Hughes unveils his new youth movement. |
Manager: Mark Hughes
05-06 Finish: 6th
05-06 Goals For: 51 (7th)
05-06 Goals Against: 42 (Tied for 7th)
Leading Scorers
Craig Bellamy – 13
Morten Gamst Pedersen – 9
Shefki Kuqi - 7
Notable Transfers
In: Jason Roberts – F – ~2.5M pounds (Wigan)
Francis Jeffers – F – Free (Charlton)
Jason Brown – GK – Free (Gillingham)
Out:
Craig Bellamy – F – 6M pounds (Liverpool)
Paul Dickov – F – Free (Man City)
Strengths
Brad Friedel has been one of the best goalies in the Premier League since he signed on, but there's some legitimate worry that he may be getting too old. Until that's proven true, however, goalie has to be considered one of Rovers' strong suits.
Blackburn have a sound midfield, featuring scrappy players like the appropriately named Robbie Savage and Tugay mixed with real talents like Pedersen and Aussie Brett Emerton. Their summer signings have replaced an exodus of strikers with the very solid Jason Roberts (who scored one more goal than Bellamy last year for a worse side), and the probability of Benni McCarthy and/or Mido to follow.
Assuming Hughes signs at least one of the players above, Blackburn have enough talent in midfield and attack to trouble most teams, particularly when playing at home. They will need to make those signings though, or their squad will be too short on quality to compete in Europe and at home at the same time.
Needs
The dull, clueless look in Mido's eyes means he's a goal assassin. |
They need at least one and preferably two more strikers, but assuming they get them, Blackburn's real need is on the back line. They could really use a couple more quality defenders, since their younger backs always seem to get loaned out to Championship sides and rarely see much play like they do at places like Arsenal and Manchester United, while their older backs are merely decent.
Lucas Neill may have flattered to deceive at the World Cup, but he's hardly been better than average during his matches in the Premiership. The same is true for Andy Todd. One thing Blackburn's backs do have going for them is that they are perfectly willing to mix it up and play rough with opposing pretty boys, a quality that is capable of putting certain squads completely off their game. Regardless, unless Hughes starts unveiling quality backs from their youth academy, Rovers could definitely use more talent on the back line.
Recent Transfer Speculation
Mido and McCarthy are both listed as targets for Hughes, while Brett Emerton has been rumored to be on his way out recently, possibly because the contract Blackburn offered him wasn't enough to meet his wage demands. Additionally, I have to confess that I'm mystified they bothered to sign Francis Jeffers. He couldn't even make it at Charlton, so I'm not sure how good he'll be for Rovers. I hope they aren't paying him anything...
Looking at Blackburn's attendance for the 05-06 season, despite an excellent season, they were actually in the bottom 5 of league attendance average, putting right around 21,000 butts in the seat per game. This means that in spite of the big name, Rovers are actually one of the financial minnows of the Premiership, and the fact that they earned Euro qualification last year should be extremely impressive. Of course, this also means that in spite of the UEFA Cup spot, they aren't likely to splash a lot of cash on any single signing either now or at the midseason break.
06-07 Outlook
Blackburn are one of the toughest teams in the Premiership, and though they overachieved just slightly last year (their goals for and against say they should have been 7th), they clearly have a good squad and should again do well in the Premiership, assuming they sign additional strikers and avoid the injury bug. The problem with this squad is that they will also compete in the UEFA Cup, as well as all the domestic cup competitions, and I'm not sure their depth of talent is great enough to keep them competitive everywhere. Additionally, the loss of Craig Bellamy could hurt this team's ability to create goals.
Mark Hughes has proven himself a solid and possibly brilliant manager, though it's a bit early to tell how his tale will continue. He has work to do in the transfer market if Blackburn are going to qualify for Europe again, while finishing anywhere in the lower half of the table would be a deep disappointment to fans and club management alike. |
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| EPL Previews - Aston Villa |
[Jul. 25th, 2006|10:45 am] |
Team: Aston Villa
Hopefully Villa fans will not have to deal with Ellis for much longer. |
Manager: They just fired David O’Leary
05-06 Finish: 16th
05-06 Goals For: 42 (14th)
05-06 Goals Against: 55 (15th)
Leading Scorers
Luke Moore – 8
Milan Baros – 8
Liam Ridegwell – 5
Notable Transfers
In: None
Out: None. This is pretty strange for a team that finished 16th last year.
Strengths
Villa are a decent club, yet they are certainly not anything better than that. They underachieved to finish 16th last year – a midtable position would have been closer to expectation. In terms of specific players, Villa have a solid squad of strikers that even has some depth, with Baros, Angel, Moore, and Kevin Phillips having been good in the past, though they were rarely good last season. How many of those players will be on the squad list to start the season remains to be seen.
Villa are also solid, though not exceptional, in defense. Thomas Sorenson and Olof Mellberg are both quite good at their positions, Gareth Barry is excellent, and while the rest of the defense features no stars, they aren’t bad. Sadly, “not bad” isn’t exactly enough to excite most fans, especially fans that have been abused like Villa fans have over the last few years.
Needs
A new ownership group. Chairman Doug Ellis has supposedly been looking to sell the club for over a year now, but the greedy old bastard has yet to let anyone pry the long-suffering club from his cold, dead hands. What’s that? He’s not dead yet?
Prove it.
Obviously with O’Leary gone, Villa also need a new manager. Alan Curbishley has already ruled himself out, while Martin O’Neill is probably the best candidate out there. He’s reportedly interested, but there’s no way he’ll sign unless he’s certain there’s a new set of owners coming or Ellis ponies up a fat wad of cash for his transfer kitty. Considering recent history, the former seems more likely than the latter.
Aside from getting the management situation settled as quickly as possible, Villa are rather thin on quality in the midfield, with Lee Hendrie and a bunch of question marks likely comprising the starting lineup. Once again, they aren’t awful, but there isn’t a star (nor even a rising star) in the bunch. Because they lack any real quality, they'll likely be forced into playing a 4-5-1 for the majority of the season against all but the smallest Premiership minnows - a certain recipe for boring football. Then again, a new ownership group and a solid manager could quickly turn things around here.
Recent Transfer Speculation
If I were Baros, I'd want to leave too. |
Portsmouth made a bid of 4.5M pounds for Gareth Barry that Villa turned down. Milan Baros has been rumored to be on his way out for most of the summer, and Juan Pablo Angel has also been listed as a possible source of revenue, should the new boss wish to bring in new faces. It’s possible that Doug Ellis will free up the purse strings for the new manager, but it seems more likely that Ellis’s sale of the club will go through first and then the new owners will figure out how much they will let the new manager spend.
In short, it’s all a giant mess, and there’s less than a month until the season starts to get it all sorted out.
06-07 Outlook
Now that O’Leary is gone, it’s possible that a more tactically savvy manager will get better production from what Villa already has, and should that manager get any money to spend, Villa could certainly finish top half of the table. Of course, at this moment, no one really wants the manager’s job, the ownership questions are far from settled, and the disruption to the team could leave them in a shambles to start the season.
Villa seem to have the fan base and the resources to be what we would call a mid-major in the United States – a club that can’t necessarily compete with the big clubs consistently, but one that makes a run for it every few years and is always dangerous to play. They should at least be in regular contention for European qualification. Sadly, club management over the years seems to have contributed to a climate of consistent underachievement. The current mess at the club likely means they will struggle to stay in the top half of the table for the season, and may even find themselves involved in relegation battles (again) towards the end. |
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| EPL Previews - Arsenal |
[Jul. 24th, 2006|11:06 am] |
Team: Arsenal
Still at Arsenal. Still great.. |
Manager: Arsene Wenger
05-06 Finish: 4th
05-06 Goals For: 68 (3rd)
05-06 Goals Against: 31 (3rd)
2nd in the Champions League
Leading Scorers
Thierry Henry – 27 (1st)
Robert Pires – 7
Notable Transfers
In: Tomas Rosicky – M - ~7 Million pounds
Out: Sol Campbell – DC – Free (Unsigned. Portsmouth are one suitor)
Robert Pires – M – Free (Villareal)
Dennis Bergkamp – F – Retired
Ashley Cole – DL – 15-16 Million pounds (likely Chelsea)
Strengths
Arsenal have the best striker in the world in Thierry Henry, and they have one of the top managers in the game in Arsene Wenger. Jens Lehman had an exceptional season at goalkeeper last year, while Kolo Toure, Emanuel Eboue, Philippe Senderos, and Gael Clichy form one of the best young back lines around, though their performance in the EPL last year left something to be desired. Cesc Fabregas might just be the best young midfielder in the world.
Needs
With the departure of crazy Sol Campbell and the injury to Senderos at the World Cup (he’ll be out for at least 3 months), Arsenal find themselves short on quality center backs, especially should either Kolo Toure or Pascal Cygan get injured. To be fair, some would say that they were short of quality center backs last season as well. Johan Djourou is considered capable though inexperienced cover, but after that Arsenal appear to have no obvious center backs ready to match the best the Premiership has to offer. Wenger’s army of children always seems ready to answer the call, but a move needs to be made if they are going to compete with the likes of Chelski, ManYoo, and Liverpool for the league title.
Arsenal need van Persie to step it up if they are to challenge Chelski. |
An absence of depth in the center of defense makes Arsenal’s lack of midfield steel somewhat worrying as well. While the center of the pitch can be packed with exciting young attacking players like Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky, Jose Antonio Reyes, Alex Hleb, and Robin van Persie, there are no clear defensive midfielders on this team outside of Gilberto Silva and possibly Vassiriki Diaby, who is young and still recovering from a nasty ankle dislocation in May. While the quality in attack of Arsenal’s youth can hardly be doubted, none of the kids exactly screams “commanding midfield presence,” so should Silva go down, Wenger could be in a real pickle. This is especially true since Mathieu Flamini has been deputized as either the first or second choice replacement (along with Gael Clichy) for Cole at left back. Oddly enough, Kolo Toure would probably be an ideal box-to-box replacement for Silva in the Viera mold, but Arsenal’s needs in defense require him elsewhere.
Arsenal also need someone else to score goals besides Thierry Henry. Minus their amazing French captain, no one left on this team scored more than 5 goals last season. This is despite the fact that Arsenal were third in the league in scoring. They will not succeed unless someone else (preferably in multiples) steps forward and starts kicking the ball into the back of the net.
Recent Transfer Speculation
Arsenal’s move to Emirates Stadium is now complete, and with it comes an increase in seating from 38,000 at Highbury to a full 60,000. This should double their per game revenue, and allow them to increase player spending to something approaching that of the larger clubs in Europe. However, Wenger’s action in the transfer market this summer (including ruling out any moves for any players from Juventus because of their hefty wage demands) seems to indicate the monetary boost will not truly happen until next season, as Arsenal remain extremely financially prudent. Remember, they just cleared Sol Campbell, Robert Pires, and Dennis Bergkamp’s hefty salaries off the books, while much of the squad is populated by young players with reasonable contracts.
Perhaps we should call Cole Mr. Tweedy. |
Ashley Cole seems a mortal lock to leave the club in the next week, in spite of Wenger’s stated preference that he stay. A move to Chelsea would likely give him less playing time, but would still keep him in London, thereby guaranteeing that Cheryl Tweedy (Cole’s new bride) will continue to fill the tabloids with her fabulous erm… presence. Cole’s move would be an enormous boost to Wenger’s transfer kitty.
Another player under heavy scrutiny is Cesc Fabregas, the brilliant Spaniard who new Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon guaranteed as part of his election campaign. Arsenal would be extremely reluctant to see the starlet move, and a possible transfer of such a gifted young player would likely command an enormous transfer fee (25M+ pounds) if it should ever occur.
As for players Wenger has been targeting, West Brom’s Curtis Davies appears to head the list, which would mitigate some of the worries in central defense though West Brom are not keen to sell. Aside from that one move, Wenger has kept his interests close to the vest (as he always does), but if past behavior is any indicator, the players he signs will likely be young and very good.
2006-2007 Outlook
Arsenal played very well at home last year, but their miserable road form almost did in any hopes of repeating a finals appearance in the Champions League hopes. This year they have to find better balance on the road, while keeping hopes alive for the FA Cup, the Champions League, and another Premiership title. If they manage to find another goalscorer from among their excellent young talent at striker, and if they square away their questions in defense, they should challenge for all three titles again this year like they did in 2005. However, if the injury bug bites them or if any of their young players suffers setbacks, then Arsenal could be headed for another season where they struggle against the Premier League’s best and/or more physical teams.
There’s little doubt that Arsene Wenger has built a club designed to succeed over the long-term, and he’s probably stockpiled more exceptional young talent than any other team in the EPL. The question is whether this year will be the first year in a successful reign, or whether Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United will again get the best of them*.
* Final table predictions will have to wait until we get close to the start of the season. |
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| Two Major Links |
[Jul. 22nd, 2006|02:53 pm] |
First of all, check out this exceptional article by Sean Ingle of the Guardian, written before the World Cup. Many of his ideas for reform are identical to those I posted a month ago, but he also floats the notion of increasing goal size as well. Good stuff, and good to see members of the world footballing press float serious ideas about reforming the game.
Additionally, for those who care about such things, one of the best sportswriters in the United States has taken the post-World Cup plunge and chosen to start following the English Premier League, even going so far as to solicit reader suggestions and then picking his de facto favorite team to follow. I won't spoil who he chose (it was painful for me to read), but The Sports Guy is required reading for fans here in America, and I am ecstatic that a major U.S. voice is an official convert. You can check out his article here.
Check back Monday when I kick off my extended EPL Preview, which will include analysis of all 20 teams in alphabetical order. |
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| 5 Reasons Why World Cup '06 Was Terrible for Casual Fans |
[Jul. 19th, 2006|01:09 pm] |
An interesting dichotomy appeared in the aftermath of this most recent World Cup, one that was not surprising but deserves to be noted. While most hardcore football pundits stated they enjoyed the World Cup as a whole, and most ratings were up in households across Europe and the United States (a misleading statistic, since World Cup 2002 was at difficult times for Europeans and impossible times for Americans), most casual fans walked away from the event scratching their heads. This was not only the result of Zinedine Zidane's actions (though those certainly did not help), but was more the fault of the proceedings as a whole. Countless Americans I talked to and even numerous non-sports-fanatic Euros found themselves asking, "What the hell do people see in this game?"
Considering the product churned out at the World Cup, in spite of the fact that most of the world's stars were on display, I find that to be a fair question. Therefore I decided to look into reasons why this World Cup was not only far below the standards we usually set for great football, but was actually a terrible tournament to deliver to the casual fan.
Reason #5 - Zinedine Zidane and the headbutt.
Tell me exactly how you are supposed to explain the headbutt to anyone, let alone someone who doesn't watch the game regularly? "Why did he do that?" I have no idea. I mean, I can show them youtube links providing evidence that Materazzi is as dirty as they come, but in that moment there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Zidane's actions. He was sent off, his team lost, and Italy took home the trophy. That was nearly the end of it, until...
The writers gave Zidane the award for best player. Yes, Cannavarro likely should have won, but Cannavarro didn't almost singlehandedly destroy Brazil, while Zidane did. In fact, Zizou was generally brilliant throughout the tournament. But beyond the headbutt, how do you explain to someone that a guy dismissed for violent conduct in the final when his team still needed him was still deemed the best player? It's practically tantamount to saying, "We don't care if you are violent, as long as you are brilliant as well." Nice sports ethics lesson there. Is this something you want your kids taking away from the game? Welcome to an immediate black eye for the game and a lot of folks left scratching their heads.
Reason #4 - Brazil's performance.
As much as most of us hate the FIFA rankings system, they give people who don't know much about the game a measuring stick by which to judge teams they might not know very well. According to FIFA rankings and basically any sensible rankings as well, Brazil was definitely the best team in the world entering World Cup 2006. Sadly, in four out of the five games they played, Brazil were just short of bad, especially when compared to their own lofty standards. Thus, anyone tuning in to catch the #1 ranked team in the world and home of the FIFA World Footballer of the Year was treated to the sight of surprisingly stinky football. Nobody expected this, and yet there it was for all to see.
Obviously there's nothing to be done to change the fact that Brazil did not in fact play the beautiful game at this World Cup, but regardless, they certainly did not help improve upon a product that was clearly suffering.
Reason #3 - The Referees
Since the bad refereeing was nearly universal right through to the quarterfinals, the blame for this one rests squarely on the shoulders of our FIFA lords and masters. They clearly wanted to crack down on a variety of behaviors, but unfortunately did not realize the severity of their decree and also did not train referees properly in order to carry it out.
There were more yellow and red cards at this World Cup than ever before, and yet ironically, they did nothing to curb the type of behavior FIFA was trying to eliminate. Diving was rampant and there were a couple of matches that turned shockingly violent. Additionally, all of the yellow cards did absolutely nothing to increase scoring, and the inconsistent refereeing combined with Sepp Blatter's idiotic criticisms while the Cup was still going on merely served to increase the PR hit the game was already taking - a PR hit that likely would never had occurred had Sepp and his boys prepared referees properly in the first place.
Let me put this another way: any time a referee has a dramatic and direct effect on the outcome of a game, it reflects poorly on the legitimacy of a "sport." In no other popular sport does the referee hold nearly as much power to change outcomes as they do in football. Further, when referee decisions frequently seem arbitrary or wrong AND adversely affect the fortunes of one team over another, it's a blemish on the sport as a whole. With the Serie A scandal fresh in everyone's mind, I'm surprised there were not more nervous twitters about match fixing at the World Cup level. It's a good thing Italy didn't get any dodgy penalties awarded to them along the way...
Reason #2 - A Preponderance of "Simulation"
The biggest lingual sleight of hand in the game gives us the second biggest reason why World Cup 2006 was a stinker. I thought I was a pretty jaded football fan, but I have never seen diving to this degree at any level. Portugal matches were such astounding divefests that I found myself looking around the pitch to see where the pool was located. (It appeared to be centralized in the penalty area of whichever goal Portugal was attacking.) Nike is rumored to have floated the idea of giving Portuguese players nothing more than a pair of goggles and a speedo for their Euro 2008 uniforms. When watching Crissy Ronaldo, I eventually came to the conclusion that Greg fucking Louganis did not dive this much, and he was a professional.
This is one of the explicit detriments to the game that FIFA has talked about cracking down upon/fixing and yet this year more than any in recent memory, diving was a massive part of the game. Let's hope that FIFA figure out a way to fix this for good and soon, because when jaded fans are furious and frustrated at the effect "simulation" has on the game, one can only imagine how ludicrous it looks when a player falls to the turf like he's been shot only to get up 30 seconds later and take off at a full sprint.
Reason #1 - A Complete and Utter Lack of Goals
Believe it or not, regardless of what the sport is, people typically like to see players score. While the lack of scoring in football creates some drama, scoring itself is exciting, and changes in the lead are both exciting and dramatic. Of course, to have changes in the lead, you typically need both teams to score, and that failed to happen in 2006.
According to some excellent analysis by Peter Goldstein over at Planet World Cup, goalscoring at this World Cup was the second lowest ever at 2.30 per game, bettering 1990's 2.21 by the slightest of margins. There were an average of 2.44 gpg total during the Group stages, and a paltry 1.875 gpg during the knockout rounds. To give you some external reference, the knockout average is lower than the average goals scored per game by Chelsea or Manchester United (1.89) or Real Madrid or Valencia (2.0) by themselves during the 2005-2006 season.
In terms of suspense, there were 5 games out of 48 during the group stages that finished 2-2 or better (including the dismal-yet-exciting Tunisia vs. Saudi Arabia match), and 0 during the knockout stages. According to Goldstein, only 28.1% of games featured an equalizing goal, making it the second worst World Cup since 1930 for that sort of excitement (1990 again takes the crown by a small margin). Hardcore football fans can understand the brilliant 0-0 or 1-1 draw is a positive for the game, and I think casual fans are okay with draws in general, but a lack of scoring overall just makes the game look like 22 guys running around and flopping on the ground for 90 minutes. Numerous folks I talked to were like, "What's the point?" which is a pretty widespread opinion here in America. Let's face it - few goals plus fewer lead changes leads to pretty boring football, regardless of whether you are watching football for the fifth time or the five hundredth.
Football at the International level has become increasingly more defensive over the years (I haven't done the stats on domestic football to see if it too has become more defensive), making it similar to what happened in the NBA and the NHL over the course of the last decade. Officials heading both of those leagues took steps in recent years to correct what they perceived as a downturn in the quality of the game, causing scoring (and fans) to return to both with a vengeance. It will be interesting to see if FIFA are capable of making the changes necessary to correct this problem, or if we will be stuck with the "beautiful, boring game" for the foreseeable future.
Conclusions
The 2006 World Cup was a failure at bringing the best football has to offer to the casual and hardcore fan alike. Diving, violent conduct, shoddy inconsistent officiating, a dearth of scoring, and far too many games ending in penalty kicks are hardly what long-time fans love about the game of football, and yet these were the traits on display for all to see in Germany. In fact, if one were to package the traits of football you didn't want to see emphasized at the game's greatest event, these would likely be it. Therefore it is my conclusion that the 2006 World Cup was an unmitigated failure in selling the product of football to those with no more than a passing acquaintance with the game.
Note: For those who want to read my rant on World Cup officiating and what can be done about it, please click here. |
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| The Greatest Football Pay Per View of ALL TIME |
[Jul. 15th, 2006|11:51 am] |
Now that official word has been handed down and we know exactly what is going to happen regarding the nefarious Serie A teams, it makes sense to run this column. For those of you who are link-phobic, allow me to just tell you that Italian giants Juventus, Lazio, and Fiorentina have all been relegated to Serie B, with various points docked for previous seasons AND next season, while AC Milan were allowed to stay in Serie A, but docked 44 points from last season, and will start 2006 with a 15 point deficit. Should the verdict stand, none of these teams will be allowed to play in Europe this season either.
With the punishments final, it should set off a run on transfers the likes of which haven't been seen since Leeds United called time on David O'Leary's madness.
What's that? Okay, fine - it will be much greater than that. In fact, the news is SO interesting that I think it has the potential to be turned into the greatest football pay-per-view event of all time. What sort of idea could possibly meet the hype?
The 2006 Serie A Auction of the Stars
Harry could make a real splash here. |
Here's the plan: Any and all players on the relegated teams who are interested in transferring should submit their requests and they will be publicly posted as available for bid. Then next Saturday, July 22nd, every single team interested in bidding on these players will show up at some predetermined place where an auctioneer will then run an auction for each player's transfer rights, with the winners earning the right to negotiate personal terms with the players.
The entire process would be covered by television cameras and commentators from every major league in Europe, and after each set of bids, interviews commence with the manager of the team that won the bid and they'd get a chance to interview the players for their reaction. Then, said commentators could, you know, commentate on whether they thought the player was a good buy for the team, whether a particular player went for too much money, etc. Tell me you wouldn't pay 50 bucks/30 quid/1 million lira to see Harry Redknapp show up with a 70M pound transfer kitty and make some noise. I am convinced that this is one of the greatest television ideas of all time. Just take a look at the list of players that might be involved:
Juventus
Gianluigi Buffon - G
Lilian Thuram - D
Fabio Cannavarro -D
Gianluca Zambrotta -D
Robert Kovac -D
Emerson - M
Pavel Nedved - M
Patrick Viera - M
Mauro Camoranesi - M
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - F
Adrian Mutu - F
Alessandro Del Peiro - F
David Trezeguet - F
Fiorentina
Sebastian Frey - G
Tomas Ujfalusi - D
Valeria Bojinov - F
Gianpaolo Pazzini - F
Luca Toni -F
Lazio (No wonder they were fixing matches)
Simone Inzaghi - F
All I can say is: wow. And this is assuming that none of the Milan players want to move post-scandal, though they could certainly be included if they wanted to opt-in.
Now there's obviously a major problem with this plan in that players still have to agree to personal terms in order make the transfer complete, so they could obviously stall for whatever team they wanted to move to. However, I can see working around this by setting up some rules ahead of time.
Rule #0: Players will privately publish their personal terms ahead of time to the auctioneer so that teams will know whether they have a chance of meeting them. This is a long shot, but whatever - this entire idea is a long shot.
Rule #1: Players get 10% of the transfer fee as long as they sign with the team that bid the most for them. Otherwise they get zero.
Rule #2: Trailing bids matter, since they will determine who gets second and third chances, etc to negotiate with the player.
Rule #3: If you can't agree to terms with one of your Top 5 bidders, you have to stay with the relegated team for the rest of the season. You will sign a contract to this effect ahead of time.
Rule #4: Chelski are not invited.
Could this work? I think it could. Obviously there are ways to game the system, but that's part of the fun. The revenues from this could go to charity as the teams use it for good PR, or better yet, founding a refereeing program that doesn't suck. Additionally, you could get some betting company to sponsor this with Live Bet odds on infinite things, including which player will command the highest transfer fee, who will sign with what team, and whether one of the managers/players will have an aneurysm during the course of the event.
What's to stop Real Madrid from coming in and winning the bid for every one of these players? I don't know, actually. It doesn't mean they'd sign all of them and it would kind of ruin the suspense, but maybe the gaming going on for second and third place bids on a lot of players would be the interesting part. Obviously Real are freaking crazy, so they could ruin the whole show, but I don't think they would. If they did, it would be a very expensive day for them.
Do I think this could ever happen? No, of course not. But would it be the single most fascinating day of the football offseason if it did? Hell yes. |
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