Jose Mourinho - Why Always Him?

          This week Jose Mourinho has made his way into the headlines yet again. Starting off with his negative football style managing to scrape three points against Liverpool, falling out with yet another manager, and then crashing out of the UEFA Champions League by trying to play the same negative football style. For a long time now, I have greatly disliked the man, who in my opinion isn't as good a coach as some might have you believe.

Mourinho, pictured with his mentor, Sir Bobby Robson and the original Ronaldo.

          Ok, I admit that he did well at Porto. Winning what he did with so little in funds was a fantastic achievement but the natural talent already in that squad will have helped him no end. Here's where the trouble starts though as far as I'm concerned.

          At Chelsea, he walked into a club that he admitted he wasn;t that interested in managing, only taking the job when Liverpool appointed Rafa Benitez over him. In his first transfer window. in 2004, he spent £70 million on players to add to his squad. Over half of that sum was spent between two players (Didier Drogba and Michael Essien). In his first spell at Chelsea he won six trophies in three seasons. This includes two Premier League titles.

Drogaba and Kezman, two of Mourinho's signing lift the League Cup together.

          The Mourinho we saw at Inter Milan is my personal favourite. He promoted youth, extended the career of Luis Figo and didn't break the bank. He was a success in Italy as a coach, not for buying the best players in every position as he could do at Chelsea and a t future clubs. What let him down, is still letting him down today. he runs his mouth far too much. he fell out with no fewer than 6 managers during his spell as Internationale manager, including Ranieri and Lippi. Hi time in Milan came to an end in 2010 on a positive though, becoming the first side to win the treble, winning his second Champions League in the process with a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich.

          The Portuguese time at Madrid was mixed. But it's hard to argue against any of the trophies he did win being helped massively by just buying whoever he needed to fill a gap. He also showed off his now common place shit-housery. Fighting during El Classico's, inlcuding poking Tito Villanova in the eye, accusing referees of bias towards Barcelona, and frequent fallings out with club legends such as Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas, who was dropped by Mourinho much to the distaste of the Madrid supporters.

During his time at Madrid, Jose spent a lot of time with footballs second best player.

            Upon Mourinho's Chelsea return he did it again. He bought expensive players that would provide instant results rather than trying to be tactical and coach his players how Conte would later do at Chelsea. He won the league cup and then won the league itself later that year in the only two trophies during his second tenure at the Blues.

            Following his sacking from Chelsea, He moved to Manchester United the following summer. He spent big money yet again, on Pogba and Bailly to name a few. In his first season he was a perceived success, winning three trophies. Those were the Charity Shield, the League Cup and The Europa League. So, he won a game that is considered a pre-season friendly, England's second rate competition and Europe's second rate competition. I call this perceived success because although it was a treble, they finished sixth in the premier league and only made it into the Champions League due to win the Europa League.

Manchester United celebrate completing the treble, Mourinho is front and centre. As usual.

          I'm not denying that Mourinho has been successful. My only issue is the way that he has gone about it. He just always seems to buy his success. Signing expensive players andnot having much interest in youth development."

"Why play Rashford the young English talented striker, when I can spend £75m on Lukaku and Rashford can play on the wing. Oh wait, I'll sign Sanchez for the wing and bomb Rashford Completely."

          His negative tactics make football look boring, and at a club like Manchester United, parking the bus was unheard of. What kind of supporter likes to watch his/her team sit back and not attempt to score? It makes it even better when they let themselves down, like they  did last night against Sevilla.

          The last thing that really annoys me is the fact he spends more time talking to the press than any other manager. Only this week he criticised Frank De Boer in the press, calling him the worst manager in Premier League history. he said this because De Boer criticised his negative tactics whilst doing some punditry.He does this frequently, as noted above. Someone will do something, be it make a comment on TV or to a Newspaper and all of a sudden Mourinho makes it into an argument. It's pathetic and unnecessary.

Rant over. 

Until next time though.

Craig.

Time of Change

          Over the last few weeks the fortunes at Nottingham Forest have turned. Unbeaten in their last five, they head into a game at home to local rivals Derby County on Sunday. The signings made by Aitor Karanka in January have really started to gel and are making a difference. That, and the departure of dead wood, such as Matt Mills, Armand Traore and Jamie Ward through various channels has seen a strong squad emerge. Cardiff City agreed a swap deal with Forest on deadline day, seeing Lee Tomlin and Jamie Ward swap clubs until the end of the season, and this has seemed like crucial business for Forest so far...

          Before signing for Forest on loan, Lee Tomlin was having an unremarkable season. He signed for Cardiff in the summer window, made thirteen appearances, scoring one goal, up until deadline day when he moved Trentside. since then he has scored three goals and assisted two in 5 appearances for the club. This has come out of nowhere though, upon inspection his stats are unremarkable. So what does this mean? Is Karanka instilling deep rooted confidence in his players to trust there ability? Who knows? All I can tell you is that it's working.

Tomlin celebrates his first Forest goal.

          Joe Lolley has had a similar impact on the club, making five appearances since signing and already scoring twice and assisting another two. The younger winger, who signed a four and a half year deal with Forest in January began his career in non-league and he can be considered as one of the success stories from non-league football. Across 4 years he has made ninety appearances for Huddersfield and he looks to be a fantastic signing.

Joe Lolley and Ben Osborn celebrate Lolley's second goal for Forest.

          Not only has Karanka signed good players. He is also utilising those we already had in a better manner. Ben Brereton is scoring goals, as is Matty Cash. Jordan Smith is being protected from criticism and has some experienced goalkeepers around him to learn from. Joe Worrall is being rested and allowed time to recover, rather than playing every game as our only decent centreback. Ben Osborn is also playing out of his skin, as one of Forest's most consistent players over the recent seasons.

          The changes made at Forest stand the reds in good stead for the remainder of the season and looking forward to next season, if Karanka gets rid of more of the deadwood, and then brings in the right players to replace them, then I don't see why we can't make the play-offs.

Until next time.

Craig

If I were FIFA President...

If I were FIFA President...

          After years of mismanagement at Football's top level we have a new man at the helm. Things don't seem to have changed though, the wholesale changes expected have not happened, although we are seeing the introduction of technology in football. 

       
If I were the FIFA President though, this is what I would do:

Enforced Release Clauses.

          The first thing I would do would be to give football some more credibility. FIFA would set the value of every player, based on his form, worth to his current club and potential ability. In the same vein as fantasy football values, the price fluctuates throughout a season. A maximum value can be set worldwide of £30 million pounds. In this system Lionel Messi would be worth £30 million and if an offer came in for him at that amount it must be accepted. Then the only way he can made to stay at Barcelona is if they offer him an improved deal that he is happy with. If, come January, he's been playing out of his skin, then his value could fluctuate up to £35 million.

          In short, the value of a player is set by FIFA and if an offer of that amount comes in then the offer must be accepted. So, what is to stop the top teams from pooling the worlds best and pinching players at low fees? Well, all transfers must be approved by FIFA and there should be a maximum of five transfers of players over the age of 23 per season. This will bring the amount of money spent down each summer.

Lionel Messi, the world's best player, would cost £30m under the rules I propose.

Technology
          In recent years technology has been trialled in football, but it's not quite good enough yet. We should take a leaf out of Rugby's book. When games of rugby go to the video referee everyone in the stadium can see on the big screen what is being looked at. The process should also be quicker. Rather than the referee asking the VAR if anything was wrong, it should be the other way around. The VAR needs to tell the referee if anything is wrong. This can speed the process up immensely.
          Also, in the same vein as rugby, the referee's would have microphones on them that can be heard by those watching on the telly and those who have an earpiece you can buy from the games, as in rugby. This clears up any confusion as to what is actually happening on the pitch.

Rugby's Video referee will tell the referee when he makes a mistake.

Youth Development
          The final big change I would make, is to enforce clubs to have at least three homegrown players in their match-day squad and one of them must start the game. This will encourage clubs to develop players quicker rather than sending them away on loan year after year such as clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal, and both Manchester clubs. This in turn, from a purely selfish point of view, could reward clubs such as my team, Forest, for their commitment to the youth programmes.

That's all for this week sports fans, I've been awfully busy what with the weather conditions and work.

We go again next week.

Craig

The Football Holiday (Part One)

The Football Holiday (Part One)

          Right, I'm back from Dublin and I made it back alive! As you may remember, two friends and I booked to go to Dublin for the first game of the season, between Bohemian FC and Shamrock Rovers. Upon booking it we found that the game was actually renowned for violence and rivalry between supporters.

          The trip itself was a success, but only just. We allowed Tom to go ahead and book everything on our behalf and it very nearly backfired very early on. Delayed for 45 minutes at East Midlands Airport, we were aware that we would have to get across Dublin very quickly to get into our accommodation. After 10-20 minutes of verbally abusing him we did manage to get there on time.

A painting on some side gates at Dalymount Park.

          The football though was a really good night. It was refreshing to go to a game where you don't know any of the players but there's still a great atmosphere. During the warm up the two sets of supporters were getting into each other.

          When the game began the away side were the more dominant. Shamrock Rovers dominated the play as you would expect from a side that is frequently in European competition. An end to end period ensued with chances for both sides falling wide, over or into the keepers hands. The first goal came from a freekick. Greg Bolger floated a freekick into the Bohemians box, Shaw won a header, teeing up Graham Burke to acrobatically aim for goal. The former Notts County midfielder was unfortunate to see it hit the post, but Ronan Finn was on hand to volley home the rebound, giving Shamrock the lead.

          Bohemians were the better side from start to finish of the second half though. Their spell of serious pressure coincided with the introduction of Eoghan Stokes from the bench. Towering centre back Dan Casey, who I thought was one of the best players on the night, and hammered a header home from a corner to pull level.

Boh's supporters celebrate Dan Casey's equaliser.

          The home side continued to press, a long ball from the goalkeeper, Supple, was flicked on by Brennan and Kavanagh raced clear, hammering a shot into the goal, sending Horgan the wring way in the process. Soon afterwards it became three, Dan Casey sent a looping header over Horgan who had rushed out to meet the ball, and into the net. It finished 3-1 and the supporters of Bohemians began chants of 'We are top of the league.'

          We spent Saturday trying to keep up with the goings on in England, Where Ollerton drew 1-1 with local rivals and relegation candidates Retford United. Whilst Forest did very similar against Burton, drawing 0-0.

That's all for now.

Until Next Time.

Craig

Napoli - Serie A's Surprise Package

Napoli - Serie A's Surprise Package

          Napoli, formed in 1926, are one of Italy's top football teams at present. But that hasn't always been the case. In the last ten years they've been like Arsenal, perennial fourth place finishers. Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan have been the top sides and Napoli have been somewhere in the chasing pack with Roma, Udinese, Fiorentina and Lazio. This year is different and it has been coming for a while. 

          The surprising factor in there rise is that they've kept hold of most of their main players. They lost Higuain to Juventus for £80m+ and that is good business for an ageing striker, they also lost Cavani to moneybags Paris Saint Germain and they couldn't have done much about that. Lets look at who they've managed to keep though.

Jorginho - 

          When people talk about a pass master, they usually refer to Xavi and his ability to make around 100 passes per game. But Jorginho is the modern Xavi. The Italian set the record for the most complete passes in a game when he made 180 successful passes against Cagliari last season. In his time in Naples his average pass completion has never been under 89 per game. Madness.

          His average pass completion for the season is 105 per game. He's won 81% of his tackles and won 43% of his aerial duels despite being only 180cm tall. The little midfielder has six goal involvements despite his deeper role in the Napoli midfield.

Dries Mertens - 

          Now then, last season Dries Mertens scored 33 goals in all competitions. When a striker does that he's usually one of the most wanted in Europe, but there's no interest in Mertens. This season he has 15 in goals and 6 assists so is well on his way to matching last season's tally. He's efficient in front of goal as well, with 52% of his shots on target and a ratio of one goal every 137 minutes.

          This isn't all he brings to the game though. His link up play enables other players to join the attcak. He has a 74% pass completion rate which has brought about his 6 assists and his defensive numbers are high as well. Winning 78% of his tackles.

Kalidou Koulibaly

         The big Senegalese centre back has been linked with Chelsea in every transfer window for years without a deal ever happening. His defensive numbers show you why. 76% tackle success, wins 58% of his aerial duels as well. He's made 79 clearances, 30 interceptions and blocked ten shots so far this season. Not only that, but his average fouls conceded per game is 1.

          His distribution is astounding as well, the nearly 2m tall defender has made 1972 passes so far this season, with a 91% completion rate, averaging 86 passes per game. He uses his aerial abilities in attack as well as in defence, half of his four goals this season have been headed.

          Napoli have conceded just 15 goals in the league, the joint best with Juventus, and with players like Koulibaly in the defence it's easy to see.

          Napoli are a force to be reckoned with. Players like Insigne, Zielinski, Hamsik, Callejon and Milik still to be brought up. Maurizio Sarri has built himself a squad of worthy Champions and a squad that could go far into the European competitions in years to come. Not many of the players are below 30, and provided they don't get picked up they will do well.

Until next time though,

Craig.

World Cup Outsiders

World Cup Outsiders

          With the World Cup in Russia fast approaching, the majority of the England squad for the tournament names itself. The 23 man squad could be predicted, but there is some outside shots at a place on the plane to Russia. Will Gareth Southgate make any surprise choices? That is yet to be seen. The following players are surely in with a shot at making the squad.

1. James Ward-Prowse

The Southampton Midfielder is a certified deadball specialist.

The young midfielder, yet another graduate of Southampton's famous academy, has already made his England debut. He came on as a substitute in the friendly against Germany earlier this year. the 23 year old can play in the centre of midfield and wide on the right. The chances of him making the cut are slim in my opinion. This is because I would definitely take Harry Winks to Russia and Ruben Loftus Cheek is also in the reckoning following his debut against Germany. One key attribute that could see Ward-Prowse to Russia is his technique in free-kick taking. He took part in a Freekick Masterclass with Jimmy Bullard on Soccer AM in which he excelled, as did Bullard, but I can't see him getting in the England squad.

2. Ashley Young

The Watford Academy graduate has retrained a fullback in recent years.

Who'd have thought it? Ashley Young already has 31 Cap, including taking part in Euro 2012. His last England cap was in 2013, that was until he came on as an 80th minute substitute for England against Germany in November of last year. If England decide to play with Wingbacks then there is a strong argument that Young should be there, as he offers more in terms of attack than England's other options. The winger-cum-defender is versatile enough to play up both flanks and that could be invaluable.

3. Andy Carroll

Andy Carroll is a different type of attacker to our other options.

Right, I don't say this lightly, but technically he is a different option. Let's be honest, at some point we're going to be up against it and need to find a goal from somewhere. Chucking Carroll up front means we could play route one football. Surely this will be a last resort but it's better than nothing. Carroll can score goals, allegedly, if given the right service and I'm sure the national team can get him some good service. Now he just needs to stay fit...

4. Charlie Austin

Charlie Austin, formerly of Poole Town would be a useful player at a World Cup.

Charlie Austin is one of the top English strikers out there right now. His scoring rate is that of a player who should already have England caps but the former non league striker is yet to make an appearance for the Three Lions. Austin has been called up once before but didn't get off the bench. The forward averages a goal every other game in the Premier League and should really be in the England squad by now? Obviously, Kane and Rashford are ahead of him, and others, but the chances of him popping up with a goal are always there.

          Some other players deserve a brief mention but they're more than likely already in the squad, or further away than they should be. Players like Harry Winks should already be on the plane. Ruben Loftus Cheek could be further off the squad because Crystal Palace aren't doing so well. Aaron Creswell is a good player, but is he good enough to get passed his rivals for a spot at left back? I doubt it. The third goalkeeper spot will be a toss up between Jordan Pickford, Fraser Forster and Ben Foster. Nathan Redmond is another good option but where do you fit him into the team in the shape that we've been playing? Finally, is it going to be a toss up between Welbeck and Sturridge? Two forwards who don't score enough goals are far from first choice...

We'll see won't we?

Until next time...

Craig.

Deadline Day

          It's here again. The day that football fans dream of. It comes around twice a year and fills a day of tedium at work with excitement around football. At the time of writing, 11:22am to be exact, Arsenal have just confirmed Aubameyang as their latest signing, at a record fee for the club. but what else will the day bring? Who's next? Giroud to Chelsea? Batshuayi to Borussia Dortmund? Who knows? What I do know is as we get later in the day, the fee will increase...

The man of the moment (For now.) But where does he fit in the Arsenal side? More importantly, what's his squad number?

           Right, I'll level with you. I started writing this on Wednesday, with the intention of finishing it on Thursday, once the deadline had passed. That's not really worked out though. I went out on site at work rather than sitting at my desk, hence this not being written until Friday. So rather than trying to write about stuff in chronological order I'll just talk about some of the major Premier League deals.

THEO WALCOTT - Arsenal to Everton £20m

          This move on paper looked to be excessive in value. Walcott has struggled to be effective in the last few seasons for Arsenal. But £20m could turn into good business. Since his debut he's had a solid impact, assisting on his debut and scoring twice for Everton in their game on deadline day. This resurgence in his form could see him make a late push for the England World Cup Squad.

OLIVIER GIROUD - Arsenal to Chelsea £15.3m plus £2.2m add ons

          I didn't see this one coming. Chelsea were linked to some absolute gash in January. Ashley Barnes, Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch were names bandied about. Mention of Dzeko returning to the Premier League lasted a while but the signing of Giroud from Arsenal can be seen as good business. For one thing he knows where the goal is and has scored some important goals in the past. Can he do it in blue? We shall see.

AYMERIC LAPORTE - Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City £57m

          This is a top top signing. Alan Pardew described him as a serious threat when his side played Manchester City on Wednesday night. The Frenchman is the second most expensive defender ever, behind someone further down this list. He's the latest star studded edition to the Citizens squad. Another younger player, joining Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Mendy, Stones and Ederson on the list of young stars playing under Pep Guardiola.

ALEXIS SANCHEZ & HENRICK MHIKITARYAN - Swap between Arsenal and Man United

          Hard to say who got the better end of the deal really. Arsenal got rid of someone who wanted out and brought in an exciting player in (I can't spell his name so I'll call him Henry) Henry. Sanchez has started well at United but I wouldn't say the transfer makes sense for them. Obviously I'm not stupid enough to think United fans won't disagree with me, but with Mata, Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Ibra and countless others who all play in similar positions and are, in some cases, younger.

VIRGIL VAN DIJK - Southampton to Liverpool £75m

          Who'd have thought that it'd be Liverpool, out of all the teams in the Premier League, to break the record for the most expensive defender? Liverpool did well to bring in their man, but the fee was definitely inflated. With Liverpool getting £142m for Coutinho I would have thought that they'd have signed a few more players during the window. But Van Dijk is definitely one of the Leagues top centre backs.

LUCAS MOURA - Paris Saint Germain - Tottenham Hotspur £25m

          A lot of people will call this bad business. Saying "who wants to sign a player who's not been playing for his previous club? How could he improve yours?" but come on. How many players could turn up in Paris now and take the places of Cavani, Neymar and Di Maria? The answer is very few. Spurs have signed a younger winger, with plenty of Brazil caps to his name, he's played 40+ games in each of the last three seasons and has been a good player during those years. Spurs have done well.

         Honourable mentions must go to the sides that have brought in some very good players on loan in this window. West Ham signing Joao Mario on loan is amazing business and will bolster their midfield. West Brom will look to go Daniel Sturridge a route to the World Cup in his loan spell their from Liverpool. Should he remain fit then he'll do well for the Baggies. Finally, Gerard Deulofeu joins Watford on loan from Barcelona and the tricky winger will look to have another good spell in the Premier League, having previously lit the league up with Everton.

That's all for now folks. When the dust settles I might even mention Forest's crazing window.

Until next time,

Craig