All posts by h79snht.top

Since getting promoted to the top flight in 2007/8, Stoke City have embarked on a project; transforming themselves from relegation favourites into a stable Premier League force. While they will always have their detractors, it may be about time that the somewhat patronising platitudes and plaudits finally heading their way come to an end, for they could be a serious threat to those with Europa League aspirations this term.

Of course, Stoke are already competing in Europe this season courtesy of an FA Cup final appearance last term against Man City, yet people still feel the need to belittle their achievements as merely a blip on the radar before the status quo is rightly resumed.

Whenever an article is written about Stoke praising their progress it is often met with the caveat about their style of play. It’s become an obsession for most that when discussing Stoke (granted, I accept the irony that I may be falling into that very same trap now) that to praise them is to highlight their limitations at the same time. With no other club in the Premier League does this happen.

Under Tony Pulis’s astute leadership Stoke have finished 12th on 45 points, 11th on 47 points and 13th on 46 points. This summer’s heavy spending in the transfer market then can be seen as nothing more than a statement of intent through fear of giving way to stagnation.

Cast your eye around Stoke’s squad now and it’s filled to the brim with Premier League, and in some cases, international quality players. The arrivals of Peter Crouch, Wilson Palacios, Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson this summer all signify a step in the right direction and fittingly for a Tony Pulis signing, they all arrive with a point to prove.

We’ve all fallen into the trap before of praising ‘little old Stoke’ for doing well, but the biggest compliment that you can pay them is that last weekend’s 1-0 defeat of big-spending Liverpool at the Britannia Stadium didn’t come as a surprise. I’ve long been a fan of Pulis’s side and welcome the change for once of a team not merely settling to make up the numbers – see here for further proof of an article I did just over a year ago on the topic – https://www.footballfancast.com/2010/09/football-blogs/fortune-favours-the-brave-for-bold-stoke

Could they emerge as a serious threat to those challenging for a Europa League place this season?

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Most certainly. Spurs are a dishevelled and deeply unsettled side after this summer’s transfer window. Arsenal, while they have strengthened, are susceptible to a challenge and have shown time and time again that they lack the desired mental strength over the course of a long campaign. Liverpool are likely to be inconsistent for the majority of the campaign as they begin to blood new faces. Everton are well and truly skint and a top-half finish would be an achievement in itself for Moyes’s charges and Aston Villa look like a side on the precipice of regression under Alex McLeish.

It’s far from certain, but when you analyse their nearest challengers, Stoke have the most dependable back line out of the aforementioned sides and the least amount of outside pressure on them. They will still struggle to score goals (Cameron Jerome, why?) but they remain difficult to break down and a pain to play.

They’re the model by which future Championship sides will base their first summer in the Premier League on. It seems that only now are they beginning to garner the plaudits that they truly deserve.

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They’ve been labelled as ‘honest’, ‘hardworking’, ‘committed’ and ‘tough’ in the past, but perhaps before we all give way to the worst kind of revisionist thinking, it would be best just to praise Stoke for what they are good at for once, as opposed to judging them for what they aren’t.

You can follow me on Twitter at – @JamesMcManus1

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This week Liverpool’s incredibly generous and unquestioning owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) stated that ‘it would be a major disappointment’ if the team failed to qualify for the Champions League in the forthcoming season. Is it fair of them to expect this level of success from Kenny Dalglish so soon?

When Dalglish replaced the world weary Woy Hodgson as Liverpool manager on the 8th January this year, the side sat 12th in the league, four points above the relegation zone. Nobody really believed they would sink further, (it seemed hard to imagine they could get any worse) but then the idea had been for Hodgson to halt the slide at 7th not push them on down.

Dalglish succeeded in restoring a passion and identity to the side that had been noticeably absent under Hodgson and the side’s improved form and the impact of Luis Suarez in particular were enough for Liverpool to finish the season with a sense of optimism. The squad still looked unimpressive though, after a very messy 2010 calendar year there were too many expensive flops and inexperienced youngsters to consider this a side capable of competing for the Champions League.

Now Dalglish has spent, and he has spent a lot. It is natural that FSG’s backing should come at a price and with pressures so high and patience so thin at the top of the Premier League, their expectations are unsurprisingly high. FSG would have been considered mad if they’d spent all this money and then set their sights on Europa League qualification!

If Dalglish spends yet more money in strengthening Liverpool’s defence, which he should as they’ve conceded 15 goals in 5 friendlies, then he can have little grounds for complaint. His problem will not lie in the owner’s ambitious but justified expectations but with the actual task ahead, knocking out one of the current top four. Based on Arsenal’s dramatic decline at the end of last season, they would seem like the team to beat however their consistency in top four finishes is phenomenal, (a straight run since 1997 now). Dalglish will not only have to hope they pick up from how they finished last season, he will also have to ensure that his side gels incredibly quickly.

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FSG have set Kenny Dalglish a tough target but they have given him a huge amount of help in reaching it. Liverpool’s considerable spending this year has already put pressure on them to achieve Champions League qualification, with or without FSG saying it explicitly. It is only right to start the season with great expectations.

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Uefa’s financial fair play legislation has arrived. The limit on spending will come into effect for the 2013/14 campaign but the monitoring of teams has begun. Over the next two seasons clubs will not be allowed a total loss greater than €45 million and UEFA reserve the right to ban them from European club competitions should they overspend.

At face value, this seems like an excellent idea. The inflation of debt and spending is undoubtedly one of biggest problems of the modern game and it is high time rules were implemented. However, whether or not Uefa’s rules improve the game may be difficult to assess for several more seasons. Many people are sceptical as to whether this will in any way help the poorer clubs close the gap on Europe’s wealthiest. Whilst this would be an admirable result, it is not the point. The point is quite simply to stop clubs spending what they don’t have, to force them to live by their means.

A concern is that Uefa’s financial control will push Europe’s largest clubs towards forming their own breakaway league. At the moment there is little cause to worry.

For a start, the legislation is not as restrictive as many think. First of all, youth development, training facilities and stadiums are amongst the expenses that are not included. Second, if a club sign a player for £40 million on a four-year contract, this will amount to £10 million per year as the fee is spread over his contract, this means that the big clubs will still get to spend big money. Third, if a club can show that it’s on the field improvement is triggering off the field growth, their entry into European competition may be considered with more leniency.

These instances of flexibility and consideration show that Uefa has attempted to get this right. The intention is not to stifle clubs, just to protect them from their own recklessness. It should not be deemed a sufficient intrusion to prompt a revolution. (For those clubs that fear it may serve to level the the playing field, a quick look at Manchester City’s sponsorship deal will remind them of the gulf that exists and show them how it can be maintained.)

A breakaway European league is always talked about as though it is an imminent possibility but it would be a huge risk for the clubs involved. The sacrifice of teams’ domestic leagues and their dominance within them is something that requires careful consideration. Uefa’s attempts to slow down the crazy inflation of football debt should not serve as a trigger. Attempting to reel in the bank loans should, in theory, be welcomed. If, however, several years down the line the profits of the top clubs are affected, then a revolution would definitely be on the cards.

Would you want a breakaway league? Leave your views below…

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Catch up with me on twitter for more football goodness: http://twitter.com/#!/philipwroe

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Birmingham manager Alex McLeish hailed man mountain Nikola Zigic for his influence in his side’s Carling Cup semi-final win over West Ham.

While the towering Serb did not score in City’s come-from-behind 3-1 victory at St Andrews in extra-time to win 4-3 on aggregate, the Scottish manager saved special praise for the English Premier League’s tallest player after he was substituted on at half-time for Matt Derbyshire.

“I said if you get a chance to cross the ball do it, put it in the box with big Zigic in there. It was his most effective game for us and when he plays like that he can be very difficult indeed to handle,” McLeish told Sky Sports.

“I was probably more relaxed than I have been in recent weeks in the (English) Premier League. I don’t know why, but I did have a calm about me,” he said.

“I just had to trust the players and the players had to trust each other. We tried our best in the first half but we huffed and puffed without really troubling them. Zigic made the difference.”

McLeish was beaming with pride at Birmingham’s fight back, and is now anticipating a chance at winning City’s first piece of silverware since they won the Third Division in 1994/95 and their first major trophy since claiming the League Cup in 1963.

“I will have enormous pride leading the side out at Wembley. I have been involved in a lot of semi-finals and have got to finals in Scotland in my career, so to come to England and get to Wembley is a dream come true,” he said.

West Ham manager Avram Grant was disappointed with his side’s defence on set pieces, as they crumbled from a two-goal aggregate lead to lose in extra-time.

“They started with a lot of long balls and we didn’t deal with it so well, that was the difference,” the under-fire manager said.

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“I am not happy that we are not in the final. I think we did well in the Carling Cup. In this game, in the first half we were good but unfortunately we are not going to Wembley.”

“I think the players played good and we are not playing like a team at the bottom. We need to defend better from set-pieces.”

Brazil striker Luis Fabiano has put an end to speculation about his future by signing a new two-year contract extension with Sevilla.

The 29-year-old, who had been of interest to both Tottenham Hotspur and Marseille, is now tied to the Rojiblancos until the summer of 2013, with his previous deal having been set to run out at the end of the season.

The South American told his club's official website:"Much has been spoken about my future and in the end I am content to renew with Sevilla.

"This club is my home, already I have been here six years and I will try to continue scoring goals, to continue making history for Sevilla. It is a very special day for me.

"My first option was to renew with Sevilla. I rejected many offers and many interested clubs.

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"My will was always to stay put and the certain thing is that Sevilla and I delivered a great plan for renewal. For that reason now the speculation stops."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Juventus striker Amauri could be on his way to the Premier League after two unnamed English clubs bid for the player, according to Sky Sports.

The Brazilian-born Italy international is out of favour at Juventus and spent the second half of last season on loan at Parma, scoring 7 goals in 11 appearances. He signed for Juventus as part of a complex swap deal in the summer of 2008 but has only scored 24 goals for the Turin-based club.

Amauri’s agent is yet to reveal the clubs interested in his client but Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is rumoured to be keen on the 31-year old. Redknapp is hoping to overhaul his attacking options after an inconsistent season and is believed to be willing to listen to offers for Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermaine Defoe.

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Parma, who originally brought the player to Italy in 2000, are yet to make a move for player on a permanent basis. However, Lazio and Napoli are rumoured to be after the 6ft 1in target man. Amauri has one year left to run on his contract but Juve are keen to recoup some of the money they invested in the player.

Liverpool attacker Dirk Kuyt has spoken of the impact of Craig Bellamy, and feels his team-mate has improved since his first spell with the Merseyside club.

The Wales international has scored nine goals since moving to Anfield from Manchester City in the summer, and Kuyt is full of admiration for Bellamy’s ability.

“Craig has been ­unbelievable. He looks even better now than he did the first time he was here – it’s not very often you can say that about someone who spends two spells at a club,” the Netherlands international told Mirror Football.

“Usually, the first time is better, but this time, with Craig in better shape, he knows exactly what he can do and he’s really professional in training every day, not just helping himself, but the whole of the squad.”

Bellamy was awarded the club’s Player of the Month award for January, for the second time in a row, but has stated that success for the team is more important.

“I’ve always had the view that a goal is a bonus for me. They don’t alter how I go about my game,” Bellamy said.

“The aim for me is to try and win and to try and play as big a part as I can in the game. And if I’m able to score or create one, it’s a bonus.

“If goals come, great, but winning games is more important for me.

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“To win the player award two months on the run means ­something to me. Do I think I’ll get a third? No, so I’m going to milk it this month!” he admitted.

By Gareth McKnight

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West Ham United travel to manager-less West Bromwich Albion for a relegation six-pointer at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:36:29 +0000