Newcastle host Wigan on Saturday in their second consecutive home fixture looking to preserve their unbeaten start to the season that has catapulted them into fourth.
The Magpies have been this seasons surprise package so far gatecrashing the top four and have yet to taste defeat in their eight Premier League games. As many have pointed out they have yet to be fully tested with the fixture list being kind to Alan Pardew and his side as they yet to face any of the top-flights big guns. They came away unscathed from their first real examination against Tottenham last weekend with Shola Ameobi further enhancing the Geordies love for him with a late leveller at St James’ Park to secure a 2-2 draw. Pardew’s side more than held their own against Spurs and could have won the game had Fabricio Coloccini converted a late chance. The skipper along with the Steven Taylor, his namesake Ryan and keeper Tim Krul have been impenetrable and have contributed no about to their 11 match unbeaten run – their best sequence since 1997. One aspect of Pardew’s reign on Tyneside that has been a problem for the club in recent years is consistency. Eight players have started every league games this season with the rapport built up amongst the squad a key factor in their success so far. Only Leon Best, Gabriel Obertan and Demba Ba aren’t ever presents but have certainly made some telling contributions with the latter scoring five goals in the last three games including the Toon’s first goal against Spurs. The omens are good for Newcastle, who have been strong on home soil this season, with Wigan yet to win on their six visits to the North East.
Roberto Martinez’s side are stuck in a rut having lost their last five games in a row slipping into the relegation zone which will be familiar territory for them. Their start to the campaign raised the optimism levels at the DW Stadium but they have fallen back into their old habits and will need to pick up if they are to pull themselves away from another desperate relegation battle. Improving on the road is something that needs to be addressed with only eight wins away from home in the two years since Martinez took charge. They’ll need to be more ambitious in attack if they are to break down a tough Newcastle defence after they managed only get only two of their 16 shots on target against Bolton last week. The return of Hugo Rodallega from injury will certainly add some much needed fire power in the final third but they’ll need more than just the efforts of the Colombian to beat the Magpies. Tightening up at the back is also something Martinez needs to address after they gifted the Trotters their goals last week and Maynor Figueroa’s return will give the back line some much needed steel and experience.
Key Players
Demba Ba – Five goals in three games have changed the Geordies opinions of the Senegal international after a series of lifeless displays at the start of the season. His performances since then have been superb with his pace, strength and prowess winning over supporters he’ll be a handful for the Latics defence this week.
Ben Watson – Despite Wigan’s poor form Watson has been a shining light with his all action midfield performances adding some much needed grit to the side. His defensive work and ability to break up attacks has been vital for the Latics at time and he’ll need to be on top of his game against a swashbuckling Newcastle side.
Prediction: 2-0
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Demba Ba continued his brilliant run with his 5th goal in three games. His run is reflected in his move up the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index table. He is now ranked 34th. Ba has hit 64% of his 14 shots on target this season Wigan midfielder Ben Watson will also give Newcastle a tough time, and is 4th in the tackling table having won 25 tackles this season 93% of those attempted. Watson has also made 20 interceptions. Mohamed Diame completes a Wigan hat trick of player in the top ten tacklers having won 24 tackles (83% of those attempted)
It has become something of a given that Arsenal will produce some new young starlet every season. The famed Hale End academy that has produced Cesc Fabregas, Ashley Cole, Jack Wilshere, Alex Song and numerous others has been complimented by the signing of young talent from elsewhere to make it truly one of the most formidable academies in the world. We all know about the latest crop of youngsters to come out such as Frimpong and Wilshere but here we’re going to take a look at the next in line.
Chuks Aneke
Aneke, of Nigerian descent but playing for England at youth level, signed for Arsenal in 2001 aged just seven years old. However after impressing for Arsenal’s youth and reserved sides Barcelona attempted to poach both Chuks Aneke and Benik Afobe from the North London Club. Both Arsenal youngsters were invited to Barcelona’s training camp in 2009 but both decided that Arsenal was where their futures lay. Aneke is a powerful central midfielder who has recently been likened to Yaya Toure by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger.
Aneke’s early form for the Gunners’ reserve team has been turning heads and he told the Arsenal website: “I’m feeling good so far this season. I’m optimistic that this will be a big year for me. I intend to produce good things on the field and show people how good I am, and so far I think I’ve done ok…I’ve played three times for the Reserves and been in decent form – scoring a couple of goals and playing pretty well. So overall I’m happy and want to push on from here”
Aneke, who made his debut in the Carling Cup this season, is now thought to be heading out on loan with a host of Premier League clubs interested in taking the youngster. Many Arsenal fans lament the loss of former captain Patrick Vieira who was arguably the complete midfielder – able combine defensive solidity with attacking prowess. With Aneke Arsenal fans will be hoping that finally they have produced a player in a similar mould.
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Benik Afobe
Benik, the other player to be approached by Barcelona, is a powerful striker for the gunners who has formed a powerful on field relationship with midfielder Aneke. Afobe was on loan at Huddersfield last season and helped the Terriers reach the League One play-off final. The speedy striker scored eight times in thirty six appearances for the Northern club and continued his good form at international level too as he was part of the under-17 team that won the 2011 European Championships. He was also named player of the tournament after scoring four goals and notching up three assists.
Afobe is a powerful out and out striker with deadly finishing and pace to match, the type of striker that Arsenal have not had since Adebayor left. Despite the success of the Arsenal academy the one thing they have so far failed to produce is a truly world class striker. Maybe Afobe is about to change that…
Reice Charles-Cook
To put a spin on an old cliché: goalkeepers at Arsenal are like buses; they never turn up when you need one and then suddenly three come at once. Whilst Szczesny has established himself in the first team and young Argentine goalkeeper Damian Martinez is getting stronger by the day you could be forgiven for forgetting about Arsenal’s latest youth team keeper Reice Charles-Cook. Nephew to James Cook MBE, a former British and European super-middleweight boxing champion, Reice shares the reflexes and presence of his uncle.
Described as an exceptional shot stopper with a firm command of his area the young goalkeeper, at just seventeen years of age, may have a long way to go before he can even think about breaking into the first team. However the improvements noted in him in the past years have been vast and his reputation at the club is growing as fast as his talent.
Most Arsenal fans would say that they are extremely happy with their current goalkeeper but there’s nothing like competition to get the best out of your players.
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For more Arsenal news and stories follow Hamish on Twitter @H_Mackay
Sir Alex Ferguson says his 25yrs at Manchester United have been something of a dream come true, as he approaches his anniversary. Tributes have been flooding in for the Scot from all levels of football with the general theme being what a phenomenal man he is who never loses the desire to win.
Elsewhere in the news Alan Pardew keeps expectations in check; Toure wants City to replicate the achievements of Barcelona, while Michael Essien is set to give Andre Villas-Boas an injury boost.
News
Wayne Rooney left devastated by ban
Kenny Dalglish confident without key duo
Alan Pardew keeps expectations in check
Toure: We want to be as good as Barcelona
Ferguson hails fairytale spell at Manchester United
Essien set to give Chelsea an injury boost
Transfer News
Tottenham set to be offered cut-price deal in January – FFC
Malaga eyeing loan move for Chelsea striker – Talksport
Hoilett told to target top four – Sky Sports
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Juventus planning summer splash for Man United and Spurs wingers – Talksport
Chelsea are ready to make a move for Chile international striker Eduardo Vargas, as Nicolas Anelka’s time at the club comes to an end.
The Blues’ have had an inconsistent campaign so far, and manager Andre Villas Boas is expected to be given free reign to overhaul his squad come January.
Veteran attacker Anelka is in the last year of his contract at Stamford Bridge, and having started only three games this season for the London club is eager to find first team football.
The France international realises that Villas Boas wants to focus on young players, and has accepted that his future lies elsewhere.
“I’ve known for a little while where I’ll be on January 2,” he said to the club’s official website.
“The club, which is going through a difficult time, has decided to work with Chelsea’s players of the future and, as I am a good professional, I have accepted this.”
Meanwhile, The Daily Mail indicate that Universidad de Chile forward Eduardo Vargas is the man to replace outgoing Anelka, with The Blues ready to make a bid in January.
The 22-year-old South American attacker is rated at a value of £9 million, and the English newspaper have revealed that negotiations have began over a possible transfer in the new year.
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Arsenal, Liverpool, Napoli and Valencia are said to be interested also, but ascertaining a work permit could be an issue for the English teams, as Vargas has only played nine times for Chile.
Football has many sayings but some resonate more than others. Most notably Roberto Mancini and Jupp Heynckes have commented that ‘strikers win you matches but defenders win you championships.’
The latter part of this can be extended to goalkeepers – ask any Arsenal aficionado about Lukasz Fabianski. Newcastle’s Tim Krul and Swansea’s Michel Vorm may not be challenging for titles but they are nevertheless at the crux of their sides recent fortunes.
Until November, Newcastle were unbeaten in the Premier League whilst Swansea still have the best defensive record at home. To attain this though, both stoppers have certainly had to be Flying Dutchmen during the campaign.
Krul, 23, has turned in a string of impressive performances, none more so than at Old Trafford as the Magpies picked up a point. However, it was overshadowed slightly by a controversial penalty awarded to Newcastle which received the lion share of newspaper columns in the days after the encounter.
Vorm meanwhile has received plaudits for similar consistency and continuing to grow his reputation as the “Penalty Killer,” a title the 28-year-old picked up in his time at FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie. It’s worth noting how his old club’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse defensively since his departure. They have conceded 35 goals in the first half of the season – something they never did when Vorm was between the sticks for the club.
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Utrecht sit in 14th place at the winter break although the departure of star striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel is another contributing factor to their poor performance so far this season.
It demonstrates how a strong defence provides a platform for any attacking flamboyance. This comes in the sense that as an attacker, you know that should you lose the ball, you don’t have to worry about your mistake costing the team. This is perhaps something players wouldn’t think about openly and is more applicable on a subconscious level.
The Netherlands will forever be associated with Total Football and talented goalkeepers such as Krul and Vorm do give their teams a licence to thrill. Vorm’s Swansea has come closer to emulating the likes of Johan Cruyff. Their passing at times is mesmerising but Roberto Martinez must take credit for bringing a stylish brand of football to South Wales during his two years at Swansea.
That was before he moved onto Wigan in an effort to further his career, something Krul and Vorm will both appreciate. However, there’s an interesting comparison to be made here. Many of the best Dutch players usually originate from or play for Ajax at some point in their careers.
Both played for their home town clubs; ADO Den Haag in the case of Tim Krul and Utrecht for Michel Vorm. The latter actually turned down the Amsterdam club’s advances when he was 13, something many would have been perplexed by when you consider Ajax’s standing in world football, let alone Holland. Instead Vorm left for Swansea City some 14 years later for £1.5 million, a price which looks astoundingly good considering how he’s played thus far.
Krul jumped slightly earlier at the opportunity to move to the bigger stage from Den Haag in 2005 before he signed his first senior contract in 2006. As understudy to Shay Given and Steve Harper, Krul had to bide his time before being handed a place in the starting eleven. This season, Pardew decided to make the Dutchman his first choice keeper and it’s a decision that looks to be paying dividends.
Any gap left in the Dutch goalkeeping stakes by Edwin Van der Sar’s retirement last season has been filled firmly in the Premier League at least by Krul and Vorm. It was perhaps no surprise when they came up against each other for the first time in the Premier League that the game finished 0-0. What’s more the first time they met each other was earlier this summer in the Dutch International squad as Krul received his first call up. Vorm subsequently called Krul before deciding on a move to Swansea in the summer.
Maarten Stekelenburg is the current first choice for Holland. Should he pick up an injury ahead of the European Championships, Bert van Maarwijk should have no concerns about selecting Krul or Vorm. The situation wouldn’t be unfamiliar to the pair either. They’ve been patient waiting for their opportunity for a long time. Now they’ve been given their chance in the Premier League, Tim Krul and Michel Vorm are certainly grasping the opportunity with both hands.
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How do you rate Vorm and Krul’s performances this season? Tweet me @arhindtutt or comment below!
A series of early international tournament exits in the last year have placed question marks over the quality of English footballers. Unsurprisingly, the finger of blame has yet again been pointed at the system responsible for developing young players. Zarif Rasul investigates the English youth development system.
THE diminutive young Nigerian Olarenwaju Kayode skips down the left-hand side of England’s box, and whips a superb ball across the face of Jack Butland’s goal. The ball eludes almost everyone and lands at the grateful feet of Edafe Egbedi, who duly smashes home. Fifty-two minutes gone, and Nigeria lead England 1-0 at the Centenario de Armenia stadium in their FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2011 last-sixteen clash.
Despite the valiant attempts of Blackpool winger Matt Phillips, Nigeria hold onto their advantage for the remaining 38 minutes and dump England out of the tournament. England coach Brian Eastick bemoans the failure of clubs to release eligible players, but admits that his side’s performances in Colombia, which failed to see them score a single goal in four outings, are indicative of failure.
The Under-20s were not the only group of young Lions to follow in the underwhelming footsteps of the senior side. Seven weeks earlier, and less than a year after England’s 4-1 humbling at the hands of Germany in South Africa, Stuart Pearce’s highly-touted Under-21 side left Denmark having failed to make it out of the group stage of the European Under-21 Championship.
This recent run of ignominious international tournament exits has sparked another witch-hunt to find the scapegoat responsible for England’s failures. And yet again, critics have been quick to point to the perceived technical inadequacies of English players and flaws within the youth development system.
Overplayed and under-coached
The current system, which has been in place since 1998, is drawn from Howard Wilkinson’s landmark 1997 report Charter for Quality. As Technical Director at the FA, Wilkinson was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing youth development structure at the time. This review laid the foundations for the Charter.
During the 1990s, concerns had developed over the amount of coaching contact time and playing time young footballers were engaged in. Wilkinson says that dealing with these problems was a key priority.
“Youth development in professional clubs was confined to the then Centres of Excellence. Some of them would be very lucky to get to a Centre of Excellence [for coaching] for about an hour and a half a week.
“The best players at 15 years old, would be playing over 100 games a season because as well as being registered with, say, Tranmere Rovers’ Centre of Excellence, or Liverpool’s Centre of Excellence, they would also be playing for their school, their district, their county and the national team.”
Playing too many competitive matches was seen to be detrimental to the development of young footballers.
Ben Marskell, an ex-professional footballer who enjoyed spells with Brentford and Luton in the 1990s, was forced into early retirement due to a series of recurring injuries. As a youth player Ben trained with Chelsea and Aston Villa, and was considered one of the best defenders in the country. Now running his own soccer school in West London, he describes the rigorous playing schedule that elite youth players often had to adhere to.
“Sometimes, I would have to play three matches a day. I’d go from one pitch to the next – because when you’re a good player, everyone wants a piece of you, and you just get stretched and pulled each way,” he explained.
He believes that overplaying as a teenager eventually caught up with him and forced him to retire early.
“Overuse injuries made me stop. It wasn’t one injury that finished me, it was an accumulation of injuries. I would probably be playing at the top level now if I hadn’t had those injuries.”
A Charter for Quality
Wilkinson’s report, which he wrote soon after he joined the FA, revolutionised the youth development landscape and gave birth to Academies.
“The Charter for Quality was about creating more and more effective coaching time, and more quality practice and quality playing time,” he said.
“And to do that we had to get rid of the FA rule that allowed schools priority over talented footballers. Academies were the vehicle to deliver those principles.”
Having looked at several continental models, including successful methods employed by Dutch giants Ajax, Wilkinson also sought to lower the age at which clubs worked with players.
“Ajax were churning out hundreds of great players. They’d be finishing school early, being bussed in and bussed home three, four, five times a week,” he said.
“In Holland they believed in boys staying at home and being bussed in, and therefore the Dutch were effectively looking at a much earlier age. They were bussing kids into Ajax at 11.”
After being appointed manager at Leeds United in 1988, Wilkinson introduced changes to the way in which young players were developed at Elland Road, changes which influenced his later work with the FA.
“When I joined Leeds they were typical of other clubs, so I outlined my ideas to the chairman to develop what I called a ‘training centre’. The idea was to increase practice time by having boys living near, and we did that at Leeds.
“By the time I left Leeds and joined the FA [in 1996], I’d seen my ideas on youth development start to take shape. Consequently, my ideas had not just been a hypothesis.”
Wilkinson’s changes at Leeds resulted in a string of high quality players, such as Ian Harte, Alan Smith and Harry Kewell, making Leeds’ first team. All three players featured in the club’s memorable run to the semi-final of the Champions League in 2001.
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Academies and Centres of Excellence
Under the Charter, the Premier League and the Football League are authorised to award licences for Centres of Excellence or Academies to clubs. All but three Premier League clubs (Queens Park Rangers, Swansea City and Wigan Athletic) run an Academy, and 23 Football League clubs also do the same, whilst an additional 51 Premier League and Football League clubs run Centres. League Two side Hereford United were recently granted a licence to run a Centre and began their youth operation this season.
Clubs with an Academy or a Centre of Excellence can coach boys from the age of nine; before the Charter, clubs first engaged with young footballers at 14. The switch which allowed professional clubs to coach boys at younger age was key, and a point highlighted by several notable figures.
Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live, ex-England manager Glenn Hoddle described the period between the ages of six and ten as “the most important time in a child’s technical development”. Former Arsenal and Holland forward Dennis Bergkamp famously labelled the eight years to twelve years phase as “the golden period of learning”.
As the flagship product of the Charter, Academies must meet more stringent criteria than Centres. Academies are required to operate at all age levels from under nine to under 21, as well as providing a minimum amount of weekly coaching time. Those under the age of 11 must receive a minimum of three hours of coaching over two sessions, boys between 12 and 16 must receive at least five hours over the course of three sessions, whilst full-time scholars aged 16 and over must be coached for at least 12 hours per week.
On the other hand, Centres are permitted to operate at any age level, as well as being allowed to set their own weekly coaching hours. Differences also exist in the standard and quantity of facilities and staffing required, and Academies, as such, require far greater investment.
Upon reflection, Wilkinson admits that the implementation of the Charter hasn’t turned out quite as he had planned.
“I only envisaged 12 to 14 academies, but we finished up with 40, which in my humble opinion was always too many. I didn’t think the country had enough talent to support 40 high-level development centres,” he said.
“A lot of clubs and a lot of clubs’ directors would ask ‘Where’s our Rooney? Where’s our Joe Cole?’ That’s how they actually judged it. The notion that 40 academies can unearth 40 Rooneys every season is unreal – it won’t happen.
“The second thing was that there has to be adherence to rules. It’s fair to say that there wasn’t. The high standards set out in the Charter were not adhered to in some cases, in terms of numbers of coaches, the number of medical staff and education provisions and so on.”
Although the Charter successfully facilitated increased contact time, the amount of coaching time English youngsters receive still pales in comparison to the amounts received by their continental counterparts.
According to the Telegraph, young footballers in Spain enjoy 4,880 hours contact time between the ages of nine and 21, whilst this figure increases to 5,740 hours and 5,940 hours in Holland and France respectively. English players, on the other hand, receive a meagre 3,760 hours.
Coaching
Domestic resistance to the idea of coaching as a serious profession is an oft-cited failing of English football. In continental countries such as Holland, a suitable coaching qualification is an essential prerequisite to coaching players at any level, including grassroots.
Wilkinson says that this mentality developed due to the way physical education was taught.
“In the 1990s I recognised that culturally there was a different attitude in England, a fundamentally different culture to that what existed on the continent, in particular France, Italy and Spain.
“Physical education was performed by a teacher, who was supposed to be skilled in a multiplicity of disciplines. On the continent, however, you had education at school, and where there was physical education or sport at school it was theory.
“[Playing] sport was left to clubs, so all towns, all villages, had some form of sports club. Barcelona is a prime example of a sports club that’s become huge. In those clubs, professional coaches were part of a profession, so on the continent, training and education of coaches was recognised as wholly legitimate and essential to the sport.”
The Guardian reports that there are 2,769 English coaches holding UEFA’s three highest coaching badges (B, A and Pro), whilst Spain (23,995), Italy (29,420), Germany (34,970) and France (17,588) have significantly higher numbers.
Although England has fewer UEFA-qualified coaches than these countries, Nick Levett, the FA’s National Development Manager for Youth Football, says there is a perfectly good explanation for this.
“When we joined the UEFA coaching system and our courses fell in line with B licences and A licences, the other European countries had been running their systems along that model for a number of years before us. They’ve probably been doing it ten years longer than us. If you look now, the amount of coaches we train at A licence and B licence level is comparable every year with the other European countries,” he said.
However, Levett, who also coaches at Fulham’s Academy, feels that the coaching pathway is not necessarily tailored towards the best interests of young, developing footballers.
“I think it’s a bit of a paradox to be honest, because in this country we put our beginner coaches with our beginner players, and you could argue that you should put your best coaches with your beginner players. If we could raise the professionalism and respect of younger age appropriate coaches, I think it would be a good thing for the development of young players in this country,” he says.
Another issue, one that is particularly prevalent at grassroots level, is ensuring that coaches have age-appropriate knowledge suited to the children that they are coaching. Stuart Allen, County Development Manager at Middlesex FA, illustrates from his own experiences how beneficial and important coaching qualifications can be.
“I got involved with an under-11s club through a friend. He said his son’s club were losing ten-nil every weekend and I offered to help. I went down and said ‘we’re here for an hour and a half, we’ll do half an hour of physical work, half an hour of technical work and half an hour of a game.’ I thought that was right,” he said.
“Totally wrong. We did shuttle runs with these kids, I used to say ‘faster, faster, I used to do this as a kid.’ But shuttle runs aren’t appropriate for a ten-year-old, because their lungs can’t take in the amount of oxygen needed to keep it going. So my knowledge was completely flawed, and I couldn’t see that until I did my coaching course.”
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Role of the FA
The role of the FA within youth development has also been scrutinised. Sir Trevor Brooking, speaking in Chris Green’s book Every Boy’s Dream, opines that the FA is the “only governing body that doesn’t have power over its academy system”. Its influence extends as far as permitting the Premier League and the Football League to award clubs licences for Academies and Centres, and providing coach education courses. Howard Wilkinson explains the role of the FA.
“The FA is mandated by UEFA. The role of the FA is player development and coach education. It’s a different matter with the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and in the case of cricket and so on, where the governing bodies have a much stronger hold over the clubs then the FA does,” he says.
Wilkinson’s reference to the RFU highlights an interesting comparison. With one World Cup triumph and another appearance as beaten finalists in the last 10 years, it could be said that the English rugby team has enjoyed something akin to a golden period over the last decade. The current Six Nations title holders will enter September’s World Cup in New Zealand ranked fourth favourites by most bookmakers and with genuine aspirations of reclaiming the crown they won in 2003.
Gary Henderson, Head of Coach and Player Development at the RFU, believes that the role of the RFU and its relationship with professional clubs has been a key contributor to the quality and depth of elite young players coming through on the English conveyor belt, as well as ensuring that the nation’s best players perform for their country.
The clubs and the RFU signed an eight-year agreement in 2007 which ended long-running club v country disputes. Henderson believes that this deal was essential in order to ensure harmony between the two groups in the long run.
“Basically it’s just a legally-binding contract which says, ‘this is how we’re going to operate, this is the framework we’re going to operate.’ It’s given certainty for how the game’s going to be run for eight years – it almost traverses three World Cup spans.
“What we want them do is get [players] to play for England and for the professional rugby club too.”
As well as smoothing relations with clubs over the availability and use of players, the agreement also sought to encourage the continued development of young English players.
“A lot of the funding for the Championship and Premiership clubs’ players is now based on England-qualified players. The more England-qualified players you have in your Academy, or your starting 15 or matchday squad, the more money you will get. So there’s an incentive [for clubs] to develop English players.”
Arsene Wenger’s reluctance towards the idea of Jack Wilshere featuring for the Under-21 side earlier this summer mirrored the stance of several Premier League managers over the last twenty years. After being beaten by Nigeria earlier this month, England Under-20 coach Brian Eastick pointed to the clubs which refused to release up to 30 players for last month’s U-20 World Cup. If clubs are not willing to support English national teams by releasing their best players, how can we possibly expect the national sides to achieve success?
“In rugby the interests of both (the professional clubs and the RFU) are entwined with each other – they have to work together. I just don’t think that there is a joined-up approach to the development of players [in football] – the clubs basically do pretty much what they want despite what the governing body is doing,” said Henderson.
High hopes
Incredibly, Fifa’s latest set of international rankings place England at fourth place. Whilst there would be very few who believe the national side are amongst the top four teams in the world, there tends to be a heightened sense of belief amongst fans and large parts of the media that they can succeed in international tournaments. Inevitably, this leads to disappointment, accusations of underachievement and calls for a root and branch overhaul of the youth development system when it all goes wrong.
“Define underachievement? Because if achieve means winning, I’m not sure that should be our benchmark. If you look at Brazil for example, they’ve got 200 million people in the country, and statistically they’ve got a hell of a lot more people to pick from than us. So potentially we overachieve based on population,” says Nick Levett.
“I think the weight of pressure from the national media and their expectations, we always seem to have a golden generation of players that underachieve. I think under Sven, when we got to two quarter-finals, I think that is probably where we’re at, because if we make the semi-final or final we’ve done well. Therefore if we don’t make the quarter-final then I think we’ve underachieved.”
With this admission, is there anything really wrong with the way young English players are developed? Although Wilkinson believes that there is “an expectation far in excess of where England are placed in the ranking”, he says that two main issues may be preventing young English players from achieving their full potential.
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“Firstly, I would say that talented boys now find it more difficult to play top-level football, opportunities to play with the best and against the best,” he says.
“Secondly, we have to focus on the development of individual skills, and that has to be a top priority, from an early age. The boys have to play the sort of development football that encourages creativity – we’ve got a long way to go when you see some of the youth football that gets played.”
The diminution of opportunities for young English players is an increasingly worrying threat. Chris Lightbown states in his 2007 report Meltdown that “the number of overseas players making Premier League debuts every season is running at three times that of English players coming into the game through the Academy system”.
Although Premier League clubs have been criticised for overloading their squads with foreign talent, Levett sympathises with them.
“It is tougher for Manchester United and Chelsea to produce players from their Academy, than it is for Darlington or Stockport, because they have to produce players for the top nought percent in world football. And the likelihood of the best right-back in the world coming from within an hour and a half of Old Trafford is unlikely.”
Lack of technical ability amongst English footballers is frequently used as an excuse for the national team’s shortcomings. This explanation has curried more favour since the recent rise of Spanish football and the virtues of their style of play, but few would suggest that the likes of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard are not as technically gifted as Xavi, Iniesta and Villa.
The view from outside – France
Matthew Spiro, writer and broadcaster specialising in French and African football, discusses youth development in France and perceptions of English football.
ZR: Could you outline the youth development system in France?
MS: There are 14 elite academies run and financed by Fédération Française de Football (French Football Federation). These take around twenty 12-13 year-olds every year, and train them for three years.
Clairefontaine houses one of the academies, and is the administrative centre. Clubs have recently been given permission to run their own academies for 12-15 year-olds. After finishing their pre-training, the players, aged 15/16 are integrated into clubs’ ‘centre de formations’ (youth academies).
ZR: What sort of impact did Clairefontaine (the national football centre that was opened in 1988) have on the French national team successes in 1998 and 2000?
MS: Clairefontaine was a great base for the national team at 1998. But the academy system cannot be said to have had a major impact. Henry was the only Clairefontaine graduate in the World Cup 1998 squad.
Clairefontaine’s centralised training programme for players and coaches had a broader impact on the French game as a whole than the elite academy at Clairefontaine itself. The talented generation of intelligent, tough players was a more significant outcome.
ZR: What is the perception of English football and the English ‘style’ in France?
MS: The perception is that the Premier League is great to watch but that it has sold its soul to foreign investors and no longer provides opportunities for English players. The French watching games on TV regret this as they love the all-action styles of players like Gerrard and Rooney.
In terms of style and coaching, some of the French look down their noses at England. They feel the English still like to play kick-and-rush with a big striker and a terrible goalkeeper. Of course, these comments are generalisations!
The view from outside – Holland
Ernst Bouwes, columnist for ESPN Soccernet and expert on Dutch football, discusses youth development in Holland and perceptions of English football.
ZR: Could you outline the youth development system in Holland?
EB: Most professional clubs have a youth academy. All amateur clubs have youth teams in competition in age categories, starting at age six. Anyone can join in.
ZR: How is the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (Royal Dutch Football Association) involved in youth development?
EB: They demand that coaches need KNVB certificates to coach at any level. They provide referees, organise the leagues, provide advice on club structure and regional selection teams.
ZR: What is the perception of English football and the English ‘style’ in Holland?
EB: That it is very physical and tough. Players are not able to change positions. A lot of emphasis on the result, less emphasis on the gameplay.
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Sir Alex Ferguson has stated that he does not want to retire for another two to three years, but admitted that his eventual successor at Manchester United needs to be someone with a wealth of experience.
The Scottish coach recently completed 25 years in charge at Old Trafford, but has revealed that he is not planning to walk away from the game just yet.
“I think you always want to go out on a winning note,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“Hopefully we can do that. I don’t know how long I can last now, but if my health stays up I don’t think another two or three years would harm me,” he admitted.
Ferguson also stated that whenever he does leave the Premier League champions his replacement must be someone who has a track record of success.
“I think United need to have someone experienced. If I was coming into United today I would struggle because of the beast it is.
“When I came in we were in a valley because Liverpool were the dominant team and United were well adrift from that so we had to rebuild the club and it wasn’t easy, it took time.
“But the experience I had was the success from Aberdeen and that gave me a chance in terms of respect from the dressing room and gave me self-confidence I could do the job.
“If I was taken from the job in Aberdeen today it would be a much more difficult task even though I was successful,” he continued.
Finally, despite all the success that Ferguson has seen during his tenure with The Red Devils, he admits that he has made a mistake or two.
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“I could have bought Joe Hart for £100,000 [in 2005] so we all make mistakes,” he concluded.
On Sunday evening Football FanCast caught up with Fulham and Nigeria central midfielder Dickson Etuhu at the Sony Playstation Fifa 2012 Interactive World Cup UK qualifiers. The eventual winner of the UK qualifiers, Ty Walton, will now go on to the Grand Final to compete against the winners from countries around the globe to compete for $20,000. Walton said of his victory: “I was delighted to be back again challenging for the Qualifier event here in London, so knowing I’ve secured a place at the Grand Final is a dream come true. My experience at the 2011 Grand Final in Los Angeles was unbelievable so hopefully I can go back and win the tournament outright this year.”
Etuhu, who has been with Fulham since 2008, recently saw his good friend and star striker Bobby Zamora leave for QPR in January: “Bobby was probably the most popular man at the club so it was difficult for us to see him go, a lot of us still keep in contact with him, funnily enough I spoke to him today he’s a very good friend of mine. We miss him, not just his quality as a player but his banter too; he was a big part of the club.”
However the signings of Pavel Pogrebynyak in January and Bryan Ruiz in the summer will go some way to make up for the loss Zamora and Etuhu feels as though Bryan is beginning to find his best form. “Bryan’s doing well, obviously it was a bit of a slow start for him but the Premiership is a difficult league, it’s a lot faster than the Dutch league but he’s settled in now and he’s another good lad. He’s very quiet but he loves his football, he’s doing well for the team. The manager has been trying to find a position for him but now we know he probably plays best on the right or just behind the striker and we’re going to get a lot of good out of him because he’s a top quality player.”
In Martin Jol Fulham fans are now witnessing their fifth manager since 2007; whilst they have enjoyed mixed success the 29 year old Etuhu expressed a belief that Jol was the right man to take Fulham to the next level. “Martin Jol is big on his attacking football, the man loves proper football, he loves flair, he loves us keeping the ball and he loves to entertain the crowd. I think you cans see that in the type of players that he’s bringing into the club; we’re getting better to watch, especially away from home, we’re not as boring as we used to be and that’s something that he’s brought to the team.”
Nigeria, like many of the big African teams, have, in the eyes of many, underperformed in recent years, particularly in their failure to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations, and whilst Etuhu admits there have been problems he is hopeful that new manager Stephen Keshi is the right man to restore Nigeria to its former glory: “For me there are a lot of reasons [for Nigeria’s poor performances recently]. Yes we’ve got some of the best African players in Europe playing for our country but you could say that some of the managers that we’ve had in the past haven’t been the right men for the job or you could blame it on other things, but that’s finished now. We’ve got a new manager now in Stephen Keshi who I think is the right man for the job. You know I refused to play for the old manager for a year and I really missed playing for my country so much so I’m happy now that I’m back playing again, I’m actually going away next week to play the first qualifier [for the next African Cup of Nations] and I think now we’re going forward now.”
With Libya having to withdraw from hosting the next African Cup of Nations due to civil unrest Nigeria, as the reserve host, thought they were in line to hold the competition. However the Confederation of African Football decided that the tournament would be held in South Africa instead. Whilst understandably disappointed, Etuhu insisted that there were far more pressing issues at hand for Nigerian football. “Obviously South Africa has got the stadiums from the World Cup and they’ve got the facilities for a big tournament like that. We would have loved for it to be in Nigeria but we’ll just move on from that. We just have to concentrate on doing well in the next tournament and qualifying for it. All that other stuff is irrelevant to us right now; we just want to concentrate on getting into the next [African] Nations cup considering we missed the last one. That’s more important to us than hosting the tournament.”
This year’s African Cup of Nations was won by Zambia as they beat the Ivory Coast on penalties to secure an historic victory. Yet whilst many were surprised by the outcome of the tournament it was less of a shock for the Fulham midfielder. “It’s funny when people speak about Zambia like that [as underdogs] because I’ve played against Zambia this year and we knocked them out of the last African Cup of Nations and they’re a good team. People keep thinking that they’re the underdogs but I said from the beginning of the tournament that I fancied them. You know it didn’t really surprise me that they won, not one bit. They’re not underdogs; they are a very good team. They’ve got a great manager, he’s been with them for a while which is something that I think every African team should look at because we change managers too quickly. I think you need to have a good foundation like they have. That’s one of the reasons they play really good football and have a good understanding within the team. They actually play like a club side, which is very difficult to see in international football, and I think they deserved to win it.”
Dickson Etuhu and Jay Bothroyd attended the UK final of the FIFA Interactive World Cup on EA SPORTS’ FIFA 12, which was won by Ty Walton. Players can still compete online through their PLAYSTATION 3. For more information, visit www.fifa.com/fiwc
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Whether it’s the long term revival of Borussia Dortmund or the shorter term resurgence of Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Bundesliga is becoming accustomed to comebacks. Looking on a smaller scale, Freiburg and Augsburg can be proud of their resurgence in 2012. Neither club has the history or the tradition of Dortmund or Gladbach but nevertheless, their recent runs of form have been impressive.
Let’s not be too cliché – all was not lost after the first half of the season. However, both occupied the two automatic relegation spots and hadn’t illustrated much to think this would change radically in the second half.
This is slightly harsh on Augsburg who flickered into life before Christmas after a solitary win in their first fifteen Bundesliga games. Mainz was the scene of that victory. After visiting Bavaria on Saturday, they became the only side so far this season to be beaten home and away by Augsburg.
The 2-1 victory over Mainz meant Jos Luhukay’s side had only lost one of their last eight games. Having gone behind to a Sami Allagui strike, Augsburg struck back through Ja-Cheol Koo with the winner then coming from Sebastian Langkamp. He has also been superb for the Bavarians at the back recently contributing to a defence which has conceded three goals in their last four.
Strong defence isn’t something Freiburg have been synonymous with this season – they have the Bundesliga’s worst in fact. However, since the turn of the year, there have been marked improvements under new coach Christian Streich. This looked improbable too when their main attacking outlet, Papiss Demba Cissé, left for Newcastle having been an integral part of the team since his arrival in 2009.
In 2012 though, Freiburg have nearly doubled the amount of points they gained in the first half of the season. This was helped by picking up another three at Hamburg on the weekend. Goals from Johannes Flum, Daniel Caliguri and Cedric Makiadi ensured the third win of the Streich era.
Now as much as Freiburg and Augsburg deserve credit for their recent upturn in form, it needs to be put into perspective – the teams around them have been abysmal. Below, Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern are having scoring difficulties. That’s being very kind. Between them in 2012, Hertha and ‘Lautern have managed a pitiful six goals in eighteen games. Together they shipped ten at the weekend against Bayern Munich and Schalke respectively.
More confidence can be taken by the two teams above the resurgent pair also. Cologne and Hamburg are panicking. Hannover thumped the Billy Goats 4-1 on Sunday afternoon whilst Freiburg saw HSV’s problems up close on Saturday in their 3-1 victory.
It doesn’t matter then whether Freiburg or Augsburg glance up or down – the signs are good in both directions. They can take encouragement from being the most in-form sides in the bottom six of the Bundesliga. Better organisation has unsurprisingly led to both sides playing with greater confidence. Having been favourites to go down just over three months ago, they’re certainly best set to escape from the relegation battle.
For more on the Bundesliga, follow @arhindtutt
Matchday 26 Results:
Hoffenheim 1-2 Stuttgart
Augsburg 2-1 Mainz
Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Gladbach
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Werder Bremen
Hamburg 1-3 Freiburg
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Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has admitted that the Merseyside club are in crisis, and feels the side are becoming a laughing stock due to poor form.
Kenny Dalglish’s men have only won two Premier League games out of 12 in 2012, with six defeats in their last seven matches a new record low for the team.
Aldridge feels that the situation is dire, and that a solution must be found.
“There is no getting away from the fact that Liverpool are now in a crisis,” Aldridge is quoted as saying in Mirror Football.
“The eyes of the world are on Liverpool and the critics are having a field day. We’re becoming a laughing stock.
“To lose six out of seven in the league is something the club won’t ever tolerate – we can’t tolerate that. To have picked up just eight points out of 36 since the turn of the year is shambolic – that’s relegation form.
“The fact that this is the worst run in the league since 1954 speaks volumes. Questions are being asked and they need to be answered.
“We’re all proud to be associated with the club and everything it has achieved over the years.
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“But at the moment being a Liverpool fan is just embarrassing and that’s something I haven’t had to say before. We all know that we’re not the finished article but we’re better than what we’ve seen recently,” he concluded.