Grande Finale

With the US Open finishing today the final of Queens club and the end of the first week at Euro 2008 I want to reflect on what has been the beginning of an unbelievable summer of sport.

I'll start with Cricket and start of the one-day series between New Zealand and England. New Zealand ranked third in the world in ODI's are certainly the favourites and the beating that England have received on there own turf by some sides gives them extra optimism. The win in the 20/20 international will mean nothing going into the 5-match series and i fully expect New Zealand to win by 2 or 3 matches. England are side in transition at this level and have never grasped this part of the game. Sorting out there openers will be of main concern to Peter Moores, the inclusion again of Luke Wright puzzles me. He struggled in the 20/20 world cup, and in other ODI's I think the step up for him is to high. For me Strauss and Bell are the pair for me. It will also be a case of whether the 3-way bowling attack of Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson can bring there test from into the 50 over game, something that they have yet to do and something I think will take time to develop. A comfortable New Zealand win for me over the 5 match series with England still looking for improvement.

Next to Rugby and a tour that from the outset looked like a disaster waiting to happen has started in impressive manner for a youthful England side. New Zealand who are in transition themselves scored four tries on there way to a 37-20 victory, but England's performance to restrict the All Blacks to only four tries and to score two themselves i think can be held in high accolade. This performance has set up the series nicely and even though I do expect New Zealand to win the next match I reckon England can nick the three game to finish 2-1 in the series. However one criticism I do have of this tour is how close it was to the and of the regular season. May 31st was the Premiership Grand Final and barely two weeks later England are in new Zealand playing there first match. there should be at least some rest bite for these players who now seem to be playing 12 month seasons, how are they expected to play with any quality when there tired from playing for there club. The same accusation has been played at footballers as well, but even they would have has more of a rest than the Rugby players have. If England are expected to play well then they need the RFU to protect them and give them every chance of doing well.

Queen's has always been built as a warm up for Wimbledon and a chance for players to get used to grass before the big major. However I think now Queens is becoming its own tournament not just one for warming up for Wimbledon. This year shows that more than ever. The top four seeds for the competition all lie in the top eight in the world and all make up the semi-final line up. Rafael Nadal was just to good for reigning champion Andy Roddick, who will have to wait another year to win a record breaking fifth Queen's title. Novak Djokovic is the other finalist after blitzing past David Nalbanian. The two met in the semi-final of the French open, but it will be interesting to see the two winners of the first two opens off there favourite surface against each other with a title in sight. I think Nadal's form is ridiculous at the moment and he should make short work of Djokovic, maybe in three sets this time but still with the dominance he has shown all year.

We see it all the time in team sports players rushing back from injury to play in major tournaments or matches and never being able to re-capture there form or make a proper impact. Not often however do we see this happen in individual sport. Players are usually very sensible in deciding they aren't fit enough to compete. Tiger Woods have strolled around the US Open this week with an obvious limb and is clearly in some pain and not 100% fit for this tournament. But like every great professional he has got on with it and as he always does played himself into contention so much so that he leads with the final round remaining. Everyone knows that Woods always win's major's that he leads going into the final round. Wouldn't it be ironic that if his misjudgement of playing in this tournament actually denied him of an unlikely title. I think he will hang on but England's Lee Westwood won't make it easy for him.

Last but not least we have come to the half way stage in the European Championship of 2008 and after what was a slow start the tournament has really come to light. Holland have been the most impressive of the nations after overwhelming both Italy and France and strolling into the last eight. Portugal and Spain have also made there way through with a little less grace but still they look dangerous. Surprise packages have come from Croatia, who look set to top group A ahead of Germany and Russia who are preparing for a showdown with Sweden to who will qualify with Spain in group D. My players of the tournament so far are spread across all of the nations that have impressed me. Wesley Snidjer of Holland, Galasek or Czech Republic, Aurthur Boruc of Poland, Zhirkov of Russia and Senna of Spain. Others have done especially well but these are the men that have stuck out for me. Next week is likely to be very exciting and with a start studied last eight it could be a thrilling last two weeks of this championships, who said it wouldn't be good without England if anything it's even better.

Up for grabs

With England not involved in this years championships I have the fortunate position of not having to focus on them and open myself to other nations and the chances of sucess in this years competition. For once I believe it could be one my so many nations and that there isn't a clear favourite. Without England in the competition, ironically it could the most exciting European Championships in the long time.

Italy the world champions will be looking to be the second country to win the World Cup and then the Euro's successfully. However with a new manager in place it seems unlikely that they will produce a similar result. They went to Germany with an ageing team and very similar players return this time around. Teams will have different and younger teams than this Italian side and this will be there downfall, expect them to get out of there group containing both Holland and France, but possibly facing Spain in the quarter -finals will be where they find themselves unstuck.

So if there is to be no repeat of 2006 who will be there come the end? The loosing finalists France looked terrible to be kind against England in there Friendly earlier this year and although they won the game you can't see this team taking the title even if they do scrape themselves into the semi-finals. This competition is one that you can stumble into the semi-finals without really playing a difficult match.

Spain have a magnificent squad on paper, but when have we never said that? I think again they will flatter to deceive and another close call will see them fall short. I'm not going to be another naive football supporter and back them to win, I've been conned to many times.

Cristiano Ronaldo will b keen to remind everyone that he is the best player in the world. The current Manchester United player dominated in 2004 and this year similar will be expected of him. More so it will be presumed that he will lead his side to triumph. However as United showed in their season you need more than one player to take you to glory. In this Portuguese side I don't see a Rooney or a Tevez to go alongside Ronaldo, therefore I see a tired Ronaldo tirelessly striving to get his side into the final and falling at the last hurdle.

The reason why England have failed in major competition is because of the strenous season the premiership puts on you. So within reason the best team with the least depleted players from the Premiership will be best equipped to tackle this years championship. That's why I tip Germany to take the title they last won twelve years ago at Euro '96.

Only Michael Ballack has played any first team Premier league football, and he only played for half a season due to injury. And fo that remaining part he was the driving force that took Chelsea so close to overhauling United as champions and European Cup winners. So therefore he is relatively rested and as Germany's best player goes into the tournament in form. Add to that one of the most potent strike duo in International football of Klose and Lucas Podolski. Klose is the most ruthless centre forward in the world right now and was top scorer in the last world cup. With so many close calls in recent years this is the year to bring back the German pride that we saw back in '96. And remember, they never lose on penalties.

I can't see past the Germans, and I can't see an upset like we saw Greece do in 2004. It might be exciting, but it will be Germany.

How times are changing

This season has seen the tennis scene change somewhat with Roger Federer's dominance in the sport being halted by Novak Djokovic and the ever improving Rafael Nadal. Djokovic took the opening title of the season, beating Jo Wilfred-Tsonga in the final. The Serbian is beginning to have the dominance on the hard courts that Nadal and Federer enjoy on clay and grass. An although Djokovic finds himself in the semi final at the French open expect him to come hard at the US Open where again the hard courts will be there to be exploited.

Federer although he has by his standards been very off colour has come good at the French with his general play improving with every match, wouldn't it b ironic if the year he wasn't expected to be able to compete with Nadal he actually overturns the Spaniard. However big his improvement i can't see past Nadal to cruise to another win and I'm sure his dominance will mirror Federer's on grass.

It will be at Wimbledon where Federer is really pushed. A place he has of course won before and a place unlike here at Rolan Garos he is expected to win. All the pressure will be on, and as Nadal showed last year, he is getting closer. The added distractions of Gonzalez, Murrey and Ferrer won't help his cause and even the forgotten man Andy Roddick lurks looking for an upset.

If things are only changing a little in the men's game, it's all to play for in the women's and with the retirement of Justin Henin opening up the draw very invitingly. Number 1 seed Maria Sharapova couldn't take advantage as she crashed out at the 3rd round stage. it looks as though, with the addition of Amilie Mauresmo's exit that the young pretenders are the hire to Henin's crown.

Ana Ivanovic and jelena Janovic look the most imposing and both meet in the semi-final on thursday. I think both will compete with Sharapova for the Wimbledon title as well, however I believe Ivanovic will be too strong both this week and in July.

A usually predictable women's game has been blown open by this shock announcement by Henin and this can only have good things for the game. This might open the door for more young pretenders to come through and show the world what they are made of. it's been same old for some years now, we need some new blood to come through and the sooner the better for what could b described the most vibrant women's sport in the world today.

Managerial Merry go-round

Usually the summer months after the season has finished is the time for players to be turning down new contract and creating speculation that they are to move onto big and greater things. However this summer it has been the turn of the managers and how they are moving clubs ever so quickly. A true representation of the current football climate that managerial changes are now as regular as player transfers.

The Premier League has seen a radical overhaul, less than a month after the normal season has finished Arvam Grant and Sven Goran Eriksson two of the big first season success stories being moved along to allow for greater success. You tell me if you can get an average middle table side higher than 8th, with a new manager who has being doing that for years, not sure we'll see much change there. And sacking a manager who did what no Chelsea manager has done and get them to a Champions league Final only to be denied by a petulant and selfish Nicolas Anelka. Anelka didn't only look like he wanted to be there but the way he reacted to the penalty miss was shocking and a true showing of someone who has succeeded so much to early in his career.

Oddly enough for Chelsea this summer there search for a new manager has not bared any fruit as yet. Usually they are able to draft people in with there amazing wealth. Maybe for once Abrowich's poison chalice has warned everyone off and that there will be no takers for this unpredictable post. I'm sure however the winning manager from this year's Euro 2008 championships, a manager with nothing to prove in international football will take the post, my tip is Luis Philip Scolari.

Success seems to be a common reason for being sacked in management currently, with Nigel Pearson being axed at Southampton. After keeping the club afloat when it seemed certain they were going the same way as Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Bradford City. But to underline the utter contempt that the club is being run they have appointed a manager who hasn't finished his deal at his current club and who hasn't even agreed to sign as yet. A purely stupid move by a club who are really hitting there lowest point at this point in time. Not to keep nit picking but this man is hardly going to out shine Pearson and i predict a very similar season to last season, unfortunately this man is no magician like Pearson.

In League 2 it is nice to see Peter Taylor back in football league management, however like so many managers it looks like the money has got to him. he had a super team at Stevenage, a team who could surprise many in the Blue Square Premier next season. It was a shame to see Paul Lambert leave at the end of the season, he has done a fantastic job there, making a Carling Cup Semi-final in 2006 and then the play-off semi this season, however when you know its time to go then you just go, no questions asked. And seeing that he hasn't found a new club to soon after leaving shows it was a heart felt good-bye and he hadn't received a better offer.

With plenty of the summer still to go the player transfer saga is sure to start bubbling, the most interesting of the lot will be to see how many Chelsea players move on to Jose Mourinho's new club Inter Milan, one of which I hope is Frank Lampard, I've never been his biggest fan but I think to be truely appreciated as a great player he needs to stretch his wings to abroad and I think Mourinho is the man to help him.

How a dream can end so quickly

On Monday I had the privilege of being at Plainmoor to see Torquay United take on Exeter City in the second leg of the play off semi final. Torquay, 2-1 up from the first leg took the lead just after the hour through Kevin Hill. Surely they couldn't throw away a 3-1 aggregate lead with just twenty minutes remaining? Wrong in a twenty minutes blitz Exeter scored 4 goals to knock out the southcoast rivals.

Watching the game unfold in the second half was just amazing, I've ever seen a team turn a game on it's head like that for a long time, especially after Exeter's poor performance for most of the game. But at the end of the day when it came to it they had the fire power to get themselves through.

Torquay will need to look at themselves hard in the mirror and work out where it all went wrong. not having Lee Phillips from the start certainly didn't help. I felt that Chris Zebroski's role up front didn't work and although he worked hard for the team he didn't look like frontman and he didn't hold the ball with any sort of authority. it was a bad call from both the manager and the player. Zebrokski should have been chosen on the left wing, where he is normally played in the first team. Another issue I have with the team was the substitution changes. Once Torquay took the lead through Hill, the fans, the team and more importantly the manager thought the tie was won. Paul Buckel has a lot to answer for here. he showed inexperience by making the changes he did and changed the dynamics of the team, when it didn't need to be tampered with. After all exeter had shown nothing up till this point.

While taking this into account I'm taking nothing away from Exeter. They were brilliant. A magnificent attacking performance, something you would find more in common with a team higher up the Football League ladder.Just a quick note about the Exeter away fans, they were magnificent some of the best I've seen since i've been watching football. Good luck to them in the final where they face Cambridge United at Wembley.

Lust for money? Or Lust for Success?

As Rocky Baptiste fired Havent and Waterlooville level in the last minute at the Liberty Stadium in the third round of the FA Cup back in January, what were the backroom staff at the club really thinking? ‘yes a chance to bring them back to our place so we can give them a good hiding’.

More likely it was ‘a chance to rake in some cash to keep the club afloat’.

And this brings up the question when did clubs become focused on financial gain, and stop considering the implications of actually going into the next round.

Gone have the days that clubs wanted a home draw against a small team so that they could have a chance of progressing.

Now they want to go to a big away ground like Stamford Bridge or Anfield to fuel their financial fire.

This is the real reason why you don’t see many upsets these days, the clubs believe they have already won there final, the draw itself.

Always the first question from the interviewee after a club gets through to the next round of the cup is, ‘who would you want in the next round?’

The same reply is always the same, ’one of the big teams!’

Why for once can the manager not say, ‘a small team at home, let’s go all the way!

To be honest this season has seen a change in the belief shown in some teams.

Havent, Barnsley, Coventry, Sheffield United just to name a few have knocked out sides from divisions above them, and bar Barnsley none of the teams made any sort of the head way in the competition.

To be fair Havet got as far as they could have wished. Even two goals against Liverpool was beyond there wildest dreams.

I don’t think clubs these days, and I’m mainly talking about teams in League 1 and 2 who get plenty of money from Television rights, who don’t need the added incentive of drawing a big team away, they should want to go as far as they can until the draw results go against them.

Teams think there biggest achievement is drawing a big team away, it isn’t ,the biggest achievement is beating them.

And until teams start to realise this it will be a long time till we see two teams from outside England’s top league contesting the FA Cup Final

underated XI

Before I start this week's post I want to offer my congratulations to both Chelsea and Manchester United for reaching the Champions League Final in May. In two very different games Manchester United were able to defend there way to final, as Chelsea outscored Liverpool in a thrilling game at the Stamford Bridge, very uncharacteristic of both sides. I also want to offer my condolences to Mansfield Town after they were relegated after Chester got a point at Stockport County on Tuesday.

 

Anyway onto my main post and after the Premiership team of the season brought up a lot of different opinions and also gave us a view on who really effected the season. For once I want to highlight the players who would never have made this team, because they don't reside in the top four, of which only two players were selected. So here's my Underrated Premiership team of the season.

 

GK-Joe Hart: The 21 year-old Manchester City goalkeeper has been a revelation for Sven Goran Eriksson's men and has been a rock in-front of the sticks. Hart's form has been so impressive he's now a regular for the England Under-21's and is bound to break into full side before the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Bar David James he's been the best English goalkeeper this season and he has a bright future ahead of him for both club and country.

 

RB- Tony Hibbert: Another English player in this eleven and one of the Premiership most consistent performers. The Everton right-back doesn't always go forward as often as most full-backs but he solid defensive play allows for extra attacking play down his side. Although he has to contest the position with Phil Neville he is the more reliable of the two in that positions. Will probably miss out on a international cap but his constancy will is hard to find elsewhere in the league, one of the most underrated of this eleven.

 

CB- Olof Melberg: The Swedish defender has been at the heart of the O'Neil revolution at Villa and he has set the foundations for what are usually a attacking based team. Melberg and Laursen have been awesome for the Villains this season and Melberg's experience has been the cornerstone of that success. Doesn't get in amongst the goals as much as Laursen but that shows more for how committed he his on his defensive commitments more than his attacking prowess.

 

CB- Christophe Samba: Apart from Santa Cruz upfront Rovers have been struggling for goals, and it’s just as well Samba and co have been keeping it tight or Blackburn could be a lot worse off. Samba is a great decoy for Ryan Nelson at the back and his huge physical presence can scare strikers to the bare bone. His superb strike against Spurs earlier this season was definitely a highlight for him, but he certainly takes more pleasure in his defensive work than scoring goals.

 

LB- David Weater: Wheater has had a brilliant season for Boro’ has his break into the England set-up is surely the highlight of his season. It’s detriment to his superb performances this season that Jonathan Woodgate was sold half way through the season because of the potential shown in Wheater. One of the best compliments he could have been shown. A sure shoe in for England in the next few years and is sure to make an impact at a bigger club in the near future.

 

RM-Sulley Muntari: One of the sparkling African contingents at the FA Cup Finalists, and maybe the most talented of the lot. His incredible left foot has haunted many teams this season, including Aston Villa who he scored two brilliant long range goals against earlier in the season. His form at the African nations cup was just as brilliant he winning goal in the opening game was simply brilliant. In addition his composure to score a winning penalty at Old Trafford is something to be pround of. Although his form dropped off a little after the African Cup of Nations he was still an intrinsic part of the team who have reached the FA Cup Final.

 

CM-Mathieu Flamini: The only player from one of the ‘big four’ I have included, and for one very good reason, Arsenal are full of stars and the only one who isn’t as flamboyant as the rest. As Fabregas, Adebayor and Van Persie weave the magic up the pitch, Flamini has been patrolling the midfield and has been a great decoy for Fabregas who for the first time this season has had the licence to roam forward and is probably the reason for the Spainard’s increased goal tally. A brilliant versatile player who has been overlooked by many this season, because of his own teams outrageous playing style.

 

CM- Lee Carsley: The second Everton player on the list and just as anonymous as Hibbert but just as influential. His midfield anchor role for Everton again allows others to get forward and get involved further up the pitch. Cahill and Arteta have a lot to owe Carsley for. Another brilliant passer of the ball.

 

LM- Martin Petrov: A talented left winger, Petrov arrived from Athletico Madrid in a £4.7m deal.e spacing Having already established himself as a first team regular thanks to his passing and vision, Petrov showed his finishing quality with three goals in a week in late September. As the season has progressed, his defensive frailties have been exposed at times, but he remains one of the first names on the City teamsheet. One of the few hits of Sven’s new signings, should be a regular next season as well whether Sven stays as manager or not.

 

CF- Kenwyne Jones: After being bought for 5 million pounds in the summer, there was a lot of pressure on Jones going into the new season. However Jones has proven all his critics wrong in attempting to keep his Sunderland side in the Premiership. His goals have been most vital, and his hold up play in particular has been most useful bringing other players into the game. At times this season he’s been un-defendable, his brute strength troubling defenses all over the country.

 

CF- James McFadden: After being frustrated at Everton he moved to Birmingham City in Janurary for 3.5 million pounds. He has contributed hugely to keep Birmingham in the Premiership, including two goals against Arsenal in March. His extravagant play and superb vision is a huge asset for the club, and it’s a mystery that with both him and Forssell upfront that Birmingham are still struggling at the foot of the table.