Lack of Premier League experience sees Villa fall fowl

Football’s a game where too many opinions can be drawn from one game. Robbie Savage will be happy with his prediction that Villa will go down this season. Alex McLeish will insist after Villa’s opening game that the claret and blue army need more
players. One of those is correct.

Yes, controversial as this might be, but big eck had a point. One that actually we all agree with, at the same time as knowing the Scot is a poor manager, also correct.

Guest Blog: Are Manchester United Fans Getting Carried Away Too Soon?

With Manchester United off to a flying start this season and scoring hatfuls along the way, I’ve decided that Manchester United fans are getting too carried away too soon. This might be because I’m slightly bitter because they signed Villa’s best player in the summer, but it might just be that fans of United (and City for that matter) should err on the side of caution when claiming the title is theirs so soon. They only need to look at Chelsea last season when Chelsea were 5 points clear of their rivals in October and off to a flyer. It’s a long season! I asked Man Utd fan Sam (@Cranno7) for his thoughts on the matter.

The new United: Are we all getting carried away too soon?

Four games in and much of the early hype has been about the new-look Manchester United and how they swept aside Arsenal at Old Trafford two weeks ago and Bolton at the Reebok yesterday. There is no doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson’s young team are looking the part at this stage but it is a long season and I’m not sure United have their 20^th title in the bag just yet.

What Sir Alex appears to have got right is getting his squad together early. The team that have started the Premier League campaign this season enjoyed a full tour of the United States together in the pre-season. In the US, the likes of Young, Cleverly and Welbeck were able to learn the Manchester United philosophy of attacking, whilst Smalling and Jones got themselves accustomed to the United backline. The one weak link so far appears to be the Spaniard between the posts who has the potential to be the next Massimo Taibi (remember that calamity against Southampton!?). The jury is certainly still out on him. But the US tour meant that when United began their competitive season against Manchester City at Wembley they looked far more composed, comfortable and unified than their city rivals and this was encapsulated with Nani’s first goal after a great team move.

Sir Alex had his full squad whilst the other big teams were sweating over transfer deals on deadline day (Sneijder never looked likely from the outset). And four early wins, including an 8-2 demolition of Arsenal, sees the pundits and journalists already engraving Manchester United on the Premiership trophy. But… after a shaky opening game at the Reebok, Manchester City have four wins from four and a strike-force of Dzeko, Aguero and Silva who are all enjoying their football at City and scoring goals in the process. Questions will continue to be asked about Mancini and whether he has the ability to keep his very large and very talented squad happy. You feel that if the City boss can solve his selection dilemma and keep his team content then he might just be able to take the Premier League trophy to Eastlands.

Away from Manchester the other top contenders are looking far from threatening. Liverpool, who were tipped by many to be a real title challenger this season, have failed to impress thus far and suffered their first defeat yesterday to Stoke. Kenny Dalglish has spent a huge amount of money since January on players that would probably not make the first XI if they found themselves at City or United. After four games they are already five points behind the leaders and will need to do a lot more to impress. Tottenham have had a dreadful start to their season including a 5-1 thrashing at home to City and Harry Redknapp’s team seem to be a long way from the team that beat AC Milan in the San Siro in February. Redknapp will hope that the signings of Parker and Adebayor will make the difference at White Hart Lane and they were pivotal in their win away at Wolves yesterday. As for Arsenal… we shall see! Chelsea, though, look the only other credible threat to United apart from City.

As it stands it looks like a three horse race but it is only the beginning of September and there are a lot of games to play. One of the major factors marking United and City apart from their rivals at this stage is the number of goals they are scoring at home and away – both have goal differences in double figures already with Chelsea leading the rest of the pack with just four.

The question of this blog was whether we’re all getting carried away with this new Manchester United team. In reality the answer is yes – much can happen between now and May but with Wayne Rooney and his new hair getting back-to-back hat-tricks it is extremely difficult not to get carried away. City are posting big scores but the message from United every weekend seems to be ‘anything you can do we can do better’.

For me, the most important dates to remember this season are 23 October (United v City at Old Trafford) and 28 April (City v United at Eastlands). This is where the title could be won or lost because both teams look unbeatable right now.

You can read more from Sam Cranston on his great Blog, but for now, why not let us know your thoughts below!!

Guest blog: Simply an “okay” transfer window for Spurs

One of the clubs I always look out for in the transfer market is Spurs. Not only are an annoying number of my friends fans and even season ticket holders, but they have a Chairman in Daniel Levy and a manager in Mr Harry “leaning out the car window to speak to SKY” Redknapp who are particularly interesting during this time. Therefore I thought it would be worth hearing from avid Spurs fan and, once nicknamed, “football brain” @NickOD84‘s thoughts on this summer’s activity down at the Lane… 

I would like you all to cast your minds back to September 2008, around 23.30, and pictures of Dimitar Berbatov at Old Trafford waving to the Manchester United fans that had stayed up late to see their new £30.75 million striker arrive at the club. Just a couple of weeks prior to that, Dimitar had refused to start against Middlesbrough in Tottenham’s first game of the season – and consequently the season was altogether disappointing, resulting in Juande Ramos being sacked in early October and a resurgent Tottenham, under the stewardship of Harry Redknapp only managing to climb to 8^th.

Fast forward three years and a sense of déjà vu was in the air as another “big club” were looking at Tottenham’s talisman Luka Modric to make their side complete. The first game of the season this year came round and Luka Modric told Harry Redknapp that “my head is not in the right place”.

However, in 2011, Daniel Levy had learnt from his mistakes and there were no pictures of Modric at Stamford Bridge or Cobham, but simply him training with his Croatian team-mates. Modric is not for sale at any price – and that includes £40million (apparently).

On the outset, many Tottenham fans will look at this and say that the transfer window was a success, and Tottenham, unlike their neighbours in North London had not sold their “Best Players” to their rivals.

However, my personal opinion is that this has simply been an “okay” transfer window and not as successful as many might believe.

Levy has succeeded when it comes to the huge wage bill that has been relieved … Bentley, Jenas, Hutton and Palacios were on big wages and losing them (along with Mr. Crouch) probably saves around £1million a month on wages. Saying that, how much West Ham are really paying of Bentley’s wages we don’t know.

Looking at who Tottenham have bought, I believe that Parker is a good addition – however, we could have bought him before the season started and not waited until the final day (as per usual with Tottenham) and Adebayor is a good signing on loan. Once he has a contract, he normally relaxes, but while playing for a contract Adebayor has always produced. On his day he is unplayable and alongside Defoe or with Van der Vaart behind him, he could do really well this year.

However, if Adebayor gets injured in the Barclays Premier League this season, then Spurs are left with Defoe and Pavlyucenko up front – on last season’s performances, not exactly a threatening strike force that will result in a top 4 finish. If Dawson gets injured, I have no idea who will play at the back (Can we rely on Gallas and King to play much this season?). And this is the key area of the squad where Tottenham did not deliver in the transfer window … for Redknapp to say that Spurs could not agree a fee with Bolton for Cahill is beyond me! Tottenham sold Crouch for £10 million, Palacios for £8 million and Keane for £3.5 million this summer. Even if Spurs had to pay £17 million for Cahill they would still be in profit this summer (and they have a young England centre-half, who will only get better)! If Cahill signed, Bassong could have gone on loan to QPR and more wages would have been off the payroll as well. If I’m honest, this is my main area of concern for the season … this is a team that has conceded 8 goals in their first two games after all!

Away from who has been signed and who has been sold, my overall feeling of the transfer window is the same as it was in 2008 … taking away the joy (not!) of watching Jim White on Sky Sports News, the start of season has resulted in Spurs being in a state of turmoil at the end of August, and now having to play catch up on the rest of the pack.

Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd all bought early in the window (only adding a couple of freebies on deadline day) and the effect has been shown by them all starting the season settled and looking good (although, I am still not sure about Liverpool if honest – Henderson isn’t good enough, and if they lose Suarez to injury, just like if Spurs lose Adebayor, I feel they will struggle a bit).

But deadline day has gone now and Spurs need to pick up points against Wolves in a week or so time.

So, until January, when Chelsea come sniffing back to Chigwell for Modric, the next three months should give Tottenham some much needed time to settle down and start playing the fast, fluid football that the Spurs fans have come to live with over the last couple of years. Admittedly a lot of this will depend on how good Mr. Redknapp’s man-management skills are and whether they work on rejuvenating the little magician from Croatia!

Head to Head: Nottingham Forest -Vs- West Ham United

So, with another weekend of football upon us, I hope you’re managing to take it all in, we’ve decided to focus our thoughts and words on a once clash of the titans. With two clubs steeped in history going head-to-head this weekend we turn our attention to Forest v West Ham. Taking part in our 11-a-side questionnaire this week is Water Cooler’s very own  Jack and also West Ham blogger and twitter fanatic James Jones.

With both teams appointing managers with Premier League experience in ex-England brolly owner Shteve McLaren and a man who claimed he could manage Real Madrid and now hammer’s gaffer Big Sam. Anyway,  here is our head-to-head…

Guest Blog: Cesc is your ex-girlfriend you still desperately love, but she convinced you that the separation was a mutual decision.

The two of you got together in the spring of 2003 when you were a young, ambitious, driven person who had everything a girl could want.  Your job was fantastic at the time, here you were a shining beacon of success, one for the future, people were envious of your success and indeed the girl, who even though you could never truly admit it, was probably going to be the best thing that ever happened to you.  What followed would be a world wind romance which is a story book for the ages.

Guest Blog: Fulham – A rainy night in Europe

It lashed it down at Craven Cottage last night and I will ashamedly admit that many fans were seemingly put off by the weather – not the Hammersmith End contingent though. Equipped with new chants which include ‘You gotta fight, for the Whites – Kasaaaaami’ (for new 3.5m signing Patjim Kasami) and the adopted ‘I love Martin Jol and Martin Jol loves me’ – Fulham’s European adventure got fully underway as a 3.0 win against Dnipro gave Fulham firm grasp on a place in the group stages.

The real discussion amongst those who braved the conditions surrounded whether another foray into the Europa League will benefit the club. The 2010 Europa League Final was without doubt the highlight of any Fulham fans many long years of toil and hardship but with a replication of THAT amazing run seemingly unlikely would Fulham be better off without the Europa League focussing on the Carling Cup or a Top 10 finish?

Championship Kick off Head to Head: Southampton -vs- Leeds Utd

 

As the Championship is now upon us, the Football Water Cooler previews the clash of two of England’s finest football clubs. The not-so-long-ago Champions League qualifiers, Leeds United, take on the once-Man Utd-beating and club of the great Le Tissier, Southampton. Though more important than their recent falls from greatness is how they start what is a very important season for both clubs. Our two fanatics, Phil of Leeds and Stu of Southampton, go head-to-head below.

 

1.      How’s the preseason gone?

Stu (Southampton)

To be honest preseason has been fairly bland; a decent result against West Brom (2-2) and some really good football played in the memorial tri-tournament, but its been a bit slow in terms of building a squad ready for the leap up to the Championship. We have played pretty average teams – it would have been nice to see how we fared against stronger sides.

Phil (Leeds)

We have had a decent preseason and remained unbeaten. Indeed, with a fantastic win against a strong Newcastle side, we should be more than happy with the way it has gone.

Head to Head: Brighton vs Spurs

As the beginning of the season draws tantalisingly ever closer, the Football Water Cooler introduces the new 11 a-side head to head format, answered by a fan of each team involved in a big clash (or pre-season jolly to the seaside in this instance). Ahead of this weekend’s friendly action, Brighton fan Knotty and our very own Director of Football Gerts go head to head…

1. How’s the pre-season gone so far?

Knotty: Pre-season has gone reasonably well: comprehensive victories against the local Sussex non-league outfits before heading out to Portugal for games against a Spurs XI, PSG and Ohlanese. Gus’s boys secured a hard-earned 2-2 draw against the second string Spurs side before losing 1-0 against a PSG side who have recruited a great deal over the summer. We have a number of new players after a spending spree of astronomical proportions by Albion standards, but from the reports I’ve heard, the new boys have all settled in well. 

Gerts: Fairly mixed bag. The 1^st team headed to South Africa where we lost to the Kaiser Chiefs 1-0, drew 1-1 with the Orlando Pirates and then comfortably beat them 3-0 at the 2^nd time of asking to claim our first piece of silverware; the renowned “2011 Vodacom Challenge”  title. A strong Spurs XI beat MK Dons 5-3 on Tuesday night with Niko Kranjcar stealing the show.

Guest Blog: All aboard the Spurs rollercoaster

The Football Water Cooler’s man upstairs, Director of Football David Gerty, weighs in on the Modric saga, the rightful position of Tottenham Hostpur and a whirlwind last year…

Tottenham Hotspur on the backpages has a feeling of normality. “Never a dull moment” is a cliche often uttered to describe a football club, but for Tottenham it seems more than apt. As the final whistle blew on a 2-1 win to Birmingham City, it finally gave Spurs fans a chance to catch their breath on what had been a whirlwind 13 months.

A period in which the club had secured a historic Champions League spot with a win at Manchester City; nearly thrown away all of the hard work by going 3-0 down to Young Boys; and then beaten Inter Milan at home and AC Milan away from home in some good old fashioned glory glory nights.  It wasn’t all heads in the clouds and broad smiles though and Spurs will indeed be back in the more familiar grounds of Europe’s second club competition this season.

The main frustration is that a return to the top table in Europe was ours for the taking, had we won the games we were capable of winning. Every team chucks away points here and there, but only 1 point each from double headers with West Ham, Wigan and Blackpool tests the patience slightly. The January transfer window also left a fairly bitter taste. Any Spurs fan could have told you we needed a striker, but the window came and in came Steven Pienaar – and a 10.45pm dash for Charlie Adam – but no striker. I heard Suarez’s name mentioned umpteen times but as Redknapp later revealed our scouts didn’t think he’d fit in. Hmmm….less said about that the better.

So might some utter (out of ear shot of `Arry) that 5th place constitutes failure? I’m not so sure. Having followed the club since childhood and first taken to White Hart Lane as a snotty 7 year old in 1992, good times haven’t been in abundance. Safe to say last season was by far the most exciting that anyone in my age category has ever witnessed; indeed, my passport came out for trips to Milan (twice), Berne and the Bernabeau – all unforgettable for different reasons. And I still believe any sort of European qualification represents an achievement – even if not the heights of the last year.  Some of the older generation of Spurs fans wouldn’t agree though and the thing is, being a spurs fan in your 20s means that there is always someone there to tell you how good it has been before, how the club deserve better and how they were once upon a time England’s best. Quite rightly so, too. A club’s history (and in Spurs’ case, the likes of Bill Nicholson, Danny Blanchflower, Steve Perryman, Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles) should be revered and given the respect it deserves. However, history, unfortunately, doesn’t impact on the here and now and doesn’t give you a god given right to finish higher up the table. 

So to the here and now, and the challenge for Tottenham at the moment is undoubtedly Luka Modric. The little magician wants out, expressing his desire to move to pastures new and play UEFA Champions League football. A right kick in the private parts. Daniel Levy is well rehearsed in this kind of scenario and his stance is admirable. Last night’s quotes to Sky Sports News suggested to me that Modric will take a hell of a lot of persuading to stay. Redknapp has cranked up the pressure by saying Spurs should expect to occupy midtable if we sell Modric. But how do you keep a player or who wants out?  A few high profile transfers would help but for how long? A sloppy start to the season would heap pressure on the team and realistically we could be drawn into a 11th hour transfer saga, or worse, keep a player who has no desire to play for the club. Battle lines are drawn and I’m in two minds. If we can keep him and convince him to play his football in a positive attitude at White Hart Lane for a year or so, then happy days, but very much easier said than done. However, the more realistic scenario is that he remains unhappy and even becomes a drain, saps energy out of team mates and produces soundbites which cause issues. Harry and Levy have their hands full, which hopefully won’t impact on our ability to do ourselves justice in the transfer market. It is clear that the club needs to strengthen (I’m not talking about a 41 year old Brad Friedel here) and at the top of the list is a centre forward who can score goals. 

A big year and a tougher task than ever awaits – an assault on 4th place seems harder than ever this season. United and Chelsea are miles away, City’s monopoly money is being thrown about, and Liverpool are already stronger than last year. Only our “friends” down the road seem in a weaker position and we’d still have to shift them and one of the above. On the plus side, we aren’t the laughing stock we were 5 to 15 years ago, when I once tuned into an England women’s international at half-time to see if we’d qualified for the Fair Play League and could finally go on a European tour. European football is now the staple diet of the White Hart Lane regular and for that, we should be more than grateful. 

As Bill Nicholson once said, “It’s magnificent to be in Europe, and this club – a club like Tottenham Hotspur – if we’re not in Europe…. we’re nothing. we’re nothing.” All aboard next season’s adventures.

David Gerty – Director of Football – Spurs fan – @GertBox

BCC Football: Can West Ham bounce straight back?

West Ham’s season was an unmitigated failure – and the supporters clearly hope that the only way is up from the low of relegation and Grant’s dismissal. Here, I talk to Anna about Big Sam, the controversial board, and which players they simply have to keep hold of in order to bounce straight back to the Premiership.

Jess: At whose door do you lay the blame for this season’s relegation? Grant clearly wasn’t a very good manager, with actually a very decent squad, but he certainly wasn’t helped by the public courting of Martin O’Neill in January, and various other manifestations of a lack of board-level confidence that we witnessed throughout the season. Thoughts?

Anna: I think the blame has to lie with the board. And not just for hiring Avram in the first place – our problems really started when Zola was sacked at the end of last season. Because despite his faults (and I personally didn’t think he was a very good manger either) he was well-liked by the players, and I don’t think anyone at West Ham was happy with the way he was dismissed. And perhaps on paper AG was the better manager of the two, but there was a lot of bad feeling in the dressing room after Zola’s dismissal, and so AG, never charismatic at the best of times, got off on the wrong foot at West Ham, and never managed to win the players over after that.

But again, the fault is with the board because everyone could see that AG was never going to turn it around at West Ham by January, and I do think that things could have been very different if the board hadn’t made such a public shambles of trying to hire Martin O’Neill. Karren Brady texting the players to ask whether or not Grant should be sacked, and constantly badmouthing him in her Sun column was just unbelievable; for me that was the real low point of the season – worse than getting relegated, even – because the board just turned us into a complete laughing stock, to the point where Martin O’Neill felt that he couldn’t accept the job, and everyone started to feel sorry for Grant because of the extent of public humiliation he was subjected to.  I suppose even Gold, Sullivan and Brady realised after January that things were never going to work out with AG, but by then they had burned their bridges with anyone who might have touched the job before that by behaving so unprofessionally, and we had to wait until the end of the season to replace him.

That said, I’m feeling quite positive about next season. I’ve never been a fan of Sam Allardyce, and I agree with what the other fans are saying about not wanting us to become another Bolton, but for me us signing Kevin Nolan last week was something of a turning point in the way I think about Big Sam. Not just because it was such a great signing – Nolan’s exactly the kind of captain and player that we need to succeed in the Championship – but because it was so obvious that a major factor in Nolan deciding to come to West Ham was because he wanted another chance to play under Allardyce. And I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of having a manager who players actively want to play for.

Jess: As you say, things are looking up for West Ham. For all his perceived faults, I have to agree that Allardyce is the right sort of manager to take West Ham back up to the Prem and the signing of Nolan was a brilliant one. Do you think the board have learnt their lesson and are going to take a more patient/professional approach this season? I’m not sure Big Sam would tolerate the level of disrespect that AG was subjected to anyway. Do you see him taking West Ham straight back up? And what are the consequences if he doesn’t?

Anna: I like to think that the board have learnt their lesson. The other positive that I’m taking from the recent signings of Faye and Nolan is that they are so obviously Allardyce’s choices – I’m hoping this year that the board leave Allardyce to do his thing with minimal interference from them, unlike last season when Brady was allegedly sending AG countless emails questioning his managerial decisions. I think you’re right to think that Big Sam just wouldn’t stand for that sort of thing too.

I really hope that we go straight back up, and I’m actually starting to think that we could. Big Sam knows it’s what he’s been hired to do: the Olympic Stadium means that we have to be back up by 2012, or the club will be in serious danger of going under. I must admit there’s a part of me that, when we it became clear that we were seriously facing relegation, thought that it might be a positive thing in the long run if it meant that it the Olympic Stadium (or Westfield Stadium ffs) fell though – I probably would have taken relegation if it meant we could stay at Upton Park. It looks like nothing’s going to stop the move though, so returning to the premiership is more important than ever before

Jess: In that case, which are the players you have to keep hold of? Obviously we’ve talked about Nolan coming in, but who do you expect to lose? In terms of getting back into the Premiership, which players do you really need to keep?

That is a very timely question – today is the day that Big Sam is meeting Carlton Cole, Scott Parker and Robert Green face to face to discuss their futures at West Ham. I’d be surprised if any of them stuck around, but of the three of them it’s Scott Parker that I’ll be sorriest to see go, not just because he’s such a brilliant player but also because I think he does such a good job of motivating the other players, which will be more important than ever this season. The losses we’ll feel the most next season are definitely Parker and Greeny, but Nolan is an excellent substitute for Parker, and he’ll make a far better captain than Upson ever did. There’s talk of us signing Sorensen from Stoke too, and I think we could do a lot worse than him goalkeeper-wise.

To be honest there’s a lot of players I’m glad to see the back of: Kovac, Gabbidon and McCarthy because they just weren’t very good; Obinna because he completely gave up on us; and Upson because he could never be bothered in the first place. I know I’m hopelessly optimistic, but I love the idea of us using relegation as a chance to get rid of all the deadwood, and then coming back up stronger in 2012.  I’m glad that Hines, Spence and Collison have been so vocal about their desire to stay, and it will be nice to see them getting a bit more first team action this season. There are definitely big gaps in the team to be filled though, and I’m already worrying about how our injury-prone players are ever going to cope with 46 games. In the short term, with Demba Ba gone and Carlton Cole looking likely to do the same I’m hoping Big Sam signs us a striker next.

Sign one player: If I can have anyone, Carlos Tevez. If I have to be realistic, DJ Campbell

Sell one player: Julien Faubert

Happy with your manager: Surprisingly, yes. At the moment anyway

If your second kit could be one colour what would it be: white with the claret and blue hoops. It can’t ever be just one colour

Favourite player ever: Paulo di Canio

Worst player ever: Nigel Quashie, or Radoslav Kovac

So can West Ham bounce straight back into the Premiership? Continue the debate with Anna at @annasteadman.

Jess – Head of Content – Gooner – @jessicaenoch