Month: November 2013

Two Jack Wilshere goals gave Arsenal control of Group F in the Champions League as they played out a comfortable 2-0 victory against a very average Marseille side.

Arsenal knew a win should be enough to cement their place in the last sixteen. They would also qualify if Napoli beat Dortmund tonight. A draw in that game would see Arsenal win the group.  

Within 32 seconds Arsenal were ahead. Jack Wilshere’s individual effort found the top corner of the net in Arsenal’s first attack on the Marseille goal and many surely thought that the game would now be an easy, controlling exhibition for the Gunners just because of how quick the goal came.

It was nearly two for Arsenal in the sixth minute as they once again cut the visitors defence apart. Jack Wilshere was involved again and his square ball should have been tucked into the net by starlet Aaron Ramsey, who is having the season of his career, but his shot was saved by French goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.

Wojciech Szczesny was as much a spectator for much of the first half as us watching the game on the television or the fans in the stadium, and it wasn’t until the twentieth minute that he was called upon to come and gather the ball from Marseille forward Gignac’s feet.

Arsenal were in complete control throughout the first half and ten minutes before half time they received a penalty after Aaron Ramsey was tripped but Mesut Ozil  saw his penalty saved by Mandanda, a penalty which to be honest was awful. And with that Arsenal held a 1-0 lead at Half Time.

The second half started like the first ended- with Arsenal dominating the ball and comfortably playing it around a sluggish Marseille. The closest Arsenal got to a second early on was Olivier Giroud’s deflected shot which spun just wide. A couple of minutes later Mesut Ozil had his poked effort saved by Marseille captain Mandanda who was having a very busy night.

Arsenal finally made it 2-0, and again it was Jack Wilshere who put the ball past a helpless Mandanda after clever play by Ozil.

Marseille finally tested Szczcsny after 70 minutes when substitute Thurian had two shots saved by the polish international in just a couple of minutes.

Arsenal could have buried the game and nailed Marseille’s coffin shut but Santi Cazola and Theo Walcott missed their chances and the game ended 2-0; A comfortable victory for the Gunners. Another Champions League knockout stage beckons…

We may be good; but we are not world class. The performances that saw us beat Montenegro and Poland last month are just forgotten memories as England were shown to be an average side against both Chile and Germany in the past week. Following the 2-0 defeat to the South Americans last Friday, England was put to the sword by an arguably German “B” Team yesterday evening, 1-0, at Wembley.

How can a nation go from feeling confident of making the semi-finals at least a month ago to feeling England may struggle to get through to the quarters today? Well we got our answer to that question yesterday. We simply haven’t got a world class team like Germany, Spain and Brazil who have depth of talent, enough to make three different teams. England have an ageing Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney. That’s it for now.

Chile were a clever team that were just too good for our back line. Germany on the other hand were well… boring. They drove to score and then were more disciplined in defence to deny England a chance of equalising. The thing that was disappointing about the result was not just the goal, but the fact Germany were without Neuer, Schweinsteiger, Gomez, Lahm and others. They were a younger much braver side. It showed us just how good German football is progressing.

This again links back to the question to whether England and the Premier League should bring in a maximum amount of foreign players in a squad so more English and British players can develop. Only 26% of players in the Premier League are English. That’s outrageous. We need to take a step towards the future like Spain and Germany have done and they now have the world’s best two young player development in World Football.

If I had to place England in a tier of world football we would be tier 3 or just peak into 2. We are nowhere near the likes of Spain, Germany, Brazil and Argentina. France, Holland, Russia, Chile and Uruguay make up some of the band two teams who would give us a scare. For me, we are similar to teams like Sweden, Greece and Portugal, average at best. We have enough to qualify to major tournaments but not enough to progress in them.

That could all change in the next few years though if we work on developing the younger players. Russia may seem a bit too close but definitely Euro 2020 should be a tournament we are looking towards to mount a serious challenge on. Players like Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend need to progress and be steadied into the side regularly over the next couple of years so that they hit their prime along with players with similar ages and a little order to create that winning balance of players.

So until then England fans… don’t get disappointed on another quarter final defeat in Brazil if that happens, for us that will be a achievement. No more pressure, we aren’t the team we used to be. But we can be again in the next few years…

Experimenting is a frustrating part of the game. England gave debuts to Southampton duo Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez and Celtic ‘keeper Fraser Forster in a bid to allow new players to try and impress as Brazil looms ever closer. Unfortunately, the trio failed to light up England’s performance as the visitors from South America Chile won 2-0 at Wembley in the first of two friendly’s in North London.

It only took the away side seven minutes to score the opening goal as Alexis Sanchez got ahead of Leighton Baines and headed the ball into the far corner, leaving Forster with the job of picking the ball out of the back of the England net at the first Chilean attempt on goal.

The Barcelona forward then scored his and Chile’s second of the match in injury time at the end of the second half with a delicate chip over Forster to wrap up the win for the South Americans.

Forster himself didn’t do too badly; he made a decent save against Wigan winger Bousenjour in the first half and cleaned up nicely at the back when required. However the other debutants, Lallana and Rodriguez, didn’t seem to get into the game and they disappointed in their first appearances for the Three Lions.

England did have some decent chances, especially in the first half but both Lallana and Wilshere’s shots were straight at Chilean goalkeeper Bravo.  The closest England came to a goal was from a deflected 30 yard free kick from Captain Frank Lampard which Bravo tipped over the bar brilliantly.

Chile thoroughly deserved their win; England were disjointed and didn’t seem to play together as a team. The English defence was shaky from the start and it was highlighted in the opening goal. Leighton Baines allowed Alexis Sanchez half a yard which was enough for the in-form forward to pounce and capture his 21^st goal for his country.

The Chileans also outclassed us when it came to keeping possession of the ball. The team were confident to pass the ball around (Barca esc) and for the opening three minutes of the game England failed to touch the ball. England’s passing however, seemed average and sometimes the players gave possession away cheaply with passes either too short or inaccurate.

Overall this was a learning curve for England. Chile were very good opponents for the youngsters to come up against. We have to be realistic. We aren’t going to win the World Cup next summer, we need to try and encourage our younger players to implement their position in the team and prepare for competitive cameos in Euro 2016 and the World cup 2018 in Russia.

Tuesday once again will prove a tough test for England as we welcome Germany to North London. Play like we did tonight and we may come away stuffed by the Germans, we can only improve after tonight and a fierce competitive friendly is sure to thrill us in 4 days time.

It might not seem like it on Paper, but I believe that Wigan Athletic are having a very good season. They currently sit tenth in the Sky Bet Championship and second in Group D in the Europa League. Wigan, the only second tier side in the continental competition, have impressed against the likes of Maribor and Rubin Kazan and look comfortable to progress to the knockout stages, a huge achievement for such a small side.

They haven’t been too bad in the league either, an unbeaten home record with a tight defence, it seems well worth making the trip to the bookies to bet that the Latics will be promoted either automatically or by the Play-offs.  You have to credit the team, who have arguably the busiest fixture list in the country. It was only last weekend they had to travel to Russia to play Kazan, where they were narrowly beaten, before flying back to take on Yeovil in the Championship, a game they won 1-0.

All the plaudits must go to the manager. Owen Coyle has done an outstanding job so far to keep both the League and Europa League in contention for the side, we’ve seen teams like Birmingham who, a few seasons ago struggled to balance the two competitions when they were in a similar situation. The team have also remained grounded and they have been putting in really good performances. The club are benefiting from an excellent summer transfer market, one which saw the likes of James McClean and Marc-Antoine Fortune arrive at the DW Stadium.

The DW is a feared place to go to, with Brighton and Hove Albion the next team to make the daunting trip north. If Wigan keep the home form going, they will easily end in the Play-Offs, which will make the season overall one of their best. It would be the icing on top of the cake if they were to make it into the last 32 or even 16 of the Europa League, the prospect of bigger and more established European clubs coming to Wigan will be a crowd pleaser and bring the fans to the games, increasing their fan base and income. Wigan will also be feared by clubs after their performances so far.

So come May next year, we could be talking about Wigan Athletic and the season they had. Keep it up boys….

Sergio Agüero, Eden Hazard, Yaya Toure and Luis Suarez.  These are just a few of the players who have started this season in blistering form. But no one could have expected a young Welshman to become the hottest footballer in the Premier League right now. Aaron Ramsey is in the form of his life, and because of this Arsenal are sitting comfortably at the top of the Premier League and top of their Champions’ League group.

Aaron had always shown glimpses throughout his early career that he would become what he is today, even back when he was just 18 years of age playing for Cardiff City. He introduced himself to the footballing stage when he scored his first professional goal against Chase town in an impressive performance in the FA cup tie back in 2008. The following summer saw him move to current club Arsenal for £4.8 million after impressing scouts. He made his first Premier league appearance for the Gunners against Blackburn Rovers in September 2008, assisting Emmanuel Adebayor for Arsenal’s third goal in the game.

Everything was looking on the up for a young upcoming wonder kid. But then Aaron suffered a major setback. On February 27^th 2010, Arsenal travelled to Stoke City in a premier league contest.  Ramsey was included in the starting line-up.  Aaron was tackled by Ryan Shawcross, and what resulted from the challenge was a broken leg for Ramsey.  He had snapped both his tibula and fibula. No return date was initially in place and Aaron was rushed to the hospital. It would be 8 long months before he returned to training and a further month before making his first competitive appearance since the injury on loan at  Nottingham Forest. Some feared he wouldnt come back the same player as he had been before the horror injury inflicted upon him.

However, since that injury he has been showing more and more that raw talent he possesses. We began to see it on the international stage as well as domestically.  Aaron had been impressing in performances for Wales in 2010 and the late Gary Speed appointed him Wales Captain in 2011, aged just 21. He dazzled opponents with his quick feet and he provided more and more impressive cameos for Arsenal last season.

But this year he seems to be a completely new player. Wales’ new prodigy after Gareth Bale some would say. He has banged in 11 goals already this campaign, netting in the recent wins against Liverpool in the Premier League and Bourssia Dortmund last night, making Arsenal the first team to beat last season’s beaten finalists on their own patch since United back in 1953.

I don’t whether its’ that he is much more fitter, training harder, eating a better diet or just Arsene Wenger  putting something into his lunchtime meals, but Ramsey so far has been the player of the season without a shadow of a doubt. If he carries on like this, we may see yet another multi-million bid coming in for his services either on these shores or abroad. Watch out Gareth, there’s a new welch wonder about….