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ENGLAND CAN'T EVEN MATCH ARMENIA'S BEST PLAYER - MARTIN SAMUEL
By Martin Samuel
Daily Mail
Oct 29 2012
UK
Thinking football? I fear for England when we're always dumbing down
How does the standard inquest into the state of English football go
again? We haven't got a player like Andres Iniesta. We haven't got
an Andrea Pirlo. Oh, woe is us.
Did you see the Chelsea and Manchester City games last week? We
haven't got Christian Eriksen of Denmark, either. We haven't got the
best player in Armenia.
His name is Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Armenian player of the year for
2009, Shakhtar Donetsk's player of the year last season. UEFA rate
him among the top 100 footballers in Europe. He was leading scorer
in qualifying Group B for the 2012 European Championship, in which
Armenia finished third and won 4-0 in Slovakia. He would walk into
Roy Hodgson's England team.
It was a sobering week for English football, as much as for English
clubs. The technique on display in Donetsk and Amsterdam was so far in
advance of our own that it is possible to fear not just for England's
fate at the 2014 World Cup, but for the prospect of even getting there.
We kid ourselves with these searches for football's El Dorado, the
hope that we will pass like Barcelona if we could only keep Jack
Wilshere fit. Watching Mkhitaryan pull the strings for Shakhtar on
Tuesday was to marvel at how far we have fallen. Wilshere did not
waste a pass in the first 45 minutes of his return to the Arsenal
side on Saturday but he cannot do it alone.
Mkhitaryan was surrounded by nimble, technically able players such as
Brazil's Willian, who is not even a regular in his national team. Then
it was on to Amsterdam where Eriksen destroyed the Premier League
champions. At the end, Micah Richards, an England international, blamed
the defeat in part on being required to play an unfamiliar system.
Do you think Eriksen, Mkhitaryan or Willian would worry about that?
Shakhtar's second goal was taken beautifully by Fernandinho, ostensibly
a defensive midfield player, who also can't secure a place for
Brazil. He stuck doggedly to his duties but, given one opportunity,
knew exactly when and how to break. That's football.
Thinking football. Could Fernandinho be wrong-footed by a tweak to
Shakhtar's system?
Richards is meant to be one of our new wave, too. He came through the
Simon Clifford futebol de salao schools, a form of football education
credited with producing many of Brazil's greatest footballers,
including Ronaldinho. Yet Richards's international career has stagnated
because his defensive thinking and strategy are poor. His admission
that a simple switch to a back three left him puzzled is startling.
Roberto Mancini was right to say that the next time Manchester City
played that way, Richards could watch from the bench. It is probably a
moot point after his unfortunate knee injury on Saturday, but Richards
is under increasing pressure from Pablo Zabaleta and Maicon, players
from South America who do not balk at the thought of modification.
Neither is fit right now but, when that changes, whom will Mancini
turn to if he desires flexibility?
Why do English players find it so hard to adapt? Steve McClaren was as
good as run out of town for playing three centre halves in Croatia. He
was never brave enough to try it again. Yet Holland, Brazil and
Germany all do it, or can if necessary. And clubs throughout Europe,
including Barcelona, freely switch between three and four defenders
without everybody getting the vapours.
Mkhitaryan is not a defender, nor is Eriksen, but they come from
football cultures in which thought and expression is expected, from
the front to the back. English football continues to dumb down.
Glenn Hoddle got Swindon Town playing three defenders 20 years ago,
with Paul Bodin and Nicky Summerbee as wing backs. Try it now with
the best players in the land and see what happens. Any deviation from
military straight lines is considered heresy and the current England
manager is hardly the type to cry revolution.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world catches up and speeds past. We
flatter ourselves by yearning for the English Iniesta: Brazilian
reserves, the best young player in Denmark, the pride of Yerevan,
capital of Armenia, this is what we haven't got.
Get over it, Bhoys
It was not heartbreaking that Celtic lost at the Nou Camp last week.
It would have been heartbreaking if Barcelona, with 82 per cent of
possession, leading 10-1 on shots on target, 10-3 on shots off target
and 15-1 on corners forced, had not earned more than a point.
Defensive football is purely result-driven: the end justifies the
means.
Nobody would have felt sorry for Chelsea had they lost to Barcelona
last season, because Barcelona were the better team. By drawing and
going through to the Champions League final, however, an awe-inspiring,
rearguard action with 10 men was vindicated. Celtic were not good
enough to pull it off, that's all. Dry your eyes.
Sky's policy on the right track
When Juventus were stripped of the 2005-06 Serie A title over the
Calciopoli scandal, the Italian federation had a simple decision to
make. As second-placed AC Milan were also implicated, they gave the
trophy to Inter Milan, who came third. It is not as simple for the
International Cycling Union.
They have decided to leave the seven years in which Lance Armstrong
won the Tour de France blank, as a warning against doping. Rubbish.
The roll of honour stays empty because cheating was so rife that in
two editions, 2000 and 2002, the first clean finisher came 10th and
in another, 2004, eighth. The UCI cannot revisit the podium without
writing the extent of their complacency in bold letters across it.
This is why Team Sky's zero-tolerance policy is so vital. Some believe,
with at least one key team member already gone for admitting a doping
past, the stance will leave them impossibly weakened. Yet it is the
only way they can establish credibility in the eyes of the British
public.
The alternative is to look at those seven blank columns and consign
the sport to history.
Black faces need to be in the boardroom
For the sake of argument, let's say Sir Alex Ferguson quits next week.
Manchester United executives go to the drawer in which they keep the
big ideas, and inspect the name on top of the pile: Pep Guardiola.
They call and ask him to be their manager. 'Can you start on
Saturday?' they plead. And he can.
'Oh, but wait,' says David Gill. 'We can't do it just yet. First,
we've got to interview Chris Hughton. It's the law.'
So they telephone Chris Hughton and he drives to Manchester for a
meeting. And there is nothing he can say in that interview that will
place him ahead of Guardiola but he goes anyway.
It doesn't do him any favours with the fans of Norwich City, who now
believe he is disloyal and will ditch them at the first opportunity,
but that isn't the point. A box must be ticked and Manchester United
are ticking it.
But now Chelsea have got wind of United's interest in Guardiola and
Roman Abramovich doesn't wish to miss out. So he pays off Roberto Di
Matteo and puts in a call. And Guardiola fancies living in London even
more than Manchester. But Abramovich knows what he must do first. So
he phones Chris Hughton.
And that is why the Rooney Rule does not work. We all know that
black managers are under-represented in English football but there
are better ways of affording opportunity than mere quotas at interview.
Black faces are most urgently needed in boardrooms because this is
about employers more than employees.
If every club had to have an ex-player responsible for diversity,
with non-executive status on the board of directors, the influence
of black footballers would grow. The implication of the Rooney Rule
is that black candidates are being overlooked, but a lone name on a
shortlist won't change that. A senior presence, with a direct line
to the men doing the appointing, might.
It is not unthinkable to consider Paul Elliott in such a role at
Charlton Athletic, Patrick Vieira at Manchester City, John Barnes at
Liverpool, Marcel Desailly at Chelsea.
Every club, from top to bottom, would have more than one candidate for
the position, a former player who could be, not just an ambassador,
but a positive influence, making it laughable that a serious black
contender for a coaching role would not be considered.
The power is with the employers: it is there that the change must
be made.
Fans could ditch ESPN
The best two sports events I watched on television last week were the
World Series baseball, and Atletico Mineiro's 3-2 win over Fluminense
in Brazil's Campeonato. Both were on ESPN. Major League Baseball has
signed with them for seven years.
Yet from next season, ESPN will have no Premier League football, and
soon no Premiership rugby. They are also losing coverage of Italy's
Serie A, Ligue 1 in France, Brazilian domestic matches and Major
League Soccer. This leaves them with the FA Cup, Europa League and
Bundesliga to appease football fans. It is not much. They will surely
have to drop subscriptions from next season, but even that might not be
enough as subscribers switch to Premier League football on BT Vision.
At a time when every sport is looking to expand its global awareness
one wonders whether baseball, for instance, regrets entering a
long-term contract with an increasingly lame-duck broadcaster. The FA,
too, tied in until 2015.
The need for competition, far from being a boon to armchair sports
fans, has only meant bigger bills as the rights become fragmented.
Sports writers must have all bases covered: but you don't, and probably
won't, once you see the spiralling cost.
Authorities must get to bottom of Croft race case
Lee Croft of Oldham Athletic will face no police action over
allegations he racially abused a ball boy at a match with Sheffield
United. Croft strongly denied the accusation and an investigation by
South Yorkshire police found no evidence such an event had taken place.
Not good enough. What actually happened that day? The complaint was
made by some Sheffield United fans. Was it fabrication or simple
misunderstanding? The club must take steps to discover the reality
here.
If instances of racism are to receive lengthy statutory bans, as is
correct and likely, then all aspects of the procedure must be regarded
seriously. Victims should never be made reluctant to come forward,
but nor should the accusation itself be taken lightly, if found to
be false.
Andy for SPOTY
Andy Murray will not be present at the Sports Personality of the
Year Awards in December. He has opted to remain in training in Miami
instead. I want him to win it even more now.
Chips are down (and so pricey) at Arsenal
The economic strategy at Arsenal is plain. Instead of a very rich
man investing his money, in return for excitement and glory, the
fans are squeezed until the pips squeak. A club can only spend what
it can generate, without external financing, so it's £13.90 for fish
and chips and the dearest season-ticket prices in the land.
There is a term to describe this phenomenon. It's called financial
fair play. Enjoy the future, everybody.
The problem with QPR
Stephane Mbia, who let Queens Park Rangers down so badly on Saturday,
says he thought he was signing for a Scottish club and that manager
Mark Hughes had barely seen him play. And there is QPR's problem in
a capsule: too much, too soon, and too many just passing through.
The bottom line
The Manchester City team that lost to Ajax last week cost
£175.1million. What a waste of money. Apparently, you can get spanked
in Amsterdam for a lot less than that.
Steve Evans
Further to last week's column, Paul Douglas, chief executive of
Rotherham United, has asked me to make clear that while manager
Steve Evans was banned for six matches and fined £3,000 for using
insulting words and behaviour with reference to gender, the part of
the Football Association charge that referred to exposing himself to
a female official of Bradford City was rejected.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2224514/England-match-Armenias-best-player--Martin-Samuel.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
By Martin Samuel
Daily Mail
Oct 29 2012
UK
Thinking football? I fear for England when we're always dumbing down
How does the standard inquest into the state of English football go
again? We haven't got a player like Andres Iniesta. We haven't got
an Andrea Pirlo. Oh, woe is us.
Did you see the Chelsea and Manchester City games last week? We
haven't got Christian Eriksen of Denmark, either. We haven't got the
best player in Armenia.
His name is Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Armenian player of the year for
2009, Shakhtar Donetsk's player of the year last season. UEFA rate
him among the top 100 footballers in Europe. He was leading scorer
in qualifying Group B for the 2012 European Championship, in which
Armenia finished third and won 4-0 in Slovakia. He would walk into
Roy Hodgson's England team.
It was a sobering week for English football, as much as for English
clubs. The technique on display in Donetsk and Amsterdam was so far in
advance of our own that it is possible to fear not just for England's
fate at the 2014 World Cup, but for the prospect of even getting there.
We kid ourselves with these searches for football's El Dorado, the
hope that we will pass like Barcelona if we could only keep Jack
Wilshere fit. Watching Mkhitaryan pull the strings for Shakhtar on
Tuesday was to marvel at how far we have fallen. Wilshere did not
waste a pass in the first 45 minutes of his return to the Arsenal
side on Saturday but he cannot do it alone.
Mkhitaryan was surrounded by nimble, technically able players such as
Brazil's Willian, who is not even a regular in his national team. Then
it was on to Amsterdam where Eriksen destroyed the Premier League
champions. At the end, Micah Richards, an England international, blamed
the defeat in part on being required to play an unfamiliar system.
Do you think Eriksen, Mkhitaryan or Willian would worry about that?
Shakhtar's second goal was taken beautifully by Fernandinho, ostensibly
a defensive midfield player, who also can't secure a place for
Brazil. He stuck doggedly to his duties but, given one opportunity,
knew exactly when and how to break. That's football.
Thinking football. Could Fernandinho be wrong-footed by a tweak to
Shakhtar's system?
Richards is meant to be one of our new wave, too. He came through the
Simon Clifford futebol de salao schools, a form of football education
credited with producing many of Brazil's greatest footballers,
including Ronaldinho. Yet Richards's international career has stagnated
because his defensive thinking and strategy are poor. His admission
that a simple switch to a back three left him puzzled is startling.
Roberto Mancini was right to say that the next time Manchester City
played that way, Richards could watch from the bench. It is probably a
moot point after his unfortunate knee injury on Saturday, but Richards
is under increasing pressure from Pablo Zabaleta and Maicon, players
from South America who do not balk at the thought of modification.
Neither is fit right now but, when that changes, whom will Mancini
turn to if he desires flexibility?
Why do English players find it so hard to adapt? Steve McClaren was as
good as run out of town for playing three centre halves in Croatia. He
was never brave enough to try it again. Yet Holland, Brazil and
Germany all do it, or can if necessary. And clubs throughout Europe,
including Barcelona, freely switch between three and four defenders
without everybody getting the vapours.
Mkhitaryan is not a defender, nor is Eriksen, but they come from
football cultures in which thought and expression is expected, from
the front to the back. English football continues to dumb down.
Glenn Hoddle got Swindon Town playing three defenders 20 years ago,
with Paul Bodin and Nicky Summerbee as wing backs. Try it now with
the best players in the land and see what happens. Any deviation from
military straight lines is considered heresy and the current England
manager is hardly the type to cry revolution.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world catches up and speeds past. We
flatter ourselves by yearning for the English Iniesta: Brazilian
reserves, the best young player in Denmark, the pride of Yerevan,
capital of Armenia, this is what we haven't got.
Get over it, Bhoys
It was not heartbreaking that Celtic lost at the Nou Camp last week.
It would have been heartbreaking if Barcelona, with 82 per cent of
possession, leading 10-1 on shots on target, 10-3 on shots off target
and 15-1 on corners forced, had not earned more than a point.
Defensive football is purely result-driven: the end justifies the
means.
Nobody would have felt sorry for Chelsea had they lost to Barcelona
last season, because Barcelona were the better team. By drawing and
going through to the Champions League final, however, an awe-inspiring,
rearguard action with 10 men was vindicated. Celtic were not good
enough to pull it off, that's all. Dry your eyes.
Sky's policy on the right track
When Juventus were stripped of the 2005-06 Serie A title over the
Calciopoli scandal, the Italian federation had a simple decision to
make. As second-placed AC Milan were also implicated, they gave the
trophy to Inter Milan, who came third. It is not as simple for the
International Cycling Union.
They have decided to leave the seven years in which Lance Armstrong
won the Tour de France blank, as a warning against doping. Rubbish.
The roll of honour stays empty because cheating was so rife that in
two editions, 2000 and 2002, the first clean finisher came 10th and
in another, 2004, eighth. The UCI cannot revisit the podium without
writing the extent of their complacency in bold letters across it.
This is why Team Sky's zero-tolerance policy is so vital. Some believe,
with at least one key team member already gone for admitting a doping
past, the stance will leave them impossibly weakened. Yet it is the
only way they can establish credibility in the eyes of the British
public.
The alternative is to look at those seven blank columns and consign
the sport to history.
Black faces need to be in the boardroom
For the sake of argument, let's say Sir Alex Ferguson quits next week.
Manchester United executives go to the drawer in which they keep the
big ideas, and inspect the name on top of the pile: Pep Guardiola.
They call and ask him to be their manager. 'Can you start on
Saturday?' they plead. And he can.
'Oh, but wait,' says David Gill. 'We can't do it just yet. First,
we've got to interview Chris Hughton. It's the law.'
So they telephone Chris Hughton and he drives to Manchester for a
meeting. And there is nothing he can say in that interview that will
place him ahead of Guardiola but he goes anyway.
It doesn't do him any favours with the fans of Norwich City, who now
believe he is disloyal and will ditch them at the first opportunity,
but that isn't the point. A box must be ticked and Manchester United
are ticking it.
But now Chelsea have got wind of United's interest in Guardiola and
Roman Abramovich doesn't wish to miss out. So he pays off Roberto Di
Matteo and puts in a call. And Guardiola fancies living in London even
more than Manchester. But Abramovich knows what he must do first. So
he phones Chris Hughton.
And that is why the Rooney Rule does not work. We all know that
black managers are under-represented in English football but there
are better ways of affording opportunity than mere quotas at interview.
Black faces are most urgently needed in boardrooms because this is
about employers more than employees.
If every club had to have an ex-player responsible for diversity,
with non-executive status on the board of directors, the influence
of black footballers would grow. The implication of the Rooney Rule
is that black candidates are being overlooked, but a lone name on a
shortlist won't change that. A senior presence, with a direct line
to the men doing the appointing, might.
It is not unthinkable to consider Paul Elliott in such a role at
Charlton Athletic, Patrick Vieira at Manchester City, John Barnes at
Liverpool, Marcel Desailly at Chelsea.
Every club, from top to bottom, would have more than one candidate for
the position, a former player who could be, not just an ambassador,
but a positive influence, making it laughable that a serious black
contender for a coaching role would not be considered.
The power is with the employers: it is there that the change must
be made.
Fans could ditch ESPN
The best two sports events I watched on television last week were the
World Series baseball, and Atletico Mineiro's 3-2 win over Fluminense
in Brazil's Campeonato. Both were on ESPN. Major League Baseball has
signed with them for seven years.
Yet from next season, ESPN will have no Premier League football, and
soon no Premiership rugby. They are also losing coverage of Italy's
Serie A, Ligue 1 in France, Brazilian domestic matches and Major
League Soccer. This leaves them with the FA Cup, Europa League and
Bundesliga to appease football fans. It is not much. They will surely
have to drop subscriptions from next season, but even that might not be
enough as subscribers switch to Premier League football on BT Vision.
At a time when every sport is looking to expand its global awareness
one wonders whether baseball, for instance, regrets entering a
long-term contract with an increasingly lame-duck broadcaster. The FA,
too, tied in until 2015.
The need for competition, far from being a boon to armchair sports
fans, has only meant bigger bills as the rights become fragmented.
Sports writers must have all bases covered: but you don't, and probably
won't, once you see the spiralling cost.
Authorities must get to bottom of Croft race case
Lee Croft of Oldham Athletic will face no police action over
allegations he racially abused a ball boy at a match with Sheffield
United. Croft strongly denied the accusation and an investigation by
South Yorkshire police found no evidence such an event had taken place.
Not good enough. What actually happened that day? The complaint was
made by some Sheffield United fans. Was it fabrication or simple
misunderstanding? The club must take steps to discover the reality
here.
If instances of racism are to receive lengthy statutory bans, as is
correct and likely, then all aspects of the procedure must be regarded
seriously. Victims should never be made reluctant to come forward,
but nor should the accusation itself be taken lightly, if found to
be false.
Andy for SPOTY
Andy Murray will not be present at the Sports Personality of the
Year Awards in December. He has opted to remain in training in Miami
instead. I want him to win it even more now.
Chips are down (and so pricey) at Arsenal
The economic strategy at Arsenal is plain. Instead of a very rich
man investing his money, in return for excitement and glory, the
fans are squeezed until the pips squeak. A club can only spend what
it can generate, without external financing, so it's £13.90 for fish
and chips and the dearest season-ticket prices in the land.
There is a term to describe this phenomenon. It's called financial
fair play. Enjoy the future, everybody.
The problem with QPR
Stephane Mbia, who let Queens Park Rangers down so badly on Saturday,
says he thought he was signing for a Scottish club and that manager
Mark Hughes had barely seen him play. And there is QPR's problem in
a capsule: too much, too soon, and too many just passing through.
The bottom line
The Manchester City team that lost to Ajax last week cost
£175.1million. What a waste of money. Apparently, you can get spanked
in Amsterdam for a lot less than that.
Steve Evans
Further to last week's column, Paul Douglas, chief executive of
Rotherham United, has asked me to make clear that while manager
Steve Evans was banned for six matches and fined £3,000 for using
insulting words and behaviour with reference to gender, the part of
the Football Association charge that referred to exposing himself to
a female official of Bradford City was rejected.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2224514/England-match-Armenias-best-player--Martin-Samuel.html?ito=feeds-newsxml