Stevie Shines Through England S**te

Playing in a now unfamiliar holding midfield role, Steven Gerrard once again showed his capacity to carry a sub-standard team to a respectable result against superior opponents in England's (mis)match against Brazil.

The only man in white who seemed to give a f**k about the way the game was played, or even to where he was supposed to be playing, Gerrard nevertheless failed to disguise what was another shocking England performance. Thank God the Brazilians seem to have caught Arsenal disease after playing at the Emirates. Were it not for Kaka & co's compulsion to walk the ball into the net through seven white shirts, England would surely have been punished for allowing their illustrious opponents more time on the ball than is good for anyone.

More frustrating was the English tendency to treat possession like they were at Al-Qaida's annual 'pass the parcel' contest: no f**ker wanted it and no f**ker kept it either. How long is Crouch to be blamed for England hitting and hoping with high balls forward? For 80 minutes England tried it, with only Owen and Smith up against the tallest man ever to play for Brazil. It's time to realise we're a limited team with limited players and limited tactics, hoofing the ball up top is about our only way of moving it from front to back. Playing Crouch doesn't make us do it more, it makes us do it to someone who's got a chance. The tactic was play it early, play it long, and when that wasn't on they bounced it around like some sort of hot-potato, pinball, mixed-metaphoric nightmare, desperate not to have to keep possession and try something skillful, or, say...creative.

Devoid of service up front, decisiveness at the back and ideas in midfield, England were served with effort - if not much craft - by the likes of Shorey, Beckham and King, but Gerrard twice came to the rescue with biting tackles in the first half, and broke up Brazil's play effectively throughout the second. At various intervals during the match he could be seen attempting to force the tempo, but in a withdrawn role his surging, crowd-raising runs were limited to a minimum. He was the only Englishman to appear worthy of sharing a pitch with the skilled but lethargic Brazilians, and one can only imagine the potent mix of his energy, passion and drive combined in a team with the outrageous talents of Ronaldinho and Kaka.

If Gerrard was Brazilian, they'd be untouchable. But on the up side that means England only need to find one Ronaldinho...

Oh, and a Kaka. And maybe an Alves, a Robinho, a Diego...but hey - Stevie's a start.

Owen wanks over England, AGAIN!

Even though Michael Owen's meeting with Fat Sam has went well, he is still stopping short of committing himself to the club that has only seen him kick a ball for 13 games.

Owen is believed to have a £9m release clause in his contract since Newcastle were unable to qualify for European competition and quite frankly I'd snap anyone's hand off that would pay that much for a back stabbing, injury prone, England loving c**t.

Owen turned his back on Liverpool when Real Madrid came knocking and he won nothing with them, he hardly kicked a ball (but at least it wasn’t because he was injured) in vain. How I laughed when Liverpool won the Champions League without “England’s best striker.” Another thing is, he keeps claiming that he can't wait to play for England again. What about Newcastle Michael? How can England pick a striker that isn’t 100% fit and hasn’t scored at all this season? (I’ve scored more times down town Mickey and that’s saying something, have you seen my face?) He would s**k McLaren off just to get back in the England squad and McLaren would let him do it.

All I can say is that wherever he is next season he has something to prove to club and country. Enjoy your time off Mickey and I hope you’ll be on the sidelines next season because the way you’ve acted so far, you deserve it. C**t.

And the Next Watford is...Derby County!

Following a nervy, tense playoff final worth anywhere between £30m and £60m (depending on which paper you read) Derby clinched promotion to the Premiership despite being largely outplayed by a West Brom side who can count themselves extremely unlucky today. Not that I care too much about the Baggies’ misery – Derby’s win meant I predicted two out of the three teams to win the playoffs, a respectable bit of punditry even if it isn’t enough to cash in my accumulator with the bookies.

Speculation is still lingering that Derby boss Billy Davies won’t be joining his side on their probably doomed, Watford-like incursion into the top flight though, persistent problems with the club’s new managing director could see the Scot walk before tasting Premiership management. Victory yesterday may delay things – this is the 3rd year running that Davies has taken a team into the playoffs, but the first time he’s been successful. If that was me I’d be wanting to reap my reward, even if my managing director was Charles Manson.

Unless he supported Everton or something.

Regardless of who Derby’s managing director supports (probably Derby to be fair) – or how many serial killings he may have orchestrated – I’d expect Davies to stick about for at least the next few months. Although squabbles over transfer budgets or a poor start to next season could well see him gone before Christmas, I think the lure of the Premiership will encourage him to put up with his superior’s character flaws for a while yet.

Presumably due to the fact that they only got promoted yesterday – and so have had no idea where they’d be playing next season – Derby haven’t really been linked to anyone so far this summer. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll have to spend big this summer to survive, but the cash is certainly there, the question is ambition. They may try to do a Charlton – take the Premiership money the first time round, don’t really strengthen the squad, then go back down and come straight back up again, spending TWO lots of promotion cash the 2nd time round. It’s worked before, but the risk of getting stuck in the Championship may discourage this sort of behaviour in the future. Nonetheless, the Championship is where I’d be expecting Derby to start the 2008/9 season. It seems the likes of Fulham and Wigan managed to avoid finishing bottom next season by virtue of Derby’s win yesterday, West Brom would have been a much tougher proposition for the league’s perennial strugglers.


God Only Knows What’s Going on at Newcastle

Surprise, surprise, Newcastle appear to be in crisis-mode again. “Urgent” talks have apparently been called between Chairman Freddy ‘Mao’ Shepherd and new majority shareholder Mike ‘What the hell is football anyway?’ Ashley. Shepherd doesn’t want to sell, although could probably be persuaded if Ashley will bankroll an Abramovich-like transfer spree, and would guarantee him a major role at the club. He’s probably wishing he didn’t just appoint a new manager, he seems to have always fancied that job himself.

The manager he has appointed meanwhile, has been able to get absolutely nothing done yet. To be fair, he is on holiday, but the total confusion over how much money he’ll have to spend seems to be preventing him from making a proper list of summer transfer targets. A free-transfer move for Bolton’s Tal Ben-Haim has been much rumoured, but so far nothing has materialised, certainly making me wonder whether Allardyce even wants him, or is just totally fed up with the Israeli, having spent the last 8 months begging him to sign a new contract at the Reebok.

So we’re no closer to knowing whether Allardyce will be able to stop the rot at St James, or how he’ll actually go about it. I’d expect this ownership/share holder story to run and run, and wouldn’t expect a major Ashley-backed transfer fund to be available to the Magpies until at least January. Fat Sam would be well advised to just get on with his summer spending, and forget about any major future war chest for the time being.


Abramovich to make Chelsea Real Club?

Newspaper reports on Sunday claim that Roman Abramovich has told Chelsea directors the free ride is over. He apparently wants to make them a real club with a real budget, and the days of him pouring in £100m here, there and everywhere are long gone. This probably has something to do with him looking pretty damn stupid by paying ludicrous amounts of money for Shevchenko and Ballack, although his massively expensive divorce will also have bruised his wallet. But it’s not just transfer fees that will be capped.

Wages have also to be brought under control, apparently, and that means no Sheva-style deals for John Terry and Frank Lampard, who could both be heading out of England this summer if you believe what you read. I for one genuinely hope this is the case, and will gladly chip in to cover their taxi fare to the airport, poor underpaid orphans that they are. Plenty of column inches over the last four years have been devoted to Chelsea Doomsday scenarios, but if this situation pans out like it appears it will, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Abramovich revolution.

We can only hope.

Hoops 40 years on

40 years ago tomorrow on the 25th of may 1967, 11 men within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow, became the first British team in history to lift the European Cup
40 years on, it is still the most celebrated cup run in Celtics illustrious history, although it is followed closely behind by Celtics 2003 UEFA Cup run, where they took 100,000 fans to Seville. To quote the famous hoops fans during the final “were only here for the party”
To honour that amazing day in Lisbon, Celtic have released a new kit, its a more modern day version of the hoops kit of that famous season in 1967, where Celtic picked up every trophy they entered that year.

By Johnpaul Johnstone

Can you tell he supports Celtic???

USA! USA! USA!

Billionaire businessman Mike Ashley has launched a £133.1m ($263m) offer for Newcastle United.
The news came after he had bought a 41.6% stake in the Premiership team from Sir John Hall's family for more than £55m.
Mr Ashley said the firm had bought 55.3 million shares in the club at 100 pence a share.

Mike Ashley (born 1964) is an English born billionaire, in the sports goods market. He is ranked 54th in the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List.

It's the Big One...

With kickoff fast approaching in Athens, I’ve decided to swallow my terror and bring you all my thoughts on tonight’s encounter. The game looks set to be decided in three key areas, the team that wins two or more of these will be celebrating another European Cup tonight.

1. The Goalkeeper

Both sides have keepers that have made high-profile blunders in the past. As Manchester United showed, Dida can be vulnerable, especially on crosses, and Liverpool will be looking to exploit this early. The inclusion of Pennant, meaning Gerrard is likely to play behind a lone striker, seems to suggest Benitez wants balls coming in from wide. Zenden’s delivery will need to improve from the semi final, but if it does, this will be an area Liverpool can hurt Milan.

Pepe Reina may have been the hero of the FA Cup Final and the Chelsea semi-final, but he certainly has his detractors, who won’t let him forget errors for Konchesky’s FA Cup Final goal, and the mauling Liverpool suffered at Goodison Park earlier this season. Like Dida he can be ruffled by crosses into the box, and it’s the Milan fullbacks, likely to be Oddo and Jankulovski, who will provide the Giallorossi with their width. If Liverpool’s wingers can work hard enough, and double up on Milan’s wide men, the likelihood of Reina being caught out by a cross is severely diminished.

2. The Lone Striker

Both sides are likely to play with one up top. For Milan, this will be Inzaghi or Gilardino. Gilardino would provide more pace, but has a poor Champions League goal record, whereas Inzaghi the classic poacher has pedigree in abundance, but less pace than a doped-up Alan Stubbs. Ancelotti will probably go for experience, and pick Inzaghi’s subtle movement and know-how over Gilardino’s eager youth, and the way Liverpool deal with this threat will be crucial. If indeed Inzaghi gets the nod, playing a high defensive line should hold no fears for the Reds, the Italian veteran won’t hurt them by running into 35 yards of space, it’s the 6 yard box where he does his damage. Pushing up as a back four would also limit the space between defence and midfield where Kaka does his best work.

Liverpool will almost certainly go with Dirk Kuyt on his own up front, and his workrate could be key. Milan won’t be used to pressure in their own third of the pitch, with Italian sides tending to put pressure on the ball only in their own half. If Kuyt can force errors in the Milan backline, Liverpool have the ability to punish this. The question is whether Kuyt can be prolific enough to take any chances that may come his way, although with Crouch and Bellamy on the bench, Liverpool will have options to change it should Kuyt be dealt with by Milan. Bellamy’s pace and Crouch’s height will both be potent weapons that Milan will fear, and between the three front-line strikers, Liverpool have 3 very different threats. Will any of them be ruthless enough to actually hurt Milan?

3. The Playmaker

Gerrard v Kaka. This will be the real key. Liverpool will look to limit the influence Kaka has on the game, and Milan will look to isolate Gerrard and prevent his roving late runs into the box. Both are special for different reasons, Gerrard for his power and influence, Kaka for his subtlety, pace and guile. Both are likely to play off a lone striker, and so will probably not be picked up by midfielders. All the talk has been of Mascherano picking up Kaka, but if that’s the case, who’d pick up Pirlo? Or Ambrosini? Or Seedorf? Or Gattuso? Liverpool will go man-for-man in midfield, and it’ll be the centre half who’s not marking Inzaghi that’ll come out and pick up Kaka. Of course, when Kaka drops deep into midfield he may come into contact with Liverpool’s combative Argentinian, but don’t expect Benitez to use Mascherano man-to-man on Kaka. It won’t happen.

Milan will deal with Gerrard in much the same way. For all Gattuso will relish the task of showing Stevie G just how scary he really is, it will probably be Nesta picking up the Liverpool captain. Maldini won’t worry about Kuyt’s pace, and will use his experience to limit the amount of success the clever Dutchman can gain from intelligent (rather than pacy or tricky) runs. This will leave Nesta floating, and he’ll pick up Gerrard’s forays forward. Gerrard’s runs are a lot more unpredictable and powerful than those of Kaka though, and should Nesta’s concentration wane, Milan will certainly be punished. One of Gerrard and Kaka will inspire their team to victory tonight, and in doing so make a real claim to the title of best player in the world. It will be an intriguing battle.

Prediction

Milan 1 v 2 Liverpool.

This will be one of the tightest European Cup Finals in recent memory. But I just think the Milan fear factor from 2005 will tell in the end. Liverpool have the belief that they can beat Milan come what may, and the advantage of experience that Milan took into that Istanbul final has evaporated. Liverpool’s players have been there before too, and even won it from 3-0 down. That would give anyone confidence.

Whatever happened to Regi Blinker???

Name:
Regi BLINKER
Born:
June 04, 1969
Birthplace:
Delft
Club:
Retired
Former clubs:
Sparta, RBC Roosendaal, Celtic (Sco), Sheffield Wednesday (Eng), Feyenoord, FC Den Bosch, Feyenoord, DHC
Position:
Striker
Caps:
3(0)

Regi Blinker has played abroad until 2000. He joined Sheffield Wednesday in the winterbreak of 1995-1996 and moved to Scottish Celtic in summer 1997. He retired in the summer of 2003 after his contract at Sparta ended.
After his retirement, Blinker played a while for the amateurs of Deltasport and s.v. Wippolder in Delft. He is currently coaching young talented players at Lafor Soccer Consultancy.

What next for relegated trio?

Now the dust has settled (a bit) on the whole 'cheating cockney bastards' thing, The Late Flag takes a look at what's next for the three relegated clubs from the Premiership. With the Premier League TV revenue increase far outstripping that of the Championship, there's never been a worse time to be outside the top 20. Who will be most hurt by relegation, and how will each club fare next season?


Sheffield United


A lot will depend on who's in charge at Bramall Lane next season, amidst rumours Bryan Robson is about to be appointed. Whilst Robson has experience of getting clubs promoted to the Premiership, his record at keeping them there hasn't been fantastic. He undoubtedly creates a good team spirit at a club, but has been the subject of several reports of alcohol abuse and poor in-squad discipline. So whilst his players would be up for it, how professional are his methods, and could this cost one of his sides over a long hard season in a straight fight against better prepared squads? All this will of course be academic, should someone else take over, although this seems unlikely.

United have spent relatively freely this season, although haven't jeopardised their long term future by over-spending in the hope of staying up. Money was spent that has clearly improved the squad, and players like Nade, Stead and Kilgallon should serve them well in the Championship. Of the three to go down, the Blades also have the highest attendances, and shouldn't be overly concerned about money issues over the next season or two. In that sense then, a failure to come up next year wouldn't be a total disaster for United, but I'd expect that to prompt an exodus of top players such as Tonge, Jagielka and Kenny.

Whilst these players have been linked with moves already, I can't see that the club is in any real need to sell, and the players concerned will probably be fairly happy to stay till January, to assess whether promotion is likely. If United are struggling then, I think that's when the likes of Jagielka will be slapping in the transfer requests. By the way, I'm convinced rumours of Liverpool's interest in him are complete bo****ks.

One area of worry for me would be their Chief Executive's pledge that plans for next season are "totally on hold for the next four weeks" pending the outcome of the West Ham legal saga. Bearing in mind that's unlikely to bring success, I see this as wasted time that United should be spending building for promotion. But, as Roy Keane has shown promotion can be obtained with absolutely no pre-season planning, I'd still expect United to finish at least top four next season. I can't really be more precise than that without knowing who'll be in charge. Even with Robson and his "team bonding" sessions down the local, they'll be there or thereabouts.


Charlton

Determined to come straight back up, and in reality they won't have a better chance. Darrent Bent will leave for big money, so no real financial worries for the Addicks, and there's unlikely to be a mass exodus simply because no f***er wants their players. The money they see for Bent, and the ex-Premiership players staying in their ranks mean they'll have a real chance next season.

Should they fail of course, then they're really in the s**t. Next summer they won't be able to rely on a £10m cash injection courtesy of West Ham or Spurs, and the prospect of another year in the Championship would really see a dismantling of the squad. Check how many Norwich players you've heard of to see an example of this.

Norwich really are the example of what Charlton could become - a fairly big Championship side with no hope of gaining promotion in the next three years - should they fail to come up at the first attempt. Alan Pardew was on the verge of being sacked at West Ham before sneaking into the playoffs, so it'll be interesting to see how he deals with the challenge of taking another club to promotion.

A lot then depends on how they spend the money from Bent's sale, rumours of Romany Gypsy Freddie Eastwood coming along in his caravan are refusing to go away, and he's certainly proved he can score goals at that level. Luke Young will also need to be replaced, but again they'll probably see good money for him. I think they'll have a squad that can make a real go of the Championship though, and like Sheffield United are unlikey to see wholesale departures unless things look bleak in January.

Of the three to go down, Charlton are the ones that NEED to come straight back up the most. Not because of immediate financial pressures, but because those financial pressures will be looming on the horizon should they fail. They also have the squad most filled with players who'd expect to be in the Premiership, and so will see players targetted by bottom six Premiership clubs if not in the January promotion-mix. They'll either be a West Brom or a Norwich, and if I had to bet, I'd say Norwich. I can see a steady but unspectacular season next year, with a definate top ten finish. Whether that'll mean a playoff place is key to Charlton's medium-term future.


Watford

"Take the money and run". That's how I'd describe Watford's approach to competing in the Premiership. Desperately in need of cash when they came up, Watford hardly spent any of the TV bonanza they recieved for the achievement, and continued that policy even after selling Ashley Young.

Probably only Marlon King would see any real interest from other clubs, although given he's just signed a new contract I can't see any sort of player exodus at all. Waford will keep their current squad by and large, and that's why they won't come back up.

King will get goals in the Championship, and players like Priskin, Bouazza and De Merit suggest a reasonable future at Vicarage Road. On the other hand, the Championship has gotten a hell of a lot better since Watford were last in it. One of Derby and West Brom will be there, as will the likes of Southampton, Wolves and Preston, not to mention Sheffield United and Charlton, both of whom finished comfortably above Watford this season. Were there to be a radical Sunderland-style staff turnover, you could maybe see Watford doing something, armed as they are with all their intact Premiership cash.

But I see Watford continuing their 'play it safe' strategy, and they won't be outspending everyone in the division this summer. They'll have looked on promotion as a bonus, and will use the cash to safeguard their financial future for the next five years or so. Ideally they'd be hoping to make the playoffs, but I really can't see them causing many problems for the teams at the top next season. They have a team of Championship players, but not many of them would get in Wolves' side, or Southampton's.

Anything is possible with a good run, but after a season of getting beat 4-0 every week, it'll be hard for those same players to suddenly start battering teams left right & centre. Watford shouldn't struggle - their whole squad is full of good players at that level and Boothroyd always gets 100% out of them - but they won't be challenging the automatic promotion spots. Playoffs at best for the Hornets.

Sorry Elton.