QUEENS PARK RANGERS
Mark Hughes has had a good summer so far bringing in Park Ji-Sung, Junior Hoilett, Robert Green, Jose Bosingwa, Andy Jonson, Ryan Nelsen, Fabio Da Silva and Samba Diakite They all have Premier League experience and I don't think QPR will be caught up in a relegation battle like last season.
It looks as though Joey Barton is set to move on this summer with reports suggesting he will spend the year in France with Marseille. Barton is a decent player when he puts his mind to it, which isn't as often as it needs to be for such a well paid player.
Key Man : Jamie Mackie - When on form Mackie is a very good player. He missed the start of last year through injury but I'd expect him to be a regular this season and most likely reach double figures in goals.
A Player I'd Sign : Ki Sung-Yueng - As a Celtic fan I know plenty about him. He is a decent player and very good technically. I think a continental side would suit him better but QPR appear to be leading the chase for his signature.
Prediction - 10th
READING
Last year's Championship winners have invested wisely in the summer. Chris Gunter, Adrian Mariappa, Garath McCleary, Danny Guthrie, Nicky Shorey and Pavel Pogrebnyak have all came in and I'd say they are six good signings.
In recent seasons the promoted teams have done quite well and I'd expect Reading to be another team to get at least a second year in the Premier League.
Key Man : Pavel Pogrebnyak - Pogrebnyak is a fantastic signing for the Royals. He came to England on loan at Fulham last year and got off to a flyer. He ended up scoring 6 in his 12 games and if he can average close to 1 in 2 next year it would go a long way to keeping Reading in the Premier League.
A Player I'd Sign : Christophe Berra - Rumours are circulating that Reading are in the market for a new centre-back and after Wolves got relegated, Reading may be able to tempt Berra to the Madejski. Berra is a solid centre back with international experience and can do a good job at this level.
Prediction : 13th
SOUTHAMPTON
The Saints are another of the promoted clubs and like Reading they have bought well. Another of the ex-Rangers contingent, Steve Davis has came in. Davis is a very good player. He was always a thorn in the side of Celtic and is a player I have a lot of respect for. Another good signing is Jay Rodriguez from Burnley. Rodriguez has improved a lot in the last two years. He scored 21 goals last season and is now making the step up to the next level. It appears Southampton are on the verge of bringing in Uruguay international winger, Gaston Ramirez. Ramirez had two good seasons at Bologna and now moves to the Premier League hoping to make a similar impact.
Key Man : Rickie Lambert - The 30 year old finally gets his chance to prove himself at the highest level in English football after years of goal scoring in each of English footballs divisions. Lambert has scored 88 goals in his 3 years at Southampton and if he can keep up that level of form then he could be a man to watch.
A Player I'd Sign : Matt Phillips - Saints have been linked with the highly rated Blackpool winger. He has already been capped by Scotland and at 21 he is a good age to make the step up.
Prediction : 17th
STOKE CITY
Stoke have had a quiet enough summer bringing in just two players. Jamie Ness from Rangers and Michael Kightly from Wolves are the men Tony Pulis has brought to the Brittania. Jamie Ness I was never really a fan of. He did famously score a great goal in a Scottish Cup tie against Celtic but other than that his Rangers career was some what forgetable. He did suffer from some injuries but the jury is still very much out on Ness.
The other signing Michael Kightly is definitely a much more proven talent. Kightly is 26 now and has always been highly rated. If he is ever going to prove himself as a Premier League performer he needs to make the most of this opportunity.
Key Man : Jonathan Walters - The Irish internationals career has taken off in a big way in the last two seasons. He is 28 now and had been a bit of a journey man until he moved to Stoke two years ago. He has became a first team regular and has scored in double figures in his two seasons. 15 goals is not out of reach for him.
A Player I'd SIgn : Jermaine Defoe - Stoke appear to be in the market for a new striker and Defoe may be available. Owen is another option but if given the option of bringing in Owen or Defoe, my choice would be the Tottenham man.
Prediction : 12th
SUNDERLAND
Yet another transfer window were we are going into the last few weeks and Martin O'Neill is leaving all his business until the last minute. He always done this at Celtic and was often guilty of it at Aston Villa. I've no idea why he does it as surely it would benefit his teams more to get to gel in pre season but for whatever reason O'Neill disagrees with this philosophy.
So far his only signing has been Carlos Cuellar from Aston Villa. Cuellar is a decent defender and should fit in well at Sunderland but it is difficult to judge how Sunderland will do until O'Neill finishes his transfer business.
Sunderland have been trying to bring in Wolves striker, Steven Fletcher. Fletcher is a decent player but not at the price Wolves are looking. He has put in a transfer request so it will most likely be a case of Fletcher will end up at Sunderland but the price will be determined by whoever blinks first.
Key Man : James McClean - The Irish winger has been flying since his move from Derry City last year. He scored 6 in 29 games last year and with a full preseason behind him I'd be surprised if he doesn't hit double figures this year.
A Player I'd Sign : Javier Hernandez - Following Van Persie's signing from Arsenal, Hernandez has been linked to a whole host of clubs. He's a better striker than Fletcher and with the daft figures being quoted for the Wolves man Hernandez could end up being affordable.
Prediction - 11th
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Premier League Preview : L - N
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool are the team I am most excited about seeing this year and I genuinely hope they do well. I am not a Liverpool fan but I would love to see them get back to their glory days under Carnlough man, Brendan Rodgers. I have lived in Carnlough for the last 4 years & it is amazing to think that a man from this small village is now in charge of one of the biggest football clubs in the world.
Since taking the reigns he has made a few good signings. Fabio Borini and Joe Allen are both players he knows very well from his Swansea days. Borini had a great year in Italy scoring 9 goals in 24 games for Roma. In Serie A that is a respectable record. Especially when you consider it was his first year in the league. In his one season in Italy he done enough to convince Italy manager, Cesare Prandelli, that he was worthy of a spot in Italy’s Euro 2012 squad which is no easy task.
Joe Allen is a player I like. He had a great year at Swansea and every time I watched them live or the highlights he always seemed to be at the centre of everything they done. At 22 the time was right for Allen to make the move to a bigger club.
Liverpool’s hopes this season will depend on who they sell in the coming weeks. It appears players have to be sold to balance the books but they really don’t want to have to sell Daniel Agger. He is a top class centre back but if Liverpool can not find takers for Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam then Agger may be the one who has to move on.
If Agger stays and the team buy into Rodgers style of football then I predict a much improved season for Liverpool.
Key Player : Luis Suarez – Suarez is an excellent footballer and is capable of unlocking any defence in the world. His one weakness, certainly in his time at Liverpool, is his finishing. If Suarez can start finding the back of the net instead of shooting straight at the goalkeeper or hitting the woodwork then he could even figure in the race to be top scorer in the league.
A Player I’d Sign : Nuri Sahin – It looks as though this deal could go through in the next few days and I think he would be a great signing for Liverpool.
Prediction – 4th
MANCHESTER CITY
One thing’s for sure, City will not win the league in as exciting a manner as they did last year. Two injury time goals to win your first league title in 44 years is the stuff Hollywood script writers couldn’t even dream up.
It has been an unusually quiet summer at the Etihad with Jack Rodwell being the only signing to date. Rodwell is a decent player but I think he will struggle to see much game time at City. He is another option in their midfield however and will strengthen the overall quality of the squad.
I do expect Mancini to break in at least one more player before the end of the transfer window.
City have kept everyone from last year and I think it will take something special to stop them defending their title. Last year they were the best team in the league but Manchester United ran them close. I think the reason it was so close was United had a lot more experience in title races and City seemed to be effected by the pressure. Last years title win will have given them confidence and when you have the best team/squad and a lot of confidence it will be very difficult to beat.
Key Man : Yaya Toure – This man was unbelievable in the run in last season. He grabbed goals, created goals and pushed City all the way to the League Championship. City’s main concern this year will be dealing with his absence again during the African Cup of Nations.
A Player I’d Sign : Daniel Agger – My one concern is injuries in the centre of their defence. If Vincent Kompany were to get injured that would leave Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic. No combination of those three inspires confidence. If Agger came in Man City would be in a very strong position for a push at the Champions League as well as the league.
Prediction – 1st
MANCHESTER UNITED
Robin Van Persie is the name on everyones lips at the moment after the Dutchman moved from Arsenal to Manchester United. Van Persie had a great season last year. It was by far his best in the Premier League. He was the top scorer in the league last year with 30 goals. There can be no doubt he is a fantastic footballer but my concerns would lie in his injury record. Last year RVP managed to stay clear of injury but in 8 years at Arsenal that was the first time he managed that feat. I think United have overpaid for him. £22-24m for a 29 year old, injury prone striker is a huge gamble. Most strikers will peak round 28. Obviously there are exceptions and because Van Persie has missed so many games in the past he might be able to extend his peak for a few years. Sir Alex Ferguson and United's army of fans will be hoping that is the case but I suspect that a striker who's body struggled to cope with the demands of top flight football in his 20s is hardly likely to improve as he enters his 30s.
Whilst all the talk about Manchester United at the moment is focusing on RVP, my opinion is that he isn't even the best piece of business they have done this summer. I'd reserve that honour for Shinji Kagawa. I am very excited about seeing him in the Premier League. He is a very tricky customer and whilst I don't think he is the man to overhaul Manchester City, I do think he is the man who can keep Manchester United ahead of the rest of the chasing pack.
Key Man : Nemanja Vidic - The Serbian will be like a new signing for United this season. He is one of the best centre backs in the world & he is one of those players who not only is top class in his own right but he seems to inspire the players around him.
A Player I'd Sign : Daniele De Rossi - It seems United's rivals, Manchester City are trying to sign the Italian midfielder but if Fergie could find a way to bring him to Old Trafford I think that would be the signing to bring the Premier League trophy back to the red half of Manchester.
Prediction - 2nd
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Newcastle had their best season last year in 8 years. Back then Alan Shearer was banging in 25-30 goals a season and Newcastle were a regular in European competitions. Since then there has been a lot of poor seasons for the Geordies, including a season in the Championship. Newcastle have bounced back fantastically since that and have began to build a very good squad. Players like Yohann Cabaye, Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa and Demba Ba are class acts and could grace most teams in the world. I haven't had a lot of time for Alan Pardew in the past but credit were it's due, he has done a great job at Newcastle.
This summer Newcastle have made a few more interesting signings. Vurnon Anita and Roman Amalfitano have came in from Ajax and Stade de Reims. Teenagers Gael Bigirimana and Curtis Good have also came in. I don't know much about them other than Vurnon Anita who is a Dutch international Full-Back/Midfielder. Judging by his quotes he is now very much a Centre Midfielder.
Newcastle have managed to hold onto all their key players with just a few squad players moving on. At the start of the summer the key players were being linked with clubs all over Europe but on the eve of the new season they are all still at St James' Park and I expect Newcastle to have another good season.
Key Man : Papiss Cisse - Cisse signed for Newcastle in January and was an instant success, scoring 13 goals in 14 games. If he can start the new season in the same vein of form he could be in the running for top scorer.
A Player I'd Sign : Mathieu Debuchy - Newcastle have been linked with the Frenchman and I think he would be a great signing for them. I was impressed by him in the Euros, especially his performance against England. Hopefully the deal will go through as he is a player I would like to see in the Premier League.
Prediction - 7th
NORWICH CITY
A huge season lies ahead for Norwich. They go into it without the manager who secured back to back promotions and led them to a safe mid table finish in the Premier League last year. Paul Lambert has moved onto Aston Villa and replacing him in the dugout is former Newcastle and Birmingham manager, Chris Hughton. Hughton has done quite well in his brief managerial career. He won the Championship with Newcastle in 2009/10 and had some good results in his half a season in the Premier League including a 5-1 derby win over Sunderland and a 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates. At the time he was being regarded as one of the best young managers in the English leagues, after a few bad weeks, he was sacked. He also led Birmingham to a playoff spot in his season there, eventually losing 3-2 on aggregate to Blackpool. Norwich will be a big job but I think Hughton has enough to make it a success.
Robert Snodgrass, Michael Turner, Jacob Betterfield and Steven Whittaker have been brought in to bolster the squad. Michael Turner has been a decent Premier League defender in his years at Hull and Sunderland and should be a good signing. Steven Whittaker was another player to leave Rangers. The jury is out on him to be honest. He was quite inconsistent in his years at Rangers so I am interested to see how he does in England. Robert Snodgrass is a player I am very sad to see at Norwich. He has been fantastic for Leeds but I can't really blame him for moving on. Leeds have been getting worse and haven't really threatened to get into the Premier League in the last 2 years and Snodgrass is definitely good enough to there. He's 24 now and deserves a chance to compete at this level.
Key Man : Grant Holt - Holt's been a superb player for Norwich in his 3 years at the club. He has 70 goals in 129 appearances and if he can get between 15-20 goals again this year it should be enough to keep Norwich in the top flight.
A Player I'd Sign : Michael Owen - I think Norwich could do with strengthening up front and Michael Owen is available on a free. I'm not sure if wages would be a problem but I think Owen would be a good signing.
Prediction - 15th
Liverpool are the team I am most excited about seeing this year and I genuinely hope they do well. I am not a Liverpool fan but I would love to see them get back to their glory days under Carnlough man, Brendan Rodgers. I have lived in Carnlough for the last 4 years & it is amazing to think that a man from this small village is now in charge of one of the biggest football clubs in the world.
Since taking the reigns he has made a few good signings. Fabio Borini and Joe Allen are both players he knows very well from his Swansea days. Borini had a great year in Italy scoring 9 goals in 24 games for Roma. In Serie A that is a respectable record. Especially when you consider it was his first year in the league. In his one season in Italy he done enough to convince Italy manager, Cesare Prandelli, that he was worthy of a spot in Italy’s Euro 2012 squad which is no easy task.
Joe Allen is a player I like. He had a great year at Swansea and every time I watched them live or the highlights he always seemed to be at the centre of everything they done. At 22 the time was right for Allen to make the move to a bigger club.
Liverpool’s hopes this season will depend on who they sell in the coming weeks. It appears players have to be sold to balance the books but they really don’t want to have to sell Daniel Agger. He is a top class centre back but if Liverpool can not find takers for Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam then Agger may be the one who has to move on.
If Agger stays and the team buy into Rodgers style of football then I predict a much improved season for Liverpool.
Key Player : Luis Suarez – Suarez is an excellent footballer and is capable of unlocking any defence in the world. His one weakness, certainly in his time at Liverpool, is his finishing. If Suarez can start finding the back of the net instead of shooting straight at the goalkeeper or hitting the woodwork then he could even figure in the race to be top scorer in the league.
A Player I’d Sign : Nuri Sahin – It looks as though this deal could go through in the next few days and I think he would be a great signing for Liverpool.
Prediction – 4th
MANCHESTER CITY
One thing’s for sure, City will not win the league in as exciting a manner as they did last year. Two injury time goals to win your first league title in 44 years is the stuff Hollywood script writers couldn’t even dream up.
It has been an unusually quiet summer at the Etihad with Jack Rodwell being the only signing to date. Rodwell is a decent player but I think he will struggle to see much game time at City. He is another option in their midfield however and will strengthen the overall quality of the squad.
I do expect Mancini to break in at least one more player before the end of the transfer window.
City have kept everyone from last year and I think it will take something special to stop them defending their title. Last year they were the best team in the league but Manchester United ran them close. I think the reason it was so close was United had a lot more experience in title races and City seemed to be effected by the pressure. Last years title win will have given them confidence and when you have the best team/squad and a lot of confidence it will be very difficult to beat.
Key Man : Yaya Toure – This man was unbelievable in the run in last season. He grabbed goals, created goals and pushed City all the way to the League Championship. City’s main concern this year will be dealing with his absence again during the African Cup of Nations.
A Player I’d Sign : Daniel Agger – My one concern is injuries in the centre of their defence. If Vincent Kompany were to get injured that would leave Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic. No combination of those three inspires confidence. If Agger came in Man City would be in a very strong position for a push at the Champions League as well as the league.
Prediction – 1st
MANCHESTER UNITED
Robin Van Persie is the name on everyones lips at the moment after the Dutchman moved from Arsenal to Manchester United. Van Persie had a great season last year. It was by far his best in the Premier League. He was the top scorer in the league last year with 30 goals. There can be no doubt he is a fantastic footballer but my concerns would lie in his injury record. Last year RVP managed to stay clear of injury but in 8 years at Arsenal that was the first time he managed that feat. I think United have overpaid for him. £22-24m for a 29 year old, injury prone striker is a huge gamble. Most strikers will peak round 28. Obviously there are exceptions and because Van Persie has missed so many games in the past he might be able to extend his peak for a few years. Sir Alex Ferguson and United's army of fans will be hoping that is the case but I suspect that a striker who's body struggled to cope with the demands of top flight football in his 20s is hardly likely to improve as he enters his 30s.
Whilst all the talk about Manchester United at the moment is focusing on RVP, my opinion is that he isn't even the best piece of business they have done this summer. I'd reserve that honour for Shinji Kagawa. I am very excited about seeing him in the Premier League. He is a very tricky customer and whilst I don't think he is the man to overhaul Manchester City, I do think he is the man who can keep Manchester United ahead of the rest of the chasing pack.
Key Man : Nemanja Vidic - The Serbian will be like a new signing for United this season. He is one of the best centre backs in the world & he is one of those players who not only is top class in his own right but he seems to inspire the players around him.
A Player I'd Sign : Daniele De Rossi - It seems United's rivals, Manchester City are trying to sign the Italian midfielder but if Fergie could find a way to bring him to Old Trafford I think that would be the signing to bring the Premier League trophy back to the red half of Manchester.
Prediction - 2nd
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Newcastle had their best season last year in 8 years. Back then Alan Shearer was banging in 25-30 goals a season and Newcastle were a regular in European competitions. Since then there has been a lot of poor seasons for the Geordies, including a season in the Championship. Newcastle have bounced back fantastically since that and have began to build a very good squad. Players like Yohann Cabaye, Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa and Demba Ba are class acts and could grace most teams in the world. I haven't had a lot of time for Alan Pardew in the past but credit were it's due, he has done a great job at Newcastle.
This summer Newcastle have made a few more interesting signings. Vurnon Anita and Roman Amalfitano have came in from Ajax and Stade de Reims. Teenagers Gael Bigirimana and Curtis Good have also came in. I don't know much about them other than Vurnon Anita who is a Dutch international Full-Back/Midfielder. Judging by his quotes he is now very much a Centre Midfielder.
Newcastle have managed to hold onto all their key players with just a few squad players moving on. At the start of the summer the key players were being linked with clubs all over Europe but on the eve of the new season they are all still at St James' Park and I expect Newcastle to have another good season.
Key Man : Papiss Cisse - Cisse signed for Newcastle in January and was an instant success, scoring 13 goals in 14 games. If he can start the new season in the same vein of form he could be in the running for top scorer.
A Player I'd Sign : Mathieu Debuchy - Newcastle have been linked with the Frenchman and I think he would be a great signing for them. I was impressed by him in the Euros, especially his performance against England. Hopefully the deal will go through as he is a player I would like to see in the Premier League.
Prediction - 7th
NORWICH CITY
A huge season lies ahead for Norwich. They go into it without the manager who secured back to back promotions and led them to a safe mid table finish in the Premier League last year. Paul Lambert has moved onto Aston Villa and replacing him in the dugout is former Newcastle and Birmingham manager, Chris Hughton. Hughton has done quite well in his brief managerial career. He won the Championship with Newcastle in 2009/10 and had some good results in his half a season in the Premier League including a 5-1 derby win over Sunderland and a 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates. At the time he was being regarded as one of the best young managers in the English leagues, after a few bad weeks, he was sacked. He also led Birmingham to a playoff spot in his season there, eventually losing 3-2 on aggregate to Blackpool. Norwich will be a big job but I think Hughton has enough to make it a success.
Robert Snodgrass, Michael Turner, Jacob Betterfield and Steven Whittaker have been brought in to bolster the squad. Michael Turner has been a decent Premier League defender in his years at Hull and Sunderland and should be a good signing. Steven Whittaker was another player to leave Rangers. The jury is out on him to be honest. He was quite inconsistent in his years at Rangers so I am interested to see how he does in England. Robert Snodgrass is a player I am very sad to see at Norwich. He has been fantastic for Leeds but I can't really blame him for moving on. Leeds have been getting worse and haven't really threatened to get into the Premier League in the last 2 years and Snodgrass is definitely good enough to there. He's 24 now and deserves a chance to compete at this level.
Key Man : Grant Holt - Holt's been a superb player for Norwich in his 3 years at the club. He has 70 goals in 129 appearances and if he can get between 15-20 goals again this year it should be enough to keep Norwich in the top flight.
A Player I'd Sign : Michael Owen - I think Norwich could do with strengthening up front and Michael Owen is available on a free. I'm not sure if wages would be a problem but I think Owen would be a good signing.
Prediction - 15th
Premier League Preview : A-F
ARSENAL
It's almost impossible to predict Arsenal's season at this point. They had made two good signings in Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski. Their other signing, Oliver Giroud, I am not completely sold on. I worry he may turn out to be another Marouane Chamakh and if he does then Arsenal could have a very difficult season ahead of them. He does have a better goal scoring record than Chamakh and with Van Persie's transfer to Manchester United he will most likely feature a lot more than Chamakh did when he first arrived but until we see how he settles into English football the jury will remain out. Rumours are also going around that midfielder, Alex Song could be on his way to Barcelona. If Song leaves then Arsene Wenger could have a huge two weeks ahead of him to try to save Arsenal's season.
Key Player : Santi Cazorla - A very good signing and an absolute bargain at £15m. The fact Arsenal were able to sign this guy for £15m makes a mockery of the inflated prices being paid for British players. I expect to see him collect a load of assists and I expect to see him at the front of the queue when Arsenal have free-kicks around the edge of the box.
A Player I'd Sign : Yann M'Vila - Regardless of whether Song leaves or not, Arsenal need to bring in M'Vila. They lack that bite in midfield. Wilshere and Diaby are both injury prone and are unlikely to make enough appearances. M'Vila is often compared to Patrick Vieira and that is exactly the sort of player Arsenal need. At 22 years old he's a good age and as he's not English he could probably be bought at a respectable price.
Prediction - 5th
ASTON VILLA
Aston Villa have parted company with last season’s manager, Alex McLeish and replaced him with a young manager with a great track record in Paul Lambert. I read a statistic recently that McLeish is the worst manager in Villa's history with a win percentage of just 21.4%. I imagine the Aston Villa board were surprised by this but I've no idea why. McLeish after all is the only man in my living memory to guide Rangers to a league position outside the top 2 in the SPL. He followed that up with a brief stint at Scotland before going to Birmingham where he managed to get the Blues relegated twice. Lambert on the other hand has got quite a positive CV. At Wycombe he led them to the League Cup Semi-Finals while they were in League 2 and after a short stint at Colchester he moved to Norwich, where in 3 years he got promoted from League One, promoted from the Championship and then led Norwich to a mid table Premier League finish. The new man has brought in a few signings and to be honest I don’t know much about most of them. I do like Ron Vlaar, previously of Feyenoord. He will be a direct replacement at centre-back for James Collins. Another ex-Feyenoord signing is Karim El Ahmadi who will line up in midfield in place of Stiliyan Petrov who had acute leukaemia and is now in remission. Their other signings I know very little of, other than Brett Holman is a winger and Matthew Lowton a full-back. However, with Lambert’s record I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned out to be decent signings.
Key Player : Darren Bent – Aston Villa don’t look like a team with a lot of goals in them so they have to keep Bent fit. If Bent gets injured again, Villa could really struggle. If he stays fit, he is more than capable of 15-20 Premier League goals.
A Player I’d Sign : Dimitar Berbatov – As I’ve said Villa will struggle to score goals and with Van Persie signing for Manchester United, Berbatov is going to find it even harder to get a place in the starting line up. He’s behind Rooney, Van Persie, Welbeck and Hernandez at United, so a move to Aston Villa could be a good move to get his career back on track.
Prediction – 9th
CHELSEA
The European Champions have had a busy summer, with new permanent manager, Roberto Di Matteo making his mark in the transfer market. Chelsea have bought well. Eden Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin are all good players. Chelsea now have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to creative options in their midfield with the three new boys joining Frank Lampard and Juan Mata as advanced midfielders. It should make Chelsea enjoyable to watch in the coming season.
My biggest worry for Chelsea is a player they lost. Their best player in the last few seasons has been Ivory Coast star, Didier Drogba. He has now left to join Shanghai Shenhua in China. That leaves Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge as Chelsea’s only strikers. In recent years I have said Torres will come good but I’m still waiting for it to happen. I’ve no idea what has gone wrong but he is definitely a different player to the one who arrived at Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in 2007. Torres should see more game time now Drogba has left but it would take a serious improvement from his current record of 7 goals in 46 games to make him look worth the £50m Chelsea spent on him.
Key Man : Oscar – I think signing this guy will turn out to be a masterstroke from Chelsea. I have been very impressed by him in the games I have seen. He was Brazil’s best player in the Olympics and he could well be the best player of this generation.
A Player I’d Sign – Edinson Cavani – Chelsea need a replacement for Didier Drogba and Cavani is that man. He wouldn’t come cheap but Chelsea have never been shy to spend big if they believe they have the right man.
Prediction – 3rd
EVERTON
How long before David Moyes decides enough is enough and it’s time for him to move on to a new club with a bit more ambition that Everton? Yet another transfer window has passed were Moyes has lost more than he has been allowed to bring in. The two players he brought in are good signings. Steven Pienaar comes back after being on loan at the club last season. He never really got a chance at Tottenham but in both his first spell at Everton and his loan spell he was a key player.
Steven Naismith has also signed on a free transfer from Rangers. I watch a lot of SPL games so I am very familiar with Naismith. He was a good prospect at Kilmarnock and moved to Rangers in 2007. He had a bit of a slow start at Rangers but he was becoming an important player. Unfortunately for him he picked up a cruciate knee injury in October last year which finished his season. If he makes a full recovery then Everton have a good player on their hands.
Unfortunately for Everton and Moyes, they have lost three key players. Jack Rodwell, Tim Cahill and Joseph Yobo have all left the club. All three were important players and it will be interesting to see how much activity there is at Goodison Park between now and the close of the transfer window.
Key Player : Nikica Jelavic – The Croatian needs to keep up his good goal scoring record if Everton are to have a good season. He will be boosted by the arrival of Steven Naismith as they were beginning to develop a good partnership at Rangers before Naismith’s injury. He had 9 goals in 13 games last season. If he can keep himself fit I expect him to hit at least 20 goals.
A Player I’d Sign : Adam Johnson – Everton seem to be in the market for a wide man and there seems to be a few rumours going around that City would be willing to let him go. Johnson is a good player who will want to get back in the England team and a move to Everton may just help him get there.
Prediction – 8th
FULHAM
Fulham’s hopes for the new season will depend a lot on what happens with Clint Dempsey. The American has been linked with a move to Liverpool and if the deal goes through Fulham will be losing their best player and have little time to replace him. Dempsey has put in a transfer request and Jol has said he will sell him if the money’s right. If Dempsey goes I think Fulham will find themselves right in the middle of a relegation battle.
They have brought in Mladen Petric, Hugo Rodallega, George Williams and Sascha Riether. Petric and Rodallega should provide some much needed goals. Williams is a young prospect, signed from MK Dons. Riether is a full-back who has been capped by Germany.
Fulham have lost Etuhu, Johnson and Pogrebynak. These three are all good players. Pogrebynak, in particular had a great spell at the club last season.
Key Man : Mladen Petric – If Dempsey leaves, Fulham are going to need to find goals from another source and Petric could well be that man. He had a decent record at Hamburg and he will be looking to make a similar impact in England as his Croatian team mate, Nikica Jelavic.
A Player I’d Sign : Joe Cole – With Dempsey leaving and Liverpool a likely destination why not try to get Cole as part of the deal. There have already been rumours that Charlie Adam could be used as bait but Cole is a better player and with all these midfielders at Liverpool, surely a deal could be worked out. I’d play Cole in an attacking central midfield role instead of on the wing and I have a feeling it could be the life line that may just save Fulhams season.
Prediction : 18th
It's almost impossible to predict Arsenal's season at this point. They had made two good signings in Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski. Their other signing, Oliver Giroud, I am not completely sold on. I worry he may turn out to be another Marouane Chamakh and if he does then Arsenal could have a very difficult season ahead of them. He does have a better goal scoring record than Chamakh and with Van Persie's transfer to Manchester United he will most likely feature a lot more than Chamakh did when he first arrived but until we see how he settles into English football the jury will remain out. Rumours are also going around that midfielder, Alex Song could be on his way to Barcelona. If Song leaves then Arsene Wenger could have a huge two weeks ahead of him to try to save Arsenal's season.
Key Player : Santi Cazorla - A very good signing and an absolute bargain at £15m. The fact Arsenal were able to sign this guy for £15m makes a mockery of the inflated prices being paid for British players. I expect to see him collect a load of assists and I expect to see him at the front of the queue when Arsenal have free-kicks around the edge of the box.
A Player I'd Sign : Yann M'Vila - Regardless of whether Song leaves or not, Arsenal need to bring in M'Vila. They lack that bite in midfield. Wilshere and Diaby are both injury prone and are unlikely to make enough appearances. M'Vila is often compared to Patrick Vieira and that is exactly the sort of player Arsenal need. At 22 years old he's a good age and as he's not English he could probably be bought at a respectable price.
Prediction - 5th
ASTON VILLA
Aston Villa have parted company with last season’s manager, Alex McLeish and replaced him with a young manager with a great track record in Paul Lambert. I read a statistic recently that McLeish is the worst manager in Villa's history with a win percentage of just 21.4%. I imagine the Aston Villa board were surprised by this but I've no idea why. McLeish after all is the only man in my living memory to guide Rangers to a league position outside the top 2 in the SPL. He followed that up with a brief stint at Scotland before going to Birmingham where he managed to get the Blues relegated twice. Lambert on the other hand has got quite a positive CV. At Wycombe he led them to the League Cup Semi-Finals while they were in League 2 and after a short stint at Colchester he moved to Norwich, where in 3 years he got promoted from League One, promoted from the Championship and then led Norwich to a mid table Premier League finish. The new man has brought in a few signings and to be honest I don’t know much about most of them. I do like Ron Vlaar, previously of Feyenoord. He will be a direct replacement at centre-back for James Collins. Another ex-Feyenoord signing is Karim El Ahmadi who will line up in midfield in place of Stiliyan Petrov who had acute leukaemia and is now in remission. Their other signings I know very little of, other than Brett Holman is a winger and Matthew Lowton a full-back. However, with Lambert’s record I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned out to be decent signings.
Key Player : Darren Bent – Aston Villa don’t look like a team with a lot of goals in them so they have to keep Bent fit. If Bent gets injured again, Villa could really struggle. If he stays fit, he is more than capable of 15-20 Premier League goals.
A Player I’d Sign : Dimitar Berbatov – As I’ve said Villa will struggle to score goals and with Van Persie signing for Manchester United, Berbatov is going to find it even harder to get a place in the starting line up. He’s behind Rooney, Van Persie, Welbeck and Hernandez at United, so a move to Aston Villa could be a good move to get his career back on track.
Prediction – 9th
CHELSEA
The European Champions have had a busy summer, with new permanent manager, Roberto Di Matteo making his mark in the transfer market. Chelsea have bought well. Eden Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin are all good players. Chelsea now have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to creative options in their midfield with the three new boys joining Frank Lampard and Juan Mata as advanced midfielders. It should make Chelsea enjoyable to watch in the coming season.
My biggest worry for Chelsea is a player they lost. Their best player in the last few seasons has been Ivory Coast star, Didier Drogba. He has now left to join Shanghai Shenhua in China. That leaves Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge as Chelsea’s only strikers. In recent years I have said Torres will come good but I’m still waiting for it to happen. I’ve no idea what has gone wrong but he is definitely a different player to the one who arrived at Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in 2007. Torres should see more game time now Drogba has left but it would take a serious improvement from his current record of 7 goals in 46 games to make him look worth the £50m Chelsea spent on him.
Key Man : Oscar – I think signing this guy will turn out to be a masterstroke from Chelsea. I have been very impressed by him in the games I have seen. He was Brazil’s best player in the Olympics and he could well be the best player of this generation.
A Player I’d Sign – Edinson Cavani – Chelsea need a replacement for Didier Drogba and Cavani is that man. He wouldn’t come cheap but Chelsea have never been shy to spend big if they believe they have the right man.
Prediction – 3rd
EVERTON
How long before David Moyes decides enough is enough and it’s time for him to move on to a new club with a bit more ambition that Everton? Yet another transfer window has passed were Moyes has lost more than he has been allowed to bring in. The two players he brought in are good signings. Steven Pienaar comes back after being on loan at the club last season. He never really got a chance at Tottenham but in both his first spell at Everton and his loan spell he was a key player.
Steven Naismith has also signed on a free transfer from Rangers. I watch a lot of SPL games so I am very familiar with Naismith. He was a good prospect at Kilmarnock and moved to Rangers in 2007. He had a bit of a slow start at Rangers but he was becoming an important player. Unfortunately for him he picked up a cruciate knee injury in October last year which finished his season. If he makes a full recovery then Everton have a good player on their hands.
Unfortunately for Everton and Moyes, they have lost three key players. Jack Rodwell, Tim Cahill and Joseph Yobo have all left the club. All three were important players and it will be interesting to see how much activity there is at Goodison Park between now and the close of the transfer window.
Key Player : Nikica Jelavic – The Croatian needs to keep up his good goal scoring record if Everton are to have a good season. He will be boosted by the arrival of Steven Naismith as they were beginning to develop a good partnership at Rangers before Naismith’s injury. He had 9 goals in 13 games last season. If he can keep himself fit I expect him to hit at least 20 goals.
A Player I’d Sign : Adam Johnson – Everton seem to be in the market for a wide man and there seems to be a few rumours going around that City would be willing to let him go. Johnson is a good player who will want to get back in the England team and a move to Everton may just help him get there.
Prediction – 8th
FULHAM
Fulham’s hopes for the new season will depend a lot on what happens with Clint Dempsey. The American has been linked with a move to Liverpool and if the deal goes through Fulham will be losing their best player and have little time to replace him. Dempsey has put in a transfer request and Jol has said he will sell him if the money’s right. If Dempsey goes I think Fulham will find themselves right in the middle of a relegation battle.
They have brought in Mladen Petric, Hugo Rodallega, George Williams and Sascha Riether. Petric and Rodallega should provide some much needed goals. Williams is a young prospect, signed from MK Dons. Riether is a full-back who has been capped by Germany.
Fulham have lost Etuhu, Johnson and Pogrebynak. These three are all good players. Pogrebynak, in particular had a great spell at the club last season.
Key Man : Mladen Petric – If Dempsey leaves, Fulham are going to need to find goals from another source and Petric could well be that man. He had a decent record at Hamburg and he will be looking to make a similar impact in England as his Croatian team mate, Nikica Jelavic.
A Player I’d Sign : Joe Cole – With Dempsey leaving and Liverpool a likely destination why not try to get Cole as part of the deal. There have already been rumours that Charlie Adam could be used as bait but Cole is a better player and with all these midfielders at Liverpool, surely a deal could be worked out. I’d play Cole in an attacking central midfield role instead of on the wing and I have a feeling it could be the life line that may just save Fulhams season.
Prediction : 18th
Thursday, 16 August 2012
London 2012 Review
The Olympics came to an end on Sunday night with quite a surreal closing ceremony. It had moments of brilliance and moments of madness but all told it was probably quite a fitting end to the London Olympics which had its own mix of emotions.
On a personal level I thoroughly enjoyed the 30th Summer Olympic Games and even found myself taking a keen interest in sports I wouldn't normally be a big fan of. My main interests are Soccer, American Football and Basketball. Obviously American Football is not in the Olympics but Soccer and Basketball are. I have to be honest and say I watched very little of either. I saw the second half of the Gold Medal game between Brazil and Mexico and all of GB v Senegal and that was only because it was played before any of the other sports started. I did watch a bit more Basketball, mainly games involving USA and Spain but the sports I found myself fascinated with were Cycling, Athletics and Swimming.
I’ve always had an interest in Athletics but Cycling and Swimming are sports I’ve never really been interested in. In these Olympics I found myself taking a huge interest in both. I did watch some Swimming in 2008. I saw most of Michael Phelps races and was delighted to see him clinch his 8 Gold Medals. I can remember watching a few of Ian Thorpe’s races in 2000 and 2004 and I can even remember watching Michelle Smith win 3 Gold and a Bronze for Ireland in Atlanta in 1996. That is pretty much as far as my Swimming knowledge goes. In these games however I watched every evening session and as many of the morning sessions as I possibly could when I wasn’t at work. I found myself fascinated by swimmers who only days earlier I had never heard of. Embarrassingly just three weeks ago the only Swimmers I knew in these Olympics were Michael Phelps and Rebecca Adlington. However the action at the Aquatics Centre soon became must see television in my house.
I started off by watching it on the first day to see Michael Phelps in the 400m Medley. I had heard that he was going head to head with another American, Ryan Lochte (whoever he was) and that these two were going to be the stars of the Swimming so I thought I'd tune in to see how it went. After watching the heats I was hooked. Phelps squeezed into the Final in 8th place after him and Laszlo Cseh cruised in the penultimate heat and then five swimmers finished quicker in the final heat. The unfortunate Cseh missed out on a Final place and Phelps qualified by the skin of his teeth.
In the Final, I was expecting to watch the dual between Phelps and Lochte and to my amazement Lochte beat the invincible, unbeatable Phelps who in the end only finished in 4th place. Was Phelps human? He didn't seem to be in Beijing but I put the defeat down to him saving something for the races to come.
Phelps followed up that disappointment with another when his USA team were stunned by France in the 4x100m Freestyle relay. I do have to mention the swim from Yannick Agnel in that race. He began over half a second behind the now seemingly invincible Ryan Lochte and managed to finish almost half a second ahead of him. It was fantastic stuff from the Frenchman and it only served to get me more interested in the action in the swimming pool.
A few days later, Phelps was in another Final and this time the media were telling me this was his event and he wasn't going to lose. It was the 200m Butterfly and all was going to plan until a young South African called Chad Le Clos, pipped him right at the end. To be honest I was beginning to write the obituaries for Phelps career. It was all looking a little sad and it seemed that Phelps was no longer the same man who won those 8 Gold medals. So many superstars before him have let their careers go on for too long. Although their performances are still often on a world class level, it is sad to watch someone who was miles ahead of their peers look so ordinary.
Fortunately, Phelps had other ideas. That same night he went on to clinch gold as part of the USA's 4x200m Freestyle relay. In truth his team mates had given him a huge lead but it seemed to be the confidence boost the American needed. After that race he won two individual golds in the 200m Medley and the 100m Butterfly. He completed his Olympics with yet another gold in the 4x100m Medley relay race. That left him with a personal haul of 4 golds and 2 silvers from his 7 events in London 2012. He is now the most successful Olympian of all time with 18 golds, 2 silver and 2 bronze. It appears unlikely that Phelps will extend that record. I suppose we should never say never but what we definitely can say is that it will be a long time before a swimmer or any other athlete has a record at the Olympics that can rival Michael Phelps.
No write up on Olympic swimming would be complete without mentioning the dominant performances of Ye Shiwen in the Medley races, Missy Franklin in the Backstrokes and Katie Ledeckey in the 800m Freestyle. All three are between 15 and 17 and will no doubt go onto great things in Swimming. I already can't wait until Rio in 2016 to see how many medals they can claim.
Finally on Swimming I have to mention the young Lithuanian, Ruta Meilutyte who won gold in the 100m Breaststroke. She is only 15 and her reaction every time she won a race was priceless. It appeared she was in a state of disbelief every time she won. She eventually managed to win gold by just about holding on to beat a fast finishing, Rebecca Soni. It was a huge achievement for such a young swimmer and it was great to see someone from a country that isn't a swimming super power perform so well.
Another sport that got my attention was Cycling. I did watch a bit of the Tour de France throughout the summer and tried to tune in as often as possible to see the end of the races. I do enjoy watching the sprints to the finish line and I was hoping Mark Cavendish would get a medal as he had been particularly impressive in the last few races of Le Tour. Unfortunately for Cavendish it wasn't to be and a group of riders made a breakaway and Cavendish ended up down in 29th place about 40 seconds behind the eventual winner.
In the Time Trial event, Cavendish's Team GB and Team Sky team mate Bradley Wiggins managed to add a gold medal to his Tour de France title becoming the first man to win an Olympic gold and Le Tour title in the same year.
Wiggins victory on the road was more than matched by his Team GB cycling colleagues on the track. In 10 events, Team GB picked up 7 golds, a silver and a bronze. The one event they didn't win a medal in was the Women's Team Sprint. In this event Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Farnish had the second quickest time and were due to race against China for a guaranteed Silver medal but they ended up being disqualifed when they changed positions too early. Had they got that changeover right, Team GB would have picked up 10 medals from 10 track events. When one team dominates a sport as much as that it has to be respected and credit must go to Dave Brailsford who has been at the centre of this transformation in the fortunes of British cyclists.
Probably the most popular sport, and my favourite Olympic sport is the Athletics. They did not disappoint. The Golden Boy, Usain Bolt, was once again the star of the show. He managed to successfully defend all three of his Olympic titles in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. Much had been made of his duals with Jamaican team mate Yohan Blake but it was Usain Bolt who walked off with the golds when it really mattered. Credit to Blake, he proved himself to be very much the second quickest man in the world with silvers in both the 100m and 200m. He also ran a very good leg in the Relay Final against USA's Tyson Gay. Gay was ahead of Blake when both men took the baton but Blake outrun his rival and handed the baton to Bolt at much the same time as Gay handed over to Ryan Bailey. Bailey was able to get the baton home in a very quick 37.04 secs, matching the World Record time set by Jamaica in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. Unfortunately for USA, Jamaica smashed their own World Record, winning in a time of 36.84 secs to show the world that right now there is nobody who can touch them in the sprint events.
As if a 1-2 wasn't enough in the 100m, Jamaica managed to complete the 1-2-3 in the 200m, with Warren Weir taking bronze. The success of Jamaican sprinting at the moment is absolutely amazing considering the islands population is under 3 million. Other countries will have to look into the techniques and training if they want to be able to compete.
Team GB had its own success in Athletics with the popular duo, Jess Ennis and Mo Farah taking home 3 golds between them. Ennis managed to win the Heptathlon by over 300 points, setting three PB's in the process. Farah picked up the long-distance double with golds in both the 10000m and 5000m. I am a big fan of both Ennis and Farah so I was delighted to see them perform so well. Ennis was superb throughout and all her main challengers failed to take advantage in events were they usually out perform her. In the end Ennis only had to protect her lead in the 800m and rather than take a cautious approach she took the race to her rivals and ended up winning the race to seal her first Olympic title.
Mo Farah’s races were some of the most exciting of the entire Olympics. I have always enjoyed watching distance running and I try to judge how much each athlete has left in the tank by their body language and expressions. I have to be honest and say in both races I wasn’t convinced that Farah had enough to win but he seemed to gain strength in the final few laps and once he got into a sprint there was only ever going to be one winner.
Another long distance race I took a keen interest in was the Men’s Marathon. The race was eventually won by Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich which was remarkable as he seemed to hit the wall and dropped off the pace being set by his Kenyan rivals, Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich. The commentators were looking back to 4th place and discussing whether the Ugandan could hold on to a bronze medal when he set off at a storming pace to leave the two Kenyan’s behind. Kiprotich was able to keep the pace up for the remainder of the race and had time to collect his national flag from the crowd, before walking across the finish line.
One of the more amazing stories of the Olympics was the case of USA 4x400m runner, Manteo Mitchell. In the heats, Mitchell completed his leg of the relay with a broken leg. He done the first leg of the relay but after 200m he felt a sharp pain and heard a crack. Mitchell continued on to the end of his leg and his team qualified for the Final, eventually picking up a silver medal for their troubles but an x-ray showed he had a broken fibula. Very few athletes will have gone through as much pain and trauma to gain an Olympic medal as Manteo Mitchell.
As I’ve already mentioned I didn’t watch a great deal of Olympic Soccer. The way I see is why should I waste my time watching it when most of the teams involved don’t really care themselves. Of the 4 European sides in the tournament only GB made it beyond the group stage and they were defeated in the Quarter-Finals. I know the European Championships were this summer but that is always going to be the case as the Olympics and Euros are on the same, four year cycle. It saddens me that so few players are interested in taking part in the biggest sports event in the world. You only have to look at the players selected by the 16 participants as there overage players. Very few of them picked the 3 best players available to them. Sadly Olympic Soccer is a second class competition and at some point in the future I’d be delighted if the issue was addressed but I doubt it ever will.
The other sport I usually follow but didn't take a huge interest in during the Olympics is Basketball. The reason for this is Olympic Basketball is ridiculously one sided. The USA are by far, the best Basketball team in the world. They have the vast majority of the best players in the world & every single member of their squad would be worthy of a starting place for every other country in the tournament.
Team USA went 8-0 on their way to gold with only Lithuania and Spain running them close. It has to be remembered that this USA squad were missing Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose & Dwyane Wade through injury. Those three would all be regarded in the top 10 Basketball players in the world.
People say Team USA are like an All-Star team but in my opinion they are even better than that. All-Star teams are the best players in each half of the league, East v West. Team USA or Dream Team 2012 were a team picked from the best of both conferences. All 10 players who started the 2012 All-Star Game were from the USA.
Having said that, I have to give Spain credit as they gave USA a few things to think about in the Gold Medal Game. Spain were ahead at one stage in the 4th Quarter & were still in with a chance until the last minute or two. The man responsible for that was the Los Angeles Lakers Forward, Pau Gasol. Gasol was very impressive & at times completely unplayable. Unfortunately for him & his team mates, USA were able to step up to another level in the dying moments to seal yet another gold. Spain can be extremely proud of their efforts and perhaps they may even wonder if their star Point Guard, Ricky Rubio, not been injured, could they have done even better?
A sport I didn’t watch a lot of but I want to mention is Weightlifting. In total, I watched less than 30 minutes of Weightlifting. One of the very few occasions I did watch it was Sunday 29th July and it was the Men’s 56kg B Final. A North Korean, Om Yun-Chol came out and in the Clean and Jerk section lifted a massive 168kg. That is three times his body weight. He managed to follow it up by doing enough in the Snatch to clinch gold from the B Final. He made it look simple and I wish Weightlifting followed a similar process as the High Jump in Athletics, where the competitors keep going until they fail three times. It would have been very interesting to see just how much Om Yun-Chol could have lifted.
My first Olympic memories are of Barcelona 1992. I can remember being very proud that Michael Carruth won gold and Wayne McCullough won silver in the Boxing. In 1996, 2000, 2004 Ireland never won a Boxing medal. In 2008, we picked up 3 medals with Kenny Egan winning silver, Paddy Barnes got bronze and the late Darren Sutherland also picked up a bronze. 2008 was a great Olympics for Irish Boxing but unbelievably 2012 has been even better.
Belfast duo, Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlon both picked up bronze medals. In doing so Paddy Barnes became the first Irish Boxer to pick up a medal in two Olympics. Whilst I am discussing Paddy Barnes, I have to mention his Chinese rival, Zou Shiming, who must be one of the luckiest gold medallists in recent years. I thought Paddy Barnes beat him in the semi-final and Kaeo Pongprayoon of Thailand definitely beat him in the Final. In the semi-final, Barnes was beaten on “Countback” which I believe is an extremely flawed method to decide the winner of a fight. The system at present is if 3 or more judges press the button, a point is scored. In countback any time a judge presses a button it is counted. This means that a fight is ultimately decided on punches which the majority of judges did not believe was a scoring shot. Surely a fairer method would be an extra round or deciding the fight on shots that 4 or 5 judges deemed to be scoring shots.
Another Irish medallist was John Joe Nevin of Mullingar who picked up a silver medal. Nevin looks like another good Irish prospect and he was superb in his semi-final win over Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez. I have to give credit to his opponent in the Final, Luke Campbell. Campbell was absolutely fantastic in that fight and his style reminds me Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Finally, my favourite moment of London 2012. Ireland’s Katie Taylor winning a gold medal in the Ladies Lightweight Division was a moment that would make any Irish sports fan proud. We have been well used to Katie being a success. She is after all a four-time World Champion but for her to become the first ever Ladies Lightweight Olympic Champion was incredible. Everyone in Ireland was delighted and extremely proud of her. I watched the fight on an outdoor screen at Belfast City Hall with hundreds of other fans. The roar when she was announced as Olympic Champion was something I won’t forget for a long time. It had been 16 years since Ireland had won an Olympic gold medal and there is a bit of a dark cloud over that achievement after Michelle Smith was caught tampering with urine samples. On this occasion, we have a boxer who has now shown 5 times that she is the best in the world and that is something the Irish people will take immense pride in.
Overall London 2012 was a fantastic spectacle and the organisers & athletes can be extremely proud of their efforts. It was the best Olympics ever but then again I said that in '92, '96, '00, '04, '08 and I can barely wait until I get to say it again in 2016. Over to you Rio!
On a personal level I thoroughly enjoyed the 30th Summer Olympic Games and even found myself taking a keen interest in sports I wouldn't normally be a big fan of. My main interests are Soccer, American Football and Basketball. Obviously American Football is not in the Olympics but Soccer and Basketball are. I have to be honest and say I watched very little of either. I saw the second half of the Gold Medal game between Brazil and Mexico and all of GB v Senegal and that was only because it was played before any of the other sports started. I did watch a bit more Basketball, mainly games involving USA and Spain but the sports I found myself fascinated with were Cycling, Athletics and Swimming.
I’ve always had an interest in Athletics but Cycling and Swimming are sports I’ve never really been interested in. In these Olympics I found myself taking a huge interest in both. I did watch some Swimming in 2008. I saw most of Michael Phelps races and was delighted to see him clinch his 8 Gold Medals. I can remember watching a few of Ian Thorpe’s races in 2000 and 2004 and I can even remember watching Michelle Smith win 3 Gold and a Bronze for Ireland in Atlanta in 1996. That is pretty much as far as my Swimming knowledge goes. In these games however I watched every evening session and as many of the morning sessions as I possibly could when I wasn’t at work. I found myself fascinated by swimmers who only days earlier I had never heard of. Embarrassingly just three weeks ago the only Swimmers I knew in these Olympics were Michael Phelps and Rebecca Adlington. However the action at the Aquatics Centre soon became must see television in my house.
I started off by watching it on the first day to see Michael Phelps in the 400m Medley. I had heard that he was going head to head with another American, Ryan Lochte (whoever he was) and that these two were going to be the stars of the Swimming so I thought I'd tune in to see how it went. After watching the heats I was hooked. Phelps squeezed into the Final in 8th place after him and Laszlo Cseh cruised in the penultimate heat and then five swimmers finished quicker in the final heat. The unfortunate Cseh missed out on a Final place and Phelps qualified by the skin of his teeth.
In the Final, I was expecting to watch the dual between Phelps and Lochte and to my amazement Lochte beat the invincible, unbeatable Phelps who in the end only finished in 4th place. Was Phelps human? He didn't seem to be in Beijing but I put the defeat down to him saving something for the races to come.
Phelps followed up that disappointment with another when his USA team were stunned by France in the 4x100m Freestyle relay. I do have to mention the swim from Yannick Agnel in that race. He began over half a second behind the now seemingly invincible Ryan Lochte and managed to finish almost half a second ahead of him. It was fantastic stuff from the Frenchman and it only served to get me more interested in the action in the swimming pool.
A few days later, Phelps was in another Final and this time the media were telling me this was his event and he wasn't going to lose. It was the 200m Butterfly and all was going to plan until a young South African called Chad Le Clos, pipped him right at the end. To be honest I was beginning to write the obituaries for Phelps career. It was all looking a little sad and it seemed that Phelps was no longer the same man who won those 8 Gold medals. So many superstars before him have let their careers go on for too long. Although their performances are still often on a world class level, it is sad to watch someone who was miles ahead of their peers look so ordinary.
Fortunately, Phelps had other ideas. That same night he went on to clinch gold as part of the USA's 4x200m Freestyle relay. In truth his team mates had given him a huge lead but it seemed to be the confidence boost the American needed. After that race he won two individual golds in the 200m Medley and the 100m Butterfly. He completed his Olympics with yet another gold in the 4x100m Medley relay race. That left him with a personal haul of 4 golds and 2 silvers from his 7 events in London 2012. He is now the most successful Olympian of all time with 18 golds, 2 silver and 2 bronze. It appears unlikely that Phelps will extend that record. I suppose we should never say never but what we definitely can say is that it will be a long time before a swimmer or any other athlete has a record at the Olympics that can rival Michael Phelps.
No write up on Olympic swimming would be complete without mentioning the dominant performances of Ye Shiwen in the Medley races, Missy Franklin in the Backstrokes and Katie Ledeckey in the 800m Freestyle. All three are between 15 and 17 and will no doubt go onto great things in Swimming. I already can't wait until Rio in 2016 to see how many medals they can claim.
Finally on Swimming I have to mention the young Lithuanian, Ruta Meilutyte who won gold in the 100m Breaststroke. She is only 15 and her reaction every time she won a race was priceless. It appeared she was in a state of disbelief every time she won. She eventually managed to win gold by just about holding on to beat a fast finishing, Rebecca Soni. It was a huge achievement for such a young swimmer and it was great to see someone from a country that isn't a swimming super power perform so well.
Another sport that got my attention was Cycling. I did watch a bit of the Tour de France throughout the summer and tried to tune in as often as possible to see the end of the races. I do enjoy watching the sprints to the finish line and I was hoping Mark Cavendish would get a medal as he had been particularly impressive in the last few races of Le Tour. Unfortunately for Cavendish it wasn't to be and a group of riders made a breakaway and Cavendish ended up down in 29th place about 40 seconds behind the eventual winner.
In the Time Trial event, Cavendish's Team GB and Team Sky team mate Bradley Wiggins managed to add a gold medal to his Tour de France title becoming the first man to win an Olympic gold and Le Tour title in the same year.
Wiggins victory on the road was more than matched by his Team GB cycling colleagues on the track. In 10 events, Team GB picked up 7 golds, a silver and a bronze. The one event they didn't win a medal in was the Women's Team Sprint. In this event Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Farnish had the second quickest time and were due to race against China for a guaranteed Silver medal but they ended up being disqualifed when they changed positions too early. Had they got that changeover right, Team GB would have picked up 10 medals from 10 track events. When one team dominates a sport as much as that it has to be respected and credit must go to Dave Brailsford who has been at the centre of this transformation in the fortunes of British cyclists.
Probably the most popular sport, and my favourite Olympic sport is the Athletics. They did not disappoint. The Golden Boy, Usain Bolt, was once again the star of the show. He managed to successfully defend all three of his Olympic titles in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. Much had been made of his duals with Jamaican team mate Yohan Blake but it was Usain Bolt who walked off with the golds when it really mattered. Credit to Blake, he proved himself to be very much the second quickest man in the world with silvers in both the 100m and 200m. He also ran a very good leg in the Relay Final against USA's Tyson Gay. Gay was ahead of Blake when both men took the baton but Blake outrun his rival and handed the baton to Bolt at much the same time as Gay handed over to Ryan Bailey. Bailey was able to get the baton home in a very quick 37.04 secs, matching the World Record time set by Jamaica in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. Unfortunately for USA, Jamaica smashed their own World Record, winning in a time of 36.84 secs to show the world that right now there is nobody who can touch them in the sprint events.
As if a 1-2 wasn't enough in the 100m, Jamaica managed to complete the 1-2-3 in the 200m, with Warren Weir taking bronze. The success of Jamaican sprinting at the moment is absolutely amazing considering the islands population is under 3 million. Other countries will have to look into the techniques and training if they want to be able to compete.
Team GB had its own success in Athletics with the popular duo, Jess Ennis and Mo Farah taking home 3 golds between them. Ennis managed to win the Heptathlon by over 300 points, setting three PB's in the process. Farah picked up the long-distance double with golds in both the 10000m and 5000m. I am a big fan of both Ennis and Farah so I was delighted to see them perform so well. Ennis was superb throughout and all her main challengers failed to take advantage in events were they usually out perform her. In the end Ennis only had to protect her lead in the 800m and rather than take a cautious approach she took the race to her rivals and ended up winning the race to seal her first Olympic title.
Mo Farah’s races were some of the most exciting of the entire Olympics. I have always enjoyed watching distance running and I try to judge how much each athlete has left in the tank by their body language and expressions. I have to be honest and say in both races I wasn’t convinced that Farah had enough to win but he seemed to gain strength in the final few laps and once he got into a sprint there was only ever going to be one winner.
Another long distance race I took a keen interest in was the Men’s Marathon. The race was eventually won by Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich which was remarkable as he seemed to hit the wall and dropped off the pace being set by his Kenyan rivals, Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich. The commentators were looking back to 4th place and discussing whether the Ugandan could hold on to a bronze medal when he set off at a storming pace to leave the two Kenyan’s behind. Kiprotich was able to keep the pace up for the remainder of the race and had time to collect his national flag from the crowd, before walking across the finish line.
One of the more amazing stories of the Olympics was the case of USA 4x400m runner, Manteo Mitchell. In the heats, Mitchell completed his leg of the relay with a broken leg. He done the first leg of the relay but after 200m he felt a sharp pain and heard a crack. Mitchell continued on to the end of his leg and his team qualified for the Final, eventually picking up a silver medal for their troubles but an x-ray showed he had a broken fibula. Very few athletes will have gone through as much pain and trauma to gain an Olympic medal as Manteo Mitchell.
As I’ve already mentioned I didn’t watch a great deal of Olympic Soccer. The way I see is why should I waste my time watching it when most of the teams involved don’t really care themselves. Of the 4 European sides in the tournament only GB made it beyond the group stage and they were defeated in the Quarter-Finals. I know the European Championships were this summer but that is always going to be the case as the Olympics and Euros are on the same, four year cycle. It saddens me that so few players are interested in taking part in the biggest sports event in the world. You only have to look at the players selected by the 16 participants as there overage players. Very few of them picked the 3 best players available to them. Sadly Olympic Soccer is a second class competition and at some point in the future I’d be delighted if the issue was addressed but I doubt it ever will.
The other sport I usually follow but didn't take a huge interest in during the Olympics is Basketball. The reason for this is Olympic Basketball is ridiculously one sided. The USA are by far, the best Basketball team in the world. They have the vast majority of the best players in the world & every single member of their squad would be worthy of a starting place for every other country in the tournament.
Team USA went 8-0 on their way to gold with only Lithuania and Spain running them close. It has to be remembered that this USA squad were missing Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose & Dwyane Wade through injury. Those three would all be regarded in the top 10 Basketball players in the world.
People say Team USA are like an All-Star team but in my opinion they are even better than that. All-Star teams are the best players in each half of the league, East v West. Team USA or Dream Team 2012 were a team picked from the best of both conferences. All 10 players who started the 2012 All-Star Game were from the USA.
Having said that, I have to give Spain credit as they gave USA a few things to think about in the Gold Medal Game. Spain were ahead at one stage in the 4th Quarter & were still in with a chance until the last minute or two. The man responsible for that was the Los Angeles Lakers Forward, Pau Gasol. Gasol was very impressive & at times completely unplayable. Unfortunately for him & his team mates, USA were able to step up to another level in the dying moments to seal yet another gold. Spain can be extremely proud of their efforts and perhaps they may even wonder if their star Point Guard, Ricky Rubio, not been injured, could they have done even better?
A sport I didn’t watch a lot of but I want to mention is Weightlifting. In total, I watched less than 30 minutes of Weightlifting. One of the very few occasions I did watch it was Sunday 29th July and it was the Men’s 56kg B Final. A North Korean, Om Yun-Chol came out and in the Clean and Jerk section lifted a massive 168kg. That is three times his body weight. He managed to follow it up by doing enough in the Snatch to clinch gold from the B Final. He made it look simple and I wish Weightlifting followed a similar process as the High Jump in Athletics, where the competitors keep going until they fail three times. It would have been very interesting to see just how much Om Yun-Chol could have lifted.
My first Olympic memories are of Barcelona 1992. I can remember being very proud that Michael Carruth won gold and Wayne McCullough won silver in the Boxing. In 1996, 2000, 2004 Ireland never won a Boxing medal. In 2008, we picked up 3 medals with Kenny Egan winning silver, Paddy Barnes got bronze and the late Darren Sutherland also picked up a bronze. 2008 was a great Olympics for Irish Boxing but unbelievably 2012 has been even better.
Belfast duo, Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlon both picked up bronze medals. In doing so Paddy Barnes became the first Irish Boxer to pick up a medal in two Olympics. Whilst I am discussing Paddy Barnes, I have to mention his Chinese rival, Zou Shiming, who must be one of the luckiest gold medallists in recent years. I thought Paddy Barnes beat him in the semi-final and Kaeo Pongprayoon of Thailand definitely beat him in the Final. In the semi-final, Barnes was beaten on “Countback” which I believe is an extremely flawed method to decide the winner of a fight. The system at present is if 3 or more judges press the button, a point is scored. In countback any time a judge presses a button it is counted. This means that a fight is ultimately decided on punches which the majority of judges did not believe was a scoring shot. Surely a fairer method would be an extra round or deciding the fight on shots that 4 or 5 judges deemed to be scoring shots.
Another Irish medallist was John Joe Nevin of Mullingar who picked up a silver medal. Nevin looks like another good Irish prospect and he was superb in his semi-final win over Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez. I have to give credit to his opponent in the Final, Luke Campbell. Campbell was absolutely fantastic in that fight and his style reminds me Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Finally, my favourite moment of London 2012. Ireland’s Katie Taylor winning a gold medal in the Ladies Lightweight Division was a moment that would make any Irish sports fan proud. We have been well used to Katie being a success. She is after all a four-time World Champion but for her to become the first ever Ladies Lightweight Olympic Champion was incredible. Everyone in Ireland was delighted and extremely proud of her. I watched the fight on an outdoor screen at Belfast City Hall with hundreds of other fans. The roar when she was announced as Olympic Champion was something I won’t forget for a long time. It had been 16 years since Ireland had won an Olympic gold medal and there is a bit of a dark cloud over that achievement after Michelle Smith was caught tampering with urine samples. On this occasion, we have a boxer who has now shown 5 times that she is the best in the world and that is something the Irish people will take immense pride in.
Overall London 2012 was a fantastic spectacle and the organisers & athletes can be extremely proud of their efforts. It was the best Olympics ever but then again I said that in '92, '96, '00, '04, '08 and I can barely wait until I get to say it again in 2016. Over to you Rio!
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Spain 4-0 Italy
Euro 2012 came to an end on Sunday night with Spain beating Italy 4-0 to become the first nation to win three major tournaments in a row.
I have been quite critical of Spain in this tournament but everything clicked into place on Sunday night.
From the very first whistle Spain took the game to Italy. We have become accustomed to Spain having a lot of possession and passing the ball around in the attacking third but they always appeared to be reluctant to hit a shot. This was not the case on Sunday. Xavi and Iniesta both had shots blocked in the opening minutes and Xavi also went close with another effort which went just over the bar.
After just 14 minutes, Spain were ahead. Iniesta played the ball into Fabregas and instead of swinging a boot at it from a tough angle he took an extra touch and then pulled the ball back for Silva to head into the empty goal. It was classic Spain. Any other player in any other team would have tried a rash first time shot but Fabregas showed great coolness to take the extra touch which completely took Buffon out of the game and in the end it was a simple finish for Silva.
Italy fought back well after the goal and created some trouble for Spain by putting high balls into the box. Casillas flapped at a few but Spain managed to hold on throughout a difficult period.
The next goal was always going to be vital and once again, it was Spain who got it. Jordi Alba played a pass to Xavi and then set off on a lung bursting run. Xavi played a perfect ball into his path and he was able to slot past Buffon.
As if being 2-0 down wasn't bad enough for Italy, things got even worse in the second half. Thiago Motta, just minutes after coming on, went down with a hamstring injury. Motta had been used as the third substitute and Italy had to play the remainder of the game with 10 men.
They managed to hold Spain off until the last few minutes. On 84 minutes, Torres got on the end of a through ball to put the ball past Buffon to make the score 3-0. Minutes later he found himself one on one with Buffon again but this time he played a pass back into the path of Juan Mata who shot into the empty net.
4-0 was quite harsh on Italy but Spain were fantastic and deserved the victory. Spain are now the first team to win 3 major tournaments in a row and if their success at under age level is anything to go by then it will take a mammoth effort to stop them from extending that record.
Italy have done themselves proud in Euro 2012. They came into the tournament with their national league coming under scrutiny yet again.They also lost their three warmup games. Many people had written them off before a ball was kicked but they managed to battle through their problems. The performance against Germany will live long in the memory of everyone who saw it. Andrea Pirlo showed that age doesn't matter if you have the talent and he was very unlucky to have missed out on the Player of the Tournament award.
For Spain it is simply a case of keep doing what you are doing. For the last four years they have been untouchable in competive action. They seem to have a conveyor belt of talent coming through and with players like Xavi, Iniesta and Alonso to guide them then the sky really is the limit.
I have been quite critical of Spain in this tournament but everything clicked into place on Sunday night.
From the very first whistle Spain took the game to Italy. We have become accustomed to Spain having a lot of possession and passing the ball around in the attacking third but they always appeared to be reluctant to hit a shot. This was not the case on Sunday. Xavi and Iniesta both had shots blocked in the opening minutes and Xavi also went close with another effort which went just over the bar.
After just 14 minutes, Spain were ahead. Iniesta played the ball into Fabregas and instead of swinging a boot at it from a tough angle he took an extra touch and then pulled the ball back for Silva to head into the empty goal. It was classic Spain. Any other player in any other team would have tried a rash first time shot but Fabregas showed great coolness to take the extra touch which completely took Buffon out of the game and in the end it was a simple finish for Silva.
Italy fought back well after the goal and created some trouble for Spain by putting high balls into the box. Casillas flapped at a few but Spain managed to hold on throughout a difficult period.
The next goal was always going to be vital and once again, it was Spain who got it. Jordi Alba played a pass to Xavi and then set off on a lung bursting run. Xavi played a perfect ball into his path and he was able to slot past Buffon.
As if being 2-0 down wasn't bad enough for Italy, things got even worse in the second half. Thiago Motta, just minutes after coming on, went down with a hamstring injury. Motta had been used as the third substitute and Italy had to play the remainder of the game with 10 men.
They managed to hold Spain off until the last few minutes. On 84 minutes, Torres got on the end of a through ball to put the ball past Buffon to make the score 3-0. Minutes later he found himself one on one with Buffon again but this time he played a pass back into the path of Juan Mata who shot into the empty net.
4-0 was quite harsh on Italy but Spain were fantastic and deserved the victory. Spain are now the first team to win 3 major tournaments in a row and if their success at under age level is anything to go by then it will take a mammoth effort to stop them from extending that record.
Italy have done themselves proud in Euro 2012. They came into the tournament with their national league coming under scrutiny yet again.They also lost their three warmup games. Many people had written them off before a ball was kicked but they managed to battle through their problems. The performance against Germany will live long in the memory of everyone who saw it. Andrea Pirlo showed that age doesn't matter if you have the talent and he was very unlucky to have missed out on the Player of the Tournament award.
For Spain it is simply a case of keep doing what you are doing. For the last four years they have been untouchable in competive action. They seem to have a conveyor belt of talent coming through and with players like Xavi, Iniesta and Alonso to guide them then the sky really is the limit.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Final - Spain v Italy
Spain and Italy bring Euro 2012 to an end tonight in Kiev.
It is a repeat of the opening Group C clash from 3 weeks ago. On that occasion the score was 1-1 and it was quite an entertaining, end to end game.
Spain go with the same 11 that started that game. Cesc Fabregas will once again play in the false number 9 role.
Italy appear to be lining up in their now familiar 4-4-2 diamond.
Spain have been a long way from their best in this tournament but they have still been good enough to reach the Final, having only conceded one goal.
Lining up with no recognised striker is a philisophy I don't agree with. They have looked at their best with Torres leading the line.
Del Bosque's tactics in this tournament have been nothing short of bizarre. Take the Semi-Final as an example. They started with Negredo, a 6 foot 1 target man. They didn't give him the service that a target man requires. There were no balls into the box for him to get on the end of. In the second half he was substituted for Fabregas & shortly after this Del Bosque brought on two wingers, Jesus Navas & Pedro. Surely the wingers would have been better being on the pitch to compliment the target man.
Del Bosque has a great record. 2 La Liga titles and 2 Champions Leagues from his time at Real Madrid and the 2010 World Cup with Spain but some of his decisions in this tournament have been at the least, highly questionable.
Italy have been getting better as the tournament has gone on. They were in trouble after two 1-1 draws in their first two games. If Croatia and Spain had decided to play out a 2-2 draw, then Italy were going home. As it was Spain beat Croatia and Italy beat Ireland to reach the last 8.
In that last 8, Italy battered England for 120 minutes but could not get the goal and had to rely on penalties to win. In the Semi-Final against Germany, Italy gave the best display of the tournament. They left the Germans shell shocked after two Balotelli goals put them 2-0 ahead. They defended superbly and although Germany got a goal back in stoppage time, Italy were deserving winners.
Italy lineup tonight in their 4-4-2 diamond shape. Italy will need Andrea Pirlo to be at his best this evening but it will be very difficult for him as the midfield will be packed with four Italians in a narrow shape meeting six Spaniards. If Pirlo can somehow find space in there, then he is more than good enough to make things difficult for Spain.
With so many bodies in the midfield we will no doubt see a tight, tense game. Spain have been here before & have always came out on top. Italy still have a few players from their 2006 World Cup win, Buffon, Pirlo & De Rossi all played in that Final, but for the majority of the squad this is a first.
My heart says Italy will win. Pirlo has been the best player in the knockout stages and Mario Balotelli is great entertainment, on and off the pitch. However, in football it is amazing how often a side follow up a great result with a bad one. Italy produced a magnificent display to beat a German side who many people felt were unstoppable. That was on Thursday night. It's a huge ask to take on Spain just three days later. Spain will be content to just pass the ball around, tiring out the Italians. Spain are one of the most patient football teams of all time. They will wait for that chance and unfortunately on this occasion I have to let my head rule my heart and go with a Spain victory.
Spain 1-0 Italy
It is a repeat of the opening Group C clash from 3 weeks ago. On that occasion the score was 1-1 and it was quite an entertaining, end to end game.
Spain go with the same 11 that started that game. Cesc Fabregas will once again play in the false number 9 role.
Italy appear to be lining up in their now familiar 4-4-2 diamond.
Spain have been a long way from their best in this tournament but they have still been good enough to reach the Final, having only conceded one goal.
Lining up with no recognised striker is a philisophy I don't agree with. They have looked at their best with Torres leading the line.
Del Bosque's tactics in this tournament have been nothing short of bizarre. Take the Semi-Final as an example. They started with Negredo, a 6 foot 1 target man. They didn't give him the service that a target man requires. There were no balls into the box for him to get on the end of. In the second half he was substituted for Fabregas & shortly after this Del Bosque brought on two wingers, Jesus Navas & Pedro. Surely the wingers would have been better being on the pitch to compliment the target man.
Del Bosque has a great record. 2 La Liga titles and 2 Champions Leagues from his time at Real Madrid and the 2010 World Cup with Spain but some of his decisions in this tournament have been at the least, highly questionable.
Italy have been getting better as the tournament has gone on. They were in trouble after two 1-1 draws in their first two games. If Croatia and Spain had decided to play out a 2-2 draw, then Italy were going home. As it was Spain beat Croatia and Italy beat Ireland to reach the last 8.
In that last 8, Italy battered England for 120 minutes but could not get the goal and had to rely on penalties to win. In the Semi-Final against Germany, Italy gave the best display of the tournament. They left the Germans shell shocked after two Balotelli goals put them 2-0 ahead. They defended superbly and although Germany got a goal back in stoppage time, Italy were deserving winners.
Italy lineup tonight in their 4-4-2 diamond shape. Italy will need Andrea Pirlo to be at his best this evening but it will be very difficult for him as the midfield will be packed with four Italians in a narrow shape meeting six Spaniards. If Pirlo can somehow find space in there, then he is more than good enough to make things difficult for Spain.
With so many bodies in the midfield we will no doubt see a tight, tense game. Spain have been here before & have always came out on top. Italy still have a few players from their 2006 World Cup win, Buffon, Pirlo & De Rossi all played in that Final, but for the majority of the squad this is a first.
My heart says Italy will win. Pirlo has been the best player in the knockout stages and Mario Balotelli is great entertainment, on and off the pitch. However, in football it is amazing how often a side follow up a great result with a bad one. Italy produced a magnificent display to beat a German side who many people felt were unstoppable. That was on Thursday night. It's a huge ask to take on Spain just three days later. Spain will be content to just pass the ball around, tiring out the Italians. Spain are one of the most patient football teams of all time. They will wait for that chance and unfortunately on this occasion I have to let my head rule my heart and go with a Spain victory.
Spain 1-0 Italy
Friday, 29 June 2012
Germany 1-2 Italy
Italy reached the Final of Euro 2012 after a 2-1 victory over Germany, last night.
"Super" Mario Balotelli was the Italian hero after he grabbed a first half brace to put the Italians 2-0 up. Mezut Ozil scored a stoppage time penalty for Germany but it was too little, too late for Joachim Low's men.
Italy were deserving winners and could have won by more, if they had taken their chances when Germany were pushing extra men forward.
The Italians started the game well and it wasn't long before Mario Balotelli gave them the lead with a close range header. The Germans looked shell shocked and they soon found themselves 2-0 down. Mario Balotelli blasted the ball into the top corner when one on one with German goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer.
Germany began taking the game to Italy and for long periods they were camped inside the Italian half but they could not break down the strong Italian defence. As the game wore on, Italy were looking dangerous on the counter attack and could have got the third goal to seal the victory. As it was, they were wasteful with their chances and could not add to Balotelli's two goals.
In injury time, Germany were presented with a lifeline when they got a penalty kick. Mezut Ozil scored but they were unable to create any more chances and it was Italy who reached Sunday's Final against Spain.
The Final will be a repeat of the opening game in Group C. On that occasion the game finished 1-1 with Italy going ahead through Antonio Di Natale, before Cesc Fabregas levelled for Spain. It was quite a tactical battle as Italy lined up with 3 at the back and had Daniele De Rossi playing in a Libero role. Spain had caused controversy by lining up with no recognised strikers.
Both coaches have changed their systems since then. Italy have been playing a 4-4-2 diamond with Andrea Pirlo conducting play from the deep lying midfield role. Spain have gone back and forth between playing a recognised striker and not. Fernando Torres has started twice and Alvaro Negredo started in the Semi-Final. In the other two games, Spain have lined up with Cesc Fabregas in a false number 9 role.
I expect we will hear a lot about formations, tactics and systems in the days running up to the Final. In my own opinion Italy have looked better since changing to the 4-4-2 diamond and Spain have looked better with a recognised striker but I expect both sides will try to counter the other and go back to the way they played in the opening game.
The Final will be another tough battle and it is almost impossible to call. Spain haven’t looked great in this tournament but they have still got to the Final. Their status as reigning World and European Champions shows what they are capable of and if they play well on the night they will be hard to beat. Italy didn’t start very well but have been getting better as the tournament goes on. If they can improve, again, from their Semi-Final performance, there is no reason why Europe can’t be saluting Italy on Sunday night as the European Champions.
"Super" Mario Balotelli was the Italian hero after he grabbed a first half brace to put the Italians 2-0 up. Mezut Ozil scored a stoppage time penalty for Germany but it was too little, too late for Joachim Low's men.
Italy were deserving winners and could have won by more, if they had taken their chances when Germany were pushing extra men forward.
The Italians started the game well and it wasn't long before Mario Balotelli gave them the lead with a close range header. The Germans looked shell shocked and they soon found themselves 2-0 down. Mario Balotelli blasted the ball into the top corner when one on one with German goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer.
Germany began taking the game to Italy and for long periods they were camped inside the Italian half but they could not break down the strong Italian defence. As the game wore on, Italy were looking dangerous on the counter attack and could have got the third goal to seal the victory. As it was, they were wasteful with their chances and could not add to Balotelli's two goals.
In injury time, Germany were presented with a lifeline when they got a penalty kick. Mezut Ozil scored but they were unable to create any more chances and it was Italy who reached Sunday's Final against Spain.
The Final will be a repeat of the opening game in Group C. On that occasion the game finished 1-1 with Italy going ahead through Antonio Di Natale, before Cesc Fabregas levelled for Spain. It was quite a tactical battle as Italy lined up with 3 at the back and had Daniele De Rossi playing in a Libero role. Spain had caused controversy by lining up with no recognised strikers.
Both coaches have changed their systems since then. Italy have been playing a 4-4-2 diamond with Andrea Pirlo conducting play from the deep lying midfield role. Spain have gone back and forth between playing a recognised striker and not. Fernando Torres has started twice and Alvaro Negredo started in the Semi-Final. In the other two games, Spain have lined up with Cesc Fabregas in a false number 9 role.
I expect we will hear a lot about formations, tactics and systems in the days running up to the Final. In my own opinion Italy have looked better since changing to the 4-4-2 diamond and Spain have looked better with a recognised striker but I expect both sides will try to counter the other and go back to the way they played in the opening game.
The Final will be another tough battle and it is almost impossible to call. Spain haven’t looked great in this tournament but they have still got to the Final. Their status as reigning World and European Champions shows what they are capable of and if they play well on the night they will be hard to beat. Italy didn’t start very well but have been getting better as the tournament goes on. If they can improve, again, from their Semi-Final performance, there is no reason why Europe can’t be saluting Italy on Sunday night as the European Champions.
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