New Year Wish - Leave the Villa Kids Alone.

It’s not been a brilliant festive period for Aston Villa. It’s hard to argue with the last three results, all heavy defeats. However, I am already starting to get tired of the usual negativity from the Villa fans when things start to go a bit wrong. Whilst I’m not excusing the level of performances in conceding 15 goals in 3 games we still need to view the season so far in perspective.

 

The Villa side named by Paul Lambert for the game against Liverpool was, I understand, the youngest average aged in Premiership history. Following a slow start our young lions produced a cracking performance, worthy of praise from football writers across the media. Several games later and the fans are now deeming these players not good enough. This is utter rubbish. Some Villa fans seem to think that we should still be competing for a top 6 place as we were under Martin O’Neil. Others seem to think that Randy Lerner should be throwing his entire fortune around like an oil Sheik.

 

After two poor seasons, the reasons for which is a combination of poor luck as well as poor management, the arrival of Paul Lambert has brought with it a cautious optimism for the future. Those who expected an instant return to pushing for the top 6 need to wake up. The word “transition” has been used repeatedly in reference to Villa but for this season in particular it is proving true. We need to remember that. The players that aren’t deemed good enough have actually been playing some decent football in general over the first half of the season. They are a very young team still learning about each other. Performances including the Liverpool win, the first hour against Man Utd, the cup game against Norwich and others show what the boys can do. They will learn from being hammered by Chelsea & Spurs and will become stronger. Getting on their backs is not the answer. I remember a young England Rugby team being hammered by Australia a number of years ago. They went on to do quite well! As Alex Ferguson knows you don’t win anything with kids! Before you start jumping up and down, I’m not comparing Barry Bannan to David Beckham or Paul Scholes.

 

The media is suggesting that Lambert will have some funds for the January transfer window. I’m not expecting panic buys. In fact I’m not expecting many new faces at all. An influx of new players is often unsettling (See QPR!). I would not be surprised to see Darren Bent leaving however. It would be disappointing to see him go, partly because we are not likely to recoup anywhere near the money we paid for him but also because he is a proven goal scorer and they are hard to come by. I have no idea why he does not fit into Lamberts plans but he clearly doesn’t. His apparent attitude on the pitch when he has come on has not been the display of a player wanting to play for the club or try to regain his place in the team.

 

My New Year wish is for our fans to let Lambert on the kids to get on with playing football. They have shown they can do it and do it well. They just need to keep believing and show a bit more consistency.

 

To the Portsmouth fan that messaged me after our 8-0 loss to Chelsea, I’m glad our result gave you so much enjoyment. I just wonder who you will be supporting when Portsmouth go out of business? J

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY.

Euro 2012: An Opportunity for England to Play Without Pressure?

Given the squad Roy Hodgson is taking to Poland and Ukraine it is perhaps just as well that there does not seem to be much expectation resting on the England Squad as they prepare for the Euro Championship.

Could this be an opportunity for them to eventually play to some of their potential in a major tournament? With some of the usual pressure seemingly off them, I am at least hoping to see some attacking intent and not the usual flat, dull football that is often in evidence when England play in big competitions. Comparisons, rightly-or-wrongly, will be made to the disaster of the World Cup in South Africa. However, with that as a benchmark we couldn’t do much worse!

Roy Hodgson is in a win-win situation as I see it. If we go out in the group stage and are generally rubbish then the argument will be he did not have enough time with the squad to prepare etc. If he gets them performing well then he will be hailed as being the right man for the job all along.

Given this situation I am slightly surprised he has not gone for some bolder selections in his squad. There seem to be too many weak or out-of-form players. Whilst Roy hasn’t had much time to prepare its not as if he is unaware of who is playing well at present and who isn’t. His overriding argument for the inclusion of Andy Carroll was his late season form for Liverpool after all.

There are several players who I would not have included. How Stuart Downing makes the squad when he has not contributed a single Premier League goal or Premier League assist for Liverpool this season is a complete mystery to me. James Milner as been poor for Man City on the rare occasions he has played for them and given the other midfield selections in the squad it is clear he is seen as a wide player by Hodgson. He doesn’t have the pace in my opinion and contributed one cross in the warm-up game against Norway last weekend. A cross that hit the first defender and went out for a throw-in. Theo Walcott is another who has been far to inconsistent for both Arsenal and England and Danny Welbeck is one of the most over-rated players to make the England Squad for some time.

I had hoped Roy would have taken the opportunity to produce more of a blend of young exciting players alongside the more established internationals. His inclusion of the uncapped Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suggests he is not totally conservative in his thinking. I appreciate that but for some injuries the squad would likely look quite different, with the likes of Darren Bent, Jack Wilshere and Kyle Walker all strong contenders for starting places.

It is a rare occasion that on the even of a major tournament the English media and public are not building the expectations of the team and the pressure to win. I hope that the players are able to respond to this in the Championship and produce some exciting and attacking football. Whilst I think there are a few weak links in the squad I will be watching with cautious optimism.

Good Luck England!

PS - How many of you would have included Grant Holt as a wildcard???

Ethics v Entertainment?

Its a shameless piece of profiteering from Frank Warren, but my god it should be an entertaining fight. He has just announced that David Haye will fight Dereck Chisora on 14^th July at West Ham Utd’s Upton Park stadium.

Neither fighter currently has a licence, with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBOC) stripping Chisora of his following this pretty disgraceful behaviour in the build-up to and following his recent fight with Vitali Klitschko and Haye handing his back after announcing his retirement. Chisora has since appealed the decision and is awaiting a hearing, also scheduled for July.

The fight has been licensed by the Luxembourg Boxing Association, which begs the question..what is the point of the BBBOC‘s ruling? Warren, who manages Chisora, stated that there were a number of other boxing associations also willing to licence the fight.  It seems kind of pointless banning a boxer if it is still possible for him to continue to fight in that country. Surely there should be some sort of legislation preventing an association without any link to either fighter allowing a fight in another country. This effectively removes the authority from the Board who are meant to control the sport in Britain.

The biggest question, however, should be whether, ethically, the fight should go ahead in the first place. Chisora had his licence withdrawn and rightly so. The BBBOC cited him as being not fit or proper to hold a licence. His actions at the last fight cast a shadow over boxing and made British boxing in particular a bit of a laughing stock. If Haye had still had his licence then I imagine he would probably have lost it too given his part in the incidents at the post-fight press conference.

Warren stated that Chisora will not have boxed for 6 months and therefore not been paid for 6 months. He said that if Chisora were a footballer he would have missed the equivalent of 24 matches. The thing is, he isn’t a footballer! His behaviour and his behaviour alone has gotten him into this situation. Should he be allowed to profit from his unprofessional and disrespectful actions, because that is essentially what he will be doing. Would there be as much hype about the fight if there had not been such a public bust-up between the pair?

Warren claims that he will not be accepting a fee for promoting the fight. What he fails to mention is that he is the majority shareholder of BoxNation, the TV station that will be airing the fight. The ethics aside and taking the two fighters on their merits it should actually be a good fight, as long as Haye manages to avoid breaking his toe! Both went the distance with Klitschko’s and if they actually remember to box each other then it should be an interesting spectacle.

The intense dislike between these two will just add a bit more spice. The inevitable trash-talk, which I enjoy immensely due to its entertainment factor, should reach a whole new level. It never fails to amuse me how much the boxers get wound up by what is obviously a tactic to wind them up. Perhaps this time Chisora won’t just threaten to shoot Haye, he will turn up to the weigh-in with an Ak-47! Perhaps Haye will hire a London billboard and depict himself chopping off Chisora’s head with a sword! Apparently the fighters and their entourage were separated by a 7-foot steel fence at the press conference. Let the fun begin!

I don’t believe this fight should go ahead, but I think it will good entertainment when it does.

ICuts-Sports: More Competition and Less Procession Please!

ICuts-Sports: More Competition and Less Procession Please!: Four Grand Prix races into the 2012 F1 season and there have been four different winners. Is it typical that now the BBC have effectively h...

More Competition and Less Procession Please!

Four Grand Prix races into the 2012 F1 season and there have been four different winners. Is it typical that now the BBC have effectively halved their commitment to showing races this is likely to be the most interesting season in years? I say this because, sadly, I don’t have Sky Sports. I am having to resort to the limited highlights show for every other race.

Not only have there been four different race winners but they have been racing for four different manufacturers. I hopefully suggest this means a number of teams all competing at a similar level which means the season will be competitive throughout and not a one-man walk-over as it was last year. Take nothing away from Sebastian Vettel. His achievements last year and the year before have been mightily impressive, however for the viewer it was mightily boring.

I have often complained that F1 is a bit of a procession and races are more often than not decided in the pits. I know there are other forms of motor sport to watch but I keep being drawn back to F1. There are more drivers who have been crowned World Champion competing this year than ever before and this has served to make the racing even more interesting. Whilst Michael Schumacher continues to struggle the returning Kimi Raikonnen has shown he has lost little of his skill behind the wheel.

When one person or team dominates a sport you have to doff you cap and applaud their achievement but as a sports fan it is much more interesting to have a number of challengers. For years the Premiership was dominated by Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. It is now much more interesting to see the emergence of Man City (regardless of the financial input) as a challenger for the title and, this season, Newcastle who have impressively managed to maintain their push for Champions League football.

Many other sports are similar. Tennis over the last number of years largely dominated Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the men’s game and the Williams sisters in the women’s. The emergence of new players who are competing and wining titles, such as Novak Djokovic and several teenage Russian females whose names I can neither pronounce or spell, just make the whole game much more pleasurable to watch.

I can also appreciate that fans of said teams and individuals do not find this boring in the slightest. To this end, I am coming from a largely neutral sports fans perspective. Aside from Aston Villa and England Rugby, whom I follow and support with unwavering passion, I can watch most sports with my goal to enjoy the sport itself rather than one team over the other. I do of course have certain teams and sportsmen and women I would prefer to win. Worcester Warriors are my preferred Rugby Union club side, Jenson Button F1, LA Lakers Basketball, Jessica Ennis Athletics, and Warwickshire Cricket.

What impresses me about those competitors at the top of their sports is that even when they continue to win with little apparent challenge they still celebrate like its their first. Upon winning his umpteenth race last season Vettel could be heard on his pit-to-car radio celebrating like he had won the lottery. No boredom or complacency there! Congratulations to him, I just hope he isn’t doing it too much this year so I can get more satisfaction from the F1 season.

Fair play to those who dominate their sports. I just enjoy competition.

The Boat Race has Restored my Faith in Sporting Conduct.

There is no other way to say this. Ashley Young is a cheat. I watched his blatant dive to gain a penalty for Man Utd against QPR at the weekend convinced his actions would result in a yellow card for simulation. Not only was a penalty given but the defender, Shaun Derry, was sent off. The fact that Young was clearly offside notwithstanding, the contact between attacker and defender was a light brush of the shirt at best and certainly not enough to send the forward tumbling theatrically to the floor.

I would like to point out I am not a QPR fan and this is not a rant against Man Utd or Young in particular. Its a rant against being unsporting. I’m glad not all sports are like this and over the same weekend I watched the Boat Race. I would like to say thank you to the Oxford and Cambridge boat crews for going a long way to restoring my faith in sporting conduct.

Alex Woods the rower in the bow seat of the Oxford boat collapsed shortly after crossing the line. The fact he was in distress was not picked up on by his crew mates for several minutes due to his position at the back of the boat. His condition was serious enough for him to be treated for some time before being taken to hospital.

The Cambridge crew, to their eternal credit agreed to cancel their celebration and presentation of the trophy. In the television interviews they gave to the irritating BBC presenters their first concern was the heath and wellbeing of Woods. This shows no small measure of their class. These guys train as hard as professional athletes in preparation for the Boat Race and to win it means everything.

Woods, for his part, mirrored their respectful conduct. Once well enough, he telephoned the crew of the Cambridge boat and their coach individually to apologise for spoiling their celebrations!

Its not as if the example set by these people cannot be followed buy others. It was once said that football isn’t life and death....its much more important. The football community has disproven this emphatically with its responses to Fabrice Muamba and Stiliyan Petrov. It is heartening to see Muamba making what appears to be fantastic progress following his heart attack and my thoughts are with Petrov and his family as he begins his treatment for acute leukaemia. Messages of support for both have been sent from sports around the globe.

I know that unsporting conduct is not generally rife in professional sport, I’m just prompted to speak when I see two incidents which are polar opposites. One which exasperates and angers me and one which makes me proud of the sports I enjoy and their exponents.

England Already Have the Best Man for the Job.

Three games into this year’s 6 Nations Championship and Stuart Lancaster is definitely exceeding expectations. Well, my expectations anyway, which to be honest were pretty low following the disaster of a World Cup campaign.

I began watching the England v Wales game not expecting to win and finished it desperately disappointed and slightly annoyed we didn’t win. Pre-tournament, I was excited by what Lancaster had to say about his philosophy and the way he intended to take the England team forward. He then backed this up with his squad selection, dropping the poor performers and the “old guard” and bringing in players who are clearly talented and have energized the elite set-up.

A few tweaks to the starting line-up against the Welsh, albeit enforced with an injury to Hodgson, and England are starting to look like a team with dynamism, discipline and a cutting edge. Three things missing under Martin Johnson.

Hodgson would have been unfortunate to be dropped for anything other than an injury, however I think he will struggle to retain his starting birth for the next match given the performance of Owen Farrell. Farrell was excellent against Wales and looked better at Fly-Half than he had at Centre. A star is born? The new Jonny? Lets not over-hype the kid just yet but his composure on the field for someone who is just 20 is particularly impressive.

The Centre partnership of Barritt and Tuilagi has huge potential. Each hits like a hammer in the tackle and we know that Tuilagi can run some good attacking lines as well as using his power in contact. But for a cracking tackle from Sam Warburton he would have gone over for a try on Saturday.

Of the other new players brought in by Lancaster Ben Morgan and Lee Dickson also stand out whilst there are honourable mentions for Botha and Parling. Morgan’s rise has been rapid, and he is fortunate to benefit from James Haskell’s decision to play in Japan, however what he has shown so far bodes well for the future and Haskell is another who faces a fight to get his place back.  Dickson plays the way Ben Youngs should be. Sharp around the breakdown, keeping the ball moving and generally maintaining the forward momentum.

I also think Chris Robshaw’s captaincy has been very well received by the players and fans. I was a little bit sceptical when he was appointed, feeling that it should perhaps have been given to a player with more experience. As the leading ball carrier and leading tackler in each of the first two matches he has clearly led by example and England have been largely organised and very difficult to beat.

 It has been silly lapses in concentration that have cost tries and the team were weakened with the introduction of some of the replacements during the game against Wales. Matt Steven’s came on and immediately  gave away several stupid penalties, despite being clearly warned by the referee. Ben Youngs continued his irritating “take five steps then pass” routine, compounding it with the accuracy of a scud missile. There are also one or two in the starting line-up who need to up their game or who should face being dropped, namely; Chris Ashton, Dan Cole and Ben Foden.

Obviously there is still much to work on with this England side but they are definitely moving in the right direction and the future is looking much brighter. In my opinion the RFU already have the right man for the job and should give him the opportunity to continue to build on what he has started. England have already progressed much further than anyone had expected them to. This is not just down to Lancaster, but also to Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree. The players have clearly responded well to this coaching team. I’m sure no small part of this is down to the fact they are English. I’m not denigrating the merits of having foreign coaches; Gatland for Welsh Rugby and Andy Flower for English cricket have clearly proved their worth. Fabio Capello....ok, maybe not. Of all the “proposed” candidates I’m not overly impressed. Mallett had a good record with SA but then he should have done given the depth of talent in the country and Kirwan did nothing to advance the rugby of either Italy or Japan.

The loss to Wales see’s them overtake us in the IRB World rankings. Should England remain outside the top four at the end of the year then we will not be a seeded team for our home World Cup in 2015. That would mean we would be likely to face a much tougher group, and route to the final.

England are making good progress under the current coaching team. I sincerely hope the RFU recognise this and allow it to continue.

And yes, I though Strettle had definitely scored J

Calcutta Cup Winners? Scotland Getting Ahead Of Themselves A Bit!

As if England didn’t need any more motivation to beat the Scots this weekend the appearance of “Calcutta Cup Winners” T-Shirts on the Scottish RFU website four days before the game will have added some spice. Andy Robinson’s recent comments about English arrogance at the World Cup may be justified in certain quarters, however, I am confident that Stuart Lancaster’s new Elite Squad will make the disappointments (both on and off the pitch) of the New Zealand tournament a distant memory.

I have been impressed with Lancaster’s application so far and he appears to be sticking to his principles in removing the old guard who clearly were clearly past their best or just weren’t good enough in the first place (Nick “£35k down the toilet” Easter!). His handling of the Danny Care drink-driving offence also shows some strong discipline. I don’t expect to see Delon Armitage for the rest of the tournament either. Its not as if either play is a teenager. They are fully grown adults and should know better.

Graham Henry has stated that Lancaster’s approach will backfire. I don’t agree. Alex Ferguson has built a legacy at Man Utd through strong discipline and has never been afraid to fine, drop or even sell his best players if their behaviour is not in the best interests of the club.

Im genuinely looking forward to seeing what the new crop of players can do. I hope that they are able to play without fear or restriction and can replicate their good club form. Wales managed to foster that sort of freedom when they picked a young squad for the World Cup and they are now going into this years Six Nations with a strong expectation of winning.

I wish Robshaw the best of luck with the captaincy. I would personally have chosen Hartley, primarily because of his experience and the fact that as it is Robshaw’s Six Nations debut I would want him to be concentrating on his game rather than having the pressure of international captaincy.

I will be watching the team announcement with interest. I would go with the following from :-

1) Corbisiero

2) Hartley (C)

3) Marler

4) Palmer

5) Botha (Lawes when fit)

6) Croft

7) Robshaw (Wood when fit)

8) Morgan

9) Youngs

10) Farrell

11) Ashton

12) Barritt

13) Turner-Hall (Tuilagi when fit)

14) Sharples

15) Foden

Lets see if Lancaster agrees with me tomorrow. J Good luck boys, lets start by making sure the Scots don’t get to buy those T-Shirts!