Rooney Stays

Rooney and Ferguson: together again?

Wayne Rooney finally resolved discussion over his future earlier today by signing a new five-year contract with Manchester United worth a reported £180,000 a week. This doubles his current salary, and will stop Manchester City poaching him in what would have been one of the most astonishing and acrimonious transfers in recent memory.

A few questions remain, though. If, as we have been led to believe in the last few days, Rooney wanted to leave mainly due to his desire to win trophies and his perception that United now lack the ambition to sate his desire for success, what has changed? The club still has enormous debts to service, which no matter what anyone involved in the club at boardroom level might claim surely has to have an impact on how much money Sir Alex Ferguson has available to spend on new players.

Has Rooney received a promise from upon high that United will compete at the top end of the transfer market during the next two windows? I find this highly doubtful. Ferguson has repeatedly insisted that he has money to spend if he wants but that there is “no value” to be found. How about Rafael van der Vaart for £8 million? Wesley Sneijder for just over £13 million? Mesut Ozil for the same price? Even David Villa for £35-40 million doesn’t look so overpriced when you consider that Berbatov cost £30 million. All of these recent transfers prove that there is value to be found; Ferguson just does not have the money to compete.

Besides, the Scot hasn’t exactly been shy in the past about splashing extravagant amounts of cash on players who aren’t in the top bracket. As previously mentioned, Berbatov cost £30 million, and Rio Ferdinand joined for a similar fee. Rooney himself arrived for £18 million when he was only 18 years old, and Ruud van Nistelrooy was signed in the summer of 2001 for £19 million.

And those were the successful transfers. Let us not forget that Juan Sebastián Veron was signed at the same time as van Nistelrooy for a huge fee of £28.1 million. Veron was perhaps unfairly maligned during his time at Old Trafford, but in the end he came nowhere near to living up to his price tag. Ferguson had wasted an enormous sum of money.

The list of players that Ferguson has bought for big money and who have not fully lived up to expectations is long:

• Anderson                               £17.3 million
• Owen Hargreaves               £17 million
• Luis Antonio Valencia      £16 million
• Nani                                       £14.7 million
• Michael Carrick                  £14 million

Valencia and Nani are both talented players, but neither are indispensable. The same applies to Carrick, who has spent a lot of time recently warming the United bench. Anderson has resoundingly failed to live up to his potential, and Hargreaves’ career is continuously threatened by injury. Whilst this is unfortunate, his lack of playing time makes £17 million appear a lot of money in hindsight.

All of this goes to show that Ferguson is not afraid to spend money. His claim that there is “no value” is a completely hollow one; he would spend if he had the money.

At the end of the day, Rooney seems to have stayed at Old Trafford because his wages have been doubled. Fair enough. At 25 years old, he probably only has one more big-money contract left before he passes his peak and his ability begins to decline. No one can blame him for seeking the maximum amount of money possible. By doubling his wages, though, and ensuring that he is the highest-paid player in United’s history, Rooney could actually be damaging his club’s ability to purchase world-class players and compete at the top end of the transfer market. Whilst he is collecting such a big wage packet, it will be harder to offer comparable wages to attract new players. If he really is motivated primarily by ambition, this move is probably not the right one, and is actually quite selfish.

And so it comes down to money in the end, the one thing that seems to motivate above all in English football nowadays. Somebody has played a blinder in this saga; whether it is Rooney’s agent, Paul Stretford, or Ferguson, I am not entirely sure. We will probably never find out.

Perhaps Stretford has carried out one of the greatest contract negotiations in English football history, commandeering the press to put pressure on United and force them to double his star’s wages in order to retain his services. The press were almost unanimously convinced that Rooney was definitely going to leave, feeling that the story would not have been pushed onto their laps unless he genuinely wanted to agitate for a move.

Alternatively, Rooney really did want to leave, and Ferguson has proved his managerial credentials once again by convincing him to stay. The manager may have taken Rooney into a room and given him a stern talking to, sufficient enough to convince him to stay. Or he may have made a different, equally persuasive appeal. The death threats made to Rooney last night may also have played a large part. We will never know for sure.

The one thing that is certain now is that Rooney will have to work hard to win back the support of United’s fans. By seemingly declaring that he wanted to leave for the blue half of Manchester, his image of being completely loyal to United has been all but shattered. He will benefit on a personal level, financially; but if United’s debt mountain continues to grow (which it will), and they can no longer afford world-class players, the trophies will stop coming. Ferguson will surely retire before Rooney’s contract expires, and this will probably spell the end of United’s era of dominance. I do not expect Rooney to stay at Old Trafford once that happens.

European Round-Up

Champions League

Inter Milan 4 – 3 Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs’ comeback wasn’t quite enough in the end, and Gareth Bale will probably never be more unhappy after scoring a hat-trick. Inter scored in the first minute, and in the seventh minute goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was sent off. Samuel Eto’o converted the subsequent penalty, and when a third goal was added a matter of minutes later the game really looked dead and buried. Eto’o grabbed a second before half-time, meaning that Spurs were four goals down at the break. Bale scored a sublime goal to begin reducing the deficit, scored an identikit second with only a few minutes to go, before completing his hat-trick with an accomplished finish from the edge of the area. There really was not enough time left to even think about grabbing the unlikeliest of equalisers, though, and Inter completed a deserved win.

The scoreline flattered Spurs in the end. For almost all of the first half, Inter were untouchable, the Spurs defence looking scared and making error after error. This will have been an important learning experience for the team and Harry Redknapp, and the fact that mistakes of any kind will be ruthlessly punished at this level has surely been hammered home. Spurs welcome the Italian and European champions back to White Hart Lane next, and Bale’s late hat-trick might just give them the belief they need to take something from that game.

Manchester United 1 – 0 Bursaspor

A very drab game by all accounts, lit up by a sumptuous early strike from Nani. Wayne Rooney was nowhere to be seen, still recovering from his ankle injury, and his presence was missed. United fans must be beginning to fear the worst. This really was a laboured victory against a side that Sir Alex Ferguson’s team would normally swat away at Old Trafford without breaking a sweat. Javier Hernandez, whilst good, does not yet have the breadth of skills to replace Rooney completely if the United talisman does indeed leave in January. Federico Macheda is still far too green, and perhaps may never mature into a truly Premier League-quality striker. We all know that Berbatov is extremely talented; but he is a very different player to Rooney, and one who does not seem the type to carry a team to a trophy on his own. If Rooney leaves, games like this will become much more commonplace at Old Trafford, and worse may yet be to come.

Rangers 1 – 1 Valencia

A fantastic point for Rangers here, and it really should have been more. After going ahead before the break through a towering header from Edu, Rangers missed a whole host of clear-cut chances (including a couple of open goals) before Edu was unfortunate enough to put the goal into his own net just after half-time to level the scores. Rangers seem to have ditched their habit of losing European games at Ibrox, and if they can scrape a draw away at Valencia they will have a very decent chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Spartak Moscow 0 – 2 Chelsea

Not much to note in this game. The result went entirely as expected, Yuri Zhirkov scoring his first Chelsea goal upon his return to his native Russia. Nicolas Anelka added the second, picking up the slack from Didier Drogba’s absence. John Terry will probably have relished the opportunity to return to the scene of his infamous penalty miss in the 2008 Champions League final, but nobody except him really cared all that much.

Arsenal 5 – 1 Shakhtar Donetsk

Similar to the Chelsea game in that the result went as expected, although credit must be given to Arsenal for playing some wonderful football and winning more comfortably than many might have expected. Jack Wilshere started alongside Cesc Fabregas in the Arsenal midfield, playing well once again and grabbing a nice goal as his development into Fabregas’ natural replacement continues apace. Shakhtar are a very good footballing side, and were probably Fulham’s toughest opponents during their run to last year’s Europa League final, a fact overlooked by many. It was nice to see Eduardo score on his return to the Emirates too; the Arsenal fans were more than willing to accommodate him and celebrate the goal as their team were 5-0 up at the time. If that had been the go-ahead goal, I’d wager they might not be quite so pleased.

 

Europa League

Napoli 0 – 0 Liverpool

This was a very good result for Liverpool. Roy Hodgson decided to rest many key players and give some of his reserves a chance to shine, and the gamble paid off. Napoli are a solid side, and can be an intimidating place to visit (as evidenced by their fans’ “hunting” of Liverpool supporters before the game). By choosing to prioritise the Premier League at the weekend, Hodgson took a gamble that paid off. His second-string players rewarded him by putting in a performance well worthy of a point. A 0-0 draw away from home in Europe without Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres in your starting XI is not to be sniffed at.

Manchester City 3 – 1 Lech Poznan

City claimed all three points in comfortable enough fashion here, Emmanuel Adebayor grabbing a hat-trick in the process. Lech Poznan did make the score 2-1, which would have given City fans a few nervous moments, but in the end the result was never in too much doubt. City are now in a very strong position in their group and will almost certainly qualify for the knockout stages.

England 0 – 0 Montenegro

A strange one, this, and it really has to be seen as 2 points dropped for England. Having said that, it shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of qualifying for Euro 2012. Montenegro are a decent side, and despite being drawn into this group as the bottom seed they have now taken 10 points out of a possible 12 – a remarkable achievement. They look in good position to come second in the group, assuming England do manage to see the rest of the campaign out as they should and finish top.

England dominated possession in this game, but had very few clear sights of goal. A few half-chances fell to the striking duo of Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch, but they were feeding on scraps. Rooney did have two decent opportunities, one from a sumptuously weighted through-pass from Steven Gerrard, the other a rebound after a shot had been blocked inside the area. Both times Mladen Bozovic in the Montenegro goal pulled off smart saves.

In fact, it could have been a whole lot worse. In the 82nd minute, left-back Milan Jovanovic found himself presented with a bouncing ball on the edge of the England penalty area, and duly struck it with venom. The natural angle of the strike meant that it would dip, and it did so, leaving Joe Hart stranded and rebounding off the England crossbar. Hart stood no chance, and if the shot had dropped a few centimetres lower England would have lost this game.

As it was though, a draw was reasonably fair. Despite a clear penalty appeal in the 76th minute when Jovanovic handled inside the box, England never really did anything to state that they fully deserved to win. After all, they should not have to rely on a penalty to beat a side like Montenegro.

It was good to see Ashley Young and Adam Johnson started on the wings, but neither did anything spectacular. Young was eventually withdrawn for Shaun Wright-Phillips, who also failed to produce anything of note. Kevin Davies even came on for his first England cap, replacing Peter Crouch late on, and duly lived up to his reputation as the player who commits the most fouls in the Premier League by getting booked for an elbow on a Montenegrin defender. Davies almost certainly does not feature in Fabio Capello’s long-term plans, but he deserves his cap after years of effective performances in the Premier League.

This is far from a disastrous result, but it was pretty uninspiring stuff and will have done no favours to Capello in his attempts to restore optimism after the dismal performances at the World Cup last summer. England should still qualify from this group in first place; they will just have to ensure there are not too many more slip-ups like this one.

Scotland 2 – 3 Spain

After the dismal and rather embarrassing 1-0 defeat to the Czech Republic on Friday night, a game in which manager Craig Levein opted to play a 4-6-0 formation and forgo any kind of attacking football whatsoever, the Scots lined up with Kenny Miller as the lone striker tonight. They still didn’t attack an awful lot, but at least there was an attacker on the field this time.

To be fair to the Scots, they put in a resilient display and were rather unlucky not to nick a point against the reigning world and European champions. After it looked like they would make it to half time with the scores level at 0-0, Whittaker blocked a Sergio Ramos shot with his arm and the referee gave a penalty. Allan McGregor almost reached David Villa’s penalty, but the Spaniard squeezed it into the bottom corner to make it 1-0. Soon after the break, Iniesta doubled the advantage and it seemed to be game over.

The Scots fought back, though, much to everyone’s surprise. Stephen Naismith was on hand just 3 minutes after Iniesta’s goal to head in a Kenny Miller cross, and the game was back on. Seven minutes later, Pique put the ball into his own net to tie the scores. Hampden Park was in dreamland. They were rudely awakened by Fernando Llorente soon after, though, who swept in a cross from Capdevilla to secure the points for Spain. Heartbreak for the Scots, but they can be pleased with a promising performance here. They still have a chance of qualifying, and maybe Levein will begin to have a little more confidence in his players to actually play football and score goals from now on.

Other results:

• It’s worth noting that Switzerland beat Wales 4-1 tonight, ending Wales’ hopes of qualifying once and for all. Brian Flynn’s team are in a real mess after John Toshack’s departure, and whilst they are admittedly missing a raft of key players (including Craig Bellamy, Joe Ledley and Robert Earnshaw), this result is a disheartening one. The games against England will be big ones, and Flynn will be hoping his side raise their game due to the opposition, but they should be comfortably beaten both home and away on this evidence and seem almost certain to finish bottom of the group. This will adversely affect their FIFA ranking, and make it even harder to qualify in future.

• Northern Ireland could only manage a 1-1 draw in the Faroe Islands, and this has to go down as a huge missed opportunity for Nigel Worthington’s men. The Northern Irish are really struggling to score goals at the moment, especially away from home, but they need to beat the minnows if they want to have a shot at qualifying. This result does not help their chances, but they’re not out of it yet, still only two points behind the group leaders Italy.

• The Republic of Ireland could also only draw 1-1, but they were away to Slovakia. The Slovaks are a far stronger team than the Faroe Islanders, but the Republic also missed an opportunity to gain three vital points away from home. Robbie Keane missed a penalty when the scores were tied, and with Russia winning 1-0 away to Macedonia they have now fallen two points behind the leaders in Group B.

AFL Grand Final Replay

So to follow up my post from a couple of weeks ago, it was the AFL Grand Final Replay the weekend before last. After Collingwood and St. Kilda played out what was only the third drawn Grand Final in AFL history, tension was high ahead of the replay at the MCG.

After the draw the week before, a debate erupted in the Australian sporting press and amongst fans about whether a replay the following week was the best way forward in the event of a drawn final. Collingwood’s captain had expressed his feelings immediately after the first game, and they were not at all positive. In order to avoid the (admittedly remote) possibility of another replay, the AFL stated that if the game were to end in a draw, an extra time period of 5 minutes each way would be played to decide a winner. The issue will probably go away until the next time a Grand Final is drawn – and on current form, that will be at least 25 years.

The game itself saw Collingwood run out comfortable winners. Things started out in a remarkably similar fashion to the first game, Collingwood sprinting out of the blocks and washing all over the St. Kilda back line. The pressure was not reflected on the scoreboard, however, and it felt like last week all over again.

The turning point probably came as early as the 1st period. St. Kilda’s superstar player, Nick Riewoldt, received the ball less than 10 metres out from goal, turned towards goal and seemed to poise to kick a goal that would have drawn St. Kilda to within touching distance of Collingwood; a goal that would have mimicked the first game in that it would have stopped St. Kilda becoming overwhelmed on the scoreboard even though they were losing the battle on the pitch. Out of nowhere, though, Collingwood’s Heath Shaw pounced, smothering Riewoldt’s shot as it left his boot, ensuring that as the ball passed over the goal line, it would be worth only a solitary point, not the expected six. This moment was massive, lifting both the Collingwood players and supporters alike, and the tone was now set for the rest of the game.

Collingwood continued to press their advantage, and went in at half time with a 27-point lead, 3 points more than at the same stage the week before. If Collingwood were to get the next goal, it felt like they would be unstoppable. They duly got it, and went on to put together five consecutive scores before St. Kilda could respond. The game increasingly felt like it was beyond the Saints, and so it proved, Collingwood running out winners by a score of 16.12 (108) to 7.10 (52) – a comfortable margin.

A Collingwood supporter (the father from the previous post) told me that he felt his team had blown it in the first game, missing a glorious chance to secure victory from a winning position at half-time. As the week before the replay passed, though, his feelings began to change, and he told me that he felt more confident for the replay. His feeling was that St. Kilda had played to their absolute maximum in the first game, and so the best they could hope for was another draw. Also, Collingwood’s young team had now gained some vital Grand Final experience, and could draw on that in the subsequent game.

And this is perhaps the most striking thing about this Collingwood team, and this season as a whole for them. Collingwood’s team is still young overall, and there are still a number of areas where improvements could be made. Veteran coach Mick Malthouse only has one more season before he retires, but he is leaving in place a very promising team for his successor. After the Magpies’ victory in 1990, there was talk that it was the first Premiership title in a new dynasty. That turned out to false, and whilst talk of a dynasty this time is far too premature, it is certainly feasible that this Collingwood team will go on to dominate the AFL for the next few seasons as they continue to improve. They will almost certainly be there or thereabouts for some time to come, and I for one will enjoy watching out to see how they get on.

Premier League: Round 7

A few thoughts on Round 7 of the Premier League:

Hodgson needs to stop decline before it becomes terminal
There comes a point where decline has to be arrested and turned around. If it is not, then it can become almost irreversible, taking years or longer to recover. Liverpool are approaching this point. After being dumped out of the League Cup by lowly Northampton Town, Roy Hodgson’s side were outplayed by Blackpool at Anfield. This was an unthinkable result at the start of the season, and with the first signs that the fans are beginning to run out of patience with Hodgson, the former Fulham manager needs to do something soon to stop the rot. Talk of relegation is surely premature, but missing out on the top half is a very realistic prospect.

Manchester United are far from invincible
Manchester United look extremely fallible for the first time in recent memory. Whilst they are traditionally slow starters in the league, never have they failed to win a succession of away games in the way they have this year, and never have they looked so vulnerable in the process. The draws away to Fulham and Everton demonstrated severe lapses in concentration at the heart of United’s defence, and they were rather fortunate to come away with a point after drawing 0-0 at Sunderland this week. With Rooney’s total loss of form, defensive problems, and a lack of money available to Ferguson to compete at the top end of the transfer market to fix these issues, there is trouble brewing at Old Trafford for seasons to come.

Chelsea continue to dominate Arsenal
The story is the same as it has been for the past two seasons; Chelsea comfortably beat Arsenal. Although the score was only 2-0 and Arsenal dominated possession for much of the game, the Gunners failed to do much with it and squandered all of the good chances they created. Chelsea were happy to absorb the pressure, looking potent on the counter-attack. It paid off in the end, with Didier Drogba scoring his 13th goal in 13 games against Arsenal, a quite remarkable statistic. Alex’s rocket of a free kick towards the end of the game only confirmed the inevitable.

Manchester City learning to grind out results
City won at Newcastle United despite not playing particularly well. As the cliché goes, the sign of a good team is the ability to win when playing badly, not just when playing well. City were the beneficiaries of some questionable refereeing decisions, but when you are able to bring on players of the calibre of Adam Johnson and Emmanuel Adebayor, you should be winning most of the games you play. Right now, they seem best placed to challenge Chelsea for the title this year.

Fulham need a striker
With Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson and Mousa Dembele all out injured, Fulham looked toothless in attack against West Ham United. Clint Dempsey started as expected, but despite always working hard up front he never quite looks completely comfortable, and he certainly seems to be more effective when attacking from midfield. Eddie Johnson, Dempsey’s US national teammate, was surprisingly called upon to make his first Premier League start in over two years. Unsurprisingly, Johnson had very little impact, and he seems to be a raw talent who has a long way to go before becoming a Premiership-calibre player – he is still yet to score a goal for Fulham. Dembele and Andy Johnson are scheduled to return in a few weeks – perhaps then Mark Hughes will be able to turn draws into wins.

The relegation candidates are yet to present themselves
After I confidently predicted Blackpool and West Bromwich Albion to struggle this year, they have duly defied expectations and are playing quite well so far. Liverpool, Wolves and West Ham currently make up the bottom three, but it is quite easy to imagine teams like Wigan, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Blackpool and West Brom could all get dragged back into the relegation mix before the end of the year. No team has started off so badly to suggest that they will certainly be relegated, as Derby County, West Brom, and Portsmouth have done in recent seasons. The relegation battle is shaping up nicely to become one of the most exciting in recent memory.

Midweek European Round-up

Here’s a quick look at this week’s midweek European games:

Champions League

No major upsets for the British clubs in the Champions League this week (unless, of course, you consider a Rangers victory to be an upset). Chelsea cruised past Marseille 2-0, putting them firmly in control of Group F.

Arsenal eventually overcame Partizan Belgrade 3-1 after the scores were level for a large part of the game, and Marouane Chamakh missed a penalty at 1-1. The Gunners’ victory also puts them in pole position to qualify at this early stage.

Manchester United faced a tougher task as they faced Valencia at the Mestalla. A drab game livened up after the break, with Javier Hernandez getting the breakthrough in the last ten minutes to give United a very good victory.

Also in United’s group, Rangers overcame Bursaspor 1-0 at Ibrox to put them level on points with the English team at the top of Group C. The win ended a long run without a European win at home for Rangers, and Walter Smith will be glad to have got that monkey off his team’s back.

Finally, Tottenham thrashed Dutch champions FC Twente at White Hart Lane, thanks in no small part to three penalties awarded to them by the referee (although in fairness, one of them was missed and Rafael van der Vaart was eventually sent off).

All in all, it means that all five British teams are in decent positions as we approach the halfway mark of the group stages. Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United will almost certainly sail through to the knockout stages now, whilst Rangers and Spurs are perhaps in better positions than they might have hoped when the competition kicked off. Rangers, certainly, will be ecstatic with 4 points from two games, and Spurs will not be too disappointed with the same total. A draw away to Werder Bremen in their first game was a great result considering Spurs’ relative lack of experience in European competition.

There were some other notable results from around Europe in the Champions League this week. Inter Milan battered Werder Bremen 4-0, Samuel Eto’o grabbing a hat-trick as the Italians made a big statement of intent. In Group D, Barcelona were held at home by Rubin Kazan, both sides scoring a penalty apiece as the game finished 1-1. The result now means that Rubin are unbeaten in their last three games with Barcelona, even winning the game at the Camp Nou last season. A truly remarkable statistic for the Russian team.

Barca’s great rivals Real Madrid laboured to a win away at Auxerre, winning 1-0 thanks to a second-half strike from Angel di Maria. Jose Mourinho’s shaky start to his tenure at the Bernabeu continued in this visit to France, with the goals failing to come as freely as might be expected. Many Madrid fans are beginning to grow restless with Mourinho’s pragmatic tactics, and although Real are having far more shots than any of their opponents so far, most of them are pointless long-range efforts. Something is not quite right, and Mourinho will need to fix it quick.

Also in Real’s group, Ajax and AC Milan played out a 1-1 draw, Zlatan Ibrahimovich scoring the equaliser upon his return to his old club. Second spot in this group is wide open (assuming that Real sort their problems out and win the group as they should), and this result doesn’t make things any clearer.

All in all, then, an intriguing if not overly exciting round of Champions League games. The group stage is bloated in this format, leading to many relatively meaningless games. A streamlining of the competition’s format would make it far more interesting in the early stages, but as it is now, the real interest doesn’t begin until the knockout phase begins next year.

Europa League

A quick look at the Europa League, then, with Liverpool once again struggling to find form and goals as they were held to a goalless draw at Utrecht. Roy Hodgson seems to be finding it hard to get his team playing to their potential, and the Reds couldn’t find a way through the Utrecht defence even though Fernando Torres was back from injury and supposedly 100% fit again. Dirk Kuyt was also poor in his first game back after injury. Things just do not look like getting better at Liverpool, and this season may have to be one of consolidation whilst the ownership situation is sorted out.

Manchester City were more impressive in a 1-1 draw with Juventus, and might even feel disappointed not to have taken all three points. A long-distance strike from Vincenzo Iaquinta opened the scoring (with Joe Hart perhaps at fault), and Adam Johnson levelled things up after finishing off Yaya Touré’s exquisite through-ball. Alessandro Del Piero almost won the game with a late free kick that cannoned off the crossbar, but City also had their chances to claim victory. It says a lot about how far City have come when they can feel disappointed not to have beaten Juventus.