Un Misérable starring Arsène Wenger

It’s a well known fact that Arsenal haven’t won anything for far too long (by their own high standards of course). It has finally reached the point where some Arsenal fans are thinking the unthinkable; is it time for Wenger to move on to pastures new?

I'll get my coat

There are a lot of questions that have been asked of Wenger’s approach to the management of the team over the last few years. Why do the players seem to insist on walking the ball into the goal? Is there too much focus on developing young talent? The latter was even asked by Cesc Fabregas himself last week, although it seems likely that his words were twisted. Now it seems they have ruined their chances of winning the league thanks to far too many draws recently. So, if it is down to Monsieur Wenger, where did he go wrong?

It goes without saying that Wenger has done brilliant things at Arsenal since arriving there in 1996 and he is currently the second longest serving manager in the league (if you don’t know who is first then you must have stopped watching football in 1986....). Wenger is credited with bringing “liquid football” to the UK and having great success with it but now it seems things aren’t really going to plan. The days of Henry, Pires, Bergkamp and Vieira dominating week in week out seem a lot longer than 5 or 6 years ago as the quest for the elusive trophy (any trophy) goes on.

Could Arsenal’s barren run of six years without a trophy be down to focussing on developing the young players? The Arsenal team that lost at Bolton last week had an average age of 24. If you compare this to the average age of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ which was 28 there is a clear difference. However, there is no way of proving that a younger squad would have less chance of winning trophies; I’m sure Alan Hansen would be the first person to agree with that statement. Perhaps what Arsenal are missing is a few veterans in the side to lead by example and ‘guide’ the younger players through the season and onto glory.

Having a glance through the current Arsenal squad it is difficult to find an experienced “leader”. The best candidates are Emmanuel Eboue or Tomas Rosicky but neither of them have actually won anything with Arsenal since being there so they don’t really qualify for the role. Now we come to Jens Lehmann who has made a return to the Emirates relatively recently in yet another questionable Wenger decision. Lehmann fits the bill of a (very) experienced leader but only time will tell if he can help the team win trophies next season. That is if he is even still there next season. Although even if he is but doesn’t play very often he could have an important influence in training and in the dressing room.

Wenger's war on water

On a quick side note, Arsène Wenger often conveys his annoyance at the performance of officials and his team not collecting all 3 points by abusing water bottles in his technical area. Have a look at Ian Rands’ blog “A United View” for a nice graphic illustrating Wenger’s water bottle abuse since 2003/4. Ironically, Arsenal’s “liquid football” dried up around the same time Arsène began assaulting innocent bottles of Evian. If he continues constantly blaming match officials for dropped points then he should read the Evian label backwards and think again.

I hate to keep referring back to the “Invincibles” but I’m going to keep doing it because it makes sense! Anyway, the “Invincibles” were known for their free flowing attacking football and if truth be told Arsenal still play like that today. Admittedly the current squad don’t pull it off quite so well but when Walcott et al bring their A-game they look very similar to the last team that delivered trophies to Highbury/Emirates. I’m really saying that the current Arsenal crop don’t play to their full ability often enough and with them being such a young team it could be put down to a lack of experience and footballing maturity.

One big problem that Arsenal have is that they have managed to earn themselves the label of “bottlers”. This year’s League Cup Final is a perfect example of how they have managed to be tagged as having no nerve; on paper they should have won easily but the expectation was too much and Birmingham took full advantage. In the 2006 Champions League Final and again in the 2007 League Cup Final, Arsenal let a one goal lead slip and in doing so; had to go home with runners-up medals. Those last two examples were against much stiffer opposition than Birmingham (no offence meant to Birmingham there) but Arsenal are a big team and to continue being considered as such they have to hold onto important leads. Whether it is one goal, two goals (seen this season v. Spurs) or even four goals (seen this season v Newcastle).

There are a lot of things that point towards Arsenal needing their very own Ryan Giggs or Jamie Carragher; a player who essentially is the club. The problem that Arsenal face in their quest for a Giggs/Carragher type player is that no-one has been at the club long enough to command such a huge amount of respect and admiration from their teammates. It is possible that Wenger saw the return of Lehmann as a way of addressing this issue but as he has played for other clubs since his departure from Arsenal and as his (re) arrival has already been questioned there is surely no way he could give the team the confidence in themselves that is so desperately needed.

It shouldn’t be necessary to have to change manager. If Wenger does leave then the Arsenal board would have a very difficult task in finding a replacement. It is unlikely that Wenger would walk out in the summer but if he is shown the door by the powers that be then expect a lot of the management rumours to centre around this guy….

André Villas Boas

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2011 South Pacific Games Football - New Caledonia

The football tournament at the South Pacific Games this coming August will consist of three groups of four teams (although currently only 11 teams are confirmed). The top 3 from two groups and the top 2 from the other will qualify for the Quarter-Final stage. From the Quarter-Finals onwards it’s a straight knockout competition just like the World Cup. The teams that finish 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd will also qualify for the next round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

At the last South Pacific Games, held in 2007, New Caledonia won the Gold medal by beating Fiji 1-0.

We’ll be reviewing every team that will be playing at the Games later this summer and the best place to start would be with 2007’s Gold Medal winners; New Caledonia.

New Caledonia

National Flag of New Caledonia

New Caledonia has been an overseas territory of France since 1946 but in 1998 an agreement was reached that would ultimately give power to the island nation itself rather than being fully under the control of France. New Caledonia is an island off the East Coast of Australia, just over 900 miles North-East of Brisbane.

The football team are currently (21/04/11) ranked 151^st in FIFA’s World Rankings which makes them the highest ranked team participating in the upcoming South Pacific Games. It is New Caledonia who are the most successful team ever at the Games, winning it 5 times and having almost always been in the medals (’79 and ’95 being the exceptions) since the Games began in 1963.

Perhaps the best New Caledonian player is Christian Karembeu, who featured in the Premier League for Middlesbrough and he also has the privilege of counting Real Madrid amongst his former clubs. Although Karembeu was born and raised in New Caledonia, he opted to play for France and was part of the French team that won the 1998 World Cup.

All the players in the current New Caledonia national team play their club football in New Caledonia itself and although the team that will feature at the South Pacific Games is yet to be announced, they should be one of the strongest teams there.

Stade Numa-Daly Magenta

As the games as a whole are being held in New Caledonia, the final of the football tournament will be held at the national stadium; Stade Numa-Daly Magenta. The stadia being used for the football matches have capacities of between 600 and 1,000 so Stade Numa-Daly Magenta’s capacity of 16,000 is huge in comparison.

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2011 South Pacific Games

As the final rays of the summer sun wash over Britain (hopefully) at the end of August, a football tournament will be taking place which for some people will be incredibly important. It is likely that the majority of football fans in Britain will never have taken notice of this tournament or even heard of it; The South Pacific Games.

The games, which are very similar to the Olympics albeit on a considerably smaller scale, will be taking place between August 27^th and September 10^th.  The football part of the tournament, which will be followed in as much detail as possible here, will be spread over the two weeks of the games which are being held in Nouméa, New Caledonia.

This brief introduction to the football tournament at the 2011 South Pacific Games will be followed by a preview in the next few days. The more detailed preview will take a look at the 12 national teams who will be competing in Nouméa , how the tournament works and who the favourites are.  To give you some background and an idea of which teams to look out for, a brief look back at the past tournaments will also feature.

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‘The Joys of being a Non-League Fan’

The Hand of Blog's first guest contributor, David Richardson, describes the joys of being a non-league fan and amongst other things; why it is infinitely better than watching football on your TV. Follow him on Twitter @RiiCKO

Kingfield - Home of the Cards

I’ve been supporting my local non-league team, Woking, for 2 seasons now and when it comes to the weekend there is nothing I feel more excited about than watching the Cards (nickname originated from ‘The Cardinals’). It’s become an addiction, albeit possibly a good one (?). I’ve never really truly supported a football team before.  I say ‘supported’ by which I mean going every week, home and away to watch a team. I don’t consider people ‘supporters’ for seeing two games a year of their chosen team when, if they were honest, could attend a lot more . The WFC addiction has come about from playing for their ‘Centre of Excellence’. From then on I started going to some games and I was hooked on the drug that is non-league football. Anyway, that’s enough of my background; here are my favourite two ‘joys of being a non-league fan’…..

Personally, the main satisfaction of following Woking and the non-league as a whole is being a ‘regular’. By this I mean going every week, home and away, and seeing the same faces. The average attendance for Woking’s home games is around 1100. It’s the highest average in the Blue Square Bet South and being part of the 1100 WFC fans at home games and the 200-700 away following feels so special. I feel part of the club. Supporting the Manchester United’s, Chelsea’s and Arsenal’s is fine in my opinion and why shouldn’t it be? But do you really feel part of the club along with the other millions of fans worldwide? Can you go into the clubhouse after the game, have a beer, and speak to Carlo Ancelotti about the players, the reason behind the 4-2-1-3 formation and why that expensive striker still hasn’t scored? Well you can at Woking and at other non-league clubs and that’s why I feel part of my club.

The second joy of being a non-league fan is being able to say, “Yeah I support my local team”. The chances are that many of you non-league fans would have had the following conversation at some point:

"Which team do you support?"
"Woking"
"Woking? That's Non-league?"
"Yeah"
"Oh right, so which is your first team?"
"Woking"
"No, I mean Premier League?"
"Woking, I only support Woking"
"Really? Well that's good I suppose, sticking with your local side and all..."

And that’s what I like. A fair few of the football-conscious people I know don’t support their local team. They would rather sit in front of their SKY+ HD 3D super TV (AND ITS LIVE!) and watch their ‘team’ from 50 miles away. I believe that every supporter at non-league level really does love their club. They will sweat blood singing their hearts out for every single one of the 90 minutes on a cold January night at Chelmsford to see their team win 1-0 in the last minute. So if you’re ever bored of the live noon kick-off on SKY pop down to see your local team and you never know, you might even enjoy it!

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El Clasico

So tonight brings us the big one; Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi , no sorry I mean Real Madrid v Barcelona. It is one of the games most famous, most watched and most fierce rivalries; I’m sure you all remember a pig head being thrown at Luís Figo in 2002.

In a matter of hours, these two giants will clash once again at the Santiago Bernabéu. Barcelona go into the game 8 points ahead of Madrid and with many thinking the title race is already over. If Real Madrid can snatch the all important win tonight then they will still have an outside chance of taking the La Liga title come the end of the season.

For a while now, there have been discussions all over the world about who the best player in the world actually is; Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Once again, tonight we will see perhaps the two best players in the world on the same pitch but who is the in-form player? 

Well perhaps some Castrol Edge stats can help us decide. Although neither player is an out and out striker, they are consistently amongst the goals. A list of the top players in terms of goals scored and assists made in the top 5 European leagues shows Messi and Ronaldo easily in front of anyone else. Messi and Ronaldo are almost equal at the top of the goals scored list (Messi having scored one more) but the most interesting fact is that Lionel Messi has more than double the assists that the Portuguese has. Obviously these two players aren’t the only ones scoring their teams goals so the assists could prove crucial in tonight’s game.

Both the players have made exactly the same amount of appearances in La Liga this season and have had almost exactly the same amount of time on the pitch. During this time Ronaldo has attempted a lot more shots than Messi but it’s Messi who has been the more clinical of the two; scoring roughly once in every four attempts.

So, everything is pointing at Messi being the in-form player going into tonight’s El Clasico and perhaps the stat which is most relevant for todays game is that Ronaldo has not made an assist or scored a goal when he has been playing against Lionel Messi at club level. Messi himself on the other hand has scored 2 and assisted 2 when playing against Ronaldo.

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Liverpool away kit 11/12 launched by adidas

Following the recent launch of Chelsea’s new home kit for the 11/12 season, adidas have today launched Liverpool’s away kit, also for 2011 – 2012.

The dark metallic grey shirt has a thin silver pinstripe effect, silver sponsors logos and a silver badge. The shirt actually looks quite stylish which is something that the vast majority of football kits don’t quite manage. Perhaps the best touch is the red flames on the silver Liverpool crest and the thin red lines around the sleeves and collar also improve the look of the shirt as a whole.

As with the Chelsea 11/12 shirt, TechFit™ and Climacool™ features are also included although only with the players’ shirts. Unfortunately they don’t appear in the replicas that are sold to fans so don’t get your hopes up expecting to turn into a Sunday League Suarez.

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Adidas launch new Chelsea home kit for 2011-2012

Earlier today, the sports manufacturing giants adidas launched next season's Chelsea home strip.

The design of football kits can be a surprisingly divisive thing and it seems adidas have played this one on the safe side but at the same time have managed to produce a “fresh” design that is sure to be popular with the Chelsea faithful.

The horizontal shadowed stripes, which give a nod to Chelsea kits of the ‘80’s, bring a new element to Chelsea’s shirt. As with Chelsea’s current shirt the famous three stripes of adidas take their usual place along the shoulders. The stripes will be even more prominent next season as they are blue and set on white background.

Less visibly but, we're assured, imperative to the performance of the strip is the technology featured. These include the TechFit™ and Climacool™ enhancements which should improve endurance and keep the players dry during the game.

Look out for this kit on the pitch during the final Premier League game of the season where it is set to début.

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Region in revolt

The recent unrest in Libya has been dominating the news and rightly so. We are constantly hearing about the progress of the Libyan rebels’ fight against Colonel Gaddafi, the no-fly zone and the air strikes carried out by the US, UK and France. But how has Libyan football been affected?

In terms of football, Libya is never really mentioned. Partly because in the UK we are enclosed in the European football bubble and therefore rarely hear about the African nations. The African Cup of Nations being an exception to that of course, but even in that tournament it is only the later stages that manage to garner some press attention in Europe.  At the World Cup last year, Ghana flew the flag for Africa as they advanced the furthest and altogether there were 6 African teams involved. Six African teams however still leaves 47 we seldom hear about. Libya is included in those 47.

The Libyan team have never appeared at a World Cup and have only qualified for two African Cup of Nations (one of which they qualified for as hosts). They are currently ranked 71^st in the World, forty-five places above Wales.

Libya are currently involved in qualifying for the African Cup of Nations and their unsuccessful London Olympics qualifying campaign has just finished. It was their attempt at Olympic qualification that had been hit the hardest by the uprisings and the resulting no-fly zone. Libya faced South Africa in the first leg of an Olympic qualifier 2 weeks ago with the match taking place in Daveyton, SA. Normally, according to the Libyan assistant coach, the team would have met up a few days before the match and flown straight to South Africa but these are not normal times in Libya. The no-fly zone also affects all commercial flights and therefore the Libyan youngsters were wondering if they would even be able to get there to play the match.

 The Libyan football authorities did what they could and organised a mammoth journey to South Africa via Tunisia and Germany. The team met in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and drove 435 miles to Tunisia from where they flew to Munich only to transfer onto another plane to Johannesburg. The journey took 25 hours altogether and was clearly not the ideal preparation for the Libyan team, especially as they arrived late the night before the match. 

South Africa, unsurprisingly, won the match. The second leg was played yesterday and it finished goalless so South Africa have progressed. The game took place at a neutral venue (Mali) due to the continual fighting in Libya. The African football authorities had already had to find a neutral venue for Libya’s match against the Comoros Islands which also took place in Mali 2 weeks ago.  The match was part of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers and the Libyan first team had to travel to Bamako, Mali for their “home” qualifier against Comoros. This time it was a happier ending for the Libyan side (they won 3-0) after what we can only assume was a long and tiring journey from Tripoli to Bamako (if they went by road it would have taken over 3 days). The result wasn’t the main talking point of the match however. It was the 20,000 Malians who turned up to support Libya. A Colonel Gaddafi ruled Libya has always enjoyed a close relationship with Mali and its people. This would explain the Malian Libya fans chanting “Gaddafi, Gaddafi” after each of the three goals were scored. This is an example of how sport and politics can collide.

A potential problem for the Libyan team would be a difference of opinion on their Leader Colonel Gaddafi and whether or not he should be in power. The Libyan captain, Tariq Ibrahim al-Tayib quashed any suggestions of a politically motivated dressing-room divide when he told the BBC “the whole team is for Muammar Gaddafi”. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this match was a completely smooth operation for Libya though. The uprising had caused a few problems for some players who are based in the Libyan second city of Benghazi as they were unable to leave the city and join up with the team.

Benghazi is currently occupied by rebel forces and the city’s football team Al Ahli Benghazi has a fierce rivalry with Al Ahli Tripoli. The rivalry between the two cities is not only due to football but also politics. Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Saadi, once made himself captain of Al Ahli Tripoli after essentially buying his way in. Some of the matches against their arch-rivals in Benghazi suffered from some very questionable refereeing in Tripoli’s favour while Saadi was involved. Knowing this history between the clubs and cities it wouldn’t be too farfetched to assume that the rebels occupying Benghazi played a part in preventing some Libyan players meeting up with the national team. Of course, it is also possible that some of the players themselves want to see the back of Gaddafi and therefore refuse to represent their country while it is under his power.

All of the above illustrates just how far political turmoil can spread. Looking at a situation like the one in Libya through the viewpoint of football can also show people that there is far more going on in these countries than a simple battle between two different groups. Above all, it reminds us that warfare really can and does affect everything.

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Rise of the 'Roos

Australia wouldn’t be near the top of any list of the World’s football nations unless it was written alphabetically. The inspiration for writing this came from this week’s game between Australia and Germany. It was a game in which Australia recorded one of their most famous football victories. Ok, it was a friendly but considering that before the 2006 World Cup, they were a relatively unknown side on the World stage and hadn’t done anything particularly impressive aside from qualifying for the 1974 World Cup so beating Germany was a great achievement. In recent years, the “Socceroos” have risen to be one of the best teams within Asia and Oceania and they are no pushovers.

Football has had a hard time gaining popularity among Australians due to most people playing Aussie Rules Football or Rugby. The first recorded match was in 1879 and three years later the first football association was founded. The first association that covered the whole country wasn’t founded until 1912 and it only lasted for two years before folding.

After a tough start for football down under, it had an unexpected boost in popularity during the 1950’s and 60’s thanks to the communities of European immigrants which had grown very quickly. There were also many British migrants who had of course experienced the game in the UK and continued playing and watching it after moving to Australia. The only problem was that as the game was mostly confined to these migrant communities it was still not very popular with the natives. If truth be told the Australian game would never truly progress to a good level if it remained within these tightly knit communities.

Throughout the ‘60’s and ‘70’s there were some league and cup competitions set up but they were not as popular as expected and struggled to get going. It wasn’t until 1974 when Australia qualified for the World Cup in West Germany by beating South Korea that the game began to capture the imagination of the Australian public. However, it certainly wasn’t England levels of World Cup induced hysteria. In the actual competition, the team were knocked out in the group stages, finishing bottom of their group and not scoring a goal. Generally in life people enjoy things they’re good at so the poor performance at the World Cup meant that the progression of the game throughout the country as a whole seemed to have suffered a set-back.

Although it wasn’t a World Cup performance to remember, it was impressive enough to qualify for the tournament alone. Most importantly however the Socceroo’s appearance in West Germany lead to the creation of the National Soccer League in Australia. Solid foundations had been laid and they gave the domestic league and national team a helping hand on the way to building towards a brighter future for Australian football.

For the first seven seasons, the domestic league was won four times by Sydney City FC but the league was once again struggling to keep going as attendances began to decline. The National Soccer League took the decision to make two separate leagues with the top teams from each playing each other in a two legged final; the winners of the final were then crowned champions. The changes to the league clearly did not help as once again a single national league system was implemented.

The dominance of the teams from New South Wales managed to enhance the reputation and support of football in the area and to a certain extent throughout Eastern Australia. The danger of the New South Wales dominance was a decline in enthusiasm to follow football in the Western cities such as Perth. The National Soccer League clearly needed to change things again in order to not confine football to a specific part of the country, restricting the progression of football nationally, domestically forever more.

The frequent radical changes in the domestic leagues obviously had an effect on the national team as they failed to qualify for both the 1982 and ’86 World Cup. In the latter, they lost to Scotland 2-0 (aggregate score) in a play-off. The National Soccer League continued to make changes for the 1989/90 season; this time the structure wasn’t altered but instead the season took place during the summer. The thinking behind this was that football wouldn’t have to compete with Aussie Rules football or Rugby for column space in the media. It was also hoped that dwindling attendances at both national and club level would improve as a result of the change.

The National Soccer League then took steps to make football more accessible for all Australians and to ensure it wasn’t limited to mainly migrant communities. Many clubs had to alter logos and even team names in the hope of bringing in a wider fan base. It wasn’t realised at the time but this was perhaps one of the biggest steps the NSL and its member clubs took towards helping the national team and football in general to gain popularity and support.

The 96/97 season saw Perth Glory arrive on the scene and they had a good level of success. Strong support and impressive performances from Perth Glory helped to illustrate to other clubs the kind of level and standard that they should aim for. From 2000 onwards, one team from Australia would get the chance to play in the FIFA Club World Championship if they won the Oceania Club Championship. South Melbourne managed this and featured in the 2000 competition, generating a considerable amount of money for the club. The prospect of playing on a much larger stage helped to attract players from all over the world to Australia; this lead to an increase in the standard of football being played in the domestic leagues. Young Australian players who aspired to play for their national team would also have benefitted from the improved standard by developing into better players themselves. As always in football, money is extremely important and after the cancellation of the next few Club World Championships many Australian clubs began to suffer as result.

Just a few years later the NSL was paused due to lack of success and financial problems. Eventually, in 2004 the A-League was formed which still exists today. The newly formed A-League was a breath of fresh air for Australian football. Combined with numerous national team players beginning to make a name for themselves in the European leagues, the Socceroo’s went from strength to strength and they qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany comfortably. The team were drawn in a tricky group which included Brazil, Croatia and Japan but they still became the first Oceanian team to get past the group stages. They were knocked out in the next round by Italy who won thanks to a controversial penalty which was awarded deep into injury time.

The Socceroo’s performances in Germany put Australia firmly on the footballing map and despite not getting to the second round in South Africa last year they are certainly not a team to be taken lightly. The A-League continues to go from strength to strength and it has begun attracting more and more European players which helps add to its credibility as one of the top leagues in not just Oceania but also Asia.

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