On the back of the miserable loss against Portugal, Diego Alonso ditched his oversized hipster white trainers and three man defense. In its place, he opted for an old fashioned pair of formal brown leather shoes and a flat 4-4-2.

Quality from midfield

Rodrigo Bentancur and Federico Valverde dominated proceedings in the middle of the park for the first half hour against Ghana. This was the first time Alonso unleashed them as a central midfield pair in Qatar.

Starting from left midfield and cutting in, Giorgian de Arrascaeta had a fairytale of a first half, scoring two quick fire goals (incidentally the only goals netted by an Uruguay not short of attacking talent).

Recalling 2010

Luis Suarez was his old self, being brilliant and unpleasant in equal measures. Valverde pumped his fists at the referee after Andre Ayew saw his tame penalty saved by Sergio Rochet. Andrew Ayew was there, in the FNB Stadium, when Ghana crashed out of the 2010 World Cup in the hands (quite literally) of Uruguay.

The stars were aligning. This was Uruguay at their glorious and notorious best.

When Bentancur was forced off with an ankle injury, his mind was surely on the last 16 round that his side looked destined for. He was inconsolable.

Uruguay remained firmly in control for the rest of the game. Darwin Nuñez and Edison Cavani were both denied penalties, despite VAR reviews.

That being said, CBS Rules Expert Christina Unkel agreed with the officials in Qatar. She argues that while there is contact, it is not enough to warrant a foul in this scenario.

Then, the unexpected happened.

VAR breaks Uruguay hearts

South Korea snatched victory against Portugal in the dying moments. This put both Uruguay and South Korea on four points, both with the same goal difference. Uruguay’s offensive woes came to haunt them, as South Korea scored two more goals.

Fine margins.

One more goal for Uruguay or one more goal against South Korea was the difference between heartache and delirium. However, VAR and controversial calls tell the story of Uruguay’s exit.

Not conceding the controversial late penalty awarded by VAR against Portugal would have been enough for Uruguay to reach the last 16. That, combined with the lack of a penalty in favor of the South American side against Ghana, was too much for some players.

Edinson Cavani, hard done by one of the calls, let the VAR screen know his frustration following the game.

Frustratingly, all penalty VAR reviews seem to have gone against them. Not agreeing with a referee taking a decision in real time is one thing, disagreeing with a referee and the supporting VAR team after they had ample of time to analyse the incidents is another.

Fine, fine margins.

PHOTO: IMAGO / Xinhua

No width and no wits. That pretty much sums up Uruguay’s performance against Portugal in the first 60 minutes.

Despite the security of an experienced three man central defense and a forward line of Edison Cavani and Darwin Núñez to aim for, Uruguay’s wing-backs Matias Olivera and Guillermo Varela were anonymous. Just like Uruguay against South Korea, Uruguay’s threat mostly came from the central areas.

Federico Valverde and Matias Vecino in midfield were outplayed by Bernardo Silva and company. Rodrigo Bentancur was the only Uruguay player threatening to create anything in the first hour. He cut through the Portugal defense like a knife through butter in the first half with an amazing run which he was unlucky did not end with a goal.

Back to 4-3-3

Despite his questionable fashion choice of pairing oversized white trainers with a navy blue suit, there was nothing contentious with Diego Alonso’s substitutions on the hour mark. In came Facundo Pellistri and Giorgian De Arrascaeta as Uruguay moved to a 4-3-3. Finally, balls were being played to the wings (mostly Pellistri’s right wing) and crosses delivered.

Fresh from conceding the first goal, these substitutions galvanized Uruguay. Maxi Gomez rattled the woodwork and Luis Suarez narrowly missed the target from a couple of yards out.

As stoppage time approached, Uruguay were threatening to save a point. At least, until a penalty was given for THAT handball against Jose Gimenez.

Law 12

The International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) take on the handball law as part of Law 12 makes for an interesting read. In fact, a clarification was issued a year ago regarding a handball offense. If a ball touches a player’s hand, it is deemed an offense if the said player “deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm” and/or “touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger.”

I think we can safely say that Gimenez did not touch the ball deliberately with his hand.

Did his hand position make his body unnaturally bigger? Possibly. However, how could Gimenez have prevented the ball from touching his hand? Once sliding for a tackle, it is very difficult to control one’s flailing arms.

World-Cup deja vu

Once such an incident goes to VAR, it is very difficult for the referee to not give a handball. This incident reminded me of Ivan Perisic’s handball offence during the 2018 World Cup Final.

Initially, it seemed the referee was not interested in giving a penalty against Croatia. However, once he made his way to the VAR monitor, you just knew that he was going to point to the spot. Again, Perisic’s handball was not deliberate and it is unlikely that he had control of his flailing arms as he jumped for a header.

Despite IFAB’s 2021 clarification, the handball rule is still as unclear as ever. Saying that it is a handball offense if the arm/hand makes a body unnaturally big is too vague.

Personally, I do think Gimenez caused a handball offense. By touching the ball with his hand and changing its trajectory, he denied Bruno Fernandes a chance to shoot from a decent area. Nothing to do with bodies being unnaturally big!

Ghana are up next for Uruguay. I wonder….did an Uruguayan ever touch the ball deliberately with his hands to deny a goalscoring chance?

My mind boggles.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Sportimage

Uruguay and South Korea locked horns for Group H’s first match, and it was a dull affair. Well done if you managed to sit through it all.

Uruguay lined up with a strong midfield of Matias Vecino, Rodrigo Bentancur and Federico Valverde but lacked pace and width. Starting Martin Caceres at right back in a 4-3-3 formation hardly screams “adventurous.” Luis Suarez, and his second half replacement Edison Cavani, were anonymous. Darwin Núñez managed a meagre 55% pass completion rate with his final touch reaching, at times, comical levels.

Clearly, Uruguay lack quality at the wings. Left back Matias Olivera looked menacing a couple of times in the first half but was toothless in the second half, being replaced by Matias Vina in the 79th minute.

Disappointing performance from Uruguay’s “old guard”

The only real chances Uruguay had come during the end of both halves. Diego Godin headed the ball against post from a set-piece in the first half while Federico Valverde thumped the woodwork from 25 yards out after some individual brilliance.

Uruguay just could not string enough passes together. Bentancur looked more menacing in the more advanced role he took in the second half. Putting the class of Valverde and Bentancur and close as possible to the strikers is probably the way forward.

Darwin Núñez did have an admittedly poor game but his partnership with Suarex or Cavani just did not look right. At this stage of their careers, Suarez and Cavani are more useful as impact substitutes. Diego Alonse needs to be courageous and let the younger generation of Valverde, Darwin and Maxi Gomez to roam freer to create and convert chances.

The current Uruguay squad lacks width. Their back four is rigid but proved to be extremely effective for most parts of the game against the Koreans. Having a more fluid attack with young players interchanging positions may make up for these deficiencies.

Diego Alonso has a call to make. Experience, old heads and rigidity? Or fluidity, freshness and uncertainty?

Photo credit: IMAGO / Agencia MexSport

The back line and the forward line – that’s were Uruguay have been most potent in recent times. Not the middle of the park.

The new Uruguay under Valverde and Bentancur

The central midfield duo of Egidio Arevalo and Diego Perez that started the victorious 2011 Copa America final against Paraguay screams grit and determination with little flair and adventure. It’s no surprise that they scored just two goals (both Perez’s) from a combined 179 international caps. Their raison d’être was simple: win the ball and give it to the talented guys ahead of them. They implemented their assignment admirably but the current Uruguay midfield promises so much more.

In the coming weeks, Uruguay manager Diego Alonso is expected to field both Tottenham Hotspur‘s Rodrigo Bentancur and Real Madrid‘s Federico Valverde in either a central pairing or in a midfield three with either Lucas Torreira or Matias Vecino. Both started all four World Cup qualifying games that Uruguay played under Alonso’s stewardship and the last two friendly matches against Iran and Canada.

Magic of Bentancur

While this will be Valverde’s first appearance in a World Cup, a 21-year-old Bentancur started all of Uruguay’s matches in Russia 2018. Since then, Bentancur’s position and style of play have evolved from a raw box-to-box and attacking midfielder to a more conservative and creative role in the centre of the park.

In 31 Premier League matches for Tottenham, Bentancur supplied 6 assists despite the deep role he is deployed in alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. His stats during this Premier League season reveal a hard-working midfielder who wins possession and finds his team-mates with short, accurate passes.

His two goals against Leeds United in the latest round of Premier League matches also showcased his goal threat.

Valverde rises to the top

After joining Real Madrid in 2017, Valverde’s stock exploded after his breakthrough 2019-2020 campaign. He earned the reputation of a no-nonsense midfield terrier after earning a red card for his blatant tackle on Atletico Madrid’s Alvaro Morata who was through on goal in the 2020 Spanish Super Cup final. His game is so much more than this.

Despite not registering a single competitive goal domestically and in Europe last season, his manager at Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti, admitted to telling Valverde that he will tear up his coaching license if the Uruguayan didn’t score ten goals this time round. Lo and behold and Valverde already has eight goals to his name this season.

Ancelotti has built on Zinedine Zidane’s work and polished this rough gem into one of the finest midfielders in Europe. His performance against Liverpool in the 2021/22 Champions League Final was immense and showed his versatility and game-winning attributes. He started on the right side of a front three providing the assist for Vinicius Junior’s winning goal and nullifying Andy Robertson’s threat from Liverpool’s left hand side.

With six seasons playing in the top leagues in Europe under their belt, as well as the experience of two Copa Americas since 2018, Qatar offers the perfect stage for Valverde and Bentancur to shine. Despite their young age (Valverde is 24 while Bentancur is a year older), they do not lack international experience with 95 international caps between them.

With a strong forward line and a pragmatic defense, the Valverde-Bentancur partnership can elevate La Celeste as one of the dark horses of the World Cup.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Xinhua

Combined, Suárez and Edinson Cavani have 267 caps and 126 goals. Each scored at least once dating back three World Cups to 2010. The pair join Godín, Martin Caceres and Fernando Muslera as players in the 2022 squad to also play in 2010. That team 12 years ago reached the semifinals of the competition. Moreover, these five players all featured in the 2011 Copa America side that won that title.

Clearly, these guys know how to win soccer matches.

Fresh from an embarrassing 1-0 loss to Iran in a friendly match last September, head coach Diego Alonso will be under no illusion about the scale of his task ahead. This is just the third time since 1974 that Uruguay does not have a manager named Oscar Tabárez entering a World Cup.

Diego Alonso – the new guy

A disastrous start to World Cup qualifying culminated in Tabárez’s sacking. In his stead came Diego Alonso. Alonso arrived after a spell in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami. He quickly steadied the ship and led La Celeste to four consecutive victories. Notably, he has come to rely on a new generation of stars.

Uruguay’s spine is arguably one of the strongest. Centerbacks José Giménez and Ronald Araújo, midfielders Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentacour and Lucas Torreira and strikers Darwin Nunez and Maxi Gomez all aged between 23 and 27 years and at the peak of their game.

This squad has experience on its side. Yet, it is no retirement home. This Diego Alonso’s Uruguay with a bit of Oscar Tabarez flavor. As a player, Alonso himself never made it to a World Cup squad – this is his chance to redeem himself.

The Uruguay World Cup squad

The 26-man FIFA World Cup 2022 Uruguay squad:

Goalkeepers: Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray), Sergio Rochet (Nacional), Sebastian Sosa (Independiente).

Defenders: Jose Luis Rodriguez (Nacional), Mathias Olivera (Napoli), Matias Vina (Roma), Jose Maria Gimenez (Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Coates (Sporting CP), Diego Godin (Velez Sarsfield), Guillermo Varela (Flamengo), Martin Caceres (LA Galaxy), Ronald Araujo (Barcelona).

Midfielders: Matias Vecino (Lazio), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Nicolas De La Cruz (River Plate), Facundo Pellistri (Manchester United), Lucas Torreira (Galatasaray), Manuel Ugarte (Sporting CP), Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur).

Forwards: Luis Suarez (Nacional), Edinson Cavani (Valencia), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool), Agustin Canobbio (Athletico Paranaense), , Maxi Gomez (Trabzonspor), Facundo Torres (Orlando City), Giorgian De Arrascaeta (Flamengo).

PHOTO: IMAGO / GEPA pictures

Foe had the physique of a titan and was arguably one of the best African midfielders of the time. He was just 28 years old.

This episode marked me. This was a player on the top of his game. A Premier League player. How could he just collapse and die? How can someone lose his life while playing the beautiful game? Could something have been done to prevent this tragedy? Is it safe to play soccer?

Players that have had cardiac arrests

These emotions and questions have come rushing again and again since that fateful night. They came rushing when Miklos Feher collapsed in 2004, when Fabrice Muamba lay lifeless for over 45 minutes in 2012 and when Antonio Puerta lost his life in 2007 after a series of cardiac arrests.

Recently, the world looked on in shock as Danish superstar Christian Eriksen was revived during a Euro 2020 game. Miraculously, Eriksen has since returned to full fitness and is considered as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.

Why should super fit athlete suddenly collapses? What actually happens to their heart? Can it be prevented? If so, how? Are soccer players suffering from playing too many games?

Whenever such a tragedy occurs on a soccer pitch, many media outlets report that the concerned player had a “heart attack”. This is incorrect.

A heart attack is the lay man’s term to describe a myocardial infarction. A myocardial infarction occurs when a heart artery (i.e. a coronary artery) becomes occluded.

This deprives the heart muscle (i.e. the myocardium) its oxygen supply that is delivered through the coronary arteries.

The result in, quite literally, the death of this heart muscle. Thus, a myocardial infarct is when a section of the heart muscle dies away due to a sudden reduction in blood (and thus oxygen) supply.

This is not what usually happens in these athletes.

Cardia Arrests In Footballers

In most cases, the occlusion of a coronary artery is caused by a combination of a cholesterol plaque within the artery and an overlying blood clot.

Risk factors for this to happened include smoking, an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise and age. You would not expect a professional athlete to tick any of these boxes!

Instead, the cause of these athlete’s sudden collapse would be a rhythm problem in the heart, also known as an arrhythmia.

The heart is divided into four rooms – two small ones called “atria” and two larger ones called “ventricles”. The atria contract as they pump blood into the ventricles. As the atria then relax, the ventricles in turn contract pumping blood to the lungs and to the rest of the body.

The heart muscle contraction and relaxation phases are all made possible by electrical impulses generated within the heart’s own natural pacemaker within the left atrium. This electrical current travels rapidly first to the rest of the atria and then down to the ventricles.

Any abnormality in this electrical current means that the heart fails to contract appropriately. Blood pumping thus fails, resulting in a rapid fall in blood supply to all the vital organs.

Why should the heart electricity fail? What causes an arrhythmia? The answer is a complex one. Different drugs and medications are known to cause arrythmias. However, the commonest cause of a fatal arrythmia is a young, healthy individual is a structural problem in the heart.

For example, Marc Vivien Foe was found to have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy while Antonio Puerta was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy post-mortem.

Most structural defects can be diagnosed using modern heart imaging techniques. These would include an ultrasound scan of the heart, called an echocardiogram, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). However, such defects are not always so obvious and can be easily missed.

Patients with heart conditions that can result in a fatal arrhythmia are usually implanted with an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator). As soon as the ICD detects an aberrant electrical impulse, it sends a shock to the heart muscles with the aim of arresting this electric current and restoring a normal heart rhythm once again.

These heart conditions tend to be genetic. Individuals, not just athletes, who have close relatives that died suddenly and unexpectedly at a young age and/or who have frequent episodes of unexplained black outs are strongly advised to seek medical advise as they may well need to be investigated by a cardiologist.

Remember, fatal, erratic electrical currents (arrythmias) can be potentially reversed by applying a shock from a defibrillator. This is lifesaving. Moreover, when a patient in cardiac arrest is being resuscitated, allowing for blood to keep circulating to the rest of the body while applying chest compressions is vital.

If you are involved in any way soccer, or any other sport for that matter, being proficient in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is essential. Importantly, cardiac defibrillators need to be easily accessible in all sport premises.

You can visit here for more information about CPR and various heart conditions.

Editor’s note: Julian Delicata is a medical doctor, working in Malta.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Sven Simon

It is the demanding environment of a World Cup tournament and a professional footballer’s life that makes Spanish defender Nacho’s story so impressive and heart-warming, especially on the back of the 28 year-old’s performance during his nation’s first game in the World Cup.

Having already been on the books of Real Madrid for two years, a 12 year-old Nacho was taken to see a doctor by his concerned mother who noticed that her son was becoming increasingly thirsty and passing lots of urine.

Nacho’s blood glucose level was noted to be sky high and he was soon given the dreadful news that he has to give up soccer as a consequence of his diagnosis of Type I Diabetes Mellitus.

Born and raised in Alcala de Henares, just 20 miles east of Madrid, his lifelong goal was to play in the famous white shirt of Los Blancos. Having received the news a few days before a soccer tournament, his dream had suddenly turned into a nightmare.

It was a visit to Dr Ramirez, an endocrinologist, that changed Nacho’s life. Dr Ramirez explained that diabetes, even at such a young age, should not be a deterrent to competitive sport. Actually, the opposite is true in that regular exercise is very beneficial to such patients. However, compliance to his treatment, namely insulin, was, and still is, of paramount importance.

The term “diabetes mellitus” was coined in the 17th century by the British doctor Thomas Willis. “Diabetes” is derived from Ancient Greek and literally means “to pass through”, a reference to the high urine output individuals having the condition may have. “Mellitus” comes from the classical Latin word meaning “honey-sweet” referring to the high sugar (or glucose to be exact) content in the urine.

Insulin is a hormone made of protein that regulates blood sugar levels. If the body senses high sugar levels, the production of insulin is stimulated. Insulin acts by distributing the glucose in the blood into cells such as those in the liver and muscle. These cells act as a storage space for when glucose is then required quickly by the body such as during exercise or when starving.

Insulin is produced in the pancreas, specifically in the beta cells. Diabetes Mellitus actually refers to a defect in this above mentioned process. It can be broadly divided into two: (1) either little or no insulin is being produced by the pancreas, or (2) the body is resistant or insensitive to the insulin that is produced.

Constantly high levels of blood glucose are harmful to the body both short term and in the long term. In the short term, the kidneys are unable to cope with such high glucose levels and consequently the urine produced has a high concentration of glucose. This abnormal concentration gradient pulls water outside the kidneys which explains the excessive thirst and high urine output such patients may experience.

In the long term, poorly controlled glucose levels result in diseased blood vessels resulting in a higher risk of strokes, heart disease and circulatory problems in the limbs. Small vessels are especially at risk, resulting in disease in the kidneys, eyes and throughout the nervous system.

Obesity actually can render the body insensitive to insulin which explains the high rate of diabetes mellitus type II in the western world.

However, in diabetes mellitus type I, which is Nacho’s diagnosis, insulin levels are scarce or possibly even negligible due to the pancreas not producing sufficient levels. The only way this can be corrected, apart from a pancreatic transplant, is to actually provide the patient with insulin which is administered through the skin through a tiny needle.

Various insulin regimes and products are available, but a strict diet and exercise regime is essential to ensure that the glucose level does not fluctuate greatly. An ensuing low level of glucose can be equally dangerous, especially when performing activities such as swimming and driving.

A typical diabetic “kit” would include insulin and the pen to administer it, as well as sugar-checking devices and rescue medications that increase the glucose quickly in the event of a hypoglycaemic attack (i.e when the glucose level drops to worrying levels).

Put in the intensity and grueling exercise regimes that come in with modern soccer and you have Nacho, a soccer World Cup star who is an inspiration to young patients all around the world.

His beautiful strike, and the international recognition that came with it, against Portugal during the exhilarating 3-3 draw on Friday is a fitting reward for the defender, fresh from winning his fourth European Champions League title with his boyhood club.

Such success is a reflection of his determination and positive attitude. This has made him a firm favourite with the notoriously impatient Real Madrid fans and virtually undroppable in a multi-talented Spanish international team.

Bravo Nacho!

Even more true in an era of ridiculous transfer fees.

The risks of deals during this period are well known! Andres D’Alessandro was the catalyst for Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth’s remarkable survival in 2006. D’Allessandro became an inspiring deadline day signing.

Afonso Alves, however, flopped pretty badly after signing for Middlesbrough 24 months later.

For every Luis Suarez, there’s an Andy Carroll

The financial rewards for staying in the English Premier League are becoming more extravagant. This has forced clubs roaming at the lower end of the table to make expensive signings.

Everton spent $67 million on two attacking players, Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun. Southampton broke their transfer record to try and buy goals in the form of Guido Carrillo.

What has Newcastle done?

Mike Ashley’s popularity keeps on plummeting.

Rafa Benitez has publicly struggled to compete at Newcastle but has worked his magic in the short term. In spite of this, some funds were released and three players were signed in January on loan. The Brazilian Kenedy joined the club from Chelsea and was desperate to prove himself during his loan spell. Islam Slimani was an astute signing from Leicester and Martin Dubravka from Sparta Prague.

Slimani has contributed to a grand total of 15 minutes thus far whereas Kenedy has provided the drive and creativity on the wing that the Magpies were desperate for in attacking areas.

However, it is the new man between the post that has raised eyebrows with his excellent distribution and reflexes. With just 10 international caps to his name, the Slovak Dubravka is hardly a household name. Benitez was more than willing to throw him in the trenches as his patience with Karl Darlow and Rob Elliot wore out.

A fantastic start!

His first match came against a battle tested Manchester United. Newcastle held on for a 1-0 victory in a jubilant St James’ Park. He received man-of-the-match for his performance. A further two clean sheets in the next five games has made him an instant hero.

His shot-stopping skills are not the most impressive attributes in his repertoire.

Rob Elliot, who has started 16 Premier League games, averages over ten long balls per game. Dubravka’s average is just six (albeit from a smaller sample). His passing range and confidence on the ball are evident. The defenders in front of him, led by the skipper Jamaal Lascelles, have also raised their game since his arrival.

Dubravka is helping to modernize the Magpies’ defensive line. This may be a bold statement to make so early in his Newcastle career. However, I believe this Sunday’s match against Arsenal will further confirm this as Mesut Ozil and Co. come to town.

Mo Salah was certainly the best summer signing but Dubravka has become the finest piece of business in the winter window.

“We made a fast decision about [Oumar] Niasse and others who will find it difficult to be part of the team. If Niasse likes to play football, he needs to leave Everton.”

Those were new Everton manager Ronald Koeman’s scything remarks in August 2016, delivered before a ball had even been kicked in the English Premier League.

Six months after his £13.5 million transfer from FC Lokomotiv Moscow, Niasse found himself unwanted and a point of ridicule. His Everton career entailed 152 underwhelming minutes and he became the emblem of all that was wrong in Roberto Martinez’s final season in Goodison Park.

The club even refused to provide the Senegalese forward a squad number. In no uncertain terms, Niasse was a persona non grata at the beginning of last season.

Fast forward 13 months and a boisterous Goodison Park is singing his name and hailing him as the solution to the Romelu Lukaku-shaped hole in attack. The Everton manager has also vastly changed his tune…

“The boy has that kind of quality and with his aggression and direct play he can create a lot of problems.

“No-one can stop him at the moment, he did well and all the credit is to the player.”

And indeed Niasse does deserve a lot of credit.

With Wayne Rooney a shadow of his former self, Dominic Calvert-Lewin looking very raw, and Sandro Ramirez fluffing his lines badly, Everton have been struggling for goals lately. The Toffees lost the three league matches prior to the Bournemouth game on Saturday with an aggregate score of 9-0.

Their attack sparked back into life with the introduction of Niasse in the second half against the South coast club. His pace and direct play flipped a devastating loss into a welcome victory. Fresh from a goalscoring cameo in midweek in the Carabao Cup, Niasse was clearly full of confidence as he collected Tom Davies’ inch-perfect pass in his stride and blasted in a rocket of a shot for his first goal. Lukaku-esque, if you like.

Having had his self-belief shattered by Koeman last season, it was another much maligned import into the English game that gave him his chance last January. Despite his decent managerial record in Greece and Portugal, new Hull City manager Marco Silva was seen as a joke-appointment. Niasse was his joke-signing.

Despite the obvious improvement in performances and tactical organization, Hull City failed to avoid the drop into the Championship. Marco Silva moved on to Watford while Niasse’s four league goals persuaded Everton that, at least, they should provide him with a squad number (and a locker if reports that he did not even have one are to be believed!) this season.

The fact that Koeman did not include him in his Europa League squad does show he was still not convinced of the Senegalese. Nonetheless, Niasse did not go on a Twitter rant and complain. No, he just bowed his head and trained hard, waiting patiently for his chance.

His reward?

Just ask the 38,000 in Goodison Park on Saturday what his brace meant.

Romelu who?

Clubs in the English Premier League alone have spent a record £1.4 billion on transfers of players. In one of these transfers, Liverpool coughed up £35 million on Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, a player who had just one year left on his contract and has been struggling to nail down a first team place for Arsenal for years. He had recently rejected a £180,000-per-week contract from the Gunners.

The current national living wage in the UK currently stands at £7.50 an hour, or £300 if one works 40 hours per week.

Bizarre.

According to aljazeera.com, a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey could be run for 11 years with the $263 million spent on mere mortal Neymar.

How did Barcelona react to this transfer? They spent over $100 million on a 20-year-old kid from France whose professional career has not yet reached 80 appearances. This week Ousmane Dembele’s basic wage has been leaked as being over $14 million per year. He is 20 years old.
Twenty!

Crazy.

In the summer of 2016, Watford parted with £4 million to acquire full-back Brice Dja Djédjé. Nevertheless, he was not included in their Premier League squad last season and has been omitted this season too.

Irrational.

On the outside, rationality and soccer seem to be miles apart. A ball hitting the back of the net can lead to floods of tears, or screams of joy.

Every year, thousands of dollars are spent by loyal supporters, usually wearing expensive replica shirts, traveling all over the country to attend soccer games.

Despite spending most of their time kicking and running after a ball, soccer players are seen as idols. Just witness the welcome Carlos Tevez received when he re-joined Boca Juniors after a spell in Europe.

Bizarre. Crazy. Irrational.

And yet…

Soccer is a drug. It is an addiction.

We flock to the stadiums and pubs when our favourite team is playing. Every game is analyzed and over-analyzed on television programs and in hundreds of articles online.

We just cannot get enough of it. For years, I have been asking myself why this is so and attempting to formulate a rational answer is not easy.

In a world full of terror and dismay, soccer provides us with a welcome distraction. For two precious hours, all personal problems are put to one side as the twenty-two guys on the pitch take centre stage.

Soccer has a rather unique ability of bringing people of all ages, color, believes and gender together in supporting one simple aim. Making our team win. While, children are fighting with guns and bombs in the Middle East, a battle of skill and grit takes place on our soccer grounds during match days.

Moreover, soccer’s capacity to bring people together in tough times is truly remarkable. Probably, no other sport is able to do this to such an extent.

The story of Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery has captured the hearts and imagination of millions of people around the world. As he bravely fought his debilitating, and ultimately fatal, condition (he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer, at the age of 18 months) his name was sung in stadiums across the United Kingdom. Watching his face beam with pride and happiness as he led the England national team, alongside his idol Jermain Defoe, out onto the grass in Wembley Stadium last May was one of the most emotional moments I can ever recall in sports.

During the horrendous terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, fans were trapped in the Stade de France following an international friendly between France and Germany. As the news trickled in that innocent people were being slaughtered outside the stadium, a spontaneous rendition of La Marseillaise blurted out amongst the supporters amidst all the anguish. A powerful message was delivered to terror in a soccer stadium on the fateful night.

This is the great power that soccer has. Hundreds of charities have stemmed from soccer, including the Didier Drogba Foundation that funds the construction of medical centres in war-torn Ivory Coast, and the Stiliyan Petrov Foundation that aims to rise awareness about leukaemia and helps funds its research.

Stiliyan Petrov was himself a victim of leukaemia and he himself received incredible support on the soccer pitch when he was diagnosed (you can refer to an article I had written a year ago on his battle with the disease).

Yes, soccer is a truly crazy business that at times seems to have been robbed from us by a few billionaires. We are asked to pay extortionate prices to follow our favourite teams which have become money-making business.

Regardless, we always go running back to soccer to find comfort and a welcome distraction. We act like the child who goes running to his mother’s arms to seek consolation despite having been scolded by her for not obeying.

Soccer is truly extraordinary.

The date June 23, 2016 will go down in history as the day the people of the United Kingdom voted to get out of the European Union. As the referendum made big headlines all over world, one would be forgiven to miss the announcement, done on the same day, from newly-relegated Aston Villa Football Club that their former captain was returning for pre-season training.

Surely, such news is trivial in the context of Brexit; but, is it really? This is, after all, the story of a man who came back fighting after being diagnosed with a terrible disease. This is the story of one of the greatest soccer players to come out of the Balkans whose career was so cruelly halted at its peak. This is the story of Stiliyan Petrov.

Petrov joined Aston Villa in 2006 after seven trophy-laden years north of the border with Celtic. He soon became a vital cog in Martin O’Neill’s side as the Birmingham-based side hovered just below the top four in the Premier League. In 2009, following the retirement of the injury-prone Martin Laursen, Petrov was named the side’s captain, a title he held until that fateful Arsenal game in March 2012.

Up until that point, Petrov was arguably one of Europe’s best in his position. At 32 years of age, he had already amassed 105 caps for Bulgaria and could boast of 13 major honors in his trophy cabinet. He had also managed to transform from the all-action Celtic midfielder who scored 62 league goals over 7 seasons in Scotland to the more cultured and tactically astute lynchpin in an impressive Villa side.

All this changed in March 2012 when, following a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, Petrov developed a fever. A simple blood test two days following the match showed that there was something terribly wrong going on and a few days later he was diagnosed with acute leukaemia, specifically Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). Moreover, chemotherapy needed to start immediately.

In acute leukaemia, as opposed to the chronic form, things move at a quick pace, making it particularly ominous.

Broadly speaking, our blood contains three types of cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Red blood cells’ main role is to transport oxygen, while white blood cells are vital in combatting infections and other insults to the body. Platelets are central to the body’s coagulation mechanisms, i.e. the mechanisms that promote blood clotting and thus avoid bleeding and bruising.

Leukaemia is usually a malignancy of white blood cells, but similar problems in red blood cells and platelets are not unheard of, but admittedly very rare. Nevertheless, as the white cells go haywire, the whole bone marrow, i.e. the factory where all these cells are produced, is affected.

This is important to point out as one tried to understand how leukaemia patients initially present. Bruising and bleeding gums can occur due to ensuing defective platelets while faulty red blood cells result in a feeling of tiredness, shortness of breath and possibly heart problems as the body struggles get oxygen in vital areas. Leukaemia patients also struggle to fight infections due their abnormal white blood cells.

This is why Petrov felt so fatigued during the Arsenal game and eventually developed a fever. Unfortunately, leukaemia’s presentation is never straightforward and with symptoms being very specific.

In Petrov’s case, a simple blood test showing his “complete blood count” ensured that the abnormality was detected early. This allowed for more specific tests, including a bone marrow biopsy, to be done to diagnose the exact type of leukaemia he had and thus what treatment could be initiated.

I will not dwell on the different types of leukaemia, but I do want to mention that incredible advances have been made in their treatment. As terrible as the Petrov diagnosis is, he was actually told that his type of ALL had a success rate of more than 90% of going into remission after treatment.

Nevertheless, treatment is a long journey. Multiple cycles of high dose chemotherapy are usually necessary. After starting on high dose steroids for his first cycle, Petrov actually admitted to gaining 8 and a half kilograms in one week!

The main role of the chemotherapy is to “format” or “reset” the bone marrow. This, all the blood cells are wiped out with the aim of allowing new, healthy cells to be produced from the cleansed factory, that is the bone marrow. Depending on treatment response and the type of leukaemia, a bone marrow transplant can also be considered.

Well, I think I have bored you enough with all these medical details.

Nevertheless, my aim is to raise awareness of such a condition that can usually be initially determined by an easy, readily available blood test, while also sharing my admiration for a great fighter. The former Aston Villa skipper participated in his first pre-season session on Wednesday, 29th June, fifty-one months after the diagnosis was made.

A day after the diagnosis was confirmed, Aston Villa faced Chelsea at Villa Park where fans staged a hair-raising standing ovation and chanted Petrov’s name. This was done during the 19th minute (19 was Petrov’s shirt number) and was repeated in subsequent home matches.

A few days after the Fabrice Muamba incident, this gesture further showed that soccer is not just the money-making business many would have you believe.

Petrov has won many midfield battles on the pitch. Thankfully, the news coming out in the past week shows that he seems to be also winning the battle with the highest possible stakes.

(P.S. I would like to dedicate this article to all the medical doctors and health staff involved in the treatment of haematology patients, especially those working in the Haematology Unit in the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre in Malta. I have had the pleasure to work in this Unit for three wonderful and humbling months.)

The supposedly conservative England manager Roy Hodgson surprised many when he picked five strikers – alongside offensive midfielders Adam Lallana, Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli and Ross Barkley – in his final 23-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2016. With just three specialist center backs, the plan was clearly to outscore the opponent.

In the final warm-up friendly against Portugal, Hodgson toyed with a formation containing two strikers ahead of a midfield diamond with Rooney at its apex. It’s fair to say that Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy, the strikers chosen to spearhead the attack, flattered to deceive with England’s attack looking toothless and disjointed.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hodgson then decided to start with three upfront against Russia in the first game of the European Championship, with Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling on either side of Harry Kane.

SEE MORE: Watch England vs. Slovakia on Monday at 3pm ET with a trial to Sling TV

Nevertheless with Andros Townsend left at home, there really are not any other players that can debutize for Sterling or Lallana on the wing. This is especially worrying considering Sterling’s awful form. Vardy has looked uncomfortable in a wide position in an attacking three in the warm up friendlies while Daniel Sturridge has repeatedly said in the past that his position should be central. James Milner has played in such a position in the past but is hardly the swashbuckling forward that Hodgson is looking for. Alli and Barkley tend to impress when playing centrally while Marcus Rashford is untried on the wing.

Do you persist with a 21 year-old lacking confidence or do you change to a formation that failed so miserably against Portugal but which seems to open up a slot for another striker?

This is the dilemma that the England manager faced at half-time against Wales as his side trailed to a Gareth Bale free-kick. Hodgson decided to go for the latter of the choices mentioned.

Sterling and Kane were hauled off with Sturridge and Vardy coming on. The move paid dividends as both strikers found the net in a 2-1 victory. As the dust settled from that pulsating game, the attention is firmly focused on the front line Hodgson will pick in the last group game against Slovakia.

SEE MORE: Schedule of Copa America and Euro 2016 games on US TV and streaming

As former England winger Chris Waddle alluded to on BBC’s Match of the Day, Kane looks absolutely knackered this summer having played no less than 118 competitive games during the past 22 months. Consequently, he has lacked the dynamism required of a central striker in a fluid front three. Thus, a role as one of a front two with a supporting striker such as Sturridge or Vardy may be more suited to him.

If Hodgson does persist with a front three, there’s no way Sterling should be given another chance. Alli and Vardy have been mooted to play in his place, but again I have to question their effectiveness in such a role.

In the match against Wales, Lallana proved that he can drop to the side of a midfield diamond with no problems. Nonetheless, who does Hodgson pick at the head of the diamond behind two of Vardy, Kane and Sturridge? Rooney? Alli? Perhaps even Barkley? And is there a role for Jack Wilshere on the left side of the diamond?

This offensive-minded squad is delivering a lot of questions of Hodgson and his coaching staff. Never has an England first eleven looked so undecided. It will be fascinating to see how England do line up against Slovakia with my bet being on a front two of Vardy and Sturridge with Rooney just behind. I expect Alli, Lallana (or possibly Wilshere) and Dier to complete the midfield diamond with the full backs Danny Rose and Kyle Walker providing most of the width.

Hodgson will probably not have gotten a lot of sleep in the past few nights when thinking about how to set up his attack. With such a porous defense, he can hardly afford to get it wrong.

The world is one dour place, is it not?

News headlines are riddled with incredible social injustices while we have also faced injustices and tough times in our personal lives. Some of us may even be going through a rough patch as I am sitting here writing this article.

The depressing truth is that money seems to reign in this world of ours. While the minority gleefully fill their already fat bellies with riches, the majority of us have to fight our way in life. Unfortunately, for many millions trying to escape war-torn countries, the reality is even grimmer.

Now, I do not intend to lecture you with social injustice but the money making machine that is the English Premier League has recently become a microcosm for the inequalities that exist in this world.

The rich get richer and fill their trophy cabinets thanks to their expensive imports while the rest of the sides remain an afterthought. For years, money has made the notion of an even playing field farcical.

Somehow, however, an old Italian gentleman and his troop of rejects and no-hopes have managed to turn that around this season.

The success story of Leicester City during the 2015/2016 season will be retold for decades. This is not just a soccer side winning a title. This is more than that.

At the start of the season, Leicester were shrugged off as relegation fodder; Ranieri was the clown who contrived to lose against the Faroe Islands. This was the side that had kept themselves up by the skin of their teeth. They had lost Esteban Cambiasso and instead brought in an unknown from France and a 30-year-old Austrian left-back. They were relying on Manchester United reject Danny Drinkwater, Stoke City reject Robert Huth, Manchester City and Leeds United reject Kasper Schmeichel, Championship-quality captain Wes Morgan and the “criminals” Jamie Vardy and Danny Simpson.

Their initial run of form was seen as a temporary purple patch. “Leicester will soon drop off down the table” we were told by the so-called experts on the telly. Nevertheless, the more people doubted them, the stronger they seemed to come out. A side shipping goals was transformed to the division’s best defensive unit as the goals dried up.

Clean sheet after clean sheet followed until the loss against Arsenal in February that was supposed to mark the end of the title hunt for the Foxes.

SEE MORE: How Leicester City’s title-winning season has changed the Premier League forever

Once a laughing stock, Ranieri deserves incredible admiration for the way he guided his side with humor off the pitch but hard work on it. The Italian has showed us that hard work does pay off. Finally, a string of runner-up finishes have ended with the most unlikely title in living memory.

The team spirit of this Leicester side cannot be underestimated. The season started with a pizza-fest and ended with a party at the star striker’s house.

Thousands of articles have been written and will keep on being written on Leicester and I’m sure you have already read some that are much better than this one!

Nonetheless, I write this piece with one message in mind: when the world is bullying you and there seemingly is no hope of success, just shrug it off with the humor of an old Italian “clown” and work hard. Leicester City have shown that hard work does pay off, friendships and good relationships do count and that money really is not everything.

Now that is the real success story of the season.

Amazing facts about Leicester City are to be expected considering the remarkable story from the title-winning side.

Hundreds of column inches have been written in recent months on Leicester City’s monumental rise from relegation fodder to title favorites in the space of twelve months. Nevertheless, it still seems so surreal. Out of nowhere, Claudio Ranieri’s boys have sprinted ahead of the multi-millionaires residing in London and Manchester. And with just six matches remaining, they look closer to winning the title.

From Jamie Vardy’s record run of scoring in consecutive games to Ranieri showing that his pathetic exploits in Greece were just a blip in a remarkable career, Leicester’s season has truly torn apart all the scripts written before a ball was kicked last August.

To try and put everything in perspective, here are some numbers that demonstrate the remarkable nature of the Foxes rise to power. 

Amazing facts about Leicester City

1. Leicester have won five of their last six games by a 1-0 scoreline.

2. They have conceded just 12 goals in the past 21 games (an average of 0.5 goals conceded per match).

3. On April 3, 2015, Leicester were rock-bottom of the Premier League, seven points from safety. Fast-forward one year, and they moved seven points clear at the top of the table.

4. In the last 38 games (including the last 6 games of last season), Leicester have accumulated 82 points (an average of 2.15 points per game).

5. This season, it took Leicester 10 games to register the club’s first clean sheet. In the last 10 games, they have kept an amazing 7 clean sheets.

6. Leicester are 18th in a table of percentage possession (just 44.8%) and 19th in percentage of successful passes. They are however 4th in aerial duels won per game.

7. They are first in the number of interceptions per game and second in the number of tackles per game (behind Liverpool).

8. Leicester have scored 4 goals on the counter, the most of any side in England. They have also scored 8 penalties – three more than any other side.

9. Riyad Mahrez has scored 16 goals and contributed 11 assists during the current Premier League campaign. By comparison, last season’s player of the year Eden Hazard had scored 14 and assisted nine times last season. And there are still 6 matches to go!

10. Mahrez and Vardy have scored 64% of Leicester’s league goals.

11. While Harry Kane has scored three more goals than Vardy, the Leicester frontman has 5 more assists than the Spurs poacher.

12. The only defender to provide more assists than Christian Fuchs in the Premier League is Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels.

SEE MORE: Schedule of Premier League games on US TV and live streaming

13. N’Golo Kante is in the top two of players performing both the most tackles and interceptions per game in the Premier League.

14. Along with Andrew Surman, Toby Alderweireld and Ashley Williams, Wes Morgan has played every minute of their 32 games (goalkeepers excluded). 

15. Leicester bought Captain Wes Morgan and Vardy for a fee of £1 million each. Morgan came from Nottingham Forest, and Vardy transferred from Fleetwood Town.

16. Kasper Schmeichel only cost around a reported £400,000 more.

17. For that sum, Schmeichel cost more than Mahrez and Danny Drinkwater combined.

18. Leicester acquired its left flank, Marc Albrighton and Christian Fuchs, for free.

19. In the same summer transfer window, Kante was brought to England for £5.6 million, while Chelsea splashed out a combined £35.4 million on Pedro and Baba Rahman, Manchester City handed £32 million to Valencia for Nicolas Otamendi while Newcastle parted with £12 million for Florian Thauvin.

It brings things into perspective, doesn’t it?

Saturday’s loss against West Ham was a microcosm of Everton’s whole season thus far. Exciting attacking play, a superb Lukaku, shoddy defending and a shocked Roberto Martinez trying to find new excuses to mask his side’s shocking display at the back.

In a season dominated by Leicester punching above their weight, Newcastle being punched down by the weight of expectation and Chelsea and Liverpool making their best impression of a mid-table side, Everton’s plight has largely passed under the radar.

At times the Toffees have been awesome. Absolutely brilliant. Ross Barkley has added an end product to his dazzling build up play, Lukaku has 18 goals (more than Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero and just one behind Jamie Vardy) while John Stones has been given a £50 million price tag.

Add these to Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines, Gareth Barry, Gerard Deulofeu, Phil Jagielka and Aaron Lennon and one can argue that Martinez has good quality to rely on all over the park – apart from possibly in the goalkeeping department. Surely this squad is much better than the 11th spot in the league they currently occupy, a full 12 points off the top 4 with 10 games to go. Incidentally, 11th was their final position in the last campaign.

During his time in Wigan Athletic, Martinez built a reputation as an up-and-coming manager who wanted to play soccer “the right way.” During interviews, he came across as an articulate and polite individual who favored attack over defense. Overall a quality chap – the kind of person you wouldn’t mind your daughter bringing to the house.

Despite Wigan conceding goals all the way to the Championship, Martinez’s standing as one of the top managers in the UK remained with Everton quick to appoint him as the saviour who had to lead them to the promised land of the Champions’ League. During his first campaign in Merseyside, Martinez certainly made Everton a force to be reckoned with as they improved on the previous campaign under David Moyes by 9 points as the finished fifth.

However, back then Martinez could rely on all the good work Moyes had done in building a solid defense. Nevertheless, in the next couple of campaigns, Martinez has once more shown that he is inept in solidifying his backline, both via the transfer market and in his coaching methods and decisions during matches.

Unfortunately for Blues’ fans, Martinez seems to be in denial.

His rant against referee Anthony Taylor after the West Ham game was hilarious, if not depressing for Everton supporters. If Arsene Wenger is the winner of the manager-with-his-head-buried-in-the-sand award, then Martinez is a close second. The Spaniard accused Taylor of not understanding the game for sending off Kevin Mirallas, despite him showing a yellow card for a blatant dive and another for an ill-timed, studs-up tackle. Whatever the time on the clock, a dive is a dive and Taylor should be praised for standing his ground and punishing the Belgian.

SEE MORE: Roberto Martinez’s mistakes are costing Everton

If criticism is to be thrown at the referee, then his decision to award Everton a penalty for a foul outside the box is certainly at the top of the list. Conveniently, this was not mentioned in any of the post-match interviews by the former Wigan and Swansea boss.

Everton were 2-0 up with ten men and had a penalty kick. They should have cruised to a victory, despite the numerical disadvantage, by sitting back and not do anything stupid …something stupid such as removing a winger to bring in a striker (Baye Niasse) that has offered next to nothing since his arrival at Goodison Park. Not exactly defending a lead now is it?

As Everton chased a third goal, the Hammers gleefully pushed men forward and scored three in little over ten minutes. Wanting to score as many goals as possible is admirable, but going gung-ho with ten men and 2-0 up against an in-form side in the final quarter of an hour is senseless.

So is Taylor really the one who does not understand the game, señor Martinez?

Modern day soccer players are widely seen as the epitome of health. Rigorous training regimes, strict dietary programs and advances in sports medicine ensure that these athletes have the best possible physique.

Nevertheless, even the body of a professional soccer player is not immune to illness. Fabrice Muamba, Marc Vivien Foe and Miklos Feher all suffered cardiac arrests when their physique was really at its prime.

Recently, former Newcastle and Manchester United striker Andy Cole appeared on BBC’s Football Focus to discuss his battle with kidney failure (see below). He’s still only 44 years old and retired from the beautiful game less than 8 years ago.

Being a medical doctor myself, I closely followed Cole’s inspiring interview that helped raise awareness on his particular condition. In recent years, West Bromwich Albion midfielder Darren Fletcher and former Dutch international Fernando Ricksen gave candid interviews discussing their own medical ailments.

It’s never easy to accept that your own body is failing you, but it probably is even harder if you’re so young and have dedicated your life to push it to its maximum. In this article, I review the medical conditions these three individuals, who have given so much joy to fans of different clubs, have suffered, and are still suffering from.

My aim is simple: to raise awareness and to show my admiration to Fletcher, Ricksen and Cole’s personal battles.

Darren Fletcher – Ulcerative Colitis

“I owe him everything in my career but he rose to a different level for me in the way he supported me through this.

“He was also a really caring, kind individual who did everything to help me and protect me when I was ill. For me and my family.

“He gave me the time off I needed, told me not to worry about contract situations, told me to think of my health and my family first; to forget about football.”

These are the words of Scottish international Darren Fletcher as he thanks Sir Alex Ferguson for the overwhelming support he showed his compatriot during his fight against ulcerative colitis. Ferguson even used his retirement speech in Old Trafford to wish the midfielder well.

In 2011, Fletcher took an extended break from soccer, with the club initially stating that he was suffering from a virus. After a while, it became known that he was suffering from a type of inflammatory bowel disease – ulcerative colitis (UC).

As the name implies, in UC the colon (large intestine) becomes inflamed starting from the furthest point. In certain cases, the whole colon is actually affected. This results in patients suffering from debilitating diarrhea (Fletcher admits to having to go to the bathroom up to 30 times a day) that is usually mixed with blood and mucus. Such individuals lose significant weight while relapses can be fatal.

This condition can also manifest itself in an extra-intestinal manner with joint aches, eye inflammations and biliary infections only some of the documented effects of the disease.

Significant advances have been made in recent years regarding medical treatment but at times surgery may be the only option. Surgery may involve fashioning a stoma, usually temporarily, that can have a significant psychological impact on patients.

Thankfully, in ulcerative colitis, successful surgery is usually curative.

Watching Fletcher return to play at such a high level is truly remarkable. Medical therapy was not enough for him so he had to take the surgery route, a path he admits he was very reluctant to take. It took all the bravery he shows on the pitch and more to get back. But return he did and may that be a life lesson to all of us.

Fernando Ricksen – Motor Neuron Disease/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The former Rangers fullback stated publicly in 2013 that he was suffering from motor neuron disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as it’s more commonly known in the US. That’s the same year he retired from soccer.

[N.B. In certain classifications, ALS is actually one clinical type of MND but for the purpose of this article, these terms will be used interchangeably].

Awareness on ALS has risen in the past few years due to the viral sensation of the ice bucket challenge.

ALS is a degenerative condition affecting the nerves supplying the motor system, i.e. the body’s muscles, in this case the voluntary muscles. Nerve cells basically importhttps://worldsoccertalk.com/export electrical activity to and from the muscles. As these nerves degenerate, so do the muscles themselves.

Presentation of the condition can be subtle with gradual increasing difficulty in breathing, loss of power in any of the limbs or facial muscles and swallowing problems all possible initial features.

Nerve conduction studies are very useful in aiding diagnosis.

Motor neuron disease can really be classified in various different clinical presentations, but generally speaking all the muscles controlling swallowing, speech, breathing and power in all the limbs start to die out. Brain function and cognition is not usually affected, possibly making the experience of the patient even more scary as the power in the muscles starts decreasing one month after another.

Nowadays many arrangements can be done to aid breathing and even bypass swallowing. However no cure is available. Depending on the aggression of the condition, the life expectancy after diagnosis does not usually exceed 3 years.

Last August, Ricksen revealed that he can only communicate wth his wife via text due to his speech being affected. However, in the face of such a debilitating condition, his words are an inspiration to all people, not only those suffering from ALS:

“I have bad days but that’s natural. I just want to stay alive. I want to see my daughter grow up. I want to do absolutely everything.”

Andy Cole – Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis

Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis is a type of glomerular disease whereby the glomerular network in the kidneys are damaged. Glomeruli are microscopic structures that act as a filter for blood, removing excess fluids and maintaining a balance in the electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and calcium ions, running around in the body.

A myriad of causes and triggers for glomerular damage to take place have been identified such as viral infections and certain drugs. As the glomerular network and kidneys start to fail, fluid is retained and accumulates in the legs, face and, most worryingly, in the lungs. The blood pressure can also spiral out of control.

Other common presenting features are nausea and unexplained fatigue.

Cole admits to finding it hard to accept himself swelling up. Moreover, the steroid therapy he’s on will increase his weight even further.

Apart from the fluid retention, kidney failure leads to electrolyte levels in the blood to go haywire and potentially interfering with the electrical activity in the heart resulting in a fatal rhythm disturbance.

A good number of glomerular diseases are “acute” and kidney function will eventually improve and at times can return to normal. Nonetheless, some conditions may enter the chronic stage and thus face a lifetime in kidney failure.

This can lead to further problems such as anaemia and bone disease. Such patients may face a lifetime on dialysis.

Thankfully, Cole looks to be on the way to recovery as his doctors have told him that there’s a good chance his kidneys will return to 70-80% of their normal function.

Despite it’s recent decline, the Serie A has gifted us with some of the greatest sides in soccer history, from the post-war Torino side to the “Grande Inter” of the 1960’s to Sacchi’s AC Milan, Maradona’s Napoli and Lippi’s Juventus.

This XI encompasses players from different soccer eras, but they all have one thing in common: They were winners!

Some truly great, great players have been left out of this XI. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t fit in some of my personal football favorites, such as Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, John Charles, Gigi Riva and Lothar Matthaus.

I’m sure if a hundred people were asked to name such an XI, the result would be a hundred different selections.

Goalkeeper

Dino Zoff

Zoff’s career is truly a remarkable one, with his exploits for the national team and his role in the 1982 World Cup making him a true legend of the game. He also played in 20 different Serie A seasons representing three different clubs, with his stint at Juventus yielding an impressive 6 league titles.

In 11 seasons with Juve, Zoff played in ALL of their Serie A matches, even when well into his 40s (he retired at the age of 41). At one point, he also held the record for the most minutes without conceding a goal, 903. This was eventually surpassed by AC Milan’s Sebastiano Rossi, who was protected by a defense that is contributing to half of this XI’s back four.

Defense

Franco Baresi

Perhaps the last great sweeper soccer has seen, Baresi was superb. He skippered AC Milan for a surreal 15 years and made his role as the last line of defense his own. More impressive was his ability to start attacks right from the heart of defense as he marauded forward to join the likes of Rijkaard, Gullit and Albertini in building up an attack.

After his retirement, AC Milan decided to retire his shirt number, the number six, such was his impact on their history.

Gaetano Scirea

A gentleman on and off the pitch, Scirea sadly passed away at the young age of 36 in a car crash in Poland. Like Baresi, Scirea excelled in the sweeper role that had become widely used after Inter Milan used it to such good effect in the 1960s. Apart from seven Serie A titles, Juve’s very own number six also won all the domestic and European titles present at that time.

Scirea was not your typical central defender. He didn’t use aggression or intimidation but instead got the better of his opponents with tactical intelligence and grace. Perhaps unusual for a defensive player, Scirea was never shown a red card, highlighting his precise timing when challenging opponents for the ball.

Paolo Maldini

126 international caps, 26 major honors, including five Champions League winners’ medals and seven Serie A titles. Over 900 appearances for AC Milan and eight years captaining Italy.

The best Serie A defender ever? No. Just the best defender ever.

Giacinto Facchetti

Facchetti spent his entire career with Inter Milan and even served as their club president prior to his passing away in 2006. Part of the “Grande Inter” of the 1960s, Facchetti was impeccable in defense but also very potent in attack, scoring almost 50 league goals in his career. He was a winger’s nightmare!

Then manager Helenio Herrera built his Inter side on the “catenaccio” system, an ultra defensive formation which focused on counter attacks to harm the opposition. This required overlapping, attacking fullbacks in an era where such a role was seldom used.

Facchetti was a revelation in this role, acting as a precursor for the modern fullback. Would Facchetti have been such a hit nowadays? Yes. A million times yes.

Just like with Baresi and even Maldini, Inter retired Facchetti’s number 3 shirt.

Midfield

Andrea Pirlo

Pirlo has been included mainly for his impact on both Italian and European soccer from his withdrawn creative role.

Over the years, Italy has produced one great trequartista after another, roaming behind the strikers and creating chances in any available pockets of space. In his early years with Inter Milan and Brescia, Pirlo actually played in such a role, but this soon changed when he met the man who would transform his career, Carlo Ancelotti.

At Milan, Ancelotti moved Pirlo 20-25 meters backward, allowing him to dictate play from deep in midfield. The impact this had on world soccer was immense.

Building attacks from the defensive midfield position gave AC Milan the edge, especially in Europe. Ancelotti played with a very narrow midfield with the Rossoneri in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation allowing the fullbacks to bomb forward. This made Pirlo’s next move so unpredictable. He could pass the ball short to the midfielders around him or the trequartista ahead — be it Rui Costa or Kaka — or he could find the strikers or the marauding fullbacks with a long ball. And boy was he precise!

And his set pieces? A joy to watch.

Zinedine Zidane

Zizou may be more renown for his time in Real Madrid, but he actually won the Ballon d’Or when playing with Juventus in 1998. A truly special player, Zidane wasn’t the quickest of players but drifted between defenders with such ease and class, especially with his Marseille turn.

We’ll probably never see such class ever again!

Diego Maradona

I certainly received lots of stick for including the Argentine legend in an all-time best Barcelona XI, but surely, surely, there’s no arguing his inclusion here!

Part of the famous Ma-Gi-Ca attacking trident along with Careca and Bruno Giordano, Maradona changed the face of Italian soccer by leading the southern city of Napoli to two Serie A titles at a time when AC Milan were at their peak. Yeah he MUST be in this XI!

Valentino Mazzola

Part of the “Grande Torino”, Mazzola tragically passed away at the age of 30 alongside his teammates in the Superga air disaster in May 1949. At the time, Torino were probably the best side in Europe and won the Serie A title five times consecutively. To put their standing into context, in 1947 10 Italian players who started a match against Hungary played for Torino.

Captain Mazzola was their talisman, scoring more than a hundred league goals in a career interrupted by the war and then so tragically shortened. Footage of his time on the pitch is rare but there’s no doubting his standing as one of the best players to have ever grazed a soccer pitch.

Roberto Baggio

The “divine ponytail” won the Ballon d’Or in 1993 and followed this with an impressive World Cup 1994, which was unfortunately overshadowed by his last kick of the tournament, a missed penalty in the final against eventual winners Brazil.

Baggio had it all, an explosive turn of pace was matched by a wonderful touch and an eagle eye for the right pass. Most comfortable roaming behind the strikers, Baggio represented some of the greatest clubs in Italy, winning the Serie A with Juventus and AC Milan.

At the age of 33, he decided to join newly promoted Brescia, transforming a mediocre side into a mid-table one. Frequently criticized throughout his career, Baggio did most of the talking on the pitch and proved his critics wrong until he called it a day at the age of 37.

Striker

Gunnar Nordahl

After much deliberation, I went for Swedish striker Nordahl to lead the line. This guy was a goal-scoring freak! 43 goals in just 33 international appearances for Sweden convinced AC Milan to bring the forward to Italy, with the result being 210 goals in just 257 league games.

Impressively, he was the Serie A top scorer FIVE times, winning the Serie A title twice. Every great soccer side needs a goal-machine and Nordahl was the deadliest goal-machine ever seen in Italy.

Like Maradona, Nordahl was part of a fearsome attacking trio, along side fellow Swedes Gunnar Gren and the magician Nils Liedholm. Not finding a slot for Liedholm in this XI has been gut wrenching!

Best XI

Following the injury to Danny Ings, new Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said that he only needs two strikers in his squad. However, with Daniel Sturridge picking up another injury and Benteke frequenting the treatment room at Melwood, Klopp really only has one fully fit striker at his disposal. Divock Origi.

That’s 20 year old Origi who was given his first Premier League start against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. I think it was fair to say that this wasn’t a debut that will live long in the memory. Flanked by Adam Lallana and Phillippe Coutinho, the trio did show promising signs, especially during the first 45 minutes, but failed to significantly threaten the Tottenham goal.

The former Lille striker, however, held his own pretty well, managing a passing accuracy of 91% and keeping the Tottenham center backs on their toes with his pace.

It was the Belgian who had the best chance of the game in the first half when, with Hugo Lloris stranded, the striker hit the underside of the bar from just a couple of yards out. Not the stuff goalscorers are made of but these are still early days.

Origi’s short career path is a strange one. His goal haul in three seasons playing for Lille is very modest 14 goals from 76 league appearances. He actually failed to find the net in 20 consecutive matches from October 2014 until March 2015. L’Equipe even included him in their worst eleven team of the 2014/2015 season.

It was the winning goal for Belgium against Russia in the World Cup that really shot him into fame with many suggesting at the time that he deserved a spot ahead of Christian Benteke and Romelu Lukaku in the starting eleven.

Such a suggestion certainly looks ridiculous at the time being.

Origi’s ancestors are Kenyan and herald from the Luo people, the same ethnic group as that of Barack Obama’s forebears. The Luo people, who originated from the South of Sudan, are actually known for their tall physique and most male surnames actually start with the letter “O” (while those of females usually start with “A”).

It’s this physique (he is 6’1″) and pace that are Origi’s strengths. He is yet to score in 5 appearances in all competitions in a red shirt but got an assist against Sion in the Europa League to round off a good performance, and was a willing runner against Spurs.

Klopp’s words before the game and the congratulatory pat on his striker’s shoulders at the end of the match in White Hart Lane show that the German manager does have faith in the youngster.

SEE MORE: Jurgen Klopp is the ultimate authenticity play for Liverpool, the Premier League.

Despite only just coming out of his teens, Liverpool’s current plight means that Origi has to grow up into the game quickly. During his cameo appearance against Manchester United, he looked completely lost hardly offering anything of note with his side trailing 2-0 upon his introduction.

Being a Liverpool striker right now is no easy matter either. Ammunition from the wings is dire and many a times, only Coutinho seems to be the only one capable of creating an opening for the forwards ahead of him. What made Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez so successful at Anfield was their ability in crafting chances for themselves.

If that’s already not too much to ask of a 20 year old. Add in the Gengen pressing demanded from the new manager, the task of solely leading the Liverpool line becomes a thankless one.

Over the years, Liverpool have been making a name for themselves in acquiring flops for their forward line. This particular hall of infamy includes such names as Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini, Iago Aspas, Rickie Lambert, Andriy Voronin, Andy Carroll, El Hadji Diouf and Fernando Morientes.

Hard work is needed from Origi not to join this unenviable list but in Jurgen Klopp he seems to have a manager that believes in his qualities. The next three Liverpool fixtures are all to be played in Anfield against Rubin Kazan, Southampton, Bournemouth. The ideal platform for the Belgian to shine.

It all looked so promising in July. With the Milan clubs faltering big time despite a change in management and Rafa Benitez’s Napoli failing to reach their full potential, the stage was set for Lazio to push on for a Champions League spot. Sparked on by the wonderful skills of Antonio Candreva and Felipe Anderson and the predatorial instincts of veteran Miroslav Klose (13 goals from 21 starts), the biancocelesti managed to achieve a top-three finish for the first time in 14 years and the first time since Serie A expanded to 20 teams. The only negative side of an over-achieving campaign? Finishing one point below eternal rival AS Roma in second place, thus finishing one point away from automatic qualification to the holy grail that is Champions’ League football.

It’s in the qualifying round were things all went wrong. And it started so well, too! A Keita strike at the Stadio Olimpico against Bayer Leverkusen gave the Roman side a slender advantage as they took on the Germans at the BayArena. Bayer, however, easily brushed aside their opponents in a convincing 3-0 victory, with the biancocelesti also having their center back Mauricio sent off.

Just 18 days prior, Stefano Pioli’s side had lost their Supercoppa final against Juventus. And how did they end a disappointing August? With a 4-0 loss in the league against Chievo Verona, a drubbing that was followed three weeks later by a 5-0 loss to Napoli.

SEE MORE: Top 5 must-see soccer games on TV this weekend.

Lazio have been severely hampered by injuries on all fronts, but that result at the Sao Paolo was simply unacceptable. They were ill-disciplined at the back and bereft of ideas in attack, with target man Matri and Stefano Mauri behind him hardly screaming “creativity.”

Nevertheless, since that embarrassment in Naples, Pioli’s side has responded admirably with four wins on the trot in all competitions. It’s really no surprise that this upturn in fortune coincided with the return to full fitness of box-to-box midfielder Lucas Biglia, who started three of the aforementioned four matches.

Currently, Lazio find themselves in third place, one point above Roma, having won five games and lost two. In the Europa League, they’re odds-on favorites to qualify from their group, having taken four points  from their first two encounters.

Despite their significant setbacks, Pioli managed to pull his side together, with the return of key players from injuries also playing a big part. Their away fixture on Sunday against Sassuolo provides an ideal platform to continue this purple patch.

Best Starting XI (when all fit): Marchetti; Lulic, de Vrij, Gentiletti, Basta; Biglia, Parolo; Anderson, Candreva, Keita; Djordjevic

Best Performer:  Biglia. Despite playing just three Serie A games, Biglia’s class has been a tier above that of anyone else in the side. Three starts from the skipper, three victories for the biancocelesti. Unfortunately, Biglia is the latest victim of an injury during this international break, with the prognosis being that he faces at least another two weeks on the sidelines.

Most Improved Player: Santiago Gentiletti.

SEE MORE: US viewing figures for Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and more for Oct. 2-4

Injury News: Dutch centre back Stefano de Vrij’s knee has severely hampered his playing time on the pitch, with rumors coming out from the Lazio camp over the international break that he may need surgery to cure his long-standing niggle. Biglia, first choice goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, right back Abdoulay Konko, playmaker Antonio Candreva and strikers Miroslav Klose, Alessandro Matri and Filip Djordjevic have all missed significant game time during this campaign. Lazio have fielded 24 different players in only seven Serie A matches.

Best business completed in transfer window: Ricardo Kishna. Despite their passage to the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, Lazio failed to significantly strengthen their squad, with youngsters Kishna and Wesley Hoedt brought in to inject some youth in an aging side. Hoedt, however, was dreadful against Napoli,

Rating the manager: B. It’s all well getting results with a full squad  of players available and morale is high, but Pioli deserves great credit for picking up a demoralized squad after the loss against the partenopei and starting a run of four consecutive victories. Pioli kept true to his tactical beliefs, persisting with a fluid trio of forwards in most matches to try and make the most of the abilities of the likes of Kishna, Anderson, Candreva and Keita, who are usually given free license in the attacking third roaming around a central striker.

Weaknesses: Strength in depth, or rather the lack of strength in depth. Their striking options apart from Filip Djordjevic include journeyman striker Alessandro Matri and the increasingly injury-prone Miroslav Klose.

Gentiletti, Parolo, Konko, Klose, Matri, Basta and Mauri are all first team outfield players who have passed their 30th birthday. Doubts about the longevity of such an injury-hampered and ageing squad that’s also involved in Europe are already setting in.

Forecast for remainder of season: Will Lazio manage to replicate their top-three finish from last season? With Inter looking decent once again, Fiorentina racing out of the blocks at full speed and Juventus yet to get into gear, a spot in next year’s Champions’ League looks increasingly unlikely. Add Napoli and Roma to the mix, and top-three looks like a long shot.

Nevertheless, given their response to the major setbacks already suffered this season, a top-five finish is well within their reach.

Overall rating: C+

The abysmal performances against Napoli, Chievo and Leverkusen are mostly to blame for this low rating.

For all his Liverpool deficiencies, Dejan Lovren is actually remembered fondly by Southampton fans as a pacy, reliable, ball-playing defender who surprisingly did very little wrong. Brought to St. Mary’s from French club Lyon for £8.5 million, Lovren’s performances were enough to convince Liverpool to part with £20 million for his services just one year later. The hilarity that is Lovren in the red colors of Liverpool has by now been very well documented, but nevertheless his contribution to the Saints having the sixth meanest defense two seasons ago mustn’t be overlooked.

Last season, Ronald Koeman and the Saints board embarked on the difficult mission of replacing the Croat and their other departed stars with more affordable acquisitions. Lovren was successfully replaced by loanee Toby Alderweireld, with Koeman’s side conceding just 33 goals, only one more than champions Chelsea. Mission complete, but with Southampton unable to retain the services of the Belgian, and time-bomb Maya Yoshida partnering captain Jose Fonte at the heart of defense, Southampton conceded five times in their first two Premier League matches, obtaining just one point along the way.

Something clearly had to give, and Koeman sought the answer north of the border when the services of compatriot Virgil van Dijk were obtained from Celtic. In two seasons in Scotland, the Dutchman forged a reputation as a skillful, reliable goal-scoring center back, tallying 15 goals in all competitions. Celtic’s assistant coach and Scotland great John Collins admitted that he will be greatly missed as he has “a lot in his locker.”

SEE MORE: Highlights, ratings and match report from Southampton’s win at Stamford Bridge.

Towering at 6-feet-4-inches, van Dijk is an asset in the air, winning seven aerial duels in his recent man-of-the-match performance against Swansea and five against Chelsea this weekend. In comparison, John Terry and Fonte won just two each on Saturday. His passing skills are also more than decent for a center back, managing an 81% passing accuracy rate against the defending league champions. His strength at set pieces isn’t just heading the crosses in; it’s also taking them. The center back’s stunning free kicks against Dundee and Inverness in April were a joy to watch, with both strikes ending up being the winning goals.

Gary Cahill and John Terry were arguably the best defensive partnership in the Premier League last season, but as they were embarrassed time and time again by Graziano Pelle, Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic, Jose Mourinho must have cast envious gazes at the Saints’ backline.

The Premier League has actually been lacking of quality defensive performances from center backs this season, with Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld the only center back pairing showing real promise. John Stones, Vincent Kompany and Ashley Williams have impressed at times but injuries have hampered the first two.

With Liverpool and Arsenal comical at the back, Manchester City still unable to find a suitable partner to Kompany and Daley Blind still not convincing entirely as a center back (despite his marvelous passing range), Fonte and van Dijk’s partnership can arguably develop into one of the strongest in England.

It’s still early days but the initial signs look promising. Just ask the beaming Ronald Koeman!

Champions League hopefuls Liverpool scored just once against Carlisle on Wednesday evening from a total of 47 shots! Yes, that’s League Two (the fourth tier in English Football) Carlisle United.  

As the Reds continue to struggle for goals upfront, two former Liverpool strikers have stolen the headlines in Italy and Spain in mid-week with their exploits.

Mario Balotelli is reigniting his career with a bang with AC Milan as he scored a peach of a free-kick in the victory over Udinese, while corner-kick “specialist” Iago Aspas netted twice in Celta Vigo’s surprise 4-1 thrashing of Barcelona. 

Sinisa Mihajlovic, Milan’s head coach and certainly someone who knows a thing or two about great free-kicks, has stated this week that the “real” Balotelli is back. There really is no arguing with that as the 25-year-old held the ball well in attack, won three aerial duels and created the joint highest number of key passes (three – equal to Antonio di Natale’s tally) on the pitch.

Perhaps even more shocking for Liverpool supporters is Aspas’ goal haul against European Champions Barcelona, which took Celta to the top of La Liga. Aspas has now scored three goals in five games. Liverpool have four in six league games.  

Celta Vigo’s No. 9 managed a pass accuracy of 90% against the Catalans and he even managed to chip the keeper for his first goal! What sorcery is this! His two goals came from just three shots on target.

As Celta fans savor Aspas’ goals, the Kop will always remember him for one thing; a corner kick in the loss against Chelsea at Anfield in the dying minutes of a match that eventually led to Liverpool losing the title to Manchester City in 2014.

After all, his haul of 0 goals from 14 league appearances is hardly the stuff of legends.

Here is a vine of Aspas’ infamous corner against Chelsea in 2014. Try not to laugh so hard…

https://vine.co/v/Mvv2XmOTwd9

Stats from whoscored.com

Same old, same old.

Sunday’s second half against Norwich was a microcosm of the past 14 months in the Liverpool camp.

After a neat finish by Danny Ings, Liverpool were well set for a first win in 34 days. With Daniel Sturridge returning to the first team, things really were finally looking rosy once more. However, for the umpteenth time, a defensive lapse gifted Norwich an equalizer. It’s almost not funny anymore.

With no Dejan Lovren around and Martin Skrtel looking half-decent, Simon Mignolet took it upon himself to provide a gift to the Canaries. What followed Robbie Brady’s cross from the corner as it approached the six-yard box had an air of inevitability about it as the Belgian weakly punched the ball towards Russell Martin ahead of him. The Canaries skipper gleefully chipped the ball over the retreating Liverpool goalkeeper resulting in another two points lost for the Reds.

One step forward, two steps backwards.

SEE MORE: Brendan Rodgers refuses to blame Simon Mignolet for another mistake.

Undoubtedly, the goalkeeper position isn’t Liverpool’s sole squad weakness, but surely it’s one of their main ones. Virtually every cross into the Liverpool box results in a flapping Belgian trying to unsuccessfully catch the ball.

Watching Milner’s corners ending up safely into John Ruddy’s hands in the second half was a depressing sight for Liverpool fans knowing that a goalkeeper who has just spent a season in the Championship offered so much more reassurance to his defense than Mignolet.

If the Anfield side want to be taken seriously as top four contenders, then something needs to change between the posts. I dare say that Mignolet is an excellent shot-stopper, but when it comes to dealing with crosses and organizing defenses, he is well below par.

During the summer Brendan Rodgers changed his coaching staff without admitting any fault for a sub-standard season. What’s a greatest source of frustration is that he left just one winger, Jordon Ibe, at his disposal, despite persisting with a 4-3-3 formation. These are critical reasons for the current malaise, but keeping faith in Mignolet may be the most serious error.

Chelsea bought Asmir Begovic to act as back-up to Thibaut Courtois, Arsenal brought in Petr Cech to join an already excellent David Ospina, Manchester United now have Sergio Romero as back-up to David de Gea, Tottenham Hotspur enjoy the services of the magnificent Hugo Lloris and a more than able Michel Vorm, and Manchester City can boast England’s No. 1 Joe Hart and the reliable Willy Caballero. Even Southampton have Dutch international Maarten Stekelenburg, who has represented his country 54 times, who is acting as back-up to Fraser Forster.

Liverpool have Mignolet and Adam Bogdan. Top four material?

Nope.

Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne, Calum Chambers, Luke Shaw, Morgan Schneiderlin, Rickie Lambert, Jack Cork, Dejan Lovren. The list of first team players sold by Southampton over the last two years is truly a staggering one. Add youth products Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to that list and the talent drain from St. Mary’s is astounding.

Not so long ago, club owner Katharina Liebherr was criticized heavily from many sections of the British media for clashing with Nicola Cortese, the former Southampton executive chairman, and for daring to be a female owner in the male-dominated English Premier League. Thankfully, her decisions since Cortese’s departure have proved her right time and time again, with the appointments of Ralph Kroeger as chairman and Ronald Koeman as head coach standing out.

Last season, the Saints were magnificent. New imports Graziano Pelle, Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic and Ryan Bertrand all hit the ground running early on, proving to be more than able replacements for the departed Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and the injured Jay Rodriguez. Fraser Forster brought a class in goal not seen at the south coast since the days of Tim Flowers and Peter Shilton. Jose Fonte has continued his rise from a League One player to one of the most reliable defenders in Europe, making him the ideal person to skipper Koeman’s side.

Nevertheless, can Southampton repeat the trick for the second season running? From the evidence of the first three games, the answer is no. The Saints looked bare of ideas in attack against Everton and Watford while the midfield was clearly missing the steel and protection preciously provided by Schneiderlin. Victor Wanyama is undoubtedly a good midfield enforcer, but is he of the same class of Schneiderlin? And more importantly, is his head ready for the grueling campaign ahead after making his wish to leave public? Koeman seems to think very highly of new recruit Jordy Clasie, but he is yet to start filling the departed Frenchman’s shoes due to injury.

SEE MORE: What’s happened to the top of the Premier League?

Offensively, Southampton seem to be overly-reliant on the goals of Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane, who contributed 22 goals last season. That was 41% of their total goal tally. Schneiderlin’s other important quality was his contribution offensively, with his driving runs and occasional goal (he scored four last season). This drive and creativity from midfield seems to have been absent for the majority of the games, especially in the Europa League. After their Europa League exit, Dusan Tadic went public in his criticism of the team’s style, lamenting too many long balls.

Fraser Forster’s injury and Toby Alderweireld’s decision to sign with Tottenham rather than the Saints after his season on loan at St. Mary’s has also left Southampton vulnerable at the back. Bertrand is also being sorely missed at left back, with the young Matt Targett still having a lot to learn.

The old Southampton did, however, make an appearance once again during the last game against Norwich City. The Canaries simply were left with no chance of getting anything from the game as Tadic and Co. ran riot on their defense. New right back Cedric Soares was impeccable, while Mane and Tadic kept pulling the strings time and time again against a stunned Norwich backline. Ward-Prowse, who had been very poor up to that game, started to make things happen at the center of the park, while Pelle looked deadly up front. Just as important was the presence of a solid backline in front of Maarten Stekelenburg ,who’s deputizing in the absence of Forster.

Virgil van Dijk’s acquisition should more than make up for Alderweireld’s departure, while two successive clean sheets are a great improvement on the five goals conceded in the previous two EPL games. It must be emphasized that Southampton only conceded 33 goals in the last campaign. That is just one goal more than champions Chelsea.

Soares for Clyne, van Dijk for Alderweireld, Clasie for Schneiderlin; only time will tell how well these replacements will gel into Koeman’s team, but for Soares, at least, the early signs are positive indeed.

And one more thing to cap off: Sadio Mane is, in my opinion, a world class player, and on his day he’s up there with the likes of Juan Mata, Hazard and Sterling. His skills and trickery are unique in the teams outside of the top five.

Best Starting XI (when all fit): Forster; Bertrand, Fonte, van Dijk, Soares; Steve Davis, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse; Tadic, Mane; Pelle

Best Performer: Sadio Mane

Most Improved Player: Dusan Tadic

Injury News: Not great. Forster is out for the long term while Bertrand and Clasie are yet to make an appearance this season, with neither recovering for the West Brom game this weekend. Koeman however did recently state that Bertrand’s road to recovery is nearing its end.

Best business completed in transfer window: Keeping hold of Wanyama and Mane. I have high hopes for van Dijk, too.

Rating the manager: B. Koeman has a job on his hands to replicate last season’s achievements. The early exit from the Europa League and the inauspicious start to Premier League have somewhat blotted Koeman’s copybook. The once solid defense has looked fragile on numerous occasions, while the midfield has at times looked to pertain to a side in the lower half of the league. Notwithstanding all this, the Norwich game, despite Steven Whittaker’s early sending-off, has made me believe once more that Koeman will help keep the Saints at a safe distance from the relegation places.

Weaknesses: The big turnover is the main weakness. Last season Southampton managed to remarkably improve on their performances from the previous season despite Mauricio Pocchettino’s departure along with that of a host of first team players. I’m skeptical with regards to their ability to bounce back again so well this time round. Their midfield is also an area of concern, and much will depend on how quickly Clasie returns form injury and adjusts to the rigours of the EPL.

Forecast for remainder of season: Unfortunately, I don’t think the Saints will replicate their seventh place finish from last season with the likes of Swansea City and Crystal Palace having seemingly overtaken them in terms of quality offensively and in the middle of the park. I feel that, like last season, it’s the Saints’ defensive qualities that will define their season. A top-10 finish is still well within their reach.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5 due to the relatively poor start to the season against, at best, mid-table sides.

A couple of years ago, the idea of Barcelona buying a central midfielder was inconceivable. This was the side that boasted the World Cup, European Championship and Champions League winning trio Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.

Furthermore, waiting in the wings were Cesc Fabregas and the upcoming Tiago Alcantara with Javier Mascherano more than able to slot in ahead of the back four. Six world-class players worthy of any top European side.

Six world-class players who could never all fit in a midfield trio.

Mascherano bypassed the problem my making the centre back spot next to Gerard Pique his own. Fabregas was tried in other positions too with his stint in a “false nine” position blowing hot and cold for both country and club.

In the end, Tiago moved on to anchor the Bayern Munich midfield while Fabregas was sold to another European heavy-weight in the form of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. These moves undoubtedly strengthened Barcelona’s European rivals at a time when Xavi was reaching the twilight of an impressive career and Iniesta starting to show strains of exhaustion.

And this is where Ivan Rakitic came in.

Barcelona fans let out a collective moan as the Croat was brought in from Sevilla to do a job many deemed Fabregas and Tiago to be much better at. After letting go of two star players of their own, Barcelona went knocking at Sevilla, a side mostly known for their Europa League exploits, to strengthen their once formidable midfield.

The former Schalke 04 midfielder wasn’t even the most acclaimed midfielder in his country with Luka Modric of eternal rivals Real Madrid having just led the Galacticos to La Decima.

Still, Luis Enrique’s remit to the new €18 million man was clear – provide the legs and work-rate in midfield that were drifting away from the skipper, Xavi. In the aforementioned trio, Busquets is widely seen as the one who breaks play and keeps things ticking, Iniesta is the master of dribbling and finding the right pass in the final third and Xavi is the engine making things happen in attack while hustling and bustling to win the ball back.  Xavi was seen as the personification of tiki-taka – instant pressing to win the ball back and short passes to control the tempo while searching for gaps in the opposition lines.

A treble-winning campaign with Xavi at the periphery and Rakitic at the very heart of it has well and truly rubber-stamped the changing of the guard at the Nou Camp. Luis Enrique, who seemed destined for the sack a few months ago, and his team had got it right!

The 27-year-old has excelled with his passing skills and attacking endeavour being only second to his altruism and work-rate. Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson recently said the following about Rakitic:

“He doesn’t get the praise given to Neymar, Messi or Suarez but he’s so influential and does all the dirty work. He has qualities I can learn.”

Having contributed to 22 La Liga goals (12 scored & 10 assists) for Sevilla in the previous campaign, Rakitic has continued his rich vein of form in the final third. This time round, he was the author of eight goals and eight assists in a star-studded Barca squad in just 38 starts in all competitions.

His showing in the final against Juventus was a microcosm to his whole season. It was his No. 4 shirt that filled our screens as he opened the scoring; not Messi, not Suarez, not Neymar. Right spot, right time – one shot one goal. What followed then was an industrious performance that helped Barcelona conquer the midfield and allow the forwards ahead to weave their magic. Only Jordi Alba in a Blaugrana shirt bettered Rakitic’s seven ball recoveries against the Old Lady.

As Barcelona poured forward in numbers, Rakitic was time and time again the first one to cover his colleagues. His selflessness was an immense luxury to Dani Alves with the Croat regularly seen defending on the right side of the back four whenever the Brazilian was caught stranding in a forward position.

Last Saturday was a fitting farewell to Xavi from the adoring Blaugrana fan. The original engine of the tiki-taka machine will no longer help streamroll his side to title after title.

Now there’s a new engine in place and it was been imported from Basle via Schalke and Seville. Rakitic may not have been bred in La Masia but he is a converted football Catalan.

Liverpool have today announced on their official website that defensive duo Kolo Toure and Andre Wisdom have signed contract extensions to their current deals.

The 34-year-old Ivory Coast-born Toure started just seven Premier League games this season but is seen as a reliable back-up option in centre defence. Having signed on a free from Manchester City in 2013, Toure quickly became a fans’ favourite with a string of strong performances. Unfortunately, his form soon dipped along with that of his defensive colleagues as the Reds conceded a massive 98 league goals in the past two campaigns.

Toure’s contract was to expire at the end of the current campaign and it has been extended by one year.

Leeds-born Andre Wisdom is fresh from a one year loan at Premier League rivals West Bromwich. Having been a virtual ever-present under Alan Irvine, Wisdom soon fell out of favour when Tony Pulis took the reins at the Hawthorns.

West Brom’s match against Tottenham Hotspur on the 31st January was Wisdom’s 22nd league start for the club. After that disastrous 3-0 defeat, Wisdom only featured for 20 more minutes under Pulis.

Nevertheless, the 22-year-old has been given a four-year deal with Liverpool, a side severely lacking in right backs with Glen Johnson expected to leave the club in the summer and Jon Flanagan suffering a fresh eight-month injury lay-off.

In recent weeks, Emre Can deputised in the position with mixed results. The final game against Stoke was a clear indication that the German is far from comfortable in the position having been terrorised time and time again as the Potters ran the Liverpool defense ragged.

The current Serie A season has to be one of the strangest in recent times, even for calcio standards. Juventus, led by Massimiliano Allegri, who was deemed inept for the job at the start of the season, are running away with the league and are a step away from their first Champions League semi-final appearance in 12 years. On the other hand, fallen giants Inter Milan and AC Milan are struggling in mid-table with Rome-based clubs SS Lazio and AS Roma occupying the remaining two Champions League spots in the league.

Napoli and Fiorentina have been blowing hot and cold all season, while Sampdoria are the surprise package of the season fighting for a spot in Europe. At the other end of the table, Parma’s season has evolved from a disaster to a catastrophe.

Nevertheless, the talent on show at times has been world class with players such as Paul Pogba, Jeremy Menez, Carlos Tevez, Antonio Candreva and Franco Vazquez all shining. Still, it’s the veterans that have been stealing their fair share of headlines.

36-year-old Miroslav Klose and Antonio di Natale and Luca Toni have a combined league goal tally of 36 goals. Toni alone has scored a massive 42% of Hellas Verona’s league goals (this article is being written prior to Monday night’s fixture between Fiorentina and Verona). Moreover, 38-year-old Roma talisman Francesco Totti and 35-year-old Andrea Pirlo continue to show moments of undisputed brilliance.

Alongside such great names is Sergio Pellissier, the Chievo Verona striker whose goals over the past 13 years have kept the flying donkeys airborne in Serie A. Since 2001/2002, Chievo spent just one season outside Serie A. Pellissier’s 22 Serie B goals in that 2007/2008 season ensured a quick promotion back to the big time.

In 2009, Pellissier earned his first and only cap for Italy in a friendly match against Northern Ireland which ended in a 3-0 victory for the Azzurri. Fittingly, the author of the last goal was the man himself whose loyalty to Chievo earned him a small taste of international football.

Previously noted for his agility and pace, Pellissier has had to adjust his game as fresh blood, most notably in the form of Alberto Paloschi, has been instilled in the squad.

His vital late winning goal against Cesena a couple of weekends ago was impeccably executed. At the time of the cross from the right from Frey, Pellissier can be seen behind the defender on the second post. A quick run to the near post at the right moment caught his marksman and goalkeeper by surprise with his headed finish finding the top corner. All his years of experience as a striker was there for all to see in just a few seconds that decided the game. Remarkably, that goal came on the day of his 36th birthday.

Another vital goal followed on Sunday against Udinese in a 1-1 stalemate as the Gialloblu’s number 31 has rediscovered his goal-scoring touch at just the right time.

Over the past couple of seasons, Pellissier’s goals have somewhat dried up but having reached 91 Serie A goals – the same number as legends Marco Van Basten and Gianfranco Zola – the Chievo skipper is adamant that before retiring he reaches the 100 goal milestone.

Whether he manages to reach his aim or not, Pellissier will always be seen by Chievo supporters as the legend who kept them flying.

AS Monaco’s surprise aggregate victory against Arsenal last week makes this the ideal time to reminisce on another side from the royal principality that defied all odds in the Champions League.

It’s time to put our nostalgic hats on and head to 2004 when the Monaco side led by Didier Deschamps reached the Champions League final to face José Mourinho’s Porto. Chelsea and Real Madrid were beaten along the way thanks largely to an array of attacking talent.

During that Champions League campaign, Monaco were everyone’s favourite second team. Everyone loves a good underdog story and Monaco’s European journey was just that. The current French manager, Didier Deschamps, consequently enhanced his reputation as one of the most in-demand young tacticians of the time alongside Mourinho.

The Stade Louis II side has gone through a massive over-haul since then with a relegation to Ligue 2 being followed by a takeover by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Nevertheless, that 2004 squad will not be forgotten so easily. Looking back, I can hardly believe that 11 years have passed since a 13-year-old me watched amazed as the likes of Fernando Morientes, Ludovic Giuly and Dado Prso became household names.

Here is a tribute to the men who made their fans dream and dance in the same streets made so famous by Formula 1.

Between the Posts

In goal, the Rome-born Flavio Roma played every minute of Monaco’s campaign that season. His performances were so impressive that at the age of 30, he received his first Italy call-up. Hand-picked by Deschamps in 2001, Roma was prone to the odd moment of madness. However, his composure and control of the box was essential in a shaky Monaco defence.

Roma has only recently retired from the game after returning to Monaco a couple of years ago from AC Milan where he had largely served as a reserve goalkeeper.

Full-Backs

Monaco’s regular full-backs in 2004 personified Deschamps’ intentions. Hugo Ibarra and a young Patrice Evra were a neutral’s dream; full of attacking intent and thus leaving gaping holes at the back. The likes of Gael Given and Julien Rodriguez were frequently left without cover at the back with Deschamps trying to rectify the problem by searching for defensive cover from midfield. The role of defensive midfielders Akis Zikos and Lucas Bernardi was therefore indispensable to track back and fill the spaces at the back left vacant by their more adventurous colleagues.

The versatile Ibarra actually only spent the one season with Monaco having been brought on loan from Porto, of all clubs. The Boca Juniors legend was one of the goalscorers against Chelsea in the 5-3 aggregate victory of Claudio Ranieri’s men.

On the other side, Evra’s pace and attacking thrust was a replica of what Ibarra was causing to opposition defences on the right side. All the goals against Real Madrid in a 3-1 home victory in the quarter finals resulted from crosses from the fullback with the first two coming from future Manchester United and Juventus full-back.

Creativity

Deschamps set up his side in a 4-3-3 formation in Europe with Jerome Rothen and Giuly playing on either side of a central striker. While Prso and Morientes claimed the goals, the aforementioned two made sure that they provided them with the ammunition.

Giuly’s low centre of gravity made him the ideal foil to the aforementioned forwards in front while his knack for spectacular goals endeared him to fans all over Europe. His reward for a fantastic season with Monaco was a deserved transfer to Barcelona where he gelled in well with the likes of Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi.

The diminutive skipper chalked two goals in the previously mentioned 3-1 victory against Real Madrid, which summed up Deschamps attacking policy perfectly. As already alluded to, all goals came from the full-backs pushing high. The first two goals were down to Morientes’ heading ability, as he nodded the ball down for Giuly to score the first and then headed in the second himself from an Evra cross.

Giuly scored two goals that day. Splendid, splendid goals. After Morientes’ lay-off, his volley from outside the area and into the bottom corner was a fitting start to his side’s scoring spree against more fancied opposition.

His second goals was even more classy as his deft back-heel from Ibarra’s cross caught the whole Madrid defense by surprise.

On the other hand, Rothen had a roller-coaster career after moving on from Monaco as he never seemed to fulfil the great potential showed during the 2003/2004 season. Nevertheless, his eye-catching performance in Europe that season deserve considerable praise with his six assists ranked joint-first alongside Deco. Fantastic at set-pieces with a gem of a left foot, Rothen’s vision and accuracy made his side’s big guys’ mouth water.

In Attack

The most striking feature of Monaco’s campaign that season was their free-scoring exploits with their clash against Real Madrid in the quarter-final especially standing out. Having lost the first leg 4-2 in Spain, Monaco pulled off a great comeback winning 3-1 at home at advancing to the next stage via the away goals rule. During their 13 Champions League games, they scored 27 goals conceding 19 in the process. 37% of their goals in the quarter and semi-finals against big-spending Chelsea and Real Madrid.

The striking options at Deschamps disposal read Morientes, Prso, Giuly, a young Emmanuel Adebayor and future Blackburn and AS Roma forward Shabani Nonda. Prso acted mostly as a target man, while Morientes oozed class and composure. Nonda and Adebayor were reliable options from the bench, with the former contributing significantly with his goal against the Londoners. Prso’s then-record tally of four goals against Deportivo La Coruna during the unbelievable 8-3 game in the group stages has became part of Champions League folklore.

As a Liverpool fan myself, Morientes’ spell in Anfield makes my teeth cringe but watching highlights of him in a Monaco shirt reminds me why I was so excited when he signed for Rafa Benitez. Not the paciest of players, Morientes managed to beat defenders by deft touches and superb skill. His performances against the Galacticos are some of the best ever witnessed by a lone forward in Europe in recent times.

After Monday’s 4-0 thrashing of top three rivals Fiorentina, Lazio are now in the last Champions League spot behind Juventus and eternal rivals Roma. Unlike the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga and the English Premier League it’s the top THREE not four Italian clubs that make it to the Champions League.

The Biancoceleste have a fight on their hands staving off the challenge of the more fancied Napoli and Fiorentina but just being in the reckoning for a Champions League spot is more than most critics expected a couple of months ago.

A current run of five unbeaten league games, including four victories, has been possible thanks to clinical finishing and a hard-working midfield unit. In attack, Felipe Anderson and Antonio Candreva have been especially singled out for praise with the former being recently linked to a Premier League move.

However, one can’t help but admire the efforts of fan favourite and German legend Miroslav Klose. The Poland-born striker keeps bagging goals at the ripe old age of 36 years with the two goals on Monday taking his season tally to 11 goals from just 14 starts.

His first Roman derby in October 2011 endeared him to the Lazio faithful after his 93rd minute winner. It was a long time since the Biancoceleste fans could boast of the presence of a legend of the game in their ranks. Klose’s acquisition changed that, especially after his record breaking goals in Brazil last summer.

Klose is lethal. His record of a goal every 132 minutes is only bettered by Carlos Tevez and Mauro Icardi for players starting more than 10 league games in Serie A.

Moreover, his goals against Fiorentina came from just three shots. They were from a cumulative distance of a couple of meters, highlighting his predator instincts and the knack of being in the right place at the right time. In fact, the 36-year-old had the least touches of all the players lasting 90 minutes against the Viola. Deadly.

Add 4 assists to his tally and one can easily realize how sorely missed the World Cup top scorer was during his spell on the sidelines earlier on in the season. Only the aforementioned Anderson and Candreva have contributed more assists for Lazio.

The veteran’s striker’s main attribute has always been his heading ability with his average of 2.6 aerial duels won per game bettered only by Lorik Cana from his team-mates.

Interestingly, Klose’s club form has frequently been questioned throughout his career. 118 Bundesliga goals spanning over a decade with Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich doesn’t really compare with 71 goals in just 137 caps for Germany. Nevertheless, 8 major trophies at club level, including two Bundesliga titles, are good company to one gold, one silver and two bronze World Cup medals.

With all the controversies surrounding owner Claudio Lotito and the Ultras fans along with a decade of financial uncertainties, Miroslav Klose represents something fresh. The episodes of fair play surrounding the former Germany striker are miles away from the fascist and anti-semitic demonstrations seen at times among the Lazio Ultras.

Klose’s status in the game certainly deserves another pop at Champions League football. If he continues his current form, then it will be in a Sky Blue shirt. A fitting tribute to a club that helped him regain his goal scoring touch before the World cup in Brazil.

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During the 90’s and early years of the new millennium the Italian Serie A was undoubtedly the number one league in Europe. Ronaldo, Marco Van Basten, Diego Maradona, Paolo Maldini, Kaka, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Del Piero, Edgar Davids, Pavel Nedved, Gabriel Batistuta, Juan Sebastian Veron, Ruud Gullit, Careca and Zinedine Zidane to name but a few. The list of stars plying their trade during Calcio’s heyday is endless.

From 1989 till 2005 twelve European Cup (and later, the Champions League) finalists were Italian. That’s 12 finalists in just 17 years. To put that into perspective, Spain had seven, Germany had four and England was represented by just two finalists during the same time period.

Italy was truly the place to be if you wanted to see the best soccer talent in the world, with cash flowing thick and fast into the clubs. The world transfer record fee for a soccer player was broken 11 times from 1984 until the record acquisition of Luis Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid in 2000. Nine of those 11 records were broken by Italian clubs.

In recent times, however, the tables have truly turned. They’ve been turned, smashed into bits and thrown into the fire as Serie A faces a financial crisis which has been a long time in coming.

The greatest victims of the chaos surrounding calcio have undoubtedly been Parma, the three-time Coppa Italia winners and twice UEFA Cup holders. The situation at the club is dire.

First of all, Parma have around 140 players on their books, and that’s not even taking into consideration their reserve and youth team players. Most of these players are out on loan or are part of a co-ownership deal with another club.

However, more astoundingly than that, Parma are broke. Well and truly broke. Penniless. This has led to two Serie A matches, against Genoa and Udinese, to be postponed as no money is available for security and electricity. Thankfully, the home match against Atalanta over the weekend was played as the other Serie A clubs voted to give a five million euro loan to the Gialloblu. Interestingly, Cesena was the only club to vote against the loan while Napoli, Roma and Sassuolo abstained.

Serie A has also received threats form Sky TV that the matches must go ahead as scheduled. Sky currently pay 650 million euro per year for the Serie A TV rights, which is a substantial amount for the financially stricken league. It must be noted that that amount is merely a quarter of the money Sky pays to the English Premier League.

To make matters worse, Parma have changed owners twice this season with the current President, Giampietro Manenti also threatening to walk away from the club. Former owner Tommaso Ghirardi is being investigated for suspected bankruptcy fraud as the club is estimated to be 100 million euro in debt.

Youth team coach and former striker Hernan Crespo has recently confessed that at times his players have to take cold showers as the electricity bills remain unpaid.

The first-team players haven’t received any wages since the summer which puts Serie A firmly in the spotlight. How could a club in such a desperate situation be allowed to complete at all in Italy’s highest tier? Last season, Parma finished sixth but Roberto Donadoni’s side have managed to muster just three league victories this time round.

The first team still features the names of former Juventus and Italy striker Raffaelle Palladino, Antonio Mirante, former Inter players Jonathan Biabiany, McDonald Mariga and Ishak Belfodil and Antonio Nocerino. Nevertheless the situation looks hopeless as the club is stuck at the bottom of the league.

Parma’s financial problems may be traced to 2004 when the scandal of the bankruptcy via their major sponsor Parmalat caught the public eye. Serie A has had its fair share of financial tragedies in recent years as Lazio, AC Milan, Roma, Napoli and Fiorentina have all struggled to make ends meet. The Viola actually ceased to exist in 2002 due to excessive debt and had to be re-branded and start from scratch in the fourth tier of Italian soccer, Serie C2.

At the end of the day, it’s the fans that suffer most as they helplessly watch their club crumble in front of their eyes. In the days of Financial Fair Play, such disasters are still occurring as massive amounts of money are being thrown into soccer without any thought of the long-term impact such costs could have.

Parma recently boasted the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Juan Sebastian Veron, Sebastiano Fiore, Lilian Thuram, Gianfranco Zola, Tomas Brolin, Hernan Crespo, Marco di Vaio, Giuseppe Rossi and Alberto Gilardino in its ranks. Now the whole soccer world is seeing the club disintegrate into financial meltdown.

Not a pleasant sight at all.

For all his tactical nous and man-management skills, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is often criticized quite openly for his transfer market moves.

Luis Suarez, Jordan Henderson, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling, who were all so impressive last season during Liverpool’s ultimately-futile title charge, were all brought in before the current manager’s appointment. At the same time Joe Allen, Fabio Borini, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure all flattered to deceive.

After the sale of Suarez, Rodgers was presented with the ideal opportunity over the summer to strengthen his side in the areas that were lacking in the previous campaign. A new striker was urgently needed while gaping holes were present on the wings and in defense.

The personnel duly arrived with Emre Can and Dejan Lovren coming in to supposedly add defensive steel while the wings were filled up with the acquisition of Lazar Markovic, Adam Lallana, Alberto Moreno and Javier Manquillo. Moreover, the ever so popular Mario Balotelli was brought in instead of the mercurial Uruguayan up front.

Nevertheless, Liverpool’s start to the season wasn’t exactly ideal. By the end of November, they were in 11th place, a distant 16 points away from Chelsea after only 13 games. Manquillo and Moreno impressed in a couple of games, Balotelli looked completely lost as a striker while Markovic and Lallana offered very rare glimpses of quality.

Rumors of Rodgers’ departure started progressing from hush whispers to headline news. After the victory against defending champions Manchester City on Sunday afternoon the mood in the Kop couldn’t have been any more contrasting.

Five of the first XI against City were brought in during the summer alongside Allen, Phillippe Coutinho and Simon Mignolet, who all arrived during Rodgers’ time. So much for bad buying. 

After a shaky start, Lovren is slowly starting to look like his former Southampton self. Against Manuel Pellegrini’s side, the Croat managed to intercept the ball four times, the most of any player on the pitch, and his five tackles were only surpassed by Pablo Zabaleta’s seven. Alongside Martin Skrtel, the pair managed 22 clearances – the corresponding tally for the whole of the City back four stood at just 15 by the final whistle.

Markovic, Lallana and Can were all successful in more than 80% of their passes, despite the fast paced tempo of the match. It’s the German youngster that truly personifies Liverpool’s recent change in form with the Reds topping the form table since the turn of the calendar year. His move from midfield into defense has allowed Rodgers to change to a back three with all the wing players acquired in summer filling in the wing-back positions in a 3-4-3 formation.

The 21-year-old has played the full 90 minutes during all of the 2015 Premier League matches.

Rodgers has transformed his team into an increasingly difficult team to beat. The Northern Irishman’s transfer policy may not be as ridiculous as it seemed back in December now. 

A top four finish without Suarez, number one centre-forward Sturridge for large parts of the campaign and a dismal start will go a long way to proving those who doubted Rodgers’ transfer policy wrong. 

After the umpteenth woeful soccer international tournament this summer in Brazil, the English media had a field day. No one and nothing survived the public’s and journalists’ scathing attacks in the papers, radio, television and internet; the Amazonian climate, the foreign players’ influx into the Premier league, Roy Hodgson’s methods, foreign managers, WAGs, the lack of proper training facilities, injuries, luck, the FA, the lack of a proper reserves’ league, the British Government.

Only when the Premier League kicked off in August did the criticism dampen. Fancy new imports were bought from foreign leagues by the big clubs Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Fernando, Lazar Markovic, Mario Balotelli and David Ospina were all preferred to the local talent on offer.

Nevertheless, six months into the season, things shouldn’t be seen as all doom and gloom for the national team. New talent is emerging and here is a rather strong side of 11 English players to prove it. None of these players played a single minute in Brazil.

A world-beating XI? Well, no.

However, the future may not be as bleak as it seemed in mid-July.

Fraser Forster

I’ve written about Forster in the past and I admit to being a great fan of the Saints’ keeper. He was actually part of the England 23-man squad that went to Brazil for the World Cup, but failed to make an appearance as Roy Hodgson preferred to stick with Joe Hart and Ben Foster.

Nevertheless, Forster’s clean sheet record is remarkable. Having beaten the Scottish League’s highest number of consecutive clean sheets whilst at Celtic, the 26-year-old has continued the trick below the border. He has kept 12 clean sheets in 26 matches as Southampton continue to defy the odds. As the big man himself put it, “If you keep it 0-0, with the quality we’ve got, it just needs one chance for three points.”

Nathaniel Clyne

Another Southampton player that features in this squad, emphasising that all’s well and good at St. Mary’s despite Mauricio Pocchettino’s departure. England has been lacking a real quality right-back ever since Gary Nevile retired from international soccer with Luke Young, Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker performing at a level nowhere near to that of the Manchester United legend.

Hopefully, here is the one who will change that. With Calum Chambers moving to Arsenal, Clyne has made the Saints’ right-back spot his own having started 24 of their 26 Premier league games. That’s already four more than last season when Chambers’ sudden rise prevented a long-term stay in the first XI.

Like Walker and Johnson, Clyne contributes a great deal offensively having scored two league goals. However, unlike the aforementioned two, the 23-year-old is quite reliable defensively too. He manages 1.9 interceptions per game – that’s more than Manchester City right-back Pablo Zabaleta (1.7) – and is only behind Lucas Leiva in successful tackles managed per game (3.8 vs 4.1).

A proper England right-back? One can only hope.

James Tomkins

26 in March, Tomkins is yet to earn a single England cap. During his Premier League career, Chris Smalling, Matthew Upson and Ryan Shawcross have all represented their country.

The West Ham youth product has exceptional aerial ability as he averages just under five aerial duels won per game. Only Peter Crouch, Federico Fazio, Christian Benteke and Andy Carroll boast a better record. With West Ham exceeding expectations this season, surely an England call up beckons?

Eric Dier

Dier’s inclusion in Tottenham Hotspurs’ starting XI at the start of the season was a shock to many. Still, two goals in his first two games helped endear the former Everton and Sporting Lisbon player to the White Hart lane faithful. Tottenham’s draw against West Ham on Sunday represented Dier’s 13th start in the Premier League and no one is surprised anymore to see him partner Jan Vertonghen at the heart of the Spurs defence.

Dier is one of a rare breed of English players who spent most of his teenage years playing in a foreign country. He made a name for himself playing for Sporting Lisbon in a league deemed inferior to the fancy Premier league. In January, the Cheltenham-born defender celebrated his 21st birthday. The future is indeed bright.

Ryan Bertrand

Aged just 22, Bertrand started what could well end up being his biggest game in his career against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final. Although great things were expected of Bertrand in London, Ashley Cole remained the undoubted number one left-back for most of his stay with the Blues. Cesar Azpilicueta’s brilliance as a make-shift left back and the acquisition of Felipe Luis were the final nails in the Stamford Bridge coffin for Bertrand as he made his move to Southampton permanent in January.

The 25-year-old Bertrand finally has a home where he can impress on a regular basis after seven loan spells while at Chelsea. With Luke Shaw failing to impress in Manchester, Kieran Gibbs injury prone and Leighton Baines turning 30 in December, now is the chance for Bertrand to knock on Roy Hodgson’s door.

Ryan Mason

While Harry Kane has been stealing all the headlines at White Hart Lane, another Tottenham academy product is slowly making a first team spot his own. Ryan Mason doesn’t usually offer much spectacular in a game but he does the simple things well and efficiently. Alongside Nabil Bentaleb, Mason forms one half of a very youthful and energetic midfield partnership.

Prior to this season, the 23-year-old had never featured in a Premier League game having had five loan spells. In 2012, Mason was loaned to the French club Lorient after previous spells in the English lower divisions. His experience in France was nothing short of disastrous with the loan being terminated seven months after the move was agreed, with Mason not having appeared once for the Lorient first team.

And now an England call beckons. Oh how times change.

James Ward-Prowse

It’s hard to believe that Ward-Prowse is only 20 years of age having made more than 80 senior appearances in a Saints shirt. 12 starts during the current campaign have led to six assists, along with an 88% pass completion rate.

Such is his skill that more senior players don’t hesitate in allowing him to deliver set pieces. His average of 1.9 key passes per game is the same as that of Steven Gerrard and the ever improving James Milner. Surely one to watch for the not-so-distant future.

Fabian Delph

Delph’s form over the past two seasons has been just about the only positive note to come out of Villa Park. The former Leeds United youngster has been, albeit prematurely, compared to Gerrard due to his driving runs from midfield and there’s no denying that Villa have a true gem in their ranks.

Alongside Christian Benteke, Delph offers some rare quality for Tim Sherwood’s side. Due to injury setbacks, the 25-year-old has missed 10 Premier League matches during the current campaign – Villa have won just one of those matches. The other 16 resulted in four wins (increasing the win percentage with Delph in the team to 25% when compared to 10% when he’s missing).

Stewart Downing

The 30-year-old has been going through a renaissance in London in the past few months as Sam Allardyce has entrusted the head of a diamond midfield role to the former Liverpool flop.

Downing doesn’t represent England’s future, however, his upturn in form does deserve recognition. The former Middlesbrough midfielder’s stay in Merseyside was a failure but his revival in London has to be admired, especially when considering all the stick he had been getting for months. While the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Scott Sinclair faded after flopping a big move, Downing has only gone on to become stronger.

Harry Kane

All that there’s to say about Kane (or Hurri-Kane!) has been said over the past couple of weeks. From being the understudy to the woeful Roberto Soldado and Emanuel Adebayor at the start of the season, Kane has developed into one of Europe’s hottest properties.

His last minute goal during the weekend was his 14 in the Premier League. He has started just 16 league matches. He has contributed three assists too. He’s also managed five goals in Europe from four starts.

Kane is only 21. Enough said.

Charlie Austin

Before Kane exploded onto the scene, Austin was being touted as the future of England’s attack. At times, it seems that the striker is leading a one-man mission to keep QPR in the Premier League having scored more than 50% of their goals (14 out of 27).

The 25-year-old has taken his goalscoring exploits from the Championship to another level this season and there should be no doubting that he won’t be able to perform just as well on the international stage.

A pure goalscorer. England has been lacking a consistent one for ages!

I’m a big big fan of Mario Balotelli. There, I said it!

Having supported Liverpool ever since I can remember, the arrival of the big Italian was extremely pleasing. Still only 24 years of age, Super Mario has experienced plenty of ups and downs throughout his life.

At the age of three, Balotelli’s biological parents took the decision to hand their son over to foster parents. The emotional embrace with his foster mother in Euro 2012 after Italy’s semi-final win over Germany showed a different side to his character.

For a few minutes, gone was the mischievous firework-enthusiast and “Why Alwaye Me?” Balotelli as the world marvelled at the love and affection the young man showed to the woman who raised him. That game in the summer of 2012 was a turning point for Balotelli as he showed once and for all that he can deliver the goods on the big stage.

His career since then has been, similar to his life in general, full of joys and woes. However, his move to Liverpool was seen as a final chance for Balotelli to truly show his worth. His stay at Manchester City showed flashes of brilliance on the pitch but was ultimately overshadowed with numerous off-field issues.

His Liverpool career has only recently showed true signs of promise as he scored winners against Tottenham Hotspur and Besiktas in the past couple of weeks. Nevertheless, the “Why Always Me?” Balotelli was back in the Europa League on Thursday as the Italian demanded to take the penalty won by Jordon Ibe in the final minutes of the encounter.

Rather curiously, Jordan Henderson was apparently the designated penalty taker for the match. Yes, Henderson, the man who has the grand total of ZERO penalties scored in his senior career. A late penalty in a crucial European game was hardly the ideal place for him to change the record.

Consequently, most Liverpool fans, myself included, breathed a huge sigh of relief when Balotelli demanded the ball to take the kick himself. Captain Steven Gerrard and a whole other bunch of pundits criticised the Italian with Jamie Carragher seeming the only one defending the Italian. Personally, I think Gerrard made a big mistake by publicly criticizing a teammate, especially Balotelli who has clearly been doing his best to change his bad boy image on Merseyside.

Interestingly, no one criticised Daniel Sturridge for also wanting to take the kick. Sturridge also wasn’t designated to take the kick and he doesn’t boast the record of 28 penalties scored from a total of 30 that Balotelli does. The Italian actually scored all of his first 26 penalties before then missing two in succession in 2013 whilst at AC Milan.

Thus, Henderson’s decision to let him take the penalty actually made a lot of sense and at the end of the day he handled the situation well. The same can’t be said for Gerrard. A legend he may be, but he should have bit his tongue in public.

Nevertheless, the final line is Balotelli scored and Liverpool won for the first time in six European matches. I for one believe he deserves most of the credit for that.

Brazil. The land of Samba. Home of some of the finest football legends. Pele, Romario, Ronaldo, Socrates, Rivellino, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Dunga, Tostao, Carlos Alberto. The list is endless. A record five World Cup triumphs for the Selecao do justice to a football-mad nation.

On a club-level, Brazilian talent and flair shone bright over the years in the major European leagues with the likes of Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Dani Alves, Julio Cesar and Roberto Carlos being protagonists in their clubs’ Champions League triumphs.

Curiously, however, the English Premier League has struggled to bring the best out of most of the Brazilian imports. Denilson, Afonso Alves, Jo, Jardel, Kleberson, Robinho and Andre Santos head a long list of Brazilians that promised so much on their arrival in England but failed to produce the goods on a consistent basis.

With Arsenal acquiring the services of Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista from Villareal, here is a list of five players from the land of Samba that actually enhanced their reputation significantly in the Premier League.

5. Edu (Arsenal) 

Arsene Wenger is known to dip into the Brazilian pool of football talent having given Premier League debuts to six Brazilians. Edu was the second such acquisition, joining fellow left-footed teammate Sylvinho.

Edu was part of the famous “The Invincibles” team appearing in 29 matches during their unbeaten Premier League campaign. Injuries somewhat derailed his career but his slick passing won the admiration of Wenger and the Arsenal fans.

Two Premier League and three FA Cup medals are a fitting testimony to one of the unsung heroes of Wenger’s finest squad.

4. Lucas Leiva (Liverpool) 

It was a close shave between Chelsea’s Ramires and Liverpool’s Lucas, but the latter just edged into this list based on his individual importance to the Reds. It’s fair to say that Liverpool have underachieved massively in the Premier League era with many acquisitions failing to push the club to a higher level.

During his first year at Anfield, Lucas looked lost. Many fans demanded his sale as he looked set to join a long list of transfer flops. However, this soon changed when Benitez gave the then U/21 Brazil captain a run in defensive midfield.

The sale of Javier Mascherano further helped enhanced Lucas’ importance with no suitable alternative acquired during the subsequent years.

While the performance levels of his teammates plummeted after Liverpool’s second place finish in 2009, Lucas’ displays were becoming more impressive. A period on the injury table during the 2011/2012 season coincided with a run of bad results for the Reds, further highlighting the lack of a suitable alternative to the Brazilian’s aggression and reading of the game in midfield.

Rodgers’ new formation this season hinges on Lucas, as his role in front of the back three is essential to ensuring a balance between the defenders and the six players, all offensive minded, ahead of him. Remove Lucas from the system and the defensive harmony of the side is crushed.

3. Oscar (Chelsea) 

Willian and Phillippe Coutinho have both impressed in recent years but it’s Oscar who’s the pick of the Brazilian attacking midfielders plying their trade in England. The sale of Juan Mata was a massive vote of confidence from Jose Mourinho who publicly said that the Brazilian’s attributes are more suited to his style of play.

Still only 23, Oscar has appeared in more than 130 matches for the Blues scoring 30 goals. He has also already earned 43 caps for Brazil making his steep rise to the highest level the more impressive.

Good with both feet and quick on his feet, Oscar is the stereotypical modern attacking midfielder being frequently seen pressing opposition defenders and defending from the front. It’s such qualities that make him favourite of Mourinho and the adoring fans at Stamford Bridge.

2. Gilberto Silva (Arsenal) 

Having started his career as a centre half, Gilberto Silva retained his defensive qualities acting as the anchor of “The Invincibles”, allowing Patrick Vieira the creative freedom to roam forward. Many lament Vieira’s departure as the start of Arsenal’s decline but it’s Gilberto that has never really been replaced at the Emirates.

Wenger has failed to invest in a suitable lynchpin in front of his back four with Francis Coquelin’s performance against Manchester City in Arsenal’s 2-0 victory highlighting the necessity of such a player in Wenger’s formation.

Apart from the honours won while at Arsenal, Gilberto is also a World Cup winner. However, he could never beat the guy below to first place in the list.

1. Juninho Paulista (Middlesbrough) 

Three separate spells in Middlesbrough engraved Juninho’s hero status in the hearts of many in Teeside. However, it’s for his first spell that he is most remembered and revered.

His surprise signing in 1995 put Middlesbrough on the football map as he mesmerized defenders playing in the hole behind the strikers. In 1997, the “Little Fella” helped his side reach both the FA and League Cup finals. Unfortunately, they lost both.

The bad news didn’t end there as the club was relegated from the Premier League during the same season with Juninho being famously reduced to tears on the final day.

50 caps for Brazil and a World Cup campaign followed, but it’s his love for Middlesbrough by which Juninho will always be remembered in England.

Roberto Mancini, or Mancio as he’s affectionately known by those around him, is undoubtedly one of the more colorful characters in the beautiful game.

Fresh from his first Serie A victory since returning to Internazionale, Mancini had surprised many when he accepted to return to an ailing Nerazzuri side. His start during his second spell at the helm of the Milan-based club was far from ideal as he endured a winless first month in Serie A before the 2-0 victory against Chievo on Monday.

Nonetheless, the over-riding feeling in the Inter camp is that if Mancini can’t bring back the glory days back, then no one will. Well, maybe no one except Jose Mourinho whose own return to a former club is going pretty darn well.

A creative forward who was most at home playing in the trequartista position, Mancini boasts a truly enviable CV, both as a player and as a manager.

Despite being just 50 years of age he has managed in three different countries winning trophies with every club he’s coached. His trophy cabinet is impressive: 26 titles won as a player and manager, including six league titles.

His coaching career started alongside another distinctive personality, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who appointed Mancini as his number two whilst the Italian was in the latter stages of his playing career with Lazio. A short playing stint with Leicester City followed which, even if unsuccessful on the pitch, helped instil a love for the English game in Mancio.

After watching him wrapped in a scarf in charge of mega-rich Manchester City, it’s difficult to imagine Mancini managing a club on the brink of financial disaster. However, that was exactly the case during his first managerial job when the feisty Italian was offered the Fiorentina job. Back in 2001, the Viola were in financial ruin with relegation to the lower tiers of Italian football following just a year later. Nevertheless, it was in such circumstances that Mancini led the Firenze club to Coppa Italia glory – the only title of note that Fiorentina have added to their trophy cabinet during the last 18 years.

Such an impressive feat saw Mancini’s former club Lazio come calling with the Marche-born manager once more leading the club to Coppa Italia glory. All this whilst leading another club on the brink of financial disaster.

A call from one of the big boys in Serie A was inevitable with Massimo Moratti tying him up with Inter during the summer of 2004. A first Serie A title in 16 years soon followed, admittedly via a big helping hand from the Calciopoli scandal.

This led to a period of dominance for Inter which reached the pinnacle during Mourinho’s stint.

With Manchester City, Mancini again helped halt another trophy drought, with the Sky Blues winning their first Premier League title in 44 years, again admittedly with another great big fat helping hand – Sheikh Mansour’s millions. Nevertheless, one should never underestimate the dressing room full of incredible egos Manchester City had during the Italian’s stint.

His fiery character unsurprisingly ended up clashing with a number of characters, most notably Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri, but Mancini still ended up leading his side to a league title that seemed unlikely even for the more optimistic Manchester City supporters during the final weeks and final minutes of the campaign.

It’s such miracles that Inter fans are hoping to see after a frustrating few years in the shadow of the all-conquering Juventus. Their next match against Mancini’s former employers Lazio next Sunday provides the Nerazzuri with the chance of achieving back-to-back victories for the first time since the end of October.

The talent at his disposal is a far cry from the Inter side that won back-to-back titles form 2006 till 2010. Still, in Matteo Kovacic, the Nerazzurihave a real talent in their hands. Just 20 years of age, the Croatian midfielder has netted three Serie A goals this campaign whilst enjoying an 86% pass completion rate with 2.1 key passes per game. As a comparison, the more cautious Gary Medel is successful in 91% of his passes but only manages 0.7 key passes per game.

Mancini’s decision to play Kovacic behind the strikers in a trequartista role against Chievo paid dividends with the young star being central to most of Inter’s forward ventures.

It may still be early to talk of glory days returning back to the black-and-blue half of Milan, but in Mancini the Inter supporters have a coach they finally trust.

The former Sampdoria and Lazio forward has foreseen his fair share of football miracles in the past. With Inter languishing in mid-table, leading them back to the Champions League after a two-year absence will be akin to a miracle.

Like most Inter supporters, I feel that if Mancini can’t perform the miracle, then no one will. Well, no one apart from a certain Portuguese living in London.

Malta is hardly renowned for it’s football successes with the national side having won only four competitive matches. Ahead of Malta’s Euro 2016 qualifying match against the mighty Italy, here is a list of five Maltese players whose careers have been a bright light for Maltese football over the past three decades. Two of these are likely to start against Pirlo and co.

1. Michael Mifsud

By far Malta’s best player over the past decade, Mifsud has been Malta’s main attacking threat ever since the turn of the millennium. The list of clubs on the diminutive forward’s CV includes Kaiserslautern, Coventry City, Barnsley (where he joined Daniel Bogdanovic, another Maltese striker who also played for Blackpool), Lillestrom and, more recently, Melbourne City. That’s really quite impressive for the captain of the 155th ranked nation in the world where only a handful of players actually are full-time footballers.

With 39 goals to his name, Mifsud is comfortably Malta’s record top scorer and his most striking attribute is his lightening pace that has in the past embarrassed some of the more famed defenders of our time. Unfortunately, age has now taken its toll but his eye for goal and attacking instincts are still very much alive.

Mifsud has rejoined his boyhood club Sliema Wanderers during the close season thus effectively putting an end to his stay overseas. His career highlight was undoubtedly the two goals scored in Old Trafford as Coventry shocked Manchester United in 2007 during the Carling Cup. That day, the center backs for the Red Devils were Jonny Evans and Gerard Pique.

Nevertheless, many still feel that the “mosquito’s” career overseas could have delivered so much more had Mifsud not suffered injuries at inopportune moments and had he not agitated for a move away from Coventry during the summer of 2008. Still, his career is unrivaled in Malta and he deserves nothing but praise for the courage he showed early in his career in pursuing football as a full-time professional player, unlike his peers.

2. Andre Schembri

With Mifsud’s powers on the wane, Schembri is the obvious heir to the Sliema Wanderers striker. The 28-year-old is comfortable playing as a striker or attacking midfielder and has represented various clubs in Cyprus, Hungary, Germany, Austria and Greece with his current side being FSV Frankfurt where he is already showcasing some of his undoubted talent.

Despite not being a prolific goalscorer for the national side, Schembri scored both goals in the historic 2-1 victory against Hungary in 2006. Less than a year later, Schembri scored once more during another historic result for Malta – a 2-2 result against Turkey.

Andre Pirlo dedicated three pages to Andre Schembri’s unorthodox man-marking ventures during Italy’s last game in the Ta’ Qali National Stadium in Malta. It was a game where the Frankfurt forward was heralded as being the Man of the Match, after having also managed to win a penalty for his side. Unfortunately, Mifsud had his effort saved from the spot.

3. Gilbert Agius

The current Valletta FC coach possessed talent that most of his peers in the country could only dream of. No doubt, one of the highlights of the Valletta legend’s career was the brace he scored against Welsh champions Barry Town that allowed the Lillywhites to progress to the second round of the Champions League qualifiers in 1999 – a truly rare feat for any Maltese club. Apart from a short-lived spell in Italy with Pisa, Agius is a one-man club having stayed with his hometown club in the midst of a financial crisis a decade ago.

Agius’ club career saw him mainly feature in a forward position or in a role just behind the strikers whereby he could use his creativity and eye for the pass to good use. However, in the latter years of his international career, Agius was converted into a defensive midfielder to make the most of his passing skills and waning pace. Since Malta normally play very deep, this ensured that the rare forward ventures that Malta had started from the feet of a passing maestro. His long balls looked to make the most of Mifsud’s pace and it’s this quality in midfield that has been so sorely missed since his retirement.

4. Luke Dimech

As no-nonsense a defender as you’re ever likely to meet, Dimech’s appearance is enough to send a slight chill down attacker’s spines. In his heyday, Dimech possessed a healthy turn of pace despite his stocky figure. Strong in the air and confident in the tackle, Dimech had qualities rarely seen in a Maltese defender.

Currently on the books of Valletta, the Floriana-born defender has a relatively distinguished CV having successfully worn the shirts of Shamrock Rovers, Macclesfield Town, Mansfield Town, Chester City and AEK Larnaca.

5. Carmel Busuttil

Considered by many local pundits as the best football player to have ever worn the Maltese eight-pointed chest on his chest, Busuttil’s talents were a thing to behold. After winning the league with his boyhood club Rabat Ajax, Busuttil’s intentions were clear – he wanted to further his career overseas making him the first Maltese player to play for a top-flight club in Europe.

After spending a season with Italian side Verbania, the forward joined KRC Genk in Belgium in 1988 where he would his name in the club’s history. Busuttil was Genk’s skipped for four years and top-scorer for three seasons. Not bad when considering that Genk have recently produced such talents as Christian Benteke, Thibaut Courtois and Kevin de Bruyne.

In 1992, Malta lost 2-1 against Italy in a match which saw Malta lynchpin Kris Laferla miss a penalty and Busuttil producing the assist for Martin Gregory’s goal. Italy were pegged back that day during the final minutes but managed to hold on for the victory, despite Franco Baresi’s sending-off. Below is a short clip from that game:

[jwplayer mediaid=”118834″]

Another surprise loss for a Liverpool side that is struggling to cope without Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. Is a title challenge beyond their expectations now?

On the other hand, West Ham fans will not be blamed for believing that a top 10 finish is well within their reach with the new signings on show all impressing.

Here are the player ratings.

West Ham

Adrian – 7

Should have seen red for a second yellow card for his challenge on Borini in the 65th minute after spilling the Italian’s shot. Otherwise solid.

Aaron Cresswell – 8

Unbeatable in one-on-ones, good positional awareness and a threat in the attacking third. Just what a fullback should be.

Guy Demel – 7

Wasn’t an attacking threat as much as Cresswell but kept Moreno in his pocket.

Winston Reid – 9

On the scoresheet after just 75 seconds….not bad after not scoring for a whole year! Defensively very dependable as he formed an impenetrable wall alongside Tomkins. The best soccer player ever to come from New Zealand? Probably.

James Tomkins – 9

Produced the assist for the first goal as he won the header at the far post from the early set-piece. Just as impressive at the back when defending corners and free-kicks.

Mark Noble – 8

The path through which most of West Ham’s attacks started completing over 40 passes. Covered well for Song and Kouyate whenever his team-mates made forward runs.

Cheikhou Kouyate – 7

Lively first half and looks a very good signing. Never stopped running.

Alex Song – 8

Impressive on the ball as he boasted a 87% passing accuracy when compared to his side’s 70.7%. A class act.

Stewart Downing – 7

A constant threat in the opening 15 minutes after which his game seemed to have finished! Nevertheless, he had done enough against his former side

Enner Valencia – 8

Mixed great technical ability with relentless running as he covered every blade of grass chasing after Moreno or Sterling on the wings.

Diafra Sakho – 9

His deft chip for West Ham’s second goals is surely an early contender for the goal of the season. Already looks a bargain signing.

Substitutions

Carl Jenkinson (61 minutes: on for Demel) – 6

Hardly passed the half-way line but kept his defensive discipline well in check.

Morgan Amalfitano (68 minutes: on for Song) – 8

Took his goal very well. Not afraid to put in the challenge when necessary. Fantastic home debut.

James Collins (75 minutes: on for Valencia) – 7

Helped shore things up at the back as Sam Allardyce changed to a back five.

Liverpool

Simon Mignolet – 5

Caught in no-man’s land for the Hammers’ opener and was left helpless by Sakho’s chip. The quality of his shot-stopping skills are for all to see but his ability at dealing with crosses are not deserving of a side fighting for the title.

Alberto Moreno – 5

Struggled in defence but his attacking threat increased as the game wore on. Still, you expect a fullbacl to have a better defensive positional sense. At times was totally unaware of the opponents surrounding him.

Javier Manquillo – 4

Brought off the pitch on 22 minutes as Rodgers tried to respond to going two goals down early on. Offered nothing going forward as Liverpool were pinned back early on and was repeatedly beaten by Cresswell, Valencia and Downing.

Martin Skrtel – 4

Was all over the place as West Ham rushed to an early lead. A ticking time-bomb. His lack of pace was evident in West Ham’s final goal.

Dejan Lovren – 4

Liverpool’s most expensive defender in history? Not on this performance.

Lucas Leiva – 5

Simply didn’t do enough in the first half as the Hammers dominated the central areas putting in 4 tackles and trying 16 passes. Looked uncomfortable on the side of the diamond.

Steven Gerrard – 6

The only one not afraid to get on the ball in the opening exchanges of the game. Opponents seem to have found the formula in nullifying his threat from deep.

Jordan Henderson – 6

Started on the wrong foot as he was completely beaten by Tomkins for the West Ham goal. A shadow of Henderson version 2013/2014.

Raheem Sterling – 7

Behind the striker, wingback, fullback…the young England international was asked to play in a number of roles in the first half but still managed to score the goal that brought Liverpool back into the game….a rasping drive from the edge of the penalty area. That was their only real threatening shot in the first half – compare that to West Ham’s 6 shots on target in the opening 45 minutes. Tried to take the West Ham defense on his own a few times too many.

Mario Balotelli – 7

His touch to bring the ball down for Sterling’s goal was a thing to behold reminiscent of Dimitar Berbatov. Looked to make things happen every time he was on the ball but his team-mates too often were on a different wavelength,

Fabio Borini – 6

Willing to run and run and run but not much more. His endeavor is to be praised however.

Substitutions

Sakho (22 minutes: on for Maquillo) – 6

Slightly better than the comedy around him. Slightly.

Adam Lallana (45 minutes: on for Lucas) – 7

Provided the technical ability so lacking in the first half but faded as the game wore off.

Rickie Lambert (75 minutes: on for Borini) – 5

Once more failed to make a mark as an impact sub.

When Gabriel Agbonlahor first stepped on the grass of Goodison Park at the age of 19 for his Aston Villa debut against Everton great things were expected from the Birmingham-born striker. His lightning pace and direct runs coupled with his physique and agility made him a nightmare for opposition defences.

Impressively, Agbonlahor featured in all 38 Premier League games during the 2006-2007 season which actually was just his second season in the first team. His pace meant that he was often utilised on the wing but he still managed nine goals for Martin O’Neill’s side that season.

The following three seasons proved to be more prolific as he reached double figures in the scoring charts each time with 36 goals in 109 appearances. By the end of the 2009-2010 season, Agbonlahor could boast of three England caps and all this was before his 24th birthday.

Unfortunately, he never managed to repeat the feats that earned him a call to Fabio Capello’s England team and he is yet to reach double figures again in a Premier League season. Injuries and bad form played a big part as Aston Villa failed to build on the impressive performances under Martin O’Neill. From a side fighting to break the top four, Villa quickly regressed into a side fighting for survival season after season.

Gerard Houllier and Alex McLeish followed the North Irishman in the Villa hot seat and their conservative approach failed to get the best of Agbonlahor who was once more asked to cover defensively on the wings. This blunted his goalscoring abilities as the Birmingham side paid big money to bring in Darren Bent and later Christian Benteke to try and solve their shortage of goals.

Last season, Agbonlahor (who is actually the leading Premier League top-scorer in Aston Villa’s history) only managed four Premier League goals in 30 matches – one less than wingback Leandro Bacuna who featured in just 26 matches.

The Birmingham-born striker’s powers seemed to be on the wane and many felt that his time at the club was coming to an end with the owners looking to get rid of his wage bill.

However, as so often happens in football, the tables have been well and truly turned in a few matches. Villa’s impressive start to the current season has seen them collect 10 points from a possible 12th with Agbonlahor scoring two goals. His goal against Liverpool not only gave his side the three points, but it also showed that a predatory instinct that had been alluding him for years.

Against the Reds, Agbonlahor scored from the only real sniff at goal he had all game pouncing on a loose ball in the box by twisting his body to get a shot in. His agility was reminiscent of earlier years and his celebrations betrayed a sense of relief.

One must remember that Agbonlahor is going to be 28 in October so now is supposedly the time for him to reach his peak powers in his career. Injuries notwithstanding, the early signs this season are very positive and a recall to the England squad should not be to far down the pipeline if he can maintain his performances.

England certainly need another pacey option in attack to compete with Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge, plus with Christian Benteke struggling for fitness, Agbonlahor has been presented with an opportunity to showcase his abilities in a central role. It’s an opportunity that he can’t afford to miss.

As more and more money is being pumped into the English Premier League, transfer fees are increasing exponentially from one transfer window to another. During the 2014 summer transfer window that closed on the first of September, a record £835 million was spent by Premier League clubs.

Six of these clubs have broken their club-record transfer fee during this window. Another six club records have been broken since January 2013 making the total of new club-record transfer fees twelve; that’s TWELVE clubs out of the twenty current Premier League sides that have paid an unprecedented amount of money in their history in the past 18 months. Ridiculous? Beyond ridiculous!

However, that’s the reality of modern soccer and below we analyze all the club-record signings of each Premier League side. The list has everything – flops, club heroes, genuine world class stars, mediocre performers and unproven players.

Two players actually appear twice on the list – Andy Carroll and Steven Fletcher – while four of the transfers actually took place in January transfer windows. Exactly half of these transfers have seen players join from foreign clubs with four involving one of the Madrid clubs.

Arsenal
Mesut Özil – £42.5 million from Real Madrid (Summer 2013)

The transfer that caught everyone by surprise a year ago, as the normally miserly Arsene Wenger splashed out the cash big time to get a world class talent to the Emirates. Özil may not have reached the heights expected from him from one game to another last season, but there’s no doubt as to the psychological impact such a move had on his new team-mates.

Fresh from a humbling defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 2013/2014 season, many doubted Arsenal’s ability to retain a top 4 position but this all changed with Özil’s arrival. Players such as Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla upped their game in the presence of such a unique talent with the Welshman the main reason why Arsenal spent so much time topping the league.

Unfortunately, results started to wane during the second half of the season and so did Özil’s performances. This time round, much is expected from the freshly-crowned world champion.

Aston Villa
Darren Bent – £24 million from Sunderland (January 2011)

It’s fair to say that Bent has not fully enjoyed his time in Birmingham. Once considered the future of England’s forward line due to his pace and finishing skills, Bent has found himself playing second-fiddle to the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andres Weimann.

Villa have tried to offload their highly-paid striker a number of times but wages have proved to be a significant stumbling block to all potential suitors. He was loaned out to Fulham last year but he failed to rekindle any kind of old form. 21 Premier League goals in a Villa shirt since his arrival 45 months ago says it all really.

9 of those goals actually came in his first six months as Bent helped save Aston Villa from relegation. Well, it went downhill from there.

Burnley
Steven Fletcher – £3 million from Hibernian (Summer 2009)

The Scotland striker scored 8 goals in his single season with Burnley as the Clarets unsuccessfully tried to beat the drop during the 2009/2010 season. This made him their top-scorer and earned Fletcher a £6.5 million move to Wolves which was another joint-club record transfer fee paid.

Strong in the air and having the knack of scoring important goals, Fletcher is undoubtedly one of the Premier League’s more reliable strikers but he still couldn’t save Wolves from suffering the same fate as Burnley.

Chelsea
Fernando Torres – £50 million from Liverpool (January 2011)

The flop that beats all flops? Perhaps. But at least El Nino has a few shiny medals to go with his collection from his time with in Stamford Bridge as Chelsea won the FA Cup, Europa League and Champions League during his four seasons in London.

Still, 20 goals in 110 Premier League matches is a very mediocre return for a £50 million World-Cup winning striker. More so when compared to 65 goals in 102 league games for Liverpool.

Loic Remy will probably prove to be an upgrade on the Spaniard.

Crystal Palace
James McArthur – £7 million from Wigan Athletic (Summer 2014)

One half of the Jameses partnership with Wigan along with McCarthy that so impressed under the guidance of Roberto Martinez, McArthur has finally earned his move back to the Premier League. A combative midfielder with a touch of class, McArthur is now playing in the level where he belongs but the pressure is on him to justify Palace’s efforts in getting him to London.

His new partnership with Mile Jedinak has the potential to excite even the most glum of Palace fans!

Everton
Romelu Lukaku – £28 million from Chelsea (Summer 2014)

This transfer shows that Everton really mean business this season. If nothing else, at just 21 years of age, the Belgian is a pretty sound investment as his price tag is unlikely to plummet any time soon.

Lukaku’s 15 goals and performances were a big part of Everton’s ultimately unsuccessful attempt in breaking into the top four last season. Many critics felt that his time at a big European club such as Chelsea has arrived this time round so for Roberto Martinez and Bill Kenwright to convince the youngster to sign permanently was quite a coup, even if for a club record transfer fee.

Hull City
Abel Hernandez – £10 million from Palermo (Summer 2014)

A transfer record for a player who is certainly not a household name in England. After the sale of Shane Long, Steve Bruce’s forward options became very short. His answer was to bring in the Uruguayan striker from newly promoted Serie A side Palermo. Mad-cap president Maurizio Zamparini had bought the then-teenager Hernandez in 2009 from Penarol and he has since been repaid with 36 goals in 122 games.

Hernandez’s pace makes him a versatile option in attack as he’s comfortable on the wings as well as in a central role. He scored 14 goals in 28 matches during Palermo’s successful promotion campaign but questions will invariably haunt his first few matches in England as to whether or not he can make the transition from Italy’s second tier to the Premier League. That’s £10 million’s worth of questions!

Leicester City
Leonardo Ulloa – £8 million from Brighton (Summer 2014)

Two goals in three matches is not a bad return for a striker just making the step into the Premier. League from the Championship. £8 million was deemed to be too dear a price to pay for an unproven striker at the highest level but if Ulloa’s display against Arsenal is anything to go by, Leicester will have no problems creating and converting chances.

The Argentinean’s 6ft 3in frame makes him an ideal target man but his ball control is more Dimitar Berbatov than Andy Carroll. His movement in the box for his goal against Arsenal showed a predator’s instinct that will prove vital in tight matches. He also has an eye for the ideal pass at the right time and at 28 years of age, now is the the time for Ulloa to impress and put himself on the market for bigger clubs.

Admittedly, this is just the beginning of his Leicester adventure but the early signs are very positive.

Liverpool
Andy Carroll – £35 million from Newcastle (January 2011)

£35 million looked a ridiculous amount in 2011. In 2014 it looks ridiculously ridiculous.

Manchester City
Sergio Aguero – £38 million from Atletico Madrid (Summer 2011)

77 goals in 125 appearances. The championship-winning goal against QPR in his first season. Arguably the best striker in England. £38 million – £3 million more than Carroll? In today’s market that’s a bargain.

Manchester United
Angel di Maria – £59.7 million from Real Madrid (Summer 2014)

The British transfer fee record was broken this summer as last year’s Champions League final man-of-the-match was brought to Old Trafford by the van Gaal machine. Where will he play? Will he justify his fee? Will he inspire the Reds to performances of old? The next few months will give us an answer.

Newcastle
Michael Owen – £16 million from Real Madrid (Summer 2005)

The longest-standing record in this list as Newcastle paid big bucks to get Owen back to England after his one season stay in Madrid with Los Galacticos. His return of 16 goals for Real Madrid was quite decent especially when considering he spent most of his time warming the substitutes’ bench.

Unfortunately, his stay in Newcastle was full of injury problems (the most serious of which occurred whilst he was on international duty!) and his 30 goals for the club didn’t propel the club to the heights so desired by the Toon army; his last season in Tyneside actually resulted in relegation from the Premier League for the black and whites.

Queens Park Rangers
Christopher Samba – £12.5 million from Anzhi Makhachkala (January 2013)

Samba was supposed to be the rock over which the foundations of QPR’s survival battle was to be built. Instead of the athletic, robust and solid defender from his Blackburn days, QPR found themselves with an unfit, cumbersome and error-prone Samba who was unable to get to grips with the speed of the English game after his experience in Russia.

Ten games and a failed survival bid later, Samba was sent back from whence he came as the R’s managed to at least recoup most of the fee they had splashed out 6 months previously.

Southampton
Pablo Osvaldo – £15 million from Roma (Summer 2013)

Another big money striker who ended up being a flop as the Italian striker only really produced one moment of brilliance during his half-season in the South of England – the sublime curling goal against Manchester City that earned his side a point.

He has since been loaned out to Juventus and Inter Milan with his Saints future looking bleak at best. His altercation with Jose Fonte hardly helped as, like Gaston Ramirez, he failed to adapt to the English game following his arrival from Serie A.

Stoke City
Peter Crouch – £10 million from Tottenham (Summer 2011)

Scoring goals was always a problem for Tony Pulis’ Stoke in the Premier League with most of his forward acquisitions failing to light up the Brittania Stadium.

Sunderland
Steven Fletcher – £14 million from Wolves (Summer 2012)

Three summers after Burnley broke their transfer record to get Fletcher, the Scot was bought by Sunderland for ANOTHER club transfer record – the THIRD record transfer fee paid by a club in 4 summers for Fletcher after Burnley and Wolves.

Eleven goals in his first season went a long way in repaying the money paid for his services as Sunderland scrambled to safety. However, injuries impeded his influence in the following season with Gus Poyet unable to rely on his main striker to get him the goals needed to win games.

What will this season hold for Fletcher who only scored once for Scotland?

Swansea City
Wilfried Bony – £12 million from Vitesse (Summer 2013)

Bony’s introduction to the Premier League was quite low key as many critics felt that he’ll play second fiddle to club hero Michu. Nevertheless, with the Spaniard out for most of the season, Bony rewarded the faith shown in him by the Welsh club by scoring 25 goals in all competitions. His physique, heading ability, composure and football intelligence more than make up for his lack of speed. It’s not often that a player is considered a steal for £12 million, but the Ivory Coast striker has to fall in thar category.

Tottenham Hotspurs
Erik Lamela – £30 million from Roma (Summer 2013)

It’s amazing how a couple of games can change all perception of a player in football. Lamela’s 2013/2014 season was hardly awe-inspiring as injuries restricted his transition into English football from the slower and more tactical Italian calcio. He only managed 9 appearances in the Premier League last season.

However, a more prominent role under Mauricio Pocchettino has seen the Argentinean go through a footballing rebirth as his pace, trickery and work rate fit well in his compatriot’s tactics and philosophy.

A season late but Spurs fans are finally rightly excited about their expensive jewel.

West Bromwich Albion
Brown Ideye – £10 million from Dynamo Kiev (Summer 2014)

Not much can be said about Ideye right now as he’s still finding his feet in England. However, West Brom have put their eggs in one basket and that basket is a not-so-prolific Nigerian striker who has mostly made a name for himself in the Ukrainian league. Goals may save clubs from relegation so Ideye will be under pressure to repay his fee as quickly as possible. Quite a gamble!

West Ham United
Andy Carroll – £15 million from Liverpool (Summer 2013)

Many hoped that Carroll’s second club transfer record will be more of a success than the first one but 12 months later the Gateshead-born striker’s career seems to be going in a downward spiral. Injuries have greatly hampered his stay in Upton Park with Carroll only appearing in 15 Premier League matches scoring 2 goals after his permanent move to East London.

The target man’s current season has began just as the previous one ended with no date given for a possible return from injury. Will he ever start repaying the hefty fee?

Manchester City 3
(Jovetic x2, Aguero)

Liverpool 1
(Zabaleta O.G.)

Venue: Etihad Stadium
Referee: Michael Oliver

Recent history has seen some truly entertaining clashes between these two attacking-minded sides with this clash in Manchester proving to be no different. The past five league games between last year’s first and second placed teams had produced three 2-2 scores with Liverpool conceding 10 goals in their last four league trips to the Etihad Stadium.

The Reds continued this negative trend conceding three goals due to abysmal defending at times. However, some of the football on show was truly a thing to behold, especially when considering that we’re still in August.

Many pundits have predicted a tough season for this post-Suarez Liverpool side but, paradoxically, some still feel that the Reds’ clash against Manchester City proves that this will not be the case.

Luis Suarez is a world class talent. No doubt about that. But all should not be doom and gloom in Anfield.

It’s no secret that Liverpool were absolutely awful in defense last season and the second half display was reminiscent of that. Playing with both Suarez and Sturridge together meant that two players in the side rarely contributed in defence with covering in wide areas being especially a problem. As the likes of Gerrard, Henderson and Coutinho tried to win the midfield battles last year, the fullbacks were left exposed with Rodgers at times reverting to a 3-5-2 to try and rectify this problem.

Against Manchester City, Sturridge played alone up front with Coutinho and Sterling taking roaming positions behind him. However, the latter two clearly had instructions to cover their fullback colleagues with Sterling being seen helping Glen Johnson on the right and the Brazilian in turn covering Alberto Moreno.

This system worked very well in the first half as Liverpool constantly found pockets of space in attack whilst keeping compact at the back. It’s a shame that they conceded when Jovetic pounced on individual mistakes from new signings Dejan Lovren and Moreno.

Individual mistakes…that’s one thing that hasn’t changed from last season! Such mistakes clearly had cost Liverpool the title with Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea the most prominent.

The second and third goals were again due to lapses of concentration at the back as City took full advantage of the left side of Liverpool’s back-line exploiting Lovren’s and Moreno’s disastrous positioning. For the third goal, Sergio Aguero simply ran past Lovren who was keeping him on side and then wasn’t quick enough to rectify his mistake.

In midfield, Henderson, Allen and Gerrard kept the ball well and passed it round well especially in the first half. However, the lack of creativity was almost shocking with Coutinho, who so often provided moments of brilliance in midfield last season, very quiet. As Sturridge and Sterling came deep to get the ball, it was clear that Liverpool lacked bodies in the opposition’s penalty area.

When they did get chances, they clearly lacked a cutting edge with Henderson slow to react when twice found alone in front of heart. Substitute Lambert missed two gilt edge opportunities with the first one still ending up in the net after the ball ricocheted off Zabaleta’s knee after a wonder save from Joe Hart. A minute later, he decided to pass when it was easier to score in a one-on-one with the England goalkeeper. Daniel Sturridge clearly felt the burden of leading the line on his own as he tried hard to snapped on shots in the second half and started to go too deep to get the ball.

Clearly, Liverpool lacked the Suarez-like genius in attack but Reds fans should be encouraged with the new signings.

Hopefully, Mario Balotelli will lift some of the burden from Sturridge as well as providing moments of genious in the attacking third. Markovic was a threat from the first minute he came on as he showed nice trickery, pace and the eye for a pass.

Some of the impressive play demonstrated by Rodgers’ side in the first half will suit Adam Lallana just fine. With Balotelli and Sturridge as attacking options, and Lallana, Markovic, Coutinho and Sterling all options alongside the, in various possible formations, the future looks bright indeed in an attacking sense.

Nevertheless the defence is still a problem. Last week, Manquillo had an impressive debut and surely Glen Johnson’s time as Liverpool’s number one right-back is over. Once again, his defending against Man City was all over the place. Alberto Moreno unfortunately looks like a left sided version of Johnson being very good in attack but lacking in defence.

Dejan Lovren was rock solid with Southampton last year but his positioning was at fault on too many occasions in the Etihad. Rodgers needs to quickly find a suitable partnership from Sakho, Agger, Skrtel and Lovren that will fix the cracks in defence.

Overall, Rodgers will be encouraged by the first 40 minutes and the impact of his substitutes but he will be anxious to have a full squad as soon as possible so as to find the right balance. Against Manuel Pellegrini’s side, the fluidity and movement in attack in the early stages was truly impressive and will suit Balotelli and Lallana just fine.

However, against the clinical finishing, quality and experience of a side like Man City, Liverpool need to be more incisive in attack and have better judgements at the back. After this transfer window, the personnel to do this is there.

Fresh from spending somewhere in the region of £130 million, Barcelona has been slapped with a double transfer embargo ban meaning that they can’t buy any players during the next two windows.

Their transfer strategy this summer was plotted out with such an embargo in mind as the Catalan club finally spent some money in key areas of the pitch where they’ve been severely lacking over the past 2 or 3 years.

For too long, Barcelona has gambled on the fitness and form of central defensive pairing Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique who have just 72 La Liga appearances in the past two seasons between them. Javier Mascherano has done an admirable job playing in their stead. However the same can’t be said for the likes of Marc Bartra and Alex Song.

The arrivals of Arsenal third choice defender and a 30-year-old twice-capped French player are hardly awe-inspiring but at least new coach Luis Enrique has a few options in central defence especially after Puyol’s retirement. Moreover, both Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu are comfortable at left-back and may thus act as understudies for Jordi Alba.

The former Gunners skipper is also very comfortable distributing the ball managing a pass success rate of over 85% whilst in London, even though he likes playing the odd long pass or two. His seven Premier League goals in his first season in England show that the Belgian can also be a significant threat in set-pieces, just like Pique and Puyol.

Luis Suarez is the big profile signing and his 31 goals and 12 assists in just 33 league games for Liverpool show that he truly is a world-class talent. Finding a spot for Messi, Suarez and Neymar in a balanced starting 11 and ensuring all three remain in form will be one of the main tasks of Luis Enrique. Success is expected, and expect the Catalans to score tons of goals.

However, the Uruguayan’s four month ban means that he will only start playing once the season is fully in swing thus making it the more difficult for the former Roma and Celta Vigo coach to find the ideal role for his new talisman.

Finally, Ivan Rakitic’s arrival is in my opinion the most astute of all the signings as he contributed 12 assists as he led a very-limited Sevilla side to 5th place in La Liga as well as lifting the Europa League. He will be tasked to provide the balance, steel and creativity that was lacking in Cesc Fabregas’ last season in the Nou Camp.

Whilst I feel that man for man the Catalans have a stronger squad than last season, Luis Suarez’s ban, Luis Enrique’s relative inexperience and the period required for the new players to gel all mean that Barcelona are not my favourites for the La Liga title. Luis Enrique may well end up being successful immediately like Pep Guardiola, but I feel that his experience in Roma shows that his footballing philosophy may not always be appreciated by world-class players.

Barca fans all over the world will pray this is not the case and they will be encouraged by their fixture list in the next two months. If they don’t get at least 10 points from their first five games in La Liga, then I feel winning the league title will be too big a hurdle.

Players In:

Thomas Vermaelen (£15 million from Arsenal)
Luis Suarez (£75 million from Liverpool)
Ivan Rakitic (£16.2 million from Sevilla)
Claudio Bravo (£9.5 million from Real Sociedad)
Jeremy Mathieu (£15.8 million from Valencia)
Marc-Andre ter Stegen (£9.6 million from M’Gladbach)

Last Season’s Review:

Spanish La Liga – 2nd (87 points)
King’s Cup – Runners-up
Champions’ League – Quarter-finals
Spanish Supercup – Winners

Top Goalscorer – Lionel Messi (41 goals)
Goals scored (all competitions) – 148
Goals conceded (all competitions) – 48

Barcelona’s first 5 La Liga fixtures:

Home vs Elche (August 24)
Away vs Villareal (August 31)
Home vs Athletic Bilbao (September 13)
Away vs Levante (September 21)
Away vs Malaga (September 24)

August 22nd, 1964. Anfield. Liverpool, lining up with the legendary Roger Hunt up front, defeated Arsenal in a thrilling 3-2 match where both sides were separated by a last minute Don Howe own-goal.

It was another strong showing from the defending champions in front of their home supporters who were growing used to their team delivering full points in their own patch. However, it was in London, not Liverpool, where history was being made. Broadcasting history that is.

BBC’s Match of the Day was being broadcast for the very first time with former RAF pilot Kenneth Wolstenholme the presenter. Twenty thousand soccer fans in London (as the BBC2 channel was only available in the capital at the time) watched highlights of all the action in black and white. Highlights with no slow-motion replays. Can you imagine that?

Spectators in Anfield outnumbered these television viewers by 2 to 1 emphasizing the low-key start of one of today’s most, if not the most, popular soccer highlights shows.

MOTD has seen it’s fair share of legendary commentators with Wolstenholme (who commentated 23 consecutive FA finals and the 1966 World Cup, famously saying “They think it’s all over; it is now!” at the final whistle of the final), John Motson and Barry Davies.

Motson has been on the show for over 40 years, clocking up well over 2,000 matches. His voice, with all its charm and enthusiasm, has, for decades, become a familiar echo in households all over Britain and the world on Saturday nights (British time). And he’s still going on as strong as ever!

On the other hand, Davies retired in 2004, having started with MOTD in 1969. In news that delighted MOTD fans it was announced that he is to make a return as a commentator next Saturday for the Crystal Palace vs West Ham game in Selhurst Park. An iconic voice to mark an iconic occasion.

MOTD has delivered to soccer fans dozens, if not hundreds, of memorable moments, be it a goal from the halfway line by Luis Suarez, a point blank save by Peter Schmeichel, a last second goal by Sergio Aguero, a crunching tackle by Roy Keane, a header by Roger Hunt, the tears of Shay Given remembering his late friend Gary Speed, or the remembrance of the Hillsborough victims in Anfield games.

So many moments.

After all, football (or soccer) is more than just a sport. It’s a passion that fills the lives of so many people. And we’ve all lived these moments along with BBC on MOTD.

BBC has promised that next Saturday’s show will feature a trip down memory lane full of nostalgia as past matches, faces and voices are recalled in a special feature. Here’s hoping that the football/soccer on show will properly celebrate a truly special day for BBC!

Programming note: BBC’s Match of the Day on Saturday will feature the commentary of Barry Davies for the Crystal Palace-West Ham United match. Today, on Friday (August 22), there’s a special 50th anniversary show at 5:30pm ET/10:30pm UK time. See how to watch Match of the Day using a VPN.

James Alexander Gordon, the voice synonymous with the reading of classified football results on BBC Radio, has died, aged 78.

Forty years after getting the job he was at first “terrified of” on BBC Radio to read out soccer results, James Alexander Gordon was forced to step down. The then 77-year-old was forced to retire from his beloved role due to an illness that affected the very part of his body that made him so famous.

Gordon was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2013 and had surgery to remove part of his larynx thus affecting his voice to such an extent that he couldn’t continue his job.

There are few voices in British football that are as recognizable and that stand out as much as that of James Alexander Gordon. Sky Sports’ Martin Tyler and Match of the Day commentator John Motson may both come close to being placed in this category but their job never involved reading out results every Saturday afternoon at 5pm on radio.

He had a certain endearing quality to his tone of voice that made the relatively mundane experience of listening to numbers enjoyable.

Having contracted polio whilst still a young child, the radio broadcaster spent much of his early years in hospital.

Now, a year after surgery to remove his tumor, James Alexander Gordon has succumbed to his illness aged 78 years. Last season, all BBC radio listeners felt a void on Saturday afternoons as they couldn’t listen to Gordon’s wonderful intonation of results.

This time, round, it’s his family and friends that will feel his void the biggest as a gentleman has left them after they had stood by his side for months of treatment.

Charlotte Green, the first ever female presenter to have this role, replaced Gordon in 2013 but for many generations, it’s the voice of the latter that we will remember as we recall past results of our favorite teams or classical results being read out on BBC radio.

Here’s an interview with one of the legendary voices of British football:

RIP James Alexander Gordon (1936-2014).

Soccer is far from being a one-man game. However having instrumental players in-form in key games surely increases the chances of winning any match by any team against any opposition. The following is part one of a four-piece feature where I choose one player from each English Premier League team who I believe will be key in his side’s chances achieving their objectives, be it avoiding relegation, reaching the top 4 or winning the title.

Arsenal

Alexis Sanchez

During the past year, much has been made of the lack of striking cover Arsenal had for Olivier Giroud. With the emergence of Yaya Sanogo and Joel Campbell and the £35million acquisition of Alexis Sanchez, Arsene Wenger will surely put all those groans to bed.

Sanchez, who has scored 24 goals in 71 caps for Chile, has arrived from Barcelona with quite an impressive record in the attacking third as he scored 47 and assisted 34 goals in three seasons where he competed against the likes of Lionel Messi, Pedro, David Villa and Neymar for a starting berth.

Arsene Wenger’s back five seem to be getting stronger season after season as Wojciech Szczesny is slowly turning into a top class goalkeeper and Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker’s partnership has forced Thomas Vermaelen to join Barcelona.

Now the onus is on their front players, led by Alexis Sanchez, to bring more glory to the Emirates Stadium. The Tocopilla-born 25-year-old possesses an impressive burst of pace as well as great body strength that allows him to brush challenges ala Sergio Aguero. Much is expected from a player who has cost £60million in transfer money in three years. Will he be the missing piece that finally delivers another Premier League title for Wenger?

Aston Villa

Ron Vlaar

In the six Premier League matches that Vlaar missed last season, Aston Villa failed to register a single clean sheet. When he was in the side for the other 32 matches, they managed to keep a clean sheet on nine occasions. Coincidence? Possibly.

Fresh from a tremendous World Cup leading the Dutch defensive line, the Aston Villa skipper will be a huge part of Paul Lambert’s plans for this season. The 29-year-old centre-back has been linked to other clubs but Lambert will be keeping his fingers crossed that the chairman Randy Lerner won’t want to cash in on his captain.

Surely Villa fans all over the world would rather see their trusted-captain lead their defensive line rather than former Fulham and Arsenal misfit Phillippe Senderos!

The transfer window at Villa Park has been underwhelming to say the least as their American owner looks for a buyer with Aly Cissokho, Joe Cole and Kieran Richardson joining Senderos through the entry gates. Aston Villa is currently riddled with players bought from lower leagues who have failed to make a lasting impact on the Premier League.

On the other hand, Ron Vlaar fully deserves his place in the league and if Aston Villa want to stay in the league, they’d better keep hold of him.

Burnley

Danny Ings

At the beginning of last season, Sean Dyche decided to stick by a 21-year-old striker who had scored 6 goals during the whole of the previous two seasons to replace the QPR-bound Charlie Austin. The player was Danny Ings who rewarded his manager with 21 goals in the Championship and 26 goals in all competitions.

Upon arriving in Burnley, Dyche made sure to strengthen his defense and last season’s 37 goals conceded (the best defensive record of the league) were the fruit of his hard work. With the arrivals of veterans Steven Reid and Chris Baird, one feels that The Clarets are better equipped defensively this time round than they were in the 2009/2010 season where they were the team that conceded the most goals (82).

That was their first ever season in the Premier League and it didn’t end well as they were quickly relegated. That time, Steven Fletcher’s goals gave them a fighting chance and Sean Dyche will he hoping that his forwards will contribute similarly. Last season, Sam Vokes and Danny Ings scored 57% of their league goals. Last January, Ings was said to be close to a transfer to Liverpool and now that he’s in the first tier of English football, he will be eager to show his finishing qualities and pace. Dyche will certainly hope that Turf Moor will see plenty of more goals from their gem.

Chelsea

Nemanja Matic

This time round, Chelsea must be considered as the title favorites. Whatever Mourinho’s words about little horses, one still feels that had Chelsea not lost precious points against the likes of Aston Villa last season, they would have easily stolen the title from the grasp of Manchester City.

Chelsea version 2014/2015 is now even stronger than the 2013/2014 one with the smart acquisitions of seasoned top class players. Mourinho has the strikeforce that, as he nauseatingly always reminded us, he lacked last season with Diego Costa and Didier Drogba replacing Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba.

However, I believe that Chelsea’s trump card for this season is an acquisition they made last January. Towering at 194cm, Nemanja Matic was instrumental in Chelsea’s victories in the Premier League last season against Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham where they scored a total of 13 goals and didn’t concede any. His sheer power and body strength were the more evident as he brushed the giant Yaya Toure multiple times in the Etihad Stadium.

Added to his industry and passing ability, the 26-year-old acts as the perfect link between defense and attack in a way that John Obi Mikel can only dream of doing. After his January transfer, Matic boasted an impressive 85% pass completion rate for Chelsea. Why did Chelsea ever let him go in the first place?!

Crystal Palace

Jason Puncheon

Ever since Tony Pulis took over at Palace, they have become defensively very organized as he managed to turn a side that was shipping in goals into when that is incredibly difficult to beat. Pulis’ tactics may not be everyone’s cup of tea but one has to admit that this Palace side is easier on the eye than his Stoke side. Has Pulis decided to bend his principles? Or is it just a matter of this time having forward players that are suited to his system?

It’s no secret that Pulis expects his players up-front to do a lot of dirty work and at Stoke it seemed as if his forwards were, as a consequence, not being as much of as a threat to opposition defenses as they should have been. They were hard to beat, but they were also difficult to be beaten by.

On the other hand, last year with Crystal Palace, Pulis’ side also seemed to be capable of getting a goal from somewhere and this was in no small part due to Jason Puncheon’s contribution. The former Blackpool and Southampton winger had a magnificent second half of the season as he scored 7 goals from 1st January onwards directly contributing 16 points to the table, having scored just 9 goals in his Premier League career previously.

His ability to cover opposition fullbacks and at the same time be a threat with his pace and direct approach makes him ideal for Pulis’ philosophy. Palace fans will be thinking: “More of the same, please!”

Everton

Romelu Lukaku

£28 million may be an awful lot of money to spend on a 21-year-old for a club of Everton’s size, but then again, Lukaku isn’t any ordinary 21-year-old. The 6 feet 3 inches striker has scored 32 goals in his last two seasons in the English top flight showing a composure that belies his age.

Apart from being a goal threat, Lukaku’s aerial ability makes him the perfect foil for the runs of the likes of Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith, Leon Osman and Muhamed Besic. Coupled with a decent passing range and football intelligence, the Belgian forward is ideal player to be the fulcrum in Everton’s attacks.

Roberto Martinez’s side achieved a record 72 points last season with their Antwerp-born striker scoring 15 and assisting 6 goals. His 3.2 shots a game show that he has the “football arrogance” that his coach regularly talks about and wants to promote in his team.

Lukaku already has 32 caps for Belgium, in which he scored 7 goals, so he is not short of experience in various football stages. Upon entering the game against the USA in the World Cup, he had an instead impact scoring the second goal and playing an important part in the first as his country ran out 2-1 winners after extra time.

Hull City

Tom Huddlestone

During last year’s summer transfer window Steve Bruce significantly improved the spine of his team by acquiring Jake Livermore, Tom Huddlestone and centre-back Curtis Davis. These moves turned out to be truly inspired as Davies to a defence that conceded just three goals less than second-placed Liverpool, and Livermore and Huddlestone’s mutual understanding made them one of the best central midfield partnerships in England.

Towering at 6 feet 2 inches, Huddlestone is not the typical playmaker ala Pirlo, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta and co. However, his range of passing is truly a thing to behold when he has all his guns blazing and there are very few players who can master a long ball as well as the 27-year old.

Having been capped just four times with England, it’s fair to say that Huddlestone’s qualities haven’t always been fully appreciated. A couple of seasons on the bench for Tottenham at a crucial age for a footballer’s development didn’t help matters but, under the stewardship of Steve Bruce, the central midfielder seems to have found his feet once more.

Hull’s second consecutive season in the Premier League will be far from easy especially as they need to balance it with the Europa League. However, Huddlestone has showed at times that he can carry on his team on his shoulders and a few moments of inspiration from him in crucial matches can be the difference between a fine season and a disastrous one.

He will be looking to contribute more in the goals departments last season’s tally of three Premier League goals can do with a significant improvement. Still, Hull fans are optimistic that he can deliver.

Leicester City

Kasper Schmeichel

68 months after having played his last Premier League game for Manchester City, the son of Danish goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel will once more have a chance to impress in the highest tier of English football.

Having been displaced by an emerging Joe Hart in goal, Kasper Schmeichel will be looking to help save the Foxes from immediate relegation. He was a big reason why Leicester had the third best defensive record in the Championship last year having kept 18 clean sheets.

At the time of writing, the free transfers of the veteran Matthew Upson and rookie Louis Rowley have been the only defensive recruits to have entered the gates of the King Power Stadium. The Foxes, who had to endure a 10-year absence from the “best league in the world”, will therefore be looking towards Schmeichel to save their bacon against Premier League-level forwards.

For the past two seasons, the Copenhagen-born shot-stopper was part of the Championship’s PFA Team of the Year thus has been the quality of his performances. Like his father before him, Kasper is known to be very vocal with his defence and his leadership qualities will be essential to help his defensive unit keep a cool head.

As Cardiff City showed last year, a brilliant goalkeeper may not be enough to win games but head coach Nigel Pearson will be looking at his vice-captain at his last man to give his team a fighting chance. He excelled in the Championship; will Schmeichel manage to make the grade a level higher?

Liverpool

Daniel Sturridge

With Luis Suarez gone the onus will be on Daniel Sturridge to lead Liverpool’s forward line as they try to reproduce some of the remarkable attacking flair of last season. Between them, Suarez and Sturridge scored 52 goals (more than the total number of goals scored by ELEVEN teams in the EPL) as one defense after another came crumbling down when facing their pace, creativity and unpredictability.

This time round, can Sturridge reproduce those brilliant performances without Suarez by his side supplying world class passes and opening up spaces by his intelligent runs? As the Uruguayan was serving his suspension in August and September for biting Ivanovic, Sturridge scored in the first four matches of the 2013/2014 campaign, including in each of the 1-0 victories against Manchester United, Aston Villa and Stoke City.

Can this be reproduced in the long-term?

Only time will tell, but in Raheem Sterling, Phillippe Coutinho and new signing Lazar Markovic Sturridge has the kind of inventive and past-paced team-mates that can prove to be a perfect foil to his undoubted ability.

Ever since joining the Reds in January 2013, the 24-year-old scored 35 goals in all competitions in just 49 games. Apart from his 21 goals in the EPL last season, he provided a very reasonable 7 assists putting to bed claims done earlier in his career about him being a selfish player who put his achievements before those of his team.

Strikers generally don’t have a very good pass completion rate due to the area of the pitch were they mostly operate but in 2013/2014, Liverpool’s number 15 boasted of a 79% pass success rate. Luis Suarez’s was 75%.

Much of the attacking thrust present in abundance last season will thus time need to be delivered by only one half of the fables SAS partnership. Liverpool expects and the pressure will be firmly placed on the former Chelsea and Manchester City forward.

Manchester City

Yaya Toure

When he’s in-form, Toure can single-handedly win the league as demonstrated by his impressive performances in the latter stages of the 2011/2012 campaign. The 31-year-old seemed at times last season to have put it on himself to win matches single-handedly. An impressive 20 league goals and an average of 1.8 shots per game is a testament to that.

The term the “complete midfielder” is becoming a bit of a cliche to describe any midfielder that can pass and run, but in Toure’s case it is most apt. This colossal figure has a unique talent of towering above the rest of the opposition’s midfielders by using a mix of his sheer power and strength along with an eye for the perfect pass and a sniff for goalscoring chances.

His goals are also more often than not a thing to behold. In a side full of talent, the man from Ivory Coast is regularly entrusted with taking free-kicks from dangerous positions.

Toure also offers a wide passing ability range as he’s not afraid of trying the odd long ball and to free strikers with defence-splitting through passes. Albeit, he still managed a 90% pass success rate last season.

Manuel Pellegrini has showered his giant in midfield many-a-times and no one can really argue that Toure will be essential in the defense of a title that Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and, possibly even Manchester United, will be trying to wrestle from their hands.

We continue looking at the one player from each English Premier League side who I believe will be instrumental for his side’s hopes of achieving the objectives set out at the beginning of the season.

Manchester United

A New Centre-Back 

In Manchester United’s case, their most important player for the season is one who they don’t have and that will hopefully, at least for the fans, be coming soon.

At the time of writing, Manchester United have three senior injury-prone centre-backs on their books – Johnny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. From these three, only one, Evans, has really impressed for the Red Devils over a span of more than a season. On the other hand, Chris Smalling has managed to produce one bad display after another over the past two seasons and his inclusion in England squads just highlights the lack of English central defenders of any classthat are available for Roy Hodgson to select.

Phil Jones is currently not much more than a jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none kind of player. Sir Alex Ferguson once said that the player he bought from Blackburn Rovers may one day surpass Bobby Charlton as a legend of the club. Boy oh boy Fergie was no Nostradamus now, was he?

If pre-season is of any indication for what is to come, it seems that Louis van Gaal will be using a back three quite often with Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia seemingly his favoured wingbacks. However, this system is only possible if he has three fully fit and in-form centre-backs and this simply won’t be the case over a period of 9 months even if Manchester United won’t be playing in Europe.

Michael Carrick may be an option as a make-shift centre-half as his ball distribution skills may actually be quite useful in starting attacks from deep inside his side’s half. Still, it’s not enough. Far from it! Louis van Gaal has already made a positive impression on his squad and supporters; now it’s time to deal a decisive strike in the transfer market.

Newcastle

Remy Cabella

The long-awaited replacement for Yohan Cabaye has finally arrived (6months too late!). With the departure of their talisman to PSG in January, Newcastle’s season unravelled. Having managed to keep a save distance from relegation up till January, Mike Ashley, the Toon owner, decided not to invest in any replacement. This proved to be the downfall of Newcastle’s season as they lost 8 of the last 10 games, including three at St. James’ Park. Having scored 7 goals, Cabaye still ended the season as Newsactle’s second top-scorer behind Loic Remy.

This saw the Toon fall to tenth place having previously occupied a top 6 spot.

Cabella’s, who won the Ligue 1 with Montpellier in 2011/2012, last season with the French outfit was one to remember on a personal level as he bagged 14 goals in 37 league appearances as well as contributing 5 assists. Not bad for an offensive midfielder!

According to whoscored.com, Cabella won 9 man of the match awards in Ligue 1 in 2013/2014 producing 2.2 key passes a game.

With his versatility to also play on the wing, the 24-year-old will be instrumental to a side that has lacked numbers, especially up-front, in recent years. Filling the shoes of Cabaye won’t be easy but Cabella certain has the ability and confidence to make a name for himself in the black-and-white shirt. Along with fellow new signing de Jong, Cabella may once more help make the Toon army dream.

Queen’s Park Rangers

Steven Caulker

Old, over-paid players looking for a last huge pay-off before they retire into their massive mansions and bungalows. That’s quite an apt description for most players QPR bought for their Premier League season a couple of years ago.

They are currently being linked with a host of such players and one can’t help but think that they will never learn their lesson. Last January, Harry Redknapp brought in the likes of Richard Dunne, Karl Henry and Kevin Doyle who all are used to. Premier League wages. Luckily for the Loftus Road faithful QPR managed to scrape through promotion via play-offs. They managed, but only just.

However, at least this time round Tony Fernandes has brought in a player with genuine quality and potential who is on the road to becoming England’s best centre-back. Steven Caulker was a shining beacon at the back for Cardiff last year as his performances gave genuine hope to the Bluebirds in what was a farcical season due to the controversial actions of their owner Vincent Tan.

The 22-year-old chipped in with five EPL goals, including the winner against Welsh rivals Swansea.   His class is further shown by the fact that he only conceded ONE yellow card all season producing just 0.2 fouls per minute. He made 8.6 clearances and blocked 1.6 shots per match.

By feeding off from the expertise of the legendary Rio Ferdinand, Caulker can only get better. Much is expected a potential England star.

Southampton

Graziano Pelle

The 29-year-old Italian’s career has taken an up-and-down road that saw him play for sides such as Parma, Lecce, AZ Alkmaar and, more recently, Feyenoord. Having struggled to make a name for himself in the Eredivisie with AZ from 2007-2011, Pelle returned to the Serie A where goals were still hard to come by.

Still, a return to Holland totally changed his career and reputation as he netted 50 goals in 57 games for Feyenoord in the past couple of seasons. Towering at 6 feet 4 inches, Pelle is very strong in the air as well as being very good technically, making him a reliable replacement for Rickie Lambert.

Saints supporters have experienced a depressing summer so far watching their star players, as well as their manager, leave the club. The forward play that was so exciting to watch was built on Adam Lallana’s pace and creativity, as well as Jay Rodriguez’s runs and Rickie Lambert’s footballing intelligence and passing ability. Lambert and Lallana are now in Liverpool while Rodriguez is just coming back from a long-term injury, putting the weight firmly on the shoulders of Pelle to deliver as soon as possible.

The Italian has struggled to score against top-class defences but this time round he’ll have the confidence built from two unbelievable seasons in Holland that, however, went under the radar for most football fans. Pelle will be determined to showcase his qualities at the top level, knowing that further similar opportunities will be hard to come by in the future.

Here’s hoping that this new export from Holland will be more of a Wilfried Bony or Ruud van Nistelrooy, rather than a Ricky van Wolfswinkel or Afonso Alves.

Stoke City

Ryan Shawcross

The Potters skipper has been playing for Mark Hughes side since 2007 when Stoke were still plying their trade in the Championship. The 26-year-old is now just 16 matches away from making his 300th appearance and few will argue against his importance to the side ahead of the new season.

The one-capped England international epitomized Tony Pulis’ Stoke with his aggressive style and no non-sense defending. However, he has added a new dimension to his game under Hughes being especially evident in his 74.4% pass completion rate which is significantly better than his previous best of 69.3% in 2011/2012 and 65.1% last year.

Contrary to what many critics believed in the Pulis era, Shawcross has adapted well to a more passing game and it’s perhaps a shame that he is still remembered for his awful, leg-breaking tackle on Aaron Ramsey.

Nevertheless, his defensive qualities are still as important as ever averaging 8.6 clearances per game under his Welsh manager. In an era of tiki-taka passing, fast-paced counter attacks and possession-obsessed managers, the determination and never-say-die attitude of the likes of Ryan Shawcross will always stand out and may be the difference between a top 10 finish and a scrap with relegation.

Here is the fourth and final part of the previews of all the players I believe are going to help their side achieve their objections or more for the coming English Premier League Season. One player from each side has been selected as being the one most likely to be a hero come May.

Sunderland

Adam Johnson

January 2014 proved to be a turning point in Johnson’s career as we finally saw some of the potential that so many have said he has come out. He picked up the Premier League Player of the Month as he netted 6 goals and thus helped Sunderland kick-start their fight against relegation.

However, talk of a World Cup place proved to be greatly premature as the winger’s season somewhat fizzled out. 24 goals in 5 Premier League seasons from a player that was thought to be the next big thing coming out from England is just not right. This is all the more disappointing as Johnson has been widely criticized in the past for failing to spot a pass in the final third and instead just take a shot with his left foot. He doesn’t pass and he doesn’t score.

At 27 years of age, now is the time for Johnson to deliver consistently, game after game, on the big stage. The hat-trick performance against Fulham needs to be repeated more often. At times, towards the end of the season, Gus Poyet seemed to be losing patience with his winger playing him less and less. Roberto Mancini once said of the former Manchester City that he doesn’t try hard enough and unfortunately for Johnson time is now running out for him to prove to everyone he deserved all the hype that accompanied his first few months in the Premier League.

2013/2014 is the time for Johnson to take his opportunity to perform regularly by the scruff of the neck and help prevent a season similar to the one past for the Black Cats.

Swansea

Wilfried Bony

After Michu’s injury-ravaged past 12 months Wilfried Bony took full advantage of being the focal point of the Swans’ attack netting 25 goals over the whole season. Being just 25 years of age, Bony’s next 5 years should see him reach the peak of his career and Swansea will be desperate to hold on to him as much as possible.

Forty seven goals in 64 league games in the past two years is a great achievement for a striker who, truth be told, doesn’t do a whole lot of running during games. Goals are his main contribution, even though he did contribute 4 assists last season. Bony averaged just 24.3 passes per league game for Swansea but if one had to take away his goals they would have ended last campaign with ten points less.

Keeping hold of the Ivory Coast forward will surely be one of Garry Monk’s main aims of this transfer market. Without their talisman up-front, the Welsh club will be severely lacking in the attacking department as they simply don’t have a like-for-like replacement.

Being surrounded by players who prefer having the ball on the ground and playing it short, Bony is a breath of fresh air in the Swans’ line-up. He lacks the pace of Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer but his physicality and heading ability is virtually unrivaled in Swansea’s forward players. Bony offers a direct approach that will simply not exist if he is no longer in Wales.

Tottenham Hotspur

Hugo Lloris

A genuinely world-class goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris has been silencing the critics that accompanied his arrival to the British shores with brilliant reflex saves and well-timed interceptions. The French captain is the perfect modern goalkeeper as he combines his role as a shot-stopper to that of a sweeper. Andre Villas Boas was desperate to get him to White Heart Lane as his qualities make him ideal for a side playing a high defensive line as the Portugese coach regularly instructed his side to do.

Along with Manuel Neuer, Lloris is one of the best goalkeepers in the world in coming out of his line. As football is moving more towards fast-paced play and counter-attacking tactics, such goalkeepers are becoming priceless. Time and time again they prevent attackers from coming in a one-on-one situation with them by intercepting cross-field passes and through-balls.

The 27-year-old kept 18 clean sheets in the whole of last season and was left hapless in drubbings suffered against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City as his defense was in a shambles.

With the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs will be expected to press high up the pitch and thus keep a high line. Hugo Lloris should fit in easily with the system and he will in no doubt be reminded that his place isn’t only on the goal-line.

Tottenham will do well to hold on to Lloris in the next few months as he can truly be a game changer from between the goal posts. Having such a classy goalkeeper can only be of benefit to a defense that still needs to gel together after it was completely disrupted last year due to various injuries. If he has a fine season, rest assured that a top 4 spot is more than possible.

West Bromwich Albion

Ben Foster

Once more it’s another goalkeeper that may prove to be instrumental as the Baggies will need their number one to be on his toes and at his best if they are to avoid a fight with other relegation contenders.

Alan Irvine’s appointment was hardly the most edge-of-the-seat of stuff as the 56-year-old former Everton Head of Academy was given his first gig in the top flight. Last season, only five teams conceded more goals than West Brom with Foster missing around 3 months of football due to injury but still managing to keep 4 clean sheets. His impressive displays saw him being honoured by the club for a second time with both the Players’ and Supporters’ Player of the Year.

The former Manchester United shot-stopper is now 31 years old and it’s only in recent seasons that his career has really peaked. He never really made it as the next Peter Schmeichel whilst in. Manchester but currently he’s probably the only player in the West Brom squad who can have a genuine claim to play in a top 4 side.

Creativity, steel, pace and invention were all lacking in the West Brom squad in the past 12 months and the arrivals of Joleon Lescott, Andre Wisdom and Brown Ideye still leave a lot to be desired. It seems that once more, Ben Foster will need to be called upon to bail his side out and try to use his leadership qualities to help organize his defence.

West Ham

Mark Noble 

The Hammers captain is the longest serving member of Sam Allardyce’s squad having appeared 287 times for the first team squad despite his 27 years of age. At times last season it looked as if he was the only one who cared about the team’s fortunes as West Ham struggled to achieve any positive results at the turn of the year.

Playing in Sam Allardyce team means that the ball will spend an awfully long amount of time high up in the air and Noble averaged 5.1 long balls a game last season. However, rather impressively, his pass completion rate was 82.8% contributing 4 assists and making 1.5 key passes per match from his deep midfield role. He is also their primary penalty taker, scoring 3 Premier League goals.

Unlike most of his team-mates, he managed to keep fit all season appearing in all 38 Premier League games. Following a summer of turmoil, West Ham fans will be hoping that their skipper will keep things ticking at the middle of the park.

For so long Noble has been nothing more than an unsung hero as he quietly helped win midfield territory against more fabled opponents. He may once more not receive the plaudits he deserves from the media and England manager these next 12 months, but West Ham fans will be under no illusion about the fact that their skipper will be instrumental in their fight against survival.

Soccer is far from being a one-man game. However having instrumental players in-form in key games surely increases the chances of winning any match by any team against any opposition. The following is part one of a four-piece feature where I choose one player from each English Premier League team who I believe will be key in his side’s chances achieving their objectives, be it avoiding relegation, reaching the top 4 or winning the title.

Arsenal

Alexis Sanchez

During the past year, much has been made of the lack of striking cover Arsenal had for Olivier Giroud. With the emergence of Yaya Sanogo and Joel Campbell and the £35million acquisition of Alexis Sanchez, Arsene Wenger will surely put all those groans to bed.

Sanchez, who has scored 24 goals in 71 caps for Chile, has arrived from Barcelona with quite an impressive record in the attacking third as he scored 47 and assisted 34 goals in three seasons where he competed against the likes of Lionel Messi, Pedro, David Villa and Neymar for a starting berth.

Arsene Wenger’s back five seem to be getting stronger season after season as Wojciech Szczesny is slowly turning into a top class goalkeeper and Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker’s partnership has forced Thomas Vermaelen to join Barcelona.

Now the onus is on their front players, led by Alexis Sanchez, to bring more glory to the Emirates Stadium. The Tocopilla-born 25-year-old possesses an impressive burst of pace as well as great body strength that allows him to brush challenges ala Sergio Aguero. Much is expected from a player who has cost £60million in transfer money in three years. Will he be the missing piece that finally delivers another Premier League title for Wenger?

Aston Villa

Ron Vlaar

In the six Premier League matches that Vlaar missed last season, Aston Villa failed to register a single clean sheet. When he was in the side for the other 32 matches, they managed to keep a clean sheet on nine occasions. Coincidence? Possibly.

Fresh from a tremendous World Cup leading the Dutch defensive line, the Aston Villa skipper will be a huge part of Paul Lambert’s plans for this season. The 29-year-old centre-back has been linked to other clubs but Lambert will be keeping his fingers crossed that the chairman Randy Lerner won’t want to cash in on his captain.

Surely Villa fans all over the world would rather see their trusted-captain lead their defensive line rather than former Fulham and Arsenal misfit Phillippe Senderos!

The transfer window at Villa Park has been underwhelming to say the least as their American owner looks for a buyer with Aly Cissokho, Joe Cole and Kieran Richardson joining Senderos through the entry gates. Aston Villa is currently riddled with players bought from lower leagues who have failed to make a lasting impact on the Premier League.

On the other hand, Ron Vlaar fully deserves his place in the league and if Aston Villa want to stay in the league, they’d better keep hold of him.

Burnley

Danny Ings

At the beginning of last season, Sean Dyche decided to stick by a 21-year-old striker who had scored 6 goals during the whole of the previous two seasons to replace the QPR-bound Charlie Austin. The player was Danny Ings who rewarded his manager with 21 goals in the Championship and 26 goals in all competitions.

Upon arriving in Burnley, Dyche made sure to strengthen his defense and last season’s 37 goals conceded (the best defensive record of the league) were the fruit of his hard work. With the arrivals of veterans Steven Reid and Chris Baird, one feels that The Clarets are better equipped defensively this time round than they were in the 2009/2010 season where they were the team that conceded the most goals (82).

That was their first ever season in the Premier League and it didn’t end well as they were quickly relegated. That time, Steven Fletcher’s goals gave them a fighting chance and Sean Dyche will he hoping that his forwards will contribute similarly. Last season, Sam Vokes and Danny Ings scored 57% of their league goals. Last January, Ings was said to be close to a transfer to Liverpool and now that he’s in the first tier of English football, he will be eager to show his finishing qualities and pace. Dyche will certainly hope that Turf Moor will see plenty of more goals from their gem.

Chelsea

Nemanja Matic

This time round, Chelsea must be considered as the title favorites. Whatever Mourinho’s words about little horses, one still feels that had Chelsea not lost precious points against the likes of Aston Villa last season, they would have easily stolen the title from the grasp of Manchester City.

Chelsea version 2014/2015 is now even stronger than the 2013/2014 one with the smart acquisitions of seasoned top class players. Mourinho has the strikeforce that, as he nauseatingly always reminded us, he lacked last season with Diego Costa and Didier Drogba replacing Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba.

However, I believe that Chelsea’s trump card for this season is an acquisition they made last January. Towering at 194cm, Nemanja Matic was instrumental in Chelsea’s victories in the Premier League last season against Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham where they scored a total of 13 goals and didn’t concede any. His sheer power and body strength were the more evident as he brushed the giant Yaya Toure multiple times in the Etihad Stadium.

Added to his industry and passing ability, the 26-year-old acts as the perfect link between defense and attack in a way that John Obi Mikel can only dream of doing. After his January transfer, Matic boasted an impressive 85% pass completion rate for Chelsea. Why did Chelsea ever let him go in the first place?!

Crystal Palace

Jason Puncheon

Ever since Tony Pulis took over at Palace, they have become defensively very organized as he managed to turn a side that was shipping in goals into when that is incredibly difficult to beat. Pulis’ tactics may not be everyone’s cup of tea but one has to admit that this Palace side is easier on the eye than his Stoke side. Has Pulis decided to bend his principles? Or is it just a matter of this time having forward players that are suited to his system?

It’s no secret that Pulis expects his players up-front to do a lot of dirty work and at Stoke it seemed as if his forwards were, as a consequence, not being as much of as a threat to opposition defenses as they should have been. They were hard to beat, but they were also difficult to be beaten by.

On the other hand, last year with Crystal Palace, Pulis’ side also seemed to be capable of getting a goal from somewhere and this was in no small part due to Jason Puncheon’s contribution. The former Blackpool and Southampton winger had a magnificent second half of the season as he scored 7 goals from 1st January onwards directly contributing 16 points to the table, having scored just 9 goals in his Premier League career previously.

His ability to cover opposition fullbacks and at the same time be a threat with his pace and direct approach makes him ideal for Pulis’ philosophy. Palace fans will be thinking: “More of the same, please!”

The new soccer season in most European countries is just around the corner, and thus so is the fantasy league for Europe. Using a budget of 100 million on Euro Fantasy League, here is my fantasy Starting XI that I recommend you consider.

Goalkeeper: Salvatore Sirigu

Defenders: Flilipe Luiz or Cesar Azpilicueta, Rami, Barzagli, Pablo Zabaleta

Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Cesc Fabregas, Raheem Sterling, Luka Modric

Forwards: Radamel Falcao, Jan-Klaas Huntelaar

Subs: John Stones, Bojan Krkic, Aaron Ramsey

I based my choice by selecting players who are more likely to be in a team that manages to achieve a clean sheet as well as players who I think can produce assists and/or goals.

One must keep in mind that the transfer window is still yet to be shut, so any of these players can end up changing clubs.

Goalkeeper:

Salvatore Sirigu (PSG) – 5.5 million

I expect PSG to have quite a number of clean sheets with Sirigu continuing his impressive displays for the team from Paris. When called upon in the World Cup for Italy, he produced a number of stunning saves. More of the same please!

Defenders:

Pablo Zabaleta (Man City) – 8.0 million

Cesar Azpilicueta or Filipe Luis (Chelsea) – 7.5 million each

Andrea Barzagli (Juventus) – 8.0 million

Adil Rami (Milan) – 6.0 million

Juventus are currently the dominant team in Italy and clean sheets will be aplenty even after the change of coach. Thus, I put in Barzagli in my team. Mourinho and most of us will be expecting Chelsea to have a clean sheet more often than not. However, it still is unclear who is going to occupy the left back spot so it’s either Azpilicueta or Filipe Luis for my team. Either way, both cost 7.5 million! Zabaleta is a threat going forward so he may contribute to an assist or two. Rami is a bit of a gamble but he has impressed ever since joining Milan and he may well be the player around which Inzaghi will want to organize his defence.

Midfielders:

Paul Pogba (Juventus) – 9.5 million

Luka Modric (Real Madrid) – 8.0 million

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) – 8.0 million

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) – 8.5 million

All four midfielders selected here possess a serious goal-scoring threat as well as having the creative nous to set up goals. Moreover, a few points should also be won from clean sheets…well maybe not in Liverpool’s case!

Strikers:

Radamel Falcao (Monaco) – 8.5 milliom

Jan-Klaas Huntelaar (Schalke) – 8.0 million

These strikers, who are both currently being linked with various clubs, have truly impressive goalscoring records with most of the clubs they’ve been with. Falcao is in my opinion surprisingly cheap at 8.5 million even though he’s recovering from a serious injury.

Substitutes:

John Stones (Everton) – 4.0 million

Bojan Krkic (Stoke City) – 4.5 million

Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) – 6.0 million

Aaron Ramsey is at a bargain 6.0 million, especially if he re-produces some of the unbelievable performances from last year. I have a feeling that Krkic is finally going to reignite his career and hit the ground running in the Premier League as he is under the care of a coach, Mark Hughes, who managed to get the best out of the likes of Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz in the past.  John Stones will definitely be getting more playing time this season in a well-organized defence marshalled and organized by the experienced Phil Jagielka and Tim Howard from goal.

Have your say!

Do you agree with this line-up? What is your fantasy eleven (+three substitutes)? Feel free to comment below!

And don’t forget to sign up for the free Euro Fantasy League game, where you can pick your favorite players from all five top European leagues. Join today at eurofantasyleague.com

A new Premier League season is upon us and that can only mean one thing…BBC’s Match of the Day is back and this time round we are being treated to a fresh new line-up of pundits. Liverpool legend and MOTD veteran Alan Hansen will not be on the television screen of households and pubs all over the UK on Saturday nights. I for one will miss his unique one word phrases. “Diabolical”, “power”, “pace”, “catastrophic”….words delivered with such enthusiasm by a pundit who more often than not delivered in front of a camera.

Hansen will be remembered for famously saying that nothing can be won with kids as he wrote off Alex Ferguson’s young Manchester United squad just as soon as an era of dominance by the red half of Manchester was about to start. However, this should not leave a blot on his peerless and unique contribution to punditry.

The former Scottish central defender will be replaced by several pundits for the Saturday night show with new QPR recruit Rio Ferdinand, former Chelsea and Newcastle manager Ruud Gullit and Phil Neville all announced alongside last season’s regulars Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy and Robbie Savage.

Alan Shearer has at times come across as a pundit who rarely does any research on players, especially those playing in foreign leagues (he once claimed he didn’t know who Hatem Ben Arfa was before his move to Newcastle). Nevertheless, a couple of impressive showings during the World Cup month have done wonders in eliminating such thoughts about the Newcastle legend and I for one am looking forward to listening to him lambasting a striker for not “wanting the ball enough” or for not going into the box and showing “hunger”.

Danny Murphy and Rio Ferdinand have proved to be solid pundits regularly delivering their point across in a manner easily understood by viewers who may feel alienated by too much talk and emphasis on tactics and different formations. The fact that they have played against (or been/are teammates of) most players they’re commenting on adds significant weight to their remarks.

Ruud Gullit is a bit of an unknown with regards to punditry when compared to the rest of the cast. However, expect blunt remarks from the guy who was the first to coin the phrase “sexy football”. In recent interviews, Gullit has always looked at ease and composed making him ideal for the brief moments during the show in which he’s expected to give his insight.

With regards to the other two pundits, I’m not a fan. Robbie Savage’s main, and possibly only, contribution (apart from an iffy wardrobe) is lambasting football professionals for not doing their work properly. Rarely does he provide any meaningful insight. And unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Nevertheless, his celebrity status (enhanced by appearing on Strictly) outside football circles may attract viewers not usually accustomed to seeing football shows.

Phil Neville, it’s fair to say, has had a real baptism of fire coming into the punditry world. After commentating on the England-Italy game, he received a terrific backlash all over Twitter as thousands criticized his monotone delivery and lack of insight. While I do believe this backlash was harsh, the younger Neville has a lot of work to do to endear himself to an audience that can be very difficult to please, especially since millions of people from every existing social class tune in. Unfortunately, the brilliance of his brother Gary as a TV pundit with Sky means that Phil has a lot to live up to.

Finally, Gary Lineker will be the presenter of the show for a 16th consecutive year, a role that he does remarkably well and with the minimum amount of fuss, at least in the TV audience’s eyes. He manages to lighten up the mood during intense discussions and appeals to viewers from all walks of life with his quips and insights. His regular use of social media tools ensures that even young audiences are kept in tune with the show.

MOTD2 this season will again feature the brilliant and direct-to-the-point Mark Chapman as presenter. Meanwhile, here’s the line-up of pundits that were announced for MOTD2 for the coming season: Alan Shearer, Phil Neville, Danny Murphy, Neil Lennon, Mark Lawrenson, Jason Roberts, Martin Keown, Kevin Kilbane, Dion Dublin, Les Ferdinand and John Hartson.

Following the impressive performances – most notably the 5-1 victory over the defending champions Spain – of Louis van Gaal’s Dutch side in the World Cup, a new formation seems to be in vogue…the 3-5-2. In reality, many sides have utilized a back four in the last decade with Marcelo Bielsa’s Chile, Roberto Martinez’s Everton and Wigan, Walter Mazzarri’s Inter, Edy Reja’s Lazio, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Genoa, Roberto Donadoni’s Livorno, Antonio Conte’s Juventus and Steve Bruce’s Hull City all coming into mind.

Many teams in Serie A have been actually making use of similar formations in the past couple of years especially since many teams nowadays are playing with just one lone striker. However, it usually takes a famous and eagerly-followed spectacle such as a World Cup or Champions’ League that helps put the limelight on certain tactical innovations.

Below are four tactical innovations that I have chosen that have helped give a different dimension to how soccer tactics and formations are to be viewed. As will be seen, most innovations seem to sprout from the Italian Serie A. Obviously, there are many more tactical revolutions, such as the Dutch total football of the 1970s, that will not be mentioned.

1. Herrera’s Catenacccio

Italy, and specifically Inter Milan, are “notorious” for having introduced the ‘Catenaccio‘ (literal translation is ‘door-bolt’) into soccer. This defensive system was actually first used by the Austrian coach Karl Rappan in the 1930s but it was Helenio Herrera’s Inter that made it famous due to their impressive results. Rappan’s original plan was to have a “sweeper” playing behind a back three whose role was to sweep away any attacks that get past the three ahead of him. This was revolutionary since Rappan was coaching in an era where most teams lined up with four or five players in attack. Having four players to defend was hardly the norm!

While coaching the side that has become immortalised as “Grande Inter” in the 1960s, Herrera used a defensive 5-3-2 formation with a sweeper playing behind a back four rather than a back three. However, the wingbacks, one of whom was the legend Giacinto Facchetti, were given more of a role in attack, especially in counter-attacks.

The role of the sweeper sweeping attacks that have penetrated the defensive line is now more or less obsolete. However, Herrera’s catenaccio gave rise to innovative concepts that are still very much in use in modern soccer. Counter-attacking strategies used so often nowadays by coaches such as Jose Mourinho have their roots in this system. So too does the role of the modern full back that is so vital in both defence and in attack to provide width, especially during counter attacks.

The sweeper, or libero, also gradually changed over the years from a defensive role to a more creative one. Players such as Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Mattheus and Franco Baresi were all sweepers from whom most attacks used to actually start. This actually eventually gave rise to the modern creative holding midfielder with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Andrea Pirlo being sought out by their team-mates to start attacks from deep.

2. Ramsey’s Wingless Wonders

England has always had a reputation of producing top class wide players. John Barnes, David Beckham, Steve McManaman and Stanley Matthews are just some of the names that have excited crowds by their play on the wings. Nevertheless, in 1966, their World Cup squad didn’t boast such names in wide positions. What Alf Ramsey did have, however, was one of the best attacking midfielders ever to set foot on a football pitch and several fearless and skilful central midfielders.

In an era where most teams played in a 4-2-4 formation with offensive wingers on either side, Alf Ramsey decided to play a type of 4-4-2 with the four midfielders playing narrow. Thus, England’s wingless wonders were born. Bobby Charlton took up the spaces centrally behind the strikers with the fearless Nobby Stiles playing in a deeper role and utilizing his ball-winning skills to break off opponents’ attacks. Stiles is in fact fondly remembered by many England fans for his role in the semi-final against Portugal in nullifying Eusebio’s significant threat.

On either side, the industrious pair of Alan Ball and Martin Peters helped cover attacks from the wings but regularly found team-mates in a central area when in possession. Their skills and football intelligence helped bring about the midfield harmony on which the World Cup was won in Wembley.

3. Ancelotti’s Narrow Midfield

What do you do if your squad boasts several world class central attacking midfielders? Carlo Ancelotti was pondering this dilemma during his early years at AC Milan. His answer was simple: just lump them all in the starting line-up and forget about wingers by setting up the side in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation with a very narrow midfield.

He converted Andrea Pirlo into one of the best holding midfielders in world football making the most of his creativity and range of passing rather than his ball winning attributes. Ahead of him was the aggressive and bulldog-like Gennaro Gattuso and the finesse of Clarence Seedorf while Rui Costa (and later on Kaka) operated behind the strikers. Since the midfield was so narrow however, Ancelotti relied heavily on his full-backs to provide the necessary width with Cafu especially impressing.

At times, Ancelotti also set up his Milan team in a Christmas tree formation (4-3-2-1) with Pirlo once more usually anchoring the midfield and the rest of his central midfield team-mates taking up the remaining four slots in midfield. This was at a time when playing with just one striker was considered as taboo with club president Berlusconi actually once coming out in the media criticizing his manager and saying that Milan should always play with at least two attackers.

4. Spalletti’s False Nine

In the early days of 2006, Luciano Spalletti, the then AS Roma coach, faced a crisis in his forward line. The injury-prone Vincenzo Montella was his only out-and-out striker of any experience and his team had started the 2005/2006 season rather sluggishly. Whilst at the back Spalletti could rely in the expertice of the likes of Christian Chivu and Christian Panucci, his side lacked a cutting edge up front. His solution took the whole of Serie A by surprise.

Rather than dip into the transfer market for a new striker, Spalletti decided to simply not utilize one in a 4-6-0 formation. The aggression of Giuseppe de Rossi and creativity of David Pizarro were ideal for anchoring the midfield that boasted a front quarter of Rodrigo Taddei, Mancini, Simone Perrotta and Francesco Totti. Totti usually started off ahead of his team-mates in the “false 9” position with Taddei and Mancini coming in from the flanks and Perrotta advancing from a central role. This fluid front line meant that there wasn’t just one player spearheading the attack making marking from opposition defences very difficult. This helped Roma embark on a record 11-game winning streak.

This tactical innovation inspired many managers to try using different tactical line-ups utilizing a false nine with Guardiola’s Barcelona being the most successful in recent times in getting the best out of Lionel Messi in the position made famous by Francesco Totti and co.

And so it finally happened! 120 minutes on the 13th of July 2014; 120 minutes in the famous Maracana Stadium; 120 minutes to determine the World Champions; 120 minutes to change soccer players into legends.

…and what a tense 120 minutes it turned out to be as a total of 36 fouls were made. With seven goals conceded between both teams before kick-off, this was always going to be a cagey affair. Both sides were set up defensively very solid with the main objective being not to concede.

Chances were few and far between but Mario Goetze made the most of his only real chance in front of the Argentine goal. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos were the heartbeat of a resilient Die Mannschaft completing an impressive 191 passes between them. On the other hand, Lionel Messi was fairly anonymous as he completed just 28 passes and failed to test Manuel Neuer who once again was calmness personified in the German goal.

Angel di Maria and Sergio Aguero were deemed not fit enough for Argentina to be in the starting line-up with Ezequiel Lavezzi and the versatile Enzo Perez continuing in their place. La Albiceleste’s game-plan in the first half was clearly to soak up pressure and try to catch their opponents on the counter attack.

Whilst on paper the Germans were lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Thomas Mueller could be seen often taking up a position alongside Miroslav Klose and Mesut Oezil cropped down both the left and right sides of the Argentina defense time and time again. The midfield movement was fluid throughout much of the match.

Kroos helped make up the numbers down the center of midfield but at times the wide areas were left exposed in the opening 45 minutes with Oezil in particular seemingly reluctant to track back.

Argentina attacked with Lavezzi and Messi taking up areas behind Higuain and Perez coming in from the left side. However, while defending the PSG forward and Perez took up positions on either side of the midfield pairing of Javier Mascherano and Lucas Biglia thus defending in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Messi taking a role behind Higuain. These two banks of four helped keep things tight with the role of Lavezzi and Perez crucial to maintain the desired shape.

Germany’s set up was somewhat altered after half an hour play as Andre Schuerrle came on for a dazed Christoph Kramer who suffered a head injury moments earlier. Kroos was asked to restrain his attacking instinct taking Kramer’s (who was making his full World Cup debut) previously occupied role as Schuerrle joined Mueller and Oezil in an increasingly fluid German attacking line.

Truth be told, both sides cancelled each other in a cagey first half with the only real chances coming from two defensive mistakes (Kroos and Mascherano being the culprits) and a corner kick resulting in Hoewedes smashing the post with a firm header.

Throughout the World Cup, the Lavezzi has shown that his tactical discipline is miles better than that of Aguero’s and he proved so once again in Rio de Janeiro doubling up with Zabaleta behind him to set up an impenetrable barrier down the Argentine right. However, he was withdrawn in half-time with the Manchester City forward taking his place. Perez was shifted to a more central position with Aguero appearing alongside Higuain. This took the Germans by surprise as Argentina missed a couple of good opportunities to open the scoring early on in the second half with Messi being in particular wasteful.

Argentina’s defensive set-up in first half

 Argentina’s Set-up after half-time

This change turned the tables in midfield as Germany were now the ones out-numbered in central midfield with Kroos and Schweinsteiger having to deal with the trio of Mascherano, Biglia and Perez (and later Fernando Gago). The Barcelona’s midfielder role was especially important as he was now tasked to provide cover to his back four against a mobile German forward line.

Hoewedes was at times reluctant to do forward runs thus failing to provide the width needed in his side’s attacking third, which theoretically should have been more plentiful as the South American fullbacks now had less cover in front of them. This theory was only tested in the last 10 minutes with Phillipp Lahm finding pockets of space but Germany still failed to take full advantage.

Extra-time started off with more or less the same old story with Rodrigo Palacio showing plenty of heart but little composure and Goetze failing to provide any extra attacking stimulus after his introduction. Unfortunately, there were more clashes of heads than goal-scoring opportunities with Schweinsteiger ending up particularly bruised!

This all changed eight minutes from time as a long overdue German attack down the wing by Schurrle ended in a precise cross to Goetze who showed remarkable composure to put the ball past Romero. With no Lavezzi covering for Zabaleta, Mascherano ended up helping the Manchester City right-back tracking Schuerrle. Thus no one tracked Goetze’s run which caught the Argentine defense by surprise.

Would this have happened had Sabella kept faith in his two banks of four? Should he have kept Lavezzi on the pitch and brought off Higuain for Aguero? Who knows. Goetze certainly won’t care as he takes his place alongside the likes of Andres Iniesta, Zinedine Zidane, Andreas Brehme, Geoff Hurst, Alcides Ghiggia and Paolo Rossi to score for a winning team in a World Cup final.

Germany’s rebuilding process after Euro 2000 has finally paid dividends as the faith showed in Joachim Loew has been rewarded with a fourth World Cup title. Four goals conceded and 18 goals scored in their time in Brazil…few will begrudge them such an honor.

The winners of the 20th FIFA World Cup will be decided in a mouth-watering clash between two giants of international football in the historic Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Between them, Argentina and Germany have won 5 World Cup tournaments and both teams make part of the relatively short list of 8 nations that have won football’s greatest prize.

The three nations in this list hailing from South America (Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay) have won the World Cup a combined nine times. The other five nations in this list are Europeans (Germany, Italy, Spain, France & England) and overall they have 10 such titles to their name. A victory for Argentina in Rio will tie the score between both continents.

Argentina and Germany will be participating in the same World Cup final for a record third time. Maradona and co. won in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico by 3-2 thanks to goals from Jose Luis Brown, Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Rudi Voller completed the scoring.

Four years later, both teams clashed once more in Italy during an ill-tempered affair with a controversial penalty converted by Andreas Brehme deciding the contest.

World Cup Matches Between Argentina & Germany

Argentina – (West) Germany
Sweden 1958
Group Stage
1 – 3

England 1966
Group Stage
0 – 0

Mexico 1986
Final
3 – 2

Italy 1990
Final
0 – 1

Germany 2006
Quarter-Final
1 – 1 (Germany win 4-2 on pens)

South Africa 2010
Quarter-Final
0 – 4

Both nations have met each other six times in a World Cup competition whereby two matches were played in the group stage, another two matches were quarter-finals and the rest were the above-mentioned finals. Argentina have so far been victorious only once. However, significantly, this was the only time both nations played a World Cup game in the American continents as Diego Maradona lifted the prestigious trophy in Mexico City.

Argentina-Germany head-to-head encounters in World Cup History:

The most recent encounter between La Albiceleste and Die Mannschaft was four years ago where Joachim Loew’s team annihilated Maradona’s disorganized side that was full of talent but severely lacking any tactical nous and leadership from their head coach. The front three of Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez were isolated from the rest of the team as the German machine mercilessly ripped apart through the heart of the Argentinean defense time and time again. Out of Germany’s starting eleven from that day in the Green Point Stadium, ten have played in Brazil in the past month. Many feel that this German side has finely matured enough to final deliver another World Cup trophy, having reached the final in 2002 and the semi-finals in the following two tournaments.

Both teams have been quite miserly in defense in Brazil as Argentina have conceded just three goals (all in the group stages) whilst Germany have conceded four. La Albiceleste have only scored eight goals in six matches, half of which came from Lionel Messi. On the other hand, the Germans have scored a mammoth 17 goals.

Die Mannschaft also have a significant advantage in the international experience front. The starting eleven against Brazil had a combined total of 730 caps which is significantly greater than the combined 493 caps of the Argentinean starting eleven against the Netherlands. Argentina’s back four and goalkeeper in that game had 186 caps among them. Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller have five more caps between them.

Among them, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain have 68 international goals. Miroslav Klose has 71.

Vis-à-vis local leagues, Argentina only have three players in their who ply their trade in the Argentinean League; they have the same number playing for Manchester City (Aguero, Zabaleta, Demichelis). On the other hand, Germany only have seven players that do NOT play in the Bundesliga. This may help the German players to get used to each other’s playing style quicker and easier. The fluent nature of their play may actually stem partly from this fact.

As can be seen, most statistics seem to be favoring a Germany victory. Nevertheless, all this will be meaningless amongst the fanfare and noise of the Maracana. The only numbers relevant will be those on the scoreboard come the final whistle.
Finally, below is a list of some of Miroslav Klose’s most notable achievements in international football.

Miroslav Klose Facts

• Scored 71 goals in 136 international caps.
• Germany never lost a match he’s scored in
• Scored a record 16 goals in 22 World Cup matches
• Has participated in 15 victories, 3 draws and 4 losses in World Cup tournaments
• He’s the only player to score at least four goals in three different World Cup tournaments.
• Has scored in four different World Cups, a feat previously reached by Pele and Uwe Seeler.
• Has participated in a record 4 World Cup semi-finals. If he plays against Argentina, it will be his 2nd final.
• All of his five goals in Korea-Japan 2002 came from headers (a World Cup record)
• Has scored three goals so far against Argentina in the World Cup – one in 2006, two in 2010.
• Has also scored three goals in the European Championships (two in 2008, one in 2012)

The scorelines 2-1, 1-0, 3-2, 1-0, 1-0, 0-0 — these are hardly the results of world beaters especially when the opposition includes Iran (ranked 43rd in the FIFA ranking), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria and Switzerland.  However, “world beaters” is exactly what Argentina will be if they get past a Germany team whose morale is sky-high after their annihilation of hosts Brazil.

Although La Albiceleste have failed to win a match by more than one goal in Brazil, they have rarely looked like surrendering any lead that they had. Whilst Lionel Messi’s heroics were rightly being seen as their strong point in the group stages, many pundits are now looking at Mascherano and their defensive unit as being key to any success achieved at the Maracana Stadium.

Goalkeeper Sergio Romero was seen as their weak link prior to the start of the World Cup but his month in Brazil has helped to enhance his reputation tremendously. He’s still to concede a goal in the knockout stages and made crucial saves against Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder in the penalty shootout against the Netherlands. Weak link indeed!

On the other hand, Lionel Messi’s last goal came in the group stages during which he netted four goals. Nevertheless, his assist to Angel di Maria against Switzerland after a mazy run down the center of the opposition defense was instrumental in helping his country progress in Brazil. Against Belgium, he put in another dazzling display a few days later. Defenders are tending to crowd out Argentina’s number 10, leaving a bit more space to his attacking colleagues to try and pounce on any ball close to or inside the penalty area, as seen by Higuain’s strike against Belgium. The number 9 was not marked properly as Vincent Kompany and teammates focused on Messi’s trademark run and he took full advantage.

Alejandro Sabella’s team’s main advantage was Diego Maradona’s most obvious weak spot in South Africa 2010. Maradona was far from being a tactical genius and playing winger Jonas Gutierrez at right-back, expecting an aging Juan Sebastian Veron to dictate play in midfield and selecting Nicolas Otamendi in his squad just because he dreamt he saw the defender lifting the World Cup Trophy were hardly inspiring decisions. Current center backs Ezequiel Garay, Federico Fernandez and Martin Demichelis (fresh from a solid season for Manchester City) are proving to be a significant upgrade on Gabriel Heinze, Nicolas Burdisso, Otamendi and an injury-ravaged Walter Samuel.

In their first game against Bosnia, Argentina lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, mostly due to Gonzalo Higuain’s lack of fitness. The players were clearly uncomfortable in such a set up with Maxi Rodriguez and Angel di Maria struggling to dominate midfield alongside Javier Mascherano. A shift to 4-3-3 in half-time and dropping Maxi Rodriguez for Fernando Gago and Lucas Biglia in later games has helped to achieve a good balance in midfield. Javier Mascherano is the destroyer, Fernando Gago or Lucas Biglia act as the supporting cast helping to keep things ticking in midfield, whilst di Maria was the link between the front three and the players behind them.

After di Maria’s injury against Belgium, Benfica’s Enzo Perez has taken up his role with limited success. Against Germany in 2010, Maradona’s midfield trio were di Maria, Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez, so not much has changed in personnel. However, the decision to play Biglia or Gago who are able to maintain a better balance than Maxi Rodriguez has been decisive. Moreover, di Maria’s recent experience playing in a central role for Real Madrid has given give vital experience in a tricky area of the pitch. Whilst he may now be injured, his performances earlier in the tournament helped instill the necessary confidence in his midfield team-mates that they’re able to dominate games.

Argentina fans will be the first to admit that their team has been very far from inspiring in the current World Cup but at the end of the day, they are the ones lining up in the Maracana on Sunday. In 2010, Spain won all of their knockout matches 1-0 but were considered to be one of the best, if not the best, teams in the modern era. Moreover, they lost their first game against Switzerland!

Italy only managed to get three draws in the group stage in 1982 whilst in 1998 France achieved 1-0, 0-0, 1-0 results in the three games before the final against Brazil. Again, hardly the stuff of world beaters but that’s exactly what such teams are now considered to be. World Cup winners…world beaters! Moreover, players like Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Paolo Rossi and Marco Tardelli are seen as legends of the game…can Javier Mascherano, Sergio Romero, Pablo Zabaleta and Lionel Messi end up being considered in the same vein? We’ll soon know.