In this international week, and inspired by this article recently posted on World Soccer Talk, I thought it would be interesting to look at forming international teams out of players who play in the Premier League. Little did I know how much work this would be! There are currently players from 65 countries on the books of Premier League teams, and that doesn’t include the Adnan Januzaj multi-cultural phenomenon.

Be warned this article contains some strange formations, unbalanced teams, players out of positions and some weird national combinations.  But it’s all in good fun to pass the time during the slow news week that the international break always is.  I’m sure I’ve overlooked people so weigh your thoughts in the comments please.

By the way, I have left England out since no England national team players play overseas at this time (with the exception of Celtic’s goalkeeper).

The teams are listed in no particular order. Skip to the end for the totally made up simulated tournament to see which international squad will win the fictitious tournament.

Belgium All-Stars

For such a small country to produce such a powerful team is quite remarkable. Playing an attacking 3-4-3 formation, this team is quite a powerhouse

GK: Simon Mignolet, Liverpool
DEF: Vincent Kompany, Man City
DEF: Jan Vertonghen, Spurs
DEF: Thomas Vermaelen, Arsenal
MID: Marouane Fellaini, Man Utd
MID: Moussa Dembele, Spurs
MID: Kevin De Bruyne, Chelsea
MID: Eden Hazard, Chelsea
FWD: Kevin Mirallas, Everton
FWD: Romelu Lukaku, Everton/Chelsea
FWD: Christian Benteke, Aston Villa

Wales All-Stars

Lining up with a solid defensive 5-3-2, Wales have a powerful midfield and an ancient forward line. The loss of Gareth Bale has clearly hurt this team.

GK: Lewis Price, Crystal Palace
DEF James Collins, WHU
DEF: Danny Gabbidon, Crystal Palace
DEF: Ashley Williams, Swansea
DEF: Ben Davies, Swansea
DEF: Neil Taylor, Swansea
MID: Joe Allen, Liverpool
MID: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal
MID: Lloyd Isgrove, Southampton
FWD: Craig Bellamy, Cardiff
FWD: Ryan Giggs, Man Utd

Scotland All-Stars

Once the power of English soccer, Scotland is now barely able to field a team, sporting a number of backup players, injuries and out of form players. The midfield is a strength but where will the goals come from?

GK: David Marshall, Cardiff City
DEF: Alan Hutton, Aston Villa
DEF: Russell Martin, Norwich City
DEF: Steven Whittaker, Norwich City
DEF: Danny Fox, Southampton
MID: Charlie Adam, Stoke
MID: Graham Dorrans, WBA
MID: James Morrison, WBA
MID: Robert Snodgrass, Norwich City
FWD: Steven Fletcher, Sunderland
FWD: Steven Naismith, Everton

Ireland & Northern Ireland All-Stars

Putting politics aside, we have a combined Ireland side. Playing a 4-5-1, the midfield looks strong but where will the goals come from?

GK: Keiren Westwood (Ire), Sunderland
DEF: Seamus Coleman (Ire), Everton
DEF: Jonny Evans (NI), Man Utd
DEF: Gareth McAuley (NI), WBA
DEF: Marc Wilson (Ire), Stoke
MID: James McCarthy (Ire), Everton
MID: Steven Davis (NI), Southampton
MID: Robbie Brady (Ire), Hull City
MID: Damien Duff (Ire), Fulham
MID: Jonathan Walters , Stoke
FWD: Shane Long (Ire), WBA

France All-Stars

With 36 footballers, France has the most non-English players in the Premier League. There are a lot to choose from in most positions, but you can’t say the team is especially strong.

GK: Hugo Lloris, Tottenham
DEF: Patrice Evra, Man Utd
DEF: Mathieu Debuchy, Newcastle
DEF: Sylvain Distin, Everton
DEF: Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Newcastle
MID: Samir Nasri, Man City
MID: Moussa Sissoko, Newcastle
MID: Morgan Schneiderlin, Southampton
MID: Hatem Ben Arfa, Newcastle
FWD: Olivier Giroud, Arsenal
FWD:  Yoan Gouffran, Newcastle

Netherlands All-Stars

Another small country with an incredible depth of talent, Holland suffers from most of their top players plying their trade in other countries.

GK: Tim Krul, Newcastle
DEF: Erik Pieters, Stoke
DEF: Ron Vlaar, Aston Villa
DEF: Johnny Heitinga, Everton
DEF: Jos Hooiveld, Southampton
MID:  Vurnon Anita, Newcastle
MID: Leroy Fer, Norwich
MID: Jonathan de Guzmán, Swansea
MID: Marco van Ginkel, Chelsea
FWD: Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Norwich
FWD: Robin Van Persie, Man Utd

Spain All-Stars

As with the real national team, Spain is a powerhouse and is clearly one of the favorites for this tournament. Their attacking midfield options are so strong we are forced into a 3-5-2 formation with a strong Swansea component. No room for Fernando Torres in this lineup.

GK: David De Gea, Man Utd
DEF: Antonio Luna, Aston Villa
DEF: Angel Rangel, Swansea
DEF: Flores, Swansea
MID: Michu, Swansea
MID: David Silva, Man City
MID: Juan Mata, Chelsea
MID: Jesus Navas, Man City
MID: Santi Cazorla, Arsenal
FWD: Álvaro Negredo, Man City
FWD: Roberto Soldado, Tottenham

Eastern Europe All-Stars 

A coalition of countries loosely in the Eastern part of Europe, this team has the strongest defense out there, but is hence rather unbalanced with it’s 5-2-3 formation.

GK: Asmir Begovic (Bos), Stoke City
DEF: Ondrej Celustka (Czech), Sunderland
DEF: Branislav Ivanovic (Serbia), Chelsea
DEF: Nemanja Vidic (Serbia), Man Utd
DEF: Matija Nastasic (Serbia), Man City
DEF: Martin Skrtel (Slovakia), Liverpool
MID: Robert Koren (Slovenia), Hull City
MID: Stevan Jovetic (Montenegro), Man City
FWD: Edin Dzeko (Bosnia), Man City
FWD: Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria), Fulham
FWD: Nikica Jelavic (Croatia), Everton

Scandinavia All-Stars 

Not surprisingly a strong team from Northern Europe, the Scandanvia All-Stars are a little weak up front and aged in defense but they have strength in midfield.

GK: Jussi Jääskeläinen (Fin), WHU
DEF: Brede Hangeland (Nor), Fulham
DEF: Daniel Agger (Den), Liverpool
DEF: Jonas Olsson (Swe), WBA
DEF: John Arne Riise (Nor), Fulham
MID: Sebastian Larsson (Swe), Sunderland
MID: Christian Eriksen (Den), Tottenham
MID: Pajtim Kasami (Swi), Fulham
MID: Aron Gunnarsson (Ice), Cardiff
MID: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Ice), Tottenham
FWD: Johan Elmander (SWE), Norwich

Portugal, Italy and Germany All-Stars 

These traditionally strong nations offer a mixed bag in the Premier League.  They have some strengths but feature a range of skills in the outfielders and a backup goalie. They’re clearly strengthened by Ozil and his Arsenal teammates.

GK: Vito Mannone (Italy), Sunderland
DEF: Sascha Riether (Ger), Fulham
DEF: Robert Huth (Ger), Stoke
DEF: Per Mertesacker (Ger), Arsenal
DEF: José Fonte (Por), Southampton
MID: Lewis Holtby (Ger), Tottenham
MID: Nani (Por), Man Utd
MID: Mesut Özil (Ger), Arsenal
FWD: Ricardo Vaz Tê (Por), WHU
FWD: Lukas Podolski (Ger), Arsenal
FWD: Pablo Osvaldo (Italy), Southampton

CONCACAF All-Stars

Moving to CONCACAF, we found a team a team with a wide variety of footballers from different nations. The main concern is the lack of defenders, causing us to rely on Tim Howard to become a temporary defender.

GK: Brad Guzan (USA), Aston Villa
DEF: Tim Howard (USA), Everton
DEF: Geoff Cameron (USA), Stoke
DEF: Maynor Figueroa (HON), Hull City
MID: Brek Shea (USA), Stoke
MID: Bryan Ruiz (CR), Fulham
MID: Wilson Palacios (Hon), Stoke
MID: Maurice Edu (USA), Stoke
FWD: Chicharito (Mex), Man Utd
FWD: Kenwyne Jones (T&T), Stoke City
FWD: Jozy Altidore (USA), Sunderland

Africa All-Stars 

A relatively strong team with one major flaw — no goalkeeper (Tim Howard is not eligible). Sadly we had to find someone, so put on your gloves Samuel!

GK: Samuel Eto’o (Cam), Chelsea
DEF: Victor Wanyama (Ken), Southampton
DEF: Sébastien Bassong (Cam), Norwich City
DEF: Kolo Toure (CI), Liverpool
DEF: Youssuf Mulumbu (Con), WBA
MID: YaYa Toure (CI), Man City
MID: Mohamed Diamé (Sen), WHU
MID: Adel Taarabt (Mor), Fulham
MID: Victor Moses (Nig), Liverpool
FWD: Wilfried Bony (CI), Swansea
FWD:  Papiss Demba Cissé (Sen), Newcastle

Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia All-Stars 

This mixed team is very strong up front but has some questions in defense.

GK: Julian Speroni (Arg), Crystal Palace
DEF: Fabricio Coloccini (Arg), Newcastle
DEF: Pablo Zabeleta (Arg), Man City
DEF: Martín Demichelis (Arg), Man City
DEF: Antolín Alcaraz (Par), Everton
MID: Claudio Yacob (Arg), WBA
MID: Jonás Gutiérrez (Arg), Newcastle
MID: Antonio Valencia (Ecu), Man Utd
FWD: Hugo Rodallega (Col), Fulham
FWD: Eric Lamela (Arg), Tottenham
FWD: Kun Agüero (Arg), Man City

Uruguay Brazil All-Stars 

Finally another strong entrant, but once again a team is missing a reliable goalkeeper!

GK: Heurelho Gomes (Brazil), Tottenham
DEF: Rafael (Brazil), Man Utd
DEF: Fabio (Brazil), Man Utd
DEF: Diego Lugano (Urg), WBA
DEF: David Luiz (Brazil), Chelsea
MID: Lucas (Brazil), Liverpool
MID: Fernandinho (Brazil), Man City
MID: Gaston Ramirez (Urg), Southampton
MID: Paulhino (Brazil), Tottenham
MID: Oscar (Brazil), Chelsea
FWD:Luis Suarez (Urg), Liverpool

And here are the results of the fictitious competition between the all-star teams, including a late qualification by England…

The Tournament

Seeded straight knockout.

First Round

Spain 5 – 1 Rest of The World
Belgium 4 – 0 CONCACAF
Uruguay-Brazil 2 – 0 Ireland All-Stars
Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia 1 – 0 Eastern Europe
Netherlands 2 – 0 Scotland
Portugal, Italy, Germany 3 – 0 Wales
Africa 3 – 4 England  (Africa couldn’t hold up without a goalkeeper)
Scandanavia 2 – 1 France

Quarter Finals

Spain 3 – 1 Scandanvia
Belgium 3 – 0 England
Uruguay-Brazil 2 – 2 Portugal, Italy, Germany (Uruguay-Brazil wins on PKs)
Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia 2 – 1 Netherlands

Semi Finals

Spain 2 – 1 Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia
Belgium 2 – 1 Uruguay-Brazil

Final

Spain 3 – 2 Belgium

What a mess I am in. Despite my love of modern tools, music and life, I have a broad traditionalist streak when it comes to my soccer. Then, despite my passion for Manchester United and my dislike of Liverpool and particularly Luis Suarez, I have to accept that this last weekend’s decisions were wrong and I will present a technology solution to them.

In both cases I can actually forgive/understand the assistant referee’s situation. They have to see or know when the ball was kicked AND look where the player is at that exact moment. In both cases (though perhaps less so with Arteta’s goal for Arsenal) the ball moved position so quickly that I have some sympathy for their decision making.

So my solution is – video technology for offside on goals. Whenever a goal is scored, the goal is given and the 4th official or new 5th official has time to review the video. If the player or players are determined to be offside, then the goal is disallowed. This could be done with some kind of signal or something more visible, and exciting, like a red/green flag system. Obviously this can only really be used in top flight games.

Now everyone I explain this to points out a flaw, but I have a response. The flaw they say is… what about moves where offside is called but it turns out that the player was not offside and a goal could have come from that move. To me this is easy and solved by human nature. If the referees know that the technology is going to give them the final decision on a goal, then they will be far less likely to make 50/50 subjective calls. A linesman should only call offside when he is 100% sure, yet we constantly see them making judgement calls (some would call them guesses). With this system they can rely on the the technology helping them if a goal is scored and if a goal is not scored there really is no harm.

I’m not really a fan of technology in football but I think anything that can stop the guessing that is occurring from match officials can only make things better. If you only do it for goals, then the big issues are corrected and the game is barely, if at all, delayed.

What do you think ?

Let’s start with a clear statement. I don’t really like international football and I hate international breaks.

I didn’t used to have this feeling, but I do now. I should also add that while I live in the United States, I am English, since that may be a factor.  The exception being the Euro Championship and the World Cup, of course.

On a recent podcast the host described international breaks and Premier League like watching a fantastic three hour movie, where they stop it every 30 minutes to show a documentary.  On it’s own you might like the documentary, but not when it ruins your main feature.

In truth, this wasn’t always the case. For those that don’t remember, it’s not all that long since international games seemed exciting.  They were initially played on a Wednesday after club games were played on a Saturday. They were then followed by a club game the next weekend.  A great sojourn where you saw teams like Germany and Holland on a regular basis, and your “minnows” were Poland and Romania (though Luxembourg and Liechtenstein were always there as the true minnows).

Later a not disastrous move was made to change it so a game was played on a Saturday with often another game on the Wednesday before or after. However with the current situation, the break takes up an entire two weeks. Coming so early in the club season, it feels completely unnatural.

As a side note, I really used to enjoy the mini tournament home international tournament that was lost due to all the changes.

There are reasons these changes came about — the increase in games from the Champions League and the advent of many more international teams due to all the various independence activities over the last 20 years being the main drivers.

So what would I do to change this? Before I share my ideas, I want to admit that I don’t have a completely solid idea that works for both European Championship and World Cup qualifying. I’m looking for your ideas in the comments, so get your thinking caps on.  The major tenets of my ideas are:

1. Less games
2. More meaningful games
3. More games between stronger teams
4. Longer, more condensed international periods

So let’s start with the slightly easier World Cup Qualifying.  There are currently 53 countries in UEFA. For Brazil we need to, I believe, provide 13 qualifiers. Currently we have 9 groups, most with 6 teams. This results in 10 games per team. The winners qualify plus the 8 best second places playoff.  The “best” second places rule is such a flawed system I find it hard to comprehend. This basically rewards teams in weaker groups and ends up with us not knowing, or understanding who is through or not until after the last group games (it’s harder for us to figure out).

The primary approach of my suggestion is to break the qualifying into two groups, an upper tier and a pre-qualification tier. The pre-qualification teams play a mini-tournament to gain access to the main group.  To get the 13 teams needed, I am suggesting a final set of 13 groups of 3 teams.  This would result in each major team only needing to play 4 games.  So:

• 13 groups of 3 teams each = 39 teams
• 27 teams seeded into the final round (based on whatever criteria we believe works)
• The remaining 26 teams play a small tourney to grab the remaining 12 spots
• Then the winners of each group qualify for the World Cup.

Now for the schedule.  I would suggest we play the final round in a condensed mini-tournament, the summer before the World Cup.  So in this year’s qualifying, after the 2013 end of season, a 3 or 4 week window of international games occurs where all 6 match days are played.  This would almost be like a mini Euro’s every other year and we already said we like that.  The pre qualifying tournament could be played the year before (2012 in this case), just before the World Cup.

Time on the calendar for the tournament is not an issue, because if you remove the in-season international breaks, still allowing for a number of Wednesday friendlies or “get together weeks,” you get back eight or so weeks of the season.  After the domestic season ends, you have time for a friendly or two before the qualifying tourney begins.

Personally I would not seed these final groups but I can see why you might want to.  Going off the current FIFA ranking to get an idea here is the kind of groups and hence games, you could get:

Top games across the board? No, that’s what I wouldn’t seed it. But it’s definitely more interesting. Small teams still have the chance to play in for 12 positions. Only 4 games allows for some surprises and definitely for more excitement with each game meaning something. Another advantage of this approach is that it’s relatively flexible when Europe needs to provide less or more teams to the World Cup based on the latest structure of the final tournament.

Making this work for the Euro’s is not quite as simple due to the ridiculous decision to increase the teams to 24 (meaning the “best” 3rd place rule is coming in for that also).  In this case, with one host we need 23 qualifiers. For simplicity, I’m going to let the holders auto qualify, so that’s 22. I propose 11 groups of 4 teams, with the top two from each qualifying.  This results in 33 automatically moving to the final round and 20 teams playing for the remaining 11 positions.  You then have to play 6 games in the tournament, over 6 match days, which is still 3-4 weeks.

What other ideas are there?  Well, you tell me. Many people point to the South American system, where all teams play each other home and away in a long league, but they have a limited set of teams.

One interesting approach I thought of was something similar to the NFL. Create regional “divisions,” have them play each other, plus play against the equal-ranked teams from other divisions from the previous tournament.  It’s an interesting idea but it’s hard to cut the number of games this way and it has other flaws.

Let us know what you think. Do you like the current system? How would you change it?

Despite being a fan of one of the “big” teams I was quite excited when I first heard about Financial Fair Play. A system that could help balance the increasingly top heavy world of financial football. As a resident of the US, I could see how baseball, US football and basketball teams can quickly become competitive due to the various salary caps, taxes and shared revenues. But the fact that the world’s biggest soccer teams were against it surely spoke that it was going to work for the masses and not just the elite. Imagining a system where Wigan could afford the same squad as Manchester City, and where anyone could win the league each year sounded fantastic. Boy was I fooled.

So what is Financial Fair Play (FFP), because it is surely completely misunderstood, even, as far as I can tell, by the very people who proposed it? In 2008 UEFA’s Executive Committee unanimously approved a financial fair play concept for the game’s well-being in September 2009. The concept has also been supported by the entire football family, with its principal objectives being to:

• introduce more discipline and rationality in club football finances,
• decrease pressure on salaries and transfer fees and limit inflationary effect,
• encourage clubs to compete with(in) their revenues,
• encourage long-term investments in the youth sector and infrastructure,
• protect the long-term viability of European club football, and
• ensure clubs settle their liabilities on a timely basis.

You must meet the criteria to be allowed to play in the Champions League.

As you can see this all sounds great. It is being introduced very gradually. Right now we are in the second season of it but its effects are hardly being felt. But what has happened is that the media has somehow translated this into a form of balancing / salary cap. It’s presented as a way of leveling the playing field for all. In truth it’s something quite different. It levels the playing field for the biggest teams, between each other, to some extent, while creating an even bigger gulf to the medium and smaller clubs. It’s bad for smaller clubs and it’s generally bad for British clubs for reasons I will explain below.

At it’s simplest level what FFP requires is that teams break even on football related finances. So this means that football revenue such as gate money, sponsorships and income from transfers must equal or exceed football expenses, primarily wages and transfer fees paid. A great concept with a huge flaw even before you consider the loopholes described later.

The biggest flaw is that “big” teams such as Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid have huge incomes. FFP will allow these teams to spend all that money on wages and transfers. However small teams, for example Wigan and Bolton, have very low incomes and hence cannot be funded by external sources in order to compete with larger teams. It both disallows teams from competing now and creates a huge barrier to any team benefiting from an investment from a well funded source such as Manchester City and Paris St. Germain have recently received. So in the end the big teams will get bigger, while spending less than they do today, and the smaller teams will stay where they are. Additionally smaller teams will receive less windfalls of large transfer fees from larger teams who would be less willing to outlay that amount of money.

Then there are the loopholes. Loopholes such as huge sponsorship deals from companies, again for the larger teams, from parties with a vested interest. Or perhaps huge naming rights for stadiums from companies with close ties to the team’s owners. Then there is massive sales of “overseas rights” to consortiums without clearly identied investors. All this, again, allowing the bigger teams to get bigger.

Finally there is the unfairness of FFP. Tax rates across UEFA countries vary considerably. Using broad stroke numbers, if a player who resides in the UK wants to take home £100k per week then they must be paid around £200k. However in Spain to take home that amount the club only need pay around £130k. This means the football expenditure of a British team must vastly exceed that of a Spanish one even to present on the pitch the exact same team.

I suspect that FFP will quietly disappear. It was announced with great fanfare but many now seem to understand it’s problems. This is what I want you assume. Sadly no, I do think we need a system that can limit the ridiculous inflation of player wages, that can provide smaller teams a real chance to compete and that can stop some clubs second eleven’s being the fourth or fifth best teams in their country. In England I think there is, at best, six teams that will win the Premier League in the next 20 years. In Spain it’s probably two, with the odd year of exception only proving the rule. It creates a much better top tier, but a much weaker substance below it. I simply cannot imagine being a supporter of a solid Premier League team such as Stoke or Bolton starting the season simply knowing that you cannot win anything. I can’t see anyway that a salary cap can be made to work and revenue sharing seems to be a bolted horse also. I don’t have a solution for you.

Financial Fair Play had it’s heart in the right place I believe, but sadly it’s brain was placed elsewhere.

Photo by americanistadechiapas

I love John O’Shea. Okay, it’s in that manly football fan kind of way, but still – I love John O’Shea. He’s my kind of player — not overly talented, not overly athletic and not overly handsome. But he will do a job for you anywhere, anytime, any place. Every team needs players like John O’Shea and in truth, outside of the top few teams, many players are like John O’Shea but the top teams have surprisingly few. Long serving, loyal, never complains, always available and ready to do whatever you ask of him. I haven’t run all the facts but his five championships, three League Cups, one FA Cup and one Champions League medal haul must make him one of the most decorated players of recent times. And yet he’s not appreciated.

John O’Shea was born 30th of April 1981 in Waterford, Ireland. He joined Manchester United when he was 17. He made his debut in 1999 in a League Cup game before joining Bournemouth on loan later that year where he played 10 games. The following season he made two League Cup appearances before joining Antwerp on loan. In 2001-2002, he made 13 first team appearances before becoming a first team regular the following season. After that he made more than 30 appearances every season except for 2009-10 which was blighted by injury. In the end he played 368 times for Manchester United and scored 14 goals. He has also played 70 games for the Republic of Ireland.

So where can he play? How about anywhere. He’s regularly played in the United first team across all defensive and midfield positions, spent numerous minutes up front and on February 4th 2007 he played in goal against Spurs after Edwin Van Der Sar was injured and all the subs had been used. He did not concede a goal and was frequently greeted with cheers of “United’s #1” for the rest of the season.

Watch the video highlights here:

My personal lasting memory of John is this one. Late in the 2004-2005 disappointing season for Man Utd, they played against Arsenal. Towards the end, the ball arrived at his feet on the edge of the box (what he was doing there is another question). We all expected the traditional sideways pass or perhaps a blast into the stands, but no, inspired perhaps by the sight of Almunia in goal, O’Shea chipped him. The only thing better than the goal was his totally bemused reaction and his rather reluctant celebration.

And of course he has his own chant

When Johnny goes marching down the wing,

O’Shea! O’Shea!

When Johnny goes marching down the wing,

O’Shea! O’Shea!

When Johnny goes marching down the wing,

The Stretford End are gonna sing…

“We all know that Johnny’s gonna score”

Football needs more John O’Shea’s and I fear they are a dying breed. Good luck to him at Sunderland (and thanks for taking Wes Brown with you) and I hope he continues his excellent career.

The relegation from and promotion to the Premier League is starting to shape up. Still room for decisions and intrigue but nowhere near as unclear as it was a few weeks ago.

First, Premier League relegation. In my opinion the bottom six teams are still in the fight. Those above that could, technically, face trouble based on their points total but it’s tough to imagine all six teams below them doing enough to overtake them. So that leaves us with this setup:

• Birmingham P34    38 Pts
• Blackburn P33   35 Pts
• Blackpool P34   34 Pts
• Wigan P34   34 Pts
• Wolves P34   33 Pts
• West Ham P34   32 Pts

While it’s hard to picture any of the bottom three saving themselves, it’s also true that the form of the three B’s above them is terrible.  Let’s break it down in reverse order beginning with West Ham United’s hopes.

West Ham were looking a whole lot better but the injury to Scott Parker seems to have done them irreparable harm.   They play Man City in their next game but then have games against relegation contenders Wigan and Blackburn before finishing up with Sunderland.  If they can beat both Wigan and Blackburn they have a chance, but I just can’t see it happening.

Wolves are a bit of a mystery.  Wins against Man Utd, and Liverpool earlier in the season but recent defeats to Newcastle and Everton really hurt them.  All of their run-in games are against lower ranking teams but they’ve generally done better against the stronger squads.  They have a game in hand which gives them a slightly better chance but teams down here don’t win many of their games.  Wolves play Stoke, Birmingham and Sunderland away, with West Brom and Blackburn at home.  That last day fixture against Blackburn will be huge (unless it’s too late already for both of them of course)

Wigan can’t seem to decide whether they are good or not. Strong recent wins against Blackpool and Birmingham ruined by this weeks defeat to Sunderland.  Wigan finish up with Everton and West Ham at home with Stoke and Aston Villa away. I’m trying not to make any predictions because it’s so hard with all these teams playing each other but I guess I would vote Wigan for the drop.

Blackpool have had a terrible run, falling apart as Charlie Adam began to struggle. They’ve won only one of the their last fourteen games with only a couple of draws in there.  This weekends draw with Newcastle gave them some hope but they have a really tough run in with games against Bolton, Stoke, Spurs and Man Utd to contend with.

Blackburn haven’t won for nine games and have been sinking fast but recent draws with Arsenal, Birmingham and Blackpool have given them a small lifeline (a point makes a lot of difference down here).  Their biggest hope right now is that they have team below them who must win to send them into the relegation zone.  They have a tough run in though.  Monday’s game with Man City is followed by games with Bolton, West Ham, Man Utd and Wolves.  Two big teams, one local derby and two life or death battles.  My guess is that if Blackburn can win one of the relegation battles and get a point somewhere else they will be safe.

Birmingham are another team who’s form has deserted them.  After winning the League Cup they did not win a game of the following six but a solid win against Sunderland really helped.  Since them however they’ve been hammered by Chelsea and Liverpool.  They finish up with games against Wolves, Fulham, Newcastle and Spurs.  Next weeks game with Wolves will be vital for both teams.  If Birmingham can win that one I think they will be safe.

The teams just above this group, Stoke and Fulham, seem safe but this season who can tell. Predictions? Well who can really tell.  At this point I’m going to go with the current bottom three to go down because I think all the teams can pick up a few points and they will cancel each other out.  If Wolves can win Tuesday against Stoke City, then all bets are off.

Promotion from the Championship

Once again, for the purposes of this article, I’m going to assume that QPR are safe. They will win the league and any points deduction will keep them in first place.  With three games to go there are two races in place here, the race for the automatic second spot and the push for the playoffs.  There’s a full slate of games on Monday and all this could be out of date by the time you read it.

While Reading have an outside shot I’m going to assume that the second place tournament is between Cardiff and Norwich.  Norwich are currently in second with 77 points, Cardiff third with 76.  Both have middle difficulty run ins. Norwich have a home game with Derby, then an away game with Portsmouth, finishing up with a home game against Coventry.  Cardiff have Preston away, Middlesbrough at home and Burnley, who could be playing for a playoff spot,  away on the last day.  Given the extra point and the slightly easier run in, I’m going with Norwich here.

While not mathematically safe, Reading and Swansea look set for the next two playoff positions (joining Cardiff), leaving an almighty battle for the last spot. Nottingham Forest, Leeds, Burnley,  Millwall and Hull all have realistic shots at this last spot, with Watford, Leicester and Ipswich all mathematically still alive.  Hull have a tough Monday game away to QPR that could see their challenge over while only Burnley have a home game Monday of the remaining teams.  Next weekend Leeds play Burnley while Millwall meet Swansea.  On the last day of the season all of them have challenging fixtures.  We’ll know a lot more after Monday but not the answer I suspect.

Photo by urbanmkr

Just like the bottom of the Premier League (which became even more congested this week), the top of the Championship presents a tangled mess of possibilities. With two automatic promotion spots on the line and playoffs for the next four, no one seems to want to grab hold of a position. Every time it seems a club is having a small run of form then results go against them (exhibit 1: Leeds losing to Sheffield United) and they slip back to the pack.

So lets go ahead and look at the teams and I’ll freely admit this is a mixture of fact, opinion and deep seated bias.

Queens Park Rangers:

For the purposes of this article I’m going to assume they will not be deducted 10 points and drop back into the pack. More than anyone, QPR have made the most of their chances. They have not been perfect, slipping up on a regular basis but they have been more consistent than anyone else. I used to go watch QPR as a youngster, plastic pitch and all, they had a nice stadium that was easy to get to. I’m not sure we need another London team in the Premier League but I think we’re going to get one. QPR were a top division fixture when I was a child and it will be nice to see them back.

QPR’s position leaves only one automatic promotion spot which no one seems to want to own.

What about the other promotion contenders?

Norwich City:

Another club I always considered a top flight team. A few weeks ago Norwich were powering their way through the division but recently became unstuck, winning a few games but dropping points against Preston, Doncaster and Leeds before another string of wins sees them rise into second. Unlike QPR, Norwich just do not have the look of a team that will be able to hold their place in the Premier league. They look pretty safe for at least a playoff position but there are no guarantees for the automatic spot. April 9th’s clash with, currently, third place Swansea will be significant but other than that they have a, relatively, straightforward run in. You can buy tickets to Norwich City matches on TixDaq.

Swansea City:

It would have been nice to see both Welsh teams promoted but right now that’s looking less likely. Of the two of them Swansea had been the most consistent. But recent results, until this weekend’s win against Nottingham Forest, have been poor. Swansea have a solid core to the team but again don’t appear strong enough for the Premier League to me. While only playing Norwich of their direct competitors they still have a tough run in against teams who will be fighting for playoff spots.

Cardiff City:

Cardiff, as a team, trouble me. A lot of their success has been based on loan players such as Craig Bellamy, and recently, Aaron Ramsey. It’s hard to see them maintaining this in the Premier League. Early in the season they seemed shoe-ins for promotion but have dropped away badly with only their recent win against Swansea keeping their pride and chances intact. Right now they are 4 points off the automatic promotion spot and 6 points safely into the playoff positions. Of course, last year’s disastrous Wembley defeat at the hands of Blackpool will surely haunt them. This weekend they dropped points to a late goal from playoff chasing Millwall after twice being ahead. They have one of the more straightforward run-ins fixture wise, but with teams like Preston and Derby picking up surprise points regularly nothing can be taken for granted.

Leeds United:

Leeds are currently in 5th place, 6 points off the auto spot and 4 points into playoffs. As a young child I rebelled against my Man Utd loving family and became a Leeds supporter but by the early 90’s they became the enemy. Right now I feel sorry for them and would like to see them return to the Premier League. Recent results have not been great, getting only four wins from the last 10 games and this weekends loss to local rival, cellar dwellers, Sheffield United was a disaster. Leeds have a pretty tough remaining fixture list and will do well to stick in the playoff positions

Nottingham Forest:

Sixth place and six weeks off being run away promotion definites. It’s not that long since Forest were challenging QPR for top spot. Forest are a team that people of my age remember as a European Cup winning powerhouse so it would be nice to see them at the top of the pyramid again. Their next game, after the international break, against Leeds will be a big one. Defeat could well see them drop out of the playoff spots. Seven points off auto promotion with 4 teams above them makes that an unlikely proposition at this point. Quite remarkably Forest have not won one of their last 7 games. Prior to that they beat Cardiff and held QPR to a draw. Who knows what team will show up for the rest of the season, which presents them with a tough few games over the next month.

The Chasing Pack:

Forest currently have 60 points, 7th place belongs to Reading with 57 but then down to 13th position has 54 points, this makes things very open. All of the chasing teams have shown flashes of power and dramatic failures. If you take away the first 10 games, Leicester City would be in an automatic promotion spot yet recently have dropped key points. Millwall and Reading both look strong, with the latter undefeated in the last seven with only defeats against the top three teams in their last 25 games. Watford have had some very strong periods this season but this weekends defeat at Middlesbrough was poor. Hull and Burnley are the quiet but steady teams who have surprisingly risen into contender positions, though both have had some recent disappointing results. Finally there is poor old Portsmouth. It’s quite amazing what they have achieved with such a threadbare squad and making up points and places just seems too much to ask.

The next 4 weeks will clarify the picture greatly but, in my opinion, the problem for almost all the teams, with perhaps QPR being the exception, is that they are not as good as the teams that will be relegated by a long measure (perhaps they are better than Wigan). Teams such as Wolves, West Brom, Blackpool and many others who may be relegated play better football and are better teams than these challengers. It’s a tough one because you have to play a certain way to get out of the Championship, but that very same way rarely is successful once you reach the top flight.

Please provide your opinions in the comments.

Photo by Mark Barnes

Who am I? I’m a 44 year old Brit who now lives in the US. I attended my first game in 1967, aged 6 months, and was a season ticket holder and Manchester United supporter during the dark times of the 70’s and 80’s (I’m ignoring my rebellious flirtation with Leeds United when I was 5). I was able to move to the US after United finally won the league in 1992 and 1993. My first years in the US involved waiting until the following Wednesday to find out the scores from the weekend, then finally when Fox Soccer arrived I was able to start watching Man Utd again but it wasn’t until this year that I regained my obsession with the top division. Now I find myself watching every game I can, listening to every podcast I can, and reading every soccer blog I can (with this one top of the list of course).

If you look at the Premier League table today, you will find only six points between 9th placed Everton and West Ham, currently holding the highest of the relegation spots and, unlike normal, many of the teams down there are winning games and playing well. Normally people would say “they only need to win two games to be safe” and we’d dismiss it because those teams don’t win two games, but in most cases this year it could happen to anyone. My problem is that when I look at these teams I find it quite hard to find anyone, well almost anyone, that I think deserve to go down or that I want to go down (since I can’t see Man City or Liverpool hitting the drop now, remember the Man Utd blood is here).

Lets look at the teams and see what’s good, and in some cases, bad about them.  Of course your comments are welcome.

Everton

Who could want them to go down? They are a traditional power. They have Phil Neville and the “lovely” and possible future Man Utd manager David Moyes. They played some good football and at this point it’s really quite difficult to see them dropping down but two bad results and who knows?

Newcastle United

Given the Kevin Keegan era in the 90’s, it’s difficult to explain how hard it is for me to say I feel sorry for Newcastle, especially since they feature Joey Barton (who I think would be in the England squad were it not for reputation). The Andy Carroll episode, the injury problems, the fact that they are Geordies – you just have to feel for them. Coming back from 4-0 down with Arsenal earns them another bucket of credit. Again I suspect they will be safe but I do worry about them.

Fulham

Their primary feature of sympathy is Mark Hughes and, of course, their willingness to feature US international strikers. Fulham have always been so inoffensive. How could anyone WANT them to go down?

Stoke City

One of the “bubble” teams for me. There is little to like about them but for some reason I do. I suspect it’s their, mostly, no name team and their unwillingness to compromise. Or perhaps it’s the fact that they have another super nice, honest manager in Tony Pulis. Rory Delap’s throw ins are a huge negative but I can see past that.

Aston Villa

Another traditional power whom I will always have some love for, both for knocking Liverpool off their perch for a couple of seasons in the early 80’s and for the fact that I attended a number of concerts at Villa Park. Once more they feature an overly “nice” manager in Gerard Houllier.

Blackburn Rovers

And finally the sympathy runs out. Barely forgiven for the Shearer Championship years, the awful treatment of the not-particularly-nice Sam Allardyce, and the ridiculous flirtations with Ronaldinhio make them a picture to laugh at, not sympathize with. I wrote “except one” in the headline and this is why. I want Blackburn to go down.

Blackpool

I don’t think I need to write anything here. Who wants Blackpool to go down? Who wants Ian Holloway to go down? They play nice football. They play in an old school ground and they wear tangerine. End of discussion.

West Bromwich Albion

In rather a worrying trend down here in the nether regions of the league, West Brom are playing some fantastic football but not winning games. I have fun memories of The Hawthorns in my youth and I’d like to see them stay up and try to stabilize.

Birmingham City

The Blues earn a super amount of credit for beating Arsenal in the League Cup and for Alex Ferguson II (aka Alex McLeish). Somehow Nikola Zigic adds to the sympathy factor. I loved the fans attitude in regards to the League Cup. Most said they would prefer to be relegated and yet win the League Cup. That’s a great attitude in this day and age.

West Ham United

“Too good” to go down, Demba Ba, Scott Parker, Hitzlsperger and the chance to see Avram Grant get excited again. I used to go watch West Ham in the old second division when I lived in London. Yes, I’d like them to stay up.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Mick McCarthy doesn’t deserve to go down. They’ve played great football, beaten most of the top teams yet inexplicably lost to Wigan twice. They have some nice players and play some nice football (on a terrible pitch) and their game with Spurs was possibly the game of the season but I do worry that it often comes to nothing for them.

Wigan

Clearly the most in trouble. Roberto Martinez is another nice guy and I still remember them as a non-league team but their attempts to play “good” football end up looking foolish. If I had to make a second choice for who I want to go down it would be them.

So that’s everyone, and back to the original question. Who do I want to go down? It’s too hard to call. I think Wigan are done for and I want Blackburn to go down, I just can’t choose the third spot. Who do you want?

As for who WILL go down… again I think Wigan are lost. Wolves play almost every other team of the bottom nine and haven’t done well in those games. West Ham are looking too strong. Birmingham lost Saturday in the FA Cup and that might help their focus. Blackpool have a tough run in and their last game is away to Man Utd, which could be a weird one depending upon how the top end of the league shapes up. Most of their games are at home but they have struggled at Bloomfield Road and have a number of injury and suspension problems. If you’re going to make me choose then it’s going to be West Brom and Blackpool with Wolves as the outsiders. Either way, it’s going to be exciting.

Editor’s note: Check out Tony’s songwriting blog/podcast at www.homemadehitshow.com.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has never held back on mincing words when it comes to the state of affairs in football today and his recent comments about the possibility of a militant attack on a football stadium almost came to fruition in Pakistan. The Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in a pre-planned terrorist attack. And to be honest, I’m surprised that this sort of attack hasn’t happened in the soccer world.

A recent story on the BBC discussed how an Iraqi player was shot just as he was to score the equalizing goal in an intense match between bitter rivals. The shooter was caught, but who’s to say that this wouldn’t happen somewhere else?

We see/hear stories just about anytime there are matches with teams that have the “Ultra”-type of supporter. I’m not going to go through the list of teams, I’m sure that any self-deserving fan of the game we all love is well aware of who these teams are. I will say that a supporter of my own beloved Arsenal was attacked in Rome after the Champions League match with AS Roma last week.

A recently released movie, Incendiary, tells the story of an unnamed young mother who loses her policeman husband and young son at an Arsenal match. She is not without character flaws herself and witnesses the bombing attack on the tube in the middle of a tryst with another man. Originally based on a book by Chris Cleave, the story follows the mother as she begins her own investigation into the bombing and writes an open letter to Osama Bin Laden pleading him to stop making “boy-shaped holes” in the world. Michelle Williams plays the lead role with a conviction rarely seen and after a while into the movie, one begins to relate to the tribulations of the character. She is riveting to watch while the guilt pangs and shattered life begins to slowly get back together.

As the story progresses, Orwell’s 1984 is somewhat touched upon as certain members of society are no longer allowed to work in hospitals, curfews begin in London…culminating in a police-state for England. While this happens, Williams’ character slowly edges towards insanity and discovers an ugly truth behind the initial bombing attacks.

The very fortunate thing is that we, as footy fans, have not ever actually witnessed this sort of event. We have seen unfortunate events such as Hillsborough, the events in Africa, South America, etc. where stampedes have killed and injured supporters, but nothing to the level as shown in Incendiary.

Getting back to Wenger’s statements, his fears that security measures should be investigated and possibly even improved came shortly after the Ultra attack in Rome; he mentioned that the club has received threats and in the recent interview concerning the stadium attacks, he also stated that he fears an attack during the next World Cup. Sports are the number one draw for crowds of people to attend each year. We’ve seen video of cafes and train stations attacked in broad daylight; we see and hear stories of suicide bombers in Iraq, Israel and other countries. Yet we get on with our daily lives as if we’re impervious to this sort of attack…but are we really?

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stated recently that he fears for this sort of attack to happen soon and after an Arsenal fan was attacked in Rome by one of the AS Roma “Ultras”, again stated that he feared that security measures must be improved at all stadiums; especially those at international levels due to the current state of the world.

While the shooters in Pakistan are still at large, the shooter in Iraq was arrested, but it begs to question…is this just the beginning? I personally do not care for the doom and gloom that runs rampant in media today. I tend to ignore that sort of reporting, but as someone who do dearly loves this sport and has been involved at various levels for over 30 years now, I have to wonder…it’s not a matter of if, but when.