Club vs. Country saga

This week Club football is on hold for the European Championship 2008 qualifiers. Michael Owen, Newcastle United and England striker has reignited the whole club vs. country saga once again. This can be quite a tedious topic but I will be indulging into my opinion whether it is more important to play for your club rather then your country. 

Sam Allardyce the Newcastle manager had said that it would be the Club’s decision whether Michael Owen would be fit to play both international games this weekend and next week. Owen then responded to these claims by stating he would only listen to his surgeon as she knows whether he is ready or not, and she says he is ready.  

Back in July this year Jaime Carragher retired from international football due to him being over looked for his preferred position (Centre back) by being asked to play left back, right back or even left on the bench. Paul Scholes also retired from international football at a young age, 29 as he stated he wanted to concentrate playing club football. The reason behind these players retiring from international football ‘early’ is because they believe their football career can be prolonged. Why else are these players choosing club over country? 

As George Graham put it to Ian Wright back in the 90’s, “Remember where your bread is buttered”. Money has become a major factor in football and especially in Club football. With all the publicity involved and the amount of football on TV nowadays clubs have gained more power over the years to a stage where they can influence if a player is called up or not. I also believe that with the influx of quality foreign players over the years, the Premiership has become more competitive which means that there is a lot of prestige at stake on winning the Premiership or the Champions League.  

On the other hand, in the past it was always a boys dream to represent his country and score a goal at the World Cup. Maybe this dream is still alive but with International players, International football seems to be second tier. I believe this is due to all the international friendlies nowadays. Instead of breeding newcomers to the international stage and preparing the teams for the ‘important’ qualifiers they seem to be a nuisance for the Club teams. One thing for sure is that the World Cup only comes once every four years so this makes it the most prestigious tournament and trophy in football. I know what I would put first.

The reasons behind Arsenal’s great start

Last season Arsenal arguably played the most attractive football in the Premiership but were constantly let down by their finishing in front of goal. Other factors that influenced Arsenal finishing fourth last year include;

- Being bullied out of games when playing against physical teams (mainly when having to play away to the northern clubs).

- Went through an injury crisis, most notably with Gallas, Henry and Van Persie missing chunks of the season.

- Didn’t fully adapt to playing at the Emirates.

- Bottom line is they were not consistent enough.

This season there are a number of factors which have resulted in Arsenal topping the Premiership as well as their Champions League group. But if you have a look at Arsenal’s fixtures so far this season you will see why this has had a major influence on their top form. Football is all about confidence, and Arsenal are buzzing. Take strikers for instance, when on a high, a striker will try a shot from 25 yards and hit the back of the net whereas the same player on a low can’t hit a barn door (Shevchenko is a great example!). 

Before the season started Arsenal took part in the Emirates Cup in which they played against Paris St German and Inter de Milano, both of these games they won. This was a great booster for them as they had previously stuttered at the Emirates. 

These have been the games they have played in the Premiership so far this season: 

Arsenal 2 – 1 Fulham

Blackburn 1 – 1 Arsenal

Arsenal 1 – 0 Manchester City

Arsenal 3 – 1 Portsmouth

Tottenham 1 – 3 Arsenal

Arsenal 5 – 0 Derby

West Ham 0 – 1 Arsenal 

What does this tell us? Arsenal have been quite lucky having played 4 of their first 6 games at home. They are now making the most of playing in a big stadium like the Emirates and by winning all their home games their confidence is high. This has resulted in them going to places like West Ham and Tottenham full of confidence and them winning games which last season they didn’t!  

As well as this, Henry’s departure has so far galvanised the Arsenal youngsters who are playing out of their skin, especially young Cesc who has been absolutely class. The latter having recently stated that Henry’s departure has helped the young Gunners who were intimidated by him. 

“Henry intimidated us. He is a great player but it was not easy to play alongside him. We were a bit inhibited – dependent on everything that he wanted to do. Everyone was saying that this year without Henry we would be nowhere. That has motivated everyone.”

The question is how long will Arsenal’s confidence be on an up – it takes just one game to send their confidence the opposition direction.

Summary of September

I haven’t been able to write on the blog over the past month of September as I have been working on a different Project, which hasn’t been finished as of yet either! Therefore as I have been away for an entire month I think it’s a good idea for a summary of all the main things that occurred during the month of September:

Premiership

·         Thierry who?? Arsenal have started the season amazingly and notched up 6 successive victories in September which leaves them sitting prettily at the top of the Premiership and their Champions League group. Many pundits had said they would suffer the loss of Thierry Henry, however, his loss seems to have vindicated the Arsenal youngsters who have since stated that Henry had been a burden on their development (Cesc).

·         Manchester United have taken over the old old Arsenal (Tony Adams legacy), having won 1-0 six times in their last eight games. Boring Boring United! They are not firing on all cylinders as of yet but they are still in contention for the Premiership title.

·         To the contrary, Chelsea have successfully pressed the self-destruct button. Do you think Roman Abramovich has realised he made a mistake in sacking Jose Mourinho? Of course he doesn’t because this is just a game for him where he can spend his pocket money. The best decision Abramovich made was appointing Mourinho and the worst was sacking him. Yes Mourinho was sacked to the contrary ‘mutual consent’ malarkey coming out of Stamford Bridge and Mourinho himself.

·         Derby will be the first team to get relegated and might even be challenging Sunderland’s record as the worst Premiership team to get relegated.

La Liga

·         Real Madrid are somehow top of La Liga. I say somehow as they are not playing attractive football but winning. Take the last game against Getafe for instance, Getafe dominated the entire 90 minutes having 20 odd shots on goal but somehow Real came away with the 3 points. Their luck will soon run out so Schuster better get his troops into gear and playing this ‘attractive’ football we were promised!

·         The new galacticos, Barça, are relying heavily on the new Diego Armando Maradona. It’s amazing to see how similar Lionel Messi is to that great player Maradona was. Even Thierry has stated that if Messi keeps up this form he will go down as one of the best players of all time which goes to show just how well Messi has been performing this season. Thierry himself hasn’t performed as well as we have all become accustomed YET, oh yeah I forgot, he did score a hat-trick at the weekend, but prior to that he has struggled.

·         Sevilla are going through a rough patch, I don’t know if it has anything to do with the death of Antonio Puerta. My dear condolences are with his family and friends, his wife was eight months pregnant with his child. It truly is a very sad story. I really like the way Sevilla have played over the last two years and let’s hope they can get back to winning ways after 4 straight defeats, win another trophy and dedicate it to the magnificent Antonio Puerta.

Champions League

·         After the first round of games there were no really shocks apart from Fenerbahce beating Inter and Chelsea drawing with Rosenborg at home . The second batch of matches commence today, bring it on!