¿Por qué, Por qué, Por qué?

I have not written on my blog for sometime but after last nights Champions League Semi-Final I felt compelled to do so. Everyone is running out of superlatives describing Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona and in some respects, who can blame them? Messi was on the end of a lovely team move, he scored a fantastic individual goal and Barcelona play the best football and retain possession like no side I have seen in my lifetime. They can be a joy to watch, which begs the question, ¿Por qué? Why?

Barcelona also posess a sinister, nasty side that not many people appear to acknowledge. Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of teams who are guilty of this but Barcelona are particularly bad in this respect. If less glamarous sides or a technically inferior side displayed the same gamesmanship as Barcelona, i'm sure people would have plenty to say about it. However, Messi scored a couple of great goals, Xavi made a few million passes and nobody appears to remember the antics of Valdes, Alves, Busquets or Pedro.

'Football is the winner' proclaimed Xavi Hernandez after Madrid's negative counter attacking style. But is it? Every time there was a contentious decision, the Barcelona players swamped the referee. Victor Valdes was doing his best Adebayor impression by sprinting from one end of the pitch to the other to get involved in the handbags. However Dani Alves, Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Busquets are by far the worst culprits, and they have previous. They spent half the game on the deck, clutching their faces or other parts of their body that were not remotely touched. Which begs the question, why?

Jose Mourinho may have gone too far with his comments but Barcelona are never criticised for their blatant gamesmanship and it happens all the time. Alves is guilty of it every time he plays, Messi has scored goals with his hand, Busquets is a notorious diver (Thiago Motta is his most high profile incident) and Pedro went down at every opportunity last night. As I mentioned earlier they are one of the best club sides of all time, surely they don't have to resort to such ugly, sinister acts of cheating and misleading the officials. Why?

I would love one of Barcelona's senior players or coaches to climb down from their ivory tower as football is not the winner. They cheat and dive at nearly every opportunity, and for this reason alone they will never be the best in my eyes. I hope their antics are highlighted soon because I for one am fed up hearing about how great they are. A bit of honesty and integrity would go a long way.

Me me me me me me me

If anyone was ever in any doubt as to why Emmanuel Adebayor was unpopular with Arsenal fans then he showed everyone why with the most grandiose display of narcissism in recent footballing history. Not content with scoring against his former club, he raced the entire length of the field to celebrate in front of the livid and astonished Arsenal fans. He then topped off his Saturday afternoon by blatantly kicking Robin Van Persie in the temple, narrowly missing his eye.

His afternoon began with him play fighting with Emmanuel Eboue before he 'hovered' in the Arsenal half before kick off. Adebayor clearly had an agenda. He was out for some kind of vengeance. If only he had class...

By behaving in the manner in which he did he simply showed the rest of the country why he was so unpopular with the Arsenal faithful. Manchester City fans be warned. You have a player with four goals in four games, a player who is potentially un-playable, but you have a man who can ruin a dressing room, a man capable of falling out with anyone, let alone Craig Bellamy, Robinho et al. I'd hate to be there when the laughter stops.

I don't think any Arsenal fan can be particularly surprised by his behaviour. After all, he brazenly flirted with Europe's elite after a fantastic season and after signing a very lucrative new contract. He then proceeded this by putting in some of the most lazy, abject performances witnessed by Arsenal fans. Then, as galling as it seems, he wondered why he was un-loved, wondered why he was booed and complained that the Arsenal fan's never loved him. I wonder why Emmanuel, I wonder why this happened?

Saturday was never about Manchester City beating Arsenal as far as Adebayor was concerned. He was out for vengeance, he purposely hurt Van Persie and I expect he wouldn't have been so unhappy had City lost, as long as he had scored and settled some personal scores. I wonder how he will perform when Europe's elite become interested again. His time at Arsenal was not a good precedent. City fans; enjoy it while it lasts.




Above: Arsenal fans are glad to see the back of him.

Eduardo Unleashes new "Diving" Phenomenon into World Football

On Wednesday night Eduardo, Arsenal's Brazilian born Croatian international, shocked the entire footballing world by appearing to "dive" to earn his side a penalty. People around the world looked on incredulously as nothing like this had ever happened before. This new phenomenon has been called "diving" apparently. People were shaking their heads with disgust the next day, all the tabloids and broadsheets were fuming and Sky Sports news are still talking about this two days later, twenty-four hours a day. I could understand this reaction, if diving was not common place in every single football match, at every single level, all over the entire planet!

Now, I'd like to start by saying that I don't really like to write about Arsenal, as I am an Arsenal fan, and I fear that my bias would ooze out of every single paragraph. However, I feel compelled to comment about this as I feel that my club is consistently treated unfairly by the media and now even Uefa, who have since charged Eduardo. I'd like this piece not to sound biased, but since bias does not seem to bother the media, we'll see what happens.

Where do I start? Let's start with some good old xenophobia. Who remembers when Wayne Rooney dived to earn Man Utd a penalty at Old Trafford against Arsenal in the infamous "Pizzagate" match? Sol Campbell clearly retracted his leg, there was no contact and Mr Rooney dived. It was blatant. Was Wayne Rooney banned retrospectively, was everyone talking about his dive? Of course not, they were talking about Arsenal's players throwing pizza at Alex Ferguson. Cast your minds back to a Champions League group game at Anfield last season. Who remembers Gerrard going down very easily when Atletico's Mariano Pernia touched his back a little bit? It was a clumsy challenge, but "Stevie G" went down like a sack of spuds. I could go on and on, Joe Cole dives, David Bentley dives, loads of English players dive, but they are never hung out to dry and labelled cheats by the baying tabloids. Harry 'salt of the earth' Redknapp leaves Portsmouth for Southampton, proceeds to get Saints relegated, then jumps ship and goes back to Portsmouth. Then, he leads Portsmouth to financial ruin and leaves for Spurs before the shit hits the fan. How can he do this and not be unpopular? If this was a foreigner he'd never work in England again. Does Al Murray secretly control the media and use it as a propaganda tool. It appears so, as our boys can do no wrong.

I also remember how underwhelmed the nation was when Arsenal reached the Champions League Final in 2006. They have a French manager and they are all French or foreign I hear you cry. It was not the case a year earlier, when Liverpool were in said final. Gerrard and Carragher were Liverpool's only English players that night. Arsenal also had two, Sol Campbell and Cashley Cole. Nobody mentioned that, and isn't that Benitez chap Spanish, and what about Josemi, Alonso and Nunez. The media always appear to have a very negative view of anything Arsenal do.

Now back to diving, it appears Uefa are going to have their work cut out when Spanish and Italian teams are playing in Europe this year. Dani Alves is perhaps the biggest culprit when it comes to diving. It is incredible watching him writhing in agony on the floor and galloping down the wing two seconds later, watch this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obQu69Zy2IQ
Sergio Ramos is another great example and as Phil Thompson said at the end of that clip, it happens all the time in Spain, it's part of the game. I lived in Madrid for nine months and was a regular at the Vicente Calderon. It's a great place for football but in Spain diving is something that is considered an art. If you get away with it, great. It's not something that is considered cheating like in England. So how are Uefa going to deal with people like Alves if they are going to be consistent? Diving and gamesmanship is an innate part of Spanish footballing culture.

I think Eduardo can count himself very, very unlucky. The actual incident in question wasn't even that bad. Artur Boruc catches his leg with his thigh, although Eduardo goes to ground easily. Eduardo has no form, is he famous for diving? No. The media here in England clearly do not like Arsenal or Arsene Wenger and the fact that this minor incident has been repeated on Sky Sports News and in the newspapers ever since, has not helped Eduardo's case at all. Neither has the reaction of the Scottish FA or Celtic. The incident itself had absolutely no bearing on the game whatsoever, but Celtic are behaving like it changed the outcome of the match, it was 5-1. Move on.

So I implore all Arsenal fan's not to be too upset about this. I think Arsenal is unpopular with the media because we play fantastic football that has been masterminded by an intelligent, multi-lingual, articulate Frenchman. People hate this so nothing we do will ever be very popular, but it's only jealousy, resentment and xenophobia. So let's rise above it and hopefully win things the right way, playing great football without financial doping. We are the only big English club left without foreign owners, you'd think the media might like that....no chance.


(I would like to stress that not all the media is like this at all, but sadly from my experience the majority is).

The FA Barclaycard Vanityship

I had the pleasure of attending a League One match a few weeks ago, Southampton vs Millwall, the day before the Community Shield. What a contrast those two games were, and I don't mean in terms of technical ability. Top level football is changing, people will maintain it changed years ago, but I think it's more apparent now than ever.

The soap opera that is the Premier League, is full of young millionaire celebrities... Oh I mean athletes sorry! We live in an age of Twitter, Heat Magazine and WAGS. Footballers are celebrities, models and host their own TV programmes. In the Carling Cup Final last season there were huge pictures of Harry Redknapp and Alex Ferguson adorning each end of Wembley. Images of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand were on the advertising boards before the Community Shield. Football is turning into Phil Brown's ultimate wet dream.

I'm afraid football is not about individuals Phil, it's about the clubs and the fans who lend their fantastic unwavering support. That's why my recent League One experience was so refreshing, it was a great game with local lads in each team, no pictures of Alan Pardew or Neil Harris were to be seen. Both set's of fans were superb and there were no corporate cling-ons who don't even like football. It really was how football is supposed to be.

In this months edition of FourFourTwo, Leeds fan James Brown talks about how life in the lower leagues isn't too bad at all. "Football at this level feels more like football and less like going to the pictures". There is a certain charm about going to places like Yeovil and Hereford, football is football there, it's not about anything else. There is not a prawn sandwich in sight. After all of this, it begs the question; Is the Premier League really the holy grail? Your club goes through drastic changes upon achieving promotion, it starts to become less of a football club.

When did it start to go wrong for Phil Brown?

It's October 2008 and Hull City are riding high in the Premier League. They won back to back matches in North London against Arsenal and Spurs and Phil Brown was the toast of the Premier League. The media were running out of superlatives describing him and his success. Phil Brown, a great tactician, a great man manager, getting the best out of Ashbee and Myhill, former League 2 players holding their own in the Premier League. Potential England manager maybe? A great new English manager certainly. However, just five months later, Hull are in serious trouble and could easily be relegated. This is not a major surprise, as nobody expected Hull to be mixing it with the big boys all season. But what is surprising, is how rapidly Brown's stock has fallen. The man who could do no wrong in October, is now, in some people's eyes, an embarrassment to Hull City Football Club.

When did it start to go wrong for Phil Brown though? Many people have suggested it was half time at Eastlands, when he held his team talk on the pitch, aggressively ranting and pointing at his players, humiliating them in front of an astonished public. However, did it all go wrong for Brown before this? Perhaps it was when he started to believe his own hype. When he started to don his horrendous coat and scarf combo. Phil Brown, patrolling the touch-line, perma-tanned, dressed like Mourinho.

I believe this was the beginning of his downfall. Since then, things have gone from bad to worse, for Phil Brown and Hull City. Hull's form has been terrible and Brown's outbursts have become stranger and stranger. Is this a coincidence? From making irresponsible jokes about Geovanni failing an imminent drugs test, to claims Cesc Fabregas spat at his assistant Brian Horton, even though there is no evidence to suggest he did. Brown even claimed Arsene Wenger didn't shake hands with him after the game, despite TV replays showing that Wenger clearly did. How can anybody take him seriously now?

"No one is bigger than the club", declared Brown, after Geovanni obviously disagreed with his decision to substitute him recently. Is that right Phil? Then why attract so much attention to yourself, with your high profile media outbursts, constant refereeing criticism and your al fresco team talks. Put your coat and scarf back on the hook, after all, no one is bigger than the club.

Looks like a hand-shake to me

Keegan: A different perspective

Dennis Wise, Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias are not the most popular names in Newcastle right now. Everybody is criticising the structure of the club. The media, fans and other managers have been vociferous in their disapproval that Keegan was not in total control of player arrivals and departures. The final straw for Keegan was the sale of James Milner, who was sold to Aston Villa for £12m. Indeed, these structures have caused problems in the past. In November 2004 Harry Redknapp became so disillusioned with life at Portsmouth when Milan Mandaric brought in Velimir Zajec as Executive Director, he left and joined arch rivals Southampton.

The appointment of an Executive Director, or a Director of Football has certainly undermined managers and caused numerous problems in the past. However, in the case of Kevin Keegan, people have forgotten something rather telling. After Keegan left Manchester City in 2005, he cut all his ties with top-flight football and immersed himself in his 'Soccer Circus' in Glasgow. When appointed Newcastle

manager three years later, Keegan freely admitted he had never watched a game of football in the flesh since his departure from Eastlands. Now, all the public opinion, especially in Newcastle is firmly in Keegan's favour. Moreover, people such as Hull manager Phil Brown and Geordie legend Alan Shearer have come out and said that they would never tolerate such interference.

Nevertheless, the point I'm trying to convey is that Dennis Wise's role in the transfer dealings may not be as bad as people have been suggesting. Would you let a man who has not watched a game of football in the last three years go out and spend millions on players? The structure in place at Newcastle was there to aid Keegan, but ultimately, Keegan desired total control, and that is something the Newcastle hierarchy were not prepared to give him. The whole saga has left me wondering whether the appointment of Keegan was just a huge PR stunt that's gone horribly wrong, rather like Mike Ashley watching every game in the stands at St. James' park with his replica shirt on. Ashley and co should never have given Keegan the job if they did not trust him, and it seems to me that they never did.

Picture: Ashley, needs better PR???

Hold your horses, Mr. McCarra!

Upon reading Kevin McCarra's piece in The Guardian sport blog on how Arsenal and Liverpool are "flawed" and may struggle to qualify in this year's Champions League group stage, I felt compelled to comment on this naive notion. I had earlier predicted that Arsenal and Liverpool were among my favourites for this year's competition, so I was surprised to read this. What made the article even more surprising is the fact that Manchester United arguably have a trickier group.

Arsenal face Porto, Fenerbache and Dynamo Kiev in Group G. Liverpool will be up against PSV, Marseille and Fernando Torres' old club, Atletico de Madrid in Group D. These groups will not be easy, and Arsenal face long trips to Kiev and Istanbul, but the English duo will not be faced by anything new, or anything that will worry them too much. Dynamo Kiev's 8-2 aggregate victory over Spartak Moscow was imposing Mr McCarra, but their record in last season's Champions League, played six, lost six, was far from imposing. Despite posessing a great home record, Fenerbache are not so hot on their travels, not winning away last season, and Porto, as Mr McCarra acknowledges, are not the side they were under Mourinho. Therefore, Arsenal should qualify from Group G without too much trouble.

In Group D, Liverpool have slightly tougher opposition. PSV, Marseille and Atletico are all good sides but PSV are not the same outfit that reached the Champions League Semi-Finals a few years ago, under the guidance of Gus Hiddink. Kevin McCarra uses the argument that PSV should not be disparaged as they eliminated Spurs in last season's UEFA Cup. This is the same Spurs side that finished eleventh in the league last year and lost their first two matches this season. Marseille and Atletico will be a challenge but anybody who has seen Atletico defend over the last year will realise they are not up to much at the back, however, they do have Kun Aguero, one of the best young players in the World. Despite this, a "flawed" Liverpool should make it through unscathed.

However, Manchester United will face difficult trips to Celtic Park and Villarreal's Madrigal Stadium. How many times have Celtic lost at home in the Champions League recently? In fact, in the last two seasons, Celtic have won every match at Celtic Park in the Champions League group stage, beating the likes of Benfica (twice), Manchester United, A.C Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk. Villarreal are no push over's either, reaching the Champions League Semi-Final's two years ago and playing very well on their way to second place in La Liga last season, finishing above Barcelona. Now I'm not suggesting for one minute that United will not qualify, but if Arsenal and Liverpool will struggle in their respective groups, then surely United will too.

McCarra's article was easy to write as everyone is criticising Arsenal and Liverpool right now. Arsenal were hopeless against Fulham and Liverpool made a meal of the Standard Liege matches. However, it is inconceivable to think that in the space of a few months Arsenal and Liverpool have become "flawed". In April this year they both played out a fantastic Champions League quarter-final, Arsenal finished only four points behind the champions Manchester United and Liverpool reached the Champions League semi-final. It is an overstatement to suggest that Arsenal and Liverpool have become "flawed" after the first few games of the season.

To read Kevin McCarra's article click on the link! http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/29/no_easy_rides_for_flawed_arsen.html

Try telling these two their sides are "flawed"