Dec 05
Keane’s United Prospects and The Tevez Conundrum
It is now common knowledge that Royston Maurice Keane stepped down from his position as Sunderland manager. Having been in the club for over two seasons, he has given the fans a whole lot of glory than they can have imagined. (Glory, here, is a relative term. So I hope you get my drift.)
When he arrived first at Sunderland, he did the unthinkable by bringing them from rock bottom to promotion as champions — no mean feat for a rookie. In his second season he managed to keep his calm whilst confronted with defeats, poor refereeing decisions, long term injuries — stuff he’d rarely have experienced during his United career, where things came fairly easily.
His temperament as a manager, and his ability to motivate the players around him were very impressive. However, to see him step down as Sunderland manager when things continued to pan out in an unfavourable way, was disappointing to see. The press will go on about his reputation of being a quitter — and I don’t think one could quite equate walking away from the Ireland World Cup squad with this. I thought his walkout on that occasion was justified, although I’m sure it’s still a topic that fiercely divides people. But walking out of Sunderland, a team despite being in the relegation zone is still about 6 odd points off a UEFA place struck me as odd. He’s had money to spend. The board has backed him as much as a bottom of the table club board could. But he still felt the need to walk out. I need to know why. Because such behaviour may not necessarily help him get the United job.
United are among the better run clubs. And much of our success is built around stability of the men in key positions. We would ideally like managers who are in it for the long haul, and our board usually has a history of affording our manager that. Even during the peak “Fergie out!” times of 05/06, the board showed full faith in Fergie. Of course, managers like Fergie are a one-off.
But the question arises now: is Keane a good choice for a number 2 to Fergie? Could this be an opportunity for him to be groomed into the main job? Had I been asked this question a year ago, I might have thought Keane and Hughes getting a few more seasons under their belt before offering them the manager’s job. But I do see things we’d need in a number 2 that Keano falls short of.
Keane seems to like keeping a good distance from the players whilst leaving the training to his assistant. It’s something Fergie would ask the likes of Queiroz and Phelan to do. Handling training sessions and man management/motivations can be entirely different things — as Queiroz is now coming to terms with at Portugal. I don’t see a dog-walking Keane overseeing early morning drills with the players.
He’s also never struck me as a tactical genius. He’s intelligent, but I haven’t seen any brilliant substitutions that out manoeuvred teams. His players will run through walls, but they’ll do that for Fergie too. He speaks his mind, but I’d want a calm, tactician who can be the good cop to Fergie’s bad.
So I really am not sure of Keano’s United prospects.
Fan favourite Carlos Tevez who had a barnstorming display against Blackburn the other day has given a good headache for Ferguson. Yes, it was only the Carling Cup — many would say. But it wasn’t against league two opposition either. We played a midfield three of under 21s against a full strength Blackburn side that has historically been a thorn in our Premier League flesh. It’s still pretty much Mark Hughes’ side, and scoring 5 goals against them is something and Tevez’s performance was something to behold. He still makes few touches too many in the box. He still can over complicate things, but when on song, he can mix it up with the best. He, like most strikers in the world, is a confidence player. And the demons are not in the player’s ability; rather in Fergie’s handling of him. For a player who was dragged through court hearings to come to Old Trafford, to become an important component of our double winning side, only to end up ignored in favour of another record signing — it cannot get worse than this.
Tevez may have had his best game of the season, and while arguments calling this only a league cup game may have value, his selection in our first XI in subsequent weeks will be a point of contention for fans and manager alike.
Oh, and do remember to vote for us, if you haven’t already.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Roy Keane sings a song for Ronaldo
- Man Utd v Blackburn: Preview
- 5 reasons why Tevez needs Manchester United
- Brief International Roundup + Berbatov’s Fitness Regime
- Gamba Osaka v Man Utd: Match Thread
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (542)
Stephen (490)
RedDevilEddy (462)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Since its against a managerless Sunderland tomorrow at OT, I’ll play a very Brazilian 4-2-2-2!!!
Usual back 4 of rafael, rio, vidic, evra.
2 sitting DMs in Carrick & Fletch
2 attacking mids in Ronaldo and Berbatov (hes not attacking mid but playing in Kaka like position, the playmaker.) Maybe even Ron can play a bit forward in a 4-2-1-3!!!
2 strikers in Rooney and Tevez.
Evra and Rafael to be asked to provide width.
Can it work??
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@WhiteY: the best, most complete midfielder at OT was Bryan Robson!!!
Keane is second best.
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Why is he a racist? Are you kidding me? Calling someone an English C*** in my book is as racist as calling a black geezer a N*****. Or is he allowed to get away with that cos he likes to be outspoken, and according to some of you, believe that he often says things that meagre mortals like us, are too afraid to say? B*******. I will wager anybody that KEANO will NEVER get any kind of managerial job at OLD TRAFFORD whilst SAF is in charge.
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@jos: In a word no, but spot on with Robbo.
Keane was brilliant for our club as a player, if you watched him live he was always running, unlike Stevie Me he always held his position as well, superb player great captain, shit manager, so far, some time out of the game he may come back, he is still young and may learn. But United are too big for him in my view.
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@Stayley: Thats his nationality, I take it you are referring to McCarthy, English is not his race.
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@Stephen: Carlo Ancelloti plays beautiful football for a manager in a defensive facetted Seria A. The kind of football we have come to love and adore and cant do without at United. Secondly he churns out results consistently, signs wonderful players, has worn the champions league, is reviving The ChoCCo. What more can i say? We need some one who will inspire the dressing room and be respected by our prima donna contingent. He is a winner trust me. The only handicap would be he’s italian but so is cappello and look what he did with England and ROONEY. He will play attacking football and still maintain the fiercelessnes of our back four.
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Semantics I’m afraid Steve. KEANE believes he’s IRISH and believed McCarthy was not just a C*** (LOl-the irony of that coming from him) but an English C***. Like I said, good footballer – Unpleasant and deluded individual.
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@jos: We could argue that back and forth and nobody would quit. But i give it to ya, Robson is a great.
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@WhiteY: So does Spaletti but I don’t want either mate, we need winners and not Mourinho
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@jos: I have never wathed Robson live, only from what Ive seen from videos. BUt from what Ive heard, he was brilliant. Like I said, Ive never watched him, therefore Keane is my number 1 midfielder ever to have played for United. Scholes comes 2nd, then Anderson and then Butt. Hargo, Veron and Kleberson came here with a massive reputation and were believed to become star midfielders for us. Veron and Kleberson hugely dissapointed. Owen, though, has played very well when fit. If he can do what he did last season on a consistent basis, which I mean playing 30+ games in a season, he will become the star midfielder we need.
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i want rijkard at OT once fergie retires.
bring in a multi lingual coach n were in business
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@Traverse: says – “that said, it could be double figures tomorrow.” Not the way our strikers have been at putting the ball in the net lately mate
. We will just have to see if Tev plays, and if he continues to score.
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You know whenever somebody makes a life decison it is a very well thought out and very personal one. When Keane quit Ireland I for one applauded him and am amazed he didn’t beat the shit out of Mick McCarthy before he left. For those of you who don’t really know what the Hell happened there and who still refer to him as a quitter, read his book surprisingly titled “Keane”. Once you do, I wonder if you will feel he was such a quitter or disloyal bastard. One can only take so much stupidity and ineptitude in his life before he says he cannot follow any longer. That is what happened with Ireland and that is now what happened at Sunderland.
Sure things never worked out at Sunderland and sure he has to take a piece of the blame. He was a new manager who had great early success turning a bunch underachievers and misfits into Coca Cola league champions in a little more than 2/3 of a season. What he did with Sunderland in 06/07 was nothing more than miraculous, regardless of the fact it was a lower league. Why did he have so much success there and not in the Prem? This isn’t rocket science to figure out really. The players he bought or inherited were just not good enough collectively to do the job. They were good enough and hungry enough for 1 and 1/3 seasons where they worked hard and took to his style of management but it all went pear shaped in the last month. The reasons are very easy to uncover really. And most of it has nothing to do with Keane the coach as it has to do with Keane the GM and Sunderland the team. From day one I was unhappy that he chose to manage such a low end side and didn’t settle for being a #2 with a bigger side. His ego got the better of him. After all he is a stubborn Irishman and he did learn his trade from two very self made men in Alex Ferguson and before that, Brian Clough. Even though they had assistants, he saw that they were true bosses and he wanted to be like them.
Roy Keane went to Sunderland with the dream to turn the franchise around and to make them a competitive side. After all, back in the late seventies his early mentor Clough to 2nd Division side Nottingham Forest all the way to the 1st Division title beating out Liverpool and United in the process. Those were different times and something like that although improbable, was impossible today with the way the Prem is financially set up. Keano had a dream that at least he could get his team to be good enough that they would be a top ten outfit and possibly, just possibly fight for a UEFA Cup spot. Delusions of grandeur? Perhaps, but Keane was given a fair amount of money amongst promotion to upgrade the squad. Here is where everything went wrong.
Buying player in todays game is and has become a very difficult take where politics, finances and player rights come in to play much more than in the past. It’s not enough to just approach a club about a player anymore. Because of some big clubs and their exposure and performance perks, many good players do not want to go to small clubs. They want exposure, shoe deals, licensing agreements and above all, they are all obsessed with winning trophies and showcasing themselves in Europe. Trying to buy egotistical and self important players today who don’t have the old school feeling towards team and comradeship is very hard. Still Keano did his best and had to often settle for two types of players. Older experienced players who were almost if not already beyond their best and misfits and castoffs who had burned bridges and who came with attitudes and plenty of baggage. He tried to mold this batch together by focusing on his motivational skills and his experience and reputation as a tough as nails individual who demands 100% and all the heart and passion they could muster. If they gave him 100% effort, he would show his soft and cuddly Irish side.
Problems started with the fact that many of those experienced players Keano purchased were washed up former teammates with United or opponents he liked and respected. They were easy to sign because they still wanted to play. Problem was they just couldn’t play very well anymore. Some of his big signings, players who actually chose to play for him rather than some other big clubs, like Richardson and Gordon were good but not good.
Then this season he went out and bought every Tottenham castoff he could find as well as the kings of unwanted misfits Papa Diouf and Djbril Cisse.
At to that mix problem children like Chimbonda and pretty useless players like Tainio and he was spending a load of cash in all the wrong places. Roy Keane was building a team that would be ripe for rebellion, against him. Lazy underachievers who don’t take well to coaches and who tune out at the first sign of controversy.
But here is where I sympathize with Keano. Many put him down for his player purchases and accuse him of squandering a fortune. Problem is that when you are Sunderland, buying players is difficult. I gave the reasons earlier. Great players just did not want to come to the Stadium of Light.
They always chose bigger teams or teams higher up in the standings. Roy always had to settle for leftovers and the the second echelon of talent that was available. It didn’t matter if he had 80 million to spend, if the good players don’t want to come, you have to go to Plan B. And Plan B failed this season because he went overboard on buying misfits who have poisoned the side and have forced all the players tune Keano out and not feel the fear and nervousness they would normally fear from a loss. They have become comfortable with losing and all his skill was not able to change their mentality. This kind of thing could happen to the best of managers except for one main thing. Managers like Mourinho, Wenger, Ancelotti, Mourinho know how to deal with misfits and trouble makers. They either ship them off or they separated them enough from the overall culture of the team that they are treated like outsiders. Kean let Djouf and Cisse and Chimbonda take over the dressing room. That is where he failed.
There is nothing wrong with his strategy and tactics or his motivational coaching. He turned a bunch of muppets into a Prem side that was competitive and at times quite attractive to watch last year. But his player purchases were poor even though he was hamstrung by a system that needs to be fixed. He expected loyalty and obedience from players even though todays player doesn’t respond well to Brian Clough style management techniques. Even Fergie has stopped the fits of range and his hairdryer has gotten very very dusty.
I believe Roy Keane can be an effective manager again one day if he takes from this some personal blame and tries to learn from his mistakes. He did a lot of things right but his few mistakes were large ones and he must learn from that. This is why he should take a job as an understudy to a great manager before he accepts his next big job. I make no apologies for my desire to see him as United’s #2 for two reasons. I truly believe he is an excellent coach of the game and a great motivator, but also because I know and I truly believe he would do a fantastic job and be much better than that ass clown Phelan. I also think Fergie needs a man who will challenge him a bit and keep him on his toes. No matter what many may think, Roy loves United and he has a great love for Fergie. Even if they have had their fights. He knows who his true friends are. And now it’s time for Fergie reach out his hand and welcome Keano back to the club. Bring back the skipper Boss and make him as well as a lot of us happier and proud. I want his intelligence, intensity, passion and pride in our dressing room.
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I feel all this criticsm levelled at Keane is a bit unfair and mostly biased. First of all, he was a great player, we can all agree on that. His might have had an abrasive character, but most times this was an imitation of his identity on the pitch.
As a manager, he was decent. Let’s look at the facts, he got a team that was stuck at the bottom of the championship mid-season to promotion, not by play-offs but by winning the damn league… all with mediocre players. Then he managed to keep that same team – be it with some new faces – up in the league the next year without even scrapping amongst the relegation boys. This year, they’ve had a couple of unlucky games(Fulham game, Richardson hitting the bar thrice with one shot lol) but only six points seperate them from a UEFA spot.
You might say he has bought rubbish players, but which ‘bottom feeder’ team that doesn’t reside in London can attract good players without giving them over-the-odds offers? None. He played with the cards he was dealt and I believe he did a great job at Sunderland. The mentality and aura at that club after his arrival is totally different and might I say better. They play good football and are capable of upsetting most teams.
Why he walked out, we would never know, but he has definitely left the club in a better position and shape that when he arrived and that’s what counts. Is he United material, I don’t think so. He simply doesn’t have the experience, fullstop.
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@Stayley: I have a lot of sympathy with your thoughts on Keane Staley, and I agree with a good few of them
.
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@Gabriel: Biased???? – how So
. Its about as biased as the Irish contingent on here dashing to support Keane – well I don’t feel biased, just not a great admirer of player temperaments like Keanes. I think everybody agrees he’s a good footballer, but not a good man in many peoples opinions.
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@Craig Mc: I’m not Irish and the fact that he is Irish or rather a former United player doesn’t influence my perspective. What I meant by bias is people judging his reasonably successful managerial career based on his, as you put it, ‘temperament’, when that shouldn’t even be a factor. Even you can agree he had a reasonably successful stint with Sunderland?
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I should also mention that as much as I would like to see Keano as our #2, I don’t see him as a successor to Fergie. Apples and oranges really in terms of the two jobs. I also think that what may be the best for Keano right now is to take a break from the game. I think he also may be guilty of getting into coaching far to soon after his retirement as a player. A nice break would rejuvenate him and allow him to focus on what he can do to improve when his next chance comes around.
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@Craig Mc: Craig mate, you don’t know the man. All you know is his persona in the public eye. Quite often people are very different up close and personal. To be honest, he’s a lot like me. Controversial, miserable at times but truthfully, to really know me is to love me. I’m in actuality a real pussycat. He seems like an honorable man who has a very strong blue collar work ethic and who has a very strong competitive streak in him. There is nothing wrong with not liking to lose. If that makes him an asshole, well, I guess he is. But he is a lovable asshole and one of the greatest United players of all time. That alone gives him a pass form too much criticism in my books. I forgive his Irish temper.
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@Grognard: Grog I have not said a word about his management skills, only that I dont personally want to see him back at Old Trafford in any sort of staff role. As for him being a pussy cat really, NO NOT REALLY Grog, because pussy cats are not holding year long vendetta, waiting for an opportunity to MAIM someone – he said he would DO Alfie Hyland and he did. A good profession for Keane would be to get on the staff of the local MAFIA. I know your matter of fact Grog, and can hold your own in any boxing VERBAL debate, but physical thuggery I don’t think so – right?
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@Gabriel: Gabriel, surely you don’t really believe that temperament doesn’t have an effect when a person is in a managerial role – do you?
. I know your not Irish 
, just a feckin Southerner who feels you could have kicked Northern arses in American football – No chance whatsoever mate 
.
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@Craig Mc:
Yeah, that’s true, I’m in Newcastle Uni at the mo and the American Football team is feckin A!!! They’d kick my former Uni’s arse anyday, including The Boro 
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Gabriel,
Chelsea were an unfashionable club a few years ago with a crap stadium. They ploughed in the same spending power as KEANE in the first couple of seasons and won the league. This was down to having a smart manager.
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http://wrighty7.blogspot.com/2008/12/cristiano-ronaldo-would-have-been-even.html
I Loled for a while.
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@Karl: I like the idea of playing Tevez in the Scholes role. He would help boss the midfield and he really is a player who needs other players around him to play little 1-2 withs.
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Going from number two to manager would not work. Keane would be far better getting another five to ten years management experience and if possible doing a bit of work on the continent to improve his tactical awareness. Maybe he can be the guy to replace the guy who replaces Fergie. But I do not see him being ready in two years time
I also have questions about his temperament. He is not a people person. He still seems like this man who is angry at the world.
Fergie for all his hairdryer treatments is a charmer. He can inspire love and loyalty from players as well as making them fear him. No-one at Sunderland seems the least bit upset to see Keane go.
Mourinho is a much much better bet. He has coached three of Europes top teams, won two Premier League Titles, the Champions League. He also is very charming tactically aware and you can see from the Chelsea boys how much love he inspires. Difficult characters like Drogba and even cockneys like Terry all seemed to love him.
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@Stayley: u must be kidding right!! comparing a club like chelsea to sunderland. chelsea were always present in the premier league and had decent players for the like of cudicini, zola, lampard, desailly, etc. and a manager with a good reputation in ranieri…one of the reasons they could attract talents like robben, makelele,etc. in those days (apart from the fact mourinho got along carvalho, ferriera with him)…sunderland could never attract such players with an unknown manager and with the club reputation
keane has done well to capture gordon, cisse. Apart from them, he has basically dug his hands into whoever was rejected by the big clubs (esp United). So even with his spending power, he could never have expected to get in talent compared to chelscum. I m no way comparing keane to mourinho, but i think keane did well to keep sunderland in the EPL given his experience and the players available at his disposal
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apparently evras been banned for 4 games…
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RR, i share the same sentiments with you as whether Keano is good for United.
First and foremost quiting from the Irish team in WC 2002 because he didnt agree with the then Manager’s training drills was a weak point. Anyone who has player soccer at a higher level than college knows its not always that classic player always agree with what the manager’s or coaches do or say because some have a better knowledge of the game than their bosses, but quiting is not the way to disagree if you are a player of Keano’s calibre. A man who Ireland was looking to as their fulcrum.
Quiting at Sunderland was another low end for the great Irish, on a personnal note, i think when he looked at his forth coming fixtures, he saw a mountain to climb and cowardly couldnt afford to go 14 games with only one win. Actually on paper playing Man Utd, West Brom, Hull City, Blackburn, Everton and Boro in his next games it looked likely for him to loose all the six games or only manage a draw from the six thus making twelve loses from fourteen games, a feet i guess he feared.
What would he had wanted, all the black cats needed was to keep in the top flight and a spot in europe coming as a bonus. With the squad he had, whatever grognard may call them, they well good enough to keep Sunderland in the top flight at least.
So the question is you quake only after losing six out of eight, will you handle when you are incharge at United, where you are required to win every tournament you play in and you’ve just lost to Boro and Pompey and you have Arsenal, Chelsea to play the coming week not forgetting a do or die game against Mourihno’s Inter Milan in the Champs lge?
Being SAF’s right hand man wont give Keano shield he still has big discissions and tasks to do. As we all may testify from Giggsy interview back then, SAF tends to leave first team training sessions and team tactics to his assistant and only needs updates and final team selections for review, so that’s as good as being incharge at sunderland and infact more challenging than at Sunderland.
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Jay Jay,
Well said. Worse still, I think he quit via text message. What a guy!
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I for one always felt that after seeing his bust up live with Viera, that he was a true captain. Standing up for his team mates and telling the opposition that he wont take shit. The fact that we actually went on to win that match was truely a moment to savour. Then again during the summer when he was heard saying that he would like Saha in his team it showed what hi approah was, to get players from big clubs whom the clubs themselves didnt want. Who knows? Maybe they could turn out to be world beaters like Friedel – Liverpool? But then as Grog said, his judgement was flawed when he bought players who he thought would respect him but in turn turned their backs on him and caused even more shit stirring.
But now will he fit into UniteD? Ofcourse he will. Roy Keane has been United through and through. I can undestand his bitternes when he was sold, but then maybe he should have retireD? So will be come to United if offered the job? Oh Yes! he will, for a 37 year old, being number two to the best manager in the world would be a dream come true, notwithstanding the fact that thr Grog mentioned, that he wanted to be a world beater himself and not an understudy himself.
But then comes the language barrier and his contacts, cant really say that Keane can pick up good talent. And neither can he communicate with the Portugese and the South American contingent at United, So I say we really need a person with Keane’s persona and attitude, his passion but not exactly him. We need someone who can speak diferent languages and is tactically brilliant. Someone who will compliment Ferguson and make the top management at the club truly competent, not that they are not, and great. One name – Gus Poyet.
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Hey there guys…
Off topic, but I enjoyed these articles about football and other things off four four two website:
Robert Plant about his love of wolves, a very entertaining read..
If they (ever) get promoted, I’m supporting them on the side (after United of course!) just because of Percy’s devotion. 
Nolberto’s Solano’s love of trumpet…
And finally Dominic Monaghan (lost and lord of the rings fame) talks about his love of Utd…
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@UnitedUnited: I keep hearing the name Gus Poyet and I just have one thing to ask of all you Gus Poyet fans. What has he really accomplished? Last time I heard he sunk with the ship and Juande Ramos at Tottenham?
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WOW! Love that Hoffenheim. Not only are they holding their own at Bayern but they have taken a 1-0 lead early in the second half through Ibisevic’s 18th goal in 16 games. And it was a real poachers classic. Reminded me of Gerd Mueller’s World Cup winning goal vs Holland in 74. I think this player is a super striker. Whether they win today or not, they are for real.
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Evra banned for 4 games. What a fucking joke. Seriously, well done the FA. You’ve failed to crack down on racism and nobbled United at the same time. Joke, absolute joke.
And that means he misses the Chelsea game, what a surprise. Wankers,
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@Traverse: I second your assessment of the FA.
Still, it might be an opportunity to see Fabio in action… O’shea is sure to start but I wouldn’t mind twenty minutes cameos from the supposedly more talented of the two – how good can he be?
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@Stayley: that is easily a contender for dumbest post ever. Chelsea are owned by one of the richest people in the world and already had decent infrastructure in place to succeed. When Abramovich came to Chelsea they were in the CL ffs.When Keane went to Sunderland they were in the relegation zone of the Championship. It’s stupid to compare them because there is no comparison. On the text message thing, you are basing this on tabloid journalism, well done
Fergie talked about Fabio today in his press conference. Apparently he’s back in training. Could be useful if this Evra thing doesn’t get reduced. On that subject, can Evra’s ban be appealed? I assume it can but it is completely ridiculous in the first place
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@Nico QB: I think he might play Fabio against Aalborg. I just really want to see him play! That is the next small game coming up and Fergie must be keen on him to mention him in a press conference to a load of journos who probably had never heard of him. I think I’d like to see him tried out on the wing because he’s meant to get forward more than Rafael and there is no point in making him compete with Evra because he will lose. Also isn’t Fabio right footed? He could end up competing with his bro on the right
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Well Bayern showed their class and stole it at the end thanks to a Luca Toni gift due to a very uncharacteristic mistake by the Hoffenheim defense. It was 2-1 Bayern but Hoffenheim missed a great chance with 2 minutes left to win the game. Rensing makes an outstanding save and Bayern wins it with 20 seconds left in extra time. One of the best games I have seen all year. Both teams played well, attacked with speed and imagination and played physical as well. Being a Bayern fan it was a pity that the game never ended in a tie. Hoffenheim were that good.
And speaking of Evra and his four game biased FA ban, as much as I like the little Frenchman, watching Philip Lahm play today was a real treat. He scored a great goal even if it was deflected in the goal. His 20 yard run to the spot where he took the shot was wonderful to see not to mention his other defense splitting runs and some great crosses into the box.
A great game. If some of you are able to watch it on tape delay, then do so. Both teams played the game with the motion and speed that it should be played at. Great interplay and fantastic pace and passing.
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@Gabriel: Newcastle kick the Boro Uni’s arse at\american football
. Who the fuck mesmerised you in Magpie country then 
.
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@Traverse: Actually if the Carling Cup schedule for this year is like last year then the First leg of the semis should be around of January, so he’ll miss that and be available for Chelsea.
@Nico QB: Is he fit yet??? He has had a shoulder injury the last time i checked.
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@Grognard: So who/what are Hoffenheim… some germans friends of mine compare them to Germany’s Chelsea. But I have not really heard of the players before. Are they the underdogs or the spoiled suburban rich-kids?
Evra banned for FOUR (!) games… and fined 15K! What is wrong with the English FA? Did Abramovich set this up with the FA when he got Terry elected Defender of the Year? As if I needed more reasons to dislike CSKA Chelsea.
This is really a serious loss for us as there is no definite backup for Evra (OShea and Fabio are not good enough). Maybe this will be the chance of a lifetime for Fabio to show us what he is made of. If he pulls a Rafael or better I will be very happy.
Plus we are playing an emotional Sunderland – Do we always get to play against managerless sides? (West Ham, Chelsea, and now Sunderland). Those games are tought to predict… I will be happy with any win by us (even a close 1-0)
My team:
<— live with it! I cannot let go of Neville.
VDS
Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, O’Shea
Ronaldo, Carrick, Anderson, Nani
Rooney, Tevez
Subs: Berba, Scholes, Fabio, PIG, Brown/Neville
Time to fix my Fantasy Football team…
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@Rd: Maybe, Until the FA decide that the Carling Cup games don’t count for no reason, because that’s what Roman wants.
We might as well hire a bunch of people to fight the Chelsea players after the game and get the whole squad banned for 4 matches next year,
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FUCK. THE. ENGLISH. FA. PERIOD!
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Hoffenheim are far from being Chelsea. Although they have a wealthy owner, the team resides in a 10,000 seat stadium and the town has a population of just 3000 people. Hard to understand how they have managed to advance from nothing to Bundesliga leaders in two years. Hard unless you see the way they play. Yes they have some very good players but it is their coach Ralph Rangnick who is most to blame for their surge up the ladder. This guy is a genius and he does amazing things with young players similar to what Dick Advocaat did with Zenit and what Guus Hiddink has done in the past. His team plays a lightning fast style of football and in fact he has turned down transfer of older more experienced players as he wants youth and speed on his team. He has no use for older, slower and lazier players. Like today against Bayern, Hoffenheim give nobody a free ride and they attack and counter attack with lightning skill.
A new stadium is being built that will hold 30,000 people. Fortunately Hoffenheim is not the only community that this team draws support from. Towns like Heidelberg and other towns within a twenty mile radius of Hoffenheim also support the squad. Because they have an owner who is willing to spend money, I think the club’s future is bright. As long as they keep Rangnick this club will suffer from delusions of grandeur. The only problem is they may actually perform the impossible and get the last laugh. With players like Ibisevic, Obasi, Ba, Weis, Eduardo and Salihovic on the team and I am sure more skillful and cheap speed merchants to come, I expect this club to be what Monchengladbach was in the 70′s. A real Cinderella story from a small community. It’s great for German football and great for the game.
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@Grognard: From your comment it seems to me that Hoffenhiem should be the model for teams in all leagues aspiring to take on biggies. Have a good manager, get some young & hungry players and play expansive, attacking football. In EPL it is exactly the reverse (except for Hull City that is probably doing something close to what Hoffenheim has done). Newly promoted teams just go for old hands and try to just somehow hang in there (mostly playing boring defensive football)… Hope few more teams pick up clues from the likes of Hull and Hoffenheim
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@jos: I agree. It’s a primer that needs more investigating. Youth and speed and the attitude to learn is the key. Experience and attitude and old baggage is just what brought Roy Keane down at Sunderland. Old players set in their ways and playing to their own drummer. Look at the enthusiasm and pace we play at when Rafael, Anderson and other young players are on the pitch. Youth will make occasional mistakes but their speed, and enthusiasm if channeled properly under an attacking and quick system can be dynamic. The word throughout Germany is that teams have a hard time keeping up with Hoffenheim and they often refer to the team’s blitzkrieg style counter attacks and interplay which leaves teams dazzled and overwhelmed. A perfect example of this is the way Zenit played in last years UEFA Cup. They destroyed the opposition with speed and incredible runs from players off the ball. The one thing that is hard to beat in all sports is speed. And the younger you are, the faster you are.
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I too watched the hoffenheim/bayern game, and it showed whats lacking in the premier league.belief in young talent,and attacking football.most small and midtable teams are negative in their approach to the game that it limits even the nost talented players to fully realise their potential.
Even the big teams have that negative mentality that it restricts players.look at fergie in europe.we may be chasmpions,but against european sides,we suck.
it is only in the premiership where you will find a team playing a packed midfield,a defensive system,and still blame a striker for not falling back to defend.
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