Cristiano Ronaldo – Greatest Ever?

The Messi post started as a bit of a player profile, a few of my own opinions and trying to generate some discussion points around modern football. The more I thought about it though the more I decided this could become a little series of posts grouped together as ‘The Greatest Ever’.

Hopefully this will allow people to read some interesting information about their favourite players as well as providing some thoughts that people haven’t yet thought about. The ambiguity of this topic means that there won’t be any real outcome but will hopefully generate some good discussions. With that said let’s get into the second offering of ‘The Greatest Ever’ with Cristiano Ronaldo taking centre stage for this piece.

It was widely remarked that Ronaldo told his teammates as a youngster he would be the best in the world to which they laughed. Currently its looking like the laughs were premature as if he isn’t regarded as the best in the world then it can only really be a two-horse race between him and Messi.

When it comes down to personal accomplishments Ronaldo is up there with Messi with the sheer amount of records, he breaks year after year! As I did with Messi here are a small list of accomplishments to give some perspective at how impressive they are:
• 5 Ballon d’Or’s
• 4 European Golden Shoes
• 29 Career trophies (6 League Titles, 5 Champions Leagues, 1 European Championship, 1 Nations League)
• 128 Champions League Goals
• Over 1000 professional career appearances with over 700 senior career goals
• League titles/League Cups in 3 Major Leagues
• Fifa World 11 13 years in a row
• Uefa Team of the year 14 years
• Puskas Award 2009
• Multiple Premier League/La Liga/ Serie A Team of the seasons

Ronaldo has proven that with hard work, dedication and a work ethic second to none that you can be the best in the world. Built not born would be the perfect definition for Ronaldo, first on the training field and last off. At 35 years old he is still in immense physical shape and still playing at the highest level with no signs of slowing down. To have been doing this from the age of 18 just goes to show the commitment levels he has for the sport.

The physique he has can make him unplayable at times, he has speed, power and a jumping ability that rivals basketball players. We have compared Messi and Ronaldo before and as an all-round athlete it’s safe to say Ronaldo is superior but as has been proven in football time and again that isn’t everything.

One thing Ronaldo has been able to do which is unique in the footballing world is play at such high standards consistently across 3 major leagues and not be phased at all. Every league he has played in he has excelled! He has consistently scored handfuls of goals, in multiple different ways, against the world’s best defenders.

What he has achieved and how he has accomplished it really cant be compared to anyone or anything else.
He is a blueprint player in some regards, if you could have 11 of only one footballer then Ronaldo would probably be peoples first choice.
I really hate comparing Ronaldo and Messi together, everyone will talk for years who their favourite is and why which is brilliant this is what we love about football, there is no clear answer and its very subjective.

What I would rather talk about is just how lucky we are to see them both playing in the same generation battling and improving each other to become the very best.

There have been great rivalries over the years Messi and Ronaldo, Ali and Frazier, Nicklaus and Palmer. All these great rivalries have one thing in common and that’s is they made each other better. The best way to improve and learn to constantly compete against the best. This is what Messi and Ronaldo do. They bring the best out in each other, always striving to be better than before. Always looking for that next record, that next trophy or that next milestone.

Without one of the you probably wouldn’t have seen the other reach such soaring heights but together they both can.
I hope you enjoyed this instalment of the Greatest Ever and ill look to do more of these in the future around other posts.
Please share with other football fans so I can get as many opinions as possible.

“No one wants to grow up being a Gary Neville”

Carragher’s famous quote to Gary Neville. Was it harsh? Was it true? Was it just for comic affect?

The problem was it was probably all 3!

“Was it harsh”
Gary Neville made 400 appearance for Manchester United and 85 for the England National team. He was an integral part of one of the most successful club sides of a generation which he served as club captain for 5 years. He is one of the most decorated English and European Footballers of all time winning a total of 20 trophies including 8 Premier League titles and 2 Champions Leagues. He is the most capped English right back and represented his county at 5 international tournaments.

So to answer the first question “was it harsh?” yes! If there was ever a role model for English full backs in that generation then Gary Neville was the man to be.

“Was it true?” This is somewhat counter-intuitive to the first point but yes it was true. Even with all the honours he had no one wanted to become a full back. For multiple generations the full back position was filled by failed wingers and failed centre backs! This wasn’t just the case for grass roots football this went all the way to the top of the professional game! Neville may well have been in that position himself! There are countless cases of wingers turned full backs over the years, some have been some of the most successful full backs we have seen, take Jordi Alba and Dani Alves for Barcelona, arguably a different style of play in La Liga but the point still stands no one wanted to be a full back!

The comic affect was obvious, but I feel a lot of that came from the fact that every football fan and player realised it was true. For one reason or another full backs were an undesirable position. It wasn’t just full backs though; centre backs have had the same problem and so have goalkeepers!

Terry and Vidic were two of the most dominant centre backs the Premier League era has seen and yet there is no way young kids were saying I want to be the next John Terry! This is why I loved what Jamie Carragher said so much because it really highlighted an issue that wasn’t being noticed in football. We were seeing two positions in our full backs that may not have been utilised effectively and other undesirable position not getting the recognition they deserve which ultimately would lead to less options going through the levels of football.
This isn’t to say that top level players haven’t emerged as clearly from an international standpoint you only need one or two in a generation to be competitive, however if you take Glen Johnson for example who was clearly a well regarded player, he had very little competition at club and international level which arguably could have caused complacency.

However! And it is a big however! Has this all changed? Are we seeing a new outlook on football and a more rounded opinion of positions?

Apparently, no one wants to be a Gary Neville but I bet my house on the fact there are thousands upon thousands of young English footballers in a park around the country pretending to be the next Trent Alexander Arnold or Andy Robertson! This isn’t to say Liverpool are the only side doing this but they are the team I want to focus on for a paragraph or so.

Their style of play is extremely expansive! They expect full backs to offer not only a defensive security but an attacking option that not only gives the opposition someone to mark but offers substantial goal contributions. This offers some glamour to a once dreaded position on the pitch!

This doesn’t just apply to full backs! How many more willing goalkeepers to do you think we had in parks, courts, streets and pitches around the country and the world when the likes of Ederson and Allison were bought for either World Record fees or at least very close. How many more kids in parks now want to be the next Virgil Van Dijk!

These sorts of transfers have a knock-on effect not just in the professional game but the grass roots game as well. Not only do players now want to play these positions because of the change in style of play but because of that change in style it moulds players with attributes that are normally unique.

I feel I should expand on the above slightly with a few examples. 20/30 years ago there wouldn’t be a need for goalkeepers to have high level ball control and distribution, they would be expected to be shot stoppers and not a lot else. Whereas recently goalkeepers are now expected to have these attributes as well as shot stopping and being commanding vocally. This then influences the way young goalkeepers want to play at a young age. They now want to play out from the back, they want the ball to feet.

The same can be said for centre backs, the way the game has evolved it is expecting centre backs to be a lot more comfortable on the ball, take Virgil Van Dijk for example he had completed the most passes in the Premier League before it was halted for coronavirus.

So yes maybe kids didn’t want to grow up being a Gary Neville, but we needed players like Neville in order to evolve the game and now have kids that want to play these positions. The smart option for aspiring footballers would be to no just copy what Trent Alexander Arnold does but to watch how Neville used to defend as well and try and take the positives from both players games.

This is certainly a topic I would like to come back to but I think this initial post covers the main points I wanted to talk about. I would love any feedback either in the comments section or on Twitter/Instagram. I love talking about football and any new discussions are extremely encouraged.

Francesco Totti – One Club Wonder

The idea of one club wonders is a unique one in the current game with transfer records being broken left right and centre. Its not often that world class players stay at the club they broke onto the scene with all the way to their retirement. However every now again a few gems present themselves into this category, not tempted buy record transfer or astronomical wages, these players played for their beloved clubs and cities and the fans repaid that loyalty.

‘Play for the name on the front of the shirt and they will remember the name on the back.’ A classic Tony Adams quote that rings true for all these one club heros.

I am going to look at doing some short articles on one club wonders, I have numerous legends I want to talk about in these articles so they will hopefully be short and sweet giving people something to read in these uncertain times.

So, starting with the ‘L’Ottavo Ri fi Roma’ The 8th King of Rome – Francesco Totti.

A wonderfully creative attacking player for both Roma and the Italian national side, he is regarded as one of the greatest Italian players to grace the famous blue shirt, one of the greatest in a delightfully talented generation of players and Roma’s greatest ever player.

As the article suggests Totti spent his entire professional career with Roma, in that time he won a Serie A Title, two Coppa Italia’s and two Supercoppa Italiana Titles. His individual accomplishments speak for themselves – He is the second highest goal-scorer in Serie A history with 250 goals in an impressive 618 games. As you would imagine having spent 17 years at the club he is the clubs highest scoring player and most capped player.

He also hold a very prestigious record as the youngest club captain in Serie A history at age 22. The list below shows just what an incredible career he had;
• 11 Oscar del Calcio awards from the IFA
• 5 Serie A Italian Footballer of the year Awards
• 2 Serie A goal of the season awards
• Serie A young footballer of the year award
• 2007 European Golden Shoe and 2010 Golden Foot
• Players Career Award and UEFA Presidents Award

He gained 58 caps with the national team scoring 9 goals. In that time he won 2006 Fifa World Cup in not only a magnificently talented Italian team but a competition that sported an unbelievable array of talent!

Totti had transfer request from some of the biggest clubs in Europe that he inevitably rejected, including a move to Real Madrid in 2004 which could well have seen him lift the champions league title but he rejected the move quoting ‘I choose to stay and wear just one shirt rather than all those titles’.

After retirement from football Totti stayed at the club to become club director, however the situation turned sour for the Roma legend when in 2019 he announced his resignation from the role after disputes with the owners and chairman. He went on to say that a return in the future is a possibility but only under new ownership. That signal the end of a 30 year association with the club.

That concludes my first article in the One club wonder section. I will look to do a number of these over the coming days with the hope to promote the beautiful relationship players have with the boyhood clubs.

Please share this far and wide with anyone who loves football. I love talking about football and the more people that see theses post the more people I can have discussions with. Ill leave you with a delicately put quote by the great man himself.

‘ I cheated on all my girlfriends with each other but I never cheated on Roma and I never will’

Over recent years Liverpool have provided us with countless moments of entertainment. Some regrettably at their expense when we think of Gerrards slip against Chelsea or Crystal Palaces comeback against them in that same season. However, they have also provided us with some of the great footballing comebacks in football history. A few of these games are going to have similar ring and that’s Steven Gerrard inspiring a comeback.

That being said lets get started in that very stadium…

Liverpool vs Olympiacos 3-1 2004

This comeback seemed to tell the story for the rest of the Champions League campaign for Liverpool. Going into the game Liverpool needed to win by two clear goals to advance into the knockout stages, this was always going to be tough ask and when Rivaldo scored after 27 minutes it made the uphill task even harder.

Florent Simama Pongolle put Liverpool level before the break which left 45 minutes at Anfield to find 2 goals progress. Neil Mellor gave Liverpool the lead with nine minutes left to play, setting the scene for Liverpools home town hero to determine the night. With just 4 minutes before full time Steven Gerrard steps up with a beautifully struck volley with the inside of his boot to send Liverpool through to the knockout stages which would eventually set the scene for another entry on my list but we will get to that later.

Liverpool vs Borussia Dortmund 2016

This was Jurgen Klopp’s first season for Liverpool and he found himself 4-2 on aggregate to his former side. This was an remarkably strong Dortmund side with he likes of Rues, Aubamyang and Mkhitaryan playing and convincingly the better side over the two legs with 25 minutes to play.

They really couldn’t have done anymore by this point Dortmund but this was a European night at Anfield. With only an Origi goal for the home side they needed something special. A beautifully hit low drive by Philippe Coutinho was the catalyst Liverpool needed. Then follow a Sakho header drew the sides level and Liverpool in a position for an unbelievable victory.

An injury time Lovern header caused the Anfield faithful to erupt. A 4-3 victory grab from the jaws of defeat.
Dortmund manager at the time Thomas Tuchal famously said after the game ‘ if I could explain it then something logical would have happened. You cant explain that.’

Liverpool vs Barcelona 2019

After a 3-0 beating at the Nou Camp from a Messi inspired Barcelona, who scored that wonderful free-kick, Liverpool were going to need something special to have any hope of reaching the final. Liverpool only really had slim chance because of Dembeles miss later in the first leg which would have sealed the tie.

Divock Origi started the unlikely comeback 7 minutes into the game when he tapped home after a lovely run from Henderson. This didn’t change the tie too much, its was only when Liverpools Dutch midfield maestro scored twice in 122 seconds to make it 3-3 on aggregate and give Liverpool a genuine chance of progressing.

Barcelona were uncharacteristically rattled and look lost in the Anfield atmosphere before the now famous commentary ‘Corner taken quickly’. Some genius thinking by Trent Alexander Arnold caught Barcelona napping and Origi fired home to give Liverpool the victory and progression to the final that they inevitably won.
This was the first time since 1986 that a team had turned around a 3 goal first leg deficit to win a semi-final. This was Liverpool side missing both Salah and Firmino.

Liverpool vs AC Milan 2005

It would be a comprehensive list of comebacks if it didn’t include the famous ‘Miracle of Istanbul’.

Liverpool came back from a 3-0 first half losing position to take AC Milan to penalties and secure a 5th Champions League Final Victory. This was an AC Milan side sporting some of the greatest players of a generation and a Liverpool side that had road their luck to be in the final in the first place.

After a first half blitzkrieg from Milan which include a first minute goal by Milan captain Maldini making him the oldest goal scorer in the competition. After a flurry of chances at both end, some sublime goalkeeping, defending and few offsides, Kaka played a lovely ball to Shevchenko who played it to Crespo to make it two. Then a beautiful through ball by Kaka through to Crespo to make it 3-0 by half time. At this point Kaka was purring and running the game partly due to Liverpools formation but ultimately because he was one of the best players around at the time.

It all changed in the second half though, Liverpool changed to a 3-5-2, with Gerrard as an attacking midfielder and Alonso and Hamann holding. This help stall Kaka and give him a lot less space to operate in. Then on 54 minutes in began, Liverpool’s favourite son scored a wonderfully met header from an Riise cross. Two minutes later Dida fumbled a Smicer long range effort to bring the game to 3-2. Three minutes later Gerrard burst into the box and was fouled by Gattuso giving Liverpool a penalty to bring it level. Up stepped Alonso who had the spot kick saved by Dida but Alonso followed up smashing the rebound into the roof of the net.

The comeback was complete. 6 mad minutes in the final changed the game.

The game was really dominated by Milan after this and through extra time. Traore cleared one of the line and an astonishing double save by Dudek in extra time kept Liverpool in contention and the rest as they say is history. Milan missed their first 2 penalties and Liverpool scored theirs, with Tomasson scoring, Riise missing and then Kaka and Smicer scoring it left Shevchenko needing to score to stay in the tie.

It only seems fair after his miracle extra time save that Dudek would be the one to win Liverpool the cup, after some Bruce Grobbelaar inspired ‘spaghetti legs’ he saved Shevchenko’s penalty and the celebrations began.
After Gerrards campaign that season in the Champions League he was almost destined to lift that trophy.

I hope you have enjoyed my view of these comebacks and would love your opinion on them. Please get in contact with subjects or discussion points id love everyone else opinion. Please share and pass this around id love more people to read my posts.

‘How can I think of leaving Liverpool after a night like this’ Steven Gerrard after the final.

The Greatest Substitute Appearances

Evening all, with the current global pandemic affecting as all around the globe, the lockdown situation we all find ourselves in is unprecedented and has left us with a lot of time at home that we wouldn’t usually have. We find ourselves doing odd jobs around the house, binge watching Netflix and constantly refreshing social media.

I am trying to use this time to do some writing, mainly for a little bit of a release but also it gives people something to read and hopefully lightens people’s day for a short time. This short blog is going to be on some of the greatest substitute appearances we have seen in football. I am inevitably going to miss some and id love for people to comment or contact me with the ones I have missed or wasn’t even aware about. Onto our first…

Mario Gotze 2014 World Cup

Picture the scene World Cup final in Rio and you are sat on the bench, 88th minute and your dream of playing in a world cup final is edging ever closer to ending. Then you get the nod! This is what Mario Gotze experienced, Low substitute Klose at this point and told Gotze ‘Show the world you are better than Messi and can decide a World Cup final’. This is exactly what he did, in the 113th minute of added time Gotze scored the only goal of the game, controlling an Andre Schurlle cross on his chest and volleying into the back of the net earning Germany the win and the World Cuo. Gotze was named Man of the Match and was the youngest player to score in a world cup final since fellow countryman Wolfgan Weber in 1966.

Sheringham and Solskjaer 1999

Champions League Final
Bayern Munich took an early lead on the 6 minute mark of the final and kept that lead for close to the entirety of the match. This most go down as one of the greatest comebacks in a final purely because of the tiny amount of time left in the game. Bayern were so close to winning the game officials had already put their colour ribbons on the trophy but to no avail. Two substitutes mid-way through the second half for Manchester United proved to be the difference in the game. 1-0 down in the 91st minute of the game David Beckham floats a corner into the box, a couple of failed clearances and a Giggs snapshot the ball falls to Sheringham in the box to sweep home an equaliser. 1-1! Less than 30 seconds after the kick off United manage to force another corner. Another Beckham corner floats in, a glancing header by Sheringham and Solskjaer is the fastest to react at the back post, poking the ball into the roof of the net. An unbelievable ending to what was an unbelievable treble winning season by THAT Manchester United team.

Robert Earnshaw vs Charlton 2005

This appearance makes in onto the blog for a few reasons, firstly any substitute hat trick is extremely impressive, secondly it kick started West Broms survival in an extremely tight relegation battle and thirdly it became one of the greatest pub quiz questions ever.
With the scores level at 1-1 and Charlton down to 10 men in the 64th minute Earnshaw was introduced. He hit the ground running and scored a hat trick in 20 minutes earning West Brom the win and eventually survival in the Premier League by a solitary point.
In scoring that hat trick Earnshaw became the first player to score a hattrick in the top for divisions of English football, the FA Cup, the League Cup and international level. And was born one of the greatest football trivia questions to date.

It wouldn’t be fair to talk about substitute appearances without mentioning the legend that is Peter Crouch. Coming on against Brighton Crouch made his 143rd substitute appearance overtaking Defoe. Crouch has scored 23 goals from the bench some being extremely critical to the outcome of the game. This blog came about after listen to That Peter Crouch podcast, the substitute episode and I wanted to do some research on some of the best sub appearances. I know Crouch wasn’t to pleased with the record but I think he should embrace it! Shows that people think he will change the game!

Please contact me with any other wonderful sub appearances, from any level of football, I want to here everything from Sunday League to Premier League. If you enjoyed this please share this to friends, family and anyone who loves football.

Football without Fans is Nothing!

Coronavirus and sporting events haven’t exactly gone hand in hand! With the growing concern over the pandemic large gatherings and sporting events across the world are being cancelled or played behind closed doors! While I admire the effort, the world is going to, to try and stop the spread of coronavirus it does raise some issues with these sporting events and football is the one we are going to delve into.

The first obvious issue is the behind closed doors games! This may be helping to prevent the spread but…
As with the title of this article Football without Fans is nothing! This week has seen champions league games played with no one in attendance within the stadium. The atmosphere within the ground is dead and you can see it affecting the players.

Valencia played Atalanta this week needed a pretty miraculous comeback from the first leg but were now playing with no “home crowd advantage”. Now we are playing in a competition where away goals have an impact due to the home team having a benefit but now, we are taking away that advantage by playing behind closed doors.

Aside from the possible lack of advantage home teams are getting, the lack of atmosphere in the game and the training like nature of the surroundings takes away the whole ambiance and feeling surrounded with football. When you go to a game its not just about the sport itself, its about being with 30,000+ fans all with one single focus for 90minutes, riding the wave of emotion that comes with live sport. The wave of emotion effects the players as well, we have all seen the classic Anfield European Nights. Anyone who says that the crowd doesn’t have an effect is couldn’t be more wrong! When the crowd start chanting/singing/cheering it give the teams add momentum, the little extra push they might need. Its no wonder a good crowd is called the 12th man!

The other problem with the behind closed doors idea is that fans still attend the game. The idea is to minimise the spread of the virus, but fans are still attending the games and meeting outside the stadiums! Near enough the same amount of people attending the event just not inside watching the game. There is an argument to be had that they are in closer proximity to each other outside the stadium than inside. It was quite clear from the Champions League games this week that fans were going to attend come hell or high water. It remains to be seen if this will be the same for league games but knowing football fans around the globe I would be surprised if it’s not the same as the Champions League games.

While writing this post it has been confirmed that Premier League and EPL games will be postponed until early April due to coronavirus.

The purpose of this blog is really to emphasise and discuss the huge importance fans have on the game not necessarily the coronavirus. So far, I have looked at the atmosphere they create within the stadium but it’s so much more than that, especially for the smaller clubs. Smaller clubs rely on the gate receipts generated by the fans attending games to keep their clubs afloat financially. With games being played behind closed doors these clubs stand to struggle financially within the coming weeks/months.

This has been proven by fan protests when ticket prices go up, certainly in Germany they have kept prices steady for this reason to keep the gate receipts high. This doesn’t even include the money spent on matchday on merchandise, food and drink, once you start adding all of that up its comes in at quite a substantial loss for the club.

There is also a social aspect to the behind closed doors idea. Fans look forward to these games each week to spend time with friends, family and like-minded supporters. It becomes a ritual every Saturday following your club through think and thin, through all the ups and the downs, from relegation to promotion. Football fans are the most loyal in the world and not attending games will have a real social impact on the majority.

Football without fans is nothing! It may be due to a global pandemic that these rules have been enforced but with the build up of fans around the stadiums and still following their team I am struggling to see whether it will have the desired effect.

What is your opinion on this? Id love to hear it! Please share/comment on this id love as many people as possible to read my work and have discussions.
“Discussion is an exchange of information; an argument an exchange of ignorance”

Weekend Round Up

I am going to start doing a quick weekend round up of the games that went ahead. I know it’s very basic content and that this sort of post gets thrown around the internet every weekend in one ruse or another but for me it’s an easy way of catching up on any football I have missed for starters, finding little bits of information that I may have missed over the weekend and also it’s a good excuse for some writing practice for me.

Writing is the same as any skill learnt over time and requires practice so this sort of post will offer me a small chance to get some extra writing in on top of the other posts I am going to do. It also gives a chance to stay up to date with all the clubs around the premier league and not just the ones I am following.

Let us get started…

Never back the early KO is a cry heard round most pubs come 2:30 when most people’s bets are already over. Not this Saturday though, Liverpool went into the game off the back a few defeats and needing a win for personal pride instead of for the premier league title challenge. After losing there unbeaten streak, going behind in the first leg of the champions league and losing to Chelsea, the home fans were expecting nothing more than a victory. Callum Wilson put the visitors ahead in some what controversial circumstances however Liverpool remained composed and Salah became the firsts Liverpool player to score 20+ goals in 3 consecutive seasons since Michael Owen. A VVD interception on the half way line and a through ball to Mane was enough to give them the lead going into half time. No more goals in the second half but a goal line clearance from MOTM Milner was enough to secure Liverpool the win. The hosts will hope this is some much need momentum gong into their champions league second leg with Atheltico Madrid.

Onto a London derby, a 78th minute VAR assisted goal from Alexander Lacazette was enough to seal the tie for the Gunners. A somewhat wasteful West Ham side defended and attacked well but as has been the case on numerous times this season getting the ball across the line was the issue. The goal itself was originally flagged offside but after a check by VAR is was awarded. Both sides had chances and Arsenals Leno was regarded as the best player on the pitch. Arsenal are now 8 games unbeaten which is a significant step in the right direction, with Arteta making steady progress. West Ham sit 16th and on 27 points with 2 other club hovering around the relegation zone. A corner will need to be turned if survival is on the agenda.

Another London derby next with Crystal Palace vs Watford. A brilliant strike on 28 minutes was enough to give palace there third consecutive 1-0 win. Jordon Ayew fired into the top corner for his 8th goal of the season, finding some form in recent weeks which is proving excellent for palace who are showing they are becoming a difficult team to break down. Watford will have hoped for a better result after such a dominant display against Liverpool however it was not to be and the 3 points last week are proving to be exceptionally valuable given they are only above the relegation zone by goal difference. Palace continue plodding on with mid-table this year looking likely.

Onto this season surprise package Sheffield United against Norwich. The blades make it 10 points from 12 in the last 4 games with another clean sheet to add to the many of this season. The fans will have Henderson to thank for helping the side to 3 points this Saturday with 3 saves late on to help his side to victory. Billy sharps 36 minute header was all that separated the two sides and left the blades with genuine European hopes for the end of the season. Norwich on the other hand are left rock bottom of the premier league needing a little bit of a miracle to avoid relegation this year.

Down to the south coast for Southampton against Newcastle where an early sending off for the hosts made life difficult. Allen Saint-Maxiin ended Newcastle’s’ current goal drought which Southampton’s Alex McCarthy bravely tried to deny. His triple save will be one of the highlights of the weekend but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to earn the Saints a draw. This was a proper mid table clash, Newcastle are now 8 points above relegation which should be enough with the way the bottom clubs are playing and Saints 7 points clear but needing to get back to winning ways to assure there safety.

It was a bore draw at Molineux but the point moves Wolves 5th in the premier league. With only one shot on target in each half but drawing routine saves from the goalkeepers. Brighton are still yet to win in 2020 and are now only two points above the relegation zone. Wolves missed a chance to go 4th but to not play well and still not get beat isn’t always a bad thing.

The late KO saw Burnley host Tottenham were a score draw saw both sides leave with a point. Sean Dyche had some strong words about VAR when Chris Wood was denied a penalty after staying on his feet after being fouled. A Chris Wood goal however and a Dele Ali penalty were all that stood between the sides. Spurs are still looking for a solution to their current striker problems but it doesn’t seem Ali up top is going to do that. Spurs look like they may struggle to make top 4 with Burnley sitting pretty in mid table.

Sundays early KO saw a wonderful display by Chelsea team needing another big performance, a 4-0 rout of Everton with 18 year old Billy Gilmore producing another MOTM award on his full premier league debut. Goals from Mount, Pedro, Willian and Giroud saw them well past Everton who struggled against Chelsea’s high tempo. Everton had been in from up to now but didn’t have enough to compete with the Chelsea side that showed up. This was a typical game where Chelsea’s found form and Everton seemed sluggish compared to there recent self.

The Manchester derby provided us with Sunday night entertainment and it didn’t disappoint. Goalkeeping errors led to both goals for United leaving City still miles behind Liverpool and having an uncharacteristic season of mistakes and lack of intensity. This shouldn’t take away the result from United mind who completed the league double over City for the first time since Sir Alex retired. Ederson will be seen as the one at fault for both goals, the first you could argue was unlucky and the second a good finish but ultimately the two mistakes cost two gaols which was enough to settle the tie. Bruno Fernandez with another good performance will keep fans wondering just how good he could become.

The final game of gameweek 29 saw Leicester take on Aston Villa. Villa needed a result and Renia’s goalkeeping left a lot to be desired for Barnes first goal, excellent footwork and finish but it will go down as a goalkeeping error. Up step Jamie Vardy at half time, one penalty and one solo effort saw him prove he is fit from any injury niggles. Harvey Barnes grabs himself a second with 5 minutes left and rightly so was the best player on the park. This keeps the Foxes pushing City for second place. Aston Villa are going to need a master turn around in the final games to drag themselves out of the bottom 3, however with only 5 points separating as many teams there is all to play for.

That sums up this weeks football with lots to talk about! I’d love to here your opinions! Until next time!

Lionel Messi – Is he the Greatest of All Time?

It’s a question asked by everyone is Messi the greatest to ever play the game. If you go by the numbers he would have to be up there on everybody’s list. To right all of his achievements in a paragraph would make it very heavy reading not to mention not highlighting the sheer greatness of his achievements. Instead I will list them below to try and give some context into just how impressive his accomplishments are while still achieving more as the seasons go roll on. At 32 he could still have 3 or 4 top quality years in him. Imagine the records then!
o 6 Ballon d’Or Awards

o 6 European Golden Shoes

o 34 Trophies for Barcelona

o Most goals in La Liga (437)

o Most Hat-Tricks in La Liga (36)

o Most Assists in La Liga (181)

o Over 700 senior Career Goals

o Most goals in European Season (50)

o 8 La Liga best player Awards

o 11 Argentine best player awards

o 13 Years in the Fifa World 11

o Laurens Sportsman Of the Year 2020

The greatest of all time is such a difficult discussion to have, there have been so many players over countless era’s that the topic of greatest of all time is close to impossible. With that being said im not going to try and compare him to some of the greats or even against his closest rival Ronaldo. What I am going to do is talk about Messi the player and leave the discussion for you to have.

The achievements above stand alone as one of the many reasons why he is considered the greatest to ever grace the field, the Laurens Sportsman of the year 2020 was the first time a footballer has been awarded it.

The way he has played within the Barcelona team has showed ability, maturity and intelligence, with a winning mentality that is second to none. He has played in multiple position for them whether that be any of the front 3, a centre forward slightly behind the striker or dropping right back as an attacking midfielder.

He has shown that he can do it all, long range finishes, free-kicks, mazy dribbling runs and unselfish passes across the goal. He has done it all time and time again influencing the team to be one of the most successful club sides of a generation.

A game against Real Madrid in 2009 was dubbed the day the false 9 was created (please find it on YouTube). This game Eto’o and Messi switched positions allowing Messi to drop deeper into space and leave the Real Madrid centre backs in no mans land. They didn’t know whether to hold there position or go with him, in the end they did neither and Messi once again dominated the proceedings with the game eventually finishing 6-2 to Barcelona.

The beauty of a player like Messi isn’t is immense physical size or his blistering pace, he seems to possess something a little more unique, the way he plays football is more like an art form than a sport. The way he dribbles past the worlds best defenders with ease but with simple movements. He isn’t like Neymar or Ronaldinho with flash Brazilian flair. It’s a simplistic approach with body movements and faints. Most of the time he doesn’t touch the ball and sends defenders the wrong way.

Some may say he was lucky to play with the team he did or under the managers he has however all these things have changed over the years but the one remaining constant has been Lionel Messi scoring goals, winning games and capturing the attention football fans around the globe.

Its no wonder he was voted as one of the Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2011 and 2012.

The greatest ever we will never know, but a wonder to watch, a player that has captivated a generation of football fans and a unique talent we certainly cant deny. Its been a pleasure to watch him play. Do you agree?

I want to start with a controversial topic… VAR.
It seems like it was something everyone wanted but not like this. The technology seems to be there, but the implementation appears to be lacking.

Starting from the beginning – I think a lot of people have watched countless sports across the world that utilise one form of video refereeing or another. Tennis have Hawkeye. Rugby have the TMO. Cricket have the third umpire. All these sports have developed these technologies and adapted their games for the better. But…
They all have one common element and that’s the decisions they make are black and white. There is very little ambiguity in these decisions. A serve in tennis is either out or in whether that’s 1mm or 50mm Hawkeye will give the decision and the fans and players except that. Cricket for example will use the third umpire for LBW calls, they accept the technology and if it calls out then they accept and move on. We scarcely see decisions made in these sports contested and discussed then way football decisions are and part of this must come down to the clear-cut decisions that are being made.

Football however isn’t quite there yet! We have introduced goal-line technology and rarely see that criticised. As fans we struggled to accept decisions like Lampard’s free kick against Germany that could so clearly have been helped using technology. As a sport we implemented this and are yet to have problems. This type of decision though is much the same as the ones above, clear cut and unambiguous. The problem we have is with the decisions that are clear cut, the ones that have an air of subjectivity about them.

Let’s start with offsides. This should be black and white. The decisions we have seen so far have been far from black and white. The discussion here isn’t whether the technology is rights, I believe its whether the law is right in the first place. Has the law grown and adapted with the technology the way the game and fans are being expected to? My opinion is, the law doesn’t reflect the new precision that the technology allows us, before VAR there would never be a discussion whether someone’s shoulder could be offside. All that that would have been said was ‘oo that was a close call’. With these decisions now favouring the defenders I believe we need to revisit the rule itself.

My personal opinion is that only parts of the body that can lead to a goal should be deemed offside this would certainly eradicate the arms/shoulders being offside. To what extend we give offsides i.e. down to millimetres is certainly controversial and may have been similar arguments other sports had to begin with, however what we have learnt about VAR is that it does have a limit with regards to accuracy. With the worry of sounding boring there are only so many frames per second the camera can play at and when we are dealing with such tight margins there is a chance the technology isn’t advanced enough to cope with the level of quality the attacking runs are being made.

This will be an ongoing topic and is only a few of my immediate opinions on it, my plan is to revisit this in the future to see if anything has changed. I think all fans want to see this work but don’t want to spoil the game they love. There will be a comprise somewhere it’s just finding it.

What do you think? If you found this interesting or worth a read please share with a friend, id love to grow the amount of readers.

My first ever blog, I’ve always wanted to write but never knew where to start.

I knew I wanted to talk about football and the beautiful game, for years I have played the game and been involved at many levels, I’ve watched for as long as I can remember.

So why not talk to a wider audience, spread my thoughts and opinions and get yours in return. There’s an entire history of football to remmeber and an entire future to predict.

There are so many avenues to explore in this wonderful sport and I plan on given my small insight.

So stay tuned and ill have my first post up as soon as I can.