The Spoiler has no idea what is going on here, but Francesco Totti’s mullet is nice
How have Capello’s England done against the world’s best so far?
[Guardian]
Fans of being laughed at should get John O’Shea’s new signature boots
[Off the Post]
Eduardo is tired of collecting splinters on the bench
[Caught Offside]
Remember Freddy Adu? Of course you do. Next, we want to know where Cherno Samba, Tonton Zola Moukoko, Andri Sigporsson and all the other Championship Manager faux-legends ended up
[BBC Sport]
Kaka wants Beckham at WC2010. So he can run rings around him in a quarter-final
[The Sun]
Ben Foster refuses to accept his own rank mediocrity
[Telegraph]
It’s not just Chelsea who can’t defend crosses:
Lost amidst the great excitement of Villa’s two goals on Saturday, was the fact that Arsenal conceded a pathetic goal from a cross, and Manchester United seemed puzzled every time the ball arrived in the air too. Add to this Liverpool conceding 75% of their goals from set pieces, and it is clear that when the punditocracy talk of big four vulnerability, the aerial ball is where they are at their most brittle.
The era of Carragher, Rio and Terry being a class above is clearly coming to an end, and whilst managers scuttle around for their replacements, the lesser teams are taking advantage.
The best-paid referees in the world don’t know the rules: Last week their fitness was called into question; this week their knowledge of the rules. There are only 17 laws in football, and the small booklet weighs in at less than 50 pages, so one would hope a professional referee could manage to skim through it in their spare time. But of the four officials on call at the S of L on Saturday, none of them knew that Bent’s goal should not have stood.
Arsenal have made the best start in Premier League history:
27 goals in their first eight matches is more than any other side has managed since 1992. Crazily, most people still don’t consider them genuine title contenders.
Everton’s season is all about the Europa League:
In the past two seasons, Everton’s reliability against the lesser sides was a major factor in their successive top five finishes, particularly when contrasted to their struggles against the four above. With the Man City millions ripping Lescott off him, perhaps Moyes realised that in the league, Everton had gone as far as they realistically could. By placing all his eggs in the basket marked Europa League, silverware could be on the horizon.
Manchester City aren’t ready for the title yet:
In their two most recent away fixtures, City have equalised early in the second half, only to sit back and settle for the draw. It’s hard to imagine United or Arsenal at their pomp, content to draw at either Villa Park or the DW. Mark Hughes’ biggest challenge is to change the City mindset to that of a truly big club.
England’s number one isn’t even United’s number two:
Having declared earlier in the season, “I have said it before and I will say it again, there is no question in my mind that he will be England’s goalkeeper. There is nobody better. I am absolutely convinced of that,” Sir Alex has since decided Tomasz Kuszczak is better to name but one.
It is no exaggeration to say it is possible Foster will never again play for United. Fergie has shown in the past how ruthless he can be with goalkeepers - just ask Massimo Taibi.
The Welsh get ignored:
Such is the media’s obsession with the English untouchables of Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney etc, that their attention can only be elicited away by a glamorous foreigner, a Drogba, Torres or Fabregas. But if you’re Welsh or Scottish, you might as well not exist to the majority of football writers.
Darren Fletcher has been criminally under-rated for many years, as has the brilliant Craig Bellamy. James Collins has been a revelation since he joined Aston Villa, whilst West Ham’s defence has suffered without him carrying England star Matt Upson. Yet his MOTM performance on Saturday is treated as a one-off, as if he has suddenly appeared from nowhere.
Inter are a real threat this season:
Their dismantling of Genoa on Saturday night showed that when it comes to pace and power, Inter can now compete with Premier League sides, unlike previous years.
The Championship is really poor:
Three awful teams from last year are in the top four, and Middlesbrough even managed to lose at home to Watford this weekend. Message from Scudamore- “please stop sending us up such dross!”
What did you learn from the weekend - tell us below…
Eastenders viewing figures not under threat this evening
Tranmere Rovers vs. Stockport County (7.45pm, Sky Sports 1) Tranmere play their first game without the recently sacked John Barnes, as club physio Les Parry attempts a Nigel Adkins by trading the magic sponge for the tactics board in the guise of caretaker boss.
Both sides have struggled of late: the hosts have just one win in their last 11 while Stockport have won just once on the road in the league since February. Stockport sit 20th in the table and Tranmere occupy 22nd, making it a potential six pointer for the relegation candidates.
Oldham Ath Reserves vs. Manchester Utd Reserves (7pm, MUTV)
United reserves are looking to defend the Manchester Senior Cup for the third year running and tonight come up against Oldham. On paper, it may not sound like the most riveting
This was meant to be the season where Ben Foster established himself as Man United and England number one. The way things are going he won’t even be at Old Trafford for much longer…
Last March, Ben Foster had only ever started one league game for Manchester United and yet somehow, on the strength of one penalty save in the Carling Cup Final, developed a reputation as a superstar.
Fabio Capello was wowed by the display and breached his own guidelines later that month to cap Foster in a friendly against Slovakia, despite the fact he wasn’t playing regular club football.
Being talked up so much in the press without actually achieving much was always going to prove problematic, especially when an Edwin van der Sar injury in pre-season provoked articles about how Foster would prove so successful that the Dutchman would never get the shirt back.
When Capello was asked what had impressed him about the 26-year-old, he said: “He plays without fear and with confidence.” His assuredness has since been eroded though by a series of horrendous blunders.
First there was the embarrassing pre-season mistake against a Malaysia XI where he failed to control a backpass, then disaster in the Community Shield, later followed by humiliation against Manchester City and most recently the screw-up for Sunderland’s second last weekend. Rumours in the press suggest the latter was the catalyst for a “furious dressing room bust-up” between the keeper and Sir Alex Ferguson.
How hard must he have been staring at the telephone last night….
Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Blackburn), Robert Green (West Ham), David James (Portsmouth) Defenders: Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Wayne Bridge (Manchester City), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Matthew Upson (West Ham) Midfielders: James Milner (Aston Villa), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham); Strikers: Emil Heskey (Aston Villa), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
1. No Ben Foster - sometimes people are better at a job when they haven’t had a chance to do it yet. See Brown; Gordon for further examples.
UPDATE - The FA website claims Foster is out injured, although it doesn’t specify what the injury entails, or why Manchester United didn’t mention it post-match on Saturday.
2. Look at those strikers. No, really. Look at those strikers.
3. With the exception of North Korea, will any squad at the World Cup have so few players earning their living outside their home country? This may not be a bad thing however. The victorious Italians in 2006 did not have a single player based outside Serie A.
4. Following the announcement of the squad, Darren Bent tweeted, “Well we move on to the next one people don’t we” implying he feels slightly wronged by his omission. Have we reached a point where five good Premier League games is considered enough to merit a call-up, and more importantly, to harbour a sense of injustice if that phone call never arrives. Steve Bruce captained a side that won the Premier League, but couldn’t get a start in an England XI that failed to reach USA 94. English players expect too much too soon these days, an injustice cultivated by Sven throwing caps about like confetti.
5. Despite the lack of depth at centre-back, the campaign to persuade Jamie Carragher to come back has gone a little quiet….
It’s a lonely existence between the sticks at Old Trafford
With Edwin van der Sar on the verge of retirement and Ben Foster happily playing himself out of the team, it looks like Fergie will soon be on the market for a new keeper. Spoiler correspondent Chris McKenzie rounds up five goalkeeping gaffes Sir Alex might want to keep in mind while deciding who he’ll hand gloves to next…
1. Massimo Taibi vs. Southampton (1999)
On the most part, Manchester Utd fans are thankful that Taibi only ‘enjoyed’ a short spell with them during the 1999/2000 season. Despite only playing a handful of games he will always be remembered for somehow managing to let a feeble Matt Le Tissier shot slip through his legs. In the space of seconds Taibi challenged the idea that Italian keepers were the safest pair of hands between the sticks.
2. Fabian Barthez vs. Arsenal (2001)
In this clash of the titans, Barthez’s attempt at a simple goal kick ended up as a comical back-pass to an Arsenal player. Fair enough if it had been Martin Keown bearing down on goal, but it was Thierry Henry - the one player you don’t give freebies to.
Ben Foster was able to save Jamie O’Hara’s penalty in yesterday’s Carling Cup final after he watched footage of Tottenham spot kicks on Manchester Utd goalkeeping coach Eric Steele’s iPod. Presumably, 7ft 1in basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has also had access to the magical mp3 player.
Manchester Utd 0/ Tottenham 0 (Manchester Utd win 4-1 on penalties)
Congratulations are due to the person who edited the video above, as we wouldn’t have been able to squeeze 5 minutes and sixteen seconds of highlights out of yesterday’s Carling Cup match. In a game where the brilliantly pointless ‘fan-o-meter’ kept us up to date with decibel noises around Wembley, neither keeper had much work to do until the shoot-out.
Rather than put strikers up for penalties first - the guys who are paid to score goals - ‘Arry decided to go with Jamie O’Hara, Vedran Corluka and David Bentley. Presumably, Heurelho Gomes and Sandra Redknapp were due to take penalties four and five, but were denied the chance when O’Hara and Bentley failed to convert.
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