RedCafe.net

One often hears self-styled dandies from the real world saying they aren’t interested in football, since it’s merely 22 millionaires chasing after a ball. Your first reaction at their scorn would be advising them to watch second or third league games, so that they witness 22 lads on minimal wages chasing after a ball, but the most important rectification would be to point out we, football fans, do not watch football to see 22 people chasing after a ball, but to see how slick they prove in that task. And indeed, football is about smartness, one of the factors which, alongside propensity for turnarounds and time limit, makes it the sport that fits best to the description of real life.

Football actors prove slick in the way, loosely, they manage to overdo an opposition’s formation on the pitch. This is the benchmark that differentiates teams and allows rankings. This season for instance, first placed Chelsea have shown a great ability to spread their net over central midfield, allowing their two full-backs to circle it and stretch the opposition. Second ranked United can thank paramount Wayne Rooney who, with his ability to move around in between opposition’s lines, botches their tactical work.
The slickest are first, the second slickest are second in England. It is now time to weigh up their cunning on the European scale.

Arsenal – Porto

Although Wenger was right in saying Arsenal was not out of the title race after the Chelsea demise, the Gunners have lost 3 in 3 against the two atop in the Premier League, which in itself is seen as a sufficient ground to call into question the Frenchman’s youthful philosophy. What one has to bear in mind however is that each top-notch manager has his own philosophy and Wenger’s is in no way inferior to Ancelotti’s gerontocracy or Ferguson’s turnovers in its content. In other words it is perfectly respectable to give room to young prospects, furthermore one can argue that you can never give them enough room. However, the realization of this philosophy is skewed since Wenger’s premise to catch hold of the best prospects befitting the Premier League and Arsenal’s play style, and that usually stem from the French Ligue 1, failed miserably as Diddy Drogba, purchased for £3.3m by Marseille from Guingamp in 2003, entailed Arsenal’s demise.

The Gunners should not be too troubled by Porto next week nonetheless, as the Portuguese outfit struggled to replace captain Lucho Gonzalez and striker Lisandro Lopes gone in the summer to France. The Dragões are third in the Portuguese League and look nothing like the coherent side that might had troubled United last season, was it not for Cristiano Ronaldo’s wondergoal.

AC Milan – Manchester United

The Rossoneri are third in the Serie A, which does not even mean they are third slickest in Italy in what proves a very dense league this season with only 10 points separating them from 10th ranked Bari, in comparison to the 18 points gap between Arsenal and Fulham. Milan is a shadow of its former self and should not trouble United, except for the slick of Marco Borriello and his physicality that may dangerously stretch the spacing between our defence and midfield in case our centre-back partnership fails to deliver.

Olympique Lyonnais – Real Madrid

Another ghost host in the Champions League last 16 ! Gone are the days when Olympique Lyonnais dominated France with an iron hand, and whose slick consisting in pressuring the opposition’s central midfield and defence to a melting and eventually disintegrating point proved peerless for 8 straight years. The Lyonnais are struggling in the Ligue 1 and 8 points aloof of Bordeaux. There is little chance for them to upset Real Madrid, whose game surprisingly looks more inspiring when Ronaldo isn’t featuring. If the outcome of this draw seems outright, it will be interesting to see how Karim Benzema fares in his former stadium.

CSKA Moscow – Sevilla

The Moscow team has not played in a competitive league game since November and is struggling to find its physical form in the build up to its clash with Sevilla, who lost to 18th Zaragoza last week. The outcome of this draw is highly unlikely, but the Russians’ rising form coupled with the Andalusia squad’s twilight (3rd a month ago, 5th today in la Liga) inclines one to lean toward a Russian squad in the quarter-finals for the first time in history (I think).

Bayern Munchen – Fiorentina

Potentially attractive draw with two teams that play an enticing game relying on the pace and technique of Arjen Robben on one hand, and Stevan Jovetic (lightening against AS Roma) on the other. The Italians are only 12th in the Serie A, having experienced a severe dip in form in the past month, and their bravery might prove fruitless against Bayern, whose experience at this stage of the competition, coupled with the indefinite absence of Adrian Mutu with the Viola, would be inclined to edge it.

Inter Milan – Chelsea

One just cannot see Chelsea, one of the most in form teams right now, craving a revenge on the European scene, go out in the last 16. On the other hand it is impossible to imagine José Mourinho go out at the same stage as last season in a competition he was hired to win. The outcome of the most interesting clash of the last 16 between leaders of the Premier League and Serie A could be decided by Samuel Eto’o, who hitherto remains in the shadow of deadly Diego Milito but knows his stuff in a competition he won twice.

Olympiakos – Girondins de Bordeaux

Bordeaux endured two defeats in a row this week that called a day to 15 games unbeaten. Although Yoann Gourcuff is playing badly, the Marine & Blanc should see off a Greek side that lies 6 points behind arch-rivals Panathinaikos in the Greek League. The team that goes through will at any rate be the weakest of the quarter-finals.

VfB Stuttgart – FC Barcelona

The Germans look enticing since the takeover of Christian Gross in December. Their team has the potential to cause great problems to the Blaugrana, as a backbone consisting in Jens Lehmann-Mathieu Delpierre-Aleksandar Hleb-Pavel Pogrebnyak, coupled with the talent of Zdravko Kuzmanovic, is highly promising on paper. However this backdrop is short of proper German players who would not be afraid to punch above their weight, and Barcelona may have already won this tie before the kick-off. Nothing says they’ll repeat last season’s feat, though.

Overall this is a highly enticing tie, as the apparent lack of powerhouses is mantled by the competitiveness and diversity of contenders coming into the last 16 of the European Cup.

The commercialization of football in the modern era has ushered in drastic changes to the game, transforming what initially was a game played by gentlemen into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Commercialization of football, simply put, reduces competition. In each of Europe’s top leagues, one can realistically only expect two or three teams to challenge for the title. Other clubs do not have the resources to compete with these elite teams, because the biggest sponsors pay the most money to the winning teams. This, coupled with the income from TV sponsorship deals and European football, creates a vicious cycle in which top clubs use their extensive resources to bring in fresh talent, thereby greatly reducing the threat of smaller clubs taking over their high pedestal of income. Effectively, a vast gulf in class is created between these so-called ‘European clubs’ and the rest, which leads to doubts about the future health of the game.

A problem in many of Europe’s top leagues (namely Serie A and La Liga) is the lack of collective television deals. Clubs are allowed to negotiate their own television sponsorship, meaning that the majority of the money goes to top clubs such as Real Madrid and Inter Milan, whereas smaller clubs are left with the scraps. One method to help reduce the gulf between clubs would be to introduce collective TV deals as in the case of the English Premier League so that sponsorship would be distributed equally between teams. This increases competition in lower leagues as well because clubs strive to gain promotion to the financial paradise that is the Premier League.

Another problem facing clubs are the high wage demands of top players. With numerous players earning more kicking a ball around for 90 minutes a week than the common man earns in a year, smaller clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract the finest athletes. A localized salary cap to each league with the cooperation of UEFA, the EU, and FAs of each league would help ensure that elite clubs are not at an advantage by offering outrageous wages to players. A slow implementation of a salary cap throughout Europe would also guarantee that players would not leave leagues for wages as everyone would be on a level playing field, although low taxes in certain countries (i.e. Spain) could still tempt players to move.

Highest Paid Players in 2008/2009

The aforementioned proposal is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future due to conflicts with current EU laws and with Michel Platini at the helm of UEFA. Platini’s FIFA counterpart Sepp Blatter has proposed a ’6+5′ solution in which clubs have eventually have to field six players of the league’s nationality by the 2012-13 season. This would help reduce the advantage that top clubs have of signing too many international players and allow the smaller clubs to attract these players instead. This will clearly weaken the dominance of the English Premier league, but with the yearly redundancy of teams in the latter stages of the Champions League, it may be a step in the positive direction. However, even the ’6+5′ proposal may not go through as the European Commission believes it breaks EU laws by discriminating based on nationality; FIFA claims it does not because clubs are not limited on how many international players they can sign but just on how many they can field at a given time.

Finally, numerous clubs are ruining the game by emphasizing the business aspect of the game over the football aspect. Such is the globalization of the ‘beautiful game’ that in many cases it has simply become a money-making industry. Of course, every organization requires some sort of profit to run, but in the case of football, the sole purpose often seems to be maximizing these profits. Some clubs give the impression that they would make money rather than please the fans, seemingly trying to convince the public that wearing the logo of a popular club is more fashionable than sporting a Gucci or Lacoste.

This money-hungry aspect of football can be summed up by Real Madrid’s purchase of David Beckham in 2003. Florentino Pérez justified Madrid’s purchase of Beckham over Ronaldinho:

“How ugly is Ronaldinho?! There was no point buying him, it wasn’t worth it. He’s so ugly that he’d sink you as a brand. Between Ronaldinho and Beckham, I’d go for Beckham a hundred times. Just look how handsome Beckham is, the class he has, the image. The whole of Asia has fallen in love with us because of Beckham. Ronaldinho is too ugly.”

Sorry Mr. Pérez, but you don’t look any better than Ronaldinho

It is undeniable that any particular league would be more enjoyable if there were more than two or three title contending teams. However, the only way for smaller clubs to challenge the elite seems to be through an injection of money, as with Chelsea and more recently Manchester City (although the Premier League has been more competitive this year due to the Top Four becoming weaker). Since not all clubs have the privilege to be bought by a billionaire owner, FIFA and UEFA must take certain steps to ensure that everyone has a level playing field so that the future of the game can be secured.

In the wake of France’s 1-1 draw against Serbia on September 9th in Belgrade, a result that unerringly condemned les Bleus to a risky playoff spot, a surprisingly chuffed Raymond Domenech answered journalists questions on the pitch, moments after the final whistle. Taking little heed of the prospect of having to go through a two legged tie which should never have been a consideration for a talented French side, he hailed the 200 friends that sent him an SMS in the days before the game and also his wife for her support, innocently grinning at the camera in front of him, as if to convey his outward satisfaction to the millions of deflated French fans behind the TV. It took him a month to realize the high level of uncertainty that surrounds France’s duty, especially since France drew Ireland, perhaps the most feared of possible opponents on this side of the Channel. Domenech spent no time praising his wife after the draw, hastily escaping the journalists surrounding him at a Lyon training camp and refusing to give his assessment of the Irish side. Later in the afternoon, he finally answered the questions of RTL, a decent radio station for stay-at-home moms whom happen to have an exclusive contract with the French football federation. He heralded that Ireland was as difficult a draw as possible, and that France will face nothing less than an “England 2″ side in November, citing the players established in the Premier League. Funnily enough, his statement meant to big up the Irish was translated as exactly the opposite in most Dublin newspapers the next day, Ireland as an “England reserve team”, which provoked an outcry that Domenech never wished for, as Ireland now has an extra-motivation coming into the game. Hence, if even Domenech’s communication tactics can be outdone, the Irish underdogs shall certainly believe in their chances next week. Other clinchers can elicit optimism among the Irish troops, notably :

Giovani Trapattoni’s experience

Here’s one selector who is also renowned for his peculiar communication skills and long-winded press conferences, albeit in an entirely different register to Domenech’s stonewalling.

Ich habe fertig

Ich habe fertig

Yet the biggest difference between the Milan-born selector and his French counter-part – who only managed France U21 and a second-league Olympique Lyonnais in the early 1990s – is the former coached the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, and is the only Italian ever to have led Bayern Munich, landing two Scudettos, two Champions Leagues and one German silverware in the process. His experience as a manager is peerless; Domenech still has not won a trophy. This trashy prize list contributes to the French selector failing to impart confidence to his squad, as underscored by Thierry Henry’s private conversation with him at the Clairefontaine training camp two days before the decisive Romania game in early September, where he vocalized his team-mates’ confusion at “wayward” training sessions in which everything was “conducted randomly” by the French selector. Although this statement was quickly disclaimed, it obviously contained a certain amount of truth as testified the next day by Florent Malouda, left startled not to find his jersey in the locker-room minutes before the kick-off against Romania, having seemingly been told earlier he was picked in the starting 11.

The impact of Domenech’s questionable coaching cannot be undermined; in hindsight, it even proved a decisive factor for France during the qualification groups campaign, as it turned out to be the best selector in the group 7 whose team topped the table by the end. Serbia’s Radomir Antić was indeed by all accounts the most experienced selector among all contenders, having coached the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, and his rallying abilities single-handedly enabled Serbia to edge it in a group where Domenech’s France and Romania (led by the inexperienced Victor Piturça and Razvan Luçescu) were seen as favourites.  We ought to wish Trapattoni, unlucky thus far at International level with the Italian outfit, that this tendency keeps up and the best manager gets the upper hand next week.

One of the best defensive midfielders in the world in his prime (Pelé himself admitted seldom having been under such tight a grip as when facing Trapattoni), his defensive awareness is what made his name as a manager and what could prove vital against the French, who struggled most in the group stages against teams who set no tempo to the game and sat deep, notably low-key Lithuania and the Feroe Islands, both narrowly defeated away by a one goal leeway.

Robbie Keane’s confidence

The Irish captain is in sparkling form with the national team and Tottenham alike, having scored 5 in both the WC group stages and the Premier League. He is one of the five players (alongside Given, O’Shea, Dunne and Kilbane) who have already faced the French fighting for a World Cup spot back in September 2005 at Lansdowne Road, only to be narrowly defeated by a Thierry Henry second-half curler. Nonetheless, this backbone will be of useful help for the younger team-mates coming in for what will presumably be a tight game, while France on the other hand will only have Grandpas Henry and Gallas to recall the fiery atmosphere emanating from the Irish crowd.

Franck Ribéry’s knee

The French wizard yielded France six vital points in the double encounter with Lithuania in April and has been key to France’s performances in the past two years. His absence automatically means one of Thierry Henry or Florent Malouda will occupy the left flank, the former being rather average at it with the French team, the latter well known to John O’Shea, the United full-back who will take charge of either of them. Most of France’s capacity to surprise its opponent vanishes with Ribéry, only to let the usual suspects try and quarrel with Ireland’s back four that conceded one less than the French during the group stages (8 goals to 9). The likes of Karim Benzema and André-Pierre Gignac being currently slightly out of form, France’s best weapon will certainly be Yoann Gourcuff, the Bordeaux attacking midfielder who will have to deal with a big amount of responsibilities on his still fragile shoulders. Ribéry’s absence is coupled with Patrick Vieira failing to be called up by Domenech after a magnificent display with Inter Milan against AS Roma upon returning from injury. This has caused an outcry in France and rightly so, as the only other defensive midfielder capable of crossing the halfway line while still getting hold of the ball, the Gunner Abou Diaby, is out injured.

5 + 5 = 10

The number of goals conceded by Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda in the epic Lyon-Marseille game last Sunday. According to Domenech, no hierarchy is settled between both goalkeepers as to who will start at Croke Park; they did little to establish one on Sunday, imitating each other’s mistakes and making them more and more silly as the game wore on. One should point out at how seldom there had been such an uncertainty in the French outfit as to who will finally step in the shoes of Number 1 goalkeepers in the footsteps of Barthez and Lama. Shay Given, on the contrary, need not feeling too anxious about it.

Stade de France’s ignorance

The second leg takes place on French soil, but hardly in what we’d call a welcoming stadium for the French squad. The Stade de France is indeed renowned for its whimsy attendance that jeers its own players whenever they concede a goal, or at half-time if no goal was scored against weaker opposition. The stadium is commonly referred to as the « Footix haven », referencing to the 1998 World Cup mascot, the competition for which the stadium was built in the mid-1990s  and during which most of its eventual attendance first met up with football.
The crowd’s reputation is well deserved; in France’s last outing against Austria, the Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was enjoying a decent evening when the crowd started shouting « Mandanda, Mandanda ! » for a good two minutes, asking for the reserve goalkeeper to come off the bench after Lloris was deemed responsible for Austria’s goal. Akin events are dime a dozen in the Saint-Denis stadium, foremost whipping boys including Karim Benzema and Nicolas Anelka for their unbearable laziness. Such a behaviour from the crowd evidently elicits negative feelings among the French squad, players admitting to feel like playing away fixtures at the Stade de France. Hence, attempting to cool down the relationship between players and fans, Noel le Graet (vice-chairman of the French football federation) relocated the Feroe Islands home game in October to the pint-sized 18,000 seats Roudourou Stadium, home to the low-key Ligue 2 side FC Guingamp, where France dismantled a fairly weak opponent amid a jovial Breton atmosphere. The next day, overzealous newspapers were begging for the impending play-offs to take place at the Roudourou, which would loosely equal to the Irish team playing at Newbridge Town’s Station Road).

As eventually the Stade de France got the upper hand, Domenech recalled how in 2004, when Ireland last visited Paris, more than 30,000 Irish fans stood in the stands. The French selector was visibly anxious at a similar scenario unfolding, and issued a statement on RTL saying « it would be useless to play in front of an Irish crowd like the other time, so please French fans, go and buy tickets to prevent the Irish to sweep them all. That would be a first victory. The Britons (sic) are good at reacting quickly, I’m sure they are even already booking tickets on the internet ». Too humble, the French selector didn’t mention he is also quite efficient at anticipating, as underlined by his trip to South Africa last March, resulting in the booking of a luxury hotel his team may never disclose.

M6’s ill luck

The folkloric French television channel M6, renowned for its song contests and soap operas, isn’t quite used to broadcasting football games, which didn‘t prevent it from being inexplicably picked to cover the Croke Park game. That represents a good sign for Ireland as the French have never won a game with M6 at the helm. The last time it broadcast the French national team was in the 2008 European Championships, when a nightmare of a game against Italy eliminated les Bleus from a competition they entered as firm favourites. The loss prompted Raymond Domenech to try and convince everyone that the team performed quite well, before proposing his then fiancée for marriage, minutes after the final whistle following a truly disastrous performance. It was perhaps one of the most staggering on-pitch interviews of all time, conducted in front of flabbergast commentators that include Chelsea legend Franck Leboeuf, whose golden analysis of the game, coupled with akin comedy moments from Domenech during the post-match interview, might at least alleviate the French fans’ sorrow in case of a potential upset.

The bottom line is Ireland can believe in its chances to upset France in next week’s play-offs, as Domenech’s side lacks the stability and confidence implemented by Trapattoni in a united, solid, eerie Irish side. Here’s to Trapattoni !

Corrigan Brothers

[Posted on behalf of Domzi]

Throughout the summer there has been a flurry of transfer activity across the whole of Europe, with clubs spending an unprecedented amount in securing the greatest talent available to ensure success in the upcoming season. Whether this grotesque expenditure shows just how detached the footballing sphere is from the rest of the world is a debate for another blog. In this series of articles, I’ll attempt to cover in depth the transfer activity of the major clubs in Europe, whilst also providing some insight into future prospects that look, if not world beaters already, exciting prospects.

Spain

Our first, and perhaps most obvious port of call is Spain and La Liga. It is debatable whether there has been a shift of power from the Premier League to La Liga, however this argument does not detract from the fact that there has been a tidal wave of Euros flowing out from Barcelona and Madrid, with clubs from Italy and England unable to stop the sheer sum of money that has been thrown at them. The first club I’ll look at is Europe’s biggest spender this summer, Madrid.

Real Madrid

The biggest spenders this summer by far, Madrid have spent so much that money this summer on improving their squad that it borders on vulgarity. We are all aware of the “Galatico Era” that saw Madrid spending a large amount of summer bringing in one super star to their ranks. However, what makes Madrid’s transfer activity this summer so extraordinary is that in almost a month they bought three of the most coveted players in the world, Kaka, Benzema and Ronaldo. Benzema cost Madrid a paltry sum of £30m with Kaka and Ronaldo weighing in at £65.8m and £80m respectively. Below is a full list of Madrid’s summer activity this summer (complete at the time of writing):

Arebloa – €4m
Kaka – €65m
Ronaldo – €94m
Alonso – €30m
Negredo – €5m
R.Albiol – €15m
Benzema – €30m
Granero – €4m
Total: €247m

Madrid’s previous “Galatico Era” was hampered by the total lack of regard for defence, with the all money being focused on the attacking side. Florentino Perez, the man behind Madrid’s vast expenditure has vowed not to repeat the same mistakes. He has therefore spent money on the likes of Albiol and Arbeloa in order to address Madrid’s defensive frailty, which was exposed by severe losses at the hands of Liverpool and Barcelona last season. The main question that is on everyone’s mind is how the new manager at Madrid, Manuel Pellegrini, plans on fitting all these new players into his side. My guess at the new look Madrid’s strongest side, and based on what I’ve seen of them so far in their pre-season, is something along the lines of:

             Benzema  Raul
          Kaka           Ronaldo
             Alonso   Diarra
      Drenthe  Albiol  Pepe  Ramos
                Casillas

On paper, the side’s most obvious strength is the sheer quality of their attack. However, whether the likes of Diarra, and to some extent Alonso, can shield the back line enough is highly debatable. The likes of Pepe and Ramos, defensively, are weak. Drenthe is not entirely comfortable playing at left-back and coping with the defensive duties that it entails, preferring a more attack minded role at left wing. Albiol is a good centre half and a good purchase by Madrid at €15m, whether he can cope at the top level on a regular basis is up for debate.

Arbeloa provides a more defensive option over Ramos on the right, however the likelihood of Ramos being dropped in favour of Arbeloa is low. Granero looks a good prospect, comfortable playing across midfield. A tidy passer with a decent turn of pace, whilst not a regular starter, will provide good cover for the first team squad. With the likes of Higuain, Robben, Marcelo and Van Nistlerooy on the bench, Madrid have a good, if not outstanding, level of squad depth, with the most noticeable deficiencies at the back. On the whole, it is difficult to argue against the fact that Madrid have improved a lot over the summer. On the other hand, Madrid’s defence on paper isn’t strong enough by any means. It will be interesting to see whether they are able to cope against the top teams in Europe, let alone Barcelona in their own back garden.

Barcelona

Barcelona fans are understandably miffed that the lime light from their historic Spanish treble has been taken away from them this summer by the goings on at their bitter rivals in Madrid. They’ve seen their arch rivals strengthen immeasurably over the summer, but that doesn’t taken away the fact that they themselves have conducted some of their own business this summer. Understandably as well, a treble winning side is unlikely to need any changes, but that did not stop Laporta sending one of the most prolific strikers in world football away from Camp Nou. In what seems one of the most bizarre transfers of all time, Eto’o left Barcelona in exchange for Ibrahimovic of Inter Milan and €46m. Assuming that Barcelona’s valuation of Eto’o (€20m) is correct, the overall monetary sum paid for Ibrahimovic lies somewhere in the region of €69m.

It has been acknowledged for some time that Eto’o was a source of trouble in the dressing room, but it is still a big gamble by Laporta and Guardiola to get rid of a striker that scored the first goal in both their most recent CL finals. Guardiola has said that the purchase of Ibrahimovic will offer them a “Plan B” which they were apparently lacking last year (yet somehow still managed to win a treble). Whether this proves true or not is yet to be seen. Barcelona’s team will unlikely be different from last season’s, with the exception of Ibrahimovic instead of Eto’o, and I expect them to line up like so:

                  Ibrahimovic
        Henry                      Messi
                 Xavi     Iniesta
                     Toure
        Maxwell   Pique   Puyol   Alves
                     Valdes

One of the most important reasons behind Barcelona’s success last season is the good health of Xavi and Messi and any injury to these two will have a detrimental effect on Barcelona’s season. Guardiola has said he is unhappy with the first team squad, which is only 19 men strong. Furthermore, in January, Barcelona will also lose Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure to the African Cup of Nations(ACN), depleting their already small squad. It will be interesting to see this season whether this historic squad can maintain their level of success, or will the loss of players to the ACN, and any long term injuries to Messi or Xavi, put a dent in their bid for silverware. Young Bojan looks a prospect, and I’d expect him to build upon his 10 goal return in 42 appearances last season. Barcelona also purchased long-time Football Manager legend Keirrison from Palmeiras for €14m plus a bonus of up to €2m. He has, however, moved on loan to Benfica for the season.

Season Prediction

It is incredibly unlikely that there will be more than two challengers for the title in Spain this season, with an enormous gulf in class between the top two of Madrid and Barcelona and the rest of league. I’ll stick my head on the chopping block and say that I expect Madrid to triumph this season. Although they basically have a new team to try and gel together, I expect that their squad depth, combined with the loss of Eto’o and Barcelona’s thin squad, will see the Primera Divisón title head to Madrid.

– Domzi