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Granada CF & Udinese Calcio: A Symbiotic Relationship

March 20, 2012 — by Suman — 1

There’s a full slate of mid-week La Liga fixtures this week–two matches today and the rest of La Liga playing tomorrow. One of today’s matches has Barcelona hosting Granada. It shouldn’t really be much of a contest–Barcelona hasn’t lost at home all season. Perhaps the only reason to watch is that there’s a good chance Lionel Messi will pull even with or even surpass César as Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer.

But it’s also a chance to take a look at Granada’s unique arrangement with Italian club Udinese. Granada essentially serves as a development squad for Udinese, with a large number of Granada’s squad over the past few years arriving on loan from Udinese. From AFootballReport piece on how this came about:

In 2009, Granada CF was a club in crisis, both competitively and financially. The club was on the brink of disappearing, despite a rich 80 year history. Gino Pozzo saw a money-making opportunity that would double as a way to develop Udinese talent, and in July 2009, the two clubs signed a partnership agreement so the majority of Granada’s squad would become Udinese-owned, while the Italian club could also send over its reserves and youngsters.

So what are the benefits for Gino Pozzo and Udinese Calcio? Well, the strategy is to use the exposure Granada gets in the Spanish league to showcase Udinese-owned talent that will, in turn, gain value in the transfer market. With Pozzo’s commitment to investing, Granada only seems likely to improve in the future. And Pozzo’s “buy cheap, gain exposure, sell high” philosophy is already working. Just imagine the possibilities for profit if Granada gets into the top flight in Spain.

The agreement came about via a Spanish football wheeler and dealer named Quique Pina, who took over as Granada’s president in 2009, in that time of crisis. Although he had operated in Spain, he happened to be working for an Italian club at the time. From a Sid Lowe SI column about Granada from last fall:

Pina was a former player (with Mérida), agent, and the owner of the short-lived Ciudad de Murcia — a club that was founded in 1999 and disappeared in 2007 when Pina effectively sold its Second Division place to the owner of Granada 74, which in turn, disappeared in 2009. At the time, Pena was working for Udinese in Italy. When Pina was asked to take over at Granada, the Pozzo family who own Udinese, allowed him to combine both jobs with their blessing. In fact, they supported Pina — and they supported his “other” new club. Really supported.

How did the Pozzo family and Udinese support Pina’s new venture in the south of Spain? By essentially providing him with the fruits of their extensive and much-admired scouting system. From a column in The Independent last summer, when Alexis Sanchez was the biggest transfer target in Europe, headlined “Super Sanchez is the latest big success story of little Udinese’s scouting system“:

Udine is a city of 100,000 in the misty terrain between Venice and the Alps. With crowds at the Stadio Friuli typically no more than 17,000, annual gate receipts are equivalent to those trousered by Manchester United after a single match at Old Trafford. According to the erudite football blog, Swiss Ramble, Udinese’s 2009-10 wage bill of €31m compared with €230m and €172m at Internazionale and Milan respectively. Only the club’s ageless talisman, Di Natale, has an annual salary exceeding €1m; Sanchez himself has apparently been taking home around €700,000. Internazionale, Milan and Juventus, meanwhile, all enjoyed annual revenues of over €200m. At €41m, Udinese did not match a single Premier League club. Income from television accounted for €26m; Internazionale’s was €138m.

[…]

When Giampaolo Pozzo bought Udinese, 25 years ago, the club was still prey to the maddening, odious debilities that have so retarded the Italian game. A betting scandal earned a points deduction, and relegation. But Pozzo devised a solution that has now secured 16 consecutive seasons in Serie A, and regular European competition.

Udinese built up a network of 50 scouts around the world, concentrated primarily in South America and Africa. They focused especially on youngsters from second-tier nations, and duly found Sanchez as a 16-year-old in Chile. He cost just €2m, but his sale this summer will merely consummate a policy that has already yielded a transfer surplus of €112m over the past decade.

Stars to have used Udinese as a stepping stone include David Pizarro, Asamoah Gyan, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Sulley Muntari, Andrea Dossena, Fabio Quagliarella and Gaetano D’Agostino. Unlike so many clubs with a reputation for grooming young talent, however, Udinese have consolidated their status to the extent that they can now provide Champions League football themselves.

Indeed, although Udinese fell to Arsenal in the qualifying stage and failed to make it to the Champions League group stage, they’ve remarkably repeated their domestic success of last season and are poised to get another shot at European competition. They current sit 4th in Serie A, tied with Napoli (and that only thanks to two late goals last Sunday by Edinson Cavani that salvaged a draw for Napoli in Udine)–despite selling off not only Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona, but Swiss-Turkish midfielder Gökhan Inler to Napoli and Colombian defender Cristian Zapata to Villareal.

Swiss Ramble’s long piece on “Udinese Selling Their Way to the Top“, also from last summer following their impressive performance in Serie A, mentions the Granada component of their business plan:

Udinese have bolstered their strategy by forming a partnership with Granada, a club playing in the Spanish second division, where they loan youngsters that need playing time, such as the Ghanaian Jonathan Mensah. Given the Friuli club’s connections with the South American market, it is no coincidence that they opted for a club in a Spanish speaking country to park their players. In total, Granada currently have an amazing 14 players on loan from Udinese.

In fact, one of the logical results of Udinese’s approach is that they end up having an extremely large squad, so they absolutely need to loan out a vast number of players every season (earning them €3.6 million in 2010). Including the players at Granada, I make the current total 63, though I may well have lost count. This is the sort of “wheeler dealing” that makes Harry Redknapp look like a rank amateur.

That was last season, as Granada fought their way to promotion out of Segunda Division (a fuller account of that promotion, and in fact the story of their promotion from even lower tiers of Spanish football, can be found on yet another treatment of the Pozzo-Pina/Udinese-Granada story, titled “Granada’s Italian job“, on In Bed With Maradona. Another account from the Spanish press, in Madrid-based sports daily AS is headlined “Pina y Pozzo: un tándem para reflotar equipos en crisis“)

This season, the number of players on Granada’s current squad (included below) on loan from Udinese is apparently down to five. But there are six additional players on loan from other clubs, including three from Benfica, another club that Pina has strong ties with. Again from Sid Lowe:

In total, 12 of Granada’s first team squad [last season] were Udinese players. It was good for the Italians because their squad members got playing time, the chance to develop and gain first team experience, while keeping them in the shop window for potential buyers; it was good for Granada because it helped them clinch a top division place at last — and on the cheap.

The relationship has continued. Of those in this year’s squad, Allan Nyom, Odion Ighalo, Jaime Romero, Benítez, Geijo and Diego Mainz are all on loan from Udinese in one capacity or another. Guilherme Siqueira has been signed from them. Meanwhile Pena’s relationship with Benfica has facilitated them bringing in four others from Portugal, three on loan and one on a free transfer. And at the other end of the scale, nine players have been loaned out to Cádiz. Where Pena is employed as the sporting director.

For the details, see Granada’s squad list below. But to bring this back around to today’s match, we quote the opener to that IBWM piece for a nice bit of historical resonance:

October 28th 1973; quite the memorable date in Spanish football history. A young, straggly but immensely gifted Dutchman by the name of Johan Cruyff made his league debut for FC Barcelona, and the effect he’d have on football from that point on, not just in Spain, is one that still shapes the game today. This story, however, is not about the number 14 – it’s about the number 35. Barça’s opponents that day were Granada CF, a team who have spent 35 years away from the Spanish top flight…until now.

Granada’s squad list as of today (according to Wikipedia):

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	José Juan
2	DF	Allan Nyom (on loan from Udinese)
3	DF	Noé Pamarot
4	MF	Fran Rico
5	DF	Diego Mainz
6	DF	Guilherme
7	FW	Odion Ighalo (on loan from Udinese)
8	DF	Iñigo López
9	DF	Borja Gómez (on loan from Karpaty Lviv)
10	MF	Jaime Romero (on loan from Udinese)
11	MF	Dani Benítez (on loan from Udinese)
12	FW	Franco Jara (on loan from Benfica)
13	GK	Roberto
14	MF	Mikel Rico
15	DF	Pape Diakhaté
16	FW	Henrique (on loan from São Paulo)
17	MF	Carlos Martins (on loan from Benfica)
18	DF	Manuel Lucena (captain)
19	MF	Hassan Yebda
20	FW	Ikechukwu Uche (on loan from Villarreal)
21	DF	David Cortés
22	FW	Álex Geijo (on loan from Udinese)
23	MF	Abel
24	MF	Moisés Hurtado
25	GK	Júlio César (on loan from Benfica)

Champions League Commentary

Super Tuesday Results in London and Lisbon

March 7, 2012 — by Suman

We gathered at CultFootball HQ yesterday afternoon to watch Super Tuesday results roll in. Although there had been some noise about opting for the more closely contested matchup in Lisbon, we went with the bigger-name but more lopsided faceoff in London. AC Milan had destroyed and embarrassed Arsenal 4-0 in the first leg at the San Siro a few weeks ago (“the Milan massacre“), and although there were historical precedents for a 2nd leg comeback against Milan, we thought it unlikely.

But whereas Robinho and “the mustached, cheesy-nightclub-predator-looking” Ibrahimovic could do no wrong in the 1st leg, somehow they were ineffective and wasteful this time around. And whereas Milan’s defense had looked nearly impregnable against Arsenal’s flaccid attack in Italy, they coughed up chances which Arsenal finished. Koscielny emphatically headed in a tremendous whipped corner from the Ox in the 7′, and the game was on. Then in the 26′, Milan’s Thiago Silva–who some are tipping as one of the top central defenders in the world–instead of clearing a ball from his own 6-yard line, passed it right to a resurgent Tomáš Rosický*, who slotted it home past Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati.

Rosický again orchestrated Arsenal’s midfield action. Wenger lined up his squad in more of a 4-3-3 than their usual 4-2-3-1, with Rosický, usual holder Alex Song, and surprising selection Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the central midfield 3. It was the Ox who assisted that first goal off the corner, and he created their third goal in the 40′, with a surging run into Milan penalty area, splitting Milan defender Mesbah and Nocerino, who could do nothing but sandwich him. After a moment’s deliberation, referee Damir Skomina pointed to the spot, Van Persie stepped up and blasted it past Abbiati–and suddenly Arsenal were within a goal of pulling even on aggregate.

Indeed, the imitable Barry Glendenning was doing the Guardian MBM of the match, and wrote this at the 44′: “You’d have to say Arsenal are the favourites to win this tie at this stage, as long as they don’t lose the run of themselves and forget to defend stoutly. They’ve been making hay down the right wing, where the visitors’ left-back Djamel Mesbah looks like some supporter who’s won a competition where first prize was the opportunity to play for AC Milan in a Champions League match. He’s having a shocker.”

But after scoring three goals in the first 45′, they were unable to put another one past Abbiati in the second 45′. The moment that is frozen in the memory of anyone that watched that match was Van Persie’s close range encounter with Abbiatti in the 59′. It was a remarkable save, one which dominates the headlines today (e.g., “Christian Abbiati stops Arsenal completing great escape against Milan” and “Milan’s Christian Abbiati hails ‘lucky’ crucial save against Arsenal” and in La Gazzetta dello Sport “Abbiati Santo“–the caption to the Reuters photo of that moment:

Arsenal's van Persie misses an opportunity to score as AC Milan's goalkeeper Abbiati reacts during their Champions League soccer match in London — "La parata super di Abbiati su Van Persie."

That remarkable moment is frozen in this remarkable photo by sports photographer Ryu Voelkel, whose photos of yesterday’s match we came across thanks to AFootballReport:

Arsenal-Milan-RVP — Ryu Voelkel's remarkable photo of that remarkable Van Persie vs Abbiatti moment

*: An extended aside re Rosický: the diminutive Czech has emerged as a central figure in Arsenal’s resurrection over the past couple weeks, and seems to belatedly be fulfilling the promise Wenger saw when he bought “The Mozart of Football” from Borussia Dortmund in 2006. He scored the winning goal in that remarkable comeback against Spurs a couple weeks ago, executing an extended give-and-go with Theo Walcott before flicking the finish over Friedel with the subtlest of touches; and in general he orchestrated things in the midfield.

Indeed, from an August 2007 Guardian Football column prior to an Arsenal Champions League match against Rosický’s first club, Sparta Prague: “A deep thinker, who views top-level football as akin to chess, he prefers to orchestrate – in Germany, he was called the Little Mozart.” Rosický was born in Prague and played in Sparta Pragues youth system from the age of 8:

“Sparta were my team,” he says. “They still are my team in the Czech Republic. It was the most important step in my career. When I was 17 they gave me the first opportunity to play in the league, when I was 18 I played in the Champions League and when I was 19 I was in the national team.”

Fever pitch aptly describes the atmosphere awaiting him: many Sparta fans have not forgiven Rosicky for joining Dortmund and the Bundesliga in 2001 and he anticipates a rough ride. But Rosicky will not allow anything to deflect him. Although only 26, he is one of the oldest heads in Arsène Wenger’s team and he is aware of what is expected. With Thierry Henry now at Barcelona, much of the creative burden this season will fall on his shoulders. After showing flickerings of his mercurial talent last season, it is incumbent on him to deliver consistently.

Mind you, this was 5 years ago. He’s an ancient head in Wenger’s Benjamin Button-like squad, which seems to get younger with each passing season. And with Cesc Fabregas now at Barcelona, Samir Nasri at Man City, and Jack Wilshere still trying to rehab his worrying ankle, Wenger has turned out of necessity to the Czech captain. Here’s what Wenger said five years ago:

“Yes, I think there is more to come from Tomas,” said Wenger. “That is because he is classy and because he is at the age where you get the right balance in the final third. He is sharp, quick, lively and I believe that the final level is to finish well. What we want from Tomas is to give key passes and to score goals. I was happy with his contribution last season. The biggest problem was injury. He struggled after injuries.”

Also: although Mozart was born in Salzburg, he had a special relationship with Prague.

Commentary England Schedule

Matchfixing Not Yet Suspected in “Arsenal 7”

February 4, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

Arsene Wenger was allegedly seen loading briefcase after briefcase of unmarked bills into each of the Blackburn players’ cars at precisely noon today in every time zone.

The 7-1 home exhibition match between Arsenal and Blackburn in the early kickoff Saturday contained everything anyone could ask for in a match. (In that sentence, “anyone” should probably read, “any Arsenal supporter.”) If only we could play Blackburn every match. Scratch that. The first meeting this past fall was one of the lowest moments of the season. Perhaps some cosmic invoice has finally been paid. Who knows, but it really was like a give-‘em-what-they-want-type performance. We needed it. But there’s a long way to go yet before we’re exactly sitting pretty.

To backtrack, the checklist for the most enjoyable viewing experience:

Attacking play
Total Domination in Possession, and not just lame side-passes, either
Hatrick from an Arsenal striker considered one of the world’s best: Robin van Persie
First Premier League goal by Arsenal teen rising talent, subsequently doubled by said Arsenal teen rising talent: Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
Outside goal from experienced, cool-headed midfielder and solid summer transfer signing: Mikel Arteta
First Premier League goal in five years for Arsenal’s all-time highest goal scorer: Thierr–OK, the point has been made

And yet, it’s not as if the month of January didn’t happen. Or August and September at the beginning of the campaign.

Essentially Arsenal finds itself back at the beginning of the season. Granted, being on the right end of a 7-1 demolition will definitely lift spirits, but corners get turned over a period of time, a several-game arc—not just one match. I don’t think anyone’s going to let anyone off the hook quite yet. Not Wenger, not Walcott (who provided some excellent assists), not Arshavin. If wondering, Arshavin helped his cause by not playing today.

Tomorrow’s results and those of Monday will put today’s in context, to see if we did actually make up any ground with regard to Chelsea, Liverpool and/or Newcastle. We are tenuously in fifth again, but could easily be right back in seventh.

Anyhow, up next: matches in the FA Cup, Arsenal’s best chance at a trophy, as well as the two legs against AC Milan in the Champions League and then Tottenham, Liverpool and Newcastle in the league. The month span between February 11 and March 12 could go so many different directions. A return to form makes one cautiously optimistic, but the track ahead could be roller-coastery, so we’ll see how the twists turn.

But it was awesome to see, wasn’t it? Especially at home. (Meaning the home stadium, of course. Not simply the comfort of my couch.)

Excellent for Oxlade-Chamberlain. What a way to start his scoring career in the Premier League.

Final Stats

Arsenal                           Blackburn
87%        Pass Accuracy      73%
68%      Possession             32%
19            Shots                       5
8              On Target              2

Arsenal fixtures ahead:

February 11 Sunderland   v   Arsenal       Premier League
February 15 AC Milan   v   Arsenal      Champions League (Round of 16)
February 18 Sunderland/Middlesbrough   v   Arsenal      FA Cup (Round 5)
February 26 Arsenal   v   Tottenham Hotspur       Premier League
March 3 Liverpool   v   Arsenal     Premier League
March 6 Arsenal   v   AC Milan     Champions League (Round of 16)
March 12 Arsenal   v   Newcastle United       Premier League

Commentary Italy Preview transfers

AC Milan Needs to Beat the Top Teams, Stat

February 3, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

The Tevez-Pato “will he? won’t he” questions ricocheted every which way this January as the musical chairs transfers song played at AC Milan, but at the end everyone retook their own chairs. Boring. Perhaps they were dating Berlusconi’s daughter, or were on £200,000 a week slave wages that no one else could match, but whatever the reason, that anti-climax will be followed up by a busy February and early March. The Rossoneri take on first-place Juventus twice in the Coppa Italia and once in the league, Napoli and Udinese in the league, not to mention the two Champions League legs against Arsenal.

It all starts with the home match/grudge match against Napoli this Sunday at 2:30 ET (Fox Soccer).

To put the upcoming matches in perspective, Milan has not beaten any team in the top five in a league match this season, including the painful loss to Inter in the Derby della Madonnina in January. Furthermore, Napoli beat Milan 3-1 in their only other matchup this season. If Milan continues to find itself unable to beat the top teams, this upcoming run could prove very difficult and very damaging.

However, aside from the Tevez-Pato dud of inaction, Milan did bring in five reinforcements over the window to deal with the second half of the season, including striker Maxi Lopez from Catania and out-of-favor midfielder Sulley Muntari from Inter. Coming off a disappointing 2-0 loss to Lazio that could have seen them take pole position, they have everything to play for—and conversely, everything to lose.

Napoli has stuttered to a string of draws and a defeat to Genoa of late, but Cavani fired them to a 2-0 victory over Inter in the Coppa Italia last week and they could come roaring back this Sunday.

Feb 5, 9:00 ET AC Milan vs. Napoli
Feb 8, 2:45 ET AC Milan vs. Juventus
Feb 11, 12:00 ET Udinese vs. AC Milan
Feb 15, 2:45 ET AC Milan vs. Arsenal
Feb 19, 9:00 ET Cesena vs. AC Milan
Feb 21, 2:45 ET Juventus vs. AC Milan
Feb 25, 2:45 ET AC Milan vs. Juventus
Mar 3, 12:00 ET Palermo vs. AC Milan
Mar 6, 2:45 ET Arsenal vs. AC Milan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has 15 goals in the Serie A this season. But should he get injured or need a breather during the fast-and-furious fixtures ahead, Lopez may be called into action. Alexandre Pato suffered a thigh strain last month that may see him missing out on the next 4 matches, including the home leg against Arsenal. Lopez was not top-choice at Catania, so while there is cover, it’s not of the same quality. The decision between Lopez and Tevez was never one of equals, rather of finances.

New loan signing Muntari continues his international engagements with the Ghana national team in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon and may not be back in time for the Champions League fixture against Arsenal in the San Siro, either. Muntari was brought on to help bolster a depleted midfield that has lost Mathieu Flamini, Gennaro Gattuso, Alexander Merkel and Alberto Aquilani to injury. Kevin Prince-Boateng also has spent quality time on the injury table of late.

Obviously, with talented players such as Thiago Silva, Robinho, van Bommel, Seedorf, Ambrosini and Zambrotta all hale and hearty, the team is not in crisis, but performances this month could very well determine their fates in all remaining competitions: the league, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League.

It should be getting quite interesting quite soon.

Commentary England Europe Spain transfers

The Inevitable Van Persie to Barcelona Endless Speculation Transfer Story

February 2, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

With Arsenal currently sitting 7th in the Premier League table, it’s now truly inevitable that Robin van Persie will choose a new club come summertime, barring some miracle. But because it seems so predestined, the notion doesn’t trigger anxiety levels of Fabregas-ian proportions from summers past, where you just really didn’t know what was going to happen. Even with Samir Nasri, one thought Arsenal might just take the financial hit and force the Frenchman to stick around, because surely Wenger wouldn’t let two of his three/four best players go at the last possible moment, would he?

Anyhow, just as Robin’s departure seems inevitable, so too does speculation of the destination club. Cue the inevitable stories of van Persie to Barcelona.

Van Persie currently ranks among the most in-form strikers in the world. It’s only natural that he be linked to the best clubs in the world. Money is not the motivating factor. What Robin wants is to win trophies and play with other players of his caliber. Even the most ardent Arsenal supporter will admit that van Persie is in his own league. Wilshere could get there, but certainly not while he’s out for the season.

With talk of Barcelona being the best team of this generation, obviously lazy journalists make “Van Persie to Barcelona” their go-to. They’ve already got the templates, having been through the whole business before with Henry, who left for similar reasons. And they can naturally cut-and-paste parts from the Fabregas template. (Hell, even Alex Hleb!) Despite not currently topping their own league, Barcelona is the best team is the world at present. So, even without a shred of supporting evidence, the link makes sense.

Why player, club and every onlooker might think it’s a good fit is too obvious to really go into any further.

The real question (to me) is: Would van Persie do well at Barcelona? Would he be the preferred starter?

If not, if he knows he will only provide cover for the main striker, utilized mostly as an impact sub, would he choose Barça? (Impact subs get CL winner’s medals, too…)

Van Persie comes from a system not entirely different from the Catalan way, but so did Henry, and that wasn’t exactly an unqualified success. David Villa had played with the midfield maestros on the national team, which made him less of a risk, but Ibrahimovic never had and didn’t mesh especially well, whereas Eto’o did.

Individual chemistry with the team is the unknown and unknowable but crucial factor towards determining an import striker’s success at Barcelona.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Honestly, I really don’t know how it would pan out. Van Persie would certainly kill to play with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas (again), but I find it hard to believe he’d settle for a spot on the bench.

I also find it unlikely he’d move to another club in England, so who else does it leave? AC Milan? Perhaps next year’s coach at Real Madrid can come up with a new hunter-animal analogy for him?

To be fair to both Henry and van Persie, the comparison with Henry is not entirely like-to-like. Many often cite age as a factor with Barcelona-era Henry, but Henry was only a year older than van Persie will be in the summer. (Henry turned 30 in mid-August 2007; van Persie turns 29 this August.) It really was more that Henry was not at his peak, whereas van Persie is most definitely enjoying his peak and may stay there for a few years to come. (He could even get better with excellent through-pass service, however there was no mistaking the gray hairs in Wednesday’s match against Bolton.) With Robin, it has always come down to his injury status. He’s never lacked the finish, simply the fitness.

Henry in his peak combined with the current-day Barcelona squad would have been incredible to behold. God, I wish that had happened. Except that they were all wearing the Red and White. (And except for the whingeing, whining, diving Dani Alves—Barcelona can keep him. Hmm, I just realized that if you take the “an” out of Dani and “Al” out of Alves, you’re left with “Dives.” Sounds about right.)

Commentary England

The Night Arsene Lost the Stadium

January 26, 2012 — by Rob Kirby — 1

After the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday, I was emailing with a friend who has been an Arsenal season ticket holder since the ‘70s. He knows infinitely more about the team than I do, so I figured I’d let him speak in his own words. (My email comments inserted for clarity of what questions/comments he’s responding to.)

_____

Me:

Crazy outrage from the fans yesterday.

Incidentally, I really hate Piers Morgan.

http://cultfootball.com/2012/01/can-arsenal-please-disown-piers-morgan/

Response:

Last night represented a tipping point the moment that Arsene lost the stadium.

And here is the key thing, doesn’t really matter if he was right or not about taking off the Ox (i.e. the strain) the thing is that people no longer trust him. The anger and resentment at the lack of recruitment is going to boil over…

Bad times ahead, but here is the thing, due to injuries we have no idea how good we are or aren’t…

Let’s try and stay calm and judge at season’s end.

Me:

I would agree that Wenger has lost the home support. The outrage about the substitution dwarfed by far the “Spend some fucking money” episode of late Aug.

Everyone wants to blame someone. Right now the finger’s pointed at Wenger. Not surprising, as it’s been in that position for 6 months, 18 months. However, re: throwing baby out with bathwater, let’s say Wenger goes, per the collective wish. Who the fuck can attract talent to a non-Champions League side at Arsenal whose first name is not Arsene. RvP is likely off, anyhow. In my opinion, if Arsene gets sacked, it’s not even a question. Furthermore, if Wenger gets sacked, Sagna and Vermaelen seem in major doubt. I don’t mention Wilshere, Szczesny and Frimpong because of their love of the club. But look at their ages. Their only personal memories are of an Arsene Arsenal.

Arsene has made Arsenal believers believe they are pre-destined to end up in the top four. Say he’s axed (and I realize you’re not necessarily saying he should be–rather that that’s the vibe), who would do better? Perhaps a couple folks… But who would the board pay for? None of them.

If Wenger gets axed, the only way I can see it not being an utter fiasco is to surprise-hire a former star to be coach. If experience is a judge, it’s highly risky and rarely pays off. If he’s to get sacked, obviously I hope for the Cinderella story. But isn’t that exactly what has pissed people off about Wenger? He keeps saying, “We can, we can,” and then when the mioracle fails to transpire, we don’t and the fans turn on him. How much leeway would Steve Bould get? Or Tony Adams. Or Bergkamp, even, though he seems eminently happy at Ajax.

Response:

The Wenger issue is wrapped up in what the board do or don’t want the club to be.

It is clear that twice in the last five or six years the team needed a little investment and they could have pushed on. But the investment never happened. This lack of investment finally produced the inevitable when we started the season in disarray…

Now, there are only a few possible reasons for this:

1. Wenger won’t spend.

2. The board won’t back him.

3. The money isn’t there

4. Wenger has identified players and the board, which doesn’t feature a single real football man, doesn’t know how to get a deal done.

Only when you can make a call on the above can you make a call on Arsene.

My own take on it is that more 2-4 than 1, but also that Wenger is appalled by the prices and wages. He is to some extent the last sane man football, but there lies the problem, football isn’t sane…

However, changing him as manager only makes sense if you want to change the way the team operates. And why would silent Stan do that? We are very well run financially and we generate our own money… And are vaguely competitive.

So you are right, what is the point in changing wenger? He is the best man for the job. As defined by the board. And the board isn’t changing….

But, what the fans see is a Tottenham team made competitive by Scott Parker who cost peanuts. A manager who started the season with a woefully weak squad, a manager who has allowed our best player to get into the last two years of his contract without renewing. And now won’t.

A manager who puts too much faith in players who are always injured or just not good enough… Diaby, Gibbs, Denilson and Chamakh and so the anger mounts and the frustration grows and last night something broke. Mutiny is upon us. Something snapped last night and I am not sure that the return of Henry or promise of Wilshere can fix it. Wenger needs a marquee signing to lift the club’s (everyone’s) spirits and perhaps if he combined that with dropping Arshavin and Chamakh (perceived as non-tryers by the fans) and playing some of the homegrown players then he might turn it around.

But I am not holding my breath.

It’s very sad but I think this is the end of the Wenger era.. Football has changed for the worse (look at man city) and I think rightly or (almost certainly) wrongly Wenger can’t compete any more. He needs a new challenge and we need a new leader to rally round.

P.S. The irony is that if he does get this squad to fourth it will be his greatest ever achievement!

Me:

Thanks for your thoughts. I guess the primary point is that regardless of how divided Arsenal supporters are, everyone hopes for fourth. A common enemy can be powerful.

There are, of course, those who wish their team to fall on their face so that change happens, but I don’t believe in that. And frankly, I feel incredibly negatively towards that mentality. If a fan wants their own team to lose, fuck them.

Response:

Want the team to fail? Sorry but I think you are wrong on that. There isn’t a fan in the stadium who wants them to fail. Getting pissed at Wenger or the board because you don’t want them to fail is not the same as wanting them to fail..

But you have to get the context.

English football has been through seismic changes in the last two decades, partly due to the revolution on the pitch that Wenger started.

Fans (including me) are starting to feel alienated.

Twenty years ago I could arrive on match day and pay £6 on the gate to get in.. I watched mostly English players play a game we recognised as English. And we loved it. Yes we envied the Europeans their flair and sophistication, but our game was hard, fast, harem scarum and damned exciting.

Games were at 3pm on Saturday. the FA Cup meant something and you couldn’t watch matches on telly very often. Our stadium carried 70 years of history and the club felt special and unique. We felt part of something, and our songs and our chanting helped the team, or so we believed. Better still the players were accessible, they were like us, we knew them, or knew someone who knew them. They earned four times as much as us, maybe ten times as much but we all lived on the same planet. So we belonged to our club and more importantly our club beloved to us.

Now at Arsenal we sit in the modern corporate bowl that is the Emirates and we cringe at the ‘Arsenalisation’ process (adding murals etc) that for us equates (no offence) to an Americanisation. We wonder how ‘our’ club got sold to a billionaire who won’t speak to us and what happened to the promise of competing we were sold when the club decided to move.

We loved our old home, it and we meant something to us, and man, we loved Wenger, this strange unknowable Frenchman who brought Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Ljungberg and Henry. Who kept the steel and grit of The Arsenal and added unbelievable flair.

Now we sit in this wonderful, soulless edifice to the new middle-class game and pay absurd ticket prices to watch players who aren’t fit to polish the boots of the invincibles and we wonder what the deal is?

We wonder why did we leave Highbury and we still can’t compete. And to make it worse the club operate a weird system of omertà. They massage the attendance figures as if we are morons who can’t count the empty seats and they tell us the money is there but then never spend it.

They sell our best players and they buy kids to replace them and we look around and we wonder if David Dein was right?

We wonder if we should have stayed at home and looked for investment for players not seats. We wonder why Tottenham spend more money than us, and we are sick and tired of watching Wenger build half great teams and then refusing to go the extra million or two for the player that would/could/should make the difference and we want to believe….

We want to believe that Wenger still knows, that the five, six, seven year plan will bear fruit, that UEFA will enforce the Financial FairPlay rules. That we will somehow have the last laugh and then we look at our squad and we look at the oh so obvious fault lines – fault lines that we all discussed in the pub at the beginning of the season, but which the club didn’t fix and we wonder WTF, and then, well then we get mad, wouldn’t you?

We feel ripped off, sold out and lied to. We don’t trust the board, or the manager anymore and we don’t trust in the players any more either.

So to go full circle to your primary point. the Arsenal fans want to believe. But we just don’t. The support this year has been great until recently, really behind the team. But something broke last week. There was real, genuine anger. The worst I have ever heard. I heard serious anti-Wenger chants for the first time and I am not sure his haughty response in the press conference will have helped.

I think the club is at a tipping point and revolt is in the air. Fourth place might quell it. But I’m not sure.

Gonna be an interesting ride between now and the end of the season.

Africa Commentary

My Kingdom for an AFCON Group of Death

January 25, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

Without a “Group of Death,” and without 5 of the top 8 ranked African countries (Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa all failed to qualify), the opening stages of the African Cup of Nations lacks a bit in the tasty fixtures department. For perspective, Tunisia, the participating country with the fourth-highest FIFA ranking is still behind tiny Cape Verde Islands (who also did not qualify).

Far too sensibly, the four teams with the best shot at hoisting the trophy—the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia—each belong to a different group, so there’s no early heavyweight matchups. (Damn Pot A…) Tunisia and Morocco dueled in a North African derby of sorts on Monday, as did neighbors Mali and Guinea yesterday, but until the tournament enters the knockout stages, it’s hard to call any match a must-see event. (Tunisia and Mali both won.)

Even if something must-see does arise, it’s impossible to see any of the matches without the glitches and freezes of streaming video. Did the absences of Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa make the Cup of Nations a less appealing broadcast prospect? Presumably other factors dictated that, but one can see why a broadcaster wouldn’t break the bank for the rights to show Sudan versus Burkina Faso.

On the immediate horizon, the Ghana-Mali match on Saturday looks interesting. (John Mensah, Ghana’s lone scorer and gamewinner against Botswana, misses out due to also grabbing the lone red card. Ghana are also without Kevin Prince Boateng, who retired from international soccer, to focus on AC Milan.)

However, it all looks somewhat tame until the quarterfinals on February 4. Come February, though, there could be some excellent matchups ahead. Despite Senegal’s stumble to Zambia in their opening match, the four frontrunners will likely top their groups, and host nations historically make the quarters and semis with freakish regularity, so there could be a lot of energy pinging about. Both Equatorial Guinea and Gabon won their first matches, so they’re starting off on the right track, especially considering Equatorial Guinea is ranked 151st in the world.

(Update: Senegal lost to Equatorial Guinea, which sees them eliminated from the tournament even before the third match vs. Libya. Thanks for making me look like an ass, guys.)

I watched the Mali-Guinea match yesterday. Pretty interesting game—relaxing without being boring—and then I realized, no vuvuzelas. Ahh.
Load up your favorite stream for these upcoming fixtures:

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
11:00 ET Libya vs. Zambia Group A Estadio de Bata
2:00 ET Equatorial Guinea vs. Senegal Group A Estadio de Bata

Thursday, January 26, 2012
11:00 ET Sudan vs. Angola Group B Nuevo Estadio de Malabo
2:00 ET Ivory Coast vs. Burkina Faso Group B Nuevo Estadio de Malabo

Friday, January 27, 2012
11:00 ET Niger vs. Tunisia Group C Stade d’Angondje
2:00 ET Gabon vs. Morocco Group C Stade d’Angondje

Saturday, January 28, 2012
11:00 ET Botswana vs. Guinea Group D Stade de Franceville
2:00 ET Ghana vs. Mali Group D Stade de Franceville

Sunday, January 29, 2012
1:00 ET Equatorial Guinea vs. Zambia Group A Stade d’Angondje
1:00 ET Libya vs. Senegal Group A Estadio de Bata

Monday, January 30, 2012
1:00 ET Ivory Coast vs. Angola Group B Stade d’Angondje
1:00 ET Sudan vs. Burkina Faso Group B Estadio de Bata

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
1:00 ET Gabon vs. Tunisia Group C Stade de Franceville
1:00 ET Niger vs. Morocco Group C Stade d’Angondje

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
1:00 ET Botswana vs. Mali Group D Stade d’Angondje
1:00 ET Ghana vs. Guinea Group D Stade de Franceville

Commentary England Germany Spain

What We Watched This Weekend: Borussia Bundesliga Shocker, Dempsey Hat-Trick, USMNT in Phoenix, Super Sunday in Spain & England

January 23, 2012 — by Suman

We’ve semi-regularly tried to post a Friday “What to Watch this Weekend” (WtWtW) viewing guide. Starting today, we’ll aim to bookend that with a companion “What We Watched this Weekend” (WWWtW) summary–pulled primarily from weekend email chatter among the CultFootball crew, maybe spiced up with some video highlights.

(If you’d like to contribute, hit us up with a message on Twitter or a comment/wall post on our Facebook page as you’re watching matches over the weekend–or just comment here on the site. Our comment sections have been mostly lying dormant since that initial burst of activity and enthusiasm following our launch for the 2010 World Cup–see the “most popular” list in the right side-bar–but we’re working on a resurrection.)

Using this weekend’s “WtWtW” posts as an outline (atypically, there were three this weekend, one each for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), here’s what we watched:

Friday, Jan 20

Germany,Borussia Moenchengladbach 3 – 1 Bayern Munich: This one was a bit of a random pick–just to have something on Friday, and since we’d been hearing lots about Marco “Rolls” Reus. But it turned out this was a great pick–a stunning upset by Moenchengladbach of the Bavarian giants. Back in the fall, some were saying the Bayern had wrapped up the Bundesliga title after their hot start. But with this victory, Bayern, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke all have 37 points, and Moenchengladbach is remarkably just a point behind. From Goal.com’s match report (headlined “Herrmann & Reus run rampant as hosts move second:
Young attacking duo accounted for all three goals as hosts repeated their first round success with a victory over the leaders”):

Amid a first-half chess match, Marco Reus scored into an empty net to put the hosts ahead on 14 minutes. Patrick Herrmann made it 2-0 shortly before half-time, and completed his brace on 71 minutes. Bastian Schweinsteiger, in his first competitive game since early November, pulled a goal back in the 76th minute, but it was too little, too late for the visitors.

Saturday, Jan 21

England, Norwich 0 – 0 Chelsea: We didn’t get to see any of this one, but our correspondent Edhino did:

Miserably snowed out of me own game, came home just in time to watch Torres give away the ball twice in a row and then frantically try to get it back like a kid whose lollipop got taken away. Sad really. Norwich were impressive in the concentration and discipline, with good signs of competency in control; in particular Pilkington who showed great skill (I was going to add ‘for his size’, but the awkward incongruence of big blokes with good control is more illusion than correlation) and speed, making huffing Cole look old and tired. Overall Chelsea looked tired and Kalou-like (i.e. Sumit speak for clueless) in attack. I haven’t watched a Chelsea game in a while and it was surprising to see them so toothless sans Drogba or even Shanghai-bound Anelka.

We’d also picked the Fulham-Newcastle match as one to watch, but had mostly focused on Newcastle in our preview. Imagine our surprise at seeing this scoreline–and as mildly patriotic Americans, pleasant surprise at seeing who did the scoring:

England, Fulham 5 – Newcastle 2: Newcastle took an early 1-0 lead but then collapsed in the second half–and American Clint Dempsey banged in three of Fulham’s handful. From the Washington Post’s SoccerInsider (who in general does a great job of covering Americans playing abroad):

For the second time this month, Clint Dempsey has recorded a hat trick for Fulham. And this time, during a 5-2 victory over Newcastle on Saturday, he became the first American ever to post a three-goal performance in an English Premier League match.

Two weeks ago, he accomplished the feat in an FA Cup game against third-tier Charlton.

Dempsey’s goals against Newcastle came in the 59th, 65th and 89th minutes, increasing his haul to nine in league play and 15 in all competitions. He is among the top 10 scoring leaders in the EPL this season. In his five-year career at Fulham, he has scored 52 goals overall.

PL Highlights: Fulham/Newcastle

Spain, Real Betis 1 – 1 Sevilla: We had this game–the Seville derby–on in the background as we lounged around on a snowy afternoon. From what we saw, it was an exciting, open match. One that Sevilla mostly dominated, but they found themselves down a goal for most of the match after conceding on a set play. But they equalized on a late great header by one of the players we told you to watch–striker Álvaro Negredo. Read this great match report on Fox Soccer by freelancer Andy Brasell: “Class prevails in renewed Seville derby.”

Int’l Friendly, USA-Venezuela: See our match report on the Germanic flavor of this largely positive performance by the Americans (and check back in mid-week, as the US boys travel down to Central America for another friendly in Panama City on Wednesday.)

Super Sunday, Jan 22

Super Sunday lived up to the hyperbole–not only in England, but in Spain as well:

England, Manchester City 3 – 2 Spurs: What a game! Match of the season? So much drama. City goin up 2-0 (Nasri 56′, off a superb thru ball from Silva, after Nasri had got inside of Kyle Walker; then Lescott 59′, off a Nasri corner flicked on by Dzeko that caught the Spurs defense standing still on the back post), then Spurs responding resoundingly (Defoe 60′ after a Savic blunder, though great finish by Defoe; and Bale 65′–goal of the weekend? after Lennon came inside-out..or rather outside-in). And then, of course, Super Mario–on for Dzeko at 66′, probably should have been sent off a few minutes later (but how does one infer intent from a video replay?), and then won the game with a well-deserved and coolly taken penalty in extra time–and that after Defoe had been but a few centimeters from earning Spurs a few more points than they did:

England, Arsenal 1 – 2 Manchester United: See Rob Kirby’s latest rant, which despite its title is not primarily about Pier Morgan. And watch these BBC MotD highlights before they’re taken down:

Spain, Real Madrid 4 – 1 Athletic Bilbao: Read Sid Lowe’s epic column about palace intrigue in Mourinho’s court–and something about the match as well, which Athletic led 1-0 before ultimately losing 4-1:

Spain, Malaga 1 – 4 Barcelona: More from Sid Lowe’s column: “Messi: bloody hell. He’d only scored once away all season – now he has scored four times thanks to an astonishingly good hat-trick away at Málaga. AS gave him four stars (well, aces) out of three, while Roberto Palomar in Marca finally saw sense and said: ‘there are no longer any words, except swear words.'”

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