EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

Jo. Let’s extrapolate.  Manchester City has obtained a Brazilian player by name of Joao Alves de Assis Silva (though he goes by Jo). Hes played for the Corinthians and then for CSKA Moscow. He’s scored 44 goals in 77 matches, has won the Russian League and Couple Double in 2006, is left footed, ’s 21 years old and 6 foot 3 inches; he also has some tight celebratory dances. I’ve seen a few clips and he seems pretty good. City paid an undisclosed fee but did say the transfer fee was a ‘club record’ (reportedly over €19 million).

Jo said: “After I spoke to the manager (Hughes) I was very pleased. I was told Manchester City is a club going forward at the moment. We can go places, that is our objective. We thought about it and I decided to come to Manchester City for that reason. The club who showed interest officially was Valencia. I know from the press there were other clubs who showed interest.”

Whether he is good or not is to be seen but he may well bring some really interesting gameplay to City. I am more sure though, that one reason he decided to come to City was the promise that City’s owner (Thaksin Shinawatra) will be spending a lot more in the near future.
Joao Alves de Assis Silva

Joey Barton began his football career with Manchester City in 1997 by working through the youth team. In 2004 he was almost sacked when at the Club’s Christmas party he drunkenly put a cigar out in the eye of a trainee (Jamie Tandy). While in Thailand for one of the pre-season tours with City he got into an altercation with an Everton fan (then Captain Richard Dunne was injured in the fight) and Barton was sent home for the rest of the tour.

Maybe its his background: his brother Michael Barton and his cousin Phil Taylor are serving life sentences for murdering a black student (Anthony Walker) in a racially motivated attack where Walker ended up with an ax in his back. He has had conduct issues for most of his career and only one of them is humorous (In 2006 he dropped his pants and mooned a crowd full of Everton fans).

In March of 2007 he got into another drunk altercation with a taxi driver where he reportedly smashed the taxi drivers dashboard and was again arrested.

In may of 2007 Barton got into an argument with his teammate Ousmane Dabo. He ended up punching Dabo in the face until he was on the ground unconscious and bleeding and continued even further. Dabo had to go to the hospital for treatment and brough up charges against Barton. He has been on bail until July. While Barton thought that, “People are trying to unsettle me, but I’m happy to stay here.” it would not be so. City suspended him and it seemed as if he would be forced to leave. He was transferred to Newcastle for €5.8 million.

The defensive midfielder is 25 years old and is currently in jail serving a sentence for having beaten up a teenager last December.

Let’s check out some Joey Barton gameplay:

Joey Barton punch

Another street fight…

Portugese International Deco was recently informed by Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola that he was not a part of Barcelona’s plans and he cold leave. Deco is Chelsea’s newest acquisition since they acquired Jose Bosingwa (and Scolari’s first move as the new Chelsea manager). “It is good for me to be here and first of all I am very happy to be here” said Deco.

“I am sure I have come at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was and come back to being the first one, not only in England but also to win the Champions League that has been their dream for so long.”

Deco left Porto in 2004; but before he did, he helped Porto win domestic league titles, the Champions League, and the UEFA Cup (under Jose Mourinho). With Barcelona he won a Champions League Title against Arsenal in 2006 and won 2 League Championships. Unfortunately, during the 2007/2008 season he was hampered by injuries and made only 14 starting appearances.

While questions could be raised about the signing (since Deco is 31 years old), I believe that with his record and consistency he will play well. The contract is for 2 years but may continued at that point. The signing also raises speculation about Frank Lampard who could leave Chelsea perhaps for Inter Milan.

“The Premier League is a great league and it is getting better and you can see that with the Champions League final, where you had two English teams.I t is great that we have so many great players here at Chelsea and it is great that there is the competition which is healthy for everybody and this just makes the team better. To have great players in any position of the club just enhances the club. I know it is a new challenge but I am looking forward to it.”

Germany versus Spain

Every four years the Euro Cup unveils new players with great potential; this year it was no different. The last Euro Cup we saw players such as young Cristiano Ronaldo and Schweinsteiger show off their abilities. The pride and responsibility that players feel while playing in the Euro Cup can often bring out the best in a player. This year we saw that certain countries have untapped talent. For example, Russia has multiple, athletic midfielders with the ability to rip shots from far off. Some of Turkeys’ striker have great technical ability. We can probably expect some new players to appear in the EPL after this Euro Cup. Not only that, but we’ve also seen how a manager can truly improve a team (such as Gus Hiddink).

We’ve also seen that Ballack has become the Captain that everyone expected of him pushing his team forward. He dominates the midfield using his size; I wonder if he could begin to wear Chelsea’s captains band more often. Schweinsteiger is formidable at this point dominating the wing; Sergio Ramos and Puyol are incredibly solid as defenders.

While Germany has the advantage in terms of how many times they’ve been in the Euro Cup finals, Spain has Torres and Guiza, two great strikers. I think that the Final will be a great game; my inclination is to say that Germany will win, possibly off of set plays like corners. Germany may try to use their height and phyical ability to overpower the Spaniards in their box. Only time will tell though.

French International Nicolas Anelka is unsatisfied with the position he currently holds at Chelsea. He currently plays as a winger but has wanted to play as a forward. “When I came (to Chelsea), I was told I would play in a 4-4-2 system. I didn’t come here to play on the right or on the left. In England, I need to prove my worth as a center forward.”

Anelka is currently starting in the Euro Cup for France as a striker. “Up to now I didn’t say anything because I was a new player coming from Bolton. But from next season I will no longer be a new player - I will be a Chelsea player.”

Some may speculate that his bargaining position will be hampered by the penalty he took in the Champions Legaue Final against Manchester United. His penalty was blocked by Edwin Van der Saar.

“I stayed 110 minutes on the bench and suddenly I was asked to play less than a minute after being sent to warm up. I don’t know if it ever happened in a Champions League final, in a game so intense, that a player was sent on without having warmed up.”

When asked if he wanted to take one of the first five penalties Anelka said he responded by saying, “No way. I came on practically as a full back and you want me to shoot a penalty?.” After the game Anelka was impervious to the fact that his penalty kick had lost Chelsea the Champions League saying “Good for him (Van der Saar). That’s the game.”

Scolari will be Chelsea’s new manager next season though he is currently coaching for Portugal in the Euro Cup.

The number of players of English nationality is at a new low in the EPL:

2000/2001 season: 207
2001/2002 season: 199
2002/2003 season: 179
2003/2004 season: 182
2004/2005 season: 184
2005/2006 season: 186
2006/2007 season: 191
2007/2008 season: 170

Out of 498 players only 170 were English in the EPL, or about 34.1%. “The number is important because that’s what I can choose from” said Fabio Capello (the English National Coach). “The work being done in the academies is very important. We probably have to change the system of training for young players. At Under-21, and younger national teams, we have a lot of good players. For the future, I hope next season is not 34% but 40%. It will be better for me and England football.”

However, he states that “more importantly the quality - the level of the player. At the moment the total is 34% but the (quality) level is high.” This does make some sense when you think about the Champions League where Chelsea and Manchester United (both EPL teams) had 10 English starters out of 22 players. Sepp Blatter (President of the world football’s governing body Fifa) suggested that EPLE club teams restrict the number of foreign starting players to 5. This would hypothetically improve the number of quality English players. This would also of course, completely destroy the EPL and we would see a drastic drop in viewership and the amount gross earnings; every Club team would resist this move. Despite the obstacles, he continues to press his agenda.

Teams such as Arsenal with only 0.34% English players per match would have to completely change their teams.

West Ham: 6.61%
Aston Villa: 6.42%
Middlesbrough: 5.26%
Wigan: 4.92%
Everton: 4.89%
Derby: 4.86%
Newcastle: 4.76%
Tottenham: 4.37%
Man Utd: 4.28%
Bolton: 4.24%
Sunderland: 4.11%
Portsmouth: 3.79%
Birmingham: 3.74%
Reading: 3.68%
Chelsea: 3.63%
Manchester City: 3.42%
Blackburn: 2.68%
Fulham: 2.42%
Liverpool: 2.34%
Arsenal: 0.34%

In response however, the Premier League released a statement: “Merely looking at numbers of England players in the Premier League is a blunt and misleading measure as to how well the national team should be doing. After all, in the 70s and 80s the vast majority of players in the top flight were eligible for England yet we routinely struggled to qualify for tournaments, let alone perform in them. Our figures show this season nearly 40% of the starting XIs were qualified to play for England, 10 of whom played in the Champions League Final, arguably the highest standard of football in the world. There is no shortage of players at the highest level to pick from but we all want to see more Englishmen capable of performing at this level.”

“That is why Premier League clubs invest more than £40m a season in youth development, that is why the Premier League, along with the FA and the Football League, are driving through reforms to ensure the quality of coaching and player development is of the highest standard. We must raise standards, not implement something that will never happen under European law and would only create a broader pool of average players rather than a deeper one of the right level of talent for Premier League clubs and England.”

However, we can also compare other European nations’ Club Leagues:

Italian Serie A: had 7.3 Italians per team
Spanish La Liga A: had 6.9 Spaniards per team
German Bundesliga: had 4.9 Germans per team

Nikolai Shpilevski, Hleb’s agent, has stated that the Belarus International is already holding talks with another club. “I can officially confirm that a short time ago Alexander decided that he will leave Arsenal and join another club. Of course, Arsenal and Arsene wanted him to stay but they have accepted the player’s choice”. Hleb has been playing with Arsenal for the past 3 years. He transferred from Stuttgart in 2005 for €11.2 million but has not settled down in London. “I can’t tell you anything about where he will be playing yet. Talks are under way, and I don’t have the right to make them public. I think that the issue of his new club will be clarified in the next few days” said his agent.

Arsenal recently lost defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini and now they’ve lost attacking midfielder Hleb. Hleb and Flamini have both been part of Arsenal’s midfield for some time and losing both will severely impair with the development of Arsenal’s team. Wenger will have to find new starting midfielders to take their places as well. “Alex has spent three good seasons at Arsenal and he wasn’t sure he could maintain the same level that he has been showing if he stayed. It’s also true that he felt uncomfortable off the field. Alexander wants a change of scene. That’s had a large part to play in his decision.”

Manchester United versus Chelsea

United started with their strongest lineup with one unusual change: Hargreaves started in right midfield. In the 26th minute Scholes had the ball on the right wing. He was surrounded by 2 players until Brown came in to help, Scholes made a quick pass back to Brown (only a few yards away), who then passed it back and then made a run, Scholes immediately one touched it perfectly into Browns run who then took a touch and then made a curling cross. Ronaldo, covered by Essien, jumped into the air and then perfectly headed the ball with machine-like accuracy into the left side of the goal inches away from the post .

Minutes later, Ballack ran onto the box during a cross with Rio Ferdinand defending between Ballack and the goal. Ballack pushed Ferdinand’s head downwards almost forcing him into scoring an own goal. Ferdinand used great strength to keep his head up and head the ball over the goal. The ball came back into play near the United goal and Rooney stole the ball from Ballack. He took a step and then kicked the ball across almost the entire field to Ronaldo who ran all the way to the other side of the field with one defender on him. Rooney’s ball curled in to Ronaldo somehow perfectly who then made a short cross to Tevez who headed the ball low to the left of Cech from about 6 yards away. Somehow Cech managed to block it and it rebounded, rolling on the ground out of the penalty box. Carrick ran on it and fired away; the perfect opportunity for a center mid, Carrck shot it too close to Cech who once again blocked the ball.

In the 40th minute Tevez got a great ball from Rooney who crossed it by megging a defender. Tevez should have had it but missed the ball by inches. 2 minutes later Ferdinand elbowed a defender outside the box and got a yellow card and United got a free kick. Ballack took the shot but it went high over the wall and goal.

In the 45th minute, after a good amount of possession by Chelsea, Essien took a shot which deflected and landed into Lampard’s path (right in front of the goal) who then put the ball in. The lucky deflection gave Chelsea the chance to frustrate United.

In the 57th minute UEFA thought really hard about replacing the ball on the field because Ballack ripped a shot from 29 yards out when he got a clear opening on the goal. The ball went wide by a yard as it curled but it was a good time to take a shot and force United to pull their defense out more.

Chelsea really began to possess and push United back in the 2nd half and they probably got more opportunities. Ronaldo played largely perfect throughout most of the game and beat Essien multiple times on the wing.

But chances were available throughout the game just like when Drogba got the ball at the top of the United box and while falling, kicked a curling shot which hit the United right post. However, the game was destined to go into overtime with Giggs coming on for Scholes (who had a bleeding nose) 6 minutes before OT.

Three minutes in OT Lampard got the ball within the box, spun around and shot the ball to the top right and hit off the post. In the 96th minute the camera showed a bunch of really drunk Russian soldiers taking off their Jerseys and putting on United jerseys.

In the 100th minute Giggs got a clear shot on goal when Evra won the ball just outside the Chelsea box and pass it right backwards right over the PK area. Terry was there however and headed the ball over the goal preventing it from going in.

In the 116th minute, after every single player spread his legs and started stretching for some odd reason (after anyone thought they made a dumb foul they started stretching), an argument erupted between Tevez and every other player on the field. Tevez ended up getting a yellow card, Drogba a red card and Ballack a yellow card. Everyone seemed to be pushing each other as rain started falling with the referees trying to break it up. Drogba did lightly slap a United player in the face as the referee came up behind him. The arguments were an escalation of the entire game as their were many bad fouls and stupid tackles.

The game proceeds to Penalty Kicks:

Tevez took the first shot and kicked it the the right with Cech (wearing bright orange with his safety pad headpiece) diving to the Left.

Ballack fired esentially the same way as Van der Saar

Carrick, this time to the left. (The rain continued to fall)

Beletti (who just got subbed in for this purpose), this time to the right against Van der Saar.

Ronaldo against Cech, he kicked it to the left and Cech dove and blocked it!

Frank Lampard, to the right and Van der Saar almost stopped it!!

Hargreaves against Cech and he kicked it to hte upper left, Cech dove the right way but couldn’t get to it.

Ashley Cole against Van der Saar, he kicks it to the right and Saar almost stopped it, it may have been because of the rain.

Nani puts in an excellent kick against Cech.

John Terry against Van der Saar (for the win): HE MISSED!! He slipped last second and it hit off the right post!

It continues!!!

Anderson puts it in against Cech.

Malou puts it in against Saar.

Giggs puts it in against Cech.

Anelka shoots but its stopped by Edwin Van der Saar.

UNITED HAVE WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!! THEY HAVE OBTAINED THE DOUBLE!!! Players sag in relief and complete fatigue! Terry cries in the rain hugging Grant. Ronaldo falls to the ground.

I’m not sure why anybody would think for a moment that Cristiano Ronaldo would leave Manchester United; nor do I understand why anyone would think why United would let Ronaldo go. But, I might as well address the idiotic rumors that have been circulating.

“He’s got four more years (on his contract) until 2012, he’s been with us for five years and we’re sure he’ll be with us for many years to come. He’s clearly one of the best players in the world and he’s at a great club, winning trophies. He enjoys it immensely here, you can tell that when you speak to him privately. Why would he want to leave? We have no intention of letting him go, we will make sure that he’s very happy here, as we do with all our top players. Manchester United is not a club that sells its main assets. In order to service our debts we need a very successful team on the pitch, and you don’t achieve that by selling Cristiano Ronaldo.” said Manchester United Chief Executive David Gill.

United currently has a debt of €764 million to various banks. There are provisions in Uefa licences that deal with clubs being able to meet their obligations, you have to give forward-looking accounts for coming years to show you can meet them, which is quite right,” he said. “Look at the debt in isolation and, yes, it’s a concern, but look at our income generation. Our revenue is well over £200m. Banks wouldn’t loan those sums unless they were fairly confident they’d get their money back and if we didn’t have a business plan which showed they’d get it back. In Manchester United, we have one of the best clubs in the world and we have a significant amount of income which can service those debts, so let’s not just look at one side (of the equation).” It’s truly astounding to think what many people consider to be ‘the most successful’ club teams in the world could have such an astounding debt.

United was taken over by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer in 2005 when he bought up 75% of Uniteds stock.

By the end of the 2007/2008 season Bolton barely avoided relegation by only one point. After Bolton’s miserable season, it seems like several players feel like they no longer belong with Bolton and have decided to leave. Three of the clubs midfielders including Andranik Teymourian, Stelios Giannakopoulos, and Ivan Campo have left. “Ivan, Stelios and Andranik have all done well for Bolton Wanderers and I’d like to express my gratitude to them. It’s time for them to move on and I wish them all the best.” said the Bolton manager Gary Megson.

Not only that but Jussi Jaaskalanen and Ricardo Gardner’s contracts will be expiring at the end of June; Megson, of course will be trying to stem the tide of fleeing players who sense the danger of relegation. “Jussi and Ricardo have both been excellent servants and are still very much part of my future plans for this football club. Hopefully, we can get them secured on new deals as soon as possible.” said Megson.