Lassana Diarra has had a strange career since leaving Arsenal back in 2008.
The French midfielder played weekly at Portsmouth, but then upon joining Real Madrid in an £18m move in 2009, he immediately began to sit on their bench, and has struggled to rise from it on many occasions. He happens to be the kind of player that Arsenal are lacking at the moment, in the sense that he is tidy and effective on the ball, and is effectively, the player that Arsene Wenger envisaged Denilson to be.
There would be real issues with Diarra coming back to the club though. He moaned incessantly about being on the bench for long stretches of the opening six months of the season, and eventually left in January having infuriated his team-mates and the manager to such a great extent with his attitude. His return would surely not be a popular one among the team, which is more important than his relationship with the supporters.
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The Frenchman has grown up since he left Arsenal though. He excelled immediately after he left and that was what won him a move to Real Madrid. One could easily argue that when you join a club of the stature of them, with the circus that surrounds them, it was inevitable that he would not have the success that he craved. Unfashionable enforcers are generally not embraced in Spanish football, and consequently, Diarra has had a couple of season’s bench warming rather than time on the pitch.
The 26-year-old is a Premier League style player, and he is a player the likes of whom Arsenal have been missing over the last couple of seasons. In all probability, he would have started every game after the departure of Mathieu Flamini. Speaking purely practically, Diarra would be an excellent signing for us.
However, there is reason to suggest that there is no way he would ever return to North London. Wenger has a very strict policy on the re-signing of former players, and also there is no guarantee that Diarra will leave Madrid this summer. A lot will depend on the future of Jose Mourinho in the Spanish capital – the midfielder is the kind of player who would excel under his stewardship if given a greater chance. If a new manager came in for whom flair was more important than substance, then Diarra could leave.
His performance against Barcelona in the Nou Camp last week was the best of any player on the pitch. Whether that will convince Real Madrid to keep him, or whether Diarra wants to stay at all, is another matter though. However, what is most likely is that his next destination shall probably not be Arsenal.
Would you as fans like to see Diarra back at the club this summer?
Read more of Alastair’s articles at Gunnersphere
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West Ham United are expected to appoint a new manager within the next three weeks after sacking Avram Grant yesterday. The Israeli, who also oversaw Portsmouth’s relegation to the Championship in 2009/10, was dismissed within hours of the Hammers’ 3-2 defeat at Wigan Athletic, a result which ended the side’s six-season stay in the Premier League.
The following managers have all been linked with the vacant Upton Park post, but which one is the right man to replace Grant?
Steve McClaren
The former England manager is currently the bookies’ favourite to take over the reins at Upton Park. After a dismal spell with the national side, the 50-year-old managed to rebuild his reputation on the continent after leading Dutch outfit FC Twente to the Eredivisie title for the first time in their history in 2010. He soon moved on to German side Wolfsburg, but was sacked in February after just nine months at the Bundesliga club.
After rising to prominence as Sir Alex Ferguson’s number two at Manchester United, McClaren performed minor miracles with Middlesbrough and led the Teesside club to a League Cup triumph (the club’s first major honour) in 2004 and a UEFA Cup final in 2006. These successes were largely forgotten after his tenure with England, and West Ham United could provide him with the perfect opportunity to restore his domestic reputation.
Chris Hughton
Harshly sacked by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley earlier this season, Chris Hughton was hotly-tipped to take the vacant West Bromwich Albion job after Roberto di Matteo’s dismissal, but his desire to bring his own backroom staff with him meant that he eventually lost out to Roy Hodgson.
He admirably guided Newcastle back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, leading the Magpies to the Championship title despite the departures of high-profile players such as Michael Owen, Damien Duff and Obafemi Martins. West Ham United owner David Gold has already admitted that he expects the club’s England internationals to leave this summer, and Stratford-born Hughton, a lifelong West Ham fan (he also spent two years at Upton Park as a player in the early 1990s), could be the man to rebuild a depleted squad.
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Martin O’Neill
The 59-year-old has been out of work since leaving Aston Villa in August over disagreements with club owner Randy Lerner. O’Neill enjoyed a successful spell at Villa Park, as he presided over three successive sixth-place finishes. He has won silverware with both Leicester City and Celtic, including two League Cups, three Scottish league titles and three Scottish Cups.
O’Neill was heavily linked with the club earlier this year, but is alleged to have changed his mind about replacing Grant in January after club insiders leaked reports of his impending arrival. Whilst his earlier interest in the post would suggest that he is ready for a return to club management, it is unclear whether or not he would be willing to manage in the Championship.
Neil Warnock
Despite leading QPR to the Premier League in emphatic style, speculation suggests that Neil Warnock may find himself out of a job as the club’s owners seek a more glamorous name to take them forward in the top tier. Despite his chequered past with West Ham United, he has expressed his admiration for the club and its traditions and would relish the prospect of reviving the Hammers’ ailing fortunes.
Warnock has demonstrated tangible success at lower-league level, having achieved seven promotions with six different clubs.The controversial Yorkshireman has also shown that he can work well under high-profile owners at Loftus Road, and would be more than capable of dealing with messrs Brady, Gold and Sullivan should he decide to make the switch from west to east London this summer.
Sam Allardyce
Like Martin O’Neill, Sam Allardyce has already seen himself linked with the Upton Park post this season. However, unlike O’Neill, Allardyce has failed to garner support amongst the club’s supporters. West Ham fans are fiercely proud of the club’s tradition for playing free-flowing, attacking football, and this style may be at odds with Allardyce’s more direct style of football.
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Despite this, Allardyce has shown himself to be as an effective manager at Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers. Whilst he may not ensure entertainment, he almost certainly guarantees results, and a move for Allardyce could be a wise one if the club’s owners are intent on securing a swift return to Premier League football.
Who would you like to see replace Avram Grant? Let me know below or on twitter.
Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/zarifrasul
Sepp Blatter said he will bear no grudge against England following their attempts to delay the Presidential elections. The non-election sees Blatter retain his position as the head of FIFA for the next four years and although another sixteen associations followed England’s suit in abstaining from the voting; the 75 year-old declared ‘Don’t worry about the English’ in his victory speech.
In the papers this morning we have seen a mixed bag of stories that include Bent aiming to prove he is England’s No.9; Wenger targets tall players, while Berbatov insists he will not quit Manchester United.
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I will not bear a grudge against the English, insists Blatter – Guardian
Bent aims to prove he is England’s No 9 – Daily Telegraph
Hughes’ Fulham deal expires as Houllier’s exit opens the door to Villa Park hotseat – Daily Mail
Hiddink hints Chelsea return is on cards – Guardian
Messi: I’ll never play In Prem Lge – Sun
Wenger targets tall players to end Arsenal’s wait – Guardian
I will not quit United – Berbatov – Mirror
Allardyce stunned as takeover tale overshadows his first day at West Ham – Daily Mail
Liverpool lead £13m chase for Sunderland midfielder Henderson – Daily Mail
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Spurs midfielder set for £7m move to Italy – Mirror
With 123 players alone being released by Premier League clubs after last season, the competition to find a new club is fierce. But former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has taken an interesting step to finding a new contract by releasing a series of online videos to prove his fitness. But will Hargreaves’ attempt to find a new club work and what lengths will players go to find a new club?
Hargreaves spent four injury-ravaged seasons at Manchester United, making only 39 appearances (and just 11 minutes of playing time in the last two campaigns) and the 30-year-old is now looking for a new club to try and prolong his career.
The series of 20 YouTube videos show the midfielder running, working in the gym and briefly kicking a football. Hargreaves’ efforts bare a resemblance to Michael Owen’s brochure back in 2009. After his contract at Newcastle United expired Owen sent out a 32-page document to a number of top clubs. The pages included Owen’s career history, a medical review and labeled him a ‘global football star’.
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Such a tactic, like Hargreaves’ videos, could be seen in two ways. Both came from players with stalling careers and this could be seen as a desperate last attempt to find the right club when their football on the pitch couldn’t sell themselves to prospective employees.
Or it may be an innovative way for players to promote their talents, with Hargreaves clearly aware of the worldwide appeal of the internet and sites like YouTube. With the public using these websites to show off their skills (e.g. the very popular singing videos), why shouldn’t footballers take advantage of the same tools?
Maybe soon we will see footballers leaving a message on sites like Twitter and Facebook in an effort to find a new club?
Owen’s brochure may have been a risky move but the same summer he earned a move to Manchester United. It is unclear whether the document had anything to do with Sir Alex Ferguson taking a risk on Owen but maybe the new lengths players go to attract a new football club do actually work?
There is very little chance that Hargreaves’ videos will attract the interest of a team like his previous club United but there have been reports linking Hargreaves with a move to the MLS with Toronto FC or Vancouver Whitecaps. This move could give Hargreaves the chance to resurrect his career and fitness away from the glare of English football.
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Whether Hargreaves’ self-promotion works as well as Owen’s remains to be seen but for now he may have to put up with comments and views on his videos, rather than professional contracts.
Uruguay won their first Copa America crown since 1995 on Sunday after a comprehensive 3-0 win over Paraguay in Buenos Aires.Uruguay, the 2010 World Cup semi-finalists, hit Gerardo Martino’s Paraguay with two goals in the first half at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, courtesy of strikers Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan.
Atletico Madrid man Forlan completed his brace moments before the final whistle as Uruguay sealed a record 15th success in the South American continental competition.
Oscar Tabarez’s side made their intentions known right from the start, as Suarez went close with a shot from inside the six-yard box.
Controversy ensued moments later when Diego Lugano powered a header from inside the penalty area and Nestor Ortigoza appeared to stop the ball with his hand, drawing strong penalty appeals from Uruguay.
They were denied a certain spot kick by referee Salvio Spinola Fagundes Filho, but in the 11th minute, Uruguay had their opener.
Liverpool’s Suarez made his way down the right flank and unleashed a stinging shot, which deflected off Dario Veron and over the line.
Uruguay had a chance to make it 2-0 near the half-hour mark when Suarez released Forlan with an excellent through-ball, only to be denied by Justo Villar.
Minutes before half-time Uruguay did double their lead.
Egidio Arevalo stole the ball in midfield, and found an unmarked Forlan, who made no mistake this time as he powered a scintillating finish in the right corner of the net.
It could have been 3-0 in the 55th minute, when Suarez threaded a pass for Forlan near the penalty spot, but Veron made a vital interception and deflected the ball out of danger.
Paraguay enjoyed their best chance shortly before the hour mark, when Nelson Valdez powered a shot against the bar from outside the box.
The Hercules forward had another opportunity moments later when Cristian Riveros found him with a good ball from the right wing, but the Valdez failed to convert from close range.
Uruguay kept pushing for a third, with substitute Edison Cavani forcing a spectacular save from Villar with 11 remaining.
It was left for Forlan to put the finishing touches on a deserved victory, completing his brace with a cool finish in injury time, following a pass from Suarez.
Japan twice came from behind to secure a dramatic penalty shootout victory in the final of the Women’s World Cup on Sunday.Heavy favourites the USA took the lead in regular time and in extra time only for Japan to equalise on both occasions to take the final to penalties.
The Americans then missed their first three spot-kicks as Japan snatched a 3-1 victory in the shootout to secure their first major women’s football title.
After having the better of the early exchanges, it was not until the 69th minute that the USA had something to show for their dominance.
Megan Rapinoe sent a speculative long ball down the middle of the pitch, and striker Alex Morgan out-sprinted the Japanese defence and fired home a left-footed shot from the edge of the area to put the USA ahead.
But just as the Americans looked like they would hold on for their third Women’s World Cup title, Aya Miyama capitalised on a blunder in the US defence to poke home an equaliser with nine minutes left.
Goalscorer Morgan turned provider in the first period of extra time, with her cross from the left-hand touchline finding the head of striker Abby Wambach, who made no mistake from close range.
But with defeat again staring them in the face the Japanese refused to relent, and tournament leading scorer Homare Sawa netted her fifth goal of the campaign to again draw Japan level with three minutes left.
Miyami’s cross to the near post was met by a leaping Sawa, whose back-heeled flick took a slight touch off Wambach before nestling in the back of the net.
Japan’s Azusa Iwashimizu was sent off in the final minute of extra time, but the USA failed to score from the resultant free-kick sending the match into penalties.
Shannon Boxx, Tobin Heath and Carli Lloyd all missed their spot kicks to give Japan the early advantage, and despite American goalkeeper Hope Solo’s save off Yuki Nagasato, Saki Kumagai stepped up to deliver the killer blow and give Japan a historic victory.
Rumours circled for the last year or so about the destination of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s future. The Southampton youth academy talent – another shining star that they have produced, to add to the list of fantastic players in recent years – was linked with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal over the last few months, but it is Arsenal who have finally captured the youngster. Since he burst onto the scene Oxlade-Chamberlain has been hyped by the media, but now the media frenzy is set to get even worse. Let’s hope they don’t destroy his chances of making it, given how many other young players have suffered the same fate.
Chamberlain is just 17, which is a very tender age, and he needs to be looked after well. Arsenal was the youngster’s preferred choice, and given their ability at bringing through young talent it seems a wise one. He is the same age as Theo Walcott was when he was prematurely selected for the World Cup and placed under huge degrees of pressure as the media declared him England’s next big star. Walcott has shown flashes of brilliance since, but not to the extent to which he was hyped by the media, which is why the press need to be careful not to place unreasonable expectations and pressure on a young player’s shoulders.
Chamberlain is slightly different to Walcott in some ways as he has been plying his trade in the lower divisions more regularly and for longer than Walcott did, he even managed to get into the PFA League One Team of the Year, so the hype surrounding him is not completely without foundation. Southampton themselves did a very good job of making sure his early progress was low key, not mentioning him to local media or hyping him up, but quietly integrating him into the side. Of course once you see the player, it is easy to get carried away because of the talent he possesses, but we have to remember that he is just 17, and declaring him the saviour of the nation, or its next big star is not going to be something helpful to his development. It could build up unreasonable expectations within the player’s mind, and negatively effect his progression. The worst thing would be for the player to believe his own hype, and think that he’s world class before he is. However, he does seem to have the right sort of people around him to keep him grounded, and not get too carried away.
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Oxlade-Chamberlain needs to be given time to develop, and if the hype gets too much, and he is too built up, then he is unlikely to get that. Fans will likely get frustrated and have too high expectations, if he is constantly hailed by the media, but slow to impress on the pitch. People will be quick to take him down if he gets into the Arsenal side and fails to make an immediate impression. There will simply be no patience if the tabloid journalists continue to over-hype him. For Oxlade-Chamberlain, the best move could even be a loan back to Southampton for another year, as he needs to be playing regularly to aid his development. and it could take him out of some of the sharp media spotlight for a while.
In England it seems that any remotely half-decent footballer is hyped to extraordinary extents, and when they fail to live up to these unreasonable expectations they are seen as a failure. So many youngsters who have gone before have failed to live up to their billing by the media. Players like Danny Cadamarteri, Neil Mellor, and Jody Morris, were all hugely hyped and proclaimed as the next big thing, yet all slipped into the relative obscurity of the lower leagues. Perhaps these players weren’t cut out for top flight football, but it is more likely that they struggled to cope with the pressure placed upon them by the British media.
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To overhype a young player is simply not fair, but it seems it’s now an ingrained feature of our national media. Given how many players have fallen by the way-side before, here’s hoping the press don’t destroy Chamberlain by overhyping him. It’s not fair on the player, and he needs to be given the best opportunity to maximise his talents and develop away from the harsh media spotlight. Otherwise he could be just another talent who fails to live up to his potential.
Let me know your thoughts on the press hype surrounding Oxlade-Chamberlain by commenting below. Follow me on Twitter @LaurenRutter for more debate.
An eclectic and eccentric view of football, business and management by media entrepreneur Chris Ingram.
Let’s face it they call it “Soccer” (or “Soh-cerr”) which always brings a patronising smile from football fans in Europe.
Lets’ get our bragging rights out there now: There is only one truly global sport: football. The English Premier League is received in 206 countries which is more countries than there are members in the United Nations (197). It’s enough to impress anyone, particularly Americans who, for all their talk about “World Series” don’t have a truly international sport at all.
But forget the gloating, the answer is less straight-forward than it seems.
I’m in New York regularly but it was only this Spring that I was calling on investment bankers with the subject of sport very much in mind. I was exploring avenues for funding having recently taken a controlling stake in Sports Revolution, the sports media and marketing group.
The size of the American market and the huge amount of money there has enabled specialist expertise in funding to be created that would be unprofitable anywhere else. I’d come across investment banks specialising in media years ago when I was building the international media agency, CIA. This depth of expertise also exists in Sport. I only visited four firms but discovered that, between them, they had arranged just about all the funding for the Glazer acquisition of Man United and the Hicks and Gillett purchase of Liverpool. Now you can criticise one or both of those deals for being over-leveraged or whatever but what impressed me was their huge knowledge of the Premier League, the issues and `who was doing what to whom’. Here I was 3,000 miles away on the other side of the Atlantic and these guys knew more about the Premier League than most directors of Premier League Clubs. Because I didn’t realise this, it made for some initially very confusing conversations. I was talking about “Soh-cerr” whilst they were saying “football” which I thought meant their American Football, whereas they were talking about well, football. (That’ll teach me to be so patronising). Anyhow, I rapidly learned that most of these guys were only interested in deals worth more than a billion dollars, which at this stage of the Company’s development was way out of my class.
Nevertheless, behind the big investment banks wanting to do big, high profile corporate deals sits a large number of high net worth individuals who want their bank to come up with some “fun investments” to go with the solid, reliable investments which take up most of their money. So, at the end of one of my meetings, I was amazed to hear one director ask:
“Hey, do you know of any interesting Championship sides that are available? Three or four of my clients want to have some fun and they’d like to buy a club between them”.
And by extraordinary chance, at my very next meeting, I met a much smaller investment bank where I learnt that they’d already invested in a famous Championship Club on exactly that basis (without much success to date, as it happens. But that’s another story).
The point of this story is that some Americans know a great deal about our beautiful game and the reason why, is that they’ve learnt that there is a huge amount of money in football and in New York they do money very, very well.
Chris Ingram is as passionate about football as he is about business. Owner of Woking Football Club, and a majority shareholder in the fast growing sports media business Sports Revolution, Chris is one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.
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Recently celebrating 50 years in the media industry and still actively involved with Woking, Chris is ideally placed to comment on the business side of football.
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READ more of Chris Ingram’s work at our Football Business Section
Fulham face the unenviable task of trying to halt the Manchester City steam train on Sunday.
The Cottagers haven’t had the best start to their 10th consecutive Premier League campaign. Two points and two goals has brought Martin Jol no cheer in his first month as boss at Craven Cottage and the visit of high-flying City will do nothing to change his mood. Deadline day signing Bryan Ruiz was brought in to provide the goals and showed evidence of his talents last week against Blackburn. However the £10.6 million man needs to toughen up and get to grips with the brutal nature of English football with the majority of his 45 minutes on the field spent face down in the turf complaining for a free kick. His former side FC Twente were in town on Thursday evening for a Europa League tie that finished 1-1. Not the ideal preparation for the visit of Roberto Mancini’s multi millionaire menaces but Jol will be encouraged by his sides display. Remarkably he has never lost against Sunday’s opponents as a manager presiding over six consecutive wins. It would be very surprising if he makes it seven.
Exhilarating, intoxicating and compelling are just some of the words used to describe City’s early season form. Gone is the cautious approach adopted by Mancini last season replaced with a brand fast flowing, attacking football that has made every single football fan, coach, player, pundit and journalist stand up and look on in awe. They’ve steamrolled over all before them with Sergio Agüero, David Silva and the now prolific Edin Dzeko taking the beautiful game to an absurdly gorgeous level. The addition of Agüero has been a masterstroke and his hat trick against Wigan last week was a joy to behold. His partner in crime Silva has also stepped it up this season with his vision and ability to see things others can’t making him a cut above. A slight wobble on the Champions League debut against Napoli on Wednesday brought them back down to earth a little bit but don’t expect the momentum in their chase to eclipse rival United to cease.
Fulham could be without Aaron Hughes and Dickson Etuhu who are both struggling with injury.
James Milner is missing for the visitors after a clash of heads against Wigan last week. Nigel De Jong is also out with a foot injury although full back Aleksander Kolarov is available despite suffering a broken nose.
Key Players
Brede Hangeland: It’s a task he’ll want to get out of the way but the big Norwegian will have to be at his absolute best to snuff out the trio of Dzeko, Agüero and Silva.
David Silva: Is there a better player in the Premier League at the moment? The Spaniard as it all and he’ll be the biggest threat at Craven Cottage on Sunday with his passing, movement and intelligence putting him one step ahead of everyone else.
Verdict: 0-3
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Have you bought your Goaldash ticket yet? Don’t miss out on your chance of winning a Million pounds this weekend!
The League Manager’s Association (LMA) released a quite shocking statistic yesterday – £99m had been spent last season by Premier League and Football League clubs in changing their manager. So what’s the reason for such a high figure? Compensatory packages, legal fees and ‘double contracts’ are the main outgoings. The astronomical figure does not even take into account agents fees and the cost of replacing a manager’s backroom staff. Going by the bookies’ odds, Arsene Wenger and David Moyes are among the five favourites to get sacked – an anomaly that I’m simply choosing to ignore because of its ridiculous assertion. With several contenders in the Premier League hovering very closely to the axe, let’s take a look at the main candidates for unemployment.
Steve Kean –
Quite how he ever got the job in the first place is beyond me. Woefully out of his depth, he is perhaps the biggest yes-man in English footballing history. Currently, Blakcburn are on a face-saving tour of India during their week off during the international break to appease their new owners Venky’s after they had to cancel their tour there in pre-season – a simply baffling decision. Kean’s assistant manager John Jensen was sacked by the board last week and his position is beginning to approach something close to untenable.
The circumstances, under which Kean got the manager’s job, initially on a caretaker basis before being offered a 2-3 year deal, are also somewhat murky. Kean’s agent is a man called Jerome Anderson, the founder of sports management agency SEM. Anderson was also a key advisor of Venky’s during their takeover bid of Blackburn through SEM’s corporate partnership with Swiss-based sports-rights company Kentaro. Kean signed 21 year-old defender Myles Anderson in July this summer after a fairly inauspicious start to his career at both Leyton Orient and Aberdeen, where he made just one league appearance – it won’t surprise you to know that Myles Anderson is indeed the son of Jerome Anderson, Kean’s agent. I suppose people in high places and all that.
Besides the supremely dodgy and corrupt set of circumstances that saw Kean get the job in the first place, while he’s actually been managing Blackburn, it’s fair to say that thing have not gone smoothly out on the pitch. Blackburn have lost 15 of their 30 fixtures under his tenure and have won just 7 – these wins have come against Leyton orient, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves, Bolton, West Brom, Liverpool and Arsenal. Sam Allardyce was doing a perfectly good job at Blackburn until he was sacked. The only mystery still left with concerns to Kean’s ill-fated first foray into management, is not if he will be sacked, rather than when?
Steve Bruce –
Bruce certainly looks a likeable enough individual, but is he really a Premier League manager? The former Man Utd stalwart has signed 33 different first-team players since May 2009, including 5 loan deals. That’s two whole teams worth of players for goodness sake. The man clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. Here’s a man that doesn’t have the first clue about how to build a team. He lacks both a coherent, long-term plan and an identifiable style of play. Can anyone out there honestly say that they know what a Steve Bruce type of player looks like? He’s little more than a poor manager trading on his former glories as a player. To put it quite simply, if you spend £40m on new players and all you deliver is relegation form, then you are bound to come under some pressure.
Perceived wisdom would tell you that his position has been weakened at the club with Niall Quinn leaving his role as Chairman to take up an international development role at the club and owner Ellis Short stepping into the breach in order to protect his investment. After a 2-1 win over Blackpool last season on January 22nd, over the course of the next 14 league games Sunderland won just 3 of them against Wigan, Bolton and West Ham, drew once against Arsenal and lost 11. In this horror run they dropped from 6th in the league and potentially challenging for a Europa League place all the way down to the anonymity of 14th in the table. They saved some face with a final day victory over relegated West Ham to leap all the way up to 10th in a deeply congested mid-table, but it merely helped to mask a club in free-fall. The pressure on Bruce now is not solely down to Sunderland’s indifferent start to the campaign this term, but is simply a hangover from the dreadful and worrying warning signs of last season. Bruce is living on borrowed time.
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Owen Coyle –
For those of you that know me reasonably well, I think it’s fair to say that I’m not Owen Coyle’s biggest fan. 11 league defeats in his last 12 games stretching across the end of last term and beginning of this one paint an ugly picture of a club lurching into a fully-fledged crisis.
Coyle has profited a degree of goodwill from the press for a perceived change in the club’s style of football. This is quite clearly a concerted PR effort, for it simply has no basis in fact. Bolton now are still the same Bolton of old, except Coyle’s Bolton have acquired an undeniable soft underbelly of late, with the team already shipping 21 goals in their opening 7 league games this season as they are rooted to the bottom of the table in what now constitutes the club’s worst start to a season in 109 years.
Many will point to the tough fixture list Bolton have had so far, having played Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool already, but you have to play everybody at some point and this terrible run of form backdates to last season whereupon a capitulation to Stoke 5-0 at Wembley they lost their last 5 league games against Fulham, Blackburn, Bolton, Blackpool and Man City. A telling fact – Gary Megson and Sammie Lee were both
sacked before Christmas after better starts than Coyle has had this season. He may talk a good game, but he could, along with Alex McLeish, face the rather unenviable prospect of having managed 2 relegated teams in 3 seasons on his CV.
Roy Hodgson –
Is it too early for Hodgson to be considered under pressure? A sloppy start to the season has already seen them lose 4 of their opening 7 games. Since their return to the top flight, the words West Brom have hardly been synonymous with good defending – but it’s been their apparent lack of cutting edge up top this term that has been the most worrying aspect of their play.
While last season they scored an impressive 56 league, only four less than moneybags Man City, so far this season they’ve scored just 5 in 7 games, with Hodgson’s stubborn refusal for the most part to start with two up front often cited as a reason. This season’s relegation battle is likely to involve between 8-10 teams, a side with the resources of West Brom cannot afford a slow start to proceedings.
Neil Warnock –
QPR are a strange beast. Neil Warnock’s men are still without a win on home soil in three attempts and they’ve been hammered twice already, 4-0 on the opening day to Bolton at home and 6-0 away at Fulham last weekend.
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The new recruits such as Joey Barton, Luka Young and Shaun Wright-Phillips were certainly most welcome in propping up and beefing out what was a deeply average Championship squad in both size and quality. Still, the worry remains that their inconsistency over the course of a long campaign could prove their undoing. They also appear to lack a genuine finisher of proven Premier League quality with Jay Bothroyd having found the transition difficult so far.
Warnock will feel the need to impress the club’s new owners in a bid to finally put to bed rumours of his departure. With a tricky run of games after their next fixture against Blackburn (H) coming up – Chelsea (H), Spurs (A), Man City (H) – QPR will need to rediscover the comforts of home, otherwise they could be this season’s Blackpool; a side hampered in their efforts to avoid the drop by poor home form. He may not be under any undue pressure at the moment, but that could all quickly change inside a month or so for Warnock. Their next fixture against Blackburn could be one of the season’s first genuine six-pointers, with the potential fate of both managers and their future ambitions riding on a positive result.