Left back - a football blog

Michael Dawson is one of the worst centre-halves I have ever seen. If you could win medals for shirt pulling he’d be a fucking champion but someone needs to explain to him what defending is about.

Spurs are a team built for La Liga. Go past the centre-halves and there is no physical presence. The midfield is tiny, technically very good, but tiny. They’re going to struggle unless they beef up that area with a signing.

Boos for Adebayor and Berbatov from Arsenal and Spurs fans show, perhaps, that fans patience with greedy players is wearing thin. It’s very uncommon to hear players so roundly booed by their own fans as those two were yesterday. Interesting.

Boro looked good. Stoke are going down. Hull had a great win and if they play with that kind of spirit who knows?

Arsenal desperately need a central midfield player. Although he did well enough the fact that Emmanuel Eboue is playing there for a team that wants to win the title tells its own story. West Brom did well at the Emirates, I think they showed enough to suggest they won’t go down too easy.

Torres made the difference again for Liverpool who still look very poor in the wide areas. Sunderland look a better side than last season and passed it around very nicely at times. They have a bit more craft in midfield now and that will help them, I think.

Everton must buy. They need to strengthen but they shot themselves in the foot yesterday. Poor defending by Lescott for Blackburn’s second and ball-watching for the winner which came when Yakubu gave away a stupid free kick. Blackburn were better than I thought they’d be.

It’s great to have it back though. So much to talk about. Thoughts on day 2 tomorrow.

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So, it’s the final day of the season. There’s much to be decided although I think I’ve got it sussed.

United will win the title despite Chelsea beating Bolton because they’ll spank Wigan to kingdom come. At the bottom I think Birmingham will lose to Blackburn and Fulham will lose to Portsmouth because the Portsmouth players, having been off the ball since reaching the cup final, will be giving it 100% today to ensure their Wembley places. Reading will beat Derby.

Everton will clinch the final UEFA Cup place with a win over Newcastle. And that will be that. If the other results come in then I’m going to be up a couple of quid. I might buy you a pint if I win. Click for big…

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You have to admire Rafa Benitez. Peter Crouch hardly gets a look in all season, the manager preferring to play the hard working but goal shy Kuyt ahead of him and deciding he’ll keep the frankly rubbish Voronin over him, yet there’s a £15m price tag slapped on his head.

Amazing. Crouch is a decent Premier League player but how can he justify asking for that kind of money when, if he really was a £15m player, he’d surely have played more games this season?

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There’s lots to be decided on the final day of the Premier League season. Who will be Champions, United or Chelsea? It’s sort of like asking how you’d like to be killed.

‘Shot in the face, sir, or hung from a bannister?’

Arsenal will finish third, Liverpool fourth. In three years Benitez still hasn’t managed a title challenge. Take the once in a lifetime circumstances of the Champions League win out of the equation and he still has a lot to prove as the manager of Liverpool. Again he’s talking about needing three or four players in the summer but he says that every summer. It’ll be interesting to me to see how much more time he gets.

I wonder, and Liverpool fans can give me their view on this, if the boardroom antics didn’t do him a favour this year. Did he get a more vociferous backing from the fans because of the way he was treated by the owners? Would he have come in for more criticism if that hadn’t happened?

At the bottom it’s one from Birmingham, Reading, Fulham and Bolton.

The fixtures see Birmingham play Blackburn at home, Reading play Derby away, Fulham travel to FA Cup focussed Portsmouth while Bolton will be at Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea. Bolton’s goal difference could save them, they’re 11 better off than Reading who you would expect to beat Derby.

If I was a betting man I’d put my money on Birmingham and Fulham. Portsmouth have been rubbish since they got to the cup final, too many players making sure they don’t pick up an injury, but this week I think they’ll all be giving it 110% to make sure the manager notices them. So I see Fulham and Birmingham losing, Reading winning and Bolton getting beaten but unless they get a load spanked past them they’ll survive.

For those writing on the site please feel free to get together your Premier League team of the season. First XI and 5 subs, please. It’ll be interesting to see how they all differ.

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Isn’t Premier League football the best? Two Chelsea games in three days (the horror!), three goals, little in the way of excitement and all we have to really show for it is Avram Grant’s incredible post-match interview after the game against Everton. The Israeli is clearly going bonkers under the increasing pressure and criticism which is being heaped upon his broad shoulders, but there was no need to act like a petulant child in front of a baying media pack.

Credit must go to the Blues as the only side who are pushing Manchester United as the finishing post looms, but it is a season that has come at a cost. An increasing number of disillusioned “untouchables”, a stop-gap manager who clearly wont be there come August and a set of fans who are less than happy with the way the club is run. Chelsea’s slim dream of Premier League glory in 2008 may still be alive, but there hopes of doing it with dignity and style banished long ago.

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Despite the best comeback since Lazarus this weekend, I reckon Arsenal will finish 2nd or more likely, 3rd this season. There are three reasons for this in my opinion.

1) Lack of quality depth in the squad (particularly defence)

As has been highlighted in recent weeks, when the likes of Toure are out, there is a lack of quality cover in the team. Senderos is error-prone and Djourou is out injured. Hoyte is not a centre back, and Song is erratic. Once Eduardo got knacked, only Adebayor was the only consistent goalscorer, with Van Persie only just coming back from injury. Rosicky is made of glass and Diaby is no goal-getting midfielder. Some players are excellent, such as Sagna, Fabregas and Clichy but you don’t see the continuity that Man United or Chelsea (or Liverpool to an extent) have.

2) Hleb

Despite a good early season and a good performance against AC Milan (fuelled by ice cream apparently), he has reverted to form; “All show, no go” said my Gooner mate. “Why won’t he fucking shoot” he added.

3) Eboue

Can someone explain to me what this bloke adds to the team? He can’t cross, he can’t tackle, he doesn’t score, can’t defend and generally appears irrelevant. During the Chelsea game the other week he was being booed – was this by the Arsenal fans? His histrionics must be embarrassing to Arsenal fans, and his behaviour in general is pretty disgraceful. Walcott is a much better option, he can take players on a bit more and scores goals from time to time.

What Arsenal appear to lack is a big player – someone like Torres, Ronaldo or Henry. The sort of player that other teams would look at and think “I hope he’s not in the team today”. Arsenal will probably spend about 12 quid in the summer, buying some unknown players and turn them into multi-million pound assets and watch them be linked with Barcelona and Real Madrid every day for the rest of their careers but I reckon they could do worse than blow some decent money on two or three experienced individuals; Gallas and Rosicky are the only proven players bought recently, others such as Eduardo, Sagna and Walcott haven’t done it yet.

The season for Arsenal is not over yet, but the three games against Liverpool are extremely significant – aside from the fact that they have to go to Old Trafford in the League. They’ll still finish above Tottenham though, despite what was written in the meeja back in the Summer….

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I read some funny stuff in the papers this morning about Javier Mascherano’s ‘crazed rant’ at Old Trafford yesterday, most of them seeming to ignore the fact that he only went mental after being given a red card that he didn’t deserve.

The first yellow was harsh, in my opinion, but I can see why the referee would give it. It looked a lot worse than it actually was and no contact was made.

The second was absolute bullshit though. Firstly Fernando Torres was booked when he was being kicked in the back of the legs - I assume his booking was for daring to say something to the referee. Mascherano came over and quite clearly said ‘What’s happening? What’s happening?’, bemused at Torres’ yellow card. He didn’t swear, he wasn’t aggressive, he didn’t call the referee a ‘fucking cunt’, which seems to be something only Wayne Rooney or Ashley Cole can get away with.

For Bennet to give him a yellow card for dissent there is an absolute mockery. Players should be able to engage with officials provided they do it in the right way. Ok, you can say he shouldn’t have come over but he didn’t come charging, he didn’t act in an aggressive manner, he merely wanted to ask the referee why Torres was being booked after a series of fouls on him.

Let me ask you this - would Bennet have sent off Steven Gerrard in that situation? No. Would he have sent off Rooney or Ferdinand? No.

I’m all for players respecting the referee but at the same time the referee has be able to communicate with players. If Mascherano had called the ref a name, questioned his parentage, told him he was a shit ref, or was in any way foul and abusive then I’d have no problem with the red card. He did none of those things and to my mind the red card was way out of line. If Bennet had been having a problem all game with Mascherano, as some of the papers suggest, he should have either told the Liverpool captain to control his player, or simply tell the player himself to keep his mouth shut. A little communication goes a long way.

As it was the game of football was ruined for the neutral and now Mascherano faces a long spell out for his behaviour after the red card. It’s easy to understand his frustration and it’s easy for Bennet to make an example of a foreigner who has paid for the price for the referees general relucatance to properly discipline England players for their onfield antics.

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Tottenham - what were you thinking? A spectacular 4-4 draw may of been salvaged due to a late Robbie Keane strike but the decision to play highlights from your Carling Cup success before the game is utterly baffling. Why give Chelsea even more ammunition after their pathetic 2-1 reverse?

All said and done though, what a game. We were even given more reasons to dislike Ashley Cole and Pascal Chimbonda!

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It may be a couple of days old now, but Michael Owen may want to look a little closer to home if he is worried about his Engerland place; it’s got very little to do with Newcastle’s (woeful) form – if Capello drops him, it’ll be because Owen himself is not playing well. Right now, Defoe is a more viable option in my opinion alongside Rooney.

If you look at the rugby, Jonny Wilkinson has been dropped for the national team, and in the cricket Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison have been dropped. Why? Because they aren’t performing. Owen isn’t performing. The goals Owen has scored in the past are just that – in the past.

It appears that little Michael is more bothered about his place in the national team than helping King Kev out of the quagmire that surrounds Newcastle right now. He maintains that his club is his main focus, but the word “contract” has already been bandied about. He’s two years into a deal worth in excess of £100K per week, and has scored five goals in 24 games (19 starts) this season. Not a good return. The only way they are going to do anything (i.e. survive with a modicum of dignity) is if they score more than they will inevitably concede in each game, and the problem is that Owen is one of only two real options for them. Smith isn’t going to do it, and don’t get me started on Ameobi. Martins has had a stop-start season, interrupted by the African Cup and injury but he is class - a full season will show that. Viduka can’t play more than two games in a row because his head and arse are too big and you can’t rely on the evergreen Shay Given to keep the score down.

KK has to run the changes in the summer, starting at the back and remove the dead wood brought in by BFS; he also needs to keep hold of N’Zogbia and Milner who are, in my opinion, the two best outfield players in the team. Newcastle fans are among the most loyal, but there will come a time when enough is enough.

It comes down to options; Newcastle haven’t got many as KK didn’t spend during the transfer window (why not Kev, why not?) but Engerland do.

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One 4-0 can be put down to having a bad. A second 4-0 defeat inside a week is perhaps a sign of some problems at a club. But three 4-0 defeats in a row is as clear a sign as you’ll ever get that a manager has lost the dressing room.

Sure, the opposition was decent but after two 4-0 defeats and the next match against one of your fiercest rivals you’d think the manager would be able to get some sort of reaction from his players. He didn’t and Hammers fans must be absolutely miserable tonight.

Would be very interested in the thoughts of West Ham fans. Is Curbishley still the man for job? If, as it appears, he isn’t, who do you want to see come in?

Update: Just to confirm I’m not interested in the thoughts of idiot Spurs fans who are on a wind-up and think they’re the world’s greatest team since winning the Carling Cup. Yes, the Carling Cup.

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