What Have Blackburn Got Themselves Into?

On Monday, I was shocked to see that Sam Allardyce had got sacked by the new Indian owners who have just taken over less than a month ago. These lads must think they know what they are talking about, but they must be off their head's if they think they're going to get anywhere without a manager, especially with the Christmas fixtures coming up. With so many matches at this time, it is one of the most important parts of the season.

When I heard the news, I kind of saw it coming, this is always the case when teams get taken over by men who have money growing on trees. But just yesterday they announced that they were looking for a British manager and apart from maybe Harry Redknapp and Sir Alex Ferguson, there aren't many better than "Big Sam". If you don't remember, when the FA confirmed the manager after Fabio Capello will be British, Allardyce was one of the front runners with a lot of the bookies and with a lot of people.

Allardyce, 56, is now the second manager within a week to get the sack. As we all know, Chris Hughton got sacked after a 3-1 loss to West Brom away from home and in fairness he was missing two or three key players. The omens don't look good for any managers that are losing matches. With managers like Roy Hodgson and the likes of Mick McCarthy, who's side are second from bottom, are bound to feel the pressure in the next few weeks unless they get their respective teams to winning ways.

Steve Kean, who if I'm being honest I don't know a lot about, will now take charge of Blackburn for the foreseeable future until they find a manager who they think is fit for the job. However long that is, is for the owners to decide. But if we are to believe what they say, if Kean impresses, he will get the job. No matter how unknown he is, it seems. But I wouldn't take their word for it. Blackburn will face West Ham at Ewood Park and with no disrespect to West Ham and their fans, I don't think Kean could have got a better fixture to start off his new job.

So what are we to expect from the new owners, is it, to the disgust of everyone, Man City all over again? Will they try and "buy" the Premiership? Will they get the same abuse that Man City got for their crazy spending? They've already made a big decision with the sacking of Allardyce, was it the right one?

I would love to hear any comments you may have

FIFA World Cup 2010 - Easy To Forget

Yesterday, Sky Sports News showed a report on how the World Cup affected the people of South Africa and the country itself. The answer, not really. It is easy to say that the World Cup that we saw throughout June and at the start of July was not really at the standard we are used to seeing.

Not even the likes of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could make any difference. It took my cousin Cathal, (who runs the very successful blog Football Corner) to make me realise how woeful the World Cup actually was. We are now six months on from the tournament that crowned Spain as champions for the first time and it's fair to say that it's pretty much forgotten. There wasn't much to show for it with a lot of matches and teams disappointing. 

A lot was expected from nations such as England, Brazil and to some extent France but none of them ever got going. We all saw what happened with England, a Rob Green error and the failure to beat Algeria meant that they could only manage second in their group. They capped off a quite awful tournament by losing 4-1 (should have been 4-2 if you all remember Lampard's disallowed goal) to an impressive Germany side in the quarter finals. 

Going into the tournament, they weren't really a liked side after they got through to the finals thanks to the hand of Thierry Henry. Of course I'm talking about France. They made themselves look like more of a joke by refusing to train which resulted in Anelka being sent home.

Spain proved they were the best side in the world. After a shaky start everyone thought, as usual, that they wouldn't have the bottle. But they proved that you have world class players along with the passion and I don't think they're short of world class players. The final normally is the culmination of a great tournament and showcases some of the best football. Instead, we got a boring final in which Holland literally "kicked" Spain around the pitch. So why would it make a massive difference to South Africa? Yes, it's changed for the better but not by a huge amount. 

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Arsenal Aim To Keep Top Spot

Later tonight, Arsenal play Man United at Old Trafford on Sky Sports' "Monday Night Football". This fixture never fails to deliver and as we are getting into the Christmas spirit, hopefully both teams can give us an early Christmas present. Arsenal go into this match with a one point advantage at the top, but Man United can overtake
both the Gunners and City with a win tonight.

I am quietly confident that Arsenal can get a point, if not all three. They have been the team to beat so far this season with United and Chelsea both not reaching their peak. With players like Nasri, Arshavin and Fabregas they can, for me, beat any defence in the world today. We all know that they play some of the best football in the league but sometimes they fail to try and grind out a result.

United have had two weeks off now, so any knocks players might have had after their game against Blackburn, in which they destroyed Sam Allardyce's and his players defence, should be gone. Like their rivals City, their star player has gone on a rant and threatened to walk out on the club. While all this drama has been going on, no player has really stepped up and confirmed his place as United's main man. Yes, some might say "well what about Berbatov" but before the Blackburn game, his last convincing performance was against Liverpool some way back at the start of the season. Nani has been hot and cold as well. One week brilliant, next week not so brilliant.

I am genuinely so excited for this match with both teams, seemingly, really up for this. With Arsenal trying to maintain their challenge for the title and not fade away like in previous seasons, and United who can confirm they are the team to beat. You have Arsenal's attack versus Man United's tough defence, but you also have United's "on-off'" attack, versus Arsenal's defence, who have shown us that they are not that reliable especially for a team who want to win the Premiership.

I'm not going to predict the score because last week I thought Aston Villa would get the three points and then we all saw what actually happened. Liverpool won 3-0. All I can say is that it shouldn't disappoint, so I wouldn't miss it.

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Carlos. What Are You Doing?

Man City have announced that Tevez wants to leave the club after he handed in a transfer request. I'm sure to the delight of every City fan, well me anyway, City rejected the request. But why, when you're the captain of the club that is going places, would you decide to call it a day? I'm quite shocked by this, although I do want him to stay, I will never want a player to stay at the club who won't show his full commitment.

We have seen some worrying signs in the past few weeks between the relationship of Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tevez. Most notably,  the row that was the result of Tevez being taken off against Bolton. I think I should add that there was no more than five minutes left, so I think it was Tevez being a little bit immature. It looked more like what you would see at an under 13's match on a Sunday morning. He was clearly showing a lack of respect to the Italian man.

He was City's player of the year last season after quite a slow start under Mark Hughes and confirmed himself as a fan favourite. He doesn't stop running and his goal scoring record ain't half bad either. 30 goals in 50 appearances. My only criticism of the Argentine would be that he hangs on to the ball for a second too long. I would hate to see him go for he is one of the best strikers in the world and would not only be a loss for City but for the Premiership as well.

But I don't know why you would want to keep a player that obviously isn't happy and wants to go and it's, for me, nothing but disrespect especially when your the captain to hand in a transfer request. Mancini will obviously have a lot on his hands with Tevez adding to the list of "keep players happy" along side the not-so-super Mario Balotelli. Balotelli must be giving a bad vibe, players must be thinking "if he can be a pain in the backside, why can't I?".

With the aim of the club being to bring in world class players and get rid of the players that were at the City before the takeover, this must come as a real surprise to the club and the owners in particular. It will be quite an interesting saga, one that will grab most of the headlines during the January transfer window which is less than a month away.

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Man City Show They Have A Genuine Chance Of Winning The Premiership

Today, Man City convincingly beat West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park. After a few poor performances, even though they were getting a result, it was nice to see they can win comfortably especially without Carlos Tevez. This result leaves City in second place with Chelsea and Arsenal having one game in hand, and Man United having two after there match with Blackpool was called off last week.

Yes it was West Ham, but United lost to them with an embarrassing 4-0 defeat in the League Cup. And don't give the "they didn't have their first team out" excuse. Although a few of the players have disappointed, in fairness, you do have players that have impressed such as Yaya Toure, who scored a scorcher with his left foot and even though it will go down as an own goal by Rob Green, I think he deserves all the praise for the second goal. You also have David Silva who hasn't failed to impress and has been the play-maker in many of City's matches..

Mario Ballotelli continues to show he was quite a ridiculous signing after yet another, quite awful display. He doesn't show any passion and seems to be a bit of a pain in the backside. Today was his big chance to show that he should be starting week in, week out and he disappointed throughout the match with the exception of one or two chances. He reminded me a bit of myself, moaning and complaining when he doesn't get his way, just sub in my mum for the ref.

So overall, I was very impressed. I don't want to get too complacent or put the hex on it, but I am more confident than I have ever been about them getting that fourth spot. It seems after a bit of a rough patch in late October, early December that Mancini has either got his, or the players' act together. Either way, what ever he has done, he has got back to winning ways and in the week where everyone said that they have to score more, they scored three and Tevez wasn't on the score sheet.

And why should they be satisfied with just fourth spot, why can't they win the whole thing. A few new faces in January might help that cause.

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Why Alan Pardew?

Yesterday, Newcastle United announced that Alan Pardew would be taking over as toon boss after agreeing terms. If all goes to plan he should be staying there for five and a half years, but like that's going to happen. In recent times, Newcastle sack managers faster than they hire them. But why Alan Pardew? We don't know, but I'm guessing that he was their first choice.

The former West Ham boss hasn't really done anything too spectacular in his managerial career (or playing career for that matter). The Newcastle board said they wanted a manager that has more experience than Hughton. That is the biggest excuse I've ever seen.  You don't sack someone because they lost 3-1. If that was the case, the only thing that would be in the news is managers getting sacked.

 I just think if they were going to sack Hughton, they would have got a top class manager with a couple of trophies under his belt. Instead they go, for me, for quite a mediocre choice who just got sacked by a club (Southampton) that are mid-table in League One. He is no better or worse than what they had with Chris Hughton.

You're going to have bad patches in your season. Newcastle should be happy it wasn't later on in the season if they are struggling to get out of the relegation fight. And yes Newcastle fans, last time Pardew was managing in the Premiership, he went down to the Championship and brought Charlton down with him. I'll give him a bit of slack though, he didn't have much time to gain lost ground that was caused by Iain Dowie.

Pardew doesn't have a particularly easy match to start his Newcastle career. Liverpool are travelling to St. James' Park and even though I said that they are not a top-four side anymore that doesn't mean they are not, at times, a force to be reckoned with.

I would love to hear any comments that you may have.

Was It Better To Get Second In The Group Stages?

Last night, the Champions League group stages for the 2010-11 season came to an end. Looking at the final standings, it doesn't look, as usual, as if it is an advantage getting second position. But saying that, it doesn't look like it is an advantage to have got the top spot with Inter Milan, Arsenal and other quality sides only managing to get second place.

Obviously you do have the big teams not disappointing such as Barcelona, Chelsea etc. but because of teams like Tottenham and Shakhtar Donetsk doing so well, we might see some very interesting ties in the last 16 stage.

It shows you how great the competition is when you see that the champions could only manage second as well. Inter Milan boss, Rafa Benitez, has failed to impress this season after only being able to secure second place behind Spurs and are fifth in the league. That is less than impressive for Inter especially after such great success last season. The Inter fans have come to expect a lot better from their side.

Even though it is great to see the smaller teams do well, you do wonder why the big teams are failing to do so. The pressure is on them now to get to the the quarter finals but first they will have to face a tricky tie no matter who they get. The draw for the round of 16 is on next Friday, December 17th.

Of course the European adventure isn't over for all those teams that came third in their respective groups. Quality teams such as Benfica and Ajax will now go into the Europa League, which by no means will be a walk in the park for them. You have Man City, Porto and Byern Leverkusen all in contention of getting to the Aviva Stadium in May. The group stages will come to an end next week with the draw for the round of 32 being on the 17th December also.

I would love to hear any comments that you may have.