Friday 8 October 2010

The Golden Boot

Shearer, Henry, Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Drogba: the former Golden Boot winners in the Premier League is a roll call of greats who have played in England. This season the goals have flown in: four players have already bagged a hat-trick. The battle for the Golden Boot is well underway. So will we see a new name at the top of the goal scoring charts come May or will Didier Drogba once again prove to be the most deadly striker in England?
                               
Goal scoring is as much about the team around the striker as anything else. It is no good having a great goal scorer in a team that does not create chances or give the right service. Bearing this in mind, the main contenders for this year’s top scorer crown look like coming from the two clubs who have shared the Premier League trophy since Arsenal’s victory in 2004. Chelsea have been in terrific goal scoring form so far this season hitting the net twenty-one times in five games. In Didier Drogba they have a complete forward. Physical, good in the air, technically gifted and with an excellent set piece, he has all the attributes. Supported by players like Florent Malouda, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka, who themselves will chip in with goals; Drogba can rely on getting the service to add to the five goals he already has this season.

Up at Manchester United, the goal scoring responsibilities have fallen this season to the thirty million pound Bulgarian, Dimitar Berbatov. Folowing his hat-trick against Liverpool he is the joint top league scorer with six. Despite being well supported by the guile of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nani, Berbatov is not an out and out goal scorer; his game is more about creating than finishing. He may well get twenty goals this season, but he will not be able to live with Drogba in terms of pure goal-scoring prowess. Despite his slow start to the season, Wayne Rooney still remains Sir Alex’s best hope of a golden boot winner. Last season Wayne Rooney added a poacher’s element to his game and netted thirty-five goals, and with a return to form, there is no doubt he is capable of repeating the feat.

At Eastland’s Carlos Tevez continues to find the back of the net at an incredible pace. The Argentine hit man scored twenty four times in his last twenty eight league games. Tevez’s work rate and tenacity means that he will create his own chances and if Manchester City’s expensive attacking talent gels then Tevez will find plenty more chances coming his way.

The other main contender for this accolade is Darren Bent at Sunderland. Bent has scored five of Sunderland’s seven goals so far this season, to add to his twenty-five goal haul last year. The signing of Asamoah Gyan has given him a strike partner of international pedigree. If these two can fire as a partnership then Bent could well be an outside bet for the top scorer’s crowd.

So, who will be the League’s top scorer? Even though Carlos Tevez will run him close the smart money has to go on Didier Drogba to make it a hat-trick of Golden boots. Surrounded by players who will create chances for him and looking in top form at this stage of the season it looks likely that only injury can prevent the Ivorian from topping the scoring charts again.

Could Bradford be the first Premiership club to lose league status?

Ten years ago, Bradford City were competing in Europe and played Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in their first six games of the Premier League season. They have begun their fourth season in England’s basement division with games against Torquay, Stevenage, Port Vale and Stockport and sit outside the relegation on only goal difference. Could Bradford, who have  twice entered administration and, despite still getting gates six times that of other League Two clubs, live off a hand to mouth existence, be about to complete an unprecedented fall from Premiership to non-league?

Pre-season, Bradford were promotion favourites having added well to a squad with a good sprinkling of promising young players learning their trade at Valley Parade. Having appointed Peter Taylor and given him financial backing, many around Valley Parade were hopeful this could be the year to start the long climb back up the football league.

Taylor himself was an interesting appointment, a man with a history of coming and going from clubs quickly. Only once in his managerial career, at Hull, has Taylor managed a club for more than two seasons, leaving Brighton, Crystal Palace, Stevenage and Wycombe without success in under eighteen months. Bradford are in desperate need of stability, with three relegations and twelve managers in ten years, and Taylor may not be the ideal man to provide it.

Taylor has moved to bring in fresh faces by raiding old club Wycombe for Luke Oliver, Tommy Doherty and Lewis Hunt. These players are all solid league two players and nothing better and perhaps showed that even Taylor himself was unsure about Bradford’s tag as promotion favourites. To lessen the wage bill eighteen players left the club over the summer, leaving the squad heavily reliant on players coming through the ranks at Valley Parade. While Bradford undoubtedly do have players capable of playing at a higher level their squad is thin and asking teenagers to play an entire season with the tag of promotion favourites around their neck may be asking too much.

Following their start to the season it appears Bradford may already be struggling under the weight of expectation. Taylor’s men have already played and lost to the top three in the league, showing that they will fall short of promotion, but more worryingly they have also struggled against sides who will be in the lower reaches of the league this season. They laboured past a wasteful Stevenage, were defeated by Southend and picked up an undeserved point at Stockport, signs that do not bode well for the rest of the season.

So could the unthinkable happen, could Bradford be the first Premier League member club to be relegated into non-league? On paper they are too good to be worrying about the possibility of Blue Square football. Barnet, Morecombe and Lincoln are all significantly weaker this year and should be the cannon fodder this season. But, with a young squad, the longer they hang around the foot of the table the more the pressure on the players and manager will build. With 11,000 fanatical fans demanding success their next three games could prove crucial. They host Gillingham who are notoriously poor away from home, before tricky trips to Northampton and high-flying Rotherham. If they have still not shown signs of improvement after these three games then trips to Hayes and Yeading, Gateshead and Barrow could well be on the cards.

Sunday 26 September 2010

Preview to this week's Champions League

The Champions League returns this week with all the British teams looking to continue their unbeaten starts to the competition, and move a step closer to qualification for the last 16.

Former Chelsea midfielder Didier Deschamps’ Olympique de Marseille face Premiership leaders Chelsea looking to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat at the Stade Velodrome against Spartak Moscow knowing that defeat here will leave them struggling to qualify. Chelsea have carried their imperious league form into the Champions League, despatching MSK Zilina 4-1 in the first game. With Saloman Kalou, Frank Lampard and Yossi Benayoun all injured, and with Didier Drogba serving the last game of his suspension, against the side with which he forged his reputation in Europe, the attacking onus will fall on Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda. The French champions have a fully fit squad to choose from but come into the game in poor form, sitting eighth in Ligue 1. Expect a closer game than many that the Blues have played this season, but Chelsea will still have enough to triumph here with Nicolas Anelka scoring in a 2-0 victory.

Arsenal face their first long trip to Eastern Europe to take on Partizan Belgrade. The two sides had contrasting starts to their campaigns with Arsenal beating Braga 6-0, while Partizan went down 1-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk. Cesc Fabregas’s recent absence has been offset by the emergence of Jack Wilshere in the heart of the Arsenal midfield. The young Englishman looks like Fabregas’ natural heir, should the Spaniard finally succumb to the lure of Barcelona. Thomas Vermaelen, Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie are also absent for the Gunners, who are looking to avoid a fourth straight away defeat in the Champions League. Partizan have started well in their pursuit of a fourth straight Serbian league title with five straight wins and will provide a stern test for Wenger’s men. The men from the Emirates should just have enough to win this one, expect a hard fought one goal victory.

The big two in Group C meet at the Mestalla where Valencia welcome Manchester United. Valencia looked highly impressive in defeating Turkish Champions Bursaspor 4-0 last time out, with Tino Costa scoring an early contender for goal of the season. Manchester United had a wretched night against Rangers, being held to a goalless draw and losing Antonio Valencia to a broken Ankle. History certainly favours Valencia as Manchester United have only won once in 18 attempts against Spanish opposition in Spain, whilst Valencia are unbeaten in 11 home European games. If Valencia can secure three points here they will be almost guaranteed top spot in the group already. Expect Valencia to attack from the off consigning Manchester United to another defeat in Spain.

Tottenham’s first home Champions League game is against Dutch champions FC Twente. Both sides drew 2-2 first time out, but Tottenham will be furious at throwing away a two goal lead in Bremen. Ledley King, Luka Modric, Heurelho Gomes and Vedran Corluka are all expected to be fit for the game. Twente have never beaten English opposition while Tottenham are undefeated in their last five home European ties. Throwing away two points in Bremen has taught Spurs that they can never take their foot off the pedal in Europe and they will not make the same mistake again here as they run out 2-1 victors. 

Friday 24 September 2010

Kick Off

Welcome to my new blog.
I will be focusing on the big issues, games and stories across a wide variety of sports, providing insight and predictions on the action.  Feel free to get in contact with questions, views or abuse

The Caveman