skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Witnessing Juan Roman Riquelme orchestrating the Argentina midfield during last summer's World Cup in Germany was a truly magnificent portrayal of footballing artistry. In the same vain as the legendary France captain, Zinedine Zidane, Riquelme was at the heart of everything majestic his side produced.
Since then however, things have perhaps not gone quite to plan for the Argentine playmaker... as he looks to leave Europe behind once and for all, to return to his home country.
Riquelme has often been discussed as being somewhat of an enigma. An outrageously talented footballer, there have been times in his career where managers, journalists and fans alike have all been left asking the same question.
Because of his own personal issues, has he prevented himself from achieving all that he could?
It's true that the answer to this question should be left untouched until he decides to retire, but a move back to Boca Juniors appears to have signalled the end of Riquelme's participation in any more top-flight European matches. And as a result, the apparant end of any chance to win a major club competition.
When at Barcelona, Riquelme was played out of position by Louis van Gaal who dismissed him merely as a "political signing". One reason to perhaps think twice before interviewing him for that vacant England manager job then, Mr. Barwick.
That's because Riquelme is blessed with more talent in his little toe than most playmakers are given in both legs. Every manager who has been able to get the best out of Riquelme has based the team around him. Allowing him be the main man behind the strikers, controlling the game and setting it at his tempo.
Villarreal coach, Manuel Pellegrini, saw the benefits of doing this by giving Riquelme the freedom of the pitch, strapping the captain's armband on him and letting him go to work. The result was incredible. Villarreal, a team from a small town in Spain finished 3rd in La Liga in 2005, just five years after being promoted from the Spanish second division.
This was no fluke however, the following season Villarreal reached the semi-final of the Champions League. Riquelme had been inspirational for the team nicknamed 'The Yellow Submarine', but how ironic that it was his penalty miss against Arsenal which prevented his side from performing a sensational feat to reach the final.
His exceptional passing ability and deadly eye for goal were once again showcased at this year's Copa America in Venezuela. When Riquelme is on top of his game, there's not many who can rival him - as he showed again within the past month - with a series of stunning free-kicks in Argentina's World Cup qualifying matches.
In spite of all the brilliance the Argentine international possesses, stories of a slack attitude towards training always seemed to follow Riquelme behind. 'Lazy' is also another term which has been thrown in his direction throughout his career in Spain. Another sadly typical case of flawed genius seems to have attached itself to one more footballing great.
There's no doubting Riquelme's morals are in the right place. He returned home to look after his sick mother at the back-end of last season, and has offered to play for Boca for free in order to return home and play regularly. Whilst at Boca on loan last season, he guided them to the Copa Libertadores title, picking up the Most Valuable Player award in the process.
"I am a simple person and all I want to do is play every Sunday," says Riquelme. If only this was the case, Juan...
His next goal is to be the main man again for Argentina in South Africa in 2010. I for one hope that he achieves his aim, and establishes a lasting reputation that his ability deserves, as one of the finest playmakers of his generation.
Only one thing can stand in the way of this becoming a reality - himself.
It was always in the script. From the moment McClaren was appointed England boss.
So much hope and promise was rife amongst England supporters, including myself, after Israel pulled off a shock by defeating Russia. It seemed perfect. We couldn't have asked for anymore from Israel as Barda and Golan's names were toasted in pubs and bars across the country.
All we had to do was draw against Croatia then we'd be there at Euro 2008 next summer, where we belong, right? On home turf at our £800m national stadium, how could we fail?
In retrospect it's easy to see how. This is England we're talking about here. All that relief, hope and promise which has been with every supporter of England ever since Saturday night, was cruelly obliterated within 14 minutes of the match at Wembley. Another false sense of hope had slowly crept upon us without us even realising it, but this time, we really should have got the job done.
Steve McClaren displayed another masterclass in tactical naivety by throwing Scott Carson into the deep end, as he did a month previously with Joleon Lescott against Russia. We thought McClaren would have learnt from his mistakes by now. Instead his indecisiveness and lack of common football-sense prevailed, as Carson was harshly expected to go out in a do-or-die match to keep a clean sheet. A goalkeeper who was previously uncapped before last week's pointless friendly against Austria... it was always tempting fate.
A long-range effort from Portsmouth's Nico Kranjcar led to an unbelievable howler from the rookie goalkeeper. An accident waiting to happen, why McClaren didn't opt for the experience of in-form David James is quite frankly, a mystery.
The bad start soon transcended into a full-blown nightmare when Croatia went 2-0 up courtesy of some woeful defending. But this was no nightmare, this was harsh reality. The harsh reality that the manager who Brian Barwick chose 18 months ago was never up to the job of getting England qualified for Euro 2008. He may have had the country's best interests at heart, but similarly to a random fan in the 90,000 capacity Wembley stadium, he was never up to the task.
He was determined until the end that Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard could play alongside one another in midfield, and true to form, both players had awful games. When the nation needed an inspirational figure on the pitch - neither of them stood up to be counted.
It was the arrival of the forgotten man, David Beckham who was sent on at half-time to rescue Steve McClaren and England. How ironic that the man who McClaren dropped on numerous occasions - again a sad indictment of his lack of decisiveness - was the one player who looked like taking the game by the scruff of the neck and getting his country back in with a shout of qualification. Like he'd done six years ago at Old Trafford against Greece, Beckham produced a moment of class by setting up Peter Crouch's equaliser.
Then, the fatal tactic. The tactic which will forever be remembered with the England teams under the guidance of Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren. We sat back, soaked up the pressure and conceded a goal out of nothing. Game over.
The silver lining in this shambolic qualification campaign is that McClaren has gone and changes can be made in preparation for South Africa 2010. This is however, reliant on one thing. I don't often find myself agreeing with anything The Sun publishes, but their call for Brian Barwick to be sacked is a fair one. After all, which manager wouldn't accept the honour of becoming England manager?
Barwick chose the wrong man, and undoubtedly would have kept him on if England had fluked a result on Wednesday night. It's time for a radical shake-up, starting from the top. The men who make the decisions. Only then can we truly move on from an era of hugely wasted potential.
It's a clear sign of the times that football is constantly changing and in different ways, particularly with regards to ownership.
In the first deal of its kind, Ebbsfleet United have been bought out in a takeover deal which will see 20,000 paid up members given the chance to run the club how they want it to be run.
Members of the website, myfootballclub.co.uk now own a percentage of the Kent club and will decide on everything from future transfers through to team selection.
The move has understandably led to concerns from Ebbsfleet fans. After all, many of the members who have signed up to this project have very little if any knowledge about the Ebbsfleet players. This poses a huge risk to the running of the club, and what manager will be prepared to take a back seat when it comes to team selection?
Ebbsfleet boss, Liam Daish, is the man in question. Changes have already been made to his position at the club. He will now be known as the head coach rather than manager. In an interview with Sky Sports News, Daish stated that he believed being a manger of a football club was a whole lot more hands-on than merely picking a team for a Saturday afternoon. The fact of the matter is, Daish has to work with the fans and be sure to satisfy them - or else, they'll sack him.
Each member has paid £35 for their stake in Ebbsfleet. It's thought that the club will have a healthy amount of money to spend on transfers. However, judging by the people who have signed up to the project and paid their money, most of their scouting and football knowledge will be carried out on Football Manager, YouTube and Wikipedia.
It'll certainly be interesting to see how things develop at Ebbsfleet. Especially if a player is injured in the warm-up before a game one afternoon, causing a frantic five minute vote of the crowd.
The main gripe is likely to be team selection. The manager knows his players better than anyone else, sees his squad training during the week and knows who is likely to rise to the challenge on the day of the match. Although the average football fan may believe he is the next Herbert Chapman because they've won the Champions League with Barnet on their computer, the reality is that managers are managers and fans are fans for a particular reason.
Unfortunately, all the signs suggest that this project will not go entirely to plan. My guess is that after a few weeks it'll be clear that a football club simply cannot operate in this way. This could result in the members of the scheme - and technical owners of the club - being only allowed to vote on certain aspects within the club as opposed to it all.
As a result of their ownership though, the only way this will happen is if they decide as a collective group to give the responsibility of team selection back to the manager... obviously fairly unlikely. After all, they did spend a whole 35 quid for the priviledge.
It appears that there are very few good English managers left to choose from these days. Wigan boss Chris Hutchings has become the latest managerial casualty of the season, after leading Wigan to six straight defeats in the Premier League.
Whilst Bolton try to emulate Big Sam by bringing in Gary '15% win rate' Megson to solve their crisis, Wigan have opted for the standard 'let's play it safe' method by throwing another assistant manager - this time Frank Barlow - into the deep end.
Surely the Wigan Chairman Dave Whelan has a better plan B than 61-year-old Frank Barlow? Listening to the radio earlier on there were unsurprising suggestions linking Paul Jewell back to the JJB hotseat. After the way in which last season ended, Jewell had to take a rest before he was turned into a nervous wreck, being saved on the last day of the season thanks to Phil Jagielka and a defensive Man of the Match performance from Emile Heskey that Franco Baresi would have been proud of.
There were also one or two very hopeful suggestions from Latics fans that José Mourinho would make a comeback to club management with Wigan. Though I'm not quite sure why one of the hottest property's in football management would want to swap Portugal for Lancashire at a club who currently malign in the relegation zone with Titus Bramble in the defence - I'm sure it all adds up somewhere.
The fact is, assistant managers who make the step-up to manager after the previous boss departs is rarely a move that ever benefits the club. Sammy Lee is also another prime example. His good intentions and love for the club could only get him so far, but he was out of his depth. It's merely a cheap option by the board, but one which could ultimately result in relegation.
In these times of managerial casualties, huge golden handshakes and half-time text messages, it's a breath of fresh air to see that there is still some tradition and loyalty left in top flight football. Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates his 21st year in charge of Manchester United today, a truly remarkable achievement in today's game, and a record which shows little sign of coming to an end.
Something tells me Fergie might just be after Sir Matt Busby's longest-serving United manager record as well.
