The Alternative View: £50m flop?

The Alternative View: £50m flop?: "It's ridiculous, I know. To write off any player after two games, irrelevant of price, is extraordinarily short-sighted. Nevertheless, two..."

£50m flop?

It's ridiculous, I know. To write off any player after two games, irrelevant of price, is extraordinarily short-sighted.

Nevertheless, two games in to his Chelski career and that's the sort of talk that Fernando Torres is going to have to start getting used to. Unless he starts scoring bucket-loads of goals. Fast.

That is the nature of football support in this country, driven to extremes of opinion by tabloid head-linery.

That Torres is thoroughly proven both internationally and, crucially, in the Premier League matters little. His price-tag alone makes him a target for the hounds. Two goalless games. Two early substitutions. Questions over whether he and Didier Drogba can co-exist. The air is thick with the scent of Torres' blood.

It is not Torres' fault that Chelski are floundering in 5th. It is not even really Carlo Ancelloti's, but the boss must be aware of Roman Abramovich's managerial scythe looming over him.

If any one man at the club is to blame, it is Abramovich himself. His Chelski Empire is built upon the fragile foundations of short-termism. If your team is short of goals, buy a superstar striker. If you're leaking goals, write another cheque. There's no need to worry about youth development or squad togetherness. If a player fails he can be replaced.

If you are the richest team in the land this might work, to an extent. Chelski have won trophies. However, they have not dominated the league as Abramovich might have foreseen. And, crucially, they have not won the Champions League.

This season, they have slipped behind Manchester City and Spurs, who have both taken to splurging on superstars too. Chelski's reaction? The biggest splurge in British football history on their new main man, Torres.

Because one superstar player will, they hope, paper over the cracks of a squad that's too old, too one-dimensional and too mercenary. If that fails I guess Plan B is the equally unimaginative Sack the Manager approach - followed by bringing in the biggest name boss with the biggest salary demands and the biggest magic wand. That'll do the trick. In the short-term. Maybe.

At present, neither Chelski nor City nor Spurs, in spite of their spending, are quite capable of keeping pace with Manchester United or Arsenal in the league table.

Manchester United and Arsenal - squads littered with developing young players; clubs with hard-coded cultures of professionalism and teamwork; managers who have had four decades between them with solid platforms on which to build their legacies.

Player development from the grass-roots up. The board's patient backing, even through the tough times. Long-term economic viability. These are legacies that will last.

When the bottom drops out of football's current mad-money climate, which it inevitably must, it is United and Arsenal who will be best placed to remain at the peak of English football.

What will happen to the likes of Chelsea is a much darker prospect.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Out of order: All but one Manc toilets to close

Now that's a head-line grabber, isn't it? Which has got me thinkin'...

Surely, even in this brave new world of Tory austerity, Manchester City Council are going a bit far? 2000 job cuts I can understand. Sort of. Cutting back on libraries, nurseries and leisure facilities will reduce the quality of life in Manchester, but I can see the logic in these savings. But taking away public loos? That's taking the p*ss, literally.

It's far too extreme to only leave one public facility in the city, and it's way out of kilter with the national trend (around 40% of facilities cut). But it does grab a headline, and it will provoke a backlash - and maybe that's the point.

Manchester City Council is Labour-led, so is this a deliberate "up yours" to the slash-happy Coalition?

Nick Clegg pointed out that in his own constituency, Sheffield, the Lib Dem Council has only cut a couple of hundred jobs, and has avoided mass cutting of not only lavatories, but libraries and other publicly-funded institutions.

So, are Labour councillors being spiteful? Are they telling the Coalition: "You told us to cut, so we're cutting. See how you like it."

I can empathise with such a sentiment, and I can see how shock-cuts can be a useful, subversive political weapon for Labour in the longer term.

In the short-term, though, it is people who voted Labour in who, perversely, may suffer more than most from even more pronounced, even more reckless Coalition cuts.

Through Manchester City Council, Labour, it seems, are throwing a bit of a tantrum. Beware of flying toys.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Kenny rings the changes: but are Liverpool fans singing from the same hymn sheet?

For those of us who scoffed at the re-appointment of 'King' Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool, last week's transfer deadline day drama was an eye-opener. I was amongst the mockers. I thought it was an appointment borne out of sentimentality, undertaken in desperation by misguided American owners.

But King Kenny has already stamped his authority on the club.

The transfer dealings - seeing £50m spent and simultaneously recouped - overshadowed the subtler on-pitch changes, but the bottom line is that Kenny has got the team winning games in the short-term, whilst also making a clear statement about the future of the club.

No player is bigger than Liverpool Football Club.

Liverpool fans might disagree with letting Fernando Torres go. Most of them seem to be lamenting the loss of El Nino. Liverpool legend and Sky pundit Phil Thompson, on the other hand, reckons that Torres wanted out, and that this was reflected in his performances on the pitch. Torres himself has stated that he had to "follow his ambition" by moving to Chelsea, which doesn't make great strides towards proving Thommo wrong.

Opinions aside, it is a fact that Liverpool have badly under-performed over the last two seasons, and that has coincided with a period in which Torres has struggled with injuries and loss of form.

That, in itself, might fuel an argument that Torres is indispensible to the club - and that Liverpool needed to keep him, keep get him fit and nurture him back to form in order to be successful once more.

"A sulky Torres is a burden"

Dalglish seems to have taken a different view, and credit to him for that astuteness. A sulky, unfit Torres was a burden on Liverpool, while even a fit one was a restricting factor. In the Torres-Gerrard era Liverpool have been entirely reliant on certain star players, only able to play one way and hamstrung in the absence of their main assets.

Forget the money - the tangible reality is that instead of the talismanic Torres, Liverpool now have a duo of headline strikers - Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. The fruition of their partnership will be fascinating to see, and it could be deadly.

Suarez is new to the Premier League but, on first indications, he looks a quick, intelligent and goal-hungry striker. His scuffy debut goal will have already helped to endear him to the fans. At 22, Carroll has massive potential, but it will not be easy for him at a club where strikers are literally hit or miss.

Andy Carroll: "Hit or Miss"

With his inflated £35m price tag comes a noose, with which the media-driven football community is ready and waiting to hang him. If he doesn't hit the ground running, he will be in trouble - Liverpool have a history of persecuting 'goal-shy' strikers. Carroll will be tried by goals.

Emile Heskey is the most obvious victim in recent years of such treatment, for Liverpool and also for England. If you ask any defender whether they enjoy playing against Heskey, and they will tell you they hate it. But if you asked his strike partners over the years, they will say they absolutely love playing with him. Heskey's work-rate and physical presence grinds defences down, wears them out, and creates opportunities for his team-mates. It's the thankless 'target-man' side of forward-play, too often ignored by fans and pundits, but acknowledged as essential by intelligent managers. Ask Fabio Capello or Gerard Houllier why they want Emile Heskey in their team - it certainly isn't for his goals ratio.

Carroll has all the Heskey attributes. In fact, he's even bigger and stronger. He needs to cherish the work-rate side of his game and he needs to perform the selfless Heskey role for his team. The fans might not cherish it, but Suarez and co certainly will.

The difference between Carroll and Heskey is that the former has shown he can score goals. Heskey has always failed with the finishing side of his game. There are very few Premier League strikers who can boast the physical game of a Heskey or a Kevin Davies as well as the scoring record of an out-and-out goal-scorer, like Jermaine Defoe or Darren Bent. Didier Drogba springs to mind, but even he has looked this season very much like a man in the twilight of his career. Lesser Premier League sides are littered with big men who lead the line but don't score goals and little men who contribute little but the goals they score.

It's difficult to reconcile the two mentalities - selfless provider and ruthless finisher. But if Carroll can do that, then Liverpool will have exactly what they have paid for - potentially the most complete striker in the league. Whether the fans and media give him the required time to fulfil that potential is another matter entirely.

Getting out of bed

The world lies heavy upon my eye-lids. I don't want to get out of bed.

Sleep is my last refuge, my one true hiding place, my sanctuary.

Sleep saves me from stress and hardship and delivers me to dreams where, actually....

I can be happy.

Sleep has no harsh lights or foreboding dark, it has only what I dare to conceive.

In sleep there is safety and comfort, and, if all else fails, reprieve.

I can always wake up.

But it's in waking up, getting up, going for the bus that the nightmares start.

It's going to work and dealing with people and not even wanting to fit in that darkens my heart.

So I'll just sleep, forever.

Sleep forever and wake up unburdened by life.

Sleep forever and wake up refreshed, raring to go.

Sleep forever and wake up alone...

Sleep forever and regret the life I've led.

No?

Well, fuck it then. I'm getting out of bed.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5