Man and Ball: Individual Piece

My piece: "No Club Left Behind - East German football since reunification" in Issue One of Man and Ball magazine is now available for free individual download - http://www.manandball.com/#/individual-pieces/4555936051

Brighton 0-1 West Ham – Tactics and Analysis

An entertaining match, and a fascinating tactical battle between two sides with contrasting styles, West Ham narrowly beat Brighton to go 2^nd in the Championship.

Hundert Pro: The story of Germany's perfect qualification for Euro 2012

Germany rounded off a 100% record in qualification for the European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine on Tuesday with a convincing 3-1 victory over Belgium. With ten wins out of ten, this side have built on their impressive showing at last summer’s World Cup to become one of the big favourites for next summer’s tournament.

To start recounting Germany’s journey into Euro 2012, we should cast our minds back to before qualification began, and the night of July 7^th 2010: the World Cup semi-final against Spain in Durban. Germany were second-best, and missed a creative spark in the absence of star-performer Thomas Müller, a gap which replacement Piotr Trochowski could not quite make up for. And there was also the hint that the game represented a step too far for other young star Mesut Özil. But by the end of the qualification campaign for Euro 2012, Germany would have one of the strongest and deepest squads in Europe.

US Open Preview: Top two fitness could open the door to a new winner

After Novak Djokovic retired during the second set of his Cincinnati final against Andy Murray last week, he was technically handed only his second defeat of the entire year, taking his 2011 record to a still superhuman 57 victories to just two losses. 

 

Before labelling Djokovic as almost unbeatable at present, we must remember that nobody can play at such a standard he has in every single match over a full season. After he finally lost his first match of the year to Roger Federer at Roland Garros, the Serb had commented that “you do feel a relief when you finish a tournament. If you finish victorious it’s much better than finishing with a loss”. In defeat, it seemed as though not only had a huge burden of pressure and expectation been lifted from his shoulders, after the intense media coverage of his record run; but also that he was in a way glad, due to fatigue, not to have to play another match, even if that match was a French Open final. After his rest, Djokovic went on to claim the Wimbledon trophy and has kept on winning since, making his defeat to Federer seem a mere anomaly. While he’s gotten more used to the pressure and expectation, the fatigue side of things may still come back to hinder his chances of US Open glory.

The Cahill offer: Is Wenger a victim of the rapidly changing English market?

The transfer talk of the day is Arsenal’s reported £6 million plus add-ons offer for Bolton defender Gary Cahill. The sum has been lambasted in media circles. “The word derisory doesn’t even cover it”, Bolton boss Owen Coyle has said of Arsenal’s proposal, “an insult to Bolton and Cahill” added BBC website chief sports writer Phil McNulty on Twitter. The offer is not an insult to Bolton and Cahill. 

Bolton’s valuation of the 25-year-old has little to do with the player’s ability. The only reason Cahill’s offer can be seen as insulting or derisory is when compared to some of the eye-watering fees circulating the English market.

Tell me what you've been doing, busy little bee

I've not posted for a couple of weeks, but here are links to a couple of articles I've written for other websites. With the new season around the corner, I've been doing a couple of previews:

Read my Premier League preview of Fulham for Back Page Football here

And one for Bundesliga Fanatic previewing Borussia Mönchengladbach here

See also:

Back Page Football

Bundesliga Fanatic

Some thoughts on Energie Cottbus vs Dynamo Dresden (Bundesliga II)

Just 53 days after winning promotion to the second tier of German football, eastern club Dynamo Dresden kicked off the new season in the Bundesliga II with a 2-1 away defeat against Energie Cottbus. But Dynamo will have every reason to be encouraged with their performance.

Tipped by many to struggle at the bottom of the table this season, the first match against fellow eastern outfit Cottbus, sixth last season, was always going to be tough. In particular, having lost three of the key-players in their promotion charge, with top-scorer from last term Alexander Esswein signing for Bundesliga side FC Nürnberg, Dani Schahin, who scored eight in twelve in the league during his loan spell, returning to parent club Greuther Fürth, and influential midfielder Timo Röttger signing for RB Leipzig; “Die SG”, not one of German football’s richer outfits, are expected to face a tough season. 

Is Federer finished?

After the six-time champion’s second quarter-final defeat in a row at Wimbledon, many are now claiming that Roger Federer’s time at the top is almost up. But the truth is the Swiss maestro has been a level below the sport’s best for the last 18 months. 

Roger Federer is still one of the best players in the game. Although he turns 30 next month, the 16-time grand slam champion and family man still lives for tennis. He appears more relaxed than he used to, perhaps down to his family life, which attitude played a big part in his remarkable run of form at the French Open this year, and, admirably, his love for the game and appetite for success has not waned. While his age and desire are not factors in speculation over his decline, it’s on the court where Federer has lost something.

Typically so ruthless when in a winning position, as possibly the greatest front-runner the game has ever seen, his loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbedon was the Swiss’ first ever defeat from leading two sets to love. His record prior to that was an astonishing 178-0. One the one hand, that record surely had to end at some stage. On the other hand, it was a moment highly symbolic of Federer's past year and a half. 

The resurgence of the Davis Cup?

The competition is still important, just ask Novak Djokovic

The Davis Cup returns this Friday with two of the world’s top four players back in action, in a competition often shunned by tennis' biggest names. Both Roger Federer and Andy Murray, whose participation in the tournament has been something of a rarity over the past few years, will compete again for their respective countries.


With the men’s game so strong currently, winning a major singles title is now harder than ever. The Davis Cup has become increasingly sidelined, with calls to revamp the competition resurfacing each year. But given that new world number one Novak Djokovic has drawn so much confidence from, and attributed much of his astounding success in 2011 to winning the Davis Cup with Serbia last December, could it be that Federer and Murray’s return to action might represent a shifting trend in attitude towards the Davis Cup? Or is it merely a case of the two continuing their flippant, pick-and-choose attitude towards the competition, but just for the same matchday this time?

Football Magazine "Man and Ball" goes live

http://www.manandball.com/

Man & Ball is a new quarterly digital magazine appearing 28 June 2011. 

Issue One: Let Sleeping Gods Lie, will be FREE to download, blending fiction with some great football writing.  It chronicles Nigel's initial attempts to sort out the mess in which the game now finds itself.

Articles include:

My own attempt to discuss East German football since reunification.

Stefan Bienkowski on Pablo Emilio Escobar and drugs in Colombian football in the '80s.

A piece by Gary Al-Smith on Arsenal fans in Africa.

Mohamed Moallim on forgotten Dutch legend Ruud Krol.

A guide to the Copa America by Emelie Okeke.

Martin Palazzotto on the worrying trend of the increasing size of athletes.

Samuel Garuda lifts the veil on football's governing body and tells us what FIFA actually does.

Why fans love to hate sometimes, and why Andrew Thomas loves to hate Jack Wilshere.

Tomasz Mortimer looks at Hungarian football, at international and club level, from the fifties through to 1966 (mostly fictional).

And David Hartrick's "The Chairman Diaries"


GO DOWNLOAD

http://www.manandball.com/

Football Farrago

Two songs for summer

 Pumped up Kicks - Foster the People

Lorelai - Fleet Foxes

'King' Kenny's league table (since 12 Jan 2011)

The form of the league’s 'big six' since Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson as Liverpool boss on January 12.

Team (as 11 September)	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Man Utd	22	15	3	4	32	48
Chelsea	21	14	4	3	21	46
Man City	20	13	2	5	20	41
LIVERPOOL	22	12	4	6	21	40
Arsenal	21	8	8	5	2	32
Tottenham	20	7	8	5	-2	29

French Open Preview

With seven tournament victories out of seven, and 37 consecutive wins in the process, Novak Djokovic has not only utterly dominated tennis in 2011 so far, he has also won a great many admirers in the process. This supremacy has come in a generation many consider as the greatest of all time. Djokovic has improved his game to a level few considered possible: The Serb is now the game’s fiercest hitter and, added to that, he has become fitter and quicker even than Rafael Nadal. His relentless power, combined with his great energy, has been marvellous, and Nadal has been unable to cope over the last two tournaments. 

Perhaps the best part of the current generation of tennis stars, arguably the greatest the game has ever seen, is the humility of the current world’s best. On the court, they are machines. The spellbinding brilliance of Roger Federer during the 2000s raised the bar so high that, in order to compete, a player would have to reach super-human levels of quality, accuracy and consistency. Then the stunning year that Nadal had in 2010 left us wondering how the rest of the tennis world could possibly respond. In an era blessed with some great talent across the top ten, the reality was that when Nadal produced his best nobody could come close to him. But recent tennis history has taught us to expect another phenomenon just around the corner, and Novak Djokovic’s start to 2011, defying all expectation and reason, has delivered just that phenomenon. But, off the court, Djokovic is also extremely popular, demonstrating in his recent victories an admirable humility, humour and grounded passion for the game.

Premiership Table Since 1 January 2011

Pos	Team (As 21 May)	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man Utd	19	12	3	4	17	39
2	Chelsea	18	11	4	3	19	37
3	Liverpool	19	11	3	5	18	36
4	Arsenal	18	8	7	3	11	31
5	Man City	17	9	3	5	9	30
6	Fulham	18	8	4	6	10	29
7	Everton	18	7	5	6	6	26
8	Tottenham	18	6	8	4	2	26
9	Aston Villa	18	6	7	5	2	25
10	West Brom	18	6	6	6	10	24
11	Newcastle	18	5	8	5	2	23
12	Stoke	18	6	4	8	-1	22
13	Wolves	18	6	4	8	-7	22
14	Birmingham	19	5	5	9	-17	20
15	Wigan	18	4	7	7	-8	19
16	Bolton	17	5	2	10	-8	17
17	Sunderland	17	5	2	10	-13	17
18	West Ham	17	4	4	9	-10	16
19	Blackburn	17	3	6	8	-9	15
20	Blackpool	20	3	5	12	-18	14

Hollywood Haikus II

Best for Film are running a 'Hollywood Haikus' competition. Prizes are a blu-ray player, and the site publishes the best entries with a link to your own site. But this just looks like a bit of fun anyway... so here goes!

Here's a Haiku review of the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

Ford and Connery
ride off into the distance.
Did we need a fourth?


http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/competition-hollywood-haikus/

This is an entry for the Best For Film Hollywood Haikus blogging competition. Enter now.


back to work...

Hollywood Haikus

Best for Film are running a 'Hollywood Haikus' competition. Prizes are a blu-ray player, and the site publishes the best entries with a link to your own site. But this just looks like a bit of fun anyway... so here goes!

Here's a Haiku review of the film Black Swan:

Well-acted film, but
did Natalie do all that?
I doubt it somehow.


http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/competition-hollywood-haikus/

This is an entry for the Best For Film Hollywood Haikus blogging competition. Enter now.

Bayern München vs Bayer Leverkusen preview: can Leverkusen still win the title?

Bayer Leverkusen have certainly done their best to keep this year’s title race open and exciting. Four weeks ago, Borussia Dortmund were looking dead-certs to clinch their first Bundesliga title since 2002. But the gap at the top has been closed from twelve points to five (with five to play), meaning that the final few weeks of the season will be edgier for Dortmund fans than they might have hoped, but looks set to provide some great excitement for the neutral. 

Jupp Heynckes' side have deservedly thrown themselves right into contention, taking 22 points out of a possible 24 in their last eight games, a remarkable run which leaves this superb BVB side suddenly looking nervously over their shoulders. But it seems probable that if Die Werkself still hold dreams of pipping Dortmund to the post, they will have to win at Bayern München on Sunday afternoon, which promises to be an exciting match for many reasons.

Hughton the man to take West Ham forward

A desperate plea from a Hammers fan

Let me start, as most misguided rants do, with a caveat. I am not an advocate of getting rid of a manager early into his tenure. With stakes so high these days, chairmen have become dangerously short-sighted when it comes to assessing the performance of the team boss.

Now we all know that the most successful clubs are the ones with long-term managers, and clubs have a growing tendency to sack the boss before he has the full opportunity to implement real change to his club. This is now more than just a worrying trend; it has pretty much become part-and-parcel of the modern game, both in England and abroad.

Yet in the case of my own West Ham, and their (how do I put this?) beleaguered boss Avram Grant, I found myself ignoring my own advice, my own moral high ground. I'll be honest, I wanted Grant out as early as the dismal 3-0 defeat against Liverpool way back in November.

Parenthood. Season 1: Review

A drama series about three generations within one family.  A serious version of Modern Family, you ask? Yes, but in more of an 'older brother' than 'unfortunate love-child' kind of way.

No club left behind?

East German football since reunification


It's been a difficult twenty years for the football clubs of the former East Germany.

Take FC Lokomotive Leipzig. A successful club in the years of the German Democratic Republic, they reached the Cup Winners Cup Final in 1986/87, losing out to opponents Ajax, with legendary striker Marco van Basten scoring the winner. In the 1993/4 season, Lokomotive, renamed VfB Leipzig, were competing in the Bundesliga. But by 2004 they were bankrupt, and the club was dissolved. Reformed again as Lokomotive Leipzig, they have since climbed back into Germany's fifth tier, but while the new club's name invokes the past heyday of the GDR time, and while the club has certainly retained a loyal fan base, they cannot escape the feeling that their team's glory days are not only over, but will never happen for them again.

Premier League team of the season

After the list of nominees for the PFA Player of the year was revealed, I found it upsetting to find the usual hype over quality among the list. Rather than use my mighty influence and give a personal call to PFA Chairman Clarke Carlisle, and convince him to change the list, I chose to pick my own Premier Leauge team of the season. I am sure Gareth Bale will be very upset to find out he's not there.

GK: Petr Cech (Chelsea) Made one high-profile mistake against Liverpool but has otherwise been probably the best keeper. He’s made some unbelievable saves throughout the campaign and makes it for me.

RB: Phil Neville (c) (Everton) This was the hardest position to pick for. But I can’t think of a better right-back than Neville this season, funny as that might sound, but he has had a fine late career. A solid and experienced defender, he has kept the big players quiet when man-for-man against the top clubs, as Everton have picked up points against the higher-reputation teams.

Young talent dominates German league

The German national team caused many surprises and won many admirers with its performance in South Africa. Choosing a young team with some extremely gifted talent, Germany proved an extremely good side and made England look rather stupid along the way. 

This was only the beginning for a hugely exciting future for both Germany’s national and domestic game. All across the Bundesliga, young talent is coming through, and it is coming through in vast and endless waves.

These youngsters are getting regular competitive top-level football. Take, for instance, Bayer Leverkusen’s Sidney Sam, a player who has particularly impressed me lately. He is slightly older than the young group of German stars who lit up the World Cup, not to mention the hugely promising ones coming behind them. But at 23 years-old he is young, quick, highly technically gifted and has played a very important role in a successful Bayer 04 season, which looks set to see this young side earn Champions’ League qualification. Yet Sam can get nowhere near the national side. This shows the scale and extent of German youth development.

The Bundesliga – a rising presence in European football

Despite being probably Europe's strongest domestic league for much of the second half of the twentieth century, the Bundesliga has been widely regarded for a while now as lagging behind the premier leagues of England, Spain and Italy.

Germany is easily Europe's largest economy, with a population of around 80 million and its fans every bit as passionate about the game as the English. The tools are definitely there for the domestic game to be great.

A main reason cited for the Bundesliga's low reputation compared with its rivals is its lack of (international) superstars, particularly throughout the last decade, with stars it does produce snapped up by 'bigger' clubs from other leagues. This has started to rectify itself, with the likes of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery at Bayern München.

Needless to say Germany is blessed with some excellent domestic players, but what was particularly impressive about Germany's World Cup campaign was its primacy of the team (particularly highlighted when compared with England), its surprising technical quality and its excellent youth. Much of the same can be said about the Bundesliga, and it could be part of the reason why the league has been so exciting and unpredictable this season.

Der Hammer breathes life into West Ham's survival campaign

With two goals and three victories in his first three matches for West Ham, Thomas Hitzlsperger has become an instant hit with the fans. Aptly named ‘Der Hammer’, he has made an excellent start at Upton Park, having waited six months for his debut at the club. 

Grant recently said of Hitzlsperger: “he’s like a new signing” – funny that, considering he only made his debut for the club three games ago.

But Grant’s relief that his summer signing is finally fit is fully understandable. Hitzlsperger, despite missing out on World Cup selection for Germany, returned to captain his country in a friendly against Denmark before the start of the season, before spending the rest of August through to February on the sidelines. 

It gives Grant the midfield balance and strength to effectively implement the 4-3-3 formation he had wanted to purse ever since acquiring his man in the summer but has not been able to (to full effect).

The problems with remaking a classic

After reading reports that Warner Bros. is looking into remaking, or possibly producing a prequel or sequel to the stunning Blade Runner, I, surely alongside other film enthusiasts, could not help but cry out at my computer screen in disappointment.

A compelling case is to be made against revisiting Ridley Scott’s seminal film. Purists will only cringe at hearing news of a remake, or worse still, a sequel. It has become an all-too familiar and disappointing feature of post-modern Hollywood, an industry which embodies capitalist excess in its crudest form, for popular originals and old hits to be reproduced and continued. So much so that these days the Razzies has its own category of ‘Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel’, each year an increasingly competitive category with many potential ‘winners’  - Vampiers Suck was denied the title this year by a worthier contender (if that’s at all possible) in Sex and the City 2. 

2011 Oscars: Predictions

Picture: The King's Speech (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin)

Director: The Social Network (David Fincher)

Actor: The King's Speech (Colin Firth)

Actress: Black Swan (Natalie Portman)

Supporting Actor: The Fighter (Christian Bale)

Supporting Actress: The Fighter (Melissa Leo)

Original Screenplay: The King's Speech (David Seidler)

Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

Mere mortals can’t win majors any more

On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won his second Australian Open title with a superb performance, spectacular in flashes, against Andy Murray. Murray’s own display was below-par, make no mistake, but he is an excellent tennis player who ultimately ran into a far better one today. Djokovic played an incredible championship, and demonstrated not only the supreme standards of his own game, but also the clear gulf in quality between the top three and the rest of the field.  Murray may have, in very disappointing fashion, gone missing in his third consecutive Grand Slam final, but at the moments when Djokovic was required by his opponent to show his true quality, he did not disappoint.

Over the past twelve months Djokovic has overcome problems with his serve and fitness to make considerable improvements to his game. He is now good enough to fulfil his early promise as a contender to the Federer/Nadal dominance, a remarkable feat considering the bar the latter two have set over the past two years. Most crucially to Djokovic’s win was his ultimately unstoppable all-round game, which he continued to raise according to the standard of his opponent. He would reach balls considered unlikely by the extraordinary standards of Nadal, maintaining balance in order for him to unleash with his next shot; his huge baseline game was unplayable – in this facet he has now eclipsed Federer; and players of considerable quality – Berdych (who managed to reach the levels of his Wimbledon final last year), Federer and Murray – never looked close to beating him over 5 sets. He beat each of them in three.

Australian Open Preview

As with seemingly all Grand Slams in this blessed generation of tennis, history can be made in Melbourne this fortnight at the Australian Open. Winning the tournament would see Nadal achieve what will become known as the 'Rafa Slam', holding all four Grand Slam trophies at one time (collected over two calendar years). Rod Laver (in 1969) is the only other player in the Open Era to achieve this feat, while only Don Budge did so before Laver. With the man labelled by many the 'Greatest of All Time' as one of Rafa's contemporaries, should Nadal win the title, it will be a truly remarkable achievement, probably the greatest the game has ever seen. Meanwhile, if Nadal, or any player other than Federer, lifts the trophy on January 30, it will be the first time since 2003, before he had even won his first, that the Swiss will not have held a major trophy.

With so much history at stake, will Rafa win the title? It is now clear that Nadal, not Federer, must be considered automatic favourite for Grand Slams, regardless of surface, and will be the favourite for this one too. His hindrances will be the strength of the field, with Nadal likely to have to play his very best tennis in at least two matches to win (not one person who watched Wimbledon and the US Open last year can doubt Nadal's ability to do this). But anyone inevitably has a bad day at the office on occasion, which only makes Nadal's consistent brilliance over the majority of 2010 on all surfaces all the more startling; while Nadal has also admitted that he is still suffering from illness – needless to say an under-strength Nadal is far more vulnerable than a fully fit one, especially against a player of Federer's ability.

Hodgson takes pole as Sack Race hots up

An extraordinary Premier League season took another dramatic turn last night and the pressure was heaped on bosses Roy Hodgson, Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Gerard Houllier, as the poor form of their respective clubs culminated in bitter defeats for Liverpool, West Ham, Chelsea and Aston Villa. All four's jobs are under serious threat, and the league in danger of losing four of its managers in very quick succession. In 2011 it is now more commonplace than merely a worrying trend for managers to be sacked so short into their tenure, with three of the four managers at risk only half a season in and Ancelotti at Chelsea only twelve months their senior.

Of the four, Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson is most at risk. His problems at Anfield are complicated and difficult to summarise in a short passage, but the main quandary for Liverpool fans for and against Hodgson had been whether he was performing too poorly, or whether he was doing a good enough job with a sub-standard squad left by Rafa Benitez. In the minds of Liverpool fans, this debate seems to be over. Liverpool are a club in turmoil. Their performances this season, particularly away from home with one win and seven defeats in ten matches, would be considered awful by a club with standards and expectations lower than that of a member of the now out-dated ‘Big Four’.