Total Football Club

This article titled “Everyone felt helpless, yet impelled to do something to help Fabrice Muamba” was written by Amy Lawrence at White Hart Lane, for The Guardian on Sunday 18th March 2012 21.36 UTC

It was the speed with which the atmosphere turned which was so frightening. Within a matter of seconds a packed crowd who were engrossed by a competitive Cup tie were struck by sudden, overwhelming desperation.

It was obvious straight away that something terrible was unfolding, and that sense intensified in the moment it took for panicked players to beckon for medical assistance to develop into the sight of Fabrice Muamba’s heart being pumped. Even from the distance of the stands the effort on the face of the expert administering CPR was tangible.

It was devastating to watch – irrespective of whether you were a team-mate, coach, supporter, official, ballboy, steward, journalist and no matter whether it was your 1,000th football match or, in some cases, your first. There was a basic human reaction to what was going on in front of our eyes. Nothing prepares you for the sight of a person fighting for his life.

This was not an actor in the movies. This was a son, a brother, a fiancé, a father, a friend who seems to be adored by anyone lucky enough to have crossed his path.

It was so horribly paradoxical. It is not in the natural order of things to see a young, fit, professional sportsman so stricken. It is not a normal situation to gather for an event that is supposed to be competitive entertainment and find yourself watching such a grave and distressing scene. The impulse to shudder, to weep, to pray, overtook just about everybody. Thank goodness the medical experts were on hand, and able to respond so quickly and calmly. Once some of the shock had worn off came the profound realisation that the fact Muamba collapsed inside a Premier League football ground, where help was seconds away, gave him the best possible chance.

It was easily the worst thing I have seen inside a football ground in more than 30 years following the game. As I was not there at Hillsborough or Heysel or Bradford I cannot relay the horror of a multiple tragedy such as those. But other instances which been difficult to watch, such as when a player suffers a career-threatening injury or a crowd inflicts hooliganism on the game, bear no comparison.

In such traumatic circumstances as here the crowd responded in a way which was quite moving. Everybody felt helpless, yet impelled to do something that might help in some tiny way. Spontaneous applause broke out, as noisy and compelling from the Tottenham fans as the Bolton faithful, and some urgent shouts of encouragement, before Fabrice Muamba’s name was sung. There was a tangible sense that everyone was willing him on, willing the medics on.

The vast majority of people inside White Hart Lane did not know him personally. Probably the most they knew of Muamba was that he was a decent box-to-box midfielder with Bolton. Perhaps some remembered he played for Birmingham before, was brought up at Arsenal and had represented England up to Under-21 level. Maybe a few would have been aware of his reputation as a terrific person, who had come from hardship as a refugee to make a success of himself here.

But everyone felt so strongly connected with him. Everyone has been with him, and stays with him, in these anxious times.

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This article titled “Fabrice Muamba is a great young man to be around, say former coaches” was written by Stuart James, for The Guardian on Sunday 18th March 2012 22.30 UTC

Similar comments keep cropping up when anyone is asked about the experience of working with Fabrice Muamba. “A pleasure to manage,” said Steve Bruce, who took Muamba from Arsenal to Birmingham City in 2006. “A manager’s dream,” said Alex McLeish, the man who replaced Bruce at St Andrew’s. “A great person to be around,” said Gary Megson, who was in charge at Bolton when Muamba moved to the Reebok Stadium for £5m four years ago.

It is difficult to believe that anyone has ever had a bad word to say about Muamba and there is no reason to think that the remarks made over the last 24 hours from those that know him best have been overstated in any way because of the dreadful events at White Hart Lane on Saturday night. Muamba, quite simply, is known as one of the good guys.

He is a humble and polite young man who wears a permanent smile on his face and gives nothing less than 100% in every match.

“He’s a tremendous lad,” said Bruce, who signed Muamba on a season-long loan from Arsenal before making the move permanent a year later. “He had a fierce determination and he was arguably as good as I’ve ever had at being able to get up and down the pitch with his fantastic fitness levels and the energy he brought to your team.

“Fabrice is not the most naturally gifted of footballers but he made the best of what he’s got. He’s a great lad and let’s hope he pulls through.”

Those sentiments were echoed by David Sullivan, the West Ham United co-owner who was Birmingham’s plc chairman when Muamba joined from Arsenal.

Sullivan described Muamba as “a very nice young man” and recalls a story that is indicative of the 23-year-old’s thoughtful and generous nature. “He actually gave Karren [Brady, Birmingham's chief executive at the time] his first, framed, England Under-21 shirt as a gesture of thanks for us giving him his big chance,” Sullivan said.

Muamba has represented his adopted country – he was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo – at every youth level from the age of 16 up to Under-21s and those who coached him with England as a youngster took an instant liking to the person as well as the footballer.

“Fabrice has got a grin that is a mile wide,” said Kenny Swain, the England Under-16 coach who also assists John Peacock with the Under-17s. “He’s got a real zest for football and there’s no edge to him. He’s an infectious, enthusiastic and ambitious young man who is like a drum-beater for the team – he gets the team going.”

Although Muamba would be the first to admit that he is not blessed with fantastic technical ability, his attitude and commitment are second to none and have left an impression on everyone who has worked with him, including Arsène Wenger. When the Arsenal manager was weighing up whether to let Muamba join Birmingham, the Frenchman privately admitted that he wished a few of his first-team squad at the time had the same level of desire as the teenager who was about to depart.

Muamba’s work ethic also shone through off the field at Arsenal. While the rest of the scholars at Arsenal’s academy went through the motions with their compulsory education work and did the bare minimum – as is the case with the majority of young footballers at clubs up and down the country – Muamba could not have been more dedicated.

When he finished his course and turned professional, he approached Shirley Askew, Arsenal’s head of education at the academy, to ask if she could help him to continue his studies.

It says much for Muamba that his diligent approach to his academic work remained exactly the same when he established himself in the top flight with Bolton and was earning thousands of pounds a week.

“Fabrice isn’t the archetypal Premier League footballer, he was very much into his studies and took his education off the field very seriously,” Megson said, recalling the 18 months he managed Muamba at the Reebok.

“He got on with everybody at Bolton and was a great lad. His work rate and his honesty was a credit to him when I was at [the club]. He did everything asked of him. He’s got a huge battle ahead of him now but he’s been fighting all his life.

“He didn’t have an easy upbringing and couldn’t speak a word of English when he was 10 or 11. Everything he’s got has come from him, nothing has been given to him. I’ll be thinking of him and his family over this time and desperately hope he comes through it.”

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This article titled “The Question: Why is balance more important than symmetry in lineups?” was written by Jonathan Wilson, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 13th March 2012 13.49 UTC

Humanity seems to have a built-in regard for symmetry. It was what William Blake admired in the tiger and it explains, various surveys have claimed, why certain faces are considered more attractive than others (Denzel Washington and Cate Blanchett, apparently, have the most symmetrical faces in Hollywood). The instinct with football teams and formations has always been to set them out symmetrically – a 4-3-3 with the shuttling players neatly flanking the anchor and the wingers placed precisely on their touchlines, or a blockish 4-4-2 that becomes two lines with a line half the length set centrally atop them.

That’s natural: the numerical designations of formations are the fundamentals, crude basics that give a general picture. But it doesn’t map reality. It never has: football is far more about balance than it is about symmetry.

Take, for instance, Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. After they had won promotion in 1977, Clough toyed with the idea of playing a 4-2-4 with Terry Curran on the right and John Robertson on the left. He and Peter Taylor were concerned such an approach might leave them open, and so in a pre-season friendly against Shepshed Charterhouse they replaced Curran with Martin O’Neill, whose tendency was to tuck in and provide a third man in midfield (alongside John McGovern and Archie Gemmill).

Immediately there was balance. Robertson operated as a playmaker on the left, backed up by the experienced defensive left-back Frank Clark. With O’Neill giving an extra layer of protection in the middle, Robertson’s lack of defensive covering was accommodated, while Viv Anderson provided attacking width on the right, breaking forward from full-back.

For years that style was almost a default in the English game: one attacking wide midfielder covered for by a narrower, more defensive player on the other flank. Even as late as 1999-00, Sunderland finished seventh in the Premier League with Nicky Summerbee as a bona fide winger on the right, balanced by Stefan Schwarz tucking in on the left and Michael Gray overlapping from left-back. But how to you denote it? As a 4-3-3? As a 4-4-2? It’s both and neither, somewhere in between.

Or take England under Fabio Capello in qualifying for the World Cup. It’s in breach of the Rustenburg protocol to say anything positive about the Italian, of course, but as they hammered Croatia twice and scored seven more goals than any other European side in qualifying, England were genuinely impressive. Capello even solved the twin problems of the lack of left-sided players and previously intractable Gerrard-Lampard conundrum (which has become such a potent symbol of England’s malaise that, after I’d interviewed the former Brazil goalkeeper Valdir Peres on Saturday, he set down his coffee cup and said, “But before you go, tell me, why can Gerrard and Lampard not play together?”)

He played Gerrard on the left of a 4-2-3-1, his natural tendency to drift infield compensated for by the fact that Wayne Rooney often drifted left to replace him on that flank, and by Ashley Cole’s forays from left-back. Theo Walcott or Aaron Lennon, meanwhile, provided genuine width on the other flank. (The major tactical problem at the World Cup came because Rooney’s role had changed at Manchester United, from support striker to out-and-out centre-forward, and he seemed to struggle to readapt to the deeper position so played too close to Emile Heskey. In turn that meant Gerrard came too far infield, and so England ended up with a bus queue down the middle of the pitch.)

The classic Brazilian 4-2-2-2, similarly, usually involves one of the attacking midfielders pulling out to one flank, and the support striker playing a little to the other side of the main striker, ideally on the side on which the more attacking full-back plays. When Santos won the Libertadores last season, for instance, they had Neymar pulling left off Ze Eduardo with Elano shuttling on the right to provide cover.

Still, even allowing for the fact that an asymmetry is built into Brazilian football, the system Vasco da Gama set up with against Alianza Lima in the Libertadores last week was extraordinary. The back four was orthodox enough: Fagner at right-back, the elegant Dede and Rodolfo at centre-back and Thiago Feltri at left-back. Eduardo Costa and Nilton sat in front of the back four, with the former Lyon midfielder Juninho creating the play just in front of them and to the right. So far so normal. But the front three featured Barbio, an out-and-out winger more blessed with pace than technique, on the right, Alecsandro as a centre-forward and then Diego Souza tucked just behind him and fractionally to the left.

The result was that every attack came down the right. The first half felt like an endless loop of Juninho drifting into space and laying a pass outside him to Barbio, a lopsidedness compounded by the fact that Fagner is a far more attacking full-back than Thiago Feltri. A better side than Alianza – or at least one less torn by disputes over unpaid wages — would surely have been able to check Vasco with relative ease.

As it was, Vasco, having conceded a ludicrous first goal as Rodolfo missed a long clearance, dominated utterly. Even then, they were being held 1-1 when, three minutes into the second half, Giancarlo Carmona picked up a harsh second yellow for a supposedly deliberate handball in the box. Alecsandro struck the bar with his penalty but the game was turned Vasco’s way as the Alianza coach Jose Soto took off the left-winger Jorge Bazan for the defender Edgar Villamarin.

He needed to replace Carmona, of course, but removing Bazan simply opened up the flank Vasco were favouring anyway, something Soto tacitly acknowledged when, 13 minutes later, he then took off the centre-forward Jonathan Charquero for the left winger Joazhino Arroe.

By then, though, Alecsandro had had an effort cleared off the line, Juninho had hit the bar and Dede had headed Vasco in front.

Vasco ended up missing another penalty before Juninho, taking over from Alecsandro, converted their third spot-kick of the game, before a late Walter Ibanez goal made it 3-2. Vasco should have won much more comfortably, but the lopsidedness of their play raises concerns for the stiffer challenges to come – such as on Wednesday against Libertad in Asuncion.

Symmetry isn’t essential in football, but balance is.

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This article titled “Fifa corruption intrigue deepens as Brazil’s Ricardo Teixeira resigns” was written by David Conn, for The Guardian on Monday 12th March 2012 21.31 UTC

The intrigue enveloping Fifa has deepened with the resignation of Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian football confederation (CBF) for 22 years and a long-time powerful figure within football’s world governing body. Under pressure in Brazil over the organisation of the 2014 World Cup and at Fifa following a series of corruption allegations, Teixeira’s resignation has been predicted for months. When it came, however, he said it was on the grounds of ill-health. Last year Teixeira took temporary leave of absence for diverticulitis, a bowel condition.

Stepping down from the presidency of the CBF and as head of the 2014 World Cup organising committee, Teixeira, 64, said in a letter read out to reporters at the CBF headquarters: “I leave the presidency of the CBF definitively with the feeling of having done my duty.”

Teixeira’s path to football’s power-broking was smoothed by the former CBF and Fifa president João Havelange, whose daughter, Lucia, Teixeira married, although they later divorced. Both men have pointed out that the CBF was poverty-stricken, despite running the game in a most glamorous football country. Yet, although they brought fortunes to it, their regimes have been tainted by allegations of corruption.

Most immediately in Zurich is the likely publication of a settlement made in court in the Swiss canton of Zug, in connection with alleged bribes paid to senior Fifa officials in the late 1990s by the marketing company ISL. The BBC’s Panorama broadcast allegations that Teixeira was paid $9.5m (£6.1m), along with Havelange. Fifa says it does want the settlement to be published but some parties named in it have applied for it to remain confidential. The International Olympic Committee, of which Havelange was a member, began an ethics investigation into him and he resigned before it reached its conclusion. Both men have denied wrongdoing.

Teixeira has faced mounting political pressure at home because of construction delays and doubts over Brazil’s practical ability to host the World Cup. Fifa’s general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, last week sought to extricate himself from a row with the Brazilian government, claiming he was misquoted over comments that the country needed a “kick in the ass” to meet its commitments.

In 2001 the Brazilian congress called on Teixeira and other senior CBF figures to be prosecuted for 13 alleged crimes including tax evasion, money laundering and misleading lawmakers but no charges were brought. Last year Lord Triesman, the former chairman of the Football Association, said in parliament that Teixeira had asked him, regarding the vote to host the 2018 World Cup: “What can you do for me?” Teixeira denied that and no action was taken.

Teixeira has also faced two federal police investigations, into the ISL allegations and whether he diverted public money from a friendly Brazil played against Portugal in November 2008.

Romario, the former Brazil striker in the World Cup victory of 1994 and now a member of congress, said on Twitter of Teixeira: “Today we can celebrate. We exterminated a cancer from Brazilian football.” Yet none of these investigations has produced any charges against Teixeira and, when he resigned, he claimed he had been a success.

“Football in our country is associated with two things: talent and disorganisation,” his statement said. “When we win, talent is praised. When we lose, it’s about disorganisation. I did what was within my reach, sacrificing my health.”

He is succeeded, without an election being held, by José Maria Marin, 79, a former politician. Marin vowed that little would change. “The stupendous work that was being done by Ricardo Teixeira will continue,” he promised.

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This article titled “Premier League preview No 9: Manchester City” was written by Daniel Taylor, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 4th August 2011 11.28 UTC

Guardian writers’ prediction 2nd (This is not Daniel Taylor’s prediction, but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position 3rd

Odds to win the league 7-2

When everything is said and done, it all boils down to one thing for Manchester City this season and it is this: can they go that one step further? Can they turn all that drive, ambition, hard spending and unrelenting momentum into something more serious and, finger by finger, prise Sir Alex Ferguson’s grip off the Premier League trophy?

There were nine points between them last season so it would take a fairly hefty swing, but there is certainly good reason to believe there may be less distance between the two Manchester clubs this time around. City were top of the league last Christmas and eventually finished third, their highest finish since 1977. Ferguson, by his own admission, has been forced to take them more seriously than any other point in almost a quarter of a century at Old Trafford, and Roberto Mancini can certainly feel a lot more confident now City, in keeping with every summer under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi United Group, have once again eclipsed everyone in the transfer market.

When the question of City winning the league was raised a couple of weeks ago, on their pre-season trip to Los Angeles, Mancini shook his head and dismissed it out of hand, simmering with the apparent sense that other people at the club were letting him down. But Sergio Agüero has signed since then and the Argentinian is the kind of player who can make the difference, lift an entire club, invigorate the senses. Agüero, recruited from Atlético Madrid for £38m, is the most exhilarating signing of the summer, a symbol of City’s new ambitions and attractiveness.

Yet it has been a quieter time than usual at Eastlands and certainly nothing like what might have been anticipated if you listened to Harry Redknapp in May, when he talked of having inside knowledge of City’s targets and predicted their transfer business “will blow your brains out”. Redknapp might invite less public cynicism if he spared us this kind of nonsense. City always had to be more restrained because, in short, if they carried on with the money-no-object transfer splurges they would be kicked out of the Champions League in the next few years for not meeting Uefa’s financial fair play rules.

As such, the £50m they have spent on Agüero, Gaël Clichy and Stefan Savic is chickenfeed compared to the vast amounts Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan casually signed off in previous transfer windows, even if there might yet be another addition or two. Last summer, the figure was around £130m. The previous season, the total transfer business was £144m. Mancini has suddenly discovered he no longer has unlimited access to a seemingly bottomless pot of riches and the revelation has not always been to his liking.

City, nonetheless, may have moved marginally ahead of Chelsea as the more credible challengers to United. What we have now is a serious organisation, with real aspirations, a plan, forward thinking, and the resources and mindset to carry it through – barely recognisable from the City of old, the club that was skint, endearingly prone to moments of tragicomedy and, ultimately, a little bit clueless.

The modern-day City are no longer to be patronised, pushed around and put down. After so many years on “the high moral step of continual failure”, Simon Curtis of Down The Kippax Steps, probably the best City blog around, noted recently, they are acclimatising to a new existence where “we must try to adopt a different pose for all the flashbulbs suddenly exploding in our faces”. It can feel like a different lifetime since Stuart Pearce, one of Mancini’s predecessors, was told his transfer budget had gone and played David James, an international goalkeeper, as a centre-forward. In fact, it was six years ago.

The new, ultra-ambitious City increasingly have a big-time feel. They have spent £20m or more on nine different players using Abu Dhabi’s oil riches, and have three players earning salaries in excess of £200,000 a week. But there is more to it than that. There are plans to increase the Etihad Stadium (renamed as part of a £400m sponsorship package) to a 60,000 capacity and develop a vast expanse of land around the ground, including a 7,000-seat stadium for their youth team and a new training ground.

What Eastlands doesn’t have yet – and this is the point we are reminded of old Manchester City, the club of Peter Swales, Alan Ball and all the rest – is an actual trophy room. They didn’t see the point of building one because, quite simply, there was nothing of particular note to fill it. Bernard Halford, the club’s now-retired secretary, just used to stick everything that came their way in a broom cupboard.

Very soon, you imagine, that will change. Winning the FA Cup – as United will testify – can have therapeutic qualities for a club that has lapsed for so many years. From here, City should be stronger, more assured, playing with the authentic sense they are now capable of fully structured, productive, grown-up football.

There are, however, imperfections that may need to be addressed if City are to stand a realistic chance of outdoing United, Chelsea and all the rest. For starters, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli will have to do better than last season. Dzeko managed only two league goals in 15 appearances and looked careless of touch at times even though, to give him his due, he would probably be more effective if City operated with orthodox wingers. As for Balotelli, a part of him will probably always be that boy who stayed in the playground too long, but if he avoids the injury problems that disrupted his first season and remembers to take his head out on to the pitch he can endorse Mancini’s theory that the good outweighs the bad.

Then, of course, there is The Peculiar Case of Carlos Tevez and an issue so complex there are people at Eastlands who genuinely suspect the proposed £40m move to Corinthians last month was little more than a publicity stunt. Tevez was initially due to return to training for the first time today, albeit against his will, but it will not be until Monday now that Mancini will next see a player who scored or set up 48% of City’s league goals last season. The delay feels entirely predictable and merely reiterates Tevez’s reluctance to return to Manchester. It is just that there are not many clubs who want to pay more than £40m for a player who has a history of moving every couple of years and who, at 27, is at an age when his transfer value starts to depreciate. Tevez had to be persuaded, with the threat of a fine, to take his place on the open-top bus for City’s FA Cup parade, which is fairly ludicrous for a club captain, and his behaviour before and after that ought really to persuade Mancini to hand the armband to Vincent Kompany. Tevez may sulk but, really, so what? If he does stick around, he has already shown he has the knack of playing well, sometimes brilliantly, even when his mind is polluted with grievances.

One certainty is that City will be glad Agüero is not represented by Kia Joorabchian.

So, can they do it? A personal hunch is that their squad, in its current size, might find the combination of going for the title and playing their first season in the Champions League a little too heavy going – but that it will be a close-run thing.

Mancini may also have to be a little less defence-minded at times, even if it is peculiar this tag has attached itself to a team that scored more goals last season than, say, Tottenham Hotspur, so often acclaimed as one of the Premier League’s great entertainers.

Mancini certainly does not have to apologise for the fact Joe Hart won the Premier League’s “golden glove” award last season, with 18 clean sheets (a club-record 29 in all competitions). It is interesting, though, that two of the three new signings have been defenders. Clichy is not the most watertight full-back around, but the former Arsenal player is quicker and more agile than Aleksandar Kolarov. Mancini had enough reservations about Joleon Lescott to want to replace him with Gary Cahill of Bolton Wanderers earlier in the summer. Savic was the cheaper option and the Montenegro international, eventually joined by Kolo Touré, will push Lescott for the right to partner Kompany, a fine, consistent centre-half.

In midfield, there is a nice blend of steel and finesse. Adam Johnson, on form, can trouble the most accomplished full-back and, at 24, is old enough now to start thinking about establishing himself as more than just an impact player. Yaya Touré should be even better in his second season at the club and only the lazy and misguided still regard Nigel de Jong as little more than a streetwise slugger. The Dutchman is the outstanding defensive midfielder in the league.

As for David Silva, the Spaniard is blessed with a left foot that can make you quicken your step as you walk to the ground.

City also have a manager in charge who knows how to win major trophies and is not frightened of success. Mancini’s record in the transfer market cannot be classed as an emphatic success, but he has demonstrated enough over the last 20 months to end any lingering argument about whether it was correct to replace Mark Hughes – even if, with that, the Italian’s true personality is increasingly being seen behind the scenes.

Those who know Mancini best, who have followed his career as a player and manager and understand what makes him tick, had warned when he was appointed that his time in Manchester would be measured out in different phases. The first would be Mancini on a charm offensive, working out his territory, getting to know the club politics, then gradually weeding out the players who do not buy into his methods and demonstrating, over time, that he is very much The Boss. The second is a man who permanently seems disappointed with his bosses, who bends for nobody, increasingly detached and empowered with success – in the language of the sport, a bit of a bastard. Which, in fairness, is not necessarily a bad thing in football.

It feels like we are moving into the second part of that process right now. Mancini has won his first trophy and elevated himself to a new position of power. He has said he wants more control, that he should be allowed the influence that Ferguson has at Manchester United. He has admitted having differences with Garry Cook, which is almost always the kind of thing football managers try to keep from the newspapers. And these issues with Cook – as well as the football administrator, Brian Marwood – are still there, still festering.

Mancini, however, is far from the first man in high position not to see eye to eye with his chief executive, particularly in an industry as two-faced as football. The important thing, to quote Mancini, is that he and Cook “have the same target” because, together, they might just achieve it.

City demonstrated in the FA Cup last season that they mean business, turning the semi-final into an ordeal for Ferguson and United before Yaya Touré’s winning goal in the final brought down the “Ticker” banner that had hung permanently at Old Trafford to mock that 35-year run without a trophy. The issue now is whether they can go one better and win the league – or even the Champions League – and what we can say for certain is that no other top-six club goes into the season with so much forward momentum.

Paul Lake’s autobiography, I’m Not Really Here, comes out today and tells the story of one match in 1989 when City could have guaranteed promotion by beating Bournemouth at Maine Road. They were 3-0 up at half-time – party time! – and the manager, Mel Machin, told the players he was bringing in a special friend for the team talk. In came the comedian Eddie Large – shiny silver suit, sleeves rolled up – to dole out individual advice to the players … each time using a different celebrity impersonation. “Deputy Dawg ordered me to keep tight in defence,” Lake recalls. “Cliff Richard advised Trevor Morley to shoot on sight, Harold Wilson told Bob Brightwell to keep it simple and Benny from Crossroads told Andy Dibble to stay awake.” The game finished 3-3. Typical City, as they used to say. But no more.

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This article titled “Eric Cantona chides City stars for failing to embrace Manchester” was written by Paul Wilson, for The Guardian on Wednesday 3rd August 2011 19.23 UTC

Eric Cantona returned to Manchester on Thursday night with a swipe at the attitude of City’s foreign signings, principally Carlos Tevez, who say they cannot wait to get out of the place.

“I had a great time in Manchester,” the former United striker said. “I cannot understand anyone not liking it, though I suppose it depends on where they come from and why they are here. The most important thing for me was always to play, and if you are at one of the best clubs in the world then you should enjoy it. As a professional footballer the greatest time you have is on the pitch, but I loved the city as well, the club and the people.”

Cantona was in town in his capacity as director of soccer of New York Cosmos, the revived US franchise who will be providing the opposition for Paul Scholes’s testimonial at Old Trafford on Friday evening. Sitting next to him at a press conference in Manchester’s northern quarter was no less a personage than Pelé, the honorary president of Cosmos, but it spoke volumes for the popularity of Cantona in these parts that almost all the questions were addressed to the iconic Frenchman.

“I didn’t want to do the typical ex-player thing and hang around my old club, though I must admit it’s great to be coming back with Cosmos,” Cantona said. “If I am going to try to be a manager I wanted to do it at a special club, and that it just what the New York Cosmos is. The city is unique and the club history is legendary.”

Officially that club history ended in 1984, when after the heady days of Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and others the club folded with the rest of the North American Soccer League. The present New York Red Bulls tried to acquire the name but were rejected, but the former Tottenham Hotspur director Paul Kemsley successfully managed to get Cosmos up and running again.

They still need a stadium, have yet to be accepted into the MLS and now face competition for spectators from the Bulls, but as Kemsley said, to be able to play your inaugural game in front of 77,000 fans at Old Trafford would be a coup for anyone. “We are quite privileged to be in this game, it will be the biggest thrill in the world on Friday,” he said. “We just hope we can do justice to United States football as well as Paul Scholes.”

When Pelé did get a word in edgeways he suggested his old club had never really died, and certainly not failed. “Cosmos never, ever finished,” the Brazilian great insisted. “If you look at America now, everyone between the age of seven and 20 plays soccer, and that is all because of the Cosmos. I have always worked hard to establish the game in the US, and I am proud of what was achieved. Even before the club re-formed, everyone still talked about the Cosmos. It was a success. Look at how well the US team did in the women’s World Cup. Look at how many American footballers there are now in every part of the world. Before the Cosmos came along, there were hardly any.”

Cantona is looking to continue that process, not just through star names and some of the trendiest retro merchandise around, but by bringing through young American talent.

“We have a lot of things to do and we want to do them well,” he said. “Of course you can buy players but we have a huge steam of emerging talent to tap into and our aim is to run a successful academy, along the lines of Auxerre, Barcelona or even Manchester United. The talent definitely exists in the US. I would say the US is capable of winning a World Cup in the next 20 years or so, and I believe the Cosmos can help in that process, in exactly the same way as Barcelona and their academy helped Spain.”

Were that to come about, Cantona would inevitably be linked with a return to Old Trafford in a coaching capacity. Would he fancy succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson? “Maybe I will die before Alex Ferguson,” he quipped. “We all know what a great job he has done. Paul Scholes was a great player, but Manchester United will not miss him. Just like they did not miss Hughes, Beckham, or me.

“You always think it might be the end, but when you have a strong academy and a history like United’s, any player can be replaced.”

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This article titled “Fantasy football is about to become reality with immersion technology” was written by Dominic Fifield, for The Guardian on Tuesday 2nd August 2011 21.31 UTC

The Premier League’s desire to innovate is about to become a virtual reality. English football’s elite division has long prided itself on an ability to refresh the brand the top-flight game has become but, where attempts to introduce a 39th game to be farmed out around the globe have died a death, now the EPL experience is to become truly interactive. Apparently coming to a television screen near you: The Premier League, Avatar-style.

Talks are under way between the league’s administrators and both Sony and Electronic Arts aimed at offering viewers the chance to experience “immersion technology” and enjoy games being played potentially on the other side of the planet as if they were present in the stands. As a concept, it sounds as if it might have been lifted from the script of Red Dwarf as much as a James Cameron blockbuster. “But I think it’s only between two to five years from being readily available,” said the Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore. “It might seem a bit ‘blue sky’, but it isn’t. It’ll certainly happen within my working life.”

The principle is intriguing. Subscribers would most likely don headphones and settle down in front of their 3D, high‑definition flat screens on a Saturday to choose which fixture to watch. Selections will be made from drop‑down menus – whether they want to sit in the Shed End for Chelsea versus Wigan Athletic, or the Stretford End for Manchester United against Swansea City – and, once made, supporters would watch the game as if at the ground. Throw in surround sound and, presumably, some overpriced refreshments and the Premier League experience will be transported into viewers’ living rooms.

“There’s been a step-change from standard definition to high definition in terms of how people consume football,” said Scudamore. “3D is coming along and there have been all these new devices coming on to the scene. There’ll soon be a technological development that will allow people across the world to have a much richer type of experience in terms of watching and consuming football. Our efforts and energies are concentrated in that area, rather than they are in the old-fashioned and passé idea of flying around the world playing a 39th game. We’ll find a technological solution.

“There’s immersion technology being developed right now where you can sit down with headphones and a screen in front of you, and reproduce the feeling of being in a stadium. You can call in your mates to sit next to you and chat to them. If you turn your head one way you’re looking at the left-hand goal and the other way you’re looking at the right-hand goal. That’s in Beta testing now.

“You’ll be able to decide where you want to be: you could be on a Saturday at 3pm, English time, in Hong Kong deciding whether you want to be on the Kop end at Anfield or the Holte End at Aston Villa. There’ll be a drop‑down menu and you’ll be able to choose where you want to be and watch the game. It’ll be like an Avatar‑type of thing available in your own home. It might sound pie in the sky, but it’s not. That virtual reality is already there. To be honest, it’s the sort of thing our kids are playing with all the time.”

The Premier League is in dialogue with Sony and EA over concepts that could yet yield this kind of Saturday afternoon experience. Sony is aiming to deliver “Super Wide”, a panoramic shot based on footage delivered by several cameras. The pictures are then effectively stitched together with viewers able to pick their viewing angle: from a corner flag; behind the dugouts; even from the posh, heated seats up in the directors’ box.

EA’s take is slightly different, with the company in the process of developing a 3D “graphical representation package” which Sky hopes to use to improve its analysis from the 2012‑13 season. The US firm, whose Fifa series of video games have sold more than 100m copies worldwide, intends to use 3D holographic representations of various phases of play within the game for viewers to access via Sky. Subscribers would then be presented with a 3D playbook, which would include pieces of analysis, with the ultimate aim for it to be available in real time.

That same principle could yet be developed further to match the Premier League’s technological vision. “I see that vision and I can see it happening,” said Scudamore. “I’m quite excited about it and it’s the sort of thing we should be doing. We’ve been speaking to a couple of companies about working with them on developing the product.”

There would, of course, be limits to what could be offered in this country. After all, recreating the atmosphere of an English league game kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday would be less appealing if crowds dwindle because fans are preferring to interact on their plasmas at home. “It’s more a global vision, as we wouldn’t do anything in England to undermine the 3pm window,” said Scudamore. “We want to protect the whole of English football and I’m a great protector of that window. I’d rather people were attending the stadia in England, whether it be at Barnet or Arsenal.

“Anything we did to undermine that would be difficult for me personally and professionally. But this can become a reality, and it can be produced to satisfy a mass market. As most consumer goods are. This is innovative, but I can see it happening. And it’s exciting: the sort of thing we should be doing.”

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This article titled “Premier League preview No7: Fulham” was written by Paul Doyle, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 3rd August 2011 12.00 UTC

Guardian writers’ prediction: 9th (This is not Paul Doyle’s prediction, but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 8th

Odds to win the league: 1,000-1

Martin Jol may have got a raw deal when he was ousted at Tottenham but for his return to London he could hardly have landed a cosier gig. He has been employed by the greatest chairman of the Premier League era, other, perhaps, than Blackburn’s Jack Walker, and he has inherited a fine team that should finish well clear of relegation and, with tweaking rather than revamping, could again challenge for a European place and perhaps a domestic cup.

If you were looking at ways to kill time at work, you could devote many hours to debating who was more foolish: Mark Hughes for walking out on Fulham or Aston Villa for not appointing Hughes thereafter, but one thing is certain: in his one season at Craven Cottage Hughes did a splendid job, building on the excellent work previously done by Roy Hodgson. Hughes improved Fulham’s away record and made them a more dangerous attacking team while retaining the defensive solidity and careful possession play that Hodgson had nurtured. He achieved this despite a wretched spate of injuries, especially in the first half of the season.

Jol has no such casualty list to contend with, Bobby Zamora’s return to full fitness being a particular boon. And the club have, so far at least, been able to retain their key players, notably Brede Hangeland, who along with Aaron Hughes, forms one of the Premier League’s best central defences (that pair’s organisational diligence and aerial prowess are, for instance, the main reasons why Fulham conceded fewer goals than any other team in the league from set pieces last season, and the fact that Hangeland started scoring from them at the other end makes him even more valuable). The strength of the cover behind that pair, and at right-back, is something Jol will need to address. He has already reinforced well at left-back, with John Arne Riise likely to provide further evidence that Liverpool ejected him prematurely.

The linchpin of Fulham’s midfield is Danny Murphy, the conduit of most of their attacks, as proven by the fact that he had more touches of the ball than any other player in the Premier League last season. Dickson Etuhu is a powerful and tidy foil for Murphy, but the latter’s contribution to the team’s defending is also highly significant – only five players in the league won more tackles than Murphy last season. So losing him would obviously be a serious blow, even if Steve Sidwell is a useful deputy. Jol may seek more back-up.

Damien Duff has looked excellent in the early European campaign and fitter than he has for a while, and Simon Davies, while perhaps not a star, is definitely a trouper. With Riise capable of being deployed in left midfield and Clint Dempsey due back from his extended break following his Gold Cup duty, Fulham carry potent threats out wide.

Dempsey may not play on the flank but rather off Zamora (or Moussa Dembélé, whose return from injury is another big boost for Jol). Either way, space should always be made for the excellent American. Andy Johnson, who has yet to truly convince at Craven Cottage, could find himself on the bench a lot, even though he has regularly shown tantalising signs of forming a threatening partnership with Zamora. Jol, then, has decent attacking options and will probably increase them before the transfer window closes. Fulham should be fun to watch this season. And tough to play against.

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This article titled “Premier League preview No4: Bolton Wanderers” was written by Jacob Steinberg, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 2nd August 2011 07.00 UTC

Guardian writers’ prediction: 11th (NB: this is not Jacob Steinberg’s prediction, but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 14th

Odds to win the league: 1,000-1

Not many people outside of Nottingham will remember the swashbuckling Forest side from the 2002-03 season, but they provide a pertinent warning for Bolton Wanderers. Eight years ago, Paul Hart nearly led Forest to promotion into the Premier League, only losing 5-4 on aggregate in the semi-final play-offs to Sheffield United. His side was partly based on the lock-pick that doubled up as the left foot of Andy Reid, but also on the goals up front of Marlon Harewood, Darren Huckerby and David Johnson. It would have been difficult to assemble a more potent attack in the Championship.

Between them, the three strikers scored 53 goals in the league (Huckerby was signed on loan from Manchester City in February and got five in 11 games). The following season should have seen Forest make further progress. Instead they plummeted. Huckerby, who had returned to City, instead joined Forest’s promotion rivals, Norwich City, and helped them win the league by eight points. In September, Johnson broke his leg and then in October, Harewood was sold to West Ham United. As easily as tearing off a toenail, 53 goals were ripped out of the side, and Forest finished 14th. A year later, they were relegated to League One.

Clearly there is more chance of locating any discernible plot in an episode of Glee than that happening to Bolton this season, but Owen Coyle should be worried about his side’s prospects. Last season, he was able to call upon three forwards, Kevin Davies, Johan Elmander and Daniel Sturridge. Then, to paraphrase the Spice Girls, three became one: Galatasaray, able to offer more money, have signed Elmander on a free transfer and Sturridge has returned to Chelsea after impressing on loan at the Reebok Stadium. Sturridge, who scored eight times in 12 matches for Bolton, is the greater loss. A prodigiously skilful presence in attack, he was comfortably Bolton’s best player, giving them a different dimension going forward. Maybe Coyle retains hope of convincing Chelsea to let them borrow him again, but there has been little talk of that happening.

Elmander’s departure, though frustrating, is arguably less damaging. During his first two seasons in England he was regarded as a standing joke – if he scored against you, you knew you were doing something wrong – and although he performed commendably in the first half of last season, it was never to a level that justified the £8.2m Gary Megson spent on him in 2008. A remarkable solo goal against Wolves last November was perhaps the zenith of his time at Bolton, but that was an exception rather than the norm. In the second half of the season he managed only one goal in the league, although that was partly a consequence of a move into a deeper role following Sturridge’s arrival.

The pair contributed 18 goals in the league for Bolton. Davies, who has never been prolific, added another eight, but seven of those came before New Year’s Day. Now 34, he is hardly the man to solve a very glaring problem for Coyle. Nor are Rodrigo Moreno or Ivan Klasnic, who is at least a useful option off the bench. In their search for a new striker, Bolton have been linked with David Ngog, a solution which doesn’t immediately convince.

Just as alarming as the lack of goals is the manner in which Bolton collapsed in the second half of the season, when they won a paltry five games in the league, none of which were on their travels. There were mitigating circumstances for such a poor run of form, though. Three of the victories came before Stuart Holden injured his knee after a shocking tackle from Manchester United’s Jonny Evans on 19 March, after which Bolton were able to beat only West Ham and Arsenal. Aside from those two victories, Bolton were beaten in eight of their last 10 league games and were also demolished 5-0 by Stoke City in their FA Cup semi-final.

Holden’s injury was disastrous. The American was a key part of Bolton’s midfield, regularly breaking up play in front of his back four and overwhelming opponents with the sort of energy that would put a hyperactive toddler to shame. Without him, though, Bolton lacked zest and their defence was increasingly exposed. Although Bolton kept only five clean sheets last season, their defensive record was not bad – 56 goals conceded, which is perhaps not too surprising when Jussi Jaaskelainen is in goal and Gary Cahill is in the centre of defence. However, Holden will be missing at the start of the season. They need him back as soon as possible.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bolton have also been rocked by the broken leg suffered by Lee Chung-yong after a nasty and unnecessary challenge from Newport County’s Tom Miller in a pre-season friendly last Saturday. Lee, one of the most exciting wingers in the league, will be out for nine months. Bolton will sorely miss him while he recovers; the South Korean is a good crosser, a hard worker and a cool finisher. The injuries mean Coyle has been forced to look for both quantity and quality. In the final game of last season, he was forced to play Elmander and Ricardo Gardner in central midfield against Manchester City, demonstrating the need for a bigger squad. Yet at the same time, no manager wants to buy for the sake of it.

After all, without Holden and Lee, Bolton’s midfield suddenly takes on a rather average feel. In the centre, Fabrice Muamba destroys effectively and Mark Davies is a canny player who should continue to develop if he gets more playing time this season. Nigel Reo-Coker has also been signed on a free transfer to add more steel, although he will not pass the ball with anything approaching accuracy. Darren Pratley has also arrived having helped Swansea City win the Championship play-offs. On the left, Martin Petrov is always dangerous, if not always reliable. He started only 18 games last season and his chief rival, Matthew Taylor, has joined West Ham.

Creativity may be in short supply, then, unless Chris Eagles, signed from Burnley, can rise to the challenge. The former Manchester United winger has always had potential but is yet to truly deliver on it. Flashier than Lee but less effective, he has always been capable of eye-catching moments of skill and Bolton need that on a regular basis. Eagles has also been followed to Bolton by Tyrone Mears, one of those non-defending, gung-ho right-backs who are all the rage right now. He won’t add much defensively, but is a huge threat going forward.

Bolton will need to hit the ground running as their start to the season makes grim reading. In their first seven games, they host Manchester City, Manchester United, Norwich City and Chelsea, while there are also trips to Arsenal and Liverpool. They go to Queens Park Rangers on the first day, which sounds pleasant enough, but matches away to promoted sides in August rarely are. It is conceivable that they could have no more than three points by the middle of October.

Realistically Bolton should have enough to keep clear of a relegation battle. Since staying up in 2003 they have enjoyed several solid campaigns, and aside from a Sammy Lee-inspired blip in 2008, they have mostly finished in mid-table.

The Reebok remains a difficult place to visit and the idea that Bolton were England’s answer to Barcelona last season is far-fetched. Although Coyle rightly has a reputation for producing entertaining teams, he is not stupid and Bolton still got the ball forward quickly and directly. That said, attendances were up and the fans seemed more than happy with what they were watching, so Coyle has certainly had an impact on their style, as highlighted by a lovely six-pass move in December against Blackpool that preceded Mark Davies’s goal. Indeed, after a 5-1 shellacking of Newcastle United in November Bolton were the nation’s darlings, and for a long time they sat in sixth place, harbouring genuine hopes of qualifying for the Europa League. Then came the slump and an ultimately disappointing 14th place. But Bolton should not forget what was achieved beforehand.

Above all, Coyle must find the right striker. Get that right and there should be no cause for concern. Get it wrong and 14th place will have to do just fine.

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This article titled “Premier League preview No5: Chelsea” was written by Dominic Fifield, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 2nd August 2011 11.00 UTC

Guardian writers’ prediction: 3rd (This is not Dominic Fifield’s prediction, but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 2nd

Odds to win the league: 5-2

It was Marcel Desailly who summed up the task awaiting André Villas-Boas most succinctly. “All the pressure is on the shoulders of the coach,” said the former Chelsea captain. “It’s all up to him.” The Portuguese, at 33, returned to Stamford Bridge this summer with only 20 months of managerial experience behind him, charged with succeeding where it had been deemed a recent Double-winning coach had failed. It says much for Villas-Boas’s innate self-belief that he has plunged himself into his new role with relish.

The rookie with the record – the Europa League, the domestic league title at a canter and a Portuguese Cup were all claimed in his solitary campaign at Porto – will not escape the focus as Chelsea’s Premier League campaign begins, but the pressure associated with his new role will be embraced. Villas-Boas, a manager who has soaked up knowledge imparted by Sir Bobby Robson, Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho, has only ever been successful. He has never tasted anything else. He may preach the power of the collective, but his is an entrenched belief that his own footballing philosophy can revive this team.

In truth, it has to. Villas-Boas is the single factor at present upon which Chelsea can pin their hopes of transforming last season’s relative underachievers into title winners and European contenders again. The club will attempt to be active in the transfer market before the end of the month, and much may depend upon the success of their pursuit of Tottenham Hotspur’s playmaker Luka Modric, but, at present, this is a playing staff that is settled and familiar. Short-termism in the dugout has led to virtual inertia when it comes to overhauling the squad. They will essentially rely on the same names, trying to tap into the same strengths, but are therefore also susceptible to the same weaknesses.

These players have earned lofty reputations, but they are also a group who have claimed the Premier League only once since Mourinho’s second campaign at the club, and who rather faded as challengers for the Champions League under Carlo Ancelotti. Last term’s dismal mid-season slump came as a profound shock, with the Italian never recovering from his inability to arrest the decline until the real damage had been done. Roman Abramovich does not put up with failure, and the management’s rather perplexed reaction to the crisis was never likely to be tolerated. Elimination from Europe merely sealed Ancelotti’s fate.

Those same players remain, which makes concerns over a repeat inevitable. Logic suggested this summer was an opportunity to revamp, that the new manager might seek to restructure and refresh. Instead, he has chosen to maintain the faith or, perhaps more realistically, recognised the practicalities which hamper Chelsea’s attempts to reinvent. Senior players are on considerable wages, limiting the number of suitors capable of luring them away.

Anzhi Makhachkala taking Yuri Zhirkov back to Russia is the exception – he will be returning home to a money-flushed club able to pay his wages. Others, like José Bosingwa and Paulo Ferreira, cannot be moved on. Nicolas Anelka, too, has opted to see out the final year of his contract and leave for nothing next summer rather than transferring now. The Premier League’s 25-man squad rule, and a reluctance to stockpile players who cannot be utilised, has set the club’s policy: the lavish spending, to date, was limited to January.

Yet Villas-Boas returned from the club’s four-match tour of the far east this week glowing at the quality already at his disposal. His satisfaction was not an act. There had been visible signs of progress through those distant pre-season preparations, with players growing both in terms of physical fitness – which would be expected – and in assuredness at the systems and style the management wish to pursue. They spoke of feeling “liberated”, revelling in training sessions that concentrated more on ballwork aimed at promoting a fluid, attacking approach on the pitch. These are simple principles and they will be tested in the Premier League, particularly if injuries bite as they did last year, but Villas-Boas and his staff believe they hit upon a balance at Porto that can be implemented in London to eke out something extra.

The tour provided evidence that his techniques, combined with the players’ desire to impress, are working. Pre-season only offers hints for what lies ahead, but there was plenty to encourage. Didier Drogba was at his brutish best. Frank Lampard adapted well to the right-sided role in a narrow midfield he might have to occupy if Modric is signed, and even to deeper-lying duties. Branislav Ivanovic appeared a natural partner for John Terry at centre-half, all power on the turf and aggression in the air. Yossi Benayoun offered subtlety and creation, qualities missing for long periods last season. Florent Malouda rediscovered the menace and whip in his delivery. Even Fernando Torres managed a goal and flashes of his old Liverpool self in the Barclays Asia Trophy final victory over Aston Villa. If those seniors maintain form and fitness, Chelsea can still flourish.

The team has flitted smoothly through variations in systems and tactics, from a conventional 4-3-3 to a diamond midfield and even a 4-2-3-1, which should suit Torres most of all. Then there has been the considerable impact of the squad’s younger talents, most notably Josh McEachran in midfield and Daniel Sturridge up front. Villas-Boas has high hopes, too, for the teenager Oriol Romeu, en route from Barcelona B, who he sees as capable of thriving in the defensive midfield berth. The Spaniard could potentially move the ball on quicker than Mikel John Obi to maintain an upbeat tempo. Michael Essien’s long-term knee injury is a blow, but throw in both Ramires and David Luiz, neither of whom were present in Asia but are both capable of sitting effectively at the base of midfield if required, and there are options for the Portuguese to pursue.

The addition of a playmaker could yet be key, and the catalyst to Torres justifying his value in the months ahead, and coaxing performances from the Spaniard will be essential if Villas-Boas’s tenure is to be judged successful. On one level, this club simply cannot afford to endure the embarrassment of being saddled with another Andriy Shevchenko – Torres, at 27 and already used to the rigours of the Premier League, should not suffer the same fate – but, on another, if the World Cup winner performs then Chelsea boast a weapon few can rival. Villas-Boas can simply add that to his list of issues to address but, as a manager who has never endured failure, he will not be daunted.

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