Count down to the World Cup

The last month of the season has flown by, we've had last day dramas across the domestic leagues, shock cup final results and of course who will ever forget the Madrid / Liverpool final! Hopefully Bales beauty will be remembered as the highlight and not the dreadful errors the Liverpool keeper made! I mean we've all had bad days at the office, but in such a crucial match, i will be surprised if he isn't out the door at Anfield before the Summer is up. Fair play to Klopp for not exploding during the post match interview but surely questions will now be asked of the German and his bottle in major finals! Thats 6 on the bounce now he as lost! Ouch!

So with the world cup only 17 days away we turn our attention to the confirmed international squads, and my word there are some big big names which have been left out! Starting with our home boys and the 3 Lions have decided to go with 3 inexperienced keepers, Hart had a bit of a shocker this season and its fair to say he was expected to be in the squad even if it was as the No3 choice, but to leave him out completely is a massive risk! Throw into the mix an absent Wilshere and thats two main stays of the national team left back on the sunny shores of England!

Next up is our Old enemy.. The Germans! Wow what a brave call from Loew! Gotze has had a few issues since his winner four years ago in Brazil, but surely that goal would of given him a free pass to be included in every German squad until he retires! Another player unlucky to miss out is Liverpool cult hero Emre Can, I know he got a bit of a knock before the end of the season but he was fit enough to be included in Liverpools CL final squad!

A short skip and a hop and we head over to sunny Spain! and my word have the Spanish been brave, no Morata, Fabregas or Alonso i mean don't get me wrong I'm not a fan of Chelsea either but leaving out Morata could end up haunting the Spanish when they are 1-0 down to Egypt in the semi-finals with only minutes left!

France meanwhile... Politics and football, a match made in heaven no one has ever said! How Benzema has still not been given a chance to redeem himself is pure madness, madness they call it madness. The French haven't really got an out and out striker, they've got loads of number 10's but not one of them would stick their head where it would hurt! Giroud is hardly going to scare Iran let alone Brazil!

You only sing when you're winning

So not long now until this Summer's World Cup and boy are we in for some fireworks. With all the political fall out between the UK and Russia mixed in with a bag full of steroids, its gonna be pure pandemonium.

With the recent International friendlies now behind us i think its safe to say Spain will be gunning for glory come June. Their recent display against The Argies show they mean business, and Isco in particular feels he has a point to prove after an indifferent season with Real.

Brazil will also fancy their chances, after a disappointing last world cup in their own back yard. Tite has rebuilt the team around his philosophies, and easily guided Brazil through their qualification group with games to spare. With the ever maturing Neymar alongside the impressive Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian fans will be hoping for cricket scores against the lower nations... as well as being able to right the wrongs against The Germans at some point in the knockouts!

Over the coming weeks we will be posting a series of blogs looking at cult moments from past tournaments as well as creating colourful artworks to run along side the piece.

It's all gone a bit Messi...

It's that time of year again, where Messi and co need to pull their socks up and start getting them points on the board for the Argies! 

This pattern seems to repeat itself every time qualification comes around, After an impressive 2014 world cup, you could be forgiven to think they were gonna walk their qualification group, especially considering how poor Brazil had been! 

The little man has been none existent in the last few matches, starved of the service he is so used to! Could we really have world cup without Messi??? That would be up there with the biggest crimes of modern times! 

It's not just Team Messi thats struggling either, when you consider how great The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have been! 2 x Copa America titles on the spin, yet they find themselves down in sixth place... Lets hope Sanchez find's his shooting boots in time to save a rather poor qualification campaign! Its been rumoured that Sanchez is struggling due to playing for a rather average club side, that winning mentality has dried up! 

As for Neymar, it looks like he is heading to Russia in a strong position, Anyone for Brazil and England in the same group???  

Oi, Ref!

So England won again last night, once again it was a bore to watch, with Wembley hosting the lowest attendance for an England international since 2014! Over 30 thousand empty seats... Come on Gareth give the fans something to enjoy!

One of the highlights of the match was brought to us once again by young Dele Alli, but for a change it wasn't the flick of the foot that caused people to take note.... A cheeky flick of the finger in the direction of the match official! As the ITV cameras caught it, the commentators didn't know what to say, silence filled the airwaves!

We all know it was directed to the ref, yet like a naughty school boy he wouldn't own up, and decided to lie about who he directed it at!

Dele grow some balls!!!

Modern Day Football..... What's all the fuss about?

The world wide web has changed the way we view and interact with the greatest game on earth, from blogs to tweets, every man and his dog as an opinion. One great game for a player now makes him a superstar, from ex pros to pundits they all jump on that bandwagon. We're being told just how good players are compared to the old days, how the likes of Best and Pele wouldn't be able to keep up with todays pace, but is the quality of the football really as good as it was 40/50 years ago?  

Over the next few months we're gonna be dusting off the archives and plough through the statistics that will hopefully answer this long running debate, the only spillage here, will be that of the Midweeker spilling his pint down his bright orange shirt! 

We want goals!

First up in this series, we will be looking at the great art of goalscoring, We've all seen Harry Kane shin it from 5 yards out, Ryan Giggs missing an open goal and that classic Arsenal penalty routine that would be better suited on strictly ballroom! But over a full season how does the modern game measure up to its past? Are we getting more goals on average over a full season? or should we be getting a refund on the ever increasing ticket prices? 

Lets go back to 1958/59 season, A random choice i know!  - Just a few things to point out - The old first division had 22 teams in it, meaning that each team would end up playing 42 league games per season, and to even make it harder, teams couldn't even make substitutions!  The only thing players needed to get through a match back then was that half time cuppa! 

So Wolves had just won back to back titles, banging in over 200 goals in the process (110 during 58/59), whilst second place, Man United also managed to get into the 100's in terms of scoring goals, not a bad effort when you consider most teams ended up playing 10 a side! 

Now back to present times - The top two teams last season (Chelsea & Spurs) only managed to hit the 80's in terms of goals, yet players now days have better nutrition and each team can make unto three subs! 

This pattern continues into the 1960's, During the 60,61 season three teams in the top flight managed to hit the 100's, The champions Spurs, third place Wolves (once again) and fourth place Burnley. Even relegated Newcastle managed to score 86 goals throughout that season. If we head back to 2015/16 when The Foxes managed the impossible, they only managed to hit the 60's in terms of their goalscoring abilities... Now is that entertainment... really? 

When you consider Jimmy Greaves still holds the record of being the outright leading goalscorer in top flight matches in England, (lets not forget he fell out of love with the game at the tender age of 31) it hammers home even more that we are being blinded by fancy advertising and over the top pundits! 

Now don't get me wrong, Big Alan Shearer was top notch but he was still over 70 goals shy of Jimmy's record, and you have to remember he was at The Toon into his late 30's! 

So in terms of putting the ball in the net over a course of a season, it seems the greats of the past found it easier than todays modern not so greats. 

                         

The FA Cup... Is the magic back?

Its Sunday so its time to grab that cup of tea, get them biscuits out, and lets take a look into how the FA Cup has got its sparkle back! 

 Cast your mind back a few seasons... Everything in terms of the Footballing bible was ringing true - 'Money brought success.' Man City proved testament to this. Teams that had to sell to survive ended up falling further and further behind. 'Instant success' was what the fans and the media alike wanted. Managers chopping and changing teams, Arsenal & Chelsea signing individual players costing more than most Championship teams are valued at as a business! It looked like the gap between the divisions was never going to be breached, a similar pattern and fait to what WBA faced in the early 00's 'Boing boing, Baggies Baggies...' Flittering between the two divisions for almost a decade! You could guaranty at least one club coming up from The Championship would end up going straight back down the next season. 

The priority for clubs up and down the country was to make sure they stay in their respective leagues! In theory The FA Cup was a distraction that managers could do with out. *Wigan proved this theory right in 2012/13 When they managed to beat City in the final, only to be relegated a few weeks later! Wigan have not been close to returning to the top tier since. In fact teams of a 'lower' profile that have made it to the final in recent seasons, have ended up being relegated either that season or the following..... Things don't look to good for Big Sam and Palace at the moment! 

After the third round of fixtures it looked nailed on that it was going to be the same old 'Billionaire clubs' making it to the latter stages... But then things started to get interesting, Sutton United and Lincoln City started to cause the odd tremor amongst the lower tier teams. This effect managed to spread across the footballing network and then BOOM! The term 'shock' became less of a shock, Liverpool were fed to the Wolves in their own inclosure, and The Lions who came up against massive off the field distractions made short work of The Cherries and The Hornets (You can also add The Foxes to that list too) and as if by magic The FA Cup started to trend once again... 

Now we're half way through the weekends fixtures concerning the Fifth round, and my gosh its been fun! The early kick off between a solid Burnley at Turf Moor against the non league 'have a go heroes' of Lincoln City. Now no disrespect to the Imps but the biggest test they had faced so far in the cup this season was High flying Brighton in the Championship. (A distraction Brighton could do with out) No one not even the BTSport pundits had given them a chance, The Imps management team of the Cowley brothers, looked calm and collective as they approached the dugout, Danny representing a modern day version of the Legend that is Brian Clough, jogging bottoms and a distinctively coloured top, applauding the traveling fans as he took his seat. 

Before long it was a full on old fashion fight to the death! The script was written for the pantomime villain otherwise known as Joey Barton... Lets just say he got his lines right and hopefully he will end up getting retrospective punishment for being a total tool! Rhead was outstanding for Lincoln and although it must of been tempting to put a cheeky number on Barton the old fashion centre forward restrained himself, allowing for his team to continue with 11 v 11...Something the Burnley lads hadn't expected! 

With time almost up and a replay looking likely, The Imps found themselves with a corner, prior to this set piece it would be fair to say that the others hadn't really gone to plan... The TV cameras focused on the crowd, fans praying for the final whistle so they could walk away with a replay... 

The rest they say is history, and the name Raggett will be talked of for years and years to come! 

  

Zlatan

I know it's early doors, but Zlatan has already set the Premiership alight! Could he be the answer to ending that title drought? or will it all go Wayne Rooney come May?

Here we go again!

It's taken just under 3 months for us to get blogging again after a shocking performance at the summers Euros.... Hats of to Portugal and Ronaldo.... I've heard a rumour we're gonna see if we can help Portugal pay pack some of its national debt by agreeing to sign Ronaldo on loan for the 3 lions next tournament (if we make it!) Something to do with a loop hole when he played over here at United!

In all seriousness it was a a shambles and it was great to see the FA finally give Roy that final push over the diving board and into the shake infested waters... closely followed by everyones favourite pundit Gary Neville.


Once the bloody had subsided and the waters had calmed back down the FA decided to search the deep depths of our footballing nations ponds (lower leagues) and quickly realised that the ponds were almost emptied of any decent English managers!

In a panic and mist of salt and vinegar flavouring the FA appointed BIG SAM.....

Football fans were outraged! The Scots thought it was the funniest thing since Billy Connolly! 

All jokes aside the Big Man recently got his first international out of the way, and at first glance - Nothing much had changed, Rooney was still living on yesterdays glory and Joe Hart was still in goal even though he had a summer to forget and Harry Kane... well the less said about that the better! 

Twitter was going mental, they wanted blood, they wanted the Big Man to fail at the first hurdle.... Some of the tweets were bang out of line, talk of Big Sam being a secret Jock.. looking to put the final nail in the coffin of our once proud footballing nation! 

The difference this time was that the Big Man had a plan and a vision, as simple as it seemed - "Play to the final whistle" and like the great club teams managed by Sam the lads took that vision on board and well in the depths of extra time we managed to bag all 3 points! It may not of been pretty but in the short time SA has been in charge, England already look a million miles better than they did under Roy! 

Could we dream of a World Cup trophy in just under 2 years? or will it be another false dawn????? 

Payet

What a season this chap is having! last season no outside of France had even heard of Payet... It's safe to say 12 months on every man and his dog now know about Payet. 

West Ham fans may well be worried that he could be heading to a champions league club after the Euros.... 

The Three Lions

So it's been nearly four long years since the last set of Euros! The hardcore fans are searching through their wardrobes for their retro England shirts (Italia 90 no 19 on the back) Hopefully England will play more than 3 games at this tournament! We won't even mention 2014's World Cup run.. Or lack of so to speak! 

Normally the press have already written the headlines by now.. The hype would be reaching fever pitch and every man and his dog would be convinced it was going to be England's year this year... For some reason though no one is really beating the England drum. It's almost as if people are praying that if they don't mention England in the same breath as tournament favorites Germany or Spain the boys may do the impossible!! 

The last truly great Euro campaign we had was back in 96! Who can forget Pearce's pen against the Spanish, or The great interlinking play between Teddy & Shearer against the Dutch? Unfortunately though we only made it to the Semi's.. A Mr G Southgate would be forever remembered as the man that missed that crucial pen! 

So what are we realistically hoping for this summer... 

It's hard to tell what formation or players Roy's gonna start with... But if we can play to our strengths with the likes of Kane & Vardy then there is a possibility that we can restore some pride to our national team following years of underachieving. 

If that doesn't happen then can we at least produce a modern day three lions icon. like we had of Gazza! Someone who the county can get behind... 

Although we all know Gazza was a one off so in that case i'd happily settle for another Chris Waddle! 

 

The Last Post

Whats worse than The Foxes winning the league? Arsenal winning it! Cast your mind back to the start of the season, the midweeker was convinced that the capture of Cech meant that Arsenal were nailed on to lift the trophy come May.... How wrong he was! Oh by the way he also had The Foxes down for relegation!
So as the two old timers meet with only eight games to go they are left pondering the meaning of life.

Midweeker: What's it all about eh? How did we get it so wrong? I'm thinking of hanging the old sheepskin jacket up for good!

Weekender: I blame Jose! If he had just apologiesed to Eva then all would be right in the footballing world! Instead he decided to carry on like nothing had happened and well the footballing Gods didn't take kindly to that and we are now left with Leicester and Spurs battling it out for the title. In fairness though i think it's safe to say that Spurs will bottle it and end up finishing 5th!

Midweeker: I'm still in shock that our predictions have been so wrong! We both had the Foxes to go down and Chelsea or City to win the thing, the sky blues put their foot in it announcing Pep with Pellegrini still in the hot seat. The players are hardly going to be motivated knowing the boss is out the door come the end of the season!
It's been a topsy turvey season all round, I keep pinching myself thinking it's been a bad dream!

Weekender: That dream better end soon! Who knows it could be the year England actually win the Euros... which in itself is ironic really... considering we're trying to leave the Euros. Harry Kane and James Vardy partnership up top??

Midweeker: Get Kane on the plane! I remember that campaign from a Spurs Facebook page! There's been some other success stories this season so far, Bournemouth and their manager who looks about twelve have done well and Watford and their hairy head coach have gone from strength to strength. But really this season nothing should have surprised us!

Weekender: Could Sir Alex come out of retirement? I've heard a rumour that he is being lined up as the next Arsenal Boss! He may even bring Giggs in as his number 2! On a more sobering note it was a shame to see Kompany go off again with an injury! The big man needs a nice cuppa and a good rest! Hopefully next season he will be back to his best! The way things are going though City may miss out on CL football next season! 

Midweeker: There's talk of a European Super League again but would any of our lot get in it? We gonna have Leicester in the Champions League and Gary Lineker in his speedos what has the footballing world come to?? Maybe it is time to call it a day and let the youngsters take over, it's all getting too complicated for me, bring back the days of Utd or Liverpool wining everything I knew where I was back then!

So with that, the two old timers finish up their beers, put on their sheep skin coats and make their way out into the night

The Midweek's Team Of The Year

It's that time of year again where we look back and pick out our heroes and moments from 2015.

In footballing terms it's been a random year of results, signings, sackings and look-alikes! Who'd have thought the likes of Neville & Sheringham would get a crack at managing? Considering Neville's first job is that of guiding Valencia up into the Champions League places - its school boys own stuff! It gives hope to all of us playing championship manager! As for Teddy it's proving a harder pack of assorted nuts to crack! Stevenage haven't kicked on under him and although the Hertfordshire team have been understanding in letting Teddy do things his own way, If they carry on sliding down that table towards the trap door that is non-league football ,that understanding will be pushed to the limits! I've heard a rumour that the Stevenage board have got the Midweeker on speed dial!
Now it wouldn't be an end of 2015 year blog with out mentioning Jose... Well we just have and that's all we are saying on the man (If you flick back to a few posts to an earlier blog we've covered all what we needed to!)

Right then down to the fun part  - wait for it... t's our team of the year! 11 players that have sexualised football fans throughout 2015! Making punters spill their tea all over the person sat in front of them! Forget the half time Pie this is all about the side portion of mash! 

We're gonna make this post short and sweet - Due to everyone wanting to get the first round of tea's in early doors ahead of NYE - But first we fill the keeper in our team needs a special mention!

This player has been outstanding throughout his career although things took a bit of a nose dive in the late part of 2014, finding himself on the bench at a club he had been at since 2004! During the summer he had a big question to ask himself! "Do i sit here at the Bridge on the bench playing with my iPhones drum app or do i find a new challenge?" After a lot of definitely maybes the big man got his switch across the capital to Arsenal.  

"Last summer, things changed and I understood I was no longer the first-choice keeper, but I felt it was not the right time for me to go. During the season it became clear that my situation would not improve and, as I know I am not at the stage of my career where I want to be on the bench, I made my decision to move on and look for new challenges." Čech 

It was claimed by some that Petr Čech was coming to the end of his career, that he was past his shot stopping best. "The helmet had finally gone to his head" This didn't stop Arsene spending £10 million on him, and what a signing it's turned out to be. For the unbelievers and Chelsea fans all i can say is that Arsenal are heading into 2016 as league leaders, from a neutral point of view it's sickening as Wenger shouldn't still be in footballing management he looks more like a school teacher! 

The main reason Arsenal are doing so well this season.. it's simple it's all down to a man named Čech!

Right you lucky bunch lot of footballing fans! lets get down to business! The remaining 10 places in our team of 2015! There's no room for the likes of Terry, Bony, Walker or even Radamel Falcao (I know Falcao has been electric this season and it may come as a bit of a surprise but he ain't gonna force his way into our team.) So after a good few minutes of thinking here's are team of the year!