I sat down to watch the Champions League this week, but after just 15 minutes I found myself turning around to enjoy Leeds United vs Middlesbrough in the Championship instead.
There isn't enough danger in this Champions League format; it has become boring. There are too many games where teams don't get it right – like Liverpool this week – and it's boring because there remain other opportunities to rectify the results.
But like the Champions League, I have to say that even our own Premier League, which is generally regarded as the best there is, has sometimes become a tough watch, because you play too much in your own half and too much of the changes from one side to the other. side.
Look who is making the most passes in the Premier League today and the stats tell you they are all defenders. On average they hit the ball 72 times per game. Erling Haaland, the Premier League's top scorer, hits the ball an average of 23 times per match.
As a midfielder I was always told that the people who matter most are the attackers. Make sure you enter your passes early and accurately so that the 'badge kissers' have time and space to do their job and score the goals. Now, apart from the top teams, far too much football is played in their own half.
I don't think you would want to be a striker if you want to build a career in football today.
Forwards must be extremely frustrated with their team's endless square passes as they make positive runs and beg to move the ball forward.
Historically, defenders were the last players you wanted in possession of the ball. As an opponent you would shout 'Let him in' or try to get your center forward to force the ball onto the least competent of their back four, then chase them down and force a mistake.
The condition of the fields also played a role, as years ago there was more risk of miscontrol and misplaced passes.
Now a defender is a completely different animal. They have the most ball contacts, but with what effect? Some managers will come out after losing a game and say, 'look, we had 65 percent possession…' Yes, but most of that is in your own half and not under pressure.
Per Mertesacker had the best pass completion statistics in the Premier League in his final years at Arsenal, but the vast majority of those passes were just 10 square meters, to his left or right, and never hurt the opponent.
It can get a lot of average prizes, it's barely edge of your seat and it can't be fun for the supporters.
Going to football matches isn't cheap anymore, it's hard to find a ticket for less than £60. It's not just a father-and-boy event; it is the mothers and daughters who are also going now. That's an expensive day out for very little exciting football.
When I was at Liverpool our coach Ronnie Moran refereed our small games and the most common thing you heard him say was 'play it forward'. There would be a few more choice words, and he'd say, 'I can do that, that's how old men play football. Stop playing square'.
It should be every player's first thought: where can I play it forward instead of just taking the easy option and going square.
The team I played in at Liverpool was full of good passers of the ball, we were the best passing team around and the idea was that you were constantly testing the concentration levels of the opposition defenders so that sooner or later someone would fall asleep would fall and you would punish, but the difference was that we did it deep in the attacking half.
I'm willing to bet that if you asked most of these defensemen today if they felt comfortable doing what they were asked, the majority would say “no.” Only the very best can get away with it. The rest make too many mistakes in and around their own penalty area, which leads to too much effort on goal and unnecessary conceding.
Southampton manager Russell Martin said this week that he was ashamed to be on five points, but said in the same breath that he would never deviate from his principles of playing from the back.
Vincent Kompany had the same principles and was relegated, but then incredibly was offered one of the biggest jobs in world football at Bayern Munich.
I'm not sure the decision makers at Southampton want to hear that their manager won't waver from his principles if they're five points bottom of the league.
To win football matches at any level today you need to have an element of unpredictability. So I'm not sure it's wise to send out a message telling all opponents that you're going to play the same way all season.
Even the biggest clubs in the world compromise their style to win. Look at Real Madrid last season against Manchester City. When Real failed to break away from City's press, they went long in the second half.
This is more than any other team in the world of football who are expected to play open, expansive football, yet went against their instincts to get the result.
That is good governance.
United shows how NOT to run a football club
What a PR disaster Manchester United is.
You'd swear the leadership team has a brainstorming session every Monday to say, “Okay, who can we upset this week?”
They sack the sporting director, whom Sir Jim Ratcliffe had only months earlier described as 'one of the best around', cut staff Christmas bonuses and all the while seeing little or no improvement in the key area of what happens during 90 minutes. on a match day. It's been disastrous.
What happened to Dan Ashworth is mysterious. He spent as much time on gardening leave from Newcastle United as he did working for the club.
They brought him in because they believed he had the best knowledge and experience of what potential targets there are and fired him within five months, allegedly because he didn't share Ratcliffe's vision? That vision was certainly clarified during the very first meeting.
It's strange. There must be more to it, because he didn't get a chance to do what he came to do.
I think they have a good manager with Ruben Amorim, but he will need the right tools to solve this United and for that he will need talented, experienced people who have knowledge of the game and contacts around the world .
Even then, for financial fair play reasons, he won't be able to do much in January unless they get players out the door. And given the quality of these United players, there will be no queue at the Stretford End for those wanting to buy them.
How do you get rid of the poor players from that team when they have so much money and who would want a reward for that?
United will pay an extremely high price for their poor recruitment over the past decade. That, as I always say, is the most important thing at any club so far. Let's face it: United have given a masterclass in what not to do.
We now have a scenario where Marcus Rashford is among those considered for sale.
You have to say he looks like a young man who doesn't enjoy being a footballer.
I think back to the Luton-United match last season, when Rashford barely lifted a leg to track back and let Ross Barkley dance past him. That should never have happened on match day. That is something that should have been addressed on the training pitch.
Firstly, the senior players or, secondly, the coaches should have given him a good kicking at Carrington so that an attitude towards hard work never developed. I chuckle when I think how some of the players I played with would react if they ever saw that on the training pitch.
Unless a major change happens, it's time to put him out of his misery and let him leave one of the biggest clubs in the world.
There is a player in there, but like Anthony Martial before him, we are not seeing him on a consistent basis for whatever reason.
Whether it's the United shirt weighing too much on his shoulders or he's just not good enough, he looks unhappy. But if he leaves United, it won't be a better place.
Pep Guardiola's run is not a short-term dip
Pep Guardiola must have exhausted his knowledge by now. He has taken quite a hit on the nose during City's run. One win in ten is more than a blip.
I can guarantee I've never experienced that as a player, and it will be a very strange experience for a group that is serial winners.
In a successful team the mantra is always 'don't panic, don't do anything different, let's do things that have brought us success in the past'.
Pep will rightly say the same. They have not lost their individual skills, but seem to have massively lost the intensity with which they usually play when they do not have the ball.
As a collective they need to get that extra half a meter back because at the moment teams break pressure too easily and they look vulnerable.
If Manchester United can beat this it could be a temporary boost, but I'm not sure it would be a real indicator of major progress or a turning point.
Comments