Monday 25 June 2012

Football Tweets of the week: 25/06

It's back! Ages and ages ago, you may remember we actually did have this feature running regularly a few months ago. But for one reason or another, we stopped, but it's back. Here are our best football tweets of this week! (Tweets are in no order, just randomly collected)

1.) Danny Murphy proves the idea of an intelligent footballer is a myth by signing for Blackburn. - @PickThatOneOut

2.) Papastathopoulos... Imagine having to pay for that on the back of your shirt. No wonder the Greeks are skint. - @pmblgz

3.) So Arsenal have signed Olivier Giroud? He's only 25. Why has he decided to end his career so early? - @FootballFunnys

4.) John Terry has asked if the 5th official [from the Ukraine -England game] can be a juror at his racism trial next month. Blind. - Opta_Joke

5.) Poor Van der Vaart. Once again, he finishes 4th and is sent packing from Europe! -@ShikharrC

6.) "Penalties are a lottery." Yes, if by that you mean England have a one in a million chance of winning. - @AltFootball

7.) Roy Hodgson is set for a test for drugs with UEFA. Officials became suspicious when they saw Milner was starting for England vs Italy. - @FootballFunnys 

8.) Steven must have had a sleepless night following England's defeat... - @RobCRoose
 9.) Against a tough Ukraine side, England will have to start ugly tonight... or Wayne Rooney as he's more commonly known. - @StupidFootball

10.) Where was this guy? (Tweeted after England's loss on penalties by Italy) - @AttackoftheKop

Be sure to follow all these guys on Twitter, you can follow us at @ReviewFootball

Sunday 24 June 2012

England and Italy… Rooney and Balotelli


Hello, I’m Callum Rivett, and welcome to my latest blog for The Football Front. This week it's the turn of the quarter finals to capture my fleeting glances, and what a quarter final it looks to be. 

            England.
            Who thought England would finish top of the group with two wins and a draw against France? I certainly didn’t, and I think this is because the expectations had been lowered to the point that we thought we may not even get out of the group.
            We have avoided world champions Spain, which is welcome news to every English fan, but unfortunately face a tie with favourites Germany in the semi-final if we beat Italy. The Germans are, unsurprisingly, an efficient bunch, and have proved so by winning four out of four matches. Their only weakness could be their defence - an average Greek side scored two, albeit one from a penalty. 
            Roy Hodgson has built up a fantastic team spirit within the camp, and that can only have a positive effect. The Italians are nothing special, but then neither are we. Both sides are defensively minded, and will sit back and look to hit the opposition on the counter. 
            Those techniques are fine against opposition that like to attack and are a better side than yourself. But what we could be looking at is a match where the two sides are waiting for the other to attack, both sitting back, both scared of going forwards. 
            Then again, since it’s a quarter final and winner-takes-all match, we could have the most exciting and enthralling match of the tournament on our hands. Two very evenly matched sides, no big expectations, but with a team full of hard-working, classy players. We have Rooney; they have Balotelli. We have Hart; they have Buffon. 

            Both us and Italy boast world-class talents, but both have a loose fuse. Rooney and Balotelli can be either heroes or villains. Both have been sent off numerous times, but they have both scored numerous times. Balotelli is effectively the Italian Wayne Rooney. You can see the raw talent, the enthusiasm, but there is something else, something dark. A violent, idiotic side: Rooney’s kick against Montenegro, Balotelli’s sending off versus Arsenal, Rooney’s stamp on Carvalho, Balotelli and the bib. 
            Ultimately Balotelli is more idiotic than aggressive, and Rooney vice versa, but the talent there is undeniable. Under the guidance of Roberto Mancini, Super Mario can flourish to become a world-class talent, but only if Man City can control his wild side. He’s arrogant, but not in a moronic way. He gives 60% of his wages to charity, so it is obvious he is actually not as stupid as he makes out. 
            There is only one word that fully describes Mario Balotelli: entertaining. 
            These two will be the focal points for the media come Sunday, and they could hold the key to their country’s success. England will have to dominate Italy’s defence - which is weak - to win, and I believe that if we get to half-time at 0-0 then we have a superb chance to get to a semi-final, something that doesn’t come along that often. In fact, I wasn’t even born when England last got to the semis, but I know the story of that 1990 game against Germany. Gazza’s tears, Pearce’s penalty, Lineker’s 80th minute equaliser… 
            We have a real chance of making a semi-final. We are on the same level as Italy, and it should be a balanced match which whets the neutrals appetite, and drives both country’s supporters to the brink of despair and back again. 
            It’s tiring being an England fan: the heart-aches, the quarter final exits, the constant underachievement. 
            But now it’s different. Now there are no expectations. The nation believes, not expects.

Follow Callum on twitter: @CJRivett12. You can find more of Callum's work here.

Monday 18 June 2012

What have we learnt so far in Euro 2012?

I’m Callum Rivett, and this week I’m reflecting on the current situation in the Euros. Twists and turns galore, we can expect plenty more exciting, intriguing and defensive football - and that’s just England! The Group of Death has lived up to its name, with no team guaranteed to go through approaching the last game of the group stage. A draw would send England through, Greece and the Czechs are in the last 16, Ireland and Sweden are out and in the remaining groups no one has already qualified. Should be an exciting round three then!

Spain need to be more direct
Everyone knows that Spain play some of the most attractive football on the planet (along with Barcelona) but sometimes lack the cutting edge. They have the tools needed with Torres, Llorente, Negredo and any midfielders they have, yet fail to utilise them enough. Spain pass the ball all the way up to the opposition box, pass it some more, then when they finally have the chance to shoot… they pass again. They try and walk the ball into the net. With the quality they have in midfield, there can be no harm in having a shot from outside the box once in a while. Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, Silva, we’ve seen them smash a few into the top corner before - why not have another go at it?

England have a real chance (only if we sort out our defence)
A draw against the best team in our group goes a long way to help us go far in this tournament, and the comeback victory over Sweden will certainly boost morale. We have Carroll and Welbeck who are now scoring, and Rooney is about to come back. Our squad is filled with youth with a sprinkling of experience, and only two players are arguably world-class -- Hart and Rooney. I’d say Hart is the most vital, he’s made quality saves throughout the qualifiers and the tournament, most notably from France’s Alou Diarra in the opening match. We would miss Hart so much if we didn’t have him.

Germany are a force to be reckoned with
I predicted Germany to win the Euros not that long ago, and they look well on their way to fulfilling that prediction. A 1-0 win over Portugal then a 2-1 win against Holland that never really looked in doubt means they are sitting pretty, top of their group and it would take a shock Denmark win over the Germans and a Portugal win over the Dutch to send them home. To think that a talent like Mario Gotze is sitting on the bench is astonishing, and you can really see the strength in depth they have. Experienced veteran Miroslav Klose can come on if they are in need of a goal, and that is not a bad sub to make! I’m sticking with Germany to win it, they seem unstoppable at the moment.

Expect more shocks
Denmark 1 Holland 0. Russia and Poland being knocked out. Croatia snatching a draw against Italy. England winners? It could happen. All we know is that there will be plenty more shocks, upsets and early trips home for some. Ireland might even support England, but then again we have more chance of winning the Euros than them supporting us. Russia and Holland are already gone, which I’m shocked at, and so are Poland. One of Italy, Croatia and Spain are going out, , expect the unexpected. You never know in this game.

Follow Callum on twitter: @CJRivett12. You can find more of Callum's work here.

Friday 15 June 2012

Which league is dominating Euro 2012?


Themba Sweet analyses the first 8 games of Euro 2012 to see which league is dominating the Euros.

Round 1 or the Euro’s is complete and we’ve had 8 games to weigh up the teams. We decided that, at the end of each round, we’ll see how the players from each league are doing and, possibly, compare the top European leagues against each other. If you weren’t previously aware, the Barclays Premier League has the biggest contingency at the Euro’s (72 players, worth about $1406 million), followed by the Bundesliga (45 players, worth about $835 million) and in 3rd place, La Liga (33 players, worth about $1105 million). So we know that the EPL is a popular league where many of the European stars can be found or where they head to, but…are their players performing well in the Euro’s? Comparing the leagues based on goals and assists alone is not enough so there are other factors we’ve reviewed to give a holistic view of the performances in Euro 2012. Are you still lost? Well let’s get started, it’ll all make sense quite soon:

Goals:
There have been 20 goals scored at the end of Round 1. 5 goals have been scored by players who are currently playing for a Bundesliga team i.e.
Mandzukic x2 (Hamburg), Lewandowski (Dortmund),  Pilar (Wolfsburg) & Gomez (Bayern) = 5 goals for Bundesliga.
Here’s the table so far:

League
Total
Bundesliga
5
EPL
4
Russian Premier League
3
Serie A
2
Ukranian Premier League
2
Danish Superliga
1
English Championship
1
Greek Super League
1
La Liga
1
Grand Total
20

Assists:
There have been 17 assists towards those 20 goals. 5 of those assist have come from players currently in the English Premier League:
League
Total
EPL
5
Bundesliga
3
Ukranian Premier League
3
Ligue 1
2
Russian Premier League
2
La Liga
1
Serie A
1
Danish Superliga
0
English Championship
0
Greek Super League
0
Grand Total
17

Combined:
Let’s combine these charts to see who’s really dominating based purely on goals & assists:
League
Total
EPL
9
Bundesliga
8
Russian Premier League
5
Ukranian Premier League
5
Serie A
3
La Liga
2
Ligue 1
2
Danish Superliga
1
English Championship
1
Greek Super League
1
Grand Total
37

Well that’s the straight forward answer, but it doesn’t tell you who have been the danger-men, who’s making this a tournament to remember and who is proving to be a good reflection of their league. We’re mainly focusing on attacking since the stats can be easily compared & measured. To get a real idea of which players are dominating the Euro’s we’ll need to take this into account also:

Shots on target:
Who’s been taking shots on target? If it wasn’t for either the post or rather good goalkeeping, these shots could be. We’ve only taken players who have had 3 or more shots on target into account. The English Premier League players are clearly the more accurate strikers so far:
League
Total
La Liga
15
EPL
11
Bundesliga
4
Danish Superliga
3
Ukranian Premier League
3
Grand Total
36

Shots off target:
Although not a vital stat, it shows attacking intent & since we’re only taking players with 3 or more shots, you can see who’s the more trigger-happy players. They’re also the players lighting up the tournament:
League
Total
La Liga
11
Bundesliga
9
EPL
9
Russian Premier League
6
Ukranian Premier League
5
Danish Superliga
0
Grand Total
40
Castrol Man of the Match:
This is quite an important factor. Castrol are monitoring every player in every game of the tournament and use technology to analyse and grade players’ performances. They track every pass, save, shot, tackle, interception & even the blocked shots. Based on this, they basically have a “Man of the Match” for every game. Here they are broken down per league.

League
Total
Bundesliga
3
Greek Super League
1
Ligue 1
1
Russian Premier League
1
Serie A
1
Ukranian Premier League
1
Grand Total
8

Top Castrol players per position:
Castrol stats publish their ratings for the players in the tournament. From this they can award the overall Player of the Tournament once the Euro’s are complete. From this list, we’ve taken the best players in each position - GK, DF, MF, FW.
We’ve taken the top 2 GK, 5 DF, 5 MF and 3 FW to make a team of 15.

League
Total
Bundesliga
6
Russian Premier League
2
EPL
2
La Liga
2
Ligue 1
1
Serie A
1
Ukranian Premier League
1
Greek Super League
0
Grand Total
15

So above are the various areas where we’ve graded the players. We’ve allocated a point for a goal & a point for a shot off target which some might feel is unfair. This completely misses the thought behind all of this though. The idea is not to state the obvious – that a goal is obviously the most important stat – but rather to gauge which leagues are being represented well, which leagues are making the Euro’s great, who’s bringing the excitement & who has the biggest influence on the Euro’s. After adding all of these stats together, it’s quite clear (and expected) that the top 3 European leagues are dominating the Euro’s. So although Spain only had 1 goal, their players have done many other impressive feats and, remember, that not all La Liga players come from Spain. As we discussed in the beginning, the EPL has the largest contingency at Euro 2012 – 72 players. Only 23 of the 72 make up the English national team. Therefore it’s not surprising to see them top after round 1. Here is the overall league dominance of Euro 2012 (after round 1):


League
Total
EPL
31
Bundesliga
30
La Liga
30
Ukranian Premier League
15
Russian Premier League
14
Serie A
5
Danish Superliga
4
Ligue 1
4
Greek Super League
2
English Championship
1
Grand Total
136

Author: Themba Sweet
Twitter: @thembasweet
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