Don't Call me a Mercenary!

'How's your big centre forward doing?' 'Oh he left for an extra £30 the greedy bugger.' This kind of conversation is beginning to become more common.

FM Anonymous: My Addiction

I have certain friends that I know are as enthusiastic about the great game of Football Manager as I am, these friends that when we get together, pretend to listen to the success of others, waiting patiently for their turn to share what player they’ve just bought on a free, who they’ve offloaded for mega bucks, which youth starlet has come through the ranks to become the clubs top goal scorer. I am the worst, I almost forget that sometimes this game is not real life. Jason Manford once said in his comedy sketch, that he met Micah Richards at a Man City training session, only afterwards to realise that he’d been really ‘off’ with the player as on his Football Manager game, Richards had requested to be put on the transfer list! I’ve had friends (with lots of time on their hands) that have got suited and booted for their team reaching cup finals, university pals who have almost failed their degrees due to FM addiction. In fact, one of my greatest achievements, not just in the game, but in my life, was that as Tottenham Hotspurs most successful ever manager, the club named their newly built stadium ‘Bysouth Arena’, no amount of Champions Leagues or World Club Championships could match the proud feeling when the stadium was unveiled.

Worst XI

Is there such a thing as a bad footballer?

We have all sat in pubs and living rooms and given our opinions on this great game of ours. Amongst the usual conversations regarding great goals, great players and stadia are the opinions on how bad players are or were.

Everyone has their view on how good or bad a player is and some are unanimous when assessing player ability and within minutes we can give a good or in this case a bad team.

What makes a bad player and are they really that bad? In some cases it simply involves making a mistake so bad that no matter what they have done previously or what they do after they will always be associated with the particular incident. There are just as many players remembered for a negative incident as a positive one. Should professionals be making mistakes at all? A sole purpose of putting a ball in between two posts. Can't be that hard can it?

Here is my 'Worst XI'

GK: Scott Carson
D: Igor Stepanovs
D: Anton Ferdinand
D: Richard Dunne
D: Frank Lebouf
M: Eric Djemba Djemba
M: Jonathan Greening
M: Karl Henry
M: Ronnie Rosenthal
F: Nicolas Bedtner
F: Carlton Cole

This will no doubt start a debate and some people will disagree with me on a lot of these but that's what is great about football. Everybody has an opinion.

Ronnie Rosenthal wasn't a bad player but the one thing that stands out was when he rounded the keeper and in the green of Liverpool, hit the crossbar from 18 yards. I don't care what he did before or after, he hit the bar?!

Nicolas Bendtner... Now I'm an Arsenal fan and yes he did have his moments but he came to the club with such a high opinion of himself and claimed to be one of the worlds best. He then proceeded to miss the majority of his chances and will forever be seen as a failure by the Arsenal fans.

Richard Dunne has the most own goals to his name in the history of the Premier League and Karl Henry has the most sending offs with 7 dismissals to his name. I don't know any of his career highlights but I know of the sendings off. Does this make him a bad player?

This can work the other way too. Andy Linighan for example. Many of you wouldn't have heard of him and he wasn't a great player at Arsenal. In fact he was Steve Boulds understudy- that should give you an idea of his ability, but Andy scored the winner against Sheffield Wednesday in the 1993 FA Cup Final and will therefore be spoke of more than most Arsenal defenders. All that seems to matter to the fans was that goal!

Everyone has got their opinions on good and bad players and I've done mine based on facts and what players were remembered for. I wonder how many of us could be professional footballers though?!

Frazer Triggs

Pep Talk

Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly one of the most successful managers in the modern era, producing a Barcelona team that even the most hardcore Madrid fans must admit to playing some of the most aesthetically pleasing football in recent times.

Guardiola spent a majority of his playing career with the Catalan giants, joining as a boy at the age of 13 and becoming a regular in a team that won La Liga by the time he was 20. He became one of the most successful players in Barcelona history, spending 17 years at the club and playing nearly 500 games for the club, before leaving for Brescia in Serie A.

After his playing career ended, Pep spent a year in charge of the Barcelona B team, working almost as an apprentice to Frank Rijkaard before replacing him at the beginning of the 2008-9 season. Guardiola’s first movement as manager was to oust what he saw as some of the luxury players not needed in the squad, Ronaldinho, Zambrotta,Thuram and Deco all left the club, where as Samuel Eto’o was put on the transfer market and told to prove his worth to the manager. Eto’o eventually went in 2009-10 season as a makeweight in the Zlatan Ibrahimovic deal, which also saw Guardiola throw another 49millions euros at to secure the Swedes signature. Peps lavish spending has been a trait of his time in charge at Barcelona, big money has been spent on players like Dani Alves, David Villa, Alexis Sanchez and of course the return of Cesc Fabregas.

With the Spaniard increasingly becoming linked to English clubs Arsenal and Manchester United as both Wenger and Ferguson look to be nearing the end of their respective club careers, I question whether Guardiola would be able to adapt to life in the Premier League and away from the Blaugrana. Undoubtedly Guardiola has been successful with the Catalonia club, totting up La Liga championships and Champions League victories, but this has been largely assisted by the development of perhaps the finest youth system ever in club football, this generation along has produced what are now regarded as perhaps 3 of the most talented players in the world with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta all graduates, not forgetting Fabregas and Pique (who Guardiola brought back to Spain after spells in England) as well as club captain Carles Puyol and other Champions League winners such as Pedro and Sergio Busquets. I would argue it is Barcelonas youth system rather than Guardiolas forays into the transfer market that have brought such success to the club. Wenger has tightened the purse strings at Arsenal and despite comparisons to Barcelona in the way they try to play, would Pep really be allowed the same spending power as he’s enjoyed over the last few years? And although being regarded as one of the best in England, is he Arsenal youth system going to provide 8 or 9 players good enough to challenge for the Champions League in the next season or so?

This may sound critical, especially when I am a self confessed lover of the ‘Tika-Taka’ style Guardiola has implemented and Barcelona have become famous for, but there is a great differentiation in styles and tactics shown by Premier League Clubs, from the close passing conveyed by Arsenal and Swansea, to the directness of your Newcastle’s and Sunderland’s, then to the physicality of teams like Stoke. Guardiola has rarely shown the ability or awareness to adapt his tactics and although largely successful, the Tika-Taka has shown signs of waning this year with Barca being out thought and out played by several teams in La Liga this year, leaving them trailing Real Madrid and the championship as good as over.

My argument is that he may not be quite the tactical genius or wheeler dealer people will expect him to be, as Pep Guardiola is Barcelona through and through, he knows the club inside out from the boys in the u13s to every coach working towards the glamorously almost arrogant, but most wonderful product that is the Barcelona first team. Perhaps a little stubborn this year in his delay in signing a new contract and his inability to change in vital games, Pep is still planning for the future, giving chances to players like Thiago, Villanova and Tello must show this. Surely the emergence of Real Madrid under ‘The Special One’ as a real threat to Barcelona’s dominance will see Guardiola stick around and once again become number one in Spain.

Alex Bysouth.