Silly Season Has Started In Earnest

Leagues around Europe have drawn the curtains on what has been another interesting season of football. There have been great goals, great games, relegation dramas, predictable winners and losers. 

And as the season winds up, there will be inquests in clubs that are not happy the way their season has panned out and with that comes the axe that usually falls on heads that have found themselves on the chopping block. At this point, the club managers are usually the most vulnerable to get the chop.

In this article, we will be looking at some managers who might be or already on their way to the unemployment lines in the coming days.

Carlo Ancelotti 

Of the bunch I will be talking about in this article, he seems to be the one most undeserving of the sack. He has won 4 trophies with Real Madrid yet his job is on the line. Why? In Real Madrid, doing well might not be enough if one of the La Liga, Copa Del Rey, or the Champions League is not among the other trophies that have been won.

Ancelloti has led Madrid to European Super Cup glory and also the Club World Cup this season. The previous season he had led Madrid to the Copa Del Ray and the Champions League trophies. And the trophies were all won in 2014! In another club, those achievements would insulate a manager from the firing line but this is Real Madrid we are talking here. A club were the job security is as fragile as a poorly constructed mud house.

Sam Allardyce

After West Ham's defeat to Newcastle on the final day of the premier league, West Ham released a statement stating that they would not be extending 'Big Sam's' contract. After media people confronted Allardyce with the news, he said that he already knew about it. He went on to thank the club and the owners for the 4 year adventure.

Now, Sam Allardyce is not in the league of the likes of Mourinho, Ancelotti, Wenger etc but he sure knows how to keep a club in mid table mediocrity or at least, away from the relegation trap door. Now that West Ham have gotten rid of Allardyce, they had better not make the mistake of appointing someone who would mess up all the good work Big Sam has done. 

West Ham, should look no further than Newcastle to see the mess Newcastle are in right now. As for Big Sam, he will bid his time. One of the newly promoted clubs next season will hit the panic button when performances go south and he will be required to perform some miracle. Sunderland might even be interested if Dick Advocaat refuses to stay...

Brendan Rodgers

This candidate seems to be a bit odd because pressure started piling up on him recently when it was announced that Jurgen Klopp would be leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the Bundesliga season. However, Brendan Rodgers will not be under pressure for the first time this season.

Earlier in the just concluded premier league season, he was under scrutiny after several poor results both in Europe and at home. The turning point came after the loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford. He adopted a formation with 3 defenders at the back that fit the quality of players at his disposal and Liverpool went on an amazing run after that defeat which ended in yet another defeat to arch rivals United. From then on, results started getting poor again.

Liverpool's last 2 games have been nothing short of a fiasco. They lost at home to Crystal Palace and suffered a thrashing at Stoke City making captain Steven Gerrard's final games for Liverpool ones to forget. The loss to Crystal Palace was overshadowed by Gerrard's send forth but the loss to Stoke will definitely send tongues wagging about the ability of Rodgers to build on their achievements in 2014. At least Gerrard signed out with a goal in the Stoke game but it was hardly a consolation in a game in which Liverpool in the words of a BBC pundit, "just surrendered".

Roberto Di Matteo

Di Matteo's sacking was confirmed officially only a few hours before I started writing this post but this announcement is hardly surprising. Not many CEOs will keep a manager whose side have fallen from champions league contenders to 13th in the league standings. 

But Di Matteo has hardly been in the club a long time to really make much of an impact. The Club's Chief Executive, Horst Heldt is well known to be trigger happy when it comes to firing managers. And Di Matteo's sacking, looking merely at the stats, seems to be justified based on the stature of a club like Schalke. However, the stats don't tell the full story. Di Matteo's sacking is Heldt's 7th managerial sacking in 5 years. That is too much for a club seeking to establish itself.

Schalke has fallen from grace and the constant meddling of Heldt in the team affairs has taken the club backwards. Two of Schalke's players- Sidney Sam and Prince Boateng have been controversially kicked out of the club this season by Heldt to remind the team who calls the shots. Di Matteo has had to also deal with injuries to key players like Julian Draxler. All these have combined to make this season less than ideal for the former Chelsea manager.

Sadly for Di Matteo, just like his Italian counterpart Carlo Ancelotti, he is a victim of club politics which is bigger than him. But unlike Ancelloti who might leave Real Madrid with his head held high, Roberto Di Matteo is leaving with a whimper.

5 Reasons Why Gareth Bale is in Trouble

It is no longer news that the world's most expensive player, Gareth Bale, has been having a difficult last few weeks if not months at his club, Real Madrid. He has been criticised mercilessly from several quarters of the media both in Madrid and in the UK for his recent poor performances on the pitch. Bale was practically held responsible for Madrid's loss to Juventus in the first leg of the champions' League semi final by pundit, Roy Keane who said Real were effectively playing with 10 men because of Bale's poor showing on the night which made it difficult for Madrid to get a more positive result.

When you play for a club like Real Madrid and with the tag of being the most expensive player on the planet, criticism for any lame performance is likely to come your way on a regular basis except of course, you are a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Lionel Messi.

But are Bale's troubles entirely his fault? Is he not being made a scapegoat by sections of the Spanish media and Real Madrid for recent collective poor performances of the team? A player who has scored 17 goals in 46 appearances for Real Madrid so far this season playing from the wings surely deserves more respect, right?

This week I intend to look at 5 reasons why Bale is having a difficult time at Real Madrid and why he has not been fully accepted or appreciated by the Madrid supporters.

Language barrier issues

It has been reported that in the Real Madrid dressing room, the lingua franca is Spanish (which is not unusual after all,Real Madrid are a Spanish club) and that is the language Real boss, Carlo Ancelloti uses to address the players and pass instructions. Well, Mr Bale is a Welshman and has not come to grips yet with the Spanish language after nearly 2 years with the club. Spanish must be very hard to learn... 

Anyway, his team mates have complained about this obstacle and it probably affects the way he relates with many of his team mates on and off the pitch. This has left him increasingly isolated. Ancelloti is a good coach but he of all people in my opinion should be able to bend the rules a little and as much as possible translate most of what has been said to English so that Bale could be carried along. After all, he is the club's most expensive player and it is to their advantage that they get the best out of him.

Player power rearing its head

Bale's agent, Jonathan Barnett, has claimed that the Madrid players have not been passing the ball to his client and that he has the stats to prove it which he indeed has. Barnett added that his client could go on to be the best Madrid player if they could pass the ball to him more often so that Bale could express himself, as if we didn't know what Bale can do. Well, what did we expect from his agent? A tongue lashing?

On a more serious note though, if his agent is correct in his claims then the logical question that we need to ask is why are his team mates afraid to pass the ball to Bale? The language barrier thing could be one reason but the paranoid ones amongst us will not rule out the influence of Ronaldo on his team mates since they are heavily dependent on Ronaldo's goal scoring and are always trying to play to Ronaldo's strengths.

Bale is short on confidence

Since Bale's troubles started this year, he has looked short of confidence. He has not been deadly, not taken many players on, and his shooting has not been at its best. These are Bale's strongest qualities. 

And as long as Bale doesn't regain his form and confidence in front of goal, the Real Madrid jury will remain out on him. Bale's admirers know that form is temporary but class is permanent and will expect Bale to return to his best next season.

Real Madrid fans are fickle

Real Madrid fans like most fans around the world who support big clubs are fickle. When you do well, they love and adore you but when you flop or make some mistakes, they boo you and unleash vitriol at your direction till you improve. If you doubt it, ask Bale's team mate and captain, Iker Casillas. 

Iker has been a worthy servant of Real Madrid since he became a regular in the first team squad in 1999. But some high profile mistakes has made the Real Madrid fans turn against him. If you look at Casillas' achievements for both club and country, the attacks on Casillas is shameful. You suspect that if the Madrid fans can do this to one of their own, then Bale a Welshman is fair game. Just imagine if Bale were black...

Being played out of position

This is not the biggest of excuses for Bale's recent troubles after all, he scored 22 goals last season and has already notched up 17 this season from the right wing but it could partly be the reason why we have not seen the best of Bale in a Madrid shirt and his current low confidence levels.

People forget quickly that the reason Bale became such a hot property is because of his performance from the left wing and later on from the centre. Bale is being played on the right because the left wing is Ronaldo's favourite position since he loves to cut in to his favoured right foot and shoot. And of course, it would be ridiculous to play Bale as a central striker where Benzema occupies since he is not a natural striker.

Bale should be allowed to have freedom to roam behind the central striker since it was there he flourished in his last season at Tottenham Hotspur where he scored 24 league goals which persuaded Real Madrid to pay a reported 85 million pounds for his signature. 

The 85 million pound question is, will Carlo Ancelloti upset the present order and allow Bale to play in a more central position or on the left wing where World player of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo, is currently occupying? 

Your guess is as good as mine.

What Keshi Must Do To Improve The Super Eagles II

This is the concluding part of my article which I started last week on how Stephen Keshi can turn the fortunes of the Super Eagles around so that we can take our rightful place amongst the best teams in Africa and even the world .

Last week I took a look at the goal keeping options we currently have and also the defence and concluded that a new understudy for Vincent Enyeama is needed. Keshi also needs to find a new right back and possibly, a cover for the first choice right back.

The midfield remains Keshi's biggest challenge

The Super Eagles midfield still remains Keshi's biggest weakness. In modern football, the top teams have a creative and efficient midfield. Keshi has to find a fine balance between the defensive personnel and their attacking/creative counterparts when building a solid midfield for the Super Eagles.

Keshi has to search both home and abroad for creative midfielders who can help the current crop of misfiring strikers to create lots of chances so that the strikers can put some away. There aren't too many creative Nigerian midfielders flying high at club level in Europe today, sad to say. We depend so much on wing play which could be frustrating when we come up against teams happy to sit back and defend. Our lack of creativity in midfield affected us at the last AFCON qualifiers when we played both South Africa and Sudan away from home. In both games we failed to score or create many decent opportunities.

The dearth of creative and talented midfielders to replace ageing players in the Super Eagles is a serious indictment on the NFF's youth development programmes and our junior teams. Since Austin Okocha quit the Super Eagles in 2006, there has been no genuine successor for that number 10 shirt. 

John Obi Mikel looked to have the potential to fill the boots left by Okocha when he bust into limelight at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 2005 but his move to Chelsea under the guidance of 'the Special One', killed that hope. Mikel has become a defensive midfielder who prefers the easy and safe options of square plays and back passes. This is not what we need at this time.

Unfortunately, Mikel remains arguably our best midfielder which is a sorry situation because what this means for the Super Eagles is that, as long as he remains our best, we will never rise above mediocrity in the midfield. We have never been short of defensive and box to box midfielders. What we lack in abundance is a creative player. If Keshi can find a midfielder half as good as Okocha, the Super Eagles team could become the top team in Africa in no time.

Kelechi Iheanacho looks to be the solution to this midfield conundrum. The bad news is, it appears he may have miscalculated in joining a team like Manchester City to develop his game since City rarely give players in the feeders a look in whether in the short or long term. Manuel Pellegrini's position at City appears under threat. If he survives the axe that could fall on him come end of the season, he is unlikely to look Iheanacho's way for respite.

A dependable goal scorer needs to be sought after quickly

One of the biggest failings of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in Brazil was our failure to score goals. It was no different at the last AFCON qualifiers where we struggled to score and when we managed to, we were quite wasteful. Emmanuel Emenike has not scored for Nigeria since we played Ethiopia during the World Cup qualifiers for Brazil. Ahmed Musa is one of our biggest culprits when it comes to not taking easy chances. Victor Moses has been over looked by Keshi since Moses' poor performance at the World Cup.

But the attack after the goal keeping department still remains the strongest part of the Super Eagles. There is, of course, a need for some changes in personnel. Moses needs to be re-called. He is arguably the most in form Super Eagles player in Europe presently. Emenike was effective on the wings at the World Cup in Brazil, Keshi could give him a look in on the right wing. 

For the striker position, Keshi needs to look in the direction of Victor Anichebe. The only snag is his wretched injury record and Anichebe's self imposed exile from the Super Eagles. Keshi has to try and persuade him to come out of retirement. Shola Ameobi is an alternative but he needs to score goals to prove he is worth an invitation. So far, Sone Aluko looks to be the real deal in attack. His ability to play on the wings or behind the main striker is an added advantage for the team if tactical changes need to be made.

A case could be made for Brown Ideye but his penchant for missing easy chances was probably the reason he was over looked by Keshi for the World Cup and ever since. 

There are quite a lot of options in attack but the tricky challenge for Keshi is discovering a good and potent combination that will trouble defences and score goals. The jigsaw puzzle still remains the creative midfield which Keshi can manage in the short term with effective wing play coupled with hard working midfielders but Keshi has to make sure he doesn't leave his position when his contract expires without solving the midfield puzzle.