2011 November | Soccer Football

Football Manager 2012 Wonderkids Update

Nov 222011

Football Manager 2012 - Wonderkids

In our previous Football Manager article, we tried to predict the players we thought would achieve the status of ‘wonderkid’ within the game. As Football and Championship manager veterans will know, wonderkids are the most sought after players because they have the potential to become world class, and are often available at prices which are slightly below those of an already established world class player.

Our predictions in the aforementioned article (which was a list of players compiled with the help of @solanseven) were generally successful. Mother Superior jumped the gun on players such as Thorgen Hazard and Samed Yesil, who are almost too kiddish to achieve any kind of wonder on a normal database start-up other than the German or French league. They play for RC Lens and Bayer Leverkusen respectively.

However, we weren’t able to list every potential wonderkid as that would just be a ridiculously long list of every player in world football aged 19 or under, but here are a few who emerged once the game came out, and we were able to get a few of our virtual scouts on the job.

Leandro (Gremio) – A versatile forward who can play in most attacking positions, whether it be on the wing or through the middle, Weverson Leandro Oliveira Moura possesses great speed, technique and dribbling ability, attributes which have had Gremio fans thinking they have another future Brazilian superstar on their hands. The player was named as one of the outstanding forwards in the competition as he helped Gremio to the Campeonato Gaucho title earlier this year (2011).

Mbaye Niang (Caen) – One of the new bunch of French wonderkids who appear on each instalment of the Football Manager series, Niang is a striker who we will call the new Yaya Sanogo. A year younger and a few feet smaller than the Auxerre striker, Niang offers a similar combination of pace, power, technique and finishing ability which would give any team a striking option for most situations.

Jesé (Real Madrid) – Whilst our previous article focused on Alvaro Marata possibly being the next Raul, this time we find that they may also have a ready made Cristiano Ronaldo in their youth ranks in the form of Jesé Rodriguez. Slightly different to Cristiano Ronaldo in the fact that he’s Spanish, and won’t cost £80,000,000, but has the dribbling ability and flair to warrant any comparisons with the Portuguese winger.

Adryan (Flamengo) – Underwhelmingly compared with Dario Bottinelli on the game, Adryan is a talented attacking midfielder who has already been linked with a move to Manchester United of the English Premier League. At just 17 years old and valued at under £1m, he might be one of the bargain signings on the game if you can secure a work permit for him. No doubt Sir Alex Ferguson will.

Emre Can (Bayern Munich) – If anyone can, Emre Can (it had to be said). A defensive midfielder for whom Bayern Munich have high hopes. A physical player with great technique who hasn’t yet played for the Bayern first team; Can could be another one of the bargains of Football Manager 2012 if you can snap him up early.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (Borussia Monchengladbach) – Another possible future German international, ter Stegen achieves wonderkid status relatively early in the game, and might cost slightly more in terms of transfer fee because of this. However, he could probably go straight into any first team as he possesses all the attributes of a great goalkeeper even at the age of 19.

Lenny Nangis (Caen) – Seems like Caen have a couple of real talents in the striking department with Niang whom we’ve already mentioned, and the trickier more diminutive Lenny Nangis. In one game of FM he was one of many young players hurriedly signed by Manchester City, and on joining the club was immediately compared to Carlos Tevez. For his on the pitch performances, we presume.

Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) – Has already been snapped up by Real Madrid, but might still be available if they’re stupid enough not to play him. And you could always get him on loan and sneak in a future fee… Another of the French contingent, Varane is a ball playing centre back/defensive midfielder who would be a great addition to most sides in world football.

If these French players turn out as good as Football Manager makes them out to be, they should have some national side in a few years.

It’d be good if Emre Can played for Caen too…..

Half Time in the Russian Premier League 2011/12

Russian Premier League

Nov 102011

1250 miles from their Moscow base - Anzhi Makhachkala's Stadium Dinamo

At the halfway stage in this extended Russian Premier League season, the league table has clearly divided itself into the championship group and the relegation group. Our previous article on the Krasnodar Derby details the set up for this season of transition, as the RPL moves into line with the winter season schedule of the other major European leagues. Here it is in brief (or just scroll down – it’s boring):

The top 8 teams will now compete for the championship, as the name suggests, and also the European places, with two Champions League, and three Europa League spots up for grabs. There will be Moscow derbies galore as all four of the clubs based in the capital finished in the top 8. The bottom 8 teams will battle it out to avoid relegation, with the bottom two being relegated to division 1, and the teams in 5^th and sixth entering a playoff against the teams finishing 3^rd and 4^th in the National League Football Championship (Division 1), which is itself splitting up into championship and relegation groups.

Mid Table – Russian Premier League 2011/12 Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Zenit St. Petersburg	30	17	10	3	59	25	+34	61
2	CSKA Moscow	30	16	11	3	58	29	+29	59
3	Dynamo Moscow	30	16	7	7	51	30	+21	55
4	Spartak Moscow	30	15	8	7	48	33	+15	53
5	Lokomotiv Moscow	30	15	8	7	49	30	+19	53
6	Kuban Krasnodar	30	14	7	9	38	27	+11	49
7	Rubin Kazan	30	13	10	7	40	27	+13	49
8	Anzhi Makhachkala	30	13	9	8	38	32	+6	48
9	Krasnodar	30	10	8	12	38	43	−5	38
10	Rostov	30	8	8	14	31	45	−14	32
11	Terek Grozny	30	8	7	15	29	45	−16	31
12	Volga Nizhny Novgorod	30	8	4	18	24	40	−16	28
13	Amkar Perm	30	6	9	15	20	39	−19	27
14	Krylia Sovetov Samara	30	6	9	15	21	43	−22	27
15	Spartak Nalchik	30	5	9	16	23	40	−17	24
16	Tom Tomsk	30	4	8	18	19	58	−39	20

Leading Lights, Leading Scorers

Seydou Doumbia of CSKA Moscow, regular season top scorer.

The first half of this season has been lit up by CSKA Moscow’s prolific striker Seydou Doumbia who finished top scorer with 23 goals in 30 games, and is now attracting interest from all over Europe. Whether The Army Men can keep him or not will be a real test of the financial power and rising status of the league and its clubs. The Ivorian Lacina Traore has proved himself useful in front of goal for Kuban Krasnodar – averaging around a goal every other game he helped his team to a 6^thplace finish, 3 places above their neighbours FC Krasnodar – who performed admirably in their first season in the top flight, but will now have to battle against relegation. The top scoring Russian during this first period was Aleksandr Kerzhakov who netted 16 goals for league leaders Zenit St Petersburg, ably assisted by the Portuguese Danny (9 goals) and Serb, Danko Lazovic (11).

Anzhi Makhachkala

Sneaking into the championship group in a disappointing 8^th place are Anzhi Makhachkala, who will be glad of regular games in Moscow as that is where their players are based, and where they train. For home games they have to fly south to Makhachkala on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Their extravagant spending doesn’t stop at air miles, as they are able include players such as Samuel Eto’o, Roberto Carlos and Yuri Zhirkov on their team sheet who must be on wages which will only be matched by the top teams in Europe, and in the case of Eto’o, not matched by anyone. Their minimum expectation from this championship round will be European football, probably of the Champions League variety.

Teams participating in the 2011/12 season – on a map!

Image from the brilliant – http://billsportsmaps.com

russian premier league teams map 2011-12

2011/12 Russian Premier League Teams

In Support of Steve Kean, for now. Blackburn v Chelsea.

Opinion, Premier League

Nov 052011

Steve Kean

It’s like some sort of sadistic “KEAN OUT” party at Blackburn lately. Balloons daubed with the “supporter’s” favourite new slogan, banners held high as more fans try to get their picture in the newspapers (now controversially banned from the ground), and even the ridiculous sight of a plane flying over Ewood Park carrying the same message behind it, which will, no doubt, be quipped about by the comedians on the Match of the Day panel tonight. All this was taking place during a game in which they were the equals of, if not better than, last season’s second place team – the multi-millionaires of Chelsea FC.

In the modern game there is no patience shown to managers experiencing bad results. Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas knows this all too well, coming into this game with the equally ridiculous pressure from some quarters that it was a must win game for him after Chelsea’s losses to Arsenal and QPR, followed up with a drab draw against Belgian champions Genk in the Champions League. Chelsea are inconsistent, unsettled, and more importantly they are 9 points behind where they are expected to be.

Here we have two young managers given a chance by their respective club’s owners, both with different expectations and some more realistic than others. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck summed Chelsea’s expectations up when he commented that Villas-Boas could be at the club for 15 years, as long as he wins trophies regularly. The Portuguese must have felt much safer in his job after hearing these comments, as Chelsea have previously had a habit of sacking the managers who have won them trophies. Madness.

Meanwhile over at the Venky’s Stadium, sorry, Ewood Park, the signings of Ronaldinho, Raul, Van Nistlerooy and Beckham have been put on hold for the foreseeable future, and the poultry company’s heads of command have gone back to living out their dreams on the new Football Manager game. A game in which Steve Kean was always one of the best coaches…..

Andre Villas-Boas

No, none of these owners have realistic expectations. Immediate gratification is what modern day football club owners seek, but they might do well to take a look in the newspapers this weekend and read about the early days of a certain manager celebrating 25 years in charge of the same club. Although he is in charge of that club, and the person in charge at Chelsea certainly isn’t the manager.

The game itself was fairly even. Chelsea enjoyed the majority of the possession, but never threatened to do much with it until big Chris Samba was forced off through injury, much to the relief of John Terry.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Frank Lampard found a Samba shaped gap in the Blackburn defence, as Ivanovic bent in a cross with the outside of his boot, which isn’t as hard as people are making it sound – it just means he’s not confident crossing with his left foot. Lampard made what will be described as a typical late run into the box, and stooped low to guide the header beyond Paul Robinson. If Samba was present Lampard would have got a boot in the face and ended up as the second Chelsea player with a broken nose, Petr Cech having already suffered the injury in the first half.

Blackburn now look like a team who are comfortable on the ball. This is what Rovers fans wanted right? Get it down on the floor, play football they said when moaning about Sam Allardyce’s style… Even Pedersen looks assured in midfield at times, and with Hoilett and Olsson they have players with the pace to worry defenders and they did this to good effect down Chelsea’s right side. In Rochina and Formica they have two technically sound creative players who have the composure to pick the right passes and make the right decisions in the opposition box, and at the back young Jason Lowe is making the right back position his own. In the anchor man role, Steven N’Zonzi looked no different to John Obi Mikel and cost around £15m less. All they lack is a consistent centre back pairing, and a striker who can stick the chances away. Unfortunately for Steve Kean, Yakubu wasn’t that man today. But neither was the £50m Fernando Torres who missed a chance easier than any of The Yak’s.

Blackburn fans need to forget about the pantomime going by the name of “Kean Out”, and look at the 8 games they have in the run up to Christmas. Judge Kean after these games, as these are games he will be expected to get points from, except maybe the last two which are trips to Anfield and Old Trafford… and who knows, he might not roll over for Fergie like Allardyce did.

Then in the new year when Blackburn are still on 6 points, you can always get Carlo Ancelotti in as manager and sign Venky’s latest fantasy football players in the January window.