Barrie's View

Wayne Rooney received just a talking to and a pat on the back from referee Mark Clattenburg following his blatant elbow in the face of Wigan Athletic’s James McCarthy.

The game was scoreless at the time of the event and Wigan were arguably on top, creating a few one-on-one chances that Edwin van der Sar denied. After Nani setup Javier Hernandez for United’s first, the current Premier League leaders took control of the game as they stolled away to a 4-0 victory. Wayne Rooney scored the third.

The main talking point after the game was Wayne Rooney’s early first half elbow.

On the same day that Blackpool’s DJ Campbell was sent off for a two-handed shove in the face of an opponent, Wayne Rooney has got away with an elbow that could have caused his opponent damage. Perhaps Ian Holloway will appeal Campbell’s red card on the basis that Rooney’s offence was worse?

Ultimately, the game’s referee Mark Clattenburg had an opportunity to review the footage and let the FA know action should have been taken, instead of insisting he took the appropriate action at the time.

I sympathise with fans who constantly bemoan the FA and referee’s inconsistency. But I don’t facing an FA investigation and potential 3 match ban for saying Wayne Rooney got let off because he is Wayne Rooney – ie an England star intentional. Once again the FA have defended their national players, and perhaps I shouldn’t argue about that.

England travel to Wales for their 4th Euro 2012 qualifying game on March 26th. Manchester United travel to Chelsea tomorrow night for their next Premier League game. Chelsea are currently a handsome 2.24 to lay with Betfair.

Much has been made of Arsenal’s failure to lift a trophy for a while, but I am confident that on Sunday Arsene Wenger’s side will put things right by beating Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final.

Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott may be absent for tomorrow’s game, but Arsenal have proven their strength in depth this season and their midfield is the strongest part of the team.

Don’t be surprised to see either or both Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere command the game. Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Robin van Persie will captain the side in the absence of Fabregas. The Dutch striker has been lethal since New Year’s day; scoring 10 goals in 7 league games. He also scored a stunning equaliser versus Barcelona in their Champions League first leg against Barcelona.

Arsenal have won both meetings between these two in the Premier League this season; first coming from 1 behind to win 2-1 at the Emirates and more recently, a 3-0 victory at St Andrews on New Year’s day. Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri both scored that day.

Birmingham City have too many threats to deal with in this game. Barry Ferguson and Craig Gardner in the centre will aim to prevent anything going through the middle, while Stephen Carr and Liam Ridgewell have the task of dealing with the threats down the wing. If Arsenal play at their best, Birmingham won’t be able to handle them.

Going forward for Birmingham, you can look at Craig Gardner as their driving force in midfield, while Sebastian Larsson’s set pieces will be their main hope of scoring on paper, with Arsenal poor at defending them. Nikola Zigic, Liam Ridgewell and Roger Johnson are the usual suspects.

I backed Arsenal at 4/7 to win the Carling Cup after they lost the first leg of their semi final with Ipswich. Arsenal are now 3/10 to lift the trophy tomorrow, and 4/7 to win in 90 minutes still looks like a worthwhile bet for anyone who missed my January tip.

Following Tottenham and Arsenal’s midweek victories in the Champions League and Chelsea’s favourable last 16 fixture with FC Copenhagen, all 3 London teams that entered this season’s Champions League are sitting in a good position.

Historically, no London team have ever won the European Cup/Champions League. Arsenal were runners up in 2006 and Chelsea in 2008.

England have seen winners from Merseyside (Liverpool x5), Manchester (Manchester United x3), Nottingham (Nottingham Forest x2) and the West Midlands (Birmingham City x1), but none from the capital.

Arsenal and Chelsea have both won the Premier League, while Tottenham Hotspur have also won the top flight of English football and represented London in the European Cup/Champions League since the competition began in 1955.

Spain and Italy hold the best record in the history of the Champions League, each nation having representatives lifting the trophy on 12 occasions. Adding Glasgow Celtic’s success in 1967, the United Kingdom have then had successful teams on 12 occasions.

Milan is the most successful city with AC Milan and Internazionale combining for 10 successes; 1 more than Real Madrid.

Despite losing 2-1 in the first leg to Arsenal, Barcelona remain the favourites to win this season’s Champions League, followed by Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively.

Ashley Cole done his best impression of Chris Waddle this afternoon as he horribly ballooned his penalty in this afternoon’s FA Cup 4th round tie with Everton that ultimately ended Chelsea’s campaign.

Last season’s double winners, already out of the Premier League title race now only have the Champions League to concentrate on following their FA Cup exit at Stamford Bridge. They also have an important task in making sure they qualify for next season’s Champions League, either by winning this season’s competition or finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League.

The tie lived up to how most of us expected it, tight. A Frank Lampard free kick in the first half was deflected onto his own post by Phil Jagielka. Tim Howard twice denied Florent Malouda in the first half.

Both sides had opportunities in the second half, Frank Lampard missing a guilt-edge chance late on before Everton’s Marouane Fellaini had a goal disallowed for narrowly being offside.

Chelsea were the better side in extra time and it was Frank Lampard who slotted in the opener in the 104th minute. The holders, unbeaten in 15 FA Cup matches coming into this match (last defeat versus Barnsley in 2008) were looking comfortable at this stage with Everton not causing a threat in extra time.

But at 1-0 it only takes 1 chance to change things and that’s exactly what Leighton Baines had in mind when he fired home a free kick 1 minute from time.

Penalties followed. Frank Lampard opened the scoring before Baines had his penalty saved by Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal. 2 penalties later and Chelsea had a 2-1 lead when Nicolas Anelka stepped us. His laid back style and short run up backfired as Tim Howard dived the right way to get a hand on his penalty and palm it away. Mikel Arteta, Michael Essien and Johnny Heitinga scored afterwards to make it 3-3 before Ashley Cole stepped up and slammed his over the bar. Phil Neville duly converted Everton’s winner into the top corner to send Everton into the last 16 where they will face Reading.

For Chelsea, now out of the FA Cup and Premier League, you would think if Carlo Ancelotti is to keep his job going into next season, his team must now win the Champions League – the trophy missing from Roman Abramovich’s collection. Presumably that was what Chelsea had in mind when they signed Fernando Torres and David Luiz at the end of January.

Manchester United are currently 5/2 favourites to win the FA Cup.

Arsenal may have outdone Tottenham’s win last night by overturning a 1-0 half time deficit to beat Barcelona 2-1 at the Emirates.

The tie is finely balanced after late strikes from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin see Arsenal take a 2-1 lead to Camp Nou in 3 weeks time.

Barcelona had the usual higher percentage of possession and obliterated the number of passes completed, but failed to shut Arsenal out with Carles Puyol suspended.

David Villa had given Barcelona the lead mid-way through the first half with a straight forward ball down the middle, with Gael Clichy playing him onside. Barcelona had already threatened on three occasions, catching Arsenal’s defence out with the same move.

Lionel Messi had one ruled out before half time, and had earlier chipped a one-on-one wide of the post. He fired into the side netting in the second half as the Argentinian wonder has now failed to score in 8 matches on English soil.

It was a fantastic finish to the game for Arsenal, scoring their first shortly after Andrey Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtner were brought on. And it was the former who won the game as Samir Nasri cut in from the right on a counter attack for his Russian team mate to sweep the ball in.  Last year, Arsenal came from two-nil down to draw 2-2 with two goals in the final 20 minutes at home to Barcelona in the first leg of their quarter final match.

Barcelona had chances to equalise after Arsenal went in front this evening, and Andrey Arshavin gave Daniel Alves a chance to dive in the area with a short header back to his goalkeeper. He stayed on his feet and the Gunners scrambled the ball away.  Arsenal held on for a fabulous victory that sets them up nicely for the 2nd leg at Camp Nou on March 8th.

Although I was happy to tell my friends and colleagues alike I was confident of an Arsenal result this evening, I did not put my money where my mouth was this time. I hope they did. William Hill offered 14/1 on Arsenal to win at half time, while odds were matched as high as 400.00 on Betfair moments before Arsenal equalised.

Last night, Peter Crouch scored the only goal at the San Siro as Tottenham came away with a 1-0 victory over AC Milan. Both English sides recording fantastic results this week, before Chelsea travel to Copenhagen next Tuesday and Manchester United travel to Marseille a week tonight.

Barcelona’s odds are now 9/4, still favourites to win the Champions League.

West Bromwich Albion’s sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth revealed today that his club made a mammoth 29 bids to bring in a striker on loan during the January transfer window.

Of those bids, the loan of Carlos Vela from Arsenal was their only success. Vela wasn’t selected for West Brom’s 3-3 draw with West Ham at the weekend, but did feature in West Brom’s 2-2 draw with Wigan and 3-0 defeat at Manchester City.

Players West Brom missed out on included John Carew (Aston Villa to Stoke), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea to Bolton) and Federico Macheda (Manchester United to Sampdoria). Both Carew and Sturridge have made goalscoring starts following their loan moves, while Vela is 0 goals in 2 games for the Baggies.

Along with Vela, West Brom have Peter Odemwingie, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Simon Cox as strikers on their books. Odemwingie has 9 goals in the league this season, with 7 of those coming against sides in the bottom half. They should be looking to call upon their Nigerian star for their relegation clashes for the remainder of the season.

Shortly after the transfer window shut, Roberto Di Matteo was sacked as West Brom manager on February 6th. Roy Hodgson takes charge of West Brom for the first time this weekend as they host rivals Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday. Hodgson has already lost one rivalry game this season; 0-2 at Goodison Park when in charge of Liverpool.

West Brom sit 17th in the table, 3 points ahead of their rivals who currently prop up the Premier League.

One of the greatest players to have ever played the game, Ronaldo has called an end to his footballing career, aged 34, playing in his homeland for Corinthians.

Ronaldo burst onto the scene in the mid-90s after winning the 1994 World Cup aged 17 as an unused squad player when he left Cruzeiro to join Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, scoring 42 goals in 46 appearances over two seasons (and 9 in 7 European games).

It was his move from PSV to Bobby Robson’s Barcelona that saw Ronaldo’s fame and popularity shoot through the roof. He stayed one just season, and in that 1996/97 season Ronaldo scored a breathtaking 47 goals in 49 games for the Catalan giants, as he slipped past defenders for fun on his way to winning the European Golden Boot award.

Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2002. He and Zinedine Zidane are the only players to have won the award on three occasions.

He was quick, strong and had a powerful shot. Defenders could not handle him, and he skipped past goalkeepers when one-on-one. He’s the most-gifted footballer I have ever seen. That season for Barcelona was probably his greatest, but he had several that come close! Despite staying for just one single season, he is listed on Barcelona’s list of legends. He helped the club win the Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup that season.

Inter Milan paid a world record fee of £19,000,000 to sign Ronaldo from Barcelona in 1997. In his first season in Serie A, he scored 25 league goals in 34 games. He helped the side to lift the UEFA Cup in his first season, but the following 4 seasons would see him suffer with knee injuries. Prior to those injuries, Ronaldo lit up the 1998 World Cup in France, scoring 4 goals before his will-he-play-won’t-he-play saga ahead of the final.

After missing the best part of 2 years out, that included two operations and rehabilitation, Ronaldo made a return for Inter just before the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Sporting his infamous hair cut (so that his son could tell him apart from Roberto Carlos), he lead Brazil to their fifth World Cup success, winning the Golden Boot in the process, with 8 goals. He scored both goals in their 2-0 victory over Germany in the final, with a little help from Oliver Kahn. This made him Brazil’s all-time World Cup goalscorer with 12 goals.

Following 59 goals in 99 games for the Nerazzurri, Ronaldo transferred from Inter Milan to Real Madrid for £28,500,000. All the hype following, and despite injuries delaying his debut until October, Ronaldo hit 30 goals in 44 appearances for Real Madrid that season, he won his first European domestic league title in his first season for the Galacticos.

Ronaldo stayed at Real Madrid for just over 4 years, scoring 104 goals in 177, winning La Liga on two occasions. Before leaving the Spanish giants in 2007, he had gained weight and was forced to buy out his contract to move back to Milan, but this time AC. He weight was becoming a laughing stock at this point. It was such a shame to see such a talent’s career ending like this. He didn’t get many games for AC Milan before a third career injury to his left knee ended his time at the San Siro. During his time at Madrid, he scored 3 goals at the 2006 World Cup, making him the all-time leader in the history of the competition with 15.

Ronaldo had been playing for Corinthians since March 2009 before he announced his retirement today.

A master dribbler and scorer of many great goals, Ronaldo was unstoppable at his peak. For the several matches I saw of him for Brazil, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, to me, he is the greatest footballer I have ever seen. Unfortunately, unlike Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the Ronaldo never won the Champions League.

Based on some negative statistics from this weekend’s Premier League games, Fabio Capello couldn’t have had a headache when choosing his England squad for this evening’s friendly in Denmark, given the lack of Englishmen playing, and playing well in the top flight.

Only 4 teams saw Englishmen making up for more than 50% of their side over the first weekend in February. The full list of how many English players were used over the weekend is as follows:

Aston Villa…………………………. 61.5%
Birmingham City…………………. 58.3%
Bolton Wanderers……………….. 57.1%
Newcastle United………………… 53.8%
Blackpool………………………….. 50.0%
Stoke City………………………….. 50.0%
West Ham United………………..  50.0%
Sunderland………………………… 46.2%
Wolverhampton Wanderers… 42.9%
Everton………………………………. 35.7%
Tottenham Hotspur…………… 35.7%
Liverpool………………………… 30.8%
Manchester City……………….. 28.6%
Manchester United……………. 28.6%
Chelsea……………………………. 21.4%
Fulham……………………………. 21.4%
Wigan Athletic………………….. 21.4%
Arsenal……………………………. 14.3%
Blackburn Rovers………………. 14.3%
West Bromwich Albion……….. 14.3%

In total, just 36% of the Premier League players in action this weekend were English. They combined for just 30% (13/43 – 4 were penalties which has to be a positive!) of the goals. More promisingly, 66.7% of the clean sheets (2/3) were kept by English goalkeepers (Joe Hart and Ben Foster).

In terms of talent, Fabio Capello is limited as to what he can choose from. Especially when the current top 4 played 13 English players combined of the 56 players they used in total over the weekend (23%). Just 35% of Premier League starters so far this season have been English.

When it comes to managers, the English don’t even dominate. Scotland leads the way, with all 6 interestingly coming from Glasgow. Only 4 current Premier League managers are English.

Current manager nationalities in the Premier League:

*West Brom are currently without a manager

Fabio Capello has gone with the following squad for tonight’s match:

Ben Foster (Birmingham)
Joe Hart (Manchester City)
David Stockdale (Fulham)

Leighton Baines (Everton)
Gary Cahill (Bolton)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
Michael Dawson (Tottenham)
Glen Johnson (Liverpool)
Joleon Lescott (Manchester City)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Kyle Walker (Aston Villa)

Gareth Barry (Manchester City)
Stewart Downing (Aston Villa)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
James Milner (Manchester City)
Scott Parker (West Ham)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
Darren Bent (Aston Villa)
Peter Crouch (Tottenham)
Jermain Defoe (Tottenham)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Gabriel Agbonlahor has just 1 Premier League goal this season, while Jermain Defoe has 0. DJ Campbell’s 8 league goals weren’t enough to push his way into Capello’s squad for an international friendly in the middle of February. Perhaps the attacking style of his club side Blackpool would be a disadvantage to him under Capello’s tactical guise. Kevin Nolan has 10 goals from Newcastle’s midfield so far this season, but was overlooked for the likes of Gareth Barry, James Milner and Steven Gerrard who haven’t hit full form this season, and who’s games Capello already knows.

England are 5/4 favourites to win in Copenhagen this evening.

After a disastrous debut for Fernando Torres on Sunday, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has stated the obvious by insisting his new £50,000,000 striker will improve.

Well, after firing a shot high over the bar in the opening minute and playing some wayward passes, it’s hard to see how Fernando Torres won’t improve on his Chelsea performances, during their 1-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.

Chelsea fans were taunting their opposition with their World Cup winning signing, and had banners around the ground in support of him. It was all an anti-climax for the Blues who are left 10 points behind leaders Manchester United with 13 games remaining following their latest defeat.

Credit to Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish has made me eat my words after I predicted he wouldn’t do well as Liverpool manager second time around. Following a defeat to Blackpool and a draw with Everton that put me in good stead, both financially and in terms of being correct, Dalglish and his Liverpool side have now won 4 straight games to nil.

Although I didn’t tip or back Chelsea to win, thinking Liverpool had a chance in Sunday’s game, I did not expect them to come away with 3 points. Raul Meireles, a Roy Hodgson signing I have backed from the start scored the only goal of the game, minutes after Fernando Torres had been replaced. Liverpool’s victory came even without their own £50,000,000+ worth of talent, with Andy Carroll still sidelined and Luis Suarez an unused sub.

Liverpool are now 6 points off a Champions League spot, behind both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Tastically Outclassed

After some people had presumed Chelsea had turned the corner with back-to-back away victories at Bolton and Sunderland respectively, he was tactically outclassed by his opposite number in the Liverpool dugout. Chelsea failed to break down Liverpool’s defence in the final third; Florent Malouda forcing the one and only save from Jose Reina throughout the game.

Kenny Dalglish’s old school wing back system done the trick. Ashley Cole was once again quiet against Martin Kelly, while Jose Bosingwa failed to put in a decent cross all game despite finding some space down the right flank. Branislav Ivanovic was Chelsea’s biggest threat, but neither of his headers were set pieces found the target.

After 41 goals on Saturday in the Premier League, the two games on Sunday produced just 1 each in what can only be described as an anti-climax. After midweek international games, Manchester United will look to overcome their shock defeat at Molineux when they host rivals City. Arsenal will be looking for a favour from the Citizens as they look to close the gap on the current league leaders when they host Wolves on Saturday.

Liverpool host Wigan this weekend, while Chelsea go to Fulham on Monday night.

Despite only being 1 point from safety, the bookmakers have Wigan Athletic as short as 1.50 favourites to be relegated from the Premier League at the end of this 2010/11 season.

Having started the season with back-to-back home thumpings at the hands of Blackpool (4-0) and Chelsea (6-0) respectively, it looked all doom and gloom from the start for Robert Martinez’s side.

Wigan have picked up 23 points from 25 games this season, but have the worst goal difference in the league. No team has scored fewer than their 22 goals this season. Their 2 home victories is also the lowest in the Premier League.

Lack of January Deals

The extension of Tom Cleverley’s loan from Manchester United until the end of the season was good business in January. The only other play brought in during the latest transfer window was Conor Sammon from Kilmarnock. Strikers from the Scottish Premier League always seem to fail for lower half Premier League sides. Kenny Miller was a perfect example of that, for both Wolves and Derby County. Can Sammon break the mould? Roberto Martinez has already failed to get much from a regular scorer in Scotland. That being Jason Scotland, who scored just once in 32 Premier League appearances last season.

Lack of Goals

Goals have clearly been a problem for Wigan this season. Hugo Rodallega leads the club with 6 goals. Charles N’Zogbia (4), Tom Cleverley (3) and Ben Watson (2) are the only other players to have scored more than a single goal for Wigan this season. Striker Franco Di Santo has failed to score in 16 league appearances and over 12 hours of football this season. One can only assume he won’t be playing Premier League football next season.

Defensive Troubles

Injuries to defenders Antolin Alcaraz, Gary Caldwell and Maynor Figueroa will hamper them for the next couple of games at least. Ali Al Habsi in goal has made some great stops this season, but he’s vulnerable to mistakes also.

Tough Run-In

Fixtures aren’t kind for Wigan in the near future either. Today’s home game versus Blackburn is a must win if they ever need one. They follow this game up with matches against Liverpool (away), Manchester United (home) and Manchester City (away). In contrast, Wolves play both West Brom and Blackpool in their next 4 games, West Ham play Birmingham, West Brom and Stoke, Birmingham also play Stoke and West Brom, and West Brom have a nice set of fixtures immediately after their trip to Eastlands today. With those teams exchanging points this month, I expect Wigan to start falling adrift of safety as we head into March. Therefore, there odds will be much worse than they currently are.

Down, Down, Down

With Hugo Rodallega’s goals being few and far between, Charles N’Zogbia only scoring once in his last 12 games (a deflected free kick) and with some disciplinary problems (4 red cards), I expect Wigan to lose a lot of belief over the coming weeks. Failure to win today and their odds will be even shorter for relegation. Wigan are currently a tasty 5/2 to finish bottom.