Bitesize Rants #1: The Respect Campaign and Football Hooliganism

In my day job (I know, can you believe that being a keyboard warrior on inconsequential topics isn't a full-time role?!), I was recently given the task of being more succinct. As some of you may have noticed, I have a tendency to use 10 words when one will do. So, I thought I'd challenge myself in a new segment I've called 'Bitesize Rants'. The premise is simple - the same level of anger and outrage, neatly fit into just 400 words.

The attack made on Manchester United’s team bus before their crucial must win game against West Ham highlights something that we’ve known for some time – football hooliganism is far from dead.

This is not my forum for attacking West Ham fans, as I want to focus on the clearly dramatic impact that the much discussed Respect campaign has had.

As a child watching football, I was all too familiar with the sight of players surrounding and berating the referee, with Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira sticking in my memory as the worst examples. As a teenager, I experienced this first-hand from parents of under-11s games, with some of the abuse received frankly shocking. To combat this, and the continual threat of off-field violence, the FA introduced the Respect campaign, an umbrella for anti-racism and pro-fairness in football. This was also designed to paint football to kids as a friendly and respectful sport, and give them role models they can look up to.

Has it made a difference? Clearly not as much as they’d hope, if Tuesday’s events are anything to go by. It’s certainly true that referees are not as bombarded by people after every decision, but the abuse from both the players and the fans continues to be prevalent at every level. Just read Wayne Rooney’s lips when the camera pans to him, and you’ll learn some new vocabulary you didn’t want! It also sets a worrying double standard, as some offences are punished and others simply aren’t!

It certainly doesn’t help that footballers don’t paint themselves in a good and respectful light as role models for kids. For every Vincent Kompany there is a Joey Barton, and every Claudio Ranieri has a Neil Warnock. The very fact that proven racists Jamie Vardy, Luis Suarez and John Terry are so revered among sections of football fans is alarming, and highlights the scale of the problem remaining.

So while West Ham have reacted quickly to the whole bus incident, the events should act as a warning shot across the bows of the FA. The Respect campaign is not hard-hitting enough, and for the sake of thousands of Sunday League referees across the country, football’s governing body needs to have a rethink. Try coming down hard on every type of disrespect, and not set a loophole for poor role models by letting some players get away with it.

Half Time Report: Surprise Packages and the Return of an Old Nemesis?

In a series I'm going to call my Half Time Report, I'll look at the key trends we've seen so far this season, both in England and abroad. Let's start with the Premier League. Suffice it to say, it's been an interesting first half of the season. As predicted at the beginning, champions Manchester City and Jose Mourinho's rebuilt Chelsea are heavily involved in the race for the title, while both the Champions League places and the fight to avoid the drop are bitterly and closely contested. So, in the opening 19 games, what have been the key trends we have witnessed? What will we remember the first half of the 2014/15 season for?

A pair of surprise packages
Over recent years, we often see a team defy all the odds to fly up the table in the first half of the season - Wigan did it, Hull did it and even City did it once upon a time. However, never do I recall seeing two teams far exceed expectations. However, following the mass exodus at Southampton, they were expected to struggle considerably, with some even tipping them for relegation. But Ronald Koeman, like Mauricio Pochettino, and even Nigel Adkins before him, has taken the Saints far beyond the level expected of them. A number of exceptional signings, including Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle, had forced Southampton to the brink of the title race, before a dip in form leaves them JUST fourth at the end of 2014!

However, they are not the season's only surprise package. And, in my mind, West Ham's sudden incline in league positions is a far bigger surprise. Southampton have been incredibly impressive, but they have an almost entirely new squad. As I witnessed with Manchester City's incredible revival under Sven Goran Eriksson, the element of surprise can work in your favour for a while. However, to add just a handful of names to a safe mid-table side and fire yourself up the table is exceptional, and that is exactly what Sam Allardyce has produced at the Hammers. Both Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho look to be inspirational signings, while the huge improvement in form of Andy Carroll and Stuart Downing has been great to watch. Though I'm not sure I agree that their target should now be the top 4, it has been an incredible start to the season for the East London club, and they will be hoping they can continue that momentum for the remainder.

A surprising leniency for managers (until recently...)
Now, I may well just be so used to the revolving door policy at most football clubs today, but surely there's normally been about five managerial casualties by now? The fact that two (maybe three if you count Pardew seemingly about to switch to the vacant job at Palace) managers have only left their posts within the last week or so is surprising to me. However, I'm not going to be suggesting we are seeing a change in attitudes around football clubs - it's normally the case that once one leaves it's a mass exodus, which I expect around February time!

Nevertheless, the lack of constant conspiracy and rumour is only a good thing when it comes to football managers, as it only tends to distract from the most important thing: the game itself.

It's like no-one wants the final Champions League spot
At the beginning of the season, I had the battle for the top four down to any two of Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham. However, only one of these sides has had any consistency this season, with each of the other four having inexplicable results and severe downturns in form. Liverpool, following the form that saw them run Manchester City to the final day of the season for the title last year, have struggled to replace Luis Suarez's goals (although his disruptive presence in the dressing room is more than taken care of by Mario Balotelli!). Arsenal have been incredibly unfortunate with injuries, but have looked susceptible at the back, and have relied too heavily on Alexis Sanchez to either score or create a game-changing moment.

Everton and Spurs have both had the same problem - consistently inconsistent. Though Spurs have been getting continuously better throughout the season, they started appallingly - particularly at White Hart Lane. Similarly, Everton have had real dark spells, but their form has seemingly slipped from an initially reasonable beginning. The form players from last year like Lukaku and Barkley have yet to click into top gear, and as a result, the team has failed to hit the same heights.

With the arrival of West Ham and Southampton into the mix for the European spots this year, the battle for the prestigious 4th place promises to be an incredibly closely contested affair, and I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if the race went to the final day - perhaps between more than two sides!

The Return of the Sith
However, I have to finish with a Star Wars analogy. Following a year in the wilderness, taking time to rebuild and come back stronger, a new dark red force is emerging in the Premier League. Though not yet as strong as we have once seen them, they are threatening to return to their full potential in the near future. For those of you that didn't understand that, I am of course talking about Manchester United. Under the guidance of Louis van Gaal, the Red Devils started appallingly, registering their lowest Premier League tally of points for the opening 10 games. However, since then the club has gone on a run of nine Premier League games unbeaten (although some may argue slightly fortuitously against the likes of Southampton and Arsenal), pushing them back not only into the top four race, but on the cusp of the title chase.

However, I will suggest this, and it's something that football fans are notoriously bad at - don't run before you can walk. Be glad with where you are - 3rd place would represent an excellent season for van Gaal after the Moyes debacle last year. Having seemingly spent their way back into Europe's elite  for next year, it seems only a matter of time before United are back challenging for major honours. Until that moment, the rest of the Premier League can continue to watch their back four perform like Bambi on ice at times!

It's been an interesting opening half to the Premier League season, but with a number of interesting dynamics set to play out over the busy New Year period and beyond, 2015 should be an incredibly interesting time for Premier League football.

Tactics Talk: Sunderland vs West Ham United

Line-ups:

Sunderland (5-3-2): Mannone, Alonso, Bardsley, Brown, O'Shea, Bridcutt, Vergini, Cattermole, Ki, Borini, Wickham

West Ham (4-5-1) Adrian, Demel, Tomkins, Reid, McCartney, Diame, Downing, Nolan, Taylor, Noble, Carroll

Time for a new series! As I now (for the first time in my life) have access to Sky Sports on a regular basis, I have more football than I know what to do with. As a result, I have decided to look at the tactics during a match and see how it affected the game. I will start with the return of Monday Night Football, and the huge relegation battle between Sunderland and West Ham at the Stadium of Light, examining each of the half hour periods before determining who deserved to win the game.

If we look at the line-ups, we can see that neither side entered the game with a particularly positive attitude. This was certainly more of a must win game for the Black Cats, which is demonstrated by the use of wing-backs, making their 5 at the back a little deceptive. On the other hand, from their line-up West Ham seemed perfectly content to sit back and accept a point, despite the criticism from the fans for boring football. However, results not style keep you in the division, and whilst Sam Allardyce may not be producing attractive football, he is getting points. A win here would take the Hammers to 37 points, practically guaranteeing survival.

In the opening exchanges, it was clear that Sunderland's wing backs, particularly Phil Bardsley, were going to be a focal point for the Black Cats attacks. A couple of dangerous crosses, including one that whizzed across the face of goal, indicated Sunderland's intent and desire to win the game. However, West Ham's tactics, as they have been for the majority of the season, were not pretty, but they certainly were effective. By getting the ball up to their talismanic striker Andy Carroll to hold up, they found themselves gaining possession and creating opportunities. As expected, it was from set pieces where they were most dangerous, and after just 9 minutes, Carroll struck. Sunderland's marking couldn't make its mind up between being zonal or man to man, leaving the Hammers' striker to climb above John O'Shea and thump a header past Vito Mannone.

With Sunderland now in deep trouble, a response was required. It almost happened instantly. A fluid move left Lee Cattermole free in the penalty area to fire a shot at Adrian. Unfortunately, the midfielder had not scored in 112 attempts for Sunderland, and that record looked in no threat of ending as the Englishman tame shot was comfortably dealt with by the West Ham keeper. After this, the game began to settle down, with Sunderland monopolising possession, but West Ham remaining traditionally strong at the back. On the break, Stuart Downing remained a constant threat as the Sunderland wing-backs kept being caught out of position, but neither really threatened either goal.

First half hour: If there had been no score during the period, I would say Sunderland, but West Ham's admirable defence after taking the lead means that this has to be called level. Sunderland certainly didn't deserve to be behind, but they didn't do enough going forward to deserve the lead.

The second third continued with Sunderland pressure, but no real chances of note. That was until the 39th minute. Another set piece caused West Ham a few problems, and after a half clearance from Kevin Nolan, the ball seemed set to fall for John O'Shea to blast home. That was until the Hammers' midfielder decided to practically punch the ball away under the nose of Howard Webb. Amazingly, the referee failed to spot the infringement, allowing play to continue. A goal would certainly have changed the game, but it was not to be. Nevertheless, Sunderland could go off at the break a little frustrated by heartened at their fight and performance.

The second half began with a West Ham substitution, with new signing Pablo Armero brought on for George McCartney. A speed demon, Armero was introduced to inject some more pace and width down the left, as they were overly reliant on Downing in the first half. The Hammers' change paid instant dividends, but it was a similar tactic that dealt the killer blow. Another long ball into Andy Carroll saw the Englishman chest the ball into the path of Mohamed Diame, who fired past Mannone with the aid of a small deflection. At this point, with the Stadium of Light baying for blood, Gus Poyet made his first attacking change, bringing on the influential Adam Johnson for the combative Lee Cattermole.

However, once again the response was minimal, with Sunderland wasteful in possession. Particularly culpable was summer signing Santiago Vergini, who seemed to find more claret and blue shirts than red and white during the game. He has always been susceptible to a mistake or two, with high profile errors away at Arsenal and Liverpool in recent weeks, and I simply don't rate him. However, more excellent defensive work by West Ham as they approached the hour mark saw Sunderland make a second attacking change. Craig Gardner was brought into the action to replace John O'Shea, moving to a 4-4-2 formation with attacking wing-backs.

Second half hour: Unequivocally West Ham. A crucial second goal and excellent defensive work versus a toothless attack and shaky back line.

Just moments after West Ham looked to have the game sewn up, Adam Johnson broke through the rear guard and finished excellently. This swung the momentum for a few minutes, with Adrian forced into further good saves to deny Ki and Wickham in quick succession. After being rattled for a while, West Ham reformed their back line, fortunate not to have lost their lead. By taking the goalscorer Diame off for Roger Johnson, West Ham changed their formation to a 5-4-1, further shoring up their defence to protect the vital three points.

The final Sunderland change baffled me, with the influential Ki Sung Yeung removed in favour of striker Scocco. This seemed wrong for me, as a like for like swap with Connor Wickham would have meant that Sunderland's creative trio in Ki, Johnson and Borini all remained on the park, whilst retaining the finishing ability of Scocco. To cover off the extra striker, Sam Allardyce brought on a further defensive midfielder, Antonio Nocerino, in place of Kevin Nolan. This seemed to do the trick, as only a Scocco half chance threatened the Hammers' goal before the final whistle blew.

Third half hour: Sunderland's resilience means that they get this on points. However, Big Sam knew what he was doing and made sure that his side did not throw their hard work away.

The win for the Hammers was priceless, moving them to within touching distance of mathematical safety. Though they have gone down on 40 points before, I am confident that it will be nothing like that mark this year. As for Sunderland, safety looks a long a distant prospect, particularly with their next four fixtures being up against the top six. West Ham deservedly won this one, giving them momentum for their run-in.