I have delayed this post for a few days after Blackpool's dispiriting reverse at Wigan Athletic not only to gather my thoughts away from the heat of the moment, but also to see if manager Michael Appleton would be relieved of his duties. One has taken place, the other has not. The DW Stadium debacle…
How will the despotic leaders of Turkmenistan and North Korea react to chastening Asian Cup defeats?
It is not hard to imagine the reaction of Turkmenistan's and North Korea's presidents following the recent round of chastening defeats suffered by both nations at the Asian Cup, the geographical equivalent of football's European Championships. Despite an absence in either country of authentic soccer pedigree both sets of players will genuinely fear of the…
Are Bayern Munich falling behind European rivals due to misguided loyalty to aging players and a lack of forward planning?
Bayern Munich's failure to adequately replace departed stars and an over-reliance on players either past their best or not of the required standard could see the German champions fall behind both European, and domestic rivals. The double-whammy loss of retirees Philipp Lahm and Xavi Alonso deprived the Bavarians' of two world class performers, arguably still…
Blackpool Football Club: The resignation of manager Bowyer the latest in a line of avoidable crises
The recent resignation of Blackpool manager Gary Bowyer is a huge blow to the club, but only the latest in a long line of negative headlines generated by the Oyston regime. To the uninitiated the raw data from Blackpool's dwindling, but still allegedly massaged attendance figures, would suggest that insufficient demand exists on the Fylde…
Germany at the World Cup: A Poor Squad, A Noncompetitive Domestic League and An Out of Touch Head Coach
The unwritten rule suggesting that a Bayern Munich flushed with success and replete with ability is a veritable bellwether for the fortunes of Germany's national side appears, on the evidence of the early departure of Die Mannschaft from the 2018 World Cup, to have significant credence. Notwithstanding the annual cakewalk to the Bundesliga title Bayern…
Real Madrid – Liverpool Champion League Final: a fitting sequel to Sliding Doors
The now managerless Real Madrid’s game-management guided the Los Blancos to a 13th European title, although their performance against a slightly unfortunately Liverpool could never be described as vintage. Starting with the same eleven from the corresponding 2017 final but with an obviously frustrated Gareth Bale, despite his telling intervention, cutting a brooding figure at…
Premier League 2017/18 season snapshots: Chelsea
Fifth place and thirty points behind albeit runaway champions Manchester City is a far cry from Chelsea’s Premier League triumph but a year ago. The hand dealt Antonio Conte in what must be said to be two haphazard transfer windows since the Blues’ fifth Premier League title begs the question who sourced, and ultimately ratified…
English Premier League 2017/18 season snapshots: Liverpool
After a season that has yielded 90 goals from its much vaunted tripartite of attackers, it seems absurd to suggest that Liverpool require an out-and-out striker to compete at the very highest level, but I believe this is what is needed to propel the Reds, along with a top class central defender to partner Virgil…
English Premier League 2017/18 snapshot season review: Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace’s upturn in fortunes after the most inauspicious of starts that all but condemned the South Londoners as early-season relegation favourites is all the more remarkable for their lack of dependence on a reliable, out-and-out striker during the 2017/18 Premier League season. With Bakary Sako and expensive flop Christian Benteke contributing a mere 20%…
Premier League 2017/18 Season: The Verdict
The denouement of the 2017/18 Premier League season brings into sharp focus the ever-increasing gap between English football's haves and have nots. Or does it? Manchester City's total dominance reflects the creeping influence that petro-dollars are now having on the modern game. Coupled with Sky Television's largesse the seemingly limitless wealth brought to the Etihad…
Amid a Toxic Backdrop Blackpool Football Club’s Youth Team Show Maturity Beyond Their Years
The unlikely appearance of Blackpool in tonight's F.A. Youth Cup semi-final acts as a neat counterweight to the manifold off-field issues that have become the ultimate ruination of the first team's prospects, which have included a fall from the Premier League to League Two in the space of five years. Now at a stage in…
Masterstroke Mitrovic Signing Gives Fresh Impetus to Fulham’s Promotion Credentials
Are two Serbs better than one? At Fulham's Craven Cottage, it would appear so. Benefiting from owner Shahid Khan displaying an element of patience increasing rare in today's game, manager Slavisa Jokanovic has made the Cottagers into realistic promotion contenders and used his Serbian links to recruit, albeit initially on loan, fellow countryman Aleksandar Mitrovic…
Do West Bromwich Albion Represent Alan Pardew’s Premier League Denouement?
As Wolverhampton Wanderers look set to replace Black Country local rivals West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League, the highly questionable appointment of Alan Pardew as Tony Pulis's replacement at The Hawthorns that was intended to precipitate a Baggies 'boing' has instead been the equivalent of holding a large pin to a balloon - with…
City’s Shock Exit Proves the Magic of the Cup is Alive and Well
You could see it coming. Such was Manchester City's dominance last night at the DW Stadium that the longer the first half progressed without Christian Walton's goal being breached, one wondered if it could, against all odds, be Wigan Athletic's night. And so it transpired. Yielding 83% possession and on average a shot every three…
Chelsea’s gargantuan squad size: Who, if anyone, ultimately benefits?
The gulf in resources within not only the wider footballing community but indeed amongst a Premier League increasingly characterised as a series of de facto divisions within a league, is surely best exemplified by the scale of Chelsea's squad, or more specifically, the vast array of talent at the West London club's disposal that cannot…
Life after Lukaku: Can a replacement be found within Goodison?
In an increasingly trigger happy, revolving door culture of top flight football management, Everton's Ronald Koeman will be feeling the heat more than most. Aside from a merited draw with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City that heralded great promise of things to come, a performance(and result) that ultimately flattered to deceive has all but been forgotten…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 