Tottenham players absolved of responsibility with potentially dangerous consequences

So all is well again at White Hart Lane. Tottenham are still bottom of the league but with Harry Redknapp installed as manager few envisage them remaining there much longer. The terminally bad smell around the club has disappeared instantly. Or has it?

Though Ramos and his crew have gone, the players - seemingly absolved of all blame - still remain after failing to win a game in their opening eight matches. And no doubt most of them will continue on under Redknapp and the new regime because they are ‘highly talented’. Tottenham’s failure, however, has been their failure and can they be trusted to take them up to the high altitude and pressure of challenging the top six.

So much for generating a culture of personal responsibility among the players, absolving them of accountability now could return to haunt Tottenham in the future.

Maradona appointment from the heart

Emotion, however misguided, continually trumps logic in football.

Diego Maradona has been confirmed as the new Argentina national coach and it is a decision straight from the heart.

Despite one of the greatest playing careers of all, Maradona’s coaching career consists of three wins, 12 draws and eight defeats in two managerial stints with Racing and Deportivo Mandiyu.

It is an appointment based on no more than celebrity.

Although Argentina are struggling in their bid to qualify for the World Cup, inspiration is something that they are not short of with Messi, Riquelme, Tevez and Aguero in the team.
What they require is the direction of a proven tactician and leader.

Barton's moment of glory reveals dark side

Joey Barton, the Newcastle midfielder, demonstrated once again on Tuesday night why he is a fearsome footballer and a tormented sole.

When Shola Ameobi was brought down by Ryan Donk in the 10th minute of the Premiership game between West Brom and Newcastle, Barton ignored instructions from the bench and team-mates - he seized the moment, grabbed the ball, placed it on the spot and fired the Geordies into the lead.

His manager Joe Kinnear was full of praise for his defiant midfielder. “He showed a lot of bottle to do that,” said Kinnear told the BBC after the 2-1 victory. “He stuck it away well and he's trying to prove a point - all he wants is to play football and be given a chance.” Kinnear, however, also admitted that Barton was not the designated penalty taker - Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins was. “He’d have been in trouble if he'd missed, but fair play to him, he’s obviously a very confident lad,” joked Kinnear.

The way in which the midfielder, who was returning for a six-match ban for assaulting his former Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo, thrust himself back into the spotlight with such force of character and confidence was in many aspects admirable, and yet it revealed an unnerving and highly destructive element of his personality.

By snatching the ball and claiming the moment all for himself, Barton defied the all authority around him (his team-mates and manager), displayed an incredibly arrogant streak and exercised self interest in the extreme. For Newcastle, desperately needing a win, it was crucial to take the lead, but Barton saw only personal gain and pushed aside the player deemed most qualified to take the spot kick. Brave, maybe, but it was certainly selfish and his “stick it to them”, “prove a point” attitude could have cost the team dear.

Sound familiar? It is this over-fuelled ego and deep-routed malice (mistakenly viewed as courage) that has causes him such trouble off the pitch in the past and will no doubt do so in the future.

Ronaldo auditions for Fifa award

Cristiano Ronaldo was named FIFPRO world players of the year yesterday.

Many, most notably Ronaldo himself, expect the award to be a prelude to assuming the mantle of Fifa world player of the year, which is announced in December. The Manchester United winger, not one to suffer from self doubt, has done a number of self-congratulatory interviews recently that have the ring of a campaign trail.

There is only one problem. He is not the best player in the world, Lionel Messi is.

Simpson Daniel out again

It is as depressing as it is inevitable.
James Simpson-Daniel has been ruled out for three months with an ankle injury and will miss England’s autumn tests starting against the Pacific Islanders on November 8.
The Gloucester winger, 26, has won 10 caps for England - a travesty considering his undoubted genius.
In England possibly only Danny Cipriani comes close to Simpson-Daniel in skill levels and imagination on a rugby field as a player that so often defies his lack of height and bulk.
The thoughts persist that he could have lighted up the international arena in the same dazzling running and impromptu idea as he has at a domestic level - he was player of the season last year - and given a clear run he could have become England’s version of Shane Williams or even, dare I say it, David Campese.
A genius that makes the game worth watching.
Is it obscene ill-fortune or a fragile body that continues to hamper his international career? Probably a bit of both.
But each time an injury strikes our burgeoning hopes of seeing Sinbad in the white shirt of England are shattered again, and we are disappointed with ourselves for believing this time could be different.

Arsenal not exempt from fear

Wenger’s youngsters not exempt from fear
Arsene Wenger insists his young gunners have “no fear”. The Arsenal side that took the field against Fenerbache in the Champions League on Tuesday had an average age of 22 and they trashed the Turkish side 5-2 with unbridled confidence.
And that is the point of youth, particularly when highly talent - dare we say precocious.

Very often they have no fear because they have no experience of failure. In the sanitised world of youth team football they score a hatful of goals each game, and reach the top having never endured criticism, the jeers of fans or 4-0 drubbings - never tasting self doubt or confidence lapses. But it is a temporary state.

Defeat, humiliation and criticism is an inevitablity. The exhilarating promise of Walcott, Vela, Ramsey, et all will sooner or later encounter disappointment and be forced to face the demons that emerge with failure. If defeat against Hull and a draw with Sunderland have not already derailed Arsenal’s title bid, relying on the callow beliefs of youth will come back to haunt them again at some stage in the race.

It is there, at the sharp end of title races, that experienced players prove themselves. They may not ride as high from a searing performance as their younger countrerparts, but crucially they know how to deal with failure when it materialises, and ovrecome it with greater mental reserves.

For this reason Arsenal will not win the Premiership or the Champions League this season.
They say exceptions prove rules and in that vein Alan Hansen’s preoclamation that ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ has rung true over the past decade after Man U’s younsters won the title in 1996 - it is a far tougher Premiership more than ten years on.

Harewood poor bait

According to the Daily Mirror, Aston Villa manager Martin O’Niell is planning on using Marlon Harewood as bait to secure Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz.

In size Harewood may be a heavyweight but with seven goals in 32 games - admittedly most from the bench - compared to Santa Cruz’s 21 strikes in 44 games, he is pound for pound no big fish.

And hardly great bait when trying to lure a £15million striker.

Does the potential dismissal of Comolli mis the point for Tottentham?

The news being leaked out of White Hart Lane is that Damien Comolli, rather than Juande Ramos, will be the man to be sacrificed for Tottenham’s disastrous form.

The tide of opinion has turned against the director of football who has enjoyed such influence over the past few years. With two points from eight games a change is needed. Not just to appease the increasingly incensed fans but to act as a watershed moment, a rallying point and stimulate a new belief in the players to countering the sense of doomed destiny.

The problem is that as much as Comolli has cocked things up in his role as recruitment chief in the past few seasons, particularly in the recent transfer window, his influence over performance is minimal. His job has been done for now and it is not until January that would see him emerge again as a key player in the Tottenham story. Comolli’s departure will make little difference to Tottenham’s clamour for points. It is Ramos and his players – of which there are plenty of good ones – that must play their way out of trouble.

So the predicted dismissal of Commoli is a punishment for previous mistakes and pre-empting future errors, but it does little curtail Tottenham’s current ills. The only hope for Spurs is that the players and management can cling on to the idea of change, endow it with as much meaning as possible and somehow gain a fresh perspective from it.

Otherwise, a year and a half after dismissing Martin Johl for his inability to shoot for Champions League football, they will drop into the Championship.

Chelsea reaffirm title credentials

To what extent can one game inform you about the destination of the title fought out over by 38 encounters? Often no more than any other.

Chelsea’s systematic demolition of Middlesbrough, however, retains significance beyond the three points gathered and the - even if it was followed by Liverpool’s dramatic comeback against Wigan, Arsenal’s less dramatic but as engaging comeback against Everton and Manchester United’s win against West Brom.

Boro offered little threat and even little resistance, but a injury savaged Chelsea team swatted them away with disdain. It not only does this prove the resolve within the camp but demonstrates the extent of quality in the squad - even Kalou is hitting form.

Man U will fight, it is what they do under Ferguson, but Chelsea are looking stronger than ever.

They are developing a belief that not only boosts the team but destroys others. An inevitable momentum is beginning to emanating out of Stamford Bridge and could in time invade the thoughts of opponents and rivals like a plague.

Bellamy a shining example for Ramsey??

Craig Bellamy has reportedly offered to mentor Welsh sensation Aaron Ramsey.

Now I am not sure whether Arsene Wenger reads the Daily Mirror as a matter of routine, but if he happens to catch Bellamy’s comments over his morning skinny latte and butter croissant in a North London cafe, Arsenal fans can only hope a paramedic is passing by.

Bellamy certainly knows a thing or three about the darkside of stardom and injury setbacks after a volatile career in the spotlight, but nothing in his recent past suggests he has found any answers or any sense to pass on to the young Ramsey. Surely the Welsh can find a more suitable role model for the 17-year-old midfielder - Britney Spears perhaps.

If Bellamy carries out such threats of a quiet word or two in the Arsenal player’s ear, Ramsey will surely succumb to a plague of anonymous “knocks” prior to international engagements and Wenger will whisk his precious youngster away from the Welsh border on the Ryan Giggs express way.

That said, John Toshack may encourage a relationship between Bellamy, the upstart, and Ramsey over one with Giggs, the no-start.

Has Capello introduced humility to England's super ego's?

There is something very different about the England squad at present, something emanating from the players, something transforming the previous perceptions; A shift in attitude and in culture. A whiff of humility perhaps?

Much has been written - more has been said - about the iron fist of Fabio Capello and the new dictatorial regime instilled from top down, but it is a point worth pausing on and developing. The truth is, the treatment of the squad has affected the fans as much as the players.

Over the past few years a chasm has grown between the fans and the footballers, most keenly felt at international level.

The perception (and probably the reality) was that the players were intoxicated with the life style of the rich and famous, an addiction that was indulged under Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren. Egos were routinely massaged, Bentleys were bought, WAGS were tolerated and football matches were lost. This fostered resentment among fans - as expressed in the booing of Ashley Cole on Saturday. This may have been something the players were aware of all along, and their outward apathy and warped priorities may simply have been a media concoction, but I suspect not.

But no longer do trips abroad resemble all-expenses-paid company jaunts to Spain. Capello has instilled some austerity to the previous material culture, with bans on mobile phones and WAGs as well as shifting the focus to football and professionalism. By doing this, he has reintroduced the concept of sacrifice and cold showers to the pampered players and with it, perhaps, even some humility.

An added sense of modesty should stand them in good stead for challenges on the pitch. And for all us fans - jealous of the mega wages, model girlfriends and blacked-out BMWs (especially with the somber mood of the impending credit crunch) - it is reassuring to know there is still place for cold showers and much sweat.

Barry fails audition?

Gareth Barry is now seen a regular in the England midfield and last night’s game against Belarus will probably not have diminished those sentiments. But there will be tougher nights for England and when they come England will need a quality defensive midfielder. On the evidence of last night and previous ones, question marks still surround Barry.

The ‘holding’ midfielders role has two primary functions. Firstly, when your team has the ball the ‘holding’ player must act as a century on duty, searching the horizon for potential counter attacks and creating a visual presence to deter teams from launching directly at the goal. Aesthetic long-range passes and ‘tippy tappy’ football are an appreciated extras, though not obligatory.

The second function of the defensively minded man in the middle is to make vital interceptions and yes tackle opponents who are intent on skipping around the penalty box with malice of forethought.

Now Barry performed task one quite comfortably against Belarus, as he generally has during his burgeoning England career and even added the garnish of a well-executed progressive pass or two.

But when Belarus took control of the match after England’s first goal, Barry did not control the zone around the around the D. In Belarus’ goal, three times the Aston Villa man could have made a challenged but he lacked the snap to stop the move.

Barry was once a fine centre half but that does not make him a fine defensive midfielder. Many great defenders have failed in that role, including Jamie Carragher against Germany in 2000 at Wembley, because the different positions require different attributes. Defensive midfielders need aggression (much underestimate, see Tom Huddlestone), discipline/tactical awareness (see Steven Gerrard) and mobility/sharpness (see Gareth Barry).

Indeed Barry would never claim to be a ‘holding player’ and it is not where he operates for Aston Villa. Were he as high profile as too Gerrard or Lampard, no doubt he too would be offering suggestions as to “how to get the best out of Gareth Barry”.

Who knows if he can develop that snappiness, acceleration and aggression to become an effective shield for England? At this stage Owen Hargreaves is still a better long-term bet.

Time for players to take responsibility?

Gareth Southgate made a telling remark recently when he admitted that his Middlesbrough squad lacked leaders. It was not so much a slight on his players but a comment on the footballers at large with the former Boro captain citing the lack of communication skills and leadership qualities in modern day footballers. Those deficiencies are most clear in crisis.

We are entering a minefield of Alan Hansen-esc clichés here - “if you are talking about pride and passion”, “grit and determination” and “wear the shirt with pride” etc. There is, though, an over emphasis on these overt displays of aggression or chest thumping moments.

Danny Guthrie’s attack on Craig Fagan, which broke the midfielder’s leg, was an exaggerated show of aggression in a misconceived attempt to justify his role. It revealed only stupidity. The outcome was a red card and a ban, which damaged his prospects and had a detrimental effect on his team. It is worrying that Joe Kinnear believes Joey Barton embodies the type of character that can rescue Newcastle.

What is required from Tottenham and Newcastle players is mental courage as much as physical toughness. With a few exceptions, players from those sides have not performed to anywhere near their potential and for that they must take responsibility. Where as manager are vilified for airing excuses, players are often afforded the luxury of moaning - “playing out of position”, “poor tactics” or a ‘lack of confidence” without recrimination.

It is up to the players on the pitch to assume greater authority. To have the mental strength to perform their role and play their natural game, whether that is running at defenders with pace and conviction, commanding the penalty area, hitting the target or to continue to ‘try things’.

The plight of Newcastle and Tottenham – who despite criticism retain some top class players - reveals just how fragile, and ultimately hollow, the footballer’s super-sized egos can be. Too often this season Newcastle and Tottenham players have subconsciously accepted the media’s premise that bogeymen (Mike Ashley, Damien Comolli etc) are defining their fate, they have shrunk in front of disgruntled fans and submitted to self-doubt. Players have been indulged in the notion that they are ‘suffering’ from ‘crises of confidence’ and ‘fear of failure’. Such states of mind are not constant or crippling and can be overcome or diminished by approach and attitude, for which it is again the player’s responsibility.

But as Southgate suggested player responsibility is waning in the modern game. Whether it is because of too much playstation at a young age (as he suggested) protection from coaches, concerned about fragile egos, obscene wages, and little consequence for poor performance or the media’s taste for an individual scapegoat.

Both Newcastle and Tottenham are in the bottom three when they have teams easily capable of top half finishes. Managers can make a difference, but in the winning and losing of games there is no bigger factor than the players on the pitch.