Coentrão exposed as Bayern move towards dream final

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid met in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals in what was a hotly-anticipated clash of two European giants. As it turned out, the game wasn’t the spectacle that everyone would have been expecting but it was still an intriguing battle, nonetheless.

Both sides have their motivations to reach the final. The Allianz Arena, home to Bayern Munich, is hosting the final on May 19th which gives the Bavarians more than enough incentive to get past Madrid whilst José Mourinho’s side could complete a double if they hold onto their lead in La Liga. There is, of course, the possibility of usurping Barcelona in doing so, which would be the biggest of bonuses for Real Madrid.

Bayern lined up with their usual 4-2-3-1 formation; Toni Kroos preferred to Thomas Müller in the central attacking role behind Mario Gómez, perhaps because he is not as attack-minded and offers more stability to a midfield five, which Bayern formed when they didn’t have the ball. As it turned out, that didn’t happen all that often with the home side dominating possession throughout though Madrid did have more shots on target than their hosts and were the better side in the opening quarter of an hour or so.

Real started with Karim Benzema, a more willing runner than Gonzalo Higuaín, up front, which would be vital away from home. Fábio Coentrão began the game at left-back with Marcelo left on the bench.

Coentrão was seen as the weak link by Bayern. He has often been deployed in midfield by Mourinho this season and was susceptible to being dragged out of position which would leave space in behind for ex-Madrid man Arjen Robben to exploit. Indeed, there were a few occasions in the first half alone when Coentrão tried to get too tight to Robben and he was left desperately trying to get back after the Dutchman had lost him. Bayern were breaking quickly and often with Madrid slow to recover without the ball.

Madrid themselves looked to take advantage of the Bayern Munich full-backs with Xabi Alonso frequently spraying passes towards the wide men, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ángel Di María, hoping that they would bypass the 5 foot 7 Phillipp Lahm. However, the away side were more likely to score on the counter-attack than they were by playing with a more direct style. It was expected that Lahm would have his hands full with the threat of Ronaldo down Bayern’s right hand side. Robben would be expected to track back and help out his captain.

There were signs early on that Madrid might have some joy with Benzema up top. Despite Mesut Özil already having the attention of Luiz Gustavo, Holger Badstuber deemed it necessary to storm out of defence towards the German, who promptly slipped the ball past his fellow countryman to set Benzema away into space but he fired straight at goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The breakthrough came from a corner kick that should have been defended in a much better manner than it actually was. Former Real Madrid full-back Míchel Salgado, a pundit for Sky Sports, claimed that “big clubs in Spain do not like defending set pieces”. It was to be Madrid’s downfall. The ball fell to Franck Ribéry in the penalty area and, with his marker Di María watching on a few yards away, rifled the ball past Iker Casillas.

It was evident that Bayern’s width would be their greatest asset if they were going to take a positive result to the Bernabeu with them for the second leg, which is a week on Wednesday (25th April). Madrid never looked comfortable when defending crosses; Gómez wasted a few opportunities and planted a header straight at Casillas.

In the second half, Álvaro Arbeloa was beginning to fall into the same trap as Coentrão by tracking his man too high up the pitch. A simple ball in behind Arbeloa sent Ribéry scampering down the wing but, alas, it came to nothing for the French international.

As stated earlier, Madrid were likely to score on the counter attack and they did so after Bayern were caught out from their own free-kick. Bastian Schweinsteiger lost the ball to Xabi Alonso on the edge of the Madrid penalty area and the Spanish midfielder sent a pass straight out to Di María on the halfway line, giving Real a situation from which they profited to the maximum.

Benzema was sent free down the right by the Argentine before crossing for Ronaldo, whose shot straight at Neuer came, somewhat fortuitously straight out to Özil; he gave the ball to Benzema, who danced past a couple of defenders and again squared again for Ronaldo, who pulled the ball back for Özil to tap home the equaliser.

The away side began to find some joy on the flanks with young left-back David Alaba showing his naivety by drifting infield towards the ball, allowing Di María time and space to get his shot away but it was blocked by the Bayern defence.

Both managers decided to shuffle their packs. Bayern replaced Schweinsteiger with Müller. As a result, Kroos dropped deeper to support Luiz Gustavo in front of the defence whilst Müller moved into the vacated space behind Gómez for the remaining half an hour. Real replaced Özil and Di María with Marcelo and Esteban Granero to provide more stability down their left-hand side. Coentrão, booked for a rash foul, was walking a tightrope and needed the support of the Brazilian defender.

He could have even been sent off having dived in and wiped out Gómez with 87 minutes on the clock; although Sergio Ramos took the ball with the original challenge, the follow-through from Coentrão could have been deemed worthy of a penalty kick and a second booking had referee Howard Webb seen the incident clearly. It was an omen for what was to come.

Lahm, who had dealt with Ronaldo relatively well all evening, found space on the right and skipped past Coentrão, who dived in needlessly, and skedaddled towards the penalty area. Looking up, he saw a gap of six yards between the goalkeeper and the nearest defender and fired the ball into the empty space. Sure enough, the predator, Gómez, was on hand to tuck the ball into the net having manoeuvred himself into the fissure between the centre halves, Ramos and Pepe, and sent Bayern over to Spain with a slender lead.

At home, you feel that Mourinho will be more adventurous in his setup and will revert to starting with Marcelo at left back with Coentrão on the bench. Both, however, are in the precarious position of being a caution away from missing the final, should Madrid get there. Regardless, Mourinho will not be happy with what he saw from his full-back tonight and is likely to make changes for El Clásico at the weekend before focusing on the second leg of this tie.

Bayern travel to Bremen this weekend in the Bundesliga and are likely to rest a number of first-choice players for the second leg with the title all but out of their reach.

In terms of what Real Madrid need next week, Gómez’s goal didn’t make that much difference if any at all; a 1-0 win would still send Mourinho’s men through to the final though it is better for ex-Real manager Heynckes and Bayern that they have a lead to defend.

Does value exist in the transfer market?

Following the departure of Damien Comolli from Liverpool earlier this afternoon, it has been suggested that the loss of his job is directly linked to the performances of Liverpool’s signings since the Frenchman arrived at Anfield. He has taken the bullet for the mistakes of Kenny Dalglish.

With an outlay of well over £100m, 8th in the Premier League does not represent a sufficient return on Liverpool’s investment, regardless of their progression in cup competitions. Liverpool has spent extravagantly on players like Andy Carroll, Luis Suárez, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing without getting much back from any of them.

Carroll has become a figure of parody; Suárez seems to be more trouble than he’s worth following the Patrice Evra racism row; Henderson has struggled to make any sort of impact and Downing has only two goals and one assist to his name all season.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once claimed that there was no value in the transfer market. But the real question is does value in the transfer market even exist? If it does, what defines it?

Every transfer is a gamble, regardless of the quality of the player. There are examples of players not fitting in at one club for one reason or another but it may work out for them back at where they started – Steven Pienaar’s return to Everton exemplifies this – and there are examples of players losing all form and confidence following a transfer (see Fernando Torres of Chelsea).

With the introduction of Financial Fair Play (FFP), clubs who wish to compete in European competitions have to be more careful as to how they spend their money. Expensive transfers have to be well thought-out and as risk-free as is possible (unless you’re Roberto Mancini and decide that spending £27m on the Bosnian Andy Carroll is a good idea).

The price paid for a player, however, does not necessarily mirror their quality. Newcastle United is the perfect demonstration of this. The stars of the season: Yohan Cabaye (£4.3m), Cheick Tiote (£3.5m), Demba Ba (Free), Hatem Ben Arfa (£5m) are all cut-price and have been superb in this campaign. Even the £10m paid for Papiss Cissé looks to be shrewd investment.

Had any of the above players flopped in a Newcastle United shirt, they could have easily been written-off and replaced. However, with Liverpool, the money it has spent almost gives it an obligation to try and nurture what it has bought so that it can see some sort of return before giving up and sending the lot to Coventry. After all, it’s a lot easier to write off a Toyota Prius than a Bugatti Veyron.

Carroll, who cost £35m, is stuck with that price-tag whilst at Liverpool and, you presume, for the rest of his career. It is something he did not choose yet he has to live with it. The decision was made to value Carroll at £35m during negotiations between Newcastle and Liverpool. In short: the transfer fee is simply the outcome of negotiations, not a reflection of quality.

Every manager, though, looks for the ‘bargain buys’. In a world where more and more clubs appear to be falling into administration, how a club spends its money has become increasingly vital, particularly for smaller clubs. Those funded by billionaires, such as Manchester City, can continue throwing money into a gaping hole hoping that the problem will eventually disappear.

It is rumoured that FC Basel’s midfielder Granit Xhaka, a Swiss international, is on the market at a mere £6m. A steal? Perhaps. For such a talented player it would be worth the risk of paying that fee. Clubs in the upper echelons of the Premier League would do well to bring the 19 year-old to these shores and let him prosper.

However, for every Xhaka at £6m, there will always be a Henderson at £16m. That’s just the way the transfer market has been, is and always will be.

Westley’s North End nightmare

Westley - out of his depth?

All is not well at Preston North End. As the iconic Sir Tom Finney approaches his 90th birthday, his beloved club finds itself engulfed by fresh controversy following accusations that four unnamed players leaked the line-up and tactics to the opposition the day before a 2-0 away defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

In his post-match press conference, the manager, Graham Westley said:

“We are where we are because the club’s got a lot of losing ways installed in the playing squad and there’s no better example than when their bench said to me during the second half. I’ve got to believe their dugout when it says it to me and I think from dugout to dugout I would very rarely believe that someone would lie to me on that sort of information.

“Four players of ours yesterday, at five o’clock, revealed our team to them as a football club. Does it surprise me? When you’ve got a number of agendas within a club – and I’ve said since I’ve been here that that’s the case within the playing squad here – this sort of thing happens and it’s not the first time that something’s happened that’s surprised me.

“It’s a difficult place at the moment, our club and our dressing room. But it’s only by working through issues and sorting issues out that you get yourself into a winning position.”

Although a line has now been drawn under this incident – the chairman Peter Ridsdale has said that it was “unfortunate” but “there will be no further public comment on the issue” – it seems to be a rebellion by a group of players who are not best pleased with the new regime Westley has implemented since he arrived at the club from Stevenage. He came to Deepdale, replacing Phil Brown, with back-to-back promotions on his CV, having led his former club from non-league obscurity to the edge of the League One play-offs.

One of Westley’s best talents at Stevenage was unearthing gems and keeping faith in them. Mark Roberts, signed from Northwich Victoria, is still the club captain and took temporary charge after Westley’s depature. Michael Bostwick, who was previously embroiled in relegation battles at Ebbsfleet, has shone in midfield and has been linked with transfers to Championship clubs such as Crystal Palace.

Somehow, he managed to pull out more from these players, and others, than perhaps was expected. These players, though, were not used to the luxury of life in the Football League and would have been more willing to adapt to his methods, which included a working day from 9am until 5pm. Unorthodox his methods may have been, but. even if the players didn’t like it, it worked. Those who disagreed were promptly shown the door. It was Westley’s way or no way.

As impressive as Westley’s achievements at Stevenage were, there are no signs, as of yet, that he has the capabilities to manage a club of Preston’s stature. Indeed, since taking charge, Westley’s Preston record reads played 15, won 2, drawn 7 and lost 6. His win percentage is 13.33% which averages at less than a point a game. In other words, it is relegation form.

He didn’t get off to the best of starts, either. The 44 year-old sent every player in his squad a nonsensical text message at 2.15am on a Saturday morning, telling four players that they had been dropped in a revelation of the starting eleven for the home game with Leyton Orient later that day. The text message was leaked onto internet message boards. Preston lost 2-0.

Currently, Preston sit a mere six points clear of the relegation zone and, with their six games remaining including games against four of the top eight (MK Dons, Stevenage, Charlton and Huddersfield), it is not inconceivable that North End could find themselves suffering successive relegations. They have not yet arrested a slide that started with relegation from the Championship last season and, as Westley says, have not ridden themselves of the “losing ways”.

Ridsdale claims that Westley will be given time to turn things around at Deepdale, stating that he had one of the longest-serving managers in the Championship whilst at Cardiff with Dave Jones and he understands that longevity is key to success. This summer should see a mass clear-out of playing staff at Preston; a squad of 35 will never be kept happy and one would think that those who don’t agree or comply with Westley’s methods will leave.

There will be a chance over the summer months for Westley to make the squad his own and remove those who oppose him and attempt to undermine his authority. Whether or not this will work is a matter of ‘wait and see’ but a club like Preston must have ambitions to return to the Championship.

Should Westley fail to meet the requirements with his own squad there is the possibility, regardless of what Ridsdale says, that he will be shown the door in this era of trigger-happy chairmen and knee-jerk reactions from fans who demand instant success. Looking at how he has done so far, it may be worth a flutter on him to win the League One sack race for 2012/13.

That’s if he’s still in a job by then.

Pavel Pogrebnyak looking to buck the Russian trend

Before him, there were seven: Andrei Kanchelskis, Dmitri Kharine, Alexey Smertin, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Yuri Zhirkov, Andrei Arshavin and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Now, as the only Russian in the Premier League, Pavel Pogrebnyak is seeking to break the mould following his arrival on transfer deadline day.

The former VfB Stuttgart striker has begun life down by the Thames with five goals in his first three games – including a ‘perfect’ hat-trick at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend: a bullet header, a sweeping first-time finish and a stumbling stab. It continued the impressive record of scoring with every shot on target he has had; so far it is five from five.

Fulham’s manager, Martin Jol, believes that the 28 year-old is a “real number nine” who has the ability to make it in the Premier League and become the club’s long-term successor for Bobby Zamora, who was sold to Queens Park Rangers in January. He said: “Pavel always wants to work. Twice this week he stayed longer on the pitch after training. He wants to work on his game. He’s a hard-working player and everything he has achieved is by hard work.”

Whilst Pogrebnyak has been a valuable import so far, other Premier League clubs decided to send their Russian players back home. Everton disposed of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, calling time on his mercurial English adventure whilst Roman Pavlyuchenko’s sporadic goalscoring form was never going to be enough for him to remain at Tottenham for the long-term.

In the most high-profile move, Andrei Arshavin rejoined his old side, Zenit St Petersburg, on loan for the remainder of the season from Arsenal. His biggest impact on the Premier League is, undoubtedly, the four goals he scored at Anfield in the famous 4-4 draw of April 2009, although he returns to Russia with his reputation tarnished by accusations of apathy.

Pogrebnyak, who also played for Zenit earlier in his career where he won the UEFA Cup alongside Arshavin in 2008, seemed to have lost his way in Germany – if he did not score when he played, he would not appear at all in the next match. Now, though, having been promised minutes on the field by Jol, ‘The Pog’ seems to have settled into Premier League football well, showing all of the qualities needed to succeed.

As well as being a mouthful for commentators, he has been a handful for defenders. Standing at 6ft 3in, Pogrebnyak is a formidable combination of speed and strength; it is difficult to cope with him and the goal which settled the West London derby was indicative of his quality.

Played through by a sumptuous Moussa Dembélé back-heel, the Russian hitman found himself one-on-one with Paddy Kenny. In this situation, a striker would often opt to finish first time, slotting the ball past the goalkeeper. Not Pogrebnyak. He dummied to shoot, Kenny dived and could only watch from the floor as Fulham’s new hero waltzed past him as if he were not there before rolling the ball into an empty net. It made a mockery of suggestions that Pogrebnyak had lost his way having scored only one goal in fourteen appearances for Stuttgart this season.

His contract runs out at the end of the season and, if he maintains this current form, Pogrebnyak will have a queue of admirers falling over each other to try and sign him. Fulham will hope that he becomes a resident of Craven Cottage to continue his own revival and buck the trend of under-performing Russians.

Praising a pariah – Sergio Busquets

If anything encapsulated public opinion of Sergio Busquets, it is the top search result for the Barcelona and Spain midfielder on Google: “Sergio Busquets dive”. Fair to say, then, that most people don’t like him.

His play-acting is indefensible, a perennial pain the arse. The most famous example comes from the Champions League semi-final of 2010 against an Inter Milan side then managed by José Mourinho. Busquets was supposedly pushed in the face by former Barcelona man Thiago Motta. If, by chance, Busquets looked through his hands for long enough, he’d have seen Motta being given his second yellow card by the referee.

The footballing world exploded with rage. Motta hit out at the Spaniard, saying “He always does it, it is terrible behaviour.”

However, when Busquets isn’t throwing himself on the floor, pretending to be injured, he is a superb footballer. Without him, Barcelona would not function in the manner that has people across the globe salivating.

The son of former Barcelona goalkeeper Carles Busquets, Sergio is the anchor of the midfield. His presence gives Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta – Cesc Fàbregas has recently come into the fold, too, since his summer move from Arsenal – a licence to work their magic further up-field, safe in the knowledge that Busquets is on hand to stop any potential counter-attacks. Whilst this is not an infallible tactic, it works most of the time.

The most vociferous support for Busquets comes from his team-mates; Xavi says that Busquets is “fundamental” to both Barcelona and Spain, he “reads the game well and moves the ball with precision, in as few touches as possible.” Robust and simple, but effective too. He receives the ball, looks up, spots a team-mate and gives them the ball; no complications, merely continuity.

Busquets, who has had only three shots all season in La Liga, could be seen as representative of everything that is anti-Barcelona to the footballing purists. The 23 year-old does the dirty work in a team of beauty; a footballing paradox, if you will. In the midst of a squad with an exuberance of quality, he takes little credit for his role in the side. Instead, it is Xavi, Iniesta and Messi who usually pick up the plaudits.

Nonetheless, it is Busquets who provides the foundations. He, himself, has said that “People who don’t like football don’t appreciate” his style but his team-mates do: “They appreciate that I do the dirty work and I know it is necessary.”

It is not just Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola who sees Busquets as a quality player either.

The Spain coach, Vicente Del Bosque, who led the national side to World Cup glory in 2010, said before the tournament: “If I could be like any player in the world, I would like to be Sergio Busquets”. High praise, indeed, from such a decorated manager who oversaw the height of the Galactico era at Real Madrid. He promptly put the La Masia product into his midfield for every game of the competition and made him a World Cup winner at the age of 21.

So often the pantomime villain, Busquets has been accused of being out of place at Barcelona. On the field it is rare to find him out of place. He is their destroyer, a vital cog in a footballing machine. He has, on occasion, been forced to play at centre back and has shown great versatility and competence in doing so.

Busquets currently has a contract that runs until 2015 with a buyout clause of €150m. Even that may not be enough to tempt Barcelona to part with a player whose contribution is priceless.

Simon Grayson a perfect fit for Huddersfield

It is said that football is, by its nature, tribal. Perhaps this old cliché goes a long way to explaining why some Huddersfield Town fans do not greet the arrival of former Leeds United manager Simon Grayson with the alacrity that would have been expected from the neutrals.

The same neutrals shared a collective reaction of shock when the news came out that Lee Clark had been sacked by Dean Hoyle. Although Clark had lost only three of his last fifty-five league games, that statistic does not tell the whole story.

Huddersfield’s unbeaten league run, as remarkable as it was, consisted of far too many draws. Of the forty-three games that the Terriers went without defeat, eighteen of them were draws; it is what ultimately cost them promotion.

Rather than going gung ho to get three points, draws were suddenly accepted because they preserved the unbeaten run. The pressure told on the squad and, as they had done the season before, unravelled all of their hard work by losing in the play-offs.

After the succeessive play-off failures, many Huddersfield fans believed that Clark would, this time, get it right. However, rigorous changes were implemented for the third summer in succession. Rather than making small amendments, Clark threw the baby out with the bathwater and started all over again.

The turnover of players at the Galpharm has been remarkable in recent years. During Clark’s tenure of just over three years, excluding loan signings, a total of thirty-one players joined the club whilst forty-two were allowed to leave. This lack of continuity did not allow the squad to maintain any form of consistency in selection because of the options available to the Geordie. Promotion was not attained. Money was spent, money was wasted.

Grayson, on the contrary, has made his name at both Blackpool and Leeds by delivering success when working on a shoestring budget. Whilst at Leeds, the former defender signed thirty-three players on loan during his thirty-seven months in charge. Significant funds were not available. The chairman, Ken Bates, sold players without reinvesting the money into the squad.

Fabian Delph joined Aston Villa for an astronomical £6m; Kasper Schmeichel went to Leicester for £1m; club captain Jonny Howson was snapped up by Norwich for £2m and Max Gradel secured a late move to St Etienne for £1.7m. Leeds had money to back Grayson, it was provided sparingly.

In context, then, guiding Leeds to a 7th placed finish in the Championship last season is a remarkable achievement for the Yorkshireman. If a promotion from League One at Blackpool is thrown into the mix then what Huddersfield have on their hands is a manager who is pragmatic with his resources; quite the opposite to his predecessor, Clark.

Grayson is Leeds through and through – something which rancours amongst the Huddersfield faithful. The arrivals of Glynn Snodin and Ian Miller as a part of the backroom staff have also done little to ease the tension; both men were, of course, Grayson’s right-hand men at Elland Road.

The man himself, though, remains undeterred by the apprehension from the fans and is determined to win them over, he told the press that his “sole interest” is to get the club promoted and “if that means being in the Championship and going back to Elland Road and winning then so be it.”

In the end, Huddersfield’s search for a new manager lasted a mere five days; Grayson’s time out of football after his sacking by Leeds was only nineteen days. The forty-two year old had no intention of coming back into management so soon but Huddersfield’s ambition convinced him that this was a project worth devoting time to. An ambitious club have an ambitious manager: from the outside looking in, this moves seems to be a perfect fit for both Huddersfield and Grayson.