Eduardo

One of the hardest things to witness is a broken leg to a player on a football field. Any of us who have played the game at any level, or even just 5 a sides, and have witnessed this, all know how stomach churning it can be. Eduardo’s injury a couple of weeks ago was as bad as it gets, and who knows if he will ever fully recover. I’m no fan of Arsenal, but it was plain to see this lad is a top class striker, and hopefully he will be back scoring for Arsenal before the close of 2008. Arsene Wenger's thoughts on the tackle were out of line, asking for Martin Taylor of Birmingham to be banned from every playing football again. I’m glad common sense prevailed, and he took these comments back, blaming it on “a heat of the moment remark” I have certainly seen worse tackles, and it seems this was just unfortunate, more than malicious.

Benitez – The Real Deal or Faker?

Being a Liverpool fan, it’s not been the best season to watch my “other” team struggle so badly in the league. Yet again, they seem to keep their best performances for the Champions League, rather than the Premiership. Surely it should be the other way about, especially since they won the European Cup only a couple of seasons ago? I don’t understand how Benitez escapes criticism, especially from the Liverpool fans, when the team is sitting 4^th or 5^th in the league, and not even close to challenging. For my liking Benitez struggles with the amount of Premiership games, and does not seem to be able to get the best out of the team on a weekly basis. Stevie Gerrard is beginning to let his feelings of frustration show in the paper columns about the lack of progress in the league. I fear it could be the beginning of the end of “Captain Fantastic” as he may look further afield to get his wish of a Championship medal. It certainly does not look like it will come with Liverpool. With the likes of Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano and Alonso in their ranks, Liverpool should be challenging for honours, and not “hoping” that they can sneak in the back door to the Champions League, by finishing fourth. In my opinion, Benitez should go at the end of the current campaign, and a top class manager brought in to take this team to the next level.

Making Their Mark

It finally seems that Scottish players are beginning to make a comeback in the Premiership, which for Scotland fans is a great thing to see. Alan Hutton has already won a league cup medal with Tottenham, and it seems he has taken to playing in the self professed “Best League In The World”, like a duck to water. James McFadden looks like continuing his cult status with his new club, Birmingham, and has already scored important goals for them in the short time he has been there. Stephen Pearson and Kenny Miller are also doing well with Derby, although the team is struggling, and will probably be relegated. With these players shining a light for Scotland in the England’s top League, hopefully we will get back to the good old days of the 80’s when every English team had a Scotsman in their ranks. For too long, Scotland have been short of decent players who can make a difference in the English top division. The feel good factor is back with the Scottish National team, and perhaps this time next year we will be well on our way to qualifying for the next World Cup.

Winter Break

Time for a change. That’s my opinion. This season in particular has been poor for weather. Every game since late October has either been blowing a gale, pouring with rain, freezing cold, snowing, or more often than not, all the above at once!! I don’t understand why the top men in football are so against a break in the winter? Do we all not want to watch football in relative comfort, rather than sitting in a stand, with the wind and rain in your face, freezing cold, and just praying for the game to end so you can get back to the bus or the car just for some respite? Do the players not want to be playing on parks where you can actually see some grass, rather than mud, and when they kick the ball forward it doesn’t fly back over their heads as the wind catches hold of it?

Surely if we took a break from the end of November until say the end of March, we would miss the worst of the weather, and be able to enjoy football in relative comfort? Ok, we would have to play on until June, and some fans would miss a couple of games because of holidays. However, would attendances not grow as more people are inclined to watch football when they know they won’t lose a toe to frost bite? I thought Gordon Smith, who is a football man, would be at the forefront of changing the set up, and giving us the winter break, but it seems he is like the rest of the dinosaurs who run our game, and we will be stuck with poor football and horrendous conditions for the foreseeable future.