Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Friday – R.I.P FA Cup?

When I was in a French campsite in the 1990s a Dutchman caught wind of the fact I was English and immediately asked “Do you know the scores in the FA Cup semi-finals?”

Ask most football fans about what day in the season they looked forward to the most in the past and the FA Cup would have often topped the list, but the grand old competition is on the wane.

This year, four Premier League fixtures will be played before the trophy-starved Manchester City and Stoke City take to the Wembley turf for a shot at glory, the irony being Manchester United could clinch the league title about 20 minutes before their bitter city rivals try to win their first piece of silverware since 1976.

Is this farcical and disrespectful to the FA Cup or a sign the times-are-a-changin’? Money rather than trophies seems to rule modern football, so it’s no surprise to see the lucrative Champions League taking over as the ‘must win’ competition.

Off the pitch the red half of Manchester had a pleasing day after announcing their revenue was up by 30 per cent. The Red Devils roll on.

Over to the ongoing FIFA corruption scandal, and president Sepp Blatter has written a letter to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport about his re-election bid on June 1. 

The talk in Africa is that one of the executive members embroiled in the affair, Issa Hayatou, should step down from his role as one of African football’s most influential figures. Agree?

Soccer Break Monday

Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 1. Pictures of the teams suggest they were both pleased with the result but you would imagine Barcelona came away the happier side. Though Real were down to ten men for almost the entire second half so must be relieved not to have lost.

Who gained the upper hand then from the first of four clasicos between last Saturday and May 3? Wednesday will be an interesting affair in the King’s Cup final, a one off match as opposed to the two-legged Champions League semi-final.

Another fierce rivalry that was played out over the weekend was the Manchester derby, where the blue half of the city emerged victorious to ease the pressure on Roberto Mancini who must surely fancy his chances of beating Stoke City in the FA Cup final to hand City their first piece of silverware since 1976.

Ugly scenes marred the end of the match in which Rio Ferdinand and Mario Balotelli clashed but the United captain was quick to play down the spat. Balotelli in the news again though, will he stay at City?

At Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium a quite extraordinary end to the match provided two penalties and a managerial dispute after the final whistle following Liverpool’s 102nd-minute penalty to snatch a 1-1 draw with the Londoners, whose chances of the title are diminishing rapidly.

Thankfully Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, who suffered a sickening but accidental blow to the head in the second half and was stretchered off holding up play for eight minutes, is well.

In Europe several teams moved closer to winning their respective leagues, and back in England Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale was given the player of the year award. If the price on his head wasn’t already big enough, surely now he will be a major target for European clubs this summer. Will he stay or will he go?

Soccer Break Friday – Clasico fever rises

Only one day to go now until Real Madrid face Barcelona in La Liga for the first of four ‘clasicos’ between Saturday and May 3. Excited? You will be now…

Barcelona destroyed their fierce domestic rivals 5-0 in November, and although the gap at the top of La Liga remains difficult for Real to peg back, they looked a very difficult team to beat against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League quarter-finals.

So, Real to narrow the gap, Barcelona to cut through Jose Mourinho’s men, or an edgy draw?

A former Real player David Beckham knows all about the drama of Barcelona meetings, and the England man is in the news in the MLS. Here’s a wrap of other games. Oh and here’s another Beckham story, it appears Fulham aren’t the only ones making statues of famous people.

On Thursday it was Portugal’s night in the Europa League, where three team progressed to the semi-finals. Villarreal took the fourth spot for a truly Iberian domination of Europe’s second tier competition.

This weekend in England there’s the FA Cup semi-finals and Manchester City’s time is surely now. Lose to Man Utd and manager Roberto Mancini could face a nervous wait to see whether he retains his job for next season. Triumph and they will face either Stoke City or Bolton Wanderers in the final, which you would have to fancy them to win.

One fan hoping for a Bolton victory has flown in from Australia, read more here.

Soccer Break Monday

Welcome back to a new week of football stories but not before we’ve taken you through our roundup of the weekend’s action around Europe.

What was your highlight? Milan’s loss in Italy which breathed new life into the Serie A title chase, or the ability of the leaders in England, Spain, France and Germany to win no matter what?

Dimitar Berbatov’s late strike for Manchester United certainly produced a large sigh of relief from the red half of Manchester as well as several of my colleagues.

The Bulgarian is an interesting character. Read here for a look at a player who could well be a shoe in for the player of the year award but who remains a little difficult to work out.

There were few if any highlights from the last few days as far as Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is concerned. Hit by luggage, dropped from the Italy squad, when will it ever go right for the gifted yet temperamental youngster?

Would you like him at your club? Which manager do you think would have the best chance of taming him? Surely Roberto Mancini has as good a chance as anyone with his Italian.

Now this week is a first for Soccer Break with internationals on the horizon. Any Wolves fans out there? proud to see Matt Jarvis in the squad? Well deserved we say, there’s not been a harder worker in the Premier League over the last 12 months and Jarvis will be hoping he can help Wolves avoid the drop.

Man City look to steal a merry march in the snow

Mother Nature has handed Manchester City the perfect chance to spend Christmas on top of the Premier League and with a decent fixture list over the next month their title prospects should start being taken seriously.

City have been underwhelming at times this season and the future of leading striker Carlos Tevez remains in doubt but with all their rivals grounded by heavy snow, Roberto Mancini’s millionaires will go top if they beat Everton on Monday.

With their next three matches against Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Blackpool, City could head into the New Year as the team to catch — although neighbours United still look best-placed in what is looking like an intriguing title race.

That said, whatever happens to Tevez, City will no doubt be eyeing the January transfer window eagerly.

While their squad is already bulging with big-money signings, several of whom like James Milner and Adam Johnson are struggling for a regular game, such is the wealth of the club’s owners that a few more cannot be ruled out.

City’s over-reliance on the goals of Tevez will worry Mancini and adding more firepower will be his priority.

Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, currently with Ajax, would fit the bill as would Wolfsburg’s Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko who by all accounts has set his heart on a move to City.

A sense of deja-vu for Man City

A sense of deja-vu is sweeping Eastlands after Manchester City’s lame surrender against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday re-opened the cracks in the club’s glittering facade.

Manager Roberto Mancini has unrivalled spending power in English football but, just like Mark Hughes who he replaced nearly a year ago, is realising that there is one vital ingredient money cannot buy — team harmony.

City are still in the top four and handily-placed to mount a campaign to qualify for next season’s Champions League after last season’s near miss, but their title credentials have taken a battering in recent weeks and they are already eight points behind leaders Chelsea.

First there was a highly-flattering 3-2 victory after being out-played at Blackpool, then a 3-0 home defeat by Arsenal after being reduced to 10 men early on.

However, it was the 2-1 defeat at Wolves that exposed serious flaws that Mancini may struggle to fix in the limited time City’s managers are likely to receive.

With talisman Carlos Tevez out injured and reportedly homesick, City looked shorn of leadership, shape and fighting spirit and were reduced to squabbling amongst themselves as the points drifted away at Molineaux.

It all looks a bit similar to last season when City began with a flourish but then faltered, although after 10 games under Hughes they had 19 points compared to the 17 they have managed under Mancini this time around.

Predictions League could do with Mancini’s passion

The Premier League run-in is becoming so exciting that even stylish Italians like the usually calm Roberto Mancini are getting hot under the collar and wrestling opposition managers for the ball.

Our Premier League predictions competition needs a panel member to show similar passion or else Paul Radford will have wrapped up the title in a matter of weeks.

He had another flier last weekend although Sonia Oxley hauled herself off the bottom with an enormous 24-point tally.

Are you able to outguess our runaway leader? Predict the scores from this weekend’s Premier League fixtures and get five points for a correct score or one point for the right result. Post your guesses in the comments and then tell us how you did on Tuesday.   Reuters Soccer blog panel scores: Paul Radford 288, Patrick Johnston 259, Mitch Phillips 245, Neil Maidment 241, Mark Meadows 218, Kevin Fylan 204, Simon Evans 197, Mike Collett 188, Julien Pretot 179, Martyn Herman 164, Asia Sports Desk 151,  Sonia Oxley 131, Miles Evans 108

Saturday Birmingham v Arsenal Bolton v Man Utd Chelsea v Aston Villa Hull v Fulham Tottenham v Portsmouth West Ham v Stoke Wolverhampton v Everton

Sunday Burnley v Blackburn Liverpool v Sunderland

Man City must aim higher still

This time last year, I wrote a piece arguing that Manchester City were setting their sights in the transfer market pathetically low.

For a club with almost limiteless funds, putting Craig Bellamy and Nigel de Jong at the top of the transfer wish list was a bit like a Lottery winner hunting through the racks of last year’s suits at TK Maxx.

Since then, their dealings in the transfer market, with the exception of moves for Carlos Tevez and possibly Emmanuel Adebayor, have shown a similar lack of ambition.

As well as Tevez and Adebayor, City have signed Joleon Lescott, Kolo Toure, Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz and now Patrick Vieira, who is returning to the Premier League at the age of 33. Most of them are decent players. None of them are from the top drawer.

It may seem perverse to criticise City when they have just won their fourth successive league game, a Tevez-inspired 4-1 success over Blackburn Rovers, to climb to fourth place under an ambitious new coach in Roberto Mancini.

Yet now, with the Champions League a realistic target and no one in the Premier League looking beyond their reach, this is precisely the time they must set their sights much, much higher than the rollcall of mediocrity they’ve spent the last couple of years assembling.

What is Roberto Mancini’s coaching philosophy? What sets them apart from the other clubs, like Aston Villa, with their noses pressed up against the Big Four glass?

So much for long-term projects at Manchester City

Manchester City’s chief executive Garry Cook has made an impassioned defence of the reasons for Mark Hughes’ sacking.

The feeling persists, however, that Hughes was harshly treated by the club.

Cook states that he and the club’s owners gave Hughes all the resources that he needed to achieve the target of 70 points for the season. The one resource Hughes did not get was time. Had just two of the almost freakish seven successive draws been turned into victories, City would have been in an extremely strong position in the race for a top-four spot.

Even as it stands, they are well-placed in sixth place with 29 points from 17 games, just six points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with a game in hand. Cook’s statement that the trajectory of recent events gave no evidence to suggest City could reach 70 points is a curious basis on which to sack a manager.

Hughes was asked to put together a team that could threaten the established top four. City beat Chelsea and Arsenal, drew with Liverpool and lost to Manchester United to a goal deep in stoppage time. The only other league defeat was away to Tottenham Hotspur.

City have two very winnable looking games over Christmas. Had Hughes remained in his job and won those, it would have been very hard to justify sacking him, especially with a League Cup semi-final against Manchester United looming.

It all smacks of panic by owners who talked a good game about “long-term projects” but in reality got spooked when some of the league’s more humble clubs refused to roll over and surrender.

Mancini is a results man

It may be good entertainment but new Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will not have enjoyed watching their 4-3 win over Sunderland on Saturday.

The uncomfortable nature of his appointment, with Mark Hughes taking charge of the game knowing he was sacked, will be a minor thought to the Italian now he has seen the challenge ahead of him.

Mancini won three Serie A titles at Inter Milan largely because of a miserly defence. City’s backline must now prepare themselves for some hard work on the training ground.

His Inter side was far from pretty, often relying on long balls up to Zlatan ibrahimovic, but it was mightily effective and Jose Mourinho is now reaping the rewards at the san Siro.

Quite how City’s plethora of forwards will fit into Mancini’s pragmatic approach is anyone’s guess. Perhaps in his year away from the game he has decided to play a more expansive style but with the club’s owners showing how ruthless they are by ditching Hughes so early, Mancini does not have time to leak goals and play an open game.

The 45-year-old has shown he is vulnerable to pressure. His bizarre resignation after Inter lost to Liverpool in the Champions League last 16 in 2008 is proof of that. He changed his mind but was sacked anyway by Inter owner Massimo Moratti, who believed his coach had lost his bottle.