Tag Archives: Phil Jones

PRINTED! in R.AGE Scored!

Credit where it’s due

September 7, 2011 – 1:00 am

Fabio Capello has been praised for giving youth a chance, while Roberto Mancini got a pat on the back for taking a gamble on a free agent. If I had not known any better, I would have thought that I had woken up to the footballing equivalent of 28 Days Later.

Just imagine, a desolated world where boring, defensive football is praised and managers force attackers to play like zombies, all while Sepp Blatter sits on a throne as the Evil Overlord of the entire universe. And there’s still no goal-line technology. Oh the horror.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a nightmare, and it wasn’t a joke either. The headlines I was staring at on my computer screen commending Capello and Mancini, puryevors of stodgy football and an egotistical management style fuelled by the countless millions in their coffers, were real.

After calling up youngsters Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck to the England squad for the 3-0 victory over Bulgaria, Capello was treated to a round of praise in the British press for “taking a gamble on youth”.

Capello fielded ONE new youngster in the team against Bulgaria and the press praises him for "taking a gamble on youth".

Honestly, even if Capello had handed Elton John a call-up, the average age of the England squad could not have gotten any higher than it was at the World Cup. Anyone would have been considered “youth” compared to that bunch of dinosaurs.

But more importantly, people need to realise that Capello doesn’t deserve any praise because all he did was basically leech off Alex Ferguson’s youth policy at Old Trafford. Not to mention, on closer scrutiny, the only youngster that made it to the starting XI was Chris Smalling (Theo Walcott’s the same age as Smalling, but he’s been there forever so he doesn’t count).

He has done absolutely nothing to encourage youth development in his three years with the England set-up, apart from giving Jack Wilshere a few games after South Africa – a safe gamble since his old charges had done so badly and he really had nothing to lose. Plus you’d really have to be an idiot to ignore Wilshere’s talent.

But then again, he’s also the guy that overlooked youngbloods like Theo Walcott, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Andy Carroll and Darren Bent for Emile “The Ole Donkey” Heskey. ‘Nuff said.

The truth is, Capello didn’t take any “gamble” on youth. He’s just lucky that at one of the lowest points in the history of the English national team, Ferguson has managed to develop another group of talented young Englishmen at Manchester United for him to choose from.

Capello could have either continued with that failing, ageing group he brought to South Africa, or go with the new kids Ferguson has brought up. That’s quite a no-brainer if you asked me.

The emergence of young stars like Tom Cleverley at Old Trafford has allowed Capello to inject some much-needed youth into the England national team.

In fact, the gamble was Ferguson’s, not Capello’s. While United’s rivals have mostly signed expensive foreign players (in Arsenal’s case, just foreign), Ferguson has placed his faith in this new crop of English youngsters, preparing them for battle at the very highest levels to the benefit of United, England and, more crucially, Capello.

The praise Capello received was just as ridiculous as the plaudits Mancini got, for taking a gamble on free agent Owen Hargreaves and not splurging the cash like only he knows how. It’s really hard to define what constitutes a gamble for Manchester City though, because if you asked me, any player signed at below £20mil (RM100mil) is really playing it safe for them.

Money aside, some are making Mancini out to be a saint who’s giving the erstwhile perpetually injured Hargreaves a second chance. Let’s face it, though, he only signed Hargreaves because he was a cheap, convenient cover for Yaya Toure, who would be gone for a month in January for the African Nations Cup. Also, it’s because that the club’s previous approaches for Daniele de Rossi, Fernando Gago and Mark van Bommel had failed.

They were obviously just looking for a stop-gap measure, and after realising that no big name player like de Rossi or Gago or even an older head like van Bommel would be interested in signing up for that kind of role, they turned to Hargreaves.

At least they would have known from YouTube that he was desperate to join any club (look up his “fitness videos” online. Quite hilarious).

Plus, they’re only giving Hargreaves a one-year deal where he will be paid a nominal salary and renumerated more on actual appearances on the field, so this deal could cost them close to nothing. How is that a gamble? It’s not called a gamble if you’ve got nothing to lose.

Mancini already had Gago, de Rossi and van Bommel turn him down, so Hargreaves it was.

Even if it all works out for Hargreaves and he manages to displace Toure, Nigel de Jong, Samir Nasri, David Silva, Gareth Barry and James Milner in the City midfield on a regular basis, again, Ferguson and Manchester United deserve some credit.

After providing him four years of constant medical treatment and expensive surgeries for knees that were just about as fragile as Lindsay Lohan’s sanity, Hargreaves finally overcame his injury problems.

And what does he do? He goes straight to Manchester City. Brilliant.

Ferguson had continued to put his faith in Hargreaves, surprising everyone by handing him a start once he got fit against Wolves last season, when most people were telling him to just give it up.

The club had also spent £17mil to sign him from Bayern Munich, plus millions more in wages and medical expenses, though he only ever made 27 league appearances for the club. So when Hargreaves offered to play for United for free at the end of his contract, they were well within their rights to take him up on it.

Neville: "That could be you playing down there some day..."

The club, however, advised him that it wouldn’t be in his best interests to stick around with all the youngsters coming through, which Hargreaves has admitted to be rather true.

They simply wouldn’t have been able to give him enough games for it to be constructive to his career. Do City and Mancini care as much about rehabilitating his career? I don’t think so.

Even if the Hargreaves experiment does somehow work out at City, and United’s Young Lions help England win the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, would Ferguson get any plaudits from the blue half of Manchester or the England supporters? Now that would be the footballing equivalent of What Dreams May Come.

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Ian-ything Goes

Expensive Englishmen

June 29, 2011 – 5:29 am

IT’S one of those things you hear so often that you just sort of accept it as truth – in this day and age, English football players cost more.

That, my friends, is how ghost stories, mysterious UFO sightings, Bigfoot and the perception of Taylor Swift as a singer came about.

As illogical and ridiculously far-fetched as the stories are, if you repeat them often enough, there will be people who wouldn’t bother to ask why and just accept it because they’ve heard a similar story from someone else.

And so it is with English players, and the completely and utterly senseless upward trend in their value.

Why are English players like Man Utd's Phil Jones so expensive?

Why are English players like Man Utd's Phil Jones so expensive?

How many times have you heard someone on the telly say in regards to some transfer rumour: “Well, he’s English so he’ll cost more”, or someone in the pub say: “Twenty million quid for Jordan Henderson? That’s alright, y’know, since he’s English”?

Now I’m no economics expert (to be honest, I can barely get my own taxes right)– and I’m just guessing here – but don’t you only pay more for products/services of better quality?

While there’s an abundance of “mini-Xavis” and “mini-Iniestas” to be poached from Barcelona using the new and improved “Arsenal method” (that’s poaching them before they turn 18, because Spanish clubs aren’t allowed to offer professional contracts to under-18s), Manchester United have nevertheless splurged a reported £20mil (RM110mil) on Phil Jones, while Liverpool paid £55mil (RM302.5mil) for Andy Carroll and Henderson.

Admittedly, Carroll’s “Because you’re worth it” pony-tail alone is worth £5mil, but what about Jones, who has played less than a season of first team football? What about their £17mil (RM93.5mil) purchase of Ashley Young, who would cost nothing when his contract expires next season?

I'm almost positive Dalglish actually paid the 35 million pounds just to own the secret to Andy Carroll's hair.

I'm almost positive Dalglish actually paid the 35 million pounds just to own the secret to Andy Carroll's hair.

And then there’s the recent failure of England’s Young “Lions” at the European Under-21 Championships, where Henderson was to be the source of midfield inspiration to match the likes of Barcelona’s Thiago Alcantara, the new Xavi.

But look how it turned out. Henderson, who has more top-flight experience than Alcantara, played like Joey Barton minus the aggression (what’s left, really?), while Alcantara was showcasing his magical abilities by scoring an outrageous 40-yard free-kick in the final to continue Spain’s domination of world football.

That’s the difference in quality the English clubs have been paying for. The English youngsters slogged and laboured throughout the tournament without producing a single win, and scoring just two goals.

The Spanish on the other hand, played with imagination and freedom, scoring six goals in the group stage alone.

I know it’s unfair to compare them to the Spanish now. After World Cup 1998, we were all saying the English should follow the French model, and look where they are now, and what trouble John Terry and Wayne Bridge got themselves into.

Vanessa Perroncel: Not the French model people were referring to.

Vanessa Perroncel: Not the French model people were referring to after World Cup 1998.

But the numbers don’t lie. Reports on Monday said Arsene Wenger bid £18mil (RM99mil) for Juan Mata, another exquisitely talented young Spaniard who I’m sure has a superb “eye” for a killer pass (Get it? Get it? Mata?), and he also has considerable top-flight experience with Valencia CF.

Worst still, Mata’s teammate Jeffren Suarez, who scored the winner in the U-21 Championships semi-finals, is merely being used as makeweight in Barcelona’s attempts to sign Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez.

The important thing to remember here is I’m not arguing about the merits of signing English players – though it didn’t hurt Arsenal one bit that Wenger had accumulated about half the French squad post-1998.

I think it’s great that Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish see the importance in investing in British players, not just on moral grounds and principle, but also because they know the style of play.

But why the vast difference in value? Why would Liverpool have to pay £35mil (RM192.5mil) for Andy Carroll, who had just half a season of top flight football under him, while World Cup-winner David Villa cost £34mil (RM187mil)? Age difference is one thing, but honestly, Carroll will never be the player Villa is.

The England seniors haven't exactly bathed themselves in glory recently either.

The England seniors haven't exactly bathed themselves in glory recently either.

And I’ve always been an advocate for English players. My stance has always been that players like Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, heck, even Ashley Cole, could make it in almost any team in the world.

But based on current trends, it’s more likely that if you bought yourself one of these over-priced footballers, they’d be more likely to end up in court over some pub brawl, fail to gel as a team, and be caught up in a seedy sex scandal involving one or more sex workers or, if you consider the wider scope of British players, sisters-in-law.

In the end, the only theory I have for this abberation of economics is that English football is where the money is, and English clubs will always have a moral obligation to sign English players – even if you are Manchester City.

So naturally, with all these clubs (which is in fact only the Big Five) scrambling for so, so few good English players, I guess it makes sense that their prices go up a bit.

So, the next time one of those loud, obnoxious, know-it-all football fans in the pub half-drunkedly yells at you, “Twenty million for Henderson is a’ight – he’s English!” you can challenge him to tell you why, and you’d at least have one (questionable) answer to his nothing.

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Ian-ything Goes

Jones vs. Henderson

June 16, 2011 – 1:28 pm

So who got the better deal – Liverpool or Manchester United?

One is a tough-tackling, uncompromising monster of a defender in the Jamie Carragher mould; the other, an elegant playmaker that could, by some stretch of the imagination, be seen as the English Kaka.

Both players are well-built, at around 6 ft 2 in, contrary to the wrong info I had in my previous blogpost about Jones being 5 ft 11 in. He’s still a growing, boy I guess.

Jordan Henderson

Henderson, 20, has played regularly for Sunderland in the Premier League for the past two seasons (38 appearances in 09/10 and 39 in 10/11), and has a bit of a reputation as a freestyler among the Sunderland academy lads.

He was used mainly as a right-sided midfielder when he first broke into the first team, but he eventually made the central midfield berth his own alongside another talented young Englishman at Sunderland, Lee Cattermole.

Phil Jones

Jones, 19, has less Premier League experience, having just broken into the Blackburn Rovers first team last season, and even then his season was truncated by a three month injury lay-off.

He also started out being played out of his natural position. Predominantly a centre-back, Jones was also used in midfield and right-back last season.

United fans would be surprised to hear that his reported transfer fee of 16.5 million puts him in the top ten biggest transfers in United’s history. Inflation would have something to do with that, but nevertheless, it represents a bit of a financial gamble on Fergie’s end given Jones’ relative lack of experience.

My verdict (for what it’s worth)

The funny thing is both deals would have made more sense if they happened the other way round – if Liverpool bought Jones and United bought Henderson.

United obviously need a world-class midfielder. Henderson might not be one just yet, but he would be a step in the right direction.

Liverpool have a solid defense, but with Daniel Agger constantly injured and Sotirios Kyrgiakos still shakey, a talented young centreback to eventually replace Jamie Carragher would have made sense. Jones would have formed a strong partnership with Martin Skrtel or Martin Kelly for years to come.

On the other hand, Liverpool have plenty of options in central midfield – Steven Gerrard, Raul Mereiles, Lucas Leiva (superb for the whole of last season), Jay Spearing and Jonjo Shelvey. They could even try giving Christian Poulsen a couple more games or recall the talented but unfortunate Alberto Aquilani.

United have a similar embarrassment of riches in central defense. They still have the rock solid partnership of Ferdinand and Vidic, Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans as young successors, and the ever-reliable duo of John O’Shea and Wes Brown (though there is a good chance both will leave for Sunderland this summer).

Rio Ferdinand

And I do believe Ferdinand will be around playing at the highest level for at least another 2-3 years. His style of play has never had anything to do with speed or power, so even as his body ages, he’ll still be performing at the same level.

He’s all about his perfect timing, positioning and reading of the game. No need for heavy, last-ditch tackles – that’s why he hasn’t had a yellow card since 2009, and his first foul of the season was against West Brom in January – it was his first since April last year!

It could be because Rio hasn’t played that many games due to injuries, but still, those stats speak volumes about his attributes as a defender, and his style of play.

Once his body settles down over his last spate of injuries, which it did towards the end of the season, Ferdinand will be back to his imperious best.

Champions League final

In fact, during the Champions League final, Ferdinand held his own whenever he was one-on-one against Messi & Co. – the only problem was that the midfield ahead of him was getting torn to shreds!

It was Arsenal legend Martin Keown, if I remember correctly, who said ahead of the game that for United to stand a chance against Barcelona, Ferguson would have to give Ferdinand the freedom to track Messi into midfield.

That’s where Barca create their goals. They don’t play with a conventional forward – they tear you apart in midfield, over-run your fullbacks with their own fullbacks bombing forward, so by the time the play gets into the penalty area, your centrebacks can’t do nothing about it.

As it turned out, Keown was right – Ferdinand and Vidic were left with nobody to defend in the final as Messi and David Villa both dropped into midfield or moved to wide positions, creating havoc for Giggs and Carrick, Evra and Fabio; while Ferdinand and Vidic could only watch and make the occasional last-ditch tackle.

Think about it – where did Barcelona score their goals? 1) Pedro scored from the left side of the penalty area which Evra had deserted. 2) Messi scored from midfield after cutting in from the left. 3) Villa curled in the glorious third from outside the penalty area.

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Ian-ything Goes

How do we feel about Phil?

June 9, 2011 – 3:18 pm

After a few summers of relative scrounging, Alex Ferguson had promised Manchester United fans a spending spree, so how do feel about his first piece of business, Blackburn defender Phil Jones? read more »

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