Red Rose Football Blog Edition 47
September 11th 2017
Red Rose Player of the Week
James Tarkowski; Burnley
Red Rose County Local Football Heroes
Graham Alexander; Preston North End
Performances of the last week
Hands up if you bet on Manchester City beating Liverpool 5-0. I thought so, not a
single hand in sight. At first glance, it appears to be a Premier League result which sets a marker to the rest of the field.
And it may well be that the “Sky Blues” will go on and return the title to the
Etihad for the first time since 2014., but once again a crucial game of
football was decided by a refereeing judgement. “City” were already a goal up,
Aguero having waltzed around the keeper to finish coolly, when Sadio Mane
chased a through ball which had split the home defence. In trying to flick the
ball over the onrushing Ederson who was forced to try to clear with his head
because the ball had not quite reached the 18 yard line, Mane’s high foot made
contact with the keeper’s head and the Brazilian appeared to be seriously hurt.
Because of the wording of the law, it was a difficult decision for referee Jon
Moss, but Mane was soon on his way to an early bath, the game being ruined as
an equal contest. Manchester City are an irresistible attacking force for
eleven men to defend against when they are on song. With 10 men it is virtually
impossible, especially when the “Reds” have a less than water-tight back four
and goalkeeper. As a result, Liverpool crashed to their worst defeat since
Juergen Klopp took over nearly 2 years ago, Jesus and Sane each helping
themselves to a couple of goals. Was it a sending off offence? Possibly yes
(according to the rule book) but there was no intention on the part of the Senegalese
to maim. It was scarcely reckless and he would have been given a torrid time by
pundits like Shearer if he had given the keeper a free clearing header. If only
we had a sin bin. Fifteen minutes in the cooler would have been a fair and just
punishment and the game would not have suffered, but it takes an eternity for
football’s governing bodies to introduce regulations which other sports quickly
(and successfully) take on board. It was another 3 points for Burnley, moving into the top 7 as a
result of a somewhat fortuitous 1-0 win over pointless Crystal Palace. New
signing Chris Wood made it 2 out of 2, seizing on to a miss directed back pass
to score within 3 minutes, but they then generally surrendered possession to a
hard working but blunt edged “Palace”
side. Burnley will not worry about the 35-65 percentage possession deficit.
This is the way they play, but they were reliant on centre backs Tarkowski and
Mee to keep the threat posed by Christian Benteke at bay. It will be another
long season for Sean Dyche’s men, but they will be delighted with their start.
The outstanding performance in
the Northern
Premier League was Lancaster City’s 2-0 win over table-toppers Shaw
Lane at the Giant Axe. Goals from Craig Carney and Hannu Tam keep the “Dolly
Blues” in title contention in their first season back in Tier 7 since financial
problems caused them to seek administration following the disastrous 2006-07
season. To win automatic promotion, they will have to leap over Warrington Town
who moved back to the top after a 4-2 victory over Yorkshire’s Farsley Celtic. A
Tony Gray double and goals from Connor Hughes and Sean Williams helped the
“Yellows” on their way at Cantilever Park against top six opposition. There
were important wins for two of our struggling sides in the Northern Premier League 1 North. Clitheroe had
made a poor start to the new term, but they managed to hang on for a 2-1 win at
bottom of the table Goole AFC. Radcliffe Borough had been bottom but 2 goals
from Thomas Owens helped them to their first points following a 3-2 home victory
over Tadcaster Albion. Mossley defeated Prescot Cables 2-0 in an all
Red Rose County fixture, stalling the Merseysiders’ charge up the table but Ramsbottom
United took the plaudits, beating Trafford 3-1 to move into 2nd
place, a point behind leaders South Shields. Heavy rain in the Lancashire area
played havoc with the FA Vase Preliminary Round ties but there were
emphatic wins for West Didsbury & Chorlton,
6-1 winners over an outclassed AFC Blackpool from the league below and Charnock
Richard who went one better, thrashing Selby Town from the Northern Counties East League 1 by a 7-1 margin. Litherland REMYCA also progressed to the next
round with a surprisingly close 1-0 victory over Ashton Town,
the Wigan club relegated to the Tier 11 Cheshire League at the
end of last season.
Games to look forward to this week
Champions’
League games begin this week, the first of 6
fixtures in mini-leagues of 4 clubs. Our three representatives are all in
action and all three ought to win. Manchester
United entertain FC Basel from Switzerland on Tuesday, whilst Liverpool are at home to Spain’s Sevilla
on Wednesday. On the same evening, Manchester
City make the relatively short European journey to Feyenoord in Holland and
all three have been drawn into groups with a low degree of difficulty.
Something will have to go seriously wrong if any of them miss out on
qualification for the last 16. On Thursday, Everton fly off to Atalanta, one of the less well known opponents
in the Europa
League. The “Toffees” have struggled so far this campaign and Lyon are
in their group. A point at least will be an essential requirement for Koeman’s
side from their visit to this Northern Italian club which finished 4th
last season in Seria A.
Both
Preston North
End and Bolton Wanderers have away fixtures in the Championship.
“North End” have the easier task at a completely mis-firing Birmingham
City, but the “Wanderers” have to travel to Ipswich. Both will face sides with
a wealth of managerial experience, but whereas Harry Rednapp has been unable to
build upon the great escape that he engineered in May with the “Brummies”, Mick
McCarthy’s “Tractormen” have made an extremely strong start to this campaign.
With 3 consecutive losses behind them and only 2 points to show for their
efforts so far, Bolton are in desperate trouble. Let us hope that their Board does
not have the trigger-happy instincts of their counterparts at Crystal
Palace, for Phil Parkinson (pictured below) worked so hard to achieve promotion last
term. With the current financial position at the Macron, no-one can guarantee
safety so why sack a boss who has shown that, given half a chance, he can make
the most of what is a terribly difficult situation. In League 1, Blackburn Rovers appear to have
the easiest task as they attempt to continue their winning run, the minnows of
AFC Wimbledon providing the opposition. Bottom of the table Oldham Athletic
have by far the most problematic fixture, but at least they are at
home to shock leaders Shrewsbury Town. Both Blackpool (home to Oxford
United) and Wigan
Athletic (hosting Bristol Rovers) will have to be at their best to
continue their promotion pushes whilst anything can happen when Fleetwood Town travel
to meet the unpredictable Portsmouth. Bury will have to fight tooth and nail to take
the points away from Plymouth Argyle at Gigg Lane and Rochdale will have to find punch
up front if they are to trouble the inconsistent Milton Keynes in
Buckinghamshire. In League 2, Morecambe may be able to garner much needed
points when they welcome Newport County and Accrington Stanley will fancy
their chances of hitting top spot by overcoming 23rd placed
Chesterfield in Derbyshire. In the National League,
Barrow can surely put some distance
between themselves and the relegation spots by defeating the hapless Torquay
United but AFC Fylde have a
difficult journey down to the South Coast to take on Eastleigh.
The
National League
North clubs enter the FA Cup at
the 2nd Qualifying Round stage and the tastiest match-up is at Salford where York are the visitors; a real “Tale of Two
Cities”. There is an all Northern Premier League meeting between two in
form sides,
Lancaster City from the Premier and Droylsden, now topping the League 1 North
table. Finally, Ashton Athletic, the
sole Tier 9 representative from the North West Counties
Premier League travel across the Pennines to Bradford to meet the Tier 9
Albion Sports from the Northern Counties East League.
There
are a number of Northern
Premier League 1 North fixtures, the most interesting being at Mossley where
the home side take on the much improved Ramsbottom United, now sitting in the
runners-up position. Likewise there is a virtually full North West Counties fixture list and Bootle,
desperate to make up ground on the leaders, are away to Northwich Victoria, a
club which has definitely seen better days. The game of the day in Division 1 sees Litherland
REMYCA welcoming Whitchurch Alport in a 3rd v 2nd
clash.
Post Weekend Musings
Way back at the start of the current millennium, Juventus
paid Parma an astronomical £33 million for Gianluigi Buffon, a then world
record for a goalkeeper. That “Juve” have had their money’s worth is
undisputable. He may be the greatest goalkeeper who ever lived, but I wonder if
we will be making a similar comment about Ederson Moraes in 2033. By that time,
the Brazilian, signed by Manchester City
from Benfica for a new world record £34.8 million, will be the same age as
Buffon is now. If he is then still at the Etihad, he will have proved himself
to be as great a “keeper” as the Italian. Now that is really a dream worth
chasing.
The Red Rose County has 4 clubs involved in Europe this
coming season. Here are the groups in which they are involved.
|
Competition
|
Team
|
Opponent
1
|
Opponent
2
|
Opponent
3
|
|
Champions’ League
|
Manchester
City
|
Feyenoord
|
Shaktar Donetsk
|
Napoli
|
|
Champions’ League
|
Liverpool
|
Sevilla
|
Spartak Moscow
|
NK Maribor
|
|
Champions’ League
|
Manchester
United
|
FC Basel
|
CSKA Moscow
|
Benfica
|
|
Europa League
|
Everton
|
Atalanta
|
Lyon
|
Apollon Limassol
|
If ever
there was evidence needed that the English game is competitive from top to
bottom, one only needs to start searching for clubs with a 100% record. It will
not take long to compile the list because with just 4 fixtures completed in the
Premier League and mainly 6 in Tiers 2, 3 and 4, there is exactly zero. Should
you wish to include the 3 Divisions of the National League (Premier, 1 North
and 1 South), there is not a 100% record in sight either. Competitive football is
what we have in this country.
Quiz of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)
1
The 1999 Champions’ League Final was rather unique in that each
side had a goalkeeper as captain; Oliver Kahn and which other keeper?
2
Jim Iley (pictured as a Newcastle United player) was manager of
which Red Rose County club when they were relegated into the then 3rd
Division (Tier 3) for the first time in its history in 1979?
3
Which midfielder played 84 times for Everton and gained 3
England caps, was sold to Manchester City for £12million and then to Sunderland
for £10million, a club at which he is now struggling?
4
Which former player was manager of Burnley the day they survived
relegation from the Football League, defeating Leyton Orient on the final day
of the 1986-87 season?
5
Which Yorkshire born defender made 42 league appearances for
Preston North End in the 2016-17 season, scoring 4 goals?
6
Bolton Wanderers were sponsored in a variety of ways from
1990-2014 by which kit manufacturer which was founded and based in the town?
7
In
1999, Liverpool sold Steve McManaman (pictured) to which
European Club where he won 2 Champions’ League medals?
8
Who is the manager of the Northern Ireland national side which
has won its last 5 World Cup qualification games?
9
Of the 5 all-time Premier League leading goal scorers, only one
has scored all of his goals for the same club, doing so between 1999 and 2007 plus
one more he scored whilst on loan in 2012. Who is he?
10
Graham Jones, who holds the record for most goals scored in a
season at Wigan Athletic, is now assistant head coach for which European
national side, one which has already qualified for Russia 2018?
Red Rose County Non-league Club of the Week
AFC Liverpool
Back in 2007, the city of Liverpool suffered more than most
from the financial meltdown which hit the western world. Employment was difficult
to find and those that did were generally paid low wages. The city has always
been extremely working class but take away the work and you had a large
conurbation wondering where the next meal was coming from. It became an easy
target for drug pushers and the crime that inevitably goes hand in hand with
it. Aspects of the city immune from the credit crunch were the football clubs.
With TV money becoming awash in the game and the successful players from the
Red half of the city earning more per week than the total benefit being paid
into a small housing estate, the cost of watching their heroes rapidly
escalated to the point where the poorer folk simply could not afford a ticket.
As a result busker/folk singer/social and community music festival organiser
Alun Parry gathered together a group of like-minded people to form a football
club which was not a rival to Anfield. It did however give those who wanted to
support a city club, bearing its name and playing in an all red kit, a chance
to do so at prices they could afford. Thus the infant AFC
Liverpool was born but because of the lack of anything resembling a
soccer stadium within the city, apart from at either end of Stanley Park, the
club had to play on the Prescot Cables pitch situated in the
neighbouring borough of Knowsley. Competing well in the North West Counties League 1 for three seasons, they were
promoted to the Premier Division in 2011 which
is where they remain. After a shaky first campaign, they have become known as a
mid-table outfit, although after six games of the current season, they are
sitting in a comfortable 6th place. Three years ago they left
Prescot and now ground share with Marine at Rossett Park in Crosby, this time
within the Borough of Sefton.
The manager is Chris Stammers (pictured), experienced
at this level of the game, and he
will try hard to put pressure on the two
Runcorn clubs who are threatening to run away with league. I prefer to see
clubs working their way upwards, slowly but surely from the grass roots level within
the football pyramid system rather than being
parachuted in at a decent level of the game without proving their worth on the
pitch; usually because they have a strong committee, resources, finance….in
short a solid infrastructure. But with the game in the city of Liverpool
stagnant at Tier 11 because of a lack of appropriate venues, I can see that
there was a need for AFC Liverpool. If only they could channel their resources
into building a football ground within the city.
Quiz Answers: 1 Peter
Schmeichel, 2 Blackburn Rovers, 3 Jack Rodwell, 4 Brian Miller, 5 Tom Clarke, 6
Reebok, 7 Real Madrid, 8 Michael O’Neill, 9 Thierry Henry, 10 Belgium.
