Monday, September 27, 2010

Chelsea Reserves 3 - 1 Liverpool Reserves

Both of these clubs, particularly Chelsea, have invested in their youth systems during recent years, so this was an interesting spectacle for those wanting to asses the progress of the underlying squads of each club. Interesting enough for some of the more established players to turn up at Chelsea's Cobham training ground to have a look at any potential competition for their first team place.

Didier Drogba, sat nonchalantly on a fence in one corner of the ground, will have been impressed by Chelsea's quick footed, quick thinking Turkish u21 player Gokhan Tore, who constantly caused trouble down their right flank in the first half. Letting go the first shot of the game, a stinging left foot effort from outside the area after cutting inside from the flank, the shot fired straight at Liverpool's Danish keeper Hansen, was a signal of intent. 32 year old Drogba might hope that players such as Tore will do some of the running for him if he remains at Chelsea in the upcoming seasons.

If these reserve sides are a test run for players wanting to step up to premier league level, then the physicality of Chelsea's players such as Nathaniel Chalobah, Daniel Mills Pappoe and Rohan Ince should stand them in good stead if they are ever called to represent the first team. Compare this with the players they were marking, the tricky but lightweight Spaniards, Suso and Daniel Pacheco, and there you have one of the reasons for Chelsea's dominance in this game.

John Terry and Paul Ince were spotted together in the stands during the first half, the latter watching his son Tom give a promising, if not convincing performance on the wing for Liverpool, and the former probably enjoying the physical yet composed nature of the two Chelsea centre backs (Rohan Ince is no relation). Thomas Ince's performance typified the frustrating afternoon for Liverpool's attacking players, who seemed to run out of ideas, or into a brick wall, in the final third.

On the odd occasion they were able to create, crosses from Amoo and Suso were met only by Chelsea defenders, unopposed. A parallel with Liverpool's first team in that there was very often no attacking player lurking in the box. Snippets of attacking creativity were evident, but nothing sustained enough to mount a serious attack.

Positives for Liverpool were the performances of Jonjo Shelvey in central midfield, and Jack Robinson at left back.

Shelvey looked willing to put himself about, getting tackles in in front of the back four, akin to Gerrard when he plays in that role, but lacking the passing accuracy of the Liverpool skipper when it came to distributing the ball further forward.

Jack Robinson had a tough task marking the aforementioned Tore, plus dealing with Jose Bosingwa continuing his return from injury, making his typical 'more right winger than right back' runs on the overlap. The young Englishman looked stretched at times but still managed to prevent Bosingwa crossing from the byline on a number of occasions.

The other stand out players for Chelsea were Fabio Borini, the troublesome (from a defenders' point of view) striker who was involved in most of Chelsea's good attacking moves, and another young English left back, Billy Clifford, who mirrored Bosingwa's overlapping runs and looked comfortable when moving into midfield in the second half.

Overall this game looked more like Chelsea Reserves v Liverpool Youth, despite there not being much age difference between the sides. Man of the match would have to be Fabio Borini who took his goal well, set up another, and generally caused trouble for the Liverpool defence throughout. If Gokhan Tore hadn't been taken off at half time, it may well have been an even bigger winning margin for Chelsea than the final scoreline of 3-1.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The League Cup is good

Tottenham v Arsenal in the league is an intense battle of North London rivalry, with abuse being thrown from the overpriced plastic seats, and the chance for a player to become a hero amongst their own fans, but also a villain to the opposition supporters.

Luckily for William Gallas, he probably won't play a part in tonight's League Cup encounter, so the main opportunities for terrace hatred will be in the form of David Bentley for the Arsenal fans and Arsene Wenger for the Spurs lot. Wenger may find himself closer to these fans than he had originally planned, with a possible touchline ban looming.

Apart from this, the players on show tonight will provide a different challenge for supporter abuse than a regular league match would, due to the fact that most supporters won't have seen them playing football before. There will probably be the usual collective shout of "Who?", when the teams are read out, which is usually reserved for a visiting European side bringing on their back up utility defender. Tonight sees a return to the League Cup which is often used by top managers, especially Arsenal, to field a reserve side, saving their stars for the more (financially) important competitions such as the Premier League and the European Cup. The fans will have to think of new songs quickly, and extra praise should go to any Spurs fans who manage to come up with an anti-Jay Emmanuel-Thomas ditty.

Who?

The Reserve, i mean League, Cup has been derided for this reason. Managers don't seem to take it seriously so why should anyone else? Why should fans fork out to watch the second string in a senior competition? Sandro, Jake Livermore, Carlos Vela, and the aforementioned Emmanuel-Thomas are several reasons why they should.

The harsh financial implications of not doing well in the league and not getting into Europe mean that managers won't take chances on young, up and coming players, in these competitions. Even if some of these players have been performing out of their skin in reserve football, it's still not worth the risk to most.

The League Cup provides an outlet for these players to show their skills and show that they merit first team football, and also provides fans with a glimpse into the future of their club. A lot of these players will become valuable additions to the first team in years to come, and will be more financially viable than chancing an import for £5-15m. It gives them experience of top level English football, and a good performance may mean they get a place on the bench for the next league game, which in turn could mean coming on for Fabregas when he injures himself in the act of scoring, or giving Ledley King's infamous knee that bit of extra rest.

Sometimes there is more excitement and unpredictability in this competition than there is in a regular season game, and more opportunity across the board for new players and new teams to experience some kind of success. Just look at the Chelsea versus Blackburn quarter-final from last year, which was one of the best games of the season.

Can't think of a song for Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.