So, it's finally happened. Thierry Henry is leaving Arsenal; destination: Barcelona. And the price: a bargin at some would say at £16million. But is it really a bargin....he is 29, almost 30, and is going to sign a 4 year deal. Teams in the prem hardly ever plays over 30 more than 2 years, yet alone 4. Henry has also sighted the lack of stability at Arsenal following the departure of David Dein and Arsene Wenger unwilling to sign a new deal. Henry has himself said, "it was now or never, so it has to be now", which is fair enough. His career has a limited time, let him do what he wants to do. He has held Arsenal together for so long, and if they aren't going to make him feel wanted, he will go somewhere that does. Let's see what Arsenal can do without him...step forward Theo Walcott!
One other point...Eto'o, Ronaldinho, and Henry. What a forward line that is. All the defenders will be leaving Spain at the very thought of that!
Oh, and thanks Thierry what you have brought to the Premiership; flair, pace and excitement. it won't be just Arsenal fans that will miss watching you play!
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Captain Colly!
The ECB announced the One Day squad for the upcoming Twenty20 and 50-over internationals against the West Indies yesterday. Paul Collingwood will captain England, and for one am pleased with some of the decisions made by the selectors. Players like Dimitri Mascharenhas, Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad are bold and brave, especially the first two. Broad has been around the squad a bit in the past year, but Mascharenhas and Trott, whilst maybe being touted by the media, haven't been considered previously be selectors. It is also good the Sidebottom is in the squad after his good performances so far this summer. Personally, I am pleased Owais Shah has another chance to shine, and hopefully he will. He is a batsman he likes to fill his boots when he gets the chance, and now is his big opportunity. I am not suprised Vaughan and Strauss were left out. Vaughan has played nearly 90 ODIs and not hit a hundred. If he wasn't captain, he would have been dropped sooner, and Strauss needs to go back to Middlesex and rediscover himself. One player I am suprised is still in the squad is Ian Bell. He is another without an ODI hundred to his name, and consistently fails to kick on in one day innings. His failure, and the rest of the teams, to take advantage of the powerplays during the world cup were a big hinderance to England. And it can be with no suprise that he was left out of Warwickshire's FP semi-final with Hamshire on Wednesday. Yes it was the day after the Test Match finished, but Hampshire flew KP down to the Rose Bowl for the match. Bell could have gone with him, but Warwickshire didn't want him to play. One player who I thought was inline for a recall was Vikram Solanki, who has been in excellent form this season, and it's also tough on Paul Nixon who started to come into his own in the world cup, but Prior is a lot younger and could play in the next 2 world cups, so he has to the be choice, plus his test appearances have been excellent so far.
I think the selectors have a tough call for which team to pick, but once again it will be with a view to looking to the next world cup. The issue with Duncan Fletcher was that he was planning for the 2007 world cup forever, even one month before it started he wasn't sure of his line-up. Hopefully Peter Moores will tackle this area successfully and settle on a line-up sooner rather than later.
So my team for the Twenty20 matches: Cook, Prior,Trott, KP, Shah, Colly, Dimi, Broad, Plunkett, Sidebottom, Monty (not necessarily in that batting order, but I feel Cook can find the gaps better than Bell, so he gets the nod)
and for the 50 over matches: Cook, Prior, Trott, KP, Shah, Colly, Dimi, Broad, Plunkett, Sidebottom, Monty. Yes it's the same side. It's a good mix of attacking blend and workers of the ball. It can also be flexible. You could use Dimi, Broad or Plunkett as a pinch hitter early on during a powerplay. 50 overs you hav time to build an innings, and Cook is someone who can bat through the innings whilst others play around him. I was very suprised he didn't go the world cup. Yardy is not in my choice as I am not a big fan of his, although that is based on what he did last time out in an England shirt. Maybe Moores will get more out of him this time around though.
And talking of Peter Moores, I am already pleased and impressed with the changes he is bringing in, a fresh face and fresh ideas were definately needed. The future, for me, is definately bright (hopefully I won't have changed my mind in 2 weeks time).
I think the selectors have a tough call for which team to pick, but once again it will be with a view to looking to the next world cup. The issue with Duncan Fletcher was that he was planning for the 2007 world cup forever, even one month before it started he wasn't sure of his line-up. Hopefully Peter Moores will tackle this area successfully and settle on a line-up sooner rather than later.
So my team for the Twenty20 matches: Cook, Prior,Trott, KP, Shah, Colly, Dimi, Broad, Plunkett, Sidebottom, Monty (not necessarily in that batting order, but I feel Cook can find the gaps better than Bell, so he gets the nod)
and for the 50 over matches: Cook, Prior, Trott, KP, Shah, Colly, Dimi, Broad, Plunkett, Sidebottom, Monty. Yes it's the same side. It's a good mix of attacking blend and workers of the ball. It can also be flexible. You could use Dimi, Broad or Plunkett as a pinch hitter early on during a powerplay. 50 overs you hav time to build an innings, and Cook is someone who can bat through the innings whilst others play around him. I was very suprised he didn't go the world cup. Yardy is not in my choice as I am not a big fan of his, although that is based on what he did last time out in an England shirt. Maybe Moores will get more out of him this time around though.
And talking of Peter Moores, I am already pleased and impressed with the changes he is bringing in, a fresh face and fresh ideas were definately needed. The future, for me, is definately bright (hopefully I won't have changed my mind in 2 weeks time).
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
England U21s - proud to be English
Never have I been so proud of an England football team than when I watched the U21 game against Holland U21 this evening. There was pace, a good team ethic, and players who worked hard, and a team that fitted well together. And in the end, the result typified a proud, yet disappointing evening for the team. There were players playing on through injury, Steven Taylor, the Newcastle defender, was playing on one leg, and then stepped up to put away a great penalty in the shoot out. And I think the penalty result of 13-12 is a world record as well. It was so surreal watching this though. So many scored penalties, and when England, who were taking the first pens, missed, so did Holland. In the end it was the Dutch who held their nerve to go through, following a one all draw, in which England had taken an early lead through Leroy Lita, only for a late Dutch equaliser to force extra time.
In the second semi-final, Serbia U21 beat Belgium U21 2-0. The final is on Saturday evening.
In the second semi-final, Serbia U21 beat Belgium U21 2-0. The final is on Saturday evening.
4th and final test...
So England wrapped up a convincing three nil test series win over the West Indies, and its now on to the one day series. This test match was always going to be a case of after the Lord Mayor's show, the series was already over, and with the first day a wash out, and not much possible on the 2nd, you would have been forgiven for thinking this game would drag on to an inevitable draw. In the end though, the final day was quite exciting. England again cleaned up the West Indies tail, with the only real resistance coming from Gayle (who at last scored some runs), Chanderpaul (the man who for the third time in his career, went over 1000 minutes between being dismissed in a series), and Dwayne Bravo (the West Indies most promising player). Other than that, the West Indies collapsed in mediocre style again, with England using this series as a way to bring back some form to players who much needed it. Andrew Strauss at last scored some runs, and Steve Harmison once again looked menacing and took some wickets he deserved to take. Another plus was King Monty taking another 5 for, leading to pundits calling him the world's best finger spinner, or maybe even the world's best spinner, obviously playing international cricket, as Warne is still probably the best! The one thing everyone will ponder about this series is, if the West Indies had had Brian Lara and Ronnie Sarwan available for the whole series, could they have mounted more of a challenge with the bat. Personally, I think the series would have been more competitive, but not necessarily a different result. England are several classes above, and now we move on to the one day series which starts next week with a couple of 20twenty matches...
Who is going to captain England though, and will Vaughan get a place in the side. Collingwood and no and the answers there. Well they should be. If we want Vaughan to play against Aus in 2009, he needs to start resting his body to protect it from further damage. Collingwood is an inspirational cricketer, who I feel would do the job until the next world cup or thereabouts, when Alistair Cook, who for me is the future captain in both forms of the game, could take over and England could look forward to a long and successful era with Cook at the helm. The squad for the up-and-coming one dayers is announced on Friday.
Daren Ganga has not been given the captaincy for the West Indies for the ODIs. That has gone to Chris Gayle, Mr Cool Personified. Let's see if he can rouse these players to put up a challenge!
The other cricket news from today is thatr Durham and Hampshire will meet in the final of the Friends Provident trophy at Lords after knocking out Essex and Warwickshire respectively.
Who is going to captain England though, and will Vaughan get a place in the side. Collingwood and no and the answers there. Well they should be. If we want Vaughan to play against Aus in 2009, he needs to start resting his body to protect it from further damage. Collingwood is an inspirational cricketer, who I feel would do the job until the next world cup or thereabouts, when Alistair Cook, who for me is the future captain in both forms of the game, could take over and England could look forward to a long and successful era with Cook at the helm. The squad for the up-and-coming one dayers is announced on Friday.
Daren Ganga has not been given the captaincy for the West Indies for the ODIs. That has gone to Chris Gayle, Mr Cool Personified. Let's see if he can rouse these players to put up a challenge!
The other cricket news from today is thatr Durham and Hampshire will meet in the final of the Friends Provident trophy at Lords after knocking out Essex and Warwickshire respectively.
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Sheffield United come to London...
...with the legend that is Sean Bean at the helm!
Sean Bean has led a delegatioon to Parliament, protesting at the circumstances surrounding Sheffield United's relegation from the Premiership. This, of course, is all revolving round the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano case, and Sheffield United supporters claim West Ham should have been docked points, and subsequently relegated, after using players who were not properly registered.
An arbitration panel will the claim made by Sheffield United on 18th June. West Ham were fined a record £5.5million, but Sheffield United state that was not enough. There has also been support from other football clubs and fans from the Premiership.
What do I think? I was shocked that West Ham were not docked points, and their recent recovery was down a lot to Carlos Tevez, especially the goal he scored to beat Man Utd on the final day of the season, although by this point he was registered legally. Mascherano's involvement with West Ham was limited to a couple of performances before moving to Liverpool. So yes, I think West Ham should have been docked points, and whoever got relegated in place of them was going to challenge it. Will the Premier League have the balls to change their stance? We wait with eager anticipation!
Sean Bean has led a delegatioon to Parliament, protesting at the circumstances surrounding Sheffield United's relegation from the Premiership. This, of course, is all revolving round the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano case, and Sheffield United supporters claim West Ham should have been docked points, and subsequently relegated, after using players who were not properly registered.
An arbitration panel will the claim made by Sheffield United on 18th June. West Ham were fined a record £5.5million, but Sheffield United state that was not enough. There has also been support from other football clubs and fans from the Premiership.
What do I think? I was shocked that West Ham were not docked points, and their recent recovery was down a lot to Carlos Tevez, especially the goal he scored to beat Man Utd on the final day of the season, although by this point he was registered legally. Mascherano's involvement with West Ham was limited to a couple of performances before moving to Liverpool. So yes, I think West Ham should have been docked points, and whoever got relegated in place of them was going to challenge it. Will the Premier League have the balls to change their stance? We wait with eager anticipation!
Back to reality
I know this is a blog about sport, but there was an event in the news yesterday which really hit home to me how irrelevant the world of sport can be, compared with other things that go on.
What I am talking about is of course the murdered police officer in Luton. What is this country coming to. It wasn't even half past seven on Tuesday morning. He hadn't even been on shift for 30 minutes, and yet PC Jon Henry was fatally stabbed. He leaves behind his wife and a young baby daughter, who had just learnt to walk. His little girl will grow up without a father, and all because he responded to a 999 call and was willing to help some other members of the public who were being threatened. This is totally unacceptable behaviour from the person who did this. A man was arrested and appeared in court today, and will return on 26th June.
I just do not understand why some people feel the need to harm others. It just isn't the right way to live.
What I am talking about is of course the murdered police officer in Luton. What is this country coming to. It wasn't even half past seven on Tuesday morning. He hadn't even been on shift for 30 minutes, and yet PC Jon Henry was fatally stabbed. He leaves behind his wife and a young baby daughter, who had just learnt to walk. His little girl will grow up without a father, and all because he responded to a 999 call and was willing to help some other members of the public who were being threatened. This is totally unacceptable behaviour from the person who did this. A man was arrested and appeared in court today, and will return on 26th June.
I just do not understand why some people feel the need to harm others. It just isn't the right way to live.
Sunday, 10 June 2007
England get home...eventually
Congratulations go to England after clinching the Wisden series against the West Indies, two up with one to play. This game also saw Michael Vaughan become the most successful English cricket captain of all time in test matches, with his 21st win. It took England until just after lunch on the 5th day to clinch this win, eventually bowling the West Indies out for 394, which incidentally was the games highest innings score, and the second highest 4th innings score in the history of test matches at Old Trafford. The West Indies did have 3 wickets in hand going into lunch on the 5th day, but Steve Harmison picked up a couple, before Monty finished them, leaving Shiv Chanderpaul stranded down the other end with an unbeaten century.
One thing that this battling innnings from the West Indies has proven, is that England cannot afford to carry two out of form bowlers. It was ok when their batting line up was crumbling, but now they are fighting and we lack the necessary fire power. Yes, Harmy does look like he is turning the corner, but Liam Plunkett needs to go back to Durham and just bowl for them and get his confidence back. Hoggard has been included in the squad for the 4th test to replace Plunkett, although that would leave us with a long tail, we would be saved all the extras that Plunkett throws away! Stuart Broad would also have been a great option, but he is injured. All credit to Sidebottom for coming into the side and showing the courage, determination, and consistency required at this level! County cricket is beneficial. Something I have various pundits say, particularly Beefy, is that Plunkett, along with the likes of Anderson and Mahmood, have not bowled enough overs in first class cricket. They are learning their trade in international cricket, which isn't the way to go. Let them have a few seasons of consistent county cricket, and then they will know their action and how they want to bowl much better, and this will then put them in a much better position to serve English cricket.
Several other worries about our side as well. Firstly, Andrew Strauss. Now I am a big fan of Straussy, but he has hardly scored a run in 6 months. Is international cricket the place for him to work his way out of this rough patch. There are also some question marks over his technique, especially getting out lbw early in his innings. True he has got some good deliveries, especially in Australia, but he is out of touch, and surely should go back to Middlesex to get back into form. Who to replace him? Trescothick has to come back to the England fold at some point. My other choice would be maybe bring in Ravi Bopara. He was fantastic at the world cup, and took to international cricket like a duck to water, and there is talk of him playing at 6, especially as Flintoff is not fit, he would offer a similar all round role to Freddie. This would mean Vaughan to open, and Bell to move up to number 3. The other issue is that Ian Bell has a woeful record in his 2nd innings, averaging mid-twenties, when his overall average is mid-forties. Yes his first innings form is good, but he needs to sort out his second innings stuff. Having said that, he deserves credit for digging England out of a hole in the first innings, without which, this would be a much closer test match! But that's all irrelevant now as England have only dropped Plunkett for the returning Hoggard, and Hoggy himself has backed Andrew Strauss to come good in this test match. Hopefully with Harmy bowling on his home ground, he can show us some true fast bowling of old.
One thing that this battling innnings from the West Indies has proven, is that England cannot afford to carry two out of form bowlers. It was ok when their batting line up was crumbling, but now they are fighting and we lack the necessary fire power. Yes, Harmy does look like he is turning the corner, but Liam Plunkett needs to go back to Durham and just bowl for them and get his confidence back. Hoggard has been included in the squad for the 4th test to replace Plunkett, although that would leave us with a long tail, we would be saved all the extras that Plunkett throws away! Stuart Broad would also have been a great option, but he is injured. All credit to Sidebottom for coming into the side and showing the courage, determination, and consistency required at this level! County cricket is beneficial. Something I have various pundits say, particularly Beefy, is that Plunkett, along with the likes of Anderson and Mahmood, have not bowled enough overs in first class cricket. They are learning their trade in international cricket, which isn't the way to go. Let them have a few seasons of consistent county cricket, and then they will know their action and how they want to bowl much better, and this will then put them in a much better position to serve English cricket.
Several other worries about our side as well. Firstly, Andrew Strauss. Now I am a big fan of Straussy, but he has hardly scored a run in 6 months. Is international cricket the place for him to work his way out of this rough patch. There are also some question marks over his technique, especially getting out lbw early in his innings. True he has got some good deliveries, especially in Australia, but he is out of touch, and surely should go back to Middlesex to get back into form. Who to replace him? Trescothick has to come back to the England fold at some point. My other choice would be maybe bring in Ravi Bopara. He was fantastic at the world cup, and took to international cricket like a duck to water, and there is talk of him playing at 6, especially as Flintoff is not fit, he would offer a similar all round role to Freddie. This would mean Vaughan to open, and Bell to move up to number 3. The other issue is that Ian Bell has a woeful record in his 2nd innings, averaging mid-twenties, when his overall average is mid-forties. Yes his first innings form is good, but he needs to sort out his second innings stuff. Having said that, he deserves credit for digging England out of a hole in the first innings, without which, this would be a much closer test match! But that's all irrelevant now as England have only dropped Plunkett for the returning Hoggard, and Hoggy himself has backed Andrew Strauss to come good in this test match. Hopefully with Harmy bowling on his home ground, he can show us some true fast bowling of old.
Welcome to Phil Talk's Sport
Having seen the efforts of some friends in the world of blogging, I was impressed and decided to give it go myself. That and searching for something to fill the quiet times at work. Having once presented and produced uni radio shows on the great world of sport, I now feel its time to fill the void left by that and put my views into word form on the great world wide web. Now you might wonder why start now, the footie season has just about finished. However, now is the perfect time to start. It gives me the chance to build up to the new season by looking back over what has just happened. Plus the English cricket season is not long under way, and we can look forward to a summer full of twenty20, one-day and test match cricket. Well, only if you have access to SkySports that is. Not that I have much against Sky. Their coverage of any sport is considerably better than that of terrestrial channels, although it does narrow down the potential audience.
Anyway, these debates will come and go constantly as sport is becoming more and more like a business. These men in suits should never be questionned...(sarcasm, you might get a bit of that in this blog too!) I hope you enjoy browsing...
Anyway, these debates will come and go constantly as sport is becoming more and more like a business. These men in suits should never be questionned...(sarcasm, you might get a bit of that in this blog too!) I hope you enjoy browsing...
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