FOOTY FAIR

The UEFA Champions League is Back

2016-08-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

Get ready to take a frosty tall can of Heineken from the fridge, throw some pretzels in a dish, crank up the surround sound, quickly explain to your bored significant other how Ludogorets qualified for Europe and then settle down onto your well worn couch.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, the UEFA Champions League is back.

All eyes were on Monaco on Thursday for the draw and after a lot of backslapping, weak as cat piss jokes, glamorous people looking glamorous and balls coming out of pots, here is how the draw worked out:

Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, FC Basel, Ludogorets.

Group B: Benfica, Napoli, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas.

Group C: Barcelona, Manchester City, Borussia Monchengladbach, Celtic.

Group D: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, Rostov.

Group E: CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham, Monaco.

Group F: Real Madrid, Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Legia Warsaw.

Group G: Leicester City, Porto, Club Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb.

Group H: Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb.

At a glance it looks like the four English clubs did fairly well on Thursday with Arsenal and PSG, baring a shock, getting out of Group A. fairy tale domestic champions Leicester are in a pretty even Group G with Porto, Brugge and Dinamo Zagreb, but will fancy their chances after avoiding any of the big dogs.

Manchester City will have their hands full with Barcelona, and will likely have wanted to avoid a "Battle of Britain" with Celtic, but they should emerge from Group C.

Tottenham, in the meantime will be fairly happy with how their Group E has shaped up.

Elsewhere, Group H containing Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon, and Dinamo Zagreb looks like the most competitive group. Behind the Turin giants it'll be a real battle between Sevilla and Lyon for the second spot, but don't overlook Dinamo Zagreb. The Croatia side are decent outfit and aren't usually pushovers at home.

Group F, with 2014 and 2016 Champions League winners Real Madrid coming up against Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Legia Warsaw should be another interesting group. Madrid will of course be the favourites to win the group, but behind them it will be fascinating to see if Dortmund under Thomas Tuchel can replicate their impressive domestic results in Europe or if they'll come unglued against Sporting or Legia.

One thing we call all agree on though, unless you support either of these two teams, is that it'll be nice to see someone finally stop Real Madrid and Bayern Munich from reaching the last four.

For the past five seasons, both clubs have made the Semi-Finals every year. Time for a change.

Could Brendan Rodgers Be Sacked By January?

2014-12-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

What a difference a eight months has made for Liverpool and their under pressure manager Brendan Rodgers.
Lauded last season as a tactical genius and the man who looked to be guiding the Merseyside club to their first title in twenty four long years, Rodgers and his side have seen this season descend into chaos after narrowly missing out on the title last spring.

Sitting in ninth place in the Premier League, Liverpool had a chance to lift the gloom at Anfield on Tuesday with a home win over Basel that would have seen them through to the last sixteen of the UEFA Champions League.

But after a turgid first half and a comeback that came far too late, Basel were able to hold Rodgers side to a 1-1 draw that dumped them out of the competition and into the poisoned chalice of Thursday night's in the Europa League.

On a night when Liverpool had to win there was a lack of urgency, until the last twenty minutes, but above all a lack of quality from the five times European Champions.

When all was said and done the Anfield side had taken only 5 points out of a possible 18 in the competition and won only one match, a last ditch win over lowly Ludogorets after a ludicrous penalty conceded in injury time by the Bulgarian champions.

It made a mockery of chief executive Ian Ayre’s bold comment that ‘this is our competition’ when Liverpool qualified for Europe's top competition last season after several years in the wilderness.

So where has it all gone wrong for Liverpool this season?

The obvious answer is that the brilliance of Luis Suarez last season seriously glossed over other issues with the squad, such as a porous defence, but his exit alone is not the only answer for their shocking form.

Daniel Sturridge's battle with injuries this season has also dealt the club a crushing blow, as their attack has lacked the sort of edge he would have surely provided for the majority of the season.

The biggest issue seems to have been Rodgers and those responsible for player recruitment at Liverpool, not appropriately planning for Suarez's exit nor adequately strengthening a defense that certainly cost them the title last season.

Instead they took the Tottenham Hotspur approach after the North London club's sale of Gareth Bale, but splashing out the Suarez cash and buying quantity instead of quality. With eight players signed over the summer, most of whom have flattered to deceive so far, Rodgers transfer policy has left a lot to be desired.

There has been a lot of focus on the perceived folly of signing Mario Balotelli, and yes the former Milan striker has been very poor, but it was obvious to anyone who has watched Liverpool play over the past few seasons, that he surely wasn't suited to their style. The signing of Balotelli smacked of a panic buy.

With the new signings failing to gel into the team, captain Steven Gerrard showing his age and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet suddenly becoming a bumbling disaster it's hard to see how Liverpool can turn this season around.

Even Rodgers, a man who seems quite confident in his own ability and philosophy, seems downbeat in recent weeks. With matches coming up against Manchester United and Arsenal, his future could well be on the line.

Liverpool vs Ludogorets a Colorblind Nightmare

2014-09-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

When many Liverpool and Ludogorets fans sat down to watch their teams opening match in this year’s Champions League they didn’t know what they were in for. While most watched a thrilling match with Liverpool snagging in the victory in the last minutes which made for an incredible finish to the match, others were left scratching their heads and trying to make sense of what just had happened.

Liverpool played in red while Ludogorets played in green and for people that are red/green colorblind all they could see was floating heads on the TV screen. This made impossible for them to know who was who during the match.

Many of the fans used Twitter as a way to voice their displeasure and the frustration what was happening to them.

The return leg is in November and knowing the issue that green and red kits could cause during the game, fans are hoping that clubs and UEFA will find a solution that prevents this from happening again.

More 8bit Football

2014-09-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

During the World Cup we featured a site called 8bit Football, who reimage the past and current moments in football in the style of an early '90s video game.

The geniuses behind this cool site were back at it this month, with the following great images.

Everton v Chelsea: Diego Costa taunts Seamus Coleman after his own goal.

After a great start Swansea City sit second in the EPL table behind Chelsea.

Defender Cosmin Moti took over in goal and saved two penalties to see Ludogorets through over Steaua Bucharest and into the Champions League group stage.

A pitch invader runs on during Spurs v West Ham and actually hits a great freekick.

Pope Francis shows his support for San Lorenzo as they go on to win the 2014 Copa Libertadores

Cheer For Another Side From My Country in Europe? Don't Be Ridiculous

2014-09-16T20:59:00.002-04:00

As a supporter of Manchester United I am on the outside looking in this year in terms of European competition.

The first proper match day of the Champions League, and I'm referring to the start of the group stage not the pre-qualifying bollocks, often fills me with excitement. I'll get to see my beloved Red Devils take on European heavyweights like Juventus, Bayern Munich or APOEL Nicosia.

Well perhaps that last one is a stretch, but in fairness to the club from Cyprus they're actually in the tournament this year, while United are still recovering from one of their worst seasons in twenty five years. Thanks again for that Mr. Moyes.

Sure we've signed some top drawer players in the summer, and had an impressive win over QPR this Sunday, so I'm sure we're on the right track, but for once we're on the outside looking in.

So with United out of the competition, and not even in the Champions League's ugly kid brother the Europa League this year, I had the unique position of being a complete neutral today.

Some pundits in the British media, and even some fans, have taken up the opinion in recent years that we should support other clubs from our own country in Europe. This is a completely foreign concept to me, if you'll excuse the pun.

If you start mentioning UEFA coefficients to me I'm either going to laugh at you, or glaze over. Clubs I hate all season do not suddenly become attractive to me because they're in Europe.

I think some Italian archaeologist in Alien vs. Predator said it best, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Before the group stage draw I had no idea who or what Ludogorets was, but as they were drawn against Liverpool, they had my support. The fact that the plucky Bulgarians were not only holding Liverpool at Anfield, but also looked quite threatening, their keeper was none other than Canadian Milan Borjan.

This had me in the midst of writing impromptu songs celebrating a result that was looking ever more likely. I was gearing my iPhone trigger finger to unleash a torrent of social media abuse to all my Liverpool supporting friends that shit all over United last season.

Unfortunately, Liverpool's latest loose cannon project player, Mario Balotelli, put the Merseysiders ahead in the 82nd minute and even though Ludogorets equalized through Abola in the 90th minute, Liverpool did what they always do at Anfield and got a penalty at the death that was converted by Saint Steven Slippery of Gerrard.

Although, in fairness it did look like a nailed on penalty, but let's not split hairs.

The match involving an English team tonight was Arsenal, and I have to admit that I thought the pub was going to need a mop and bucket to clean up the piss I almost leaked out under my barstool.

The high defensive line that Wenger was playing was about as well conceived as "those" Colombian cycling outfits. You know, the ones where it looks like they're naked from the midriff to the hips and you can see their hoohah?

It was an utter disaster for Arsenal as Dortmund ripped them to pieces and should have probably won by more than 2-0. That made Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp happy and I'm glad. Klopp with his wild stock of blonde hair and greying beard is absolutely insane and I respect that in a man.

Tomorrow I'll have an eye on Chelsea and Manchester City's results and will be hoping for ill fortune for the two of them. I'm not vindictive, I'm just a football supporter. Fans of these clubs are all giddy when United lose, especially if it's to a minnow, and take just as much delight in our struggles.

So let's throw this cheer for other sides from your country crap out the window. The only time I've done it was for Chelsea in 2012, and that was to spite the weasel-like, sideways passing, dubious levels of energy, Barcelona hipsters in the semi-finals and to get one over on an overly confident Bayern Munich in the final.

Otherwise, I wish nothing but the worst for the other Premiership sides and I'd expect nothing else in return.

Any Given Sunday: Saying No to Racism is Not Enough

2014-09-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

The never ending fight against racism is something that I would hope future generations would not have to deal with, but if the situations that developed this week are any indication of where we are heading than there are no clear signs that the fight is near its end.

Two separate incidents this week involving clubs from three different countries is a clear image of what the footballing world has to deal with when it comes to stopping racism in football around the world. The only way racism can be removed from the fields is if the governing bodies take a firm stand against and punish the clubs responsible severely. By severely I mean with sanctions that hurt club and supporters and not fines that are easy to pay and quickly dismissed.

When you look at the incidents that happened this week, you have two very different approaches, one that I believe will do very little to reduce or remove the problem and one where the consequences were far more severe and far reaching.

In the match between Steaua Bucharest and Ludogorets of the Champions League qualification playoff, there were racist chants and words coming from the fans of the Romanian team. UEFA has punished Steaua Bucharest with a Europa League home game to be played in an empty stadium and fined the club with a £40,000 fine. While these sanctions might sound severe to me they are not. They are not an enough deterrent to stop future incidents from happening, and therefore allowing this behavior to continue to spread around football fields.

In Brazil, a place known for its multiculturalism there was also an incident of racism during a match, but the punishment dealt to the club was far more impressive and it could act as a strong deterrent for others in the future.

Gremio fans racially abused the Santos keeper during a Brazil Cup match between both clubs. The superior court of sporting justice in Brazil fined Gremio in the amount of £13,500 and disqualified the club from the Brazilian Cup. Adding to that any fans that have been identified as culprits or any future fans that could be found guilty will be ban from any stadium for a period of 720 days.

Brazil has handled this situation with swift and strong punishment while UEFA has only scratched the surface and not really provided actions that will stop this from continuing to happen. The people responsible for the game need to understand that it is impossible to eliminate racism or racist people, but they should be able to have measures in place where they can stop it from being present in football fields. Brazil has the correct approach, why couldn’t UEFA ban Steaua Bucharest from the competition? Perhaps if that had happened their fans would think twice before insulting players of fans of opposing teams with racist chants or words.

The problem lives in our society, and what we see on the fields is a microcosms of what happens in our cities, schools and places of business, but we have deemed such behavior unacceptable and there are serious consequences to those that don’t conform to the rules and proper behavior. Why is it so hard for football governing bodies to do the same within their place of business?