The Premier League's Nearly Men

Manchester City, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton. These were the teams. The ones that would displace the so-called Big Four. Spurs had improved dramatically under the shrewd tutelage of old Saggy-Face Redknapp, Aston Villa had come so close to displacing Arsenal last year before falling away as a long, tough season took its toll, Manchester City had been lavished with fancy new kits, a canny marketing team and of course over £100m worth of talent and Everton, managed by the highly rated David Moyes, had finished fifth for the last two seasons. With United weakened by the loss of two key players, Chelsea facing a transfer ban, Arsenal being the perennial underachievers and Liverpool being the poster club for inconsistency and in-fighting, the opportunity was there for the taking.

As December, and the busy Christmas period, approaches, let’s take stock of these nearly-men and rate their chances of pushing on and securing the all important Champions League spot.

But before we do that, let’s quickly familiarise ourselves with the titans of the much lauded Big Four. Well, for Manchester United and Chelsea it seems to be business as usual. I rather think Chelsea have got slightly more about them, but you can never rule out Ferguson and United and I’m sure come the end of the season there won’t be much distance between these two clubs. Arsenal are a club like no other; at times so brilliant as to make even their most hardened enemies applaud their attractive brand of football, but cursed with an uncanny ability to forget themselves all too often and capitulate to lesser opposition. And that leaves Liverpool… well, I’ve already written about the boys from Anfield, but suffice to say they’re in for a tough season and it is likely that it is their spot in the Big Four that the nearly-men will covet the most.

This brings us rather neatly to those aforementioned flirters with success… the not-so-big four of City, Villa, Spurs and Everton.

Manchester City

After six consecutive draws, the season has become somewhat of a damp squib for the blue half of Manchester. It’s easy for the optimists to wheel out the, ‘But we’ve lost less games than anyone this season.’ Ultimately though it means nothing as it’s clear that City would be three points better off having won three and lost three of those last six outings, against, let’s be honest here, some mediocre opposition. Nevertheless, you sense that City are still on a learning curve. There are flashes of brilliance that make you think that just maybe they can become the real deal. It’s just a shame that all too often the brilliance quickly subsides and all that City are left with is untidy defending and a confused midfield. Prediction: 6th

Aston Villa

There is something to admire about Aston Villa and Martin O’Neill. Not blessed with the riches of Manchester City, and to a lesser-extent Spurs, O’Neill has had to be tremendously shrewd in the transfer market and has had to rely on players that other managers perhaps would have baulked at. And yet, they’re poised once again to finish top six and really take a crack at the Big Four. O’Neill has the knack of turning fairly ordinary players (step forward Richard Dunne, Nigel Reo-Coker, John Carew, et al.) into an extremely capable team. The main problem that O’Neill will once again face is the depth, or rather lack of, in a squad that as the season wears on may well look sparse and patchy. That said, if he can keep his main men fit… who knows? Prediction: 7th

Tottenham Hotspur

People were already taking notice of the boys from White Hart Lane this year, but if there were any doubts that Tottenham were the real deal, then surely they must have been eradicated after their 9-1 thumping of schizophrenic Wigan Athletic. Right? Well, not for me. I still have doubts about the staying power of Spurs. I’ve watched them quite a bit this year and, in all honesty, haven’t been bowled over. Too many times they lose position in important areas and their midfield ball keeping seems to be, at best, sporadic. What they do have is points on the board. Currently sitting fourth and just coming off that monster win, they will be feeling invincible. But, as with Villa, do they really have the strength in depth to sustain a solid push for that fourth spot? I think not. Prediction: 5th

Everton

Not a good week to be a Toffee, eh? Going down to Hull and then being told that you’re doomed to spending even more time at one of the worst grounds in top flight football. Everton are currently sitting 14th and only four points out of the relegation zone – not a place many expected them to be. To me, Moyes is looking increasingly frustrated with his lot. Everton simply don’t have the financial clout to break into the top four and that will always be the case whilst Bill Kenwright is in charge of the club. He’s a Dave Whelan, a Phil Gartside, a Doug Ellis – they all mean well and probably love their respective clubs much more than their Arabian, Russian and American counterparts but in the big scheme of things what does that matter? A great manager, and I believe that’s what Moyes is, can only take you so far with limited funds and Everton don’t seem to have much more to give. I don’t think Kenwright would ever push the manager out of the club, but if Everton continue the season the way they have started, Moyes may well jump. However, I believe that Moyes will turn things around and he will get his club back on track, though I think it’s too late now to expect a realistic pop at the Big Four. Prediction: 8th

So what does that mean? Who will finish fourth? Well, Liverpool have been woeful this year. Even on paper their squad looks ordinary and on the pitch they’ve done very little to suggest that they belong in the Champions League. Yet they’re currently laying seventh only five points of the top four, with a lot of football still to be played. They are a big club who know how to win and rule them out at your peril. My prediction is that the Big Four aren’t ready to hand over the reigns to the new boys just yet. Liverpool will get it right sooner or later and I just can’t see City, Spurs, Villa or Everton keeping up when they do.

When Irish eyes aren't smiling

It was hard not to feel saddened for Ireland’s tireless heroes tonight as they went down to France, in their World Cup 2010 qualifying match, in the most controversial of circumstances. Deep into the first half of extra time, a long pass was put over the top of the Irish defence. Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball before squaring for William Gallas, who bundled it in. You could practically here tirty tree hundred tousand (sic) Irish hearts breaking.

When the dust settles tomorrow, you can guarantee there will be many people baying for blood. Some will want Thierry Henry, the perpetrator of this most heinous crime, brought up on criminal charges. Some will want referee, Martin Hansson, hung, drawn and quartered for all to see in the middle of Mountjoy Square, Dublin. Others will point the finger at the sneaky Powers That Be and their hidden French-loving agendas. And some will undoubtedly blame Gordon Brown. I’m always one for a good conspiracy theory, but let’s keep a little perspective.

Firstly, Thierry Henry. He might be the most hated man in Ireland tonight, but I can guarantee he’ll be the most loved man in France. It appears he cheated and whilst you can argue it goes against the spirit of the game, few fans wouldn’t sacrifice that same spirit to get their own team into the World Cup finals. Let’s be absolutely clear that if England had been in that position and it had been Wayne Rooney handling the ball, we wouldn’t be so quick to demand justice.

Next there is Martin Hansson. When viewing the incident from most vantage points it looks blatant. When slowed down on sixteen different cameras, it looks positively scandalous. However, we don’t have the exact line of sight that Hansson had and we don’t know exactly where he was looking when Henry picked the ball up and ran with it. I’m not a big fan of heaping blame on to referees. It’s a thankless task and apart from a few egotistical penises, like Jeff Winter and Graham Poll, they do a good job and ultimately have fairness at heart. If Hansson was a cheat he’d have taken the opportunity earlier in the half to award Nicolas Anelka a penalty after he fell over the arm of Shay Given. It wasn’t penalty, but I’ve certainly seen them given.

And finally that brings us to the Powers That Be – I’m going to let Gordon Brown off the hook this once. There will be cries that the FIFA, UEFA, the French Foreign Legion, the KGB and NASA all had a hand in this game, demanding that world football powerhouse, France, be awarded a place in the World Cup Finals, no matter what. The upper echelons of football is no doubt a smorgasbord of corruption, greed and self-service, but to accuse them of having a hand in the game would be to again accuse Referee Hansson of being part of the conspiracy, which I refuse to believe. If Platini and Blatter had been running the lines in the match, then maybe, but they weren’t and unfortunately the conspiracy theory rarely holds up in a match as full of incidents as this one was. Hansson, aside from the obvious howler, didn’t have such a bad game and I’m sure most Irish fans would have agreed, just after he’d waved away the French supporters protests for a penalty.

But heads need to roll. Someone needs to be held accountable. We want… no… we need blood. Well, maybe we can still turn this around so that the Powers That Be can be responsible - after all it is there unwillingness to consider video technology, that has brought us to this spot, is it not? If the referee had consulted his fourth official, who was able to see what we all did, then it wouldn’t have taken long for him to award Ireland a free kick and the game to continue. But he didn’t even have that option and, when something as important as a World Cup place is on the line, that is truly criminal.

Many say that video technology would slow the game down and some even melodramatically suggest that video technology could be the death of football. Okay, steady on. I understand those concerns, especially when I watch rugby league now and the match official goes to the video ref for a clear cut try, simply to cover his own arse. It has gotten ridiculous in rugby, but that doesn’t mean football is resigned to go the same way. We can learn from their mistakes and implement a system that is swift, inconspicuous and decisive. I’m not being so brash as to suggest video technology referral for every small decision in the game, but when a whole country’s football fate lies in one highly debatable decision, what is the harm in stepping back, taking another look and then ruling. It might take some flow from the game, but surely that is a small price to pay for the right and just outcome.

The fact that the incident should bring the debate about video technology back to the table will be little consolation to Eire fans everywhere. Tonight, they were indeed robbed, but it is now up to FIFA, with the World Cup 2010 just around the corner, to make sure that the most important sporting tournament in the world isn’t decided in a similar way.