Time to spoil the party (part II) This has been a great season by recent Everton standards, three or four bad games aside we have been pretty good this season. We sit in fifth place with five games to go on merit. Only three teams have more Premier League wins than we do.
Then
I looked at the last five games of the season and those of Pompey and
Villa and even Sparky’s club and got a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Two difficult games against sides above us, one game with a UEFA
Cup hopeful and two against mid table cu_m relegation fodder. Normally I wouldn’t put it past us to get three wins a loss and a draw from that lot. This would put us on 70 points, pretty impressive and another huge step in the right direction.
Then I look at Pompey, particularly after their away win against the Hammers tonight. They have Toon, City, Blackburn , Boro and finish against Fulham. Even with the FA Cup you wouldn’t put it past Harry to snag four wins, even five isn’t that much of a stretch. That would see them with as many as 71 points.
Villa and
Blackburn are less of a threat and we can see of O’Neill’s men with a good win against them at Goodison.
Normally we have a bad game and move on, our current run of form is hardly good.
What worries me is the terrible run of performances recently. We started March with a great win over Pompey then played awful in Italy,
a win was a fair result in the North East and the 2-0 win against La
Viola at Goodison was magnificent; the penalty loss aside.
Seems like we left our heart in Europe .
They maybe our ‘bogey team’ but the loss to Fulham was really poor. Succumbing to the Hammers at home, ditto. The
Derby was really terrible, the first half we looked like a group of Sunday Leaguers. Then
we win against Derby , one of the worst teams to play top flight
English Football in ten odd years and we barely scrape by them, at home. This malaise has me more worried about teams below us overhauling us and us missing out on Europe next year. That concerns me much more than an almost hopeless chase for fourth.
Of course, I stay focused on Moysie and the lads and hope that we can win out and finish strong. We have had an excellent season that has so far exceeded realistic August
expectations and fifth place is in our own hands .
I just cannot help picturing Paula Radcliffe,
game and in a grand position for much of the race with an odd stride
that nobody else has and then someone overtakes her in the home stretch
or final bend and the fans all get behind her because they love a
gallant loser.
Excuse
me, I’m really fu_cking fed up of following a team of gallant losers,
following a team of ba_stard winners would be nice for a change.
Blue till I die.
Part one is on When Skies Are Grey for those who give a shiite!
These are the sorts
of transfer that US
Football needs. Why bypassing the MLS is
good for young American football players.
The big stories are surrounding Adu, leaving the MLS for
improvement and big names coming in, Blanco, Beckham and Angel etc. Whilst these are valuable changes to the MLS
and the prospects for the US MNT they aren’t the most crucial I’ve come across
recently.
Two players stand out as doing what is essential for the
long term growth of football in the US.
They are bypassing the MLS. What,
how, why? Valid questions let me tell
you a little bit more.
Eric Lichaj had acquired an agent even though the 18 year
old was only a sophomore at the University
of North Carolina. Through this agent; Steve Kelly - ; he has
signed a two year contract with extension options. He will train with the Aston Villa
Academy squad.
This is great; a young, talented US player has been spotted by an
English Premier League club and has moved abroad at the tender age of 18. Great because he will be spared the ignominy
of the draft. Great because he will be
coached and schooled by quality coaches; such as Director, Brian Jones. Great because he’ll face stiff competition
for a place in the senior team; if he is actually good enough. In a few years time, if he works hard and
works out he’ll be a pick for the 2010 World Cup. Why?
Just watch the tape of the FC Dallas v LA Galaxy SuperLiga game and see
how cack the defending was for all of the six (6) Galaxy goals. For the first goal Gordon could have danced a
Rumba before scoring, such was the space he was afforded, really poor
defending. Lichaj will learn how to
prevent that sort of goal, he’ll learn an awful lot of the fundamentals
necessary in today’s game.
Johann Smith is only 20 yet he has already played against
Manchester United. How many young
American footballers can boast that claim?
OK so he only came on as a late substitute, who cares, it must have been
exhilarating to make your senior debut against a club side like Manchester
United. He was on loan with Carlisle for experience and scored. He’s getting quality coaching and he’s
getting it relatively young; in US
football terms. He was picked for the
U20 World Cup but picked up an injury so couldn’t join the squad.
This is the future of US MNT football, quality young players
going abroad and learning their trade in the leagues of Europe. The players may never play in the MLS but
they will be the future coaches in the MLS, maybe equipped with UEFA coaching
badges.
Currently there are ten US players in the Premier League
with 6 in the lower English divisions, fifteen playing in Germany, four playing
in Holland, six in Norway, five in Denmark, two in Sweden and one apiece in
Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, Scotland, Portugal the Czech Republic and
Italy. A wide and varied set of clubs,
from the UEFA cup qualifiers Bolton Wanderers and Everton; (6th and
7th respectively in the Premier League) to minnows like St. Patrick’s
Athletic in Ireland.
The average age of these wanderers is about 25, with the
majority of the over 50 players still in their twenties. Even if there is just a handful of US MNT
members in this group they are setting a precedent, more and more youngsters
will be plucked from colleges and given a chance in Europe.
Thanks to www.yanks-abroad.com
for providing a nice listing of all the US players abroad.
