Why Sunderland's gamble could pay off

Photograph from Wikipedia Commons

The circus that is the Premier League continues to take twists and turns as more and more managers take part in the merry-go-round that is the industry.

The latest jester to join in the royal mess is Italian nut-job Paolo Di Canio. After initially refusing to reveal his political views he has now said that he is not a fascist. Former member of the Labour Party David Miliband left the Sunderland FC board after expressing his disagreement with the decision to appoint the man who once did a Nazi salute while playing for Lazio. 

Why Chelsea should not have sacked Di Matteo

The sacking of Roberto Di Matteo was one of the most shocking football dismissals of recent memory. A Chelsea legend, twice FA Cup winner as a player, won the club's first Champions League trophy against all the odds, just months after being appointed manager. 

To the amazement of many his reign has been terminated just six months after he was given the prestigious job on a permanent basis. Many Chelsea fans will be dismayed by the lack of faith shown in him by owner Roman Abramovich and the club's board, although this is nothing new to them as he was their eighth boss since the Russian billionaire took over in 2003. 

What is most surprising is that Abramovich has always fired previous managers on the basis that they did not do well enough in the Champions League, although Di Matteo delivered the trophy at the first time of asking. He also managed this impressive feat with a squad out of form and struggling in the Premier League, as well as facing a 3-1 deficit in the last 16 of Europe's elite competition against Napoli. 

Not only did they win the second leg against Napoli 4-1 after extra-time to go through, but he did oversee an up-turn in their league form and took them to Wembley, and ultimately, FA Cup victory.

It is the Champions League final in Munich that he will be most remembered for as the Blues overcame the home side on penalties thanks to a late Didier Drogba header and a Petr Cech penalty save in extra-time. 

Their road to Munich was not a cruise by any stretch of the imagination; beating Benfica before memorably seeing off Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate. 

Despite finishing sixth in the league last season, their league form did marginally improve as they had suffered a horrific start under former boss Andre Villas-Boas. 

Chelsea managers under Roman Abramovich

Year	Manager	Matches	Winning %
2000-2004	Claudio Ranieri	199	53.76
2004-2007	Jose Mourinho	131	70.81
2007-2008	Avram Grant	54	66.67
2008-2009	Luiz Felipe Scolari	36	55.56
2009	Guus Hiddink	21	71.43
2009-2011	Carlo Ancelotti	109	61.47
2011-2012	Andre Villas-Boas	40	47.50
2012	Roberto Di Matteo	42	57.14

While the table above shows that the Italian only had a better record than three of his predecessors, he took over in totally different circumstances than any of the others. Chelsea were at their lowest point since Abramovich pumped his money into the club when Di Matteo took over, and from that he produced their all-time high.

Abramovich should not take all the blame for these sackings. After all, without his money the West Londoners would still be delighted with a top five finish each season instead of sacking managers for not cruising to league titles.

The Chelsea board have a big impact on the decisions that the Russian owner makes and without their advice, he would probably not have got through so many managers in the last eight years. There are so many supporters at the club that are crying out for the stability that has brought success to the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, and more recently, Manchester City. 

Having said that, all football fans are fickle and athe majority of Chelsea supporters would welcome Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho with open arms. However the job, at least on a short-term basis, looks destined to go to Rafael Bentitez, a man who did anything but endear himself to Chelsea supporters during his time at Liverpool.

His record has been good at every club he has managed, although he has been out of a job for over two years now and replacing Di Matteo with Benitez is not a very forward-thinking decision. It is anything but promoting stability, especially considering the age of the two men (Di Matteo 42, Benitez 52).

While Guardiola did excellently at Barcelona, he has never been at a club like Chelsea before and the players may not take to his style of play. Mourinho would clearly be a great fit but that is more Chelsea fans dreaming than an actual possibility, for now at least. 

Roman Abramovich will be sitting in his pent-house suite right now feeling good about himself and expecting an immediate climb to the summit of the Premier League, but he might find that not forthcoming. 

Chelsea have looked good this season and could still qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. They have a massive game on Sunday at home to Manchester City and they would have had a much better chance of inflicting the champions' first defeat of the campaign if they had not made such drastic changes.

Rafael Benitez - The Man Brendan Rodgers Has To Thank

By Josh Bradley: http://bradleysbettingblog.wordpress.com https://twitter.com/JoshBradley10

On June 16th 2004, Liverpool finally got their man as the then Valencia manager Rafael Benitez signed on the dotted line and took charge of the reds.

His career at Valencia brought much success, as he managed to win La Liga twice as well as bringing the Uefa Cup back to the Mestalla in his three year career at the club. This created much hype around the Spaniard and he was welcomed on Merseyside with open arms.

The man from Madrid managed to live up to the expectation as he endured a successful six-year stint on Merseyside in which he managed to deliver a Champions League winners and runners up medal, an FA Cup winners medal and Liverpool’s highest league finish in many years, when finishing four points off winners Manchester United in second place.

He will be forever remembered for ‘that night’ in Istanbul when he brought home Liverpool’s fifth Champions League trophy in incredible fashion, clawing back a 3-0 deficit after half-time.

His transfer dealings as he racked up just under £229 million’s worth of spending, but when you look back over the years, he was possibly the shrewdest man to work in the transfer market. He managed to convince some of Europe’s top names to grace Anfield, the likes of Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano as he created one of the strongest Liverpool teams of the modern era. Of course he made some mistakes (pretty big ones..) such as signing Robbie Keane for £19m before not really giving him a chance and shipping him back out to Spurs within a year  for a fraction of the price, as-well as bringing in ‘the new Thierry Henry’ Ryan Babel for £11.5m. But everyone makes mistakes, and Rafa’s were very few and far between.

His man management was brilliant and he brought an attacking style of play to Liverpool which excited the fans, and managed to adopt the football he played at Valencia into the Premier League, whilst still dominating in Europe thanks to the likes of Luis Garcia and Djibril Cisse.

He left with his head held high in 2010, and for many, the Benitez era was well and truly over. But little would they know, it would take to this season to really begin to shine, without many even realising.

Brendan Rodgers has gained many fans across the country for giving many members of his youth squad a chance in the first team, without people actually realising where he acquired the players from.

Raheem Sterling, Suso and Jonjo Shelvey have been three of the revelations of the season at Anfield after putting in a string of impressive performances pushing them into first-team regulars. All three of these were brought to the club by Benitez when he was still at the helm.

He signed Sterling in February 2010 from QPR, when he was only 15, for an initial fee of £600,000, which could rise to £5 million depending on how many appearances he makes for the first-team. This was risky business and many thought splashing out such big cash on a 15 year old was crazy, but now we are beginning to see just how good Rafa was at spotting talent.

This is seen in it’s strongest case by the signing and nurturing of Suso. ”Rafa phoned me and convinced me to leave Cadiz CF. When he left us and Hodgson came in, everything was totally the opposite,” Suso stated. He allowed him the chance to learn from older players in the reserves without rushing him into the first team, and wasting his talent. The 18 year-old has shone over the past couple of years in the reserves with many commenting on his magnificent technical ability and vision. We must all be thankful for Rodgers giving him a chance in the first team, but we must not forget just how important Benitez was in initially signing Suso and then keeping him at the club.

Shelvey is arguably the pick of the bunch as the ex-Charlton man has come into his own, and is now challenging the skipper for a place in attacking midfield. When Liverpool splashed the cash on Joe Allen and signed the Welshman for £15m, the majority felt it was the end for Shelvey at Liverpool, but he has performed with great credit when given the chance and showed his passion and desire to fight for a place at the club. Benitez spoke extremely highly of Jonjo when he paid the £1.7m for him back when he was 16.

“Players who could feel what Liverpool means. Shelvey is one of these and we have two or three names ready so we will try to do the best for the club.

“We have this long-term plan in place and we will try to follow the plan.”

These are only a few of the players that we can thank Rafa for that our now in the main squad. Pepe Reina was a £6m purchase from Villareal, which has turned out to be a steal, as he’s developed into one of the most consistent Goalkeepers in the world.

Martin Kelly has developed into a promising talent and looks set to be challenging for a place in the first-team when he returns from injury.  Benitez gave Kelly his debut in 2008 and stated he thought Kelly could be in contention to be first-choice centre-back after the departure of Sami Hyypia. He has usually been deployed as a right-back due to his pace and ability with the ball, but could easily slot back in to a centre-back role if Brendan feels he’s suited.

But finally, one of the most important things Rafael Benitez ever did in his six-year stint at Liverpool occurred in the first month. When the man from Madrid arrived at the club Steven Gerrard’s future was in doubt, but the decision for the former Valencia manager to fly out to Portugal whilst Gerrard was competing in the Euro’s proved to be a shrewd one. He had a lengthy discussion with Gerrard about the direction the position the club was going in, and why he should stay at the club. This was a major factor in the skippers decision to stay, as he had previously stated he was ‘unhappy with the progress the club was making’, but a few words of wisdom from Benitez instilled the confidence in Gerrard the club was going in the right direction.

Without this, Gerrard could well be playing at Stamford Bridge alongside another Benitez master-stroke  Fernando Torres. Instead he is still captaining his childhood club and gracing the Anfield turf every weekend, which in turn is still key in attracting big names to the club.

So when you are thanking Brendan for giving the opportunities to the youngsters, allow a small appreciation for a certain Mr Benitez for allowing the team to take the shape it does today. Benitez’ best work at Liverpool, may still yet to have occurred.

Can Brendan Rodgers Put His Stamp On A Liverpool Side Forever In Transition?

With Liverpool's pre-season tour to the USA and Canada coming up there are still heavy clouds hanging over the future of much-maligned striker Andy Carroll. His former suitors Newcastle United have made an improved offer for a loan with the view for a permanent deal but it remains unclear if the Reds want to offload Carroll so soon after his 35million pound move from the Magpies back in January last year. However he will accompany the Liverpool squad on their tour alongside new 11million pound signing Fabio Borini, a man who many have tipped as Carroll's replacement. 

Borini scored nine goals in 24 Serie A appearances last season for AS Roma as well as collecting his first Italy cap this year and was also part of the squad that reached the Euro 2012 final. He played under new Reds boss Brendan Rodgers on loan at Swansea in the 2010/11 season scoring six goals and the Northern Irishman has been an admirer ever since. He holds high hopes for his first signing in his new job as he said: "I'd anticipate that over the next two or three years he'll really progress and I'm sure do very well for Liverpool. Fabio fits the model of what we're trying to do in building not only for now, but also for the future."

Also on the plane to North America are Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani, both of whom have only had one full season at their parent club. Last year Cole was on loan at Lille while Aquilani was at AC Milan after his spell with Juventus the season before. Both had very disappointing debut seasons in the North-West of England but also found returns to form while overseas. Former England winger Cole managed to miss a penalty in his first game and be sent off in his debut league game while Aquilani struggled to find a place in the starting line-up after being hailed as Liverpool's next midfield maestro after the departure of Xabi Alonso. 

Despite their relative failures at Anfield they both thrived on the continent as former Hammer Cole scored nine goals and made six assists in 42 matches in France. Aquilani played much more often in Serie A and was voted by the supporters as Liverpool's best player in pre-season last summer. When these two players were at Liverpool before it was clear that they did not really fit in with the side's ideology or style of play. Cole seemed disjointed and out of place in a side in transition while the Italian centre midfielder hardly got a look-in under Rafael Benitez's deteriorating side.  

Cole seems pleased to have Rodgers at the helm: “When I was hearing about Liverpool looking at certain managers, I was praying it was going to be Brendan — not just because he’s not an unknown for me and I know his philosophy on football, but I think for the club the owners have made the right choice." Cole worked alongside Rodgers when he was a coach at Chelsea and the 30-year-old is looking forward to playing under the manger's philosophy:  "I love the style of play. At Lille, we played like that as well — getting the ball down and moving."

Aquilani will also be much more used to a passing style of play than the fast-paced, slightly more long-ball tactics employed under former Reds bosses. His acute touches and flicks in midfield and his excellent close-range passing was one of the clear positives in his first spell at Anfield. Liverpool fans will be excited to see how the former on-loan men fare in the new-look side. 

Rodgers will also be keen to make the most of what is already at the club and made it clear that legendary captain Steven Gerrard is firmly in his plans when he called him the evening after being appointed manager. Luis Suarez looks set to stay and it is rumoured that he is being coaxed into signing a new deal. The new coach is also looking to bring in one or two more players before the transfer window shuts to further enhance his squad but one big question remains - will all these changes make a difference to Liverpool's fortunes? 

The last three years Liverpool have failed to finish in the Premier League top five and have lost their invincibility at home. Last season there were signs of a return to form but ultimately they did not hit the back of the net enough and Dalglish lost his job as they collected their lowest amount of points in a league campaign for nearly fifty years. 

This season Rodgers will be looking to begin his Red Revolution as he brings his own flair and style to the Kop. The team are likely to play with a 4-3-3 formation with plenty of width, as opposed to the more rigid 4-4-2 shape that previous managers employed. However there are some top teams above them that will also be attempting to finish in the hallowed top four spots that bring Champions League qualification. The likes of champions Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United all have world-class players and plenty of depth to their squads. Liverpool will have to significantly improve if they are to break into the top five, let alone the top four. 

However this may not be as hard as some people think as there is a wealth of talent at the club. Luis Suarez has been a prolific goalscorer for previous teams and his country and although being criticised for his lack of goals last year, did finish as top scorer. Borini will be out to impress while Andy Carroll hit some form late on  last spring and did well for England at Euro 2012. Craig Bellamy's pace is always a threat and Steven Gerrard is an inspirational figure in the heart of midfield. Add Joe Cole's creativity, the technical ability of Aquilani and the impending return of Lucas Leiva and Liverpool's side immediately looks a lot stronger. 

All that is needed for them is to gel and work as a team, like Rodgers's Swansea City did last term. Liverpool will continue to be relatively tight at the back but will be sure to have a lot more of the ball and with it almost certainly more goals. All that remains to be seen is if Rodgers can successfully put his stamp on the team and put history behind them in an attempt to create their own; something the club has struggled with over the last couple of decades. Yes, it will obviously be a far cry from the glory days of the 1970s and 80s and they will not mount a title challenge, but this season they may just make a more threatening push for a place with Europe's elite.