EPL Talk » Micah Richards

England’s U21 Lions Stutter To Victory

Paul Bestall — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:06:38 +0000

It was not the start that England’s Under 21 side wanted, but it could have been a whole lot worse after today’s close shave against a Finland side full of surprises. By finding themselves in the toughest of the two groups with Spain and Germany, this was the game that Stuart Pearce would have targeted as a must win match. With a side full of Premiership regulars including Micah Richards, Theo Walcott, Lee Catermole and captained by West Ham’s prodigious midfielder David Noble, this is a squad that great things are expected of.

The Finns certainly made sure that no-one in the camp will forget this clash in a hurry as England were fortunate to escape will 3 points. England looked shocked and reverted to type by simply humping the ball forward and hoping for the best. With Walcott and Agbonlahor in the side, pace is a weapon the Under 21’s can utilise but they’ll need a different perspective to get past the other two sides. It’s so frustrating when you see such talented players revert to type and the dreaded long ball game.

The fact they were playing side that were taller all through the side, especially the impressive striker Sadik, made the long ball a waste of the ball. Sadik was impressive throughout the game and he caused the back four of Cranie, Mancienne, Richards and Gibbs problems all game. The Young Lions had been on the back foot from the kick off and were extremely fortunate to take the lead through Cattermole’s drive but they were caught out when Mancienne was correctly shown a red card for a professional foul after a mix up between the Chelsea prospect and Joe Hart in the England goal.

Former Southampton youngster Tim Sparv made no mistake from the resulting penalty and it looked like the writing was on the wall for Stuart Pearce’s boys but they hung on until half time. Walcott who had another disappointing 45 minutes was replaced by Frazier Campbell and amazingly England took the lead when Micah Richards powered the ball home from a corner. After that, it was a case of desperate defending with Martin Cranie, the Portsmouth prospect, superb after being moved to centre back after the sending off. Finland probably deserved the win, so must be feeling so low after losing this game in Hamlstad.

For a side brimming with so much top level experience it was a strange display. Maybe it was nerves, perhaps they were over confident but England were lacking any real drive and quality in possession. Noble tried his best in midfield, but once they went a man down it was all hands to the pump. Cranie though can be delighted with his performance as he seemed to be everywhere in defence, breaking up moves, throwing himself at the ball and tackling back consistently well.

Pearce was candid and honest after the game, saying that it was nowhere near good enough but he’ll be happy to escape with the three points. Yet he must be frustrated with some of the players who started the game whose reputations certainly preceded them to Sweden for this tournament. He’ll certainly need to get the players going for Thursday’s clash against the favourites Spain, a repeat performance could see England humbled in Gothenburg

Where Did It All Go Wrong For Micah Richards?

Paul Bestall — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:47:59 +0000

Jose Mourinho fell out with Roman Abrahamovic over him, Martin Jol tried twice to sign him for Tottenham and Barcelona were even watching him but those admiring glances and failed bids seem a long way off now. When he first burst in to the Premier League back in 2006, I was blown away by the lad’s power and pace, especially for an 18 year old full back and I thought to myself, that’s England’s number 2 for the next 10 years then. His swearing faux pas on BBC 1 added to appeal of young man at the beginning of what looked like a long and successful career ahead of him.

Yet, here we are 3 seasons later, and whilst it must be great playing for the richest club in the world, there are no more big bids coming in for Micah Richards. He now keeps getting linked with moves away from Manchester City, but not to Chelsea or Barcelona any more or he’s being used as a makeweight in an attempted deal as City look to bring in defensive reinforcements.His form was criticised several times last season and he found it tough going in City’s back line along with Richard Dunne.

Is it simply another case of a young talent who’s got too much too soon and simply is more interested in being out on the town or is he too tied up with the new prerequisite for Premiership footballers, a fashion label, MR. Certainly, Richards has been caught up in one tabloid scandal which certainly didn’t go down well with Fabio Capello. By not picking him for Englands last two games and leaving him the Under 21 squad whilst returning Gary Neville to the squad is a damming indictment of Richards current form.

Interestingly, I think you could possibly draw a comparison between Micah Richards and England’s new first choice right back, Glen Johnson. Johnson was another “next big thing” when he broke through at West Ham United and joined Chelsea, but Mourinho cut his losses and sold him on to Portsmouth after a loan spell which included being arrested for trying to steal a toilet set and some taps. At that time, you could suggest that Johnson was a young player who’d completely lost touch with football too.

That seemed to be the watershed for Johnson and he knuckled down in a big way and last season he was tremendous flying down the right wing for Pompey. Ironically, now Chelsea want to re-sign him for 3 times the value they sold him for. His performances for England recently have been fantastic, apart from a wobbly opening 20 minutes against Kazakhstan and he scored the Premiership goal of the season at Fratton Park last November with a belting 35 yard volley.

Richards needs to find himself again and whilst he’s only 20, football is littered with so many players who were Under 21 regulars but simply couldn’t push on to become England regulars, such as Francis Jeffers, David Prutton and Chris Vinnicombe. Richards is still young enough and certainly has the natural talent to make sure he doesn’t follow that particular trio down the football ladder but he needs to start working hard again. His manager at Under 21 level could tell him a tale or two about hard work, especially pulling yourself up from non-league football to a World Cup semi-final in 7 years.

Richards has shown the potential, now he needs to get back to concentrating on football rather than being a celebrity.

Least Valuable Premier League XI

tyduffy — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:35:48 +0000

This is not the worst team in the Premier League. It is the least valuable. This team would incite the masses with talent, with name recognition and with expense. They would then fail pathetically. This team could be composed entirely of Newcastle players, but we thought we’d include a few others to keep things interesting.

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal): Doubled his salary this season. Halved his work rate and effectiveness.

Michael Owen (Newcastle): No longer an elite player, no leadership value, paid like someone with both.

Damien Duff (Newcastle): Expensive, complacent and ineffectual, Duff is a perfect emblem for Newcastle’s season.

Joey Barton (Newcastle): He makes £60,000 per week. No description needed.

Deco (Chelsea): Barcelona – better when he left. Chelsea – better when he stopped playing.

David Bentley (Tottenham): Once tipped to start for England, can’t even start for Tottenham. Spurs won eight out of eleven league games he did not play.

Gareth Bale (Tottenham): Spurs still have not won a Premier League match he has appeared in.

Micah Richards (Manchester City): Has regressed rather than progressed, a testament to Capello’s insight.

Gary Neville (Manchester United): Waste of a squad position.

Andrea Dossena (Liverpool): One reason Rafa Benitez should have to work for his transfer funds.

Craig Gordon (Sunderland): Sunderland allowed 113 goals the past two seasons. Not all Gordon’s fault, but you would expect more impact, given his transfer fee.

Another Manchester City Arrest, And Villa Puts The Arshavin Story To Rest

Johnathan Starling — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:29:02 +0000

Micah Richards wins the Christmas stupidity award.

It took seven weeks, but we find out tonight that Micah Richards was arrested over a December 24th attack outside a Hale nightclub. It is alleged that Richards attacked an eighteen year old male. In something that Mark Hughes has had some practice with, he’s already coming out in support of his defender.

With all the money these players make, with the big houses these people have, why is it they feel like they need to go out. Nightclubs are a recipie for trouble and when players can have all they need at home, take advantage of it. Look I understand players are as human as I am. But they have to be just a little bit more responsible when it comes to their actions. Their stupidity will end up on the back pages, ours won’t.

Other Stories
Aston Villa won’t make any complaints over the Andrei Arshavin transfer. I’m glad to hear that. The other 19 clubs didn’t say anything either at today’s Premier League meeting.

Three weeks looks to be the amount of time Gerrard will miss with his hamstring injury. Hopefully Gerrard will be available for at least the second leg of the Real Madrid tie.

Joe Kinnear will not be dealing with his contract as long as Newcastle are in a relegation fight. Smart man, because I’m sure he knows if they go down, he won’t be needing to bother with a new contract.

Charles N’Zogbia keeps saying that he found it difficult to work with Joe Kinnear and that’s why he wanted out. I wonder what will happen once Steve Bruce gets tough with him?

I don’t think Lucas’s apology will help him after Wednesday night.

Sylvain Distin doesn’t seem to have the right attitude about Portsmouth’s chances at staying up.

Now Michel Platini wants to get into the whole transfer window debate…oh goody.

And finally, while Manchester United are still in for the quadruple, Sir Alex Ferguson is realistic about his team’s chances for silverware.

Arshavin Moves Closer to Arsenal and is the Sell Off Beginning at West Ham United

Johnathan Starling — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:53:43 +0000

So Andrei Arshavin is starting to make loud noises about his future, and it doesn’t look like playing in Russia is a part of it. He’s telling Zenit St. Petersburg that if he has to, he’ll buy out his contract (this is the only link that is currently available, the Telegraph also reported the same this morning, before updating their story) in order to move. We’re also seeing rumblings that he’s already in London seeing the Arsenal sights, while the negotiations begin over the transfer fee. While 20 million seems a bit much for someone who is more or less demanding to be sold, I don’t blame Zenit for this ploy to start, knowing they will settle for less to just be rid of a headache.

I don’t know what to make of this whole situation. On the one hand, Arsene Wenger needs someone in the absence of Cesc Fabregas while on the other, what does Wenger do once Fabregas is back. Knowing this, Zenit should hold Arsenal over the coals to get what they feel is right for a player under contract to them. The other thing that I wonder about is does Arshavin become surplus requirements to the Arsenal squad once Fabregas does come back? If that happens, how long before Arsenal are dealing with the same antics that got him in the first place.

The other story that has caught my interest is are we starting to see the sell off at West Ham United? We all know about the alleged financial difficulties West Ham’s owner are having, and we also know about the comments from Zola about selling the surplus. My question to that is, are Calum Davenport and Matthew Etherington really surplus requirements to West Ham United’s squad? The proposed seven million those two will bring doesn’t seem like the right valuation. Then add Scott Parker to that mix that looks to be a 12 million pound transfer to Manchester City makes me wonder if West Ham United are trying to gut their squad. But at the same time, there is talk about bringing in Savio Nsereko. Being an under 19 makes me think he’s probably another year from really cracking the starting 11 on a consistent basis.

I understand Zola wants to keep his core of Craig Bellamy, Matthew Upson and Scott Parker together, and really only one of those three look to be on the chopping block. I also understand that West Ham do have surplus that they do need to get rid of. I just wonder if the balance they are looking for is the balance that is going to be needed going into the future.

Other Stories
Jermain Defoe is back at Tottenham and as goes with the tried and tested ‘It’s great to be back‘ line. So if Harry Redknapp goes to another club, how long will it be before Defoe follows along?

Micah Richards is hitting back at those who claim he is fat and unfit. I think the only thing unfit is his mind with regards to field positioning.

Look who’s trying to be officer of the peace with Carlos Tevez and Manchester United…the third party interest.

It’s been nice knowing you Dean Windass, who looks to finally be leaving Hull City. I do feel for him, as the man who scored the goal that got Hull City into the Premier League is making a hasty exit back to the lower leagues.

Luis Felipe Scolari has lost his mind if he thinks that Florent Malouda holds the key in their Sunday clash against Manchester United.