EPL Talk » Owen Hargreaves

Can Anderson Be the Key?

David Schiavone — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:47:53 +0000

The Midfield Magician

Cast your mind back to May 2009, Manchester United were comprehensively and soundly trounced in Rome by a magical Barcelona side, inspired by Xavi and Iniesta. For many, the lack of quality in the centre of the park was plain to see, Carrick looked lethargic and unsure of himself, Fletcher was missed, this, a surprise in itself. Club legends, Giggs and Scholes were ineffective and nowhere to be seen.

The class of the Manchester United midfield is weak in comparison their Premier League rivals, Chelsea with Essien, Lampard, Ballack and Liverpool have Mascherano, Aquilani and Gerrard respectively. Carrick, Fletcher and Scholes just do not compare.

Some of you may cry, “You forgot about Owen Hargreaves!” Indeed I did, mainly due to the length of time he has been injured and latest estimates say he will return around Christmas.

With the transfer window almost closed there are no centre midfielders in sight. So I put it to you that, Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira or just plain Anderson will flourish this season.

In my opinion, Anderson possesses all the qualities to become a top class midfielder, he has pace, acceleration, strength, a strong positional sense coupled with the ability to thread through a match winning final ball. He is a combatitive all action midfielder, beginning his career further up the park, he has since developed a very useful defensive side to an already impressive array of attacking talents.

Anderson reminds me a little of Kaka but with a hint of Roy Keane, obviously these are massively talented players, whose level of ability he has not yet reached, but I think he can and has to an extent combined the best parts of their respective games.

He can sit in front of the defence and play a disciplined role, spreading passes to his teammates further up the field. He can also play as an attacking midfielder, a place where he is most comfortable. In this position he offers all the samba skills you can want – just ask Cesc Fabregas – he has vision, dribbling skills and an eye for goal.

The single shortfall of Anderson’s game, and it is a rather large one, is his uncanny ability to do everything right in the lead up to a shot then fluff the final act, footballs have been found as far away as China. Seemingly he did not bring his shooting boots to Old Trafford.

But I have hopes he can eradicate this untimely habit throughout the forthcoming season, and if pre-season is anything to go by we are in for a few treats, as his sublime free-kick against Boca Juniors was a joy to behold.

I think this could be the season where stamps his authority on this Manchester United side, he has already shown in the past he can mix it up with the big boys dominating in games against Fabregas and Steven Gerrard during his first season with United. He may just prove that there is infact life after a certain Portuguese.

Soccer Surgeon To The Stars Suffers Injury Setback

The Gaffer — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:00:54 +0000

A massive injury crisis has hit the Premier League. It’s not at Newcastle United, nor Everton. Instead it’s in the snowy slopes of Vail, Colorado in the United States.

Richard Steadman, the top football-serving surgeon in the world is himself injured after breaking an arm in a skiing accident. The doctor to the stars is the safest pair of hands in football and specializes in knee surgery. And the injury to the doctor will definitely trouble medical experts at Premier League clubs and football clubs around the world.

For example, Steadman’s injury means that James Vaughan’s surgery will be delayed, which will increase the time until Vaughan makes a return to Everton. It’ll also undoubtedly cause delays in the surgeries for other professional footballers.

Here are other projects that Steadman has worked on that you may be interested in:

Owen Hargreaves recently went under the knife, but is planning to visit Steadman around the New Year for a second operation,
Ruud van Nistelrooy recently returned from visiting Steadman in Colorado to learn that he’ll be out for the rest of he season,
Doctor Steadman was the surgeon responsible for prolonging Alan Shearer’s career at Newcastle,
And the list goes on and on. The surgeon is the number one expert on knee-related injuries for footballers, whether they’re in the Premier League or Championship.

For Steadman, it must be nice for his practice to be located in beautiful Vail and have some of the top athletes from around the world travel directly to his offices. For the players themselves, surgery is never a likeable prospect but at least they have the opportunity to travel to Vail to have it done.

Premier League Footballers On All-Star Injury Fantasy Team

The Gaffer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:00:26 +0000

We thought it’d be fun to pick our all-star injury football team featuring those Premier League players that always seem to be injured. Thanks to the EPL Talk readers who participated in last weekend’s EPL Talk Chat for the idea.

Chris Kirkland
Gary Neville
Mikael Silvestre
Jonathan Woodgate
Ledley King
Owen Hargreaves
Kieron Dyer
Tim Cahill
Craig Bellamy
Michael Owen
Louis Saha

Subs:
Andy Johnson
Mark Viduka
Valeri Bojinov
Emile Heskey
Didier Drogba

What current players are missing that should be featured in this squad? Click the comments link below and let us know.

Man United Wins Community Shield 3-1 On Penalties: Your Thoughts

The Gaffer — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:34:06 +0000

So, Manchester United has picked up another piece of silverware after beating Portsmouth 3-1 on penalties in the annual curtain raiser to the new season.

The game, which ended 0-0 in regular time, was a bit of a sleeper at times with Man United controlling large portions of the match but unable to score. A main reason for that was Portsmouth’s goalkeeper David James who was stellar between the goalposts for Pompey making several crucial saves. In comparison, Edwin van der Sar was rarely challenged.

Carlos Tevez deservedly was awarded the man of the match award after producing a spirited display on the pitch at Wembley. He was quite the troublemaker in attack for United having one shot brilliantly saved by James, being pulled down in the box — which should have been a penalty, and battling and winning many balls in midfield.

Portsmouth showed glimmers of skill now and again especially in midfield and in defense, but they rarely were able to get the ball to Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch. Pompey’s attack seemed very one dimensional with balls floated in to Crouch, but rarely did the ball reach Crouch and instead was defended well by United’s back four.

The difference between United and Pompey rang true during the penalty kicks. United was calm, cool and collected as they knocked in each of their penalty kicks. In contrast, Portsmouth’s Lassana Diarra, Arnold Mvuemba and Glen Johnson missed all of theirs. If Pompey wants to compete against the big boys, they’ve got a lot of work to do.

What are your thoughts regarding the final? Do you think that United looks beatable this season? Will Manchester United be able to play as well as they did last season without Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Owen Hargreaves for the early part of the season. Share your feedback below by clicking the comments link.

Barcelona v Manchester United Preview: Champagne Wishes

Lonnie — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:07:23 +0000

Posted from ChampionsLeagueTalk.com:

Unlike the comedy of errors that Chelsea and Liverpool managed to produce in their first leg match, I have sky-high expectations for the Barcelona – Manchester United match. Barca will look to salvage something from what has been a bit of a lost season for them while United will be looking to overturn last year’s disappointing loss to AC Milan and that’s where our comparison begins. The two clubs are the only unbeaten sides in this season’s Champions League tournament so one of them will have to give but which side will it be?

Barca hold the edge in semi-final victories overall having won four of the eight previous semi-finals they have competed in while United’s nine previous semi-final appearances have yielded only two victories. Also going against United is their record against Spanish opposition in Spain. They have contested 16 matches in Spain and won only once, drawing six and losing nine.

If previous meetings between these two are to be any guage of what to expect, this ought to be another classic. The clubs met twice in the old European Cup Winners’ Cup and have twice found themselves in the same Champions League group. Each tie proved to be memorable for different reasons but for pure drama the first a Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final in March 1984, was arguably the best. United overturned a 2-0 deficit in the second leg at Old Trafford. United went on to lose 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final’s to Michel Platini’s Juventus. I have not seen the full game from 1984 so the game I most remember is the dramatic 3-3 draw from the group stage in the 1998/99 season. This match had it all and was a display of skill and style that makes football such a beautiful game.

Now, onto this year’s matchup.

Lineups and Tactics
Barcelona were given a huge boost when it was announced that dynamic forward Lionel Messi would be healthy for this fixture. Like Kaka did last year to United, Messi has the ability to single-handedly turn a game with his pace and vision. Captain and anchor of the Barca backline, Carles Puyol, is suspended for this match but Rafael Márquez should be recovered from injury and is likely to start in his place. Thierry Henry has been fighting off a fever/flu and is a doubtful starter but could play a role from the bench. One must keep in mind that Henry has scored nine goals in 18 appearances against the Red Devils.

Possible Starting XI (4-3-3): Valdés — Zambrotta, Milito, Márquez, Abidal — Yaya Touré, Xavi, Iniesta — Eto’o, Messi, Bojan

For Manchester United, Edwin Van der Sar is fit after a groin strain and Wayne Rooney looks to have overcome the hip injury he sustained on Saturday. Both Owen Hargreaves and Anderson have recovered from minor injuries. Gary Neville and Darren Fletcher have also been named in the squad but are unlikely to start.

While United has received plenty of press for their flashy forwards, the outcome of this semi-final depends heavily on how well the back line deals with the danger posed by the likes of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and Bojan Krkic. Manchester United trained without key defenders Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown and both are said to be a game-time decision.

It is not a stretch to say that the central defensive partnership of Vidic and Ferdinand has been the cornerstone of United’s success in the past two seasons. This year, no team has conceded fewer goals in the Premier League and only Chelsea FC have let in less in the Champions League. Another factor will be Patrice Evra’s ability to get forward and support the attack. If he is pinned back by Messi, United may struggle to create and will be forced to rely on counter-attacks.

On the offensive side, United will again be looking for their interchanging forwards to confuse and unsettle the opposing defenders.

Possible Starting XI (4-3-3): Van der Sar — Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra — Carrick, Scholes, Hargreaves — Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney

Key Matchups:
Lionel Messi v Patrice Evra
As discussed above, Messi can be highly influential in setting the table for the Barcelona attack. He likes to attack from wide positions and Patrice Evra will need to contain his runs and deny him time/space when Messi has possession on the flank. However, Evra also does a lot to support the United attack as he often makes supporting runs down the wing to stretch the opposition defence and open space for the United forwards.

Xavi/Iniesta v Carrick/Hargreaves
Xavi and Andres Iniesta are the twin engines that drive Barcelona’s midfield play. Neither player gets enough credit for their hard work but if Barca has success going forward, these two will be involved. On the other side, you have another pair of talented central midfielders. Owen Hargreaves has had a hard time cracking into the United starting XI, partially due to injury, but he showed in recent performances why United spent big money to sign him from Bayern Munich.

Verdict
The purist in me would like to see another 3-3 draw with lots of flowing passing and end-to-end action. However, it will largely depend on the forces at hand for both sides. If Vidic and Brown are out, I think United may be a bit more conservative, despite speaking about bringing “a positive approach” to the match. For Barcelona, they will need to come out atacking and look to build a lead that they can nurse through the second leg at Old Trafford. It’s tough to go against Barcelona at home but I have to go with the form team at the moment so look for a 2-1 United scoreline.