EPL Talk » Switzerland

Hodgson Looks To Build On The Great Escape

Paul Bestall — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:19:52 +0000

Roy Hodgson is one of the great unsung English managers of the last 30 years and I’m a big fan of England’s most underrated manager.

A polite, erudite professor of the game and an intelligent, well spoken man, he’s simply never received the recognition his career and achievements deserve in England due to the majority of his success being on foreign shores. When he was installed as Lawrie Sanchez’s successor at Fulham, it would be fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised toward Craven Cottage and the consensus was that Fulham were doomed for the drop. It’s now one of the great defining moments of the 2007-2008 season when Fulham were away at Manchester City and went 2-0, the results were such at the time they were actually relegated until they scored 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and went on to survive on goal difference as their form picked up dramatically.

The European perception of Hodgson though is poles apart from his homelands opinion of him. A legend in Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, highly rated in Italy and Germany, he is every inch the renaissance man. With 7 titles under his belt in Sweden between 1976 and 1990, his move to Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland was the defining period in his career, his success at domestic level convincing the Swiss FA to make him the national teams manager, taking them to USA 94 and getting through the qualification to Euro 1996, held in England. Since that period, Hodgson has been in demand by clubs and countries the world over with the exception of England due to his last period of employment in the Premiership.

All too much is made of his brief stint at Blackburn Rovers, more so his final 6 months at Blackburn, his critics point to the signing of Kevin Davies for £7.5 million as his main offence of a man out of touch with the game and abilities of players. The fact that often gets over looked about the Davies transfer is that Davies became seriously ill just weeks after joining Rovers and never recovered at Ewood Park. The self same critics also manage to forget that Davies was runner up in the Premiership Young Player of the Year award behind Michael Owen in 1997-1998 season. Suffice to say, 10 years later, Davies is still playing in the Premiership and has been one of the most consistent performers in the top league for the last few seasons. Yet people forget that Hodgson had guided Rovers back into European football in the 1997-1998 season and the Rovers board panicked when the team seemed to struggle until November when he was released from his position as manager. If they’d kept faith with him, I’ve no doubt they would have stayed up, rather than the terrible run they endured under Brian Kidd(£4.5 million for Ashley Ward anyone).

It’s this spell that has always gone against him in England, his critics never look to his success with Switzerland, the fact he almost got Finland to Euro 2008 only to fall at the final fence, his consideration to become the German manager in 1999, Massimo Moratti at Inters utmost respect for him and his reputation in Scandinavian football. When the FA failed to lure Big Phil to take over the England managers job in 2006, they should have gone to Hodgson. Instead they appointed a man that makes me angry just thinking about those wasted two years under the tactical buffoon, Perma-smile Mclaren.

There is no doubting that Hodgson is a fine manager, tactically astute and a lover of the beautiful game. He knows he’ll be under pressure this season, but I have full faith in his ability to get Fulham well away from the drop zone. He’s been the busiest manager in the transfer market so far over the summer, bringing in 10 players, including Bobby Zamora, John Pantsil, Mark Schwarzer, Andy Teymourian, Zoltan Gera and smashing Fulhams transfer record with the purchase of Andy Johnson from Everton for £10.5 million.

Fulhams biggest problem last season was creating goals and finishing teams off and he has gone about trying to rectify that fact with some shrewd signings. Adding to the bones of the team that he inherited and getting them back to playing football rather than the outdated kick and rush mess that Lawrie Sanchez had woefully tried to install will reap dividends for him and the Fulham faithful. With Johnson and Zamora up front, Bullard, Murphy and Gera pulling the strings in midfield and a steady defence, a comfortable mid-table season is on the cards at Craven Cottage. Good luck to Roy Hodgson, one of only two English managers in the modern era who should have been the England manager but never will. I’m sure Mr Clough doesn’t mind the company, they’ll both agree that Cloughie was the best.

Euro 2008 Group A Final Match Predictions

Paul Bestall — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:29:14 +0000

Tonight sees the first dual clash with Czech Republic playing Turkey whilst Switzerland host Portugal. With Portugal through as Group Winners, all eyes will be on Geneva. We could potentially have a first in Group qualification with the fact that should tonight’s game end in a draw, we will go straight into a penalty shoot out to decide who finishes runners up in the group. I hope we don’t come to that and the game is completely decided before the final whistle is blown.

It’s looking more and more likely that the Czechs will revert to playing Koller and Baros together up front. This tournament has really shown just how much quality they’ve lost from midfield with the retirements of Nedved, Berger, Smicer, Poborsky and the injury to Rosicky. They’ve played a game that is based on midfielders bursting forward to link up with the front man, but the quality simply hasn’t been there.

Turkey also may look to starting the game with the team that finished the 2-1 victory that eliminated the Swiss as coach Fatih Terim looks to guide the Turks through. He made a tactically brilliant change at half time to swing the game in their favour and Terim has often been underrated as a coach, the disappointing spell as coach of AC Milan perhaps diluting his achievements at Fiorentina and Galatasaray and his first stint as national coach.

Turkey certainly looked back to their best in the second half against the Swiss and this game is make or break for both coaches. I’m going to go for a 1-0 win for the Czech Republic tonight, which will then lead them to a potential clash with Germany in the Quarter Finals.

Tonight’s other game will probably gives us a chance to see the players on the fringes of the Portuguese squad, with Queresma, Almeida and Nani expected to start. Switzerland will be playing for pride tonight but know that their opponents will have several players trying to prove to Phil Scolari that they deserve a chance of being in his first choice XI. Whilst it would be nice for the Swiss to get anything out of this, I can’t see them beating Portugal and think it could be a 3-0 defeat for the Swiss.

Hup, Holland, Hup

The Gaffer — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:00:07 +0000

Here’s a brief video I shot of the Dutch friends we made in Bern. It’s one of those delightful football songs that’s almost impossible to get out of your head after you’ve heard it.

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Euro 2008: Better Than World Cup 2006 So Far

The Gaffer — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:32:21 +0000

I’ve finally had a chance to catch up on watching some of the Euro 2008 matches I missed. The jet lag hit me later in the week, so I found myself watching many of the games this week at weird hours on DVR.The one thing about football is that it can be so subjective. Earlier in the week, I found myself watching the 1-0 Croatia win against Austria game on the giant screen TV at the FanZone in Zurich. To me, Croatia looked like a very hard working team in the first half who were playing some wonderful football. Especially impressive was Ivica Olic, the Croat striker who plays for Hamburg, who was a workhouse throughout the game putting in an incredible performance. If ever there was a player who would do well in the Premier League, Olic is it.In their game against Austria, Croatia changed their tactics in the second half, which allowed Austria to press forward more. And it was the Austrians who impressed me, putting to bed all the fears about them being the worst team in the tournament.So I was surprised when I returned to the States and was hearing and reading the comments about Croatia looking weak in their first match. Against Germany, the Croats showed their true strength in their 2-1 win and it’s now Germany — many people’s favorites to win Euro 2008 — who risk getting knocked out of the tournament depending what happens in their final match against Austria.The other thing I found surprising when I returned to the States was the perception among many that this has been a boring tournament thus far. Sure, it’s easier to enjoy the atmosphere and games when you’re experiencing them in Switzerland, but still, the tournament to me has been one of the most exciting football events in quite some time, even more so than World Cup 2006. The France against Romania nil-nil match was horrible, but aside from that, I’ve enjoyed all of the other matches.Speaking of Romania, their 1-1 draw against Italy on Friday was a brilliant match to watch. So much goalmouth action with balls hitting the post or goalkeepers pulling off incredible saves. Buffon’s penalty save, too, was amazing to watch. Romania could have easily won the match in the first half, while Italy showed in this game their masterful technical touches — beautiful flicks, excellent ball control, deft passes and wonderful creativity — something which is desperately lacking in the Premier League and on the England national team.Italy, though, has to feel cheated by the goal that was ruled offside. On replay, it’s clear that the goal should have counted. But when I watched it in real-time, it looked to me to be offside, so I empathize why the referee and assistant referee thought the whistle should have been blown for offside.I’ve been writing about how impressed I’ve been about Holland since Monday and they completely blew me away again on Friday with their 4-1 win against France. In fairness, the French are to blame for this scoreline as they had plenty of chances to score. Just as in the match against Italy, the Dutch took full advantage of the chances they had with their clinical finishing.While Holland and Croatia continue to impress, Portugal can be added to that list. In their first game against Turkey, I thought the Portugese looked very entertaining with Pepe, especially, being a revelation. Portugal also looked breathtaking in the 3-1 win over Czech Republic. So far this tournament, the Czechs have done very little to impress me.For all of the bad press Austria got from the pundits and their own fans before the tournament started, I’ve been more impressed by the Austrians than Switzerland. Austria deserved to get the 1-1 draw against Poland earlier this week, and the penalty decision by Howard Webb, I believe, was a correct one.Speaking of Switzerland, the national team was dealt a cruel blow when Alex Frei was injured in their 0-1 loss to Czech Republic. But in the Swiss 2-1 loss to Turkey, it was Turkey’s Arda Turan who was the relevation. The Galatasaray winger scored two beautiful goals. The first, a beautifully taken header, and the second was an amazing shot in the last minute of the game, which will be one of the goals of the tournament.The one group I haven’t had a chance to watch so far this tournament is Group D because I was traveling throughout the day on Tuesday and missed Spain’s demolition of Russia and the entertaining game between Sweden and Greece. I’m looking forward to seeing those matches on Saturday.

Euro 2008: How Seeing A Football Match On TV Can Be Better Than Seeing It In Person

The Gaffer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:21:30 +0000

Before the Holland vs Italy match at Euro 2008, the last professional football match I attended was in November 2006 when I saw Manchester United draw Chelsea 1-1 at Old Trafford. The reason why I haven’t seen any games in person since 2006 is because the nearest professional team to me is exactly 1,000 miles away from my home in Florida.

You could say I’ve watched a lot of football on TV in between that match and this past Monday’s Euro 2008 battle between the Dutch and Italians. As a rough estimate, I’ve probably watched more than 400 matches on TV during that time period.

So being at a professional match was a chance to view the occasion from a different perspective: TV versus reality.

The two different experiences are completely different. While sitting at my seat in the stadium, I was able to experience both TV and reality at the same time. If I wanted to see how the match looked live on TV, all I had to do was to look up at the giant TV screen above the goal. It was a little of a surreal experience being able to choose between both TV and reality.

When the match first kicked off, I spent the first 20 minutes or so watching the game unfold and ignored the giant TV screen. The game started with Holland having a lot of ball possession knocking the ball around their defense, to midfield and back around to their defenders again as they looked for a gap that was opened up by their wingers or Ruud van Nistelrooy up front.

After the excitement of being at the match subsided, I noticed that there were some major differences of watching a game in person:

The game seemed to be played at a slower pace.
The crowd seemed quieter.
It was difficult to see how much space there was between players who were in the opposite half of the field from where I was sitting, and
It was almost impossible to see what was happening in front of the other goal because of the defenders and other players blocking my view, especially in goalmouth scrambles.

In contrast, watching the game on TV (or in my case, the giant TV screen), the match seemed to be played at a faster pace, more like a video game, especially with the perspective of where the TV cameras were perched in the stadium as well as the overhead shots that are reminiscent of video games.

In person, the crowd sounded quieter than on TV and there were quiet spells during the game where both sets of fans didn’t sing and all you could hear was the buzz of the crowd chatting or making sounds. With the latest technology in speakers and sound equipment, the sound of football fans can be made to sound louder than what they actually are. The in person experience was disappointing and definitely not loud enough.

We’ve all been used to sitting or standing at a game and having a difficult time seeing what’s happening at the opposite end of the field. Up close, we can see the spaces between players and can better judge whether a pass can make it to a player on the same side. But when those type of passes and runs happen far away from our seats, our perspective is gone. It becomes very difficult to see really what is going on because it’s very difficult to judge how much space is really between players and the ball. Sitting higher up in the stadium will help with those sight lines, but then you’ll feel further away from the action on the field.

In the second half when Holland continued to attack the Italy half and tried to get a third goal to seal the victory, there were a few times where the ball was in the penalty area but I couldn’t see what was happening due to several players converging around that area blocking my view.

While there are many advantages of being at a football match in person, such as the being part of the experience, sharing it with thousands of other fans, taking part in the carnival atmosphere and being able to express yourself more completely, there are still many serious disadvantages.

I found myself watching more of the second half on the giant TV screen. When Holland attacked Italy, I was more easily able to see the distance between players and could better comprehend whether an attack had any chance of turning into a goal opportunity. The TV screens also had the advantage of showing close-ups of players as well as action replays.

In this particular match, with the controversial first goal by van Nistelrooy, it was more important than ever to see a TV replay to determine whether the goal should have been allowed or not. In the stadium, we were handicapped by only being able to see the replay once or twice and even then, it was difficult to see what really happened without the aid of a TV commentator pointing out what was happening. Imagine how the experience must have been for the referee and assistant referee who don’t see any TV replays at all during games!

While the experience of being at a professional match is definitely something one-of-a-kind, I find that its overrated especially when you realize the technological advances that the networks have made in producing live matches for television. Part of the appeal of being at a live match is one of bragging rights by fans. “I was there mate.” But seeing a match in person also appeals to our celebrity culture, where we can say that we saw players like Del Piero, Buffon, Matterazi and others in person. It’s almost like the Hollywood culture where people get more of a kick from seeing Paris Hilton in person than on screen. However, the movie watching experience is far greater than seeing the movie shot in person. Just as movies are able to add special effects and make the actors appear much larger in size, TV is able to heighten and capture the excitement of a football match and make it an even better experience than being at a match.

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