Belgium desperately need their players to adapt to International football.

It’s that time of the year again; the summer transfer window. When players are rumoured to be signing for 4 different clubs at the same time. Every year there’s one club that’ll overspend, or find the next big thing. However it’s very rare to see such a drastic move of one nationality of players within one transfer window. A total of 5 Belgian players have either transferred to/or within the Premiership this window, joining 9 other Belgian players already playing their trade in the top English league. So why is there such demand for Belgian players at the moment? It’s not hard to see why when classy players such as Hazard, Mirallas and Vertonghen were playing very well in seemingly ‘weaker’ leagues, they grabbed the attention of larger clubs and since have moved on. There is no doubt the Premiership will be a much tougher test for these new Belgian players but there is no question in my mind that they will be a success not only in the long term but also the short term.

So why is Belgium ranked just 53^rd in the world? This current Belgian team have real quality throughout the pitch; it’s a mystery as to why they aren’t performing well internationally. They haven’t qualified for the past five major tournaments, most recently Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. Belgium have a very strong defence including Vermaelen, Kompany and Vertonghen, three of the best defenders in not just the Premier League but world football. In central midfield they have Witsel, Defour, Fellaini and Dembele who all like to be on the ball and are very talented passers. Fellaini and Witsel prefer to hold in midfield intercepting opposition attacks whilst Dembele likes to play a more advanced role in behind the strikers, Dembele was a real creative force for Fulham last year and earned himself a 15million pound move to Tottenham. Despite Dembele being an attacking central midfielder last season of all the players- in every position, not just central midfield, only Yohan Cabaye (116 tackles) attempted more tackles than Dembele (113 tackles). Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Dembele, with 86 successful tackles, won more tackles than any other player in the Premier League last season. As you can see, these four midfielders complement each other very well and are a well-balanced quartet.

                     Kompany - One of the best players in the Premiership last season

Belgium have some incredible attacking widemen such as Hazard, Mertens and Mirallas. All three are brilliant dribblers of the ball and are dangerous players. Hazard has started impeccably for Chelsea, making 6 assists and scoring once in his first three games for Chelsea. One highlight of Hazard’s play is his agility; he can turn with the flick of a switch causing real problems for defenders, who more often than not are much slower than Hazard. Last year for Lille Hazard scored 20 goals in 38 games and assisted 15 times. A record 90% of out and out strikers would envy. Mirallas and Mertens also possess similar qualities, pace and trickery being main features in both of their games.

Belgium have Lukaku to turn on in the striker position. Lukaku is strong, fast and great in the air; he is a handful for any defender purely because of his immense strength. The only question mark over Lukaku is his pedigree and experience, especially when Belgium don’t have a wealth of forwards to fall back upon.

Not only is Belgium’s first eleven strong but they also have strength in depth, with De Bruyne, Mertens, and Courtois gaining an avergage of just 5.6 caps each.

                Is the future bright for Belgium? One would assume so. The majority of Belgium’s players are young, or coming into the peak of their careers. The average age of their last squad was just 24.58 years old which is a good mix of experience and youth. Their key players are even younger than the average age with Mirallas (24) Fellaini (24) Lukaku (19) Hazard (21) Witsel (23) and Mignolet (24). All six players still are a long way from being the finished article with lots of room for growth, which must excite Belgian fans massively. Belgium also have Vermaelen (26) and Kompany (26) coming into the prime years of their career where they'll be performing at their best. You have to say in 3 or 4 years time Belgium should really be inside the top 25 teams in the world when they have such quality players to call upon.

A potential Belgium line-up. Surely better than 53^rdin the world?

The game isn't played on paper

Owners should stick to buying oil rather than corrupting our heritage-filled football clubs

Sheikh Mansour. A man worth around £17billion. The name may not be familiar to many, but very familiar to all Manchester City fans, having provided around £300million for club transfers in the period 2008-2012, with the record signing standing at £47million. However Bristol Rovers’ record transfer fee paid in their 129 history is just £375,000 and transfer totals in the period 2008-2012 equating to just £250,000. Bristol Rovers are lingering in basement of league football whilst Manchester City is top of the premier league.  

The difference between these two sides? Money… Money creates an uneven playing field in football that wasn’t there just 20 years ago.

How can lower league teams compete with top clubs? Especially when top-flight clubs have 100x the spending power. Quite simply – they can’t. With money you can attract the world’s best players and pay top wages. Obviously money can’t guarantee success instantly… but over time it does. Before the huge investment Manchester City hadn’t won a trophy since 1976 but now have recently won the FA Cup and are currently challenging for the premier league title.

Before 2005 Chelsea had just one trophy since the 1970’s but since the takeover of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich they have won 10 trophies in the last decade. Money is now fuelling the success of these modern clubs. What’s happened to the days when almost anyone could win a league each season? Are these examples enough to show you how money has ruined the game?

Why do we accept some foreign money-loaded oil tycoon taking charge of our beloved football clubs? Most owners don’t even care about the club, many won’t even attend games and I’m sure if you asked 80% of foreign owners they wouldn’t be able to tell you their past few results. Owners buy our clubs just as money ventures, to waste of bit of their mind-blowing levels of riches on, take up an afternoon one day a week, running it as a business or an investment rather than a football club. These owners are stripping the club’s heart out and charging fans extortionate prices. To avid supporters our clubs are engraved in our blood, we live day in day out just for the weekend to see the players run out on a Saturday afternoon. For money-eyed owners it’s become a gamble with their cash, to see how much they can make and I for one have had enough of them toying with our football club’s heritage and future.    

Fulham’s season tickets rose a massive 32.98% in comparison to last season, they haven’t been promoted and they haven’t won any trophies. Why should loyal fans accept such a drastic rise in prices? How can the club justify the rise? Devoted supporters are being ripped off out of their hard earned cash just so that the club can drain more riches for their ‘more money than sense’ owners.

Since 1985, average top division wages have risen from £25,000 to £1,100,000, a growth of 440%; with players potentially earning as much as £200,000 a week. This wage is by no means equal to the level of work that they do. Footballers may run out in front of 40,000 fans every week and are often very talented at what they do but when you compare footballer’s earnings to firemen, you can see how absurd their salary is. Footballers don’t deserve their earnings. Footballers are grown men and all they do is kick an air-filled ball around a grass field. How do they deserve double the yearly earnings of a fireman in a week? Top-flight footballers don’t put their body on the lines, they aren’t risking their life, they aren’t even providing a vital service. I know for a fact that everyone footballer couldn’t come off the pitch saying they’d given it their all in every game that they’ve played, that’s if they even make it onto the pitch. Carlos Tevez rejected the chance to play for Manchester City in the champions league; instead he sat on the bench claiming he wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Right frame of mind? Unbelievable! Tevez is playing on the world stage, getting paid mind-blowing amounts of money and he doesn’t think he can kick the ball around for 40minutes. I certainly know I could. Imagine if a fireman walked up to a blazing house and decided that he couldn’t be bothered to put the fire out. Footballers should see what soldiers and emergency services are put through to earn a fraction of what their wages. Then footballers would know what earning money really means.

Cheating, deception and diving. Three words not always associated with football but words that are now on the tip of many fans mouths after watching games. With the influx of foreign players in the last decade, the game has changed forever; mainly for the worse. With the introduction of new players, they brought with them some extremely irritating habits which undoubtedly have ruined our beautiful game: diving and simulation. Why are players attempting to con the referee in order to gain an advantage? They throw their bodies onto the floor in a theatrical manner. It seems as if modern footballers have lost their pride; shouting and throwing their arms into the air in pain, who could blame them? After all they had just been brushed on the shoulder.

Nowadays players fall down when they get touched; some of them should swap sports and do it off a springboard. It’s embarrassing to watch. Viewers could be forgiven for believing that a player had just been shot by a sniper, high in the stands. Footballers need a reality check. As honest players watch others dive and gain an advantage, trustworthy players are left wondering why they wouldn’t do similar things. And many have started too, more and more players have resorted to falling over to try and cheat their way to victory.

Foreign players have massively reduced the growth of young English talent. Instead of a young local footballer getting his first start, the English youth been left waiting and waiting as clubs have bought more experienced players, thus pushing local footballers further and further down the leagues. In the premier league 64% of all players are foreign, in contrast to the English League Two where just 23.5% of players are foreign, showing how drastic the effect of foreigners has been on stunting English football players’ ability growth. Our nation’s youths have been forced further down the leagues to get match experience in lower leagues rather than making the breakthrough in top divisions.

Arsenal symbolise the mass arrival of foreign players. In the 1989-90 seasons Arsenal had just two players born abroad, whereas in 2009-10 season they had 23 born abroad. We should be aiding our nation’s young English talent, not leaving them to ‘rot’ on the bench, especially as the players taking their places can barely speak even the basics of our language. There is enough talent in our own country if top-flight managers would just open their eyes, wake-up and give youths a chance. Why should our nation allow foreign players the potential to improve over our own? The basics have to change or England will be left behind in the international game.

Money has the crippled the game. It has turned it from an honest leisure activity to high stakes, high earning prima donna’s conning the referee into making bad decisions.

Clubs should be restored to their former glory days when 80% of a team line-up would be home-grown, a day when clubs made their success – not bought it. The days when players would be tackled 4 or 5 times in a row yet still carry on defiantly and when money wasn’t the motivation for players but instead the love of the game.

The RVP Situation

I have many viewpoints on the situation regarding RVP.

Robin Van Persie managed to score 30 league goals for Arsenal last season and won Player of the season.  At the age of 29 Van Persie has just one year on his contract, and a situation which is becoming increasingly common nowadays has once again occurred where the club has to decide whether to cash in on the player or hold onto him and run his contract down.

Many people have criticised RVP but if you take into account the fact that Arsenal haven’t won a trophy for over 7 years now and the pedigree of Van Persie it’s easy to see why he’d want to leave. Any human would get fed up with having to ‘carry’ the team; and when others don’t perform you have to start questioning the direction of the club. And this is exactly what Van Persie has done.

If Van Persie truly wants to go and his play-acting isn’t to get a new contract then I firmly agree with his decision to not sign a new contract. At the age of 29, having won no trophies with Arsenal, and therefore having very few trophies in his locker room he doesn’t have long left to start getting winners medals. It’s one thing for a player who is a middle of the road type of build, RVP however is not. RVP is a genuine world class player who deserves world class service and worldwide winners medals. It would be wrong of him to not attempt to move to a club who could well win something in the near future. I don’t think Arsenal fit into this category. They have too many ‘middle of the road’ players and not enough class amongst their ranks. If RVP stays at Arsenal he would basically be saying that he lacks ambition and drive, which is not the characteristics that allowed him to rise to stardom. Staying at Arsenal would more than likely lead to champions league qualification at best. I cant see how in the next 2/3 Arsenal are going to win trophies, especially when teams such as Man City, United and Chelsea are all buying quality signings to boost their squads.

If and probably when RVP leaves few could blame him for his decision.

Now theres a flipside to the situation; if RVP is claiming he isn’t signing a new contract purely to get a pay rise then I cannot defend him. If this is the case then he should be ashamed of himself, footballers these days think they are bigger than the club. One good season in 7 and he’s effectively holding the club at ransom. To come out and completely lie in order to get more money is absolutely disgusting. Players forget when they sign their contracts that the club is entitled to keep them to the end of it, often if this happens the player ‘sulks’ like a 12 year old girl.

However, I don’t think this will be the case and I firmly believe Robin will get his move. Few can complain about the move if his intentions are right and he moves to a club where he can win trophies. He is clearly a classy player when fit and deserves to be part of a trophy winning side.

Mustapha-stay or go?

I genuinely feel let down by Muzzy in the way he has dealt with the transfer rumours. When a player such as Muzzy comes along that gets you off your seat, shouting and cheering with excitement he is often a fan’s favourite, and this was the case had it not been for a small sulky tweet that made Rovers fans think twice as to whether Carayol really is a classy players, both on and off the pitch. It’s the attitude of such players, maybe even the general modern player that really irritates me. When Muzzy tweeted ‘Being held against your will is probably the worst thing in the world especially when promises are broken!!..well I guess u live n u learn!!’ I don’t think many people would argue the tweet wasn’t football orientated, and it’s this small 8 worded tweet that may have permanently changed Rovers’ views on him, especially if Carayol has played his final minutes for the gas. It’s the pure lack of loyalty that modern footballers show to their employees that disgusts me. Just little more than 12 months ago Muzzy was staring into Non-League oblivion when his Lincoln side got relegated to the conference, Rovers opted to give him his chance, is he repaying us? Not one bit. It’s not even like Muzzy has proved himself to be a consistently quality player at this level. Sure he tore apart poor Accrington and Burton sides in the closing stages of the season but just how good were they? At the end of the day, both sides had nothing to play for. Before January and Buckle’s dismissal Carayol was more inconsistent than David James’ haircut, he just couldn’t repeat rare high performances. Maybe that’s a sign of the type of player Muzzy is; good when times are going well but non-existent during the tough times when the true personality of a player comes through, is that really the sort of footballer we want wearing the blue and white quarters?

I also question how Muzzy can claim he is so called ‘being held against his will’ when we all know that he will get his move no matter how much the club wants to keep him, once a player decides they want to leave there is very little you can do to stop them moving on. We’ve seen it before with Kuffour and many others at various levels of the game. After all, Muzzy WAS the one who signed a 2 year contract with the club from a non-league side, he put pen to paper; not us. Now just one year into his contract he decides he wants to leave. Players have way too much power, and the famous cliché ‘no player is bigger than the club’ is oh so applicable here. If and more likely when Carayol moves on I’m sure the vast majority of Rovers fans will be disappointed but as we have done before, the club will move on. The sight of Carayol’s unhappy face sat on a championship side bench may well be a sweet taste in the mouth of us Rovers’ fans come the end of next season when hopefully we will be celebrating promotion!

Bristol Rovers 2011/12 Season Review

I have to admit I never really expected Rovers to be up near the top challenging for the title or even promotion, however like many other fans I did let part of myself imagine that maybe we could bounce straight back up. The situation was clear; we'd lost almost all of our squad and had no manager during the post season and to expect an instant rebound was very, very ambitious. There was a huge air of uncertainty hanging over the club.
     That was until Paul Buckle was announced as the new permanent manager. Buckle's CV boasted an impressive record with Torquay, who'm were undoubtedly a much smaller club with a smaller budget too. The prospects for Rovers looked bright, if Buckle had nearly got Torquay promoted, what could he do with Rovers? New players followed the manager into the club, including ex and current Torquay players; Scott Bevan, Mustapha Carayol and Craig Stanley and alongside new stadium plans suddenly the excitement around the clubs' future was restored. Pre-season friendlies only raised expectations with a 2-1 victory over Burnley and a 2-2 draw against a strong Iverness Caledonian Thistle side. When the first day of the season came all fans were hopeful the side could add weight their potential promotion favourite tags, and the result didn't disappoint. Having been in California for two weeks, my father and I travelled back just in time for a 10 minute pit stop at home and straight off to the game without any sleep. An exciting 3-2 victory over Football League newboys AFC Wimbledon showed that Buckle's playing style could quickly win over the crowd. But as soon as the hope and confidence around the club had come, it had gone. With just 6 points from 33 and Rovers lurking dangerously close to the relegation zone Paul Buckle was fired leaving Rovers with a critical appointment to make, one that could make or break the club. The FA Cup run had been the only spark in a dull season so far, the thought of Aston Villa in the third round at home was both mouth-watering and worrying. With caretaker manager Sean North in charge it seemed the impossible was made even more impossible and having lost 4 on the bounce letting in 14 goals in the prcoess it was concerning what premiership opposition may do to us. Even though we only lost 3-1 the performance showed a complete lack of desire to win the game, and didn't reflect the absolute dominance that Villa had during the match. Despite all this, Shaun North successfully steered the club to 4 points from a potential 6 giving Rovers a slight margin of safety from relegation.
     Given that Rovers had been in a similar position just 12 months ago it was understandable that the appointment needed to be correct. Experienced manager Mark McGhee joined the club as the permanent manager in January and seemed like a perfect appointment for Rovers. He had mounds of experience and had that professional touch about himself. Instantly the side responded with a further 4 wins from 5 games reducing fears that the Mem would be home to a conference side. McGhee never failed to impress me with the way he conducted himself and his ability to get the most out of the side. The final third of the season saw Rovers build on their renewed confidence safetly steering themselves away from relegation and into the safe positon of mid-table, the highlights being a 1-0 win against promotion chasing Southend and ending Swindon's run of 18 straight home wins with a 0-0 draw.
     The final two home games proved however to be, for me, the highlights of the season. The 7-1 thumping over Burton Albion in the penultimate home match saw Eliot Richards gain his first career hat-rick and very nearly broke the club record for the largest victory. It was a truely outstanding match to be at, the second half performance absolutely tore Burton's defence to shreds and by no means did the result flatter us. The 5-1 win over Accrington Stanley in Rovers' final home match was equal to, if not better than the win over Burton. Despite the score difference being less than the previous match, it was the manner in which Rovers' bossed proceedings. Each goal was either from a quality move or a lethal finish.
     If at the start of the season I was offered the chance to take a 13th position finish I honestly think I would have taken it. Taking into consideration the fact that in the post-season we had lost 17 players and had no manager a mid-table position was likely to be on the cards. I genuinely believe that with a few key additions to the squad and by retaining a large part of the team we can be at least challenging for a playoff place.
     I'd like to thank anyone who took their time to read any of my match reports and hopefully next season I'll be summarising a promotion winning season,

James

5-1 (H) Accrington Stanley - Another rampant display

A lethal and polished home performance from Bristol Rovers saw them end their home campaign on a high

After hitting Burton Albion for seven last time at the Mem, Rovers fans were hoping for a repeat performance in a mid-table end of season clash, with both sides having nothing to play for apart from 3 points and pride.
     The blustery conditions made for a surprisingly cold end of season affair, with an action packed first half. In recent games Rovers' Mustapha Carayol has been the stand out player, and his fine form continued; within just a few minutes Carayol drove past the fullback and hit a low cross on two occassions, but it was Accrington Stanley who very nearly took the lead against the run of play when a deep cross rocked the cross bar in the 8th minute. Carayol opted on his third run of the afternoon for an early cross, finding Matt Harrold who dispatched a thumping header to make it 1-0 inside 11 minutes. Once again Carayol's runs caused all sorts of problems for the Stanley defence, this time beating two men before being bundled to the ground by an Accrington Stanley defender. Matt Harrold stepped up, and as he did in the 7-1 demolition of Burton, dispatched the penatly with confidence. This time however opting for placement over power; the spot kick narrowly passing the keepers outstretched arms. Few could be forgiven for thinking of another 7 goal thumping. Matt Harrold was the focul point of all Bristol Rovers attacks, linking cleverly with Eliot Richards and Mustapha Carayol on numerous occassions. Harrold turned provider for the third by chipping in a weighted cross which was met by Andy Dorman's weak foot giving Rovers a first half 3 goal lead. Stanley looked like a team well into their summer holiday, barely touching the ball as Rovers dominated proccedings. The Accrington's fans' costumes were more exciting and interesting to watch than the first team squad, and Rovers nearly made it four when Carayol's corner was headed powerfully by Aaron Downes only to be tipped expertly onto the crossbar by the Stanley goalkeeper. The only way Accrington looked like scoring was from a moment of magic or a Rovers' mistake, and it was the latter that denied Rovers the clean sheet when a Stanley corner wasn't dealt with by Scott Bevan, ending up in the far corner of his net. The goal swung the games' momentum in Accrington's favour, Amond almost giving Accrington a way back into the match when he took it past Rovers' keeper Bevan only to see his tame effort cleared of the line by Aaaron Downes.
     Stanley started the second half in the way they ended the first, on the offensive. A counter attack from Accrington stretched the opposition backline; Rovers' had Bevan to thank as he saved a strong point blank header from Accrington's Padraig Amond. Accrington later would rue the missed chances when a tricky run from Mustapha Carayol resutled in Matthew Lund's first Rovers goal coming from a tap in off Carayol's cross. The cherry on the cake was added when Wayne Brown seemed to have been clossed down well, yet somehow manaed to cross the ball into the edge of the area, via a dummy from Matt Harrold, Lund finished comfortably collecting his second goal of the game and Rovers' fifth of the afternoon.
     Rovers' showed precision and a touch of class on numerous occassions this afternoon and gave hope that next season a promotion push will be on the cards, ending the home campaign with 12 goals from the final two home games.

7-1 Burton Albion (H) - Absolute Annihilation

Bristol Rovers ended a run of 5 games without a win by emphatically beating Burton Albion 7-1.

The game started brightly with both teams having large spells of possession, the first chance coming when a through ball to Richards was only cleared to Matt Harrold who, on the bounce, hit his bouncing shot narrowly past the post after 23 minutes. At times Burton were allowed too much time on the ball in advanced attacking positions, but it was from a long goal kick that Burton’s first goal scoring chance came. Rovers’ Cian Bolger allowed the ball to bounce through to keeper Scott Bevan but Burton’s Jimmy Phillips intercepted the ball, taking it past the keeper, and with the goal gaping somehow only managed to fire straight against the woodwork sparing the blushes of the Rovers centre back. Minutes before half time a quick free kick to Mustapha Carayol enabled the Gambian winger to power an effort from 30 yards out which looked like a routine save but for the swerve of the ball causing all sorts of problems for Ross Atkins who fumbled the ball into the net gifting Bristol Rovers a narrow lead heading into the break.
          The game sparked to life after half time, within seconds a missed clearance from Burton allowed Eliot Richards a chance on goal withstanding a strong challenge and coolly finishing past the onrushing Atkins. Just 8 minutes later a weak header from Tom Parkes was headed straight back leaving Parkes out of position and Zola one on one, Zola fired the ball in the roof of the net giving Burton a way back into the match or so it seemed. Eliot Richards again caused trouble for the Burton defence, latching onto a through ball and was clumsily brought down, resulting in a Rovers penalty. Matt Harrold stepped up and as so often this season powered his penalty home providing a two goal cushion for the pirates. The third goal gave Rovers renewed confidence and now looked comfortable in possession and started to dictate proceedings. Rovers’ Mustapha Carayol looked dangerous all afternoon, the crowd rising in anticipation whenever the winger was in possession of the ball, and it was Carayol who made the fourth goal; beating two men before crossing into Jim Patterson, recording his first goal for the club putting the ball into the back of the net with finesse. Burton crumbled after the fourth goal, knowing defeat was inevitable, they rolled over and allowed Rovers to punish them. Richards used his pace to pull away from the Burton midfield before switching play to Matt Harrold through a Wayne Brown dummy, Harrold picked up his second goal of the game with a rasping effort into the far corner. Straight from kick-off Rovers won back possession and sent Richards on another run, causing keeper Atkins and centre half to collide giving Richards an empty net to collect his second of the match. The rout wasn’t over yet for Rovers or Eliot Richards, his first ever hat-rick coming from a fine strike outside the area 10 minutes from time putting Bristol Rovers into seventh heaven. 
       Rovers absolutely dominated the second half and turned over a feeble Burton Albion side through some lethal finishing and class play from Eliot Richards and Mustapha Carayol.