Congratulations to Gareth Bale, who last night was crowned the PFA’s Player of the First Half of the Season. Or at least that’s what the title should be called given the Welshman has missed a significant amount of football in recent months and his most electrifying performances came before the new year.
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| PFA Winner Bale |
That’s not to say Bale has not had a good season; he has been exceptional and caused defences both at home and abroad untold problems with his pace and unrivalled ability to deliver pin point crosses on the run. But it must be said that he is still finding his way back to top form following a back injury that’s restricted his appearances in recent months. No matter, that’s not a problem when it comes to the PFA player of the year awards.
For some reason, the PFA asks its members to make their nominations for the end of the season awards in February. With three months worth of football still to play, and with honours at the top and bottom of the table still to be decided, it’s no surprise that the winners of the awards are often players who don’t retain their consistency over the course of the season.
The PFA and others may argue that with professional footballers at 92 league clubs to accept nominations from, it’s a lengthy process and that’s why players have to be balloted in February. I have two issues with this: firstly we’re able to count votes from the entire country in a matter of hours on election night, so I’m not convinced the PFA needs a three month lead time. And secondly, if it does take so long, why don’t they still start the process later and then make the announcement in the close season? I’m sill confused as to why we have to have the end of year awards ceremony a month before the end of year. They could even use the Community Shield as a platform to announce the winner; closing one season just as another starts.
Under the current system we can be left with winners who enjoy fantastic starts to the year but for one reason or another, aren’t able to sustain those levels throughout the duration of the season. In Bale’s case, it was no fault of his own; his form was terrific until curtailed by injury.
And of course, with a month to go Bale may well reach his pre-Christmas form before the season ends. But waiting until the latter part of the season before asking players to vote would have afforded them time to judge the season objectively, and really consider who had shone the brightest over the course of 38 games. It just feels for the moment that Bale has won the award based on his performances in the autumn and not over the course of the season.
The same system also applies to the young player of the year award, which I also think is flawed. Samir Nasri, Luis Nani, Gareth Bale and Joe Hart were all on the shortlist for the award. Yes they are all young players, but they are also seasoned professionals who have sackfuls of international caps between them. That they have had good seasons is not a surprise, as they are all established Premier League players. In the past, Cesc Fabregas has been short listed whilst captain of Arsenal and a regular in the all conquering Spanish squad.
Personally, I believe this award should be renamed the “breakthrough” award; recognising the player that has come from relative obscurity to become a star of great promise. Jack Wilshere of Arsenal, Seamus Coleman of Everton and Javier Hernandez of Manchester United - all of whom were short listed in any case - would remain eligible whilst others such as Marc Albrighton of Aston Villa and Martin Kelly of Liverpool would also be considered. It would celebrate progress, not simply youth.
For what it’s worth, I think Gareth Bale and Jack Wilshere have had tremendous seasons so far, and both players look likely to grace the Premier League for many years to come - unless the likes of Real Madrid come knocking of course. Whilst the system may not be perfect, it has at least delivered two winners that play football in the right way, and it will be fascinating to see their development over the coming years. Just how far can they go?
It’s been a barren few weeks for Claret and Blue Monday, and I’m using the two-pronged excuse of full-time employment and travelling to explain the lack of activity. I say travelling, I really mean a week’s holiday rather than some ill fated attempt to find myself in the Far East.
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| Home Depot Centre, LA |
Anyway, I digress: the week’s holiday to the US did at least give me the opportunity to take in David Beckham’s LA Galaxy vs. Philadelphia Union at the appallingly named Home Depot Centre. I was intrigued about the game: would there be any atmosphere? What would the standard of football be like? Was Beckham still any good? And was I likely to get a cup holder at my seat?
Taken in order, I’ll start with the atmosphere, which was great throughout albeit not quite what you’d expect from an English professional football match.
In one corner and behind one goal there were small sections where the most vocal of the Galaxy’s supporters were located - similar to many English grounds perhaps. The difference is that both of these sections had an appointed conductor at the front of the stand, orchestrating events by starting off songs and encouraging the fans to get involved. In England this would seem contrived and any club adopting a similar approach would be accused of lacking genuine passion and having no soul. Or called Arsenal.
But Galaxy deserve not to be lambasted for attempting to create a European style atmosphere in a country where the sporting experience for spectators is based on years worth of traditions from baseball, basketball, grid iron and ice hockey. They have a difficult task to change the way Americans watch live sport and unlike those sports, there were no odd sound effects during the game and a constant level of noise was maintained thanks to the official conductors. I suppose that’s a less patronising way of saying “ah bless them, they’re trying at least”, but they made it a really enjoyable evening.
In terms of the standard of the football on show, the story is less positive I’m afraid. In the game I saw at least, the passing was woeful and even some basic skills such as controlling the ball seemed beyond some of the players. Movement off the ball was at a premium too. In short, I’d say the standard was Championship level at best and at times, it veered towards being League One. David Beckham and Landon Donovan - the Galaxy’s captain and formerly of Everton - were streets ahead of the rest of players, and often cut frustrated figures as their team-mates failed to read from the same book as them, let alone the same page.
Which leads nicely to the performance of Mr Beckham. The former England captain was impressive in a central midfield role; arrowing 50 yard passes to each wing with consummate ease. Unfortunately these passes were not acknowledged by the crowd, whose sole interest seemed to be in getting the ball in the box as quickly as possible and having efforts on goal. When he and Donovan interchanged, they caused Philadelphia all sorts of problems, but there were also times when Beckham lacked the quality in front of him to be able to create clear cut chances in the way we are used to seeing him do. As said previously, movement from Galaxy players was generally poor, but Beckham did at least set up the game’s only goal when Leonardo headed home one of his trademark curling crosses. Overall, Beckham played well without being spectacular, but his frustration with team-mates was evident and there is the nagging feeling that from a football perspective at least, his time in LA has been wasted owing to the fact that he still has much to offer to top flight football in Europe.
And so on to possibly the most important element of the visit, the cup holders. I’m pleased to report that the Home Depot Centre has indeed installed cup holders to the seats. Even better than this is the fact that you can take beer to your seat and drink throughout the game. The kiosks even sell margaritas, just in case you prefer to watch football as if you are on a beach holiday in Hawaii. Whilst the latter is not really in keeping with the spirit of watching football, the fact that drink is available throughout the game and there was no sign of violence, is something that English football fans and administrators alike should take note of.
It must be said that despite many people drinking alcohol at the game, the atmosphere was generally friendlier than any I have experienced at matches in England and other countries. None of the songs being sung mocked the opposition in any way, and the crowd was made up mainly of families, many of whom brought their very young children with them. It does mean however, that the games perhaps lack that certain “edge” on the pitch that makes football in Europe, and especially England, so exciting and at time exhausting.
And it’s on the pitch where football in the US needs to make the most progress if it is to grow and rival the more traditional sports such as baseball and grid iron. Off it, they are fine: the majority of the crowd were decked out in expensive merchandise and made a good racket, a plethora of food and drink kiosks were doing a roaring trade and a healthy amount of occupied corporate boxes mean the Galaxy at least are ticking the marketing men’s boxes in a way that some English club’s would dream of.
However, the standard of football remains the sticking point. The way they are selling the product is fantastic, but the product itself is not quite up to scratch yet. If they are to really expand the game and draw people away from the NFL, NBA etc, vast improvements need to be made to the entertainment on show. With the likes of Beckham, Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez already plying their trade in the MLS, they are heading in the right direction, but improving the quality of homegrown players is the real challenge, and as England knows only too well, that’s easier said than done.
Home Depot Centre is well worth a visit if anyone is looking to go to Los Angeles. A really good atmosphere that differs enough from European football to make for a very interesting night. Cup holders at your seats too remember...
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