Ministers back maritime growth strategy

Green groups concerned that declaration will lead to environmental damage.

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European Union ministers for maritime affairs have signed a declaration promising to increase economic activity in Europe’s seas and oceans. However, green groups said that the plans could cause environmental damage.

The ‘Limassol declaration’ seeks to breathe new life into the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), an initiative launched by the Portuguese presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers in 2007. It covers maritime growth, marine data and knowledge, special planning and sea basin strategies.

The declaration, signed in Cyprus by the ministers as well as José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, and Demetris Christofias, the president of Cyprus, is divided into two sections – blue growth and external affairs.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the intent behind the project, but said that pursuing ‘blue growth’ could have an negative impact upon the  environment.

Nineteen environmental NGOs said in a statement that they are concerned that the plans will come at the expense of the marine environment. “The declaration seems very much inspired by the imperative of constant growth – but we need sustainable economic activities that meet the needs of current and future generations, rather than growth for the sake of growth,” said Monica Verbeek of Seas At Risk, one of the groups that released the statement. “Our seas and oceans are stretched to their limits by overfishing and pollution, and climate change is exacerbating this.”

She added that the IMP could steer EU funding toward developing industries such as aquaculture and marine mineral mining “of which the impacts are as yet highly uncertain”.

The declaration says that marine ecosystems and their protection are “an important element for sustainable development”.

It is hoped that the Limassol declaration will be adopted by EU leaders at their summit on 13-14 December.

Dalli accuses Barroso of forcing him to resign

Commission says Dalli offered his resignation but ex-commissioner denies official version of events.

The European Commission insists that John Dalli resigned of his own accord in order to “defend his reputation and that of the Commission”. But Dalli’s version of events is rather different.

The commissioner is not only denying the allegations made against him by OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office, he is also denying that he chose to resign. The now former commissioner told the newspaper New Europe yesterday (17 October) that he was forced to resign by Commission President José Manuel Barroso in a meeting at 4pm on Tuesday (16 October), and that he was not given a chance to view the report to see the full allegations against him.

Giovanni Kessler, OLAF’s director-general, said yesterday that there were “a number of unambiguous pieces of circumstantial evidence” indicating that Dalli was aware that a Maltese entrepreneur was attempting to sell access to him to a Swedish manufacturer of the smokeless tobacco product snus.

Snus, which is sold in loose form or in paper sachets that users stuff under their lips, is banned in the EU with the exception of Sweden, which negotiated an exemption prior to joining the Union in 1995. Snus manufacturers have been fighting to have the ban lifted in a revision of the tobacco products directive, which is imminent.

Party connection

The entrepreneur has been identified by Malta Today newspaper and by Dalli himself as Silvio Zammit, a deputy mayor of the town of Sliema in Malta who is from the same centre-right Nationalist Party as Dalli. Kessler would not confirm the identity of the entrepreneur. But he said the person in question asked the company Swedish Match for “a large amount of money” in return for using his influence with Dalli in order to change the proposal to end the ban on snus.

No such transaction was ever made, and Swedish Match told the Commission about the incident. “It was a pretty surprising and strange offer, it involved money. It involved influencing the tobacco products directive regarding the snus ban,” said Swedish Match’s director of international media and public relations, Rupini Bergström. “We regarded it as a pretty credible thing that he actually did have this relationship, so we decided to report this to OLAF.”

“We have on many occasions sought to meet Mr Dalli to represent our views on regulation,” she added. “But never have we been prepared to bribe officials in the course of our work.”

Kessler stressed that the commissioner himself was not involved in the offer but he was aware of it, though he would not say if this was before or after the offer was made.

Neither the Commission nor OLAF would comment on specifically how Dalli was aware of the interaction. “At no stage did Commissioner Dalli take action to prevent or disassociate himself from the facts or to report the circumstances of which he was aware,” said Kessler. “If I knew [something like this], I would for sure take any action to block it. This has not happened in this case.”

Code of conduct

Asked whether it is a specific offence in the Commission’s code of conduct to be aware of such offers being made and not disclose them, a Commission spokesperson declined to comment. Kessler said that the Maltese entrepreneur organised two meetings between the commissioner and representatives of snus companies.

Kessler added that OLAF had found no evidence that the legislation had been affected by the events.

Jana Mittermaier, director of the European office of Transparency International, said the revelation was “a worrying sign that despite the efforts made in recent years to clean up, selling influence and personal connections may still be a feature of EU lobbying”.

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Consider shale gas now

Europe should not wait around when it comes to shale gas.

We read with surprise Daniel Gros’s article “Let the shale-gas revolution pass” (11-17 October). Despite the difference between US and European markets, there remain three key reasons why the EU should pursue shale gas now, rather than let the opportunity pass.  

First, hydraulic fracturing is not a new technology. It was first developed in the US inFirst, hydraulic fracturing is not a new technology. It was first developed in the US in the 1940s. In Europe, it has been safely used for the past 40 years to stimulate the flow of water-wells and to make geothermal energy wells commercially viable.
Second, natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel and it is an indigenous resource. It will bring greater security to Europe’s energy supply; not only in Poland. The EU relied on imports for 63.5% of its gas consumption in 2010. The European Commission estimates that this dependency is likely to grow to up to 80% by 2030. Unfortunately, shale gas cannot be substituted with “plentiful conventional gas” because ‘conventional’ gas deposits in Europe are dwindling.
Finally, shale gas development can bring employment, investment and improve Europe’s competitiveness at a time of great economic uncertainty. According to the consultancy The Energy Contract Company, shale gas could bring £95bn of investment in the UK alone. This is too significant to be overlooked.
As Mr Gros says, the “real issue” about shale gas in Europe is not if but when it should be used. However, waiting until the US has depleted its own shale gas resources before we even consider ours, as Mr Gros suggests, will be longer than Europe can afford.

Mónica Cristina
Adviser to Shale Gas Europe
Brussels

ENVI committee says yes to ETS backloading

Proposal will temporarily delay the auctioning of emissions allowances in 2013-2015 until 2018-2020.

A European Commission proposal to delay auctioning of emissions allowances in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme in order to increase the deflated price of carbon passed a key vote in the European Parliament yesterday (19 February).

The proposal to temporarily delay the auctioning of allowances in 2013-2015 until 2018-2020, called ‘backloading’, passed the environment committee with 38 votes versus 25 votes, with two abstentions.

The Parliament’s industry committee last month voted to reject the proposal. However the environment committee is the lead committee on this dossier. The main centre-right EPP group has taken a stance against the proposal, but eight of its members broke ranks to vote for backloading in the environment committee vote.

A plenary vote will be held by the full Parliament in the coming months. It has not yet been decided whether to wait for the plenary vote to begin negotiations with member states. Member states will debate the issue next week.

Environmental NGOs welcomed the vote outcome, but warned that stronger action is needed to save the ETS, which analysts warn is in danger of collapse unless the price of carbon goes up. “MEPs are working with the options on table, but there is no getting around the fact that no amount of fiddling with the ETS will make the system fit for the challenge of tackling the climate crisis,” said Brooke Riley of campaign group Friends of the Earth.

But the energy-intensive industry sector warned that backloading will erode confidence in the ETS. “Artificially increasing the carbon price by withholding or

removing allowances will undermine the competitiveness of European industries by increasing energy bills even further,” said Gordon Moffat, director general of the European Steel Association (Eurofer).

Valerien Ismael’s side are one of the surprise packages this season and will be out to stun their illustrious Premier League opponents

Manchester United face LASK in the last 16 of the Europa League, but who are the Austrian outfit looking to spoil the Red Devils’ hopes of finding a way back into the Champions League?

Ahead of the first leg in Austria on Thursday, Goal has taken a look at the history of the Austrian Bundesliga leaders and their run to this stage, while also profiling their coach and key men.

Who are LASK?

Since being originally formed in 1908, LASK, or Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub as they’re more formally known, have gone through a turbulent history of ups and downs that have brought only two top-level trophies in the form of one Austrian league title and one Austrian Cup when they won the double in 1965.

More teams

During the 1990s, there was a merger with FC Linz before they suffered a torrid time when they were left on the verge of bankruptcy, which resulted in relegation to the second division.

LASK found themselves in monetary problems again in 2012 – the club failed to pay their players or coaching staff and were forced into the third division by the Austrian FA.

Since a takeover in 2013, LASK have risen from the rubble of Austrian football in spectacular fashion. Having only been promoted to the top division in the 2016-17 season, they now find themselves in a battle with Red Bull Salzburg for the title, a fight they are currently winning.

Their home stadium is the Waldstadion in Pasching but unfortunately this quaint 7,800 capacity stadium doesn’t reach UEFA’s requirements, so the match is being staged at the Linz Stadium. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the game against United is now being played behind closed doors.

LASK’s Europa League journey

LASK finished second in the Austrian Bundesliga last season, nine points behind Red Bull Salzburg, earning themselves a shot at Champions League qualification. However, their European Cup adventure was short lived when they were beaten by Club Brugge in the play-offs.

It was not all doom and gloom, though, as that result placed them in the group phase of the Europa League and, despite being underdogs to progress, they took 13 points from six games to top Group D.

Valerien Ismael’s men took four points from PSV, beat Rosenborg home and away before crushing Sporting C.P. 3-0 in their final match to clinch top spot.

The Linz Stadium has become a fortress for the Austrian league leaders in Europe. Indeed, they have won every home game so far in their Europa League campaign, showing they are a formidable force on home soil.

LASK progressed to the round of 16 after their second-leg triumph over AZ, drawing 1-1 in the Netherlands, then displaying their dominance with an impressive 2-0 win in front of their home faithful.

Who is LASK’s coach?

Bundesliga fans will be familiar with LASK manager Valerien Ismael, who spent time playing for the likes of Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Hannover in the 2000s.

He also endured a rather unsuccessful spell at Crystal Palace – the Frenchman was their club-record signing in 1998, but lasted only 10 months at Selhurst Park before joining Lens.

Ismael had spells as head coach at Nurnberg and Wolfsburg, while he lasted just one game in charge of Apollon Smyrnis in 2018 before leaving due to disagreements with the club’s president.

LASK appointed Ismael in May 2019 and, after losing to Club Brugge in the Champions League play-offs, he led them successfully through the Europa League group phase and into uncharted territory of the last 16 of the competition.

Ismael told the  club’s official website   ahead of the tie with United: “Manchester United is one of the best teams in the world. We have an incredible highlight ahead of us.

“We look forward to this task and will prepare ourselves very well. Our first goal for the first leg is to give us a good starting position for the return match!”

Who are the players to watch?

Marko Raguz: The biggest threat to United’s back line will be in-form striker Raguz. The Austrian thrives under the Thursday night lights, scoring five goals in eight appearances in the Europa League so far, including a brace in their historic win over AZ.

He possesses a good turn of pace and likes to play on the shoulder of the last man so should prove to be a handful for United.

Alexander Schlager: Goalkeeper Schlager has kept 13 clean sheets for LASK this season and his impressive performances in goal earned him a debut for Austria in their Euro 2020 qualifier against North Macedonia in November.

Samuel Tetteh: On loan from Red Bull Salzburg, forward Tetteh will be playing out a childhood dream of his when he steps onto the pitch against his favourite team.

“I am a Manchester United fan. I don’t really love any other team like Manchester United and I would like to play for them,” the Ghanaian told TV3 in 2016.

Thomas Goiginger: Attacking midfielder Goiginger has contributed five goals and three assists in LASK’s domestic campaign this season and has reportedly grabbed the attention of Premier League side Southampton.

He plays on the right of the forward three and has the ability to come inside on his left or deliver the ball on his right, so he is likely to make it a tricky evening for either Brandon Williams or Luke Shaw at left-back.

Owen Hargreaves has identified the players that Manchester United need if they are to compete for the Premier League title soon.

The Red Devils are only three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and eight points off third-placed Leicester City – but they are 37 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool.

And Hargreaves reckons a winger, a defensive midfielder and a left-sided centre-back should be Man Utd‘s priority for the summer transfer window if they are to try and compete next season.

OPINION: What will happen to Dean Henderson this summer?

“It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality,” Hargreaves told Premier League productions.

“If you can have a Jadon Sancho – they need a right winger – Sancho playing off the right hand would make a huge difference.

 

“Bellingham is 16 or 17, he’s going to be a super player but you need someone right now.

“I think they need an [Wilfried] Ndidi type, a defensive sitter. If you have Pogba and Fernandes then I think you need a defensive one there.

“I think they also need a left-sided centre-back.

“They have Lindelof, Maguire, Bailly but a left-sided centre-back would make a big difference.”

When asked about the possibility of United siging a striker in the summer, Hargreaves added: “Harry Kane is the dream but they don’t desperately need him”

The F365 Show has so far escaped the wrath of coronavirus. So we’ll be back every Thursday (probably) with more irreverent nonsense intriguing insight. Subscribe here.

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Send your mails from self-isolation to [email protected]…

 

Season suspension incoming
Horrible as it is to imagine – what if all football is postponed for a while – say a month of no football. What are you going to do? You struggle to fill the summer months when there is transfer news (although do well considering the circumstances) and the best articles are those that look forward to the new season.

Intrigued but lets hope it doesn’t get to that stage.
Howard.

 

…It’s highly probable that this will be out-of-date by the time it gets to the morning mailbox, but it’s ridiculous the efforts that are being made to “Keep Calm and Carry On” and even more from people wanting to call the season, give Liverpool the title and move on. Let’s say you do give Liverpool the title. What about two through five? What about the bottom three? What about the promotion/relegation situations in the lower divisions. You can’t call a season when there’s 10, 11, 12 or more games left to play. You can’t call Liverpool the champions, tell Manchester United they’re sh*t out of luck, let Tottenham finish above Arsenal and toss Norwich, Villa and Bournemouth out. Who do you welcome in from the Championship? Leeds and West Brom right now, but what about the playoff spot? Toss a coin? Play Subbuteo behind closed doors? Idiotic.

Nice to see that UEFA, Johnnies on the spot that they are, are calling an urgent meeting for next Tuesday. The See You Next Tuesdays? Hmm, why does that not sound appropriate?

Oh, but Euro 2020 is planned for the summer. Who cares? And flying people all over Europe? Are you kidding me? The most obvious solution is to postpone the Euros until 2021, suspend all the domestic leagues and international cup competitions stat, and, potentially, pick it all up in a couple of months or so when hopefully the crisis has passed.

And, with regard to Euro 2021, have some semblance of sanity and host it in a country that can supply ready-made stadia and infrastructure to cope with the competition. Let’s see, Italy, England, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia … take your pick. Uzbekistan doesn’t get to host a game? Sorry. No, it doesn’t. Neither do those powerhouses Kazakhstan or the Ukraine.

Right, back to tracking down some toilet paper. Maybe I can get The Sun somewhere in LA county. I’ve never looked.
Steve, Los Angeles

 

…Sure the Corona Virus has done well in China but can it really cope with a wet and windy Tuesday night in Stoke?

Currently washing my hands so often I’m lubricated like a 14 year old boy who’s home alone for the weekend.
Minty, LFC

 

…How about they play the rest of the season on FIFA 20? Most of the teams already have an E-team competing in the E league (think that’s what it’s called). Make them to just play with the club players (none of that FUT nonsense) and stream it across the world.
AVM Phoenix (something is better than nothing)

 

Euro 2021: winners and losers
Sadly it seems inevitable that the Euros will be postponed. I thought I would do a small Winners and Losers style email for everyone’s benefit. Perhaps F365 can do a proper list once the news is confirmed.

Winners

England

One year on and England can look forward to having a fully fit Harry Kane back. Right now it would mean going into a tournament with an unfit Kane, a recently recovered Rashford and a woefully out of form Sterling. A year on and all those 3 things could be reversed and England would be in a much better position for it.

Furthermore, a year gives Southgate ample time to make the change to Henderson over Pickford and bed him in.

AWB, Trent, Chlwell, Sancho, Grealish, Maddison should all be getting better and playing together for longer.

France

Similar to England, France would be going in with key players only just coming back from serious injuries. Pogba and Kante who are so crucial to the way France plays have had seasons to forget. A year on and they should be fit, and ready to go. Varane and Griezmann should also be off the back of a better seasons in a years time.

Mbappe will be better!

Losers

Portugal

Ronaldo will be 36.

Spain

Similarly Spain is coming to an end of an era, they have lost the likes of Xavi and Iniesta but Ramos, Alba, Busquets will all be a year older and beyond their peak.

Hakim

I have booked and paid for my trip to Ireland in July.
Hakim, Sri Lanka

 

Five-star United
See, Liverpool, that’s how it’s done. Five against the mighty LASK.

Marvellous.
Andy Race (tongue firmly in cheek since 2013)

 

…1. Far from being a perfect performance, it was definitely a perfect result. A five-goal lead means that, if the second leg is indeed still played, we can use the reverse tie as an opportunity to rest one or two players – Maguire, Fred and Shaw could all do with a breather at this point. I was happy enough with 3-0 but the extra two goals added a real gloss to the result, one that has been in pretty short supply this season.

2. I’ll do the negatives first. Some of that defending was diabolical. Maguire and Bailly didn’t really seem to have a handle on their forwards, and we conceded far too many chances. That we kept a clean sheet seemed to owe more to our opponents’ profligacy more than any resolute defending.

3. Speaking of the defence, as well as young Williams did on the right, it does highlight a serious worry with that position. Wan-Bissaka is clearly the present and long-term future for that position, so absolutely no worries there, but what on earth has happened with Dalot? When he plays (and is actually fit) he looks decent, but he must have been unavailable for selection for a good 70-80% of our games since he signed. I’m not suggesting we bin him off or anything but it does raise an issue with squad depth there – if he’s so rarely fit, do we need to look at bringing in another option and letting Dalot have the time he needs to get his body right?

4. Now onto the positives. What a bloody goal that was from Ighalo! I know the opponents weren’t exactly amazing but still, the control both before and including the shot were exquisite. I saw a stat that said he’s already equalled Falcao’s tally and is only one behind Alexis Sanchez in just 8 appearances. He is fast becoming a cult hero, and I’ll say it again: I love Odion Ighalo!

5. Almost as good as the finish was the sublime assist from Bruno. That was a delicious pass and further evidence of the inventiveness and creativity he has brought in his short time with us.

6. Speaking of fantastic assists, first to Fred. What a revelation he has been this season. The pass for Mata was inch perfect and capped off another all-round brilliant performance. If it wasn’t for Wan-Bissaka, I think Fred would be practically peerless with the team and a shoo-in for our player of the season. Until the end of January that looked like damning with the faintest of praise, but since then, he has gone up another notch and is really leading by example in the middle.

7. Mata has also continued his renaissance of late. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or something more deliberate but since Bruno has arrived, he and the rest of the team just seem to “get” Mata now. Forwards are making more runs that Mata likes to pick out, his own movement is better, and he suddenly looks like way less of a passenger. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s not got Lingard wasting the space around him.

8. Secondly, to Chong. Now that he’s signed his new contract, I’m happier to see him getting minutes on the pitch, and happier still that he has finally got an assist. Not two minutes prior to getting his, I commented to a friend that he really needed to break his duck, if only for a bit of self-confidence. The fact that it was a really good pass to release Greenwood – a moment of actual creativity, rather than just the final pass before a goal (if that makes sense) – should only add to that confidence. Good lad.

9. And Greenwood’s finish was superb. The ‘keeper could probably have done better but the pinpoint accuracy from Greenwood to put it out of his reach was excellent. This lad is going to be something special and I’m really glad that he’s getting his minutes as a striker and not shunted out wide. In some ways, he is the reason why I wouldn’t actually be that arsed about us signing Kane. As good a player as Kane is, it really would have a massive negative impact on Greenwood’s future if we were to sign him or a player of a similar level.

10. Pereira scored. Great. ‘Keeper should definitely have done better.
It’s just a shame that, in a purely footballing sense, this recent resurgence of ours is probably going to count for very little because of coronavirus. I’m not suggesting football should carry on regardless – in my opinion the government is not doing nearly enough, and feel that all non-essential business should just get shut down until we’re clear – it’s just sod’s law that it’s happening now. And I’m sure Liverpool fans would/will feel the same if the rest of the season is cancelled. As hilarious as it would be for everyone else, it really would be a kick in the nads. Still, football is among the least important things right now, and we need to protect people first.
Ted, Manchester

 

 

What a Liverpool fan cherishes most
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Liverpool live rent free in every other football fan’s head. Over the last two weeks—following the horror of their FIRST league defeat, an FA Cup 5th round knock out, and a champions league last 16 knock out—the fellowship of the desperate and miserable (i.e. supporters of every other club) have come to belittle the accomplishments of the team so far ahead of everybody else in the league. Forget that fans of every other team would literally stab a child to have their first league loss come in March, because Liverpool losing one time is a supposed embarrassment. In fact, Liverpool being so far ahead of everybody else has somehow been turned into a stick to beat them with. Sure, they’re Blackburn and Leicester in the sense that those teams won the league. I don’t recall them winning the league in March, which this Liverpool team can still do, but that’s not the trophy I cherish from this year as a Liverpool supporter. The trophy I cherish is the Spite Trophy (official name TBD). Look at all the delicious nonsense spouted by other fans in every mailbox. Look at the conspiracies (VAR only works for them, Liverpool never get injured, etc.). Look how they denigrate their own teams to lamely attempt to take a portion of the sheen off this season for Liverpool. That didn’t happen to freakin Blackburn in the 90s or Leicester a few years ago (no, we all laughed at Spurs instead, as I remember). So yes everybody, please keep up with the “Well ACKSHULLY” hot takes about Liverpool because you further increase the following disparity: we never think you and you always think of us. Some mean feat, that.
DeSelby

 

Pick a horse
I was unable to send any mails yesterday so read the mailbox and other articles late in the day. I was amazed (not really) at the sniping and gloating of the ABL’s, some people really need to have a hard look at themselves.

I’m sure there’s a saying or quote somewhere along the lines of “it’s not important that I succeed, someone must fail as well” and that seems to sum up most of the contributors, except not very many of them are succeeding!

Liverpool were unlucky, that missing 1% at this level, makes a glorious night into one of failure, I don’t think Atletico were ever going to score without a huge slice of luck or a gift and one was duly presented.

But the loss (and my “must fail” comment) got me thinking, who would I like to see win the Champions League from here on in.

PSG – no chance
Atleti – definetly not
Juve – Juve got to be joking
Barca – even my love for Luis Suarez can’t sway me to them

Atalanta/Leipzig – can’t really see it happening, so wasting my time putting my support behind them.

Which leaves Bayern and Man City (as I expect them both to progress).

I can see both these with a definite chance, I’d fancy both (certainly City) to unlock the Atleti problem better than LFC did (more patience, different style), but whilst Bayern have some great players to watch, they have Thomas Mueller! So, is it Man City? Not for me, I have relatives who support them and when I phoned to congratulate them after Aggguueerrooooo! their immediate response was, “you finished below Everton!” (success/fail again!), so no, I can’t root for you either.

So that’s it for me for this season, think CoVid-19 is going to be the winner anyway which will allow my beloved Liverpool to retain their trophy in 2020/21 or 2021/22, we’ll have a proper 2nd choice goalie (Kelleher), a bigger stadium (those famous Anfield nights will be even louder) and as transfers will be banned, our young (ish) squad will be boosted by the new Steven Gerrard (Curtis Jones) and the next Lionel Messi (Harvey Elliot).

And we’ll have had 18 months to 2 years reminding everyone who the Premier League, Champions League and CWC Champions are!!!!
Howard (glad I resisted the urge to get carried away) Jones
p.s. sits back and waits………..

 

​…To Jim, Norwich: As you mentioned, the key words were “should have clinched the tie in 90 minutes” and that is precisely the problem with Liverpool last night.

They had 34 shots! 11 on target with an xG of 3.47 – that is very very high and means they were getting into good positions to make good shots. They’re just screwing up the shots.

Liverpool are a great side and one of the best in the world right now but they were also games this season where they were also many games this from their best and yet found a way through in the first 90.

Yes Adrian deserves a good chunk of the blame for the goals, they were not the best attempts but the defending on the goals were horrible and the strikers should have put the game away by 3/4ths of the 90. This defeat was not just down to a goal keeping errors. Atleti’s second goal for example, they were three Liverpool defenders that gave Llronte maybe three seconds to shoot.

In the end that is partly the magic of extra time and cup competituins, everyone is tired, and more mistakes starts to occur and it did. But it should never have come to that for Liverpool.
Yaru, Malaysia

 

Football twitter
Social media is so awful sometimes.

Trawling through tweets and statuses from fans of various clubs it really makes me wonder what’s happening with the world.

We are at a stage in our evolution that we are now happy to admit, with our names and faces proudly on show, that if Liverpool don’t win the league because of covid-19 then it will be:

The best day of my life
Totally f*cking worth it
Absolutely hilarious
The bin dipers deserve it
Covid 19 Liverpool 18
I would be so happy.
It will save football

Right, so what your saying is that the deaths of what will likely run into tens of thousands of people and the impact that will have on family, friends and the community is “f*cking hilarious” because it stops a team from winning a trophy?

I get rivalry, i get competition but the reality of the situation is far more serious than a sporting trophy.

To put it into context, if you’re grandparents or your parents catch it and die can someone ask you if it’s worth it at the funeral…. Oh wait, you might not be allowed to even have a funeral.

I love the game, but i hate what it does to people.
Joe (fully prepared for there to be idiots who still say yes)

 

For what it’s worth
I keep reading in the mailbox that such and such players can be sold and “would raise about <X> millions.”

These are pipe dreams. Just because you’ve spent 90m on Pogba doesn’t mean anyone will take him off you for a comparable amount. Even if he’s got 4 years or more left on his contract.

For a start, that figure you’ve paid was inflated because you’re an English club. And you’ve paid that much because you can afford it, what with TV rights etc. Anyone in Europe will not pay that much for him. The only instances of British clubs selling for inflated fees to clubs on the continent was when the English club did NOT want to sell, or didn’t need to. Examples in point: Spurs selling Modric and Bale, and Chelsea selling Hazard, all to Real. They were then very much part of the team, and Spurs / Chelsea would have happily kept them. Same for when Arsenal sold Anelka to Real. Or Henry to Barca. Or Man U selling Ronaldo to Real.

So when MU want rid of the Pog, and fans say “let’s get 120m for him and buy 3 or 4 players blablabla”, it makes me laugh – you’ll never ever get 120m for a player who is a lot less useful to Utd and who wants to leave. My guess is that you’ll get about 50m from a rich team who wants a marquee signing to build a new team around, maybe Inter, Milan, or PSG perhaps. Real, Barca, Juve, Bayern even PSG are rich but no mugs. These clubs would not pay 75m to Liverpool for VVD. As good as he is. De Gea for 70m? You’re having a laugh.

The only team who’ll pay you that much would be another English team. And would you want to sell to them?
Mike, CFC

 

Keep and bin
In response to Andy, Guatemala’s Arsenal keep and bin, here’s one for United:

Keep:
Fred – his form and ability is shining through now that he’s got to grips with the pace/power of the premiership, and he has a half decent team around him. (what happened to people giving foreign signings time to adapt, even Vidic/Evra/Pires/Henry etc ……. took a while to get used to it)

Shaw, L – finally he gets a decent run in a side with a settled (and fairly decent) back 4. The first part of his United career was played in an ever-changing back 4, mostly with Phil Jones playing inside him. And then he was subjected to a mental attack from Mourinho (Ndombele is the next in the firing line). Good on you for staying and sticking it out fella, right behind you all the way.

Henderson, D – form looks very impressive for Sheff Utd. If they can get near on £100m for de Gea, whats not to like ? Surely his taking over is inevitable, so its now down to how best to get the most in return for DdG ? (by no means bashing DdG, just impressed with Henderson)

Martial, A – I’m still not convinced 9 is his best position, but the way he plays when he has a smile on his face, yes please.

Ighalo, O – love watching you so happy to play, and love what you have done for us. As a cheap number 9 option either from the start or the bench, couldn’t ask for more.

Bin:
Jones, P – its time. Its been time for a while really if we’d had a half decent squad, but now it really is time.
Smalling, C – I have full respect for you, and I thank you for what you did for the club over a very difficult period. Changing managers, some awful midfields in front of you, and you continually gave us as good as you could. But, we’ve moved on and I don’t see where you would fit in now. I hope the club can agree a fee and give you the move to Italy that you want.
Lingard, J – see Jones, P
Pereira, A – see Lingard, J
Fernandes, B – All you’ve given us since you’ve arrived is 3 goals and 3 assists in 7 games. All you’ve done for the team is make them work harder for each other, run more, and seemingly enjoy playing their football more. All you’ve done for Ole is help play half the squad into better form, give him far more options in creativity, and add another good signing to his growing list of good signings for United. All you’ve done for the fans is give them belief and forced them to watch more attractive and enjoyable football. Try harder please.

I couldnt really care about:
Pogba, P – do whatever you like. Go. Stay. Get on with your career. Grow up. Do something, anything, everything. Get rid of that utter cock that you call an agent. Just please please please, for those of us who arent professional sportsmen but would have happily given various parts of our anatomy to be one, go somewhere and at least try and use the considerable talent that you were blessed with, because my god you could be good if you could be assed.
Ben (I don’t understand how we were pretty much the only team pushing for Bruno), London

 

 

…Well I may be a day late but I thought I’d drop my own thoughts on the “Build and Bin” topic, but for Chelsea, I’ve tried to choose realistic options as well, with one controversial choice I’m sure.

Build;

Mateo Kovacic – Who would have thought that a player who was average last season, who we would’ve unlikely purchased without the transfer ban would become such a key player this season, arguably our player of the season, his footwork on the ball is delightful and we truly miss him when he isn’t in the team.

Reece James – One of our many academy products who is enjoying a fantastic debut campaign under Lampard, his performances have been incredible for someone of his age and lack of Premier League experience, England are truly stocked in the RB position but im very glad we have him in our ranks.

Jorginho – His game has transformed slightly under Lampard but he is such a consistent player, he dictates the game, has an eye for a pass and could easily be our next captain in the coming years.

Bin;

NGolo Kante – Controversially chosen, but hear me out, he is approaching 29 so this could be the prime time to sell him due to value and he has had his first poor season since….well, he never has been poor, but this season could easily be down to injuries, been quite an unlucky campaign for him there, however if a club were willing to spend £100m plus on him, then I’d certainly consider letting him go, especially when it seems he doesn’t fit into Lampard’s style of play in that midfield three.

Willian – Fantastic servant, but way to inconsistent, I’d happily offer him a one year deal, but the rumored three year deal he wants is just not happening, he would finish that contract as he approaches his 35th birthday, he is on the downward peak of his career now, I dare not imagine what he would be like come that third year.

Ross Barkley – A player similar to Willian, where he can either be totally and utterly dreadful in one game, then produce a decent performance the next, frustrating and I can imagine surely one team would pay £20m plus for him, maybe Spurs under Mourinho could help us out there.

Honorable Mentions: Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic
Dishonorable Mentions: Kepa, Marcos Alonso, Emerson and Pedro
Mikey, CFC

 

Soccer in the USA
Who’s going to let Niraj from Tampa know that Women’s Soccer here in the USA is not “leaps and bounds more popular” than the men’s sport. Do I need to point out to him that the Women’s game has had several iterations of a professional league and attendance at the current league isn’t anywhere close to what MLS pulls in. Speaking of MLS, they’ve expanded even more and have two new teams in Miami & Nashville. Perhaps Niraj missed the sold out stadiums for those matches. I haven’t even begun to discuss the following of the Men’s National Team vs. the following of the Women’s team for internationals, WC qualifiers, and the WC in general. I don’t take umbrage at someone saying that the Women’s game is inferior to the Men’s game as I’m not one of those looking to be offended all the time.

Maybe now is the time we point out to Niraj the physiological differences in men & women perhaps? The speed of the game, the power, etc… Does that make the Women’s game bad? No, no it does not. It does make it different however. Are there aspects to the Women’s game that I like more? Why I’m glad you asked. Yes, yes there are, the main being that women don’t dive and cheat near as much as the men and when a woman player goes down and stays down, you know she’s hurt. Usually they pop right back up and get on with it. Why can’t the men learn from this? The women also tend to demonstrate more sportsmanship than the men do. All this I like and tune in to watch.

The simple truth is that the Women’s game is very popular here once every four years. The men’s game is popular every year. Now excuse me while I go find someone else on the internet to let them know they’re wrong.
TX Bill (Heart for Monday says 1-1…Head says 1-3…it’s Liverpool. We don’t win those matches…Ever.) EFC

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Boss Nuno Espirito Santo refused to blame Wolves‘ reluctance to play Olympiacos for their stuttering performance.

Pedro Neto’s deflected strike earned a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League last 16 tie in Athens.

Ruben Semedo was sent off in the first half for the hosts but Youssef El Arabi put them ahead after the break.

Wolves had asked UEFA to postpone the game – an appeal which was rejected – after Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis announced he had tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.

The game was already being played behind closed doors at the Karaiskakis Stadium due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Wolves were confused over why they were forced to play by UEFA and they struggled to overcome a team who played over 60 minutes with 10 men but Nuno insisted it was not because of off-field issues.

He said: “No, let’s be fair to everyone. During the game it was not that feeling. They were focused and organised. Olympiacos are a very good team.

“The game stays with me because I have to work on it and analyse it. It’s very tough, at the beginning of the game it was strange, the energy levels – it was missing someone to push. It was not a very good game.”

Semedo was dismissed during a scrappy first half after he fouled Diogo Jota as the striker threatened to break clear.

But El Arabi opened the scoring nine minutes after the break, tapping in Guilherme’s cross.

Neto levelled 13 minutes later when Joao Moutinho touched on a free-kick and his low effort clipped Andreas Bouchalakis to wrongfoot Jose Sa.

“I tried to help the team to do my best and with 10 guys it was difficult, they closed in behind and now we go to the second game,” Neto told BT Sport.

“I think we could have shot more times but now we focus on the next one.”

Wolves are due to travel to West Ham in the top flight on Sunday, although the Premier League will hold an emergency club meeting on Friday regarding fixtures after Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta tested positive for coronavirus.

“Now we’re going to think about West Ham but we keep on working. Now we have West Ham and hopefully next Thursday we’ll play again,” added Nuno.

“There’s a long way to go, a lot of matches but we’ll go back to the Premier League and we have to rest well, recover. The schedule is very tight.”

Olympiacos boss Pedro Martins did not hold a post-match press conference as the club kept interactions to a minimum.

 

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The Premier League will hold an emergency meeting on Friday, with the Arsenal and Chelsea first-team squads in self-isolation after positive coronavirus tests for Gunners manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi.

This weekend’s programme is now in jeopardy after Arsenal confirmed Arteta had contracted Covid-19 before Chelsea reported Hudson-Odoi’s case hours later.

The Gunners’ trip to Brighton on Saturday was immediately postponed and further games appear certain to follow.

The Premier League could follow the NBA in suspending its season, with US basketball officials clarifying on Thursday the league will be halted for at least 30 days.

Leicester (three) and Manchester City (one) also have players in self-isolation and the Premier League, who earlier on Thursday said games would go ahead as planned, said it would “convene an emergency club meeting regarding fixtures”.

Chelsea confirmed Hudson-Odoi’s positive test in the early hours of Friday morning.

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The winger displayed cold symptoms on Monday morning and has stayed away from the club since then. His test result was returned on Thursday night.

“Chelsea men’s team player Callum Hudson-Odoi had a positive test result for Coronavirus returned this evening,” the Premier League club’s statement said.

“Chelsea personnel who had recent close contact with the player in the men’s team building will now self-isolate in line with Government health guidelines.

“These will include initially the full men’s team squad, coaching staff and a number of backroom staff.”

 

The club said despite testing positive, the 19-year-old was “doing well and looking forward to returning to the training ground as soon as it is possible”.

The Blues have also closed two buildings at their training facility.

Chelsea are scheduled to play at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon but the match looks unlikely to proceed.

Arsenal’s trip to Brighton has already been postponed after Mikel Arteta tested positive for coronavirus.

 

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Le nouveau film réalisé par Dito Montiel devrait mobiliser une brochette de stars, dont , Channing Tatum, et … Aux dernières nouvelles, Binoche serait de la partie.

Un policier est nommé dans le quartier de son enfance. Ses souvenirs et de vieux secrets ressurgissent, au point que sa famille et sa vie sont en danger. Voici à peu près le pitch de Son Of No One, le prochain film de Dito Montiel qui devrait être tourné cette année.

Selon The Hollywood Reporter, Juliette Binoche est en pleine négociation, et si le contrat est signé, elle devrait voir son nom figurer en haut de l’affiche. La Française, coutumière des castings américains, devrait incarner une journaliste du quartier ouvrier, où le drame se noue. L’actrice se remettrait donc au cinéma, après un an dédié à la danse- à ses risques et périls…

Elle devrait rejoindre une jolie écurie d’acteurs: Channing Tatum (Public Ennemies, GI Joe) dans le premier rôle, celui de Jonathan White et Tracy Morgan (Cop Out, 30 Rock) dans celui de son meilleur ami. On sait également qu’Al Pacino a été choisi en remplacement de De Niro pour incarner le Détective Stanford. Katie Holmes et Ray Liotta feront également partie de la bande.

Lundi 29 mars 2010

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