Time for Capello to follow Ferguson's lead

by Mike Martin   @thefootietweet

For about eight minutes, there was a perfect symmetry.  With the score at Manchester Utd 6 Arsenal 2, the memory was led back to a date in November 1990, when the then plain old unknighted Alex Ferguson took his raw side to Highbury for a League Cup fourth round tie.  Arsenal were the country’s best side and would go on to win the league title but United ran them ragged, winning 6-2.  It was a memorable night in League Cup history, as elsewhere Coventry City beating Nottingham Forest 5-4 in an extraordinary contest at Highfield Road.

That was the match which convinced the nation that Manchester Utd were the real deal.  Young Lee Sharpe scored a hat-trick – we did not then know that Ryan Giggs would usurp his rôle as the wizard of the wing – and United displayed a confident verve that bordered on collective showmanship.  It was still not a straightforward graduation; United reached the Final but lost 1-0 at Wembley to a second division side, Sheffield Wednesday.

Yet this was the embryonic phase of the first of at least three, and possibly now four, great Manchester Utd sides fostered by Ferguson.  Renewal is the hardest thing for any sports team to achieve over time.  The history of international football is littered with ‘one generation and out’ countries – Portugal in 1966, Denmark in 1986, Colombia in the early 1990s, Ecuador in the mid-2000s – where a successful side has been inadequately replaced by the following generation.

In a week in which Sir Alex had another dig at the FA, the most persuasive evidence yet was presented that he has done Fabio Capello and his employers at Wembley a huge favour.  That all the great football in the 8-2 humiliation of Arsenal was played by young English players – Ashley Young, at 26, was the veteran performer – gives England fans not insensible cause for optimism on a scale not known since Germany were swatted aside in Munich, almost exactly a decade on.  As a basis for fantasy and hope, it was sound.

If Fabio Capello is now not convinced that the time has come to politely usher several of the patently less than golden generation into the wings, we must consign ourselves to the notion that England need a new coach before progress can truly be made.

What precisely persuades Capello that the elder statesmen of England squads passim will suddenly become a force at Euro 2012 remains a mystery.  Ferguson has brought in the new generation voluntarily; he still has Dimitar Berbatov, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, Nemanja Vidic and Park Ji-Sung at his disposal from last season’s title-winning campaign.  Capello, on the other hand, has nothing to lose.  England’s older generation are tainted and unloved.

Perfectly respectable arguments can be made for retaining the services of captain John Terry, a rejuvenated Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole, yet the list of England’s senior internationals who merit the benefit of the doubt extends little farther.  With young English players emerging at Old Trafford and elsewhere, those presenting cases for inclusion in Fabio Capello’s forthcoming squads are numerous and increasingly persuasive.

ENGLAND’S NEXT GENERATION

JOE HART (Age 24), GK, Manchester City – England’s sole outstanding goalkeeper borders on the world class.  Has already nailed down the starting berth for a decade.

MICAH RICHARDS (23), RB, Manchester City – Right back who scored against Israel when he was nineteen, not greatly favoured by Capello, who inexplicably prefers the palputation-inducing Glen Johnson.  Must not become a player with a bright future behind him.

PHIL JONES (19), CB/DM, Manchester Utd – Mature beyond his years, a versatile defensive player who already looks like he has been in the Old Trafford side for years.

CHRIS SMALLING (21), CB, Manchester Utd – A throwback to the days when Ian Wright, Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle could graduate from non-league to international football.  A central defender currently busking at right-back yet looking entirely at home.

JACK WILSHERE (19), CM, Arsenal – Capello is already persuaded of the Arsenal midfielder’s extraordinary talents.  Composed, precise, creative and already a key feature of the England first XI.

EMMANUEL FRIMPONG (19), DM, Arsenal – Has Arsène Wenger finally found the successor to Patrick Vieira?  Capello must not dawdle, as Ghana are also courting the raw but able holding midfielder.

JOSH McEACHRAN (18), CM, Chelsea – Slight but preposterously talented left-footed attacking midfielder with flawless technique and metronomic passing.  Could quite conceivably become better than Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, which is some potential indeed.  Chelsea urgently need to make him a regular starter.

ROSS BARKLEY (17), CM, Everton – If Everton’s coaching staff are to be believed, his talent is comparable with Wayne Rooney.  Like Rooney, David Moyes has brought the powerful yet elegant box-to-box midfielder straight into the Everton team, where he already appears to be the best player.

TOM CLEVERLEY (22), AM/RM, Manchester Utd – Has made astonishingly swift progress into the United first team, a fearless and intelligent midfielder at the heart of their impressive start to the season.

RAHEEM STERLING (16), W, Liverpool – Hopefully, he has a brighter international future than Liverpool’s last Jamaican-born England winger, John Barnes.  Impressed at the recent U-17 World Cup.  Has pace and flair aplenty.

ANDY CARROLL (22), CF, Liverpool – Many are unconvinced by the eighth most expensive player in football history, though he can strike a shot as well as any centre forward in recent memory.

THEO WALCOTT (22), F, Arsenal – The lightning quick forward was ludicrously taken the the 2006 World Cup but remains a superb prospect.  Already capped seventeen times over more than five years yet remains one for the future.

DANNY WELBECK (20), F, Manchester Utd – Ideally suited to a 4-3-3 formation, the forward is keeping Javier Hernández out of the United side.  Has benefited from a season on loan at Sunderland.

DANIEL STURRIDGE (21), F, Chelsea – Club coach André Villas-Boas is a fan of the England U-21 player who, like Welbeck, can play anywhere across a three-man forward line.

England punish Spanish complacency

Mike Martin on the UEFA Under-21 Championship   @thefootietweet

In first half stoppage time, you could hear the crowd whoop in delight as Kyle Walker, the England U21 right back, threw a step-over before racing past two Spanish players and putting in a dangerous cross.  Spain, for all their superior ball retention, did not have a player with this ability to penetrate the opposition.  And this was a defender.

It has become far too easy to eulogize about Spain’s ability to keep the ball.  But what use is possession if you can’t do anything with it?  Sometimes analysis of a team’s performance is coloured by preconceptions of their playing style.  Were England to dominate possession in any match to that extent but have nothing more to show for it than a dodgy goal bundled in from a corner, such praise would not be forthcoming.

England, mercifully, managed to do what Chile, Portugal, Paraguay, Germany and Holland could not at the 2010 World Cup: punish Spain’s inability to turn possession into goals.  For long periods last night, Spain rolled the ball idly among themselves but only rarely tested England’s goalkeeper Frank Fielding.

Spain had little up front except Ander Herrera’s ability to steer a bad Javi Martínez header in at the back post with his hand.  England’s defence played well; Phil Jones and Chris Smalling each looking level-headed and able to play out from the back.  In attack, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge both looked threatening.

It was in midfield where England floundered, with Hamburg defender Michael Mancienne busking as a holding midfielder alongside Jordan Henderson and between two wingers in Tom Cleverley and the erratic Danny Rose.  The equalizer, when it eventually came, followed the introduction of England’s best two players, Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell, both mysteriously left on the bench by Stuart Pearce.

England’s goal was as illegitimate as Spain’s – Welbeck was clearly offside when receiving Walker’s pass – but it came thanks to a brilliant piece of skill from the Manchester Utd forward.  He pirouetted elegantly on the ball, controlling it and setting his position in one movement, before calmly passing the ball past David de Gea in the manner of a nonchalant Argentine inside forward.

Spain produced no such moment of decisive quality and goodness knows they had plenty of opportunities.  Time after time their extended periods of passing were ended by a timely challenge from Jones or Smalling, a cross straight into Fielding’s hands or by Adrián López overplaying a through ball over the by-line.  Just after the hour, Ander wasted a glorious chance by umming and erring on the edge of the penalty area.  It was an error typical of the Spanish performance; he forgot to shoot.

The match left us in no doubt as to who the favourites are to win Group B.  The Czech Republic.  Earlier in the evening they defeated Ukraine 2-1 with two well-taken goals by Borek Dockal; Maksym Bilyi’s late consolation flattered the opposition.

On Saturday, Belarus and Iceland opened the tournament in a near empty stadium.  Iceland were mysteriously well fancied for this tournament – though not, presumably, any more – but succumbed to two late goals.  In the second Group A match, Switzerland – by a distance, the best team in the tournament on the evidence of the opening weekend – beat the hosts Denmark 1-0 with a fine individual goal by Xherdan Shaqiri.

The game had been billed as a contest between Shaqiri, Switzerland’s left-footed right winger, and Christian Eriksen.  Denmark’s number 10 is so well regarded that this was his Under-21 début; the 19-year-old Ajax playmaker went straight into the senior national side.  This was an excellent game belied by its low scoreline.  Had Shaqiri’s succession of long-range shots in the first half not all flown just wide, or Eriksen’s late free-kick not been well saved by Yann Sommer, it could have been a different story.

Is Non-League really so bad?

by Mike Martin   @thefootietweet

I support Stockport County.  Thank you, thank you, no flowers please; donations instead to the Stockport County Supporters’ Trust or, failing that, the Mike’s Premier Sports Subscription Fund.

Stockport were demoted two weeks ago, though in reality the defeat at Crewe merely confirmed what we had all known for many months: that County’s 60-year run in the Football League was coming to an end.

In my part of the world, demotion is a familiar experience.  Scarborough went out of the League in 1999 after the infamous Jimmy Glass goal which saved Carlisle Utd.  A further relegation in 2006 put the Seasiders in the Conference North with a 10-point deduction for entering administration.  They were relegated again, only before they could compete in the Northern Premier League they were wound up in the High Court with debts of £2.5m.  They reformed as Scarborough Athletic and compete in the Northern Counties East League but, with the McCain Stadium in a state of disrepair, they must share a ground with Bridlington Town.

York City’s history mirror’s Stockports.  In 2003 a Supporters’ Trust took over the club.  The following year they were demoted, failing to win any of their last twenty matches of the season.  They have fared rather better than Scarborough outside the Football League; they were beaten by Oxford Utd in the 2010 Conference Play-Off Final.  It was their second trip to Wembley in a year having lost the FA Trophy Final in 2009 to Stevenage Borough.

I started following Stockport in the mid-90s.  I was born there and grew up down the road in the Derbyshire town of New Mills, though we moved to North Yorkshire when I was young.  Then, Stockport were managed by the excellent Dave Jones and achieved both promotion to what I still call the second division in 1997, as well as reaching the League Cup semi finals having knocked out Blackburn, West Ham (remember the Iain Dowie own goal?) and Southampton.  In the semi we even beat Premier League Middlesbrough 1-0 in the away leg, though a 2-0 defeat at Edgeley Park in the first leg meant even that fine result would not be enough.

We have bounced around the divisions since then.  Good times have been known.  The best atmosphere I have ever known at a match was when we beat Swindon Town 3-0 on 3rd March 2007, completing what remains a Football League record of nine straight wins without conceding a goal.  I still have the ticket stub pinned to my bedside table.

A play-off place was just missed despite a last day 5-0 win at Darlington.  The following season, though, we went up, beating Rochdale 3-2 at Wembley with a quite excellent goal from Liam Dickinson.  That season Dickinson had been by a mile the best player in the division.  The Wembley win was his last match for the club as he was sold to neighbours Derby County, for whom he never played.  His career since has seen him loaned here and there.  Frankly, he should never have been sold.

His sale, though, hinted at our financial straits which would see us enter administration late in the following season.  Stockport were sold in 2003 to Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy.  County, Sale and Kennedy formed the accursed ‘Cheshire Sports’, with Kennedy now owning Edgeley Park, into which Sale Sharks moved, even though Sale is no more in Stockport than Barnet is in Watford.

Kennedy sold the club to the Supporters’ Trust in July 2005.  The Trust had the club’s best interest at heart but no money.  Demotion seemed certain until ex-player Jim Gannon took over as manager and turned the team around.  Survival was achieved on the last say of the season with a 0-0 draw against champions Carlisle.  Two years later, we were promoted with a team full of young local players and intelligent cheap signings playing excellent football, even if the blasted egg-chasers kept ruining the pitch every Friday evening.

Administration inevitably came late in the 2008/09 season, with the points deduction not quite enough to see us relegated thanks again to the excellent management of Gannon, who even turned down a chance to move to Brighton in order to chase promotion to the second division which would never come.  Gannon was laid off by the administrators and replaced by Gary Ablett, under whom the first of two straight relegations followed.

The impoverished County now find themselves in the Conference.  Will we be one of the bigger clubs in the league?  I fear a haemorrhaging of support for a club with two massive Champions League sides on our doorstep.  (Though never, ever make the mistake of calling this Cheshire side ‘Mancunians’.)

If you follow a club like Stockport you do not do it for the glory.  I shall be at every match my finances permit me to attend; and at least I’m handy for the trips to York and Darlington.  The Conference is now almost universally professional so will perhaps feel like, in effect, the fifth division of the Football League.  But it is administered separately and differently and is fiercely competitive.  I do not expect promotion back to the League immediately.

What I will miss is the media coverage.  Some County matches will be televised live by Premier Sports, a minority broadcaster to which I do not intend to begin subscribing.  More dispiriting, though, will be our absence from the BBC’s excellent Football League Show.  Catching up with highlights will now involve trawls through the internet.

That aside, though, I do not feel shame about our new lowly status.  Non-league is full of household names: Luton Town, Wimbledon, Wrexham, Grimsby Town, Darlington, Cambridge Utd, Lincoln City.  Matches at York City which I occasionally attend do not resemble wakes; they are lively, competitive affairs.  It is now up to the people of Stockport to make sure we retain our loyal, if small, support base.  Hopefully, the club will be re-energized by not being beaten week in, week out.  We must sort our organization out though; the Conference is, unusually for football, run ably and diligently.

I look forward, perhaps oddly, to the FA Trophy, a tournament we could genuinely win, and the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup.  These are always intriguing occasions and the desire to get a high-profile cup tie against somebody like Sheffield United or Charlton Athletic will be bigger than ever.  County can either feel defeated by our non-league status or embrace it.  Life will be what we make of it.

 

Yet another 'crackdown' misses the point

As the football season starts its climactic close, the Premier League launch yet another ‘crackdown’ on ‘unacceptable behaviour’ by players and managers towards referees.

It is genuinely hard to disagree with the intent of this.  Anyone who watched a referee run away from a pack of Chelsea players or saw Rooney calling linesman after linesman a ‘fucking wanker’ in his face can share the sentiment that a ‘crackdown’ might be needed.

But the fact remains that there are far too many terrible decisions that have been made this season.  I’m not saying that it has necessarily got any worse (Di Canio proves that all by himself), but the way football is viewed, through a hundred different angles in a hundred different countries, certainly has changed and the game needs to keep up. 

Every schoolboy knows that the teachers you do your homework for are the ones that command respect; being fair, even handed and approachable while being strict when they have to be.  The ones on power trips, who shout about the slightest of things and are just plain bad teachers have the noisiest classrooms and no one gives them an ounce of respect.

“Respect’ – the name given to the FA’s campaign for better treatment of referees - is something that works both ways.  Deserve respect, and you will command respect.  Some of the decisions in high profile games this year simply do not demand any respect from players.  Should Robin Van Persie show Massimo Busacca any respect? Or Mendes have any faith in a linesman making a good call?

And I’m not sure every West Ham fan would share their manager’s level headedness.

When Alex Ferguson (with care, said through an advisor…) likens the FA to a communist state, I can see why he’s frustrated.  By silencing even fairly mild mannered criticism they come across like a body who rather than address the problem of poor referring decisions, would prefer to ignore it and punish anyone who dares raise their voice in dissent.  Avram Grant facing a disciplinary hearing for calling Mike Jones ‘weak’?  That smacks of using a soviet hammer crack a mild mannered nut.

Governing bodies need to make referees far more accountable for their actions.  Apologise publically if they get a big decision wrong.  The ability to appeal a second yellow card.  More demotion and promotion to get the best referees at the top.  And the realisation that accepting some criticism is a fact of life, particularly when the stakes are as high as the emotions are running.

This would not undermine referees as the FA and Premier League fear, but it would strengthen them.  They would deserve more respect and therefore the players would undoubtedly who more respect.  And when they don’t, a crackdown would be on far surer ground.

We’ve had inside-out wingers, so what’s wrong with inside-out full backs?

by Mike Martin   @thefootietweet


Pickering Town are not the 1953 Hungarian side that made England re-think the whole concept of association football.  Nor is coach Mitch Cook often mistaken for Rinus Michels.  But both are proving a fascinating diversion in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division.

Regular readers of What A Hit Son! – hello, Baz; hello, Stig – will by now be aware that your humble servant is a fan of Cook’s methods, particularly having the first team coach also take charge of the U19 team, who play with an identical formation.

Identical, that is, in that it is a fairly fluid 4-3-3 formation.  But expecting somebody to imagine how a team play simply by telling them how many defenders, midfielders and attackers they use is akin to assuming somebody could imagine the work of Shakespeare upon being told that it was written in English.

The senior side’s 4-3-3 is not a normal 4-3-3.  That the first choice left back, Dean Craig, is right-footed is hardly earth-shattering; lots of teams use one, often because they have run out of decent left-footers.  But Pickering Town have a left-footed full-back and a very decent looking one too: Joe Danby.  He plays at right back.

It has often occurred to me as odd that the modern trend for playing wingers – or, perhaps more accurately, ‘wide forwards’ – on the ‘wrong’ side of the pitch has not been followed by a similar approach to full-backs.  The inside-out winger is now commonplace, particularly in teams which play with three forwards.


At Euro 2008, the Netherlands played with Dirk Kuyt on the right and Arjen Robben – when he recovered from his injury – on the left, each as fairly orthodox wingers feeding the striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.  By the time last year’s World Cup came around, Robben had moved to the right.  At Bayern Munich he had a club prepared to accede to his constant requests to play on the right; largely, perhaps, because the right-footed Franck Ribéry always wanted to play from the left.

Again, he missed the early tournament matches with injury: Kuyt stayed on the right and Rafael van der Vaart was used, not to the greatest effect, as a left winger.  Robben’s first start of the championship was in the second round against Slovakia.  He started on the right, with Kuyt moved to the left to accommodate him.  Seventeen minutes in, Robben cut inside and scored.  He was the dominant player of the match.

How, though, do you deal with such a player?  In February 2006, Chelsea met Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.  It was the first time Lionel Messi had played in England and he left a lasting impression.  In the first quarter of an hour, he tormented Chelsea’s limited left-back Asier del Horno.  Del Horno did not deserve to be sent off after a collision between the two players early on but the damage to his reputation was done nevertheless and he was quietly sold the following summer after just one season at Chelsea.

It was argued at the time – by Mr Glanville, if memory isn’t deserting me – that perhaps it would have been better to field Paulo Ferreira, who has done a job on the left since then, particularly for Portugal at Euro 2008.  The right-footed Ferreira would not have been as week as the left-footed del Horno whenever Messi cut inside.

Perhaps using inside-out full-backs would serve as tacit recognition that many wide forwards are not really wingers.  With teams outside of British football so less dependent on crossing and heading as a source of goals – Paul Gardner wrote on this schism at length in the January 2011 issue of World Soccer – perhaps there is less need for an old fashioned winger, just as the target man centre forward is also no longer ubiquitous.

Full-backs are now regarded as attacking players as well.  Could inside-out full-backs bring a new, adventurous dimension to a team's structure.

Pickering’s own front three are encouraged to be adaptable, rather than having a traditional striker and wingers.  The ‘striker’ Lyle Hillier often moves wide or even into deeper positions, with wingers – two from Darren Clough, Robbie Hawkes and Josh Greening – regurlaly swapping sides or trying their luck down the middle.

The logic of this approach is that crossing is unreliable.  If a central player passed with such frequent inaccuracy as many wide players in the Premier League cross they would probably get the old shepherd’s crook.  I cannot recall seeing Pickering score a header from a cross in open player in the six months or so since Cook took over.

With old-fashioned crossing out, the importance of the clinical through ball is increased.  The pass between the full-back and central defender is one of Barcelona and Spain’s specialities: check out David Villa’s second goal of his hat trick against Russia in the Euro 2008 group match.  That was played by Andrés Iniesta, cutting inside and knocking it through with the outside of his right boot.  But that is a specialist skill, not every player can play such perfectly measured passes with their little toe.

If attacking full-backs can cut inside and play a through ball with their stronger foot, it opens up a new way of breaking down the opposition.  Furthermore, it will draw opposition full-backs inside, creating space on the flanks for the front three without the need to go ‘two on one’, taking the attacking full-back away from his defensive position.

On Saturday afternoon, both of Pickering’s full-backs scored as they beat Hallam 4-2.  Craig’s was a typical left-back’s goal: a ball across the pitch from the right not dealt with and a wide player turning up unmarked at the back post.  Danby’s was different: cutting in from the right, he controlled an aerial ball with his chest, cut inside the Hallam defender and fired home with his left foot.

It was a fine goal but not one you will see a typical right-footed right-back such as Maicon or Philipp Lahm scoring.  It is a speciality of Glen Johnson, a truly two-footed player; it won him Goal of the Season two campaigns ago when he scored for Portsmouth against Hull City.  It would take an age to prove it but I suspect full-backs score in open play more often when playing on the ‘wrong’ side of the pitch.  Lahm’s fine tournament goals for Germany – against Costa Rica in the opening match of the 2006 World Cup and against Turkey in the Euro 2008 semi final – were scored from left back.

Danby and Craig are also set-piece takers.  There is a general preference for corner kicks or free-kicks from wide attacking positions to be inswinging: Pickering’s formation allows this to happen without the full-backs having to run across to the other side of the pitch, undermining their defensive position.

So is this the future, or is it just one manager trying a new idea to gain an advantage on the teams around him?  For new tactics to become widespread requires trailblazers in high-profile positions.  Experimenting with wingers is, perhaps, easier, as wingers are often seen as ‘luxury’ players who exist alongside, rather than as part of, the structure of the team.  Whether top flight managers will be prepared to risk ‘mucking around’ with their back four is another question altogether.

Dislike of the 'Ash Splash' shows that rugby fans still hold old prejudices

by Mike Martin   @thefootietweet

When Bebeto scored for Brazil against Holland in the 1994 World Cup quarter final, he and a couple of his mates celebrated by pretending to rock his new baby in their arms.  If the Dutch found the celebration 'disrespectful' they certainly kept it to themselves and perhaps retorted in the best way: fighting back from two goals down to 2-2 in the space of fourteen minutes.

When Chris Ashton scores a try for England, which he seems to do about every fourteen minutes at the moment, he celebrates in a less extravagant way.  He does a jump.  Occasionally he raises a finger, though not as much as, say, Ian Rush.

The first time he did this a fortnight ago at Twickenham, an Italian opponent was so overcome with rage that he looked for a moment like he might give Ashton a smack.  Rugby players give each other a smack quite a lot but extensive research at the university of Hull Kingston Rovers has concluded that that is absolutely fine.

Commentator Brian Moore – the rugby one, that is – usually greets the sight of a rugby player rolling around on the floor with words to the effect of "Get up, footballer."  Moore is usually a very good co-commentator – "You can't have people who are just there for running about otherwise you just look like Australia" – but here he has fallen for rugby's oldest lie.  When a football player cheats, it is football's fault.  When a rugby player cheats, it is football's fault.

I watch both sports and see just as much cheating and far more thuggery in the oval-ball game, be it union or league.  The reaction to Ashton's celebration is an example of rugby union's biggest blandishment: piety.  If FC Barcelona were a sport, they would be rugby union.

What lies behind dislike of the 'Ash Splash' is a cocktail of old rugby union prejudices.  There is, of course, an anti-football element but also an anti-rugby league feeling that clearly still runs deep among the buttoned-up followers of English rugby.  Ashton is northern and used to play league for Wigan, which is enough to give the Queen's Counsels and hedge fund managers who fill Twickenham palpitations.

Union may have gone professional but it still holds dear the sporting sacred cow of the Corinthian ethos.  Maybe this is why the game is so useless at dealing with thuggery.  When Schalk Burger gouged the eye of Luke Fitzgerald in the second Test of the 2009 Lions tour of South Africa, his punishment was a ten-minute sin-binning.  He went on to have a decisive part in a largely undeserved match and series win for a pretty dismal Springbok side.  In the previous Lions tour four years earlier, a couple of witless neanderthals from New Zealand spear-tackled Brian O'Driscoll, who dislocated his shoulder in trying to protect his head, ending his tour two minutes into the first Test.  The All Blacks, of course, are allowed to cheat and Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu escaped without censure.

Rugby still holds the notion that everybody on the pitch is a sound chap and that no gentleman would cheat or assault an opponent on a rugby pitch.  That idea was dated fifty years ago.  The game became professional in 1995 but the naïve amateur ethos still renders its disciplinary procedures ineffectual.  There are still those who think that Ashton, as a former league player, should not be allowed to type 'Twickenham' into google.

Rugby is not even the worst.  At least it is a reasonably entertaining way of passing eighty minutes.  Don't get me started on golf.  That it is an abundantly ridiculous game of which the sole redeeming feature is that it keeps City of London dullards away from our money for a few hours is axiomatic and need not detain us here.  The rules of golf are mostly bewilderingly pointless yet are worshipped by club players, who probably keep the Decisions on the Rules of Golf 2011 book on the bedside table next to the Financial Times and a portrait of Norman Lamont.  At least footballers don't claim to be morally righteous, which is probably just as well.  Give me that over the pious tedium of the golf or rugby clubhouse any day.

A re-run of Arsenal vs Barcelona - WAHS's Minute by minute

By Paul WAHS

Here's a recount of last night's minute by minute, with spelling errors corrected!

Tip: Read from bottom to top!

whatahitsonblog

1. Arsenal were superb tonight.#jack_wilshere best midfielder on the pitch. I bet he turns out to be really Argentinian or something. MMabout 20 hours ago via web
2. @basslady I agree!about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to basslady
3.  NATTERFOOTBALL @whatahitsonblog I bow down to you. You were right! Hail "The Predictor"...about 21 hours ago via web in reply to whatahitsonblogRetweeted by whatahitsonblog
4.  arseblogWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!about 21 hours ago via Twitter for MacRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 100+ others
5. What an exceptional game of football - I'm going to catch my breath! ta ta nowabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
6. I called it 2-1 to Arsenal, I'm smug but VERY proud of Arsenalabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
7. ITS OVER 2-1 ARSENAL!about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
8. Inside the final minute of injury timeabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
9. 2 mins added onabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
10.  gafferfootball Szczesny really has made the number 53 shirt his own. #arsenal #barcelonaabout 21 hours ago via GravityRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 8 others
11. Inside the last minute at the Emiratesabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
12. sorry, in the second half I meantabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
13. Iniesta has been poor tonightabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
14. Barca sub: Off Inesta on Adrianoabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
15. 88th Minute - Arsenal 2-1 Barcelonaabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
16. No mistakes now Arsenal, the whole of England are behind youabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
17. 3 to go at the Emiratesabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
18. Barcelona should have kept David Villa on.....about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
19. 86: Arsenal are making Barcelona look VERY average here - Bendtner nearly made it 3about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
20. Robin van persie bookedabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
21. 5 to goabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
22. I'd have loved to have seen @Chris_kammy 's reaction to that goal!!!about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
23. 7 minutes to go. Don't blow this Arsenalabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
24. Fabregas breaks away, plays it back to the edge of the box and Arshavin drills in to the far post. Exceptionalabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
25. ARSENAL ARE 2-1 UP HERE. UNBELIEVABLEabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
26. 83: ARSENAL 2- BARCELONA!about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
27. GOOOOOALLLLLLL!!!about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
28. If anyone deserves to get the winner tonight, it's that lad Jack Wilshereabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
29. Barca on the ropes hereabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
30. 10 to go, 1-1about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
31. @RobbieSavage8 never, just a great strike savage you plebabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to RobbieSavage8
32.  Joffey That was better than Rooney's goal!!about 21 hours ago via EchofonRetweeted by whatahitsonblog
33. there is a new sense of vigour here, the crowd is up and Barca are losing disciplineabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
34. my 2-1 prediction could come true?about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
35. Massive goal for Arsenal, massiveabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
36. GAME ONabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
37. Excellent goal from Van Persie! ridiculous angle beats the keeper at his near postabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
38. WOW WOW WOWabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
39. WOWabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
40. GOAL ARSENAL 1-1 BARCELONAabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
41. 77: Wenger showing his zip who's boss......about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
42. 76: Wilshere has been a colossusabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
43. ARSENAL substitution: Walcott (off) Bendtner (on)about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
44. @oneloveFC an in-form van Persieabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to oneloveFC
45. 74: it's back to barca controlling the game again......about 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
46. No Idea where Arshavin is, or where he's playingabout 21 hours ago via TweetDeck
47. So Barca go defensive and Arsenal go offensive?about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
48. ARSENAL SUB: OFF (Song) ON (Arshavin)about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
49. 67: BARCELONA SUB: OFF (Villa) ON (Keita)about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
50. 67: Messi misses again. He ghosts past Eboue but hits the side nettingabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
51. Arsenal have to be more forceful up frontabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
52. 64: good chance for Arsenal, v.Persie hits it from the edge of the box, good height for Valdes to pluck it out of the airabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
53.  lloydjames26 Piques done well with shakira lololabout 22 hours ago via Twitter for iPadRetweeted by whatahitsonblog
54. Maybe it's time for Arsenal to do the old Sunday league tactic of wind up the booked centre back?about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
55. 61: Terrific from Arsenal, Nasri sets a teasing ball up for v.Persie who is beaten to itabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
56.  Washington_AFC Howay @itvfootball who's on the replay button? Wake him up!!!about 22 hours ago via Twitter for iPhoneRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 1 other
57. Quite obvious that Barcelona deliberately slowed the game down there at the free kick, Arsenal are down a gear againabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
58. 59: Fabregas's freekick goes staright to Valdes, Barca's mind games win thereabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
59. Pique will miss the second legabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
60. 58: Free Kick to Arsenal, 20 Yards out to the keeper's far rightabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
61. 57: Arsenal corner is fumbled, Arsenal look afraid of shootingabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
62. 55: Good play from Walcott, great run but delivery let the move down. v.Persie hits is high and wideabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
63. Personal opinion time, the ref has been kind to Barcelona tonight: Just sayingabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
64. Xavi volleys from the edge of the box, wideabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
65. Much better from Arsenal, they just need to gamble a little....about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
66. 49: Arsenal are playing with a little more verveabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
67. Turn of the night from Alex Song, superbabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
68. 47: Wilshire plays a one-two with Fabregas around the Barca box, straight at Valdesabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
69. 46: Arsenal have clearly got a rollocking here, they're straight out of the blocksabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
70. 45: v. Persie gets in behing Busquets, offsideabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
71. Peep Peep! We're offabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
72. @NATTERFOOTBALL it's all about Walcott getting in behind Maxwell. One goal changes this for Arsenalabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to NATTERFOOTBALL
73. @NATTERFOOTBALL I do, I said 2-1 Arsenal at the start and i stick to it!!about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to NATTERFOOTBALL
74. There's a lot of people writing Arsenal off here, I wouldn't be so sureabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
75. HALF TIME : ARSENAL 0-1 BARCELONA (no added minutes)about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
76. Ever since the Barca goal the tension has dropped and it's almost been Arsenal being scared to concede, rather than get an equaliserabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
77. 44: More Barca passingabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
78. 43: Nasri drops a cross towards v.Persie, who's header is high and off-targetabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
79. 42: Arsenal need to keep it tight for the last 3 minutes here, or nick a goal!about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
80. Thats at the Olympicoabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
81. Shaktar have gone 3-1 up against Romaabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
82. 41: Arsenal enjoying some time on the ball, they need to start tightening the screws on Barcaabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
83. Koscielny NEEDS to start picking the runners upabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
84. 36: GOAL - OFFISDE!!! Messi heads in but was give offsideabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
85. 36: Barca slowing the match right downabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
86. 35: Eboue breaking towards the Barca box but chooses the wrong pass, poor at this level when you are 1-0 downabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
87. Shaktar Donetsk are 2-1 up against Roma #FYIabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
88. 34; A glimpse of the Arsenal counter attack: Koscielny battling, move ends with v.Persie hitting it straight at Abidalabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
89. 33: Arsenal are struggling to get forward like they were in the first period of this halfabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
90.  coolandbreezy Barcelona play beautiful football. No matter who you support you gotta admit that. I could watch them play for hours.about 22 hours ago via webRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 1 other
91. Barca are trying to wear Arsenal down here - The Gunners must stay disciplinedabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
92. 31: Barca knocking it about like it's a training sessionabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
93. I'm still saying 2-1 Arsenal....If any Rugby fans out there want an advert for why football is better, turn ITV1 on NOWabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
94. 28: OOH! Villa picks out Xavi who hits it into the Arsenal defendersENd to End, I can't keep up - v.Persie with a glorious chance on the counter attackabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
95. about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
96.  Zonal_Marking Big period for Arsenal before HT.about 22 hours ago via Twitter for iPhoneRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 2 others
97. 27: HANDBAGS! Nasri booked for an altercation with Messiabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
98. so, the old cliché - you can't do that against Barcelona, switch off that isabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
99. Classic counter attacks, a ball slipped into Villa by Messi, he pokes it under Szczesny into the far corner. Unfortunate for the gunnersabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
100. 25: GOAL! Arsenal 0-1Barceloan (David Villa)about 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
101. 24: Walcott breaks, exceptional ball, Fabregas spins it towards an unmarked v.Persie but Abidal nips in. It was a banker if Abidal had missabout 22 hours ago via TweetDeck
102. Arsenal are in..... NO!about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
103.  JamesHorncastle If Messi is a Playstation player he just pressed X instead of O ;)about 23 hours ago via TweetDeckRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 31 others
104. 22: Messi danced into the box, weaker foot tries to lob Szczesny. failsabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
105. Maybe that's a bit rash, he did hit that hat trick for England a while backabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
106. Walcott has given possibly the best 20 mins of his career in this matchabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
107.  gregtheoharis My homage to #Barcelona >>http://bit.ly/h3ZAh6 >> for all you lot tweeting and not watching! #afc #arsenalabout 23 hours ago via webRetweeted by whatahitsonblog and 2 others
108. 20 minutes gone and it's mesmerising....about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
109. 18: v.Persie springs the Barca back four but Pique herds him to give away a goal kickabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
110. just so y'all know @piersmorgan has said Messi is 'Overrated'about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
111. Eboue just gave Villa a North London hello....about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
112. Barcelona have got their mojo back and are now controlling the pace of the gameabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
113. Messi is still to score in England.....about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
114. There's that class Barcelona have, right thereabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
115. 14: OOOOH! Messi sprung the back four, messi bearing down on goal chipping towards the far post but it's wideabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
116. apologies for the caps there,!about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
117. The referee is having a fantastic game, allowing a lot of ADVANTAGES AND KEEPING HIS EYE ON ALL CHALLENGES. REFRESHINGabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
118. 11: Classic Arsenal back four stepping up to leave Messi and Pedro offisdeabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
119. 11: This isn't the Barcelona that are tearing La Liga apartabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
120. Arsenal's central midfielders, Song and Fabregas, are doubling up on Xaviabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
121. 9: It's gettng warmer, suspicious chest from Abidal, may have used a hand on the edge of the boxabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
122. 8: Arsenal have started so positively here, they look relaxed and are enjoying the lions share of the playabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
123. Just seen a replay of the v.Persie chance - Maxwell didn't have a clue what to do - this has to be exploitedabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
124. maybe Wenger will swich Nasri and Walcott around to keep the full-back's on thier toesabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
125. 7: Barca don't look settled, they are struggling to get the passes offabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
126. 6: Messi fouled by Alex Song - Song bookedabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
127. 5: Walcott is enjoying this, a flick into the box finds van Persie who hits it straight at Valdesabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
128. 5: OOOH OOOH!about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
129. 4: Just seen Walcott's running, maybe Barca will struggle with him?about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
130. 3:OOOH! Nasri's ball goes straight through the box into Valdes's handsabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
131. 3: Arsenal freekick, 35 yards out....about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
132. 2: we've seen Pedro getting into Clichy here alreadyabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
133. 1: we're getting an idea of the passing from Barca here, they are holding on to the ballabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
134. we're offabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
135. barca to kick offabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
136. @sidlowe heard you on 5 live Sid, sounded strange not being on a grainy phoneabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to sidlowe
137. the teams are walking outabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
138. Paul's personal opinion on tonight: Tight, but I back Arsenal to win 2-1about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
139. last year, Barcelona scored both in the second half in the 2-2 draw that finished 6-3 on aggregateabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
140. Barcelona starting XI: Valdes, Dani Alves, Pique, Abidal, Maxwell, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Villa.about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
141. Arsenal starting XI: Szczesny, Eboue, Koscielny, Djourou, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Walcott, Fabregas, Nasri, van Persieabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
142. 10 minutes until kick off at the Emiratesabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
143. @IanTaylor7 WhatAHitSonBlog thinks 2-1 Arsenal!about 23 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to IanTaylor7
144. What's the key to victory tonight for #AFC? Well, double up on Maxwell at left backl - Walcott could have a field day if he can unsettle himabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
145. headlines: Nasri starts, Arshavin on the bench. Puyol out for Barca, Front three of Messi, Villa and Pedroabout 23 hours ago via TweetDeck
146. Welcome to another WAHS minbymin - featuring two teams that need no introduction: Arsenal vs Barca is 15 minutes away from kicking off