USA Today

Today could prove to be a landmark day for the future US national football team?

Not only is a place in the World Cup quarter finals at stake, with millions of countrymen tunning in to watch their new favourite sport, todays game represents a huge chance to inspire the next wave of national players to come.

Although today's side has more than a hint of a chance against a Belgium side that look like they will be weakened through injury' to key defensive players and the growing feeling of confidence coming from the camp what with coach Jurgen Klinsman's rearranging flights home for after the final, winning the World Cup in 2014 is possibly a step to far for the current side, but...

Could the USA win the World Cup within the next 20 years?

It's not a thought many English football fans would want to comprehend at this moment give the state of our own national side, but given the rapid progress US football has shown over the previous 20 years since the 1994 World Cup, you'd have to admit that if that level of progression was to continue at the same pace you could very easily see US hands getting on that famous gold trophy.

True, the closer you get to the top the harder and slower the rate of progression becomes, but what has been done to both expand the popularity of the domestic league and increase participation in the sport has been impressive and there's no doubting the countries ability to train top athletes so failure wouldn't be through the lack of trying or funding.

However, the main doubt that exists in my mind at present is that there has yet to be a top, top, player to come out of the continent of North America, one to match the quality produced by their southern counterparts. 

The US have always had brilliant goalkeepers such as Tony Meola, Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Tim Howard to name but a few and in Clint Dempsey and Landon Donavan, they have produced two highly likeable players that have really suited the English game with their industrious work rate mixed with intelligent skill, but you'd be hard pushed to put them in the same class bracket as some of Europe's top players such as a Robben, a Benzema, even a Rooney, let alone a Messi or a Ronaldo. 

Tim Howard - great goalkeeper, awful beard

If the mid 2000 Football Manager PC games where anything to go buy, there was much hope that Freddy Adu had the ability to be a player of that very level following his early promise at a tender age. Sadly Freddy never became the beast that countless laptop managers believed him to be and turned out to be more hype than new hope and very quickly disappeared from view (I believe he is playing in Norway from next season?) but it's the level that Freddy never achieved that America's youngsters need to aspire to.

It also remains to be seen if footballs new found following in the US would remain satisfied by the domestic offerings of the MLS when compared to what has been a very special World Cup or if a lot of these fans will quickly migrate back to America's traditional sports like the National Football League when they come back into focus, but the exposure received to date retains hope that the next wave of Michael Bradley's (certain hoping for more of them and less Jozy Altidore's!) may have already been hooked.

Ultimately time will tell, but what's certain is today's game has the potential to have a big impact on the future of US football. Who knows, this could begin the path to the US team winning in Russia 2018 - and what American wouldn't love winning there first World Cup in the communists back yard!

The Armchair Supporter

Arjen's perfect 10

Like or loath him, you have to concede that Arjen Robben had made a big splash at this World Cup prior to the Dutch's last 16 game against Mexico. 

3 sparkling performances had helped springboard Holland into the knockout stages, yet Arjen is facing a wave of criticism on the twittersphere over his actions in the dying minutes of that last 16 game. 

Yet what most that choose to criticise fail to understand is what Arjen provided us during that game  was a masterclass in diving, resulting in the perfect dive!

     laying the trap

Example 1: the late and un-noticed dive

Late in the first half, Arjen is fed in on goal by his mate Robin and drives towards goal. As he does the Mexican form a pincer movement and attack our man from both the front and behind, yet so focused on the ball was Arjen he failed to anticipate the contact, meaning his eventual finishing dive was off time, rather limp and attracted little to no attention from the onlooking judges. Score 0/10 very poor effort!

     got you!

Example 2: the tempter

We move into second half with the Dutch trailing and our man in control of the ball in front of two Mexican defenders outside the box. 

The first key for Arjen is to get himself into the box and with a quickstep and a shuffle he's in the perfect position with ball moving slightly away from him and defenders legs isolated and stretched out beneath him.

Hoping he can attract a desperation flick from the defender, Arjen dangles himself like a carrot over the defender, but on this occasion he's not attracted by the bait being offered. 

Having anticipated some contact would be forthcoming, Arjen realises mid flight he could look suspect and so makes movements so there is contact hoping for either a favourable and very fortunate decision or to at least install sufficient doubt in the referees mind to avoid a booking. Score 5/10 Some clever aspects, but lacking in end result.

     Arms back, head back, darling...

Example 3: The perfect dive

Many would have been tempted to have given up at this stage having had 2 failed attempts prior and it being late in the game but not Arjen, no way!

The momentum has now sung Holland's way, he can feel it, he knows the opposition are feeling it which will cloud their decision aiming and he knows that this pressure can also affect the referee. He knows if he can make something happen inside the box, the referee will be more enticed to call it at this stage than any other (after all there's no way he will want an extra 30 minutes in this heat)!

Arjen also uses his previously failed attempts to his advantage. As he approaches the box in his usual power running style, our hero comes across one of the players in example 2, but because he wasn't tempted previously he ignores him and carries on to the byline. 

It is then after a look up to acknowledge there is no Dutchman in the box that he spies Rafael Màrquez who he knows is an easy target. The guy has previous (not just in this game) and seeing the poor square on position he's taken in relation to himself, he knows all is needed is a simple poor touch inside to nowhere.

Alas, as soon as this touch is made this Rafael begins to lurch forward with a stray leg and the rest is pure poetry in motion. Arjen is so good in these situations he knew Rafael's leg was coming before Rafael did, he was primed and ready for it, ready to take flight into the dive at just the right point. 

The contact was minimal, yet very evident. There was enough for the referee to notice, not too much to cause injury. Arjen then lifts his hands and his head in that motion that is well know by referees all the World over, it's that "look at me, I've been fouled pose" but the poise and the form on this from Arjen is something else.

The dive is not over stated, it's not over powering, it's the perfect balance of questioning designed to illicit the right feeling inside the referee to reach for his whistle and blow, it's like tapping the referee on the shoulder and whispering "have you seen what has happened here?" 

There was barely a second between the point of contact and the pointing to the spot, the referees decision instant which should leave you in no doubt how good this was by Arjen. Score 10/10 simply brilliant Sir, the perfect dive!

     Job done! 

You see the dive wasn't a case of someone just going into the box and falling over, no this was a dive of great skill, it was crafted from years of experience by a man who can only be described as an expert in this particular field, someone who knows his art inside out, knows how to connect with a referee and get the response he's after, whether he's impeded or not.

This was no 'Fred' dive, which was laughable for how bad it was even if it did get the desired result. No! This was a dive worthy of the World stage it was on, it was so good it's divided opinion, it's a dive that should, neigh, must be celebrated for how good it was. 

After all it was a dive that got the most out of the given situation and probably most importantly of all, it was a dive that resulted in Holland having the chance to win the game.

The Armchair Supporter

  

Tour de France - an idiots guide

It's just silly men in Lycra on bikes right?

To the uniformed sports watcher the Tour De France looks a very strange affair and is probably not something you mark on your calendar as a must watch event for a number of reasons.

Just the thought of watching men in Lycra sweat it out would be an instant turn off for some and add in the fact that it's a slow watch (each days 'stage' takes around 6 hours to complete) and a watcher needs a base level of knowledge to understand what's going on (it's not simply a straight race) mean it's not something that is instantly accessible and endearing to the casual Armchair Supporter.

However, after this Armchair Supporters interest was aroused by the first British success in the race in 2012 courtesy of Bradley Wiggins, I took a lot closer watch of the 2013 Tour De France and would you believe it, like London buses a second British winner was produced in Chris Froome.

This has meant I have been quietly looking forward to 2014 race, especially as this year "le grand de part" (or start in English) is in Yorkshire and so in an effort to attract some other newbies to the sport so I can find people to talk about it to (veteran watches seem a bit too in the know to want to talk to) I've put together this idiots guide - the idiot being the one that put it together, i.e. me

Part 1 - it's a race with lots of other little races trapped inside

So this years race takes place over a 3 week period (5th July to 27th July), with there being 21 individual stages covering a total of around 2276 miles (3664 kilometres) for the riders to complete.  

The basic idea behind winning the Tour is to travel the entire distance in the shortest amount of time, however very few will set out at the start of the race with the goal of being overall champion.

Some will set out to win a days a stage and many a rider would be happy to retire with just that achievement to their name, but each days stage will also contain mini 'sprint' and 'king of the mountains' races within them.

These are points during the stage where riders will earn points* for coming across this checkpoint in 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc and these points contribute towards the overall sprints and king of the mountain competitions. 

*The number of places that receive points and points awarded vary depending on factors such as the gradient of the mountain. I've provided links below if you want to know more.

 

Part 2 - pretty jersey's aren't just for show 

Most will probably have heard of the 'Yellow Jersey' or maillot jeanue to give you it's french name. This jersey is to signify the person leading the overall race i.e. the person who has got the lowest time so far), but the other colours on show aren't necessarily a daring choice from that rider.

Green jersey (maillot vert) is given to the person leading the points standings for the 'sprints category'

White jersey with red spots (maillot à pois rouges) is the fashion disaster that is given to the rider who is leading the king of the mountains contest.

White jersey (maillot blanc) is awarded to the leading rider overall standings) under the age of 25

A rainbow coloured jersey signifies that rider is the current World Champion and a counties National Champions can also wear his national countries champion jersey's on certain stages just to add to the myriad of colours in the pellaton.

Part 3 - it's actually a team sport

This may sound crazy at first, because riding a bike is a solo pursuit, but the Tour De France is actually a team sport. Each team will have a roster of 9 riders with a defined leader (the one charged with bringing glory to that team). 

The rest of the team are essentially there to support that effort, for example a 'domestique' riders role is to do all the chores for the team (i.e. Dropping to the back of the pack to the support car yo get food and water, then riding like crazy to get back to his group and dish out the supplies).

But perhaps the most impressive example of team work from riders is towards then end of a stage where there is a 'sprint finish'. 

The teams lead sprinter will look to organise his riders into a long train in front of him and as the pace increases and the finish draws ever close those in front of him will peal off, eventually leaving two, the sprinter and his lead out man. The sprinter will then look to peel of his lead out man at just the right moment to power to a finish over the line. 

http://youtu.be/7GnKXRFfgvw - a typical example of a sprint finish

Britain's Mark Cavendish is an expert at this part of cycling having won 25 individual stage wins to date and will be hoping to land a stage win in Yorkshire 

Part 4 - Is there anything else I need to know?

To give a stage a further dimension, an interesting kind of cat versus mouse battle can form.

The word peloton is used to describe the main bunch of riders in the race and as you can imagine there is a great slipstream benefit of being in this group, however it would be pretty dull if everyone stuck to the group and so some riders intent on getting their face on the telly for that afternoon get out of their saddle and power off into distance.

This will usually result in the riders in the peloton (the cat) looking round at each other and deciding whether to chase these guys down to stop them getting away or simply let them get on with it and hope they eventually tire back to the peloton.

If left to get on it, the 'breakaway group' (the mice) will look to work together to build a lead that they think will carry them to the finish before the main group can catch them and you're left with an interesting "will they, won't they succeed"? scenario.

Additionally, if the breakaway group look like they might succeed naturally the members off that group start to turn on each other, not wanting to lead the group and sap their energy whilst letting their rivals for the stage win recover. 

Part 5 - ok, if I watch, who should I look out for?

The trio likely to lock horns for the yellow jersey is last years defending champion Chris Froome, spaniard Alberto Contador and Italian Vincenzo Nibali.

For Sprint finishes expect Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan to be in the thick of things. Other names to look out for are Marcel Kittle, Alejandro Valverde and Teejay van Garderen.

To conclude

Although this guide is not enough to help you understand how incredible these athletes are, hopefully it has given you a basic taste of what the race is about and intrigued enough to want to find out a bit more. 

I've provided some useful links below to more information if you want it. The race is shown live on Eurosport with ITV 4 normally providing highlights of that days stage later in the afternoon.

I certainly wouldn't suggest you look to sit down and watch a full days racing as a novice (as nice as the scenery they ride past is, you'll find that dull), it's more a case of having it on in the background as you do something else or flicking in from time to time as the race develops before catching the final stages. 

 

www.letour.com   official Tour website (English version)

tv.eurosport.co.uk    Eurosport coverage Guide

www.itv.com/tourdefrance    ITV coverage page

wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France    Tour Wikipedia page

In addition, the BBC sport website will have a live blog providing updates on the stages through the tour and of course if your in the Yorkshire area, why not pop along to watch.

letour.yorkshire.com   specific information about the stages in Yorkshire

All comments welcome...

The Armchair Supporter 

Suarez, a troubled genius

Looking back at some of the greats that have graced the game of football, it's easy to name players that had a god given talent, but also showed an area of mental frailty, a part of their makeup that also let them down.

For many of you England fans of a certain age 'Gazza' or Paul Gascoigne to give him his full name will have instantly come to mind at this point. It can be strongly argued that he was the most naturally talented modern day player to pull on an England shirt, yet controversy has followed him throughout his life, his obsessive compulsive tendencies being something that probably contributed to his genius but almost certainly detracted away from it, as alcohol addiction and everything that comes with that blighted his life and those closest to him both during his playing days and into retirement.

George Best the Northern Irish and Manchester United legend was another talent that has been sadly lost to alcohol addiction and Maradona, is possibly the most flawed genius of all for a variety of reasons.

However, as the professional era has taken hold and people's understanding of substance addiction develops it's moments of rage, flashes of aggression, that is becoming the more common flaw amongst our modern day superstars with Paulo Di Canio, Roy Keene and Mario Balotelli classic examples of multiple offenders.

Others include Eric Cantona the mercurial maverick who famously whilst playing for Manchester United 'Kung Fu kicked' a Crystal Palace 'fan' (in the loosest sense) whilst leaving the field of play having been sent off only moments earlier and fellow Frenchman Zinedine Zidane who shocked the world with his head butt into the chest of Marco Materazzi on the biggest stage of all, the 2006 World Cup Final, his final game before retiring (announced before the game). Who can forget the image of Zinedine trudging of the pitch, past the trophy, in the knowledge this was his last act.

And so this brings me to the events of the past week, where Uruguay's Dr Luis showed us his genius against England, scoring two expertly taken goals to give his side the win. But almost as soon as Dr Luis had finished, Mr Suarez was on the scene attempting to bite the arm off Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini (allegedly for any Uruguayans that may be reading)!

Like Eric, Zinedine and the other examples, this wasn't an isolated incident, this being Luis third example of biting an opponent among other flash points in a chequered past but with clubs so willing to forgive and forget the misdemeanours of the most talented do we also need to look outside of the individual and closer at the game itself to understand why these moments of mental breakdown can occur?

This is by no means trying to cloud over Luis' actions and the fact he needs professional help and support is unquestionable, but in the same token it is perhaps disappointing that the sanctions imposed by FIFA, that to most would seem balanced and fair all circumstances considered, did not insist on some degree of psychiatric assessment as a mandatory requirement before he is allowed to return to the game.

More still, I am very concerned that the people closest to Luis appear to be making excuses rather than confronting the problem at hand and looking to help him for the greater good of everyone concerned.

So perhaps, following this latest incident and the further examples given serious questions need to be asked as to whether the pressures of the game, the heightened need to win is having an adverse effect on players and if all key stakeholders are doing enough to ensure the mental well being of players is maintained both during their playing career and into retirement.

True most top flight clubs these days will employ sports psychologists, however this would be with a view to preparing an athlete to win. Is as much work done on accepting defeat or would that be deemed as preparing for failure? Would clubs want their psychologists taking the edge out of a player like Luis or would they fear taking something away that might have made him so great in the first place (a common defence in accepting bad behaviour)?

I have no doubt a lot of work is done before a game, but has thought been given to providing a mental 'cool down' to players to help them recover mentally after a game in the same way that a physical cool down is now used? Anyone who has played the game at amateur level will know the effects of a win or defeat can affect your mood for the rest of that weekend if not longer.

Now some of you are probably thinking at this point "oh dear, poor Mr Footballer with his bags of money' he doesn't have problems compared to my own" yet this is a hugely unfair misconception because players are human and will encounter exactly the same level of emotions and feelings as you or I will in our day to day lives.

And although having access to such wealth means you would have the means to buy the best help when needed, this shouldn't detract from the fact that a lot of players in the game at lower levels don't receive anywhere near the levels of salary that the top professionals will receive and that people who need help will generally need initial signposts and support in order to prompt them towards that direction.

So putting the wrongs of Luis recent actions aside, perhaps this episode also shows that football could and should do a lot more in this area, to help the stars of the game both internationally and locally in this taboo and still largely misunderstood area. This might in turn help highlight the issues amongst fans and provide a greater education to the wider public and if that meant it prompted some others outside of football to seek help for their issues all the better. It's certainly something worth thinking about.

Thanks for reading

The Armchair Supporter

Cook feeling the heat

As Alastair Cook Feels the heat, is it time for him to get out of the kitchen?

With England on the brink of another humiliating defeat, and this time without an Aussie in sight (although Shane Warne is within ear shot I believe) Alastair Cook must be sensing the click, click, clicking of the gas igniting the flame beneath the caldron he currently sits in.

The honeymoon period Alastair enjoyed after taking over from Andrew Strauss has gone. The apparent midas touch a thing of the past, with this pending series loss coming on the back of the depressing and heavy 5-0 white wash in Australia. You probably wouldn't believe this, but prior to that Alastair had only tasted defeat in one of his opening 16 tests as captain, winning 9 of them.

However gIven that people had begun to question Cook's 'safe' captaincy during the 3-0 test win against Australia last summer and the way this current test has unfolded, with England at one time looking firm favourites to win, it should come as no surprise to Alastair that the number of people belonging to that group is growing faster than Old MacDonald's crops in this fine summer weather.

Another ingredient added to the pot of doubt is Alastair's batting. It has to be said that if Alastair wasn't captain he probably wouldn't be in the side at all. It's ages since we've seen him hog the crease, the elegant cover drives a distant memory and no sign of a return to form on the horizon.

His batting average of 33.92 for the 2013 calendar year was the worst posted in his career to date and the stats for 2014 don't look pretty either. A high score of 28 over 3 innings, an average of just 15.33 and his last test century over a year ago (some 22 tests no less if I've counted correctly) are not the stats a captain wants from his key opening batsman when his side is in trouble, so it must come as a great pain to Alastair that those happen to be his numbers.

It is obvious for everyone to see that Alastair is feeling the pressure, suffering from a food poisoning of the brain if you will consisting of Aussie chokes to start, a main that left you wanted Moore's, rounded off with a batting-burg collapse, all served up by that renowned stirrer in chief Kevin Peterson. (were these shoe horned puns sufficiently awful?)

Recent comments coming from Alastair back up this theory of ever building pressure, with him letting off steam at the Sri Lankians for their apparently dubious behaviour in running a man out during the one day series and requesting that "something must be done about Shane Warne" (how many English batsman have said that I wonder),

But when a captain is feeling the heat like this, what he needs most is for his team to stand up behind him. Things had looked good over the weekend with his new charged performing well with bat and ball, things were tasting good.

But suddenly the soufflé flopped, with a majority taking the standing behind your man thing too literally what with 4 of them following the captain to the dressing room in quick succession, but there are signs and reasons to stick with Alastair at this point.

For a start, the level of upheaval going on around Alastair in the team has been huge and although that shouldn't necessarily be used as an excuse for Alastair's poor performance, it may do more harm than good to the new faces in the team to replace Alastair as captain, they need playing a strong constant at the top to aid their performance as they settle into the test fold. I guess what I'm suggesting is that you suffer Alastair's poor form for the benefit of others performances both in the short term and the future.

The other thing against ringing the Bell to signal the end of Alastair's captaincy (yes that is another awful pun for those that spotted it) is that the timing isn't right. Doing so now would mean a snap appointment ahead of the 5 match series against India, far from ideal preparation for the main series of the summer or a good long term strategy for the team.

And as much as I respect Ian Bell as a cricketer, for reasons I can't really explain, I just have a feeling that he's not test match captain material. That might be unfair on Ian and be a point that you disagree on, but wouldn't it be better to yet this test side develop in the hope that a stand out candidate emerges rather than simply pass the torch as the recent trend has been? Surely Joe Root, Sam Robson or Gary Ballance feel like potential future England captains given time?

After the India series there is time available, with the next test series against New Zealand taking place until after the Cricket World Cup in May 2015.

Not only would this be an ideal opening home series for a potential new Captain to be thrust into, but there is also the possibility of letting Alastair sit out the hoard of one day games that follow the India series and clear his plate of all the mind troubles that currently consume him.

Who knows, allowing Alastair time out of the pressure kitchen that is English cricket may enable
him to rest,refocus and ultimately find a recipe for success that we can all enjoy? It's certainly food for thought

The Armchair Supporter

Van Gaal, doomed to succeed?

There will be a lot of people that took great delight in Manchester United's performances last season.

True that was fans of sides that weren't Manchester United, especially those who follow the blue side of Manchester or the red side of Liverpool, but in that sadistic way it was enjoyable nonetheless.

To try and explain it to United fans, after years of the inevitable injury time winners in Fergie time and the relentless and annoyingly successful pursuit for trophy after trophy, there was a satisfaction that you had fallen of your perch, that you had to endure something that most us go through every season... losing!

It was the fact that you had something very different to what you had become accustomed to and possibly almost expected each season. I'm sure some of you United fans would agree last season was possibly a good thing in a way because it may have grounded the club following some very heady days?

Of course the big defining change at United last season was the manager and try as he might, following the initial charity shield and opening league game against Swansea, it seemed David Moyes was doomed to failure. In hindsight Sir Alex's chosen one was a poor choice for so many reasons, so it's not surprising that David became the holder of many an unwanted United record.

However, the successor to David has now be chosen and "The chosen one after the chosen one by the unchosen board" (not sure that will catch on) seems to be a stroke of genius.  You can't help but think that where David was certainly doomed to fail all things considered, Louis is doomed to succeed!

To start to examine this paradox, when David was announced as the 'chosen one' many were underwhelmed. The way Sir Alex had built this moment, it felt like he was going to tell us all a big secret, you got the feeling he'd been concocting a master plan for his succession for years, so you wouldn't have been surprised if he announced the 'chosen one' was a specially commissioned clone of himself... or at least Jose, plucked from under the noses of Chelsea.

Unfortunately for David however, the clone Sir Alex had chosen seemed a poor copy and there were doubts in people's minds before he had started the job in earnest.

Louis on the other hand decided to officially announce himself to United fans by using his Dutch side to thrash the World Cup holders 5-1, possibly killing tika taka in the process, so not a bad way to go about things.

And as if showing his tactical genius wasn't enough, Louis had waved his magic wand to transform the form of Robin Van Persie, a player who had looked so lack lustre just a few months previous in a United shirt into master finisher again. As the Dutch captain ran over to celebrate with his national and to be club manager following his unbelievable headed goal I'm sure every United fan world wide were suddenly dreaming of titles again, not just looking to re-join the Champions League club.

There are more reasons for those United fans to dream as well, because although there are problems for the incoming manager to sort out, the pedigree and record of the man is without question, something David could not boast.

Regardless of David achievements with Everton, and no one should deny they weren't excellent, the nagging doubts in people's mind was the lack of silverware. This is not something that can be levelled at Louis, with him winning the Dutch title trice and the Spanish, German and Champions League once to name but a few of his honours to date.

Another factor in Louis' favour is the undoubted contacts that managing all over the world brings you. You can't see United being unable to attract targets this summer, with the lure of Louis and Old Trafford being a strong carrot for any player, where as last summer you would imagine David would have been an unknown name to many a player they were targeting, meaning a leap of faith was required before signing.

As it turned out, only Marouane Fellaini was willing to take what was quite a small leap for such a big man, but again you can't see Louis' marque signing, initially rumoured to be Kevin Strooman, turning out to be as much of a disappointment and you never know - he may even be able to get the best out of Marouane!

Louis also seems to have luck on his side, or maybe a good friend in the Premier League fixture compilers office, because United's opening sequence looks generous and gives the manager the very real possibility of hitting the ground running and bringing back the fear of travelling to Old Trafford for a game.

Conversely David's opening fixtures last season were far from kind and the early defeats were not only costly points wise, but from a mentality point of view because this allowed doubts from within to grow and teams began to realise this United team were beatable. Whereas before most sides went to Old Trafford with a faint hope of nicking a point, sides were leaving the bus in the car park and looking for 3!

Now what fans would deem as success in Louis' first season may vary, but when you consider
that Manchester City's crimes against the financial fair play rules may restrict them in freshening up their squad for the defence of their title, Liverpool's squad will be facing the additional pressure of Champions League football this season (and may yet lose Suarez this summer) and Jose hasn't quite got things to click at Chelsea and who's hopes will largely depend on whether Diego Costa becomes the striker they missed all last season, is the big one out of the question?

United also have the advantage of having most week nights off, what with no European competition and because Arsenal won't spend any money and flatter to deceive before finishing fourth as usual there's a whole host of positives in United's favour when you consider they're priced around 6-1 joint third favourite for the title.

So yes it's very very early to say this, especially given a ball hasn't been kicked in pre-season training and it's not something I particularly wanted to type, but I can't help think come May 2015 United fans will be celebrating both title number 21 and the dawn of a wonderful new era for the club. As I say Van Gaal and United, they're surely doomed to succeed.

The Armchair Supporter
   

Fucking Hell Wroy!

A view on England's non-performance at the World Cup from the comfort of home.


It's Saturday morning, 5am, and I'm restless. I haven't really slept, my mind buzzing with constant "what ifs", my groin tight from kicking imaginary balls and the strange decision to go for a run in the wee hours has back fired because I'm left my with the realisation that I'm no fitter than Gazza, let alone Wayne Rooney.

So I'm still in a horrible mood, I'd kick the cat if I had one (don't do this at home folks), yet why? I expect a lot of you feel the same, so why do we have this burning inner frustration at the events of the last few days? After all wasn't our expectation supposed to be low for this World Cup?

Maybe it was because we were fooled into having hope again by the promise of a new youthful attacking era (we'll comb over the fact that thus far, only 226 minutes out of an available 1980 has been played by players under the age of 23).

Maybe it's because we felt the usual suspects were at fault again and we wonder why the manager persisted with them, but conversely we also wonder why the manager left a couple of the usual suspects at home because they were obviously the answer to our problems.

I expect its a combination of a lot of things, but the biggest thing that has annoyed me is how needless the journey home after 3 games is. True I'm a nobody, an armchair supporter who watches a game armed with a pint of cider and a packet of Doritos so what would I know, yet it seemed obvious during the two warm up friendlies and two games in Brazil that Roy's preferred formation had major flaws and simply didn't work with the players he had available.

It is recognised by everyone that England's defence was a weak area, and so Roy's solution was to go on the offensive. A brave and daring plan one might think, yet the way he's gone about this is at the expense of the midfield, a teams engine room, the key battle ground for any game, and so should we be surprised if we ended up getting exposed in both midfield and defence as a result?

There was the debacle of England's left flank in the Italy game, that again showed a weakness in the managers preferred system. I'm sure it was clear to everyone there was an issue here from very early on in the game, yet this was only resolved once Italy were in the lead, tired and retreated to their 18 yard line with about 20 minutes to go. You can't help feeling if Jose was given that situation he would have made a substitution after 30 minutes, it was that big an issue.

I would concede there is a wider debate to have about the development of our young players and getting them game time at the top level in the Premier League and abroad, but this shouldn't take away from the hear and now fact that with better coaching decisions England could have conceivably been sat on 6 points now.

Maybe you will think I'm barmy with that assertion, maybe that I'm being unfair pointing the finger at just the manager, not the "vastly over paid players", but then again Roy is paid well himself (2nd highest paid manager in the tournament) and in my mind the key things he could control, such as squad selection, team selection and formation contained glaring errors. You only have to look at teams like Costa Rica, Chile and France (what a transformation) to see what good coaching and decision making can do to sides.

Personally, I can't help feel Roy is no longer managing as he sees things, he's now manage a perception, managing how he thinks we think he should manage. This is surely evident in the way he's tried to impose this 4-2-3-1 system, almost as a way of proving to the press and wider public he's not a defensive and rigid 4-4-2 man.

He was briefly his own man when he selected Sterling through the middle with Rooney out wide for the opener, yet following the backlash from pundits and journalists alike who declared on mass "Rooney must play through the middle" (and in a quieter voice "or not at all") Roy backed down citing the largely unbelievable "tactical decision" as the reason for the change of heart. This is never a good sign and time may tell that our one positive performance so far was a defeat against a not so great and ageing Italian side.

My frustrations and protestations aside, the FA have declared they will stand by their man through to 2016, but then you wouldn't expect anything else at this stage with one game still to play.

However a realisation may dawn that with continued questions over the Managers performance to come over the next few weeks, plus the need to find new sponsors and sell tickets for the European Qualifiers coming up at Wembley, they will need to offer all England fans renewed hope and surely that can only be achieved by installing a new man? I'm sorry Roy, I know you mean well and would like more time, but then so did David Moyes!

Here's hoping for a better 2016.

Armchair Supporter