THE THRILLS & DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

 

The drama of the English Premier League would never stop to confound its admirers seeing the listless moments of excitement, disappointments, and confusion each match brings. The introduction of VAR has further increased the level of suspense viewers are faced with in the English Premier League.

The past five years have been most remarkable and this has been an outcome of the stiff rivalry between clubs such as the acclaimed perennial winners of this half-decade, Manchester City, and Liverpool FC, strengthened by the managerial acumen of the now departing Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal FC, a former assistant to Pep Guardiola, the architect of Manchester City's recent dominance.

As the 2023/24 English Premier League reaches its twilight, the fight between Man City and Arsenal FC remains fierce, and extraneous factors have caused a sudden decline of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool FC. The sudden outbursts of the mercurial Mohammed Salah, at his coach's actions during their match against West Ham FC, revealed a possible crack in Liverpool's setup. It would remain a very painful end to the beautiful legacy that the German coach has built in these past eight years wherein he has won everything within England, including the European Champions League for Liverpool FC.

 

CAN ARTETA STOP GUARDIOLA?

These two teams are accelerating at the same speed towards the finish line and only the actions of spoiler teams striving to secure their positions within the English Premier League would determine who wins the league. These Spanish coaches have brilliantly managed their teams amidst the diverse vagaries of the English Premier League, such as injuries and loss of form of their players, unfavorable VAR decisions, and surprise defeats by opposition teams. Their consistency shows the quality of their coaching skills and unlike a team such as Tottenham Hotspur FC, who dazzled the English Premier League in their first ten matches but fell apart thereafter possibly resulting from some mediocre coaching and poor mentality from the players, Arsenal and Manchester City FC, both represent a perfectly better level of team strength.

 

 

 

WHO REPLACES KLOPP?

Liverpool FC has virtually confirmed Dutch coach Arne Slot, as a replacement for Jurgen Klopp but it's too early to call if he'd be able to immediately keep Liverpool at their current level of being amongst the best 3 teams of the English Premier League for more than five years. Whilst we wait to see how well he maintains this consistency, the superlative performances of Unai Emery's Aston Villa FC cannot go unnoticed. In his first season, he took them to get the European Conference League ticket, and currently, they have a firm grip over the fourth position in the English Premier League. With this level of consistency, the likelihood of maintaining this position looks strong and it would be the right decision to get the best backing from his board, anything otherwise would be calling for trouble!

 

THE BOTTOM TEAMS

The struggle here has been very fierce though Sheffield United FC confirmed their relegation last weekend and the battle for the other two spaces continues between Luton Town, Nottingham Forest, and Burnley. Despite the point deductions against them, Everton FC has overcome relegation and gliding on safe ground, whilst Nottingham Forest who faced the same fate as Everton FC is in dire waters.

When the English Premier League ends next month, there will be so much thrills, excitement, and disappointment about how the 2023/24 season went and the next focus will be on what to expect in the next season and how to make VAR a less disruptive factor in the determination of match results.

 

The Magic Wand of Florentino Perez

 

For his capabilities to successfully manage the brand and wonderful football records of Real Madrid FC, Spanish business mogul Florentino Perez deserves commendation. To be given a national award by Spain, UEFA, and FIFA for his contributions to football development would be in order. With their 4-1 Spanish Super Cup victory over Barcelona FC in January 2024, his achievements have surpassed that of legendary Real Madrid President, Santiago Bernabeu. With Perez as President, the club has won 33 major trophies over 32 won by Bernebau.

 

For almost two decades and serving in two different terms, he's successfully managed the financial stability and football success of the club, providing its followers with unending celebrations.

 

In his first term in 2000, he started the Galacticos policy wherein he made sure Real Madrid FC signed some World renowned footballers to improve the fortunes of the club. He brought Louis Figo, from bitter rivals, Barcelona FC, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo de Lima, and David Beckham but they failed to win any trophy from the 2003-2004 season to 2006. The partial failure of the initial plan during his first term forced him to resign. As later events show, his resignation was just an opportunity for him to rejig his strategies and when he returned in 2009, it was with a resounding bang!

 

Under his current leadership, the club has recruited such players as Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, and lots more. For a successive period of four years, they won the UEFA Champions League three times, the La Liga, and many other titles. Their marketing rights with Emirates Airlines and the revamping of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium are business masterstrokes that only astute businessmen such as Perez can pull.

His great ambitions for football made him and other like minds propose the Super League. Despite threats and strong opposition from UEFA, the recent European Court judgment has resuscitated their plans.

 

Aside from his huge responsibility at Real Madrid FC, Florentino Perez is the Chairman of Grupo Construction Company, which currently remains the largest civil engineering company in Spain. Whilst bitter rivals Barcelona FC, wallow in a precarious financial situation that has affected players’ salaries, transfers, and on-field activities, Real Madrid FC enjoys a positive financial balance sheet and is currently building probably the most robust Galacticos of the 21st century.

Seeing the team Florentino Perez has already built in comparison with the Qatari-backed PSG FC of France, gives an understanding of his knowledge of the transfer markets and integration of players with complimentary profiles that can form a strong unit. With the rumored and expected arrival of Kylian Mbappe to the team this summer, matching their football prowess would be a difficult task for most teams in the La Liga and European competitions. With a team comprising Vinicius Jnr, Rodrygo Goes, Eduardo Camavinga, Tchouemeni, Rahim Diaz, Thibaut Courtois, Andrey Lunin, Kylian Mbappe, David Alaba, Rudiger, Bellingham, Nacho, Kroos at all, what else can a coach ask for? The Brazillian star, Endrick is also expected in Madrid this summer.

 

Carlo Ancelotti has remained an astute manager and is amongst the best managers in World football.  With eleven major titles for Madrid, he jointly sits with Zinedine Zidane as Real Madrid FC’s 2^nd most successful manager in their history, three titles short of Miguel Munoz’s fourteen titles. He’s helped Florentino Perez and Real Madrid FC navigate through perilous situations without much fuss. It’s expected that they’d maintain the leadership of the 2023/24 La Liga season and win the trophy! Well done Florentino Perez!!

 

 

 

 

The Twists And Turns Of The 34th AFCON Competition

 

 

Video: The goal that crippled the Super Eagles(Courtesy CAF_Online)

The 34^th AFCON hosted by Cote D’Ivoire carried with it some of the most dramatic moments in African football. It was a bundle of excitement, determination, and the vicissitude of fate in diverse actions of our daily lives.

It started with the confusion of the Elephants sacking their coach Jean Louis Gasset, after losing two matches whilst on the verge of exiting at the group stages from a competition they were hosting.  Their 0-4 loss to Equatorial Guinea was damning with their victors considered a far lesser football force and their most prominent players wallowing at the bottom of the lower leagues in Europe, compared to the Ivoirians who had players rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s best! The situation looked crazy, with the hosts on the brink of being eliminated, spectators dried up at the venues, leaving the stadium for birds, visiting fans, AFCON officials, and cameramen.

The twists and turns of the competition saw the hosts narrowly qualify for the second round and the local spectators returned to the stadium and the tension of the knockout stages began. Most of the matches were predictable, but in the matches at Abidjan (Egypt vs Republic of Congo), (Nigeria vs Cameroon), Yamoussoukro (Senegal vs Cote d’Ivoire), and San Pedro (Morocco vs South Africa), everyone expected fireworks and indeed, the drama these matches was much. The match between hosts Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal rose to its crescendo and against bookmakers' predictions, the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire did the unexpected by beating the defending champions. It was an unexpected result; the Taranga Lions had not lost within the African continent for over two years and losing to Cote D’Ivoire, who had crawled to the second round as one of the best losers, looked unfathomable. Alas, it was about football, the game of drama! South Africa beat Morocco, Egypt lost to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria beat Cameroon.

The quarter finals had giant killers Cape Verde who had beaten Mauritania in the second round playing against South Africa in the quarter finals. It was an exhilarating match, with both sides looking equally matched and it dragged into penalties, where the South African goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams, made an everlasting statement in AFCON folklore by saving four penalties, to take his team to the semi-finals. The Elephants continued with their heroics and cut down the Mali national team in the last minute and last kick of the extra time and in another dramatic fashion. They had started to believe in themselves. The local coach Emerse Fae, had tweaked the team to play to their full strength but their initial stumbles, still made them less considered by other teams.

With their underwhelming performance at the 33^rd AFCON Competition in Cameroon and losing the FIFA World Cup in a despicable manner, Nigeria’s Super Eagles, stumbled to a draw in their first match against Equatorial Guinea and beat eventual winners, Cote D’Ivoire in the second match. They came with a large collection of brilliant players, including Victor Osimhen, the African Footballer of the Year but their style was unclear. Like Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria’s confidence as they progressed in the competition. Nigeria overcame the onslaught of South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in the semi-finals, but in the finals, against the Elephants, despite taking the lead they could not continue to soak the pressure with the Ivoirians boosted by the home crowd. It was a sad ending for the Super Eagles of Nigeria, but for the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire, it was a dream come true.

 

SUPER EAGLES OF NIGERIA AND LESSONS FROM ABIDJAN

 

The Super Eagles of Nigeria narrowly lost 2-1 to the Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire in the 34th AFCON Competition.  Several Nigerian football supporters felt a deep loss but in retrospect, the team exceeded the expectations of Nigerians by getting to the final of the tournament. For some, it was a good result for Nigeria and for many others, the result could have been better.

 

ASSESSING THE SUPER EAGLES AT AFCON

For the past two years, it has been an underwhelming performance for the Super Eagles in their matches. The team plays without a style, character, or purpose, leaving their matches boring and abysmal. Though they qualified for the 34th AFCON despite losing to minnows such as CAR, their records of losses and draws in friendly matches were mind-boggling. To further exacerbate the situation was the perennial errors in the back line, but specifically with goalkeeping. For a long period, the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been a great pain to watch, despite the large collection of Nigerian footballers across the World when Joe Peseiro took over; everyone expected that this journeyman could take Nigeria to paradise, and truly he did but at great tool to the mental health of most fans. Even at the 34^th AFCON, the Super Eagles performed far below their optimal level and despite the final result, Nigerian Football must do their utmost to get the right coach to take the team to a better level.

The capabilities of a coach to use the assets available to meet the desired mandate given to him remain the greatest yardstick by which they’re judged throughout their reign. Apart from match results, it’s also important for teams to create excitement for their supporters for herein lies the essence of every sport. Fortunately for Jose Peseiro, the outcome of the 34th AFCON competition counts in his favor but everyone would admit that the team played far below their potential. The players sacrificed beyond their physical capabilities and the spectators toiled to watch these matches due to formations that put unnecessary pressure on the team.

 

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SUPER EAGLES AFTER AFCON

Nigerians look forward to the World Cup qualifiers and the next AFCON with positive vibes and expect the Nigerian Football Federation(NFF) to use the lessons of the 34th AFCON to rejig the coaching team to enable the team seamlessly achieve their desired goals. Stanley Bobo Nwabali has solved the goalkeeping conundrum for the moment and we must find a lasting solution to getting some creative playmakers to enable the Super Eagles to operate at full throttle. Frank Onyeka and Alhassan Yusuf, at different times, did their best as spoilers in the midfield but the team needs a better ball-distributing player; this was greatly lacking at the AFCON. Victor Osimhen barely used his hustling instincts to make himself relevant as he never got optimal services to excel and the same can be said about many other players.

The rebuild has started and this is the best time to upgrade to a better future for the Super Eagles. Congratulations Nigeria!

SUPER EAGLES OF NIGERIA ON THE RISE AGAIN!

 

Yesterday at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Abidjan, Nigeria's Super Eagles walloped the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon 2-0, at the AFCON 2023 Competition. This victory takes Nigeria to the quarter-final phase of the competition to play against the Palancas Negras of Angola. With this result, they have exceeded their performance in the last AFCON Competition.

Several things stand out from yesterday's performance of the Super Eagles of Nigeria. With the huge criticism that greeted their 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, the players were said to have a meeting, wherein legendary captain Ahmed Musa, assured Nigerians of better performances in the subsequent matches. They beat hosts Cote d’Ivoire 1-0, Guinea Bissau 2-0, and Cameroon in the group of 16. They put up very solid performances in these games to register their resolve to ink their names on the sands of time in Nigeria's rich football history.  There's no doubt that the Eagles have landed!

 

THE RESURGENT SUPER EAGLES

Watching the entire team, from the elasticity of Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lukeman, and Moses Simon, attacking and defending from the attack to Ola Aina, Calvin Bassey, Onyeka, and others attacking from the defense, cutting opposition passes, it's obvious that for any team to beat the Super Eagles in the 34th AFCON 2023 competition, they'd have to climb the Mount Everest within ninety minutes. This team has conceded just one goal in four matches and they look like a brick wall to break down. Their confidence has continued to increase in their successive matches and so is the team cohesion. Virtually every player in the team has proven to deserve his spot.

Senegal, the defending Champions and the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists, Morocco are yet to play their second-round matches and look the greatest threat to the Eagles quest but the optimism about their success is overwhelming. The Super Eagles’ collection of players is astounding and it would take extreme tact for any team to beat the Eagles if they continue with the level they've raised their game.  Several quality players have not been given a minute on the pitch, yet the Super Eagles glow with so much radiance.

 

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE REST OF THE AFCON

Watching the Palancas Negras beat Namibia gives an insight into how entertaining their quarter-final match with Nigeria would be. Coach Pedro Goncalves appears to have built a very solid team, anchored by the midfield creativity of their captain, Fredy, the attacking trickery of Gelson Dala, and Mabululu, and not to forget the defensive doggedness of Gaspar. The Angolan team appears a very strong unit and their results during this competition affirm this. Striker, Dala, has scored four goals, so far in this competition.  The Eagles team looks strong enough to tackle Angola, though the outcome could be determined by little details.

The results of matches at AFCON 2023 remain a true reflection of how much African football has transformed within a few decades. Like in the evolution of political states across the World, we have witnessed the rise of several Nations and the decadence of others. This is the excitement that makes sport a veritable ointment to remove pain and give excitement to its enthusiasts!

THE JURGEN KLOPP LEGACY AT LIVERPOOL FC

Whenever an appraisal of the greatest English Premier League football managers of the 21^st century is made, the dynamic inputs of German-born Jurgen Klopp to the resurgence of Liverpool FC will be highlighted in several chapters of the dissertation. His results turned Liverpool FC, from a team spoken about in retrospect to a world-beater compared with the very best football teams in the world.

 

JURGEN KLOPP’S ARRIVAL TO LIVERPOOL FC

Jurgen Klopp did not arrive at Liverpool FC, unannounced; his achievements at Borussia Dortmund FC already heralded him as a modern coach with a high-octane pressing and attacking football philosophy that would always leave his opponents at the edge of their seats as highlighted by Pep Guardiola in his tribute to Klopp.

Within two years of joining Liverpool FC, he rebuilt the team by integrating an efficient spine comprising Mohammed Salah and Saido Mane in the attack, Nabil Kaita in the midfield, then Virgil Van Dijk and Allison Becker in the defense. It didn’t take a century for his team to begin to make an impact and it’s that team evolution that has crest his legacy on the minds of every Liverpool FC supporter and the football World in general!

Several other coaches had managed Liverpool FC in the twenty-first century before Klopp but could not take them to their apogee of the mid-1970s and 1980s under Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. They reigned for most parts of the last quarter of the twenty-first century as a rather mid-table team, falling in and out of oblivion. He transformed the club and currently has won seven major titles for Liverpool FC, including the English Premier League, European Champions League, and every other title of the English Football Association, including several appreciable mentions.

He exudes so much confidence and his aura attracted several good players to his team, turning them into world-beaters who continue to compete with the best in the world. Mohammed Salah had not fully patched his failed stint with Chelsea FC and his sojourn with Roma and Fiorentina FC in Italy when he joined Liverpool FC. With Klopp, Salah has achieved football legendary status, rising to become the highest goal scorer, in LFC history and winning the African Footballer of the Year Award. The same transformation happened to Saido Mane, Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander Arnold, Allison Becker, and several others.

JURGEN KLOPP: THE CROWD’S FAVORITE

Jurgen Klopp remains a coach greatly loved and respected by Liverpool FC supporters and as a testament of how much his legacy has rubbed on him, he’s foreclosed any possibilities of ever working for any other team within the English Premier League. He’s also highlighted the strength of the team he’d be leaving behind.

Klopp has not foreclosed returning back to coaching and his return would be a hugely anticipated wait about when it would happen and what team he’d be joining. His indelible imprints on world football would remain for long and whenever he chooses to return, Jurgen Klopp would be greatly sought after. When this time, comes, he’d likely emerge better!