A Look At: Football Dynamo

Hopes around Russia’s probabilities at the European Championships weren’t that high. True, they had Guus Hiddink, a master in getting teams to outperform expectations, but their limitations were deemed to be too much even for him to overcome. After all, they’d qualified for the championships largely because of England’s incompetence and their defeat to Croatia in the final group game.

Of course, that isn’t how it turned out to be. Russia were one of the tournament’s great entertainers – their demolition of Holland in the quarter finals was arguably the best match of the whole competition - and Andrei Arshavin emerged as the true star of the tournament.

This, coupled with Zenit St. Petersburg’s greatly undervalued UEFA Cup success – this is a side that trashed Bayern Munich to get to the final – and the continued emergence of players from the Russian league where Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel is the latest example has raised the profile of the Russian game.

Given this background, Marc Bennetts' book Football Dynamo could hardly have been better timed.

Attracted by the writing of Leo Tolstoy and other litterary greats, Bennetts decided to spend a year studying the language and culture in Moscow but has stayed there for over ten years.

Not that it was always easy. Understandably for someone in an alien culture, he was initially attracted by football, something that he could easily comprehend and feel an attachment for.

Yet rather than being simply a passing interest this has developed into a true passion for the local game and this book is the result of that.

The chapters are loosely dedicated to individual sides and, through a wide range of interviews – Oleg Romantsev is the only who he fails to talk to - coupled with his personal insight on Russian culture, Bennetts manages to convey what each club is about. He accepts the negative perceptions that outsiders may have of the Russian game but, rather than trying to put up arguments about why these views are incorrect, he tries to explain them so that they no longer seem so strange.

It is a successful approach, none more so when it comes to dealing with the subject of match fixing. For all the progress that has been registered and for all the money available to the likes of Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, it is impossible to get round the rumours of corruption. Bennett never tries to give an answer as to whether this exists nor does he ever try give the impression that he will be in a position to do so, even though he does ask the question an awful lot.

Ultimately, he himself is trying to convince himself either way. Everywhere he goes, he is met by official denials and unofficial resignation that corruption is part of the Russian game. Yet neither view is overwhelmingly convincing leaving the read with the overwhelming sensation is that, whilst corruption might be present, this isn’t as widespread as some make it out to be.

Football Dynamo does not have too much historical depth to it which is acceptable since Bennetts has opted to focus on what has gone one since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Even so, certain mistakes – such the claim that Liverpool never faced a Soviet side: what about Dynamo Tbilisi? – should have been polished up.

Yet these are minor quibbles. Bennetts' passion and fascination for the Russian game are infectious and, coupled with his inquisitive thirst for deeper knowledge, are elements that help make this a hugely entertaining book.

Phil Ball on Why Alonso Is Staying

For anyone with a passing interest in Spanish football, Phil Ball's articles are a must. He is knowledgable about the game there without coming over as being too pretentious or having insider information.

Yet, admiration of Ball as a writer have nothing to do with this post: a piece in the latest edition of the magazine When Saturday Comes' weekly e-mail roundup is the source of inspiration. As a resident of San Sebastian, and a supporter of the city's main team Real Sociedad, he has always been a huge fan of Xabi Alonso.

So too, apparently, is his son whose devotion to the player has also meant him starting to follow Liverpool. Or, at least, that is what transpires from Ball's recounting of a recent encounter with the Liverpool midfielder.

“July 14, 2100 hrs, San Sebastián, Spain. My wife is at the tennis club
playing padel – a strange game imported from Argentina that is taking the Basque
Country by storm. Between sets she phones to inform me that Xabi Alonso is
playing on the court next to her. He’s still on his hols, staying at his dad’s
just down the road from us. I tell my 12-year-old son, who grabs a thick
felt-tip and his Liverpool shirt from his bedroom, jumps on his bike and
high-tails it to the tennis club, some five minutes away, shirt flapping from
the handlebars. An hour later he returns, with shirt duly signed in Basque.
Above the illegible signature it reads ‘Harryenzat, besarkada bat’ which to the
uninitiated means ‘To Harry, with a hug’.

‘Did you speak to him in English?’ I ask my son. He tells me that he only
spoke in Basque to the great man. He also tells me that Alonso, apart from being
a half-decent footballer, is also a consummate padel player – which is going
some, since there can’t be too many places to practise on the Wirral. ‘So what
did you talk about?’ I persist. ‘I asked him where he was going next season.’
‘And what did he say?’ ‘He didn’t say anything. But I said to him “Liverpoolen
geratu eh!” (Stay at Liverpool, eh!)’ ‘What? You shouldn’t have said that. What
did he say?’ ‘He said “Noski” (Of course).’ So there you are. Juve might as well
stop the bidding. WSC exclusive – Xabi Alonso says he’s staying at Liverpool,
and he said that to my son outside the padel court in San Sebastián, which means
that it must be true.”

Details on how to subscribe to the WSC Weekly Howl can be found http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/242/48/.

Young Defender Off to Spain

Miki Roque is expected to join FC Cartagena on a season long loan as the young defender tries to put his career back on track.

One of the many young players brought to the club by Benitez in his first months in charge, Roque progressed better than many had expected and even made his Champions League debut against Galatasaray. Since then, however, things have gone decidedly downhill.

First he was sent on loan for a couple of months at Oldham but the League One side only used him to bolster their squad and rarely gave him any playing time. Then last season's loan at Xeres, which was designed to give Roque the experience that he lacked, failed to turn out as planned with Roque making just one appearance for the relegation threatened side.

His chances of making it at Liverpool seem remote, where Mikel San Jose is emerging as the central defender most likely to find his way to the senior squad, yet the club is still determined to give the player the best chance of making it elsewhere once he leaves Anfield.

That no Segunda A - the Spanish equivalent of the Championship - team has shown an interest in Roque is telling but a season for the ambitious Murcia side who has already made six additions to the squad this summer might not necessarily be a bad thing for Roque who has the talent and application but now needs a bit of luck.

A Lesson in Hypocrisy

No club, regardless of size and financial strength, likes to lose players even more when they feel that the buying club acted illicitly in order to get to the man they wanted.

That Tottenham are the ones complaining - as they have done over Liverpool's move for Robbie Keane - is hugely ironic. Last year they were the ones who made a move for Juande Ramos whilst not only was the Spanish manager still contracted to Seville but Spurs' own manager Martin Jol had no idea he was about to be replaced.

Yet there's no need to go so far back. This summer they've already been at the heart of a highly controversial move for Crystal Palace teenager John Bostock that eventually led to a tribunal decision deemed scandalous by Palace owner Simon Jordan.

Perhaps, this complaint is more of a face-saving exercise where the Tottenham board are unwilling to face the fans' questions about the future of the club after the sale of both of their strikers so are therefore trying to make it look as if they are the victims here.

A nice trick that might work on some but which should fail to fool many.

The Lad Can Play: Diego Cavalieri

When your club is linked with a Brazilian, you’re bound to hope that it is with a midfielder or a striker, such is that country’s tradition. Learning that the player involved is a goalkeeper is therefore always likely to be a disappointment. The likes of Julio Cesar (Inter) Heurelio Gomez (PSV / Tottenham) and Doni (Roma) may have made their mark as excellent goalkeepers but the bias remains.

So it is that Diego Cavalieri’s arrival at Anfield has been met largely with disinterest. That Benitez, reportedly struggling to stretch his financial resources, has paid £3 million for him hasn’t helped. The players previously linked to fill the soon to be created void, Birminham’s Maik Taylor and Fulham’s Anti Niemi, would have been much cheaper and - given their experience in the Premiership – perhaps better options.

After all, Liverpool had tried to be clever in signing a back-up to Pepe Reina a year later and been left disappointed. Charles Itandje had arrived with a reputation of being a promising goalkeeper who would be more than capable of stepping up should the need arise. Instead, the Frenchman ultimately proved to be inadequate and a shocking display against Barnsley in the FA Cup determined his fate.

Cavalieri arrives in similar circumstances. Little is known about him yet whatever information has been gleaned sounds promising. He’s a good keeper who will be a more than able deputy for Reina, we’ve been told. At the same time, he was largely a reserve at Palmeiras so how good can he really be?

“For what it's worth, I rate him and I think Liverpool are getting him for a very good price,” that the opinion of Jon Cotterill, football commentator for TV Globo in São Paulo and the author of the blog on Brazilian football Pitaco do Gringo.

Overall, Cotterill’s impressions of Cavalieri seem promising. “Cavaleri is 25, approximately 6ft 4" and a Palmeiras youth product who turned pro in 2002. He picked up an italian passport earlier this year, which made it considerably easier for Liverpool to sign him.”

“He's a good shot-stopper but needs to work on his command of the area. He also has the Brazilian habit of trying to punch everything away instead of holding on to the ball.” The latter isn’t necessarily a problem given that Reina initially had the same habit, one that wuld appear has been coached out of him.

As for the worry about Cavalieri being a substitute at Palmeiras, Cotterill seems to uphold the views that this is only because the regular – Marcos – is something of a club legend. “I've seen quite a lot of him and I think he's actually better than Marcos because he doesn't make as many clownish mistakes.”

That of a goalkeeper is a delicate role precisely because you’re either in the side or else you’re not: there’s only one spot available. It isn’t easy to know that you’re unlikely to get a chance regardless of how hard you try. In that regard, Cavalieri comes with the right mentality: he’s already used to being second choice yet at the same time seems determined to keep on progressing.

He remains a strange choice yet is increasingly looking like the right one.

No More the Loan-ly Guy

A footballer’s life can turn in ninety minutes. There are games that define some players’ careers – a goal in a major final, for instance - whilst for others it is an injury from which they never fully recover. For a few, however, it is the ignominy of being identified with a particularly high profile error that keeps on haunting them.

Scott Carson is dangerously close to falling into that latter category. When Steve McLaren chose him for England’s crucial home game with Croatia, he was simply fulfilling what many had prophesized – and demanded - for the young goalkeeper. Hyped up as the best English keeper, little notice was given to his lack of experience especially at games where so much was at stake.

In hindsight, it was a huge mistake. Easily at fault for two of Croatia’s goals, Carson abysmally failed to prove his worth and for most of the game looked like someone who dearly wanted to be somewhere other than the Wembley pitch.

Perhaps he could imagine what lay in store for him as, along with McLaren, he was pinpointed as the reason for England’s elimination which was followed by the inevitable brutal criticism. Quickly forgotten were his heroics for Charlton despite the club’s relegation or his fine form for Aston Villa till that point of the season. Decidedly in the past was the praise for this young goalkeeper because all that mattered was how his errors had cost England.

It was the sort of situation that would have gotten to much more experienced players, let alone someone of Carson’s age. Inevitably his form suffered and from then on his play became progressively worse. An unfortunate situation that only reinforced the image of Carson being damaged goods.

His misfortune was compounded by what was happening between Liverpool and Aston Villa. Rafael Benitez’s decision to go for Gareth Barry didn’t go down too well with Martin O’Neill who promptly dismissed any offer by Liverpool to put in players as make-weights in the deal.

Despite his late season dip, Carson had done well enough at Villa and was widely expected to join them, even if the £10 million fee quoted by Benitez looked decidedly inflated. Had there been the willingness to do so, that fee would have probably been negotiated downwards. Instead, caught up in the escalating fued between the two clubs, it became a serious point of contention about which no one was willing to back down.

All of which has put Carson’s career on hold. Perhaps frightened off by the reported transfer fee or else by the memory of his game for England, few clubs have expressed an interest in him. West Bromwich Albion were one of those few but their offer was to take him on loan something that suited neither Liverpool nor the player.

Having spent the past two seasons at Charlton and Aston Villa respectively, he now needs stability in his career to be able to progress. With Pepe Reina just four years his senior, it is unlikely that his chance at Liverpool will ever come regardless of how long he waits. For him to stay at Anfield makes little sense, something that everyone is aware of.

At the moment, however, he doesn’t have much choice. With Aston Villa out of the equation and West Brom’s approach not really an option, the only ones to have made some noises about Carson have been Middlesbrough and Stoke even if neither club have pushed this past the rumours stage.

All of which must be terribly frustrating for Carson who will be aware of how important it is for him to play at the highest level on a regular basis if he is to get another opportunity to prove his worth in an England shirt. And to prove that for him there is life beyond those ninety minutes against Croatia.

Hard as Nails

Despite the scepticism that met his arrival, Martin Skrtel has so far proven to be an excellent buy. Most certainly his tough image has elevated him to cult hero status which is why this image by Kit Nelson hits a note.




This image has proven to be so popular that Kit is now doing a limited batch of shirts with the design. They're retailing at £16 in all sizes with UK postage fee of £2 and more details can be obtained by sending him an e-mail. To view all of Kit's design, most of which make for excellent wallpapers, visit his gallery here.


Talking of shirts, I've just ordered this from the Sam Dodds, who have an excellent range of Liverpool shirts. Not only are they much more orignal and attractive than the official merchandise, but they're also significantly cheaper as well.