Manchester United – life after Ronaldo

The jury is out on whether or not Manchester United should have sold their star player Cristiano Ronaldo this summer. The £80million deal is a footballing world record transfer fee but can any amount of money really fill the void left by the awesome Portuguese play-maker’s presence. Ronaldo was United’s top goalscorer the past two seasons and was undoubtedly a huge part of the reason for their success. At times his playing style would mesmerise players and fans alike. The loss of Ronaldo is not just going to effect United but also the Premier League who have lost an iconic player to La Liga. Perhaps the best player in the world Ronaldo could go on to be one of the best ever.

Life goes on, however, and United have shown time and time again that they can cope with the loss of their main stars. Much was made of the departures of big names such as David Beckham, Jaap Stam and Ruud Van Nistelrooy at their prime but United coped with the losses and continued to build stronger squads. Sir Alex Ferguson is the master of this, somehow despite losing his best players the United boss turns his teams into better sides. This is why Sir Alex is more than happy to let go of players who he believes feel that they are too big for the club. Fergie has made it clear over the years that no player is bigger than Manchester United and that certainly no player is more powerful than the manager. Sir Alex adapts squads time and time again does it by signing great young talents who more often than not go on to produce the goods, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ronaldo himself all have proved wonderful signings. It also helps that United’s world class academy keeps throwing up players, some great stars like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Gary Neville others great squad fillers like Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea and Jonny Evans. So if any fan in the world does not have to worry about the sale of their best player it is a United fan.

The problem this time, though, is that Ronaldo is just that bit more special than any other player who has played under Sir Alex. Never in Fergie’s reign has such a great talent been on show at Old Trafford, so it is a bit of an unknown as to how well United will cope. Yes, the losses of Beckham, Stam and Van Nistelrooy were big news but all of these players were expected to only have a couple of years left at the top level. Ronaldo is 24 and could have another 6-8 years of great football left in him and being so young he could even improve as a player in the next few seasons. No-one has really carried the United team in the same way that Ronaldo has done in certain games and on certain occasions. There were games last season that you felt United definitely would not have won had Ronaldo not been playing.

So the loss is huge for United and worryingly Fergie has not done too much to rectify this. The signings of Wigan’s Antonio Valencia and Newcastle’s Michael Owen are not going to inspire fans too much. Whilst they will be decent first team players, Valencia and Owen can hardly be expected to fill Roanldo’s boots. In watching Valencia’s first game yesterday it became apparent that he would need time to adjust to United, Valencia seemed to drift in and out of the game and was not exactly pounding at the defence of a very poor Birmingham side.

Yesterday’s 1-0 victory at home to Birmingham was less than convincing. Birmingham were very very poor and displayed little heart in their defeat and the fact that United could not score more than one goal will concern the fans. Had Ronaldo been playing yesterday you have to wonder if the scoreline would have read more like 4-0 or 5-0.

However, it is still early days. Rooney looked in good shape yesterday getting on the score-sheet and United will need him to step it up a gear this season and produce a 20 plus goal season. Players like Nani, Berbatov and Anderson all have the potential to go on and do great things but it really is time for them to reveal it. If they don’t then it is tough to see where all of Ronaldo’s missed goals are going to come from. Maybe Sir Alex will buy a forward in January, maybe not but only time will tell if life after Ronaldo will be just as sweet or if it will be sour at least for the next couple of seasons anyway.

The Psychology of Choking

Ever since sport began athletes who have been expected to win have failed. Top class performers week in week out can let themselves down on the big occasion for no obvious reason. The term ‘choking’ in sport has nothing to do with a lack of oxygen to the lungs and brain but rather an apparent mental breakdown from an athlete completely incoherent with their previous form.

Some of the most memorable ‘chokes’ are heartbreaking to watch. Any England fan will tell you that penalties are not their friend and you would expect top professional footballers like Beckham, Waddle and Pearce to slot home from 12 yards. So why are so many penalties missed in the professional game?

Tennis player Dinara Safina is also known as a ‘choker’, Safina races to a grand slam final time after time looking untouchable until in the final she capitulates and looks no more than a very average player and is thrashed.

Perhaps the most dramatic ‘choke’ of the past few years was Jean Van Der Velde. The French golfer only needed a six on a par four hole to win the British open. Something every pro golfer would be expected to do in their sleep. Somehow though after a perfect drive he managed to get it into the water and after continual mistakes ended up getting a 7 and eventually losing the open on a play-off.

So why do such talented professional athletes ‘choke’, some people thing that it is a result of pressure getting to them and throwing them off their game. This may be true as scientists have started to conclude that ‘choking’ is the result of thinking too much. Over stimulating the thought process seems to encourage doubt and a sense of vulnerability. The obvious solution seems to be to think less, to focus and get in the zone of playing rather than notice the external distractions. Although theories such as these are hard to prove they do seem to add up.

Whilst it is a bit much to suggest that less intelligent people who do not think will be good at sport under pressure. Let me leave you with one interesting stat. Of the 35 England players who have been selected for the past three world cups, only 5 had had fathers with more than ‘basic formal education’.

Are A.C. Milan The New Real Madrid?

A few years ago Real Madrid were the talk of the football world. Along with the galacticos Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo (the original one!) and Raul the team seemed unbeatable.

Real Madrid had spent a record amount on players splashing out a cool 76 million euros on Zidane. This is the team who won the most European Cups in history. Despite all of this and even with an amazing team of stars they still underachieved. They just could not manage to dominate European football the way they were expected to.  The team was far from unbeatable and they were known around the world as a failure. The lack of passion and performance from their ageing Galacticos was plain to see.

Pundits commented that this proved once and for all that no matter how good your team is, if the players do not gel together then they can never be the best team in the world. It didn’t matter how many stars Real Madrid had, their lack of leadership and teamwork cost them and hence they have gone over 5 years without winning the European Cup.

It appears though that despite the problems of the mid naughties Real Madrid, a couple of years on A.C. Milan have started following down the same path.

It all started a couple of seasons ago when Milan signed Ronaldo from Real Madrid. Ronaldo was in the twighlight of an admittedly impressive career. However, he would soon get injured after having a very miniamal impact on the team, leaving for South America to finish off his playing days back home. This was a poor signing by anyones estimations, perhaps forgivable because it could have been a risk worth taking had Ronaldo found his old form.

This should have been a clear warning that signing great players towards the end of their careers was a mistake, especially for a team who are looking to rule world football.

Yet this season Milan have not changed their transfer policy and have signed another ageing Brazilian star in Ronaldinho. Now, whether or not Ronaldinho will turn out to be a great signing is yet to be seen and with strong rumours circulating that Milan are on the cusp of signing Beckham it seems that the club are happy to go for the ‘golden oldies’.

With a squad full of high profile over 30 year olds such as Shevchenko, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Zambrotta, Nesta, Seedorf, Inzaghi and Gattuso the fans of Milan must be getting concerned that come two or three years time their team will lose about half of its squad. The future just does not look that promising for this illustrious club at the moment.

The main problem is that A.C Milan have not qualified for the champions league this year and aren’t leading what appears to be another weak Serie A this season. This is bad news for a team who won the Champions League only 18 months ago. So why haven’t Milan adopted an Arsenal like approach and tried to sign quality youngsters rather than players who are past their prime?

The answer is not clear but perhaps part of the reasoning behind it is that high profile signings create more publicity and may help boss Ancelloti to hold onto his job by getting the fans behind the team. Milan have fallen from grace and for them to finish 5th in the Serie A last year was tragic. Ancelloti was not sacked however so perhaps his transfer policy is still convincing the fans and the board that Milan can be a force under his guidance within the next couple of years.

All is not lost for A.C. Milan, they still remain one of the richest clubs in the world and do have some potential within their younger players, they have already brought through Kaka who has become one of the best players in the world and with young Brazilian Alexandre Pato a particually exciting young player it may not be as bleak a future as one may think. Only time will tell as to whether A.C Milan will turn their fortunes around but they will have to improve if they want to be considered as the world’s best team in the near future.  If they continue going down the road that they are currently travelling around then they may be labelled as the new ‘Real Madrid’.