This is a new section of the blog (as if there are any other parts) that I will write every Monday briefly reviewing the weeks footballing news as well as some Leeds United news. This would probably be better on a Sunday but that makes far too much sense for my liking.
AVB Heading For The Job Centre?
After a third defeat in just 4 games the Chelsea boss will be looking over his shoulder. The 2-1 defeat to Liverpool left them 7 points behind second placed Manchester United and 12 points behind leaders Manchester City. That Chelsea were struggling to break down a team like Liverpool, who own form has been more than disappointing given recent investment, should be concerned. They're become an old side fast and look in desperate need of rejuvenation. Bringing in the likes of Sturridge have given the club a slight boost but until it starts to develop its own youth players then Chelsea will start to fall further behind. The big talking point of the game was that both Carroll and Torres were on their respective benches. £85m worth of alleged talent not starting. It's easy for me to say but Torres needs games. He's clearly a highly strung player and the lack of consistency is doing nothing for his poor form. He desperately needs to get back to Spain to rebuild his self-confidence, a loan until the end of the season would be perfect for hum but given the price that Chelsea paid I can't quite see this one coming off. AVB must make some tough calls in January to help keep the team in any form of title contention.
Eboue Abused
Disgraceful scenes in, surprise surprise, Turkey saw former Arsenal man Emmanuel Eboue pelted with objects while he was pitchside receiving treatment. Although I have a biased opinion on Turkish football already, I think it's fair to say that these actions don't surprise anyone in the UK. No person deserves to be treated in such a appalling way and UEFA clearly need to deal with this. Given their recent actions against Turkish sides cheating it is to be hoped they will act swiftly and sternly to help kick racism out of the game. The only concern is that UEFA goes back to its old ways and buried its head in sand.
England Send People To Sleep
I'm not entirely sure what Capello learned from England's performance against Sweden, except that Gareth Barry will claim own goals. It was such an awful I had to stop watching at half time for fear my heart would stop out of shear boredom. The controversial part of the game was the inclusion of John Terry as captain. If the FA tooks it's stance against racism seriously it wouldn't have allowed his inclusion but strangely enough the man who leads his country wasn't started against (former) World Champions Spain but tested against the mighty Sweden. If Terry worked in any other industry he would be suspended for during his investigation. This being football though, we're only too willing to overlook alleged racism, affairs, violence and theft to field a starting eleven. John Terry shouldn't be anyway near football at the moment, he clearly needs to go away and evaluate what he's actually doing with his life.
AOB To Drop Leeds
Andy O'Brien proved that Carlos Tevez isn't the only ungrateful footballer by deciding to tell Leeds boss Simon Grayson that he didn't want to play for Leeds again despite the club standing by him through personal problems. Clearly there was some resentment from the way he was subbed against Bradford City, his former club, in the League Cup but he seemed to have redeemed himself with a solid performance in the White's 1-0 victory of Leicester City. O'Brien, now in his thirties, may have thrown away his last chance playing at a high level. Clearly something has been bothering him since August and it is unlikely that many clubs will want to touch a player who has refused to play for a club, but at least he'll have Tevez to keep him company, even if he is depressed. In completely unrelated news Paul Rachubka is likely to go out on loan before the emergency loan window closes.
