Football and climate change – two topics which rarely intersect thanks to the all-encompassing, TV-money-fuelled bubble surrounding the modern game.
But as away supporters all over the world are forced into their cars to attend matches scheduled with never a thought to public transport. And as ever, expanding international tournaments pump millions more tonnes of carbon emissions into our air, some clubs cannot afford to turn a blind eye.
Take Italian Serie D outfit SCD Ligorna 1922. Having survived relocation and a forced name change under the fascists, and the building of the SS45, autostrada through a previous home stadium, Ligorna’s all-weather pitch was covered by a huge mudslide in 2012.
Undaunted, fans and volunteers excavated the ground tucked alongside the highway and the Bisagno river in the Genovese district of Struppa and even managed to complete the season, fending off relegation to Italy’s seventh tier by amalgamating with fifth-rung works team PonteX.
Precarious
Sitting in the one-sided ground watching Ligorna struggle to defeat against ambitious USD Real Forte dei Marmi-Querceta, supporters could be forgiven for glancing nervously behind the only stand. Perched precariously at the foot of the steep hillside in question, the nearest trees from the forested incline intrude around and above the sides of the structure.
Given the evidence about how climate change not only worsens such natural disasters but renders terms such as “once-in-a-century” obsolete, the few hardened supporters trying to find plastic seats sheltered from the patchy rain on Sunday must know another landslide will occur sooner or later.
At the weekend, more immediate on-field matters were the concern as the players opened matters during a torrential downpour on an afternoon when Genoa’s weather warning service carried a yellow wind alert – fortunately signifying risk only to hairpieces and umbrellas.
The hosts sit three points from the safety mark in the, northwestern Girone A section of Serie D’s nine divisions, occupying one of four positions which involve a play-off against a lower league side for survival at the end of the season. The same margin separates the club from the second of the two automatic relegation places.
An early blow
Ligorna started brightly enough only to be undone by a dubious looking penalty after Real Forte Querceta forward Francesco di Paola crumpled unconvincingly in the area in the 19th minute. Nicholas Guidi showed no mercy from the spot.
Di Paola was brilliantly denied by a perhaps aggrieved Alessandro Bulgarelli in the home goal five minutes later and should have conceded a penalty in his own area after shoving Manuele Castorani in the back, unseen by the officials, on the half hour.
Ligorna had their chance to level in the 39th minute, after Antonio Tognarelli hauled down Andrea Mancini in the area and escaped what should have been a red card. Agonisingly for the hosts, Andrea Corsini cracked his penalty against the bar and the hosts’ luck was summed up a minute before the break.
In the space of less than 60 seconds, Corsini smashed a shot against the bar that left visiting keeper Andrea De Carlo a spectator and the visitors duly broke downfield to score a second, Ligorna failing to clear their lines and allowing Di Paola to bang in a lovely effort off the underside of the bar.
Pointless dismissal
When Real’s Mirko Lazzarini needlessly picked up two yellow cards in the space of nine second-half minutes, Ligorna coach Luca Monteforte made the first of his five permitted changes by wheeling out giant forward Luis Kacorri.
But the hosts lacked sufficient invention to find a way through their ten-man opponents during the 32 minutes they had a numerical advantage, and Real noisily celebrated going second and trailing leaders Casale – who occupy the only automatic promotion place – only by virtue of having scored one goal fewer in their opening 10 fixtures.
Relegation to the Eccellenza division is a worry for the players of Ligorna – but the bigger concern should be how long the club will be spared before the next Act of God.
SCD Ligorna 1922: Bulgarelli; Danovaro (Moretti, 78min), Gallotti (Ferrante, 79), Zunino; Di Cecco (Fasce, 81), Gnecchi, Castorani, Pondaco; Mancini, Corsini (Capotos, 72); Vallerga (Kacorri, 64).
Subs not used: Ventura, Gilardi, Perrone, Glarey.
Real Forte Querceta: De Carlo; Tognarelli, Guidi, Bertoni; Maccabruni, Lazzarini, Biagini, Angelotti; Doveri (Belluomini, 79); Falchini (Amico, 66), Di Paola (Molinaro, 81).
Subs not used: Manfredi, Maffini, Giovanelli, Fantini, Musacci, Baldassarri.
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”37″ heading=”Italy” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1072″ heading=”News” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
But this time it was not the Genovese who were suffering, as the footballers of S.C. Molassana Boero A.S.D. suffered their first defeat of the season at the one-sided ground squeezed in between the bell tower of the Church of our Lady in Lourdes at Campi, an Ikea warehouse and the local Lidl in Cornigliano.
Something had to give, as this was only the second outing of the season for two unbeaten sides in the less frenetic world of Eccellenza Liguria.
With the fifth tier of Italian football permitting five substitutions, the second-half inevitably took on a pre-season friendly feel as ten changes were made in nine separate interventions. The fact players are encouraged to leave via the nearest sideline, and trudging slowly from the field is given short shrift added a five-a-side football feel to proceedings – helped by the plastic surface – but the manner in which the visitors from Molassana reshuffled almost their entire forward line to try and get back into the game smacked of American football.
Direct action
Amid the chaos some football broke out, too much in the case of home team A.S.D. Genova Calcio, who should have hit the box at every opportunity after witnessing the early flailings of visiting keeper Alessandro Gianrossi.
The youngster would go on to prove his shot-stopping prowess but categorically failed to command his box and was characteristically absent at the game’s crucial moment, in the 62nd minute.
Genova’s Marco Campelli hung in a cross from the right that was permitted to reach Francesco Ilardo at the far post and his shot beat Gianrossi before being handled on the line. Ilardo made no mistake from the spot to claim the game’s only goal by sending the keeper the wrong way.
It was no more than the hosts deserved, their occasional attacks getting more direct, and more threatening as the game wore on. Molassana displayed a wonderfully fluid front four in a formation devilishly difficult to pin down as a 4-2-4 but for all their darting runs, interchanging players and false nines, they rarely made any headway until chasing the game late on.
With Simone Galleri having sent a free header wastefully over from a perfect Lorenzo Eranio free-kick for the visitors two minutes before the goal, the subsequent flurry of changes saw Davide Cuman beat home keeper Cesare Dondero to a Matteo Cucurullo corner five minutes from time only for his header to drop wide and lively substitute Mohamed Keita sent a low effort scudding wide in added time.
Injury blow
Gianrossi had brilliantly denied Genova’s Gabriele Sanci in the first half, Ilardo had leaned back too far three minutes before his goal and headed wide in the 71st minute in a game which saw few clear-cut chances.
Victory kept Genova Calcio alongside Sestri Levante 1919 as the only sides with perfect records in the 16-team scramble to nab the automatic promotion place to Serie D. The runners-up secure a place in a heinously complex play-off system which requires the 28 Eccellenza divisions to supply a further seven promoted sides.
Unbeaten after two matches they may be, but there was a sting in the tail for the hosts, who lost their most impressive defender – snowy haired Luca Riggio – to an apparent muscle injury six minutes from time.
Sunday’s trip to face Imperia may just have a got a whole lot more demanding.
[columns] [column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”37″ heading=”Italy” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column] [column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1072″ heading=”News” heading_type=”timeline” /] [/column]
]]>Defeats in their opening three games – you can add a 2-0 loss at Napoli after a 3-0 drubbing from Lazio and a disastrous 4-1 reverse at coach Eusebio Di Francesco’s former club Sassuolo – had left the Blucerchiata at the foot of the Serie A table and looking up at such luminaries as Lecce, SPAL and Udinese.
A 56th-minute strike from former Southampton forward Manolo Gabbiadini at least got La Samp’ up and running in the sheeting rain at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday, and hoisted his side off the bottom courtesy of Fiorentina’s draw at Atalanta.
However, Gabbiadini’s goal – which arrived after he mugged hapless Torino central defender Lyanco and which required VAR to confirm no foul had taken place – will have to done little to assuage any concerns Di Francesco may have about his side’s otherwise feeble attack.
Colley towers
In open play at least, the hosts seemed solid enough, with Omar Colley a commanding presence at the heart of the back three, although Torino did not provide the most searching of examinations until late in the day.
That reassurance tended to waver from set-pieces – goalkeeper Emil Audero’s handling was safe enough but the players in front of him looked nervy under a stream of crosses and corners which came to nought.
Further forward, La Samp’s problems became manifest. The hosts started brightly enough, striker Fabio Quagliarella sweeping the ball out to namesake Depaoli on the right, whose smart shot was pushed away by Salvator Sirigu to Gabbiadini, who saw his follow-up deflected behind.
That attack, within the opening 40 seconds, would prove to be as close as the hosts got to the Torino goal until Gabbiadini swooped to break the deadlock.
This website last week noted the alarming lack of guile in the midfield’s of Genoa and Atalanta and the same was evident on Sunday – when Ronaldo Vieri cut in from the left flank in the 18th minute. His blue shirted colleagues had concertinaed into a front six lined up across the edge of the area, each flanked by at least one Torino marker and leaving the England under-21 international nowhere to go.
Depaoli default
Perhaps that explained the hosts’ predilection for sweeping the ball out to Depaoli despite the fact the right wing-back failed to deliver a telling ball time and time again. Or maybe Sampdoria had identified visiting wing-back Ola Aina as a weakness.
On the rare occasion a ball finally did get into the danger zone, there was no-one there to apply the coup de grace. Gabbiadini, so effective upon his arrival on the English south coast, was more Teflon than Velcro as a holding man, conspicuously failing to keep hold of the ball when playing with his back to goal.
Quagliarella made headlines last season as a striker who couldn’t stop scoring and ended the season as a 36-year-old capocannoniere, but he was anonymous here and appeared a player who knows the Indian summer to his career is behind him.
Papering over the cracks
When Depaoli finally supplied an inviting delivery – in the 63rd minute – Vieri’s finish permitted Sirigu to get down to his right and make a sprawling one-handed save. The Italian international repeated the feat seven minutes later to deny Albin Ekdal and prompted an almighty scramble in the area which culminated in three blue shirts dallying on the ball within five yards of each other and unable to get off a shot.
By that stage, of course, Gabbiadini had struck and the home players were able to celebrate in front of their tifosi but unless coach Di Francesco can find a solution other than hoping Quagliarella’s killer instinct returns, it could be a long hard season for the Blucerchiata.
To put a more positive spin on things: there is nothing that can’t be addressed by the addition of a more commanding midfield presence, penetration on the flanks and a 20-goals-a-season striker. In other words, the same problems that dog almost every football team on earth.
[columns] [column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”37″ heading=”Italy” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column] [column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”257″ heading=”Serie A” heading_type=”timeline” /] [/column]
]]>Of course, it may just have been a bad day at the office for Genoa and visitors Atalanta but it was the acres of space that were available for midfield runners which was shocking for anyone schooled in the days of watching Paul Gascoigne, Attilio Lombardo and Arrigo Sacchi’s peerless Milan side.
Atalanta scrapped their way into the top four last season and their rightful reward is a Champions League campaign which starts in Zagreb on Wednesday night and also encompasses two assignment against Pep Guardiola’s Man City.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are lauded domestically for their high-press but the Nerazzurri hardly suffocated their hosts in Genoa on Sunday. However, that was nothing to the concertina shape Genoa crumpled into when the visitors attacked, the nominal midfield three of the hosts collapsing into a back-eight which offered acres of space to an Atalanta midfield rarely able to exploit the opportunity and left forwards Andrea Pinamonti and Christian Kouamé hopelessly isolated up top.
As their opponents retreated, Chelsea loanee Mario Pasalic, Remo Freuler and Alejandro Gomez failed to find a way through, with the latter particularly prone to running up blind alleys and the Bergamasque side had to rely on the promptings of link man Josip Ilicic dropping ever deeper.
Fittingly the game appeared set to hinge on two errors, Zapata awarded a penalty after a VAR examination of the challenge meted out to him by namesake Christian Zapata in the 61st minute, former Sampdoria forward and substitute Luis Muriel rolling home the pressure spot-kick some three minutes after the incident.
The hosts’ penalty appeared more marginal, Kouamé going down under challenge from Berat Djimsiti. When skipper Domenico Crisito fired into the roof of the net in the 91st minute, a suitably humdrum draw appeared in prospect.
But there is one thing that appears to be unchanged from Serie A’s days of glory – a lovable penchant for high drama and explosive finishing, and so it proved.
There appeared little danger as Atalanta again tried to find a route through Genoa’s eight-man rearguard ticked into a fifth minute of injury time but the visitors’ Zapata unleashed a ferocious effort from nowhere that cannoned in off the underside of Andrei Radu’s crossbar to temporarily silence the raucous fans in the home curva.
Genoa (5-3-2): Andrei Radu; Paolo Ghiglione (Peter Ankersen, 82), Cristian Romero, Christian Zapata, Domenico Criscito, Antonio Barreca (Goran Pandev, 82); Lukas Lerager, Ivan Radovanovic (Riccardo Saponara, 70), Lasse Schöne; Christian Kouamé, Andrea Pinamonti. Subs not used: Federico Marchetti, Chitolina Jandrei, Edoardo Goldaniga, Antonio Sanabria, Jawad El Yamiq, Davide Biraschi, Filip Jagiello, Andrea Favilli, Marko Pajač.
Atalanta: (3-5-2): Pierluigi Gollini; Rafael Toloi, Berat Djimsiti, Andrea Masiello; Hans Hateboer, Mario Pasalic (Marten De Roon, 56), Remo Freuler, Alejandro Gomez, Robin Gosens; Josip Ilicic (Luis Muriel, 59), Duvan Zapata. Subs not used: Francesco Rossi, Marco Sportiello, Simon Kjaer, José Palomino, Guilherme Arana, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Timothy Castagne, Roger Ibanez, Musa Barrow.
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”257″ heading=”Serie A” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”37″ heading=”Italy” heading_type=“timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
Scorers: Bremer (og, 43’), Jota (59’), De Silvestri (61’), Jiménez (72’), Belotti (pen 89’)
Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, 9pm kick-off.
Wolves will take three away goals and a one-goal lead to Molineux in a week’s time but may still end up wondering what might have been after failing to see out the game for a more emphatic win in Turin.
A magnificent solo effort from Raúl Jiménez had left the hosts a mountain to climb at 3-1 down but, with the Alps looming over the city, Andrea Belotti won and converted a penalty in the 89th minute and almost scored a stunning leveller to fire a warning Wolves are not in the group stages yet.
The Black Country side’s fast-tracked return to European competition after a 38-year absence has created a real conundrum for manager Nuno Espirito Santo. The Portuguese can walk on water as far as the locals are concerned so he would be forgiven for taking the Europa League too lightly.
And yet, the rocking full houses seen at Molineux for qualifying round home games against the minnows of Crusaders and Pyunik demonstrated all too clearly what a special place European competition holds for the Old Gold and black hordes. After all, as any Wolves fan will tell you, the European Cup/Champions League only came into being to test the claims made by Stan Cullis’ side of being the best in the world after beating the mighty Honved in 1954.
In the event Nuno fielded a strong side. He tinkered with his midfield by making three changes but, as if to emphasise his managerial alchemy it was two of the supporting cast that provided the visitors’ most dangerous moments early on.
Right wing back Adama Traore gave Cristian Ansaldi a tough time and set up Diogo Jota, whose shot was stopped by one of Salvatore Sirigu’s feet in the 13th minute and Romain Saiss brilliantly broke up a home attack to send Traore raiding down the right again two minutes later.
Torino gave notice of their own threat in the 20th minute when defender Armando Izzo recovered a deep free-kick in acres of space to the right of goal and teed up a thumping header from central defensive partner Nicolas Nkoulou which rattled Rui Patricio’s bar.
Talk of a typically cagey European affair was proving well wide of the mark and Wolves should have been ahead after 23 minutes when João Moutinho brilliantly picked out Leander Dendoncker unmarked at the left-hand post from a free-kick on the right but the midfielder somehow contrived to head wide of a gaping net.
At the other end, Belotti roared down the left after Saiss had been floored downfield and cut inside to batter a shot wide, but it was Wolves who were ahead two minutes before the break.
When Daniele Baselli conceded a free-kick to the left of goal there was much oh-so-Italian hand shaking and well there might be, as Moutinho dropped in another dangerous cross that flew past Sirigu at the far post. Saiss was credited with the strike but it looked very much like a player in a granata shirt that had the final touch, with Brazilian defender Bremer the likely culprit.
Wolves must have thought they had a foot in the group stages when the home defence unaccountably froze in the 59th minute as Traore, to the right of goal, pulled the ball back for an unmarked Jota to rifle joyfully home. But Il Toro were back in it within two minutes, left wing back Ansaldi dropping in a perfect cross for opposite number Lorenzo De Silvestre, charging in, to bury an unstoppable header.
Another Hollywood pass from Moutinho almost set Jota free before Bremer recovered to block and Wolves restored their two-goal advantage in the 72nd minute with a brilliant solo effort from Jiménez, the striker slaloming effortlessly between a chasing pack of four wine red shirts before firing between Sirigu and his near post.
That should have been that but, less than two minutes from time, Belotti tumbled over the outstretched leg of Rúben Vinagre – one of those Nuno changes from the Premier League XI – as he ran away from goal and the official pointed to the spot. The big forward fired the penalty under Patricio and Belotti almost had a sensational equaliser in the first minute of added time, a long-distance effort having the Portuguese keeper scrambling across his line to desperately claw the ball wide at the foot of his left-hand post.
If Belotti and striker partner Simone Zaza are in tandem again in Wolverhampton next week, the hosts will still have work to do.
Line-ups:
Torino (3-5-2) – Sirigu; Izzo, N’koulou, Bremer; De Silvestri, Meité (OFF 64’), Baselli, Berenguer (OFF 58’), Ansaldi (OFF 70’); Zaza, Belotti.
Subs used – Lukić (58’ ON), Rincón (64’ ON), Aina (70’ ON).
Unused subs – Rosati, Bonifazi, Millico, Djidji.
Wolves (3-5-2) – Patricio; Vallejo, Coady, Boly; Traore (OFF 64’), Dendoncker, Moutinho, Saiss, Vinagre; Jimenéz (OFF 76’), Jota (OFF 69’).
Subs used – Jonny (64’ ON), Neto (69’ ON), Cutrone (76’ ON)
Unused subs – Ruddy, Bennett, Neves, Gibbs-White
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1392″ heading=”Europa League” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”659″ heading=”Wolves” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
Raucous packed houses in The Black Country for seemingly run-of-the-mill qualifiers against the minnows of Crusaders and Pyunik demonstrated what a special place European nights occupy for fans of a club entwined with the foundation of the European Cup.
As Wolves recover from a demanding Premier League assignment against Manchester United on Friday and keep an eye on the visit of Burnley on Sunday, manager Nuno Espírito Santo can be expected to be pragmatic and ring the changes to a matchday squad unchanged in the opening two PL matches of the season. However, the enthusiasm of that Molineux crowd for more European occasions is likely to prevent the Portuguese from taking Thursday night’s assignment too lightly.
Former Watford manager Walter Mazzarri has no such competing distractions as Serie A does not kick-off until Sunday’s visit of Sassuolo, the concern for him will surround the match-readiness of his players for the big occasion after what appear to have been routine Europa victories against Debrecen and Shakhtyor Soligorsk.
Team news
Wolves right wing-back Matt Doherty was rated 50/50 in midweek after suffering illness since playing in Friday’s 1-1 draw against United.
Walter Mazzarri
Asked about the fact the match will be refereed by Portuguese official Artur Soares Dias, given Wolves’s extensive Portuguese links, Mazzarri played a straight bat, albeit with just a hint of menace. “As you all know, I never discuss referees before the game. I will give my opinion afterwards. I always do this. After the match is the time to evaluate your team, your opponents and ultimately, the referee.”
Patrick Cutrone
The Wolves striker, who joined from Milan at the end of July for £16.2 million, told La Gazzetta dello Sport Torino will be difficult opponents as they share many characteristics with his new employers. “It will be tough,” said Cutrone. “Il Toro are strong. We have many things in common: passionate supporters, character, pride and a sense of belonging [in European competition.”
Head-to-head
Wolves and Torino have never met in a competitive fixture but the Black Country outfit’s only previous European action against Italian opponents saw them record a 1-1 draw in the same stadium where they will play on Thursday night. That result at what is now known as the Stadio Olimpico sealed a 3-2 aggregate win over Juventus in the UEFA Cup quarter-final in the 1971-72 season.
Expected line-ups
Torino (3-5-2) – Sirigu; Bonifazi, N’koulou, Silva Nascimento; De Silvestri, Lukic, Rincón, Meité, Ansaldi; Belotti, Zaza.
Wolves (3-5-2) – Ruddy; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Traore, Gibbs-White, Saiss, Moutinho, Vinagre; Neto, Cutrone.
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1392″ heading=”Europa League” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”659″ heading=”Wolves” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
Such was his barnstorming second-half performance in one of the greatest sporting comebacks of modern times, it can be easy to forget former Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise had a penalty saved during the shoot-out that saw The Reds lift the 2005 Champions League trophy.
But the former Anfield favourite has revealed he might have been remembered for an even more high-profile contribution from 12 yards, if the rock-paper-scissors he was going over in his mind had gone differently.
“I didn’t think about pressure,” said the man who would become the most capped player in Norwegian football, as he reflected on the long walk he made to take his side’s third shoot-out penalty. “I was too busy deciding what to do.
“I had cramp in injury time, extra time … I was scared [about what would happen] if I smashed it, as I would normally have done – I was scared of cramp. So when I was walking from the halfway line to the penalty, I haven’t decided what to do yet. I was thinking: ‘smash, place… or Panenka’.” Yes, you read that correctly; with the world watching, the Liverpool left-back was pondering whether this might be the time to go for the ‘falling leaf’, cheekily chipped option that has left players of the calibre of Maradona looking like prize plums.
“I put the ball down – I didn’t decide,” added Arne Riise. “I turn around, walk to the 18-yard line – haven’t decided. When I turned to look at the goal, that’s when I decided: ‘safety first’ – and that’s the only time in my life I went safety first, and I regret it today.” Admitting he had never tried to float a penalty, Arne Riise explained: “I wanted to do it because it’s the final, and I wanted to be remembered for something.”
The former Aalesund, Monaco, Roma and Fulham man was patiently fielding questions at the Golazio bar in Camberwell, London, that was opened by Tim McTigue to celebrate his love of all things 1990s-Serie A-Channel 4 related. This week it hosted a launch event for Arne Riise’s biography: Running Man.
While musing on the dramatic finish to that memorable night in Istanbul, the Norwegian star offered Prost International an insight into the tactical acumen, timing and peerless contingency planning that means homegrown Liverpool favourite Jamie Carragher is probably better off in the TV studio than the dug-out.
“The funny thing is, I was walking back to the halfway line and I was so disappointed, and then Carra comes up to me and says: ‘listen, Ginge, why didn’t you see the goalkeeper always goes the same way every time?’ I told him: ‘Why didn’t you tell me before I took the pen?’”
With a player capped 110 times for his country at senior level insisting he wants his story to inspire people to battle through tough starts in life, Arne Riise offered up the remarkable revelation he was frequently chosen last for teams in the school playground.
“People who had broken their foot or something, and were on crutches, were picked before me,” he said, at the same time both illustrating the bullying he faced as a pupil in a new school, and establishing common ground with his interviewer – at least until going on to explain the schoolyard snubs were down to jealousy of his obvious talent.
It is tempting to wonder what his boyhood bullies were thinking as they watched the Istanbul final on television.
Felix Magath did everything the opposite way to others said Riise
Photo: wikipedia
Arne Riise’s affection for Liverpool was obvious as he discussed the merits of Jürgen Klopp – “a genius” whom he “would have loved to play for”.
He described how he watched Sunday’s momentous Merseyside derby on his phone in the back of a car, following a Laser Quest birthday party with his son – in itself an arresting image, the tatto-covered, musclebound former footballer charging around at pace, scattering seven-year-olds like ninepins in his characteristic buccaneering style.
But the former player’s love of Anfield was not enough to prompt a prediction Liverpool would win the title, with the defender adding: “I think still [the] Premier League’s going to be too difficult, I think City’s too strong, I don’t think City’s going to slip up that many times.”
Arne Riise has managerial ambitions of his own, having just completed his UEFA B licence, and said he regularly rings up clubs in Norway to join them for training.
He pauses for a long time when asked which of the managers he played under he thinks he would most resemble, before settling on “Ranieri [at Roma] … or maybe Benitez.”
Not Norway coach and long-ball fundamentalist Egil Olsen, under whom he played in two spells for the national team? “He has a different view of tactics in football.” Or Felix Magath, his boss at Fulham? “He did everything [the] opposite of what everybody else did.”
Disappointingly, Arne Riise did not touch upon the German’s insistence on the importance of cheese in treating injuries, but he did offer up one other cultural observation when recalling how he had instantly fitted in on Merseyside.
“When I came there, I found a home straight away,” said a player who will always have a piece of Liverpool in his soul. “Norwegians are like Liverpool people. Of course I looked like a Scouser, you know – ginger and freckles with white skin, so I mixed straight in.”
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”527″ heading=”Liverpool” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”59″ heading=”EPL” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
Photo: Mr Bootle flickr
Wilf’s only half the story for Palace
by Max Hall
Not surprisingly, given Crystal Palace’s inability to register a Premier League point when Wilfried Zaha was injured last season, all of this summer’s pre-season focus has been on the Ivorian.
In a sport overly prone to singling out superstars, Palace are perilously close to being a one-man team but, important as keeping ‘Wilf’ at Selhurst Park is to the Eagles’ top-flight prospects, there is another piece of the south London puzzle that is even more important.
Roy Hodgson, who will celebrate his 71st birthday on Thursday August 9, was every bit as important last season in reviving a team left flailing by Frank de Boer’s disastrous seven-game spell, as his livewire winger.
Just like Zaha, Hodgson is intrinsically linked with the borough of Croydon, near to the famous south London club. But, unlike his star attacker – and despite the miraculous feat of turning around a club that was pointless and goalless when the veteran manager was parachuted in – Hodgson is in no imminent danger of being poached by a bigger rival. And that’s good news for the Eagles as fans sweat over whether Zaha will be swayed by a mega offer as the countdown to the big kick-off ticks down.
Will he, won’t he?
Manager and player have both stated publicly that Zaha is going nowhere but, after a club and international managerial career spanning more than four decades and encompassing some of the biggest jobs in the game, Hodgson knows how much weight to put in such declarations of undying loyalty. The former England manager will already have targets in mind to replace his biggest asset should the nightmare scenario unfold, and a bank-busting offer for the Ivory Cast international arrive, possibly from Tottenham.
It would take a huge amount of cash to persuade chairman Steve Parish to sell, and that’s just as well because after understandably complaining about a threadbare squad that was torn apart by injuries last season, Hodgson has had little cash to rebuild this summer, a legacy of profligate spending from his predecessors and the club’s ambitious plan to upgrade their richly atmospheric stadium.
Hodgson has cleared away dead wood in the likes of Lee Chung Yong, Bakary Sako and goalkeeping veteran Diego Cavalieri, and also ushered Joel Ward out after the exciting emergence of academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka last time out – the youngster’s emergence a real silver lining to that injury cloud.
Competition for the gloves
The addition of Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita has been trailed since January and will provide competition to the loyal Wayne Hennessey, who will probably never win Palace fans over despite his recurring heroics for Wales.
Cheikhou Kouyate adds Premier League experience from West Ham and promising young German Max Meyer is an intriguing addition, but it remains to be seen whether either will be an upgrade on Yohan Cabaye who, in a sign of the times, turned his back on the EPL in favor of a lucrative free transfer to Dubai’s Al Nasr.
And that’s it, in terms of new arrivals thus far, though Palace fans won’t be surprise by any late-season additions, and the wily Hodgson is sure to mine the loan market for all it’s worth as he attempts to improve on last season’s 11th place finish. Will he be able to pull it off? He certainly has the nous, now it’s over to you Wilf.
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”829″ heading=”London Calling” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”3″ heading=”EPL” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]