Ronaldo – Born to Dribble

Ronaldo’s retirement from football after Brazil vs Romania marks the end of the career of one of the true modern greats. A man who truly revolutionised the way the game is played today.

Why the Surprise?

“At every club he has managed Fabio (Capello) has won the league title and Sir Trevor Brooking and I were left in no doubt of his passion and commitment to bring that success to the England team.” At the time of Capello’s appointment as England manager, few would have disagreed with the FA Chief Executive’s words about him. With a proven track record and a reputation as one of the best managers in world football, surely he was the man to bring the England National team the success they were looking for?

Fast forward two years, and the marriage between perhaps the biggest underachievers in international football and the manager who would suddenly spark achievement from a team who failed to qualify for their last major tournament isn’t one which looks to be ending with the words ‘happily ever after’. Despite making easy work of the qualifications, England only reached the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup, their worst finish since USA ’98. There was obvious dis-rest in the England camp, and the blame seemed to lie with Fabio Capello for being ‘too strict’. England fans felt that Capello being paid £6 million a year in return for a 4-1 drubbing by Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup warranted his sacking or resignation.

Despite the calls for his head, Capello stayed on but confirmed he would be stepping down after the European Championships next summer. If confidence in him was to be at all restored, then England needed to breeze the qualification campaign for this tournament, especially when drawn against Bulgaria, Switzerland, Wales and Montenegro.

England’s 2012 European Championship qualification has been, to this point, fairly unconvincing despite recording 3 wins and 2 draws from their 5 matches played. Although they top their qualification group, England have never really hit the heights they did when Capello first took the helm, dispatching (albeit weaker) teams with relative ease.

Perhaps it was unreasonable to expect Fabio Capello to magically turn around England’s fortunes; the England team whose current crop of players have never performed on the big stage. For their countries, at least. All of Rooney (3), Ferdinand (3), Carrick (3), Gerrard (2), Terry, Lampard, J. Cole and A. Cole and have at least played in a European Cup Final for their clubs,  the first 4 of them even emerging victorious once. All of these players can be accused of often punching below their weight when it comes to the international stage and the tournaments come along.

So if the manager cannot take all of the blame and experience isn’t the problem, just what is?

Maybe the biggest lesson to be learnt from England’s failures at the World Cup in recent years is by looking at the teams that have been successful (and reached the latter stages). The two teams that reached the Final at South Africa in 2010 were the Netherlands and Spain. What do those two teams have in common? Both played with 2 holding midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation. For Spain, those two players were Busquets and Alonso. For the Netherlands, de Jong and van Bommel.

In international football where possession is key, the key to keeping possession seems to be implementing the two holding midfielders. This is reinforced by Spain having an average of 62.4% possession in WC 2010, and the Netherlands had one of 52.9%.

Argentina also used the same formation, with Veron and Mascherano as the 2 holding players in midfield. At previous World Cups, this also seems to bear true. 2006 Finalists France also used a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their holding midfielders being Makelele and Toulalan.

Looking at the players at Fabio Capello’s disposal, is it worth implementing Michael Carrick and Steven Gerrard to this role, giving Lampard licence to attack through the middle? Would it help them retain possession better? Or is this formation not suited to the English game?

Ronaldo vs Messi

It’s the argument which all football fans around the globe love having, but until recently a definitive answer has never been reached. Thanks to Jose Mourinho’s defensive tactics when playing Madrid whenever Ronaldo has come on top over the past season in La Liga, it has never been to the devastating effect in which Lionel Messi has. So now one has a larger case for who is the better player, but what do the statistics tell us?

Note – Statistics are from all competitions (unless otherwise stated)

Let’s start with season 2010/11. Cristiano Ronaldo played 54 times for Real Madrid, scoring 53 goals in the process and making 16 assists. This translates as Ronaldo having a goals per game rate of 0.98. Throw his assists into the mix, and Ronaldo is directly conributing to 1.28 goals per game. With Real Madrid scoring 148 goals in 2010/11 this meant that Ronaldo scored 36% of their goals and assisted 11% of them. If these two are combined, Ronaldo has directly contributed to 47% of Real Madrid’s goals.

Lionel Messi made one more appearance than Cristiano Ronaldo did in 2010/11, with 55. He scored the same number of goals (53) and made 24 assists, 8 more than his rival Ronaldo. This means that Messi has a lower but still impressive goals per game rate of 0.96. If you include his assists as well, Messi is directly contributing 1.4 goals per game to Barcelona whenever he is on the pitch. Barcelona scored 147 goals in 2010/11, meaning that Messi had also scored 36% of his team’s goals. He also assisted 16% of Barcelona’s goals, and if these two are combined then Messi had a direct contribution in 52% of Barcelona’s goals.

So Messi comes out on top for season 2010/11. How do the two compare for the season before?

Season 2009/10 marked Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in La Liga, after Real Madrid paid Manchester United a record £80 million to acquire his services. Would Messi’s previous 5 year La Liga experience make any huge difference?

Ronaldo played 35 times in 2009/10, scoring 33 goals and making 7 assists. This made his goal per game rate (only!) 0.94. With his assists included, he was directly contributing 1.14 goals per game for Real Madrid. And with Real Madrid scoring 117 goals in 2009/10, this meant that Ronaldo scored 30% of Real’s goals and assisted 6% of them. Combines, this means that he directly contributed 34% of Real Madrid’s goals.

Messi played 53 times in 2009/10, scoring 47 and making 11 assists. This gave him a goals per game rate of 0.89, and with his assists included meant he was directly contributing 1.09 goals to every game he played in. Barcelona scored 129 goals in 2009/10, meaning Messi had scored 36% of Barcelona’s goals that season, and assisted 9%. Combined, this means that Messi directly contributed for 45% of Barcelona’s goals.

So Messi is statistically superior when both have been playing in La Liga. However, how do the two compare from when Ronaldo was at Manchester United?

From season 2004/05 – 2008/09, Lionel Messi played 161 times for Barcelona, scoring 80 goals and making 38 assists. This translates to a goals per game rate of 0.50. If you combine his goals and assists, he was directly contributing 0.65 goals per game. This also averages out to 16 goals per season, and 7.6 assists.

During the same period Cristiano Ronaldo had played 252 times for Manchester United, scoring 112 goals and making 54 assists. This means his goals per game rate was 0.44, and if assists and goals were to be combined Ronaldo was directly contributing 0.66 goals per game. This averages out to 22.4 goals per season, and 10.8 assists.

So, Messi was scoring goals at a higher rate than Ronaldo was when the latter was playing in the Premier League, but Ronaldo was scoring and assisting on average more goals per season, assisting at a higher rate and contributing very slightly (0.01) more  goals to his team every game.

So how do the two compare internationally? Both are (as you would expect) regular starters in their teams, and both teams have always reached major tournaments. Ronaldo is also Portugal’s captain.

Ronaldo has played 80 times for Portugal since 2004, scoring 26 goals. This means he has a goals per game rate internationally of 0.33. On the other hand, Messi has played 55 times for Argentina since 2005, scoring 16 goals. This translates to a goals per game rate of 0.29 goals per game. Ronaldo, again, is just about superior in this aspect but it is also interesting to note that both players aren’t anywhere near as prolific for their countries as they have been for their clubs.

So who is the better player? Statistically and based on the impact they have on their teams, it is still a tough one to call. Ronaldo can also argue that he had the impressive stats even when he was playing in the Premier League, dubbed the ‘toughest league in the world’. Messi, however, can point to his two Ballon D’ors, as opposed to Ronaldo’s one and his three UEFA Champions League top scorer awards (Ronaldo, again, only has the one).

Bébé – The Enigma

Whenever one of Europe’s elite announce the signing of a new player, this sparks much interest from fans of the game. Suddenly, everybody is a world class scout and passes their judgement on a certain player – speculating on whether they will be a success or a failure for their respective new club. For those of you who play Football Manager, sharing memorable experiences with managing this player, his statistics and his transfer value in the medium also enter the fray of discussion.

In more recent seasons, one of the major talking points of club transfers has been Manchester United’s acquisition of Portugal’s under-21 forward Tiago Manuel Dias Correia – otherwise known by his nickname ‘Bébé’ – in the summer of 2010.

Bébé, meaning baby in Portuguese, is what Bébé was when he was abandoned by his parents and was subsequently raised by his grandmother in Lisbon until the age of 12 after a court ruling put him into the care of a church 20km away. Football, it seems, was his escape from the instability of his life and those around him. I’m sure we are all familiar of a certain Brazilian by the name of Pelé, who started playing football on the streets and was eventually snapped up by Santos at the age of 15. The rest, as they say, is history.

Bébé’s talent and ability was spotted in 2009, at the age of 18, and the Portuguese Street Soccer Organisation allowed him to play in the European Street Football Festival in the same year. His team, CAIS, were knocked out of the tournament after the 6 group stage matches, despite Bébé bagging an impressive 4 goals.

So how did somebody who was playing in the European Street Football Festival in 2009 and up signing for none other than Manchester United in a deal reported to be worth  £7.4 million only a year later?

After playing in the Street Tournament in Bosnia, Bébé was signed by then Portuguese Second Division side Estrela da Amadora for the 2009/10 season. He was something of a regular for them, playing 26 times and scoring 4 goals during his only season at the club. According to Bébé’s former agent, he was then offered to PSV Eindhoven in a free transfer for the 2010/11 season, but the club rejected this offer and Bébé decided to move up to the Portuguese Premier Division and sign for Vitória de Guimarães on a 5 year contract, with the club opting to insert a €9 million release clause. However, Bébé never made an appearance for Vitória. Five weeks after he had joined them, Manchester United agreed to sign the 20 year old for a reported £7.4 million.

For the romantics, this was a transfer which had given a player who had come from a very underprivileged background (though not  homeless, as some reports suggested), who was playing street football only 12 months ago, a rare chance to make the grade at one of the biggest clubs in world football. Bébé was also represented by the man who brought three very exciting young prospects to Manchester United; Jorge Mendes had overseen the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson. A sign of what to come, perhaps? Former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz had also recommended him the club, and there was also reported interest from Real Madrid and Benfica in the player. With all of this in mind, £7.4 million seemed like a pretty decent price for the young Portuguese.

However, the sceptics also had much justification for being so. For one, Sir Alex Ferguson openly admitted to never having seen Bébé play before, even on television. He said that his scouts in Portugal were hopeful about this player, and the reported interest from other clubs meant that he had to “have faith” in his scouts and move fast in order to acquire Bébé’s services. There’s also the fact that Bébé could have been bought for just 150, 000 euros 5 weeks before Bébé’s £7 million pound plus transfer to United.  Many believed that this transfer value was unjustified for a player who had never actually represented a club at a higher level than the Portuguese Third Division.

The Daily Mail did not help things either, reporting that Bébé had largely unimpressed in training for Manchester United, and their new multi-million pound transfer was struggling to make their reserve team. And once he did make United’s reserve team, they immediately lambasted his debut performance as ‘dire’. Sir Alex Ferguson labelled these stories as ‘disgusting’, claiming that Bébé was still acclimatising to the English game but conceded that his fitness was not up to scratch. He did, however, describe Bébé as having “high potential”.

So with all of this negative attention in mind – just how has Bébé done in his debut season in English football? The first notable thing he did was get into United’s 25 man squad for the Champions League (which he has featured in). His first first team appearance came in the League Cup 3rd round, being introduced into the game in the 74th minute. He had a fair few opportunities with the ball and seemed to be comfortable with it at his feet and taking players on. His first Premier League and Champions League appearances also came as a substitute appearances, also scoring his first European goal of his career in the latter. In total, Bébé has made 7 appearances ( 215 minutes in total), and scored 2 goals in the process. This is a goal every 107.46 minutes, which is fairly impressive considering his very little time on the pitch, and these 215 minutes being spread across 7 games (30 mins per appearance on average).

Bébé seems to have been blessed with all the attributes a top winger needs: speed, control, strength power and great technique (just see his 2nd goal against Wigan in November). But one thing to bear in mind is that Bébé was not poached from Barcelona (a la Fabregas) or a top division’s academy. Bébé has not had a footballing education, and is therefore naturally very, very raw and a “rough diamond”. His attributes make him a project worth seeing out, for if it succeeds he could become a very decent player. Although he didn’t play very much this season, what he did do in the time that he was on the pitch was fairly impressive.

It could take Bébé another season still to find his feet in England and at Manchester United. Perhaps a loan move beckons for him next season where he can find regular game time. His price-tag seems to distract many people from looking at Bébé for what he really is, but whether Bébé will make the grade at United remains to be seen.

I, for one, am hopeful that he can.

Whatever Happened to Kiko Macheda?

It’s difficult to think of a more memorable first team debut than Federico Macheda’s for Manchester United.

The picture was as follows: Manchester United had to beat Aston Villa at Old Trafford in order to leapfrog Liverpool into 1st place of the Barclays Premier League table. However, United were 2-1 down with an hour gone facing a third league defeat in a row.

This prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to bring on untested 17 year old Federico ‘Kiko’ Macheda into the fray with the hopes of 75,000 inside Old Trafford and many millions around the world on his shoulders.

By the 89th minute, United had equalised thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his 15th league goal of the season 9 minutes earlier. In almost a sign of desperation, another teenager had been brought on for United in Danny Welbeck replaced the largely ineffective Carlos Tevez. But by this time, Manchester United fans were already mourning Liverpool staying at the top of the League table for another week, as if being trounced 4-1 by their bitter rivals 3 weeks before wasn’t bad enough.

The events that followed Danny Welbeck’s introduction, however, would stay in the Manchester United faithful’s mind forever and for all the right reasons. United were on the counter, desperately still trying to find the winning goal. With almost 92 minutes on the clock Macheda had the ball just outside the box, but was tackled and the loose ball was picked up by Ryan Giggs. Giggs returned the ball to Macheda who, with his back to goal, turned inside the defender and unleashed an unstoppable strike into Brad Friedel’s goal. Old Trafford had erupted.

Manchester United returned the top of the table and were now on course to win their third Premier League title in a row and equal Liverpool’s record of 18 English League titles. And Federico Macheda had gone from relative unknown to Manchester United cult hero in the space of 24 hours.

Macheda was rewarded by being given a place on the bench for Manchester United’s next two games – the Champions League quarter-final first leg vs Porto (he didn’t feature and United drew 2-2) and the next Premier League match away to Sunderland.

The situation was, again, the same as the previous week’s. As Liverpool had convincingly beaten Blackburn 4-0 earlier, United needed a win to return to the summit of the Barclays Premier League table. And again, United faced themselves needing a goal after Kenwyne Jones’ 55th minute goal cancelled out Paul Scholes’ opener. On came Macheda on 75 minutes in place of Dimitar Berbatov.

Just fourty-six seconds after Macheda’s introduction he had struck again, this time flicking Michael Carrick’s shot into the net and United went on to win the game 2-1. It was extraordinary how the 17 year old Italian had played in total just over 45 minutes of Professional league club football for the biggest club in the world, and he had managed to score 2 goals (and gain 6 points) for them already.

Kiko played twice more for United in 2008/09, scoring no more goals but his name in the Manchester United history books were assured with his contributiin of two vital goals that led to United ultimately being crowned the Champions of England once again.

Since then, Macheda has only scored twice in 22 games for Manchester United, one being a consolation in a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea in 2009/10 and the other instigating a comeback against Aston Villa from 2-0 down in 2010/11. With mostly ineffective and underwhelming performances, many feel that the fame and limelight coming with the nature of his introduction into professional football got to his head. Of course, being thrust into stardom at 17 years old would take some getting used to for anybody.

With the emergence of Javier Hernandez into the Manchester United team this season and Michael Owen having more of an impact of games, Macheda slipped down to 5th in the United attack’s pecking order. Sir Alex Ferguson thought the best thing to do was to send him out on loan in order to get some playing time, and with reports of him feeling homesick too he was loaned to Italian club Sampdoria.

Macheda started off well, scoring in his first start for the club (and his second appearance), which was in the Last 16 of the Coppa Italia. After several months at the club Macheda seemed integral to Domenico di Carlo’s team, especially with the voids left by the departures of Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini.

With League performances being average, di Carlo was subsequently sacked as Sampdoria manager and the more defensively minded Alberto Cavasin took the helm. Macheda and the club have since struggled due to the change of management, with Sampdoria being relegated to Serie B and Macheda only having the one goal to show from his 16 appearances. It is uncertain where Macheda will be next season, as his agent has admitted he could stay on loan at Samdoria and other sources claiming he doesn’t feature Sir Alex Ferguson’s long term plans.

And with Manchester United’s strike department looking fairly healthy at the moment, after Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez both scoring 20+ goals this season, Wayne Rooney re-establishing himself as one of the world’s best since the turn of the year and both Danny Welbeck and Mame Biram Diouf impressing on their loan spells with Premier League clubs (and scoring 6 goals each), it’s hard to see just where the dejected looking Macheda, who was once being touted as ‘the next big thing’, fits into Manchester United’s future.

Vintage Season?

Despite being crowned champions of England for an unprecedented 19th time and reaching a 3rd Champions League Final in 4 years in 2010/11, Manchester United have been facing much criticism over their footballing credentials.

In recent weeks, both Sir Alex Ferguson and Ryan Giggs have rubbished these claims saying that United have been the most consistent team with the best squad at their disposal. Just how many other teams could have beaten Shalke 04 4-1 in a Champions League semi-final with very much a second-string side? Not too many, if any team other at all.

Perhaps the team does lack that little bit of spark in more advanced positions, especially with the no. 7 shirt. No disrespect to Michael Owen, but quite a void has been  left empty in a team blessed with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona and George Best over the years to name only a few.

But just who has been Manchester United’s best player this season? The lack of any ‘outstanding’ player has also been reinforced by those who had a strong case to win Manchester United’s player of the year awards. Either one of Edwin Van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov or Javier Hernandez could have won it. Ironically, the winner was the United player who had provided the most creative spark and magical moments (especially in the first half of the season): Nani, despite tailing off for the latter stages of the season.

Manchester United’s efforts this season have been exactly that: Manchester United’s. In more recent seasons, United’s successes have been attributed to the one player; Cristiano Ronaldo was the pivotal figure from 2007-2009, and Wayne Rooney was last season (also where there was criticism for being too one-dimensional). Many would argue that United are now better as a team without the one ‘pivotal figure’ and everyone plays as a unit as a result.

Throw into the mix their uncharacteristically poor Premier League away record (W5 D10 L5), the lack of resounding victories (only 7 wins by 3 or more goals, with one of these against Scunthorpe) and the inability to hold onto 2 goal leads against Everton and West Brom by conceding late goals early on in the league campaign and fuel is only added to the argument.

Of course, that’s not to say that Manchester United have been completely under-par this season. There have been magical moments, such as Wayne Rooney’s bicycle kick against Manchester City, Berbatov’s hattrick against Liverpool and Hernandez’s emergence as Rooney’s first choice partner, with 20 goals to his name. These magical moments, however, have been few and far between compared to previous Manchester United teams and seasons,

But if Manchester United are apparently so average, what does it say about the rest of the Barclays Premier League if they were crowned Champions after 37 league games? And indeed the rest of Europe if they have reached another Champions League Final, conceding only 3 goals in the process? How are they the top scorers in the Premier League with 74 goals and only conceded 3 more goals than the lowest conceders? There seems to be a massive discrepancy between the criticisms and what will go down in the history books.

One thing is for sure, though. If Manchester United can beat the favourites Barcelona to win the Champions League on the 28th after knocking Liverpool “off their f***ing perch” the critics would surely be silenced  and 2010/11 would be even more of a vintage Manchester United season. The history books will always say Manchester United became the most successful club in English football league history in 2010/11, regardless of how and what happened.