Stupid Mascherano & Avram Grant: football genius
Comment & analysis round-up
Quote of the day: “The player told me and Ryan Babel also told me that Mascherano was only asking the referee what was happening. He knows he made a mistake but to send a player off for this in a game as important as this is just not right.” – Rafa Benitez.
Runner-up: “This is a massive setback for us. For no reason we had a lapse in concentration and paid for it. We cannot dream of the title unless we start winning games again. It’s hard to say why we have stopped winning - but defensively we lost control of a game we should have won. After 75 minutes we suddenly became vulnerable to long balls and we have to be stronger than that. We have given away too many goals recently and we have to sort it out.”
Today’s overview: Javier Mascherano is universally labelled “dumb” and “stupid” for his sending-off at Old Trafford yesterday. Even though the Argentinean only asked a question of referee Steve Bennett, all commentators agree that the defensive midfielder should have known what would happen after the Ashley Cole incident on Wednesday night. Bennett’s decision is praised but also put into context due to the fact that the referee was the fourth official at White Hart Lane when Mike Riley failed to enforce the “dissent” law.
James Lawton (Independent) claims Mascherano “betrayed both his club and his own reputation for being a man who knew how the game worked.” Whilst David Maddock in the Daily Mirror claims that “Mascherano’s only crime” was “stupidity.” Alan Smith (Daily Telegraph) predicts a new clampdown by referees. “So maybe the worm has finally turned. Maybe some good, after all, might come out of the pitiful scenes at White Hart Lane, when Ashley Cole’s infantile tantrum left a bitter taste. You never know. A sea change in attitude might just have occurred.”
The other theme of the day is that Avram Grant, following his double substitution which changed the game in Chelsea’s favour against Arsenal, is now a “football genius.” Henry Winter in the Telegraph writes, “Of the many surprises this eventful season, the sight of Avram Grant outwitting Arsene Wenger ranks right up there.” And Sam Wallace in the Independent describes the Drogba-inspired comeback as “more like the indomitable Chelsea of Mourinho.”
After the results of yesterday, Alan Hansen informs in two separate pieces (Daily Telegraph and BBC) that Manchester United will win the title and Steven Howard in The Sun believes Arsenal’s title challenge is over due to their small squad. “The root of it all lies in a paper-thin squad and Wenger’s refusal to spend in the January window despite the availability of £70m.”
Two other pieces of interest, which don’t concern Grand Slam Sunday, are in The Game, the Monday football supplement of The Times. Martin Samuel writes of the England squad and Gabriele Marcotti looks at the absurd FIFA ruling on high-altitude and praises Maradona for joining the fight.
James Lawton (Independent) is highly critical of Javier Mascherano. “Mascherano’s question took us to the heart of football’s latest public relations nightmare: how long can the authorities agonise over their free-falling reputation for maintaining even nominal respect for officials when players like Cole and now Mascherano make it so clear that they feel free to operate without a moment’s reflection on possible consequences? … For Rafa Benitez, though, there was the desperate hope that he might just conjure another improbable run to the peak of European football. It was something he could hold on to quite perilously, though. Javier Mascherano was supposed to be a rock of hard-eyed professionalism at the heart of his team. Instead, on a day of vast importance, he had betrayed both his club and his own reputation for being a man who knew how the game worked. What price such men now? At least, it seems, £17m.”
Alan Smith (Daily Telegraph) also praises the decision of Steve Bennett. “About time too. That was my initial thought yesterday when Steve Bennett lost patience and sent off Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano for a second bookable offence. About time a referee clamped down on the issue of constant dissent. About time he made it plain that disrespectful back-chat will no longer be tolerated; that refs shouldn’t actually be forced to endure a stream of objections at every turn, all in the name of players desperately ‘wanting to win’. So maybe the worm has finally turned. Maybe some good, after all, might come out of the pitiful scenes at White Hart Lane, when Ashley Cole’s infantile tantrum left a bitter taste. You never know. A sea change in attitude might just have occurred.”
Rob Hughes (IHT) provides a link between the predominant thinking in English football and the violent stars on the pitch. “English soccer has for a generation emphasized speed over skill, and a belief that foreigners cower before the rough physical aggression of top English teams. It is a crude philosophy that somehow seems to define the DNA of the clubs - even those, like Arsenal, that seldom field an Englishman. Indeed, it was an Argentine, Javier Mascherano, who managed to get himself sent off playing for Liverpool on Sunday and persistently provoked the referee in his team’s 3-0 loss to United. What possessed the normally calm and collected Mascherano, he alone knows.”
Paul Hayward (Daily Mail) looks at the chain of events linking Ashley Cole to Javier Mascerano’s sending off. “Could the 4-4 draw between Spurs and Chelsea be remembered as the night Ashley Cole saved football by accident? Will there be a statue of him one day in the foyer of Ref HQ? … All match officials have to do is apply the laws on dissent each and every time. The public are right behind them. The people are sickened and want no more. This is our chance to restore order not from the grass-roots up but from the top down.”
Adam Fraser (Football365 blog) blames Javier Mascherano for Liverpool’s defeat at Old Trafford. “Past form should see Mascherano’s teammates and manager come out in support after the game, but there was no doubt to anyone watching that both Gerrard and Benitez were furious with him at the time. And rightly so. His stupidity not just ensured that Liverpool would be chasing the ball even more, it deprived them of the best man they had to do it effectively. Even more than Jose Reina’s flapping, that ensured the champions would take the points.”
David Maddock (Daily Mirror) writes that “Mascherano’s only crime is stupidity.” “Bennett had been criticised heavily in the week because he did nothing as the fourth official at Tottenham on Wednesday when Ashley Cole brought the game into disrepute. This was his response and it was all too depressingly predictable.”
Graham Poll in the Daily Mail analyses the performances of the two referees on Grand Slam Sunday. “Hackett spoke at length to both referees prior to the games to urge them to show that referees must not tolerate the amount of dissent prevalent in too many fixtures this season. I would have thought Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benitez would have advised their players accordingly… The events immediately preceding Mascherano’s second yellow card are irrelevant - the Argentinian’s protests were not and Bennett must be supported for showing little tolerance.”
David Pleat, in his weekly tactics feature in the Guardian, praises Wayne Rooney. “Wayne Rooney was looking for the space between and behind Liverpool’s centre-backs and was denied three times by Reina when he got into those positions. His penetrative runs enabled Paul Scholes, Anderson or Michael Carrick to play a purposeful forward ball between Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel. Rooney was twice released early on but failed to control in front of goal and Reina gathered.”
Alan Hansen (Daily Telegraph) describes yesterday as Alex Ferguson’s “perfect day.” “Sir Alex Ferguson said before kick-off that he wanted a draw at Stamford Bridge but, if there were to be a result, he would have wanted an Arsenal victory. After a compelling Sunday, it seems to me that only Chelsea can stop Manchester United from winning back-to-back championships. Sir Alex Ferguson said before kick-off that he wanted a draw at Stamford Bridge but, if there were to be a result, he would have wanted an Arsenal victory. After a compelling Sunday, it seems to me that only Chelsea can stop Manchester United from winning back-to-back championships.”
And Hansen puts the same message forward on the BBC website. “It is now difficult to go against Manchester United winning another Premier League title. They lead Chelsea by five points, but with their massive goal difference, that effectively means six points. They have been over this course and distance before, have tremendous strength in depth and can grind out results like no other team.”
Dominic Fifield (Guardian) suggests Avram Grant does know what he’s doing. “Juliano Belletti and Anelka both played their part in Drogba’s scrappy winning goal and by the time Grant introduced Mikel John Obi, this game was edging towards conclusion and the required return to 4-3-3 mattered little. The final whistle had Grant bellowing in celebration into his coat, his eyes never leaving the turf. He punched the air and would have high-fived Clarke had his assistant not been too busy hugging other members of the coaching staff. There is a geekiness to Grant even in victory yet, on this occasion, he can be forgiven anything.”
Henry Winter in the Daily Telegraph also praises the Israeli manager. “Of the many surprises this eventful season, the sight of Avram Grant outwitting Arsene Wenger ranks right up there. Short of Ashley Cole becoming a referee or Didier Drogba surviving a game without medical attention, the season may not produce any greater shocks than Grant getting his substitutions as right as in the 72nd minute here.”
Martin Samuel (The Times) ironically calls the Chelsea manager a “football genius.” “Avram Grant, football genius, as they don’t like to sing around these parts. The Chelsea first-team coach would be permitted a wry smile – as opposed to his standard expression, which is that of a man who has returned to find his car clamped at midnight – at his change of fortune here… Chelsea’s fate may only be to trot up in second place, but one would rather be in Grant’s shoes right now than Wenger’s. And that is the first time anybody has wished for that this season.”
Sam Wallace (Independent) writes that “this was the day which Grant finally got his substitutions right. Derided for his mismanagement of the Carling Cup final, he repeated the same mistakes against Spurs in the 4-4 draw on Wednesday and, with 20 minutes left, the Chelsea fans’ confidence in his ability to get it right was running thin. Ballack was having one of his better games, but Grant wanted to move Michael Essien into midfield, Juliano Belletti in at right-back and sacrifice Makelele for the extra striker Nicolas Anelka… the nature of their comeback felt more like the indomitable Chelsea of Mourinho.”
Steven Howard in The Sun believes Arsenal’s title challenge is over due to their small squad. “The root of it all lies in a paper-thin squad and Wenger’s refusal to spend in the January window despite the availability of £70m. Yesterday, as in the previous draws with Villa, Wigan, Middlesbrough and Birmingham, the basic lack of players was all too evident. Robin van Persie had hardly kicked a ball in anger since October and was way off the pace… For Wenger, though, these are worrying times. The natives are extremely restless with just the FA Cup to show for the past four years. The manager will have to have a particularly good trick up his sleeve if he is to get this team past both Liverpool and Chelsea and to the Champions League final.”
Martin Samuel casts his eye over the current England squad in The Times. “Well, that did not last long, did it. Fabio Capello took one game and roughly two months to work out what most Barclays Premier League managers have known all along. There is no cavalry of fabulous, gifted young England players coming over the hill to save us. Capello’s best, indeed his only, chance of World Cup qualification is to take the same group of players who failed so dismally last time out in the European Championship and try to do more with them than his predecessor, Steve McClaren. It is a depressing assessment by the Italian, but at least an honest one. He has not wasted time pandering to egos, kidding us that there is a sunlit future beyond the tarnished golden generation.”
The brilliant Gabriele Marcotti looks at the absurd FIFA ruling on high-altitude and praises Maradona for joining the fight. “One has to admit that Maradona – unlike so many former stars, bumbling their way between the golf course and punditry – has multiple causes in which he believes and is willing to get off his rear end for them. And, sometimes, he’s spot on… Maradona – not to mention Morales – may not be to everyone’s liking, but this is a clear case in which, no matter the messenger, the message is worth heeding. Enough pandering to football’s aristocracy.”
