2014 Champions League Final Preview

The most prestigious club competition in the world will reach it's climax tonight as Simeone's Atletico prepare to take on their fierce rivals, Real Madrid. Having spent shedloads of money over the last decade, Real will be hoping to reach La Decima while Atletico have only ever reached the final once before, losing to Bayern Munich 4-0 in 1974.

Tonights final marks the first time that 2 teams from the same city have reached the final and we can certainly expect a mass exodus from the Spanish capital across to Lisbon. The Portuguese city will be Spanish for one night only as many of the unfortunate fans who were unable to get tickets will have to settle for a screen in the raucous atmosphere of one of the many Lisbon pubs.

Nobody expected Atletico Madrid to reach the final, so a victory would certainly announce themselves on the European scene. Fresh from clinching the La Liga title in the Nou Camp, confidence will be flowing through the veins of Atleti, as they hope to complete a memorable double. Few will have predicted at the start of the season, that Atleti would win the league and reach the Champions League Final, and possibly even win it. It shows that Diego Simeone has acquired a close-knit bunch with exceptional talent within the squad. 

Having suffered a hamstring injury against Barcelona at the weekend, Atleti hotshot, Diego Costa is trying every possible way to get on Simeone's team sheet for the final. His absence would be a mighty blow to the team and to neutral, who want to see all the best players fit and able to play. Whether, he is risking his World Cup and future career on this match is another question. The native Brazilian has been at the centre of Atletico Madrid's success this season having scored 27 goals in the league, more than 1/4 of Atleti's goals in the league this season.

There were doubts as to whether Real's explosive duo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale would start on the final, but earlier in the week, Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that both would feature in the star-studded affair on Saturday. Like Costa, the final would lose some of its gloss if Bale and Ronaldo were to miss out. After signing for a world record fee from Tottenham, Bale has caught the eye of Ancelotti who has been impressed with his debut season in Spain. His compatriot and Ballon D'Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo has been unstoppable this season, scoring 47 goals and also breaking a record for the most goals in a tournament after his brace against Bayern in the previous round.

Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid both express similar philosophies when it comes to tactics. As seen against Bayern in the previous round, Real tore the reigning champions to shreds through the pace of Bale and Ronaldo, as well as the defensive discipline at the back with Sergio Ramos and Pepe. Bayern were unable to cope with Real's attacking trio and Guardiola opted to save his dignity by bringing on Javi Martinez at half-time to prevent any further damage being done. 

Similarly, Diego Simeone is a master tactician, out-witting the 'Special One' in the previous round. Atleti have a very solid defence, courtesy of their reliable centre-halves in Diego Godin and Miranda. During the knockout rounds, the team have only conceded 3 goals, meaning that Real will have to work hard in order to break down this defence. It is obvious that Atleti will pose a different kind of threat towards Real to the one that was delivered by Bayern in the last round. Atleti may surrender some of the possession to their rivals in the hope of getting a break and scoring on the counter attack.

Any tie where the finalists are local rivals, leads to wondrous occasion. We will most likely see a tentative start from both sides as no one will want to lose to their rivals. In terms of where my allegiance lies, I am torn. I would much like Real to achieve the long over due La Decima, while it would nice to see Atleti win their first ever trophy.

Where Now For Arsenal?

After almost 9 years without any silverware, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, finally ended their trophy drought with a 3-2 extra time win over Hull City. Welshman, Aaron Ramsey sealed the winner 11 minutes from the end of extra time after latching onto a backheel from Olivier Giroud, but the question now remains, where now for Arsenal? 

Up until early Saturday evening, Arsene Wenger's position as Arsenal manager seemed to be in an uneasy state. Wenger had a great start to the season with Arsenal finishing the calendar year at the top of the table, but this tailed off when he failed to strengthen in key positions in the January transfer window. Ultimately, I believe that if Wenger had acquired a quality striker, then I would have tipped Arsenal to finish in a better league position than they did.

On top of Wenger's shopping list should be a striker. For me, Giroud isn't up to scratch, and Bendtner is laughable. Although Giroud got 16 goals last season, with the quality of players behind him, I do feel he should be scoring a lot more. He can also be wasteful on some occasions. I do believe he has talent, but I don't think he can fit the standards at Arsenal, in my opinion he would make a decent back-up. Last summer, Wenger missed out on a chance to sign Gonzalo Higuain, someone who could have gave Arsenal the firepower to achieve greater things. They also embarrassed themselves with the business over the release clause of Luis Suarez and made themselves a laughing stock throughout England. 

An obvious downfall for the North London club was the vast amount of injuries suffered throughout the course of the campaign. The loss of Aaron Ramsey was a major blow, as he scored goals at crucial stages and always seemed to give a positive performance when in the red jersey of Arsenal. Wenger attempted to rectify this by signing Swede Kim Kallström, even though he was injured upon arrival and was out for the opening few weeks. The fault must lie with Wenger for this deal as it seemed to make no improvement to the situation. Another injury was to Theo Walcott. He constantly terrorised defences through his pace but his injury in the FA Cup tie against Tottenham ended his season. At times after the injury, Arsenal were lacking the cutting edge, something which Walcott could have supplied. The events of this season has shown that Arsenal lack squad depth, and it can be fixed if Wenger dips his hands into his pockets.

The marquee signing for the summer was Mesut Ozil. Arriving for a price of £42m, he was the most expensive export in German history. A lot was riding on the shoulders of the 25 year old, and it certainly did give his new team mates a lift going into the opening games of the season. However, several performances this year have made me question whether he is a big game player. Most notably, I was particularly disappointed in the last 16 home tie against Bayern Munich. Like several other games this season, I didn't feel that his attitude was commendable. He often left his opponent unmarked and showed a low work rate when defending, something that is suicidal when facing a team of the magnitude of Bayern, especially when they are a man up. On his day, Ozil is very talented footballer and is scintillating to watch. His varied range of passing is second to none, and he can unlock a defence with a moment of magic. He will need to be on top form if the Gunners are to challenge for the title again.

Wenger is known to keep his pockets zipped, but if Arsenal are serious about challenging for the title next season, then Arsene will need to be more adventurous in the transfer market than what he is known for. Wenger has come under a lot of criticism in the latter part of his career, so more silverware next season is crucial if he is to silence the doubters.

Another Season Draws to a Close!

It seems like it was only yesterday when we were gearing up for the start of the 2013/2014 Premier League campaign. Now, at the conclusion of the season, each team will be analysing the positives and negatives of the past season in an attempt to eradicate any faults in preparation for the next campaign.

The Champions

What better way to start a review than at the top? Manchester City finish the season at top of the pile for the second time in three seasons. Under new management, Manuel Pellegrini was able to clinch the title last Sunday along with the Capital One Cup. It can be argued that if City had surrendered the title to Liverpool, then their season could be labelled a failure, instantly putting pressure under the Chilean. There are fine lines in the world of football.

City's attacking threat was monstrous and they always had at least 2 world class strikers available, contributing to a staggering 156 goals in all competitions. At the back they had a rock solid defence, only conceding 37 goals in the league. What won Man City the league was that they had the right balance between defence and attack, something which Liverpool and Chelsea lacked.

Overachievers

As we move down the table, Liverpool were undoubtedly the overachievers of this season. I can honestly say that if anyone had told me Liverpool were going to challenge for the title and end up in 2nd position back in August, I would have laughed at you and told you to stop dreaming. Their Uruguayan centre forward has been instrumental in their success as he notched 31 goals as well as assisting 12 times. Whether Liverpool maintain the momentum of the success from this season into next, may be down to whether they can retain the services of Suarez for the foreseeable future. 

As for Chelsea, they had an indifferent season and Mourinho's return to English football was greeted with a trophy-less season. Throughout the last campaign, it was evident that the Blues lacked a clinical striker as Ba, Torres and Eto'o were inconsistent. The trio could only muster 17 league goals between them, in comparison to Suarez's 31 and Yaya Toure's 20 goals. This problem will need to be rectified for the beginning of next season, or else Mourinho could find himself looking for another job.

Similar to Chelsea, City and Liverpool, Arsenal had an spell on top of the table back in November, December, but failures in the Summer and January transfer markets meant that their challenge tailed off as the season progressed. While it can be deemed that they failed in the league, Wenger and the Arsenal have a chance to end their trophy drought on Sunday in the FA Cup Final against Hull City. Failure on Sunday could result in the imminent departure of Arsene Wenger. As with Chelsea, the piggy bank will need to be broken in order to strengthen for next year. Personally, I'm hoping Arsene has a world class striker on the shortlist as well as strength and depth in defence. A busy summer ahead for the Gunners as they aim to prolong their stay in the title challenge next year.

Relegation Contingent

Relegation is always a nasty experience to go through and this year, Fulham, Cardiff and Norwich were the victims. I believe that all 3 relegated teams could have escaped the drop if they had kept faith in each of their managers. Each team sacked their managers in a desperate attempt to improve their form, and not one decision was successful. On the other hand, this technique worked for Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace. Pulis was appointed manager back in November when Palace were languishing in 19th position and managed to raise them to an 11th place finish at the close of play on Sunday. 

Fulham were able to score goals, but a leaky back four sealed their fate to the Championship while Cardiff and Norwich found hitting the back of the net harder than it sounds. Norwich's offensive incapabilities was not helped by the lack of goals from club record signing, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, who only contributed a solitary goal all season.

Period of Transition

It was a season to forget for Manchester United as they watched their neighbours win the title and they slipped to 7th position after a dismal display in the league. Not much went right for the Red Devils as they broke many different records, all for the wrong reasons. The 12 games lost were more than the previous 2 seasons combined, highlighting an ageing defence and a team which was low in confidence for the majority of the season, even if they were the holders of the title. With a new man at the helm in David Moyes, United were in a period of transition after the end of the Ferguson reign. Moyes never had the support from the players and was sacked, rather controversially with only 3 games until the end of the season. 

Much like United, Liverpool's Merseyside rivals, Everton, were also in a season of change. However, this season proved to be more fruitful than the Red Devils, as they reached fifth, and were close to beating Arsenal to the last Champions League spot, when two losses to Southampton and Man City effectively ruled them out of Champions League football next season. An exciting football philosophy coupled with the promotion of some quality youth players, Roberto Martinez enabled Everton to finish in a respectable position as they will look to build for the future.

Another campaign has drawn to a close, and many teams will need to strengthen their squads if they are to maintain or better their position from this season. It has been yet another exhilarating term, with many highs and many lows for each team. Now, we must enjoy pre season and all of the transfer rumours that follow it, before turning our attention to the thrills and spills that come with next season.

The FA Cup Final

The FA Cup journey began on the 16 August with 370 clubs entering at this stage, and now with only 2 clubs remaining, a pulsating affair lies waiting for us on Saturday afternoon. Arsenal aim to halt their trophy drought just 4 days before the term reaches 9 years, while Hull aim to upset the odds and win the trophy for the first time in their history.

It will be 8 years and 361 days on Saturday since Arsene Wenger and his Gunners last tasted success in a major competition, and since then, it has been a bumpy ride for the Reds from North London. With less than 48 hours until the final, I'm sure nerves are jangling in the Arsenal camp as they know that a win is imperative, to keep their status as a top club alive.

This is a must win game for Arsenal, and one which could change the fortunes of the club. A win could spark a revival of the Gunners back to their dominance over the domestic league during the era of Bergkamp, Henry, Parlour and Viera. On the other hand, a loss could see Wenger's dynasty crumble before his eyes and it may be his last ever game managing Arsenal. I believe that a loss could see an end to Wenger's reign over Arsenal, even considering the former glories he has brought the club.

Hull go into the match as firm underdogs, particularly as they have only won 1 of the last 6 matches against Arsenal, the last one being back in September 2008. The Gooners have taken maximum points off Hull in the Premier League this season, scoring 5 goals in the process and conceding none. History seems to be on the side of Arsenal.

The Tigers have had a dismal season, in which they finished just 4 points above the drop zone. Having lost 7 out of the last 10 games games, form is definitely not on the Tigers' side and Steve Bruce will have his work cut out if he is to mastermind another shock in the FA Cup. However it can be argued that Bruce was resting his key players such as Jelavic and Huddlestone in the build up to the final. Players such as Nikica Jelavic, Shane Long and Tom Huddlestone will be pivotal in the deciding of the outcome of the match.

I am under no doubt that Arsenal will have flashbacks of the Capital One Cup final in 2011, when Birmingham substitute Obafemi Martins scored a winner in the last minute, and this could benefit Hull. If the Tigers could nick an early goal, then it will pile the pressure onto Arsenal. At the same time, if the score is level going into the last 15 minutes, then the players who were apart of that Final in 2011, may become anxious, and therefore sloppy. 

The onus is down to Arsene Wenger to use his experience of high pressure situations to reflect onto the players. It's definitely make or break for Wenger and Bruce will be doing his utmost to spoil the Gunners' party.  

Who Should be on the Plane to Rio? - With a Twist

We are coming close to the announcement of the English World Cup Squad, and players are keeping their phones close, in the desperate hope of a trip to Brazil in June. Everyone has their own opinions on who should go to Brazil, and I thought I would share mine but this time, I will put on my tinted glasses, and look at it from the perspective of the Scots, Irish, Welsh and Northern Irish.

GK - John Ruddy
The goalkeeping spot goes to Norwich's one and only John Ruddy. The Canaries are sitting in 18th position, with relegation looking very likely. To add more misery onto Ruddy, he has conceded 60 goals this season, only David Marshall of Cardiff City has leaked more (71). With a Squawka Performance Score of a solid -144, he is a sure bet to prevent England from progressing in the tournament.

RB - Kyle Walker
It was a tough decision between Kyle Walker and the deadly double from United, Jones and Smalling. Having not played in any of the last 8 matches, Tim Sherwood has noticed the liability posed by Walker. Throughout the season, he has only one 56% of his duels which included 45/76 headed battles. His poor heading stats would make him a great option for England.

CB - Michael Dawson
Another one of the Spurs contingent is Michael Dawson. With only 45% tackle success and his severe lack of pace, could you imagine Ronaldo or Messi up against Dawson? Things would definitely get messy. Time after time, players have shown a fresh pair of heels to out-pace Dawson and bare down on poor Hugo Lloris. With 3 defensive errors, I'm sure he would add to his tally if selected for the World Cup.

CB - Chris Smalling/Phil Jones
It's a tie between Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. Although solid when tackling, Smalling has shown throughout the season that he can flap when under pressure, and his high foul count could work in the favour of the oppostion. Similar to Smalling, Jones does commit a decent amount of fouls, but also has a lower success in the tackle than his fellow team mate. Only if Rio hadn't retired, then it would make my life a lot easier.

LB - Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole isn't that bad, but with Baines and Shaw in contention he seems the more viable option. The reason I selected the Chelsea man, was because he has only played 16 games this season and his inability in the air caps a defensive line that should struggle up against the bigger sides. On offence, he has only completed 9/22 take ons. Please Roy, get him on the plane.

RM - Aaron Lennon
It can be very hard to predict Aaron Lennon. Sometimes he is scintillating to watch, but he can also make a Sunday league player look like Paolo Maldini. This season has proven why he should be on the flight to Rio. With 83 successful duals, he is not even in the top 200 of Squawka's successful duels, with only 30/65 take ons being successful. He is definitely one to be on that plane.

CM - Tom Cleverley
With Tom Cleverley, the ball is guaranteed not to go past the half way line. Even though Cleverley has an 89% pass completion rate, he has not completed a single through ball all season, which can explain the high pass percentage. In addition to this, he has only created 10 chances, none of which have earned him an assist. So much for a playmaking midfielder.

CM - Scott Parker
I have to go for Captain Crop Circle himself, Scotty Parker. The recently relegated Parker has a 41% shot accuracy so it will be unlikely for him to trouble the keeper from distance. Although he has not got the worst Performance rating, he has only created 18 goal scoring chances, something that you would expect more from Scott Parker.  With bags of energy, Parker has the ability to run around in circles all day long.

CM - Jack Wilshere 
Jack the Saviour is arguably one of the most overrated English players about. I'll admit, he can serve up moments of magic, but those are rare. He has 8 Squawka worst awards as well as 4 defensive errors, showing that he can be something of a liability in defence. Considering that a gentle breeze could sideline the Gunner, he is a shoe-in for the final CM Spot.

LM - Danny Welbeck
Welbeck is not the worst player on this list, but he does have a reputation for capitulating under pressure, and the Champions League tie against Bayern proved that. With 55% shot accuracy, Welbeck couldn't hit a barn door with a machine gun, which makes him the perfect candidate to board my plane to Brazil. In addition to this, only 1 out of the 13 chances he created was converted, showing that it's hard to see where the threat from Welbeck comes from.

ST - Andy Carroll
Remember when people were baying for a call up when he was at Newcastle? Oh how times have changed. Unfortunately for Carroll, his injury hit career has led to him being known as one of the flops of the Premier League era. With no Kevin Nolan to receive the pass from, I struggle to see where Carroll will score his goals.

We are blessed with a superb crop of players that would certainly make the cut for this team. Players such as Ashley Young and Glen Johnson would definitely form the bench for the tournament. With the Premier League over, let's hope for another summer of disappointment and frustration for English fans!

Thanks to Daniel Ballantyne (@ballantyne_d) and Andrew White (@whitey997) for the help with writing this piece.