We do love to get carried away!!

Christiano Ronaldo’s spectacular overhead kick against Juventus was absolutely brilliant and definitely world class but was it the best ever as lots of excited journalists seem to be saying? Not in my opinion as the hype surrounding the modern game seems to blot out and affect the memory of many people. Just to be absolutely clear I think Ronaldo’s goal was up there with the best but I have seen quite a few that stand alongside it and some that just better it.

However some were not scored in such high profile competitions as the Champions League while some were before we were sucked in to the Hype surrounding the Premier league and Champions League.

There have been quite a few brilliant overhead kick goals that are just as good as Ronaldo’s albeit many not in such a high profile competition as the Champions League.

Many will remember Trevor Sinclair’s stunning bicycle kick against Barnsley in 1997 in the FA Cup. By the way he also scored another awesome overhead kick against Derby 4 years later.

Another amazing overhead kick came from Zlatan Ibrahimovic sadly against England just 5 years ago. Not only was it technically brilliant but it was from around 40 yards out and well wide of the goal making it even more difficult to score from.

What about Wayne Rooney’s magnificent effort against Manchester City in 2011- that was as good as it gets. I am sure Liverpool fans are still drooling about Emre Can’s sublime overhead striker against Watford just a year ago.

While not forgetting Andy Carrols superb effort against Crystal Palace in 2017.

However for me probably the best overhead goal of all time came from Manuel Negrete- certainly it was the best in terms of technical ability and awareness. He scored it for his club side Unam in 1984. Writing about it does not really do it justice you need to watch it on “You Tube”. He brings a cross down on his chest before flicking it over head of defender, then again he uses chest to set up before completing the fantastic move with a marvellous overhead kick.

And of course we mustn’t forget John Gayle’s memorable Wembley strike for Blues in the Leyland Daf final. True it was not a major competition but that should not lessen the quality of the overhead kick and the skill needed to perform it.

I am sure we all have examples of great overhead kicks and it’s a technique that only a few can master. They are all great in lots of ways from importance of the game down to the execution of the technique.

For most of us football wannabes we can only admire the athleticism and ability that all of these goals display. However just because the latest one was scored by one of the all-time greats in Ronaldo and was in the champions league does not make it the greatest  ever- just a world class finish among many world class bicycle kick finishes we have been fortunate to witness.

WBA-self destruct Blues-hope & Villa battle on

Latest Birmingham Mail Column

West Bromwich Albion finally decided to sack Alan Pardew following a disastrous run of results since he took over the reins from Tony Pulis. However the fans want at least three questions answering 

1) Why did they leave it so late to sack him?

2) Why did they appoint him in the first place?

3) Why not change manager last summer?

The second question is the most important because he should never have been given the job. Was he really the best candidate for such a great job at a great club?

I wrote in this column a few weeks ago that Alan Pardew had a disastrous win ratio of 5.8% which was nearly 3 times worse than his predecessor Tony Pulis? I also pointed out that it was criminal let his reign just meander along defeat after defeat. That is not being me being a smart backside because virtually every Baggies fan could see it was getting progressively worse week after week and that relegation would be the penalty for allowing it to happen.

Relegation is all but mathematically certain 10 points away from 4th bottom Crystal Palace with a much inferior goal difference. To have any chance Baggies with have to win every single one of their six remaining games-sadly it isn’t going to happen.

When you appoint a new head coach/ manager during the season after bad results your new appointment is like pressing a button marked “Hope” somebody at West Brom has pressed the “self-destruct” button instead and it’s the board who must take responsibility for that.  

Good luck to the likeable Darren Moore in his spell as caretaker manager. Many Baggies fans have different ideas about who they want as the next manager for what is certain to be a very tough Championship league- for what it’s worth I would go for Michael Appleton with Craig Shakespeare as number two. They have great knowledge and understanding of the club and its supporters and will know what is needed to bounce straight back out of what promises to be the toughest championship season yet.

Blues and Villa are battling it out at different ends of the table and face a nervy run in to the end of the season and both played last night but this was written before those games so things could be slightly better or worse.

Blues are out of the bottom three but not yet out of the woods. However the two back to back wins under the direction of Garry Monk has given the club and its supporters a massive lift in hope and expectation. A welcome bonus has seen the gloom and doom that has been in the atmosphere around the club for some time is evaporate with each game.

When they appointed Garry Monk the board of directors pressed the “hope” button and that’s all the appointment has given the club is “hope” that they can be out of the relegation zone on May 6th. However as the manager has made it very clear that there is still a lot of work to do in the remaining 7 games to ensure survival.

Villa have to get back on the winning track after two defeats and a draw (before last night’s clash with Reading)  has seen the possibility of automatic promotion slip away unless of course both Cardiff and Fulham have a major wobble.

It looks like playoffs for Steve Bruce’s team and that is a lottery at the best of times. However Steve Bruce’s record of winning promotion through both the  playoffs and automatic places is excellent – 4 times he has taken a team into the Premier League twice through the playoffs and twice automatically.

The 7 or 10 games remaining will see if he can get a “five card trick”.

By the way I know I am biased about this area but the support for our teams is absolutely fantastic especially away from home. And at a time when both Blues and Baggies have been battling against relegation while Villa’s push for promotion has also seen brilliant support. And it isn’t cheap to follow your team home and away. Last night just under 5000 travelled to Bolton to support Blues who are 12th in the table of average home attendances with 20k this season. Villa continue to have the second best home crowds in the division just over 31k. Wolves are third best with over 28k

West Brom have consistently had home gates in excess of 24’000 in the PL.

I hope the clubs appreciate it.

UEFA-whatever next?

UEFA have made changes to their rules on substitutions for all Champions League and Europa League games. From next season all European games will be allowed to use a 4th substitute but only during extra time.

Instead of the seven substitutes currently allowed clubs will be allowed 12 substitutes for the Champions League and Europa League finals from next season. UEFA say this will give coaches more flexibility and allow them to manage the squad better for what they is the most important of fixtures?

I would humbly suggest that a Baggies or Blues game that would save them from relegation or a Villa game that would guarantee promotion is just as important to the clubs involved?

UEFA are only concerned about their own competitions and let’s be fair it is not going to affect any of our clubs any time soon.

However I wonder if we could see these changes possibly applied in the Premier League? I am sure PL coaches and managers would see this as a way of easing the pressure they have on them when it comes to leaving out top players. If it ever did happen managers and coaches would be able to involve virtually all their first team squad in games thus ensuring no one feels “left out”. No unhappy millionaire footballers for managers to have around the dressing room. My heart bleeds for them.

Hopefully it never filters down to league football.

The nasty side of sport on and off the pitch!

My latest Birmingham Mail column

Sport has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent days. First we had the moronic so called England fans tarnishing their country’s name in Holland followed by the disgusting ball tampering incident by the Aussie Cricket team.

Like most people in the country I was saddened and angry watching the TV coverage of the behaviour of those 100 or so idiots who shamed themselves, their families, and their country with their anti-social and embarrassing thuggish behaviour in Amsterdam. Most of us have an opinion on it and I suspect most of us feel the same.

Let us get things into perspective at least 99.95% of folk in this wonderful country of ours are decent law abiding people who behave properly whether here or abroad. Sadly it’s the 0.05% who get all the headlines with their bad behaviour which is usually fuelled by alcohol.

So the perception abroad can be that England is full of those sort of people when nothing is further from the truth. It is the same for lots of supporters who follow England but who do not behave like thugs. However, sad though it may be, all England fans can get tarred by that particular brush.

I do not have the answer as to why these thugs behave as they do when other countries travel without any problems whatsoever. Perhaps they are not football fans but hide behind supporting England to satisfy their lust for aggro?

I have heard people say it’s not footballs problem but societies?  I am not sure exactly what they mean by that and to me it just seems like an excuse to pass the buck.

How do we stop it? Firstly we must stop making excuses for them such as; it was the fault of the French or Dutch or whatever country’s police force. Or it was the fault of the opposition’s supporters because we England fans were just having a good time.  

Secondly make the punishment fit the crime. No more fines or community service but lock them up. The Anti-sport brigade will say it is only football that has the problem. Well as I said before these people use football as a platform to satisfy their urge to gang together get drunk and consequently terrify innocent people who are going about their daily business.

The thought that if you take away football, l then these idiots would be sitting at home knitting or reading is laughable. They do it because they enjoy it.

I really do fear for the security of all fans who are travelling to Russia for the World Cup finals because the Russians also have their idiots who like nothing more than fight and  cause trouble. However those England fans who travel with the intention of causing trouble or who do cause trouble while drunk will find the Russian police a lot less tolerant or understanding than the Dutch or French are.

I sincerely hope there is zero trouble at the World Cup. In my opinion if you don’t go looking for trouble you won’t find any.

The ball tampering by the Aussie team in their test against South Africa is just another example of the depths some sportsmen will drop to in order to win or gain advantage. We see it week in and week out in football where it’s almost accepted as the norm.

You just don’t expect to see it in cricket although in recent times we have had match fixing scandals and ball tampering incidents.

I find it quite amusing that David Warner was one of the Aussie “Leadership group” that decided to tamper with the ball. To make it worse they instructed a younger player to use a piece of tape to do it.

However David Warner has shown he has more faces than Big Ben. A few years ago he hit out at South Africa who were accused of ball tampering at that time saying it was “shameful” how right he was. He also said that Australia’s players “hold their heads high” and he also made it clear that he would be disappointed if anyone of his Aussie team tampered with a ball.

Sometimes sport at the highest level can be very hypocritical while not being very sporting at all.

Any formation/system must suit the players available.

Shortly after the home defeat to Millwall, who played an effective four-four-two formation, Blues boss Steve Cotterill made it clear that he did not feel that the same system would suit his Blues team. No problems with that as the manager he has the right to play the formation and tactics he wants to as he knows his players better than anyone else. 

In many ways I admire his doggedness and self-belief which confirmed how confident he was in his own ability.

However in my opinion it sums up perfectly how some modern day managers/coaches can at time over-think and over-complicate what is a simple game of “put it in one goal and keep it out of the other”. Yes I know that is a simplification but that is the objective of the game during the 90 minutes. What goes on between the two goals is usually just the opinion of the man in charge which he hopes will put the ball into one goal more often and keep it out of the other goal by at least one less. Of course that opinion is the most important because while we are down the pub playing fantasy football with our team selections he has to do it for real.

Let’s be fair about it Steve Cotterill knows more about coaching in the professional game than I ever will. He has more coaching badges than most people in the game and I understand he is an elite coach who coaches the coaches.

In my opinion one of the most important strengths of any manager or coach is getting the best out of every individual under their charge. That also means playing a way that suits them rather than forcing them into a formation and way of playing that they cannot do or at least are not comfortable with. The likeable Gian Franco Zola found out to his cost although it was hard to argue with how he wanted the team to play they were obviously not comfortable doing it.

Garry Monk arrived and played a four-four-two formation that is simple with every player knowing what is expected from him under that system. Now I don’t know if he did that because it is a system he prefers or because it was the easiest way to get two strikers up front.

That is not to say that he will always play that system and with a different set of players might change to a formation that suits that particular group of players.

Sean Dyche at Burnley plays a four-four-two formation and they sit seventh in the Premier League?

I am not saying any system/formation is right or wrong; just that you have to find one that gets the best out of your players be that four-four-two, or a four-two-three-one, Christmas tree or whatever. The game is and always will be about players’ end of story. While coaching will always be about knowing how to get the best out of those players.and finding a formation/system that suits them rather than forcing them into a formation/system that suits the coach