"He's got some great stuff on YouTube"

Frustration. A word that keeps cropping up for me recently whenever I watch the beautiful game. As an Arsenal fan, I have got used to this time of year being painful. One long, drawn-out period of pain and disappointment, anti-climax mingling agonisingly with false hope to provide a cocktail that should be sold along with the others at the Emirates for £5, maybe called "Long Season Ice-Tea". Arsenal always seem to do the same thing. They will play fantastically from August until December. They will light up the league, no doubt drawing plaudits, making journalists and fans purr with compliments. Players will begin appearing in the press: "This is our year", "we are ready", "we are mature". This time next year, and Arsenal player will tell you, we'll be millionaires.

Alas, as another season draws to a close, and probably one of the most drastically under-performing championship-winning teams in recent history is crowned Premier League champions, Arsenal fans are sipping at that bitter cocktail again, the only thing sticking in our throats more is the perpetual ability of our team to throw away games. Against Tottenham, Arsenal squandered a lead for the 6th time this season in the Premier League alone. This is simply not championship winning form. Don't get me wrong, Arsenal weren't exactly their normal fantastic best during their traditional purple patch before Christmas. Home defeats against Spurs, Newcastle and West Brom left Arsenal fans worrying about what was to come down the line. They were right to.

Frustration isn't restricted to North London. No, every football fan across the globe has experienced disappointment at some stage, and many the frustration that some are unlucky to experience consistently during particularly poor spells. One of the things I find most frustrating, however, is a phenomenon I have noted throughout my life watching football. Namely, when a player is quite frankly criminally overrated. So, in the spirit of this frustration, I have decided to try and name an "Overrated XI", filled with the most over-hyped and under-performing players I can think of. This will be, I know, a particularly contentious post as many will no doubt have seen reams of highlights on EuroSport of one or more of the players I name, but this is simply an opportunity for me to name and shame the players I have found the most frustratingly underwhelming during my life as a supporter:

Goalkeeper: Pepe Reina: I have always found Reina to be very overrated indeed. Yes, there is no doubt he is a talented penalty-saver and at times he shows great reactions. He has also undoubtedly produced some great saves during his time at Liverpool, but for every one there is a criminal gaffe to match. One thinks of his gift against Arsenal this season, as well as against West Ham and in the Europa League against Steaua Bucharest. Quite frankly, how this keeper has a World Cup winner's medal is beyond me.

RB: Glen Johnson: To be frank, Glen Johnson's consistent selection as England's foremost right back has been one of the most disappointing aspects to the National team's recent history. To go from players such as Gary Neville, Lee Dixon and even Danny Mills, who was excellent at the 2002 World Cup, to Johnson is a drastic step in the wrong direction. Johnson can attack with a fair amount of flair, and has scored a few goals in his career, but his defending is seriously suspect as has been shown time and time again both at Anfield and in an England shirt.

CB: Joleon Lescott: Lescott rose to the forefront of media attention with an impressive goal haul in the 2007-08 season while still at Everton, scoring 8 Premier League goals from defence. In four subsequent seasons, he has scored 6, only two following his astonishing £23M transfer to Manchester City. He has only started 26 EPL games in two seasons, and hopes of an England call-up have faded with his form.

CB: Matthew Upson: England's third choice centre-back at the 2010 World Cup, Matthew Upson's career has been very hit and miss. Lacking pace, error-prone and weak in mentality, Upson is somehow viewed as an in-disposable feature in his club's defence. His selection at the World Cup was more out of necessity than merit, and his goal against Germany was marred by an underwhelming display which saw him torn apart by the fast German attack.

LB: Gabriel Heinze: Heinze has somehow managed to play for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Marseilles and win 71 International Caps. For a player as unashamedly under-handed and dirty as Heinze to have played for such great teams speaks more for the fantastic defenses which have surrounded him during his career, rather than any particular attributes he possesses.

RM: Franck Ribéry: As many people continue to wax lyrical about the speedy Frenchman, I continue to wait to see him play well in a game I am watching. A goal against Manchester United in the Champions League last season was about as I have ever seen him do, while the worst includes laboured displays in last summer's World Cup that saw him attacked from many quarters.

CM: Gareth Barry: Barry's continued success is completely baffling to me. The bedrock of England's midfield for so long, Barry offers very little indeed. Not the defensive industry of Scott Parker, nor the attacking ability and passing of Tom Huddlestone. Barry's goal scoring record at Aston Villa, where he excelled in the role of big fish in a small, adoring pond, was impressive, but since his £12M transfer to Man City he has netted just four times, before going on to captain England against Ghana.

CM: Daniele De Rossi: Mentioned in the same group as Sneijder, Totti and even Xavi, De Rossi has never justified the incredible hype surrounding him. A fairly industrious midfielder, he has managed 29 goals in 10 years at Roma, where he is treated as a god. Rumours of a £30M transfer to Manchester United consistently fill the back pages, a fee that beggar's belief when one considers the players Sir Alex Ferguson has bought for less.

LM: Stewart Downing: A more toothless winger I struggle to think of (runner-up may have to be Shaun Wright-Phillips, while Walcott narrowly misses yet another squad selection), but it is Downing's persistent attitude and air of self-satisfaction that infuriate me most. He considers himself an imposing winger with faultless delivery and dangerous crossing. In reality, a fairly sweet left foot and a powerful shot (when he manages to control where his shot goes) is about the extent of his talents.


ST: Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Perhaps the ultimate YouTube player on this list, highlight reels of Zlatan's finest moments (mostly taunting opposing players with mazy runs while in Holland) outnumber the amount of goals he's scored in his career. An impressive goal haul at Inter Milan aside, his perpetual club-swapping belies the anti-climactic nature of his career. He arrives with a fanfair and leaves silently out of the back door, while his brace against Arsenal last season remains the only time I have ever actually seen him play well.

ST: Andy Carroll: A talented front man, a great header of the ball and a good lone forward he is, 8th most expensive player ever he shouldn't be. His transfer to Liverpool cost more than David Villa's to Barcelona, and no amount of battling performances and thundering left-footed goals will ever justify his £35M price tag. In the space of one year he has suddenly become the future of English football, and Kenny Dalglish was undoubtedly restricted by necessity and hype in Carroll's transfer, no matter how much he denies it.


So, there we have it. I welcome debate, as I know that many people will disagree with some of my selections and have their own. As far as i'm concerned, these are the 11 most overrated and frustrating players I have seen play the game. Others, such as Clichy, Eboué, Wright-Phillips, Heskey and Robinho would probably make the bench, as deciding between them is more difficult than it seems. Now, where did I find that video...?

Rory McIlroy - A graduate of the school of hard knocks?

Like many British sports fans, I watched an entertaining Masters from Augusta over the course of last weekend with a particularly intense mixture of emotions. As the hope and excitement whipped up by precocious young Northern-Irishman Rory McIlroy faded into disappointment and desolation on a terrible Sunday, one wondered if the youngster had wasted the best opportunity of his fledlging career. Going in to his final round with an impressive four shot lead at twelve under-par, McIlroy suffered a disastrous collapse on the back nine on Sunday to finish at four under for the tournament - a truly gut-wrenching capitulation for such a young golfer. However, the point of this piece is not to badger McIlroy for his collapse, nor to hash over ground that has been so mercilessly analysed in an attempt to discover what went wrong, but it is instead to praise Rory McIlroy for the incredible character he has shown, perhaps even more impressive than his first three rounds at Augusta this weekend.

McIlroy's beginning to Masters weekend was truly ideal. An opening round of 65 set the tone for what was to come over the next two days. Some of the golf played by the youngster was sensational, as his spirited display gradually drew more and more praise from the following throng. Throughout the weekend McIlroy reiterated the need to remain calm and grounded as other fellow brits stuttered all over the famous course, Westwood and Poulter particularly failed to find any consistency to drive themselves forward. The emphasis on 'just playing the game' from McIlroy's camp was impressive from the very beginning, when young Rory was spotted playing some American football outside of his hotel. He was enjoying his golf, not feeling any weight of expectation and simply excelling in the relaxed climate.

Perhaps, then, McIlroy's age that can be pointed to as one of many contributing factors behind his collapse in the final round, where in three holes he triple-bogeyed, bogeyed and double-bogeyed. This is perhaps because, as many have found in the past, the game can become ery hard when there is expectation applied. McIlroy bogeyed the first hole, and from that point one could sense that disaster was never too far away. With more years under his belt, and with this heartening experience put behind him, McIlroy will be far better equipped should he be in a similar position in future, something he has said himself. One can only hope that in future he will be able to cope with the inevitable pressures that will come in the career of a player who shows such impressive talent.

A taster of this character has been shown by McIlroy so far this weekend in Malaysia. Instead of wallowing in the disappointment of his Masters failure, McIlroy has flown out of the traps and now leads the Malaysian Open by two shots (with a score of, you guessed it, 12 under-par). The ability to get in to this position shows tremendous grit and determination from the young Irishman, but now he simply must push on and finish the job. If he doesn't, it may be a fatal blow to his form over the next few tournaments. However, a victory in Kuala Lumpur will excorcise the ghosts of Augusta once and for all, just a week after they began to haunt him.

Colchester United - Can 'The Eagles' soar?

While many across the country were engrossed by one of the greatest sporting weekends in living memory (Rory McIlroy excelling at the Masters, punters and bookies alike struggling to call the Grand National, the excitement of the Malaysian Grand Prix and a packed football schedule) I too sampled the delights of being a sports fan, but not at a Premier League ground or at Aintree, but in League One with Colchester United.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to visit Colchester United's Media Manager Matt Hudson at the Weston Homes Community Stadium for the Eagles' match against promotion-chasing Rochdale to discover what his job entailed, and how one goes about 'managing' the media in the modern game. Upon arrival, my first visit to Colchester's home since 2008, I was pleasantly surprised by the ground. It is a spacious, impressive site: the large stands wouldn't look out of place in the Championship. Unlike many grounds, the Community Stadium isn't packed in to a tiny space. There is space on every side for fans of both teams to mill around before kick-off, and on this sunny Saturday a local band had been given a small marquee to play a set. Such occurences are not rare, part of Colchester's ethos is a focus on community that goes beyond that of many modern football clubs. Mr. Hudson spoke at length about Colchester's desire to find even more local acts who wish to perform before games, in no doubt due to the palpable increased atmosphere yesterday's band provided.

This sense of community was only added to by Matt's attitude towards the fans of the club. Walking around on the sun-drenched concourse outside the ground before the match, I lost count of the amount of supporters of all ages who came up to us and addressed Matt by name and warmly shook him by the hand. Any request made was not too much to ask, any enquiry immediately addressed. Put simply, the experience was an education in how to treat football fans, Mr. Hudson at one point even saying how much he disliked referring to them as 'customers'. This attitude strikes me as so refreshing in the modern game, where so often fans are left feeling like cattle being processed by the great machine of their club. Perhaps the ability of such an important figure at the club to amble around on matchday meeting fans is increased in the lower leagues, but nevertheless it clearly made an impression not just on me, but on the dozens of fans I saw enthusiastically greeting Matt Hudson.

Matt's colleague, David Gregory, served as a player at Colchester for 7 years and is now the Communications and PR Officer - emphasising The Eagle's eagerness for continuity after their move from the diminutive Layer Road in 2008. Gregory spoke to me about the advantage given by ex-playing staff remaining at their club's after they have retired in another capacity, a concept that I suspect is more seldom seen in the Premier League outside of a coaching role. He too was open and approachable, greeting fans as they came in to the ground. It strikes me as a great thing for fans, to be able to see faithful servants of the club not only being given the chance to stay around but mixing directly with supporters. This seems to sum up Colchester United - a truly supporter-driven club.

Inside the stadium itself, the corporate facilities are impressive for a League One team. Built during Colchester's brief stay in the Championship, during which they finished tenth, The Community Stadium was probably intended to be welcoming QPR, Middlesbrough and Cardiff rather than Yeovil, Tranmere and Walsall. The corridors around the stadium speak volumes for the direction Colchester want to be heading in: pictures of past greats and current players, trophies and achievements but with an emphasis on the history of the club. Matt Hudson spoke about the concerns Colchester had that an aspect of history would be lost with the move from Layer Road, and that gradually the Eagles seem to be regaining some of that sense of history now as more matches are played at their new home. One thing that might help this process along is a draw against a big club in either the F.A Cup or Carling Cup, something that Colchester are still waiting for. As it is, Colchester are struggling to get attendances of 4,000 (the attendance against Rochdale 4,052), less than half of the capacity of their impressive stadium. All of the backroom staff are hoping that Colchester will soon, ideally next season, start to challenge for promotion or experience a cup run that might kick-start a surge in attendances.

The game itself yesterday was a typical battling League One affair. Rochdale, placed 7th and vying for a play-off place before kick off, put in a performance of typical grit and physical strength, with striker Chris O'Grady particularly impressing. The home side struggled to string many passes together and their disjointed first half performance drew groans from a few supporters. In the second half, Colchester were able to play with more freedom, growing in to the game as Kemal Izzet exerted more influence. The Eagles had a goal disallowed before Izzet threaded a ball through the Rochdale defence to find substitue Ian Henderson, who managed to clip past goalkeeper fon Williams and the despairing Holness on the line to give Colchester the three points. With the win the home side climbed to 9th, just six points off the play-offs with five games to play, while Rochdale are still in 7th, two points behind Bournemouth with a game in hand.

Colchester certainly showed yesterday that they have what it takes to challenge the teams at the top of League One, fans and staff alike will hope that in fact they can do even more next season as they grow increasingly comfortable in their surroundings. Couple this ability with the community ethos that seems to direct the club in its relationship with supporters, and I personally believe that Colchester United could become a very healthy force in English football indeed.

Toothless Arsenal stutter on typical Premier League Saturday.

If one were asked to condense the recent history of Premier League football in to one day, a microcosm of the most typical performances one can expect from the majority of teams, then perhaps this Saturday is as close as we will see to the perfect example.  Manchester United staged another great comeback (add that one to the file marked "the last twenty years"), Tottenham struggled again to replicate the sensational Champion's League form that has seen them advance to a mouth-watering Quarter-Final against Real Madrid in a drab 0-0 draw with Wigan, and Arsenal once again choked when put under pressure to pull out a result in a very winnable game against Blackburn.

Nothing can be taken away from Manchester United. The ability of every squad Sir Alex Ferguson has built over the last twenty years to churn out results is nothing less than remarkable. It is testament to the unquestionable strength and character of Manchester United that even at half-time, 2-0 down away from home and not much going their way, they are not dismissed. In many ways United's comeback this afternoon felt inevitable. With the score at 2-0 the last I had heard, I received four text messages in half an hour that summed up the way Manchester United operate. My friend texted: "2-1 Rooney free-kick", "2-2 Rooney", "3-2 Rooney pen. Just so typical" and "4-2 Chicharito", and with that the game was over. The manner of the win was just as ruthless as the incessant speed at which the texts flooded through. No more explanation is needed. When the score reached 2-1, a heavy inevitability hung in the air, and in no way was I surprised when the score reached 4-2. Manchester United are never out of games; the same was true in 1999 as it is today, they are just perpetually resilient.

Wayne Rooney has come in for a lot of criticism this season from many who accuse him of being in poor form compared to the last campaign. Obviously, when a player goes from scoring 30+ goals in a season to just over 10 the next, there is a frustration at the inability to replicate his form. However, Rooney's contributions this campaign have been vital: a superb bicycle kick to win the Manchester derby at Old Trafford, assists in vital games as well as a superbly taken hat-trick today to completely turn a crucial game on its head. Rooney has struggled this season at times, especially early on as tabloid tales of his indiscretions impacted hugely on his confidence. He has, however, come in to the kind of form that he is most known for and is once again scoring goals. More than this, he works as hard for his team as probably any other player in the Premier League. Extraordinary clips of him tracking back all the way to the left-back position, and then winning the ball, were shown on Match of the Day amongst other highlights that emphasise the role he is playing in United's title charge. Manchester United seem to have all of their big players playing well at the right time, something that cannot be said for their title rivals Arsenal.

The Gunners are currently in a state of stagnation, as witnessed by their utterly toothless display against Blackburn. One win in seven games is quite simply not good enough for a team who claim to be ready to challenge at the highest level and win trophies. Arsenal have drawn three games in a row, including Manuel Almunia doing a pretty convincing Lukasz Fabianski impression to gift West Bromich Albion a goal at the Hawthorns and two lacklustre draws against Sunderland and Blackburn. There are three factors which I don't think are helping Arsenal in their title run-in, things that other teams do not suffer from. They are:

- Psychological unpreparedness. 


Arsenal seem to be starting every game with the attitude that the world owes them something. Arsene Wenger continuously drums on about the strength of character of his Arsenal team, but where is it? Arsenal started to get frustrated after only twenty minutes against Blackburn, annoyed that these big bullies hadn't been swept away by their magnificent football. Where is the ability to stay calm and score a last minute goal, like Manchester United against Bolton a fortnight ago? No, instead Arsenal squandered chance after chance, the worst being a headed opportunity for Robin van Persie which was nodded high over the bar.

Are Arsenal actually aware that they are involved in a battle for the title? The way that players like Alex Song were swanning around the pitch on Saturday certainly doesn't imply so. There was a total lack of urgency, no one showed the attitude of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs or Javier Hernandez, no one willing to track back sixty yards in order to simply win the ball back. Even Jack Wilshere, a player who I highly praise on a regular basis, continually looked for a complicated pass in the final third, even with an opportunity to shoot - something that players who are absolutely desperate for victory do not do. Wenger lambasted the lack of pace in Arsenal's performance after the game, and perhaps the international break would be a valid excuse if Arsenal's rivals hadn't all been in the same situation. No, this performance belied a fundamental lack of belief from an Arsenal team who are constantly talking up their own chances in the title race. I have lost count of the amount of times i've seen Arsenal players in the press talking about how good a chance their team have. How many United players do the same? Maybe one or two in a season, max.

 - Questionable tactics


I am never normally someone who criticises Arsene Wenger, I tend to support the Arsenal manager in the decisions he makes. However, I find some of his recent decisions very questionable indeed. Wenger is obsessed with persevering with a 4-5-1 system, currently with van Persie as the lone striker, and probably Arshavin and Walcott as the preferable wide players. However, in this system, if Arsenal play wide through the channels van Persie is not prolific enough in the air to justify sending crosses in to the box, and so the wingers keep checking back inside and looking for a pass to one of the three central midfielders. This lends itself to teams being able to play solid banks of four players, tightening up their defense and preventing Arsenal from picking holes through the middle, as both Sunderland and Blackburn have done.

 Now, when Wenger realises this system isn't working, he tends to throw on either Marouane Chamakh or Nicklas Bendtner, or both against Blackburn, to provide a target centrally for aerial balls. Against Blackburn, however, Wenger substituted Theo Walcott, Arshavin and Nasri - essentially all three players capable of getting to the byline and swinging in crosses. Consequently, with all three strikers on the pitch, van Persie continually got in Chamakh's way, Chamakh being a far better header of the ball, while it was Bendtner providing the crosses. This kind of tactical naivety, the attitude that just putting the bodies on the pitch with no system is enough, will not work. Sir Alex Ferguson will throw on Hernandez and play with three strikers, sure, but it is a system that United have trained with and are comfortable in. Again, today's Arsenal performance belied a lack of ideas from their manager.

 - Players going missing


As previously said, it seems Manchester United's key players are all in good form going in to the title run-in. Arsenal's key men, however, have seemingly peaked too early and are now struggling to regain the electric form they displayed earlier in the season. Where is the Robin van Persie who up to and including the first leg of Arsenal's Champion's League tie against Barcelona couldn't stop scoring? Where is Barclay's Premier League Player of the Month for December Samir Nasri? Cesc Fabregas?

Unfortunately for Arsenal, once again they appear to be choking when the going gets tough. One can only hope that with United still to visit the Emirates, as well as a trip to White Hart Lane still to come, this season doesn't get any more painful for Arsenal fans.



A predictable day in the most unpredictable league in world football. Who can wait for the next?