mercoledì 18 dicembre 2013

FREDDY GUARIN: A WILD JAGUAR FOR CHELSEA





Freddy Guarin is running away from Inter Milan.
The Jaguar, it´s Guarin´s nickname, is ended up in Jose´Mourinho´s sight.
The Chelsea boss, putting himself into the shoes of a hunter, is ready to "capture" the black jaguar, Guarin in the January transfer window.

The deal is almost sealed: Inter director Marco Branca and Mourinho laid the foundation of the agreement in London around 10 days ago. Chelsea would be willing to pay up to 15 million euro for Guarin. An amount, which Inter board would consider fully satisfying.

Now, the question is: why should the new Inter owner, Erick Thohir, let Guarin go away?

Let´s try to figure out a possible explanation.

E.T. is an Indonesian entrepreneur, who works in the mass media and communication environment. He is a type of Berlusconi´s Indonesian "alter ego". For this reason, he looks out for public opinion, in particular during the first period of his presidency. Thohir, in fact, is still trying to build a popular support within Inter supporters, who still seem to be skeptical regarding the new ownership.

Therefore, Freddy Guarin´s selling could be a double edged sword.

On the one hand, trading the Colombian midfielder,  in return for 15 milion euro, could allow Inter to purchase new football players in the winter transfer window. On the other hand, Guarin´s  abdication could cause the Inter supporters´disappointment.

Anyway, is Guarin such a popular and loved player to cause consternation in Inter fans?
Not at all, is the easy answer.

Guarin, in fact, is one of the most detested football players by a consistent part of Inter supporters. Despite his triumphal arrival last season from Porto, the Colombian is actually sonorously whistled during his performances in the San Siro Stadium.

Guarin is not a complete dud, Chelsea supporters keep calm, but he is an anarchic player.
He is a sort of football player to whom a coach can´t easily find a position on the pitch.
Guarin is a wild jaguar!
He is a midfielder, but he can be neither a central midfielder nor a back miedfielder: he tends to attack and he never keeps the position. Guarin is an advanced midfielder or an insight forward. He is in particular at ease going on the counterattack. So, Mourinho´s style could be tailored for him.
Nevertheless, the 27 years old Columbian has a terrible flaw: he is extremely selfish: he never passes the ball to his team-mates, even though they are in an enviable position, on the field, to score.
Guarin is provided with a powerful long distance shot. This quality brings him to try the shot even from a sidereal distance, missing the mark most of the time. That´s why some Inter supporters presented an ironic petition on the web  to stop Guarin´s tries. According to Inter´s fans, the Columbian´s shots, out of target, would threaten the lives of spectators sitting on the stands.

Now, it´s up to Murinho to tame the Colombian Jaguar (or, if you prefer, Colombian crazy horse) in the Stamford Bridge circus.






venerdì 13 dicembre 2013

WAS IT A TURKISH TRICK TO CONDEMN JUVE?



Juventus were knocked out of Champions League after a two-days lasting match against Galatasaray.
The Tuesday-night match was, in-fact, suspended after just 27 minutes because of a strong snowfall/hailstorm which made impracticable the pitch.
Immediately, Uefa decided to postpone the clash to the day after, starting it again in the 27th minute. A cursory decision due to the last-sixteen´s draw, on the agenda for the next monday, which didn´t get the situation better. On Wedensday, infact, the Telekom Arena´s field was in terrible condition due to the persistency of the bad weather.

Surely the pitch wasn´t worthy of a Campions League clash. In particular one half of the pitch looked like a newly plowed field. "Strangely", it was the part of the field on which It were up to Juve to attack for the most of the match´s remaining time.

Now, both italian supporters and newspapers are instilling a doubt: did Galatasaray decide deliberately to make impracticable Juventus´ attack zone?

The fact that the other part of the field was greener and more decent to play football on seems to strengthen the conspiracy thesis.



Anyway, conspiracy or not conspiracy, finally Juventus were not able to attack nor to go on counter attack.

Frankly, when the ball can neither normally roll nor bounce on the pitch, and the only way to play football is the full toss, it´ s another type of sport, but it´s not football. Maybe "it is hide and seek" as Juventus coach Antonio Conte said after this strange match.

If someone now is thinking that Conte is just a bad-loser, it would be correct also to report the Juve coach´s  further statement: "This match should not have been played. Anyway, we lost the chance to qualify for the last sixteen before the game against Galatasaray", Conte honestly admitted. His reference, clearly  was to the away draw VS Copenhagen.


venerdì 6 dicembre 2013

JUVE-REAL: THE OPPOSITE POLES





Not later than one month ago Juventus faced Real Madrid in an exciting and prestigious Champions League clash. A draw, 2-2, was the final result after a breathtaking match. Apparently nothing special happened, in particular if we consider the story of these two clubs. A common past made of several victories and balanced matches between these two giants of football. Nevertheless, this final result  sounds incredible if we compare the costs of both the lines up. A comparison that evidences two opposite philosophies on how to manage a football club now-days.
On the one hand there are Real Madrid, which can count on a record turnover (more than 500.000.000 euro represent the top for a football club all over world). Despite these sensational numbers, according rumors rumbled from sources close to Real, the «Merengues» would «show off» a gigantic debt: 520 million euro! A debt which can be mostly ascribed to the purchasing of football players for an absolute fortune.
On the other hand there are Juventus, whose management is pursuing a completely different strategy: the main goal for Juve´s President, Andrea Agnelli, is to reach the break even point, in the name of which it is absolutely forbidden to spend a crazy amount for a single football-player.

So let´s take a concrete look at these two different philosophies:  we are going to exam the cost of both Real and Juve´s lines up during the last Champions League clash:

The only parameter we are going to consider is the cost for each football-player with the exception of both the goalkeepers. The final result is unbelievable.
Let´s start from Real Madrid:

Marcelo: 5 milion €
Varane: 10 mln €
Pepe: 30 mln €
Sergio Ram:os 24 €
Khedira: 12 mln €
Xabi Alonso: 31 mln €
Modric: 26.500 mln €
C. Ronaldo: 94 mln €
Bale: 101 €
Benzema 31 €

Total: 364 mln €

JUVENTUS:

Caceres: 7 mln €
Barzagli: 0
Bonucci: 13 mln €
Asamoha 16 mln €
Pogba: 0
Pirlo: 0
Vidal: 11 mln €
Marchisio: 0
Tevez: 9 mln €
Llorente: 0

Total: 56 mln €

DIFFERENCE: 308 mln €

The moral is: through skills and parsimony it is possible to pursuit the idea of an economically sustainable football!