Frontline Football Blog

When Rafa Benitez was sacked as Manager of Liverpool FC at the start of June it looked set to be a bleak Summer for the fans up on Merseyside; fast forward a couple of months and with the new season about to get underway it appears the fortunes of the club are set to take another upward curve. Benitez has been replaced with Roy Hodgson who has managed to bring the good feeling back to the club before a single ball has been kicked in vein at Anfield this season.

Hodgson has so far proven to be the ideal replacement for Benitez, he is an honest man that seems to be talking nothing but sense at the moment as he looks to prove a success in what he described as the ‘biggest job in club football'. Now, it would be foolish to think that Hodgson can take the team to the Premier League title this season, but few would be surprised to see Liverpool back in the Premier League top four  come May and a return to Champions League football for 2011/2012. Hodgson has kept hold of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres which in itself is a major coup, both were linked with moves away from Anfield and with no Champions League football at the club this season and few would have blamed either if they had moved on. It is quite simple with regard to Liverpool when looking at their chances, if Gerrard and Torres stay fit and on form this season they will be a match for any team in England or Europe and a top four finish would be the minimum ask.

Hodgson pulled off another big transfer in his first month in the job as he signed Joe Cole on a free transfer; Cole is an experienced player who is used to winning trophies at the very highest level. He will be more than happy to share the burden with Torres and Gerrard which will prove crucial to their potential success this season; he should be able to add a new dimension to the team in attack and will surely relish the chance to player with Torres and vice-versa.

Hodgson of course will know that he does still need to strengthen the overall feel of the squad that was found so lacking last season, much of that though will depend on any impending takeover at the club. A number of consortiums have expressed their interest in Liverpool and it will be crucial that the right one is accepted, the debt will need to be cleared while a new stadium is paramount to the future success of the club. If the right man can come into Anfield and back Hodgson then it looks as though Liverpool could once again be right back towards the top of the Premier League. The fans will only be too aware of how damaging the wrong owners can be so they will be hoping the right decision is made, any new owner will need to be aware of the history of the club as well as understanding how Liverpool FC run their affairs off the pitch and behind closed doors.

What the Anfield faithful can look forward to most in 2010/2011 is  consistency both on the pitch and in the dugout! One of the biggest criticisms during Benitez's tenure was the Spaniards lack of respect for the league, relying heavily on squad rotation and prioritising his players for European games. With this came constant speculation of Benitez's future at the club, something that will not be the case under Hodgson and Liverpool fans can enjoy the tribulations of the well publicised media drive sack race from a distance. On the pitch, the wait for a 19th title may exceed 21 years but for the first season in many, Liverpool fans have reason to be optimistic.

It will not be easy though with the old big four of Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea now infiltrated by Spurs and big spending Man City, while Aston Villa and Everton should also be watched very carefully once again. With Roy Hodgson at the helm though there is just a feeling around Anfield and amongst supporters that last season was a mere blip and that the good times could be on their way back to the club.

There is one at every club—the marmite player. The player that as a fan you either love or hate. At Arsenal this player seems to be young Danish international striker, Nicklas Bendtner.

Week on week there seems to be discussions and heated debates between Gunners whether Bendtner has what it takes to succeed at a top club like Arsenal.

Is he a young talent who needs to find the finishing touch to become a top striker?

Is he a young man overcome by his own arrogance who feels he can wear pink boots without scoring 30 odd goals a season.

Time to flick the coin on Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner.

In life, as in the work place, one has to stand up for oneself and avoid situations which could see you being "walked all over" by companies, bosses or colleagues, if you are to make a success of your career.

Daniel Sturridge is a bright young prospect who graduated to Manchester City's main office in 2006 and has since proven to be one of England's brightest young stars. His performances have been made even more impressive considering the form of players such as Stephen Ireland and Robinho.

For the 19 year old forward to be upstaging such famous names is surely a sign of what is to come.

There is no doubt in my mind, if Manchester City hadn't been bought over this summer, Sturridge would be a first team regular, probably in place of Brazilian superstar Robinho.

Unfortunately, as with any business, new owners means restructuring, new goals and new ideas.

The amount of foreign players in the Barclays Premier League has been an issue over the last few years with many people suggesting that the amount of foreigners in England was hampering the national team.

I had been inclined to think that way myself until I stumbled on the Inter Milan squad list while researching another article. It was flooded with foreign players and it got me thinking, does England really have too many foreign players and is this actually hampering the national side?

For my research, I took the top four sides (judging by league tables as of the morning of the 7^th February 2009) from Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and England's Premier League and worked out how many foreigners they had as individual clubs and national leagues. I chose the top four as these are the players likely to be representing each country in next years UEFA Champions League.

The Stats: Italy

Having first got the idea for this article while looking at Inter Milan, I'll start by looking at Serie A. The current top four in Italy are Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus and the surprise package of 2008/2009, Genoa.

Football is a funny old game isn't it?

This weekend in the English Premier League referees were once again under the spotlight, most noticeable Mike Riley who ruled over the clash between Chelsea and Liverpool.

Riley was widely condemned for sending off Chelsea's Frank Lampard for what seemed a run-of-the-mill tackle on Liverpool's Xavi Alonso. While the sending off was a bad call, everyone makes mistakes and Lampard was exceptional in how he handled the situation, walking off the pitch without causing a fuss.

As expected, Chelsea challenged the red card and it was rightly rescinded. Lampard is now free to play in Chelsea's next game.

While all this is very fair, it is what has happened over the last two days that is most baffling.

16:54 GMT and my heart beat normally again while my breathing went back to a safe level. It was official-Andrei Arshavin had finally signed for Arsenal.

Arsenal fans thought we knew all about protracted transfers in the summer window when the will-he-won't-he Nasri saga was concluded in our favour. In the end, Samir Nasri's deal turned out to be a drop in the ocean compared to Arshavin's.

Arsene Wenger has been a fan of Arshavin for some time but baulked at the asking price following last summer's European Championships. Despite interest from other clubs, the Russian captain stayed at Zenit St.Petersburg.

However, it quickly became obvious that Arshavin was unhappy in Russia and wanted to ply his trade in one of Europe's bigger leagues.

As the winter transfer window progressed it became quite clear that Arsenal were the only team that had put in an official bid for the Russian. Despite the best efforts of Zenit and the very annoying agent Denis Latcher, Manchester City showed no interest in the midfielder.

Remember when you were small and your parents would say "If you haven't got something nice to say, then don't say anything"?

Well, judging by his comments over the last few weeks, Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood certainly missed out on this lesson.

Speaking directly to the tabloid The Daily Mirror, Hill-Wood said:

"There is no denying that it would be a real financial drain on the club if we didn't qualify for the Champions League next season.

Even if we were in the UEFA Cup and enjoyed a long run in Europe, that would not come close to making up the shortfall. But although missing out on the Champions League for one year would be a big disappointment, it would not mean financial armageddon for Arsenal.

On the day Portsmouth Football Club decided to take legal action against the Daily Express for alleging the south coast club were lining up Alan Curbishley to replace underperforming manager Tony Adams, one thing remains clear, Adams is surely favourite to be the next Barclays Premier League boss to be relieved of his duties.

Portsmouth refuted the newspapers claims on the their website this morning and Alan Curbishley has also denied any knowledge of the story but none of this speculation will be doing anything for Adams sleepless nights.

The former England and Arsenal defender has failed to live up to the standards set by predecessor Harry Redknapp before the latter jumped ship to Tottenham Hotspur and has in reality seen the pressure increase on his position as Portsmouth manager from day one.

It is not usual for a club to threaten legal action as soon as they see a story in the press and the fact Pompey seem "edgy" probably relates to just how much pressure is currently on their chosen manager. The Daily Express is not a tabloid "gossip" newspaper and the may well just have got it wrong, this time.

His rise to Portsmouth boss

Referee Mike Riley and Chelsea's Frank Lampard may have kissed and made up after Sunday's red card incident that cost Chelsea any chance of a point at Anfield but that controversy is just the tip of the iceberg.

Underneath lies an inconsistent Football Association incident review system that has apparently just looked favourably on Chelsea.

No one has any issue with the fact Frank Lampard's red card has been rescinded as most would agree it wasn't a red card, but my point lies with a certain Jose Bosingwa and his late Kung Fu kick that went unpunished as Chelsea lost 2-0 to title rivals Liverpool.

The incident took place at the corner flag, right in front of the assistant referee who has more than enough authority to get the Portuguese player sent off.

Amazingly, after an apparent review of the incident, it was decided that no further action would be taken. This would have been all well and good and we might even have forgotten about the incident had the FA not charged Shaun Wright-Philips with violent conduct just a day later.

Once upon a time, Tottenham Hotspur had a foreign boss, well Spurs have had five bosses and it hasn't always been a fairytale, at least not until they leave.

Believe me, I have looked at the facts, life after White Hart Lane tends to be pretty good for foreign bosses but it is the end of the road for English managers.

Well only because Blackburn Rovers aren't a bigger club than Tottenham, otherwise let's face it, Spurs fans would be wetting themselves.

According to Harry Redknapp, this will be the last job of his career? I don't know about that but it will be the best as no Spurs boss has gone on to bigger things since Terry Venable's in 1991.

Anyway, back to these five foreign managers.