A Football Report

By Richard Nash

2012 will see the inaugural Premier League Soccer competition take place in India. It follows in the footsteps of the hugely successful Indian Premier League cricket competition which began in 2008 and has now run for four seasons. In that time it has become the world’s leading club cricket competition and attracted the best players from around the world. The league has proved lucrative for both players and team owners by taking advantage of cricket’s biggest market.

The PLS will largely copy the IPL’s format. Six teams will be auctioned off as franchises to various companies and corporations keen to profit from its expected commercial success. The competition will be a standard league, including home and away ties, concluding in the top four teams going into a semi-final and final to determine the champion. All 33 games will be played over seven weeks. Each team will have an international coach and a limited number of foreign players. It is hoped that, aside from being profitable, the competition will help the development of Indian football.

However it is clear that Premier League Soccer will not have the same impact as the Indian Premier League for a number of reasons…

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By Richard Nash

Tottenham’s victory over Everton last week left them level on points with Manchester United and three points off league leaders Man City, confirming their position as genuine title rivals to the Manchester clubs. Much has been made of the additions of Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor as a reason for the club’s success, but the biggest change since last season has been the use of their wingers, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon.

Since the arrival of Rafael Van der Vaart, manager Harry Redknapp has favoured a 4-4-1-1 formation, playing the Dutchman behind a lone striker and a flat midfield four. Bale and Lennon stayed wide as traditional wingers, running at the opposing full backs and looking to deliver crosses from the byline rather than attack the penalty box. As a result, Tottenham relied heavily on Van der Vaart to support the lone striker.

Fortunately for Spurs, Van der Vaart had an excellent season, scoring 13 goals and made 9 assists, compared to just 10 goals and 3 assists between Bale and Lennon. However, his importance can be demonstrated by the statistic that Spurs averaged 1.75 points-per-game in 2010/11 with Van der Vaart in the side compared to just 1.30 without him. Redknapp seems to have identified this reliance as a weakness and has given his wide players the freedom to roam across the pitch and provide greater support to his lone frontman in central areas.

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By Richard Nash

After starting the season with their customary 4-3-3 formation, Wigan have now lined up in a 3-4-3 system ever since their 3-3 draw with Blackburn on November 19th. Roberto Martinez trialled the system in a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on October 1st, but then reverted back to his familiar 4-3-3 for their following game against Bolton. For the most part Martinez has used the same players, moving Maynor Figueroa from left-back to the left of a back-three, and pushing David Jones from central midfield to left wing-back.

In doing so, Wigan now mirror the shape of Walter Mazzarri’s Napoli, probably the most prominent club side currently playing with a back-three (excluding Barcelona’s experimentation).

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