I'm ticklish when it comes to fickleness

 I want you to think back a couple of weeks, think back to the opening round of the EPL or even before the season. Now think about judgements that journalists or pundits had made on certain teams and compare them to now. Are they the same, have they changed slightly, or have they gone totally the opposite way and have pretended they had never made any previous predictions on a certain matter? Most likely the latter. With the new Premier League season being 2 months in I’ve seen some mental yarns by pundits and journalists alike that have gone back on judgements they have previously made and fail to acknowledge it. It’s pure amateur fickleness and I can’t be doing with it but its common place in today’s media. If he scores a goal one week he’s a natural goal-scorer, if he misses a penalty the next week he’s mediocre at best, and if he looks like he MAY have dived then blimey, he’s scum of the earth. The Niche-Cache are more human, we make judgements and develop opinion for you to enjoy having a gander at but we always stick by what we write, unlike some who have already showed their inconstant nature with their pre-judgements on Arsenal and the new managers. The fact that such fickle views have been made so early in the season gives my tummy a tickle.

Arsenal had a horrible summer of transfer activity with the board claiming to have plenty of money to spend but failing to secure deals for high-profile players such as Suarez and Higuain. Basically however they had planned the transfer window to go, didn’t happen in the slightest. To add to this they lost on the opening day of the Premier League season to Villa at home. It was an embarrassing defeat but also a poor performance which highlighted that they needed signings and fast.

Straight away the media pulled their knives out and started cutting chunks out of Arsenal and rightly so. However now they are top of the league 2 months on from this point and the media are comparing the team to the ‘Invincible’ team that went a whole season undefeated just under a decade ago. It’s as fickle as football media can be. Don’t get me wrong some develops have occurred with Ramsey looking like he’s having a breakthrough season and the signing of Ozil on the final day of the window but it’s still the same team! Arsenal have played well and do look good but they still wasted time in the transfer window and still weak in some areas – like upfront. The invincibles team of the past won league and FA cups! I can’t see this team doing the same, it may well be the beginning of a team who will challenge for silverware but to go from saying Arsenal are barely top 4 to saying they are one of the best in recent history is a bit far-fetched. I have seen such articles on a number of top sporting websites and these fellas must have very short memories. It makes you wonder what they’ll say the next time Arsenal lose, no doubt a headline like “Arsenal have plenty of class but lack of ambition”. Tossers. 

Mourinho is a man who must be reeling at how the media have flipped their mood on him. When he was re-appointed at Chelsea, in fact even before hand, the media couldn’t get enough of him. He’s the saviour, the best manager around, a genius, the special one. Even before he got the job the media had decided he will win the league and can do no wrong. Well what a difference 2 months makes. Mourinho stormed out of a press conference last week as journalists badgered him about not including Kevin De Bruyne in the last 2 games. They’ve criticised the loaning out of Lukaku, his tactics, and have attempted to stir the pot between him and AVB. How can the opinion or viewpoint of not just a few pundits but a whole media spectrum change so dramatically? It contradicts their position as pundits, it makes them seem that they don’t know what they are talking about rather than giving the expert insight they claim they have.

The most bizarre aspect of the media getting on Mourinho’s back about leaving out De Bruyne is that the week before they were on his back about excluding Juan Mata! He can’t win! He simply cannot play all these talented midfielders at once. Not only this but Mourinho is the first manager to give De Bruyne a chance after AVB, DI Matteo, and Benitez all shipped him out on loan! Do these pundits actually have opinion or insight or do they just base their discussions on sport by the day?

The fickleness makes me laugh. As audiences we read the views of pundits and sport journalists to give us a constructive and expert perspective. Journalists of this nature write stories to create reaction but when your brown-nosing someone one week then jumping on them the next it’s no longer professional but petty. It takes sport journalism from honest discussion to gossip gutter press. Don’t bother with the fickleness of part-time gloom and doomers like Steve Howard and Phil Mcnulty - well only if you want a giggle. The Niche-Cache doesn’t drag itself through the gutter with petty gossip nor change our overall opinions based on the latest results or line-ups. We bring sport discussion back to the honest, knowledgeable, and witty manner you crave. We stand by what we say, not forget what we’ve said so we can go back on it later. Managers don’t become idiots overnight and teams don’t become world-beaters after 3 wins. There’s a long season ahead and no doubt positions will change and so will viewpoints but The Niche-Cache being the best place to read up on some sporting yarns wont. 

Footy Rhubarb

Team of the Week:

                                                    Lloris (Spurs)

           Johnson (Liverpool)              Skrtel (Liverpool)             Davies (Swansea)

Redmond (Norwich)    Cazorla (Arsenal)     Jedinak (Palace)    Hernandez (Swansea)

                                               Ben Arfa (Newcastle)

                                                Giroud (Arsenal)

Hero of the week:

There weren’t many goals scored in the Premier League this weekend but there have definitely been decisive goals. Giroud, Sturridge, and Ben Arfa all scored winning goals for their respective teams in 1-0 victories that were either very tight or stale. Any man who steps up and grabs a games solitary goal in a hero but for this week it has to be Giroud. Although Sturridge’s goal was a great bit of movement and improvisation I think the tall Frenchman put in a brilliant display overall as well as grabbing a tidy goal. Giroud is starting to find consistency in his goal-scoring and performances and is repaying the faith shown in him by Wenger. He held the ball up, showed great touch, brings other into play and looks a player with great confidence which he lacked last season. His goals was well worked by Arsenal and then finished with a great flick into the near post by Giroud who could have got more goals if it wasn’t for the fine performance from Lloris in the Spurs goal. Giroud was at the centre of everything causing the Spurs defence all sorts of trouble, he looked a leader out there.

Nipple of the week:

The weekends game were a bit tame this week especially considering we had 2 big derbies in the shape of Liverpool V Man U and Arsenal v Spurs so it isn’t as clear cut this week whose been the biggest nipple. It’s out of Di Canio and referee Anthony Taylor. Taylor refereed the Cardiff v Everton game and missed some crucial calls with one being an absolute blatant penalty. Baines (who had another brilliant game) stormed into the box and was totally bowled over by Medel, it was a rugby tackle! Taylor was in a great position to see it and just waved play on, everyone in the ground though it was a penalty, they were just waiting for the whistle! Taylor is the same ref that caused controversy in the Arsenal v Villa game on the opening day and we’re starting to see a trend from the man. He creates more issues then has to and his unnecessary decisions (or lack of them) seem to add hostility to the game which leads to more stupid fouls and yellow cards, basically he struggles to control a game. I don’t like to pick on refs but we’re 3 games in and in 2 of them he’s managed to cause unnecessary controversy.

The nipple of the week has to go to Di Canio though. John O’Shea got sent off as Sunderland went down 3-1 away to Palace. Now to be fair O’Shea made a mistake as he lost the ball and then got sent off when he dived in to stop Gayle going through on goal but there was no need for Di Canio to talk about his CAPTAIN the way he did after the game. He questioned O’Shea’s leadership and his experience which by itself is harsh when O’Shea is a player who rarely puts a foot wrong but to do it publicly is very poor man-management. He’s a hot head and he’s throwing around blame for his team losing, he’s the manager, he chose the team, he chose the tactics. He went on to say his team don’t have the heart and that’s why he’s requested more players. Well done Paulo your players are going to love playing for you now aren’t they? Maybe they just got a bit cocky because of all the mass amount of confidence you give them? How can a manager say that 3 games into a season? I think Di Canio is my new tip to be first manager to get the sack. To think that this time last year Sunderland had Martin O’Neill as their manager, what a step backwards that is.  

Why are we waiting?...

It’s the words lingering in most fans brain box at the moment with the world’s biggest clubs content with meandering between speculation and website chitter chatter. That is of course unless clubs have done deals and are being uncharacteristically patient with announcing transfers to the press but even if that was worth the effort, football clubs aren’t that smart – by no means. We have a few big situations in this current market such as the Suarez saga which is getting right on my tits as well as the Rooney circus and a few other niggling rumours that I’m sure is also giving you itchy chesticles.

Clubs have begun their tours, travelling around the world to places like America, Asia, Australia and Central Europe to raise their global profiles, and despite the main commercial intentions this time is also for players to gel and get ready for the coming season – so it would be good to have you r full squad there wouldn’t it? Fair enough players are rested for playing for their respective nations such as those participating in the unnecessary Confederations Cup. However, is it worth taking a player half way across the world when it’s quite obvious they’ll be flying back prematurely to discuss a move? Or leaving it to buy your main target until after the Pre-season tour so they have less time to gel? Seems risky, especially with the amount of money that’s being thrown about these days, banking on players to gel fast and perform.  This is the case with and Rooney. Rooney joined Man Utd on tour in Thailand and after 2 days has been sent back ‘treatment’ on a hamstring injury. It’s quite a coincidence that such a thing should occur and puts doubt over his future at the club but at the same time, Moyes is encouraged by his meeting with Rooney and have even been too each other’s houses. How about you stop pissing about having brunch and all that bollocks and sort out what you’re up to? How hard is it? I personally think Rooney will stay as he hasn’t really got anywhere else to go.  United have come out and said they are not going to offer Rooney a new deal which I never thought was the question at hand here anyway, it makes it sound like this whole ridiculous situation is just Rooney employing the same tactic  as he did in 2010to get a pay rise, which would be outrageous.

Talking of Man Utd it seems that they paid too much attention to Rooney that they have missed out on their reportedly biggest target in the shape of Thiago of Barcelona. They desperately need some quality in midfield with Scholes retiring, Fletcher expected to be out of action, and Anderson struggling to find consistency. Thiago has been touted as the man they really wanted to be the future heartbeat of the United machine – but well done he’s joined tin-ass Guardiola at Bayern. Now it could be the case that they were never interested and that it was all paper talk but it’s been so widely reported that it was if he had already signed and was even going to be announced as a United player at Moyes first press conference. I don’t know what’s happened here but I think Thiago has made a mistake as I can’t see him getting the game time at Bayern that he has craved at Barca but in saying that, it makes me doubt United were ever in for him. So who is going to be Moyes big signing in the middle of the park? Fellaini has been linked as well as Fabregas, it’s a crucial buy for Moyes and it has slipped under the radar due to the Rooney saga. Looks like another frustrating wait.

Now there is the Suarez thing. It’s quite obvious Suarez is a bit of a scumbag, I’m not saying that he’s wrong for wanting to move because he has been getting a lot of hassle from the press and no doubt feels isolated and very disliked, but for I think Luis should realise he has bitten a man and racially abused another as well as showing his petulant side on more than one occasion. He brings it on himself. Liverpool are desperate to keep hold of him because he is an outstanding player but he has said he is determined to leave. Liverpool need to accept it and the best they can do is get as much money as possible and make sure that he doesn’t go to another English club. If he went to Arsenal, Liverpool fans would be furious and rightly so. For a team that’s rebuilding and should be in the top 4, selling your best player to the competition is out of the question. That’s the least of their worries though, how do you replace him? Liverpool are currently buying young and cheap but they’ll need to splash some big cash to replace Suarez and could even use him a swap deal. If I was Liverpool I’d resign myself to losing him, sell him to Real Madrid, and try to get either Higuain or Benzema in exchange.

Everything remains quiet on the transfer front with clubs keeping their cards firmly against their chest. With the rate its going it looks as though big deals will be happening right through to deadline day on September 1st. However it only takes one big deal to go through and then the wheel will start to spin for example Mario Gomez arrives at Fiorentina, leading to Jovetic being targeted by Man City because they sold Tevez to Juventus. I’m more interested in what Arsenal and Man Utd do in the market as I feel they have the more important decisions to make but blimey they’re taking their time doing it. I wouldn’t hold your breath but the sigh of relief is just around the corner for you big club supporters – well you’d hope so. 

Who's got the biggest joke-innear?

It’s quite fair to say that Newcastle are losing their identity and rapidly. Since Mike Ashley took over the club in 2007, he has shown
his idiocy, incompetence, and total lack of respect to Newcastle United.
Newcastle is a massive club, the Toon army are a loyal and proud group of
supporters. Well they used to be. After saga on top of saga in Ashley’s reign
this week it is going through another comical episode – in the shape of Joe
Kinnear with the Irishman being appointed Director of Football.

Kinnear was in temporary charge of Newcastle in 2008 but had
to leave prematurely due to heart problems. Within the first week of taking over,
after the sacking of Keegan, the press were on his back and Kinnear responded
with one of the most listened to press conferences of all time when he called
out the press with a tirade of abuse, calling one reporter a c@nt. He got some
decent results but still couldn’t steer them from relegation which was
confirmed later that season after Shearer took over. Now the Director of
Football position doesn’t really have a place in England in fact it often leads
to the manager being sacked and the DOF taking over. In England the manager is
seen as the most important position at the club and every decision has to go
through him so a DOF is somewhat of an insult or a chairmen’s attempt to force
out the manager. For all we know that could be Ashley’s intention as he can’t
sack Pardew. If he sacked Pardew he would have to pay out the rest of his 8
year contract. I think Mr Ashley offering an 8 year deal is the root of this
problem that he seems somehow capable of making worse. So basically in one
appointment Ashley has disrespected his manager, made him uncertain over his
future, and pissed off his own fans. 

After Kinnear’s abusive rant a few years ago and his
all-round old-fashioned blunt personality has led to the press wanting to stick
the knives in. The English press is an enemy you don’t want and he doesn’t seem
to have cottoned onto that yet. The press have pounced and Kinnear has again
showed his stupidity by playing up to it with outbursts and rants that he has
lived to regret such as being more intelligent than Toon fans. Shearer has come
out and said this decision has made Newcastle a laughing stock and he’s right.
Kinnear responded by calling Shearer a clueless coach and he’s right too. 

It’s the latest of a series of comical errors at Newcastle
and I feel sorry for the fans who are being treated like mugs here. Since 2007
they have seen managers like Hughton being sacked for no reason, appointment of
absolute has-beens like Keegan and Shearer, the famous St James’s Park having
its name changed for some ghastly commercial brand name, a team with more
French then English, and a wet blanket of a manager who looks more like a pen
salesman – let alone the idiot who owns the place. To top it off the club bar’s
name has changed from Shearer’s – all-time top goal scorer to something else
pretty ghastly. Actually that last one I find the funniest  - I’m looking forward to the encore.   

Wheeling, Dealing, Shuffling, and Stealing

With a hectic finish to the season its time to use this valuable time to buy and sell players. Since the seasons end and in fact even before its climax there has been plenty of speculation and who is going where. The whirlwind of new manager appointments has added fuel to the already blazing fire. There are plenty of question marks and talking points with several players on the move and it's always a crucial part of how a club's season will shape up next time round. Clubs like Spurs, Arsenal, and the Manchester Clubs look like they are going to have some big decisions to make over the next few months - as well as spending large amounts of money.

Firstly lets look at Spurs. The biggest thing for Spurs and one of the biggest stories of the transfer market is the situation of Bale. He's world class, a ridiculously good player and like Gary Neville said "Without Bale, Spurs wouldn't be in the top 8." How far they can go depends on whether he stays or not because he is irreplaceable. Real Madrid have stated interested in the flying Welshman and are even considering spending around 80m for him - which seems excessive but it will definitely seal his signature. Spurs WILL lose him eventually - they are not big enough to keep him. They should not reject such an offer as I'm sure Villas-Boas would like 80m to spend on his squad for next season. This is a typical domino-like effect in the transfer market which could result in another (and probably the biggest move) this summer...

Man United are hoping that the potential switch of Bale to Madrid could be exactly what they need to speed up their quest to bring back Ronaldo. Man Utd are hoping that Madrid will be more tempted on letting Ronaldo go if they secure the services of Bale. Ronaldo has been linked with the move back for awhile but the retirment of Sir Alex may have changed things. Utd are willing to spend 65m on Ronaldo with Nike apparently willing to help with the fee meaning Ronaldo will don a Nike shirt. its 50/50 and most of it at the moment seems like speculation but if it comes off it will be 2 of the biggest moves in recent history. 

The other massive story is the Rooney saga. I cant see him leaving Utd. He'd be stupid to leave, where do you go after Man Utd? Madrid? I don't think they are interested plus he can barely speak English at time let alone another language so I cant see him going abroad. He's been disappointing for 2 seasons now and he needs to sort his head out. Its all down to Moyes now and whether he can be the man to give Rooney his belief, confidence, and clarity back. He's outstanding and the fact that Sir Alex hasn't flicked him like he had done with the Beckhams, Stams, Van Nistelrooys, and Keanes shows how highly the Scot thinks of Wazza. By September 1st  I'm confident Rooney will still be a Man Utd player. 

For awhile now we have heard that Arsenal have plenty of money to spend with their board announcing they are able to compete for Rooney's signature. This is a big season for Wenger and we seem to be saying that every season and it will continue to be that way until they win something. They need to push on now, they have got their stadium, they got stabilized themselves after the stadium cost and are looking economically the strongest club in England behind Man Utd - so now the time is to spend some well-earned money on big players. It's not like Arsenal are far away from a title challenge, all they need is 20 goal a season striker - which they have money to buy, and some depth. They need to feel the void left by Song and Diaby as well as an experienced keeper. Wenger is a smart man and I don't think Arsenal fans will be waiting too much longer for silverware at the Emirates. 

Man City, with their new manager most likely being Pellegrini, may well have a few players going through both exit and entry doors this summer. Barry is linked with Tottenham while Tevez's future is up in the air. Outstanding youngster Isco is linked to be the next purchase after Jesus Navas and Fernandinho both joined during the week and this could mean the end of their City careers for the likes of Sinclair, Nasri and even Dzeko. City were embarrassing last term but they need to be weary of changing a team too much too quickly. They were poor in the transfer market last season and that can be looked at as the main reason they missed out on silverware so there is no surprise in them acting swiftly this time - even before the manager has officially been announced. Time will tell if he is a successful appointment and how fans will warm to him after many being angered by the sacking of Mancini. 

The next season in the Premier League is going to be one of the most intriguing in it's history with so many teams good enough for the title and top 4. The quality and size of the squads will be crucial and all the respective managers - whether newly appointed or not - will know their decisions on the market could be the difference between success and failure. There are a lot of questions to be answered and plenty of deals to haggle over in the next few months, how long will it take for the first domino to fall?