Lille take one-goal advantage into second leg

Sports - Football - Europa League Last 16 - 1st leg

Lille 1-0 Liverpool

Liverpool's performance at the LOSC Lillie Metropole was summarised in two words by the commentator: Scrappy and meaningless.

Neither goalkeeper had much to do in the first 40 minutes with both sides not able to create many chances and take control.

Just before half time the visitors came to life and made their first real break through Lille's back line.

First the Reds saw Steven Gerrard's free kick from left outside the box brilliantly saved by Mickael Landreau.

Then Fernando Torres' header off a Glen Johnson cross was stopped well again by the French goalkeeper.

Apart from that Liverpool looked unmotivated and uncoordinated for most of the match, similar to their defeat against Wigan in the Premier League last Monday.

Not much changed in the second half, both sides losing balance and possession constantly, Liverpool leaking most on the flanks.

The Reds were lucky not to be trailing after Eden Hazard's strike was harshly disallowed offside soon after the restart.

Liverpool defender Emiliano Insua was not able to cope with the Belgium and his quality breaks from the back with his midfield companion Ludovic Obraniak and defender Da Conceicao Emerson.

Eventually the breakthrough came for the home side from a free kick late on in the match. It was smooth and cheeky, definitely not undeserved.

Hazard swung the ball into the box, to see it elude all of the players, including a frozen Pepe Reina, to glide past them into the back of the net, with no further touch or assistance needed.

Liverpool had about five minutes left to scrape something out of the match, but to no avail.

Like on Monday, the Reds' substitutions made no impact. Their bookings were needless, for pointless rants to the referee, of which, as professionals, they should know better.

All in all the performance just showed once again that the state and mentality of the team and players is in shambles.

Meanwhile, credit where credit is due, Lille will be happy to have kept their good home record on track with only one defeat in the last 17 European matches.

Liverpool Reina; Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Insua; Kuyt (El Zhar 88), Mascherano, Lucas, Gerrard; Babel (Riera 73), Torres. Bookings Insua 63, Torres 67. Subs not used Cavalieri, Aquilani, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Kelly.

Lille Landreau; Beria, Chedjou, Rami, Emerson; Hazard, Balmont, Mavuba, Cabaye (Dument 74); Obraniak (Toure 83), Frau (Aubameyang 77). Bookings Toure 85, Aubameyang 88. Subs not used Butelle, Vandam, Souare, Souquet.

1st half stats:

Lille-Liverpool

Attempts: 4-4

On target: 2-3

Offsides: 0-0

Corners: 1-1

Free kicks: 12-4

2nd half stats:

Lille-Liverpool

Attempts: 5-3

On target: 3-1

Offsides: 2-1

Corners: 3-1

Free kicks: 7-12

Sky Sport stats:

Lille-Liverpool

Possession: 58.3%-41.7% (BBC: 57%-43%)

Passing Success: 75.6%-65.3%

Tackles/Success: 23/87%-36/75%

Territorial Advantage: 51.5%-48.5%

Referee: Alan Larsen

Man of the match: Eden Hazard

Premier League clubs earn and owe most

Sports - Football - Premier League - Money Matters

Talk about never judge a book by its cover:

A couple of weeks back, I read a BBC article which labelled the Premier League as "one of the richest sporting series in the world" with its main earnings coming from the sale of TV rights.

In the UK alone these are worth £1.8 billion over three years; overseas tv deals, internet and mobile phone rights add another £1bn. These deals were negotiated in January 2009 - at the hight of the recession.

The League's total assets add up to £3.8bn and constitute 48% of total club wealth across Europe.

However, another BBC article about a study on football club finances, headlined with the Premier League clubs owing more money than all the other European top clubs put together, with a total of 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn).

In other words, the Premier League clubs are top earners and debtors.

The European Club Footballing Landscape study looked at the 2007-08 accounts of all 732 clubs licensed by UEFA.

The total debt of 18 Premier League clubs is about four times that of the next most indebted top-flight league, Spain's La Lige with 978m euros in debt (and assets of 2.5bn euros).

The report says most of the Premier League's debt is linked to the takeover of Manchester United and Liverpool and does not include Portsmouth or West Ham into their research as they were not granted UEFA licences that year because of their financial problems.

And it has not looked any better for them since.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been able to follow more and more of the other side to the glorious game, the downside:

Portsmouth have become the first Premier League team to enter administration with about £70m debt and are most likely facing relegation after they will have points deducted for their financial plight.

But they are not the first, not the only and will not be the last in a sticky financial situation, that is for sure:

UEFA Cup and Champions League semi-finalists in 2000 and 2001 respectively, Leeds United were forced into a mass sale of players when they came into financial difficulties but could not avoid relegation from the Premier League in 2004. Administration followed three years later and a further relegation, from the Championship into League One.

Crystal Palace dropped out of the top-flight in 2005 and went into administration last January with debts of £30m.

Coventry City had nearly the same destiny three years ago but rejected the big spending approach and went back to its roots instead as a community club.

Manchester United have more than £700m debt by the Glazer family. Liverpool are indebted by more than £200m and are looking for new investors.

Their major profits from TV and sponsorship revenue have been covering them so far, but I would rather not dare to predict for how much longer they can survive that way without incurring further debts and similar financial problems, if maybe not as fatal.

Meanwhile, on the only positive financial note this week, Arsenal have announced a profit boost of £35.2m which has drastically reduced their debts (from £332.8m to £203.6m).

They raised £96.6m by selling 261 new apartments at Highbury Square, their former ground, and have also been rejecting the big spending approach other Premier League clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City have been getting used to.

Analysts say other clubs should follow their and Coventry City's example.

I feel, rules and regulations should be introduced to draw a line under this multi-million misery and avoid any similar demise to Leeds United's, Portsmouth's, et al.

UEFA president Michel Platini has been pushing for a system where clubs should no longer be allowed to compete in the Champions and Europa leagues when they spend more than they can afford.

I think this is long overdue looking at what has happened over the last few years, but it has also its own risks which could escalate the matter even further.

The clubs need to make profit, which would be more difficult with less competitions, less matches, less tickets to sell, less TV and sponsorship deals, etc. etc. etc. It is a vicious circle which I think we are only getting a first taste of where it can all lead to.

During the last transfer window, Premier League teams have spent only £30m, £100m less than a year ago.

So, does this indicate that the Premier League teams have finally learnt for the better? Or will they continue to walk, dance and prance on very thin, cash-strapped ice?

Shame on Henry

Sports - Football - Internationals - World Cup Qualifier

The more I watch it, the clearer it gets to me: If Fifa want to set a stance against cheats, they should take action to warn all the other offenders-to-be, in this case disqualify France and fine and suspend Thierry Henry.



But, I know that will never happen. Football is the only sport where cheats get away and on a regular basis, too, especially of the big teams. So, it is no surprise we have seen and will see it again and again. But at some point it has to stop and something has to change!

It is rhetorical question whether a video referee would have made a difference. The clear answer is, YES! France would not have been awarded the goal, Henry would have been booked, a free kick would have been awarded to the Republic of Ireland and play would have continued with Ireland still in the qualifier, with more than a shout as they were the better side throughout the match.

We obviously do not know how the match would have developed from there, if it would have gone to penalties, or one of the sides would have caught a late (but fair) winner - but we surely know how it would not have ended: An unfair shame and scandalous cheat!

One can only speculate how Fifa would have reacted if it would have happened the other way round, Robbie Keane the offender and France the losers. I suspect we would have read a clear statement the next morning about what actions will be taken.

When I reflect back at how many times they threatened and had a dig against England and their fans, with fines and suspensions, up to disqualification, it would be more than hypocritical if, as I suspect and expect, nothing will follow on this offence.

But presidents Sepp Blatter (FIFA) and Michel Platini (UEFA) were never the ones to jump in for the underdogs or ring in big changes. Instead, they just waffle on and ignore the problem-maker(s) when it matters most (and it is especially amusing regarding that the latter is a Frenchman).

My question to them and all football associations' presidents, executives and directors (managers and players, too) is: When will they learn from the other sports to make football a true sport again???