Spain Football

Glenn Hoddle has taken on his first batch of young English footballers who were released by their clubs and are now hoping to take a second chance to launch a career in the game. (and thanks to bbc.co.uk for this article by the way)

Hoddle played under Arsene Wenger at Monaco

"This is about developing players. It is not about academies or reserve team football where we have to win matches to be successful.

"We have played Seville and Real Betis and a lot of our players have said they aspire to play in Europe.

"A lot are quite small, but very technical. We have got three or four very technical players who would suit Spanish, Italian or Dutch football and it's opening their minds towards playing abroad.

"This is a stepping stone for them in a different culture and climate and we are almost setting them up to have that option, they are learning languages and putting things in place.

"They are improving astonishingly and I hope they continue to improve. Slowly but surely we will get some players back into the game."

606: DEBATE Why are English footballers notable by their absence in continental Europe? Jon B

"I don't think we work on technique as much as we should do," said Hoddle, who has found his players learning things they should have mastered a decade ago.

"I've seen that as a player. I was naturally gifted, but I worked on it, it doesn't come easy. If you're good at something and you practice more, you get better."

Hoddle, who also cites the English climate as a key factor, argues that English football is still too concerned with finding strong and athletic youngsters, often at the expense of smaller technical players.

These powerful youngsters are then thrust into games, learning to win against those of the same age, yet never learning to master the basic skills of controlling, passing and dribbling.

Millions have been spent on state-of-the-art academies, but Hoddle insists the money needs to be spent on actual coaching rather than bricks and mortar.

My experience of coaching in England is that in many cases the first thought is of how tall and strong players are Glenn Hoddle

"I think it goes down to eight, nine and 10-year-olds. Frankly, I don't think players in England play with their heads up as they do abroad.

"Continental players see a picture quicker than English players and if have that and you have better technique, then you are going to have an advantage.

"At those young ages, where they are like sponges and can take things in, I don't think we coach enough, teaching them to play with your head up so they can do the next thing.

"My experience of coaching in England is that in many cases the first thought is of how tall and strong players are and whether they can get box-to-box.

"If that is the priority, the smaller players with better techniques can get left aside and that's a conundrum we find ourselves with."

The Football Association has tried to address the problem and last year announced that 66 specialist coaches will visit schools and summer clubs to try to improve the technique of five to 11-year-olds.

Launching the scheme, the FA's director of development Sir Trevor Brooking admitted that often the least experienced coaches work with the youngsters, putting English footballers behind from a very early age.

Any FA scheme will take years to produce real results, but Hoddle is looking for a more immediate impact.

By next season, he hopes that players at his academy who were once released by Championship clubs will be earning contracts with top Spanish and Italian clubs.

It is a salutary lesson that a little coaching - even at a late stage in a player's development - can go a long way.

For the first time this season, FC Barcelona went top of the Liga after beating Málaga 4-1 in a difficult game at La Rosaleda. As the wet pitch didn't faciltate Barça's one-touch football, the blaugrana, playing in their yellow away kit, changed tactics putting together a long ball game that left the malagueños without answer.

Although Villarreal had beaten Athletic 4-1, Barça were mathematically top at 10 pm, before the Valencia-Racing match kicked off in Mestalla. A win by Valencia would have put the Ches back at the top off the table, but surprisingly they were baten 4-2 by lowly Racing.

Only a win by a margin of more than nine goals by Real Madrid against Almería will put the merengues in the pole position, so Barça can be confident of leading the table until Jornada 10 next weekend.

Well, another weekend of Liga football ahead of us after the Copa del Rey this week. Here are the fixtures for Primera.

And Segunda . . .

Barça's tremendous victory has got to the headline this week, but there were also a lot of surprises, Sevilla lost to Málaga and Valencia only managed to draw against Recre.

The game I really wish I'd seen is Villarreal 4 Atlético 4. Sounds incredible!

So this is what the league table looks like.

In principle, we have a relatively predictable weekend's football ahead of us this weekend and, although these might be famous last words, the top of the table is likely to look very similar on Monday morning; Valencia should beat Recre, Barcelona should have no problems with Almeria, and ditto Sevilla against Málaga. After a disappointing performance mid-week against Juventus, I'd expect Real Madrid to be out for blood and dispatch a limited Athletic Club with summarary efficiency. I daren't think what Schuster will have said to his players at this morning's session!

The only result I have doubts about is Villarreal - Atlético. I think it could go either way. Villarreal impress me and, to be perfectly honest, the fact that they still smack of underdog means that part of me would like them to beat one of the theoretical 'grandes'. However, Aguirre's back's against the wall and, as they showed on Wednesday, the Colchoneros have got plenty of fight left in them, so the jury is out on this one.

The other game that I'll probably make an effort to see is Mallorca-Espanyol. It's a Catalan grudge match, which Espanyol have only managed to win twice in the last fifty years. Already the insults have started to fly with one of the Mallorca players saying that Tamudo and Luis García are well-known to referees not only because they're good players but also because they're excellent actors. Sounds like fun.

More on Monday, if not before.

Simon

Barcelona make history in Basel

FC Barcelona were in commanding form as they equalled a Champions League record by knocking five goals past FC Basel without reply in St. Jakob Stadium last night.

On the ground where the club won the European Cup Winers' Cup in 1979, Barça completed a stunning display that saw all the goals come from players that have come up through the youth system at Camp Nou. Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Bojan Krkic (2) and Xavi Hernández all scored against a Basel that was never able to cope with the speed of movement and the one-touch football of their guests. After taking a three-goal lead by midway through the first half, the Blaugrana added a couple more straight after the break to seal the result and take a huge step towards securing a place in the next round of the Champions League.

A Good Start

Barça began brightly and it took just three minutes to find a way past the Basel rearguard to open the scoring. Alves clipped the ball over the defence while looking the other way and Messi ran through before producing a sublime finish as he touched it under the keeper. Basel looked like they were getting back into the game, but went further behind in the 15th minute when Xavi picked the ball up 25 yards from goal in the centre of the pitch and seeing Busquets on the right knocked through a perfect pass to the midfielder, who finished with  with a low shot after a piece of superb ball control.

Three up after 22 minutes

The surface in Basel was quick and Barça used that to their advantage as they moved the ball around at great speed and created space across the pitch. Xavi and Messi had chances of increasing Barça advantage, but it wasn't till minute 22 that a third goal arrived. Bojan was named in the starting line-up by coach Pep Guardiola and showed why by skirting the edge of the box before knocking the ball past goalkeeper Costanzo's despairing dive and into the far corner of net. 

More chances

With such a big lead, Barcelona were able to relax and enjoy themselves while taking their foot slightly off the pedal. Chances were still created though and both Bojan and Alves could have added to the scoreline before the break. Costanzo makes two great saves in quick succession as Hleb laid the ball back for Bojan, whose shot was blocked by the keeper before Busquets pounced on the rebound to set up Alves. However, Costanzo also managed to parry this drive.

A fine opening to the 2nd half

If Barça's opening to the first half was good, their start to the second period was even better as they netted two goals inside the first three minutes to increase their lead to five. The outstanding Sergio Busquets slid the ball past the Basel back four and Bojan raced towards goal before tucking the ball past the hapless Costanzo to put Barça further ahead. Moments later Hleb cut in from the left and picked out Messi instead of shooting and the Argentinian, in turn, rolled the ball back for Xavi to take a stab at goal. Bojan could have completed his hat-trick in the 55th minute, but he paused before lifting the ball over the bar with only the keeper to beat.

Nine wins in a row 

The outcome was decided, but Basel did move forward towards the end of the game in search of a consolation goal and Víctor Valdés was kept on his toes to deny substitute Eduardo who had made his way through to the edge of the box. Barça will be delighted with the display that saw them record their ninth consecutive victory in all competitions and attention will now turn to the league game against Almería at the weekend.

A very lethargic Real Madrid got deservedly beaten in Turin last night. Given Jevetus' poor start to the season in the Serie A, I'd predicted a win for the merengues but from the moment the ball was in play, things didn't go Madrid's way.

Del Piero put Juventus ahead in the fifth minute, but RM didn't react throughout the whole of the first half. They looked lethargic and their apathy was mirrored by Schuster, who just sat on the bench fiddling with his hands, without giving his Lost Boys any tactical direction. The first half drew to a close and although the merengues had more of the possession, they didn't really look dangeros.

 When Amauri headed in the second for Juventus in the fourth minute of the second half, a wi for the Italians looked pretty cut and dried. However, Madrid did finally wake up about 5 minutes later - just after Schuster got to his feet for the first time after following a nasty foul on Van der Vaart. After that the play went Real Madrid's way and Van Nasalspray got one back in minute 66. The merengues were clearly dominating the game with quite a few chances coming their way, including a post, and for much of the last twety minutes a draw looked on the card. However, had Del Piero connected a high cross in Casillas' box, it could have been 3-1 to Juve - this was another gross error by the defence, who'd already sold Casillas down the river twice and let Juve score the first two.

In general, a poor performance from RM - the don't look like champions to me and winning the group doesn't look so easy now. Before the match, I'd expected to see a weak Juventus because they're not doing too well in the Serie A, but Italians are Italians. Interestingly, this result means that RM Madrid haven't beaten Juventus in Turin since 1962 - a considerable length of time, methinks, for a club that boasts about being the most successful club in the world.

* Villarreal beat Aarlborg 6-3!!! And I'm looking forward to Basel-Barça and Atlético-Liverpool tonight. 

Some good games tonight! All kick-offs 8.45 pm CET.

I'll be watching Juventus-Real Madrid, the first of the two key matches in the group. Madrid should be feeling pretty confident after snatching the points in the Madrid derby on Saturday and Juventus aren't doing particularly well in the Serie A at the moment. There are six points in play over this and the next game in the Bernabéu, and whoever gets the upper hand is virtually guaranteed of finishing top of the group. On form, I'd put my money on Real Madrid to get at least 4 points out of six, but you never know with the Italians - a big name club like Juve are always capable of pulling off some magic, particularly if they know they're being watched by the world.

Less attractive is Villarreal-Aarlborg, but I'd definitely put money on the Yellow Submarine to win at home. They're third in La Liga and top of the group whereas Aalborg are near the bottom of the Danish League and are also bottom of the group.

Tomorrow's going to be really frustrating, I'll watch Basle-Barça simply because Barça are my club. I think it's the first time they'll have played  at the Saint Jakob Stadium since they won an emotional European Cup Winners' Cup there back in '79, so the old blokes at the bar where I watch the games will be full of anecdotes.

However, I'd really like to see Fernando Torres' return to the Vicente Calderón in the Atlétco-Liverpool. I could take my laptop down to the bar and watch both games at the same time, but I think that might be taking my love of fooall a little too far.

All the best

Simon