Bleacher Report - Articles by Daniel Stacey

Europe's Most Exciting Young Football Talent

Daniel Stacey — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:41:52 -0500

Thought I would just write about some of the exciting young talent to look out for in the next few years!

Probably the best young player in Europe right now is Sergio Aguero of Athletico Madrid. Short but very skillful, this young forward has already won the U-19 World Cup twice, picking up the Top Scorer and Player of the Tournament last year as Argentina stormed to victory. Personally I think this kid is the real deal.

Another player I am hoping to see more of this year is Yoann Gourcuff, the young French midfielder currently at Milan. He is an intelligent, passing midfielder with a calm and mature air about him. A young Zidane in the making I'm hoping!

A couple of young goalkeepers who have caught my eye are Idriss Kameni from Cameroon and the young Russian, Igor Akinfeyev.

Kameni is a bouncy, energetic African goalkeeper with great reflexes, whilst Akinfeyev is the polar opposite with a coolness of character and that Russian menace that make him so hard to beat. Akinfeev collected four consecutive clean sheets in the Champions League, which, at the age of 21 is no mean feat!

Fred from Lyon looks to be improving all the time. Whilst everyone knows about Messi, but I think we all forget he is still only 20 years old!

There was a lot of fuss in recent years over the Dutch midfielder Raphael Van de Vaart, but surely his talent deserves better than to single handedly drag lowly Hamburg through yet another season.

After the furor over American teen-sensation Fredy Adu died down a few years ago, Freddy was allowed to quietly progress at D.C United and earned himself a contract at Benfica last year—not before Manchester United had him on trial, but turned him down.

I couldn't write a piece on exciting young footballers without mentioning a few South American prospects.

Kerlon is the one who springs to mind, what with his head juggling and general dribbling craziness. Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Mattias Fernandez (Villareal), and Fernando Cavenaghi of Bordeaux all have bright futures ahead of them.

I'm sure I have missed plenty of good young players, but if anyone wants to add their own recommendations for the coming years then you're very welcome to. Thank you for reading.

Time for a Change: How to Improve the EPL

Daniel Stacey — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:03:15 -0500

I was trying to think of ways to improve our beloved game and while I am not a fan of big changes such as widening the goalposts, sin-bins and all that rubbish, i think i may have stumbled across an idea, that is a small change in the law, but would, i believe change the game for the better.

As i see it, some of the biggest problems in british football, on the field at least, are diving, which i think no-one likes to see, and players fouling other players.

The worst thing for me, is to watch strikers pick up the ball on the edge of the box, and then dive almost head first into the penalty box, clip their own heel, and fall to the floor.

Cue the outstretched arms, the look of innocence and the familiar huddle around the referee from outraged team-mates and dismayed opponents.

Another example, a player breaks through on goal, is taken out by a defender, who is then shown a red card for being the last man. Said last man trudges from the pitch, knowing he may well have just saved his team from a last minute equalizer.

Sure, the player recieves a short ban and a paltry fine, but the other team gets just a free-kick and plays against 10 men for all of 30 secs. Where is the justice?

My idea is, why not give the referee the power to award a penalty from any area of the pitch?

My first thought was, that should this rule ever be introduced, we would see ten penalties for each team in every game.

But im not talking about awarding a penalty for every foul commited, because that would be ludicrous, but just for the worst fouls, or perhaps for any straight red card offence.

Referees already have to decide the nature and intent of any fouls commited, so the game is still in the referees hands.

In essence, there would be no penalty "area". Only a white box to mark where the goalkeeper can handle the ball.

After running this idea through my head for a few days, trying to think, in reality, what differences this would make to the game, i have come up with a few pros and cons.

Here are some of the positive things that could come from this.

Firstly, I believe that there would be less fouling going on, which can only be a good thing in anyone eyes.

Secondly, it would prevent strikers making a beeline for the penalty area and hitting the deck, for the sole purpose of "winning" a penalty.

Also, I believe it would give the defending team a little protection from these types of players because, lets face it, defenders are scared to death of tackling someone in their own penalty box these days for fear of giving away a penalty kick.

And i believe that for a defender, the time a tackle is most needed, is currently where the defender is most vulnerable, and this surely is backward thinking. A defender SHOULD be able to defend his goal.

The only negative side to this rule change that I can think of is perhaps this would encourage MORE diving, in every area of the field, but i really dont think this would be the case. I would be interested to hear of any more ideas and a fresh perspective on this matter.

I appreciate that no-one likes wholesale changes in football, myself included, but if there is something that makes the game fairer for everyone, then it is our duty to investigate as football fans.

Of course, this idea is, just an idea, but i honestly believe it would have more benefits, than negative effects, and i know of worse ideas that have been proposed by our football governing body. And at least we wouldnt have to watch Andrew Johnsons little white head dissappear from view everytime he crosses the edge of that penalty box!

I`d like to know what other writers think and any feedback to this article would be very appreciated. Thankyou for your time.

Brutes in Boots: Strength Has Replaced Skill in the English Game

Daniel Stacey — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:40:12 -0500

After seeing the horrific injury inflicted on Eduardo Da Silva today, I couldn’t help but try to imagine a game where these sorts of injuries were impossible.

This professional has worked hard his whole life, eaten the right foods, trained harder than we can imagine for many years, and given up his teenage years chasing girls and drinking beer, to get to where he is today only to have some brute with no class possibly end his career in a split-second.

Eduardo Da Silva can never get those years back, and nor will he have much future in football unless he is very lucky, and for what? To watch the same thing happen to some other poor soul in a few months time?

Now I know what I am about to say will be ridiculed and passed off as another of these new-fangled ideas, such as most things are these days, but I believe football has problems.

This is nothing new to anyone that has followed the game in the last 100 years, but with all the furor over ticket prices and the great money debate, we have lost sight of our beautiful game.

Having played myself at a reasonably high standard, I feel I have the right to an opinion on the matter, well at least as much right as the top guys in the suits that seem so reluctant to alter everything bad about our game.

Anyway, enough about that, or we would be here all night.

My biggest concern about our modern game is the reliance on brute strength and physical size to bully other players. What happened to the technical side of the game? I would go so far as to ask "Other than technique, skill and speed, IS there another side of the game?"

Week-in, week-out, I see grown men fall to the ground like they have been shot at by Napoleon’s best gunners. Now, I think diving is possibly more despicable than the heavy-handed approach we see these days, but most of these players fall to the floor because, if they don’t go down, the referee will do nothing.

Football should, in my opinion be about skill, speed, and technique. Not about who has the tallest center-backs and the boniest elbows.

It seems to be a worldwide disease, but here in England it is at its worst. Here, we pride ourselves on having players that can shove people out of the way with their physical strength, man-handle attackers in the penalty box, and get away with it.

I know some of the older generation of football fans will be sitting there thinking that this is the way the game should be played, and perhaps they are right. But, do football fans pay money to watch John Terry or the Italian brute Matterazzi, for example, give a master-class in holding onto players’ shirts, taking out the most skillful player on the pitch, and generally barging his way through the back of any striker that dares to jump for a high ball?

No, they pay money to watch flair, dribbling, skill they cannot do themselves, there-in lies the beauty of our game.

But in returning to the disgusting assault I witnessed today at the Birmingham "game,” it struck me that the nature of these sorts of injuries occurs when a stationary knee and a stationary foot, are snapped in two by great force. Obviously, but when players are wearing studs, their foot is temporarily stuck into the ground, therefore having nothing to take the force of the challenge except pure bone.

Would wearing Astroturf-type boots allow the victim’s leg to be simply swiped out of the picture, rather than being snapped into a thousand pieces by an unskilled center back?

Yes, I’m suggesting abolishing studs. Is there any need for them in the modern professional game? I’m sure you are thinking the same as me, “we need them for grip,” but I am thinking on a purely professional level here.

Nowadays, the pros play on putting green grass every week, meticulously maintained, and re-seeded weekly.

Football has gotten too rough. I shudder to think how much young talent has been lost through career-ending injuries, poor coaching and the general psyche that fouling is "part of the game.” That’s crap!

It’s this attitude of Jonny Foreigner, the diver, which has influenced many a young footballer to abandon skill in favor of deception and rugged tactics.

Does anyone know how long it has been since this country produced a world footballer of the year? Me neither, and I wonder how long we will have to wait for another?

In short, why is there any need to foul anyone?

Lack of skill is all I can attribute it to, and I pray for the day the John Terrys and Phillipe Senderos of this world can be resigned to the dustbin of football, allowing the skill and creativity of our beautiful game to shine back through.

You may think I’m a dreamer, well, as John Lennon said, “I’m not the only one.”