Bleacher Report - Articles by Nyall Sharp

Gillingham FC: Is Promotion in Sight For The Mighty Gills?

Nyall Sharp — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:26:21 -0500

With the Gills now on a win streak of three at home, surely, promotion is a prospect?

After being relegated to the lowest Coca-Cola league imaginable, a lot of faith was lost in the team. Attendances dropped and a lot was expected from the Gills.

The first game of the season was against Bournemouth, who after getting into a financial crisis, entered administration, and desperately needed the three points. It was a draw for the whole game, until the mighty Mulligan scored in the 93rd minute with his first touch of the game.

After this, the Gills went from strength to strength, proceeding to the 2nd round of the F.A Cup, beating Bury away 1-0. This really showed that the Gills are a promotion favourite.

Now that the team have found consistency and different players are scoring goals, they are climbing up the Coca-Cola League Two at a great speed.

To conclude, I think that the Gills can get promoted, but they will not gain promotion automatically. The Playoffs will be a hard couple of games.

Arsenal: Is the Champions League Still a Dream?

Nyall Sharp — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:16:11 -0500

After years of trying to win the Champions League, does it still remain a distant dream for Arsenal?

For the past 10 years, they have been saying they are ready to win the Champions League, and with Arsene Wenger's school children now breaking into the first squad and learning English, his players will surely be hot prospects for the future in England.

However, the chances look grim.

Some could argue if Liverpool can do it, so can Arsenal, but this is not true. Arsenal lack the charisma of Liverpool, with Liverpool being a hard working team, hard into the tackles. Arsenal are a team of "French girls" compared to Liverpool.

After the shocking loss against Birmingham last season, it seems they never recovered form. The team seem to have concentration issues, as shown in the 4-4 draw with Tottenham in the London derby.

They cannot keep up with the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea, and AC Milan.

So to conclude, they can't do it. Maybe they will be able to in five years, once their youth system has produced outstanding players.

My case rests.

By the way, please no essay comments on this. If you write an essay, do your own article.

Is the Premier League Exciting Now?

Nyall Sharp — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:32:40 -0500

As a fan of low-league football club Gillingham FC, this article will be biased, but is the EPL really a good league to watch now?

To me, the only good part of the EPL is watching the underdog teams annihilate the big four—Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool (some could argue Hull at the moment!). It is the big four that ruins the novelty of the premier league.

Also, the lack of English players and staff in the EPL almost makes you think you are watching a foreign league; there are some exceptions where a team has quite a few English players, like Aston Villa, Hull (maybe)...oh, the list runs out. The EPL seems to be more about making money and being the richest club other than singing up crisp local talent and having a hard work ethic.

However, in the lower leagues, it is much more interesting to watch. Yes, you don't see skill up to Ronaldo's standard, but you see good local talent, hard-working players most of the time, and English players. These players have to make a name for themselves, especially at lower leagues like No. 1 and No. 2, and it clearly shows.

To contradict myself a little bit, teams in the lower leagues do work for the money as well to become a wealthy club, but this is from a lack of funds, and a desire to one day become one of the biggest clubs, and play in the top league, just like the tale of Hull City, and captain Ashbee will know all about this, being played in every league from the conference all the way up to the Premier League.

I think overall, the EPL has lost a lot of its attraction, apart from the prospect of making millions of pounds, but is that not what draws you into most sports?

My case rests.

Can Liverpool Clinch the Premiership Title this Year?

Nyall Sharp — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:55:37 -0500

Liverpool are on a great run of form at the moment, and if they continue their great performances surely they will strongly challenge for the title this year.

They have been saying for years that "this year will be our year", and they have not finished higher than third. With the manager now taking more control, and increased English vocabulary(!), his team now does more than "movve ze baal avout vell."

It's the same situation as Arsenal winning the Champions League—can it be done?

With Fernando Torres returning form injury, can Liverpool extend their goal tally and increase their win rate? if they can do this and keep up with the fine form of Chelsea at the moment, they really do have a good chance.

Rafael Benitez has, at last, sorted out a consistent squad with not many rotations now, and with Robbie Keane also hitting top form, they will surely be top contenders for the title.

However, Liverpool have had their problems off the pitch, and with the chairman's position under scrutiny, you have to wonder if the morale was been affected on the pitch and their form dropped.

By the way, read Nel Boi's articles

Nicolas Anelka Deserves More Credit

Nyall Sharp — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:20:26 -0500

Nel Boi recently posted an article questioning the ability of the player who is, at the moment, at the top of the goalscoring table in the Premiership, arguably one of the hardest leagues to play in.

Anelka may not be one to score great goals, or score like Geovanni, but sometimes it is quantity, not quality. If anyone listens to the analysis of Anelka on Match of the Day, they comment on his ability to move and stretch the defenders out, and really cause the opposing team difficulties.

Another similar player like Anelka was Ruud Van Nistelrooy (who was an idiot). Van Nitelrooy never scored outside the box, and he scored rubbish tap-ins like Anelka, but those goals brought a great team great success. He was regarded as an amazing striker, who was later sold to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

And to be fair to Anelka, he had his fair share of good goals while playing for the rather average Bolton Wanderers. This obviously caught the eye of Jose Mourinho, and bought his way to Stamford Bridge.

Another point to make is that Anelka has scored more goals than Robinho, who cost £32.5 million, whilst Anelka cost considerably less. Anelka doesn't get a lot of praise living under the shadow of Drogba, but while Drogba is injured, Anelka has a huge opportunity to show Phil Scolari what he can do.

My Case rests, sorry Neil.

Oh and he is better than anyone reading this article, shame he's French.