Champions League 11/12 Preview - Group B

Group B



Trabzonspor AS



Last season:

2nd Super Liga

Europa League play-offs



Manager: Senol Gunes



Key Man: Alanzinho



Stadium: Huseyin Avni Aker, Capacity 28,169







Installed into the Champions League in dramatic fashion, replacing Turkish “champions” Fenerbahce, who were removed from the Champions League by the Turkish Football Federation after being instigated in a match fixing scandal.



They were in the Europa League playoffs last season, crashing out 3-1 on aggregate to Liverpool, and finished second in the Turkish Super Liga, missing out on the title on the head to head ruling in favour of Fenerbahce.



Well known names that play for the Turkish club include Marek Cech who signed from West Brom on deadline day, former Spurs midfielder Didier Zokora, and former Schalke winger Halil Altintop. Less familiar names, but a player to look out for is Burak Yilmaz, who is a 26 year old Turkish international striker, who has scored 23 goals in 41 games for Trabzonspor.



Best Starting XI:







LOSC Lille Metropole



Last Season:

1st Ligue 1

Coupe de France

Europa League round of 32



Manager: Rudi Garcia



Key Man: Eden Hazard



Stadium: Stade Lille-Metropole, Capacity 17,754







All conquering Lille had their best season in history, collecting the Ligue 1 for the first time in over 50 years, as well as winning the French Cup to complete a domestic double.



This summer, the success of the 10/11 season saw the clubs star performers become the interest of side all over Europe, as forward Gervinho left to join Arsenal, Yohann Cabaye joined Newcastle and Pierre-Alain Frau left also. Undeterred, Lille spent wisely strengthening by signing central midfielder Benoit Pedretti from Auxerre, winger Dimirti Payet from St. Etienne and most intriguingly Joe Cole on loan from Liverpool.



Best Starting XI:





PFC CSKA Moskva



Last season:



2nd Russian Premier League

Russian Cup

Europa League, round of 16



Manager: Leonid Slutsky



Key Man: Zoran Tosic



Stadium: Luzhniki Stadium, Capacity 78,360 (artificial turf)







The Russian side are regulars in the Champions League, but missed out last season and took part in the Europa League last season, losing to eventual winners Porto. This time round, they make their fifth appearance in the Champions League in the last seven years. With long term injuries to key players Igor Akinfeev and Keisuke Honda, CSKA have a tougher task than usual.



Look out for fomer Manchester United winger Zoran Tosic, ex-Liverpool midfielder Mark Gonzales, and with the injury to Honda, Alan Dzagoev will have a bigger part to play for CSKA.



Best Starting XI:







FC Internazionale Milan



Last season:



2nd Serie A

Coppa Italia

Champions League, quarter-finals



Manager: Gian Piero Gasperini



Key Man: Wesley Sneijder



Stadium: San Siro, Capacity 80,074





After securing a sensational treble from the 2009/10 season, and losing manager Jose Mourinho to Real Madrid, Inter Milan struggled to match those heights last season. First in charge was former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, whose reign at the top was extremely short due to severe injuries which caused poor results on the pitch, saw him replaced by the turn of the year. Leonardo took over, and guided Inter to second place in the league, and the Coppa Italia trophy.



Inter only had one major exit, and that was talismanic striker Samuel Eto’o to Russian billionaires Anzhi. They reinvested heavily signing experienced forward Diego Forlan from Athletico, winger Ricardo Alvarez, midfielder Andrea Poli from Sampdoria, Luc Castaignos from Feyenoord and Mauro Zarate from Lazio. Firepower to replace Eto’o, while their experienced midfield and defence will need to adapt to Gasperini’s expected formation alteration from 4-3-3 to 3-4-1-2 fast in order to steer clear of any potential upsets.



Best Starting XI:

Who is Gervinho?

With all the negative press surrounding Arsenal this week, month even, Arsenal fans would be forgiven for not being so forgiving when it comes to discussing matters relating to their team. Apparently no one wants to play for Arsenal, Arsenal are no longer a big club, Arsenal wont make the Champions League blah blah blah we’ve heard it all before. No doubt rival clubs are licking their lips at the implosion on the horizon for the North London club, but let’s look at the reasons to be optimistic.

Arsenal is indeed in the Champions League, and I believe have qualified for the last twelve seasons in row, Arsenal bookworms please confirm. They first name out the door is Gael Clichy. A good attacking full-back who is not so solid defensively, with a knack for detrimental lapses in concentration which have proven costly to Arsenal on many memorable occasions, leaving the Emirates (I wish Arsenal had given a more sentiomental name rather than selling the rights to an Airline company) than any of the more important names like a Robin Van Persie or a Theo Walcott.

Thomas Vermaelen is back, and he will indeed be like a “new signing”, and with the drama surrounding Samir Nasri, and his contract negotiations, Arsenal are not under any pressure to sell and I’m sure Wenger will go out of his way to convince him to stay. The only name most likely to follow not-so-much fans favourite Gael Clichy out the door is Cesc Fabregas. As soon as Barcelona stump up the fee and stop trying to “mug Arsenal off” the sooner he can pack his bags and watch all the Formula 1 he likes. Oh and be a member of the Barcelona squad, and be that all important “super-sub”. Anyhow, this isn’t about Fabregas, greedy football players or Arsenal hear say. This is about the new striker expected to hit these shores, and hopefully for Arsenal fans, not be tired after just five months!

Gervais Yao Kouassi, known commonly as Gervinho, is a 24 year old winger who has established himself as one of the top attackers in French football. He’s a member of the Lille side which won both the Ligue 1 title and the French Cup last season. He chipped in with 15 goals and 10 assist in Lille’s all conquering campaign.

Gervinho started his career with Belgian side KSK Beveren, a club known for developing Ivory Coast players, and were once Arsenal’s “feeder club” through a co-operations deal between the two clubs. His stats for the Jupiler League side were 14 goals in 61 appearances. He moved to France in the summer of 2007 joining Le Mans. He was an instrumental member of the side, and hit 14 goals in 67 appearances for MUC 72.

After two seasons at Le Mans, he joined ambitious side Lille. In his first season, he hit 13 goals in 32 appearances helping Les Dogues finish 4th and securing a Europa League spot. In the 2010/11 season, he joined as part of an attacking Lille front three consisting of Left Winger Eden Hazard, poacher Moussa Sow and Gervinho making up the right side of the three. He hit 15 goals and 10 assists, and helped Lille complete the domestic double.

He’s seen as an erratic player, with fantastic ability and a knack for making things happen. He has a ridiculous hairstyle, but who cares, that’s got absolutely nothing to do with Football. He is a pacey wide man, with flair and skill who is not afraid to take players on. He has great timing, and the ability to arrive late at the far post, and pop up with tap-ins when required.

He has been likened to Samuel Eto’o, as well as Robert Pires. Two contrasting players, but both Football icons in their own right. If Gervinho performs within an inch of their levels, he will be a valuable asset to Arsene Wenger.

Gervinho can play as part of a 4-3-3 formation, either on the left or the right. He likes to cut inside onto his stronger foot from the left, while he is just as suited to flying down the right flank. It’ll be interesting to see if he makes up an Arsenal front three, similar to Lille’s successful style last season, with say Walcott and Robin Van Persie. Their pace will cause all kinds of trouble for opposition defences.

One final note is that Arsenal fans have showed disappointment already at the nature of the signing, and the fact that negations and talks have taken so long. He has passed as medical, and the deal has been rumoured to be pushed back until Monday. First talk of this transfer came to the forefront about three weeks ago, and fans are becoming frustrated at the manner in which Arsenal are fixing the transfer. Although the fans, and very patient they are, know that Arsenal are renowned for taking their time over transfer deals, so maybe fans should cut them a little slack in that department.

As for the calibre of signing, Gervinho is a very good player and could be great for Arsenal. Fans need to get behind the 24 year old, as he is a player who is determined to join the Gunners and perform at the highest level, Arsenal fans should be excited. Gervinho didn’t necessarily need a transfer, he won two trophies last season, and Lille are guaranteed a spot to be competing in the Champions League next season. It’s a big opportunity for him and a good prospect for Arsenal (should all the formalities go through).

Gervinho is improving vastly, and Arsenal fans should look forward to prospect of a new striker setting up at the Emirates. This will probably lead the way for Bendtner and Vela’s exit from the club.

Here’s a YouTube video of some of his best bits


Real Talk Football

Liverpool's Problem's

As Liverpool prepare for Europa League duty and take on Lille OSC on March 11th, manager Rafael Benitez is undoubtedly under pressure to get his side to perform. Last season's Premiership runners-up are seemingly falling away in the race for fourth place with Monday's defeat to Wigan, and the Europa League is probably the only real bit of success the club may find this season.

As I highlighted earlier this season, Liverpool need to either buck up their ideas or look at investing in new players, however with the transfer window shut, they can completely forget about that, and Benitez is going to have to rely on "good old fashion" teamwork.

Benitez has recently been quoted claiming off the field problems, have been affecting matters on the field... Now lets be honest, Portsmouth went into administration a few weeks ago and last weekend they made it into the FA Cup Semi-final. Benitez needs to keep his players focused, fit and commited to the cause. Fair enough the likes of Aurelio (consistanly injured) and Skrtel are now possibly out for the rest of the season, but with quality of the returning players, there are no more excuses for the Spaniard.

So what to do?

The only real positives is that Liverpool have their injured players returning for the final 3rd of the season. Glen Johnson, who is undoubtedly England's best right back, has returned after 2 months out with a knee injury, Yossi Benayoun also back in the squad and most importantly Fernando Torres is returning to full fitness and will start scoring again.

But for Rafa to really solve the problems and get Liverpool playing again, he has to stop playing this theory of playing Javier Macherano in defence, and put him in midfield!!! PLEASE!! how can you expect Gerrard to regain any kind of form just relying on Lucas to hold the midfield? Fair enough Johnson was out injured, but im sure Benitez could possibly re-train another player to play at right back (just like when he re-trained Alvaro Arbeloa to left back when he was originally a right back). Also give Aquilani a run in the team! it shocks me that week after week he sits on the bench as Rafa doesn't want to "rush the Italian back" from injury. Also why keep Ryan Babel around, if he isnt going to be used? Again there must be some underlying disciplinary or attitude issue, if the Dutch winger is still not being given a chance. Finally Benitez should revert to the 4-3-2-1/4-5-1 formation which saw Kuyt, Gerrard and Torres link up so well last season, causing teams all sorts of issue's with the interchangable movement.

Time will only tell if Liverpool can salvage anything from the season, but if we look at their remaining fixtures, Benitez's side can still influence the title race and still collect some silverwear by the end of the season.

Liverpool's final fixtures

11/3 Lille

15/3 Portsmouth

18/3 Lille

21/3 Man United

28/3 Sunderland

3/4 Birmingham

11/4 Fulham

19/4 West Ham

24/4 Burnley

1/5 Chelsea

9/5 Hull

Can Benitez or Liverpool save anything from the season? Can Liverpool win the Europa League? Do you think Benitez will be sacked in the summer? Leave a comment below or email us at realtalkfootballblog@hotmail.co.uk