SPOTY Contenders

I’ve been planning for a while on going slightly off-piste, and writing a non Arsenal related blog. Given that the ten nominees for Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) are announced tomorrow night, this seemed like something decent for me to have a go at. Tragically, it happens to be the same day that we mourn the death of Gary Speed, a true personality of British football. As Dan Walker wrote in his incredibly moving blog, now is not the time to discuss the reasons behind Gary’s death, but to remember the life that he lived.

A fantastic footballer, including spells at Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers, and the first Premier League player to reach 500 appearances in the Division. Also the most capped outfield player for Wales, representing his country 85 times, 44 of which as Captain. He was a player who everyone respected, clearly loved by his fellow professionals, and boasted a career that any youngster would aspire to emulate.

As a Manager, Gary managed Sheffield United for a few months before landing the role as Wales boss in December 2010. Despite inheriting a squad that subsequently fell to a record low position of 117^th in the FIFA Rankings, he turned it around fantastically and Wales found themselves ranked 45^th in the rankings in October this year.

It’s always horrible when a talented life is ended early. It’s been incredible to see the tributes pour in for him, and it shows just how many people he has touched during his career and what a fantastic community football can be when it’s brought together. I’m so sorry for this family and his friends, and hope they are allowed to grieve in privacy. Rest In Peace, Gary.

The aim of this blog is to look at the lead contenders (in my opinion!) of the main categories for SPOTY, what they’ve achieved, and why they are in with a chance of landing the much coveted end of year award for British sportsmen/women. Hope you enjoy!

Sports Personality Of The Year contenders

Mark Cavendish

In my eyes, the favourite. I’m not a big follower of cycling, but it’s been hard to avoid the year that Mark Cavendish has had. He became the first British winner of the Tour de France Green Jersey (the sprint competition), winning five of the 21 stages. As if that wasn’t enough, he became only the second Brit to win the World Championship road race in Copenhagen in September. He has his eyes firmly set on 2012 now; the Olympics, and racing for Team Sky (plus the birth of his first child). But if you are truly going to award the main prize at SPOTY to the most successful British sportsman of the year, look no further than Mark Cavendish.

Rory McIlroy

After all the expectation, 2011 has finally been the year that Rory McIlroy truly marked his stamp on the world of golf. Despite throwing away a four shot lead on the final day at the Masters in the opening Major of the year, he put it immaculately right at the US Open where he destroyed the field to win his first Major by eight shots. He became the youngster Major winner since Tiger Woods in 1997, and the youngest US Open winner since 1923. Despite struggling in the remaining two Major Championships, he hit some sensational form at the end of the season, and now finds himself a career high second in the world rankings. It’s not far-fetched to suggest he’ll be one better this time next year. He’s had a brilliant year, but I think he’ll have to wait until he lands the main gong at SPOTY.

Darren Clarke

Who’d have thought at the beginning of the year, that Darren Clarke would be a serious challenger for SPOTY? The 43-year-old Northern Irishman won his first Major at the British Open in July, after a weather affected four days at Royal St George’s. A true personality of the world of golf, and much loved amongst British sports fans, Clarke has already come close to the prize after he came in second after his Ryder Cup heroics in 2006. No doubt his final chance to win the main prize, and I’m sure he’ll get a large portion of the public vote. Top three definite. Possible winner.

Luke Donald

It’s really been a great year for British golf! Luke Donald should also be seriously considered, for his incredible consistency throughout the year, and his rise to world number one in the world of golf. Winner of the BMW PGA Championship, Scottish Open, WGC Matchplay Championship, top ten finishes in two Majors, and third place in the FedEx Cup. Not to mention becoming the first ever golfer to finish top of the PGA and European Tour Money Lists, it’s been an incredible year for Luke. Can’t help but feel his success is more appreciated in America than in Britain, and the lack of a Major trophy will ultimately cost him a real shot at winning the award, but he should be a nominee for sure.

Alastair Cook

It seems like an age ago that we won The Ashes in Australia, but Alastair Cook’s form in that series, as well as the rest of the year, makes him another serious contender for SPOTY. He was the best player down under by a country mile, amassing 766 runs in the five test series, and becoming the second highest English run scorer in Ashes history. Not to mention picking up the Man Of The Series award. He wasn’t done there either, scoring a further three centuries against Sri Lanka and India respectively in the summer. Currently ranked third in the Test Batsman rankings, and probably the most likely of the cricketers to win (or get a place) in the awards.

Mo Farah

Not only is he a Gooner, but he’s a pretty decent runner too. After a fantastic 2010, Mo Farah was at it again during 2011. He became the first British winner of a long distance event at the World Championships, winning the 5,000m in South Korea. And was also impressive on his way to silver in the 10,000m. Also winning the 3,000m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships, Mo is a popular guy in British sport, and worthy of his place as an expected nominee for SPOTY.

International Sport Personality Of The Year

Sebastian Vettel

One of the most dominant performances during a Formula One season that you’ll ever see. From the first race in Australia, it was clear that Sebastian Vettel meant serious business, and the title was pretty much decided by the time he’d won the eighth race of the season (his sixth) in Valencia. Sebastian ended the season with a record 15 pole positions, and 11 wins. A huge 122 points ahead of second place Jenson Button in the Driver Standings. Given the serious amount of driving talent in the field this season, including four other former World Champions, it was total annihilation. And this, his second World Championship, is highly unlikely to be his last either. My personal favourite for the International SPOTY award. But the next bloke might be close…

Novak Djokovic

Much like Vettel, Novak Djokovic has too enjoyed a year of substantial domination in his sport. Winner of ten tournaments in 2011, including three of the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open) and he set a new record for winning the most amount of prize money in a season on the ATP World Tour. He went 43 matches unbeaten (including two matches in 2010), and surged his way to World Number One. Fatigue clearly got the better of him at the end of the season, but ending the year with 70 wins and only six losses is worthy of serious praise. Especially as it occurred during the period of the highest ever standard of men’s tennis, as Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer are still very much at the top of their game.

Team Of The Year

England Test Cricket

What a year for the English Test cricket team. I don’t care what anyone says, but Test cricket is still very much the premier format of the game, and it is a brilliant achievement that we currently sit proudly top of the Test World Rankings. This was achieved after several years of hard work, but finally confirmed on the back of our first series win in Australia for 24 years, the summer series wins over Sri Lanka, and whitewashing then number one ranked side India. There are arguments that the standard of International Test cricket has dropped, but that doesn’t matter. The fact remains the same though, and England will probably win the Team Of The Year award because of the unbeaten year, and surge to becoming the best Test team in the world.

Young Sport Personality Of The Year

It’ll probably be Tom Daley. But Liam Broady deserves a decent shout. Runner up in the Boys’ Singles at Wimbledon this year, after a really decent final. One to look out for. I don’t really know much else about any possible Young SPOTY contenders, hence the small paragraph!

There you go then. My very quick look into the big event, which takes place on Thursday 22^nd December. It’s always a fun and interesting night, to review the year that British sport has endured. And from this blog, hopefully it has shed some light on some of the leading contenders (at least in my eyes) in some of the categories. The nominees for the main award are announced tomorrow, Monday 28^th November, during The One Show.

Let me know what you think. Thoughts on those that I’ve suggested, or recommendations for those I’ve left out. It’s impossible to include everyone (I didn’t want to write a novel), but it’s been another fantastic year for British sport, and I’m already looking forward to the big night, and James Corden’s inevitable love making scene with David Beckham.

Progress Halted

ARSENAL 1 - FULHAM 1

Back to frustration then. Today’s result was hardly a disaster, more of a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do, and we can’t take anything for granted in the wide race that’s emerging for Champions League spots next year.

I’m always frustrated and annoyed when we drop points. In my mind, we are good enough to beat absolutely anyone. So it’s unsatisfying when we fail to pick up three points in the league, whether it’s away against the Champions, or at home to a newly promoted team. Or even at home against a solid mid table side like Fulham.

I actually like Fulham as a team, and as a club. And it was clear even before the game that they’d be difficult to break down. They produced a starting XI with far more attacking options than I thought they would, including all of Dempsey, Dembele, Ruiz and Zamora. A lot of who would get in most Premier League teams.

So it was unsurprising to see Fulham counter attack with purpose and ambition, and get into more than one area of concern for the Arsenal defence, even though there were only a couple of times that Szezesny was forced to make a save. It was very disciplined from Fulham, and from a neutral point of view you’d probably be fair to say that they deserved their point.

But I’m not a neutral. As a Gooner, my frustration was growing as the minutes passed.

Especially after Andrei Arshavin had an early goal disallowed (correctly) for offside, it showed that we looked like we meant business. That we had that clinical edge to our attack, which we’d been lacking in recent years.

But apparently not.

The only other real first half chances came through Aaron Ramsey, who was below par compared to his recent high level of performances. Ramsey forced an excellent save from the brilliant Mark Schwarzer, and then skied a Theo Walcott pull back high over the bar. Rambo has been incredible as of late; he wasn’t terrible today. In fact, he was making a lot of ground up on the left, where the lost and hopeless Arshavin should have been. But Ramsey’s passing was sometimes too ambitious, and slow. This won’t be damaging on his progress, but he needs to re-watch his game today, and learn from his mistakes. He’ll become a better player from it.

Schwarzer is no stranger to making incredible streaks of saves against us. He was at it again today, and forced a brilliant save from a Johan Djourou header off a corner, and that horrible feeling of it “not being our day” was growing in my mind. Even captain fantastic Robin van Persie seemed not at his best. Tired maybe. The one time he did beat Schwarzer in the Fulham goal saw a well positioned Chris Baird clear off the line. It just wasn’t going to go in, was it?

And then our worst fears were realised. Calamity in the back line struck, as Andre Santos dicked around clearing the ball, it fell back to Fulham in the middle of our half, and the ball was floated in, bounced around, and eventually rolled in to our net courtesy of a tragic attempted clearance by Thomas Vermaelen. Boom. 1-0 to Fulham, and silence amongst the home fans.

This prompted some intriguing substitutions from Arsene Wenger that perhaps should have happened earlier in the half, or even at half time itself. Gervinho replaced Ramsey, and Abou Diaby marked his Premier League return (to the surprise of myself) by replacing Per Mertesacker. Alex Song moved to CB, Diaby into midfield, Gervinho out wide, and I’ve no idea where Arshavin went. Until he got replaced eight minutes later by Marouane Chamakh. Desperate, right?

My immediate response was why, oh why, has Diaby, a player just returning from a series of injuries, very much lacking match practise or sharpness, been brought on when we are chasing the game? When someone like Yossi Benayoun remains on the bench? And push Song, arguably our best midfielder this year, back into defence? Diaby made some neat movements, but tried too many high balls into the box for my liking. And given Fulham’s defence, that was the worst possible tactic. I mean, we had 13 corners in the game, and only one actually ended with an attempt on goal.

Gervinho was the difference though. For all his faults in front of goal (and there are a lot, which I’m planning on doing a separate blog about), he is a dribbling master. He creates things out of nothing, and often requires two or even three defenders on him, freeing up space for others to exploit. He was excellent once he came on. Really upped the tempo, made some great breaks, and we actually looked like a team too.

And we eventually got the equaliser. Vermaelen making up for his unfortunate own goal, soared forward and headed home a cross by the ever impressive Walcott.

We had time to find a winner, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Points shared, and time for reflection on what could have been.

Today wasn’t a disaster, but definitely a big missed opportunity. Man United were held at home, Chelsea are back to winning ways, Sp*rs keep marching on. Winning was as important as ever, to keep the run going, and keep the pressure up on those around us.

It’s always difficult going from the high intensity of the Champions League on a Wednesday, back to an important game in the Premier League on a Saturday. We’ve suffered in the past, and we’ve lost points again today. But it’s a problem for Wenger, who wants to always play our best team in both competitions.

Was it more important to get the win on Wednesday and top our Champions League group with a game to spare? Or win today, get the extra two points, and have to field a full strength team away at Olympiacos? Probably better as it is. We have plenty of time to make up the lost two points today, whereas if we needed a result in Athens and screwed it, we could have been in the same boat as last season. Drawn against Barcelona, or Real Madrid in the first round knock out. And faced with another swift exit in Europe’s premier competition.

One thing I would now beg to Wenger should I get the opportunity (probably not). Put out the Reserves against Man City on Tuesday night.

It’s clear that some of our key players are already struggling with fatigue, so it would be almost criminal to put a strong side out in the Mickey Mouse competition, against the best team in the country (at present).

Bollocks to the Carling Cup, give the kids some experience, and who knows, should they spring a surprise result and beat what will probably be a pretty strong Citeh team anyway (welcome back $amir), it would be hilarious. And give us a genuine shot at winning the trophy we should be defending this year.

So despite the initial disappointment at only drawing today, there’s no reason to panic because of it. More of our progress being halted, than anything else. We must also respect the opposition, and give them credit for their performance, which was admirable at the very least.

Our next league game is away at struggling Wigan, whilst Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United all have trickier away games at which they might drop points. It’s amazing how quickly a couple of dropped points can be forgotten, and replaced in this division.

We must stay strong, and believe. It’s the Arsenal way.