Alan Hansen Column on Roy Keane, Paul Ince at Blackburn, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Manchester United & Hull

I was somewhat surprised by the departure of Roy Keane from Sunderland last week and adds fuel to the fire than the highest profile players don’t necessarily make the best managers. For me, the fact that Roy didn’t have a grounding in management may have made the situation up on Wearside that much harder for him to handle. He played at the very top level and then basically walked straight into management without a trial run so to speak.

Management is hard at the best of times but when you are in the Premier League it’s magnified ten-fold. The scrutiny you are put under at the top level is unprecedented and the responsibility of your team compared to when you are a player is a completely different scenario. It’s not easy to make the transition from top class player to management particularly as quickly as Keane did.

If you consider the history of the Premier League, there are few real top class players who’ve made the step up to become a top class manager apart from my old team-mate Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn. Just look at the current big four club managers, Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Rafa Benitez, none of them were outstanding players but have shown they are outstanding managers. The same can be said of a certain Jose Mourinho too. Keane showed great character as a player but as a manager, experience is key.

Roy’s former United team-mate Paul Ince is also under intense pressure at the moment at Ewood Park after a poor run of results. However, after watching the game against Liverpool on Saturday, I thought Blackburn played really well and were unlucky. Rovers now have a run of fixtures coming up that are definitely winnable so this is Paul’s chance to turn this season around.

The problem for Ince and numerous other managers is that the price for failure is high particularly for teams like Blackburn. The club definitely cannot afford to drop down into the Championship as there is a real threat they wouldn’t return for many years. Just look at some of clubs that have been relegated in recent seasons who now face administration due to the heavy financial burden relegation has brought.

If Paul can keep Blackburn playing as they did at the weekend then I’m sure they’ll be just fine. This was always going to be a tough appointment for him when you consider how well Mark Hughes had done at the club and the fact they lost two of their best players in Brad Friedel and David Bentley in the summer. Add in the speculation concerning his top striker Roque Santa Cruz and this really was a baptism of fire. It was widely considered that Mark Hughes had taken Blackburn as far as he could so Paul faced an uphill task in his first Premier League appointment to improve on this.

It would seem that the big four are finding it slightly easier to get results away from home at the moment, particularly in regards to Liverpool and Chelsea who both recorded wins at the weekend. There is an obvious reason for this and that is the fact that in this country, our teams mentality when playing at home is to attack. Unlike say in Italy, the onus is always on the home side to have a go at teams regardless of the opposition which allows the likes of Chelsea to have a bit more space to make the most of their superior ability. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team has proved this on a number of occasions this season as they’ve struggled to break down sides at Stamford Bridge who’ve come to defend deep with two banks of four and have managed to frustrate Chelsea. The Blues incredible winning away run is testament to this as is the amount of goals Nicolas Anelka has managed to score on the road this season. However, despite this I would suggest if you asked the likes of Chelsea or Liverpool if they’d prefer to play away rather than at home, they’d pick home every time.

Once again Robbie Keane is coming under increasing pressure at Liverpool culminating in him benched for the Blackburn game and rumours growing over a return to White Hart Lane. The problem for Robbie is strikers are judged on the amount of goals they score and he’s struggled in that department. He is still a fantastic player and Red fans should realise that doesn’t change overnight.

Liverpool are a massive club so the pressure on him is immense, it will be a more intense pressure than he would have experienced at Tottenham and he’s struggled to duplicate his Spurs form in a red shirt. Now I don’t know Robbie well but I’m sure he knows what is expected of him and he is too good a player not to do well eventually. Whether he’s the sort of player who needs a kick up the backside or an arm round him I just don’t know but I’m sure he still has an important role to play in Liverpool’s title bid. He just needs to buckle down, get on with it and show what he’s all about.

This week the last group games of the Champions League take place and I cannot see Chelsea not reaching the next round alongside Arsenal, Liverpool and United. I am not remotely concerned that Scolari’s team won’t qualify as the English clubs are really cruising in this competition these days. It’s testament to how dominant the English clubs are that we barely talk about the Champions League these days unless one of our clubs is struggling. The Premier League sides seem to be getting better and better in the competition and we expect all our sides to get through each round and at least one in the final due to their dominance.

I’ve been asked numerous times whether I think the Champions League format or the 2-legged knock out format I played in makes the trophy easier or harder to win. Well for me, the current format means that if you can’t qualify through the group stages then you shouldn’t be in the competition in the first place as you get so many more chances to get through. Throw in the fact that you only faced the champions of your opposition’s country in my time which meant you were playing a team used to winning.

The strength of the competition in my day is summed up by this, I played in 4 finals in 8 years with Liverpool but the best Reds side I ever played in was knocked out of the European Cup in the 1st round in successive years. We were beaten by eventual winners Nottingham Forest in 1979 and the following year by Dinamo Tblisi. We had won the first leg 2-1 at Anfield but were soundly beaten 3-0 away which goes to show the levels in those days.

This weekend we have a number of exciting Premier League games to look forward to with Tottenham hosting Manchester United the pick of the bunch. Spurs have had a bit of a revival since Harry Redknapp joined the club and will be a totally different proposition for Sir Alex than they would’ve been pre-Harry. Despite the run of form and returning confidence at the Lane I would still back United to win this one. They usually come on strong over the Christmas period and with their attacking players will cause Spurs lots of problems.

It will be interesting to see how Dimitar Berbatov handles his return to Tottenham and what is sure to be plenty of abuse. Personally I don’t see him having any problems with that at all, he is a top class player and it will be water of a duck’s back to him. He has a confidence about him and belief that won’t affect the way he plays and the fact he wants the ball at his feet. United should win and don’t be too surprised if Berbatov has a blinder.

Another interesting fixture is the Premier League’s surprise package Hull making the trip to face Liverpool at Anfield. Rafa’s team need the points as they’ve drawn their last two at home but Phil Brown’s side have shown they are no mugs at this level. To make the step up to the Premier League and only lose once away from home is an incredible feat. After all, only unbeaten Chelsea have lost less on the road. However, I have a feeling that Liverpool will have just a bit too much on the day and with Hull showing they will attack anyone, they may leave gaps to exploit that both West Ham and Fulham didn’t in the last few games at Anfield.

There’s some cracking fixtures this week and with an estimated £180,000 jackpot on Footy 15 and a £20,000 estimated jackot on Premier 10 it’s well worth playing this week. So simply pick home win, away win or draw for the fixtures and for as little as £1 you could be a winner!

Good luck

Alan

Tags: Alan Hansen, Blackburn, Chelsea, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester United, Sunderland, Tottenham

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