Youth comes at a price in Premiership

Football stars are getting younger and younger, but the race to youth is costing clubs dearly. Over the weekend we saw Tottenham gift West Ham, Manchester United hand Bolton a winner, and Sunderland open the flood gates against Everton. Kids were all at fault.

I have complained about this before, younger players may be exciting and athletic, but they are not skilled like you see here. Clubs are obsessed with giving younger and younger players a go, but all I see happening is more mistakes and a replacement of ability with the power footballer, where brawn makes up for missing years of refinement.

Will this trend stop? No, of course not. Especially considering the price of a seasoned professional. Should it? It's debatable. Just look at 1995 and the great Ajax team that won Europe and the 'you can't win anything with kids' of Manchester United that won the double. On the other hand, look at these clangers from the weekend:

Sloppy defending saw Tottenham's Younes Kaboul, 21, clear into Luis Boa Morte which ended up gifting Carlton Cole an open goal. Kaboul was substituted shortly after the half. Snicker if you want, but I doubt Ricardo Rocha would have done that. Look how many goals Tottenham have conceded.

Manchester United's Gerard Pique, 19, has tons of talent, but a rush of self assurance saw him leave his marking duties in the box and miss a clearance to gift Anelka a Bolton winner.

And Sunderland defender Paul McShane, 21, was under no pressure but completely missed a clearance to gift Everton the opener. His performance went downhill from there as three times Sunderland conceded from long, long, long balls and were a shocking mess at the back the entire game to the tune of a 7-1 scoreline that could easily have been 12-1.

Let's not even discuss Newcastle. If you thought Titus Bramble was the problem, well...

Of course a young player needs a chance to prove himself and you improve most thru match play. Understood, but too often a player at age 26 is considered too old.

And that leads me to my last point. England are going to miss Euro 2008. My number one reason for this failure is a tie between McClaren's inept tactics and England players obsession with money, but a second is harder to discern and has to do with all this young international potential entering the Premiership from abroad stifling the development of English kids who end up aged 26 in the Championship and considered past their chance.

There needs to be a balance between youth and experience, and this mania towards youth has gone too far.

It's a shame, especially considering the stayed excuse is to say English players are too expensive. I disagree: the obsession with youth drives price speculation. The mantra "give young players a chance" should be replaced with "have a second look at someone that is not 18, might not become World Player of the Year, but might also not gift points".

Barton back at it

Joey Barton, the name that is quickly becoming synonymous with troublemaker was back at it again over the weekend when his new club Newcastle drew against Sunderland.

Barton apologized for a dangerous tackle on Sunderland's Dickson Etuhu during the derby match. Dangerous tackle? You mean an attempt at a knockout punch. The wet noodle Football Association has declined to take any action against Barton. The event was not seen by referee Martin Atkinson. If he had it was a certain red card.

Etuhu knew exactly what Barton had done to him and the pair faced off after the incident as the half time whistle blew. Barton not only went in with studs high but with fists.

Barton claims he was simply rusty. Good excuse. Were you rusty when you beat Dabo?

Want to watch a crap game? Sunderland vs Liverpool

Sometimes you have to win ugly. Liverpool did that, and considering their away woes last season, I am sure the faithful won’t care much. But to the neutral there was nothing worth watching. Liverpool were jagged and all Sunderland cared about was not letting them play. A timeless classic it was not.

Momo Sissoko and Andriy Voronin both scored their first Premiership goals in either half and it was enough for three points. I could probably end the article here.

Sunderland started the match especially badly. They could have conceded in the first minute. So much for Roy Keane’s bla bla bla after last weeks drubbing. At one point around half time, the possession meter stood at 71-29% for Liverpool.

Sunderland's effort was actually not too bad, you must say they had success disrupting the Liverpool attack, but when they had the ball they just ran out of ideas over and over again and ended up hoofing the ball hoping for a lucky break.

Sunderland’s goalkeeper Craig Gordon is clearly their best player. He stopped the game from being a rout. Sunderland are weak in every part of the pitch and are going to have to fight for every point they will earn.

A funny moment fairly late on was watching Jamie Carragher let Rafael Benitez have it after it took him forever to substitute him after an injury. A bit of trivia, Sissoko’s first goal was Liverpool’s 7,000th League goal.

If you taped Match of the Day, you can safely fast forward this one.

Sunderland interest in Old Man River?

Sunderland are apparently interested in Roma defender Samuel Kuffour. Apparently he was offered to the club, having been sent out on loan at Livorno last season and being seen as surplus to requirements.

The extremely experienced Ghana international could provide Sunderland valuable experience but could also become a major liability if his pace does not meet the Premiership’s standard. I have not see him play for a while but what I have read suggests that his sprint is lagging and could easily be caught out as positional defending is not really possible at the pace of football in the Premiership.

Kuffour, former Ghana captain, former African Player of the Year and a Champions League winner with Bayern Munich in 2001, has been keen on a move to England for some time and rejected several offers from clubs in the Bundesliga and La Liga.

Whether Kuffour still has what is needed for the Premiership is still to be see. Sunderland, needing the experience might just get the player cheap enough to make it worth taking a risk.

Tottenham blow it against Sunderland

Tottenham against Sunderland was not the best football but an intriguing exercise in measuring up what each side would bring to the Premier League this season.

In fact it was a touch boring. I struggled to sit thru it. Opening match and all, I expected better.

Sunderland, to their credit, were not very talented but eager. Their new goalkeeper Craig Gordon looked very good with what little he had to do. They were fighters, that’s for sure and for a Sunderland crowd grown accustomed to winning in the Championship, the newly promoted team did not disappoint. You can consider this a major coup: 3 points, 90th+ minute, a touted top 4 side –it was an even bigger dream start than that of Manchester City’s.

For Tottenham, where is the improvement? Lots of new signings, but no pace on the wing and an obvious hole on the left where the team tried and failed to sign a noted winger –time to make a buy, and quick. That hole will only grow larger as the season wears on. Moving Robbie Keane out there in the second half didn’t help, in fact it probably hurt the team as Keane didn’t settle into the role (maybe sensing a season in that position).

Tottenham as a whole didn’t play badly, but they didn’t play well. Tactically they were good, Berbatov played well enough, but there were so many errant passes and carelessness in possession. This could work in Tottenham’s favor though, a wake up call might be just what the team needs.

A bright spot for me was the play of newly signed defender Younes Kaboul. I thought he did very well for the most part. He was agile, great in the air, played some classy touches and made some impressive forward runs only to be let down by poorly weighted passes.

While Sunderland have a long way to go and Tottenham have many injuries in defense, this might be a blip on the radar for both teams but, at least in terms of the Premiership table, the teams couldn’t be farther apart.

Record broken

Sunderland have broken the Premiership transfer record goalkeepers by splashing out on Hearts Craig Gordon.

Smart move. Quality keeper. Nothing worse than trying to stay promoted and leaking goals. It’s the fastest way to get relegated, even worse than being unable to score. Lots of draws can keep you afloat. Losing 3-2 when you can score won’t.

The 24 year old Scottish international has signed on for five years for an initial 7m pounds, which could reach 9m pounds after a certain number of appearances.

The previous record was held by Manchester United for Fabien Barthez from Monaco back in 2000 for 8m. Sunderland managed to sign Gordon on their 4th attempt, having 3 bids rejected.

Gordon may play in Sunderland's opening match at home against Tottenham this Saturday.

Sunderland swoop for Tottenham striker

Sunderland have lodged a suprise 9m pound bid for Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe.

Defoe looks to be 4th choice next season as the 16.5m arrival of Darren Bent from Charlton has marginalized the player and placed his career with Tottenham in doubt. In all honestly, he should leave as his chances will be limited in the coming seasons. In my mind, playing regularly trumps a big name club.

Portsmouth, Aston Villa and West Ham want to sign Defoe, adding Sunderland to that list gives the England international options. While its unlikely he’ll choose for a club just promoted, it does stake a price claim on the player, similar to what West Ham did to Tottenham with Darren Bent at 17m pounds. Beyond being just promoted, the competitors for Defoe all have greater transfer budgets.

What the offer does say is Sunderland intends to stay up and is willing to bid for players in a higher price bracket.

Defoe, somewhat stubbornly, wants to stay on at White Hart Lane and fight for a place but unless the squad is plagued by injuries it just won’t happen for him. Berbatov is untouchable leaving just one spot for 3 qualified players. Defoe must also consider his England ambitions: somehow being a 4th striker on the team sheet will not endear Steve McClaren.