The future is now for some

During the course of the long holiday weekend I have been able to watch a couple of different soccer games and came away impressed by a pair of young midfielders.

On Wednesday, I watched United play Rangers in the Champions League and came away very impressed with Rangers six foot two inch 19 year old midfielder Kyle Hutton. Despite being the youngest player on the field, he played with a calmness that is shown only by older players. The Scottish midfielder is going to continue to grow and has the potential to be one of the best midfielders around.

Then on Saturday, I watched the Arsenal Aston Villa game and loved what I saw from Ciaran Clark (picture above) and also came away impressed. During the game Clark scored Villa only two goals in the 4-2 loss. Clark, who stands six foot two inches tall, is a commanding presence in the middle of the field to go along with the smallish Barry Bannan. The duo is going to team up for the next couple of years to give Villains face something to cheer about. Clark has played at various levels for England but has recently committed to play for Ireland at senior level. Clark has all of the tools to be a great box to box midfielder in the Premier League.

Both Clark and Hutton are tall figures and show that playing midfield is no longer a small man's game.
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Irish hearts and French Hands

For a 120 minutes the Irish National Team played their hearts out and with one hand Henry took their dreams of a World Cup away. Here is how the Irish newspapers covered the events yesterday in Paris.

Irish Times

Irish Independent

Irish Examiner

Irish Daily Star

Large and not in charge

Sports contracts say a variety of things and St. Patrick's Athletic midfielder Michael Keane found that out. Keane contract was terminated for being too fat, yes too fat.

Keane received a letter from the club earlier this year instructing him to lose weight and was given a target to aim towards. Failing to meet that goal was the reason offered for his dismissal. In his defence, the player will argue that he hasn't missed a training session during his time with the club,'' according to story Friday in the Independent.

Maybe Chelski can include this provision in Fat Franks new contract.