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Ben Herd on Aldershot Town, Barcelona and playing abroad
Well, it was another positive week for us here down at Aldershot; we had an excellent win away at Bury. In all honesty we weren't at our best against them, they had a super chance to take the lead, when their young striker, Tom Elliott, rounded our keeper but somehow managed to miss an empty goal. That chance was certainly a turning point in the game, as I just sensed that it seemed to suck a bit of life out of a few of their players. As I have said before, talk is cheap and at the moment we have edged ourselves into the play-offs but we are not getting ahead of ourselves, we will just continue to work hard and not look too far in front of us and just see where that takes us. It is a real pet hate of mine when managers publicly claim that they are going to do this or do that, call me superstitious, but I just think that by a manager saying something like "we have to make the play-offs", for example, is putting the players under a bit more pressure and raising fans ideas about their team. Also, managers seem to just set themselves up for a big fall, I prefer managers to keep a lid on it and just let the football do the talking, letting the results do all of the talking!
Football certainly did do all of the talking down at The Emirates, on Wednesday night. "Delicious football" was how ITV's Clive Tyldesley enfused, on just how well Barcelona totally out played the Gooners. The Gooners were more like goners, with Barcelona completely pulling their pant's down, for large chunks of the game. It was probably one of the best footballing performances from a team that I have ever witnessed, the way every single Barcelona player stroked the ball around with such composure, really brought home to me that they are by far the best team in the world. As a right back I am always watching games and pretty much analysing what the right backs are doing, practically watching their every move. For me, Danny Alves is the one player that I would love to aspire to, his engine and ability to get up and down the right flank is unbelievable, granted, his defending isn't top notch but his strength is running the other way and really turning the tables on his opposing winger, making him track back and mark him. I thought Alves was arguably the best player on the pitch the other night; it amazes me that he doesn't get a regular starting slot in his national team, Brazil.
Staying on European football, Jose Mourinho has, not for the first time, caused a bit of a stir in Italy by saying he doesn't like Italian football. That has got to be the biggest come and get me plea from 'The special one' to clubs in England and Spain, it might be worth putting a few quid on Jose becoming Real Madrid's next manager, the pressure has surely got to be on Manuel Pellegrini and if he fails to deliver the La Liga title his job certainly has to be on the line, worth a couple of quid anyway. Jose isn't the first to find it difficult to adapt to a foreign country, most notably Ian Rush describing his unsuccessful stint in Turin 'It was like living in a foreign country'. Playing abroad is something that I would absolutely love to do; I don't think enough English players take the plunge to test themselves in foreign leagues. Omer Riza, my current team-mate, spent several very successful years out in Turkey. When Omer talks about the set up out there it really appeal to me. At the minute I am very happy at Aldershot but a little bit further down the line playing abroad is definitely something I would like to try my hand at, I think it would make you a more rounded person, to experience different cultures and with football being such a short if the opportunity came up I would have to take it.
Ask Herdy Questions:
Ask any Aldershot fan, and you'd be on the shortlist for Player Of The
Season honours. Who, in your opinion, at this stage of the season,
would you vote for?
Simon, Aldershot
My fellow Spurs fan and full back, Andy Sandell. He is a tough full back who has done very well this season; also he is in my defenders union!
There's much debate on Shotsweb as to how the club can grow their
fanbase. What are your thoughts? Do you have any ideas?
Anthony
To grow a fan base immediately is a tough task, I think you have to target local schools and incentivise admission into the stadium on match day, for example, kids under 12 get in free with a full paying adult. I think this would safe guard the future fan base of the club hopefully see it grow, let's be honest think back to when you were a kid, you can always remember the first game you went to see.
Hi Ben, you're my favourite player at 'The Rec' but I was disappointed
to hear you're getting married in the summer - is it too late to cancel!??
Ha-ha I don't think my Fiancée would be too pleased with that, but if your name is Cheryl Cole then I am all yours!
Posted: Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 @ 07:04 am by Ben Herd
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