There have been several mysterious incidents that have transpired since this season’s inauguration such as Newcastle’s miraculous comeback from 4-nil down to draw 4-4 with Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s first public outburst this week when he stated: “Mourinho can say or do whatever he wants. In this [press] room, Mourinho is the fuc*ing chief, the f*cking boss. I do not have to compete with him in here.”
Although the usually reserved Guardiola’s verbal explosion raised several eyebrows amongst the audience for the Barcelona manager’s pre-Clasico press conference, perhaps the biggest mystery of the season, and one a little closer to home, has been the dearth of right-backs in the Premier League, a trend which perhaps began some two years ago and has evidently not improved since.
The role of the right-back has developed immeasurably since the likes of Gary Neville emerged, and Cafu’s influence encouraged a generation of offensive-minded full-backs, epitomized most recently by Dani Alves and Maicon. Interestingly, the Premier League hasn’t suffered the same paucity in quality left-backs over the same period of time, and in fact several left-sided defenders have flourished over the past two seasons, and a number of English left-backs have been afforded opportunities in Fabio Capello’s England set-up of recent.
Although Ashley Cole has maintained an impressive, almost inhuman, level of consistency over the course of his career, and probably deserves his place in the PFA Team of the Year for 2011, Leighton Baines’ rise to prominence in an erratic Everton side has seen his value soar. The former Wigan defender made his England debut in March last year but wasn’t selected for Capello’s finalized World Cup squad last summer, the Italian opting to promote Steven Warnock instead, but Baines’ contribution this campaign has seen him cement a place amongst the England squad this season.
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