The Legend of Paul Scholes

It may sometimes be hard to believe that in Paul Scholes's 17 seasons in the Manchester United first team, he has amassed an amazing 10 Premier League titles, 2 Champions League trophies and won 3 FA Cups among many other awards. 675 appearances and 150 goals for one of the biggest and best clubs in the world is not bad going at all, and along with his stunning passing, sensational vision and intelligence on the field he has received countless plaudits. From team mates to footballing legends, Scholes really has attracted huge appreciation. Not that Scholes listens to it, in 2010 he said:

"I try to ignore the plaudits. It is nice for people to say positive things but I just put it to one side and concentrate on the next game."

What a player he is. The mini clip above shows just a fraction of the maestros considerable talents and with his career unfortunately drawing to a close with talk of retirement constant, I looked back on the players, managers and footballing legends who have heaped praised on this man's shoulders.

Ryan Giggs

"I have played with some great players during my time at United but I would have to put Paul Scholes down as the best.”

Sir Bobby Charlton

"Paul is always so in control and pin-point accurate with his passing—a beautiful player to watch."

Zinedine Zidane

“There is no doubt for me that Paul Scholes is still in a class of his own." 

“He’s almost untouchable in what he does. I never tire of watching him play. You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get." 

“One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career.”

Michael Carrick

"Paul Scholes is just fantastic."

"When you play alongside him, you realise what a special talent he is. He is so intelligent and clever, he makes the game look really simple and showed it against Celtic by creating two goals."

"Believe me, it is a pretty hard skill to be able to slot people through gaps when everything is going on around you. Paul can do that and I felt he was the big difference between the teams." 

Thierry Henry

“For me the best player, and every time we used to play against Manchester United, we always used to be scared of Paul Scholes. For me, he was the best I have seen in the Premiership in the middle of the park."

“His vision, the way he sees the game, his goals ratio...a bit more now obviously, because we all, you know have to stop one day...but his goal ratio, his vision, he could put his foot in, whatever you wanted."

“I’m also a big fan of Steven Gerrard but for me, Paul Scholes was amazing.”

Xavi

"In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen — the most complete — is Scholes. I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything."

"He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn’t give possession away. If he had been Spanish then maybe he would have been valued more."

"A role model. For me, and I really mean this, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all, the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision. If he'd been Spanish he might have been rated more highly. Players love him." 

Edgar Davids

“I’m not the best, Paul Scholes is. We can all learn from Paul Scholes.”

Marcello Lippi

“Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team — that is how highly I have always rated him." 

“An all-round midfielder with quality and character in abundance.”

Laurent Blanc

"I tell anyone who asks me — Scholes is the best English player.”

Peter Schmeichel

“His reading of the game is unsurpassed. He has the best eye for a pass, for what the play or the game needs at that precise moment, that I have never seen anyone else have."

“He controls and distributes the play and the game better than anyone I have ever seen.”

Sir Alex Ferguson

"He's one of the great players to come through the ranks here."

Pep Guardiola

"Out of everyone at Manchester United, I would pick out Scholes – he is the best midfielder of his generation."

"I would have loved to have played alongside him."

Nani

"He’s the best midfielder I’ve ever seen. He can pass, score goals with his left, right, his head – he can do anything."

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Guardiola Making a Mockery of Football

I, like you reading this now, am a fan of football. Many of you will also be a fan of beautiful football, that of which Barcelona have been praised for countless times. Indeed, their play is admirably graceful and magnificently elegant with splendid passing and exquisitely dominant attacking play. It is something that many clubs around the world aspire to be like, with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger trying their own style of beautiful passing to create the perfect goal. However, we all saw a far uglier side to their football last week in the "El Clasico" - the first leg of their Champion's League semi-final against Real Madrid.

For those who have watched the fixture before in recent times, it will have come as no surprise. It would have come as no surprise that certain players were falling on the floor as if they had been shot, rolling around on the grass as if they were on the verge of death, and screaming in absolute agony as if someone had repeatedly kicked them in the stomach with steel toe capped boots. It was a disgrace. Yet nothing was done to punish the players who were in blatant wrong.

Real Madrid, knowing that they have little chance of winning the tie thanks to the sublime Lionel Messi, resorted to accusations that some Barcelona players had been racist to their defender, Marcelo by calling him a monkey. Of course, if that is true, there must be enquiries; UEFA cannot simply sweep the matter under the carpet like no doubt they would love to do. In response however, Pep Guardiola said something quite amazing. It actually made me laugh a little in exasperation. He leapt to the defence of his player Sergio Busquets by saying:

“I know these kind of players, all of them. They are an example of professionalism, of honesty. They love the values of the sport.

“They know we play for the rest of the world. Of course they can make mistakes but as a human, they are an example as a player of Barcelona, as players of Spain.”

Professionalism? Honesty? Was this not the player who was rolling around on the floor in the first leg after jumping on a Real's player's back? Replays showed that there was no contact on his face, yet he persisted to clutch it in pain and suffering, and even required medics on the field to cure his complete and utter lie of an injury. How can he possibly "love the values of the sport" when he is purposely attempting to get a fellow professional sent off for doing nothing wrong?

Guardiola goes on to say that his side play for world, and Busquets sets an example for the players of Barcelona and Spain. What kind of example does faking injuries to get other people unfairly in trouble set? When the children of Barcelona, the children of Spain, and the children watching anywhere in the world see him do what he did, it suddenly makes them start to think that perhaps this behaviour is acceptable when in fact, it is the very behaviour that we do not want to see in football.

I have never had a problem with Guardiola before, but those words wound me up. It is a blatant ignorance of the facts that a lot of his players are clear cheats, who in their competitiveness, will attempt to shamelessly con the referee into thinking that they have been the subject of red-card worthy tackles. In view of hundreds of high definition camera's, which will tell us all whether there is contact or not, it is unprincipled, and unfair.

Guardiola added that he “was getting sick of playing Madrid” because of all the noises off the pitch. Well that is something I can agree on. I'd much rather watch Arsenal, Manchester United and the rest of the Premier League who, though far from perfect, and not free from diving and cheating, do have some restraint on their diving practice on the pitch, and get on with playing football - entertaining football. Arsenal, United and the rest may not have the inch perfect passing and extraordinary attacking force as Barcelona and sometimes Madrid do, but I'll be glad when this semi-final is over, so we can all watch some football free from so much blatant cheating.

Follow Me on Twitter @RealDan7 or @DBSFootball

DBSFootball in association with: http://www.watch-football.tv/football/ - Live Football Streaming.

Wilshere Admirers Grow by the Day

Jack Wilshere told of the best week of his life after Arsenal's win against Barcelona at the Emirates, and as his excellent performances become an ever frequent feature at the North London club, his fans, admirers, supporters, followers - call them what you like - increase by the day. No-one can doubt his obvious quality, skill and footballing artistry, and in such a young player it is very rare to see such natural ability so perhaps it is unsurprising that praise for him is not in short supply.

The most recent to heap praise on the 19 year-old is Barcelona's manager, Pep Guardiola. The manager, who has led Barcelona to eight trophies since taking over in 2008, is about to sign a contract extension at his club. Speculation had begun however, as to whether Guardiola may try to sign Wilshere for Barca in light of his brilliant performance against his side. The 40 year-old moved to rubbish the rumours, but not before adding his compliments to the players growing number of them:

"He [Wilshere] is a great player - a great player for Arsenal and in any case, Arsene Wenger doesn't sell his best players."

He continued to praise Arsenal:

"Arsenal are a wonderful side. You will not hear me discredit Arsenal - they are a great side with a great coach and they will be a very difficult opponent. It will be a great game against a great team."

His own manager has nothing but good to say about Wilshere. Arsene Wenger likened his playing style to that of Spanish players while applauding how he plays unworried and unfazed by his surroundings and occasion:

"He has a Spanish technique certainly, yes. He has an English heart because he's an English boy.

"He takes everything at the moment with a cool head, that's what I like. At his age you want to play and play again and show what you are. What I like as well is he isn't fazed by the occasion; he's not inhibited and just plays free off his chest which is fantastic."

Meanwhile his team mates, both club and country have told how they love to play with him. Fellow Arsenal midfielder Alex Song called him an "unbelievable young player" and he s "very happy to play alongside him". Song said Wilshere "always want to listen and learn" an invaluable quality in young players.
Wayne Rooney, who has had the privilege of playing with Wilshere for England and will undoubtedly do so in he future too, said after Wilshere's first start for England:

"I thought Jack Wilshere did really well. He is really composed on the ball and really good to play with. You can see the potential he has got."

Chelsea's Frank Lampard echoed Rooney's comments:

"We have learned that Wilshere can come in and continue showing the composure he plays with for Arsenal. Credit to him on his full debut because it isn't easy, but he is only going to get better and better now.

The media have given Wilshere rave reviews after watching his performance very closely, and he has been compared to the likes of Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, Wilshere's Arsenal team mate Cesc Fabregas, and the two Spanish central midfielders Xavi and Iniesta. He is a superb player, and one with a fantastic future. If he continues to improve and showcase his excellent performances on footballs biggest stages, there will be little doubt that in the future, up and coming quality players will be compared to Wilshere himself.


With the Nou Camp coming up, he will have possibly the biggest stage in world football to pull Arsenal through to the final stages of the Champions League.