It is a return to European football this week as the three Premier League clubs fight it out for a place in the Champions League semi-finals. Tottenham are first up with an unenviable trip to the Bernabeu against the might of Real Madrid.
In the papers this morning there is a mixed bag of stories that include Ben Arfa reveals the extent of his injury, Manchester City spurred on by chairman’s team talk, while Randy Lerner is keen to keep Ashley Young at Villa Park.
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Ben Arfa – I could’ve lost leg – Sky Sports
Spurs and Redknapp put £80m price tag on Bale’s head – Guardian
City spurred on by chairman’s teamtalk – Daily Telegraph
Arsenal fans wage civil war over Wenger’s fate – Mirror
Prem interest in Humphrey – Sky Sports
Rooney faces two-game ban for abuse – Guardian
Lerner drive to keep Ashley – Sun
Is Prince Charlie a king in waiting? Adam gets nod for PFA award shortlist – Daily Mail
West Ham promise ‘strong action’ over racism – Daily Telegraph
Arsenal stars are on a knife edge – Sun
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Ancelotti wants to extended Chelsea stay – Guardian
I don’t remember Bobby Charlton doing that! Harry blasts ‘silly’ Rooney – Daily Mail
With eight games remaining in the season, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion were both within one point of the relegation zone.Fast forward four matches, and the duo is 12th (Villa – 41 points) and 13th (Albion – 40 points) respectively and eyeing off a top-ten finish in the English Premier League standings.
They will go head to head on Saturday at the Hawthorns.
While Albion are just six points above the drop, the number of teams in between Roy Hodgson’s men and 18th spot means they are all but safe in their promotion season to the English Premier League.
The Villans are seven points clear and will be relieved to have escaped the drop zone’s clutches, but there will be nothing spared when they meet their West Midlands rivals on Saturday.
The club has announced Gerard Houllier will not be back to coach Aston Villa again this season due to health reasons, but he would have reason to feel better with his side four games unbeaten since their humiliating derby loss to Wolves in March.
Albion’s form has been similarly resurgent under Roy Hodgson, with their only loss in their past four coming at the hands of Chelsea.
Win over Liverpool and Sunderland and a draw with Tottenham has virtually ensured the Baggies of Premier League football next term.
Aston Villa won the reverse fixture at Villa Park 2-1 in December, with Stewart Downing and Emile Heskey on target for the victors and Paul Scharner scoring a late consolation for Albion.
Baggies midfielder Graham Dorrans is likely to miss the remainder of the season with an ankle problem, while Pablo Ibanez will be absent with a hamstring injury.
Aston Villa’s only health concern is Houllier, who will be discharged from hospital in the coming days.
With the coveted Champions League spot all but out of reach for Harry Redknapp and his Spurs charges this season after they fell 7 points behind Man City at the weekend, will Redknapp come to regret failing to purchase a striker either in the summer or during the January transfer window come the end of the season? And if so, has it proven the difference in their pursuit in ensuring that there is Champions League football at White Hart Lane for a second successive season?
It’s important when discussing Spurs’s failing up front to assert that this isn’t some form of misplaced revisionism at what has been a deeply disappointing end to what was at one point, a hugely promising campaign. The clear root of the side’s problem has been the lack of striking talent capable of putting the ball in the back of the net on a consistent enough basis. One could argue that the emphasis this summer, above all else, should have been on purchasing a new striker. The money was there, the long-term plan sadly wasn’t.
The Spurs midfield is awash with creative talent, yet the likes of Defoe, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko only have 15 league goals between them this season in a combined total of 74 league appearances. It doesn’t take a man of particularly keen intellect to arrive at the answer that the strikers Redknapp currently has at his disposal are of insufficient quality to propel Spurs to the next level that they so desperately seek. The lack of striking talent on offer at the club remains the club’s biggest obstacle to any real progress in the future.
This, however, is not a new point. Spurs have been frustrated in their attempts to sign a player of proven quality for two successive transfer windows now. It’s not that there isn’t money readily available or that Spurs aren’t an attractive proposition to prospective transfer targets, it’s just that their manager’s muddled and dithering transfer policy has seen them fall further behind their rivals just when it looked like they were ready to become a serious player at the Premier League’s top table.
Crouch will always remain an exceptional squad player whose ability to make a telling impact from the bench is second to none, but he simply cannot be relied upon to score the necessary goals required. Pavlyuchenko lacks mobility, any semblence of something approaching a work rate and the pace to trouble the best, and while he does have a cracking finish on him at times, he’s wildly inconsistent and blows cold on more days than he is hot.
Jermain Defoe, well here is a player that deserves a whole new paragraph all to himself. Defoe has had a desperately poor season, but one, that in fairness, has been hampered by niggling injuries and untimely suspensions. Those close to me will know that I’m not the England international’s biggest fan. Granted, he can hit a shot extremely hard, and yes, he has displayed a greater degree of intelligence in recent times, notably in his burgeoning partnership with Rooney for England, but to me, he isn’t far off being a one trick pony and with only two league goals to his name since last April, it appears the stats are in my corner on this one. He is a player that manages to score in bunches when his team are playing well, yet when he’s needed to make a telling contribution, he can often be found wanting.
So what were the alternatives?
Well Diego Forlan, Luis Fabiano, Luis Suarez and Fernando Llorente all appeared to be the names in the frame at various points of the season, among other it has to be said, which just goes to show how ill-thought out the club’s pursuit of new striking talent was. Forlan was frozen out for a period at Atletico after falling out with boss Quique Flores, but at 31 years of age, Spurs baulked at the £15m asking price. The cost of missing out on Champions League football though is far greater, and although a hefty sum considering his age, Forlan is well worth it in my eyes.
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Luis Fabiano, the tempestuous and often brilliant Brazilian headed back, like so many have done so before him in the past 18 months, to his homeland for a cushy few seasons at Sao Paulo for a figure believed to be around the £7m mark. Wages are said to have been a stumbling block over any proposed move to North London, but surely Spurs would have been paying him more than Sao Paulo currently are and at just 30 years of age, he definitely goes down as a missed opportunity, especially considering the shockingly low price.
Luis Suarez was coveted by numerous clubs around Europe and appeared to have his eye on a move to the Premier League from the outset. The player in question seemed somewhat unfussy as to his destination, just so long as they were a top English side. He eventually moved to Liverpool for just over £23m and has taken to the Premier Legaue like a duck to water. Spurs’s interest was never believed to be as firm as Lierpool’s though and he is already starting to represent something appraoching value for money, potential-wise at least.
Fernando Lorene – now we arrive at the player, along with Charlie Adam that is (a truly baffling transfer target), that demonstrates just how desperate and slapshot Redknapp is when it comes to transfers. He lucked out with the Van Der Vaart deal, pure and simple; a quality player for a pittance does not always become readily available at the eleventh hour. Spurs went in for Llorente in the dying embers of the transfer window for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £30m. Now Athletic Bilbao, realising what Daniel Levy failed to when Berbatov transferred to Man Utd under similar circumstances in 2008, rightly rejected their offer out of hand because it simply didn’t leave them with enough time to find a replacement for the Spanish international.
They had the whole of January to bid for him. He clearly wasn’t their top priority, so why wait until the final minutes of the final day of a month long transfer window to put in an astronomical bid? It’s clear that desperation took hold and for such a significant outlay, for a deal of this size to be surrounded by such panic would appear to point to nothing other than a deeply flawed transfer policy overseen by Redknapp.
The likes of Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Negredo, Edinson Cavani, Karim Benzema and Guiseppe Rossi were all other targets pursued to in varying degrees of seriousness. It seemed like Spurs were after anyone, just anyone to fill the gaping hole in their attack, yet they still came up short despite being in a reasonably strong financial position with an exciting project on the go playing wise.
There can be no one else to blame other than the manager. The famed wheeler-dealer (just don’t call him that to his face) came up short and in the end, while Spurs’s rivals around them all strengthened. It has most definitely come at a cost – Champions League football next season and his failure to sign a striker will only strengthen the resolve of the naysars among the White Hart Lane faithful that still retain reservations about Redknapp.
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Will Redknapp come to regret this failure? Most definitely. Could more have been done? The sheer number of proposed targets tells you that the hierarchy were painfully aware of their striking department limitations and to their credit, they at least tried, but their approach was all wrong – it lacked a logical end point and with clubs unwilling to part with prized assets in January, it makes his decision not to make a striker a top transfer target in the summer all the more galling, particularly when it seemed that everyone was else was in agreement that a high calibre striker was all that was stopping Spurs from truly challenging.
Redknapp may be many things, but a meticulous planner with the gift of foresight is not one of them. The aforementioned trio of Defoe, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko contributed 31 league goals last season, just under half they 67 they accrued in the league. This term, the burden has been rather unfairly placed onto their talented midfield and they’ve only registered 50 league goals so far, which for a side as entertaining and attacking as Spurs, does seem awfully short of the mark.
To put it quite simply, they cannot afford another cock-up when it comes to pursuing their top transfer targets in the summer. In the words of Alec Baldwin in the seminal David Mamet screenplayed film, Glenngarry Glen Ross – A-B-C; Always Be Closing. Spurs would do well to follow this mantra and tie up a deal for a striker as soon as possible, for it threatens to derail what promises to be a successful period in the club’s long and rich history, right in it’s tracks.
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Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher reaches another milestone in his Anfield career on Sunday.Carragher will make his 665th appearance for Liverpool against Newcastle United, moving equal second with Ray Clemence and Emlyn Hughes in the list of all-time appearances.
Only Ian Callaghan, on 857, will be ahead of the 33-year-old, who made his Liverpool debut in 1997.
The upcoming honour has earned special praise from his manager Kenny Dalglish.
“Carra has been a fantastic servant to this football club,” Dalglish said.
“He’s filled in loyally and comfortably in many positions and he’s someone who has been very pleased to be associated with Liverpool and we’re pleased to be associated with him.”
Carragher has already passed Ian Rush, Phil Neal, Tommy Smith and Bruce Grobbelaar after making 34 appearances this campaign, and Dalglish believes he deserves to be mentioned among such legendary Anfield names.
“Talent is a good starting point,” Dalglish said.
“Starting in the first team at 18 is another good starting point and not picking up too many injuries helps, but the most important thing is his ability and his desire and commitment to this football club.”
Carragher has captained the side recently in Steven Gerrard’s absence, and his form has helped in Liverpool’s upsurge, which has seen them take 27 points from their last 14 games.
Newcastle’s hunt for a new striker, or strikers, is likely to start gathering momentum in the coming weeks as Alan Pardew will get his hands on a significant amount of spending money. Pardew will have a list of potential targets written out and he will no doubt spend the next few weeks narrowing his search down to his top priorities. Whether Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge is on Pardew’s wish list is unknown, but I’m sure Pardew will be well aware of the news that Sturridge has spoken out over his desire to play regular first team football next season, something which Chelsea may not be able to give him. The news has already alerted other admirers of Sturridge and two teams in particular have got tabs on the England U21 man, they are Tottenham and Bolton. This got me pondering over the idea – if Sturridge leaves West London this summer would Bolton, Tottenham or Newcastle represent the best move for the player?
I instantly ruled Tottenham out of the equation, as there would be a very strong possibility that Sturridge could find himself in a similar situation to the one he currently finds himself in at Chelsea. Tottenham have Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Rafael Van der Vaart all vying for places in attack and Sturridge would find himself competing for a starting berth. Obviously regardless of where Sturridge goes, he will be competing for a place, but Newcastle and Bolton aren’t blessed with the competition for places that is evident at Spurs. Therefore Sturridge’s quest for regular first team football is likely to be more attainable at the Reebok or St James’ Park.
Newcastle are on the lookout for Andy Carroll’s successor and the fabled number nine shirt is presentlyawaiting a new owner, to which Sturridge would be a fitting recipient. Bolton are also on the search for a new number nine, as Galatasaray revealed this week that Johan Elmander has agreed a pre contract with them. Sturridge knows exactly what to expect should he opt for a move to Bolton after spending a successful loan spell with the Trotters this season. He would settle into familiar surroundings and be working with a manager with whom he has clearly already developed a good rapport. A move to Newcastle would represent a new chapter in Sturridge’s career and one which would give him the opportunity to play in front of some of the most passionate supporters in the country. Sturridge would more than likely be either club’smain striking option for next season and he would realise his aspiration for regular first team football.
Singling out which club out of the two would be best for Sturridge is not easy as they are at similar levels in terms of quality, this is supported by the fact thatboth sides finished the season on 46 points. Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is intent on ensuring Newcastle take strides towards European football next season, so maybe Newcastle’s vision for the future is greater than Bolton’s?
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However, I’m going to sit on the fence on this one and say a move to either Newcastle or Bolton would represent a step in the right direction for Sturridge’s progression into a top striker. If Chelsea want to keep Sturridge it will all be irrelevant anyway, but a move to Newcastle or Bolton would be the best thing for Sturridge’s career.
Chuck Blazer’s sacking from CONCACAF has been confirmed once more, hours after he was initially relieved from his duties at the federation.In the latest bizarre twist of a simply surreal saga, Blazer has been given his marching orders for the second time in less than six hours, after an email – allegedly sent by Blazer himself – had seemingly seen the 66-year-old saved from the axe as the federation’s general secretary.
Blazer, a member of FIFA’s executive committee, was sent a letter by CONCACAF temporary president Lisle Austin on Tuesday telling him he was no longer required at the federation.
The sacking came less than a week after Blazer accused Asian Football Federation president Mohammed bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner of corruption.
But just hours after news surfaced that Blazer was sacked, CONCACAF released a statement saying he had been re-instated and that Austin did not have the power to remove him.
The bizarre situation was exacerbated when Austin released a statement which rubbished the media release from the federation, and said legal advice was sought before Blazer’s removal.
“I have been made aware of a statement from CONCACAF Media Relations purporting that my actions to terminate Chuck Blazer as General Secretary in my capacity as President (Ag) of CONCACAF were unauthorized,” Austin said in a statement.
“It is instructive to note that the authority of the President to terminate Mr. Blazer rests in the CONCACAF Statutes and was taken after legal advice had been sort.”
“Article 29 of the CONCACAF Statutes states: “The President has the judicial and extrajudicial representation of CONCACAF. Moreover, the Executive Committee has no authority to convene a meeting without having the said meeting called and chaired by the President as articulated by Article 29 which confirms that “The President shall preside over the meetings of the Congress, of the Executive Committee, of the Emergency Committee and of the Committees.”
“The presence of four Executive Committee members in the hotel room of Mr. Blazer does not constitute an Executive Committee meeting.”
“The response from the CONCACAF Media Relations is not only the fruit of illegal actions on the part of Mr. Blazer who is no longer the General Secretary, but is tantamount to trespassing since, the unauthorized use of CONCACAF’s services and equipment by non-CONCACAF staff is unlawful.”
“I can assure you that this is my final statement on this matter, I will not allow myself or this organization to (be) dragged into a tit for tat war in the public domain. The reputation of this organization has suffered immensely over the last two weeks.”
“In my earlier statement, I called on the membership to heal the wounds my hope is that we can once again look upon each other without mistrust or prejudice. Our Confederation has suffered and let us move toward a brighter future from this moment.”
Talk to anybody who doesn’t follow football and their opinion of football and the footballers who make a fortune from the sport couldn’t be lower. Engage with a sceptic and the levels of disgust levelled towards the game and those that inhabit it couldn’t be greater. The World Cup and England ’s embarrassing display has brought this ill feeling to the fore. The mass of high profile affairs has again tarnished the reputation of football and the footballers, from John Terry to Ashley Cole , from Peter Crouch to Wayne Rooney . Yet, whilst there have been plenty of articles written about the failings of professional footballers do we as a society ignore their positive contributions? From charity work to mentoring, perhaps some footballers aren’t the devil incarnate.
One case that has highlighted the positive contribution that footballers can create is that of the inspirational Jack Marshall . Jack Marshall is five years old and has been suffering from a severe case of cancer, he is an avid Manchester United fan and football has been something of a relief for him during his times of hardship. He has not been ignored by the footballing community with his Twitter page accumulating just shy of 40,000 followers. Furthermore, it has not just been the fans that have taken Jack Marshall into their hearts, footballers and journalists have been quick to offer their support and time.
Examples include a touching piece by Oliver Holt for the Mirror recently, meeting his heroes Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand , and even Jack Wilshere wearing a wrist band during games with Jack Marshall’s name on it. Don’t suggest that the footballing world doesn’t care. A large percentage of football fans have been immensely critical of Ferdinand and Rooney for perceived misdemeanours such as missed drug tests and swearing at a camera but these stars couldn’t have been more open to meeting and encouraging Jack. In fact, when Jack Marshall met Rooney he said that:
‘I’d like to kiss you, Wayne. I think you are the best footballer in the world.’
Furthermore, football players do plenty of charity work which contradicts the horribly negative persona they have been tarnished with. Arsenal FC has spent the year raising money for Centrepoint, the largest youth homeless charity, all year with the aim of gaining £500,000 for the charity. There has been a large level of interaction between the club and the homeless young people yet large numbers of the public would be wholly unaware of these positive actions. Another area in which the club has excelled in its charitable contributions has been that of Bob Wilson’s bike ride to raise money for cancer and his Willow Foundation charity founded in 1999.
Charitable contributions and the foundation of charities is not simply for the clubs, much maligned footballers such as Craig Bellamy and Didier Drogba have created their own charities. Drogba in fact set up a charity in 2007 to offer much needed support for education and health projects in his beloved Africa. This is a man who has cultivated a reputation in the sport for poor sportsmanship, and primarily having a tendency to take a dive. Yet as we can see here, outside of the sport he is an incredibly generous and amicable man.
In conclusion I would argue that footballers don’t get the credit they deserve. As we have looked at throughout this article the players don’t hesitate in getting involved for good causes, such as Wilshere, Ferdinand and Rooney for Jack Marshall. Some players go a step further and found their own charities such as Drogba and Bellamy. Talk to any casual observer and footballers are only second to the devil in terms of evil, but perhaps if we delve a little deeper we will discover that perhaps footballers aren’t quite so bad.
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Read more of George McNeil’s articles at This is Futbol
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Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has stated his desire to bring both Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri to Eastlands.The Italian believes Argentina forward Aguero could be the ideal replacement for the unsettled Carlos Tevez and has not been shy in announcing his interest in Arsenal’s Nasri, either.
Atletico Madrid star Aguero put football’s biggest clubs on alert after revealing his intentions to leave the La Liga club, and is set to make a decision on his future after playing for Argentina in the Copa America.
Atletico’s rivals Real Madrid look to be City’s biggest competition in securing the 23-year-old’s signature, with the player reportedly open to a move within Spain or to England.
Mancini believes Aguero would be a perfect fit at the English Premier League club: “At the moment I am waiting because if we lose Carlos, Aguero is a player that can play for Manchester City because he is young, because he is a good player like Carlos, he can score a lot of goals and can play with Mario (Balotelli), with Edin (Dzeko),” Mancini told Sky Sports News.
“It is probably yes, (we will make a bid). I think in this moment we only have to wait.”
The former Inter boss also made no secret of his desire to bring in France midfielder Nasri as he continues to stall on a new contract at Arsenal.
“Samir is under contract with Arsenal. Also, for Samir it depends on many things,” Mancini said.
“I hope that we can buy because we need other players and I hope that this player can arrive before the end of the month.”
City’s Premier League rivals Chelsea appear set to sign Genk goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after the Belgian club released a statement on Saturday.
Chelsea reportedly plan to immediately loan out the highly rated 19-year-old, but it will not be back to Genk as had been originally mooted.
Belgian First Division champions Genk claim Courtois pushed for the transfer – at a value of around nine million euros – to be completed.
A statement on Genk’s official website read: “Genk have done everything in its power to persuade the player and his representatives that he should stay in Genk but this did not work out.”
“After Courtois did not turn up to a meeting this morning during the build up to the match against Lyon, Genk had no other choice but to accept the bid from Chelsea, which is the biggest it has ever received for any one player.”
Real Madrid’s star-studded team have landed in Los Angeles for their pre-season tour of the United States.The La Liga giants are staying in Beverly Hills and will have their first training session on Tuesday at the UCLA campus in Westwood.
Real will use the campus as their headquarters for the next two weeks to prepare for a series of friendlies.
Their schedule includes a match against the LA Galaxy on Saturday before facing Mexican side Chivas Guadalajara in San Diego on July 20th.
Jose Mourinho’s side are hoping to regain the La Liga title having lost out to arch rivals Barcelona for the past three years.
In an effort to overhaul the Catalans, manager Jose Mourinho has added Fabio Coentrao, Hamit Altintop, Nuri Sahin, Raphael Varane, and Jose Callejon to his squad.
Mourinho has stated that he wants to sign another striker, with Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid and Neymar from Brazilian outfit Santos both linked.
Madrid will travel to Germany, England and China before they embark on their La Liga campaign.
In his weekly column for the Sun, former Arsenal legend, Ian Wright wrote: “Star players set to leave, barely any new signings, injuries to top players and a seriously tough batch of opening fixtures. I’m fed up of talking about Arsenal with a negative vibe but it looks like dark days are ahead.”
He added: “Yet it seems Wenger’s revolution has ground to a halt. Now I fear he may end up walking away.” So is Wright correct to worry about Wenger’s future at Ashburton Grove?
Let’s have a look at the current situation that has got Wright to come out with this. It sounds like Fabregas’s transfer to Barcelona is all but done and that Nasri will be swiftly following him out of the door to join rivals Manchester City as the club want to cash in on a player unwilling to sign a new contract. Already the club have lost Gael Clichy to City while Emmanuel Eboue and Nicklas Bendtner’s time at the Emirates appear to be at an end. The summer arrivals have thus far been nominal with only Gervinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Carl Jenkinson coming in. So it understandable to see such a bleak short-term future at the Emirates for Wenger.
However it is too easy to be negative about the new season and about Wenger’s future. It has been obvious all summer that Cesc was going to leave so he must have found a ready-made replacement with Juan Mata and Eden Hazard – two names that have been continuously linked to the club.
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As Arsenal’s longest serving manager, Wenger is going into his fifteenth season in charge of the club and in that time he has had his ups and downs. He has signed a three-year contract until 2014 and I expect him to see it out as why would he leave the club he has helped build, not just on the field but off it?
Just because he has ended up with a weakened team does not mean he will just walk away. If Fergie can get away with rebuilding about four new teams during his time at Old Trafford, why can’t Wenger, especially if he thinks it will benefit the club in the long term?
Players like Wilshere, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Gervinho, are at the Emirates for the long term and this can only be a positive thing. Scott Dann is close to signing and he might at long last be the solution to the shaky centre-back position, although undoubtedly Arsenal fans will criticise the signing.
I don’t think Arsenal are too far off Man United in challenging for the title particularly if they can keep the main players fit while finding suitable replacements for Cesc and Samir and then securing a safe central defender. If the fans get behind Wenger and the team then maybe it could be better season than expected.
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This sort of quote is typical of Ian Wright’s pedestrian punditry where he makes ridiculous comments to cause controversy, can anyone apart from him see Wenger walking away just because Fabregas is going and Nasri is likely to follow him?
Sometimes a club needs freshening up especially after six years without a trophy and I think this will only benefit the club in the future; sometimes you have to move backwards to move forwards and I am convinced Wenger will be around for a long time to come yet.