Liverpool’s 3-2 win at Ewood Park saw a number of unusual occurrences. Firstly, Liverpool won. Secondly, Andy Carroll actually put the ball in that net thing he seems so scared of. And finally, after Pepe Reina’s suspension, we saw a rare outing for not one of Liverpool’s reserve goalkeepers, but TWO. After Alexander Doni, making just his second Premiership appearance, was sent off for a challenge on Junior Hoilett, Brad Jones replaced him to make his Premier League debut, despite signing for the club in 2010. Doni and Jones are good examples of keepers who sit there, collecting their pay packet, whilst not over-stretching themselves. Occasionally they have to bend over and pull the splinters out of their backsides, but life isn’t altogether too taxing. Anyone fancy a bit of first team football anywhere else? Don’t all coming rushing at once… Here’s the Top 10 Back-Up (And Lazy) Goalkeepers:
From Tottenham’s all-time record goalscorer to Arsenal’s all-time record goalscorer: Congratulations and well done, you lucky, lucky b*****d! And that is a message of genuine goodwill from me. Even with Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes both making sensational comebacks during the past couple of weeks, I think it’d be a bit far-fetched for me to get my old shooting boots out of the attic, at the age of 71. But I was full of envy when I watched Henry score the only goal of the match on his fairytale comeback against Leeds.
I quit professional football at the age of 31, a year after Spurs let me go to West Ham. Yet, in truth, all I really needed was a sabbatical – a year out of the game or perhaps even just six months. They always say that the timing of your own retirement is the most difficult decision any professional sportsman will ever make, and I’ll admit that I got my timing completely wrong. I don’t really even remember deciding I wanted to be a professional footballer. I just sort of became one. Then at 31, I suddenly decided I didn’t want to be one any longer.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if more managers didn’t look at the impact of an Henry or a Scholes and try to tempt a few more retired players back into the big time. Henry hadn’t retired, of course, but by quitting Barcelona to go and play in Major League Soccer 18 months ago, the Frenchman certainly went into semi-retirement, moving away from the intense pressure of international and European club football for a far gentler life. And yet, after a while out of the spotlight, Henry clearly could not resist the opportunity to come back on to centre stage.
Within a year of my own retirement, I was desperate to go back again – but it would not have been straightforward then, in the days before freedom of contract. How I’d have loved the opportunity to do what Henry has done and return to one of my old stomping grounds at Spurs or Chelsea. I now know that I wasted three or four years of prime playing time and I regret it. I started drinking too much when I retired and although I wouldn’t solely blame the end of my playing career for that, the adjustments needed to cope with retirement can be a tough time mentally for any sportsman or sportswoman.
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Making a top-flight comeback might only have delayed my problems by a few years, I couldn’t honestly say, but I sure as hell would have benefited from the sort of opportunity Henry and Scholes have been handed. As it happened, it was not for another four years that I started playing football again – in the non-league with Brentwood, then at Chelmsford City and Barnet. Crazy at it seems, I played some of my best football as a midfielder at Barnet in my late 30s.
I never did get the chance to add to my 266 Tottenham goals, though. 34-year-old Henry has moved on 227 for Arsenal, I see. He’s still got a long way to go before he catches my Spurs goal tally but you wouldn’t bet against him returning to the Emirates again after this brief loan spell. And I’m sure Henry realises, now more than ever, that you really are a long time retired.
Luis Fabiano has come out today and told the world that he would like nothing more than to join Tottenham this summer (despite previously dismissing a move a few weeks back) claiming that the North London outfit are a smaller team than Sevilla…does he have no shame?
The Brazilian has attracted many top clubs this summer after producing good performances in the World Cup finals in South Africa earlier this month.
Manchester United, Milan and of course Spurs all expressed their interest in acquiring the striker’s services, after he made it clear that he will be leaving Spain during the summer window. However, with his favoured moves to both Milan and United now looking remote as the days go by, the Brazilian has made a dramatic u-turn and opted for a move to Whit Hart Lane instead. Speaking to ESPN today, the striker stated:
“I must admit it’s only in the last few weeks I have understood just how big Spurs’ ambition is.”
You can’t help but burst out with laughter after reading the striker comments, especially after dismissing the move to Spurs altogether. A few months ago he slated Spurs and their ambitions, now the 29-year-old is praising them because other interests have cooled down. Harry Redknapp will not mind this of course, all the Englishman is concerned about is bringing in the right faces for the club this summer and Fabiano is possibly one of them. Redknapp pinpointed the striker as a possible target this summer which could help the club in their European adventures and of course domestic competitions.
In regards to Fabiano’s latest comments, it’s clear to see that players in today’s modern game have no shame. Footballers love to tout themselves from club to club even if they have already slated or belittled an interested club one week, and want to join them the next. Javier Mascherano is a fine example of a player that does this on a weekly basis. The midfielder is constantly yapping on about how he would love to play for Barcelona or Inter Milan this upcoming season but struggles to remember that he is in fact a Liverpool player. Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin is another example of a player that clearly wants a move away from the North London outfit, and the only way he’s going to get it is by praising other clubs in the process. Emmanuel Adebayor was also tipped to make a move to A.C Milan before he signed for money-bags Manchester City last season.
Luis Fabiano isn’t the only shameful footballer that has ever readjusted his appraisal of a club in order for a move; in fact it has become somewhat of a trend these days, as shown by the examples above. Fabiano couldn’t obtain his preferred move to either United or Milan this season, so is now settling for second best, which in this case is Spurs. The simple truth is footballers will do anything and everything in order to get what they want, even if it means looking like a complete idiot which Fabiano looks right now.
What do you guys think of players touting for moves?
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Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer
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With the tie delicately hanging in the balance, tonight sees Tottenham take on Young Boys for the right to play in this season’s Champions League group stages. A 3-2 defeat in Berne leaves Harry Redknapp’s men with a difficult but ultimately manageable task this evening at White Hart Lane to overcome their Swiss challengers. But if Tottenham do manage to qualify tonight, will it spark a spending spree which so far has failed to materialise?
Harry Redknapp has been uncharacteristically quiet this transfer window, only bringing in young Brazilian midfielder Sandro from Internacional and former Arsenal and Chelsea defender William Gallas to White Hart Lane. Despite the lack of transfer activity, Tottenham have been linked with a whole host of players and confirmation of Champions League football by beating Young Boys would prove a huge draw to some of Tottenham’s potential transfer targets. In recent months, Tottenham have been linked to some Europe and the Premier League’s top players including Steven Pienaar, Ashley Young, Scott Parker, Loic Remy, Lassana Diarra and Luis Fabiano but have failed to make a move on any of these players.
This is because if Redknapp does choose to open the Tottenham chequebook, he has to be sure that the player or players that he does potentially buy will add value to the team and I’m not sure that many of the players linked with Tottenham do. For example, do Tottenham really need another winger in Ashley Young when Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale are arguably the two most exciting wingers in the Premier League? Similarly, is Lassana Diarra really such an upgrade on the existing midfield corps at Tottenham? I have my doubts.
One player who I believe would be worthy of spending money on to bring to White Hart Lane is Sevilla and Brazil striker Luis Fabiano. Since moving to Seville in 2005, Fabiano has established himself as one of the world’s most deadly strikers. He has scored 95 goals in 191 appearances for the Spanish club, along with an impressive haul of 28 goals in 43 appearances for the Brazilian national team. A move for Luis Fabiano would provide Tottenham with a proven goalscorer at club and international level and would add some much needed firepower to a stuttering attack.
Tottenham’s strikers have been misfiring so far this season; Jermain Defoe has been struggling for form, Peter Crouch hasn’t scored enough goals and Robbie Keane is low on confidence and being linked with a move away. Due to these concerns, signing Fabiano would be a wise move for Tottenham should they qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.
However, Tottenham must be cautious in their approach to spending their guaranteed windfall should they qualify. There is no guarantee that the players they bring into the team will ensure that Tottenham will qualify for next season’s Champions League so Spurs must be careful in spending big and promising too much to the players in case they don’t make it next year.
Do you think Harry will spend big if Tottenham qualify or do Spurs already have a good enough squad to play Champions League football?
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Click on image below to see the gallery of Mario Balotelli’s stunning girlfriend
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Premier League goal records were broken this weekend as all clubs managed to get on the score sheet to contribute to the full total 41. A large chunk of them came at Old Trafford, where Dimitar Berbatov became only the 4th player to bag 5 goals in one game, joining the likes of Andy Cole, Alan Shearer and Jermain Defoe.
In the papers this morning there is a mixed bag of stories, which includes David Gold explains Downes appointment; Berbatov explains the Rooney factor and Harry Redknapp is going potty over penalties, plus much more…
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Gold explains Downes decision – Sky Sports
Chelsea’s pursuit of Begiristain stalls – Guardian
Hughton hails Carroll – Daily Telegraph
Arsene Wenger planning a ‘strong’ Cup bid – Daily Mail
Real Madrid keen on Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool target Eden Hazard – IM Scouting
Berba: Roo return fired me up – Sun
Harry going potty over poor penalties – Mirror
Hannover to battle Juventus and Roma for West Ham right-back Valon Behrami – IM Scouting
Arnesen’s departure will leave Ancelotti isolated – Daily Telegraph
Court ruling exposes broken promises made by Warner – Guardian
Delegate from ‘worst nation’ may decide England bid – Daily Telegraph
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Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has acknowledged that the games against Estonia could be his last in charge of the nation, and states that his side are ready.
The emerald isle take on Estonia in a back-to-back tie to decide which of the country’s will compete in Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
When asked if he was aware of the importance of the games in respect to his future with the nation, the Italian coach was unequivocal with his retort.
“Yes, yes,” he told Sky Sports.
“But I am not nervous about this because I know football. I was talking the other day about standing on the edge of the cliffs – that’s our life, it’s a manager’s life.
“Our life is dangerous. I have a habit of looking down on dangerous situations.
“But I think I will live, if not here, then maybe there is another. I don’t know where, but sure, I am not stopping here,” he stated.
Trapattoni has admitted that if his side do qualify for the European Championships it would be a source for great pride.
“In football every Sunday, or in England Saturday, you see little teams beat the great teams. That’s football. For me, it is no surprise.
“But we must think these 180 minutes is our life, players, manager, the Irish people.
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“I will be very proud if we achieve this result because it means up until now we have done our jobs well,” he finished.
Sir Alex Ferguson has switched his attentions to Borussia Dortmund star Mario Goetze, according to the Express.
The Manchester United boss has given up on his attempts to sign Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder and is now chasing the 19-year-old German prodigy.
United watched Goetze play and score for his country against Brazil last week and were impressed by the way he dominated the midfield.
Real Madrid and Barcelona have also been linked with the midfielder who has been described as the best young talent in the Bundesliga.
He helped Dortmund to the title last season and now Ferguson is set to swoop as he steps up his search for Paul Scholes’ replacement.
£20 million rated Goetze would prove a cheaper alternative to Sneijder who’s wage demands scuppered any chance of a move to Old Trafford.
The Dutchman’s reluctance to take a cut from his £200,000 at the San Siro coupled with Inter’s unwillingness to budge on their £35 million asking price ruined any chance of a deal being agreed.
A move for Goetze would also provide Ferguson with the challenge of moulding another young player into a superstar.
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He know’s he’ll have a fight to wrestle the midfielder away from Dortmund due to his deal at Signal Iduna Park having another three-years to run.
The in-vogue saying this season in the top flight is most definitely the term ‘transition’, but as Liverpool embark upon a deliberate change in tack under Brendan Rodgers, bumps in the road such as their slow start to the new Premier League season were to be expected, but what will the club’s latest boss have learnt so far from his charges?
To make matters simple, let’s start from the back and work our way through the side, beginning with goalkeeper Pepe Reina. The Spaniard should be comfortable with the ball-playing role that he’s been asked to perform, as it could be seen as fairly similar to the sweeper role he was given under Rafa Benitez during which he enjoyed his best spell of form at the club.
However, the 29-year-old’s dip in form has become a slump from which at the moment, there looks to be no return. With the club’s coffers being tightened, Reina remains an attractive saleable asset and without an upturn in form, Rodgers may want to follow up his initial interest in former Swansea goalkeeper Dorus De Vries again, or move for a more recognised stopper altogether next summer.
At centre-back, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger have both struggled initially with their new roles too. The 4-3-3 system is heavily reliant on the wingers hugging the touchline and the full-backs getting up and joining them in attack. This in turn should see the centre-back pairing be pushed further apart than they are normally comfortable with as they pass the ball between themselves, while also being in a position to cover the flanks.
You would presume that Agger would be familiar with this role given his skills and how Denmark like to play, but both he and Skrtel could be found guilty of committing some game-changing and result-defining individual errors against West Brom and Manchester City, with Skrtel’s pass back to Reina that gifted Carlos Tevez a late equaliser the best example. Jamie Carragher is still on the wane and Sebastian Coates still shaky on the rare occasions he does start, but even during a period of adjustment, they’ve underperformed hugely in what on paper is one of the team’s strongest positions of strength and a platform of their good form in recent times.
The full-backs are a tad more promising, with Glen Johnson starting the season reasonably well, even if he was caught woefully out of position for Lukas Podolski’s goal against Arsenal. Martin Kelly could hardly be blamed for the Yaya Toure striker against City either which saw Reina flapping hopelessly at a Tevez cross before it bounced off the unlucky defender.
There’s still a worry whether they are good enough technically to play the roles that they are being asked to perform and whether the likes of Jose Enrique and Johnson are too wasteful on the ball. Stewart Downing’s conversion to a left-back role in an attempt to prolong his future at the club is an interesting development that could pay dividends further down the line, even if it is somewhat humiliating for both the player and club at the same time in the short-term.
In midfield, Joe Allen has settled superbly into his new surroundings, while Jonjo Shelvey has been excellent whenever called upon so far. Lucas Leiva’s injury against City was extremely unfortunate but to be expected after such a long spell on the sidelines, with niggling muscle injuries sadly the norm in these cases, but it also robs the side of anyone capable of breaking up play in the middle of the park.
The club’s captain Steven Gerrard has been a big cause for concern so far and he looks as if he’s really struggling to get to grips with Rodgers’ methods. It’s not that he’s prone to trying the outrageous Hollywood passes like he used to, but that he seems positionally lost at sea, neither helping out either defensively or in an attacking sense and his form has been ropey and his passing very poor by his own standards.
Up front is where the main problems lie, though and the fact that Liverpool have scored just two goals from their opening three league games, with not one of them coming from open play, is a huge cause for concern. It’s worth remembering that Rodgers’ Swansea side failed to score on 15 separate occasions last term – the most in the league – and scored just 44 times altogether, so it may just be that this ethos is simply not conducive in English football to the free flowing of goals.
Luis Suarez has been at his profligate best , despite a corker of a free-kick against City and has been exceptionally poor on the ball, acting as a brake to any potential build-up play in all three fixtures so far. Borini has also struggled to involve himself enough and he looks a little lightweight on first inspection. The one ray of light has been the form of 17-year-old Raheem Sterling though, who was rewarded with his first senior call-up to the England side just the other day after breaking through into the starting eleven and displaying a maturity well beyond his years.
With so much changing both on and off the pitch in terms of the team’s style of play, the fresh faces and the swathe of departures, coupled with a tricky opening run of fixtures with Manchester United still to come on the horizon, a slow start was to be expected. It’s not that the pace of change has been too fast, because in these instances, dragging it out could do just as much if not more damage, but Rodgers has issues to overcome right throughout the side.
Would he have spent so much on both Assaidi and Borini is he knew he wouldn’t be able to find £6m for Clint Dempsey this summer? It’s extremely doubtful and the operational problems at the club are still getting in the way of progress, with Ian Ayre a big part of that, while FSG’s dithering is now bordering on the systemic. Their failures in the transfer market were a stark and harsh lesson in resource management which he will be hoping not to repeat in the future with the setting up of a technical committee at the club, while a recognised executive is reportedly being pursued to replace Ayre in the near future.
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His 4-3-3 system is reliant on the players right through the spine of the side performing, while those out wide add the sprinkling of panache to proceedings and only Joe Allen is in any sort of form at the moment, with Reina, Suarez, Skrtel and Gerrard all struggling. Andre Villas-Boas has proven at Chelsea and to a lesser extent at Tottenham, that sometimes players need longer than you might expect to learn a new system and teething problems are inevitable.
One of Rodgers’ greatest strengths is his belief in his own methods and he’ll need that this term, particularly after a terrible deadline day for the club which left them a striker light until January. He has a small and unbalanced squad at present, wrestling with a change in style and burdened by the financial failings of the previous managerial administration.
Change will not be easy, nor will it be solved overnight and when it comes to truly assessing his work, we may not fully know even by the end of the season. But one thing is for certain, restoring the club to the top six, let alone the top four over the course of the next two to three years is going to be an absolutely huge job and the side will continue to be unpredictably frustrating for the foreseeable future as they continue to get to grips with the changes being implemented by their new boss.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has condemned the section of his side’s fans that chanted unsavoury taunts aimed at Liverpool fans and the Hillsborough disaster.
A small section of Red Devils’ supporters were said to have sang the chants in the team’s 4-0 win over Wigan on Saturday, and the Scottish boss has stated that the incident was unacceptable.
“I didn’t hear it but everyone seemed to hear it and I could tell from the directors’ box, David Gill [the chief executive] was disappointed,” The Telegraph quote Ferguson as saying.
“That’s a new chant, it only started after the Suárez situation but in view of the climate and having spoken on Friday asking supporters to adhere to the policy that we want to adopt [it was disappointing].
“We are completely in support of Liverpool Football Club at this moment and we understand what those families must have felt reading that report.
“So it was disappointing to hear that and you’re right, it was a minority and in our society there is a minority that want to be heard and that is the difficulty nowadays but as a club we are totally supportive of Liverpool Football Club in this situation they’re in.
“It’s going to be a very emotional day on Sunday and we’ll support them in every way we can,” he concluded.
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United take on Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Tottenham are readying a bid for Shakhtar Donestk attacking midfielder Willian according to Sky Sports.
The north London club are going through something of a revamp this summer, with new boss Andre Villas-Boas eager to make his inherited squad his own.
With Luka Modric looking extremely likely to leave the side this summer, AVB is eager to add to his midfield creative options, and has been scouting Europe for suitable replacements.
The Brazil international has impressed domestically and in the Champions League in his time in Ukraine, and seems destined for a move to a bigger club.
Chelsea are known suitors of the South American star and have had a number of offers turned down by the eastern European outfit.
However, Spurs are ready to enter the race for Willian’s signature and are preparing an offer this week.
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