It has almost been a year since Mark Hughes was sacked as manager of Manchester City. At the time his City team did not have the requisite consistency in order to give the club’s hierarchy the Champions League football it demanded.
As Hughes, now manager of Fulham, welcomes his former club to Craven Cottage, current City incumbent, Roberto Mancini, finds himself under a similar pressure that befell Hughes last year.
Although City sit fourth, three points clear of the chasing pack, Mancini must feel like his team owe him a big performance. A gritty win away from home against an obdurate Fulham outfit might be just the tonic for some fans who have begun to get on the back of the former Inter Milan boss.
City will have to wait anxiously to see if Joe Hart is fit after injuring his back on international duty and Fulham, who need points in order to steer clear of the relegation places, will hope that the week between fixtures will have given Andy Johnson enough time to recover from his first start in nearly two years.
Having the dubious and rather ominous honour of being bottom at Christmas, West Ham will be happy to see the back of 2010, having spent pretty much every moment of it locked in a relegation struggle. Here are five things that West Ham need to do to ensure that Premier League football will still be at Upton Park this time next year.
Avram’s got to go
Nothing against the man, but it was a flawed appointment from the start. David Gold and David Sullivan were very quick off the mark with their vocal dislike and eventual sacking of Gianfranco Zola, and he maintained West Ham’s Premier League status. Whether the Davids have stuck with Grant because he was ‘their mistake’ or not, they need to push pride to one side and make the right decision for the club, which is to get in a new manager to attempt a push off the bottom of the Premier League to safety.
Buy a Prolific Striker
Buying a striker will always be a gamble, especially for a team down the bottom of the table, but West Ham desperately need someone who can score goals regularly. When a team’s top scorer is their supposedly ‘defensive’ midfielder, questions need to be asked of the strike-force. Carlton Cole and Frederic Piquionne are both very decent at holding play up on their days, but finding the net is something of a novelty, and for all Victor Obinna’s good play and endeavour, he has similar problems. I also don’t think the recall of Freddie Sears from Scunthorpe will rectify the situation either.
Turn draws into victories
An obvious one, but having drawn 7 games so far this season, all of which could, with a bit of luck, and a bit of determination, have been turned into victories, it is imperative when West Ham get into a position to win a game, they take the opportunity. If the Hammers would have converted 3 of their 7 draws into victories, they would currently be lying in 16th place.
Keep hold of Scott Parker
Having recently been known as such things as ‘Scott Parker United’, West Ham must retain the services of their top scorer, captain and general all round deity, to stand any chance of staying up. With suitors reportedly including Spurs and Liverpool, West Ham must keep hold of Parker to ensure cohesion within their team and a driving force on the pitch.
Plan for the short-term as well as the long-term
The Davids keep talking about their long term plan for the club, which evidently includes the Olympic Stadium and Avram Grant, but if they continue to look past West Ham’s current predicament, they may damage their long-term goals by failing to address their short-term failings. They need a new manager and need to bring in signings that will do a job for the east London outfit, not necessarily just signings that will flourish as part of their long-term ideals for the club.
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Arsenal’s fine start to the season has been accomplished without their talismanic captain for large parts of it. Cesc Fabregas has spent two separate stints out injured already, first with a hamstring injury attained during a 1-1 draw with Sunderland on the 18th of September which kept him out for a month. And more recently a knee injury incurred during the away defeat to Braga kept him out of action for a couple of weeks.
Yet the find themselves second in the league just two points off pace setters Manchester United, with Samir Nasri in particular catching the eye. Accompanied by the emergence of Jack Wilshere perhaps the Arsenal midfield is able to survive without the Spaniard. Added to this is the prospect of Aaron Ramsey who was looking extremely promising before his injury. So maybe it wouldn’t be a complete disaster if Fabregas was allowed to leave to the ready and waiting Barcelona, who are keen for their former player to return home. The extra cash, and surely it would be a hefty amount in excess of £30million, could be put to use strengthening other areas of the squad that are in need of addressing. Such as the goalkeeper or defence or even a midfielder that has a bit more steel as opposed to creative flair.
However I disagree, I think it would be a huge mistake for Arsenal to let Fabregas go. Mainly as it is not the business of big clubs to let their captains’ be prised away from just as they are approaching the prime of their careers. Surely Arsenal fans do not wish to see such a talented player leave the emirates? For all the other options they have in that playmaker role none of them live to Fabregas. Nasri has indeed has a great season, but his game is different to Cesc, although I agree you get the best out him playing down the middle than on the wing, but he tends to play higher up the pitch and is better in the final third than staring the play from deep where I believe Fabregas’s true talent to lie. Added to this, although being a good player since he signed for Arsenal, he has only really bee in outstanding form this season and you cannot base your team’s success in such a relatively brief burst of form. Fabregas has been at the top of his game and Arsenal’s outstanding performer over the last three or four seasons, that is not a role that is easily filled, nor should it be tried to filled unnecessarily, which is what his sale would be.
To look at the young pretenders such as Wilshere to step up to the plate is even more foolish and places a lot of pressure on his young shoulders. A player who is not yet 19 has too much to learn about the game to be the main focus and source of creativity of a team, especially one with genuine silverware aspirations as Arsenal have. An immerging youngster no matter how talented should not be thrust into that position, as he could easily crumble under the pressure, and does not know the game as well as his Catalan team-mate who is playing a major role in mentoring the young Wilshere both on and off the pitch.
I feel it is far too early for Arsenal to be relying on such young talent to be carrying the team. As a squad Nasri, Wilshere, Ramsey and Fabregas represent a terrific array of midfield options. Perhaps in three or so years if Ramsey and Wilshere keep up this level of progression then they could lead this Arsenal team. But at the moment for Arsenal’s present and immediate future it is imperative that they hold on to Fabregas, as you need a player in his prime at the top of his game not just extremely talented youngsters to hold teams together and win titles.
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Despite being linked with big money moves for former World Cup stars, Blackburn Rovers look set to lose their captain after Chris Samba reaffirmed his desire to leave the club in January.
Samba’s comments will be of interest to a number of clubs such as Arsenal, Aston Villa and Fulham who have all been rumoured to be keen on the Congolese defender.
He told press that he was disillusioned with the conduct of Blackburn’s new owners Venky’s, and would like to leave the club in the coming transfer window.
Samba said: “This is my fifth season here. I’ve had ups and downs but today I don’t want to waste any more time”
“New owners have arrived, they have fired the coach when he saved us from relegation two years ago.”
“The least they could have done is come to us and explain their project. They haven’t done that, it’s a lack of respect. I don’t want to be part of it.”
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Samba has made over 100 appearances for Rovers since joining from Hertha BSC in 2007. Sometimes deployed as a part-time striker, Samba has notched an impressive 12 goals for Blackburn, including two this season and is a constant threat from set-pieces.
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Manchester United have lined up Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg to replace Edwin van der Saar, according to first-team coach Rene Meulensteen.
Van der Sar, 40, confirmed this week that he will quit at the end of the season, ending a remarkable two decades at the top of the game.
Now it seems the Old Trafford club want another Dutchman to take over.
“Stekelenburg is indeed a keeper who is at the top of our wanted list,” Meulensteen told Dutch radio.
“We naturally talk a lot among ourselves about who should replace Van der Sar. Alex Ferguson has spoken about Stekelenburg with Edwin, and that does not seem strange to me at all.”
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson on Friday said he hoped the club dealt with Van der Sar’s retirement better than they did with the departure of Peter Schmeichel in 1999.
That triggered a tortuous six years at Old Trafford, when 10 keepers tried and failed to fill Schmeichel’s enormous gloves before Van der Sar headed north from Fulham.
“We hope we are better organised about it this time,” said Ferguson.
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“I made a mistake. I should have taken Van der Sar at that time but didn’t do. We tried several goalkeepers in the interim before I eventually got Edwin. Hopefully we’ll be better prepared this time. We’ve learned from that.”
There is a banner up at Old Trafford football ground. Everyone in Manchester with a passing interest in football (and many beyond its boundaries) knows about it. It shows the number of years since Manchester City last won a trophy. This year, it threatens to tick over to the number 35. In fact, by the end of February it will have done.
I asked a United fan last week who he would rather win the league – Liverpool or City? He said it was like choosing between drowning and being shot. But his main arguments in choosing Liverpool were that it would mean more to us (just, because of the 34 years), AND United would have to tear that banner down.
So you’d think that for every City fan on this planet, if they could have one thing, it would be to win a trophy – any trophy. Carling Cup, FA Cup, Europa League, the Premiership. Anything. For most of us, it would be the first time the team we have supported all our lives will have won something.
And not surprisingly, most fans do list a trophy as the priority, this season, any season.
But not all fans. And, I suspect, not City’s manager or owners either.
And for why that would happen, you need look no further than the Champions’ League. The league of Champions, and those that weren’t quite champions, and loads of teams who were nowhere near being champions. In any other sport, 4th would mean failure – it wouldn’t even get you on the podium. But in the money-orientated world of top-flight football, 4th is everything – a possible gateway to untold riches and possible world domination.
As we all know, modern (top-flight) football is all about money. And here are the numbers to show why the Champions League is so, so important.
Teams competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season can expect to receive a minimum amount of €7.2m according to the “revenue distribution system” in place for the 2010/11 campaign.
Each of the 32 clubs that took part in the group stage received a participation bonus of €3.9m, plus a match bonus of €550,000 per group game played. On top of that, the following performance bonuses were paid: €800,000 for every win and €400,000 for every draw in the group stage.
There are additional payments made to the teams that progress in the competition with €3m the reward for advancing to the round of 16, €3.3m for reaching the quarter-finals and €4.2m for a semi-final place. The winners of the final at Wembley Stadium on 28 May will collect a further €9m, with €5.6m going to the runners-up.
So, win all your six group games and you would earn €15m – comprising €12m for your group stage performance plus €3m for getting to the last 16. If Manchester United had beaten Barcelona in the final of May 2009, they would have earned a cool €45m. It is estimated this year’s winners could pocket close to €60m.
In addition, participating clubs are entitled to a share of the market pool based on the commercial value of their domestic television market, the number of UEFA Champions League matches they play this season and their final position in the domestic league table last term. They will also keep their UEFA Champions League gate receipts.
Each of the 20 teams that contested the play-offs received €2.1m.
The Telegraph ran an article the other year where it stated: Telegraph Sportunderstands that Uefa’s internal forecasts predict a 35 per cent increase in Champions League commercial and broadcast income for 2009-12, taking gross income to more than €1.1bn, an increase of around €300m on the €820m or so generated in each of the last three seasons.
Currently Uefa distributes almost €600m to the 32 clubs competing in the Champions League group stage, but that figure could rise to more than €800m from next season, heightening fears that the financial gap between the European elite and their domestic competitors is too wide.
Culture secretary Andy Burnham and FA chairman Lord Triesman have both voiced concerns this season that financial disparity is affecting the competitive balance of English football, and such dramatic increases in Champions League revenue will amplify the issue.
Regular Champions League football has helped United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal render the upper-reaches of the Premier League predictable, with only Everton breaching their dominance since England’s Champions League representation rose to four. The concern among their domestic competitors is that European success becomes self-perpetuating, providing additional income sufficient to fend off challengers in all but exceptional circumstances.
Unlike Manchester City fans, Roberto Mancini has not had 34 years of hurt – far from it. He’s had quite a charmed life, if truth be told. He has to finish top 4 this season – it’s pretty certain his job depends on it. Finish 5th and win the FA Cup, and I wouldn’t guarantee you he’d keep his job. Finish 4th and win nothing, and I can guarantee you he will be in charge next season.
The reasoning is simple, if not shared by many/most of the blue persuasion. It’s that aforementioned gateway to a “better world”. Champions League football (providing City got through a qualifier if they finished 4th – what could possibly go wrong?) means City are more attractive to world-class players, it means City are earning a lot more, and thus closer to becoming self-sufficient and satisfying Platini, it means more high-profile games, and with all that, with the players and the income, a greater chance of winning trophies from that moment onwards.
And there are City fans that see it that way too – it relies on a gamble that getting in the Champions League will mean everything else will follow – and what’s another year to wait when you’ve waited all your life?
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In addition to previous points, if as expected City finish outside the top 4 and Mancini loses his job, then once again City will have to recruit a new manager, and go through yet another building process with new players and new systems and new routines and changes to staff and the endless cycle of repairing damage that seems to define the club. Top players may leave – Tevez will for starters, and recruitment will mean more persuasion skills from Cook and Marwood. And more money, of course. Above all, a top 4 finish would bring one thing the club has lacked for decades – stability. Another year for City with the same manager? Blimey, it might just work.
But to many, to most in fact, the emotional attachment to the football club does not include financial analysis of what finishing higher may bring. It does not include analysing business models, or fair play criteria. There are those, as always, that would even welcome a change of manager. For the first time in many blues’ lifetime, a trophy looks not only possible, but probable in the years to come. And that trophy is all that matters – break the duck, break the curse, and everything else will follow. They have pictured the moment of a City captain lifting a trophy aloft as confetti rains down from the sky for far too long. The Champions League can wait for now. Winning the Carling Cup trumps playing Barcelona in the Champions League, when the heart rules over the business head. And rightly so.
Jamie O’Hara has tasted relegation before, so you can forgive him for giving everything to the cause at Wolves to make sure lightening doesn’t strike twice. His performances since his loan switch from Tottenham have been brilliant, and yet again we are seeing that the 24-year-old is more than good enough for the Premier League. Are Spurs wrong to be overlooking such a talent?
It would certainly seem that way given some of the problems Harry Redknapp has in the middle of the park. He himself must have identified it to be a weak spot considering his recent injury list, as the manager tried in vain to sign Charlie Adam. I’d argue that if Redknapp would have got his man, Tottenham would have parted with in-excess of £15 million when they had a perfectly good centre-midfielder just waiting for the chance to stake a claim for a place in Jamie O’Hara.
I suppose the flip side of the coin is that when the likes of Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart and Tommy Huddlestone are all fit, O’Hara’s chances are once again going to become limited. But wouldn’t Charlie Adam’s as well? I’d even go as far as saying that if I was in Redknapp’s shoes and had to choose between O’Hara or someone like Jermaine Jenas to plug a gap left by his regulars, I’d be tempted to go for the current Wolves loanee.
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The Midlands club won’t be complaining of course. O’Hara is that little bit of creative quality which they’ve lacked in recent times. Along with the ever-impressive Matt Jarvis, Mick McCarthy has some real players at Molineux and they have every chance of staying up. Amongst others, Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Wolves’ current league position doesn’t reflect just how good they are, and I hope he’s right.
If Wolves manage to stay up, I can see O’Hara extending his spell in the Black Country for longer than the loan-spell which is the current arrangement. Wolves can provide the Englishman with a real platform to prove Harry Redknapp wrong. He will get regular games and will become one of the most important figures at the club – a role he seems to be relishing at the moment.
Wolves have a long way to go but they can start making plans for next season. They may be out of the drop-zone at the moment, but it’s that tight down at the bottom that one defeat could pull you straight back into the thick of things. It’s not getting any easier, either. McCarthy’s sides next three fixtures read: Tottenham at home, (as always when a player moves between clubs) Aston Villa away and Newcastle away. Spurs speak for themselves so will provide a huge test, one which O’Hara will be unable to take part it due to Premier League rules preventing him from playing against his parent club. Wolves’ away form has been a problem for them all season, so a trip to in-form local rivals Villa, is also going to be incredibly tricky.
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But the Spurs game aside, O’Hara could be the answer to Wolves’ troubles. If Tottenham continue to suffer with injuries and have to rely on their fringe players, seeing Wolves grow with O’Hara at the centre of things could make Redknapp regret the day he once again decided to over look his forgotten man.
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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has slammed ‘unacceptable’ refereeing in the Gunners’ 0-0 draw with Sunderland at the Emirates on Saturday.
Arsenal could have drawn within two points of Manchester United on the English Premier League table with victory over the Black Cats, owing to United’s midweek defeat at Chelsea.
But the Gunners were left frustrated by a combination of stoic defence and poor decision-making by the officials, who failed to spot a clear penalty when Andrey Arshavin was pushed by Titus Bramble and wrongly disallowed a goal for offside minutes later.
Wenger, whose weary squad will travel to Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, was left exasperated by the result but tipped them to rebound from the setback.
”It is another disappointment,” Wenger said.
”You do not want to have things going against you, but what can we do? Now we just have to focus on Tuesday night.”
”I am very happy with the performance, defensively we were very good and gave a lot physically, and I cannot fault the players’ attitude.”
“True, we lacked a bit of creativity and sharpness in final third, but had two decisions going against us today which punish us severely, especially the offside, which is not offside. To win this game 1-0 today was important.”
”Today’s result comes at a bad moment. Will it psychologically have such a big impact on the championship? I don’t think so.”
Quizzed about the decision not to award Arshavin a penalty, Wenger said: “He was pushed, of course he was pushed.”
“You see the penalties we get at Newcastle and you see these kinds of penalties not given.”
“But we have to take it on the chin and continue to fight. But it is absolutely disappointing and not acceptable.”
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce praised goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who put in a man of the match performance to deny Arsenal’s persistent attacks.
“He has had a fantastic first season,” Bruce told Sky Sports.
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“I think he played the first 11 or 12 games and to come out of the Belgian first division, he is only 22 years old, he looked very assured.”
“When he has produced a performance like has today, that will give him great confidence.”
“It is not a shock to us because we work with him every day. But there is a big jump from training ground to playing at the Emirates.”
“But he will be very, very pleased with that, I’m sure.”
Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has inked a new four-year deal to remain at Old Trafford.The new contract will see the 27-year-old stay with the club until the end of the 2014-15 season, and comes a day after news that fellow midfielder Michael Carrick had signed a new three-year deal with United.The pair join Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra in signing contract extensions this month.Fletcher, 27, is a product of United’s youth academy and said he was delighted to have secured his future in Manchester long-term.”I take great pride in playing for Manchester United, I have won many trophies in my years playing here and I am looking forward to winning many more in the seasons to come. I would like to thank everyone at the club,” he said.Fletcher has made 288 appearances for United, and has played 33 times for the league leaders this season for three goals.Sir Alex Ferguson was happy Fletcher had decided to stay with the club having watched him develop over the last 16 years.”I am extremely proud that he came through the youth academy,” Ferguson said. “I am delighted Darren has signed a new contract, he has developed into a top-class midfielder.”
Man Utd are currently favourites for the Premier League crown this season, despite claims that they’ve barely got out of second gear. What is certain though is that this current Man Utd have failed to scale the heights of previous Ferguson team’s when it comes to attacking football; with the missing link in the Utd set-up being a player creative enough to link the play between their midfield and attack. But could Utd already have the very player they are crying out for right under their noses and already within their ranks in Wayne Rooney?
Rooney has endured a tough 18 months on and off the pitch. His form since the Bayern Munich game in April of last season has tailed of rather spectacularly at times and he’s looked a shadow of his former self. The player said himself last season that the development of the goalscoring side of his game came about by a simple adjustment to his positioning and a patience to stay in and around the penalty area for longer than he usually would beneficiary.
We all know that when Rooney becomes frustrated he has a natural predilection to drop deeper and deeper in an attempt to try and influence play further forward. The fact that he’s often required further forward to finish off these very same attacks in the first place seems to be an irony completely lost on Rooney.
However, the emergence of Javier Hernandez this season could provide Ferguson with an opportunity to experiment in dropping Rooney deeper to help initiate and dictate the play. Hernandez has been the signing of the season for me, fractionally ahead of Rafael Van Der Vaart at Spurs; he’s a natural born finisher and his movement off the ball is fantastic. He’s come more to the fore recently after braces against Marseille and Wigan and the clinical nature of his finishing and maturity of his all-round play suggest that he may well be up to the task of leading the line next season.
Dimitar Berbatov has had his best season in a Man Utd shirt with an impressive haul of 19 league goals to his name so far and with ample time left in the campaign to add more. Much like Rooney discovered last term, there is nothing more threatening than a striker in and around the six-yard box and it has the tendency to unnerve even the most seasoned of defenders. The sign of Berbatov picking the ball up in his own half last season in an attempt to get on the ball was a saddening sight to see as the Bulgarian was clearly struggling with his role within the side. That personal battle appears to be at an end now and Berbatov is once again playing with a swagger to match his technique as he often finds himself as the pivot around which most attacks are built – the role he was signed to perform.
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The budding partnership of Hernandez and Rooney in the Marseille game does provide Ferguson with food for thought, yet Hernandez equally excelled alongside Berbatov earlier on in the campaign at the height of Rooney’s struggles.
The Man Utd midfield appears to lack the necessary creativity and cutting edge that has become it’s staple in years gone by. Nani aside, there’s a whole lot of graft and very little craft coming from the likes of Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher. Anderson had a spurt of form which suggests that there may be something more to come from him, but the onus on creating play has fallen largely on Nani this season and Ferguson will be looking for someone to help share the burden in the future.
It’s clear that if Rooney isn’t moved backwards, then it’s pivotal that the club signs a player capable of creating chances from the middle of midfield. The likes of Gourcuff, Modric and Sneijder would all be prime candidates should the club have the necessary transfer budget in the summer to strengthen in the area, but if they don’t, they could do a lot worse than asking Rooney to perform the role.
The task of effectively replacing Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs has been and will remain one of Ferguson’s toughest ever tasks in football management. There’s a feeling that until he has done so successfully, Ferguson won’t retire from the Old Trafford hot seat.
Rooney, while nowhere near the same player as Scholes was in his pomp, does possess similar skills such as an excellent range of passing, which coupled with the vision he has to help to unlock a defence and the move begins to make a lot more sense. As long as there is someone further forward that is capable of getting on the end of these attacks, the shift has a good chance of success and remains a logical alternative for Ferguson – thankfully, the club now appear to have the very player that would make this move work in Javier Hernandez.
Man Utd’s most fearsome attack in recent years was the three-pronged strike force of Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney. Back then, the threat often came from out wide. The return of Antonio Valencia and Nani to fitness suggests Ferguson could once again implement a style of play suited to one man up top. This could allow either Hernandez or Berbatov to take the lone striker role, should Ferguson wish to revert to this and allow Rooney to start in a deeper lying role and offer the side an attacking threat from midfield, something which they’ve been unable to offer in recent seasons.
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Rooney’s adaptability and inherent tenacity could make this tactical shift a profitable one for both club and player and he certainly looks capable of playing in midfield. Rooney does appear to be finding some much-needed form once more playing up top, so Ferguson may refrain from any such shifts at present.
However, going into next season, with Hernandez a year older and a year wiser to the English game, pushing Rooney further back into a deeper lying creative role could suit the needs of the club and eventually, given the time to adjust fully, the player too. Rooney is not a natural finisher, but he is a naturally creative and his enigmatic and driving presence in midfield could revitalise his somewhat stalled career.