Chelsea got the stroke of luck they needed to maintain their push for the title at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Harry Redknapp says that the linesman decision could cost them £30m and it is hard not to argue with the Spurs manager’s protests.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Ferguson set hijack Sanchez deal; Ancelotti claims Drogba isn’t first choice, while Keegan believes Liverpool won’t win title for five years.
Linesman could cost us £30m: Redknapp fumes after Chelsea defeat – Daily Mail
Arsenal need THREE new players to win title next season – Mirror
Ancelotti: Drogba is not my first choice – Daily Telegraph
Spurs and Man City to slug it out over £10m Parker – Mirror
Keegan: Liverpool won’t win title for five years – Daily Telegraph
Hammers mad to ignore talent of ‘crazy’ Balotelli – Independent
Sulky Balotelli in training ground bust-up with City team-mate Kompany – Daily Mail
Newcastle move for French winger Tabanou as Arsenal eye Enrique – Daily Mail
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Wenger: Arsenal are ‘not ashamed’ – Guardian
Chelsea must prove that they want me to stay, warns Malouda – Daily Mail
Manager Avram Grant has revealed that he will prepare West Ham United for Saturday's trip to Stoke City but he will not personally be in the dugout at the Britannia Stadium.
The Israeli coach has confirmed media reports that he would not be at the match due to a clash with the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
But Grant, who delayed taking the reins at former club Chelsea due to a similar clash three years ago, has dismissed suggestions that the Hammers will be unprepared for the trip north.
"I will have all the input except I will not be in the dugout," he explained."The meeting with the team, the talking with the team, the tactics, the training and the preparation for the team is the same.
"The staff know exactly what they need to know in any situation and so do the team."
The Hammers are currently rock-bottom of the Premier League table after four successive defeats this season, but Grant insists he never considered changing his mind about missing Saturday's game, adding:"It is the one day I have respected since I was a child and unfortunately it came on a Saturday this time.
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"The team will be ready. We prepared the team. I will not be in the dugout, but that's why we have staff. I have a good staff and the team will be ready 100 per cent and that's what is important."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
As Harry Redknapp stated after the game, it was inevitable – we all knew the minute that Thierry Henry took to the pitch in the FA Cup clash with Leeds that he would score. Henry duly did, looking like he had never been away, and brought new meaning to ‘The Return of the King.’ It may not only be Aragorn who has to watch his back however, as Henry showed a great deal more than the ability to score a goal during his short time on the pitch earlier this week.
Gunners captain RVP, not to mention the rest of the current crop of Arsenal players would do well to show even half of the emotion and passion that Henry displayed upon scoring the goal, leading to the question of is this what Arsenal have been lacking this season?
Now don’t get me wrong, no one can deny the brilliant job RVP has done this season, along with players such as Song and Szczesny, Arsenal after a rocky start have pulled themselves up and have put up more than a challenge for a top four spot, and I am by no means suggesting that Henry is better than any of these players or that if Arsenal had him, they would be in the title race.
Henry has after all only scored one goal, and against a team who despite having world class support cannot say the same about their defence. It is entirely plausible that Henry will struggle in the Premier League, and not make much of an impact – yet it is more than his touch on the ball that he will bring to the club. Henry is Arsenal, nearly as much as Wenger is, and has a love for the club that is unparalleled.
It is this, and the experience he has that could well prove the difference for Arsenal in the short time he is at the club. Whilst RVP has most certainly been the MVP, he is still young and is carrying such a burden on his shoulders of not only having to score, but to be skipper and inspire the fans and team.
I am not saying he has not done a great job – in fact I feel RVP is more of a captain than Fabregas was and is certainly a leader on the field, yet having Henry around to alleviate some of the pressure and as someone who the fans can also focus their expectations on, not to mention the media, may provide a welcome relief for RVP.
Nor is this an attack on the current Arsenal squad – the vast majority of them do give 100% when they play and genuinely want the club to do well, yet there is a difference between this and what Henry feels for Arsenal – ‘when it comes to Arsenal my heart does the talking’ just about sums it up, whereas most of the players would say their weekly wage does the talking, and that is the difference, and what is missing not just at Arsenal, but at clubs up and down the country who lack a player who really cares – the days of Neville, Carragher and Shearer are virtually over, with the Nasris, Coles and Tevez type players now more about them than the club.
It is credit to Henry – both in terms of the kind of player and also the type of man he is that nearly every football fan wanted him to do well and score on his second coming, and with the exception of Spurs fans, Henry’s celebrations would even melt a heart of stone. I am not an Henry fan by any stretch of the imagination – in fact during the season Chelsea won the title for the first time Henry took an outrageous free kick before the whistle and inspired the Gunners to a 2 -2 draw, not to mention scored a very cheeky goal which I have never really forgotten!
Despite this, and my general dislike of all things Arsenal, I am a football fan first and foremost, and want to see players who genuinely love their club – Henry is this, and more so than anyone at Arsenal at the minute. Not only will this give the players a lift, but also the fans, who will draw on this, and the inspiration provided by Henry’s return and could well get a boost for the second part of the season because of it. Henry may not be quite the player he once was, but he has heart, passion and love for the club – and despite what people may tell you, there is no substitute for that.
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With results like this, there is no point or need to dissect or analyse; everything just went right. What makes me happiest, as a Red, is that under Kenny, I’ve been able to say that more often than not. Not a single player shirked his duty, hid from the spotlight or let up for a second. Those were the things we’d been used to for a good few years and it feels as if those times are slowly returning.
However, a special mention should go to two players: Maxi Rodriguez (obvious, yes) and Jay Spearing. Firstly, Maxi stepped in and bagged a hat-trick. With this little Argie it’s either one or the other. There’s not grey area; he’s either anonymous or one of the best players on pitch and on Saturday he put in a superbly intelligent performance. Some may say he was just ‘in the right place at the right time’ but that requires a sharp, incisive footballing brain. There are strikers who would love to have that ability and Maxi showed on Saturday that he is more than capable of being much more than just a squad player. Keep it up Mr. Rodriguez.
As for Spearing, I would be the first to admit that I’ve never rated him very highly but he has had a fantastic couple of games. He’s stepped in to a pretty massive void and we haven’t missed the man that would normally fill it. That’s not to suggest that Spearing is going to replace the Captain; that’s absurd but as a stand in, he’s been doing a great job and I’d be more than happy for him to continue in this vain and continue to prove me wrong.
It’s Newcastle up next and we take a run of great performances and results, with a cumulative 11-1 goal difference from our past three home games, Newcastle have got a lot to do if they want to match us. And the two aforementioned stars from the weekend are more or less guaranteed to start; it’d be criminal to replace them after their showing on Saturday.
Read more of David Tryer’s articles at the excellent Live4Liverpool
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Listen to the third episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, who performs a live version of his cult tribute to Mark Viduka, with Razor on backing vocals!
Ghana international Asamoah Gyan, one of the stars of this summer's World Cup, has joined Sunderland from French side Rennes.
The 24-year-old moves to the Black Cats for a club record transfer fee of more than £13million, beating the previous highest amount paid to Tottenham last summer for Darren Bent.
Gyan has signed a four-year contract after impressing for the Black Stars in South Africa, scoring three goals as Ghana reached the World Cup quarter-finals.
He started his career at Liberty Professionals in his homeland before joining Udinese seven years ago. Gyan scored 11 goals in 39 appearances for the club and also enjoyed a successful loan spell at Modena.
He moved to Rennes in July 2008 and went on to score 14 goals in 48 appearances for the French side, before featuring in all five of his country's games at the World Cup against Serbia, Australia, Germany, the USA and Uruguay.
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Bruce has been after a new striker since allowing Kenwyne Jones to join Stoke City earlier in the summer.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has admitted that he is concerned by the number of foreign players in the English top flight, and feels it may be a detriment to the national side in the long run.
Only 38% of the players who participated in Premier League fixtures over the weekend were qualified to represent England, which is much lower than the other major European leagues.
When quizzed whether he was concerned by the figure, Scudamore admitted to wanting more home-grown players.
“In a way they do which is why we have put such an emphasis on the Elite Player Performance Plan,” he stated to Sky Sports.
“We are making huge strides under our director of youth Ged Roddy, with everybody at the Football Association and Football League on board with the development plan which is entirely designed to bring through more and better young players, coached in better environments by better coaches.
“That is not to decry anything that is going on at the moment, but we would like to see that balance reduced. We don’t want it eliminated, we still want to attract the best foreign talent we can. They have graced our Premier League, but certainly we do want to see more home-grown talent.
“You can’t get involved in numbers. I want that number increased and if it was back towards 50% that would be good, if it was higher I would only want it to be higher if the English talent was good enough.
“We’re not going to set high targets on this, it depends on how the rest of the game develops. Say we’re sat here in 10 years’ time with 100% of players English home-grown because football economies in Russia, China and the rest of the world have developed where all of the world’s best talent drains off to these places, it would be a false number,” he concluded.
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Manchester United will play Juventus in a testimonial game for Gary Neville at Old Trafford on May 24.Neville, 36, announced his retirement on February 2 after enjoying a 602-game, 18-year career with United.
Neville, who made his senior debut against Torpedo Moscow in a UEFA Cup tie in 1992 aged 17, and was part of the side that won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups and the Champions League in 1999, is touched by the gesture from the club.
“I am delighted to be given this game by the club, it is going to be a very emotional night, especially as I pull on that red shirt once more,” Neville said.”I intend to savour every moment and I hope the fans can share in my special night.”
The right-back, who has been capped 85 times for England, has pledged to donate the match proceeds to community projects and supporter initiatives in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Neville retired after a series of injuries had affected his performances; and his last competitive match was on January 1 in the 2-1 Premier League win against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has confirmed that he allowed Kenwyne Jones to join Stoke City in an £8million deal because he felt the striker was not playing up to his full potential.
The 25-year-old frontman scored 28 goals in 101 appearances for the Black Cats, but Bruce felt that Jones could have done better.
He told the Sunderland Echo:“There has always been a frustration with me, and I think with supporters, who have watched Kenwyne that you see an abundance of talent, but it has not come out often enough for us for whatever reason.
“In management you get paid to make some important decisions sometimes. Stoke have been badgering me for a year. Everyone knows they love a big, traditional centre-forward and he might go and suit them.
“Towards the end with Kenwyne, things were not working out, so I have accepted Stoke’s offer and given him permission to speak to them.”
Having allowed Jones to move on, the Black Cats are poised to sign Manchester United frontman Danny Welbeck on a season-long loan.
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Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing has stated that he is eager to show Kenny Dalglish his worth in an attempt to nail down a regular starting place in the side.
The 23-year-old is currently serving a three-match ban after being sent off against Fulham on December 3rd, but may play an important part of the remainder of the season for The Reds following Lucas Leiva’s knee ligament injury.
With the Merseysiders likely to be toying with the idea of buying a new central midfielder in January, Spearing wants to stay in the manager’s plans.
“The club is massive worldwide and the owners have come in and shown that they’re going to back the manager. A club the size of this is always going to attract big players,” he told the LFC magazine.
“It has always been my dream to play week in, week out so it’s up to me to prove to the manager on a daily basis that when the transfer window does open and he has money at his disposal that he can look at a position like mine and think: There’s no need to sign anyone there – we’re pretty strong.
“Kenny has given me a lot of confidence and has shown the faith that young local lads like me need to get a chance. But half of it has to do with myself as well; the effort I put in day in, day out. There’s a lot of stuff in training that not a lot of people see.
“It’s the way I’ve been brought up because you don’t get much from life without hard work. My dad said to me that I had to take each day as it comes and prove every single day that I was better than the last one.
“The only way that I was going to get games was by working harder than anybody else in training; not necessarily show that I was better than anybody else but prove that I could compete and not be overawed – to show them I’m up for the fight,” he concluded.
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Bolton came close to gaining a point at Old Trafford on Saturday. With the game at 0-0, Jussi Jaaskelainen’s fumble allowed Dimitar Berbatov to secure a late winner for League leaders Manchester United. But after the game Coyle refused to blame Jaaskelainen, he said ‘we win as a team, we lose as a team’. I love this positive attitude towards team unity and I think it is one of the things that has made Owen Coyle one of the best managers in the Premier League this season.
I think it is this atmosphere, where everyone is part of the team, that has seen Owen Coyle contribute to the development of Jack Wilshere. This season he is doing it again with Daniel Sturridge. Owen Coyle is fantastic at getting the best out of players, he does this by building player’s confidence; self-belief is crucial both to form and in realising potential.
One way to give a player this confidence is to just play them every game; let him know that he is valued . The other way is to make them feel part of the unit. Young lads from Chelsea and Arsenal train in a squad of international super-stars. I doubt they feel they belong at that level until they break in to the first team. But it is tough to break through because of the quality of competition. It is even harder to develop if you don’t get to play.
This year Daniel Sturridge has scored 4 goals in 6 games for Bolton – it looks like he is fulfilling his potential. Last season Wilshere spent the latter half of the season at The Reebok Stadium with Owen Coyle. He played 14 times and scored once. It might have only been a short period of playing Premier League football, but there was less pressure on Wilshere at Bolton. This way Wilshere got some experience of playing top flight football but did so under less scrutiny. The benefits of this have been demonstrated by Wilshere’s form this year.
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The last thing a young player needs is a manager who is feared. Owen Coyle is definitely not that. He is a tracksuit manager and loves getting involved with the players, so no player is isolated. Coyle tries to play all his players at darts or table-tennis, it might sound stupid but it is the type of non-formal situation to get to know your manager and it is a great way to make players feel part of the club. He also loves a to play in training sessions and has even played for the reserve team this season.
Coyle’s skills are not limited to young players; Johan Elmander has improved dramatically this year. In the previous two seasons he was a player who was strong and skilful but just didn’t seem to have the confidence a striker needs to score goals, but this season he has already scored 10 goals in the Premier League.
Coyle has taken Bolton from a team who had been accused of playing one dimensional football to a team who play good football and every player contributes. Players don’t look scared to attack, and have a great team spirit; Coyle’s enthusiasm is infectious.
Coyle is not afraid to give the likes of Wilshere and Sturridge regular first team action, he backs their ability and builds players up with confidence so they can realise that potential. Having shown that he can get the most out of players, young and old, I would not be surprised if he ends up at a top club in the coming years.
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Share this appreciation of Owen Coyle, one of the few tracksuit managers in the Premier League? Get in touch with Joe here.
Perhaps Wellington Silva will visit the renowned Owen Coyle finishing school soon…