A couple of Premier League managers won’t be happy after the international break. Tottenham gaffer Harry Redknapp has lost Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe to long term injuries, while staying in North London Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be without the services of Theo Walcott. The England winger got injured in the build up to Wayne Rooney’s goal and had to be stretchered off, with the latest news that Theo will miss up to six weeks of action due to a turned ankle. It’s a massive shame for Gunners fans as the speedy player made a cracking start to the season for Arsenal, and neutrals will be disappointed that we won’t see Alan Hansen criticising Walcott once more on Match of the Day. So what has brought Theo Walcott to tears? Was the pain too great or have Hansen’s words finally started to get to him?
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Northern Ireland have appointed Michael O’Neill as their new manager, after he parted company with Shamrock Rovers.
The 42-year-old has signed a two-year deal with the home nation, and will take charge of the team from February 1st, replacing the outgoing Nigel Worthington.
O’Neill led Shamrock Rovers to consecutive domestic titles, and is honoured to be taking control of the national side.
“I am honoured to be chosen to manage my country. I am a proud Northern Irishman who was fortunate enough to win 33 senior caps and it was always an ambition to manage my country,” he told irishfa.com.
“To be entrusted with the role early in my managerial career is quite humbling but I am confident that we can make progress. Northern Ireland has a strong football tradition but one that needs to be refreshed with some more contemporary success.
“That is my primary objective – to restore a sense of belief and pride in what it means to represent Northern Ireland so that our players will want only to play for their country. That is how it should be.
“There is a huge amount of work to be done but with the right direction and the necessary passion good progress can be made. The board and the CEO have a clear plan for the future and have given me responsibility to set about the task of renewal within the context of a long-term plan.
“At the same time, in the interests of everyone involved, most particularly our supporters my job is to work with the players to sustain a competitive performance throughout the qualifying phase of the 2014 World Cup finals,” he concluded.
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O’Neill’s first game in charge will be against Norway in an international friendly at Windsor Park on February 29th.
Sir Alex Ferguson has once again proved that you should never doubt him or his team, Manchester United. After beating Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge it looks like Man United will be the sole Premier League survivor in the Champions League and with a potential semi-final against Bundesliga outfit Schalke, you wouldn’t bet against Fergie’s men making the final either. Added to that United are seven points ahead of closest challengers Arsenal in the Premier League table and have an FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City to look forward to, but that isn’t all Fergie can win this year.
For all the talk of this being the weakest Manchester United team in years and that the Red Devils have hardly played well all season, just as always, things seem to be going pretty well at Old Trafford. The treble is a real possibility and is likely to be decided by two matches against City and Barcelona or Real Madrid, and once again they’ve proved they have the staying power and can pull a result out of the bag when it really matters. But then we never really doubted that, did we?
Everything seems to be coming together at the right time. Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand played together at the heart of United’s defence for the first time in a while on Wednesday, while Wayne Rooney appears to be firing on all cylinders again. Add to that Nani’s form, Antonio Valencia’s return to fitness and the incredible veteran that is Ryan Giggs and Manchester United’s starting eleven is looking pretty strong. While Fergie’s team is showing their form at the right time, the Scotsman will hope the same goes for his horse.
Sir Alex’s horse What a Friend runs in the Grand National on Saturday and at 11/1 it’s one of the favourites. bet365 are going 150/1 about Sir Alex Ferguson landing the treble this season on the football front and winning the 2011 Grand National with What A Friend! bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth says “Fergie has been the scourge of bookmakers for years by winning countless trophies and a Grand National victory would make it squeaky bum time for us after offering 150/1.”
So can Fergie do the impossible and win the quadruple? At 150/1 it’s well worth a punt!
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Can Fergie complete a double this weekend? His horse What a Friend is 11/1 to win the Grand National. Make sure you don’t miss out on the biggest betting event of the year!
Leeds United’s return to the second tier of English football this coming season has been met with a renewed sense of optimism at the Yorkshire club. Leeds finished second to Norwich City in League One last season to clinch automatic promotion to the Championship. For a club who were as recently as 2001 contesting the Champions League semi-final, Leeds fans have endured more than most in the past decade. In that time the club has faced multiple relegations, financial implosion, administration, point deductions, countless play-off defeats and being forced to sell its training ground and stadium. There is a sense that the malaise has been halted under the stewardship of Ripon-born Simon Grayson and that the Premier League has missed a club of Leeds’ size, history and stature.
As the club set about gaining promotion to the Championship last season, a series of cup fixtures reminded its supporters and football fans of what they had been missing. A narrow 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Elland Road was played in front of a sell out crowd. Leeds could hardly believe their luck when they were pitted against old rivals Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup earlier this year. Leeds took 9,000 fans with them, creating a superb atmosphere at Old Trafford. The away side served up an unexpected 1-0 defeat of Manchester United much do the delight of the travelling fans. This seemed a reward for numerous hardships visited upon the club and had the fans dreaming of Don Revie’s glory days from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Much in the vein of his successful Leeds sides Grayson’s men were involved in minor scuffles with Manchester United’s players, adding to the drama of the occasion. The goal-scorer on that day, Jermaine Beckford, was on target again as Leeds drew 2-2 with Tottenham thanks to his late penalty kick. They succumbed to defeat in the return leg at Elland Road but it was a reminder to the football world of what had been.
On the same weekend as Leeds’ upset in Manchester, the FA Cup tie between Wigan and Hull at the DW Stadium could only attract a derisory crowd of 5,335. Leeds fans and those who have surreptitiously missed their presence in the top flight should guard against talk of a return by divine right. The passion and loyalty of their supporters allows them to sell out home games in League One and take hoards of away fan across the length and breadth of the country. However part of the romance and excitement of football is that any team regardless of size and history can go up and down the leagues. But is there outside chance of Leeds challenging for the Premier League play-off places this season? Notwithstanding the loss of Beckford to Everton, new recruit Alex Bruce thinks so. “They belong in the Premier League and hopefully I can play a part in putting them back where they belong.”
Grayson has been exceptionally busy in the transfer market and is determined to build a side that can compete in the second tier. New full backs, Paul Connolly and Fede Bessone have Championship experience and Billy Paynter who scored 29 goals for Swindon last season will attempt to fill the void left by Beckford. Another outstanding performer from League One, Kasper Schmeichel has also been recruited. A recent 3-1 friendly defeat of Wolves has Leeds fans in bullish mood ahead of the season opener against Derby tomorrow. Their long suffering fans may not be the only ones wishing them well this season.
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With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery
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Harry Redknapp will look to bolster his Tottenham squad in January by bringing in Villarreal attacking midfielder Borja Valero, according to reports in The Sun.
Redknapp is not looking to break the bank in order to add strength in depth at White Hart Lane this winter, and the £9million price tag could be extremely tempting for North London club.
The former West Brom midfielder failed to settle in England and only featured 31 times in the league for the Baggies in his time in the midlands. After a successful loan spell; where Valero became a key player at El Madrigal; a permanent move to Spain was declared in the summer but Villarreal are struggling in the bottom half of La Liga and are out of all European competitions already.
With just one cap for Spain, Valero wants to be playing European football to catch the eye of national coach Vicente del Bosque and Tottenham could be the ideal suitors for the 26-year-olds attacking style of football.
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Chelsea are expected to renew their interest in Luka Modric in January and with Spurs vying for three competitions when the new year begins, strength in depth may become a crucial aspect of success or failure.
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez was pleased with the response from his young players in their come-from-behind win over Birmingham.In a crucial English Premier League relegation six-pointer, Martinez’s side recovered from Liam Ridgewell’s early goal to equalise through Tom Cleverley after 25 minutes, before a spell of dominance was ended with Maynor Figueroa’s injury-time winner.The average age of Wigan’s team was under 25, with Martinez preferring to put his faith in youth rather than experienced players to fight the relegation battle.”It was really pleasing to see that maturity of growing into the game in such a young group, it gives you a great sense of pride,” Martinez told Sky Sports.”I’m very proud of the players because we all knew how important the three points were, but what was more important is the way they played the game.””The players slowly gained control of the game and in the second-half it was just chance after chance, looking at the number of corners that we had.”A change of system helped Wigan secure their late winner, with strikers Conor Sammon and Hugo Rodallega thrown on just after the hour mark, leading Martinez to praise the club’s depth.”It was important to change the dynamics a little bit,” he said. “We got into a position where we couldn’t get enough bodies in the box. With the options that we have on the bench now, we have to use it, and I think it was one of those moments when we needed everyone and it’s great to see that everyone is desperate to play a part.””In that respect, it’s a win for the squad and it’s something that we need to carry on now for the next eight games of the season.”Birmingham manager Alex McLeish was not so happy, disappointed his side did not win a penalty when Antolin Alcaraz toppled Curtis Davies only moments before Figueroa’s late strike.”Just before he (Figueroa) scored I felt we should have had a penalty but it would have been unfair on Wigan for us to win,” McLeish said.”But at same time that happens during the season, you steal some points, you get some luck and some bad luck. And we had some bad luck with penalty award, how he (the referee) doesn’t see it’s a penalty, I’m baffled.””I’ve looked at the video, he (Alcaraz) doesn’t look at the ball, just takes the player out. We didn’t get the break, but we’ve had one penalty this season and there’s another six or seven I think we should have had.”The result still keeps Wigan bottom, but they are now within one point of 19th-placed Birmingham City and just three points behind 13th placed Birmingham.
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson believes new signings must be made ahead of the start of their Europa League campaign later this month.
Hodgson has suggested that none of the players involved in World Cup duty in South Africa will be called upon to play in the third qualifying round tie which begins on July 29.
Macedonian side Rabotnicki or Armenia's Mika must be overcome if the Reds are to make the group stages.
However, with the likes of Spain duo Fernando Torres and Jose Reina, Argentina pair Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez, Denmark's Daniel Agger, Slovakia's Martin Skrtel and Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel of the Netherlands joining England trio Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson on the sidelines, Hodgson is desperate to bolster his squad.
Free agent England midfielder Joe Cole has emerged as a serious transfer target in recent days and Hodgson is looking to tie up some swift deals.
"Possibly none of our World Cup players will play in the early Europa Cup games if we listen to the advice of the sports science people," he told the club's official website.
"They are telling me we would be very foolhardy to use players who have only been training for three or four days on the back of the World Cup that early on because that will affect us further on down the road.
"If we feel we are endangering our chances of doing well in the Premier League by risking players in the early stage of the Europa League, it will be a decision the club will have to take. You have to follow the guidance.
"Their advice is to not use these players. If we have enough players to put a team out without them is another question.
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"Things can happen before the 29th of July, we will not be speculating on that and there is no point in me making predictions of what the team will be like for that game.
"The sports science people are advising me not to use the players from the World Cup.
"Therefore new signings would become important for the Europa Cup."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Take a look at the Arsenal team of 2011 and their record over the last 6 years. Not too bad for an average Premier League club – pretty good in fact, yet for a team who were dubbed the ‘unbeatables’ in their 2004-2005 campaign, failure to win a trophy in the last six seasons is quite simply not good enough.
Whilst Arsenal can point to a lack of funds in comparison with Chelsea, United and now Manchester City, along with a completely different ethos and transfer policy, the time for excuses about being in ‘transition’ have to stop. Wenger, at Arsenals AGM, called for more time, and passionately declared that despite the summer departures, the current team at Arsenal can fulfil their potential, if given the time to do so.
The problem however is that Wenger has been asking for more ‘time’ for several trophyless years now, and it must be asked if that question will soon become too familiar with fans who have ardently believed in Wenger and his team for so long, placing playing attractive football with flair above winning games 1 – 0 and a scrappy result. Obviously this has cost them multiple games in the past and although at times they are memorising to watch, the tag of a poor man’s Barcelona is not an unfair one.
Yes Arsenal can attack and play with style, but they have been lacking in grit and determination – a backbone to their team has been missing and although Fabregas cannot be called anything less than a brilliant player, a captain he is not. A major lack of leadership on the field has been something that has blighted Arsenal for several seasons now and whether Robin Van Persie is the man to fill this void remains to be seen.
Anyone with a footballing brain can make the statement that should Van Persie have been fit for the majority of his time at Arsenal things could have been very different for the Gunners. This season Van Persie has been their talisman and nothing short of world class, rescuing the team on numerous occasions and having a phenomenal goal to game ration of 2.38. However should Arsenal fail to make it into the top four and thus the Champions League this season, they may well have to add the Dutchman to their list of high profile departures.
Another point Arsenal supporters will make when looking back at last season in particular is that if they had beaten Birmingham in the Carling Cup final, their season could have turned out vastly different. Again whilst a valid point, much like pointing to departures, injuries and suspensions, football cannot be a game of what if’s. Arsenal’s main issue is that they have not got a good enough defence and Song does not look to be a massively convincing holding midfielder.
It cannot be ignored that losing Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy was a huge blow, as is the fact Van Persie and Vermaelen struggle to stay fit for an entire season. Players such as Jenkinson who got mauled at Old Trafford do display some quality, but to throw them in at the deep end and expose them so harshly is not what Wenger would ideally like to do.
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Arsenal clearly have quality within the ranks, not just in experienced players like Van Persie but also the young guns such as Ramsey and Wilshire. The supporters are right in sticking by both the manager and the club, with Wenger bringing through some serious talent during his lengthy tenure at the helm, and is right in saying that the team have masses of potential to fulfil.
Yet Arsenal sit third in the goals conceded chart with 18 goals shipped in from 9 games, and for a team that feels they belong in the top four, this is simply not good enough. Yes they have scored 15 goals in the same amount of games, but Arsenal’s problem has never been failure to attack. Wenger needs to stop with the excuses and finally instil some defensive stability into the team – otherwise a top four finish may well be beyond them and ‘in Arsene we trust’ may well not be the case anymore.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish says his team is lucky to be going into the Europa League second leg against Sporting Braga only a goal down.A first-half penalty from midfielder Alan gave the Portuguese side an important home win and inflicted Dalglish’s first loss as the English Premier League club’s manager in Europe.Dalglish believes Liverpool are fortunate to be heading into the return leg only 1-0 down.”It was a very poor first-half performance from ourselves,” he told Sky Sports.”We picked it up a little bit in the second half and looked a bit more threatening, especially after Andy (Carroll) came on, and I think we were probably denied a stone-wall penalty ourselves.””To play the way we did in the first half and come away only one goal behind means we were very fortunate.”In his second substitute appearance for the club, Carroll provided the Reds with some much-needed life when he was introduced in the 57th minute.Dalglish was pleased with the striker’s performance and said helping him regain match fitness in his return from injury was a key.”He worried them. We played better once he came on. He’s a good option for us,” Dalglish said.”We’ve got to give him as many minutes as we can to make sure we’re making a contribution to getting him fit.”
Fulham will continue their pursuit of Martin Jol on Wednesday by meeting representatives of the Dutch coach's current club Ajax.
Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh is in Amsterdam to meet with Ajax officials as he attempts to negotiate the release of the former Tottenham manager.
Jol is believed to be keen to return to the Premier League to replace Roy Hodgson in the Craven Cottage hot-seat.
The Cottagers have been without a manager since Hodgson joined Liverpool almost three weeks ago, since when Ray Lewington has been in caretaker charge.
On Tuesday, stories from the Netherlands claimed the 54-year-old had agreed to stay with Ajax in principle after the club agreed to his demands that new players needed to be signed before the start of the 2010-11 campaign.
However, it now appears that Ajax are refusing to negotiate and the two clubs are at an impasse.
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Ivory Coast coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has also been linked with the vacancy at Craven Cottage as have United States coach Bob Bradley and Switzerland's Ottmar Hitzfeld.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email