Alex McLeish said Birmingham can credit their Carling Cup heroics for their poor performance at home to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.The Scottish boss had no doubt his side’s last-gasp 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Wembley last Sunday saw them underperform against fellow relegation-threatened club West Brom, as Roy Hodgson’s men coasted to a 3-1 victory at St Andrew’s Ground.”I believe that entirely. (We made) a lot of changes made to the team, a lot of tiredness if I’m making excuses for my players,” McLeish told Sky Sports.”To lose five or six (players), enforced, was a big hurdle. But I thought some of our play was second rate. I would have liked to see better performances.”McLeish lamented Birmingham’s amateurish defence, but said shipping three goals was partly down to an extensive injury list disrupting his side’s starting 11.”(It was) schoolboy defending in the second half. The goals were lamentable. I’m angry with the defending but there were a lot of changes. It really disrupted us,” he said.Albion boss Roy Hodgson said there were no individual standouts in his side as they moved out of the relegation zone with the victory.”For me, as boring as it may sound and as much as a cliche as it may appear to be, I thought it was a very good performance all round,” the former Fulham and Liverpool manager told Sky Sports.”It’s always the players who score the goals or who do the spectacular things that catch the eye but I thought there were some very good defensive performances from the back players and some sterling work from the two central midfield players.”
Fiorentina’s Alberto Gilardino has revealed frustration over his side’s slow start in this season’s Serie A, but is hopeful of a strong finish.Fiorentina are in ninth place in the Italian top flight, nine points adrift of a Europa League berth for next season, but are unbeaten in their last five league games.
Gilardino believes a turbulent end to Fiorentina’s last campaign, which saw the departure of manager Cesare Prandelli to take over the Italian national squad, and the absence of key personnel have been the reasons behind their inconsistency.
Montenegrin striker Stevan Jovetic has been unable to play after suffering a severe knee injury, and Adrian Mutu also missed a large part of the season after a club-imposed ban in the wake of his doping ban.
“Fiorentina definitely has had various problems this year, both physical and structural, many players couldn’t play for various periods, essential players that would have been able to make a difference,” Gilardino said.
“We definitely didn’t do what we wanted to do and what we said we wanted to do at the beginning of the season.”
“Anyway we will try to do our best in this last part of the championship, seeing as many injured players are back.”
“Of course a player like me found the first half of the championship difficult, because I wasn’t flanked by players who could make the difference and, as I’ve said, Fiorentina suffered from the fact that various players were injured.”
Gilardino is looking forward to playing for Italy in Tuesday’s friendly against the Ukraine in Kiev, and believes such matches are important to try out new players and tactical formations.
“Playing for the national team it’s always an honour for me and I’m always excited and proud to wear the jersey of the national team,” he said.
“Tomorrow it will be a tough game, even if it’s a friendly match. We know we need to play these kind of matches with the right attitude and we really want to play well.”
“I don’t know which line-up the manager will choose, I think he will try to make everyone play a bit, so maybe even those who didn’t play the other night will have the chance to play tomorrow night. Everyone is determined and focused on playing well.”
As we approach the business end of the season, Tottenham’s ambition of finishing in the top four reamins in the balance. Obviously there are many things to do with the club that will be will or won’t happen depending on Tottenham’s potential achievement of 4th place. The calibre of player linked with Tottenham might be lessened if they do not play Champions League football. For example, Edison Cavani is unlikely to move to a club unless they play in the Champions League. Should Tottenham come fifth, it is also likely that Bale and Van der Vaart will be linked with a move away from Tottenham. There will also be some criticism from some people of Harry Redknapp if he fails to build on his fourth place of last year. I don’t look foward to any of those things happening.
After watching Rory McIlroy so painfully crash out of the Masters last night, I can’t help but be in a pessimistic mood. So, as a nervous Spurs fan I want to point out five things that will happen next year and will occur regardless of where Tottenham finish in the Premier League…
1. Kyle Walker. Aston Villa’s Kyle Walker is one of the best young right-backs around. But he is still a Tottenham player. Next season he will be back at White Hart Lane and I for one am very excited about his return. Hutton’s defensive weaknesses have been exploited this year and I expect Walker, along with Corluka, to fill the space at right-back.
2. Fringe Players will leave. With Kyle Walker coming back, I expect Hutton to leave this summer but so will a whole host of other players. Robbie Keane, David Bentley and possibly Kranjcar and Pavlyuchenko could all be sold, even if Tottenham do not get Champions League football. Their new clubs and the amount of money Tottenham recieve, plus the question of whether Tottenham should keep such players, will be something for the fans to take an interest in as the squad is, to use Daniel Levy’s words, ‘stream-lined’.
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3. Rumour mill linkage. If players leave, new players will be bought. Some players might not want to come to White Hart lane if we do not achieve 4th place, but this will not stop the press from linking Tottenham with every player under the sun. Spurs, will contine the hunt for a top striker, there is no doubt there, but two at max. However, I expect as many as 30 names to be linked with Tottenham over the summer months from Roberto Soldado to Michel Salgado.
4. Stadium plans. I can’t remember how many times I must have said this in the last few months, but this story will carry on for the next few seasons. Tottenham will never be able to match the revenue of the other top clubs with a 36,000 capacity stadium. That is what White Hart Lane is. The plans for a move / development have still not been finalised and considering the financial importance of a new stadium, I expect Daniel Levy to be very busy this summer with such plans. Expect development here.
5. Tottenham will only get better. Sandro is 22, Bale is 21, Kaboul is 25. All three of these players are gifted and I expect them to improve next year on their performances this season. Even Gareth Bale. Younes Kaboul is a late developer and I think he will become a towering centre-back over the next few seasons. Sandro has shown at times that he is a player of brilliant quality and, as he finds his feet at Tottenham, will go from strength to strength. If you add Huddlestone, 24, and Lennon, 23, there is plenty to be optimistic about at White Hart Lane.
There is still a case for Tottenham to be optimistic. Before I get too carried away with taking positives out of a negative situation it must be said that there is still plenty to play for this season. Should Manchester City lose at Liverpool the battle for fourth is still very much open. There are some big games coming up, including a showdown against Man City. It will be difficult for Tottenham but they still have a chance.
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Stoke can now prepare for their upcoming FA Cup final appearance after securing their Premier League survival with an emphatic 3-0 win against Wolves.Ryan Shawcross and Jermaine Pennant scored either side of half-time to seal an easy three points after Kenwyne Jones’ early header had opened the floodgates.
A draw was never likely, with both of these local rivals sharing the lowest number of Premier League draws with just six each all season.
And with their unenviable record of being the league’s worst away team this campaign, Wolves never looked likely to grasp the point that would have lifted them out of the bottom three.
In fact, they should thank goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey for restricting the size of their defeat.
It was plain sailing for the Potters once Jones had laid a 16th-minute pass out to Pennant on the right side of the Wolves area before advancing forward to meet the winger’s return cross with a downwards header that Hennessey narrowly failed to block.
Pennant exposed the visitors’ frailties along the left wing again by releasing Andy Wilkinson on an overlapping run and shot that Hennessey beat away with Jones then guilty of a five-yard miss from Jonathan Walters’ inviting cross.
Hennessey’s agility saved his side again as he spectacularly denied both Walters and Shawcross inside the space of 30 seconds in the 45th minute.
But the Wolves keeper could only stand and stare as the slice of luck that Stoke’s dominance deserved arrived seconds later when Karl Henry unwittingly deflected Glen Whelan’s shot straight to Shawcross who had the simplest of back-post tap-ins to seal the points by the break.
Pennant’s lung-busting break out of midfield ended with the winger drilling a third past Hennessey in the 51st minute, albeit via another significant deflection.
And with the relegation-haunted visitors mustering just one shot on target, it was Walters who almost added to the score line with a 25-yard shot that flew inches wide late on.
Wayne Rooney has praised attacking partner Javier Hernandez after the pair put on a show at Shalke in the Champions League on Tuesday.Rooney created one goal and scored the other as United took a handy 2-0 aggregate into the home leg of their semi-final tie, but it was ‘Chicharito’ who nearly stole the show in the first half with some terrific one-on-one battles with Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
The Mexico international has proved adept at finding the net in his debut season at Old Trafford, scoring 19 goals in 41 appearances across all competitions.
His start at the Veltins Arena in place of Dimitar Berbatov meant Rooney could work deeper in attack, and the England international seemed to relish the role with a series of plundering attacks on Schalke’s startled defence.
Rooney, who has previously described Hernandez as the ‘buy of the century’, said he was optimistic of scoring once he knew he would be partnering the 22-year-old.
“I’ve obviously understood and seen the way Chicharito plays, I knew if I was playing in front of him then I’d have a chance and you know, and maybe play a bit deeper and it’s worked for us,” Rooney said.
“He’s been a fantastic signing and scored lots of goals, important goals as well. I’m enjoying getting on the ball and I can play and I’m getting a few goals.”
United’s dominant performance drew praise from veteran Schalke striker Raul, a legend of the game who Hernandez has drawn comparisons to.
“We’ve played against Manchester United, undoubtedly a good team, experienced and with a superb mentality, and they’ve proven in the game how good they are,” the former Real Madrid star said.
“They have been better and I congratulate them for the result. The next week we will try to give a better performance at Old Trafford and do our best.”
David Beckham is relishing the prospect of donning the red of Manchester United once again when he lines up in Gary Neville’s testimonial match.In a measure of how much regard Beckham has for his former United team-mate, he will miss LA Galaxy’s Major League Soccer clash with the Houston Dynamo on Tuesday to take part.
United play host to a Juventus XI at Old Trafford on Tuesday to honour Neville, 36, who called time on his career in February after 602 games for the reigning English Premier League champions.
Spending almost two decades at the club, Neville emerged among a crop of United youngsters that also included current players Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes as well as brother Phil Neville and Nicky Butt.
Beckham said he was looking forward to seeing some old friends on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be interesting seeing Nicky Butt and Scholesy and all these guys,” Beckham said.
“We had so many great memories with the club and with each other. We grew up together and we were part of such a historical team at Manchester United.”
“To have a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson look after us and bring us right through the ranks, gave us a chance when nobody else probably would have given us that chance.”
“To be back in a Manchester United shirt at Old Trafford with the Class of ’92 doesn’t get much better than that.”
Beckham hailed Neville, who earned 85 caps for England, as a Manchester United man through and through.
“He’s a huge fan of the club, but he’s more than that,” he said.
“Manchester United is a religion to so many fans and so many players and people, and that’s what it is to Gary.”
“Fans sing songs about him and they’re all true because he’s passionate about playing for the club and he’s always loved the club and he always will.”
Beckham will pull on a Manchester United shirt for the first time since he left to join Real Madrid in 2003, and joked Neville could expect the same limited service he had given him during their 10 years together at Old Trafford.
“I think our partnership was so strong because we both knew how to work with each other,” he said.
“He also knew that every time he made an overlapping run that he was never going to get the ball. He did that for 10 years and he probably got four or five balls off me in 10 years.”
“Hopefully that will happen again on Tuesday night – I won’t give him the ball again, well maybe one ball.”
Wayne Rooney’s season was similar to the film Alien, at first it seemed a little slow, there was a truly disgusting bit early on, then it quickly became exceedingly entertaining and totally satisfying.
Rooney went from a lone striker figure bereft of goals, to a deep lying centre forward- or false 10 if you will who seemed to be the cog making most of United’s attacks happen.
There’s nothing better as a United fan than watching as yet another one of our player’s throws the media’s criticism of him back in their faces with one stellar performance after another.
Just as David Beckham did in 98/99 and Cristiano Ronaldo did in 06/07, Rooney was able to transform himself from one of the most disappointing players in South Africa, to a misguided, greedy fool, to the team’s superstar again- sort of.
Rooney seemed to find new freedom in having a prolific Mexican in front of him and wide men who loved nothing more than getting on the end of one of his sumptuous passes and converting it into a goal scoring opportunity.
It’s a testament to how far Rooney has evolved as a player that less than a year on from being almost exclusively a lone striker he can slot into deeper role to be arguably even more effective. He may not get as many goals but Rooney’s definitely at the heart of more and fundamentally the team seems less reliant on just his efforts.
Rooney in the false 10 role has been such a success that the question is “will he be reverted back to a standard striker next season?”
Much may seem to depend on the fitness of Chicharito as if the Little Pea was injured then it may be beneficial to push Rooney further up the pitch and allow Dimitar Berbatov the luxury of dropping deep now and again as he often likes to do.
However when Chicharito is fit there’s no denying that both he and Rooney seem to thrive with the Mexican further up field than his Scouse colleague.
With this in mind, you could cast your eye over the potential attacking midfielders being courted by Manchester United and ask “do we really need them?”
Take Wesley Sneijder for example an attacking midfielder in every sense of the word, a truly world class player who would be an asset to any team in world football.
The question is would United really need him if Rooney’s operating in a similar role?
Hayden Shaw wrote on this site over two months ago: “Now, if Rooney is playing that role, being the player who likes to operate in the gap between midfield and defence, making himself hard to pick up, threading the passes and linking the play, then that really doesn’t leave a lot of room for Sneijder.”
I’m inclined to agree.
A similar argument could be put forward for Alexis Sanchez who although able to operate on either wing, is just as adept and some would argue more at home in the false 10 role. With the signing of Ashley Young, plus Antonio Valencia and Nani available for the wide positions it’s questionable as to whether United really need Sanchez, unless he’s to be utilised in a central role.
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The problem with using the Chilean just off the striker is that a certain freshly haired tweeter can do the job arguably better than anyone.
Then there’s Samir Nasri, again a player who when needed can be pushed out wide and can even be played as a bog standard central midfielder if needed but without a doubt an AM if ever there was one.
Again would you need Nasri if you had Rooney occupying the deep striker/ attacking midfielder role? Probably not but I’d still buy him if he was available because unlike Sanchez and Sneijder who’d probably cost the same amount as Andy Caroll- I honestly can’t believe I’ve just written that sentence- Nasri could be bought for the fairly cheap price of £10 million- nor many years ago did I expect to one day be saying that.
Rooney’s excellence in the deep striker role, means that forking out 30-40 million beer tokens for the likes of Sneijder or Sanchez may not be the most savvy of moves by United. I know Sanchez can play as a winger, but again do United need another one of those- especially at such a price? Probably not, nor do we need a player best suited just off the striker, not when we’ve already got one who’s proven he’s more than worthy of the role.
Check out Hayden’s Sneijder At United Thanks But No Thanks article here
Read more of Justin’s articles at Red Flag Flying High
There is a common saying in football that you pay the price for failure but it appears in the case of QPR’s it will be their fans that will be paying the price for their recent success.
When on QPR finally celebrated promotion to the Premier League on 20 April, they probably knew with their new found Barclays Premier League status would come with an increase in prices for the new season.
However I doubt if any of them expected a massive 40 per cent price hike on season tickets from last season with the cheapest adult ticket now at £47 and the most expensive season tickets have increased from £699 to £999.
So despite the club benefiting for a £90 million windfall after being promoted, the owners have still decide to put the prices up and in doing so are helping to take the game away from the real fans who can hardly afford these inflated prices.
A major problem is that despite the increase, QPR’s home Loftus Road will be sold out for nearly every game next season so the owners can rightly charge as much as they feel it is worth.
When the 20th campaign of the top flight starts in August, fans will still turn up and most games will sell out. People can complain about the shocking admission charges, rip off kit prices but they will still turn up every week and buy the new kit, it all part of loving a football club.
The best example of this is in the recent UEFA Champions League final held at a sold-out Wembley where UEFA and the FA agreed to outrageous overinflated prices where the cheapest ticket was £80 and the most expensive £300. But it still easily sold out and probably would have a few times over even with the high price to pay. Simple Keynesian economics explains that as the product demand increases so will its price and this seems to be the situation in football.
Back in 1992 when the format of the Premier League was introduced it was thought that the wealth and power it would create could be used for the benefit of the entire game from the top level to the grassroots as well as making the sport more affordable in the future.
They could not have been more wrong. Vast sums of money that should of been re-invested back into the game is now disappearing to pay for luxury items, super injunctions and the lavish lifestyle that footballers live, instead of being passed down the football pyramid.
At the top level of the game there will be a 6.5 per cent rise at the Emirates for next season, tickets at Stamford Bridge will start at £46 with the cheapest season ticket at £59 and away fans still have to pay £50 at Old Trafford but did you know an adult also has to fork out £17 to see Blue Square Conference side Mansfield Town play?
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However there is some light at the end of a very dark tunnel with Premier League side Blackburn offering £225 season tickets where fans can watch top-flight football for less than £12 a game, actually working out cheaper than most Football League teams.
There are also some positives in the Football League where teams are introducing incentives to attract more supporters. Hartlepool United have so far had success with their £100 season ticket scheme with nearly 2000 supporters so far signed up, which could work out as cheap as £4.34 to watch each League One game. In League Two Bradford City fans have been benefiting from cheap £150 season tickets for recent years and despite having their worst season on the pitch for years they still averaged an 11,127 crowd last season. This shows what can be done if fans are fairly charged to watch their side, however it is just not common enough.
As the money in football increases the top clubs are getting richer leaving the lower clubs further behind and the loyal fans are the people who are paying for this discrepancy at all levels of the game. The real price of the huge success of the beautiful game.
English Premier League new boys Queens Park Rangers have signed former Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd on a three-year deal.Bothroyd, 29, has been without a club since leaving Cardiff at the end of the 2010/11 season, and is QPR boss Neil Warnock’s first off-season acquisition.
“I spoke to the manager and he told me how much he wanted me,” Bothroyd told the QPR website.
“He convinced me that this was the right place to be. He told me the direction that he wants to go in and the way he wants to play.”
“I think this club is heading in the right direction and has got a lot of ambition.”
Bothroyd said he was hopeful that good form with QPR could relaunch his England career after he made his debut in a friendly against France last November.
“I want to be playing against the best players in the world, and I got a taste of that when I joined up with the England squad. Hopefully I can do well for QPR and get back into the squad,” he said.
Elsewhere, Wolves have completed the signing of defender Roger Johnson on a four-year-deal from Birmingham.
The 28-year-old has signed for an undisclosed fee after successfully completing a medical on Monday.
Johnson is Mick McCarthy’s third permanent signing of the summer following the arrival of midfielder Jamie O’Hara from Tottenham and former Swansea goalkeeper Dorus de Vries.
“We tried to sign Roger two years ago when he moved from Cardiff to Birmingham and have been tracking him ever since,” Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey told the club’s official website.
“We are pleased to have signed what we believe to be an excellent player who represents excellent value for money for us.”
“He fits the bill perfectly – a British centre-back in his prime, one with Premier League and cup-winning experience, a vocal, determined, leader type who has played consistently well for a long time.”
“We stressed that we would not rush to do deals this summer and would have to be patient in the pursuit of our targets, which has proved to be beneficial for us.”
Championship side Leicester City have signed full-back Paul Konchesky from Liverpool for an undisclosed fee.
The defender, who has signed a three-year contract, is the latest player to join Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team as he looks to build a side capable of mounting a push for promotion.
Liverpool signed the left-back last summer after an impressive season for Fulham in which he helped guide them to the Europa League final, but he failed to settle at Anfield and spent the second half of last season on loan at Nottingham Forest.
“Paul has been a Premier League player year in and year out throughout his career so he represents a very big signing for us,” Eriksson told the Foxes’ website.
“He wanted to come to Leicester City and it means a lot that proven, established top flight footballers want to be part of what we are building here.”
The 30-year-old also has previous history with the Leicester manager, as Eriksson was the man who gave him the first of his two England caps in 2003.
Konchesky is set to join up with the squad on their pre-season tour of Sweden later this week.
And former Hamburg SV goalkeeper Frank Rost is set to join New York Red Bulls after 18 years in the Bundesliga.
The 38-year-old, who also played for Werder Bremen and Schalke 04, saw his contract with Hamburg run out at the end of the season and is set to join the MLS team this week.
“We are excited that Frank has decided to join us midway through the season,” team sports director Erik Soler told Bild newspaper.
When lads meet other lads after a few boring ‘what do you do?’ and ‘where are you from?’ questions the conversation usually leads on to the inevitable ‘who do you support?’ question.
This was something that, during my early to mid twenties I always used to dread. That’s because, in order, my answers would have been ‘a student, Cardiff, Man Utd.’
For the millions of working non-Utd fans I was as bad as it gets! A tax dodging glory hunter!
However, I was neither. Well, that’s a lie. I was dodging taxes (through no fault of my own – that’s just the way that the UK education system is set up) but I certainly wasn’t a glory hunter. It just so happened that glory had, through fate’s will, hunted me out the day I decided that Utd were the team for me.
All of my friends were Liverpool fans and a small minority were fans of our local club – Cardiff City. However, during the early 1990s they were in the bottom divisions and weren’t on TV. We, as skint young men, were too poor and scared to brave the terraces of Ninian Park. Christ, we were too young to go it alone! For that very reason we, like many other boys in the South Wales area, followed a TV team. Liverpool were the glory team of the late 80s and, as such, all of my friends chose them as their team.
I was different though. I wanted to be different. I heard that Liverpool’s rivals were Utd so I decided to follow them. And that, as they say, was that. I was a Manc, a red, a Red Devil.
Just because I’m not from Manchester doesn’t devalue my support of them however. I truly resent any accusation of the kind. As a friend of mine once said (admittedly about Jamie Carragher) if you cut me open I’d ‘bleed red’.
I remember the 1990 Cup Final, the 1993 Premier League and the 1994 double. I was in my early teens for these so my supporting was relatively naive and innocent – limiting itself to cheers followed by a little gloat to friends.
It was as I got older that my supporting evolved into a defence of my position. I knew the reserve team, I knew the youth teams, I could reel off any Utd stat you wanted. This was because I was becoming aware of the glory hunter title and, quite frankly, it pissed me off! I felt that I had to defend my position as a Welsh Man Utd fan so I revised United and I become a ‘statto’ to prove my support.
United became, as I entered my late teens, who I was. I would ensure that I wore one of my many shirts on matchday as I listened to matches on 5Live or waited, with baited breath, for CEEFAX’s latest score page to refresh. I began to wear my collar upright at all times, regardless of the shirt. I implored my parents to only buy SHARP electrical goods. Shit, I even believed Fergie when he said they couldn’t see each other in their grey shirts!
Even the 1999 treble was tainted with a feeling of shame. I remember that as my greatest ever sporting year and I will never be able to hear or remember the words ‘and Solskjaer has won it’ without getting goosebumps! But, as I went off to university the following year I was aware, almost ashamed of the fact that, I was going to have to battle off all ‘glory hunter’ accusations.
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And I shouldn’t feel shame supporting my club. I’ve been to Old Trafford several times to see them. My debut game was 3rd December 1994 vs. Norwich City. The night previous I was playing five a side football and, without realising, broke my metatarsal (before Beckham had told the world what a metatarsal was!). I spent the following day hobbling around Manchester flowing through seas of red, looking on in awe at the sheer volume of fans that hit the stadium to see ‘Five Cantonaaaaaaaas’ score for a 1-0 victory.
It was only as I hit my mid-twenties that I realised that it didn’t matter where you were from. You could support, with the same ferocity as a Mancunian United fan, Man Utd. I could delight in their victories and wallow in their losses with equal passion. I did and still do. The first thing I do every morning is check the BBC gossip column on my phone in the hope that Sneijder has been spotted at Old Trafford, whenever I play Football Manager I manage United – never anyone else – and live out my dream of managing the greatest team ever, I’ve realised that being a United fan isn’t where you’re from, it’s who you are.
Read more of Matt James’ articles at Red Flag Flying High