TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Song: Arsenal ready to fight for title • Midfielder says players have learned from mistakes• Abou Diaby commits to Arsenal with new long-term contractArsenal's players are confident they are in their strongest position for years to challenge for the Premier League title. Arsène Wenger's side, who took their last title in 2004, have won their last three games and are within four points of league leaders Chelsea, with a game in hand."In the past we dropped too many points over the Christmas period," said Alex Song, whose late header sealed a 4-1 victory over Portsmouth on Wednesday night. "Everyone is giving 100% not to make the same mistakes as we did last year. We have managed the Christmas period very well. We must give everything to make sure there are no regrets when the season finishes."Arsenal are undefeated in the league since losing to Chelsea at the end of November, something that Song sees as a sign of the club's process. "We lost against Chelsea, but in the next game we managed well. Last year maybe we missed something. Now when we make a mistake we learn from that mistake. Everyone is ready for the fight."We are in a strong position, we have one game in hand, we can get [Chelsea's lead] down to one point. We are stronger this season, we have a young squad, we have good players."I think Chelsea can drop points again, we know it is not easy to play every two or three days. We don't just need to look at Chelsea, we need to try and win every game. I'm confident we have a good squad, we still have a good position and we can do very good things this year."Injuries have plagued Arsenal's forwards, with Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott all out of action, but Song believes there is enough strength in the squad to provide cover. "We miss Robin, he is a very important player in the squad. It is difficult, if we had him we would be even more strong but what can we do? We still have the players in the squad, the boss trusts the players we have in the squad."Aaron Ramsey started in place of the injured Cesc Fábregas, who is set to be sidelined for around 10 days with a hamstring injury, on Wednesday night and is likely to get more first-team action when Song goes to the African Nations Cup later this month. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could [fill in for Fábregas and Song]. I want to establish myself as a first team player, hopefully with opportunities like this I can show that I am more than capable of playing in the Arsenal starting XI and that is what I want to do, that is my target."Abou Diaby has signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal. The 23-year-old joined the club in January 2006 and has posed an attacking threat this season, scoring six goals. "This shows my long-term commitment to Arsenal and I am very happy here, which is why I am so pleased to extend my contract," he said.Women's footballArsenalTom Lutzguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Feeble Wigan feeling a Siberian chill The paltry crowd that watched Wigan v Hull told us a lot about the FA Cup, but also about football in WiganDave Whelan, the Wigan Athletic chairman, does not look like the kind of man who would want our sympathy. In fact I doubt the former Blackburn Rovers full-back turned multimillionaire entrepreneur, who comes across as part bombastic Bradley Hardacre, part hardboiled NYPD precinct captain with a bottle of vivid pink stomach calmer permanently at hand, will let the attendance for the Cup match against Hull City at the stadium that bears his initials spoil his annual Barbados sojourn. But a crowd of 5,335 for an all‑Premier League third-round tie, even if Lancashire was positively Siberian for the day, is nothing short of feeble.Condemning Wigan feels like stamping on Bambi in hob-nailed boots. And their supporters would argue that other top-flight clubs – Aston Villa, Sunderland, Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers – all saw five-figure drops from their average gates on Saturday. This may well reflect the contemptuous and lily-livered approach to the competition from managers who bang on about the league being their bread and butter and being unable to afford the luxury of a Cup-run distraction. But surely a distraction is a good thing – the poor man's version of sunning themselves in the Caribbean, away from the everyday struggle to survive? The Cup should matter to middle-of-the-road sides as well as those on skid row precisely because it does not matter and offers a rare chance to play without a millstone around their necks.It may be naive to say supporters should not be seduced by chief executive-speak and repeat the mantra that all that counts is staying in the Premier League. It matters financially and in some ways it works if all you want to do is see better teams playing at your home ground every other week and accept a blue-moon victory over wealthier opposition as the height of your hopes. But what does it do to the soul? If you got your job at 18 and said your only ambition was to stay in that same position until you retired, people would say you were crazy. Not cautious, not sheepish, nor unpretentious but servile, chicken-hearted and demonstrably barmy. The first weekend in January every year offers the chance to these clubs to put their weaselly fears to one side, just for one day. It is not pragmatism that makes them pass up the opportunity but cynicism and cowardice.The phenomenon does not necessarily apply to Wigan this year. After all they comfortably beat Hull's second string, albeit with six line-up changes of their own. Such a huge fall in their regular attendance, however, suggests either that the ÂŁ15 admission price was too steep for a dismayed fanbase after a 5-0 thrashing at Old Trafford and that the true size of hardcore Latics is negligible, or that Whelan rebuilt his home town club on barren soil with no real history, culture or constituency to fall back on.Despite the television money and largesse of a benefactor that allows clubs to maintain Premier League status, do not let anyone tell you that the size of a crowd does not matter. Other clubs have had atrocious turn-outs before – the Wimbledon v Everton match at Selhurst Park on a January Tuesday in 1993 drew 3,039 through the turnstiles but they had the bona fide excuses of being exiled from Plough Lane and, well, being Wimbledon. In May 1966 Arsenal played Leeds on a Thursday at Highbury and were watched by 4,554 people. The ludicrous scheduling did not help but many also stayed away in protest at Billy Wright's woeful management of the London club. So eerie was the experience, Frank McLintock says, that the sound of the traffic on Holloway Road was louder than the fans. Wright was sacked within the week.Of course, crowds were the economic lifeblood of a club back then but they remain what separates the European elite and sides that have reasonable aspirations to join them from those with no prospects whatsoever. They also provide a reliable gauge of a club's vibrancy and illuminate in cases like Wigan's when we are dealing with a chimera. Chelsea and Manchester City are pilloried for being boosted by the opulent spending of their owners but critics who vilify those clubs prefer to see Wigan as a romantic small-town story when, in truth, it's just the same only on a smaller scale.Ultimately, perhaps, the real lesson of the weekend is not that the FA Cup is dead but that the town of Wigan, a rugby league stronghold, will never be alive for football. In Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson famously persuades the Iowan farmer to carve out a baseball diamond in his cornfield with the words "build it and he will come". He wouldn't have bothered if he had been a Wiganer.FA CupWigan AthleticHull CityRob Bagchiguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Olympic veterans Heath, Cheney picked 1-2 in WPS draft Olympic gold medalists Tobin Heath and Lauren Cheney were the top two selections in Friday's Women's Professional Soccer Draft ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
A-League round 24 preview Fox Sports football commentator Paul Trimboli offers his thoughts and predictions for round 24 of the 2009-2010 A-League season. foxsports.com.au |
Arsene Wenger blames himself as Arsenal dumped out of FA Cup by Stoke Arsenal manager says he had little choice but to field weakened side but admits blame for defeat lies squarely at his door. telegraph.co.uk |