TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| I'd do the same again, insists Wenger • Arsenal captain could be out for up to three weeks• 'I would do it again,' says Wenger after 3-0 victoryArsène Wenger said he had no regrets at bringing Cesc Fábregas off the bench in Arsenal's 3-0 victory over Aston Villa this afternoon even though his captain suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury which could rule him out for three weeks.Fábregas's 57th-minute introduction transformed a game which was goalless, the midfielder scoring twice to secure a win which underlined Arsenal's title credentials. Wenger's team are four points behind the leaders, Chelsea, and trail the second-placed Manchester United by two, with a game in hand on both.Fábregas had started among the substitutes because of a hamstring strain suffered at Burnley 12 days ago and lasted only 27 minutes here before limping off to be replaced by Aaron Ramsey after suffering yet more pain."Was it a gamble? You never know," said Wenger. "If you can prove to me we would have won the game without him coming on the pitch I was wrong. But we'll never check that. I feel I did the right thing. Of course he adds some creativity in your game and at that moment I felt that was needed. Had we been 1-0 up I would not have done it. But at the end of the day you do what you think will win the game. I would do it again."Fábregas's injury will be assessed on Tuesday morning. In a worst-case scenario he will miss Wednesday's game at Portsmouth, a further three Premier League matches and the FA Cup third‑round tie at West Ham."If it's scar tissue it's a few days, if it's a recurrence of the pull it's three weeks," said Wenger, before adding that the player felt dejected after the game, which seems extraordinary considering how outstanding his time on the pitch had been. "You can be down when you have scored two goals," mused Wenger.The manager's frustration over Fábregas's fitness is compounded by an injury suffered by DenĂlson, whose back problem cost him a two-month absence this season, and the impending departure of Alex Song to the African Cup of Nations. "In midfield we could become short if we lose players. I may have to look maybe at midfielders [in the transfer window], depending on how big the damage is."He has been juggling resources all season and as such it is a minor miracle that his team remain so close to the leaders. Arsenal have made up ground that seemed impassable earlier this month, when they trailed Chelsea by 11 points. "When you look where we were a few weeks ago, credit to the team, they didn't give up when everybody had written us off," Wenger said. "That shows that the team has mental strength and hunger. We are in a strong position now but we have done nothing yet."After the Chelsea game I said openly that Chelsea would drop points on the basis of what I had seen. And they did. It makes it interesting now. I just think the Premier League is very open. We go to Portsmouth on Wednesday and you know it will be another tough game. What has changed in the league this season is that all the teams can make results. It is like that anywhere. The days when you turn up and take three points have gone."Villa had been as consistent as anybody in recent weeks, and Martin O'Neill called upon his team to respond to this setback to ensure there is no repeat of last season's second-half dip."We are enjoying it immensely to be in there but it is a major effort to go again. We got ourselves into a decent position last year and could not carry it through, and that is what we have to be looking at again. The end of January, after the FA Cup and League Cup matches, will give us a pretty good indication of whether we can sustain it to be in this company."We were right in this until the free-kick [Fábregas's first goal], and Fábregas's contribution was immense in the time he was on. We do not have much time to reflect on it, we just have to get on with it as we have a major game coming up." Liverpool visit Villa Park on Tuesday.ArsenalCesc FábregasArsène WengerPremier LeagueAmy Lawrenceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Mancini will pick strongest available FA Cup team • Manchester City manager restricts focus to Middlesbrough• He is not 'thinking' of Carling Cup tie against UnitedRoberto Mancini has promised not to field a deliberately weakened side in Manchester City's FA Cup third round tie at Middlesbrough on Saturday as he looks ahead to next weeks League Cup semi-final against Manchester United, but his plans have been disrupted by the possible absence of up to ÂŁ100m worth of players from the club's expensively assembled squad.Stephen Ireland damaged his hamstring in the 3-0 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday to join Roque Santa Cruz, Joleon Lescott, Wayne Bridge, Nedum Onuoha and Benjani Mwaruwari on the injury list. Shaun Wright-Phillips requires a fitness test on his ankle injury to ascertain whether he is available for his first game of the Mancini era while Kolo TourĂ© and Emmanuel Adebayor are at the African Cup of Nations."I will play the strongest team that I can but we have a lot of injuries," Mancini said. "I will not be thinking about the match against United next week, just what is best for the team and the players. There can be no risks taken with anyone who is not fully fit. We do not have a very big squad but we do have some young players who have been training with the first team and one or two might have to play."I know Middlesbrough will be a tough side to play on their own pitch and will see the tie as one where they can relax and try to take the scalp of a Premier League team. We don't want that to happen, We want to make progress because we know that by the time of the fourth round we will have many people back from injury."City play United at home in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final next Wednesday, the first time Mancini's new employers have reached the last four of any competition since reaching the FA Cup final in 1981."I have told the players that they should not be thinking about the semi-final," Mancini said. "We must have full attention on the FA Cup and then prepare for the next game as soon as the final whistle goes."Mancini has a distinguished record in the Coppa Italia, winning the competition as manager of Fiorentina and Lazio and twice with Internazionale. He was the winning manager for three successive seasons from 2004 to 2006."We are excited by the FA Cup. I know that in England it is a very important competition," he said. "In Italy the cup is perhaps not taken so seriously until teams reach the semi final stages but here it is different."I won the Coppa Italia six times as a player and four times as a manager with three different clubs and it would be great to think I could do that at City too. To have a chance to achieve that we have to win at Middlesbrough."Roberto ManciniManchester CityFA CupMiddlesbroughguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Barney Ronay on the defender's return The former England defender tends to divide opinion but his return to Arsenal is fascinatingIt's hard to put your finger on exactly why Sol Campbell returning to Arsenal seems so fascinating, and also so unlikely. On the face of it, it makes a lot of sense. Arsenal have a mini-defensive crisis: Philippe Senderos doesn't seem to be good enough, Johan Djourou has a knee injury, Alex Song is in Africa and William Gallas has diffuse niggles. Campbell may not be Mr Right for the long term; but he's Mr Right Now, a well-muscled shoulder to lean on in times of mid-season strife. After all, he played in the Premier League and Uefa Cup only last season. He's 35 years old. So what's the big deal?For some reason, it always is a big deal with Campbell. For all his mildness and outward humility, he seems to be one of those players people can't help having an opinion about. Campbell just makes some people cross. But why?Of course Tottenham fans will never forgive him for joining Arsenal. This was a particular shock at the time: Campbell had seemed to be solidly Spurs. Plus he moved on a free transfer, and he refused to apologise, or soften the blow. But parochial concerns aside, it did still make sense: Campbell was one of the world's best defenders. He won the league twice at Arsenal and got to play in the Champions League. Top players move on so they can do these sorts of things.Outside of this, Campbell has long been a more widespread terrace abuse-magnet for reasons that aren't entirely clear. It still seems strange to note that he drew even more ire while he was a Portsmouth player by suggesting people shouldn't actually be allowed to chant unpleasant things at him and that the police should intervene.Often this kind of thing is brushed aside with some references to Campbell being "a complicated character". But I'm not sure he really is. He's just a little different: pensive, self-absorbed, even a little precious; and some way from the archetype of the bullying and bullish, outwardly one-dimensional English centre-half.And let's not forget how good he was. Campbell played with distinction at France 98, Euro 2000, World Cup 2002 and Euro 2004, and was still serving his country at the World Cup in Germany in 2006. He helped Arsenal to – and scored in - a Champions League final. He's also unusual: a member of the (warning: teeth-grinding clichĂ© approaching) Golden Generation of the late 1990s who never noticeably let anybody down, didn't just seem to give up like some, or become obsessed with his own bewildering wealth and status, or succumb to injury, or seem not to care enough.Perhaps there is a lingering sense, as there is with many of the top English players from the first decade of the Premier League, that there might have been so much more. Campbell was in Fifa's World Cup XI two tournaments in a row, but playing for an England team that never got past the quarter-finals. And even at his peak he was always awkward in possession, prone to the lofted panic pass, and therefore often a scapegoat when England performances have tended to go wrong in the way they always tend to go wrong, when the ball suddenly looks square, or helium-filled, and English players develop a terrible allergic reaction to holding on to it for more than three seconds.It may never entirely be clear why Campbell has been such a prolific source of matchday spleen and messageboard bile. There are those who think there is an undigested racial angle to it, a sense of something old and inexpressible and still not quite processed through the gut. But you would need a degree in anthropology in order to draw any kind of conclusion, no doubt jaundiced and overly generalised and instantly out of date, about such a complex and sensitive issue.One thing is sure: if you give it a chance, Campbell returning to Arsenal is actually quite heartening. Here is a man who isn't doing it for the money (he has loads); who isn't just easing off and fading away; and who clearly still loves playing football. Just listen to this: "I cannot tell you how much I've missed playing after being out for so long … It's fantastic, great, marvellous … I'm ecstatic really to be back at Arsenal, and I have worked bloody hard to get there."The soundtrack to Campbell's career seems destined to be a fevered, albeit largely baseless, ambient jeering. But still, at the end of it, he finds he wants a little more. Doesn't that sound like something worth celebrating?Sol CampbellArsenalBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Portsmouth's match against Birmingham City called off due to waterlogged pitch Weather continues to disrupt fixture list as watterlogged Fratton Park pitch sees Birmingham City's trip to Portsmouth postponed. telegraph.co.uk |
Paddy Agnew: More match fixing madness in Italy So match fixing is a thing of the past in Italian football? Let us turn the clock back to April 2008, right at the end of the Serie C1 (Third Division) season. cbc.ca |