TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Roberto Mancini was always destined to coach Ten years ago at just about this time of year, your correspondent sat down in a rather grim, underground office at Lazio's Formello training ground with then-Lazio coach, Swede Sven Goran Eriksson. cbc.cacbc.ca |
Football transfer rumours: Maxi RodrÃguez to Spurs or Liverpool? | Barney Ronay Today's gossip leaves the festive season far behind as the blurry reality of January sets in, freezing cold and dark – all the timeAs a keen student of the failings of others, the Mill has a carefully-tended list of absolute tell-tales, the little things that can only ever act as the subtlest of warning signs. Things like wearing a mobile phone holster when you're not actually a coach driver or senior foreman on a major construction site. Owning a poncho or a set of nose pipes, or any kind of gap year third-world-ish regalia that you might be tempted to produce from a cupboard after a few drinks. Or liking Jeremy Clarkson even in an ironical way that might seem broad-minded and refreshing, but before you know it you're talking about "Jezza" and aping his irritatingly mannered way of speaking and pretending to be a free-thinking libertarian who just tells it like it is rather than a bullying dolt.Not that the Mill is in any way a tiresome, pernickety and self-regarding curmudgeon. But sometimes you just get a feeling, and in rumour terms that feeling generally comes when people start talking, even vaguely, about the idea of signing Patrick Vieira, in particular on any kind of loan deal that may or may not actually happen because there's still some blah to gah blah dah blah.So it is that Roberto Mancini's well-groomed stardust seems somehow tarnished by the news in today's Daily Mail that Patrick Vieira has now "99 per cent agreed" to join Manchester City on a six-month loan deal from the start of next week. On the other hand Vieira, who now resembles an unusually ponderous semi-extinct Brachiosaurus, might still have to stay at Inter for a bit because they've got some injuries. Spurs are after Maxi Rodriguez and will offer David Bentley in exchange. RodrÃguez is also wanted by Liverpool, Villarreal and Argentinean prep school Boca Juniors.Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan is in the frame to replace Owen Coyle at Burnley, along with Darren Ferguson and empty hotseat-chaser Peter Reid, who is a bit like one of those long lost uncles who keep turning up at funerals sweating and muttering and drinking too much and eventually asking if they can, you know, stay on the sofa for a night or two, and then just not going away for up to six months. Turkey's Ankaragucu have unveiled Geremi in front of "throngs of fans" despite Newcastle saying they still own him.In The Sun Porto's Hulk isn't ready to sign for Manchester United yet. His agent Teodoro Fonseca said, who perhaps isn't destined to be a very successful agent and should think about doing something else instead said: "Inclusion in Brazil's World Cup squad is the most important thing." Child starlet Freddy Adu, 46, is "agonising" over a move to Hull from Benfica ... "I have some tough decisions to make," he writhed. Adu is also wanted by Aris, favourite team of Craggy Island's father Jack. Andrea Dossena has finally gone somewhere else, signing for Napoli for £4m. Next out of the door is Andry Voronin, available for £1m.Fulham are close to signing 20-year-old Roma striker Stefano Okaka. Roy Hodgson also wants Sereno and Moreno of Vitoria Guimaraes. Wigan are about to bid £3m or Leicester goal machine Matty Fryatt, who deserves a go. And in a story apparently not culled from the pages of Viz, Geoff Boycott has written to Michael Owen offering to help him learn Feng Shui. "He hasn't replied yet. But if he does, I will put him in touch with some experts in Feng Shui and see where that takes him. "People who don't know anything about it say it is rubbish. But all I can say is it worked for me and that is the only thing that mattered. "He turned the pillows and beds around so they faced the right way and told me to run the taps every now and again so there is running water going through the house. I believe in it." So that's all sorted then.In The Mirror Mark Hughes could soon resurface as the manager of Turkey, with Tugay as his assistant. The Turkish FA have described this as their "dream ticket". Bobby Zamora is "attracting interest". "Oh yeah, he is attracting interest," Roy Hodgson has said. West Ham and Bolton are leading the chase to sign doe-eyed, olive-skinned Benfica beauty Nuno Gomes, 33. Roberto Martinez is also after Celtic striker Scott McDonald and Stoke have "slapped a staggering £20m price tag on Ryan Shawcross" in order to make him appear less attractive to Manchester City Liverpool and Spurs. The Times have given up on Nemanja Vidic staying at Manchester United, after talking to Paolo Fabbri, "one of his representatives". Mancini will not be signing shirt-ripping, tiny jockey pant-parading goal lunatic Antonio Cassano from Sampdoria, but still fancies Cristian Chivu and Iván Córdoba, at least one of whom will get roughed and elbowed and head-butted up by Bobby Zamora or John Carew a couple of times before just sort of disappearing. Liverpool have entered the race to sign Marouane Chamakh. Celtic want Dave Kitson. And Lyon are interested in Younès Kaboul. Although, they might just be being polite, or simply have an interest in galloping, calamity-prone Frenchmen called "Younes" generally.Transfer windowManchester CityInternazionaleLiverpoolVillarrealManchester UnitedBurnleyNewcastle UnitedHull CityBenficaNapoliFulhamWigan AthleticLeicester CityWest Ham UnitedBolton WanderersCelticStoke CityTottenham HotspurBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
BenÃtez keen to keep Babel as he plans for summer • 'I will fight on until the end,' says Liverpool manager • BenÃtez admits he is working on limited meansRafael BenÃtez has reinforced his desire to remain at Liverpool by revealing he has commenced his transfer strategy for next summer, even though a lack of spending power at Anfield lies behind his reluctance to sell Ryan Babel this month.The Liverpool manager yesterday confirmed he is working on limited means during this transfer window, despite selling Andrea Dossena to Napoli for £4.4m and agreeing a fee of almost £2m with Dynamo Moscow for Andriy Voronin, and he may struggle to improve his options beyond the impending £1.5m arrival of Maxi RodrÃguez from Atlético Madrid. Liverpool rejected an offer in excess of £8m this week for Babel from Birmingham City, despite the £11.5m capture from Ajax falling short of expectations at Anfield.Liverpool's hierarchy are confident the interest of several European clubs can produce an auction for the Holland attacker but BenÃtez, acutely aware there is no guarantee he can reinvest any fee for Babel in January, has admitted the depth of his squad is also a factor. "If I do not find any good replacements, I will try to keep him," the Liverpool manager said."He said that he wants to stay. We will try to train with him in the right way and, if he can give something to us, I will be really pleased. We signed a player with talent, with pace and ability and we want to see the best from him. So we will try to push him and hopefully he can play well. He has the potential and he has shown this a lot of times but we want to see him playing at this level more frequently."BenÃtez claimed Liverpool's reticence in this month's transfer market was due not solely to a lack of funds but to a dearth of available talent. "At this moment we have to do the best for the club and this means accepting the situation," he said. "There aren't too many good players in the market now that you could bring here because the majority of them are with top sides or in the Champions League and they want to stay until the end of the season."But he refused to deny claims he will offer the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh – a long-time Arsenal target – a pre-contract agreement this month, merely revealing that work on potential recruits was under way. BenÃtez said: "I have to plan for the summer. When I decided to stay it was because I wanted to stay. I gave my word and I want to fight, so I will fight until the end. Always you have to be ready and you have to know the market."LiverpoolRafael BenÃtezTransfer windowPremier LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Diego experimenting late in game Instead of narrowing down his search for his 23-man squad for South Africa, Argentina coach Diego Maradona is foolishly opening the circle still wider with the World Cup looming. cbc.ca |
Stoke City 3 Arsenal 1 - as it happened! Arsenal fell behind after just 70 seconds and never quite recovered as they became the third of last season's Premier League big four to be dumped out of the FA Cup.Preamble: Good afternoon, world! So, we wait to find out: Is Sol Campbell back (I should be able to answer that one any minute now), and is he still any good? Arsenal could certainly do with a man-mountain defensive colossus at the minute, so here's hoping. Stoke have history weighing heavily against them: this is the eighth time they've been drawn against Arsenal in the FA Cup, and they've lost every single time.1.01pm: In other news: popping candy – brilliant, even when you're not a child. In fact, it's probably the most amazing confectionary product that has every existed. That's my claim of the day. Yeah, you might prefer a Snickers or a Daim, but do they actually explode, harmlessly but entertainingly, in your mouth? Well, do they? Huh?1.06pm: "I notice that in the printed edition of the Guardian on Saturday, Arsenal's injury list was so huge that the details couldn't be fitted on the page and you were reduced to saying '8 players injured'," notes Tony Attwood, in an email that I'd really better put in now because it won't really work after the teams have been announced. "Actually its more like ten injured and two on holiday, but leaving the argument over the extent of some players malfunctioning, the fact is Arsenal have run out of players. We can therefore expect Pat Rice to play at full back, and Vik Akers to be in midfield. I myself have just had a call to ask if I can play in the forward line on the grounds that like Arshavin I am five feet eight inches tall."1.09pm: And here are those teams! Campbell's in, and so is Fábregas, but evidence of Arsène Wenger's promised squad rotation in the shape of Francis Coquelin, among others. And Frimpong – why isn't every footballer called Frimpong? Sure, it would be confusing. But funny.Stoke: Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Higginbotham, Collins, Delap, Whitehead, Whelan, Etherington, Sidibe, Fuller. Subs: Simonsen, Lawrence, Beattie, Pugh, Diao, Sanli, Wilkinson. Arsenal: Fabianski, Coquelin, Campbell, Silvestre, Traoré, Eastmond, Denilson, Fábregas, Walcott, Emmanuel-Thomas, Vela. Subs: Mannone, Rosicky, Eduardo, Ramsey, Arshavin, Bartley, Frimpong. Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)1.17pm: I'm not going to complain about ITV's football coverage, not unless something really bad happens, but have you noticed how the announcer always tries to sneak in two plugs before every programme? So it's not: "And now, Stoke v Arsenal!", it's "Dancing on Ice is at 6.35 and now, Stoke v Arsenal!" It's cheating, and I don't like it.1.20pm: "You say 'Yeah, you might prefer a Snickers or a Daim, but do they actually explode, harmlessly but entertainingly, in your mouth? Well, do they? Huh?', but I doubt you've convinced anyone," writes Robin Hazlehurst. "I've been trying a similar line on ladies for years and it's never worked for me."1.26pm: The teams are out! The perfect opportunity, then, for yet another ad break!1min: Peeep! They're off! ITV are very much pushing the brawlers-against-artisans line. Me, I'd like to see what Arsène Wenger would do if he discovered that Traoré could arrow in deadly accurate 40-yard throw-ins.2min: GOAL! Stoke City 1 Arsenal 0! Ricardo Fuller, direct from Rory Delap's first long throw!3mins: It's just rubbish defending. I don't know who was supposed to be marking Fuller (not Campbell, though, in case you're wondering), but Fabianski should have got to the ball first and made that irrelevant. Fuller ran 12 yards in the time Fabianski took to shuffle forward about two. Useless. Arsenal conceded two goals from Delap throw-ins here last season, and don't seep any nearer to working them out.8mins: A perfect start for Stoke and, probably, for the neutral. And a very deft header from Fuller, to be fair. Arsenal are really rattled, though Fabianski successfully claimed Delap's second long throw.12mins: Arsenal are all over the place, still. For all their supposed passing prowess, they're mainly booting the ball out of play at the moment. Coquelin's last two passes, neither under any pressure, have gone nowhere near a teammate.19mins: Stoke continue to look very comfortable. Arsenal have had one half-chance, the ball cleared off Vela's toe with Stoke unaccountably winning a goal kick. Eight men behind the ball at all times, and more often than not nine, when Arsenal have possession.22mins: "Shouldn't Arsenal's fans pay the price of a reserve match ticket for this game with maybe a couple of quid extra for the hour Cesc is on the pitch?" asks Gary Naylor. And Stoke's fans? They would probably have been expecting Arsenal to field a side good enough to give them a game...25mins: Sidibe wildly miskicks when Fuller rolls the ball into his path in the penalty area. "Managers should announce their selection policy before TV makes its decision and fans theirs about whether to bother with the match," continues Gary Naylor. "Arsene wants to win, but not enough to field a full-strength starting XI – he should tell us that in advance." Maybe, but I think the decision to televise this match (or any ho-hum all-Premier League match-up) was pretty misguided, and gets (got/is getting) what it deserves.32mins: Arsène Wenger's getting plenty of support for his decision to rest half a team here, and rightly – it's a) up to him anyway, b) not exactly out of character, and c) entirely understandable given Arsenal's existing injury problems and their position in the league. The Gunners have been passing it around quite happily for the last few minutes, without really getting anywhere as yet.35mins: Decent penalty claim, after Sivlestre takes away Fuller's legs but the striker goes down theatrically. A more realistic tumble would surely have earned a penalty (and deserved one, more pertinently). "Who looked happier when the goal went in, Pulis or Wenger?" asks Robin Hazlehurst. "Have Arsenal reserves defence spent the week practising impressions of the Red Sea faced by Moses so that they can get out of this silly little cup nonsense and back to proper matches asap?" There's no suggestion that Arsenal wouldn't be perfectly happy to win, I don't think. Just that they're not going to go out of their way to make sure they do.38mins: It doesn't seem to be raining, but the touchline camera on the near side is absolutely soaking. Every time they cut to it there's more water on the lens and they have to cut right away again. It seems to be suffering in a uniquely focused microclimate down there.40mins: Has anyone else noticed how Arsenal's tyro full-back Coquelin sounds quite a lot like coq-au-vin? Have any other footballers been named after their country's national dish?42mins: GOAL! Stoke 1 Arsenal 1 (Denilson) Arsenal score via a slight deflection and a ludicrous, should-never-have-been-given free-kick!45mins: It came when Fábregas flicked the ball up and into the body of Whitehead, not two yards away. I'm far from sure that it hit his hand, and pretty certain there couldn't have been any intent, but the referee gave it anyway, Fábregas rolled the ball square to Denilson and his 20-yard shot is deflected – though not much, to be fair – and rolls past Sorensen. Should probably have been saved, but shouldn't have happened in the first place.45+1mins: There'll be two minutes of stoppage time here, and Stoke are hanging on right now.Half-time: OK, it did hit Whitehead's arm. But I'm sticking to the lack of intent. Anyway, Stoke have 15 minutes to brood over the perceived injustice, as indeed do we.Half-time thoughts: Arsenal were really ruffled by that early goal, and took the best part of half an hour to get into the game at all. They've created next to nothing, could have conceded a penalty, and were lucky to get the free-kick they scored from. Funny old game, innit? As for footballers named after their country's national dish, Nicholas John reports an Israeli named Ronen Felafel who played for Beitar Jerusalem in the 1980s. "Well, Lothar Matteus is rather a sour kraut," quips Gary Naylor. More, I hope, to come...2.30pm: OK, I'm bowing to public pressure and retrospectively downgrading my post-goal indignation from a level 9 to a level 6. I still think the free-kick was a bit harsh, but you do see them given, as they say. It hit the lad's arm, after all.46mins: Peeep! And they're off! Again!47mins: The national dish-themed footballer debate has seen votes for both Darren and Tony Currie and Middlesbrough's Italian flop Massimo Maccarone. "You mention Ronen Felafel as a footballer named after his country's national dish," rages Michael Little. "Felafel is a Palestinian dish. Ronen Felafel would qualify as a footballer named after the national dish of the country his nation had colonised." Crikey, let's not even go there.48mins: Sol Campbell, by the way, has been excellent. He has absolutely not looked out of place in this company (he writes, as he blatantly shoves Ricardo Fuller and concedes a free-kick).50mins: "Hey Simon, how about Bolton's Fabrice Muamba?" writes David Hilmy. "Muamba de galinha (chicken in a palm nut sauce) is the national dish of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Gabon and Angola." I just don't have time to check these facts, so I'm just believing what everyone tells me (though I had my fingers burned by some fibbing emailers on a cricket over-by-over once).51mins: Fabianski flaps wildly at another long-throw but the referee gives a free-kick for a fairly mysterious infringement against him. Maybe, now he's started snapping up ageing pros, it should be Wenger who goes in for David James this week?52mins: Fábregas produces a swirling 30-yarder that Sorensen pushes over the bar.53mins: "Boro and Sunderland 1960s centre half, Dickie Rooks... staple diet of lots of farmers up on the moors," writes Mike Ollier. Me, I've no more heard of a Dickie Rooks as a Muamba de Galinha.57mins: Fuller steals the ball from Silvestre and thumps a shot over the bar from 20-odd yards when he might have passed.60mins: A much better half this. Eduardo's just had a half-chance which he shot across goal from a narrow angle, but off target. Of course, Ravanelli means "radishes" in Italian, but I don't think that they've quite pipped pizza and pasta as Italy's greatest dish quite yet.63mins: Coquelin stretches a leg to reach Sidibe's cross, and diverts it maybe six inches wide of his own goal.65mins: Etherington crosses low, Fabianski dives over the ball and it rolls harmlessly across his goal. So, it's surely getting on for the time we find out exactly how much Arsène Wenger doesn't want a replay?67mins: Looks like an Eduardo/Arshavin/Ramsey-flavoured triple substitution for the Gunners. Emmanuel-Thomas, Coquelin and a very disappointing Theo Walcott leave the field.71mins: Delap is played through, but is slow enough for Silvestre to catch him up and clear the ball. Delap, stretching for it, catches the defender who is now on the ground being treated, Arsenal having no substitutions remaining of course. "Sebastian Schweinsteiger's last name translates as pig-climber," writes Shannon Campbell. "Not necessarily eating related, but perhaps we can expand to national pastimes?" Now this is dangerously close to the jingoistic, borderline-offensive national-stereotype-continuing debate that some pre-emptively accused me of starting some time ago.73mins: Brilliant tackle from Higginbotham denies Vela a certain goal, after Ramsey's excellent pass. And obviously Eduardo didn't have a half-chance on 60mins. He wasn't on the pitch at the time. I don't know who it was. I think it must have been Vela, in hindsight. Sorry. I'm very busy. And quite stupid.76mins: Now Stoke are readying a triple substitution of their own, with Arsenal having the better of the last 10, really quite fun minutes. "The current England cricket team contains the subliminal message to Cook Swann & Onions," adds Paul Swift.78mins: GOAL! Stoke 2 Arsenal 1 (Fuller) Sidibe gets the ball on the half-way line and pegs it down the right wing, with Denilson strangely finding himself a makeshift full-back, and Fuller heads in his excellent cross.80mins: The referee just tripped Fà bregas, and gave Arsenal a free-kick. Sidibe was close enough to get the blame.80mins: The Spaniard shoots low and it's heading wide until Silvestre gets a boot on it, level with the far post, eight yards from goal. He spears the ball wide (though wanted a corner, so it might not have been such a terrible miss).83mins: All game Rory Delap has spent about 30 seconds polishing the ball with a towel every time Stoke get a throw in. How they played only two minutes of stoppage time in the first half when he was single-handedly responsible for about five is beyond me. "When Stoke play away, could the home team put the ball in a bucket of water every time Rory Delap comes he comes to take a long-throw?" ponders The Highbury Outcast.84mins: How the first half, so slow and lacking in quality, begat this action-packed second is quite beyond me. Still, I'm not complaining. Ramsey lashes a shot way high from Vela's low centre. "Harry Haddock made 6 appearances for Scotland in the 1950s," reports Jon Matthews, "and you know how they like it deep fried."85mins: GOAL! Stoke 3 Arsenal 1 (Whitehead) So that's it, then. Dean Whitehead's first ever Stoke goal, just a minute after a double substitution. Tuncay, who just came on for Fuller, wins the ball, Etherington crosses from the left and Whitehead, only just level with the last man, taps in.88mins: Tuncay has a goal disallowed, rightly, for handball though everyone gets very excited for a while.90+2mins: Pugh comes on for Etherington. The fight's gone out of Arsenal now.90+5mins: It's all over. So that's three of last season's Premier League top four out of the Cup. It seems odd to say the game took a while to get going, given that the first goal came 70 seconds in, but that's the way it was.Bad news for Arsenal, other than their elimination from the FA Cup (which I suspect they'll get over pretty quickly) has to be the fact that the only Englishman on show who looked of anything like international quality was the 35-year-old Sol Campbell in defence and not the 20-year-old Theo Walcott in midfield.Post-match thoughts: If Arsenal's team sheet didn't convince us that they wanted to win this game, their substitutions did. Stoke had the better of the first half, at the end of which they were drawing 1-1, while the second was much more even and a great deal more entertaining, and Stoke won that 2-0. You've got to admire Tony Pulis's side. For all their fairly dysmal reputation they don't play terrible football, and at moments (the second goal, for a start) they're genuinely excellent. On chances created if nothing else, they deserved this.Thanks, then, for your virtual company and contributions. Enjoy what's left of your weekend, and if you're still online why not spend some of it in the company of the Scunthorpe v Man City-following John Ashdown here. Byee!FA CupStoke CityArsenalSimon Burntonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |