| Nigel Worthington wary of Northern Ireland's tricky trip to Faroes • Worthington says Faroes will be 'more difficult than Italy'• Northern Ireland have four points from two games in Group CNigel Worthington has confronted the problem of rising expectation around Northern Ireland by claiming that Tuesday's trip to the Faroe Islands represents a "more difficult" assignment than facing the former world champions Italy.Friday's goalless draw with Italy at Windsor Park maintained Northern Ireland's encouraging start to Group C and they will move level with Cesare Prandelli's leaders with victory in Torshavn. The Faroes remain international cannon fodder, conceding 15 goals in their four outings so far, but Worthington is anxious to guard against any over-confidence in his ranks."I would love us to stuff the Faroes 1-0. It will not be easy," said the Northern Ireland manager. "I didn't want to say it before we played Italy but I see Tuesday as the more difficult game. Brian Kerr [the manager of the Faroe Islands] knows all about our players and our style and they will get men behind the ball. The expectation is staring us in the face on Tuesday and if you are not focused 100% in football then you are going to get a little slap. My job is to make sure that doesn't happen and to make sure we do an ultra-professional job."Worthington accepts Friday's draw and the away win in Slovenia represent a "very good start" towards qualification for Poland and Ukraine, and believes his side can improve on the Italy performance. He added: "We've had two clean sheets, an excellent all-round performance in Slovenia and while we didn't pass the ball as well as we can do against Italy, and maybe there was a nervousness against the ex-World champions, you could not fault our focus or shape."David Healy's established position in the starting line-up is under threat against the Faroe Islands after his barren spell extended to 14 international games against Italy. A lack of first-team football at Sunderland betrayed Northern Ireland's leading goalscorer on Friday and, with Kyle Lafferty impressing as a substitute, Worthington does have the option to change.The manager said: "I am not saying David will start every game but I will support him during his lean spell in front of goal. If I have to freshen things up then it will be done. Kyle was focused and did a good job when he came on. That is the Kyle Lafferty I like, a proper player, and he has put himself in a strong position to start. But David has scored a huge amount of goals for Northern Ireland and I don't think we can just disregard a player who has done so well for us in the past. We don't have the amount of players for that."Northern IrelandEuro 2012Andy Hunterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Republic of Ireland 2 Russia 3: match report Giovanni Trapattoni's mounted a stirring comeback against Russia but lost a dramatic Euro 2012 qualifier in the end. telegraph.co.uk |
Where does Gerrard fit into a World XI? The Liverpool captain was a controversial choice among readers, but in an attacking team Steven Gerrard's tackling could prove his worthLooking at this World XI one name will immediately jump out at you: Steven Gerrard. He's good, but is he really that good? The rest of the World XI is probably, give or take a personal favourite or two, the team most people would eventually choose. But how did Gerrard make it into the middle?Partly it's down to how the poll is set up online. When participating, readers could see the running score after posting their vote. It quickly became apparent that Gerrard was garnering a lot of support. This enraged many, who wrote comments about why it was a disgrace and how the Liverpool supporters reading the blog were biased. That tended to encourage more people to back Gerrard, which further infuriated those who didn't want him on the list in the first place.The poll was put together after a series of Observer and Guardian writers made a case for players for a set of positions: readers then suggested their favourites, and we narrowed it down to a list of 25 candidates.Gerrard was nominated by many. He and his club clearly divide opinion, but he does have a lot of supporters – many of whom seem loyal to him because he is loyal to them. Gerrard's devotion to his home team has been reminiscent of the West Indies side kept going beyond its best years by Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. In contrast, there was noticeably no clamour for Wayne Rooney, during his troubled week, to be on the list of best-ever strikers.The formation, and who was a midfielder and who was a striker (Maradona appeared in both polls) were the other most heated debates. Take a look at that side and most of the midfield defy easy categorisation. It's an attacking formation to be sure – a very nominal 4-4-2.So who would do the tracking back and tackling in that midfield? Step forward Steven Gerrard ... Steven GerrardSteve Busfieldguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Premier League: Chelsea maintains perfect home record Chelsea continued its perfect home record in the Premier League on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Tottenham recovered ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
United can still compete with big-spending City, insists Gill • United's salary outlay overtaken by City in the past year• 'We can still retain and attract the stars we need on the pitch'The Manchester United chief executive, David Gill, said the club can still compete with their big-spending neighbours Manchester City despite being overtaken in the pay league.City's wage bill of £133m has rocketed up by £50m in the past year, overtaking United's £131.7m, and the Eastlands club, bankrolled by Sheikh Mansour, are closing in fast on Chelsea. United agreed a massive new deal with Wayne Rooney last week but are maintaining their policy of ensuring wages remain less than half their turnover.Asked if he is concerned that United are now behind Manchester City in the wages league, Gill said: "No not really – I'm not concerned by that as ever since we have been a public company we have had a policy that wages should be 50% or less of turnover."We believe we can do that and still retain and attract the stars we need on the pitch. We think that's the sensible model. Clubs have other models – that's their prerogative. Each to their own."United have matched Chelsea on the pitch in terms of silverware since Roman Abramovich took over at Stamford Bridge. Gill added: "That's exactly right – we have remained competitive."United's latest financial figures revealed that the club's wage bill is £131.7m. Chelsea's is £142m, City's £133.3m and Arsenal are fourth with £110m spent on salaries each year. United's total wages are 46% of turnover – the lowest ratio among Premier League clubs. Arsenal have the next lowest ratio on 49% while City spend more on wages than their total revenue.The wages-turnover ratio is one of the reasons United are confident they will meet Uefa's financial fair play rules despite the sums they have to pay in interest to service the loans taken out by the Glazer family when they bought the club in 2005.Manchester UnitedManchester CityBusinessguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |