| Neill out, Cahill in doubt Socceroos boss Holger Osieck will be without captain Lucas Neill for the friendly match against Paraguay in Sydney on Saturday, and Tim Cahill is still in doubt. foxsports.com.au |
Brentford bid to punch above weight It is still hard to know what manager Andy Scott and Brentford's fans can realistically expect from their clubIt is in keeping with the nature of Brentford FC – the only league club in west London without a history of aggressively leveraged billionaire-fed expectation – that Andy Scott's team has managed to produce two of the best results in the club's modern history in the last fortnight, but still find themselves second from bottom of League One.Brentford will host Oldham this weekend in a League One fixture that carries a great deal more anxiety than perhaps it ought for a club who out-played Everton on the way to knocking them out of the Carling Cup two weeks ago, and whose last home game was a 2-1 defeat of Charlton Athletic."Two years ago, when I took over if you'd said we were going to beat Charlton it would have been a pipe dream," said Scott, before last night's penalty shoot-out win at Leyton Orient in the Johnstone's Paint trophy. "We have played well against the bigger teams. It's the ones lower down the league that have given us the most problems and that is something we need to work on."Scott has been in charge of Brentford for two and half years. A Premier League player with Sheffield United before an enforced early retirement, he is one of the more compelling younger managers: 38-years-old, energetically tracksuit-clad on the training pitch, and with a belief in playing the kind of patient passing football that stands out at this level. So far he has met only with success. Brentford escaped League Two as champions in Scott's first full season and followed that up with a ninth-placed finish in the division above. Currently they sit second from bottom after a sticky start to a season complicated by the arrival of 13 – yes 13 – new players in the close season.Scott has so far refused to compromise on Brentford's neat possession football and believes his team can still flourish in a division that is often notable for its bicep-rippling physicality: "Possibly we've come up against sides who have defended against us and then tried to counter attack. Obviously we've got to adapt a little bit if teams are making it difficult and change our style a bit without veering away from the way we want to play. We showed against Charlton if we play how we can we can beat any team in this division. We've got to keep believing in it. On that front I have to say the fans have been terrific."Scott is lucky here: Brentford fans – plastic bottle-throwing incidents in the Carling Cup aside – are one of the milder audiences you could hope for. Although, for the first time in recent years there is now a distinct spike of genuine ambition around Griffin Park."This is the first year we've got proper expectations because of the ninth-place finish last year," Scott says. "People see that as being in touching distance of the play-offs, but the difference was still 18 points and that is massive. It's just something we've got to cope with after over-achieving for two years on the trot."It is still hard to know what Scott, and Brentford's fans, can realistically expect from their club. Brentford have never been a powerhouse. This is not a sleeping giant in any sense of the word, but a venerable west London bantamweight that has existed comfortably on the margins of the big time and which, two years on from the financial crisis that eased Scott's passage into the manager's job (he was cheap, keen and available), is still capable of flirting with fiscal difficulties: crowds of 6,500 are enough to indicate a healthy cash flow through the gates. The home game with Hartlepool last month was watched by 4,710. Three days later the visit of Everton drew nearly 9,000.One thing seems sure. The fans, accustomed as they are now to unaccustomed success, will still give the manager plenty of slack. With Charlie McDonald and Robbie Simpson soon to come back from injury and renew a potent, albeit short-lived, attacking partnership, Brentford can expect to climb the league table. Plus, loath as Scott is to dwell on it, they will always have Everton, a victory against a Premier League team that is the club's finest post-war result."It is something to say we managed to compete against what was their first team and beat them," Scott says. "We deserved to go through and to have that on your CV, for the players as much as me, is a big boost. And obviously it is nice when people come up and say they've been going to watch Brentford for 30 years and that's the best moment they've ever had. We will go to Birmingham in the next round expecting to do exactly the same thing. Hopefully it can be a springboard for us this season."BrentfordBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Liverpool travels to Napoli in Europa League Liverpool will look to leave its domestic troubles behind when the fallen English giant travels to Napoli bidding to tighten its grip on top spot in Europa League Group K. cbc.ca |
Carroll's car torched on Nolan's drive • Newcastle striker currently staying with club captain• Nolan's garage doors also daubed with graffitiAndy Carroll had his brand new car torched yesterday evening after parking it on the drive of Kevin Nolan's home in the upmarket Northumberland village of Ponteland.Carroll, who was bailed by magistrates to live with Newcastle's captain and his young family after being charged with assault on Monday, bought the chrome plated Range Rover earlier this month to celebrate signing a new, lucrative, five-year contract at St James' Park.Packed with gadgetry it included a games console in the backseats but went up in flames shortly after 7pm yesterday when Nolan's garage door was also daubed with obscene graffiti relating to Carroll. Shortly afterwards police and fire fighters arrived at the scene.This morning the garage door was covered by a sheet and security guards patrolled the property's perimeters.Carroll, a 21-year-old England under-21 striker, must live with Nolan, a married father of two, until 10 January – the date his case was adjourned until. Newcastle's centre forward was charged with assaulting Laurie Henderson, an ex-girlfriend, in Ponteland during the early hours of last Sunday morning but will deny the offence and claim self defence.Newcastle UnitedLouise Taylorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Napoli v Liverpool: players behind manager Roy Hodgson, says Jamie Carragher Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher insists the players are fully behind Roy Hodgson despite poor start to campaign. telegraph.co.uk |