TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Sheffield Wednesday 2-2 Newcastle Chris Hughton admitted that his Newcastle side have suffered "ups and downs" this season and though there remains surely only one direction in which they are heading at the end of the campaign, this display was one to forget. The lacklustre visitors were fortunate to escape with a point after battling from behind then surrendering their lead. "Once you get back into the game, it makes it doubly disappointing when you don't finish the job off," was Hughton's downbeat assessment.In the end, both sides extended their current runs – Newcastle are now 10 unbeaten and remain top, Wednesday are without a win in 11 and remain in the relegation zone – but the Owls left Hillsborough the more satisfied. Hughton's side were sluggish and uncharacteristically lacking in cutting edge – and Marlon Harewood, a peripheral figure here, now returns to Aston Villa with his loan deal expiring – though their comfortable lead at the top of the Championship will soothe frustrations."We have no given right to win any game," said the Newcastle manager. "You saw a spirited Sheffield Wednesday side that showed good quality. We'll get that every game we play and we've had that so far, every game that we've played."We haven't always played well, but there have been other games when we've played ever so well. The performance today wasn't one of our better performances, but we've had that before. We'll take where we are [in the table]. We've got a home game against Derby in two days' time and what we have been able to do so far when results haven't gone so well is bounce back and that's what we'll aim to do again."Newcastle had been on the back foot in the opening exchanges and the home side took a deserved lead after 14 minutes. The United defence failed to close down James O'Connor and the midfielder's chipped cross found Luke Varney, who nodded in the Owls' first goal in more than 10 hours of football. Relief washed over Hillsborough, but the home side's fragile confidence soon showed signs of cracking.The surprise sparked the visitors into action and within eight minutes they were in front. Danny Guthrie picked out Kevin Nolan with a pinpoint cross to the far post and the midfielder intelligently placed his header past Lee Grant. Three minutes later Shola Ameobi received JonГЎs GuttiГ©rrez's pass (albeit in an offside position), turned past two defenders and wrongfooted Grant with his finish. "We want to try to remove the excuse culture. We didn't want to cry about it," said the Wednesday caretaker manager Sean McAuley of the absence of a linesman's flag. "It's a case of rolling up your sleeves and getting on with it."McAuley's pragmatic attitude seemed to be shared by his players. Varney, Mark Beevers and Jermaine Johnson all had chances to equalise before Wednesday finally broke through just before the hour. Varney and Steve Harper clashed as they challenged for Tommy Spurr's lofted cross – "He [Harper] was almost certainly impeded," was Hughton's assessment – and the ball dropped to O'Connor, who sidefooted in from close range.The Newcastle goalkeeper redeemed himself almost immediately, pulling off an astonishing save from Marcus Tudgay's close-range diving header. It denied Wednesday a valuable three points in their battle to avoid relegation, though the result could work wonders for their collective confidence."When a team 10 points clear at the top of the league go 2-1 up, you probably fear the worst. But the players' reaction in the second half was spot-on and they deserve all the credit," said McAuley. "Nobody expected us to get anything and we went along with that so it removed a bit of the pressure and stress the players might have been feeling. All we asked them to do was rediscover their form." Newcastle now must do the same.ChampionshipSheffield WednesdayNewcastle UnitedJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Real Madrid make £50m move for Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery Bayern Munich's French international Franck Ribery is set for a £50 million move to Real Madrid next summer. telegraph.co.uk |
Togo attack: Prime Minister says country do not want to re-enter Africa Cup of Nations Gilbert Huongbo denies country want to re-enter Africa Cup of Nations as reports circulate that squad will return to Angola. telegraph.co.uk |
Chelsea facing ВЈ18.5m bill for Sturridge • Tribunal rules Chelsea must pay initial ВЈ3.5m• City may bank further ВЈ3m on appearancesChelsea have been left to digest the cost of signing Daniel Sturridge from Manchester City last summer, and it could be as much as ВЈ18.5m over the course of the striker's four-year contract.The London club were ordered by a Premier League-convened tribunal, which was set up to solve the wrangle, to pay ВЈ3.5m for Sturridge and a further ВЈ3m based on future appearances. The player is on a weekly wage of ВЈ60,000, which equates to ВЈ12m over four years.Chelsea must pay ВЈ500,000 for every 10 appearances that Sturridge makes for them in all competitions up to a total value of ВЈ2m, and an additional ВЈ1m if he plays for the England senior team. The 20-year-old has made eight appearances so far and he hopes to enjoy further opportunities while Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are away at the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast.Sturridge should make the required 40 appearances to trigger the staggered release of the ВЈ2m. At international level, he has four Under-21 caps to date.City will not pocket all of the windfall. Coventry City are due 10%, having agreed a sell-on clause when Sturridge left their academy in 2003. The player had previously attended Aston Villa's academy.Coventry can look forward to a dividend of some ВЈ350,000, with more to follow. Manchester City will also receive 15% of any sell-on fee if the player moves again.Chelsea had hoped that the tribunal, which had an independent chairman plus representatives from the Premier League, the Professional Footballers' Association and the League Managers Association, would set the fee at no more than ВЈ3m.Sturridge had spurned City's offer of a new contract and was a free agent when Chelsea signed him. City trained him for six years – he first worked with their first-team group at the age of 15 – and, as such, they were entitled to compensation, but Chelsea argued that the valuation should not be based on the fee that the player would command on the market.City had wanted at least ВЈ5m, and ideally closer to ВЈ10m, pointing out that no player at Chelsea who earned ВЈ60,000 a week could be worth less. They were happy with the tribunal's decision, particularly the caveat of the 15% sell-on clause while Chelsea, too, professed in public to be satisfied."The initial fee is very close to what we first offered," a club spokesman said. "Any subsequent payments are directly linked to the success of the player and that is satisfactory to us."Sturridge made a total of 32 appearances for City, 12 of them starts, and he scored six goals, five of them in the Premier League. At Chelsea three of his eight appearances have been from the start. He has scored two goals to date, both coming in their last match, the 5-0 FA Cup third round win over Watford.Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, had intended to select Sturridge and partner him with Nicolas Anelka in the Premier League fixture at Hull City last weekend only for the game to be postponed. The player now hopes that Ancelotti will stand by him for the visit of Sunderland on Saturday.Juliano Belletti believes he can fill the defensive midfield role usually taken by Michael Essien or Mikel John Obi, who are also at the Africa Cup of Nations. "I played there in pre-season in America and I spoke with Carlo after pre-season and said I can help the team, not just as a right-back but also in midfield in the absence of Mikel and Essien. And at this moment in January, the team needs me."ChelseaManchester CityDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Robinho could return to Manchester City after World Cup Manchester City are in talks with Santos and Sao Paulo over Robinho loan deal, but insist the forward could return to Eastlands after the World Cup. telegraph.co.uk |