TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Barcelona 1-1 Villareal La Liga: The leaders dropped their first home points this season as David Fuster snatched a draw for the visitors guardian.co.uk |
Lacklustre Joe Cole needs to find his form for Chelsea and England • He must improve his confidence, says Chelsea manager• World Cup means it's important to play well for clubJoe Cole has five months to prove his worth to Chelsea. There is little doubt that the England midfielder, who is out of contract in the summer, wants to stay at Stamford Bridge and that the Premier League club is ready to offer new terms, but the issue is complicated by Cole's lacklustre form since coming back from injury. "He could do better," said the Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti. "He must improve his confidence."Cole underwent knee surgery in January of last year and did not return to the first team until September, but he has started on 12 of his 18 appearances under Ancelotti. The Italian is sympathetic and recalled his own experience as a convalescent footballer. "I was out one year with injury and it's not easy to return," he said. "You need to have time to play and improve confidence."The manager seems relieved that the financial arrangements are not part of his remit. "I don't know what he earns or wants to earn," Ancelotti said before dwelling on the aspirations Cole ought to have on the field. "He has an important appointment to achieve this season. The World Cup means it's important to play well for Chelsea. At this moment he has good mental attitude and good condition."While Cole is now entitled to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club, the focus is on agreeing a new deal at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea's offer will become more lucrative if he regains his best form.A sense of stability might also help the 28-year-old secure that place at the World Cup. Ancelotti is as reassuring as circumstances permit. "The economic factor is for the club [to decide]. It's not a problem. They are talking. We are confident that Joe wants to stay. He's an important player for the squad and the fans."Cole has recently been used in the position behind a central striker that ought to show him at his best as creator, but he has still not made his presence tell.It must be a relief to Ancelotti that Nicolas Anelka is fit to return from a hamstring injury and he would have probably played against Hull City tomorrow at the KC Stadium had the match not been called offthis evening. The Frenchman is badly needed now that Didier Drogba and others have left for the Africa Cup of Nations but he is far more than an alternative to the Ivorian.Anelka's career is a puzzle. He has been at Arsenal and Real Madrid as well as Chelsea, yet there have been spells, too, at Fenerbahce and Bolton Wanderers. The transfer fees demanded for him have fluctuated but Chelsea now seem wise to have paid £15m, even if he had cost Bolton less than half that sum. The forward has much more to offer than he did in early years when he depended on being able to outrun the last defender."I think Anelka is a top striker with fantastic technical quality," Ancelotti said. "He was very important last month because he put a lot of quality in this team. For me he was a surprise. I didn't know Anelka. As a man he is very good. He has a strong personality. He doesn't show it but he has a lot of personality."He played in fantastic teams: Arsenal and Real Madrid. I think he likes to be a player. He doesn't like to be in the papers or speak. His life is very quiet and very calm. For this he was a fantastic player before he came to Chelsea."The manager is convinced that Anelka is settled. "We want to keep him and he wants to stay," he said. "He's very close to signing a new contract. He's a complete striker because he can play alone in attack or behind Drogba. He is a complete player."Since Drogba, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and Mikel John Obi are involved in the Africa Cup of Nations, Anelka and the other senior players who remain bear the responsibility of maintaining Chelsea at the top of the table.ChelseaCarlo AncelottiPremier LeagueKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Palmer calls Government 'racist' Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer says the Australian government's immigration policies are "racist" after a youngster from Ghana was denied a chance to trial with the club. foxsports.com.au |
Preston North End 0 Chelsea 2: match report FA Cup holders in fifth round courtesy of Nicolas Anelka and Daniel Sturridge goals despite being far from their imperious best. telegraph.co.uk |
Deflated Reds need Gerrard and Torres Rafael BenÃtez's team are not unlike Fabio Capello's England in that they are too over-reliant on one or two individualsSteven Gerrard was the Footballer of the Year last season, not because he was particularly outstanding but because Liverpool were generally impressive and over the course of his career their captain had been generally excellent.In a season without an obvious, stand-out candidate, in other words, the award went to someone who deserved to win something. It would have been somewhat anomalous, it was felt, for one of the best English players of his generation to be overlooked when the opportunity presented itself to acknowledge his overall contribution.All of which goes to show that football writers (who vote for the Footballer of the Year) at least have foresight. Gerrard, and indeed Liverpool, have disappeared from the reckoning this season in a manner quite unimaginable when they finished second last time after losing only two games and inflicting two significant defeats on Manchester United. It may be some time before Gerrard is back to bestriding the game like a colossus, to judge from his anaemic display on returning from injury at Wolves, and if he does ever return to the heights of old it may be under a new manager and without Liverpool's other bona fide superstar, Fernando Torres.That may be an unduly pessimistic view. Gerrard is entitled to come back gingerly after injury and anyone who expected to see him instantly back in the captain fantastic routine at Molineux was probably expecting too much, something that his occasionally superhuman performances have encouraged over the years. Rafa BenÃtez might not go to Juventus, though it seems idle to pretend that such a semi-honourable way out would not provide the neatest solution for all concerned in what has become a messy in-house argument at Anfield. And Torres, who knows, might even stay on Merseyside, though unless he makes a rapid recovery from his dreadful succession of injuries even he may not make much difference.This time last year the Gerrard-Torres attacking partnership was being talked up as one of the most lethal in the land. This season it has simply not happened. It was being said last season that Liverpool could have won the title had they only managed to play their two best players in harness more often. Little did people realise that their joint appearances were about to become even more infrequent. Liverpool's decline this season is easily explained. They are a collection of ordinary players (with respect to the consistently above average performances of Pepe Reina and Jamie Carragher) with two world class matchwinners. If the two WCMs play to their full potential the rest of the team comes up to match them. If they do not reach that level, or if they do not play at all, the rest of the team deflates like a balloon with a leak and eventually ends up flat.Considering Torres is widely regarded to be the most complete centre forward in Europe at the moment, certainly one of the top three, his frustrating absence for much of the season has been a severe loss to English football, as well as to Liverpool. You just watch, though. He'll be full of goals and running in the World Cup with Spain. Whether England will be able to say the same about Gerrard is a cause for concern for Fabio Capello. Even when fit the midfielder has not been at his best this season, and Gerrard is no fresh-faced teenager any more, able to bounce back from injury as soon as he is allowed. Gerrard turns 30 just before the World Cup, and while it is possible to argue his time on the sidelines will allow him to reach South Africa well-rested, the disruption to his season has seen the player's form suffer and possibly his confidence too.Capello himself is recuperating from a knee operation, though he is expected to make a full recovery in time for the World Cup and even if the worst comes to the worst, a coach with a limp or a walking stick is not a major handicap. What looks more of a problem for England at this demanding stage of the season is the number of core players who are either not playing or playing below their best.Go through the side. David James/Ben Foster: enough said. Glen Johnson: not played this year. Rio Ferdinand: major fitness doubt. John Terry and Ashley Cole appear to be going well but Joe Cole is struggling to hold down a regular place in the Chelsea starting line-up and Frank Lampard, like Gerrard, has not been at his most impressive this season. The most eye-catching midfielder, by a distance, has been James Milner, and thankfully Capello's eye has been caught.Gareth Barry has been consistently good, if not outstanding, for Manchester City, but though Sir Alex Ferguson has said he will consider naming Owen Hargreaves in his Champions League squad this week, an absence of more than a year while recovering from surgery for tendinitis does not bode well for his tournament chances. On the plus side, England can only be encouraged by the form of Wayne Rooney, even if his support cast is struggling to match his high standards. While Aaron Lennon is still improving, Theo Walcott and Emile Heskey have not yet returned to the level they set 15 months ago. There is plenty of time yet, and perhaps no cause for alarm at this stage, but it could be said England look a little like Liverpool at the moment. Over-reliant on one or two players. Likely to lack inspiration should injury happen to intervene.Premier LeagueLiverpoolSteven GerrardFernando TorresEnglandPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |