| A Euro 2012 qualifying special It's a special international edition of Football Weekly, with your charming host James Richardson joined in the pod by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Raphael Honigstein.First things first, we ask whether Montenegro will continue their excellent form with a result against England at Wembley, and round up all the other Euro 2012 qualifiers. Elsewhere, we find out about the Bavarian Olympics, eavesdrop on Barry's poolside chat with an, ahem, madame from Ukraine, and wonder if it's possible to fly to Japan from Argentina without a stop-over.Finally, we discuss Danny Murphy's polemic against Sam Allardyce, Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis , and - ahead of our trip to Merseyside next weekend - we bring you the latest on NESV's takeover of Liverpool. Follow us on Twitter, find us on Facebook, and get your tea-time fix every day with The Fiver.James RichardsonBen GreenBarry GlendenningJonathan WilsonRaphael Honigstein guardian.co.uk |
England v Montenegro: Darren Bent primed to partner Wayne Rooney for Euro 2012 qualifier Darren Bent is the clear favourite to partner Wayne Rooney in a new-look England strike partnership for Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier. telegraph.co.uk |
Fiorentina need Mutu in bruising time The Romanian is in difficulties again at a time when Fiorentina need him to bolster their injury-depleted attackSinisa Mihajlovic probably should have known better than to tempt fate. "Adrian [Mutu] will be available for our game against Catania [on 31 October]," the Fiorentina manager said on Friday when asked about the impending end to the striker's nine-month doping ban. "He is doing well physically and his head is in the right place too, and that for him is the most difficult thing."Less than 24 hours later, Mutu's head could hardly have been in a worse location. The same may go for his fists and feet. At 5am outside the city centre night club Full Up, Mutu became involved in an altercation with a waiter, the 28-year-old Kosovan Berat Berat. He is alleged to have floored the waiter with a punch before kicking him, then driving away in his Porsche Cayenne. Berat was taken to hospital, having suffered a broken nose, head trauma and severe bruising to his chest.The pair are alleged to have argued inside the bar when Mutu attempted to leave without paying. Full Up recently changed management, but the suggestion in Florentine newspapers the following day was that the player believed he had an open tab. Either way, he had returned to settle up and the pair are said to have exchanged insults before Mutu struck the waiter.Mutu's lawyers released a statement the following day in which they asserted that he had reacted to "repeated and serious racist insults" from Berat. The waiter was accused by Mutu's lawyers of telling the Romanian he would end up like his compatriot Maricica Hahaianu, a 32-year-old nurse who died last week after being punched by a man on the subway in Rome.Despite the late night, Mutu showed up on time for training the next morning. Fiorentina's majority shareholder, Andrea Della Valle, was waiting. "I saw Adrian this morning briefly and it is better if I don't tell you what I said to him because it's still before the watershed," Della Valle said but he confirmed the club would wait to hear the results of the police investigation before deciding what action to take.Certainly Fiorentina cannot be accused of giving Mutu insufficient chances. Last December Mutu was said to have struck a man at a VIP party in the Four Seasons hotel but he claimed it was in self-defence and no charges were brought. And then there is the doping ban, which began in January after Mutu tested positive for the appetite suppressant sibutramine.And yet in the wake of Fiorentina's 2-1 win over Bari on Saturday night, Mihajlovic already seemed anxious to forgive and move on. "In my team there will always be room for him," the Fiorentina manager said. "You have to understand: it is 10 months since he last played. [Friday] was the last night he could go out before his return [from the ban]. Mutu has my character, he does stupid things but he takes responsibility. I want good things for him."The sentiment may be heartfelt – despite his off-field problems Mutu is well-liked by his team-mates and coaches at Fiorentina – but Mihajlovic wants good things for himself as well. Fiorentina had been bottom of Serie A before Saturday's win with only five points from seven games. Constant speculation over the manager's position led Della Valle to issue a vote of confidence on Thursday, saying the manager had until at least December to prove himself up to the job.Implicit in Della Valle's assertion that Mihajlovic is "not the problem" was an acknowledgement that the manager has had to cope with a heavily diminished squad for most of his tenure since replacing Cesare Prandelli in the summer. Fiorentina's injury list includes not only the highly touted Montenegrin forward Stevan Jovetic but also the Peruvian winger Juan Manuel Vargas, sought by Real Madrid in the summer, the midfielder Cristiano Zanetti, plus the summer signings Gaetano D'Agostino and Felipe. Riccardo Montolivo put in a captain's shift against Bari but will need surgery sooner rather than later on an ankle injury that means he plays in constant pain.The absence of Jovetic and Vargas weighs particularly heavily as Alberto Gilardino is too often left to plough a lone furrow up front. Adem Ljajic has showed promise playing behind the striker but, leaving aside Mihajlovic's light-hearted assertion that he needs to cut his hair and eat less chocolate, the 19-year-old Serb is some way from being the finished article.Experience tells us Gilardino is rarely at his best when placed under too much pressure to carry a team and with Jovetic out until at least the new year there are few other natural goalscorers in the side. Mutu has missed more games than he has played over the past two seasons, but he has played enough games with Gilardino to know that theirs could be a formidable partnership.Little wonder, then, that Gilardino was as eager as his manager to look ahead to the return of Mutu, whose doping ban ends on Friday. "He will gives us a big helping hand this Sunday [at Catania]," Gilardino said after scoring the winner against Bari. With investigations into the weekend's events still ongoing, it may not be wise to tempt fate.Talking points to follow ...• Inter, Roma and Juventus all dropped points this weekend, but Lazio just keep on winning. After a 2-1 victory over Cagliari the Biancocelesti have 19 points from eight games – their best return ever at this stage of a season – and already a four-point lead at the top of Serie A (though Milan could close that to two points with a win at Napoli this evening).This was not Lazio's most convincing performance of the campaign – there was a touch of fortune about both their goals and Cagliari fashioned enough opportunities to consider themselves worthy of a point – but they are developing an impressive resilience and right now players such as Stefano Mauri and Sergio Floccari, who between them got both goals, can seemingly do no wrong. "We are not Scudetto-quality," the manager Edy Reja said afterwards, maintaining his standard line to date. "But we are up there and if the others stutter we will try to the end."• Inter had Samuel Eto'o to thank, yet again, for the fact they got anything this weekend as they had been losing at home to Sampdoria before his 80th-minute strike. But we all know about the striker and his now preposterous record of 19 goals in 16 games (including internationals). The player we are rapidly learning more about is Coutinho, who followed up a fine performance against Tottenham by laying on Eto'o's equaliser.• Juventus nearly had Milos Krasic to thank for digging them out of a hole again but football justice was served on this occasion as Vicenzo Iaquinta missed the penalty won by the Serb's dive. Instead Krasic may have put them in a hole instead, with reports today suggesting he could face a retrospective ban based on TV evidence and miss Juve's game against Milan on Saturday.• Only one of Italy's seven representatives in European competition, Inter, won in midweek and so far none has won this weekend either (though, as mentioned above, Napoli face Milan tonight). Whether it's squad depth, a failure to take the Europa League seriously or just a lack of quality, it does appear that several of these teams just aren't up to competing in this many competitions.• After eight games there are five points between Juventus in fifth and Parma in last place. Say what you like about Serie A but it is certainly competitive.Results Bologna 0-0 Juventus, Chievo 2-1 Cesena, Fiorentina 2-1 Bari, Genoa 1-0 Catania, Inter 1-1 Sampdoria, Lazio 2-1 Cagliari, Lecce 2-1 Brescia, Parma 0-0 Roma, Udinese 2-1 PalermoWatch Serie A video highlightsLatest Serie A tableFiorentinaSerie AEuropean footballPaolo Bandiniguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson refuses to get carried away by victory over Blackburn Roy Hodgson admits his side need to follow up Blackburn win before they can start thinking season has clicked into gear. telegraph.co.uk |
Successor to Paul the Octopus Is French The successor to the World-Cup predicting Paul the Octopus is French. feeds.nytimes.com |