Andre Villas-Boas could well secure a major coup over his former club after Willian stated he would be tempted to join Tottenham despite interest from the European Champions.
The Spurs manager is now considered to be a ‘friend’ of the attacker who has been speaking ahead of the Champions League tie this week against former suitors Chelsea and realises all eyes are on him with the opportunity to showcase his talents on a bigger stage.
After failing in a bid for the versatile Brazilian in the summer Chelsea look set to battle once again for the player and face stiff competition from Spurs amongst other clubs after Willian basically confirmed his desire to leave in an interview with Lancenet.
The player elaborated further on his dilemma and relationship with AVB, confessing “he always sends me messages. We are in touch and he has become a friend for sure. Chelsea is Chelsea. They are a great team and the Champions of Europe.”
Despite inviting AVB to make an offer this January the player claims he is still focusing on the imminent match against Chelsea with Shakhtar boss Lucescu warning Chelsea that they will be made to pay for failing to appreciate the players “true worth” in the summer when making an offer with the club failing to get “anywhere near” the valuation of the player ahead of the crunch tie on Tuesday.
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Liverpool FC defender Martin Skrtel can’t wait to come up against former Reds team mate Fernando Torres at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
Torres has been in good form for Chelsea so far this season, scoring seven goals in 17 appearances in all competitions.
But Skrtel is desperate to ensure the Spaniard doesn’t register against his former club when the two sides meet in the Premier League on Sunday, but admits he is expecting a tough time keeping him quiet.
He told Liverpool’s official website: “Now he is playing for Chelsea and if I play I will be marking him.
“It is going to be special but we have to look after him because even if he isn’t scoring goals at the moment he is still one of the best strikers in the world and still dangerous.
“It is going to be hard playing against him but I believe in my qualities and the quality of our team and I believe we won’t let him score.”
Skrtel went on to praise Chelsea’s strong start to the season but reiterated that he is confident Liverpool can cause a bit of an upset at Stamford Bridge.
“They are close to the top of the table and it is going to be a tough game,” he added.
“Games against Chelsea are always tough and this one is going to be the same and we just hope we can get the three points.
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“Every single game is different and it is going to be different on Sunday. The game always starts at 0-0 and it is about our performance on the day. I hope our performance will be better than Chelsea and we can get the three points.”
Mladen Petric has insisted he is fit for Fulham’s trip to Stoke, while Mahamadou Diarra could also return from injury for Saturday’s game.
Petric was subbed off in Fulham’s 3-1 defeat to Sunderland last week just after scoring his side’s only goal but the Croatian striker, who has struck four goals in seven games since moving to the English Premier League, is convinced he will be fine to play Stoke.
Sunday’s defeat at home was a shock for Fulham and they want to bounce back quickly against a team similarly placed on the Premier League table.
“I got a kick on my calf when I scored,” Petric said, “It made a cut so I had to come off to have stitches put in and then by the time I got back on the pitch it was 2-1. It was a bit painful but I had injections so it was OK.”
Stoke will draw level with Fulham on 16 points if they win on Saturday but with the visitors having not won in four matches, they are due a victory.
Fulham manager Martin Jol may be keen to bring Diarra straight back into his starting line-up as his team have struggled defensively this season.
Diarra would add much-needed stability in defensive midfield as Fulham have conceded the equal third most goals in the Premier League (22 in 12 games).
Stoke held on for an impressive 1-1 draw away to West Ham last week and have picked up five points in their past four fixtures as they have moved up to 14th position.
For Stoke to win against Fulham they will most likely need to keep the visitors scoreless.
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Tony Pulis’ side have only scored more than one goal in three Premier League matches this season with Peter Crouch Stoke’s main attacking weapon.
Crouch has hit the back of the net four times this season but has not scored in his past six matches, a record that must improve if Stoke are to cause an upset against Fulham.
Manchester City will host Gianfranco Zola’s Watford at the Etihad Stadium, while Manchester United were handed an away trip to West Ham in the FA Cup Third Round draw.
The Premier League champions, who lifted the trophy in 2011, will fancy their chances of progressing to the fourth round against the Hornets, who are sixth in the Championship table, with Roberto Mancini facing off against former Italy international teammate Zola.
Meanwhile, local rivals United will travel to Upton Park to renew FA Cup acquaintances with West Ham in one of the ties of the round. It will surely evoke memories of one of the competitions most controversial moments that saw Paulo Di Canio score a controversial winner for the Hammers during a fourth round tie at Old Trafford.
Holders Chelsea will travel to Southampton, Swansea will be hoping to inflict more pain on Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, while Hastings United, the lowest ranked team left in the competition, will be eager to make home advantage count in their replay with Harrogate Town and earn a trip to Championship high-flyers Middlesbrough.
FA Cup Third Round Draw as follows:
Crystal Palace v Stoke City
Brighton & Hove Albion v Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur v Coventry City
Wigan Athletic v AFC Bournemouth
Fulham v Blackpool
Aston Villa v Ipswich Town
Charlton Athletic v Huddersfield
Barrow or Macclesfield v Cardiff City
Barnsley v Burnley
Manchester City v Watford
Swansea City v Arsenal
Leicester City v Burton Albion
Millwall v Preston North End
Cheltenham or Hereford v Everton
Derby v Tranmere
Crawley Town v Reading
Aldershot Town v Rotherham or Notts County
Middlesbrough v Harrogate or Hastings
Accrington Stanley or Oxford v Sheffield United
Southampton v Chelsea
QPR v West Brom
Peterborough v Norwich City
Lincoln City or Mansfield v Liverpool
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Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a move to Serie A in the future, goal.com reports.
The 31-year-old Serbian who is set to return to the Manchester United team for the weekend visit of Sunderland, has continually been linked with Italian league leaders Juventus among others including a big money move to Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala.
“My future in Italy? Who knows? In the past I was close to Fiorentina and Parma. Juventus and Milan have the quality to compete for Champions League.” He told Corriere dello Sport.
Vidic became a key figure in the Red Devils recent success and took over as club captain when Gary Neville retired in 2011. He has however been plagued with injuries in the last two years, missing the majority of last season while not featuring in this campaign since the 4-0 home victory over Wigan in September.
United have struggled defensively in his absence but the attacking prowess the team possesses has seen them cope and they currently sit top of the Premier League table, six points clear of rivals Manchester City.
Vidic is refusing to get carried away with his clubs position though saying, “I don’t know if Manchester United is the favourite club to win Premier League.”
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Sir Alex Ferguson will be delighted to see his captain return to help sure up his sides leaky defence which has already conceded 23 goals in the league.
At 31, Vidic still has time left in the game. If he can steer clear of injuries upon his return, he could once again become a vital component of United’s team.
Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs has told Absolute Radio’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Football that he’s impressed by the performance of West Bromwich Albion ahead of their Barclays Premier League clash with the Red Devils this weekend. The midfielder said, “Steve Clarke has done a great job – after a few Assistant Manager’s jobs, he’s took control of the team and he has took it on to that next level.”
When asked if the Baggies could stick around for the rest of the season, Giggs said, “Yeah, I think they could. I think it all depends on injuries and suspensions with teams like West Brom if they keep everyone fit then they will have a great chance because obviously, confidence aside, it’s not a false position, I’ve seen a few of their games and they performed really well. So, yeah, they could do. Every season you have a team who surprises people and West Brom could be that this year.”
Giggs also discussed the return of Captain Nemanja Vidić from injury saying, “He’s a great defender, a world class defender, so we’ve no doubt missed him over the last year or so.”
The 39 year old also admitted the clock is ticking for him to maintain his record of scoring in every Premier League season saying, “Obviously I’d like to score but you know, it’s not something that plays on my mind really. But I suppose I am running out of time really, I’ve got half way to go so, we’ll see what happens.”
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Live and exclusive commentary of Manchester United versus West Brom can be heard on Absolute Radio on Saturday 29th December 2012 at 3pm – The build-up begins with Russ Williams at 1.30pm and Ian Wright presents Rock ‘N’ Roll Football at 5pm when the full-time whistle blows with a chance to discuss the day’s results.
After the freezing weather did its best to distort the fixture list and pile up the midweek fixtures for February and March, it was back to league duty for Crewe after ten days off since they overcame Bradford to reach the northern area final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
The 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient on the twelfth day of January seemed an age ago and Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth gave Crewe a chance to get back to winning ways in League One after also losing to Stevenage in their previous home game.
After losing just one of this season’s fifteen home games at Dean Court, Bournemouth were not going to present an easy visit for side who have been witnessing a malaise in performances since the emphatic victory at Preston at the beginning of December. Crewe have won three times since then, but with scrappy, sluggish performances which have alerted manager Steve Davis to the need to alter formations and personnel as he attempts to arrest the slide that has now crept in through the form of results.
Davis tweaked the team further for the journey down south with Max Clayton partnering Mathias Pogba in attack as Bradden Inman and Byron Moore played wide of Abdul Osman and Luke Murphy in a 4-4-2, an alien system when it considered Davis has alternated with a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-5-2 over the course of the season. The defence was also changed, ever-present centre-half Mark Ellis was bizarrely dropped in favour of Adam Dugdale (who should not be starting at this level) and 20 year old Jon Guthrie, a centre-half by trade, was pushed to left-back to cover Matt Tootle’s absence through injury.
Against a side who had scored 47 goals in the comfort of their own home and had lost just one of their previous seventeen games, things looked ominous for Crewe who were a goal down within eight minutes. Dugdale succumbed to Marc Pugh’s trickery in the box and his fall led to Iain Williamson pointing at the penalty spot to allow Brett Pittman to fire past Steve Phillips. Crewe were settling in however and for a young side, their response was positive, Max Clayton headed at Shwan Jalal after good work by Moore, Inman and Murphy all saw shots go wide of the post while Pogba saw a drive deflected out for a corner.
Despite the good football being played there was little cutting edge and in Josh McQuoid and Lewis Grabban, the Cherries had a large threat on the counter attack, the latter broke free to round Steve Phillips on the stroke of half-time only to hit the side-netting with his effort. The second half continued in a similar vein, Pittman had three half chances while the pace of Grabban was also a constant danger, Phillips had to deny the attacker with his legs on the hour mark. For Crewe, Inman curled a shot just over while a neat passing move led to Pogba teeing up Osman who could not register enough power on his shot, it was the epitome of the good football the away side were playing that contained little ruthlessness in front of goal.
Probably the best indication into how well Crewe played to no reward was Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe’s admission that his own side appeared “leggy” and “tired” as a result of a packed recent schedule. “Such is the spirit in the squad that we managed to find our rhythm in the second half and we were superb” said Howe who saw his team double their lead in the 66th minute after Pittman applied a deadly finish to McQuoid’s low cross. Midfielder Simon Francis then forced a mistake from Phillips and defender Harry Arter should have put the game to bed as he headed over with the goal at his mercy.
Bournemouth were nearly made to pay for that miss as eighteen year old Ryan Colclough, who together with Ajay Leitch-Smith came on for Clayton and Inman, stabbed home at the back post following a scuffed effort from Pogba to halve the lead with fifteen minutes to go. It was the promising winger’s first professional goal and it gave the Alex a feint hope, only to see it soon extinguished as Wes Fogden, a Bournemouth substitute for McQuoid, was tripped by Osman to another, albeit controversial, penalty award.
Pittman thrashed it home to complete his hat-trick and to finish Crewe off. Davis was left to bemoan the referee’s decisions but the lesson was clear in that despite playing well, teams have to be clinical or risk being punished by very good teams, which Bournemouth clearly are, they moved up to fifth in League One while Crewe slipped down to 13th, the play-offs now a very distant dream separated by a margin of eight points.
This was always going to present a tough assessment of Crewe’s young side who are still on an education in League One and positives will be taken from the decent performances from Clayton, Moore and the young Guthrie who filled in respectably at left-back. There were clear signs of life that the in-form Crewe of November and early December was on its way back despite the run of three games without a win that Davis will have another attempt at stopping it against Scunthorpe back at Gresty Road next Saturday.
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People get a little overworked when you take away something dear to them. Or perhaps not, perhaps it’s just the thought of having something taken away from you that riles people, even if they don’t really need it.
Football fans crave the January transfer window and view it as their own Christmas. Forget Happy New Year and all that, January 1st marks the start of insane decisions made by those in the boardrooms of clubs and the insatiable hunger from fans to unearth as much gossip as possible – only for them to shoot down the messenger when they hear something they don’t like.
So what’s the point of the January window? I know Sky will come up with a whole host of reasons to keep it going. In fact, how much of their yearly viewership comes from that month alone? When there’s not much else to talk about (or gossip about), reruns of an interview with a bloke in his car will do.
But’s it’s not really about Sky or the fans, and it never has been. I’m not one for saying I haven’t sat there insisting certain clubs should start taking themselves seriously and spend some money, but why shouldn’t clubs live and die by their own decisions? If clubs can’t make it through the season from their business in the summer window then maybe some managers need to give the whole football thing a rethink.
QPR have bought two teams in the space of six months and they still might go down. Buying a goalkeeper halfway through the season because your first-choice has been ruled out for months is acceptable, as Real Madrid were fortunate, sort of, that Iker Casillas’ injury came during the last week of January. And that’s the purpose the window should serve, not in allowing clubs to field two completely different teams in a league campaign just because a manager or owner severely screwed it up the last time around.
Isn’t a good football manager viewed as someone who can take his team and prove that they’re the best (or just a little better than others) over the course of 38 games? That’s why a league title is a better representation as to how good a team is or was than a Champions League title.
Isn’t it said that the most managerial sackings occur in November? And it’s hardly difficult to understand why. It nicely sets up a big month of spending for a new manager and his new club, who, in all honestly, don’t really have the means to part with the sort of cash usually required for a January fire fight.
Some sports leagues do the whole thing of leaving the transfer ‘window’ open throughout the year and close it just prior to the playoffs, but that really couldn’t work in football. For starters, sports teams in America are largely protected from having their best players poached during random stages of the season due to contracts, salary caps, no-trade clauses etc. None of that exists in football, and who’s to say clubs with the means to do so won’t just harass their way to victory in the transfer market? In fact, forget them. The better perspective is to look at clubs like Everton, Tottenham or Arsenal, who have players wanted by bigger clubs in England or on the continent but who are protected by the closure of the windows in August/September and January/February.
You look at the bigger teams in the Premier League this January, and for the most part you can say they were all sensible. Liverpool were always in need of another striker but also managed to find a bargain in Coutinho. The arrival of the Brazilian will improve Brendan Rodgers’ side, but it wouldn’t have broken them if they didn’t make the move. Manchester United rolled the dice on Wilfried Zaha but loaned him straight back to Crystal Palace. Nothing really to write home about there, they could have completed that signing in June. Arsenal’s move for Nacho Monreal was out of necessity, but it could be argued that Arsene Wenger should have made a signing of that quality last summer. And the same goes for Chelsea, who picked up Demba Ba for a release clause rumoured to be in effect during the summer window.
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No one really comes out of this January mess on top. Clubs like QPR may survive and benefit from the increased television revenue, but then what? A club like that are unlikely to see added windfalls from competitions like the Champions League, so how do they deal with the wages they picked up this January?
Football, in reality, scraps a whole month-worth of football because the majority of clubs are too wound up with the transfer window. Emergency signings should be sanctioned, as we’ve seen in the past. But if a club is not adequately guided or prepared during the summer months for the long haul of a league season, without any safety net midway through, then that’s their problem. Live and die by the decisions you make ahead of each season.
Fulham are set to grant Sascha Riether’s wish to stay put at the club when his loan deal comes to an end this summer.
The 30-year-old full-back, who has been capped twice by Germany, has enjoyed a successful season with the Cottagers since joining from FC Koln last summer and has played in 32 games for the Londoners.
And, after Riether recently revealed that he is hoping to stay with the club and will hold talks in the next couple of weeks, boss Martin Jol has also confirmed that he will look to do a deal with the player who is contracted to Koln until summer 2014.
He said: “With Sascha Riether, we’ve got an option on him, so it’s an easy one. I’m very keen to keep him – we’ve got an option, as I said, so if we want to keep him, we will keep him. And we want to keep him.”
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Roberto Soldado opened the scoring at the Anoeta on Sunday night as Valencia eventually fell 4-2 to Real Sociedad. The Spanish striker has provided the scoring inspiration for the club since arriving from Getafe in 2010, steadily establishing himself as one of the leading forwards in Spanish football. With Tottenham said to watching the 27-year-old ahead of a possible transfer this summer, you feel this would be an ideal move for both parties, as well as Valencia.
The trouble for Valencia this season, and specifically with that loss against Sociedad, is that they are no longer a Champions League team. The sacking of Unai Emery last summer – a move which they felt necessary as a way to make up ground on Barcelona and Real Madrid – has backfired spectacularly. Ernesto Valverde has done a very good job of picking up the pieces of Mauricio Pellegrino’s short tenure with the club, but injuries and inconsistencies will result in the team falling just shy of a Champions League spot.
And that’s the importance of this campaign. There was never any real belief that Valencia could become a third in a genuine, title-challenging top three in Spain; the way they sold David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata simply won’t allow for it, and now Soldado may be the next big name out the door. The club’s finances are in a state where the loss of income from the Champions League will force them into sales of key names, while there will certainly be a sense of frustration on the part of players like Soldado that this team are not going anywhere.
Going into this summer, Tottenham are unlikely to be among those fighting for the signatures of the game’s leading strikers. The club do, however, have a base with which to continue building while still attracting very good players. Due to the fee likely to be involved, the club’s need and the player’s quality, Soldado looks to be one of the best names to address Tottenham’s issue in attack.
It needs to be said that Valencia are a team who can play very good football, even if they didn’t always do so under Emery. This season, Ever Banega has been pushed further up field by Valverde and has combined well with Soldado. The striker’s movement, intelligence and pace has always allowed him to stand apart as one of the better Spanish forwards in La Liga. His scoring record also speaks for itself, with 23 goals in all competitions so far this season. Remember, this is a Valencia side who struggled for much of the early part of the campaign, while players like Banega and Sergio Canales were not always available.
This summer would represent the perfect time for Tottenham to make their move. Not only is Valencia struggling on the financial front, but the player will be well aware of the approaching World Cup. With Fernando Torres failing to rediscover his form of the past and Ruben Castro, Aritz Aduriz and David Villa the wrong side of 30, Soldado may be one of the names in Vicente Del Bosque’s squad, provided he continues in the same form.
For Tottenham, this is a striker who would fit seamlessly into their current setup. He is a natural in front of goal, taking up the duties as primary goal scorer for Valencia ahead of Jonas and Nelson Valdez, while the service from the wings at Spurs is something the Spanish striker will be able to exploit on a regular basis. Soldado is also far more than just a one-dimensional poacher, showing his range of class regularly with outstanding efforts in front of goal.
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Soldado, who is comfortably in his prime, is experienced at the highest level of the game with three Champions League campaigns with Valencia under his belt. More so than most of the names linked with Tottenham in the recent past, Soldado would represent excellent value for money, even for a fee approaching £20 million.