Transfer news...

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[h=1]Samir Nasri says he moved to Manchester City for titles not money[/h] • France midfielder criticises Arsenal's transfer policy
• 'I loved my time with Arsenal but I never won anything'

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• Andy Hunter
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 August 2011 23.21 BST Article history
  
  
  Manchester City's new signing Samir Nasri insists he did not quit Arsenal for Eastlands because of money. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images
  
  Samir Nasri has identified Arsenal's transfer policy as a principal cause of his departure for Manchester City where Roberto Mancini, his new manager, believes he has a squad capable of winning the Premier League and Champions League this season.
  The City manager has bemoaned a lack of depth in his squad at times this summer and had insisted he needed Nasri plus another signing to meet raised ambitions at the Etihad Stadium. Having concluded the £24m signing of the France international, however, Mancini finally declared himself satisfied with his resources and now intends to instigate a clear-out before Wednesday's transfer deadline. Emmanuel Adebayor is in talks with Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool want to re-sign Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips is discussing a move to Queens Park Rangers plus two other Premier League clubs.
  Nasri signed a four-year contract with City on Wednesday and is expected to complete the club's spending in this window. At his official unveiling on Friday, the 24-year-old denied accusing Arsenal supporters of lacking passion, but claimed a lack of investment in proven talent had damaged his former club's prospects of success.
  "I am just a player, but when you are at a big club sometimes you have to bring in big players to win. Maybe Arsenal didn't have this mentality," he said. "They always relied on experienced players but since they moved to the Emirates Stadium, their transfer policy has been a little bit different. They have dealt with young players who have definite quality and in the future I think they can do something. But at the moment, they have lost Cesc Fábregas, who was the captain and who had been there for eight years. They need to bring someone in to replace him."
  Nasri denied leaving Arsenal for City purely for financial gain, even though his salary is believed to have tripled this week. "Manchester City did not offer me three times what I was earning at Arsenal. Arsenal offered me an extension as well," he claimed.
  Asked what he saw as the main difference between his present and former clubs, the midfielder replied: "Titles, I hope. I am 24 and everyone says I am a good player but I haven't won anything. I loved my time with Arsenal but I have never won anything with them. This year, their best player left – Fábregas. If you are going into a team with Agüero, Silva, Tevez, Kompany and all the rest, you must be confident of winning a trophy. I have four years to win one."
  Manchester United were also interested in the former Marseille player but Nasri insists the chance to win City's first title since 1968 held greater appeal. He said: "I want to be part of history. Manchester did not win the title for 40 years. It is a big achievement if we can do it. United win the title every two or three years. I preferred to be part of history rather than just one simple player in the squad."
  Mancini takes his abundance of riches to Tottenham Hotspur on Sundaytomorrow, although will be without the injured Nigel de Jong, and despite a tough Champions League group draw, the usually reticent City manager admits the club can challenge for the game's biggest prizes this term.
  "We have started very well and hopefully we can continue to play well, to score and win matches," he said. "Only one team can win the Premier League. Only one can win the Champions League. But we want to do this if it is possible. The season will be very long. We want to improve on last year. We have a big chance this year. Everything depends on us. I think that we can do it. Maybe we will be second at the end of the season and reach the Champions League final and lose. This is football."
  The City manager also revealed that Carlos Tevez's family has moved back to Manchester from Argentina and sees the development as convincing evidence the striker is committed to the club for this season. Mancini said: "For Carlos it has always been about family reasons. If his family is here, I think he can stay.This is a good moment for this club. Carlos is one of the best players that we have.
  "He wants to be part of what is happening here. He is working well. He is not fit because he has only been working for two weeks. But for a player who sees these good players arriving in this good team, after we won the FA Cup last year, they can think maybe we will a title this year."
  
  

 

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[h=1]Sir Alex Ferguson hits out at Arsène Wenger's 'cynical' critics[/h] • 'Work he has done is best in Arsenal's history,' says Ferguson
• Ferguson also lashes out at FA for treating United 'like shit'

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• Andy Hunter
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 August 2011 22.30 BST Article history
  
  
  Sir Alex Ferguson believes Arsène Wenger was right to cash in on Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA Wire/Press Association Images
  
  Sir Alex Ferguson has issued a robust defence of Arsène Wenger, insisting the Frenchman remains indispensable to Arsenal, was right to cash in on Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri and is a victim of the "cynical" modern game.
  Relations between the Manchester United and Arsenal managers have improved as their title rivalry has faded in recent years and, ahead of their latest encounter at Old Trafford on Sunday, Ferguson paid Wenger his warmest tribute to date. The United manager claimed no other coach could match Wenger's achievements at Arsenal and they are far from the club in turmoil that has been portrayed. Ferguson's respect did not extend to the Football Association, however, who he accused of treating the Premier League champions "like shit".
  Addressing the suggestion that some Arsenal fans want a new manager at the Emirates Stadium, Ferguson said: "I would like to know who is going to replace him. The work he has done in the 15 years he has been at the club is the best in Arsenal's history. Yes, he has not won a trophy for six years but what does that mean? The quality of his side has not been reduced. The competition is far greater now.
  "When Arsenal and ourselves were going head-to-head, that went on for about eight years. It is a bit unfair of course, but who understands fairness and unfairness today? It is quite a cynical world. Supporters are far less easy to please than they were 20 years ago. But Arsenal answered everybody back on Wednesday [beating Udinese to qualify for the Champions League]. A lot of people thought they would go out. I didn't. I thought they would win it. The game on Sunday will be another stepping stone for them."
  United have made a 100% start to the new season while Arsenal have yet to win in the Premier League and would fall eight points behind the champions with defeat at Old Trafford. But Ferguson cautioned: "They still have an array of talent up front who can beat anyone and score against anyone. It is easy for me on Sunday to have my team prepared because they know themselves they are playing a team with some quality."
  Ferguson empathised with Wenger over the departures of Fábregas and Nasri, a player he coveted before Manchester City secured his £24m transfer this week, and claimed United's experience with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gerard Piqué demonstrated no club is immune to major losses.
  He added: "The contract situation today is difficult. You have to be pro-active. We try to be pro-active in terms of getting players new contracts long before that period comes. We have had the same issues at times with players getting into the last year. We are not alone. It is a difficult period.
  "When you face that inevitable situation where a player is not going to sign a contract you can threaten to do what Arsène did with Nasri and keep him for another year and not get anything for him or capitalise and get the money the previous year like he did. I think that is sensible to take the money. If he is not going to sign why throw away money? We had the same situation with Cristiano. He had two years when we let him go but we had had him for six years. The issue is how long do you think you are going to have European players? Fabregas wanted to leave. He wanted to go back to Barcelona. We had the same situation with Gerard Piqué. The important thing is to try and do your best for your club and make sure you prepare for these moments."
  Ferguson confirmed Darren Fletcher will be included in United's squad for the first time this season having had "a terrible time" with illness and, still simmering over his touchline ban and Wayne Rooney's suspension for swearing into a television camera last season, was scathing regarding the FA.
  Eight United players could be on England duty next week and their manager said: "It is fantastic. The FA may one day realise who has produced more players for their country than any other club in the world. Maybe they will get some joy from it at some point in their lives and realise how important we are to England. They treat us like shit."
  
  

 

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[h=1]Sir Alex Ferguson hits out at Arsène Wenger's 'cynical' critics[/h] • 'Work he has done is best in Arsenal's history,' says Ferguson
• Ferguson also lashes out at FA for treating United 'like shit'

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• Andy Hunter
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 August 2011 22.30 BST Article history
  
  
  Sir Alex Ferguson believes Arsène Wenger was right to cash in on Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA Wire/Press Association Images
  
  Sir Alex Ferguson has issued a robust defence of Arsène Wenger, insisting the Frenchman remains indispensable to Arsenal, was right to cash in on Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri and is a victim of the "cynical" modern game.
  Relations between the Manchester United and Arsenal managers have improved as their title rivalry has faded in recent years and, ahead of their latest encounter at Old Trafford on Sunday, Ferguson paid Wenger his warmest tribute to date. The United manager claimed no other coach could match Wenger's achievements at Arsenal and they are far from the club in turmoil that has been portrayed. Ferguson's respect did not extend to the Football Association, however, who he accused of treating the Premier League champions "like shit".
  Addressing the suggestion that some Arsenal fans want a new manager at the Emirates Stadium, Ferguson said: "I would like to know who is going to replace him. The work he has done in the 15 years he has been at the club is the best in Arsenal's history. Yes, he has not won a trophy for six years but what does that mean? The quality of his side has not been reduced. The competition is far greater now.
  "When Arsenal and ourselves were going head-to-head, that went on for about eight years. It is a bit unfair of course, but who understands fairness and unfairness today? It is quite a cynical world. Supporters are far less easy to please than they were 20 years ago. But Arsenal answered everybody back on Wednesday [beating Udinese to qualify for the Champions League]. A lot of people thought they would go out. I didn't. I thought they would win it. The game on Sunday will be another stepping stone for them."
  United have made a 100% start to the new season while Arsenal have yet to win in the Premier League and would fall eight points behind the champions with defeat at Old Trafford. But Ferguson cautioned: "They still have an array of talent up front who can beat anyone and score against anyone. It is easy for me on Sunday to have my team prepared because they know themselves they are playing a team with some quality."
  Ferguson empathised with Wenger over the departures of Fábregas and Nasri, a player he coveted before Manchester City secured his £24m transfer this week, and claimed United's experience with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gerard Piqué demonstrated no club is immune to major losses.
  He added: "The contract situation today is difficult. You have to be pro-active. We try to be pro-active in terms of getting players new contracts long before that period comes. We have had the same issues at times with players getting into the last year. We are not alone. It is a difficult period.
  "When you face that inevitable situation where a player is not going to sign a contract you can threaten to do what Arsène did with Nasri and keep him for another year and not get anything for him or capitalise and get the money the previous year like he did. I think that is sensible to take the money. If he is not going to sign why throw away money? We had the same situation with Cristiano. He had two years when we let him go but we had had him for six years. The issue is how long do you think you are going to have European players? Fabregas wanted to leave. He wanted to go back to Barcelona. We had the same situation with Gerard Piqué. The important thing is to try and do your best for your club and make sure you prepare for these moments."
  Ferguson confirmed Darren Fletcher will be included in United's squad for the first time this season having had "a terrible time" with illness and, still simmering over his touchline ban and Wayne Rooney's suspension for swearing into a television camera last season, was scathing regarding the FA.
  Eight United players could be on England duty next week and their manager said: "It is fantastic. The FA may one day realise who has produced more players for their country than any other club in the world. Maybe they will get some joy from it at some point in their lives and realise how important we are to England. They treat us like shit."
  
  

 

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[h=1]André Villas-Boas wants clubs to back early closure of transfer window[/h] • Chelsea manager to broach idea at elite club coaches' forum
• 'It should really close on the day that the season starts'

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• Dominic Fifield
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 August 2011 23.03 BST Article history
  
  
  André Villas-Boas, the Chelsea manager, believes the current transfer window confuses the start of the season. Photograph: Adam Holt/Action Images
  
  André Villas-Boas is to call for a radical change to the current transfer window system and will seek support from fellow managers at Europe's top clubs at a meeting at Uefa's headquarters next week.
  The Chelsea manager is to attend the governing body's elite club coaches' forum in Nyon for the first time on Wednesday and Thursday and intends to use the occasion to champion a system that would see respective transfer windows closing on the day the domestic season begins in each country. At present the deadline of 31 August is fixed across Europe yet, by then, the Premier League will have played three rounds of matches while coaches are still finalising their squads.
  Villas-Boas would argue the uncertainty about losing, or recruiting, players can serve as a distraction and he would rather the cut-off for registering new players occurred at the start of each respective league. That would effectively grant clubs in La Liga and Serie A more time to conclude their business than their rivals in England, though the Chelsea manager is content with that arrangement.
  "It should really close on the day that the season starts," he said. "I'm going to propose it. It will be my first time when the elite club coaches meet but I'll propose it. It may look pretty stupid at first but maybe it makes sense because it would give tranquillity to the managers to address their team building. That's fair.
  "The proposal would be to close the transfer window when the season starts in that country. At least one other manager is on my side because I spoke about this at Porto last year with my technical staff and I know Porto's current manager [Villas-Boas's former No2 Vítor Pereira] is of the same opinion as me. Porto are a targeted club for the biggest talent and live in an uncomfortable situation as well."
  The Portuguese club's current discomfort is partly due to Chelsea's own pursuit of Alvaro Pereira, with the Londoners still attempting to reach a compromise over a fee for the Uruguay international. If no agreement is reached, they would have to consider matching the €30m (£27m) buy-out clause in the 25-year-old's contract to secure the player before next Wednesday's deadline.
  Villas-Boas still hopes to add Pereira and a creative midfielder to his ranks and has informed Michael Essien, who has been ruled out until the new year with a serious knee ligament injury, that he will not be included in the club's 25-man Premier League squad for the first half of the season. That situation can be revisited in January, when the Ghanaian should be nearing a return to fitness, though other players could yet be trimmed from the Londoners' squad to accommodate the new arrivals.
  "I can play a little bit with it," added Villas-Boas when asked if he would need to sell before naming his squad, which must be submitted to the Premier League next week. "It depends. We have a couple of under-21 players, and we have Essien's injury. We'll only register him in January, as he knows. We can play a little bit with that."
  
  

 

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• Sport
• Football
• Barcelona

[h=1]Cesc Fábregas scores first Barcelona goal in Uefa Super Cup triumph[/h] Barcelona 2-0 Porto

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• Owen Gibson at Stade Louis II
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 August 2011 23.28 BST Article history
  
  
  Barcelona substitute Cesc Fábregas celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Porto in Monaco. Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
  
  It must be catching. If this clash didn't quite match the rollercoaster ding dong between the two Manchester clubs at Wembley or the fireworks between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Spanish version, the most prestigious curtain-raiser of all served up a spectacle that, if less frenetic, was no less absorbing.
  On a night when Cesc Fábregas marked his arrival in new surroundings with a goal, Barcelona kicked off this European campaign as they finished the last one at Wembley.
  Cruel as it is to point out – and if Super Cups count – in two weeks Fábregas has already won as many trophies at Barcelona as he managed in eight years at Arsenal that yielded one FA Cup and one Charity Shield.
  A volleyed finish from the former Arsenal captain, following a pinpoint cross from Lionel Messi and an exquisitely cushioned chest down, was celebrated wildly by his team-mates, the flare-toting Barcelona fans, and Pep Guardiola in the technical area.
  It capped a performance that started sluggishly and ended in typically complete control. Porto, in contrast, started well but ended in disarray with just nine players on the pitch. Fredy Guarín, who gave away the ball for Barcelona's first goal, capped a miserable night when was sent off for a wild challenge on Javier Mascherano in the final minute.
  Barcelona had slowly asserted themselves throughout the first half and, inevitably, it was Messi who broke the deadlock with a typically clinical finish.
  Porto's defending became more reckless as the first half wore on. As so often, relentless pressure and pinpoint passing from the Catalan side eventually forced a mistake.
  When the error came it was a bad one, Guarín's attempted blind backpass finding Messi, who skipped around Helton in familiar fashion.
  The Uefa president, Michel Platini, watching here from the well appointed stands, had earlier called Messi a "diamond" and on Thursday he picked up yet another trinket when he was named European Player of the Year.
  One patented wiggle of the hips was enough to dump Brazilian goalkeeper Helton on his backside. Porto's players were already returning to the halfway line by the time he did so.
  That was enough to silence the previously noisy Porto fans, but they were roused again at the beginning of the second half as the Portuguese side refused to roll over. João Moutinho went close and Guarín tried to atone for his earlier error by drawing a smart save from Víctor Valdes with a shot from distance.
  Uefa designate the Super Cup a "free match", meaning that mooted Chelsea targets, Porto's Uruguayan full-back Alvaro Pereira and midfielder Moutinho, would not be cup-tied. But perhaps significantly, Pereira was not even named among the substitutes.
  It was a lively opening, with Porto quicker out of the blocks as the Europa League winners tried to hustle the Champions League holders out of their unharried stride and geometric passing shapes.
  Hulk curled a free kick in a promising position over the bar and Moutinho drew the first save from Valdés with a smart snapshot.
  Barcelona were initially not quite at their metronomic best which, as against Real Madrid in those two gripping Spanish Super Cup ties, made for a more entertaining opening as Porto were able to compete for loose balls.
  With Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué still injured, the makeshift pairing of Eric Abidal and Mascherano continued in central defence for Barcelona. Yet even without a recognised centre-half on the pitch, they appeared largely comfortable.
  Porto's dapper new coach, Vitor Pereira, paced the technical area and squatted on his haunches in a manner that has already become familiar to Chelsea fans as characteristics of his predecessor, and appeared initially satisfied.
  But Barcelona began to turn the screw, as Messi, David Villa and Pedro Rodríguez started swarming all over the Porto backline. With an again outstanding Andrés Iniesta pulling the strings, by the end of the first half the possession split stood at 70/30.
  Their insouciant dominance also highlighted just how difficult Fábregas, who began on the bench before coming on for Pedro with just over 10 minutes remaining, might find it to force his way into this starting lineup. But he made an immediate impact.
  Barcelona's other big money buy of the summer, the Chilean winger Alexis Sánchez, was the first to get his chance from the bench. He will be expected to provide something different with his pace but – one promising run and shot aside - had little opportunity to get into the game here.
  By the end, Barcelona were playing within themselves and Porto appeared heavy-legged. There was still the odd scare – Sergio Busquets almost contrived to head over his own goalkeeper and Porto's fans screamed optimistically for a penalty when Abidal clashed with Guarín. But their challenge petered out and the centre- back Ronaldo was sent off for a second yellow on 85 minutes, before Guarín followed minutes later.
  It could have been an antiseptic experience given the extent to which the traditional season curtain-raiser is now used as part of Uefa's schmoozing and marketing campaign. But the two noisy sets of fans who made this toytown stadium feel like it had more than 18,048 present, and genuine commitment from the players, made for a compelling spectacle.
  Guardiola had said before the match that "finals are meaningful when you play against clubs with a great history". He may also have been motivated by the fact that, at just 40, he is now the most decorated manager in Barcelona's illustrious history in terms of titles won.
  It is safe to say there will be more - for him, for Fábregas, and for the rest of those who celebrated victory by linking arms in the centre circle.
  
  

 

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• Sport
• Football
• England

[h=1]Fabio Capello captivated by Sir Alex Ferguson's dazzling class of '11[/h] The England manager has been captivated by the emergence of Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley at Man Utd

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• • Paul Hayward
  • guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 August 2011 22.12 BST Article history
  
  Manchester United's Phil Jones tackles West Brom's Shane Long in the champions' 2-1 win at the Hawthorns. Photograph: Alex Morton/Action Images
  
  From Theo Walcott's memoirs we learn that Fabio Capello is not famous for buttering up youngsters. But of Phil Jones, 19, the England coach says contentedly: "So young, so good. He's never played with the national team but he's the future – absolutely the future."
  The dramatic impact made by Jones, a £17m signing from Blackburn, in Manchester United's 3-0 win against Spurs on Monday night extended to the normally muted Capello, who is excited by the emergence of Jones, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley in Sir Alex Ferguson's starting XI. Even allowing for early season hype (Welbeck will probably return to the bench when Javier Hernández is fit), Capello speaks of a surge of fresh energy as England prepare for their Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria in Sofia on Friday night and Wales on Tuesday week.
  "Jones is really a talent for England," Capello says. "Welbeck, [Chris] Smalling, Jones, the midfielder [Cleverley]. All these players are playing really good. After the game they played against Man City [in the Community Shield] they've improved. It's easier to play away from home, without the pressure of the fans. Against Spurs they played with confidence."
  Welbeck, 20, and Jones have been selected for England's Under-21s but could be named in the senior squad after United's Premier League encounter with Arsenal, along with Cleverley, 22, and Smalling, 21, who made a favourable impression on Capello at right-back against Spurs. "I need to wait for the last game because someone will be injured but in the provisional squad there are a lot of Man Utd players," he says.
  "Welbeck played against Ghana for 10 minutes [in March] and was very interesting. He matched well with Rooney: his movement without the ball. He made some mistakes, missed a lot of passes, but he's an interesting player.
  "The other one who's improving, in a new position, is Smalling. He plays without fear. I remember him as a centre-back but now he's a right-back, which is very interesting. Cleverley is good. I saw him last year [on loan at Wigan] but when you play for Man Utd it's different. You need to win, that's the difference.
  "I picked him last time but he was unlucky because he didn't play against Holland [that match was postponed because of the London riots]. He's intelligent on the pitch, he can play in front of the back four or a bit further forward. And always when he goes to the goal he tries to shoot."
  Jones, though, is the most highly praised of United's latest crop: "The way he played against Tottenham, every time, passing, with confidence. 'Give me the ball.' It's not easy to find a player so young who plays with such big confidence. We need to wait though. He's played one game [for United], and a half at Wembley. Potentially, he's a fantastic player, but he needs to play more games at Man Utd.
  "I remember [Arsenal's] Jack Wilshere, after four months, was at the top, I understood he was ready to play for the national team. Jones is the same. I don't know if he will be OK for the Bulgaria or Montenegro games, but the talent is incredible, and when you have the talent you need to use it."
  Capello was at Aston Villa v Wolves on Saturday to watch Darren Bent. "I've got Welbeck, Andy Carroll, Bent and Defoe [plus Wayne Rooney]," he says of his strikers. "I need to choose the players who are in the best form. Not the name, the form. You need to run, you need to press – do something different.'
  In midfield he also speaks highly of Tottenham's Jake Livermore and Arsenal's Emmanuel Frimpong, Ghana-born but eager to represent England. Capello says he will not pick Frimpong solely to render him ineligible for Ghana but is keen to promote him. "He's really energetic. Sometimes he needs to be careful. If he plays for a short time with Arsenal I will select him. Another young midfielder is the one who plays with Tottenham [Livermore]. We have some young midfielders coming."
  Steven Gerrard has told Capello he will be out for three more weeks, while Wilshere is four weeks away from reclaiming his Arsenal place. In the meantime, England have risen, risibly, to No4 in Fifa's world rankings. "I was happy," Capello says, suppressing his mirth. "The No1 is Holland, who've never won the World Cup. They've played in three finals and lost three finals."
  The qualifying end-game is England's trip to Montenegro on 7 October. "It will be a difficult game in Montenegro. I spoke with [Giovanni] Trapattoni [the Republic of Ireland manager], who played there," Capello says. "He told me it will be no easy game: the stadium, the pitch, the fans will be really, really strong."
  Pressed on Walcott's book, in which the Arsenal forward claimed Capello threatened to "kill" him if he cut inside with the ball again, and portrayed him as a martinet, the England coach says: "It was a joke. He didn't understand the joke." But irritation is still apparent. "When I speak with the players at the start of the season I always say: 'The rule is, I'm the manager, you're the players. I respect you, and you need to respect me and all the staff working with me'."
  So what did he say to Walcott? "I told him: 'I prefer you as a player than as a writer'."
  
  

 

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[h=2]Manchester United v Arsenal, 4pm Sunday 28 August[/h] [h=1]Arsenal's backroom flaws leave £70m hole in Arsène Wenger's plans[/h] The Arsenal manager bears much of the responsibility for the club's dysfunctional summer, but others should share the burden

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• 
• • Amy Lawrence
  • guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 August 2011 23.00 BST Article history
  
  Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has been let down by the club's scouts and dealmakers, who have failed to provide new players. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
  
  "Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home." It's a resonant old line. Perhaps the pick of Arsène Wenger's classics. It evokes an era when he was at the peak of what seemed at the time to be manifold powers. Arsenal were Double winners with a team who welded the might of Sol Campbell, Martin Keown and Patrick Vieira with the marvels of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires.
  Sir Alex Ferguson, suffering the ignominy of watching the enemy win the title at Old Trafford in the summer of 2002, was not at his most generous. "They are scrappers who rely on belligerence – we are the better team," he scoffed, inspiring Wenger to respond with a flash of wit, throwing the media a juicy bone on which to feast in its insatiable analysis of the Ferguson-Wenger feud. At its height, they traded quips, insults and honours like two heavyweights.
  If it seems like ages ago that they were arch-competitors, that is because it is. Almost a decade has passed since then, and although the barbs continued for a while, with each passing year the colour has faded, the spikiness has softened, as one of the fighters has evidently struggled to make his weight.
  When Arsenal defeated Manchester United 1-0 at the Emirates during last season's title run-in, it was a rare success. United's dominance of this fixture – sometimes to the point of doling out humiliation – has become almost routine. It has reached the point where Ferguson feels a degree of compassion for the Arsenal manager. That has to be as clear a sign as any that Wenger's touch has gone awry. Nobody who lives in football's extreme world of winners and losers wants the sympathy vote. Nobody welcomes pity. Has it really come to this?
  Wenger's image has taken such a pummelling since the start of the season, even people who would normally relish the schadenfreude have confessed to feeling sorry for him. Some critics felt moved to congratulate him on his team's safe passage into the Champions League at Udinese, as if they were relieved to see that he had found some refuge from the relentless pounding. "Well done Arsenal!" hurrahed the opening line from the Sun's match report, in all seriousness. Yet another clanging sign that things ain't what they ought to be.
  Gutsy though their Champions League recovery was, and critical as it is to the club's profile, it would be foolish to allow a 90-minute shot-in-the-arm to paper over the cracks. Arsenal head to Old Trafford on Sunday with a thin squad stripped to the bone, still overloaded with problems that scream out for solutions.
  But should all of them pile up at Wenger's door? While he bears a lot of the responsibility for their dysfunctional summer, others, too, should share the burden. Wenger needed help during this close season from other departments within Arsenal, but that help has not materialised. The scouting network, and the transfer negotiators, have never looked so weak. The board, which should have either backed him or forced him to shake things up before the Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri sagas took their toll, have sat back.
  It is a myth that Wenger is the man who controls all transfer activity. First, he is dependent on his scouts for identifying and researching potential recruits. Apart from the obvious exceptions – Henry, Vieira and Nicolas Anelka were clearly well known to Wenger – in the main, the names and reports that are brought to him by the chief scout, Steve Rowley, are what persuade him to make a move for, say, a teenaged Fábregas. Or for that matter a Manuel Almunia, Denílson, or Igor Stepanovs. It is unusual for Wenger to watch much of little-known players in the flesh before they sign.
  It appears that the scouts have not come up with a useful enough list of targets to work from this summer. Given that they knew they would in all likelihood lose a number of players, it was obvious they would need to do a fair bit of shopping. Considering most of the "shops" operate with a hint of poker school, and that agents block the shop front with all the charm of burly bouncers, it would have made sense to have numerous options to consider and to hit the stores quickly.
  Yet Arsenal find themselves scrabbling about in the dwindling days of the sale, hunting for bargains where few remain on display. The experience of last summer with Mark Schwarzer, when they thought that if they hung on to the last moment Fulham would have to cave in (they did not), should have been a salutary lesson. That trick used to work. Not any more. The scene has changed since David Dein could pull transfer strings with the best of them and most players were instantly attracted to joining a winning team comprising the likes of Henry and Vieira.
  It has been a tough summer for Dick Law, currently the chief deal maker, who has struggled to see through interest in a handful of major targets that were on the radar. Chelsea rang rings around him for Juan Mata; Bolton have played tough over Gary Cahill, rejecting Arsenal's latest bid on Friday; the Gunners did not even appear to make much of a play for José Enrique – available for less than Gaël Clichy and a real no-brainer purchase who instead went to Liverpool. Law lacks the global football contacts who packed Dein's address book, not to mention the ability to engage in smooth talk or hardball if appropriate.
  Dein remembers how the atmosphere around the place could be exhilarated by a flurry of signings. In the summer of 2006, just after leaving Highbury, six deals bubbled along right until the 11th hour of deadline day. "Arsène has a lovely expression: You need some salt and pepper in the soup. You need to spice it up. This is not a perfect science," he says. "If we all knew the formula of Coca-Cola we'd all be multimillionaires."
  Arsenal have a transfer budget of around £70m just from their summer sales. They are chasing an assortment of players, but it all feels worryingly late in the day and, so cack-handedly have they been functioning during this window, the Emirates crowd would be amazed to see the handful of needed signings arriving. Which brings us to the great unanswered question of life at Arsenal: Who really calls the shots when it comes to money available for players?
  Depending on who you believe, either the board actively encourage Wenger to spend and feel frustrated at his reluctance, or Wenger does a good job in taking the flak and shielding the board from a financial reality that is much more sobering than they would like to admit.
  The economics at Arsenal remain puzzling. And while the boardroom situation remains uncomfortable, with Alisher Usmanov's stake undermining Stan Kroenke's majority shareholding, nobody can put forward a clear message about how the club intend to be ambitious.
  And so Wenger heads for Old Trafford, to take on his old nemesis at a time when United have just demonstrated that the youth project that has obsessed him can work wonders. Seventy million pounds for his thoughts as he scans the callow faces in the away dressing room and prepares them to do their best.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

• Sport
• Football
• Sir Alex Ferguson

[h=1]Sir Alex Ferguson takes pot shot at Arsène Wenger's barren run[/h] • 'I wouldn't have allowed six-year gap to happen at Man Utd'
• Five years since Arsenal last won at Old Trafford

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• Tim Rich
• The Observer, Sunday 28 August 2011 Article history
  
  
  Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson, left, said: 'Arsène [Wenger] has got his way of managing and I have got mine.' Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian
  
  Sir Alex Ferguson says he would never have allowed Manchester United to go six years without winning a trophy. After expressing his support for his Arsenal counterpart Arsène Wenger, who has not won any silverware since the 2005 FA Cup final, the United manager said a barren period lasting for more than half a decade would have been unthinkable at Old Trafford.
  "I would not have allowed it to happen," Ferguson said before Sunday's Premier League home game against Arsenal. "The press would have played their part and you expect that, but I could not have contemplated these things."
  Since winning the FA Cup in 1990, there have been only three seasons in which Ferguson has not brought silverware to Manchester. When asked recently if it was possible to have a good season without a trophy he answered tersely: "Not at this club."
  "Arsène has got his way of managing and I have got mine," he said. "You do the best with what you believe in and that is what Arsène is trying to do. I don't know exactly what his philosophy is but for a long period he had a group of good young French players but that seems to have dried up a little bit.
  "Teams go in cycles and you just have to hope that you are part of that cycle. For years it was Arsenal and ourselves competing for the title. Then it was Chelsea and now Manchester City are on the map. We have always been part of that cycle."
  It is five years since Emmanuel Adebayor secured Arsenal's last victory at Old Trafford and since then they have lost six and drawn one of their games there, scoring two goals in the process. Despite qualifying for the Champions League at Udinese – a victory Ferguson both welcomed and expected – Arsenal must overcome a side who last dropped points at Old Trafford 10 months ago and last lost at home in the Premier League in April 2010.
  "We need a good home record," said Ferguson, whose side managed as many away wins as relegated Blackpool last season and struggled to overcome West Bromwich Albion on the opening weekend. "The pitch has helped us. Over previous years it went in December and we didn't really get it back until March but there's a young boy, Tony Sinclair, who's our head groundsman now. The pitch is fantastic and it's all to our benefit. With the speed of the pitch and the lighter ball, you definitely need good surfaces.
  "We lost the title in 1992 to Leeds because of our pitch. That is why I tried to sign Mick Harford because it was impossible to play football on that pitch. I thought if we got Mick, we could have played it up there and he could have whacked centre-halves out of the road. It was a mistake, we should have signed him."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Daniel Levy's game of transfer brinkmanship risks Spurs going south[/h] The Tottenham chairman has kept Chelsea at bay, but the club's transfer strategies look needlessly protracted and ego-driven

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• Paul Hayward
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 August 2011 23.26 BST Article history
  
  
  Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy (right) signed striker Emmanuel Adebayor on a season-long loan from Manchester City. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
  
  This is another of those summers when Daniel Levy, Tottenham Hotspur's combative chairman, may have confused football with a high-stakes poker marathon in which brinkmanship is the finest of all life's thrills.
  Spurs fans must view their boardroom warrior with ambivalence. On the one hand he jabs at Chelsea with a pitch-fork to keep Luka Modric at White Hart Lane. But on another reading, Tottenham's transfer strategies look needlessly protracted and ego-driven, to the detriment of the team.
  One sure thought is that Arsenal's followers would like a Levy in their midst. In the transfer trade, all agree that the Gunners are too slow and tentative in pursuit of major targets. The late, cut-price lunge for Bolton's Gary Cahill, for instance, would have been better timed when the transfer window opened. Set against Arsenal's vacillation and high-wage phobia, Levy is The Terminator next door, driving up the price of Tottenham players coveted by other clubs and smashing down the fees demanded by sellers.
  Where money meets machismo, sparks are bound to fly. But there are risks in having a chairman who behaves as if he has spent too long battling it out with cowboy-booted poker-meisters in Las Vegas. The first is instability. The habit of dragging out deals to the final hours leaves players and management staff unsure what the starting XI will be until dawn breaks on 1 September. Spurs have already shipped a 3-0 loss to Manchester United and are in a state of flux as Manchester City descend on London on Sunday.
  The signing of Emmanuel Adebayor on loan is a minor flourish for Levy to lay before the crowd. But it remains a loan, and Adebayor's attitude is open to doubt. If he uses his stay in N17 to earn a move to a top-five club on the continent then he will need to dazzle, to Tottenham's benefit. A deal of this kind, though, is only a temporary solution to Harry Redknapp's hunt for a top-tier centre-forward, which stretched, this week, to a reported £11m bid for the Brazilian striker Leandro Damião.
  For a club so adamant that Modric would be staying, Spurs have done a fine job of measuring up replacements. Joe Cole, Lassana Diarra and Scott Parker have all been coveted by Harry Redknapp, who has also signed Iago Falqué, a young attacking midfielder, on a season-long loan from Juventus. There is a pattern of Redknapp seeking a new midfield formula to ameliorate the loss of Modric, while Levy goes about telling Chelsea to get stuffed.
  The backdrop is Spurs settling into a Europa League group place alongside Rubin Kazan, PAOK Salonika and Shamrock Rovers. After last season's great Champions League adventure, Tottenham were out-gunned by City and demoted back to Europe's junior competition. With the acquisitions of Sergio Agüero and Samir Nasri, City are unquestionably stronger, while Spurs are still unsure what their personnel list will be. So Sunday's game, coming six days after the United result, will offer a guide to the success or otherwise of Levy's rhino-skinned negotiating style.
  Positives still abound. Spurs have managed to hang on to Gareth Bale, their most dynamic player, and appear strong on the youth-development front. Kyle Walker, at right-back, is a prospect, and Jake Livermore has caught the eye of Fabio Capello, the England coach. Against Hearts in midweek, six academy graduates played a part, including the debutants Harry Kane, Tom Carroll, Ryan Fredericks and Jake Nicholson. Andros Townsend is another with promise.
  At the front end, though, Spurs need a route back into the Champions League qualifying places, and in that respect a little less posturing might help. Levy could point out that Rafael van der Vaart arrived on a midnight train at the end of the last summer's transfer window and enhanced the side. Brinkmanship isn't always synonymous with chaos, yet Spurs are high on the list of top clubs with issues to resolve.
  Liverpool moved sharply for Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam; City identified targets and swooped, even if the Nasri deal was spun out by Arsenal; United picked up Phil Jones, David de Gea and Ashley Young without fuss. The pursuit of Modric by Chelsea is in no way Tottenham's fault, but their summer has looked like one long struggle to hang on to a star player while shuffling contingency plans in case he leaves.
  Redknapp, as we know, trades on instinct. He knows Cole and Diarra from previous incarnations and is always looking to fold pure talent into his mix. But the urges of a born scout run up against the granite business ethic of a chairman who appears to derive as much pleasure from negotiating as he does from the action on the pitch. Even the Tottenham relocation – Olympic Stadium or Northumberland Park? – has become a battlefield.
  Offered a price for one of his players, Levy has been known to say: "You'll have to go north [with the amount]". Nothing wrong with that, in a world of chancers, as long as results don't go south.
  [h=2]British tennis could use brutal Dutch clarity[/h]Britain's athletes are about to learn that the London Olympics last a year, not 17 days, because the World Championships in Daegu are cast as giant preview and audition for next summer's Games. The 66 GB runners, throwers and jumpers in South Korea have entered a new phase of scrutiny that the more sensitive among them could find exhausting.
  While the British public take a renewed interest in track and field, at least for a week or so, there will be no nannying from Charles van Commenee, the forthright and uncompromising head coach. "When we're at the London Games, people will consider it a success or failure based on the number of medals won and lost," he said in Daegu. "They will not say we had a great transport system or that the stadiums looked quite nice."
  There is nowhere to hide with this Dutch martinet. The brutal clarity of his thinking is precisely what's missing in another British sport. Tennis.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Transfer news, rumours and gossip from Sunday's papers[/h] Published 10:10 28/08/11 By Football Spy

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...e-Rossi-Sunday-newspapers-article792137.html#

The summer transfer window is almost done. Keep on top of all the latest news, rumours and gossip from the printed press and the web here.
Transfer stories from today's Sunday Mirror
EXCLUSIVE: Wenger set to return with improved Cahill bid
Lukaku urges Chelsea to sign his younger brother

Stoke plan £20m double raid for Spurs' Crouch and Palacios
EXCLUSIVE: Sunderland target Wolfsburg striker Helmes
Arsenal target Elia could leave Hamburg, confirms coach
Arsenal close to completing £10m capture of South Korea captain
EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal told to pay £7m for permanent Lucho deal
Liverpool defender completes Lisbon switch
Spurs target Damiao will only leave for an 'abnormal offer'
Cottagers plot swoop for £5m-rated Eagles striker
EXCLUSIVE: Spurs tell Parker he must take pay cut
Espanyol offer Liverpool misfit an escape route
QPR complete signing of Villa defender
Wayward Ranger's Newcastle future in serious doubt
Transfer stories from today's Sunday People
Lokomotiv Moscow lead chase for Pavlyuchenko
Bolton will turn to City defender if Cahill is sold
Wenger sees Arteta as perfect replacement for Fabregas
Fulham face battle to keep hold of Dempsey
Everton keen to offload Beckford to Southampton
Revealed: United snubbed Nasri after broken promises
Today's transfer stories from other papers and websites
Tottenham are plotting an ambitious bid to bring Real Madrid midfielder Kaka to White Hart Lane on loan - and hope to beat Arsenal to the Brazilian. (Daily Star on Sunday
Spurs are also plotting a triple swoop for Internacional striker Leandro Damiao , Barcelona centre-back Marc Bartra and Le Havre midfielder Guieda Fofana . (Sunday Times)
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini wants to splash £25million on Roma midfielder Daniele de Rossi to take his summer spending to almost £100m. (Sunday Express)
Chelsea centre-back Alex is a shock target for London rivals Arsenal . (Metro)
Newcastle and Fulham will go head-to-head for Freiburg striker Papiss Demba Cisse . (Metro)
Chelsea will try one more time to sign Tottenham's Luka Modric and are set to make a £40m bid. (Mail on Sunday)
Meanwhile Spurs are closing in on Man City striker Craig Bellamy. (Mail on Sunday)
Chelsea are set to sign Ajax defender Gregory van der Wiel for £28m. (talkSPORT)
Nemanja Vidic is a target for Russia's richest club, Anzhi Makhachkala , who have just signed Samuel Eto'o from Inter Milan for a fee of £18.4million. (Daily Star on Sunday)

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]EXCLUSIVE: Wenger set to return with improved Cahill bid[/h] Published 23:00 27/08/11 By Steve Stammers

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...Cahill-improved-offer-12m-article791851.html#

Arsenal will this week land Bolton star Gary Cahill – despite the ill-feeling between the clubs.
The Gunners will go in with a fresh *£12million bid which could rise to around£15m with any international and club *honours won by *Cahill over the course of a five-year contract.
And the indications are that Cahill will be an Arsenal *player before the transfer *window closes as Wenger is determined to bolster his defence with a player of proven Premier League experience.
The bad blood between the clubs spilled over on Friday when Trotters chairman Phil Garside retweeted a fan's *message: "Are you taking the p***?" £6m for Gary Cahill – f*** right off!"

Gartside later deleted the post, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger responded by saying the offer was more.
Meanwhile, the Gunners are on the brink of landing long-time target Rennes midfielder Yann M'Vila for £10m.
Rennes are reluctant to *release the 21-year-old, who has made a huge impact in France, but the lure of playing for Wenger may be too strong.
But one position that does not need to be filled is *goalkeeper after Wojciech Szczesny's emergence as a class performer this season
There was a clamour for Wenger to bring a new man, but he had faith in the 19-year-old Pole – and feels he has been vindicated.
Wenger said: "We care about opinions, but at the end of the day you must make decisions."
***
Arsenal set to sign Korean striker from under Lille's noses
Bargain of the summer? What Arsenal fans can actually expect from Park Chu-Young
EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal told to pay £7m for permanent Lucho deal

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Revealed: United snubbed Nasri after broken promises[/h] Published 22:59 27/08/11 By MirrorFootball

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...bbed-by-Manchester-United-article791984.html#

A full version of this story appears in today's People. Read it online at People.co.uk
Manchester City new boy Samir Nasri was SNUBBED by rivals United – after he reneged on an initial promise to sign for them.
Nasri went cap in hand back to Old Trafford when he feared his £24m move to the Etihad was about to collapse due to a dispute over agent fees.
But furious United chiefs slammed the door in the Frenchman's face despite him making a *personal plea to revive the deal with the champions.

Read the full version of this story at People.co.uk

​

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Wayne Rooney hits hat-trick as Manchester United crush Arsenal[/h]

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• Guardian report
• Match facts
• Ratings

[h=2]Premier League 2011-12[/h]

Welbeck 22, Young 28, Rooney 41, Rooney 64, Nani 67, Park Ji-Sung 70, Rooney 82, Young 91

Walcott 48, van Persie 74

Manchester United 8
Arsenal 2

• Kevin McCarra at Old Trafford
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011 20.39 BST Article history
  
  
  Manchester United's Ashley Young, scorer of two goals, congratulates Wayne Rooney on his second of three. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images
  
  This was relegation day for Arsenal. Manchester United were gleefully unsparing as they illustrated all the weaknesses in the ranks of the opposition who could no longer be taken as members of the elite. The visitors had players such as Thomas Vermaelen injured while Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri have been sold but that does not begin to account for a drubbing. Their display had descended into capitulation long before the close.
  Distress was deeper still since this debacle came fast on the spirited victory away to Udinese in the Champions League. While United are a side of a different order to the Serie A club, it was extraordinary to witness an Arsenal line-up that could not protect itself in the second half. On the verge of the interval a Theo Walcott shot through the legs of the goalkeeper David de Gea had the visitors only 3-1 behind.
  This, all the same, proved to be an Arsenal line-up without the faith in itself to mount a semblance of resistance. It was, of course, the most severe defeat of Arsène Wenger's 15 years with the club. Until now the talk had been of the need to make signings but a couple of arrivals in the next few days will scarcely suffice to restore the morale of supporters.
  It will be difficult to persuade those fans that newcomers still on offer as the summer transfer period comes to an end will galvanise Arsenal. A title bid looked all but inconceivable and the first aim for the club should simply be to extend its run of Champions League appearances next season.
  If they were unlucky at all, the misfortune was to be observed in the ravenous appetite for goals shared by United and their supporters. There was a type of compliment in that since it implied that Arsenal were still perceived as a club whose ranking was not really so distant from their own. That perception cannot survive among the Old Trafford crowd unless radical action is taken by Wenger.
  He does have many injuries yet the manager would doubtless have argued beforehand that he had trust in his squad as a whole. At heart, of course, he will have appreciated how thin the means have become at the Emirates. Wenger would be justified in pointing to the excellence of the victors, although a paean to United will not soothe Arsenal fans.
  For neutrals, though, it is essential to applaud what Ferguson has achieved in fairly recent days. Once more his defence was short of full strength but that calibre of stand-ins, if such they be, is impressive. A youngster such as Danny Welbeck opened the scoring here before picking up a hamstring injury.
  If no mercy was shown to Arsenal it was not simply because United lusted for this rout of a fellow Champions League club. These are footballers who must be utterly sure they will be sidelined if they offer anything less to the club than every trace of ability they have within them. Arsenal, on the other hand, were eventually listless and confused. There was scarcely a basic structure to the side.
  Carl Jenkinson escaped the scene but only by receiving a second caution when the score stood at 6-2. His team-mates might have envied him. It was, in particular, horrid for the teenager Francis Coquelin that he should make his Premier League debut on this day. All that remains for Arsenal is the notion that the action might have taken another direction.
  Wenger's line-up inflicted pain on themselves when, with the score at 1-0 for United, De Gea dived to his right in the 27th minute and saved a penalty from Robin van Persie. It had been awarded following a Jonny Evans challenge on Theo Walcott. Within two minutes the lead was extended as Ashley Young bent a shot into the top-right corner.
  The United opener had come when Anderson lifted a pass over the defence and Welbeck was too sharp for Johan Djourou as he headed home the bouncing ball from the edge of the six-yard box.
  United's third, in the 41st minute, was bent into the top corner by Wayne Rooney after he had tapped a free-kick sideways to Young, who stopped it and left the forward with a better shooting angle.
  Although Walcott trimmed the deficit on the verge of the interval, Arsenal could not really resist here. The second half was even more of a rout.
  Further United goals followed with Rooney curling home an almost identical free-kick attempt to his first goal, Nani finishing stylishly from the Englishman's service, the substitute Park Ji-sung coming off the bench to strike and Rooney himself completing a hat-trick from the penalty spot after Walcott had pushed Patrice Evra.
  In the midst of the barrage Van Persie had scored to reduce the deficit to 6-2. It was hardly the sort of resistance Arsenal had hoped to mount and the punishment was so relentless that Young struck an eighth goal for United in stoppage time, with another unstoppable curling shot into the top corner.
  
  

 

[Rejao]

Sasa wewe hii habari ya Man Utd kushinda 8 nayo ni Tranfer Newz?

Nakushauri pia uediti post yako ya kwanza iwe plain cuz kila tukifungua tunakutana na habari ya Defoe on top ambayo haina mashiko yoyote.

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Arsène Wenger 'humiliated' by Arsenal's defeat at Manchester United[/h] • 'You feel humiliated when you concede eight goals'
• Alex Ferguson backs Arsenal manager despite defeat

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• Agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011 18.41 BST Article history
  
  
  Arsène Wenger saw his side slump to a heavy defeat at Manchester United as their poor start to the season reached a new low. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
  
  The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, insists that quitting the club has never crossed his mind but described the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United as "humiliating".
  United condemned Arsenal to their biggest ever Premier League defeat at Old Trafford with Wayne Rooney scoring a hat-trick during the rout.
  Wenger admitted he had been left embarrassed by the size of the defeat, but with the pressure mounting on him denied he would quit his post.
  "You feel humiliated when you concede eight goals," he told Sky Sports. "It was a terrible day for us, it was a combination of an under-strength team and weakness. We collapsed physically in the second half."
  Asked if he might think about resigning during the upcoming international break, he was initially coy, saying: "I believe we have a break before the next game." He then ruled out the possibility, adding: "No, not at all."
  With three days to go before the end of the transfer window Wenger is under pressure to bring in new names, although he was again guarded about the addition of any players.
  "I know that in England when you lose a game signings are always the solution," he added. "We had eight players out today. Anybody would suffer with eight players missing."
  The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was surprised by the ease of his side's success despite Arsenal missing so many first-team regulars.
  "It is [a surprise] because when you play Arsenal you expect a difficult game," he said. "If you look at Arsenal the team is weakened – but we still did the job.
  "We got careless at times and they made chances because they still have quality up front. But overall we are very satisfied that we kept the performance levels up."
  With his counterpart Wenger likely to come in for more criticism this week, Ferguson again leapt to the Frenchman's defence.
  "I think it is unfair to criticise him," he said. "The job he's done for Arsenal and the philosophy he has – he has given Arsenal some very entertaining players.
  "He's also sold well and looked after the Arsenal coffers. People forget these things. It's a cynical world now and when you lose a few games the judges come out."
  Rooney hailed an "incredible" team performance after his hat-trick inspired the rout. During an avalanche of scoring, Rooney surpassed 150 United goals as Ashley Young (two), Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-sung all got their names on the scoresheet.
  An under-strength Arsenal replied through Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie, but Wenger's biggest Premier League defeat was soured further by the sending off of Carl Jenkinson.
  "The performance today was incredible and we deserved the result," Rooney said.
  "Whether or not Arsenal have a full-strength squad every time we play them we have a go and try score. They had some players out but that should take nothing away from us."
  Rooney's landmark goal also continued a trend against the Gunners. "A lot of my milestone goals have come against Arsenal," he added. "My first goal when I was at Everton was against them and my first United goal in the Premier League came against them too."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=2]Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal[/h] [h=1]Shell-shocked Arsenal troops led by a general stripped of his virtue[/h] When his side was invincible, Arsène Wenger was quite properly given credit for his genius. Now failure has to be laid at his door

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• • Richard Williams at Old Trafford
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011 21.14 BST Article history
  
  Arsène Wenger has pursued a policy of restocking his squad with promising young players but not enough of them have fulfilled his ambitions, and not enough senior players of stature have been recruited. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images
  
  If they were a regiment of soldiers, Arsenal would be swiftly withdrawn from the line. In their fifth game of a new season, they looked weary and shell-shocked. The general who led them to so many victories now stands stripped of his virtue, his plans dismantled by an old foe whose own troops looked fit for this or any other battle.
  Arsène Wenger is a strong character – no one who survives at the helm of a Premier League side for a decade and a half could be anything else – but in the wake of this defeat, in which Arsenal conceded eight goals for the first time in more than a century, you had to wonder whether he will be able to summon the resilience needed to overcome such a catastrophe.
  "You know me well," he said on Sunday night, from behind a dignified façade. "I think you should give me some time before you say I have got it completely wrong." But everything he has built with such loving care over 15 years had just come crashing down at the home of the club who have provided the reference point since his arrival in England and whom he once aspired to remove from the pinnacle of English football.
  In effect, Sir Alex Ferguson had taken him on at his own game – the placing of trust in skill, enterprise and gilded youth – and triumphed in every conceivable dimension.
  Back in 2002, after his side had just won the Double, Wenger spoke of "a shift in the balance of power". He was talking about disrupting United's hegemony on a permanent basis, and for a while he seemed to be making it come true. But this defeat came as the culmination of a sequence of events which have been building since their defeat in the European Cup final with a lacklustre performance against Barcelona in the spring of 2006.
  United, of course, have lost two European Cup finals against the Catalans in recent years, giving a similarly unsatisfactory account of themselves on both occasions. But Ferguson reacted to those failures by ensuring that the club suffered no loss of self-esteem. The same cannot be said for Wenger and Arsenal.
  Until this month, when he was forced to part with Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri, the Frenchman had a reputation for letting top players move elsewhere only when it suited Arsenal's purposes, or at least their finances. For a long time he pursued a policy of restocking his squad with promising young players whom he could rely on to accept his philosophy. Not enough of them have fulfilled his ambitions and not enough senior players of stature have been recruited to help bring them to maturity.
  It would be easy enough to place the blame on the players in his patched-up team. For all the suspensions and injuries – three of one and five of the other – that afflicted the squad, there were still two or three senior figures wearing Arsenal shirts whom he would have been better off without. Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky, both of them experienced internationals, were among the side's most feckless performers.
  Robin van Persie was another. When Fábregas left this month, Wenger transferred the captaincy to the Dutch striker – seemingly another in the line of star players to whom he has given the armband as a way of persuading them to stay at the club – rather than identifying a proper leader in the mould of Eddie Hapgood, Joe Mercer, Frank McLintock, Tony Adams or Patrick Vieira. On Sunday Van Persie rewarded him by hitting a penalty so poorly that David de Gea was able to make a good save.
  It was the 27th minute, and the score was 1-0 to United. An equaliser might have changed the complexion of the contest. The failure knocked them back, and no group of players have more recent experience of such an occurrence than Arsenal, who so clearly benefited when Antonio Di Natale failed to score from the penalty spot in Italy last Wednesday night. Wojciech Szczesny's save invigorated Arsenal while deflating Udinese, and De Gea's success exerted precisely the same effect. A few seconds later Ashley Young scored the first of his two tremendous goals and the contest was over.
  In his role as a curator of young talent, Wenger will be hoping that the nature of the defeat does not have a lasting effect on Francis Coquelin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the two young debutants whom he found himself selecting here. Neither should have been exposed to such an ordeal.
  When his side were invincible, Wenger was quite properly given the credit for his genius. Now failure must be laid at his door. And on Sunday night he suffered the additional humiliation of being patronised by his greatest rival.
  "When you lose a few games the judge is out and we've seen managers go early in the season many, many times," Ferguson said. "It's unfair, but it keeps on going."
  Wenger will buy a player or two before the transfer window closes on Wednesday night, the club's unhelpful wage structure permitting, although it may now be harder to persuade those who were watching on Sunday. He will get his missing players back. But it will be a long time before the scars of this extraordinary defeat are allowed to fade.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

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[h=2]Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal[/h] [h=1]Grim day for Arsenal but Arsène Wenger says he will not be leaving[/h] • Worst defeat since 1896 puts further strain on manager
• Arsenal disarray in contrast to Manchester United's glee

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• Andy Hunter at Old Trafford
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011 22.05 BST Article history
  
  
  Arsène Wenger said there were 'special circumstances' behind the 8-2 defeat. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images
  
  First and second in the Premier League, yet to drop a point, and the architects of a day of ritual humiliation for north London by an aggregate scoreline of 13-3. There is added vigour to the Manchester swagger.
  City produced the day's first statement of intent with an emphatic 5-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur where Edin Dzeko, so often maligned last season, scored four times for the richest club on the planet. United responded to their local rivals' declaration as they often do, putting them in the shade and Arsène Wenger under further scrutiny with an remarkable 8-2 rout of Arsenal. It was Arsenal's heaviest defeat since 1896, when Loughborough Town inflicted a record 8-0 loss, United's biggest victory since an 8-1 win at Nottingham Forest in 1999 and their greatest at Old Trafford since routing Ipswich Town 9-0 in 1995. It was a result that raised the question to Wenger of whether he would consider his position at the club after 15 years.
  "No, because I feel it was under very special circumstances," the Arsenal manager replied, pointing out that eight senior players were absent through injury or suspension and that three games into a new season, one that has brought Champions League football to the Emirates Stadium, is an indecent time for such a debate.
  "It is a terribly painful defeat but I don't compare whether it is the most painful of all.It is painful and that's it. We have played three league games and two Champions League games and it is at the end of a season when you can make a balanced decision. Of course this hurts, it was humiliating, but you could see we had not recovered physically from Wednesday night [when Arsenal beat Udinese], we had eight players out, they had class and they punished us."
  Arsenal finished without a full complement of players for the third league game in succession, the raw right-back Carl Jenkinson dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 77th minute, and Sir Alex Ferguson was almost patronising in his sympathy. The United manager said: "We scored some fantastic goals. We could have scored more but you don't want to score more against a weakened team like that."
  Wayne Rooney scored the sixth hat‑trick of his United career to take his total for the club to 152 goals, beyond Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy. "A lot of my milestones have come against Arsenal," said the England striker. "My first ever goal for Everton was against them, so was my first Premier League goal for Manchester United and now the 150th has come against them. It is still very early in the season but it was an incredible performance from us."
  Wenger claimed "it was not an 8-2 game" and insisted he is not entirely culpable for Arsenal's struggles in the transfer market. "We have the money if we can find players who can strengthen our team but I am not the only one working on that at Arsenal. We have 20 people working on that, but today we had too many players missing. We didn't have the squad to cope. We have not found the solutions. It is difficult to find excuses after a game like that but we are behind the other clubs in terms of wages."
  The Arsenal manager confirmed he is close to signing the Monaco forward Park Chu-Young and denied reports he is interested in the Evertonmidfielder Mikel Arteta. As for increased criticism of his handling of the club, Wenger said: "I am in a public job and I have to accept that. The players we have sold are players I brought to the club. You know me well and should give me more time before saying, 'Have I have got it right?' We were poor defensively and we collapsed more physically than mentally."
  Samir Nasri made an impressive debut in City's win and believes the two Manchester clubs have set an early standard. "I had a good game but the most important thing is we won 5-1 and sent out a signal to other clubs," he said. "This is just the start of the season, it's important to keep our confidence, but I'm convinced we have a great team here and can win things," he said.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=2]Tottenham Hotspur 1-5 Manchester City[/h] [h=1]Manchester City's Samir Nasri relishes near perfect debut against Tottenham[/h] French midfielder stands out for his new club in a dominant team performance to make Luka Modric envious

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• • David Hytner at White Hart Lane
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011 21.03 BST Article history
  
  Samir Nasri could hardly have chosen a better way to begin his time at Manchester City. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
  
  So, Samir Nasri, do you think you might have done the right thing in joining Manchester City? As debuts went, this was about as perfect as it could have got, right down to the detail of this dramatic statement of intent coming in north London, where the Frenchman is now disliked on both sides of the divide.
  City's latest signing from crisis‑torn Arsenal considered the point as he presented the man-of-the-match champagne to the unstoppable Edin Dzeko, with whom he had linked to devastating effect. Yet his thoughts were fixed on exciting times ahead.
  "Boring, boring City" sang the travelling hordes, their tongues pressed firmly in their cheeks. It is now 12 goals in three Premier League matches and nine points from nine. "I am convinced we can win things," Nasri said. Nobody could disagree.
  The principal sub-plot of what had been billed as a finely balanced early‑season encounter but ended up bringing angst and recrimination to Tottenham Hotspur was the tale of two unsettled midfielders. While Nasri managed to force through his protracted £24m transfer and his football consequently basked in a sense of liberation, Luka Modric has so far had no such luck.
  The Croat remains desperate to join Chelsea but his ambitions have cast dark clouds over Tottenham's summer. Harry Redknapp revealed that Modric, who had missed the club's opening matches of the season because "his head hasn't been right", came in to see him two hours before kick-off to tell him he did not want to play.
  The manager told him that he had to start, yet there was no mistaking his frustrations. Nor those of Modric who, after a bright opening, faded badly, rather like his team. The crowd had bellowed their encouragement to him – they are practically begging him to stay – and when he was substituted they booed the decision. Modric, though, somewhat sheepishly, kept his head down as he walked to the bench.
  "Luka's head's not right again today," Redknapp said. "He came to see me, at probably 11.30am, and he told me that he didn't feel his head was right. I told him he needed to play. His head's been turned. It's probably been turned again last night. We all know what goes on in the game.
  "Something happened last night, I don't know what. He was OK to play yesterday morning. While he still sees a chink of light to go to Chelsea, he's probably doing what he's been told is the best idea to get to Chelsea. It's part of football, whether it's agents talking to him. He's getting advised maybe not to play today. We've seen it before."
  Chelsea were reported to have made a £40m bid on Saturday night, their third offer of the summer, but Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, is adamant that Modric will stay. Redknapp is confident of completing the signing of Scott Parker from West Ham United while he has a serious interest in Manchester City's Craig Bellamy, Real Madrid's Lassana Diarra and Bolton Wanderers' Gary Cahill. Wilson Palacios has undergone a medical at Stoke City ahead of his proposed transfer there, while Peter Crouch has also been heavily linked to the Potteries club.
  "We've had a terrible pre-season," Redknapp said. "There's been a feeling round the place ... for me, it's not been right. People going, people wanting to go ... Crouchie to Stoke in the papers every day and we have to play him. No one's ever told me that he's going to Stoke. It's all been a bit unsettling. The place needs a lift and I've told that to the chairman."
  The contrast to what Nasri can now enjoy at City is startling. He had trainedonly three times with his new team‑mates after his arrival last week but, surrounded by high quality and unstinting endeavour, he found it straightforward to settle.
  Nasri was involved in the creation of 11 chances in total but it was his crosses for the first two goals that made the most telling mark. He drifted dangerously from his starting position on the left, his passing was intelligent and his touch and flicks were sometimes breathtaking.
  Unsurprisingly Modric appeared to look on with no little envy.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=2]Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal[/h] [h=1]Manchester United have far too much pace for inexperienced Arsenal[/h] Sir Alex Ferguson's team, bursting with speed and movement, tore apart a youthful side who were simply too raw to cope

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• • David Pleat
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011 20.47 BST Article history
  
  Ashley Young showed great movement against the inexperienced Carl Jenkinson down the left wing. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images
  
  Manchester United showed their current exhilarating style of fast passing and speed both with and without the ball. Sir Alex Ferguson has collected a group with pace and movement, which opponents are going to find excruciatingly painful. With strong, quick running, they destroyed Arsenal's rejigged team and particularly their inexperienced back four. I suffered a 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford in 1997. It hurts.
  Arsenal staggered through the first half, with their defenders playing far too high up the field. They left acres of space between themselves and the goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, which United ruthlessly exploited. It was very strange that Arsenal did not change their tactics at half-time. I thought then that, unless they made positional and strategic changes, they would be continually hounded.
  Ashley Young showed great movement against the inexperienced Carl Jenkinson down the left wing. With Jenkinson marking tight and too far upfield, Young faded towards Patrice Evra before spinning behind or inside, taking the full-back with him. When Young came inside, Evra had the space to hit for Danny Welbeck's surging runs, a pattern that continued after Welbeck's hamstring injury.
  Arsenal desperately required a Frank McLintock, David O'Leary, Tony Adams or Sol Campbell – a voice, a leader, a sense of direction. They also needed a battling group to stem the supply. Tom Cleverley and Wayne Rooney were unopposed as they picked passes. You cannot squeeze play from the back if your midfield players are not getting tight. Quite simply, United had too much space and too much pace.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend[/h] Liverpool fun to watch again; Manchester rules; Blackburn don't have to panic; give Ireland a chance and sympathy for Rodallega

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Summer signing Charlie Adam is one of the reasons Liverpool are fun to watch again. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

[h=2]Liverpool are fun to watch again[/h]Liverpool started 2011 with an entirely different sort of victory over Bolton Wanderers from the one they enjoyed on Saturday. It came just after a 1-0 defeat at home to Wolves which represented the nadir in Roy Hodgson's reign, was secured by a 90th-minute winner from Joe Cole and served only to paper over the very obvious cracks. The style of football was appalling, the fans were in a volcanic funk and Hodgson, about as popular on Merseyside as An Evening with Gary Neville at the Everyman, was gone by the following Saturday, replaced by Kenny Dalglish. If Hodgson had not been sacked, there was a possibility that Liverpool could have been relegated – unlikely but not unimaginable.
How different the outlook is now. Above all else Dalglish's biggest achievement has been making Liverpool watchable again, perhaps for the first time since the days of Roy Evans. An afternoon watching a Gérard Houllier side was enough to make one search the TV guide to see if the test card was on even if his sides were generally successful. Rafael Benítez was not necessarily negative but his teams were controlled and could be defensive; they had spurts of attacking brilliance, particularly in March 2009 when they put 13 goals past Real Madrid, Manchester United and Aston Villa, but it was never sustained.
Dalglish is changing that, allowing Liverpool to play with a freedom and inventiveness which has not been their trademark of late. Last season Liverpool hinted at a side about to burst into life when they beat Fulham 5-2 and Bolton were similarly helpless on Saturday. It could have been more than 3-1. It would have been if Luis Suárez's aim had not been off in front of goal. Not that his lack of accuracy mattered when he could produce such a marvellous assist with the outside of his right foot that led to Jordan Henderson scoring his first goal for the club with a curling shot.
Henderson has struggled to convince Liverpool's fans of his worth but against Bolton he was an important part of a midfield that passed elegantly, moved well off the ball and had width in the shape of Stewart Downing. It has been unkindly suggested that Charlie Adam provides a different sort of width as well but he looked in fine fettle. And anyway, who needs to run when you have his vision? Although Liverpool are not about to mount a title challenge, they must be increasingly confident of a return to the Champions League. JS
[h=2]La Liga does not look so uncompetitive now[/h]Manchester 13-3 north London sounds like a Housemartins album and it looks like the dawn of a new era. Manchester is now the epicentre of English football for the first time since 1968, when Manchester City won the league and Manchester United gazumped them by winning the European Cup. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth and fifth last season; the former were in for four trophies at one stage, the latter got to the last eight of the Champions League. And both were humiliated in a manner few would have predicted.
Plenty in England have spent the last few years calling Barcelona and Real Madrid a rich man's version of Celtic and Rangers, which does not look so clever now. United's 8-2 win over Arsenal was something of a freak given the depleted nature of Arsène Wenger's side and the state they have got themselves into, but City winning 5-1 at White Hart Lane is more portentous. Harry Redknapp is not making excuses when he says Spurs cannot compete with City. He is just telling the truth, although United are not so intimidated. Chelsea may find themselves in the unusual position of neutrals hoping they get their act together under André Villas-Boas, if only for a bit of variety at the top. JS
[h=2]Blackburn don't have to panic yet[/h]Not too much sympathy should be afforded Blackburn for their two missed penalties in the 1-0 home defeat by Everton, Junior Hoilett and Mauro Formica the guilty parties. Failing to score from 12 yards is hardly ever unfortunate. John Terry hitting the post in Moscow in 2008 was not unlucky. No one else slipped. It was just poor technique. The same applies to Brazil in their Copa América quarter-final against Paraguay last month.
However, Blackburn do not have to panic yet, especially as the promoted sides have managed only one win between them. Although Rovers have picked up zero points from their first three games, winning the penalties in the first place at least means they must have been doing something right and they certainly had enough chances to beat Everton. That they failed was down to wastefulness and an exceptional display from Tim Howard, while they lost only because of a ludicrous decision by Lee Mason to award a penalty for a supposed foul by Christopher Samba in the last minute.
Steve Kean – who does, admittedly, seem out of his depth – should be more worried about losing a game to Everton in August. Not even all the fried chicken in the world could make up for that embarrassment. JS
[h=2]Villa need to give Ireland a chance[/h]After the outpouring of anger from Aston Villa fans following the appointment of Alex McLeish, the former Birmingham manager said he would do his best to bring the fans on side. "Let me prove myself and I will win you over … I am the man for this job," he said. After seeing the type of football their city rivals played, fans were sceptical and Saturday's turgid display in the Midlands derby against Wolves showed they have a point. It was the lowest Premier League attendance (30,776) for Wolves' trip to Villa Park since December 2006 – read into that what you will but it does not bode well for McLeish.
Attractive football attracts the fans but Villa did not provide anything resembling that on Saturday. The majority of the passes from Villa's central duo, Fabian Delph and Stiliyan Petrov, were centred around the middle of the pitch with neither player offering any sense of penetration. Most of Delph's and Petrov's passes that went awry were those aimed towards the goal. McLeish, of course, has a ready-made solution for this lack of creativity in Stephen Ireland.
In the 2008-09 season Ireland was named Manchester City's player of the year and awarded a five-year contract on the back of his midfield exploits where he was the creative fulcrum for Mark Hughes's side. But things have not gone so well for the Irishman since. When the millions rolled in at City, he rolled out to Villa. There he was criticised by Houllier last season – "Ireland needs to work harder … We know he is a good player but I don't want to have a situation where you say 'he is a good player, but … '" – before spending the second half of the season enduring a difficult loan period at Newcastle.
But Ireland, when on form, has exactly the sort of qualities that the Villa midfield lack. He can carry the ball forward, split defences and create chances, qualities that neither Delph nor Petrov has or certainly shows on a regular basis.
After two goalless draws this season it is time for McLeish to put his confidence in Ireland and give him an extended run in the side. Otherwise he may just find that more boring draws follow and that fans keep voting with their feet. IMC
[h=2]Oh you … beauty![/h]We've all been there. You're waiting patiently for a pass. You haven't seen much of the ball all afternoon. You're in space. Your fellow striker has the ball. And he's going for another shot. His 13th of the match. Like every shot he's had, it will be heading into orbit. So you get ready to aim a load of vitriol the way of the greedy bugger, only to see the ball fly off his boot and into the top corner, the script going a little like this: "WHY WON'T YOU PA … OH WHAT A GOAL! YOU GENIUS!"
Which was the fate of Wigan Athletic's Hugo Rodallega against QPR. Piqued by Franco Di Santo taking a cross off his toes, the Colombian flung his arms in the air as if he really did care and got ready to blast his team-mate, only to see Argentina's answer to Emile Heskey turn and score. Hugo, you have our sympathies. And as we are in a generous mood, we will ignore the fact Di Santo's effort took a massive deflection off Bruno Perone. JS