Transfer news...

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[h=1]EXCLUSIVE: Qataris in new £1.5bn-plus United bid[/h] Published 02:00 16/09/11 By Alan Nixon

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...id-by-Qatari-royal-family-article799988.html#

Manchester United are a £1.5billion-plus target for a new takeover bid by the Qatari royal family.
Top Middle East sources revealed last night that an official approach to the Glazer family is being made and a deal could even be clinched by next week.
The American owners - who have angered fans by running one of the world's top clubs in their own controversial way - could be open to doing business, despite past refusals.
The super-rich Qataris think United is a good deal - even at the profit it would make for the current rulers and other shareholders.

Qatar has already won the right to host the World Cup finals in 2022 and some of their wealthy elite have bought into top European projects at Spanish club Malaga and French giants Paris St Germain.
Now United is the prize - although the exact identity of the buyer is being kept under wraps.
The Mirror understands that a delegation from the Qatari royal family, headed by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, will be in Manchester on Monday in a bid to conclude the deal.
The news would be a boost for boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who is trying to compete with neighbours Manchester City's new wealth, which also, ironically, comes from the Arab world.

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[h=1]Anderson's jump from dawdler to dazzler offers Manchester United hope[/h] The midfielder's early-season form has offered credence to the view that the Brazilian can finally fulfil his potential at Old Trafford

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  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 September 2011 16.26 BST Article history
  
  After years of underachievment Anderson has benefited from Sir Alex Ferguson's faith and patience. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
  
  Sir Alex Ferguson tells the story of the first time he saw Phil Jones play football and the rare exhilaration of knowing he was witnessing something special. "He was 16," Ferguson recalls. "He was playing against our youth team and he was immense. The next day I phoned Sam Allardyce, who was Blackburn's manager at the time, and he just laughed at me. 'Aye,' he said, 'that boy will be in my first-team on Saturday.'"
  The feeling Ferguson experienced that day was reminiscent of the first time he clapped eyes on a 13-year-old Ryan Wilson (later Giggs) with the ball at his feet and a stream of opponents in pursuit, a moment of euphoria the Manchester United manager once likened to a gold prospector who has panned through every river and mountain suddenly finding himself staring at a nugget.
  Back in 2007 United went to Anfield and it was another 19-year-old, Anderson, who delivered the kind of performance that, for Ferguson, represented one of those moments when all the sweat and frustration and hardships of management felt worthwhile. Anderson did something that day that has rarely been achieved at the home of Liverpool: he dominated Steven Gerrard on his own patch. The first 50-50 set the tone. Anderson snapped into Gerrard's ankles and came away with the ball. The second time it happened, Gerrard fixed him with a stare. It was a look that said: "And you are?"
  What has happened to Anderson over the following years demonstrates how quickly a young player's priorities can blur and why some of the greatest qualities a manager can possess are patience and tolerance. Fortunately for the Brazilian, Ferguson has equal measures of both. But it has been a close-run thing at times and in the worst moments, it was difficult to envisage the situation we have seen this week, of Anderson being deemed so important for a weekend fixture the manager rested him from a Champions League tie.
  Anderson was held back for Sunday's game against Chelsea on the basis that his contribution to United's winning start has been so purposeful and significant. He has been the driving force in the team's midfield during a free-scoring run that has seen them accumulate 18 goals from four league games and while the season is still in its infancy, his hard running, penetrative passing and newly acquired maturity have left us with the sense that this is the juncture when he re-establishes himself as a serious footballer.
  Anderson has been in Manchester four years now, so it is not before time. He has won three Premier League medals, two League Cups and helped the team reach three Champions League finals – and yet the paradox is that he has done all this without shaking the firm impression that this is someone who ought to have delivered more.
  Consider, for example, those Champions League finals. Anderson was a substitute against Chelsea in 2008, replacing Wes Brown in the final seconds of extra time, purely so he could take part in the penalty shoot-out. He was removed at half-time after an undistinguished performance the following year against Barcelona, and did not get off the bench against the same opponents at Wembley in May.
  Gary Neville's autobiography came out this month and the Brazilian does not merit a single mention. Three hundred pages about the glories, the personalities and mechanics of being at a club of United's size and ambition – but not one word about a player who cost €30m (£26.2m in today's exchange rate) to become the fifth most expensive player in the club's history.
  What we have now is a player who is slowly reminding us why Mário Zagallo, Brazil's World Cup-winning coach of 1970, once talked of him as a "prodigy with indisputable quality". That was in 2007 after Dunga had called Anderson into his Copa América squad, and Zagallo's belief was that "everything suggests he is going to be a superstar".
  Since then, however, there have been only eight caps. According to the Globo TV commentator Jon Cotterill, the perception has developed in Brazil of a footballer who has abandoned the qualities that made him so revered in the first place. "Anderson started off as the new Ronaldinho but he's changed his style of play completely. He's learned to mark. He's bulked up. He's more direct. But he seems to have forgotten his talent and creative gifts."
  For United, Anderson has averaged fewer than 20 league starts per season. At the lowest moments he responded to one blast of Ferguson's temper by flying back to Brazil without the club's permission, an indiscretion that cost him a week's wages. There were stories of him meeting officials from Grêmio, the club where he began his career. Anderson, for a time, looked as though he could leave and quickly be forgotten.
  The coaches at Old Trafford talk now of someone who has knuckled down, lost weight and, at 23, is still young enough to consider the best years are yet to come, particularly if he continues to play the kind of mature, intelligent football that Paul Scholes felt was coming before the start of the season. "He can be a bit erratic at times, but you forget he's still a young lad," Scholes, now a member of Ferguson's backroom staff, said. "Hopefully, with a bit more concentration, he can score more goals as well."
  The question of professionalism is relevant because Anderson has had his fair share of lost nights. Not in the places where Manchester's glitterati usually flaunt their wealth, but the kind of venues where the music is a bit louder, the drinks are cheap and the carpets sticky. There have been some embarrassing headlines and like many young, rich Brazilian footballers, the sense that partying should be a way of life, no matter what time training starts the following morning.
  One theory at Old Trafford is that Anderson has benefited from having a steady girlfriend and a young family and, in turn, is gradually shedding his image as the party animal who, 13 months ago, ended up in hospital after leaving a Portuguese nightclub at 6am and crashing off the road. Anderson, dragged unconscious from his burning car, was recovering at the time from a ruptured cruciate ligament, the injury footballers fear the most. "Perhaps he needed that bang on the head," one United official volunteered.
  The question now is the same one that hangs over Jones and it is this: can he keep it up? There have, after all, been other moments in the Anderson story when he has flirted with the idea of becoming an authentic category-A footballer before disappearing back to the edges. "His form so far this season has been brilliant," Ferguson says, "but we always knew he was capable of that."
  The key is maintaining it. These are the moments when Anderson needs to show he has become a grown-up footballer rather than the boy who stayed too young too long. The new Anderson, rather than the new Ronaldinho.
  
  

 

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[h=1]Spurs target Diarra commits future to Real Madrid[/h] Published 11:30 17/09/11 By Football Spy

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...its-future-to-Real-Madrid-article800377.html#

Tottenham target Lassana Diarra has moved to quash ongoing transfer speculation by committing his future to Real Madrid.
The former Chelsea and Arsenal star was linked with a move back to the Premier League in the summer, but told AS newspaper:
"I have a contract with Madrid until 2013 and would like to fulfil the commitment.
"Right now I only care about Madrid and our success. I am a player of Madrid. I will stay here until I finish my contract. My goal is to earn a place in the starting lineup and I'm working hard for it.

"When I finish my contract then I will consider other options. I know what I can [do] and I believe deeply that I can be an important player for the first team," he continued.
Transfer news, rumours and gossip from Saturday's papers

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[h=1]David Anderson's Premier League previews and predictions (Week 5)[/h]

By David Anderson in Mirror Football Blog
Published 12:16 16/09/11

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...-City-Blackburn-v-Arsenal-article800042.html#

Simon Bird's off this week so please welcome David Anderson into the predictions hotseat...
***
Call it coincidence, conspiracy or whatever you want, but whereas Manchester United are home after each of their six Champions League group games, Manchester City are away.
Roberto Mancini shrugged this off when told of it and is prepared to believe it is mere coincidence, caused by the Premier League fixtures computer.

Blues fans may not be so relaxed and for some of them, this will only fuel the paranoid belief that Fergie picks the fixtures.
Certainly, everything has fallen into place for United so far and they got Arsenal at Old Trafford at the perfect time and walloped them 8-2.
Next up at Old Trafford are Chelsea in the weekend's top-of-the-bill Super Sunday 4pm slot and again they are playing Andre Villas-Boas' side at a good time.
The Blues remain in transition and while Fernando Torres can't score, he has no problems hitting his team-mates where it hurts, labelling them Chelsea pensioners.
Meanwhile, City will be on the bus to Craven Cottage and Fulham's Europa League commitments give Mancini's men an extra 24 hours to recover from their exertions against Napoli.
Dealing with a Euro hangover will be a theme this weekend and Harry Redknapp is so determined to be fully focused for the visit of Liverpool on Sunday, that he took his kids to Greece on Thursday night.
Redknapp's attitude to the Europa League is in stark contrast to Tony Pulis' and the Stoke boss is determined to give it his all as his bleary-eyed side travel to Sunderland on Sunday after their marathon trip to Dynamo Kiev.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Blackburn v Arsenal, 12.45pm
Blackburn and Arsenal kick off the weekend action in the clash of the crisis clubs. Both Steve Kean and Arsene Wenger have been feeling the heat, although I suspect the Rovers boss would love the Frenchman's problems.
Poor old Kean is besieged on all sides and the fans are planning a protest march before the game, calling for him to be replaced with Mark Hughes.
Venky's didn't help when they put a statement calling for fans to back the team and didn't mention him.
The Gunners are showing signs of turning the corner and can pick up their first away win of the campaign at Ewood.
Prediction: Blackburn 0-2 Arsenal
Aston Villa v Newcastle, 3pm
Despite having virtually anyone of any value sold by the board, Alan Pardew has somehow managed to maintain Newcastle's unbeaten start to the season.
Unfortunately for Pardew, this may encourage owner Mike Ashley to try and flog off a few more players in January.
Villa are also unbeaten in the league and I feel both will still be undefeated come teatime on Saturday.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle
Bolton v Norwich, 3pm
Two of Paisley's most famous sons in Owen Coyle and Paul Lambert will do battle at the Reebok.
After Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United in their last games, Norwich will be a relief for Coyle and his side need a win to get back on track.
The Canaries have just a point on the road and I don't see them adding to that.
Prediction: Bolton 2-1 Norwich
Everton v Wigan, 3pm
Everton will be hoping to continue their revival by getting their first home league win of the season and they will do if Wigan are as poor as they were at City last Saturday.
They never turned up as boss Roberto Martinez accused them of showing City too much respect.
The Latics will have their work cut out against a Blues side, whose confidence is returning.
Prediction: Everton 2-0 Wigan
Swansea v West Brom, 3pm
Could this finally be the game when Swansea score their first Premier League goal?
The Baggies' miserly defence suggests otherwise, but the Swans' luck has got to turn sometime.
Prediction: Swansea 1-2 West Brom
Wolves v QPR, 3pm
Adel Taarabt has the chance to prove to Neil Warnock he should not be behind him in the queue for a new contract.
The North African has yet to sparkle for Rangers and this is his chance against a Wolves side who have made a fine start to the season.
Will he take it?
Prediction: Wolves 1-0 QPR
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Tottenham v Liverpool, 1.30pm
This game could have a significant bearing on the race for the Champions League spot.
Liverpool held a seven-point lead over Spurs before last weekend and a fifth straight win for Harry Redknapp's side over the Reds at White Hart Lane would narrow that to just a point.
Kenny Dalglish's side suffered their first defeat at Stoke last Saturday and another reverse in north London would undo all their good work in August.
Prediction: Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool
Fulham v Manchester City, 3pm
After Napoli, Fulham should be more straight forward for City.
They produced one of the best performances of the season in this fixture last season and they have the firepower to shoot Fulham down again.
They will also have 24 hours more than Fulham to recover from their European exertions.
Prediction: Fulham 0-3 Manchester City
Sunderland v Stoke, 3pm
Apparently Sunderland owner Ellis Short is getting twitchy because of Sunderland's winless start in yet another sign of how unreasonable proprietors can be.
Steve Bruce isn't helped by Phil Bardsley's four-match ban, but he should be helped by Stoke's trek to Kiev and back in the Europa League.
Tony Pulis has vowed to give Europe his best shot and Bruce can reap the dividends against his tired side.
Prediction: Sunderland 2-1 Stoke
Manchester United v Chelsea, 4pm
It only be mid-September, but United can open up a five-point lead over Chelsea if they beat them at Old Trafford.
That only heaps more pressure on Andre Villas-Boas in the title race and he cannot afford to lose his first clash with Fergie.
To be honest, I think it's all irrelevant anyway and I can't see anyone stopping United winning the title because of their vast squad.
Fergie will demonstrate that on Sunday by wheeling back all his big guns for the visit of John Terry and Co.
Prediction: Manchester United 1-0 Chelsea
How do you think David's predictions will fare? Let us know by leaving a comment below...
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...-City-Blackburn-v-Arsenal-article800042.html# Print Send Share

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[h=1]PSG join the chase for Beckham[/h] Published 12:09 16/09/11 By MirrorFootball

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...r-La-Galaxy-David-Beckham-article800030.html#

Former AC Milan coach Leonardo would be open to linking up with David Beckham again at Paris St Germain.
The Brazilian, now sporting director at the Parc des Princes, worked with the the former England captain when he was loaned from the Los Angeles Galaxy to the San Siro club.
With the 36-year-old in the final year of his Major League Soccer contract, speculation is rife as to what his next move will be.
Leonardo told BBC Sport: "The door is open. He is more than a football player - he's a brand, a pop star. I would always consider him.

"He respects the rules, listens to you and wants the best for the team. That's why for me he is a big example. I worked with him and that's why I talk about his name."
PSG are the financial powerhouses of French football having been taken over by the Qatar Sports Investments this summer.
It means the club would certainly have the means to bring Beckham to Paris, while Leonardo's history with the player could also be a factor.
"I coached him at AC Milan and we created a good relationship," said the Brazilian.
"He is more than a football player, but when you see him every day he trains and plays like a kid.
"He is someone that I really appreciate and admire so much - his values and everything he has done in football."
Beckham has also been linked with a move to Barclays Premier League clubs QPR and Tottenham.
Transfer news, rumours and gossip from Friday's papers

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[h=1]Samba: I got distracted by Arsenal transfer talk[/h] Published 21:00 16/09/11 By David Anderson

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...rned-his-head-this-summer-article800264.html#

Chris Samba has admitted he let his head be turned by Arsenal.
Samba was quoted as saying he wanted to quit Blackburn for the Gunners, because they could fulfil his dream of playing Champions League football.
The Rovers skipper denies ever saying that, but admits he did become unsettled by Arsene Wenger's interest.
"It's difficult, because you think about your future, your dreams and your own ambition," he said. "Some people will understand, some won't.

"You ask people what club they dream of playing for and you'll hear different answers. Today, if a club playing in the Champions League came in for me and showed interest, of course I'd be flattered.
"I don't say I've been perfect in my approach to all that, but I'm still learning and maybe I should have been a little bit more focused."
Samba is keen to pledge his loyalty to rock-bottom Blackburn and manager Steve Kean, who will face fresh calls from fans for his head ahead of Arsenal's Saturday lunchtime visit to Ewood Park.
"I'm a professional football player, a Blackburn player, so I need to keep doing what I do best for Blackburn," said the centre-half.
"Of course Steve has my full backing. We have to be realistic about our position, but we have been unlucky.
"We want to get a result against Arsenal for everyone at the club. Of course it will help make the manager's job easier and it's never nice to read negative things."
Samba also admits he was wrong to criticise owners Venky's when they took over last December and promptly sacked boss Sam Allardyce.
"It wasn't an easy time because we changed manager when I thought there was no reason to change," he said. "But football is a crazy business and you don't always understand what happens every time on and off the pitch. It just happens.
"Things are better now and we're behind the manager. We know a couple of wins would change everybody's mind."
David Anderson's Premier League previews and predictions (Week 5)
Hoilett passed fit for Arsenal match
Arsenal pair return from bans for Blackburn trip
EXCLUSIVE: Solskjaer is on Blackburn boss hit-list
Kean is "very much safe" says Blackburn co-owner
We'll make match a 'living hell' for Arsenal - Samba
Samba: I got distracted by Arsenal transfer talk
Rock-bottom Blackburn are a massive test - Wenger

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[h=1]Oliver Holt's big match verdict: Mata is just Juanderful - but Chelsea strikers must sharpen up[/h]

By Oliver Holt in Mirror Football Blog
Published 21:59 13/09/11

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...-strikers-must-sharpen-up-article798746.html#

Half an hour before kick off, John Terry wandered through the press room and stopped to talk.
The conversation turned to the Chelsea captain's new teammate Juan Mata and his ability on the ball.
Before long, someone had dragged up some footage on their computer screen of Mata at a Spain training session. Terry had not seen it before.
It showed Mata performing an outrageous nutmeg on Raul Albiol, and the rest of the Spain players rushing to congratulate him. (See the clip below).

Terry, rested for the evening by Andre Villas-Boas, smiled and wandered off to take his place in the dugout and watch Mata try to repeat his magic against Bayer Leverkusen.
Mata, after all, is the player that Fernando Torres singled out in his controversial interview with the La Liga website as the man who would make all the difference to him and Chelsea.
Torres may have described other teammates as old and the Chelsea build-up as ponderous but Mata, he said, would help to change that.
Operating on the left side of Chelsea's front three, Mata, 23, did his best to do that very thing.
His technique alone sets him apart from most of his teammates and makes him a wonderful player to watch.
His touch is perfect, his ease on the ball is total, his vision sharp and piercing, his left foot almost as cultured as David Silva's.
Chelsea paid £24million for Mata and he has got class written all over him.
He was Chelsea's most creative threat by a country mile, providing a steady stream of passes and crosses for Torres in particular.
Time after time, he teased the Leverkusen defence with set pieces and darting runs and although his delivery was dangerous, Chelsea's forwards rarely looked like capitalising on it.
After Chelsea had taken the lead midway through the second half, Mata had two chances in quick succession to widen their advantage.
Then, in the dying seconds, Torres broke free down the left and unselfishly squared the ball to Mata, who rolled it into the empty net to seal Chelsea's victory.
It was a classy touch from Torres but the least Mata deserved on his Chelsea Champions League debut. He is going to grace this competition for years to come.
Chelsea are likely to rely on him heavily this season in the attacking third of the pitch and they will look to him to try to unlock Manchester United's redoubtable defence at Old Trafford on Sunday.
He already looks like a terrific signing, a lavishly talented young player who will only get better. Torres was right about Mata.
Now he just needs to prove he can prosper from his arrival.

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[h=1]Wigan refuse to let Kirkland go out on loan[/h] Published 22:30 15/09/11 By Jeremy Butler

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...i-for-first-team-football-article799881.html#

Former England keeper Chris Kirkland has been told to forget about trying to resurrect his career with a loan move.
The Wigan shot-stopper missed out on a rare outing when boss Roberto Martinez left him on the bench for the Carling Cup defeat at Crystal Palace on Tuesday.
And he has been hit with another body blow after discovering Martinez has no intention of letting him head off to the Championship on loan.
Kirkland was replaced as first choice by Bolton loanee Ali Al-Habsi after shipping 10 goals in the opening two games last season.

Since then he has managed just two more games for the Latics, filling in twice against Bolton when loan rules stopped Al-Habsi playing against his parent club.
At least last term he managed three games on loan at Leicester - an option Martinez is no longer willing to consider.
"We had phone calls in window but it was nothing serious because we didn't want him to go," said Martinez.
"The good thing is he has not accepted being number two to Ali and I don't want him to accept it. He has been very important in the past to Wigan and he has massive role in our dressing room.
"Chris has a fighting mentality and wants to be the number one and that is why I want him in the dressing room.
"If he did accept being second choice, it would be the time to move him on."
Martinez explained his reasoning for denying Kirkland a morale-boosting appearance in the Carling Cup.
"Goalkeeper is a very unique position," he said. "In the past we have used a keeper in the league and a different keeper in the cup. But this year I changed that.
"Ali missed two weeks of pre-season because he was away on international duty and he needed the game."
Kirkland won his sole England cap as a second half sub against Greece in August 2006.
He also boasts a Champions League winner's medal, having sat on the bench when Liverpool won the trophy in Istanbul in 2005.

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[h=2]Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal, 12.45pm Saturday 17 September[/h] [h=1]Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal are at the start of a new cycle[/h] • Wenger says the club can still challenge on all fronts
• 'We want to win trophies and will give absolutely everything'

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• Jamie Jackson
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 September 2011 23.02 BST Article history
  
  
  The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, believes his side are at the beginning of a new cycle. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters
  
  Arsène Wenger has said that Arsenal are at the start of a new cycle as he integrates the summer signings into his squad, but he believes the club are still strong enough to challenge on all fronts.
  The manager signed eight players in the summer, although their main business was concluded late on, in the wake of the departures of Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri. Yossi Benyoun, Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker and André Santos were all completed on the final day.
  Wenger takes his team to Blackburn Rovers for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off hoping to build on last week's 1-0 win over Swansea and the 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
  The manager said: "The cycle starts again because we have taken five players [towards end of the window]. But we have invested as well, our highest investment has been in [Alex Oxlade-] Chamberlain, a young player. We will not give up on our youth policy."
  Arsenal have not won a major trophy since 2005 and Wenger conceded that it is difficult to balance the beginning of a new cycle with the fans' expectations. "Yes. I agree completely but we want our fans to be happy, we want to win trophies and we will give absolutely everything to do it," he said.
  "Is the balance difficult to find? Of course. But look at the Champions League results of all the English teams – it is not as easy as it looks to cope with both [that competition and the Premier League]. In the modern society [the cycle takes] zero days."
  Despite finishing fourth last season Wenger said that, even with the need to rebuild, matching that achievement would not be acceptable. "For me, no," he said.
  He also admitted that the challenge of taking on Rovers at Ewood Park will test the mental fortitude of a side that will be without the injured Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Sébastien Squillaci, Aaron Ramsey and Thomas Vermaelen.
  "It's a massive test for us," he said. "If you want to play a good role in the Premier League, the way you transition from Champions League to [the] championship is important. And playing away from home after a Champions League game is vital as well.
  "Let's win the next game. The most difficult is to show consistency, in any sport, and we have managed that above and beyond expectations, and nobody else has done better than us on the consistency level. It's true that since five years we don't win the championship [actually seven], we don't win the Champions League and I am disappointed not doing that – there is still a chance."
  Wenger also defended Stan Kroenke, who is yet to address the fans publicly since becoming the majority shareholder in April. "I feel he leaves us to do the job, he will certainly speak out at some stage."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Samba: I got distracted by Arsenal transfer talk[/h] Published 21:00 16/09/11 By David Anderson

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...rned-his-head-this-summer-article800264.html#

Chris Samba has admitted he let his head be turned by Arsenal.
Samba was quoted as saying he wanted to quit Blackburn for the Gunners, because they could fulfil his dream of playing Champions League football.
The Rovers skipper denies ever saying that, but admits he did become unsettled by Arsene Wenger's interest.
"It's difficult, because you think about your future, your dreams and your own ambition," he said. "Some people will understand, some won't.

"You ask people what club they dream of playing for and you'll hear different answers. Today, if a club playing in the Champions League came in for me and showed interest, of course I'd be flattered.
"I don't say I've been perfect in my approach to all that, but I'm still learning and maybe I should have been a little bit more focused."
Samba is keen to pledge his loyalty to rock-bottom Blackburn and manager Steve Kean, who will face fresh calls from fans for his head ahead of Arsenal's Saturday lunchtime visit to Ewood Park.
"I'm a professional football player, a Blackburn player, so I need to keep doing what I do best for Blackburn," said the centre-half.
"Of course Steve has my full backing. We have to be realistic about our position, but we have been unlucky.
"We want to get a result against Arsenal for everyone at the club. Of course it will help make the manager's job easier and it's never nice to read negative things."
Samba also admits he was wrong to criticise owners Venky's when they took over last December and promptly sacked boss Sam Allardyce.
"It wasn't an easy time because we changed manager when I thought there was no reason to change," he said. "But football is a crazy business and you don't always understand what happens every time on and off the pitch. It just happens.
"Things are better now and we're behind the manager. We know a couple of wins would change everybody's mind."
David Anderson's Premier League previews and predictions (Week 5)
Hoilett passed fit for Arsenal match
Arsenal pair return from bans for Blackburn trip
EXCLUSIVE: Solskjaer is on Blackburn boss hit-list
Kean is "very much safe" says Blackburn co-owner
We'll make match a 'living hell' for Arsenal - Samba
Samba: I got distracted by Arsenal transfer talk
Rock-bottom Blackburn are a massive test - Wenger

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[h=1]Blues kid set to swap St Andrew's for Argyle[/h] Published 20:59 16/09/11 By James Nursey

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...a-Zigic-is-fit-next-month-article800298.html#

Birmingham striker Jake Jervis is wanted on loan by Plymouth, the Football League's bottom club.
Cash-strapped Argyle want the 6ft 3in ex-trainee to boost their attack.
Jervis, 19, has only made one sub appearance for Blues, and City boss Chris Hughton will be prepared to let to let him go out on loan once fellow target-man Nikola Zigic returns to fitness later this month.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/tra...a-Zigic-is-fit-next-month-article800298.html# Print Send Share

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• Sport
• Football
• Premier League 2011-12

[h=4]Series: Squad sheets[/h] Previous | Next | Index

[h=1]Squad sheets: Manchester United v Chelsea[/h]

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 September 2011 13.48 BST Article history
  Manchester United have won their last three matches with Chelsea in all competitions and that reflects the greater progress they have made in renewing their squad. Continuity of management has helped the Old Trafford project, but Chelsea have spent heavily since the January transfer window. André Villas-Boas must hope for impact even if the line-up is accused of being one-paced. Didier Drogba remains out for the visitors with concussion while Michael Essien is not expected to return from a knee injury until February. Kevin McCarra
  Venue Old Trafford, Sunday 4pm
  Tickets Sold out
  Last season Manchester Utd 2 Chelsea 1
  Referee Phil Dowd
  This season's matches 4 Y21, R0, 5.25 cards per game
  Odds Manchester Utd 11-13 Chelsea 4-1 Draw 29-10
  
  
  Manchester United v Chelsea: Probable starters in bold, contenders in light. Photograph: Graphic [h=2]Manchester Utd[/h]Subs from Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Amos, Evans, Fábio, Gibson, Park, Giggs, Macheda, Diouf, Berbatov, Fletcher, Owen, Valencia
  Doubtful Ferdinand (hamstring)
  Injured Welbeck (hamstring, 24 Sep), Vidic (calf, 1 Oct), Cleverley (ankle, 15 Oct), Rafael (shoulder, Nov)
  Suspended None
  Form guide WWWWWD
  Disciplinary record Y5 R0
  Leading scorer Rooney 8
  [h=2]Chelsea[/h]Subs from Hilário, Turnbull, Ferreira, David Luiz, Alex, Romeu, Malouda, Kalou, Mikel, Lukaku, Bertrand, McEachran, Torres
  Doubtful Hilário (hip), Turnbull (calf)
  Injured Drogba (concussion, 21 Sep), Essien (knee, Feb)
  Suspended None
  Form guide WWWDLD
  Disciplinary record Y7 R0
  Leading scorers Seven players 1
  [h=2]Match pointers[/h]• The past three league meetings between these sides ended 2-1, as did their last Champions League meeting
  • United have averaged fewer points per Premier League game at home against Chelsea than against any other opponent (1.47)
  • United have scored more goals after four Premier League games than any other team in the division's history
  • David de Gea has made the most saves in the Premier League this season (30)
  • United have set a new Premier League record of 17 consecutive home wins
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Redknapp: I wanted Suarez, Carroll and Downing[/h] Published 21:01 16/09/11 By Neil McLeman

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...ets-admits-Harry-Redknapp-article800260.html#

Harry Redknapp has revealed his regret at losing out to Liverpool in the race to land Luis Suarez.
And the Tottenham boss admitted the Anfield club also outbid Spurs to sign Newcastle target-man Andy Carroll and Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing.
Liverpool travel to White Hart Lane on Sunday, for a match between two teams desperate to return to the Champions League next season.
But Redknapp reckons counterpart Kenny Dalglish's top-four bid has been boosted by serious backing in the last two transfer windows from the Reds' new American owners - a spending spree that started with the £57.8m double purchase of Carroll and Suarez on the last day of the January window.

"We thought about Andy Carroll," Redknapp admitted. "We looked at him, but we weren't into spending £35million on one player. It was a bit beyond us. We did look at him.
"We looked at Suarez, to be fair. That was a player who we probably should have taken, looking back on it. We just weren't sure. The fee was £30-odd million [Suarez cost Liverpool £22.8m], and that's a lot of money.
"We were really looking for a target-man but I have seen him play up on his own and he can do that and he can play off [a target-man] too.
"We just thought he played a bit like Van der Vaart, but he can play anywhere. He is fantastic. He is top class. Uruguayans are tough boys, aren't they? He can do anything, so he is a good player."
Redknapp, who disagreed with his chairman Daniel Levy over the potential sale of midfielder Luka Modric to Chelsea this summer, has bought West Ham midfielder Scott Parker and signed Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor on loan this summer.
But he hinted at his frustration over missing out on two other targets.
"I like Downing," he said. "I tried to get him and Ashley Young [who moved from Villa to Manchester United]. Those are the players who we tried to get. We were in for them at different times over the last few years. We didn't quite push the boat out, but they are good players."
The £50m sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea kick-started Dalglish's busy year of transfer activity.
"That gave them something to work with. They have got wealthy owners and they want to be back where they were - a top four team," Redknapp said.
"Liverpool is one of the greatest football clubs in the world and they don't want to be out of the Champions League. They want to be back in there. They have invested trying to do that.
"It will be them, us and Arsenal scrapping it out for the Champions League this year."
Tottenham will recall the 10 first-team players they left behind in London when they went to Greece for their goalless Europa League draw with PAOK FC as they seek a first home win of the season.
That means even stand-in skipper Sebastien Bassong, who was outstanding against PAOK, will return to the bench, with Ledley King and Younes Kaboul the likely starters at centre-back.
Bassong, an £8m signing who scored on his Spurs debut against Liverpool in August 2009, has made only two appearances this season, both in the Europa League.
"I am human and I have got feelings, but at the end of the day I am paid to play football and train properly and when the manager needs me on the pitch, I will do my best," said the Cameroon defender.
"That is part of football. The only thing I can do is work and wait and we will see what happens.
"Things can change quickly, so I have just got to keep going. I will have my time maybe - I had my time maybe.
"It is not that easy, but you have got to be prepared. I just have to work and wait - that is life."
David Anderson's Premier League previews and predictions (Week 5)
Defiant Dalglish fires back at Carragher snipers
Dalglish to stick with Skrtel at right-back
Johnson to miss Spurs match after injury setback
Harry to recall big guns for Liverpool match
Dalglish: Stoke defeat won't knock us off course
King confident this won't be his last season at Spurs

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[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=2]Manchester United v Chelsea, 4pm Sunday 18 September[/h] [h=1]Fernando Torres – what's gone wrong with him at Chelsea?[/h] Fernando Torres has the backing of his manager at Chelsea but still the goals are not coming. Can he restore past glories?

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• Louise Taylor
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 September 2011 23.02 BST Article history
  
  
  Fernando Torres has still only scored one goal for Chelsea since his move to Liverpool. Photograph: Andrew Yates/AFP
  
  Fernando Torres looked embarrassed as he stood, smiling wanly, on the roof of a high-rise Kowloon carpark. Doing his bit to promote Chelsea's Asian merchandising operation during the club's pre-season tour, the £50m striker was modelling a personalised version of the club's latest replica shirt design. The top in question had been emblazoned with the word "Triumph". Writ large in Cantonese and English it was intended to capture the essence of Roman Abramovich's ultimate trophy signing but instead it prompted barely concealed sniggers.
  Standing alongside the Spaniard two months ago, Frank Lampard posed in a shirt adorned by "Happiness" and Petr Cech paraded the message "Champion", but neither looked remotely as out of place as the man who has now scored only once in 23 games since swapping Liverpool for Chelsea last January.
  Halted rudely in his tracks by, first, the frailties of his right knee and, later, a change of tactical and physical landscape, Torres is no longer the goalscoring juggernaut who once stalked the nightmares of Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic. The overriding suspicion is that the past 18 months have been played out against a soundtrack dominated increasingly by initially alien, now horribly familiar, doubting voices inside the Spain striker's head.
  It would be no surprise were they to tell Torres that, in paying so much money for him last January, Chelsea were buying the old El Niño. Unfortunately the original forward who before a second, albeit ostensibly successful, meniscus repair in April 2010 simply could not stop scoring appears to have gone into hibernation.
  As he contemplates the damning statistic that even Andriy Shevchenko had struck six times by the same stage of his Chelsea career, Torres probably struggles to reconcile his new persona with an alter ego who not only became the fastest player to hit 50 goals for Liverpool but registered Spain's winning goal in Euro 2008.
  These days, the elemental force whose name once adorned more Premier League replica shirts sold worldwide than any other finds himself no longer an automatic choice for club or country. Along the way a softly spoken character regarded as unusually "nice" for a star striker seems to speak more quietly than ever as he strives to draw reassurance from the old adage about form being temporary but class permanent.
  "I'm 27, I don't forget how to score goals," said Torres on that Kowloon rooftop. "I will score again."
  If it would be unwise to bet against him, a subtle yet significant loss of pace almost certainly occasioned by that knee surgery is merely exacerbated by assorted attendant problems. Most pressingly, Chelsea's game fails to provide the sort of frequent Steven Gerrard-esque through balls and low crosses that Torres so revelled in racing on to at Anfield, but there also remains the question of whether he is entirely happy in his new habitat.
  Behind the imposing 6ft stature, the tattoos and the trendy, carefully coloured hair, Torres is far from an Identikit footballer. Described as surprisingly timid and sensitive off the field, he enjoys a homely life with his wife Olalla – they have been together since their mid-teens – and two young children.
  Tellingly, the boy known for walking his dogs in public parks and displaying an almost anorakish enthusiasm for researching Liverpool's history is described as being as on a "very different" off-field wavelength to figures such as Ashley Cole, John Terry and Didier Drogba.
  André Villas-Boas, however, is anything but your typical football manager and unlikely to be perturbed by such perceived nonconformity. But what must worry Abramovich's latest appointee is the dilemma of whether to start Torres at Manchester United on Sunday or, as happened last week at Sunderland, park his expensive bottom on the bench. After all, Carlo Ancelotti's selection of El Niño in both legs of Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final defeat against United last spring played an integral part in his predecessor's Stamford Bridge undoing.
  Ideally, Villas-Boas hopes to eventually reassure Abramovich that Torres is not another Shevchenko. To do so the Portuguese must determine whether the goal drought stems from the striker's knee, his hamstrings, his mind, cumulative fatigue or something altogether more tactical.
  A young manager offered an entry into football by Sir Bobby Robson could reflect on how the late Newcastle United manager revived Alan Shearer's career after, admittedly more serious, knee injuries had taken the edge off his hallmark pace and power. Robson advised Shearer precisely how he could reinvent his game courtesy of radically rethinking and varying his off-the-ball movement and playing much more on the half-turn to confound defenders.
  A change of mind-set may also be desirable. Roberto Forzoni, a performance psychologist specialising in helping footballers, suggests strikers are particularly vulnerable to loss of form. "In general, footballers are the psychologically strongest performers I've worked with," Forzoni says. "However, in two positions where lack of form is highlighted the most, goalkeepers and strikers, they can benefit from an experienced psychologist's input.
  "First the player needs to acknowledge there is an issue and must want to do everything he can to try to improve the situation; this, incredibly, is not always the case, particularly with millionaire performers.
  "He may prefer playing with a particular wide player or midfielder or he may prefer a particular system. Off the field he may wish to work on shooting practice in a specific way or review videos of previous performance accomplishments."
  Visualising, and consequently reliving, past achievements has been seen as a means of provoking individual renaissances ever since the 1970s when Gerd Müller, the West Germany and Bayern Munich striker, popularised such techniques by openly discussing his use of visualisation to end occasional goal droughts.
  Not that Villas-Boas can ignore a seemingly uncomfortable wider context. Certainly Torres's recent comments about the impediments placed on his game by the advanced age and "slowness" of a Chelsea side still to properly learn about playing "vertically" suggest his problems may not be purely personal.
  Torres may adapt to suit Chelsea, but Chelsea must also change to play to Torres's strengths. "Chelsea are used to playing into Drogba's body, not behind the defenders and into the space where Fernando wants the ball," says the former Stamford Bridge midfielder Yossi Benayoun.
  Juan Mata's playmaking arrival may yet recalibrate things in gloriously thrilling fashion, but Torres's physical condition is the subject people are reluctant to raise.
  Ramon Cugat is Iberia's answer to Richard Steadman, the surgeon of choice for many of Spain's crocked footballers. During 2009-10 Torres had begun catching regular flights to Cugat's Clinica Quirón in Barcelona for treatment on the sort of groin and hamstring complaints that blemished Michael Owen's explosively pacey Liverpool pomp.
  Knees, though, are Cugat's speciality and he first operated on Torres's right one in January 2010. Three months later it became clear that this initial meniscus repair had failed and required repetition. Although such operations are generally routine and the injuries prompting them rarely career-threatening,strikers as reliant on a coruscating change of pace as Torres regard any knee trouble as a potential trapdoor to despair.
  Perhaps the effects of playing season in, season out for first Atlético Madrid and then Liverpool combined with summers spent representing Spain, were catching up with him. Or, maybe, Cugat had warned of future arthritis and joint replacements because following one of those Barcelona trips the striker turned introspective. "I can't imagine what state I'll be in within five or six years if I continue to play in England," he said. "It could easily give me problems when I stop. The physical demands are superior to all other countries."
  Although Torres recovered from his second surgery in time to board a South Africa-bound plane that summer, a predator arguably less suited to Spanish tiki‑taka than more visceral Premier League combat played merely a peripheral part in his country's World Cup glory. He then returned to Anfield to find Roy Hodgson had replaced Rafael Benítez as manager.
  Starved of stellar service as Liverpool struggled, the most recognisable and marketable striker in England was seen exhibiting some hitherto unusual, despairing and, sometimes, suspiciously petulant, body language.
  Hodgson bears no grudges. "Fernando is an outstanding player and a very good person," West Bromwich Albion's manager says. "Sometimes strikers go through periods when everything they touch turns the opposite to gold. Pressures build up due to expectations from outside and you have to be very strong to deal with it.
  "From what I've seen this season it seems Fernando is doing the things Chelsea want him to do. He's working very hard. I'd certainly back him to succeed because he's a very good professional. I've got nothing but good to say about him."
  Shevchenko also believes Torres will come good at Chelsea. "When a club has paid a lot of money for you, that obviously brings its own pressures but you just have to go out and do your best on the pitch and I know Torres does that," the Dynamo Kyiv striker said. "Great strikers don't suddenly forget how to score goals … The goals will come for him."
  The positive sentiments are echoed by most Chelsea fans – whatever faults Torres has been accused of lack of effort is not one – and few who witnessed the two assists against Bayer Leverkusen would doubt his contribution to team play. But goals are what £50m strikers must expect to be judged on and whether fitness, tactics or his mental state are the problem, Villas‑Boas must find a way to produce them, and fast.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Mancini: We need strong mentality like United and Barca[/h] Published 13:50 17/09/11 By MirrorFootball

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...lona-says-Roberto-Mancini-article800406.html#
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini wants his team to develop the winning mentality of Europe's top clubs.
City's star-studded squad are expected to challenge for the Barclays Premier League title this season and make a big impact in the Champions League.
But after City were held to a draw by Napoli on their Champions League debut in midweek, Mancini feels they still have some way to go to match the established elite.
The Italian said: "I want our team to have a strong mentality like (Manchester) United, like Milan or like Barca.

"All these teams that won the Champions League or the championship of their country, I think we need to have this mentality."
City have been in outstanding domestic form, winning all four of their league games and scoring 15 goals in the process.
Fans hope to see that form carried over into Europe but Mancini says he would happily sacrifice style if it guaranteed victories.
Mancini said: "We play always to win but we need to understand we can win without always playing well.
"You can play fantastic football but if you don't score, in the Champions League, it is difficult because every game you meet a top team.
"If you concede or make a mistake it can be difficult.
"So, for me it is better maybe to not play very well but to score and have control of the game, like United did, like Milan."
Mancini is expecting a tough afternoon as City return to domestic action at Fulham tomorrow.
The City boss expects the Cottagers, who drew with FC Twente in the Europa League on Thursday, to raise their game for the encounter.
He said: "Fulham is always a difficult game. Last year we won there but we played a fantastic game.
"I have seen their games and they are very dangerous.
"I watched Fulham against Blackburn on Sunday. It was a different game.
"When a team like Fulham or Blackburn play against a top team like us, United or Chelsea, they play better. They put in everything they have."
City will again be without midfielders Nigel de Jong and James Milner.
De Jong could be out for another two weeks with a foot injury while Milner will miss a second game as a result of a clash of heads in last week's win over Wigan.
Apart from that, Mancini will have his usual plethora of options to juggle, particularly in attack.
In-form duo Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko, with 13 goals between them, have become the first-choice strike pair with last season's top scorer Carlos Tevez largely confined to the bench.
Controversial forward Mario Balotelli, who reacted angrily when substituted during a pre-season tour match and in the Community Shield, now appears even further down the pecking order.
Yet Mancini insists the volatile Italian's chance will come and has pointed out that the 21-year-old also operated as a winger at Inter Milan.
Mancini, who gave Balotelli his Serie A debut during his time in charge of the San Siro club, said: "I am not worried for Mario.
"In the last four weeks he didn't play but he worked very well.
"I am sure he can have a good season.
"Mario can play also like a winger, so maybe he can have more chances to play."
One player yet to feature for City is former Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
The 30-year-old joined the club last month in the hope of reviving his career after three injury-ravaged years at Old Trafford.
Although he has not been included in City's Champions League squad due to a lack of match fitness, Mancini has been impressed with his workrate in training.
He is now likely to be given his first run-out in next week's Carling Cup third-round tie against Birmingham.
Mancini said: "With Hargreaves we continue to train, he is okay.
"On Thursday he played a game for one hour. I think that he will be tired but he has time to recover.
"He is a good guy, he is a fantastic professional and I am sure we will be lucky and have another top player."
Defender Kolo Toure, eligible again after serving a drugs ban, is also likely to be back in action soon after two games as an unused substitute.
Mancini said: "I think it is time Kolo started to play. We need a player with Kolo's experience in the Champions League."

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[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Carrick: The Premier League is NOT a two horse race[/h] Published 13:52 17/09/11 By MirrorFootball

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...City-says-Michael-Carrick-article800407.html#

Michael Carrick has dismissed the notion that the Premier League is already a two-horse race.
With the two Manchester clubs both recording 100% starts from their opening four games, scoring 33 goals between them in the process, some pundits have already written off the chasing pack.
Ahead of tomorrow's Old Trafford showdown with Chelsea, Carrick does not believe that is the smartest move.
Under new coach Andre Villas-Boas, the Blues are only two points behind, recording three straight wins since drawing their opening match at Stoke.

And Carrick feels it would be folly to dismiss the Stamford Bridge outfit.
"I don't think it is a two-horse race by any means," the 30-year-old said.
"We can't get carried away with it just being us and City.
"If you remember the start Chelsea had last season, everyone said they were going to win it. Obviously that didn't happen.
"We are playing well and we are top of the league. But we still respect the other teams for the threat they pose to us."
Chelsea are not lacking in motivation.
They had tended to have the better of their meetings with United, including scoring a controversial victory over their old rivals at Stamford Bridge in March after which Sir Alex Ferguson ended up with a five-match touchline ban for criticising the performance of referee Martin Atkinson.
However, the Red Devils had the last laugh, winning both legs of the Champions League quarter-final before ending the Blues' lingering title hopes by emphasising their superiority at Old Trafford.
"What has happened in the past can be used as motivation but it is a new season and the next game is always the biggest, no matter who it is against," said Carrick.
"It is a dangerous game but we are not scared, just as I am sure they won't be scared of us.
"What has gone in the past has gone.
"Whatever happens, they will be up there challenging. I am sure of that."
With none of his injured stars ready to return other than Rio Ferdinand, who was rested for the midweek draw with Benfica, Ferguson will give careful consideration to his starting line-up.
With Chris Smalling seemingly certain to start at right-back, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones are scrapping it out for the right to partner Ferdinand.
Anderson will return in central midfield, where he will be paired with either Carrick, Darren Fletcher or this week's goalscoring hero Ryan Giggs, who tends not to play two games in a row but was instrumental in those previous Chelsea triumphs.
Park Ji-sung is another big-game player, although it is hard to see how Nani or Ashley Young could be excluded and Ferguson revealed yesterday that Javier Hernandez will be named in attack alongside Wayne Rooney.
Having played down United's present position, Carrick is aware that victory would put them at least five points clear of all their major rivals, with the exception of City.
It is a situation they would have been more than happy with when the campaign began five weeks ago and, having dropped just two points in their last 23 home games, one they are confident of securing.
"When we looked at the fixture list at the start of the season, it looked like a really tough start," Carrick said.
"We have to be really happy to reach this stage in this position.
"Chelsea is the next game and you want to be taking points off your rivals, especially at home.
"We have been good at that over the last couple of years - last season especially. Hopefully we can carry that on."

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[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Blackburn v Arsenal – as it happened[/h] Yakubu scored twice on his Blackburn debut to give them a 4-3 victory in a crazy game that included two own-goals

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

Yakubu 25, Song (og) 50, Yakubu 59, Koscielny (og) 68

Gervinho 10, Arteta 34, Chamakh 85

Blackburn Rovers 4
Arsenal 3

• Rob Smyth
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 17 September 2011 14.37 BST Article history
  
  
  Blackburn supporters, before. Photograph: Tim Hales/AP
  
  Preamble Hello. Everything's BIG in football these days. Teams are never "in trouble" or "enduring a mildly chastening period of strife"; they are invariably "in crisis". Blackburn and Arsenal, who meet today at Ewood Park, have been the two crisis clubs of this burgeoning Premier League season. And what crises they are: Arsenal may finish as low as fifth, while Blackburn are a point from safety.
  For what it's worth (absolutely nothing), I reckon Arsenal will finish fourth and Blackburn will stay up. That said, the latter is dependent on who they appoint if, as seems inevitable, they sack poor old Steve Kean. Given the judgement of Blackburn's owners thus far – particularly the sacking of the exceptional Sam Allardyce and this finger-lickin', toe-curlin' video – they will probably appoint James Corden, Jedward or, more absurd still, John Gregory.
  Previously on Blackburn v Arsenal... I wanted to link to Kevin Gallacher's fantastic goal at Highbury in 1997 – what a crazily underrated player he was – but I can't find it. So instead, from the same season, here's a devastatingly economical through pass from Dennis Bergkamp, part of Arsenal's scary 4-1 mauling of Roy Hodgson's side at Ewood Park.
  Not this game department Wolves v QPR may be off because of a power cut. A power cut! It's obviously very bad for the paying punters, blah blah etcetera, but of far more importance is whether I should remove Matt Jarvis and Stephen Ward from my fantasy team before the window shuts at 12.30pm.
  Team news There are debuts for Andre Santos and Yakubu, while Jason Lowe makes his first Premier League start. Jason Lowe is a child of the 1990s. When Jason Lowe was born, this little epiphany-inducer was top of the UK hit parade. This fact makes me feel very old.
  Blackburn (4-2-3-1) Robinson; Salgado, Samba, Dann, Givet; Rochina, Lowe, Nzonzi; Rochina, Formica, Hoilett; Yakubu.
  Subs: Bunn, Olsson, Grella, Petrovic, Vukcevic, Roberts, Hanley.
  Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Andre Santos; Song, Arteta; Arshavin, Ramsey, Gervinho; van Persie.
  Subs: Fabianski, Walcott, Djourou, Gibbs, Chamakh, Benayoun, Coquelin.
  Referee Andre Marriner
  There has been a mass protest against Steve Kean before the game. After five games as well. The protest itself is in dubious taste, but Rovers fans have got a dog and a dead man on board: somebody has stuck a 'Steve Kean out!!' between the feet of the statue of Jack Walker! This is the most absurd protest ever. One kid has a poster that reads 'Drink driver Kean out'.
  1 min Blackburn kick off from left to right. They are in blue and white; Arsenal are in red.
  2 min "So Rob, what kind of epiphany did Bryan Adams induce in your early 90s head?" says Vinay Aravind. "I would absolutely love to know. He's been accused of many things but never before, in my recollection, of inducing epiphanies. And sub-question, which other 80s/90s power balled peddlers have induced similar epiphanies?" Alone by Heart. Toy Soldiers by Martika. And, of course, Could've Been by Tiffany. As for the epiphany, a gentleman never tells.
  3 min Hoilett is found on the left wing by Formica, and sets off on a thrilling run outside Sagna, beating him for pace easily. That takes him into the box, at the byline, and his stabbed right-footed cross is claimed by Szczesny. It was a lovely run though.
  4 min This is a decent start from Blackburn, confident and aggressive. Rochina tries his luck from 25 yards. He makes a total balls of it, the left-footed shot flying miles wide, but it's the thought that counts.
  5 min Van Persie volleys Sagna's cross miles wide from 12 yards. The cross was fractionally behind him, and Van Persie went with his left foot when he should probably have gone with the right. It was a quarter chance at best.
  6 min "Is this thing worthy of a Saturday morning riff or what?" says Philip Podolsky.
  8 min Sagna's deep cross is headed back across goal by Van Persie, and booted clear from under his own bar by Dann. I think it would have drifted wide of the far post, but he couldn't take any chances.
  9 min There is no way this Blackburn team will go down. Mind you, I said that about Portsmouth at a similar stage of the 2009-10 season.
  GOAL! Blackburn 0-1 Arsenal (Gervinho 10) Gervinho gets his first goal for Arsenal. Song played a lovely angled through ball, from the centre to the right, and Gervinho crunched it first time back across goal, through the legs of Samba and into the far corner. The keeper Paul Robinson didn't move. It might have taken a nick off Samba's legs but, if so, it didn't divert the path of the ball significantly.
  11 min "Great Putin link from Philip Podolsky," says Ryan Dunne, "but the REAL captions are much more compelling than the official versions."
  13 min My colleague Tom Bryant has just told me that, with an average age of 26 years and 22 days, this is Blackburn's youngest side since 1999. Something else happened to them in 1999: they were relegated. Not that they can be relegated in 2011, unless something very weird happens.
  14 min There was a deflection off Samba for the goal, without which, on reflection, Robinson would have had a chance of making a save. The goal has changed the mood of the game, as goals do, and Arsenal are totally dominant just now.
  17 min At the moment Arshavin is playing on the left with Gervinho on the right, although it's a pretty fluid system. Liquid tactics.
  18 min "David Cameron's PR team are curled up in the corner of a room, weeping gently..." says Phillippa Booth of that Putin link. "(That dog – no.15 – looks very, very scared.)"
  19 min An enforced substitution for Blackburn: Michel Salgado limps off to be replaced by Radosav Petrovic.
  19 min Samba misses a great chance to equalise. Formica drills a flat, angled free kick from left to right; it comes to the unmarked Samba, six yards out and just beyond the back post, but he screws a poor header wide of goal. He looked accusingly at Dann afterwards, as if Dann had put him off. Either way, it was a bad miss.
  20 min When an Arsenal corner is only half cleared, Arshavin bobbles a volley towards goal from 20 yards that Robinson has to plunge to his right to palm away.
  21 min Jason Lowe has gone to right back for Blackburn, with Petrovic in midfield.
  22 min A cracking save from Robinson denies Gervinho, who sweerved smartly away from Nzonzi and Givet before leathering the ball towards the near post from a tightish angle on the right of the box.
  24 min Arsenal are destroying the left back Givet with a series of two-on-one attacks. Sagna breaks into space, attracts Givet and then cuts the ball back to Gervinho, who spanks over from the edge of the box.
  GOAL! Blackburn 1-1 Arsenal (Yakubu 25) Yakubu scores on his debut! It was a neat goal, too. Hoilett toe-poked a soft, crafty through pass to Yakubu, who made a lovely angled run behind the defence before stabbing the ball back across Szczesny and slowly into the corner. That's a fine finish, hit really early before the keeper was set. Arsenal's defending wasn't great, though: their defensive line was all over the place, with Andre Santos four yards deeper than everyone else.
  28 min "Never mind the fear of mere dogs," says Ryan Dunne. "The bear in photo 18 has clearly just attempted to stare down the mighty Putin, and lost!"
  29 min It's pouring down now. Hoilett is an interesting player. His defensive negligence hasn't helped Givet at all, but he has shown three or four touches of serious quality going forward.
  30 min Blackburn win a corner on the left. It's drilled flat by Formica and headed over by the stretching Samba. He has Koscielny's number on set pieces.
  31 min Sagna is down after a hefty tackle from Dann. He did get the ball, but he really clattered into Sagna as well. After a bit of treatment, Sagna is fine to continue.
  32 min Formica and Rochina are two very confident players, who strut around the field as if they own it. In fact there's a lot to like about this Blackburn side. They play some very watchable football.
  GOAL! Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal (Arteta 34) Mikel Arteta scores a beautiful goal. The excellent Sagna played a piercing ball down the inside-right channel for Ramsey, who had run off Nzonzi. The logical ball for Ramsey was across the face of goal, but he cut it back ingeniously for the onrushing Arteta, who met the ball 15 yards out and swept it emphatically into the top of the net. That's just a brilliant goal, two great passes and a fine finish.
  36 min So Gervinho, Yakubu and Arteta have all scored their first goal for their new clubs today.
  38 min This has been a really enjoyable game. That's all.
  39 min Arsenal are threatening to overwhelm Blackburn, who just need to get to half-time at 2-1.
  40 min Hoilett nutmegs Sagna and then bodyswerves past Song, who just shoves him over. Is Hoilett always this exciting? He looks like a player of rich potential.
  42 min Arsenal have a five-on-three break, but Gervinho hits a woeful and woefully ambitious crossfield pass out of play.
  43 min "Paul Robinson has now conceded 52 PL goals against Arsenal, the most by any 'keeper against a single opponent in PL history," emails my colleague James Dart. That's what playing at Leeds does to a man.
  44 min Scott Dann makes a goal-saving tackle. Lowe was skinned down the left by Arshavin, who played the ball across the face of the area to Gervinho. He probably should have found Van Persie; instead he went alone and had his shot blocked desperately by the legs of Dann.
  Half time: Blackburn 1-2 Arsenal That was an excellent half of football, primarily but not exclusively from Arsenal. See you in 10 minutes.
  The best half-time email, ever
  
  "Crisis? You have no idea sunshine...i'm about 12 hrs in to an LSD trip and regretting it
  I've started three bestselling novels about jonny bairstow and his dad the last 4 hrs
  love,
  a fan
  P.S. I wish this wasn't true."
  ​
  My faith in the Guardian readership is restored.
  A song for our LSD hero. You can do it lad. Just keep on writing those bestsellers.
  46 min Arsenal kick off from left to right.
  47 min "Re: The best halftime email, ever," begins Per Vestlund. "Bloody hell, that was poetic. I´m shaken. Good luck to him in his life, and I DO want to read that novel, please." Those novels. Anyway, never mind the novels; I want him to MBM the second half.
  48 min It's been a slow start to the half, with Arsenal passing it around at the back.
  49 min "Whilst I do believe Wenger do be a chess player of the highest order, why hasn't he instructed Mertesacker to mark Samba on set-pieces?" asks Adam Allaway. "It's an accident waiting to happen." It's a very good point, one I'd have made had I been, y'know, doing my job properly.
  GOAL! Blackburn 2-2 Arsenal (Song own goal 50) An Andrex-soft own goal brings Blackburn level. Lowe was fouled by Arshavin on the right wing, just outside the area. The free-kick was chipped gently towards the six-yard box by Formica, and hit the thigh of the unsighted Song before dribbling almost apologetically into the corner.
  52 min Arshavin's fierce shot from the edge of the area is blocked by Samba and flies away for a corner. It's curved in by Arteta and Song, six yards out, heads it into the ground and wide of the far post. That was a decent chance.
  53 min Arsenal's first substitution: Johan Djourou replaces the limping Bacary Sagna at right-back.
  54 min Szczesny makes a fantastic save to keep Arsenal level. Rochina slipped a fine through ball to Formica on the right side of the box, he hammered it first time across goal, and Szczesny plunged to his right to make a brilliant stop.
  55 min "It may just be the effect of seeing him in an Arsenal shirt for the first time, but Per Mertesacker is reminding me so much of Tony Adams," says Steve Betteley. "He certainly moves like him, that sort of long, slightly lopsided stride that makes him look like a purposeful giraffe. He's only 26 and already has 76 caps for Germany? He's a terrific signing, could be the most important Wenger's made since Sol Campbell."
  55 min Arsenal are suddenly all over the place. Yakubu puts Rochina clear on the left side of the box, but he faffs for a split second and is crowded out.
  56 min A second substitution for Blackburn, with Martin Olsson replacing the impressive Ruben Rochina.
  57 min Djourou is booked for a cynical pull on Hoilett, who had beaten him down the left wing.
  58 min "Enjoyed that...kinda," says our LSD hero. "Missed who got the equaliser though. And more of that schtick." You too brother.
  59 min The life of the mind has rarely been more evident than in this match: all four goals have prompted mighty shifts in momentum, and at the moment it's all Blackburn. Hoilett wins a corner on the left...
  GOAL! Blackburn 3-2 Arsenal (Yakubu 59) .... and it leads to another goal! This is ridiculous. Hoilett drilled the corner flat and very deep to Nzonzi, who took the ball down and then belted it back across the face of the goal. Yakubu, a couple of yards out and in an offside position, touched it into the net.
  60 min That goal was definitely offside. Not by much, but enough to make Arsenal feel pretty aggrieved, especially as they should have been about 5-2 up at half time.
  63 min Gervinho on a long, swerving run infield from the right, all the way into the D. Then he plays an angled pass to Van Persie, whose shot is blocked at the cost of a corner. It's curled towards the near post by Arteta, and Van Persie flicks a header wide of that near post.
  64 min Theo Walcott replaces Andrey Arshavin.
  65 min Now Blackburn make their last substitution: Simon Vukcevic comes on in place of the eye-catching Mauro Formica.
  66 min "Back in the 80s, a friend of a friend (honest!) used to drop acid before going to Goodison," says Gary Naylor. "He claimed that the colours of the kits set against the backdrop of the green pitch was such that it enhanced the trip no end. I was happy just to see Bracewell and Reid boss the midfield."
  67 min It has been pelting down for almost the entire match, which has added to the primal feel of a cracking match. Dann is rightly booked for a cynical on Walcott, who has stormed pace him on the edge of the box.
  68 min Louis Saha's on one here. Anyone know what it's about? STOP TWITTER.
  GOAL! Blackburn 4-2 Arsenal (Koscielny own goal 69) It's another own goal! Oh my days, this is preposterous. It came from an Arsenal corner, with Blackburn counter-attacking thrillingly. Olsson roared down the right, past Djourou, into the box and then around Song. He stabbed it across the face of goal from the byline, and it deflected off the helpless Koscielny into the net.
  70 min Two own goals, an offside goal, and Arsenal have had 65 per cent of the possession. What must Arsene Wenger be thinking?
  72 min Andre Santos's vicious cross is palmed away by the leaping Robinson. Olsson was booked in the aftermath of the goal, for celebrating with the crowd. No joy please, this is football.
  73 min A fantastic cross from Walcott somehow eludes everyone.
  74 min Blackburn have had three shots on target and scored four goals. You do the mat.
  75 min Arsenal are having all of the ball now, as you'd expect. Walcott wins a corner on the right, which is taken by Van Persie and headed clear very well by Dann. Seconds later, Robinson tips Van Persie's header over the bar, a fairly routine save. Before the corner is taken, Marouane Chamakh replaces Alex Song.
  76 min "I am arsene wengers gnawing doubts..." says LSD Hero. "So good once but never quite..."
  77 min "Mertesacker is basically just Peter Crouch but at centre-back: slow, good touch for a big man, woefully unaggressive, and lots of international caps without ever performing in a major tournament," says his No1 fan, Patrick Rennie.
  78 min Nzonzi tries to coax a long-range curler into the right corner, but he doesn't get enough on it and Szczesny makes a rudimentary plunging save.
  79 min The MBM readership is on one today. "I was supposed to get up at 9 for Ireland and now it's this time, does anyone know has anyone ever died from a hangover?" says David Clarke. "This time I think I could please help I have the fear, could you email me or ring me and tell me its ok also. Thank you."
  80 min Blackburn have nine outfield players behind the ball, which is making life pretty difficult for Arsenal. And they are breaking dangerously too. A goal at either end wouldn't be a surprise. How's that for insight?
  81 min The lively Walcott moves infield from the left and hits a good shot that is deflected wide off Van Persie. Andre Marriner gives a corner, thinking it hit Samba, and it almost produces a goal. Arteta's corner found the backleaping Van Persie, just six yards out, and his header was pawed away instinctively by Robinson. That's a very good save.
  83 min "Man alive the MBM is a bit Hunter S.Thompson today," says Ryan Dunne. "And to think I gave up caffeine yesterday! (NB a hangover per se can't kill you, but alcohol withdrawal can, so hair of the dog is surely what the Doctor ordered.)" What did the doc say about LSD?
  GOAL! Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal (Chamakh 85) Another cracking goal brings Arsenal back into the game. Van Persie, wide on the left, curves over a majestic cross – the sort of service he craves himself – and Chamakh towers over two defenders to send a flying header into the corner from six yards. Mick Harford would have loved that goal.
  87 min Walcott's deep, bouncing cross flies beyond the far post to Chamakh. He helps it back whence it came, and the, er, desperate Dann dives to head clear.
  88 min "Will The Guardian be rerunning the hilarious 'Have Arsenal turned the corner' poll on Monday?" asks Adrian Riley. It was a poll, not a 10,000-word inscription asserting they would win the next 12 Champions Leagues. What's your point?
  89 min A stupid foul from Djourou on Yakubu gives Blackburn a breather. Djourou has been startlingly inept since coming on.
  90 min There will be four minutes of added blood pressure for Steve Kean.
  90+1 min Blackburn have the ball where they want it, in the Arsenal third of the pitch.
  90+2 min Mertesacker misses a great chance! Andre Santos curled over another fantastic cross from the left, all the way to the far post. Mertesacker climbed above Givet but planted his header over the bar from four yards.
  90+3 min Now Robinson makes a fine save from Van Persie! Gervinho stabbed a pass down the side of the defence, and Van Persie hammered it towards the near post from the right corner of the six-yard box. Robinson stood tall to block it with his chest.
  90+4 min Yet another chance for Arsenal. They were wrongly given a corner, which was half cleared to Walcott. He eased it to Andre Santos on the left, and he clipped a good cross to the near post, where Chamakh headed it down and wide from 10 yards.
  90+5 min Arsenal should surely have had a penalty there. Walcott hared into the box on the left, beat Robinson to a loose ball and tried to lob it over Robinson. His shot was blocked by a covering defender, and the same time Walcott went flying. It looked a clear penalty for a foul on Walcott by Robinson; having seen it again I'm not sure. Robinson pulled his hands down and it may just have Walcott's inconsiderable momentum that knocked him over.
  Full time: Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal What a preposterous game of football, joyously entertaining from start to finish. I can't sum it up in a paragraph, so I shan't bother trying. Thanks for your emails; bye.
  
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

with this performance Keane is here to stay at Blackburn.............

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal: Gunners shoot themselves in the foot with two own goals[/h] Published 14:44 17/09/11 By MirrorFootball

• (12)
• Recommend (1)
  
  

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...s-and-Yakubu-bags-a-brace-article800385.html#

Arsenal self-destructed in a terrible second-half display against Blackburn to leave manager Arsene Wenger once more in the firing line.
This match was preceded by a march of Blackburn fans demanding the head of Steve Kean - but by the final whistle there was only one club left looking in crisis.
Own goals by Alex Song and Laurent Koscielny, plus two poachers goals by Rovers debutant Ayegbeni Yakubu, dealt crushing blows to the Gunners, who had been apparently cruising at half-time thanks to goals from Gervinho and Mikel Arteta.
Maroune Chamakh's header made it 4-3 and a nervy last five minutes for Kean, but the league table now shows Blackburn above Wenger's men.

This must have had a look of painful familiarity to Arsenal fans - some great attacking play but hopeless fragility at set-pieces and a vulnerability to the pace of Junior Hoilett and Martin Olsson.
Arsenal had given Kean just the start he must have feared when Gervinho scored his first goal for the Gunners in the 10th minute.
Song's masterly run in midfield was followed by a peach of a through-pass that Gervinho ran on to and hit first-time, the ball going through Chris Samba's legs and across Paul Robinson into the far corner.
Samba exposed Arsenal with a free header at a free-kick - but high and wide - before Andrey Arshavin then brought a sprawling save out of Robinson with a sharp low shot from 20 yards.
Gervinho then wasted two more chances to extend the lead, and Rovers made the Gunners regret such largesse when Yakubu brought the scores level with the neatest of finishes in the 25th minute.
Arsenal had half-cleared the ball but Hoilett produced a pass to match Song's, and Yakubu instinctively nudged it past the on-rushing Wojciech Szczesny to score.
Samba's presence at set-plays continued to upset Arsenal, who had been heavily linked with a move for the giant Congo defender in the summer, and he won a corner but again headed over.
Ten minutes before the break a patient Arsenal build-up led to an incisive move that saw the Gunners regain the lead. Aaron Ramsey surged into the box on to Song's pass and, with Blackburn's defence expecting a ball to Robin van Persie at the near-post, cut the ball back for Arteta to rifle the ball into the roof of the net.
It was the Spaniard's first goal for Arsenal - but his second against Blackburn this season, having scored a last-minute winner for Everton from the spot.
Gervinho was wasteful again after good work by Arshavin, taking the shot when a pass to van Persie would have given his skipper an open goal, and Scott Dann blocked well.
Blackburn began the second half with obvious urgency and Arsenal looked rattled when Arshavin conceded a free-kick on the left of the area five minutes after the break.
Such fear was justified when Ruben Rochina floated in the free-kick and the ball bounced off Song's knee and into the net for an own goal.
Song, comfortably the man of the match up until that point, could only look in disbelief.
Fired up by the equaliser, Rovers went on a series of offensives ending with Yakubu stunning Arsenal and putting the home side ahead for the first time.
Hoilett's corner ended up at Steven Nzonzi's feet at the far post and he drove the ball at goal with Yakubu - with a suspicion of offside - stabbing it in from close range.
Van Persie glanced a corner wide of the post as Arsenal tried to respond, but it was Blackburn via another own goal who struck.
Olsson's pace destroyed Johan Djourou and he then nipped past Song and crossed - with Koscielny deflecting the ball into the empty net.
Robinson tipped over van Persie's header with 15 minutes left before Wenger threw caution to the wind, sending on Chamakh for Song.
The Rovers keeper again saved with his finger-tips from van Persie, but with five minutes left on the clock the Gunners skipper produced a stunning cross and Chamakh out-jumped both centre-backs to plant a header in the top corner.
There was a nervous end for Kean when Per Mertesacker had a clear header a few yards out in injury time but he sent the ball on to the roof of the net.

​

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

[h=1]Flop Torres set to be loaned out in January[/h] Published 23:01 17/09/11 By Paul Smith

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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...o-be-loaned-back-to-Spain-article800881.html#

Chelsea flop Fernando Torres is set to be loaned out in January if he fails to find his goalscoring boots.
A temporary deal, *probably back to Spain, is *being considered by Blues boss André Villas-Boas as he attempts to solve Torres' loss of form.
He has scored just one goal since his €57million move from Liverpool. Chelsea won't consider a loan deal with a rival English club, but *accept a move back to his homeland might be the best way to revive his stuttering career.
Villas-Boas is concerned that Torres will continue to struggle if he's overlooked and left on the bench.

They will continue to monitor his form until the transfer window opens *giving him ample time to turn the corner at Chelsea.
They have not considered selling Torres because his poor form has decimated his market value.
Torres arrived at Chelsea after scoring 81 goals in 142 appearances for Liverpool, but has since found the net just once in 23 games.
Cash-rich Malaga and Torres' former club Atletico Madrid could offer him temporary sanctuary.
Robbie Fowler: Torres regrets leaving Liverpool

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