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[h=1]Manchester United sneak through after suffering home defeat by Ajax[/h]




[h=2]Europa League 2011-12[/h]
Manchester United 1
  • Hernández 6
Ajax 2
  • Özbiliz 37,
  • Alderweireld 87




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Ajax's Dico Koppers watches on as Javier Hernández scores Manchester United's only goal in a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford. Photograph: Jon Super/AP

The Europa League represents a new frontier for Manchester United but they have brought old failings with them. An inability to protect a lead and complacency at Old Trafford contributed to their demise in the Champions League. Both made an untimely reappearance as Sir Alex Ferguson's team advanced in defeat and with nerves frayed against Ajax.
United's performance against Frank de Boer's ultimately vibrant side was everything Ferguson had cautioned against before kick-off and Toby Alderweireld's 87th-minute goal raised the spectre of a second early European exit of the season. Not that warnings should have been necessary following the costly Champions League draws at home to Benfica and Basel in the group phase. Phil Jones, one of four members of Stuart Pearce's England squad for Wednesday's Holland friendly to start the game under the watchful eye of the caretaker manager and Harry Redknapp, admitted that "a little bit of complacency crept in and it cost us".
Unlike in the aftermath of Basel and Benfica, however, Ferguson absolved his players of blame for another home performance that exposed the squad's European inexperience. He took full responsibility for a team selection that almost backfired embarrassingly. "It was nervy," the United manager said. "I've got to accept the responsibility tonight myself – playing so many young players in the back four position was a big ask. It was a good opportunity to give Jones and [Chris] Smalling a game. But their lack of experience at pushing up and tightening up a game showed. For a European game it was too much of a risk. We survived it with a bit of luck."
Ajax lacked conviction in Amsterdam last week yet Ferguson had claimed that United could not consider the job done, even with a two-goal cushion and a clean sheet from the first leg. He gambled, however, on fielding a team with an average age of 24 and a defence with an average age of 21.
United set about ending the contest with haste and Nani had tested the goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer before Javier Hernández extended their aggregate lead to three. Jan Vertonghen, the Ajax captain and centre-half, cost his team with a careless pass that United's captain for the night, Park Ji-sung, intercepted in midfield. The ball broke for Dimitar Berbatov, who swept a fine pass into Hernández, and the Mexico international stepped inside Alderweireld to confirm his returning confidence with a fourth goal in his past four appearances. An Ajax support strong in number and in song was silenced. They won few friends with chants for Luis Suárez, the club's former striker.
United had opportunities to stretch their lead but Rafael da Silva was fortunate his booking for a lunge on Nicolás Lodeiro was not his second of the night after a ludicrous dive inside the Ajax area went unpunished. Once the visitors had settled, however, it was Rafael's twin brother, Fábio, who had the greater problems as Aras Ozbiliz flourished on the right wing and Siem de Jong took the game to United from central midfield.
"I had a feeling we could get a great result before the game," said De Boer. "But we were insecure in our passing in the first half, even with simple passes like the first goal, and even at 3-0 [in the tie] I felt we could threaten United if we performed as we are capable of doing. I am disappointed. The team could have done much more."
The impressive Ozbiliz brought Ajax level with an emphatic finish into the bottom corner of David de Gea's goal from 20 yards, albeit after Lodeiro had escaped with a handball in the buildup. Ajax dominated possession from the half hour onwards and it was not until the introduction of Paul Scholes, Jonny Evans and Danny Welbeck that United displayed the strength and composure in midfield, plus the pace in attack, to regain a modicum of control.
But they were far from home comfortably. Nani struck the bar on the counterattack and De Gea produced a fine reflex save from De Jong's near-post header as Ajax mounted late pressure. It finally told when the central defender Alderweireld powered home a header from Ozbiliz's free-kick at the back post. "The next game is at home against [Athletic] Bilbao and you will see the experienced players back for that," said Ferguson.
 

[h=1]Manchester United sneak through after suffering home defeat by Ajax[/h]




[h=2]Europa League 2011-12[/h]
Manchester United 1
  • Hernández 6
Ajax 2
  • Özbiliz 37,
  • Alderweireld 87




Dico-Koppers-Javier-Herna-007.jpg
Ajax's Dico Koppers watches on as Javier Hernández scores Manchester United's only goal in a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford. Photograph: Jon Super/AP

The Europa League represents a new frontier for Manchester United but they have brought old failings with them. An inability to protect a lead and complacency at Old Trafford contributed to their demise in the Champions League. Both made an untimely reappearance as Sir Alex Ferguson's team advanced in defeat and with nerves frayed against Ajax.
United's performance against Frank de Boer's ultimately vibrant side was everything Ferguson had cautioned against before kick-off and Toby Alderweireld's 87th-minute goal raised the spectre of a second early European exit of the season. Not that warnings should have been necessary following the costly Champions League draws at home to Benfica and Basel in the group phase. Phil Jones, one of four members of Stuart Pearce's England squad for Wednesday's Holland friendly to start the game under the watchful eye of the caretaker manager and Harry Redknapp, admitted that "a little bit of complacency crept in and it cost us".
Unlike in the aftermath of Basel and Benfica, however, Ferguson absolved his players of blame for another home performance that exposed the squad's European inexperience. He took full responsibility for a team selection that almost backfired embarrassingly. "It was nervy," the United manager said. "I've got to accept the responsibility tonight myself – playing so many young players in the back four position was a big ask. It was a good opportunity to give Jones and [Chris] Smalling a game. But their lack of experience at pushing up and tightening up a game showed. For a European game it was too much of a risk. We survived it with a bit of luck."
Ajax lacked conviction in Amsterdam last week yet Ferguson had claimed that United could not consider the job done, even with a two-goal cushion and a clean sheet from the first leg. He gambled, however, on fielding a team with an average age of 24 and a defence with an average age of 21.
United set about ending the contest with haste and Nani had tested the goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer before Javier Hernández extended their aggregate lead to three. Jan Vertonghen, the Ajax captain and centre-half, cost his team with a careless pass that United's captain for the night, Park Ji-sung, intercepted in midfield. The ball broke for Dimitar Berbatov, who swept a fine pass into Hernández, and the Mexico international stepped inside Alderweireld to confirm his returning confidence with a fourth goal in his past four appearances. An Ajax support strong in number and in song was silenced. They won few friends with chants for Luis Suárez, the club's former striker.
United had opportunities to stretch their lead but Rafael da Silva was fortunate his booking for a lunge on Nicolás Lodeiro was not his second of the night after a ludicrous dive inside the Ajax area went unpunished. Once the visitors had settled, however, it was Rafael's twin brother, Fábio, who had the greater problems as Aras Ozbiliz flourished on the right wing and Siem de Jong took the game to United from central midfield.
"I had a feeling we could get a great result before the game," said De Boer. "But we were insecure in our passing in the first half, even with simple passes like the first goal, and even at 3-0 [in the tie] I felt we could threaten United if we performed as we are capable of doing. I am disappointed. The team could have done much more."
The impressive Ozbiliz brought Ajax level with an emphatic finish into the bottom corner of David de Gea's goal from 20 yards, albeit after Lodeiro had escaped with a handball in the buildup. Ajax dominated possession from the half hour onwards and it was not until the introduction of Paul Scholes, Jonny Evans and Danny Welbeck that United displayed the strength and composure in midfield, plus the pace in attack, to regain a modicum of control.
But they were far from home comfortably. Nani struck the bar on the counterattack and De Gea produced a fine reflex save from De Jong's near-post header as Ajax mounted late pressure. It finally told when the central defender Alderweireld powered home a header from Ozbiliz's free-kick at the back post. "The next game is at home against [Athletic] Bilbao and you will see the experienced players back for that," said Ferguson.
 
[h=1]Wolves may try to tempt Dave Jones back to Molineux as manager[/h] • Former Cardiff City manager spent three years with Wolves
• Walter Smith turns down approach from Premier League club




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Dave Jones, who left Cardiff City last summer, was manager of Wolves from 2001-04. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images

Wolverhampton Wanderers are giving consideration to asking Dave Jones to return to Molineux for a second spell in charge as their search for a new manager descended into farce after Walter Smith became the third person to turn down the Premier League club since Mick McCarthy was sacked last week.
Jones has been out of work since leaving Cardiff City in the summer but he has spoken before about having "unfinished business" at Molineux, where he was the manager for three years, from 2001-04. It is understood that Wolves have made contact with Jones, who led the club into the Premier League in 2003 only for them to be relegated 12 months later.
The other option is Steve Bruce, the former Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland manager who was interviewed last week and would be keen to take over but has so far been overlooked during a recruitment process that has become an embarrassment. Alan Curbishley has twice turned the job down, Brian McDermott rejected Wolves in favour of staying at Reading and Smith has decided that it was not for him.
"It's true I'm not going [to Wolves]," the former Rangers manager said. "I was totally unsure whether I really wanted to do it or not. It was a purely personal thing, nothing to do with Wolves.
"I know Jez Moxey [the Wolves chief executive] and knew I was more of a fallback than anything. We didn't even get as far as discussing money. There was never a face-to-face meeting and we never discussed finance. If someone asks you, you're pleased to be asked, but the longer you think about it, you start to ask yourself whether it was right."
Wolves have also interviewed Neil Warnock, who subsequently took over at Leeds United, and explored the possibility of trying to lure Gus Poyet from Brighton & Hove Albion, which proved to be a non-starter. With no appointment imminent, Terry Connor, the Wolves assistant manager, will remain in temporary charge for the game at Newcastle United on Saturday, where Wolves will be looking to improve a dreadful run of 14 points from their past 22 matches.
"It's a shambles," said Charles Ross, editor of the Wolves fanzine A Load of Bull, said: "We are becoming a laughing stock. It's got to the stage where you are asking yourself not who would Wolves want but who would want Wolves."
 
[h=1]Wolves may try to tempt Dave Jones back to Molineux as manager[/h] • Former Cardiff City manager spent three years with Wolves
• Walter Smith turns down approach from Premier League club




Dave-Jones-007.jpg
Dave Jones, who left Cardiff City last summer, was manager of Wolves from 2001-04. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images

Wolverhampton Wanderers are giving consideration to asking Dave Jones to return to Molineux for a second spell in charge as their search for a new manager descended into farce after Walter Smith became the third person to turn down the Premier League club since Mick McCarthy was sacked last week.
Jones has been out of work since leaving Cardiff City in the summer but he has spoken before about having "unfinished business" at Molineux, where he was the manager for three years, from 2001-04. It is understood that Wolves have made contact with Jones, who led the club into the Premier League in 2003 only for them to be relegated 12 months later.
The other option is Steve Bruce, the former Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland manager who was interviewed last week and would be keen to take over but has so far been overlooked during a recruitment process that has become an embarrassment. Alan Curbishley has twice turned the job down, Brian McDermott rejected Wolves in favour of staying at Reading and Smith has decided that it was not for him.
"It's true I'm not going [to Wolves]," the former Rangers manager said. "I was totally unsure whether I really wanted to do it or not. It was a purely personal thing, nothing to do with Wolves.
"I know Jez Moxey [the Wolves chief executive] and knew I was more of a fallback than anything. We didn't even get as far as discussing money. There was never a face-to-face meeting and we never discussed finance. If someone asks you, you're pleased to be asked, but the longer you think about it, you start to ask yourself whether it was right."
Wolves have also interviewed Neil Warnock, who subsequently took over at Leeds United, and explored the possibility of trying to lure Gus Poyet from Brighton & Hove Albion, which proved to be a non-starter. With no appointment imminent, Terry Connor, the Wolves assistant manager, will remain in temporary charge for the game at Newcastle United on Saturday, where Wolves will be looking to improve a dreadful run of 14 points from their past 22 matches.
"It's a shambles," said Charles Ross, editor of the Wolves fanzine A Load of Bull, said: "We are becoming a laughing stock. It's got to the stage where you are asking yourself not who would Wolves want but who would want Wolves."
 
[h=1]Stuart Pearce adopts Germany model for England's new blood transfusion[/h] The caretaker's belief that young players need international experience early is reflected in his refreshing choices



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Fraizer Campbell made the cut for Stuart Pearce's England squad when Martin O'Neill endorsed the caretaker's hunch. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

It began with a little speech thanking Fabio Capello for an "education" but, by the end, the man wearing the Football Association blazer and possibly the most immovable side-parting in sport had made it clear that he operated in a very different way to the last England manager.
Capello would never have turned up at a player's door and invited himself in for coffee to break the news that he had not made the cut, as Stuart Pearce did with one of England's senior players. In fact, Capello would not even have picked up the phone if we think back to the way Rio Ferdinand was removed as captain. Nor was he known for tapping into the thoughts of other managers in the way Pearce did when he wanted some inside knowledge on Fraizer Campbell. Martin O'Neill's judgment was enough to corroborate Pearce's belief that a striker who has played only 609 minutes in the past 21 months was worth the punt.
Campbell joins Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Kyle Walker, Tom Cleverley, Daniel Sturridge and Daniel Welbeck from the squad for last year's European Under-21 Championship. Pearce has not gone quite as far as Peter Taylor for his one game in charge against Italy in 2000 when anyone aged 30 or above was excluded, but the general selection process can be gauged by looking at the ages of those players he rang on Wednesday evening to break the news that, for one game only, this was not an occasion for experience.
Michael Dawson for example, turned 28 three months ago. Joleon Lescott is 29, and could probably be forgiven for thinking he would have benefited from playing against a team with the expertise of Holland. Lescott has described it as "a strange one" and there was another bemused response on Twitter from his regular partner in central defence, Vincent Kompany, pointing out they played for a Manchester City side with the "best defensive record in the league, second year running".
Yet this is not the England party for Euro 2012. It is a one-off squad in which the logic is based in part on the system in Germany that has nurtured players such as Mesut Ozil and Thomas Müller. "What a fantastic model," Pearce said. "They bedded those players in and took them to the World Cup. Now I have to make sure our young players are ready, too, so when it really matters, it doesn't become too much for them."
Pearce, in fact, would have liked to be even more adventurous. "I could have quite comfortably put in Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Martin Kelly, maybe even Jack Butland." Except a measure of restraint is needed when the opposition are third in Fifa's world rankings. "It would be too easy, and too foolish maybe, to put out a totally inexperienced side for a game of this magnitude," Pearce said. "There have to be one or two old heads that can guide the youngsters."
Openly touting himself for the job, Pearce has to strike a balance between experimentation and not leaving the team vulnerable. If he is adventurous enough to start Jones and Smalling at the centre of defence, he has the experience of Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson at full-back. Steven Gerrard will be there to help Cleverley. Wayne Rooney will be involved because, put bluntly, Pearce did not agree with Capello that it made little sense including a player who will be suspended from the first two games of Euro 2012. "All of a sudden, Wayne might have gone nine months without playing international football."
Fundamentally, though, it will be a youthful side. "What we need is to get one or two of these young faces in there and find out whether they can handle it," Pearce said. "It was too much for me when I went to Italia 90. It took me three or four games. I had 20 caps to my name but it still got to me. I have to try to make sure that doesn't happen to the next generation of players."
The problem in all this, of course, is that when a temporary manager is in place there is always that sense of short-termism. Pearce may have based his squad on looking forward to the summer but if the job goes to Harry Redknapp it will be another manager with a new bunch of ideas, a different set of players and tactics. It is unlikely, for example, that Redknapp would retain Darren Bent, the player he froze out and then discarded at Spurs. This is why Redknapp favourites such as Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, maybe even Michael Carrick, should not be overly concerned. Equally, just because Oxlade-Chamberlain has been kept in the Under-21s does not mean Euro 2012 is too much too soon.
England had been stagnating under Capello and, whatever scepticism sometimes attaches itself to Pearce, he has succeeded at least in bringing a new energy to the job. Micah Richards has been reintroduced and the caretaker manager was at a loss to explain why Capello had left him out in the first place. "If we wind the clock back four or five years, the media were talking about Micah being a 100-cap England player."
The loser, really, is Andy Carroll. Pearce tried to choose his words carefully – "I just feel as though the individuals we've put in before him are slightly ahead" – but that probably makes Carroll about eighth or ninth choice considering Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Bobby Zamora were among the "oldies" to get the thanks-but-not-this-time telephone call this week.
 
[h=1]Koscielny set to be fit for derby day[/h] Published 22:30 23/02/12 By John Cross


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Laurent Koscielny is ready to give Arsenal a major fitness boost for the north London derby.
The French centre-half is making good progress after his knee injury suffered in the Champions League defeat in Milan.
Koscielny is hoping to be fit to face Spurs on Sunday in what will be a major lift for Arsene Wenger.
Gunners boss Wenger feared he would have to field a makeshift defence but Koscielny, Kieran Gibbs, Bacary Sagna and Thomas Vermaelen should all be ready.

The fact Koscielny has also been called up by France for their friendly against Germany next week is another indication of his fitness.
 
[h=1]Gerrard set to inherit England captaincy[/h] Published 23:00 23/02/12 By John Cross


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Stuart Pearce has laid out his requirements for an England captain - and everything pointed towards Steven Gerrard.
England caretaker boss Pearce has delayed officially naming his skipper for the friendly against Holland until after the weekend's matches, but made it very clear how much he admires Liverpool captain Gerrard.
While Pearce's predecessor Fabio Capello put little importance on the armband, it is clear that Psycho takes a very different view.
He says he even drew inspiration from a visit to Britain's heroic troops.

Pearce said: "I went to Afghanistan just over a year ago and I was asked to give a talk to the troops about leadership.
"On the trip over there I thought, 'Well, how do I approach this? What key element do I believe would be fundamental in a leader?'
"That would be 'Unselfish.' That's the one word I could come up with - that the others around as team-mates have to know you're in this for their greater good, rather than your own.
"I will attempt to pick a captain next week who I believe has that sort of respect in the other players' eyes, that I have picked up in that time.
"I think Tony Adams did. I think Paul Ince did, think Alan Shearer did. Terry Butcher. Bryan Robson. Good individuals. The team mattered a hell of a lot before individuals.
"I see that in the James Milners of this world. They are team players. I think that's the one fundamental that all leaders have."
Pearce claimed the furore around the captaincy after it was taken away from John Terry was "excessive", but admitted players should accept the responsibility of being role models.
"Football is the national sport so everything we do from coaching, playing, whatever it may be, is going to be picked up on, so it's vitally important," he said.
"But the other side is that, like myself, I could be an electrician one day and a footballer the next. Are you saying one day I'm a role model one day and the next I'm not? You have to understand that. I'm still the same person."
Pearce admitted his admiration for Gerrard and is pleased to have him back and fit after a nightmare year with injuries.
"I look at all the individuals like Steven Gerrard who has not been in the squad since 2010 somebody told me. That is too long for him not to be on an international pitch," he said.
Robbie Savage column: Psycho left his mark on me... let's hope he does the same with England
Pearce: I want to lead England at Euro 2012
England call-up the best moment of my life beams Campbell
Pearce denies grudge against Carroll led to Campbell call-up
England must start thinking long-term says stand-in boss Pearce
Fabio never fancied me claims Richards
The Ox is still in the running for Euro 2012, says Stuart Pearce
 
[h=1]Samba close to £12m Russian resolution[/h] Published 22:31 23/02/12 By Alan Nixon


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Blackburn are trying to sell wantaway Chris Samba to super-rich Russian side Anzhi Makhachkhala in a £12million deadline-beating deal.
Rovers are prepared to let the Congolese centre-half go and middle-men are hoping to push through the move before the Russian league's transfer window shuts on Friday.
Samba has not played for Rovers in over a month and wants out, after claiming that 'promises had been broken' by the Blackburn owners.
Anzhi - who have just named Guus Hiddink as boss - have been in talks through intermediaries and may offer Samba the pay-rise he is looking for.

Rovers turned down a £7m bid from QPR because they did not want to deal with relegation-battle rivals, so the Anzhi move - and an even bigger fee - could be a perfect solution.

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[h=1]Transfer news, rumours and gossip from Thursday's papers[/h] Published 09:04 23/02/12 By Football Spy


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The transfer window may be shut, but managers up and down the country are already plotting for when the next one opens, and we've got all the gossip from all the papers right here.
Transfer stories from today's Daily Mirror
PSG target 'fuming' Frank Lampard
Juve plot £30m Suarez swoop (report)

Sunderland urged to sell Gyan
Zenit want Arshavin back on loan
Beginning of the exodus? Rangers accept McKay offer
Stories from other papers and websites
Arsene Wenger could have as much as £100m to spend this summer, according to senior sources at Arsenal . (Daily Telegraph)
The Gunners boss could spend up to £55m of that on German pair Mario Gotze and Lukas Podolski this summer as he looks to reinvigorate his team. (Bild)
Roman Abramovich wants to get rid of Ashley Cole after the left-back openly clashed with Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas before the 3-1 defeat at Napoli. (The Sun)
But fellow Chelsea outcast Frank Lampard will resist Andre Villas-Boas' attempts to force him out of the club because of a £1.5million loyalty bonus in his contract. (Daily Mail)
Everton and Wigan are chasing Crewe duo Nick Powell and Max Clayton. The clubs sent scouts to watch the pair, both 17, this week. (The Sun)
Juventus have stepped up their bid to sign Manchester United teenager Paul Pogba by outlining a four-year contract for youngster who will be a free agent in the summer. (Daily Mail)
Manchester United and Arsenal target Javi Garcia is wanted by AC Milan, according to reports in Portugal. (talkSPORT)
Reading striker Mathieu Manset , 22, is poised to join Nicolas Anelka at Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua on loan. He has made only six starts this season. (Daily Mail)
Sunderland are keeping tabs on Pescara midfielder Moussa Kone, but could face competition from Saint Etienne and Sevilla for the 22-year-old. (talkSPORT)
 
[h=1]Wigan did not sell Villa a pup when they bought N'Zogbia, insists Martinez[/h] Published 22:00 23/02/12 By Jeremy Butler


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Roberto Martinez insists Wigan did not sell Aston Villa a pup when flogging them Charles N'Zogbia for £9.5m.
The French winger is enduring a torrid season at Villa Park having netted just once goal in 18 Premier League starts and providing two assists.
Those figures compare badly to his last term at Wigan where N'Zogbia scored nine times in 32 games and set up team-mates for five goals.
His poor form has seen boss Alex McLeish getting stick for making the 25-year-old his big money buy in the summer.

And the winger is not certain of a spot in the Villa line-up when he returns to the DW Stadium on Saturday.
But N'Zogbia's manager from his time at Wigan is convinced the wideman will come good.
Martinez said: " In football it happens. When you move to another club it takes time. It takes time to settle in and time to find your role.
"With a big transfer fee it happens all the time. It is not something strange.
"What is quite clear is Charles quality will flourish and he will settle in. There is no doubt about that.
"You know the quality he had here at Wigan, it is a quality that is unique. It is only a matter of time before he will be himself.
"But it does takes time. Diego Forlan came to Manchester United and couldn't score a goal for example.
"Then he goes to Villarreal and is a Golden Boot for two years in a row. Those things happen. This is normal."

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[h=1]Why Arsenal hope copying Man United's wage structure will help keep van Persie[/h]
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By John Cross
Published 22:32 22/02/12

Follow John Cross on Twitter



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Arsenal are carrying out a stringent review of their wage policy. It is intended to ensure "efficiency" and that every pound is accounted for in a shake-up of player contracts.
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has flown in this week for a board meeting and new contracts for Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott, which could see both players end up being quids in, will be high on the agenda.
At the moment, Arsenal's star player van Persie is behind other big Premier League stars, and the club realise that they need to get better value for money from their squad.
Manchester United is held up as the model as Wayne Rooney is on £200,000-a-week and his strike partner Danny Welbeck is on £15,000-a-week.

Then you have the likes of Chris Smalling who was upgraded to around £50,000-a-week last summer. Javier Hernandez is on around £60,000-a-week and Phil Jones, an England international, is not far behind.
Welbeck's impressive season will be rewarded with a great new contract. But, for now, he's being kept young and hungry.
The really interesting thing about United is the discrepancy between the biggest star in Rooney and his team mates. The club are prepared to pay stellar wages for stellar players.
The difference at Arsenal is that all of the squad - from Johan Djourou to Robin van Persie - are kept within reach of each other.
It is important to stress that there is no wage cap or formalised structure at Arsenal. Just a long held belief by Arsene Wenger that there should be some kind of equilibrium among players who share the same dressing room.
Thierry Henry earned the best contract at Arsenal of around £100,000-a-week plus a big signing-on fee when he signed on for one more year in 2006.
Since then, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, van Persie et al, have not reached six figures. Van Persie is on £70,000-a-week plus and Arsenal, in the current climate, are unlikely to offer him over £100,000-a-week as they try and renegotiate his contract. Thomas Vermaelen got a hefty signing-on fee when he renegotiated his deal last season.
Arsenal know van Persie likes London and has a great affection for the club, and believe they have a good chance of keeping him. Fabregas wanted to go "home" to Barcelona. Nasri would have re-signed if the deal had been put in front of him at the right time.
The truth is that for a team that is supposedly stingy on wages, Arsenal's wage bill is sky-high. It's £130m-a-year and is 40 per cent higher than Tottenham who do have a wage structure.
Clearly, that means Arsenal are not getting good value. And there is a reason for that. There is a whole raft of squad players - Abou Diaby, Denilson and Nicklas Bendtner - who are on great money because they have been given parity.
Diaby is on £60,000-a-week. Bendtner has never denied the story that he chose shirt number 52 as it represents his weekly wage. If they were at Manchester United (which on recent form is hard to believe) they would not even be earning half as much.
They are earning so much that Arsenal could not offload them last season. Some were shipped out on loan. Diaby was put up for sale but there were no takers, not because of injury but because of his sky-high wages.
Now Arsenal may be willing to review the decision to keep the top players within touching distance of the squad players. It also means a whole raft of middle squad players - Diaby, Carlos Vela, Denilson, Bendtner - may be moved on and new ones shipped in.
Japanese winger Ryo Miyaichi was brought in for peanuts, is on relatively low wages and will be rewarded with a contract when he has earned it.
The same is likely to happen for Carl Jenkinson. He was brought in from Charlton for £1m, signed a good deal and will be rewarded for an impressive start. But within reason.
It's similar lines for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He was signed for big money and has been outstanding and yet his wages will be kept realistic for now - rather like the United philosophy for their exceptional young English talents.
The money saved is then open to Arsene Wenger to use to reward the likes of van Persie, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott.
The upshot is that while Arsenal's big stars get the big money to keep them happy and the young players are kept happy and hungry, the players in the middle of the squad will lose out. They won't be allowed to sit back, not worry if they are in the team because they are on great contracts.
Look at this way: Abou Diaby has been on more more than Luka Modric this season. Incredible. No wonder Spurs want to renegotiate.
Arsenal have not been getting value for money and they are looking to change. As the club moves forward and looks to make changes, it could be a valuable weapon in the armoury to attract and keep top players.
 
[h=2]Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, 1.30pm Sunday 26 February[/h] [h=1]Tottenham ready to frustrate Arsenal and underline claim to be top dogs[/h] • Harry Redknapp: 'No reason why the club can't push on'
• Changing players has been the key to closing the gap




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Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp says the club have a 10pt cushion over Arsenal but things could change quickly. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images

The last time Arsenal won the league, in 2004, they did so at White Hart Lane and although a victory at the Emirates on Sunday would not bring such glory for Tottenham Hotspur, it would go a long way towards confirming that Harry Redknapp is on course to achieve both the targets that he set his team at the start of the season. "Champions League qualification and finishing the top club in London, they were the most important things for me this year," Redknapp said. "Anything above that would be a fantastic bonus."
It has been 17 years since Spurs finished as the capital's leading club but a win would lift them 13 points clear of Arsenal and leave them at least 10 free of Chelsea. It says much for how the balance of power appears to be changing that when Redknapp previewed the north London derby by pointing out that "Arsenal are a strong side and dangerous opposition", it sounded almost like a top-flight manager warning his team against complacency ahead of a cup tie against plucky outsiders.
Perceptions could be altered rapidly, of course, if Arsenal recover from last week's Champions League debacle at Milan and FA Cup elimination by Sunderland to inject new intrigue into the battle for London supremacy, not to mention the race for Champions league qualification. "We have a nice cushion but we've all seen 10 points eroded before and things could change very quickly. After Arsenal we've got Manchester United and Everton, so it's a difficult period for us."
Not as difficult, though, as the one being endured by Arsenal, where discontent with Wenger and those above him is a commodity from which Redknapp aims to profit. "We don't want them to get their tails up so if we go there and get hold of the ball and frustrate them early in the game, maybe that anxiety will creep into their game."
Increasingly, anxiety at the Emirates translates into open calls from the crowd for Wenger to step down or at least move aside, however Redknapp said giving in to such appeals would be a mistake. "Who are they going to get who can do a better job than him?" Redknapp said of his counterpart. "Look at his record. What he has done at Arsenal has been incredible. Getting to the Champions League for 14 years in a row is an amazing achievement. [Dissident fans] should be careful what they wish for."
Still, the momentum is with Tottenham and Redknapp believes it can be sustained beyond this season and for the foreseeable future – which, perhaps, is one of the reasons why it is not a given that he would leave the club to manage England should the Football Association came calling. Redknapp insists it has not done so far. There was a hunger in his words as he spoke about the possibility of Spurs becoming top dogs in the capital even beyond this season.
"It all depends on how much you want it. Chelsea are not going to stand still and Arsenal are not going to lie down without a fight if they don't make it this year so you've got to keep on improving. You've got to be ambitious. And the chairman is ambitious so there's no reason why the club can't push on."
It is evident that a time when Arsenal's transfer wherewithal is in doubt, Redknapp relishes the recruitment options he has been given by the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy – not to mention the refusal to sell important players such as Luka Modric. "We've changed the players in recent years and that has been the key to closing the gap [on other London clubs]," he said. "We have got a lot of players here who would get in any team. Most people would love the players we've got." Including, no doubt, Arsenal and Chelsea.
 
[h=1]Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin completes loan move to Zenit St Petersburg[/h] • Russian forward returns to former club on loan
• Thirty-year-old has scored only one league goal this season




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Arsène Wenger replaces Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin against Manchester United, for the Russian's last home Arsenal appearance before his loan move to Zenit St Petersburg. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Andrey Arshavin has rejoined Zenit St Petersburg on loan from Arsenal until the end of the English season, with a view to making the return permanent in the summer, ending an occasionally brilliant but, more latterly, largely frustrating three-year spell in English football.
The 30-year-old forward, who spent nine years around the senior squad in his first spell at Zenit, had become the Londoners' record signing when prised away from his hometown club for some £15m in the midwinter window of 2009 and went on to make 133 appearances for the Premier League club, scoring 30 goals, including all his team's in a memorable 4-4 draw at Liverpool in April 2009. That hinted at greatness, though his form had become more patchy subsequently, illuminated only by flashes of his undoubted talent.
His star dipped further this season, notably when he became the fall guy as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was controversially substituted by Arsène Wenger during the 2-1 home defeat by Manchester United last month. The Arsenal manager said on Friday, while negotiations between the clubs were ongoing, that he would not stand in the player's way if he expressed a desire to return to his homeland, adding: "On the flank we have [alternative] players."
Arsenal said Arshavin was rejoining Zenit to "maximise his opportunities for regular first-team football ahead of Euro 2012".
The player told Sport-Express in Russia: "Friday was a very difficult day, nothing was decided until the very last minute. But I hope from now on everything is going to be fine. I want to play and will do all I can to help Zenit win the Russian title."
Arshavin, who will wear the No29 shirt back at Zenit, was not the only high-profile departure from the Premier League before the closure of the Russian transfer window on Friday evening after money-flushed Anzhi Makhachkala secured the Congolese centre-half Christopher Samba from Blackburn Rovers on a four-year deal. Although the defender's departure for an initial £9m, with a further £2m due in potential add-ons, may be deemed a a blow to the club's hopes of avoiding relegation, the 27-year-old had been unsettled over recent months and had a transfer request rejected last month.
Samba had hoped to secure a move to Tottenham Hotspur, with Queen's Park Rangers also interested, but has now been lured away to work with the recently appointed Guus Hiddink at Anzhi, an emerging force backed by the billionaire Suleyman Kerimov.
"They have brought in [Samuel] Eto'o and Hiddink to transform the club," Samba told Sky Sports News. "I know Anzhi is a little club that wants to become a very big one."
Samba was earning around £60,000 a week at Blackburn, where he began the season as captain. The sale provides a welcome cash injection for Blackburn and means the owner, Venky's, will not have to put in money in the short term into the club.
 
[h=1]Terry Connor takes over after Steve Bruce cast adrift in Wolves farce[/h] • Molineux post offered to Bruce before chairman changed mind
• Connor was assistant to sacked Mick McCarthy




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Terry Connor, left, has been at Molineux for more than 13 years and was assistant to the sacked Mick McCarthy, right. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Steve Morgan, the Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman, came out fighting on Friday and insisted he had "nothing to be embarrassed about" after the controversial appointment of Terry Connor, the sacked manager Mick McCarthy's former assistant.
It is understood that the job was offered to Steve Bruce early on Thursday evening and that his lawyers were working on the contract only for Morgan to have a sudden change of heart. The chairman told Bruce that night that the deal was off and that he had decided to put his faith in Connor for the rest of the season instead.
Bruce was happy to take on the role and may be reconsidered in the summer, although Connor has been told the job will be his if he impresses during his three-month audition.
The search for a manager had turned into a farce even before the late U-turn over Bruce, after a number of potential candidates were approached only to turn down the job. McCarthy was dismissed 11 days ago after the 5-1 defeat by West Bromwich Albion and attempts to lure Alan Curbishley, Walter Smith, Brian McDermott and Gus Poyet were rebuffed in a process that became a step-by-step guide on how not to appoint a manager.
Connor was promoted on Friday, bringing a sorry saga to a close and hardly covering Morgan and the chief executive, Jez Moxey, in glory.
Connor, 49, has been associated for more than 13 years with Wolves but has never been a manager and is charged with the daunting remit of saving the club from dropping into the Championship. He will receive a bonus if he succeeds, believed to be around £100,000, and begins his 13-game assignment at Newcastle United United on Saturday afternoon.
But Morgan was clearly perturbed by the notion of Wolves becoming a laughing stock and defended the appointment of Connor in a combative press conference. "I have to take issue with the suggestion that we now have an image problem. We've done nothing wrong and have nothing to be embarrassed about," he said.
"Has it been done on the cheap? I feel insulted by the question. I think that's an insult to me and this football club and Terry. After the West Brom game we reached the conclusion that if we didn't make the change then we were probably going to go down. We have gone through a process of finding the best way to take the club forward and that has culminated with the appointment of Terry which we're delighted with.
"It's [the coverage] been very frustrating and we've had an open mind all the way through with the majority of the candidates we've seen. At another time and place a number of them would be considered again. But, at the moment, it's Terry from now until the end of the season."
Connor's appointment is a popular one with the squad, even if he admits he will have to earn respect in his new role.
He said: "I am still called TC and being called 'gaffer' is something I have to earn. The lads and myself feel we have unfinished business from now until the end of the season. We've done two seasons where we've stayed in the Premier League and we want to make it three, and the players are very much of that thinking as well."
 
[h=2]Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, 1.30pm, Sunday 26 February[/h] [h=1]Arsène Wenger, like Arsenal wins over Tottenham, cannot go on forever[/h] The Arsenal manager knows there is now more than just pride at stake when the north London rivals meet



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Arsène Wenger knows an Arsenal victory over Tottenham will go some way to restoring fans' faith in him. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images

Arsène Wenger was at a low ebb on Friday. His heavy cold embodied the subdued mood at a faltering club about to meet Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates. In modern times, the fixture has often been about pride alone, but the days are gone when the visitors sought something so small as a mere, isolated win over Arsenal.
Tottenham, third in the table, will have hopes of maintaining or extending the 10-point lead over them. Whether they achieve that or not, the scrutiny of Wenger and his employers will continue. Supporters understand the value of prudence but also believe that the virtue is being taken too far.
The "Arsène Knows" sign could have been decommissioned a long time ago. While fans may resist vilifying him in the near future, he is the cause of as much frustration as Stan Kroenke, the American who holds the majority stake in the club. The latter may attend the encounter with Tottenham, even if the mood in the Emirates has an undertow of animosity towards the owners as well as the visitors.
Followers of Arsenal have, all the same, just begun to express dissent. They may still be glad of possessing costly season tickets that start at almost £1,000 considering that there is a waiting list of 40,000. Nonetheless, those who can attend the games do not feel so very privileged any more.
Their tone still tends to be quizzical rather than mutinous towards Wenger but that could be changing. "Everyone will mention him and Sir Alex Ferguson," said Andrew Mangan, editor of arseblog.com, "but Ferguson is there because he has kept on winning things." It seems that a knack for disappointment has been honed at Arsenal.
Defeat in last season's League Cup final did not seem so very astonishing despite the fact that opponents Birmingham City had taken the silverware on the way to relegation. It sometimes feels that Arsenal are dogged in their capacity to fall short. Whatever is said of the League Cup, it could have stopped the constant references to Arsenal lacking a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.
On that occasion the side first survived the final against a dominant Manchester United before prevailing in a shoot-out. The sense that this is now a distant event is underpinned by the realisation that the match was staged at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
There is no seething mob confronting Wenger even now and while he should be spared that after all the wonders once accomplished, a scepticism is on the rise that can undermine a manager in its own fashion.
"The idea of him staying forever isn't as obvious as it was," says Mangan, before attempting to understand Wenger's circumstances and intentions. "Is it wilfulness or stubbornness or is there something going on in the background that he is covering up? It would be sad if it ended in acrimony."
Wenger could regard himself as unlucky when, for instance, his side reached the final of the Champions League, only to appreciate that the game was a lost cause because the opponents were a Barcelona lineup hailed as among the greatest teams in history.
That was a day when Arsenal were hopelessly disadvantaged, but there are accusations that the club also confounds itself. Wenger is poised when justifying his situation. Only Blackburn and Wigan have a worse defensive record in away games in the Premier League. The Arsenal manager's response is not so very comforting for fans.
"We conceded eight at Man United and four at the beginning of the season at Blackburn," he said. "So overall I feel since then we have stabilised our defence." Followers of the club would wonder why such debacles had even been feasible. The loss of four goals without reply to Milan in the first leg of the last 16 tie in Champions League did not suggest that all ills have been cured.
The quick-witted Wenger also referred to the fact that his club had at least got to the knockout phase, leaving everyone to ponder the Manchester clubs who are out of the competition and busy instead in the Europa League. Who can blame him? Opportunities for oneupmanship do not come often enough for Arsenal.
He has been criticised by people such as the former Arsenal manager George Graham. Wenger can cite ill-fortune as in the serious injury to the centre-half Per Mertesacker, who was bought in the summer. Then again, he is probably not as great a loss as that suffered by United when Nemanja Vidic's season was ended by cruciate damage.
The Frenchman tries to ignore the remarks of Graham and others. "I fight for what I can master," Wenger said. "It's a waste of energy and of time to speak about people who have opinions. They are entitled to have an opinion, that I respect. It does not mean this person is necessarily right. We live in a world where you have to accept that. I can completely live with that. That is not the most important for me. The most important for me is that we turn up with a good performance on Sunday."
It is part of the punishment of a manager in difficulties that everything he has ever done becomes open to re-examination. Wenger was asked, for example, if he might not have signed the excellent Gareth Bale who went to Tottenham instead. "We had full-backs at the time. We had Clichy, we had Cole. After we were more keen on [Theo] Walcott, Walcott was a lot of money."
Arsenal did pay Southampton £5m for him in 2006, with Tottenham stumping up the same amount for Bale when too he arrived, also from Southampton, a year later. Wenger also praised the fact that Redknapp has taken the former Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor on loan from Manchester City.
"He's done well," Wenger remarked of Redknapp. "Having said that, if the player was allowed to play as well against Man City, maybe they would have a more realistic approach. I was always against the case that you can loan the player and he cannot play against you. He should be allowed to play against you as well."
It was an odd argument since Arsenal have no contractual connection at all to Adebayor and perhaps it reflected unease in Wenger over his general situation on the approach to the north London derby. The often ironic Wenger was almost emotional about the test to come this weekend.
"It's vital for us," he said of the scene anticipated at the Emirates. "Arsenal v Tottenham is a passionate game," he said, "you expect that. It's only a passionate game if your fans stand behind you and give absolutely everything like the players will do."
He will prize the devotion of those onlookers as well as the sacrifices made to afford the season tickets, but it was notable to hear Wenger take such a populist stance. He often seems above the fray. On this occasion, the emotion that simmers within Wenger will almost certainly surge to the surface in a game that will go some way to determining Arsenal's season.
 

[h=1] [/h]
[h=1]History is against principled stand by André Villas-Boas at Chelsea[/h] Rumours of player discontent at Stamford Bridge are always unlikely to bring long-term security for the manager




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André Villas-Boas made some brave selections against Napoli in the Champions League and Chelsea lost 3-1. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images

Does this sound familiar? Chelsea, trying to keep up with the league leaders, have hit a sticky patch. Then several players upset the manager, who promptly drops them for the next game. The papers are full of rumours about a dressing room revolt and the manager's future is in doubt.
No, this is not André Villas-Boas in 2012 but Tommy Docherty way back in 1965, when eight of his players broke a curfew while the squad were training up at Blackpool. Among them were Terry Venables, John Hollins, Eddie McCreadie and Barry Bridges, the heart of the team.
"I knew I had a serious matter on my hands," Docherty recalled, "and that if I faltered I would never again be able to command any respect or discipline." So he dropped all eight for the match at Burnley the following Saturday and Chelsea lost 6-2.
The defeat ended their chances of becoming league champions, but Docherty was supported by the Chelsea board. The chairman, Joe Mears, was abroad and sent him a telegram saying: "We back your decision 110%." Other clubs congratulated him on taking a stand. "If there were more managers like Tommy Docherty," declared Burnley's Bob Lord, "football would be in much better shape."
Villas-Boas made his point more modestly this week when he left Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien out of his starting lineup for the Champions League game in Naples following rumours of player discontent with his management. The three eventually appeared off the bench but Chelsea, already weakened by the absence of the injured John Terry, defended chaotically and now face the task of overturning Napoli's 3-1 lead to stay in the tournament.
Far from being feted for holding his ground against reportedly recalcitrant players, Villas-Boas has been widely criticised for fielding a team asking to be taken to the cleaners by Napoli's voracious attack. According to the headlines his relatively short time at Stamford Bridge is fast running out.
Before Tuesday night's match in the Stadio San Paolo Villas-Boas was talking about his long-term plans at Chelsea. "I have the full confidence of the owner," he said. "I am here to do my job, and my job is for this year and the next two years." But he did add, rather more pertinently, that "these words would be more valuable coming from the top".
Maybe the man at the top, Roman Abramovich, has already texted his manager praising him for his principled team selection against Napoli. Maybe not. So far Abramovich's only public contribution to the latest crisis at the Bridge has been the usual one of turning up at training like the figure of Death in a film by Ingmar Bergman. When this happens the manager senses that the ghosts of his predecessors are queueing up to walk over his grave.
Docherty's career as the Chelsea manager never really recovered from the Blackpool incident. The following season his team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and finished fifth in the league but that spring Venables and Bridges left, and Peter Bonetti and Bobby Tambling put in transfer requests.
In 1967 Docherty took Chelsea to the FA Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham, but after an incident with a local referee during the club's summer tour in Bermuda he was suspended for a month by the Football Association and resigned, to be replaced by a manager the players wanted, Dave Sexton. So much for standing on principle.
These dramatic gestures seldom work to a manager's benefit in the long run. At the end of the 60s Tottenham's glory, glory days were beginning to fade. The pure, passing game of the Double side was finding it difficult to cope with the tighter style of containment and counterattack that was starting to dominate English football at that time. Bill Nicholson, the Spurs manager, was becoming disillusioned with the way things were going and when his team were knocked out of the FA Cup by lowly Crystal Palace in a fourth-round replay early in 1970 he dropped Alan Gilzean, Cyril Knowles, Joe Kinnear and, significantly, Jimmy Greaves for the next match at Southampton, which Tottenham also lost.
Greaves never played for Spurs again and while Tottenham still won cups it was years before they once more became a serious force in the league. Nicholson had made his point by leaving out regular players after a bad night but it was more moot than meaningful, as Villas-Boas may soon discover for himself.
 

[h=1] [/h]
[h=1]History is against principled stand by André Villas-Boas at Chelsea[/h] Rumours of player discontent at Stamford Bridge are always unlikely to bring long-term security for the manager




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André Villas-Boas made some brave selections against Napoli in the Champions League and Chelsea lost 3-1. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images

Does this sound familiar? Chelsea, trying to keep up with the league leaders, have hit a sticky patch. Then several players upset the manager, who promptly drops them for the next game. The papers are full of rumours about a dressing room revolt and the manager's future is in doubt.
No, this is not André Villas-Boas in 2012 but Tommy Docherty way back in 1965, when eight of his players broke a curfew while the squad were training up at Blackpool. Among them were Terry Venables, John Hollins, Eddie McCreadie and Barry Bridges, the heart of the team.
"I knew I had a serious matter on my hands," Docherty recalled, "and that if I faltered I would never again be able to command any respect or discipline." So he dropped all eight for the match at Burnley the following Saturday and Chelsea lost 6-2.
The defeat ended their chances of becoming league champions, but Docherty was supported by the Chelsea board. The chairman, Joe Mears, was abroad and sent him a telegram saying: "We back your decision 110%." Other clubs congratulated him on taking a stand. "If there were more managers like Tommy Docherty," declared Burnley's Bob Lord, "football would be in much better shape."
Villas-Boas made his point more modestly this week when he left Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien out of his starting lineup for the Champions League game in Naples following rumours of player discontent with his management. The three eventually appeared off the bench but Chelsea, already weakened by the absence of the injured John Terry, defended chaotically and now face the task of overturning Napoli's 3-1 lead to stay in the tournament.
Far from being feted for holding his ground against reportedly recalcitrant players, Villas-Boas has been widely criticised for fielding a team asking to be taken to the cleaners by Napoli's voracious attack. According to the headlines his relatively short time at Stamford Bridge is fast running out.
Before Tuesday night's match in the Stadio San Paolo Villas-Boas was talking about his long-term plans at Chelsea. "I have the full confidence of the owner," he said. "I am here to do my job, and my job is for this year and the next two years." But he did add, rather more pertinently, that "these words would be more valuable coming from the top".
Maybe the man at the top, Roman Abramovich, has already texted his manager praising him for his principled team selection against Napoli. Maybe not. So far Abramovich's only public contribution to the latest crisis at the Bridge has been the usual one of turning up at training like the figure of Death in a film by Ingmar Bergman. When this happens the manager senses that the ghosts of his predecessors are queueing up to walk over his grave.
Docherty's career as the Chelsea manager never really recovered from the Blackpool incident. The following season his team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and finished fifth in the league but that spring Venables and Bridges left, and Peter Bonetti and Bobby Tambling put in transfer requests.
In 1967 Docherty took Chelsea to the FA Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham, but after an incident with a local referee during the club's summer tour in Bermuda he was suspended for a month by the Football Association and resigned, to be replaced by a manager the players wanted, Dave Sexton. So much for standing on principle.
These dramatic gestures seldom work to a manager's benefit in the long run. At the end of the 60s Tottenham's glory, glory days were beginning to fade. The pure, passing game of the Double side was finding it difficult to cope with the tighter style of containment and counterattack that was starting to dominate English football at that time. Bill Nicholson, the Spurs manager, was becoming disillusioned with the way things were going and when his team were knocked out of the FA Cup by lowly Crystal Palace in a fourth-round replay early in 1970 he dropped Alan Gilzean, Cyril Knowles, Joe Kinnear and, significantly, Jimmy Greaves for the next match at Southampton, which Tottenham also lost.
Greaves never played for Spurs again and while Tottenham still won cups it was years before they once more became a serious force in the league. Nicholson had made his point by leaving out regular players after a bad night but it was more moot than meaningful, as Villas-Boas may soon discover for himself.
 

[h=2]Interview[/h] [h=1]Steven Gerrard eager to erase dire memories of Carling Cup 'nightmare'[/h] Captain wants to lift cup for Liverpool at Wembley to help forget his own-goal in 2005 Cardiff final that was 'one of my worst days'




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Steven Gerrard will captain Liverpool against Cardiff City in the Carling Cup final at Wembley. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Getty Images

Steven Gerrard switches to auto-pilot when asked to revisit the 2005 final. "As I've said many times, it was the best night of …" Awkwardly, he has to be cut off. It is that year's Carling Cup final on the agenda. "Oh that," he says, and there is an interminable silence as he trawls through the buried file of the memory bank. "Nightmare."
It was not just logic-defying comebacks and Champions League glory for the Liverpool captain in 2005. Before the header past Dida at the Ataturk Stadium there was a head rub from José Mourinho at the Millennium, where the then Chelsea manager gave Gerrard a consoling pat following Liverpool's 3-2 defeat in their last Carling Cup final appearance.
The gesture enraged Liverpool supporters almost as much as the finger to the lips from Mourinho that greeted Chelsea's equaliser that Cardiff day. It had, to the Liverpool midfielder's despair, arrived unwittingly from his head with Rafael Benítez's team 11 minutes from victory. Given the renewed interest from Stamford Bridge in signing Gerrard at the time, conspiracy theorists had a field day.
Even now the recollections have to be coaxed from the 31-year-old. "It was a nightmare. An own-goal. I felt suicidal. It was bad, one of the worst days I have had, especially against Chelsea. I was linked with them for a while before that cup final. Then to go and score an own-goal – there were Liverpool fans who probably thought I meant it at the time because I was linked with them – and to get the defeat was a nightmare for me and the team."
And they say the Carling Cup does not matter – "they" being those not in the final.
That Carling Cup final defeat was one of eight visits Liverpool made to Cardiff in the six years Wembley was under construction and one of only two defeats suffered during the cups' residency in Wales. It was a fertile period Liverpool have not recaptured since, although a regret for Gerrard is that Sunday's final against Cardiff City will be his debut at the national stadium for his boyhood club and a first opportunity to lift a trophy at Wembley as captain.
"The first time I went as a fan we got beaten by Man U and Cantona scored, 1-0 [1996], so that was not good," says Gerrard, who may be back at Wembley next week as England captain for the friendly against Holland.
"The good memories were from watching the club in finals on TV but as a Liverpool fan going down, only bad ones. I was thinking whether I would get to play at Wembley with Liverpool when I was at Cardiff for cup finals. I was slightly gutted, if you like, that they were not at Wembley because when you're growing up you want to walk up those steps and lift the cup above your head in front of everyone. So this final is going to be a bit extra special because it's back at Wembley."
It matters more to Gerrard that Liverpool are back in a final, not where it is staged. They were almost routine for the midfielder between 2001 and 2007 yet there have been moments in the past five years, particularly when the club was tearing itself apart under the ruinous ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, that he feared the grand occasion had passed him by forever.
He admits: "There were days when you wondered, will I ever get to a major cup final or will I experience more success as a Liverpool player? But you always have to believe and have confidence that things will turn around if you keep working hard and doing the right things. That's what we have all done. We have stuck together. I think the experience and hurt from the lows helps you to get to places like this final.
"I wouldn't say it feels like two different clubs now but the atmosphere is completely different. Going back to the time under George and Tom, you'd suffer a defeat at Anfield and then go out to do the warm down and there would be thousands still in the stands, singing and shouting to get the owners out. Not good. Then to beat Manchester City, who were clear favourites to knock us out over two legs [in the semi-final], and it's completely different atmospheres and experiences. For the better. A lot better."
A change in ownership helped restore financial stability and a sense of direction at Liverpool but it was the change in the manager's chair last January that, as far as Gerrard is concerned, has dragged the club from woe to Wembley.
"I think it is down to the Kenny factor," the captain explains. "This time last year the season was over and there was doom and gloom around the place. Kenny coming in gave everyone a big lift and slowly brought belief and confidence back. I was delighted he got the job. Kenny's a hero of mine and even more for my dad, because he was around when he played. He is a lot closer to the players, he's a very good man manager.
"I don't think there's a problem with managers who are distant. I have worked with managers who handle players differently. With Kenny it's like he still thinks he's a player, still trying to get a game on the training ground, still laughing and joking with the players.
"But from a serious point of view he's very loyal and honest with the players and that's all you can ask for. As a player you want to deliver something back for him, which we have done by getting to the Carling Cup final. We want to do the same in the FA Cup and it would be nice to get to May with two trophies in the bag and a top-four finish. That would be a dream season for us in Kenny's first full year."
Liverpool have won the League Cup a record seven times and always when it has been sponsored by a drinks manufacturer – the Milk Marketing Board (1981-84), Coca-Cola (1995) and Worthington (2001 and 2003). As with the Worthington Cup win over Birmingham City in 2001, Gerrard believes victory over Cardiff, another Championship club, "can be a catalyst for this team".
He explains: "The feeling is quite similar to 2001. Before we won the [cup] treble we were improving slowly with new players settling in well and I think that is happening here.
"But I also think we are a bit further away than that team, and it's a lot more difficult now to win the league than it was back in 2001. Then there were probably three major forces in the league and there are five or six now. We are still a little bit off that but winning the cup competitions gives you the belief and confidence. Back in 2001 there was not really a Chelsea or a City about, so it's a lot more difficult now."
Wembley is a reward on a personal level too, with Gerrard having missed much of 2011 through a series of serious and dispiriting injuries. "Last year was the toughest of my career so far and I worked so hard to get back for days like this so all that hard work is paying off."
Sunday also brings him face-to-face for the first time in his professional career with his cousin Anthony Gerrard, the Cardiff defender. The pair are close. Up to a point. "He's playing in his first major final," says the Liverpool captain with a hint of pride, "but I'm hoping to send him home like I felt in 2005."
 

[h=2]England v Holland, Wembley, 8pm Wednesday 29 February[/h] [h=1]Harry Redknapp shares traits with Bill Shankly, says Stuart Pearce[/h] • Pearce appears to back Redknapp's candidacy for England job
• Tottenham manager also likened to Clough and Ferguson




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Harry Redknapp's man-management skills were praised by the stand-in England coach Stuart Pearce. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Stuart Pearce, the interim England coach, has spoken glowingly of Harry Redknapp's credentials as an elite manager, comparing him with Brian Clough, Bill Shankly and Sir Alex Ferguson in what will be perceived as public backing for the favourite to take over the national team.
The current manager of the England Under-21s and prospective coach of Team GB at the London Olympics will oversee the seniors for Wednesday's visit of Holland to Wembley. While Pearce has expressed a willingness to take the national team to the summer's European Championship should the Football Association fail to appoint a full-time successor to Fabio Capello, the former Manchester City manager has stressed he is not ready to take on the role on a permanent basis.
The 49-year-old does hope to retain an involvement within the senior coaching staff in the future, combining that with his position with the Under‑21s, and his praise of Redknapp indicated a desire to work with a manager under whom he played for two years at West Ham. "Harry has all the same traits as all good managers, if I'm being honest," Pearce said. "I wouldn't call him unique: Brian Clough had it; Bill Shankly had it; Sir Alex Ferguson's got it. All the good managers who are successful have that ability to build their players up and give their players confidence. That's why they're successful.
"His man-management skills are outstanding, I must say. My first contact with Harry was when I was still at Newcastle as a player and I was looking to move clubs. He rang me a week before the start of the Premier League season – with West Ham due to play Tottenham the next weekend, a massive game in that part of the world – and, having not even signed me, said: 'You're playing on Saturday. Get yourself fit. The chairman's sanctioned the move.' He was always very supportive towards me and I enjoyed my time with him. The feedback you get from all the players is that they enjoy his management style and he makes everyone feel important."
Pearce spoke with Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's head of football development and a member of the four-man Club England board, last year and stressed that he should not be considered as a potential replacement for Capello, who was always due to leave his position after Euro 2012. The caretaker manager would maintain that stance even if the Dutch, ranked third in the world, are defeated on Wednesday and would only oversee the squad in the summer as a last resort.
"It's a job for a man with more experience," Pearce said. "I'm gaining a great deal of experience, especially tournament experience, but when you strip it all down I've only managed a team on 160-odd occasions. If they came to me now and offered me the job, I would tell them exactly the same as I told them 10 months ago. I'll support the man who's going to come in and do the job. But it's not for me."
Pearce is expected to appoint Steven Gerrard as his captain for the fixture, the Liverpool midfielder having returned to the national setup for the first time since November 2010, yet the issue of who leads the team will only be formally addressed closer to kick-off. "I'll probably wait to tell the captain until Tuesday or Wednesday," Pearce said. "I'll make that call then. I'll let the group galvanise itself and follow it with my eyes and ears, seeing how the group is gelling together."
 
[h=2]Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, 1.30pm Sunday 26 February[/h] [h=1]Tottenham's ascent leaves Arsenal with bitter lessons to learn[/h] Foreboding is in the air at the Emirates with Arsène Wenger forced to play catch-up with their north London rivals



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Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, played the transfer window with a hard business nose and the dividends have been paying out on the pitch for his club all season. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images

Usually around this time of year Arsenal supporters begin examining the fixture list to determine when they might celebrate a tradition that has become known as St Totteringham's Day. That is the point in the football calendar where it becomes arithmetically impossible for their local foes to finish above them in the league. Whatever they may be thinking as they head for the Emirates this weekend, however much foreboding fills the air, with unease about Arsène Wenger's thinking and Stan Kroenke's style of ownership back on the agenda, it is lost on nobody that St Totteringham's Day may be cancelled for the first time in Wenger's 16-year reign.
The last time Tottenham ended a Premiership campaign with the upper hand in north London, Arsenal endured a season when their manager, a proven winner who had turned the club around, fell dramatically from grace. It was 1995 and George Graham was sacked as a result of the bung scandal. Arsenal finished in mid-table. Spurs did a little better, ending up seventh but still way behind Leeds, Nottingham Forest and the champions that season, Blackburn Rovers. A newborn baby then could have grown up to the age of consent and become a parent in the time since Tottenham last looked down on Arsenal.
Will anybody explain the significance of this development to Mr Kroenke on Sunday as he pays a rare visit to the home of his long-distance franchise? The visiting supporters have waited long enough for such a twist in neighbourly relations that they will be raring to mention it. Over the other side of the aisle in the directors' box, the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy can survey the scene with a sense of serenity he has seldom enjoyed since he began a painstaking, and often painful, game of catch-up.
Among the group who have represented England in the Champions League in recent seasons Tottenham's business model, with a home-grown, hands-on chairman who works closely with his manager and is involved in his club's affairs 365 days a year, is an anomaly. It is a throwback. Tottenham are backed by the finance of Enic, the company controlled by the billionaire Joe Lewis, but in the running of the club, overseen by Levy, Tottenham remain based on a traditional operation. It is interesting that they are enjoying their most productive spell at a time when Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, under foreign ownership, are no longer set up to function in the same way.
Levy's stock has not always been so high. The experiment with a director of football concept was problematic. The constant changing of management (seven in his first seven years as chairman), with a few clangers such as Jacques Santini and Juande Ramos in the mix, did not give the best impression. But a series of excellent decisions more recently, starting with the moment he hired Harry Redknapp, has had a transformative effect.
Last summer he played the transfer window with a hard business nose and the dividends have been paying out on the pitch for Tottenham all season.
In playing hardball to keep Chelsea's hands off Luka Modric, arranging the loan for Emmanuel Adabayor, securing shrewd deals for players such as Brad Friedel and Scott Parker, Levy has backed his manager wholeheartedly.
In many ways it is reminiscent of the model Wenger enjoyed when Arsenal flourished. He had strong football men behind him who were as steeped in the English game as they were in business. David Dein and the late Danny Fiszman did not always see eye to eye but they worked tirelessly to provide Wenger with the support needed off the pitch. The board were close-knit and, in their own ways, as obsessed by it all as Wenger. They viewed financial matters as important only to serve sporting aspirations.
They were visible in the stands every time Arsenal played, be it the main show, the reserves or the youths. They were the team behind the team.
When Kroenke dropped into Arsenal's AGM in October, at the end of a five-minute speech he joked: "You had better get used to seeing us. Because we will be around." His is a distinctive interpretation of "around". The last game he attended was almost four months ago.
In the American's absence Ivan Gazidis is the face of the current Arsenal board. The chief executive appears to have a difficult job in mediating between the business side and the sporting side and Wenger does not always seem in tune with his messages. While Gazidis has announced some good news with a price freeze for season-ticket holders, Wenger expressed sympathy for the costs loaded on to supporters in an environment where Arsenal struggle to keep up with the wealthiest. "We are far behind the top teams wages-wise but what is true is that our fans pay the price for it," he said. During the week stories emerged of a transfer war chest for the summer but Wenger knocked such stuff back as "not true".
Tottenham offer stability and unity behind the scenes at a time when Arsenal have issues in that area. With Alisher Usmanov hoovering up a few stray shares last week, the "cold war", as some fans have dubbed it, between the American and Uzbeki shareholders is an ongoing struggle. Until such time as it is resolved it is difficult to see Arsenal selling a clear vision for the future.
With former players queueing up to urge Wenger to revamp the team, Lee Dixon has described this as the "most important derby" his old manager has faced. More important than semi-finals? More important than winning the title at White Hart Lane? More important than his first derby match, which came when he had a mere five Premier League matches under his belt and needed to win over a sceptical public – and team – having arrived from Japan? Incidentally, consider how many of the team who won Wenger's first derby back in 1996, before he had really got hold of the team, would walk into the current side: Lukic, Dixon, Bould, Keown, Adams, Winterburn, Vieira, Platt, Merson, Bergkamp, Wright.
The current squad needs more surgery than did the one Wenger inherited. The marketplace makes that difficult. But at the very least the importance of a good summer has been amply demonstrated at both Spurs and Arsenal. Somehow Wenger and his board have to come t ogether and make a better fist of it next time.
 
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