Transfer news...

Transfer news...

[h=1]Lampard: It's better being dropped by Di Matteo than being dropped by AVB[/h] Published 15:45 02/04/12 By MirrorFootball


lampard+di+matteo+cropped


Frank Lampard has suggested Roberto Di Matteo has dealt much better than Andre Villas-Boas with telling him that he has been left out of the Chelsea team.
Blues star Lampard has lifted the lid on his relationship with caretaker boss Di Matteo and it appears to be in stark contrast to that he endured with sacked manager Villas-Boas.
Lampard admitted shortly before Villas-Boas' departure to having been at odds with the 34-year-old, who habitually omitted him from big games.
Matters reportedly came to a head when Lampard was told he would not be starting February's Champions League match at Napoli.

Di Matteo, who has started Lampard in almost every game since taking charge, delivered similar news before last week's quarter-final win at Benfica.
Asked if Di Matteo had taken a different approach to Villas-Boas, Lampard told BBC Radio Five Live: "Yes, that is fair to say. I spoke with Robbie and certainly had no issue with it. I was delighted to get the result we got. I came on in the last 20 minutes, anyway."
Di Matteo was reportedly not liked any more than Villas-Boas by the Chelsea squad while he was working as the Portuguese's assistant.
But players have been queuing up to hail the former Blues midfielder for the way he has transformed their season and the fairness he has shown to each individual.
Lampard said: "The number one makes the decisions and he is revelling in making those decisions.
"He has kept it very simple. It's a case of getting a confidence and passion through the team and, in the results we've had, you'd say he has done that."
Villas-Boas seemed determined to undertake a mass cull of older players at Stamford Bridge and asked if he had tried to change too much too soon, Lampard said: "It's hard to pinpoint things. I don't want to go too much over negatives.
"We didn't perform to a level, that's why the manager changed and us, as players, are not happy because you don't feel as proud as you should be when you know the squad we've got should be doing better.
"So the reasons are not quite clear but there's a lot to be said for having a confident squad.
"You have to have that to get the best out of all your players and I feel we are in a better position now than we were in the past."
Chelsea have won six of their eight matches under Di Matteo but are five points adrift of a top-four spot in the Barclays Premier League with only seven matches remaining.
Lampard last week admitted the Blues were not as good as they used to be, but he believes they have enough quality to deny third-placed Arsenal or fourth-placed Tottenham a Champions League spot, either by overhauling them in the league or by ending their own agonising wait for European glory.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's win at Aston Villa, the 33-year-old said: "We have to fight on both levels. We certainly don't feel like all our eggs are in the European basket and the league just goes by.
"We have to be aware that Benfica at home is still to get through, then we will potentially face Barcelona or AC Milan in the semi-final and then we have the final.
"To win them all to try to confirm our Champions League status for next year, it is a risky card, albeit one well within our means.
"Where we are now in the table, we're disappointed to not be fighting for first or second but you have to understand that you can't have it your own way every year.
"Manchester United don't win the league every year but we have put ourselves under pressure for fourth spot and, if you're being honest about it, Arsenal and Tottenham are in the driving seat.
"So we really need to go on a stretch of winning games."
Di Matteo could decide to rest Lampard again for Wednesday's Champions League return match with Benfica, while Chelsea will continue to monitor the injured David Luiz (ankle) and Didier Drogba (foot).
 
[h=1]Glazer family planning to move Man United to New York[/h] Published 22:20 31/03/12 By MirrorFootball


Manchester+United-Joel-Avram+Glazer+cropped


The Glazers are *preparing to transfer Manchester United to New York.
In a move that will *astonish the Old Trafford faithful, the club's *American owners believe they can exploit United as a *profitable global business better from the Big Apple.
United officials are *convinced they could *generate even bigger crowds and more finance by *relocating to the US - *possibly playing in the 82,000 seater MetLife *Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets.
United would remain in the Barclays Premier League and play their away games in England - *although ironically their only game in Manchester would be at the Etihad when they face rivals City.

Sources in the US claim the Glazers would like to see David Beckham back in a United shirt to boost their club's American profile.
The former England skipper has been a popular recruit to the MLS with LA Galaxy.
The Florida-based Glazer family intend to soften the blow on United supporters by organising cheap flights between Manchester and New York for "home" games.
United fans *representative April Olof told Sunday *Mirror Sport last night: "It's an exciting *prospect, but we have so many *travelling fans, *especially from *Surrey. They will be *disappointed that the flights to New York are only planned from Manchester."
* P.S. Remember what day it is today...
EXCLUSIVE: United prepare £15m bid for the Dutch Keano
Goal-a-game Rooney can shoot us to the title, says Fergie
Fergie 'frightened' by the fact that Messi will only get better
 
[h=1]Glazer family planning to move Man United to New York[/h] Published 22:20 31/03/12 By MirrorFootball


Manchester+United-Joel-Avram+Glazer+cropped


The Glazers are *preparing to transfer Manchester United to New York.
In a move that will *astonish the Old Trafford faithful, the club’s *American owners believe they can exploit United as a *profitable global business better from the Big Apple.
United officials are *convinced they could *generate even bigger crowds and more finance by *relocating to the US — *possibly playing in the 82,000 seater MetLife *Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets.
United would remain in the Barclays Premier League and play their away games in England — *although ironically their only game in Manchester would be at the Etihad when they face rivals City.

Sources in the US claim the Glazers would like to see David Beckham back in a United shirt to boost their club’s American profile.
The former England skipper has been a popular recruit to the MLS with LA Galaxy.
The Florida-based Glazer family intend to soften the blow on United supporters by organising cheap flights between Manchester and New York for “home” games.
United fans *representative April Olof told Sunday *Mirror Sport last night: “It’s an exciting *prospect, but we have so many *travelling fans, *especially from *Surrey. They will be *disappointed that the flights to New York are only planned from Manchester.”
* P.S. Remember what day it is today...
EXCLUSIVE: United prepare £15m bid for the Dutch Keano
Goal-a-game Rooney can shoot us to the title, says Fergie
Fergie 'frightened' by the fact that Messi will only get better
 
[h=1]Maradona ruck – club apologises to Argentine legend for WAG abuse[/h] Published 17:24 02/04/12 By MirrorFootball


Diego-Maradona+cropped


Al Wasl have apologised to manager Diego Maradona after he confronted fans who verbally abused his partner and friends during his side's UAE Pro-League match at the weekend.
VIDEO: Watch Maradona wade into crowd to protect his team's WAGs!
The club described Maradona's actions as "what any honourable person would do" after the former Argentina captain and coach stormed into the stands during the 2-0 defeat at Al Shabab.
Maradona left the touchline after noticing the altercation in the VIP area before he had to be restrained by several police in a match shown live on UAE television.

Maradona, 51, later labelled the fans as "cowards" on Gulf News before his Dubai-based club today issued an apology.
"The management of Al Wasl Football Company denounce the harassment suffered by the family and guests of Diego Armando Maradona, head coach of Al Wasl Football Club in Al Shabab's stadium during the last match of the professional league," a statement on the club's website, الوصل الموقع الرسمي - El Club mas popular en EAU, read.
"A few irresponsible fans verbally abused Maradona's wife and his guests during the match."
Al Wasl's acting chief executive officer, Abdullah Al-Bishr, also backed Maradona's "understandable" actions in the same statement.
"Al Wasl Football Company finds Maradona's behaviour understandable, when he went into the stands to protect his wife and guests; it is what any honourable person would do," he said.
"We offer our sincere apologies to Maradona for what took place on behalf of the few who offended UAE culture by their actions.
"This is a society, which by its very nature, does not insult women by cursing and harassing, but is brought up to treat them with respect."
 
[h=1]Maradona ruck – club apologises to Argentine legend for WAG abuse[/h] Published 17:24 02/04/12 By MirrorFootball


Diego-Maradona+cropped


Al Wasl have apologised to manager Diego Maradona after he confronted fans who verbally abused his partner and friends during his side's UAE Pro-League match at the weekend.
VIDEO: Watch Maradona wade into crowd to protect his team's WAGs!
The club described Maradona's actions as "what any honourable person would do" after the former Argentina captain and coach stormed into the stands during the 2-0 defeat at Al Shabab.
Maradona left the touchline after noticing the altercation in the VIP area before he had to be restrained by several police in a match shown live on UAE television.

Maradona, 51, later labelled the fans as "cowards" on Gulf News before his Dubai-based club today issued an apology.
"The management of Al Wasl Football Company denounce the harassment suffered by the family and guests of Diego Armando Maradona, head coach of Al Wasl Football Club in Al Shabab's stadium during the last match of the professional league," a statement on the club's website, الوصل الموقع الرسمي - El Club mas popular en EAU, read.
"A few irresponsible fans verbally abused Maradona's wife and his guests during the match."
Al Wasl's acting chief executive officer, Abdullah Al-Bishr, also backed Maradona's "understandable" actions in the same statement.
"Al Wasl Football Company finds Maradona's behaviour understandable, when he went into the stands to protect his wife and guests; it is what any honourable person would do," he said.
"We offer our sincere apologies to Maradona for what took place on behalf of the few who offended UAE culture by their actions.
"This is a society, which by its very nature, does not insult women by cursing and harassing, but is brought up to treat them with respect."
 

[h=1]Sir Alex Ferguson praises Manchester United spirit in beating Blackburn[/h] • Ferguson: Valencia was 'the difference between the sides'
• De Gea 'made three fantastic saves that kept us in the game'




Sir-Alex-Ferguson-008.jpg
Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson said his team had to persevere but they got their reward in the end. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed the endurance of his Manchester United team after the late goals that earned them a 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers and put them five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table.
The victory confirms United as strong favourites for a record 20th league title on the back of a 10-point swing over the past month. They were indebted at times to David de Gea's goalkeeping before Antonio Valencia, the game's outstanding performer, scored with a stunning 81st-minute shot. The substitute Ashley Young added the second five minutes later, in keeping with Ferguson's claim that no other team scores so many late, decisive goals.
"It was a long night, we had to persevere and persevere and we got our reward in the end but I have to admit that I thought for a long time it wouldn't come because we didn't make many clear-cut chances," Ferguson said. "That goal [from Valencia] is so important and it perhaps typifies the history of this club that we kept going and got our reward in the end.
"Scoring so late, it's typical of us, our history. We never stop trying, there's no question about that. It could be a very important moment."
Ferguson deliberately avoided talking more about where it leaves the title race but the fist-pumping victory salute from United's manager felt telling and the bookmakers have them at 1-8 to win the 13th championship of his 26 years in charge.
Their next three games are against Queens Park Rangers, Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa, all currently in the bottom six, before Everton visit Old Trafford, where they have not won for 20 years. After that it is the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium on 30 April.
United are on a run of seven victories on the bounce and, if they keep that going until their meeting with City, they could even afford to lose against their neighbours and still win the league.
"It was a big performance from us because Blackburn possess a great threat," Ferguson said. "They can hit the ball long and catch you on the break and they have a real goal threat about them, so to come through what was a very difficult game is an achievement. When Ryan Giggs came on [as a second-half substitute] he made a difference and when Ashley Young came on he made a big difference and we got there in the end.
"The important thing now is to win Sunday's game [against QPR]. But listen, they are all big games now. It doesn't matter if it is next Sunday, the following Wednesday [at Wigan], the Sunday after that [against Villa], they are all big ones. The players are prepared for that. We will fight right to the end in all the games for the right to win."
Ferguson praised Valencia as "the difference between the sides" but there was acclaim, too, for De Gea, the young Spaniard whose mistakes had helped Blackburn win 3-2 at Old Trafford in December and who was dropped for the following game at Newcastle as a result.
De Gea returned to the team after Anders Lindegaard was injured and has excelled ever since. "David made three fantastic saves that kept us in the game," Ferguson said. "He has done his bit for the team. He has really grown in stature, the boy. He was outstanding."
The defeat sends Blackburn back into the bottom three because their goal difference is two worse than QPR's, who move up a place to 17th. "When you have done so well and think you are going to get something, you can get a little bit down," the Blackburn manager, Steve Kean, said. "If we can play like that, we can get enough points. It's about keeping those standards now we are in the relegation zone."
 

[h=1] [/h]
[h=1]Blame Roberto Mancini for Manchester City mess – not Mario Balotelli[/h] The City manager is clearly unhappy with the flawed striker, but Roberto Mancini's handling of his team in 2012 has raised questions about his own ability




roberto-mancini-008.jpg
The relationship between Manchester City's Mario Balotelli, right, and his manager Roberto Mancini appears to be deteriorating. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images

Most football fans have a soft spot for flawed geniuses. After all, YouTube was invented so that those who weren't around at the time can enjoy the sight of "Slim Jim" Baxter, socks rolled down, taunting England's World Cup winners at Wembley, or Frank Worthington, on the edge of the penalty area and with his back to goal, flipping the ball up on his instep before lifting it over his head, then turning in the same movement to dart between two defenders and volley the dropping ball into the corner of the net. Quite often you hear people lamenting the absence of such headstrong characters from today's corporatised game.
But sometimes the damage they do outweighs the pleasure they give. The arrival of Baxter, already drinking heavily, wrecked the morale of Johnny Carey's carefully assembled Nottingham Forest side a few months after the Scot's masterclass under the Twin Towers. Three decades later Kevin Keegan's mid-season acquisition of the beguiling but erratic Faustino Asprilla destabilised Newcastle United's attempt to hang on to their Premier League lead. Older Manchester City supporters remember the disastrous introduction of Rodney Marsh in 1972. And at the heart of their club's current problems may be the effect of a man whose existence reminds us that the notion of the flawed genius did not die with Gazza's retirement but lives on: Mario Balotelli, of course.
Or rather not the effect of Balotelli himself, exactly, but of the way he has been handled. It would be extremely unfair to blame the erosion of City's lead in the league on a 21-year-old who arrived in England barely a year and a half ago, knowing no one except his manager and with money falling out of his pockets.
Since Mancini gave Balotelli his Serie A debut at Internazionale, he must have known that he was buying a freakishly gifted player prone to the sort of erratic behaviour that can be amusing in short bursts and at a safe distance but is likely to try the patience of team-mates who have no escape from it. Attempting to accommodate the ungovernable antics of his £24m protege has not come easily to a natural disciplinarian, a control freak who was already, as his old boss Sven-Goran Eriksson remembers, "a coach, a bus driver and even the kit man" when he was still a player. But Mancini's own behaviour on Saturday, as Balotelli went through his latest routine at the end of another week of bizarre headlines, was hardly beyond criticism.
In the end it was a toss-up as to which of them behaved more like a petulant kid: Balotelli, who scored twice but also shirked his responsibilities and argued with his team-mates, or Mancini, who claimed later that he had considered removing the striker after five minutes and reacted to his 85th minute goal from open play – which put City on the way to snatching a draw – with a disgusted shake of his head.
Would Sir Alex Ferguson have allowed the world to witness a similar reaction, assuming that he had got himself into such a position in the first place? We saw from the way the United manager handled Wayne Rooney's transfer demand in the autumn of 2010 and the recent decision to dispose of the talented but trouble-prone teenager Ravel Morrison that he knows when to apply the principles of expediency and pragmatism. Mancini, by contrast, was behaving like a helpless romantic, sighing and shrugging as his illusions crumbled along with City's lead.
When he was thinking about signing Balotelli, he should have recognised that here is a player with no fundamental loyalty even to the game of football, never mind to a club or his team-mates. Yes, Balotelli can do the sort of magical things that lift spectators out of the mire of ordinary existence. But Mancini's willingness to tolerate his chronic indiscipline appears to have affected the rest of the squad to the point where even James Milner, as unselfish a player as you could find, now shows signs of dissent.
A lot of things are going wrong all at once for City, and although some of them – including Yaya Touré's absence at the Africa Cup of Nations and Vincent Kompany's ill-timed suspension – cannot be blamed on the manager, others are definitely his responsibility. David Silva has been played into the ground when he should have been given recovery time. Samir Nasri has not been coaxed back into the form that persuaded City to invest another £24m in him last summer. The crucial unit at the base of City's midfield has been reshuffled unnecessarily. And with Mancini casting around for someone to get him goals, Emmanuel Adebayor is scoring freely on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, while City continue to pay, what, at least half of his not inconsiderable salary.
As the club's fans contemplate their team's last seven fixtures and the widening gap to the leaders, they may be looking at Mancini's record and wondering how much his three Serie A titles owed to the handicap of relegation and points deductions imposed on Inter's principal rivals as a result of the Calciopoli scandal. They may also be thinking about how closely the poor showing in the Champions League this season mirrored the manager's consistent underperformance in Europe with his former club. If they are, they can be pretty sure that City's owner will be sharing their unease.
richard.williams@ guardian.co.uk
 
[h=1]Where it all went wrong for Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish[/h] The manager has been found wanting with British signings and his stance over the Luis Suárez affair did him no favours



Kenny-Dalglish-008.jpg
Kenny Dalglish has not covered himself with glory in the transfer market or his handling of the Luis Suárez affair. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

The wail of anguish was both audible and unseemly. Steven Gerrard's attempted through-pass for Luis Suárez had not been well calibrated but the Uruguayan's petulant reaction to a badly weighted delivery appeared disproportionate. As Newcastle United exerted growing control during Sunday's 2-0 win over Liverpool on Tyneside, so the body language of Kenny Dalglish's players hinted at inter-camp tensions. Even worse, a few looked ready to wave white flags.
It was an impression reinforced by a post-game tweet from Suárez. "Difficult moments after the last matches," he posted. "We must continue to work until the end." By the time the final whistle blew on Liverpool's sixth defeat in seven Premier League games Andy Carroll had stormed down Newcastle's tunnel, swearing and looking close to tears after being substituted, while José Reina reflected on a needless red card after an idiotic attempted headbutt. As if the Anfield club's worst league run since 1953-54 and a haul of eight points from a possible 36 during 2012 was not bad enough, Dalglish's squad had added indiscipline to their problems.
In a cameo which can be interpreted as emblematic of his waning powers, Liverpool's manager marched on to the pitch in the wake of Reina's dismissal only for Gerrard to shoo him off it. While it would be cruel exaggeration to say that represented the England midfielder's most incisive contribution, the suspicion that Gerrard and Suárez have become disillusioned is inescapable. If Gerrard perhaps pines for the days when his perfect through balls serviced Fernando Torres, Suárez's record of three goals in his past 19 League appearances represents a poor return for such a gifted forward.
Fortunately for that pair most attention is now diverted to Carroll, the £35m former Newcastle striker with three League goals this season. Painfully unsuited to his new employer's playing style, Carroll must now recover from the very public, quite possibly misguided, humiliation of being substituted in front of his once adoring public. Should, as some now forecast, Liverpool's American owners, Fenway Sports Group, replace Dalglish during the summer, Carroll's signing in January 2011 will be identified as the moment decline set in for a man still rightly revered by his club's supporters.
In reality that ill-starred acquisition represents a symptom rather than a root cause of the malady afflicting Liverpool. When the Scot last won the title, at Blackburn Rovers in 1995, he did so with an almost exclusively British squad. Key components included a Geordie striker called Alan Shearer and a former Middlesbrough winger named Stuart Ripley but Dalglish's attempts to make history repeat itself at Anfield with a raft of British buys including the Gateshead born Carroll and the Teesside bred Stewart Downing threaten to ensure this season ends in tears.
Granted the Carling Cup has been secured and an FA Cup semi final against Everton looms but £55m spent on a winger who appears to have forgotten how to cross and a centre-forward whose feet seem to have turned to clay surely haunts the 61-year-old's nightmares. The mystery is that a manager who, right from the earliest days of satellite technology, has furnished his assorted homes with the equipment required to supply eclectic live televised football transmissions from assorted corners of the globe, remains so hooked on homegrown players' charms.
John W Henry and his Fenway colleagues must puzzle as to how a man boasting an exhaustively detailed knowledge of world footballers ever paid Sunderland £20m for Jordan Henderson, a midfielder whose initially promising form regressed dramatically at the Stadium of Light last season. Or imagined that Charlie Adam, recruited from Blackpool, could become the new Xabi Alonso.
"The biggest problem is that Adam, Downing, Carroll and Henderson between them have contributed six League goals," said Mark Lawrenson, the BBC pundit and former Liverpool defender who struggles to comprehend that his old team stand eighth, 16 points behind fourth placed Tottenham. "You should be looking at 25-30 goals between them. The four of them haven't done it; Carroll hasn't been the same player since he left Newcastle."
Of Dalglish's principal signings, the best three are the invariably impressive and increasingly mature Craig Bellamy, plus Suárez and the Spanish left backJosé Enrique. Nonetheless, the latter pair cost the best part of £30m, a sum which hardly chimes with the Champions League obsessed Liverpool hierarchy's supposed addiction to Sabermetrics. The theory underpinning the Moneyball concept, it essentially involves adopting Newcastle's successful policy of using statistics to unearth undervalued players in unlikely places.
When it comes to media strategy Dalglish has also been found wanting, his ridiculous defence of Suárez in the wake of the Patrice Evra affair merely serving to suggest he is operating in a pubic relations time warp. Charming, considerate, generous and amusing when microphones are switched off, he publicly presents a brusque brand of circumspection that is cringe-inducing and contrasts terribly with the savvy, press friendly personas of contemporaries such as Arsène Wenger and Harry Redknapp. Going into denial over Suárez's behaviour and Carroll's loss of form, the Liverpool manager sometimes resembles a child who, having covered his eyes with his fingers, believes no one can see him.
At a moment when Fenway are doubtless in scrutinising mood, Dalglish could do with moving into 21st-century mode.
 
Am glad nani is back at MNUTD...welcome nani from injury...................

Nani-Manchester-United-008.jpg

Nani has recovered from an ankle injury in time for Manchester United's game against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar Discussions

Our Community

Coming Soon

Regional Communities

Coming Soon
Back
Top Bottom
Menu
Forums
New posts
Log in
Register