Just over two years ago, Tottenham were bottom of the Premier League and facing up to the very real possibility of relegation from the top flight for the first time since the league was created in 1992. Fulham, on the other hand, were eyeing a European place, having made a concerted push up the division under Roy Hodgson.
As 2011 begins, Tottenham find themselves in the midst of a credible title challenge, with one of the most talented squads in the division. Across London, Fulham are nervously edging towards the trap door, with current manager. Mark Hughes, rueing a lack of resources.
Whilst the Cottagers showed some encouraging signs in beating Stoke at the Britannia on Tuesday, pressure from relegation threatened clubs around them refuses to decrease. Hughes will be stressing to his men that for all of Spurs’ threat, they are liable to concede, although the clean sheet they kept against Newcastle this week suggests that Harry Redknapp has hammered home the importance of a watertight defence if the white half of North London are to seriously push for the top domestic honours.
Prediction: 2-1
Click to see the match odds at Paddy Power below
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The rumours currently circulating regarding Charlie Adam’s potential move to Liverpool have drawn a wide array of attention. In particular Ian Holloway has suggested that Liverpool’s offer is ‘ridiculous’, ‘derisory’, ‘farcical’, the list goes on, pick your quote.
What I want to discuss here concerns not the transfer fee but the transfer itself. Are Liverpool mad?
Liverpool’s second choice striker is David N’Gog. With 9 goals in 55 Premier League appearances in his Liverpool career he is hardly flattering to deceive. Granted, he has not played many full games but that does not detract from the fact that he is distinctly average. Again I grant that he is only 21 and has potential but again that does not detract from the fact that he is not ready. Not ready for Liverpool’s first team, not ready for the Premiership, and not ready for a team that wants to contend to finish in the top 6, let alone the top 4.
In fact, to my knowledge, David N’Gog is the 52nd best striker in the Premiership.
I do not see the point in spending £30 million on a few decent players that will strengthen a weak squad when one player costing £30 milllion could dramatically improve the state of Liverpool’s predicament. The lack of depth in their midfield pales into insignificance when you analyse just how thin their strike force is.
Further still, a world class striker would allow Gerrard to play the role he is best in. Stevie has made the ‘box-to-box’ midfield role his own in the last ten years. He has only recently been deployed just off the striker. To be fair, he had an excellent season in 2008/9 playing this role but his skills as a midfielder cannot be forgotten. An extra striker would allow him to use these.
If Gerrard played under the best manager in the Premier League (Sir Alex Ferguson), he would play the role that Darren Fletcher currently plays. Ten times out of ten I would choose Gerrard ahead of Fletcher. It would mean playing 4-4-2 and not 4-3-3 and changing from the formation that saw them finish second. Surely Man United must be doing something right?
Instead of looking for another Alonso (a label banded around with Adam) they should look for a genuine partner for Fernando Torres. They should evolve, just as Man Utd have done over the years and adapt to suit what they currently need. Not try and recreate an excellent side of yester year (that did not actually win anything!)
Spending big cash may be a tough financial decision, but if they do not do it now they will lose more money in the long run. Key players like Carragher and Gerrard are getting on now and only have a few years left in them (Carra maybe even less). Crucially though is the question of how long will Fernando Torres continue to be content not playing Champions League football. If they lose their big guns, it is only a matter of time before even more serious financial investment will be needed to compensate for the money they have lost in missing out on European football.
Liverpool need to bite the bullet and splash out on a striker of genuine quality. They do exist (Llorente, Suarez, Aguero, Pazzini are a few off the top of my head). It would send such an exciting message to everyone involved at the club. A club that’s famously supreme morale is in a deep, deep trough.
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And for those who are interested in the 51 Premier League strikers in the league I rate higher than N’Gog, here you are…
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Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has reacted in disbelief to Patrice Evra being left out of Laurent Blanc’s France squad.
Evra was expected to resume international duty on Wednesday, when France take on Brazil in a friendly at the Stade de France in Paris, after serving a five-match ban for his role in Les Bleus’ World Cup player revolt.
But the left-back was a surprise omission, with France coach Laurent Blanc explaining away the shock snub as ‘tactics’.
Ferguson was dismayed by the treatment meted out to his player, saying it was unfair to Evra to continue punishing him beyond his five-match suspension.
“It is surprising he has been left out because he has been punished. I don’t see why he should be punished further,” Ferguson said.
“If they are saying he is not good enough to play for France then you cannot argue with that. But I know he is the best left-back France have got and one of the best in the world.”
“There is no question in my mind about that. He is a fantastic footballer. He will be disappointed but he just has to accept it.”
Ferguson once coached Blanc when the latter finished off his playing career at Old Trafford, and said the France coach should know better than most the high standard required of footballers at Manchester United.
“Patrice Evra is a very important player for Manchester United and he will continue that way,” he said.
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“Laurent Blanc was a player here and he knows the expectation at this club. He knows that any player coming from Manchester United is playing at the highest level and he knows that about Patrice.”
“He has served his punishment. He had five games and I thought they would have moved on.”
Real Madrid eased to a 2-0 La Liga victory over Levante to mark another milestone for incomparable manager Jose Mourinho.The win meant the Portuguese manager has not lost a league match at home for nine years as a manager in four different leagues, with FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.The last time Mourinho was in charge of a losing team on home territory was Porto’s 3-2 loss to Beira Mar on February 23, 2002.Karim Benzema opened the scoring in the seventh minute against Levante after a mazy run from Angel di Maria, before former Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho scored just his third goal of the season four minutes before half-time to help record Mourinho’s 122nd home win in his past 147.The victory also maintained Real’s push to catch leaders Barcelona, cutting the gap to two points with the Catalans to play on Sunday.Sporting Gijon continued their rich vein of form when they held third-placed Valencia to a scoreless draw at the Estadio de Mestalla.The result meant Gijon have secured 11 points out of their past six league matches – including a draw against leaders Barcelona – to leave them two clear of the drop zone.Atletico Madrid beat Real Zaragoza 1-0 at the Estadio de la Romareda courtesy of Sergio Aguero’s 66th-minute goal, helping Atletico into seventh spot on the table.
Every now and again rumours surface of a dressing room uprising at a club; that player power has truly taken hold of the manager’s domain – well with Carlton Cole waxing lyrical about Scott Parker’s half-time team talk against West Brom after a truly diabolical first half, it leaves us with a burning question, just how much sway does the West Ham Vice-Captain currently have over his fellow players? And furthermore, why wasn’t beleaguered manager Avram Grant reading the riot act just the same as Parker?
In a week where West Ham all but sealed the keys to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford ahead of London rivals Spurs, it was a bad time to go three goals down to a fellow struggling side in West Brom – especially when some were questioning the logic behind giving West Ham the stadium at all when they could feasibly be playing Championship football at the start of the 2014/15 season such is their fluctuating fortunes.
To be quite frank with you readers, I have an at times inordinate amount of affection for all things Scott Parker, some would say to the extent that it even borders on an unhealthy appreciation for his talents. I’ve long since championed his inclusion in the England starting eleven, and he has at times, almost single-handedly kept West Ham in games over the last couple of seasons. He’s an inspiration, pure and simple. The fact that his half-time team-talk instilled a new-found sense of belief in his team-mates to go out and turn things around in the most unexpected and surprising of manners as occurred in the 3-3 draw with West Brom last weekend does not surprise me in the slightest.
However, in some quarters, there are already those that are beginning to question the influence Parker may have over his colleagues in the dressing room after Carlton Cole‘s recent comments. To my mind, his rousing speech is exactly what a captain (in the absence of the injured club captain Matthew Upson) should be doing. Few, if any, could argue that Parker is a divisive figure. Far from it; he regularly unites the side behind his own tremendous personal will to succeed. He is quite simply a fantastic character to have in your side.
Carlton Cole stated that: “We had been diabolical but at half-time Scott was inspirational. He was ‘in the zone’. I’ve never seen him like that. He spurred us on so that we did not disappoint ourselves, the manager, our families and the fans” before adding that it left many a player around the dressing room “with a tear in their eye.” It’s not hard to imagine Parker reading the players the riot act at half-time, but why on earth wasn’t Grant doing just the same?
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You can imagine the scene at half-time now. Heads down, Grant in the corner mumbling some form of incoherent nonsense, and Thunderbird Parker erupting in a pique of emotion; well and truly letting rip at his team-mates. The now infamous quote from Gareth Southgate, where he goes on to describe Sven Goran Eriksson’s laidback managerial style during his days as England manager immediately springs to mind when thinking of a typical Avram Grant half-time team-talk and certainly applies when talking about the Israeli‘s managerial style: “we went into the changing room expecting Winston Churchill, all we got was Iain Duncan Smith.”
Grant has a dodgy record in the Premier League. He did fairly well at Chelsea and came within a John Terry slip of winning the Champions League, but that was with a squad that he inherited and that he changed little to, if anything at all. At Pompey, he struggled badly and only their forays deep into cup competitions helped to mask their truly atrocious league form, that would have seen them relegated even if they weren’t deducted points for their financial irregularities.
His appointment at West Ham seemed baffling to say the least at the time and only a bungled move for Martin O’Neill a few weeks ago secured Grant a temporary stay of execution. His status within the English game seems to have come more from his connections and who he knows as opposed to any inherent managerial prowess that he may possess.
Grant has a quiet, shuffling manner about him, and while this may relax the players on the training ground, it isn’t ideally suited to the intensity of the Premier League come match day. He looks devoid of ideas at times and incapable of rousing his troops. I would seriously question Grant’s suitability for the role of managing a side fighting for their top flight survival.
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I very much doubt that Parker is ‘calling the shots’ in the Upton Park dressing room at the moment, it’s just that he’s being forced to act due to his own manager’s deficiencies and icy demeanour. The one thing we can gleam from Carlton Cole’s dressing room admission is that Avram Grant is coming up short of what’s required in the man-management stakes when it’s needed most.
It‘s not quite Jean Tigana sitting in the corner at half-time reading a book, as he famously once did while manager of Fulham, but it‘s not a million miles away. Parker’s inspirational speech only highlights what most fans have known all along, that his players are now filling in the gaps where Grant’s authority should be of higher importance.
The proof is in the pudding as they say, and the roots of Parker’s inspirational half-time team-talk most certainly lie in Grant’s deficiences as a manager. He may resemble a dead man walking at times, but what’s concerning for discerning Hammers fans is that he’s now starting to act and manage like one too.
We are starved of Premier League action this weekend, but Premiership teams are playing in the FA Cup, with the pick of the ties undoubtedly Manchester United v Arsenal at Old Trafford, while Reading are the last remaining Championship outfit in the world renowned competition.
The Championship is hotting up as the race for promotion reaches the finishing line as teams battle for the top places. There is a good chance that there’ll be a Welsh team in the Premier League next season, and Cardiff and Swansea will both be looking for three points at home to Barnsley and away to Derby respectively. Elsewhere QPR can will look to extend their lead at the top of the Championship league table against Crystal Palace at Loftus Road.
Here are those all-important predictions from the country’s newspaper jounalists…
BIRMINGHAM V BOLTON: Big Eck’s double dream still on.
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NOTTINGHAM FOREST V DONCASTER: Forest’s promotion charge has stalled recently and the extra pressure could take its toll with Doncaster free to just go out and play their game. More dropped points at the City Ground
Championship club Derby County have signed Australian international goalkeeper Brad Jones on loan from Liverpool for the rest of the season.Derby found themselves without a senior goalkeeper after loanees Frank Fielding and Matt Duke returned to Blackburn Rovers and Hull City respectively.
Stephen Bywater began as the team’s first-choice goalkeeper this season, but fell out of favour and is on loan at Championship rivals Cardiff City.
Jones, 29, will become the second Liverpool player to join Derby on loan following the arrival of Daniel Ayala in February.
“Matt (Duke) was due to play for our reserves on Tuesday, but we got a late call from Hull to say they wished to recall him,” Derby manager Nigel Clough said.
“They were perfectly entitled to do that as he is their player, so we had to use our contacts pretty quickly to get someone of sufficient quality in the building.”
“Brad fits the bill perfectly; he has Premier League experience, Football League experience and – importantly – big-game experience.”
“We have some big games coming up between now and May, and he will be our number one in them.”
“He hasn’t had much first-team football this season, so I’m pretty sure he will be looking forward to the challenge.”
“He also knows Daniel Ayala well and he has also played with Shaun Barker in the past which will be good for him when working with the back four going into his first game at Cardiff.”
“Liverpool have done us a big favour and I would like to thank Kenny Dalglish and the other officials at Anfield for agreeing to loan another of their players to Derby County. “
Jones began his career with Middlesbrough, making 57 appearances for the senior team between 2001 and 2010.
He was loaned out on six occasions during that time, before joining English Premier League club Liverpool in August 2010.
Jones made his full international debut for Australia in 2007 and has won three caps for the Socceroos.
Once again the weekend of Premier League action left us with one negative talking point. This time it wasn’t a bad tackle or a poor refereeing decision (although Everton fans will be the latest to question the lack of goal-line technology in football), it was Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney letting his anger out and swearing at the camera for everyone watching the football on TV on Sky Sports to see. Predictably various pundits and fans have joined one side of the debate or the other, with some saying that what was being shouted at Rooney by the West Ham fans was far worse, while others point out that’s no way for ‘role models’ to behave. However, I just have one question to ask: what would be the popular response if it had been Joey Barton?
This is the question that talkSPORT’s Stan Collymore seems to be asking every week. Whether it was after Jonny Evans’ tackle on Stuart Holden, Rooney’s elbow on James McCarthy or the Man United striker’s most recent misdemeanour, Stan always likes to contextualise the argument by looking at the punishment likely to be given if Barton was the one in the wrong. It’s obviously contagious as well as now I find myself doing exactly the same, although the answer is pretty much always the same – they’d have thrown the book at him!
We all know the history of Joey Barton – he’s been a bad boy. You might think that this is enough for him to be treated harshly by referees and to have abuse shouted at him for 90 minutes whenever Newcastle play away from home. While he has behaved impeccably this season, other than one incident involving Morten Gamst Pedersen, he can’t undo what he’s done in the past and thus a lot of people think he deserves everything he gets. But if Barton is going to be treated one way, then surely in the name of consistency, every other Premier League player should get the same treatment too.
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This is where the ‘If it was Joey Barton…’ scale of punishment comes into force. Wondering how to punish Rooney for swearing? Well, just imagine if it was Barton and then make your decision. Dangerous tackle that ended Holden’s season – if that was Joey showing his studs then surely a five-game ban is a minimum? Blatant elbow on McCarthy – that’s the Newcastle midfielder’s season over and done with. I think you get you the point.
This is of course ridiculous, but to some extent so is the mere fact that pundits feel that individual players are treated differently. Regardless of the size of the club that they play for or the chequered history that they may or may not have, each incident should be looked at on its own merit and in turn an adequate punishment given. Rooney shouldn’t have sworn directly at the camera, but it’s hardly the worst thing we’ve seen on a football pitch and a stern telling off would surely do the trick?
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Deciding how bad each event of misconduct isn’t easy to do, but the FA have plenty of rules that should ensure each misdemeanour has a recognised punishment attached to it. However, next time there’s a bad incident on the pitch I urge that before you decide what the punishment should be, make sure you play that same incident out with Joey Barton as the perpetrator. Perhaps this would be a way to get a bit of consistency in the game that people have been crying out for, although we might be seeing a lot more red cards and extended bans!
Newcastle’s track record of signings isn’t exactly the best, especially when Freddy Shepherd was running the club. He might have helped to bring Alan Shearer to Newcastle, but when he was Chairman from the mid ‘90s to 2007, he was also responsible for signing the cheques for Albert Luque, Marcelino and Jean-Alain Boumsong to name just a few Newcastle flops. However, with Manchester United due to travel to St James Park tomorrow, Shepherd said that Red Devils striker Michael Owen is the worst deal he’s ever done.
Speaking to the Sunday Sun, Shepherd said the Owen deal “was probably the worst deal I did at Newcastle. That is just being frank. We paid £16million and we didn’t get £16million worth of value out of him. And there was no added value off the pitch . . . the added value was nil off the pitch. I’m not having a go at the kid as he was fine when he got on the pitch. It was a nightmare from an injury perspective.”
Do you agree with Shepherd that Michael Owen was the worst signing he agreed when Chairman of Newcastle? There’s plenty of competition for that rather unfortunate accolade, as in addition to Luque, Marcelino and Boumsong, he also splashed the cash on Titus Bramble, Hugo Viana, Carl Cort; need I go on? But do you think that Owen was the worst of a bad bunch, or does another Newcastle flop go down as being an even worse signing than the England striker?
Leave your suggestions below…
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Taking on the Rock n Goal challenge this week is Middlesbrough fan and songsmith Alistair Griffin. He is of course the man behind the Mark Viduka song!
Ideal song for teams to walk out to?
The Power game… old school Ayresome Park walk out music. Or maybe currently Livin’ on A Prayer.
Who’s your football hero?
Slaven and Mowbray were the big ones, John Hendrie too.
Any celebrity football friends?
Doing Coast to Coast Charity bike ride with Craig Hignett in July, he’s a friend and although he’d never admit it, I think he secretly likes my music. Of course Gareth Southgate was a fan of the Viduka song!
Is it better being a rockstar or a footballe?
Well, I’d love to have been a footballer but I guess I’ll have to settle for being a rockstar. Given the wages I’d say footballer!
First match you went to see?
An odd one this, it was the Wilf Mannion Testamonial at Ayresome Park. I was about 4.
Which current player would you most like to have a pint with?
Cesc Fabregas.
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Which current player would you least like to have a pint with?
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Alistair Griffin’s new album Albion Sky is to be released in August 2011. Visit http://www.alistairgriffin.com/ for further information.
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Listen to the third episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, who performs a live version of his cult tribute to Mark Viduka, with Razor on backing vocals!