Europe’s top clubs have threatened to break away from UEFA and FIFA over concerns with International fixtures and financial commitments. It is thought that clubs will be able to govern themselves and set up their own super league – a move that could threaten to destabilise the very fabric of the domestic game.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Darren bent claiming to be the best No.9 for England; Arsenal closing in on Juan Mata, while Roy Hodgson is set to make a double swoop on Birmingham City.
*
FIFA: Goal-line technology possible next year – FFC
Europe’s top clubs threaten to break away from Fifa and Uefa – Guardian
Diouf suspended for five years by Senegal – Guardian
Foster and Ridgewell off to WBA – Daily Telegraph
Pulis hails ‘exciting times’ for continental Stoke – FFC
The day I’ll quit, by Lampard – Sun
England could face France in 2014 World Cup qualifying scrap – Daily Mail
The NEW hand of God: City land £40million Aguero – Mirror
Blues make official complaint over anti-Semitic abuse directed at Yossi – Daily Mail
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Bent: I’m still best No 9 for England – Sun
Arsenal closing in on Mata – Mirror
Tottenham keen to pip Arsenal to £15m signing of Blackburn defender Samba – Daily Mail
Every club has them. The players who promise so much when plying their trade in the youth team, but then, just when both the club and supporters alike are planning the selling and buying of merchandise adorned with the player’s name and image, it turns out he’s just not up to scratch.
For every superstar that club’s produce, there tenfold who fail to make it to the top. So here are my top ten whizzkids who failed to live up to their early promise.
Click on Freddie Adu below to unveil the list and feel free to add any glaring omissions in the comments below:
[divider]
Any glaring omissions? Please add in the comments below
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
[divider]
Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Become part of West Ham v Everton and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!
Portugal claimed a dramatic 3-2 victory over Denmark in Group B of Euro 2012 on Wednesday night.
The Iberian nation powered into a dominant lead when Pepe and Helder Postiga struck to give them a 2-0 advantage.
However, a Nicklas Bendtner header on the stroke of half-time gave the Scandinavians hope, and the Arsenal forward struck again in the second 45 to square things up.
Despite this, Portuguese substitute Silvestre Varela rifled home in the last ten minutes to give his side a crucial three points.
Paulo Bento was happy that his men won the match, but feels that the game should have been killed off earlier.
“We deserved the victory, but we suffered too much, considering what we did in the first half” Bento told reporters after the game.
“We defended well in the first half, showing some good organisation, and there was a period in which we could have scored twice more but Denmark ended up scoring with the only chance they had.
“In the second half, our plan was to make it 3-1 and not see it out at 2-1. A minute before Denmark’s equalised, we could have killed off the game.
“Then our players’ character and personality emerged. They have been working in an extraordinary way,” he concluded.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Portugal take on Netherlands in their final Group B fixture.
With a mere seven weeks to go in the summer transfer window, things are beginning to hot up. The papers are full of potential and completed deals, managers’ targets, and failed bids. But all the while, the whole process has to be explained by Her Majesty’s press in a certain way. Teams don’t just enquire about players, bid for them and sign them. That would be far too boring. Instead, we get what were seemingly a random set of flowery descriptions to keep the reader awake. And there seems to be a common theme running throughout.
The one thing that happens most during a transfer window is that a lot of clubs are snubbed. Teams are always being snubbed. It’s just as well clubs have thick skins or they could really suffer a crisis of self-confidence. Often clubs are snubbed by a player they had never even enquired about, which seems like the cruellest of snubs. This has happened to “moneybags” Manchester City a lot recently. A rogue rumour is started up (by an agent) about their interest in someone (usually to get that player an improved contract), the player comes out to say he has no interest in joining Manchester City, and the press dutifully report it as “Player X Snubs Manchester City”, despite the fact Manchester City probably have no idea who he is.
Swooped. Football clubs on the look-out for players are for some reason compared to birds of prey. Clubs appear to sit on tree branches waiting for the right moment, before swooping in on their desired player, and carrying him away in their talons. What happened to the good old days of fax machines and a courtesy phone call?
All the while, the broadcasters are trying to keep up, and pretending they are the ones in the know. A lot of the time Sky Sports News understands, which basically means Sky Sports News has been surfing the internet or reading newspapers. The BBC do this a lot too – it seems a key component of sports broadcasters is the capacity to understand stuff. Empathy, basically. Only today the BBC has published an article on the Carlos Tevez situation in which they understand a whole swathe of things.
Occasionally a team has stolen a march, which sounds like a pretty horrible thing to do, personally (and a logistical nightmare). Manchester City last week stole a march on the race to sign Samir Nasri, but as Nasri has since jetted off on Arsenal’s pre-season tour, it seems the march escaped and is back where it belongs.
Players meanwhile are keen to demand “assurances”. Their written contract is no longer sufficient. They want to know where the club is heading, who they are signing, and the weather for the next two years, otherwise they will have a strop and go on hunger strike until they have forced through a move to Real Madrid.
And most players seem to be described as an ACE. Or if young, they may be a STARLET (especially prevalent with young Belgian players it seems). Wigan lined to Cameroon ACE. Scunthorpe ACE joins Millwall on loan. Belgian STARLET linked with move to Chelsea. You get the idea.
Not everyone can be an ACE or a STARLET though. Some players are described as flops. Football is full of flops. Football players don’t fail, they flop. Flops are not attractive propositions in the transfer market, but flops can be resurrected, so a bargain could be had from buying a flop. Don’t write off flops.
[ad_pod id=’unruly’ align=’right’]
Back to the jungle, and teams are in the hunt for new players. Manchester United can sign Ashley Young, but only if they can find him. Armed with nothing more than a spear, some camouflage gear and a large net, the hunt begins….and as time passes, Sky Sports News will understand them to be closing in on their target. They make audacious moves (break-dancing?) for players they have been on the trail of, having tracked them for a while (with GPS, presumably).
Most of the news though is nothing more than speculation, normally wild (of course). Again, nature helps us out. Wild speculation is different to your common house-trained domestic speculation, as it is unpredictable, can be aggressive towards humans, and lives in a privet hedge on the outskirts of the Black Forest. Approach with caution.
Clubs eye other teams’ players (across a crowded dance floor?). They pursue players (across fields in little buggies). We hear of price tags, as if players are items of clothing. Can get 20% off with your loyalty card? Clubs are known to be lining up a player (sounds like a firing squad). Or weighing up a move. Negotiations break down (hope the club are with the AA). Teams are alerted by problems with players. Players are poised to sign (try and picture the Karate Kid when he had hurt his foot so fought on one leg). Moves are hijacked by other clubs – players are presumably held on isolated airport runways until the club gets what it wants. In fact, this isn’t far off what Alex Ferguson did when signing Dimitar Berbatov.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Mostly though, players are approached. I imagine a dark alleyway, long coats, and a man smoking a cheroot (or a Gauloises if in France) sidling up to the designated player under a lamppost with a secret password. Then negotiations can begin.
Unsettled, want-away players are offered an escape route away from clubs, presumably via a secret underground tunnel. That’s after issuing come-and-get-me pleas of course. This leads to a battle for the player, who edges towards a move, before finally sealing a new club.
The rest knuckle down, travel the world and post pictures on Twitter of them planking. But soon, thankfully, it will all be over, for now. Deals will be finalised, players will slip through the grasp of clubs, some players will be captured and we can all get back to watching some football and moaning about Alan Shearer on Match Of The Day. Hallelujah.
The managerial circus at West Ham has been resolved today as the board have decided to keep faith with Avram Grant following their failure to secure a move for Martin O’Neill. It has been an absolute mess quite frankly and hasn’t shown the football club in a good light.
In the papers this morning there has been a mixed bag of stories including more on Darren Bent’s transfer request at Sunderland; Alan Pardew will battle for Joey Barton, while Tottenham and Liverpool chase Luis Suarez.
*
O’Neill says no to Hammers – Sky Sports
Bent heads to Villa in shock £24m deal – Guardian
Referee fans flames after Rafael red card – Daily Telegraph
Pards to battle for Barton – Sun
Tottenham and Liverpool chase Suárez – Guardian
Mancini to rest shaky Hart – Daily Telegraph
You’ve not Had it just yet, Diouf – Sun
Szczesny: I want the Arsenal No.1 shirt for keeps – Mirror
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Arsenal have reportedly entered the race to sign Borussia Dortmund’s highly rated Japanese winger according to The Sun.
The Asian superstar has been a revelation at Signal Iduna Park over the last number of seasons, and has been a major player in Jurgen Klopp’s side that have won back-to-back Bundesliga titles.
Despite his importance to the German champions, Kagawa has rejected a new contract and has spoken of his desire to move to England this summer.
With only a year left on his current deal and the player refusing to extend, Dortmund have admitted that they may well have to part company with Kagawa when the transfer window reopens to avoid him leaving on a free transfer.
The Gunners are thought be have been impressed with Kagawa when they faced Dortmund in this season’s Champions League, and are preparing a cut-price £5 million bid due to the attacker’s fragile contract situation.
Despite this, Manchester United are thought to be keen to bring Kagawa to Old Trafford this summer, and the Premier League giants could be set for a transfer battle.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
All the talk around the Emirates, once again this week, has been about players leaving the Gunners with Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas continually linked with a move away. Reports suggest that Nasri is apparently said he will be happy to see out the last year of his contract, although the temptation to cash in on his last year of his contract may force Arsenal’s hand.
At FFC this week we have seen a mixed bag of Gunners blogs that include Wenger’s £20m gamble, a familiar and disturbing trend for Arsenal, while is it time Walcott was given centre stage.
We also look at the best Arsenal articles around the web this week.
*
The 20 ‘Championship Manager’ cult heroes that fell by the wasteside
Were Arsenal right to show their transfer hand?
A familiar and disturbing transfer trend for Arsenal?
Anxious to reassure Arsenal fans
Time Walcott was given the chance to fulfil his original billing?
Breaking Wenger’s rules is necessary
Why Wenger should play them at their own game with ‘transfer talk’
Young Gunners’ to Young Goners’
Wenger’s £20m gamble?
Arsenal eye up £12M Russian playmaker
*Best of WEB*
Wenger on the Verge of Magic again? New Season = New Chance…… – Highbury House
Cesc, time to say goodbye. Arsene, time to buy what we need or you should go with him. – Le Grove
I am not yet looking forward to the new season – Online Gooner
Still A Big Club But Will The Spending Match That Status? – A Cultured Left Foot
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Chelsea star Michael Essien is one of the best central midfielders in the Premiership. He is right up there with Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, Manchester United’s Paul Scholes and Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas or even Samir Nasri amongst others. He gives drive to the Chelsea midfield, typifying what it means to be a box-to-box midfielder. He’s Chelsea’s creative force in the middle of the park, chips in with some spectacular goals and is not afraid to get stuck in. However, it is this last point that leaves some question marks surrounding Essien.
Is Michael Essien a dirty player? Against Tottenham at White Hart Lane he made a dubious challenge on Gareth Bale, planting his studs right on to the winger’s shin. The commentator was quick to point out that Essien has history as far as nasty challenges are concerned, but surely this is part and parcel of being a tenacious midfielder? You’re unlikely to go a season without making a bad challenge, just ask Paul Scholes, he seems to be dishing them out every week!
Just because Essien is a great player, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t identify the negative parts of his game. Whether he has a nasty streak only Essien himself really knows, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for all he brings to the Premier League. He should watch his tackles, though, as it doesn’t take much to earn a reputation as a dirty player, something commentators are already starting to pick up on, and another bad challenge in the coming weeks would see more criticism come the midfielder’s way.
Buy Chelsea Last 16 Champions League tickets here!
[divider]
However, I’d much rather focus on the other side of Michael Essien, the side that makes him a great player. He was by far Chelsea’s stand out performer on Sunday, as he is for the Blues week-in week-out, and was at the centre of much of the Premier League Champions’ play. Right from the off he was spraying the ball around the park and struck a couple of early shots as clean as a whistle. His stats from the match were something to behold, too!
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Essien was the highest Picklive points scorer by far in the Tottenham v Chelsea Premiership encounter. His 86 points included 81 completed passes, almost twice as many as any other Chelsea player, five shots on target and ten interceptions (you can see the Picklive stats in full here). His all-round game makes him one of the first name on Carlo Ancelotti’s team sheet, as he should be on yours when playing the LIVE fantasy football phenomenon that is Picklive.
There are undoubtedly two sides to Michael Essien. The Chelsea midfielder is one of the shining lights of his generation, yet the Ghanaian international lets himself down from time to time with bad challenges. Removing the nasty strike from Essien, though, may well make him a lesser player, and personally as long as he keeps his bad tackles to a minimum, I think his outstanding play more than makes up for it.
Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Become part of Liverpool v Utrecht and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!
Big-spending Chinese Premier League side Shanghai Shenhua are ready to make a bid to sign Manchester United striker Michael Owen, according to The Sun.
The Asian outfit have just appointed big-name signing Nicolas Anelka as their new head coach, and are eager to raid the Premier League for more stars this summer.
Shenhua are believed to have offered Didier Drogba £240,000 a week to move to China, and Owen would certainly be offered a lucrative contract, giving him the possibility of one last big pay day.
The former England international has had a torrid season, with most of it on the sidelines due to injury and being out-of-favour with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Owen’s contract expires this summer, and it is highly likely that the forward will be allowed to leave Old Trafford on a free transfer.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Sunderland have won the race to sign Korean Ji Dong-Won, beating Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven and Bundesliga outfit Schalke to his signature.The striker’s K-League club, the Chunnam Dragons, said a fee believed to be more than two million pounds had been agreed with the English Premier League side.
Ji, 20, who scored four goals at the Asian Cup in January, is set to sign a three-year deal with the club if he passes a medical after Korea’s Olympic qualifier against Jordan on Thursday.
Chunnam president Yoon Jong-Ho confirmed an agreement had been reached with Sunderland.
“I received the final proposal from the English team on Monday with a transfer fee satisfying enough for us to release Ji,” he told Yonhap News.
It would not be Ji’s first spell in England, having spent time with Championship outfit Reading during his youth career.
He would add to Steve Bruce’s depleted attacking stocks after Danny Welbeck’s loan spell at the Stadium of Light ended and he returned to Manchester United.
Eredivisie side PSV were also looking to sign the Korean and Ji told Yonhap News last week he was considering his options.
“My team and agent are still negotiating closely. I personally want to play for the best team I can and where I can get more chances to play,” he said.
“Eindhoven is a great club that often tops the league. However, I heard that the Dutch league is not like the old days.”
“Sunderland is a mid-level team, so there is always change in the squad, but they are playing on the big stage called the Premier League.”