Queens Park Rangers will look into bringing Michael Dawson to Loftus Road in January after failing to secure him in the summer according to boss Mark Hughes.
Rangers have made a poor start to the season after lots of changes to their squad over the past few months, but it seems Hughes is already planning more deals for the club in the new year and the out of favour Tottenham defender is top of his wish list.
“Maybe Michael’s situation had happened too quickly for him to understand what his future is at Spurs,” Hughes told the Daily Mirror.
“We took it as far as we were able to and he would have been a good acquisition but it wasn’t to be.”
“In January that might be different if he is still out of the team, but we may have moved on by then.”
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“There’s been a big turnover in players but he has replaced those who have left with players of the same level.”
Manchester United got their season back on track with a commanding 3-0 win over Newcastle at the Sports Direct Arena on Sunday.
Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra and Tom Cleverley were all on target for the Red Devils, who were under pressure to get a positive result after losing 3-2 to Tottenham in their last game.
Sir Alex Ferguson stated that the victory was the best of the season so far, and feels his side played for the full 90 minutes.
“I would agree with you. I think so,” the Scot told Sky Sports when asked if it was the best performance of the campaign.
“Although the second half against Tottenham we were terrific, but the first half spoiled the whole day. Whereas today I thought the whole game we were on top of our game in the sense of concentration, determination, all the things you want to see in a team that’s going to win.
“It was a great result. To come here and win 3-0 against a really powerful, aggressive Newcastle team, you have to make sure you really perform and keep control of the game and I think we did that most of the time,” he concluded.
The win lifts the Old Trafford outfit up to second place, four points behind leaders Chelsea.
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Bolton Wanderers have made major strides in the battle to land Crystal Palace Manager Dougie Freedman and are now set to offer a three year deal worth £1.5 million to the 38 year old.
Despite previously rejecting an approach by the North Lancashire side, Crystal Palace have now accepted a compensation offer for manager Freedman who looks set to be appointed the Trotters new manager after making it clear to Palace he was prepared to walk away from the club with less than a year left on his contract.
Rumours of unrest between manager and board at the London club have been longstanding and with Freedman “desperate” to manage a Premier League club the interest from Bolton has proved too strong for Palace to ward off with the official club website stating “Following further discussions throughout the day, Crystal Palace Football Club can confirm that permission has been granted for Dougie Freedman to speak to Bolton Wanderers regarding their vacant managerial position.”
With Freedman keen to succeed Owen Coyle personal terms are not expected to prove an issue and negotiations are expected to progress quickly. Palace meanwhile are considering a range of options with former boss Steve Coppell likely to be offered a fifth spell at the club with the Daily Mail claiming that owner Parish is keen for Coppell to have a role in a “new look set up, although not necessarily as boss,” with the ball now in Coppell’s court as things look set to change at Crystal Palace once again.
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The message delivered by Ivan Gazidis at the clubs annual general meeting was simple. The Gunners will strive to maintain their position amongst the European football elite and ‘win’ trophies. Whatever that constitutes at the Emirates Stadium nowadays. It s widely considered that a lack of silverware since their FA Cup win in 2005 is the main reason for discontent in the stands, and Arsene Wenger’s assertion that qualifying for the Champions League ranks above lifting the FA Cup won’t quell the unrest. Gazidis did say that the North London club’s prospects will be much brighter in 2014 when the Financial Fair Play rulings become strictly enforced. But will supporters accept two more years of putting a top four finish ahead of laying down a concerted effort to end their seven year run without a cup win? It was noted that Wenger has money in the bank to spend on new players and it may be worth waiting to see how he goes about moulding a squad capable of competing with the European elite.
This week on FFC do the Gunners and England miss Jack Wilshere and could Theo Walcott be set for a surprise move to Merseyside in January?
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Best of FFC
Is this actually part of the problem for Arsene Wenger?
Does Arsenal ace really deserve the call?
A reaction to the Arsenal AGM
Do England or Arsenal miss him most?
Arsenal need to become ruthless says Wenger
Juventus line up a January raid on Arsenal
The FIVE transfers that would greatly improve Arsenal
A Walcott transfer to Liverpool FC would be a strange one
Arsenal transfer news: Striker back on Wenger’s radar
Rodgers plotting January raid on Arsenal and Chelsea
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Best of WEB
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What Do We Want? When Do We Want It? Now! – A Cultured Left Foot
Can we really bank on this man? – Gunnersphere
Revolt in the ranks – Online Gooner
Have we become too reliant on this man? – Gunnersphere
Shottus Quietus AGMus Maximus – Arseblog
A black footballers union? Are you mad? Surely that’s racist? Tonight’s the night Arsenal. – Le Grove
Thinking the Unthinkable…. – Highbury House
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Arsenal Really Ready to swoop for £20million Spaniard? – Transfer Tavern
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Quote of the Week
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“In the next two years, we will have the financial resources to sit and compete among the leading clubs in the world, which is an extraordinary achievement. Financial success is relevant because it supports our football vision… the money we make is made available to our manager and he decides how to invest those funds. Arsene has done a magnificent job against the spending of our major competitors.” Chief executive Ivan Gazidis outlines Arsenal’s ambitions
For those younger football fans among us, the art of tackling is something we have never been able to appreciate in all its full-throttle glory. Any slightest hint of contact can often leave a player with a booking, forced to walk on a tightrope for the rest of the match.
After the crunching challenges of yesteryear, tackling is now viewed as a last resort by many players; with interceptions now the preferred method to win the ball back.
A player like Michael Carrick is often criticised for his reluctance to tackle, but he can still be effective in winning the ball back; with his number of interceptions reportedly being the highest in the Champions League in 2010-11, with 48, according to FourFourTwo.
Interceptions appear to be cleaner and run a much lower risk of a booking or sending off if mistimed. This is one of the reasons why tackling is gradually being phased out of the game; another being the factor of inconsistency among referees as to what constitutes as a fair challenge and what is deemed as reckless.
The most recent high-profile example comes from the clash between Liverpool and Manchester United, where Jonjo Shelvey and Jonny Evans launched into a 50-50 challenge for the ball.
Referee Mark Halsey judged Shelvey as the guilty party and assumingly assessed that the Liverpool midfielder had endangered Evans’ safety with the challenge, but those of us who saw the tackle would find it difficult to find one party guiltier than the other. It would be hard to imagine such a challenge being deemed worthy of sending off 10 years ago, especially not before the 1990s.
It seems that as football becomes more continental, fewer challenges of a more physical nature are allowed on the pitch, something which definitely favours the country’s more skilful players, but hinders those whose jobs it is to stop goalscoring opportunities.
Some say that play-acting and diving has also contributed to the downfall of tackling; with forward players now seeking to con officials by going down too easily.
Therefore, professionals of yesteryear would not last a minute in the modern day game – can you imagine how many red cards legendary 70s Leeds hardman, Billy Bremner or former Wimbledon defender Vinnie Jones would receive in a season?
It all seems to mean that the days of tackling are now gradually coming to an end, but perhaps we should not become too downbeat about the situation, with many defenders now viewing staying on their feet as a particular skill. Players like Rio Ferdinand now see making tackles as a last-ditch option, something which would only arise if he had not of read the game well enough.
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So in future, defensive players may strive to make the perfect interception rather than the perfect tackle as football evolves into more of a non-contact sport.
Stoke City travel to Upton Park looking for their 50th premier league win after their promotion in 2008.
Tony Pulis’ side will be trying to do something they haven’t achieved since the latter stages of last season in their search of the landmark; win away from the Britannia Stadium. Stoke haven’t managed a victory in their last 15 league fixtures away from home, scoring just eight goals in the process.
During this campaign their record stands at lost three, drawn three on the road and they will be hoping to put this right on Monday against this seasons surprise package West Ham who currently sit in sixth.
Both the Hammers and the Potters won their previous games 1-0 against Newcastle and QPR respectively and both will want to continue their winning ways.
West Ham’s fortunes at home are very different to Stoke’s away form, having only lost once this season, going down 3-1 against Arsenal in October. They will be pushing for all three points on Monday as their following four games give them the daunting prospect of Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Stoke’s problem hasn’t been the defending, having the joint best defence in the league with champions Manchester City, conceding just 10 goals, four of them coming at Old Trafford. The problem has been going forward only bagging nine, and with West Ham only shipping one more goal than the visitors this season, Monday’s affair could be a low scoring one.
But both strikers will want to prove a point after being left out of Roy Hodgson’s England squad. Many believe England need a Peter Crouch or an Andy Carroll but there is only room for one. In a fixture bringing two of the toughest defences up against each other, is there a better place to put your case forward?
Neither manager will have a full squad at their disposal; Sam Allardyce is still without Ricardo Vaz Te who dislocated his shoulder during the defeat to Arsenal back in October and Jack Collison is out with a knee problem.
There are fresh injury worries for Pulis; Glenn Whelan is waiting the results of a scan after he limped off for the Republic of Ireland against Greece in midweek, while Charlie Adam and Jon Walters should make the trip despite picking up niggles. Marc Wilson (broken leg) and Rory Delap (hernia) are definitely out and Michael Owen (hamstring) remains a doubt. Dean Whitehead is also going to miss the game at Upton Park with his second suspension of the season, after he picked up his fifth yellow card in the game against QPR.
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With both defences in their current good form and the lack of goals at the other end, the game has got a 1-1 draw written all over it.
Sunderland deny reports that manager Martin O’Neill offered his resignation following their 4-2 home defeat at the hands of high flying West Brom on Saturday.
In a pulsating Premier League encounter at the Stadium of Light, defeat for Sunderland meant that they have won just two of their last 20 league games.
“I was very pleased with the second-half performance, delighted with it.” O’Neill told BBC Sport.
While O’Neill will take take heart from the fact that his side showed grit and determination against a West Brom team in excellent form, the fact of the matter is that the Black Cats were outclassed throughout the game and lacked the creative spark that players such as Zoltan Gera showed for the Baggies.
The Sunderland boss will be hoping that the likes of Stephane Sessegnon, Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher can have a similar impact for his team in the coming weeks as they look to fire themselves up the table.
Sunderland can expect to face a revitalised QPR team in their next outing, following the appointment of Harry Redknapp as their new manager.
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In an era when football matches are a constant part of life, cup fixtures still bring that little extra sparkle to the minds of players and fans alike. In the Capital One Cup this season, that sparkle has often translated into goal-scoring frenzies, and on the odd, special occasions, it produces a memorable solo performance from a player who may not always be the centre of attention. In this series, FFC takes a look at some stellar one-man displays…
The peak of Matt Elliott`s career came in the 2000 League Cup Final when his two goals in the 2-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers not only earned him his place in Leicester City folklore but also in Wembley history.
It was the first time since the final became a one-off game that a centre half scored twice. It remains a record and because it was the last League Cup Final before Wembley was bulldozed, it is one that will always belong to Matt Elliott.
It was City`s third final in four years and their second in a row and Matt`s goals were almost identical. Just short of the half hour, Leicester won a corner and when Steve Guppy swung the ball in Elliott rose, near the penalty spot and powered a header goalwards. The ball struck the bar, bounced down on the line and spun into the goal to give Martin O`Neill`s team the lead.
Tranmere equalised in the 77th minute through former Leicester player David Kelly. His near post shot not only gave the First Division underdogs hope but was Kelly`s eighth goal of that competition and saw him finish top scorer in the 1999-2000 League Cup.
Rovers` joy was short lived however, and it was almost a case of de ja vu four minutes later when Guppy swung another corner in and his skipper rose, on the six yard box, to head his second goal.
Matt led Leicester up the steps to become the last League Cup winners at the original Wembley. He also picked up the Man of the Match Award to cap the best day of his career.
Born in Wandsworth, London, Matt began his football career in non-league with Leatherhead and Epsom and Newell before joining Charlton Athletic in 1988.Unable to break through at the Valley, Matt dropped down the football pyramid to Torquay United. After three seasons at Plainmoor he joined Scunthorpe and spent just 18 months there before he made the move to Oxford United. Matt`s performances in Oxford`s run to promotion as runners-up in the Second Division in 1996 finally gave Matt his dream of Premier League football.
Leicester City manager Martin O`Neill paid £1.6 million for the defender early the following year and that remains the highest transfer fee received by Oxford. Matt helped Leicester to reach the 1999 League Cup Final but they were beaten 1-0 by Tottenham. But the following year City returned to win the competition against Tranmere.
That final proved to be Martin O`Neill`s swansong as he departed for Celtic and could have been Elliott`s too as O`Neill immediately tried to sign his former skipper for £3.5 million. Elliot however, agreed a new contract with Leicester where he remained until 2005.
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The end of his career was accelerated by a serious knee injury though he still managed a brief loan spell with Ipswich before quitting in January 2005.
Though born in England, Matt was eligible to play for Scotland and made his international debut against France in November 1997. In total he won 18 caps, 16 as a starter, and scored one goal, a header against San Marino on 7th October 2000 in a 2-0 win.
In 2008 Matt began a short career in non-league football and had several assistant manager jobs before opening the Matt Elliott Football Development Scheme in Leicestershire in 2011.
Arsene Wenger has admitted that Napoli striker Edinson Cavani and Wilfred Zaha of Crystal Palace are high on his list of transfer priorities this season at Arsenal, according to Sky Sports.
Wenger has concentrated on signing Theo Walcott to a new long-term deal and now feels that as the player moves closer to resigning, he can begin to focus his attention on strengthening elsewhere.
“Cavani is a player that I like. Will he cost a lot of money? That’s for sure. Nobody would deny that. Our banker lives just next to me at the moment and he is ready if we find the right player,” quipped Wenger.
Commenting on his interest in Zaha – who is also the object of Sir Alex Ferguson’s attention – he said, “We are looking at him, but at the moment we have not made any bid for him.
“I don’t know if Manchester United are in for him. Anyway, if you call any club for any player, they will tell you Man United, Milan, Real Madrid are as well in for him, but it is always difficult to know if it is true or not.”
The Gunners boss is well-known for his frugal attitude toward player recruitment, however he might be forced to bring in an expensive new face to strengthen the midfield.
Speaking of the best way to manoeuvre in the transfer window, he said, “The prices always go up at the start of the transfer market and go down in the last week.
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“Sometimes as well they go up in the last week, but it depends. Most of the time they go down in the last week and you know as well that 90 per cent of transfer activity happens in the last week, if not in the last 48 hours.”
Southampton’s decision to relieve Nigel Adkins of his duties and immediately replace him with former Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino last week was quite rightly labelled a harsh move by the club’s chairman Nicola Cortese considering the form of the improving side, but did the 47-year-old lose the image battle more than anything else? And is this simply the latest instalment in an increasingly clear trend of clubs favouring ideas over experience?
There had been rumblings that Adkins was at risk after the newly-promoted team’s patchy start to life in the top flight, but enjoying a heroes status among the fans after leading the club to two successive promotions, it was thought that Cortese would be unable to justify removing such a popular figurehead, especially when you consider that the original plan laid out by the Italian owner included a five-year plan for promotion back to the promised land of the Premier League, not just two.
Cortese released a statement with the following: “This decision has been made with the long-term ambitions of Southampton Football Club in mind. Whilst we acknowledge the contribution Nigel has made during the past two years, for the Club to progress and achieve our long-term targets a change was needed. Mauricio is a well-respected coach of substantial quality who has gained a reputation as an astute tactician and excellent man manager. I have every confidence that he will inspire our talented squad of players to perform at the highest possible level.”
He goes on to talk about the Argentine’s record at nurturing youth prospects, something Adkins was also extremely adept at considering the involvement of the likes of Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse this term at such tender ages, while the timing of the dismissal also seemed extremely odd at first, with Southampton having lost just two of their last 12 games and having secured laudable draws against both Arsenal and Chelsea. They were 15th at the time of the sacking, three points clear of safety and picking up points regularly and starting to look more and more like a team that had enough in the tank to stay up.
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Of course, Cortese is known to be something of an egotist and will have no doubt have been put out by the fans continued support of Adkins despite their poor early season form and penchant for letting in bundles of sloppy goals, treating it as a personal affront. He has previous when it comes to clashing heads and sacking perfectly qualified managers, with current Newcastle boss Alan Pardew also unfathomably dismissed back in September 2010.
Similar to how Manchester City prepared for Roberto Mancini’s arrival by letting Mark Hughes take the brunt of a tough sequence of games, Cortese approached Pochettino weeks ago, seemingly anticipating that the side would lose against both Arsenal and Chelsea, leaving them some way closer to the drop zone, thus making the decision somewhat easier to justify. That’s not only reprehensible, it’s depressingly cynical.
Pochettino may well go on to be a success on the south coast, with the early signs of his pressing style visible during an excellent first half performance against Everton before tiring late on. He has a clear plan and ideology, which seems to be the most attractive principles around to prospective chairman these days above other qualifications such as experience and silverware. He may well be to the club what Pardew was to Newcastle after Chris Hughton was ridiculously sacked.
His sacking at Espanyol back in November was widely seen as a reluctant one; the board loved him, the fans did too, and he’d done a marvellous job to make the club so competitive and entertaining with such a paucity of resources, with the cash-strapped outfit forced to sell off star players at every turn, including Jose Callejon to Real Madrid, Victor Ruiz to Napoli and Daniel Osvaldo to Roma.
The BBC profile piece on him introducing him to the wider English world hailed him as a “forward-thinking and thoroughly modern coach.” Now, I’m not entirely sure what that means. Are there backward-thinking managers out there? Are there ‘keep it steady, don’t rock the boat’ centrists? Is it merely an age issue? Are older managers being phased out because they lack a clear footballing ‘philosophy’? It would seem so.
Liverpool have 39-year-old Brendan Rodgers in charge, appointed off the back of one season of top flight experience at Swansea. Tottenham have 35-year-old Andre Villas-Boas at the helm, a man who managed his first team at the age of just 21, while 39-year-old Roberto Martinez at Wigan is casually referred to as a ‘footballing purist’, quite what that means is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear, just as much with styles of football, a hierarchy has been formed in terms of the crucial currency of status – young is good, old is bad, in-between like Adkins is just plain dangerous.
We’ve certainly moved away from the days of the ‘old boys club’, whereby a decent playing career would inevitably set you up for life as a manager, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing by any stretch, it’s a welcome one, but it’s when this shift starts claiming the scalps of credible managers such as Adkins for shinier, newer managers like Pochettino that it starts to get worrying.
It’s very telling that in the list of managers to have taken charge of the most Premier League games, with the usual lot of Ferguson, Wenger, Redknapp, Moyes, Allardyce and O’Neill at the top, that George Graham is still sixth with 332 games despite not having managed in the league since 2001. Alan Curbishley is joint-seventh on 328 games even though he has been unemployed since leaving West Ham in 2008. Graeme Souness is ninth on 319 games, without a job since Newcastle in 2006. New Scotland coach Gordon Strachan hasn’t managed in the top tier since 2004 with Southampton but is 12th. Joe Kinnear, an 18-game spell at Newcastle aside, hasn’t been around since leaving Wimbledon in 1999. It’s taking on an increasingly ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality.
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The attraction with a young manager is clear – they are vibrant, media-friendly and come with 100-page dossiers on what their style means and how best they can implement it. Some dip their toes too far into manager speak, with ‘going forward’ and other made up words like ‘diversivise’ or ‘conversate’, gradually helping corporate, middle-management jargon infiltrate the game; language that’s sole objective in mind is to make the person using it sound more intelligent than they actually are and their ideas appear more worthy of listening to.
Football needs to evolve and fresh ideas are a positive step on the well-worn path of progress (see, I can do it too), but they should not come at the expense of proven managerial talent that’s been successful elsewhere in their career, otherwise, what’s the point of it all? All managers need to get their break in the game somewhere, but now it’s happening right at the top and is used as a statement of intent by owners to the fans, ‘look, we’ve appointed a young coach, aren’t we progressive’.
It’s not reckless, but it’s a gamble, a risky move that has become an accepted truth which has helped give birth to an established trend, with the spiel that these appointments have both ‘the long-term and short-term’ of the club in mind, therefore insinuating that appointing an older manager doesn’t. Every club now looks as if they’re trying to build a lasting legacy, which is admirable, but as with all trends, it’s just not realistic.