Despite the less than convincing performances of David De Gea between the posts at Old Trafford, Marca report that Manchester United are after another Spanish goalkeeper from Atletico Madrid.
The Madrid based publication claim that Sir Alex Feruguson’s brother and scout, Martin turned up to the training ground just last Sunday in the hope of seeing David Gil in action for the Atletico B side, yet he was left disappointed with the keeper only sitting on the bench.
Martin Ferguson has been sent on scouting assignments to Spain before and has been seen at the Atleti training ground more than once in the last few weeks. United are seriously interested in the young keeper and see him as one for the future.
United have even sent representatives to training sessions to watch Gil who has now progressed to the B side at the club and represented Spain at the Under-16s all the way up to the Under-20 level.
United of course landed De Gea for £17 million in June 2011 – a record fee for a goalkeeper in Britain and the Red Devils look determined to do it again with another David.
Can David Gil have a big future in the game? Vote in our polls below.
As the African Cup of Nations 2013 heads towards the knockout stages, you can’t help but feel that the competition would have been a better spectacle of Senegal were involved.Although they underperformed last year, a team that features the likes of Chelsea striker Demba Ba, Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse and West Ham midfielder Mohamed Diame would have been sure to have made in impact in South Africa if they’d made it past the Ivory Coast in the final round of qualifying.The Lions of Teranga can also call upon players of the calibre of Moussa Sow, so you’d think it wouldn’t be long before their FIFA ranking of 79 improves.However, Senegal’s disappointment is to Chelsea and Newcastle’s gain, with Papiss Cisse scoring the first in the Magpies’ win against Aston Villa on Tuesday and Ba will be available to face his old team for the Blues on Saturday.While Ba, Cisse and Diame won’t be wearing the white of Senegal this month and will instead be running out in the colours of their clubs, the Senegal home shirt is pretty slick.The graphic is designed by CAN artist Samba Fall. He was inspired by the Baobab tree which is an integral part of the Senegalese culture. With its stature and size, this tree is a symbol of strength, power, pride that is also what the team should feel. Speaking about his design, Samba Fall commented: “Seeing the image of the Baobab tree on the new Senegalese football shirt is like seeing the good memories of all the people of Senegal accompanying their football team to international competitions.â€Fancy winning a replica Senegal home shirt?
For further information about the artists and their renderings visit http://creative.puma.com and for further PUMA Football information visit www.pumafootball.com.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes his side deserve their spot in the last-16 of the Europa League, after their 1-1 draw against Lyon.
Spurs advanced 3-2 on aggregate against the Ligue 1 giants, with Mousa Dembele netting the all-important goal with just minutes left to play.
The Londoners had fallen behind on the night to a Maxime Gonalons effort, which would have knocked them out on away goals.
However, Dembele slammed home the equaliser, and give Tottenham the victory in the tie.
After the game Villa-Boas said that he felt his team got the result they deserved across both legs:
“The second half was all about our football, and I think we deserved to go through,” He told ITV Sport.
The Portuguese coach went on to praise Dembele for his decisive effort:
“It was a great finish by Mousa. Sometimes we joke with him that he should shoot more.”
Tottenham will meet Inter Milan in the next round of the competition, with the Italians beating Cluj 5-0 on aggregate.
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AVB is happy with the draw, and believes that the clash wouldn’t look out of place in the Champions League:
“Excellent. I think it doesn’t get any better than that. Two Europa League ties, but they’ll be like Champions League ties.”
Despite an ankle injury, Everton vice-captain Phil Jagielka has an outside chance of being fit to face Stoke this weekend.
The centre half has been out of the side with the injury but there is an outside chance he may make the Stoke match but, if not this weekend, then he should be okay for next week’s vital game at Spurs.
Meanwhile, Jags is expecting the side to go into their final nine games of the season with all guns blazing as they try and reach a European qualification spot in the Premier League.
He told the Liverpool Echo: “We need to win games now. If we were to draw I’m not saying it would be the end of the season but we have to go out ultra-positive and really take it to teams and see how we go.
“It might make the manager’s decision making a little bit easier. The manager can be ultra-positive now and throw the shackles off.”
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If last night’s 3-0 hammering at home to Bayern Munich spelt the end of Barcelona’s ‘cycle,’ as Sky Sports’ Gary Neville has likened it to in recent weeks, then the end of the Catalan side’s time at the top of the game was one of the most brutal imaginable.
Be it the 4-0 masterclass that Fabio Capello’s Milan side handed out to Barcelona in Athens back in 1994, or the men from the Camp Nou’s deadly ‘carousel’ that humiliated Manchester United over two Champions League finals, the Spanish club know better than anyone that the changing of the guard in European football very rarely tends to be anything short of explosive.
Yet even when held up against some of the more comprehensive beatings we’ve witnessed in recent European competition, there’s felt something particularly illuminating about the nature in which Bayern Munich deconstructed Tito Vilanova’s side a staggering 7-0 over the course of two legs.
Brutally efficient, unrelenting in their supremacy and seemingly able to rubber stamp their performances with a sprinkling of stardust, for all the talk of German efficiency and physical domination, there was something very Catalan about the way in which Jupp Heynckes’ side took Barcelona apart last night; maybe not so much in the mechanics of their play, rather in the way they went about the task in hand.
And after all but confirming what felt like something of a formality – bar a very nervous last five minutes in Madrid for Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund side on Tuesday night – we now look ahead to the first all-German Champions League final in Wembley on the 25th.
For some on these shores of course, once the initial nationalistic pain of seeing two teams from the old foe battle it out upon English soil for Europe’s biggest prize subside, there is a far bigger insecurity to crop up out of the Bundesliga’s recent journey to continental domination. What’s happened to our own set of once-valiant sides in the Champions League?
After a campaign which saw only two English teams make the competition’s round of 16 and not a single entrant reach the quarter finals, many have been quick to write English football’s obituary within the Champions League.
Out of touch, behind the times and somewhat archaic in comparison to our esteemed neighbours on the continent – the column inches haven’t been particularly kind to Premier League teams in recent weeks. And on a superficial basis at least, while you must look beyond Fleet Street’s usual hyperbole to understand the point being made, it has of course been incredibly hard to argue with some of those points this season.
The simple reality has been that in comparison to the cream of Europe this season, English clubs simply haven’t been able to hold a torch to the real, elite performers when they’ve been at the top of the game and given our own domestic top-flight’s penchant for self-promotion, that doesn’t reflect very well at all.
Given the trade off we seem to have unwillingly made between the desperately poor fortunes of our national team in exchange for a scintillatingly brilliant domestic competition, when the wheels fall off the latter, such post-mortems generally tend to feel a lot more painful than they do in either Spain or Germany. But just because they’ve fallen off, it doesn’t mean they can’t be put back on again.
Neville’s recent sentiments about cycles within football and a natural lifespan for success and domination within the European game seem to have been taken at face value by many, but for as simple an observation as it may seem, perhaps it’s time we started buying into the concept that nothing lasts forever – be it success aswell as a lack of it.
Let’s rewind four years to the Champions League knockout stages of 2008: English football is arguably enjoying its most prominent zenith of modern times, with all four of its entrants into the elite European competition making the quarter finals. Three of those teams in Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool went on to make the semi-finals with the latter pair going on to compete for the trophy in the final in Moscow.
It was a year of blanket domination, albeit peppered by the beginnings of the Barcelona uprising. But if English football was experiencing its all-conquering high, then German football was most certainly at its nadir.
FC Schalke were the only German club to scrape through the group stages during a chastising campaign for the country’s clubs in Europe. Indeed, it was a year in which this season’s finalists didn’t even qualify for the competition.
Five years on however and the German footballing landscape has come an awful long way on since those dark days of five years ago, going on to not only dominate this season’s competition, but also sweep away a Barcelona dynasty so vaunted, it was difficult to see how their success was ever likely to be halted at one point this season.
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Yet when you strip away the hyperbole, the headlines and the romanticism from the event, all we’re seeing is simply the end of one side’s domination and the start of another’s.
Premier League clubs have suffered a torrid year in the Champions League this season, compounded in no small part thanks to the futile performance produced by the benchmarkers in previous league champions Manchester City.
But although the road to redemption is one that tends to take several seasons, rather than several months, English clubs will be back.
Quite whether the lack of patience that exists within these shores will cater for that wait, however, is quite another story indeed.
Liverpool forward Dani Pacheco looks set to end his spell at the club after he revealed he would not be travelling on the Anfield club’s pre-season tour of Asia and Australia, according to talkSPORT.
The Spaniard tweeted: “Finally not travelling to Asia. Will talk about my future in the next couple of days. Thank you.”
The news looks as if it will end what has turned out to be a disappointing few years on Merseyside after he was signed by Rafa Benitez from Barcelona in 2007. There were high hopes for the man from Pizarra after a sequence of very impressive games for the club’s reserve side.
However, as happens much too often with some young players, he was sent out on loan time after time. Three times in four seasons to be precise which undoubtedly contributed to the stuttering nature of his career.
Brendan Rodgers did originally name Pacheco as one of 28 men due to travel to the pacific region and he did feature in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Preston on Saturday. Yet it seems both parties know that it is unlikely Pacheco will be a Liverpool player come the start of the Premier League season.
Many sides in La Liga will feel like they can reinvigorate the talent that Pacheco possesses in abundance. A move back to his homeland is the most likely scenario but with many teams in Spain feeling the pinch of the country’s financial crisis, ironically the final year of Pacheco’s Liverpool contract may be out on loan once again.
Liverpool fans, are you sad to say goodbye to Pacheco?
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When Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement, Manchester United acted swiftly in appointing a replacement. The unanimous decision was Everton manager David Moyes.
Whenever a new manager arrives, they always have to make tough decisions. What players fit into their plans, who to bring in to improve the squad. Another decision is what to do with the current coaching staff.
David Moyes has decided to change the coaching setup at Old Trafford. The setup at United was a successful one but Moyes has decided to go for his own approach.
Mike Phelan had been at United for 12 years. Phelan started off coaching in United’s centre of excellence but was promoted to first team coach in 2001 after Steve McClaren left. When Carlos Queiroz left to manage Portugal, Phelan was given the chance to take over his role as Assistant Manager.
Eric Steele was the Manchester United goalkeeping coach and was at United for five years. He has been instrumental in the development of David de Gea. Steele was the man that watched De Gea at Atlético Madrid and made United go for him. When the Spaniard arrived, he was at fault for several goals and was getting a lot of criticism in the press. Steele was always his biggest fan and worked hard with David. The improvement in de Gea has been enormous. He is now one of the best Goalkeepers in the world and was voted in the PFA Team of the Year last season.
Many people feel that the biggest loss will be Rene Meulensteen. The first team coach has also been relieved of his duties by David Moyes. The Dutchmen is a highly regarded coach and was key in the developments in Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s been rumoured that he will succeed Roberto Martinez as Wigan manager. Robin van Persie has praised the work that Meulensteen has done. Van Persie said this about Meulensteen.
“The way he trains is exceptional. He truly is one of the best coaches in the world. I have had a lot of good trainers, but it’s the way he prepares our team for the games. Every match is different, so every training session building up to the game is unique. We know exactly what to expect and he wins points for us through his training.”
It’s a tough decision on whether to stick with a winning formula or start afresh. The coaches at Manchester United were world class and it will be a top job to replicate them. But Moyes has decided that his coaching staff at Everton will join him in his new job at Manchester United.
His assistant Steve Round, goalkeeping coach Chris Woods, scout Robbie Cooke and former Manchester United player Phil Neville are all expected to make up Moyes coaching staff.
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Some people believed that Moyes should have stuck with Ferguson’s staff. But they were Ferguson’s men. They might of helped Moyes settle into the job at Old Trafford and it may have helped make a smoother transition of changing managers, but it would have felt like Ferguson’s shadow would of been hanging over him.
Moyes has made the right decision. He needs to stamp his own mark on Manchester United. He needs a fresh start to build his own legacy.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas is set to continue his spending spree in January when he bids for Milan hotshot Stephan El Shaarawy, according to the Daily Mirror.
El Shaarawy has been in and out of the Milan side recently and is reportedly an understudy to Mario Balotelli, leaving the Italian international in a dilemma with this being a crucial World Cup year.
The 20 year old playmaker would be a strange signing by Spurs who have numerous options in his position already, but that didn’t stop Villas-Boas in the summer from adding players to his squad who would not be playing most weeks.
Spurs made a lot of their money back from their summer signings, mainly thanks to Gareth Bale, but the wage bill has certainly increased in recent months leaving the club with little option but to sell big earners such as Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor in January thus freeing up funds for new signings.
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It is often easy to sensationalise games as ‘must win’ or ‘season defining’, but looking ahead to Sunday’s titanic clash between Arsenal and Manchester United and it is difficult to argue that any come much bigger or much more important than this. Indeed with Arsenal eight points clear of the defending Premier League champions, this game could even at such an early stage shape the months to follow for both clubs.
Arsenal are a club riding the crest of a wave and flying high in the league, the game on Sunday is another important stepping stone towards their ultimate goals, but for me it won’t be pivotal. By contrast, Sunday’s clash represents the most crucial of moments in David Moyes’ short tenure at Manchester United, a win could galvanise the recovery whilst a defeat could well spend the beginning of the end for the Scotsman in Manchester.
After early season disappointment United have undergone something of a revival of late. A comeback against Stoke and a more comfortable victory over Fulham has seen a return to stability at the club, with Moyes keen now to impress further by laying down a marker against a title rival.
[cat_link cat=”manchester-united” type=”list”]
This is the point about Sunday; it is much too early to worry about points because even at this stage no lead is insurmountable. However, momentum is everything in football and if United are to have any chance this season then they must show themselves able to de-rail the Arsenal title charge. It is all well and good being able to overcome the best of the rest, but if United want to reassert themselves then they must beat the best, and Sunday is the perfect opportunity to do that.
Gary Pallister whilst speaking to Sky Sports emphasised the enormity of the game for United:
“It’s certainly more important for United,” he told Sky Sports News. “Arsenal are eight points clear at the moment and if they were to go 11 points clear, it’s a huge gap to try and catch up.”
“Arsenal can come with a bit of a luxury, they can afford to lose it maybe and still be top of the table at the end of the day.”
“United are desperate to win the game, they’ve got a bit of form back. They had a late comeback against Stoke, the Sociedad game and the Fulham game looks like they’re finally finding their feet. It’s up to be another titanic clash, reminiscent of the years gone by.”
Moyes may still be grappling with an inadequate midfield and the problem of asserting himself on the club, but the reality is that the Premier League doesn’t stop for anyone. Defeat on Sunday won’t mean inevitable sacking, that would be an unbelievable knee-jerk, but what it will do is continue to push United on this downward slope towards failure that even the best managers would struggle to rewrite. A loss of faith in the project and the manager can be fatal to the hopes of a club even at such an early stage and that is why I believe that a defeat at the hands of Arsenal could be good enough to end the clubs chances of achieving anything in the league this season.
Yet it works both ways, United may be standing on edge of the footballing mire but at the same time Sunday affords them the opportunity to re-invent their fortunes. Arsenal are playing well but squad for squad both sides are pretty even, there hasn’t been much change from last season when United finished well clear of the North Londoners so in that sense the advantage should be in Moyes’ favour. If Moyes can get his team prepared mentally for the game and instil some belief in his players then there is no reason why he cannot overcome his opposite number.
It will be interesting to see how brave the Scot is, will he give the exciting young Januzaj a chance or will he look to adopt a more rigid approach? My fear is that the dour traits of the man may well be his undoing; this is a game that needs an assertive approach to really get at Arsenal. If United allow Arsenal to come and play at Old Trafford it may well be to their detriment and I hope for their sakes they choose to show a little bit of bravery.
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Sunday will be a defining game in United’s season. The opportunity to rebuild the fortress and carve out a new dynasty at United. Defeat could well spell the beginning of the end for Moyes at United, whereas victory will re-ignite the title challenge that has appeared so non-existent in recent months.
The love and admiration between Didier Drogba and Jose Mourinho is well noted in the world of football.
The two spent three largely successful years together at Chelsea. It should come as no surprise that Mourinho shared his sentiments in the Ivorian’s autobiography, leaving a heartfelt forward.
While the note borders on the cheesy side, it is remarkable sincere.
In full, the forward reads:
I’m a person who likes to treasure memories, and with them I can tell the world many things. I’m not a writer, even less a poet, but my life has been rich with stories, stories full of extraordinary moments. Looking back at them, I can find only a few special people who I will keep in my soul and in my heart forever.
Didier Drogba came into my life in the fifth minute of a Champions League game in Marseille’s mythical Velodrome. I’d hardly sat down when that giant with the number 11 on his shirt scored. I remember he celebrated that goal like it was his last and he turned an already hostile atmosphere into a fireball of flares, chants and emotion. The crowd went mad, the noise was deafening.
At half-time I found him in the tunnel and told him: ‘I don’t have the money to buy you, but do you have any cousins that can play like you in the Ivory Coast?’ In the middle of this tense qualification game he laughed, hugged me and said: ‘One day you’ll be in a club which can buy me.’
Six months later I signed for Chelsea. I had found a super powerful club which everybody wanted to negotiate with, everybody wanted to be linked to – and everybody wanted to play for. I had a number of options, but I arrived and said: ‘I want Didier Drogba.’ Doubts and questions were raised by a few people: ‘Why this one?’, ‘Why not that one?’, ‘Are you sure he will adapt?’, ‘Is he really that good?’
‘I want Didier Drogba,’ I said.
A few days passed and I met with Didier in a private airport in London. Again he hugged me, but this time in an unforgettable way: an embrace that showed this man’s gratitude, and the affection he feels towards people who mean a lot to him. Indescribable. Then he told me: ‘Thank you. I will fight for you. You won’t regret it. I will stay loyal to you forever.’ And that’s just what he’s done. His loyalty came out in his leadership and in the way he always faced up to the difficult moments. Moments when nothing else matters than to be there for your leader and your colleagues.
This was a person I knew I could count on whenever and wherever I needed. When the team was under pressure he would go back and help the defenders; when he felt pain he would stretch himself to the limit and never give up. Then of course came what he did best: he scored and scored. Those goals brought him titles, amazing awards, but what stays with me are the countless stories we have together.
The FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium, 2007. Manchester United: the last game of the season. A lot of people thought this would be my last game in charge of Chelsea. It was a great battle, and then Didier scored in extra-time. The final whistle blew and everybody went mad – apart from two calm individuals. I ran into the dressing room to call my wife. One player avoided the immediate celebrations and followed me down the tunnel. It was Didier, chasing me for a hug. The game was over but in his mind as he left the pitch was only one thing: to hug me as soon as possible. Was he remembering our first encounter? Our second? Or was he thinking that this embrace could be the last…? He found me, we hugged and we cried.
Didier is a special person. And I repeat if I may: person. I could say player of course – and he’s an unbelievable one – but above all, his impact on the world at the moment is as a person: as an African, as an emperor of the Ivory Coast, as a father, and as a son and as a friend. And some of us have the privilege to have him in our lives. Months after the Cup final I was out of Chelsea.
As on the first day, there came that same embrace. I couldn’t speak and Didier could only say: ‘This is not possible, this is not possible, this is not happening.’ I could only find the strength to turn and walk away.
Perhaps this preface should focus on Didier the player. But the player everybody knows – the leader, the title collector, the benefactor as well. All these things he has achieved with skill, effort and humility. Didier is in my life as one of the best players I have managed in my career. But much more importantly, he’s in my life as one of the best and most unforgettable friends.Together, the two of us side by side, fighting for the same thing? Far away? In different clubs? In different countries? Or old, with Didier in retirement and me coaching in a wheelchair? It doesn’t matter.