Manchester City are monitoring the situation of Paris St Germain defender Mamadou Sakho who has fallen out of favour at the French club, the Daily Mail reports.
The French international has found minutes on the pitch harder to come by following the arrival of Thiago Silva, whose partnership with fellow Brazilian Alex has become the first choice centre back pairing at the Parc des Princes.
Sakho is a fans favourite having been born in the city and coming through the ranks at the club since the age of six. Despite this the 22-year-old was told he could leave in August, however he decided to stay and fight for his place in the team and has gone on to make 10 starts this season.
There has been reported interest in the powerful defender from Italians AC Milan, as well as fellow French side Lille and offers from England. Arsenal have long been keen on bringing Sakho to the Emirates but have needed to move on players first before being able to fund a deal.
Manchester City now look like they could be the club to make a move for the defender, with Joleon Lescott’s future at the Etihad looking uncertain.
City boss Roberto Mancini’s decision to replace the injured Vincent Kompany with Kolo Toure rather than Lescott during Sundays derby defeat has cast further doubts over the England defenders City career.
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If Lescott is to be offloaded in January, it seems that Sakho could well be lined up as his replacement.
On August 29, the Premier League elite were limbering up for another enthralling transfer deadline day, when Tottenham Hotspur somewhat jumped the gun and swooped to sign Moussa Dembele. The club activated the £15m release clause in his contract at Fulham, forcing their way past the more desirable outfits of Real Madrid and Manchester United to secure the Belgian international’s signature.
Despite Dembele’s obvious potential, his reputation in mainstream circles was rather subdued, as if the platform at Craven Cottage didn’t do justice to his excellent skill set. His arrival at White Hart Lane drew the same concerned looks and surprised expressions akin to when Brendan Rodgers spent a similar fee acquiring Joe Allen.
However, the 25-year-old has spent the past two seasons gradually transforming into one of the most desirable deep-lying playmakers in modern football. He has slowly been shuffled from his natural position as a striker, deeper into the heart of midfield, where he flourished alongside Danny Murphy last season. The transition has been remarkable and has allowed Dembele to have a greater impact on games, despite the fact he is now further away from goal.
In a Tottenham midfield that has been depleted by the departures of influential duo Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart, Dembele has thrived along the spine of his new team. While he has been keen to distance himself from comparisons with the creative Croatian, there are certain traits that suggest the club have obtained a superior replacement.
Although Modric now plies his trade in La Liga – in surroundings far removed from the intensity of the Premier League – it’s still worth analysing their statistics this season. In a similar number of league appearances, both players have clocked up over 400 passes with Modric averaging 41.3 per game and Dembele 46.2. The accuracy rates are also particularly impressive with Dembele boasting a completion rate off 88.9% compared to Modric’s 86.6%.
The parallels continue when you notice that Modric has made 17 interceptions compared to Dembele’s 15, but the stark contrast occurs in the tackling department. Whereas Modric has made 16 successful tackles, Dembele has instigated nearly double, 30, which suggests the new man in North London is a better fit for the typically more combative midfields that epitomise English football.
This season has hailed the rise of the dominant box-to-box midfielder, with the likes of Marouane Fellani and Yaya Toure hauling their respective clubs up the table. In Dembele, Spurs have their very own midfield general, blessed with the energy levels of Chelsea’s Ramires and the composure of Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere.
Without wanting to commit the crime of sensationalised reporting, Andre Villas-Boas now has the complete package at his disposal, a prized asset that every club in the league will rue not taking a gamble on. He is Mikel Arteta on steroids, Gareth Barry with pace and the player that Anderson should and may well one day become. The only real task for Spurs is to keep him away from the treatment table or he risks becoming just another unfulfilled talent in the club’s recent history.
Daniel Levy has come under fire for failing to provide better support for his new manager, most notably in the pursuit of Joao Moutinho in the summer. However, few can argue with his track record in the transfer market, with Moussa Dembele the latest name to be etched into his profitable portfolio of purchases. If he can repeat the same feats in January, a place in the top four looks even more likely than this time last season.
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Mohamed Diame has warned West Ham he will report the club to FIFA if they fail to honour the release clause agreement in his contract, the Daily Mail understand.
The defensive midfielder is free to leave the Hammers if a club meets the stipulated £3.5 million fee that was written in when signed on a free transfer from Wigan in the summer.
A number of Premier League sides have been alerted to the Senegal international’s situation this month after a blistering start to life at Upton Park.
Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham are all known admirers of Diame but the 25-year-old harbours suspicions that his current employers are trying to halt a potential move by getting him to sign a new contract and remove the release clause.
He has so far resisted putting pen-to-paper on a fresh deal and is reportedly cross with the club for using such underhand tactics in an attempt to force him into staying at the club.
And its expected that Diame will take severe action against West Ham by taking the matter to FIFA should they fail to comply with the contractual agreement.
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Reports indicate Arsenal have already lodged their interested in signing the midfield enforcer with Arsene Wenger recently signing his praises: “He has a great presence in the games, I have seen him have a big impact.”
Disbelief and disappointment have been etched on every Coventry city supporters face since Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Crewe in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area final. In front of a packed out Ricoh Arena with nearly all being behind the Skyblues it was a game that if u were there would have left you with very mixed emotions.
Huge disappointment was the obvious overwhelming feeling when it comes to the result with City now very unlikely to make the final at Wembley. However the result wasn’t even half of the story. It was in fact a brilliant performance from all of the city players who dominated the match up until the 3rd goal went in for Crewe when their heads clearly dropped.
There is no question that we were by far the superior side and created the majority of the chances but it turned out to just be one of them days in front of goal. We pushed and pushed to get a goal and in the end his may have been what cost us. A 1-0 defeat would have been disappointing but also would have been easily rectifiable in the second leg. Instead with the huge crowd urging them forward the players went all out to get level and ended up leaving themselves short at the back and it cost us two more goals which almost effectively kills the tie.
The players gave it everything and you could see they were hurting come the end of the match and I for one felt for them especially our captain Carl Baker and the younger lads. None of them deserved that, they have been brilliant all season and are putting this club back on the right footing. I really felt that our luck was changing but it seems like the Coventry curse is not quite over yet and we now have a mountain to climb if we are to get to the final and keep our hopes of a trophy alive.
It is an extremely difficult but not impossible task. We created more than enough to have easily scored 3 goals in that game and maybe it will fall for us in the next leg. We replicate that performance and we do still have a chance.
Crewe came to the Ricoh with a clear game plan and I don’t think in any of their wildest dream that they would come away with a victory like that. It will have definitely changed their mind-set for the second leg where I expect them to set up exactly the same. Sit back, soak up pressure and hit us hard on the counter attack. We will have to defend better hats for sure and hope our luck changes in front of goal.
Right now I am still feeling gutted and finding it hard to believe that we can turn it around but I know there is a chance and until it is over I will still believe as every fan should. We can still do it and I for the first time in many years I am confident that the players will give it everything in an attempt to turn it around.
Moving away from the cup though which has been and hopefully will continue to be a nice addition to city’s league form. The league is city’s bread and butter and after Friday’s victory away at Sheffield United the playoffs are looking like a real possibility.
We went to Sheffield united and dominated for large parts of the game especially in the first half when we should have scored more than the one we got. We showed we could soak up pressure in the second half and in the end it was a lack of concentration that allowed Sheffield united the equaliser.
Robins though has brought in a never say die attitude and once again Coventry found something extra in the last few minutes of the game to grad the winning goal which put us within a point of Sheffield united.
We are up there now and a playoff challenge is definitely on. The teams in and around us do still have games in hand and for that reason we may have to win a bigger proportion of our remaining games than our closest rivals. This is by no means out of the question though and we have games against these teams in the coming weeks including Brentford, Doncaster, Swindon, Bournemouth and Yeovil who we play this coming Saturday.
This means our playoff destiny is still very much in our hands and a win on Saturday against Yeovil may well be the biggest step towards the play offs we are yet to take.
It is time for Robins to truly show if he is going to be a great manager for us. He has already done some wonderful thongs with this squad since his arrival but I is going to take a great manager to pick the players up from the defeat to Crewe. Having put so much in and played so well to get beaten by 3 goals to nil the players will need that push from their boss that many managers often struggle to deliver.
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The motivation shouldn’t be an issue with the playoffs in sight but the players will still be hurting come Saturday. It’s a big game and could be a defining one. Our season is at the point where it is on the brink. To fail to make the Johnstone’s paint trophy final and then to fail to make the playoffs will be seen as a failure by many. This is h vital moment and the next couple of matches will show us whether our season will have a chance of success or to be a failure once more.
Liverpool forward Luis Suarez has revealed that he would be open to a move to an ‘elite’ club in the summer, but in an industry that only asks loyalty of those possessing enough quality to be demanded of it, does he owe the club anything? Or to put it more pertinently, would he be doing them a favour if he stayed for one more season?
For the sake of brevity, considering that Suarez is entering the peak of his career, the longer he continues to play for a side not even in the Champions League, let alone competing seriously on a consistent basis for honours, the Uruguayan could be said to be sacrificing the best years of his career out of affection for his current club.
The 26-year-old told AFP on Wednesday: “You never know in football. A player’s ambition is always there, the ambition of wanting to play in elite teams is always there. I’m in a world-class team, an elite team like Liverpool. And if another team comes around with more prospects of competing in international club competitions games, which is willing to have [me], they are welcome. We would talk to the club, we would see if I want to go, if I don’t want to go.”
Describing a club which hasn’t been and isn’t likely to get into the top four this season as ‘world-class’ is clearly a very flattering take on events, given that Suarez is likely the club’s only truly world-class talent at the moment. Protestations that he is happy on Merseyside sound genuine, especially since he has a young family that have settled well in the area, but when it comes to the rest of the country, the mercurial playmaker is something of a pantomine villain and the whole circus that surrounds him must be tiresome to say the least.
That is not to say that he doesn’t at least owe Liverpool a sense of gratitude for the way they stuck by him during the whole Patrice Evra racism scandal; the club’s position effectively cost Kenny Dalglish his job at the end of last season and his eight-game ban derailed what at one point was a promising league campaign. He has made his bed and he must lie in it, but the club have staked a lot of goodwill and capital on him and he knows it. Even in a game where loyalty is little more than a word, Suarez should at least acknowledge that his reputation has damaged the image of the club to a global audience and there’s a sense that as much as his goals have repaid some of the debt, only giving back a year of his time when he could be at a bigger, better-equipped club will be seen as penance for his actions.
Loyalty is a strange thing in football – fans always demand it of talented players, but when someone on the fringes of the club professes his commitment to the cause, it is dismissed as self-interest, or when a player the club is actively trying to sell signals his intention to ‘honour’ his contract, which he is well within his rights to, he is portrayed as a money-grabber, draining the life-force from the club and a representation of everything that is wrong with modern football. The currency of loyalty is almost always interlinked with ability and we only demand it of those that have some, otherwise it’s simply a case of ‘thank you, there’s the door’. Any other position on the matter is just deeply hypocritical and ignorant.
[cat_link cat=”liverpool” type=”list”]
When managing director Ian Ayre went on BBC ‘Breakfast News’ yesterday morning under the smokescreen of talking about the women’s game to defend a transfer story, there was more than a hint of emotional blackmail behind his attempt to deny the quotes as being misrepresented: “Yeah, absolutely, there’s a story about Luis every week. It’s in his local language. We did a new four-year deal with Luis last summer, he’s had a fantastic season for Liverpool and it doesn’t surprise us every day when he’s linked with a move or he’s asked to comment on it and he makes a comment that gets taken in different directions.
“We love Luis being at Liverpool, our fans love Luis being at Liverpool and he loves being at Liverpool and we fully expect him to be there next season. He’s spoken to me and he’s spoken to the manager and he’s been quoted very recently, actually saying about how happy he is. He’s said he wants to be a part of the team and that’s what we expect. We signed that new contract on the basis that he would continue to provide for us.”
The tone of the debate has been set, the club will be loath to sell Suarez as he’s an essential part of their plans to crack the top four; the sheer level of self-interest hangs heavy in the air. Could the club reject an offer in the region of £40m? Everything we’ve learned about FSG so far tells us they’re pragmatic businessman prone to a bungling, and it’s doubtful they’d simply reject it out of hand, despite the protestations from fans and manager alike. Losing Suarez would signal a lack of ambition just as it did when Arsenal sold Robin van Persie to Manchester United last summer.
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Nevertheless, the longer Suarez continues to ply his trade in the Europa League, the more it seems like the club are holding the player back to achieve their own aims and there’s a certain amount of desperation about the club’s position at the moment. The power all rests with the player. They know it, he knows it and everyone else knows it. Suarez is not a local born and bred academy product, nor does he in all reality owe the club a thing; he is paid to do a job and he is doing it extremely well, instead the brunt of the matter will focus on an emotional response.
If I had to place money on it, I’d bet that Suarez stays one more season at Anfield before leaving just before the 2014 World Cup. It’s a compromise position that could quite easily be negotiated after he receives his bumper pay packet at the end of the season just like Thierry Henry did at Arsenal before leaving for Barcelona. The game is set, the players all know which moves they’re going to make and both will have danced this awkward dance before, the only irritating thing is that it’s going to be dragged out over the course of a few months before reaching its inevitable conclusion. Next year may not be Liverpool’s, but it will be Suarez’s last at Anfield.
Mick McCarthy has made a name for himself by being a manager that is great at grinding out results. His style may not always be entertaining or exiting but he prides himself on making every side he takes over hard to beat, which could be the key to Ipswich’s survival.
The criticism of the former Wolves boss all started at the end of February after a goalless draw away at Huddersfield. Before the game, McCarthy admitted that he would take a point and the Ipswich manager focused on shutting down the opposition’s creative players rather than looking to create chances for his own side. This made for an extremely boring 90 minutes of football but a more than valuable point away from home.
Some Tractor Boys fans were even more upset after McCarthy then announced that he would be happy with a point away against struggling Peterborough United. Again the side made sure they were solid at the back and did not take many risks going forward in this match. Although Ipswich were the better team in that clash, gaining a point away from home was another example of McCarthy’s philosophy in use.
Of course both games against Huddersfield and Peterborough were potentially winnable and you couldn’t criticise the manager if he saw them as games he wanted to win. However when you are in a relegation dog fight you have to be very careful about what philosophy you take.
Mick explained after the Peterborough game that regardless of the opposition’s league standing, he will go into every away game looking for a point. He said himself that in the games against the struggling sides it is more important to prevent them from getting three points rather than to try gain three.
This approach seems logical, especially as McCarthy went on to explain that he will set his team up to try and win every home game until the end of the season.
The answer to those questioning the manager’s tactics is simple; as we are not in the relegation zone it makes much more sense to deny the teams around us rather than risk giving them three points. Yes Ipswich will need the occasional win and not just draws to keep them in the Championship, but they stand a much better chance of getting those wins at Portman Road.
The clubs that are currently sitting in the relegation zone have to go out and try to win every game, because their situation is desperate. That is the approach that some Ipswich fans want to see from their side. However, taking that high risk high reward strategy should always be a last resort.
The likes of Barnsley, Peterborough, Wolves and Bristol City may take this approach and it may well pay off for at most one or two of them. If one of those teams starts picking up three points from almost every game then it isn’t a problem with Ipswich sitting 20th in the league table.
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Things may get more desperate if another team goes on a great run and McCarthy may well have to change his philosophy, but for now he is doing everything right.
On their day Ipswich can play extremely well at home too, beating the likes of Middlesbrough and Leicester at Portman Road is no easy task. If they can keep on grinding out away draws with the occasional win at home then they will secure their place in the Championship for next season.
It’s been less than 12 hours, but Luis Suarez’s bite incident with Branislav Ivanovic seems already predestined to enter the Premier League’s Hall of Shame. In the same week the Uruguayan was nominated for the PFA Players’ Player Of The Year, the latest of his misconducts has put the Liverpool striker in the eye of the storm – blurring his league merits in the process. But, is his behaviour reason enough for Suarez to lose, scandals apart, a well deserved award?
Just minutes after the PFA announced the shortlist of nominees for the Player Of The Year award, hundreds of polls in several media, websites and football forums were asking the fans who their favourite was to succeed Robin van Persie as the best Premier League footballer this season. The Dutchman, also nominated this year, Gareth Bale or even Michael Carrick were the most demanded names, while the Premier League top scorer and Liverpool hero took a secondary position. No doubt, his personality and manners on the pitch have an impact on people’s assessment of his footballing virtues.
[cat_link cat=”liverpool” type=”list”]
The sad reality is that if we merely stick to football reasons and try to choose the winner judging exclusively ‘who has been the best Premier League player this season’, the answer should be Luis Suarez. Having a bad temper on the pitch is not something that eases the always difficult task of sticking ball in the opponent’s net, and he has done it on 23 occasions this season – and there will be no more after he receives the appropriate punishment – similary, no adding to his 10 assists.
Only van Persie matches his numbers – 21 goals, 13 assists – and will probably beat them by the end of the season, but the club circumstances should not be overlooked when conceding individual awards, and it is here where the Uruguayan takes the lead. No other player – Gareth Bale would be the closest one on this aspect – has had a bigger importance to his club. Therefore, while van Persie has been the finisher of the indisputably best team in the league, Suarez has made his way through to the top of the scorers’ table in a team that lies in 7th position in the league. A true reflection of this is the percentage of goals they have scored for their respective teams: 37.7% compared to RVP’s 28%.
Regardless of his numerous controversies, Suarez has been one of the best players, if not the best, this season, and the nomination is simply admitting it whether we like him or not. Gary Lineker claimed via Twitter after the game that the striker should be withdrawn as a Player Of The Year contender. Doing that would be ruling out every one of his 23 goals for a bad gesture that was not related to any of them – if anything, to the 23rd, as he should have been sent off. The award recognises the best player of the season, and every player should be eligible to win it. His punishment should come from the FA and from his club, but never affect the merits he has earned by scoring goals and being a vital component of his team.
Is Suarez going to win the PFA award, then? Of course not. Dives, brawls, bad gestures to fans and racial scandals seem a way to heavy burden to shrug off. Biting an opponent is the straw that breaks the camel’s back and could cost him his future at Liverpool, but the PFA honour was lost long ago and it’s perfectly understandable.
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After all, Robert De Niro would have never won an Oscar if he had bitten, kicked, punched or racially abused the judges.
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert is looking to trim the wage bill by allowing midfielder Stephen Ireland to leave the club this summer, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The former Manchester City playmaker has not featured for Villa in the Premier League since last December when the Midlands club were beaten 3-0 by now relegated Wigan.
Lambert has made it clear that he is looking to young players during his time at Villa Park and despite nearly being relegated last season, the former Norwich boss is sticking to that tactic.
Fellow older heads Darren Bent, Shay Given and Alan Hutton have all also been given the green light to end their Aston Villa nightmares this summer.
Ireland is costing Villa £60,000-per-week at present and the other departing players are not far short of that leaving the big spending Villains with some extra funds to spend this summer once the wage bill is trimmed.
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Aretha Franklin may not have been a football fan (in fact we’re pretty sure she wasn’t), but her famous song ‘Respect’ conveys a message that is relevant in the modern game.
Respect is a small word, but one that frequently becomes a forgotten one in the English game, with fans and players often treating others in a manner not befitting the game of the people.
That is why the FA are trying to ensure that such behaviour is stamped out of the sport in our country and make the game more enjoyable for everyone.
Technology is now a big part of football, with goal line cameras in place to prevent another Frank Lampard 2010 ‘did it?’ ‘didn’t it?’ moment. This video from the FA may be taking the premise a little too far by employing a robot to deal with common footballing problems such as angry players, abusive managers and feisty parents, but it coveys a simple message. Respect.
The Respect campaign was initiated in 2008, and has had a major impact so far. Since it’s beginning assaults of referees have dropped significantly, 5,000 new match officials have been recruited and the game has become more pleasant for young children, spectators and those in charge.
Dermot Collins, the FA’s Respect Manager, said: “The application of technology is an on going discussion in Football. This film takes a light hearted look at how it can be applied to improving behaviour in the Grassroots Game but ultimately the solution is in our own hands. We all have a part to play.”
After all, football at youth level is about enjoyment. A will to win is of course important in any sport, but remembering the core values of the game we all love is key. Would you respond to a barrage of abuse at work? Probably not, so why should youngsters be put in such a position?
Likewise with players on the field of play. The red mist can descend, but it’s important to remember to control the situation and keep the spectacle one that everybody can enjoy.
As said before, technology is becoming a part of football, so check out the FA’s wacky robot and take in its message.
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It would be impossible to argue that Harry Redknapp has not had a successful career in football. Starting at the bottom playing for Oxford City, he went on to experience the highs of a footballer in the Premier League to managing Portsmouth to an FA Cup win. No-one could put a downer on his accomplishments over the past fifty years, but along with the ups, came some very difficult low-points. The book starts with a raw and honest account of his court-case in2008, where he describes to the reader the details of not only how he was feeling through the ordeal but also the heartache this difficult time caused his family. Starting on such strong emotions is a brilliant lead into this fervent and humorous look back on Redknapp’s life. All his decisions to leave various clubs and positions are explained in detail, and it becomes increasingly more obvious to the reader that his career path was not always so clear cut. The England Job, Bobby Moore and his relationship with Milan Mandaric as well as many other adventures are all included –all the way up to his current demands at QPR. Unlike many autobiographies we don’t get a step-by-step account of Redknapp’s life, the author has chosen the main stories and focuses on them primarily, giving a slightly disjointed feeling. This does not, however, make for an unenjoyable read. Phrases such as ‘there is some right old rubbish about…’ and ‘people might think that..’ only highlights that he wants to get the facts out there, and that is what the author of the book achieves. You could be in a chance of winning a signed copy of this book via the Facebook link below!