All posts by h79snht.top

Romelu Lukaku’s transfer to one of the European elite seems almost inevitable this summer. The teenage superstar is touted to be one of the best young prospects in world football and whilst experience tells us that this potential doesn’t always materialise, Lukaku does look to have the talent to achieve great things. But where will he end up come the start of next season and which club would be best for the striker?

It was widely reported at the end of last week that Chelsea had made an £18million bid for the 18-year-old but the wealth of his talent means that it is unlikely Chelsea will get free reign to sign the teenager without some competition. Arsenal are the latest team linked with Lukaku and whilst both sets of fans can drool over the prospect of him joining them, which club would be the best destination for Lukaku?

Lukaku has been labeled the next Didier Drogba and it is easy to see why. Whilst still only being teenager, Lukaku is a massive physical presence in the box but has the skills and eye for goal to match. The comparisons with Drogba mean he would be an obvious fit in a Chelsea shirt. His style of play could fit easily well at Chelsea who have utilized Drogba with so much success over the years. Chelsea are also reported to be the only team that have made a firm offer so they look to have the lead on any potential deal.

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But what about Arsenal? The deal that saw Gervinho arrive at the Emirates may cast doubt over whether Wenger is in the market for another new striker but would Lukaku be a good match for the Gunners? Wenger always as an eye on the next young talent so Lukaku could not have gone unnoticed by the Arsenal manager. Arsenal have a fantastic record of developing youngsters and Lukaku would certainly fit into that model. He also has the skill to slot into Arsenal’s attacking game. By going to Arsenal over a team like Chelsea he would give himself more chance of playing first team football on a regular basis. Despite Gervinho’s arrival there is still a need for more goals at the Emirates but with Chelsea there is Fernando Torres, Nicolas Anelka, Daniel Sturridge and Drogba to compete with.

A move to Europe is also a possibility for Lukaku despite England looking the more likely destination. Real Madrid have been linked with him in the past and are in the market for a target man. But whilst Lukaku has the skill to cause Spanish defenses endless problems, I think his combination of power, presence and physique would be best utilized in the Premier League.

But what would the Premier League be getting if Lukaku did make the move to England? Well the stats are frighteningly good for a player who made his first team breakthrough at Anderlecht at only 16-years-old. He scored an amazing 121 goals in 88 games for Anderlecht’s youth sides and such form understandably saw him promoted to the first team. Despite only being 16 he was the top scorer in Belgium in the 2009/10 season where he scored 15 goals (he has scored a total of 31 league goals in 71 first team appearances) and has already made the breakthrough on the international stage with Belgium.

A move to Chelsea does look the more likely and whilst Lukaku would have to face more competition for places at Chelsea rather than Arsenal, the chance to work alongside Drogba and build on his game at Stamford Bridge would benefit him more in the long-term. But wherever Lukaku does end up, any of the Premier League’s top teams should do their upmost to sign a star of the future.

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If you want to read more of my bite size, 160 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5

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Fulham have been linked with moves for strikers Hugo Rodallega and Pavel Pobrebnyak, as the Craven Cottage outfit look to bolster their attack before the transfer window closes on Tuesday.

With Andy Johnson’s contract expiring and a dependence on attacking midfielder Clint Dempsey to contribute with goals, Martin Jol is thought to be eager to add a new forward to his squad for the remainder of the season.

The Daily Mail report that The Cottagers have offered £2million plus Andy Johnson in a player-plus-cash deal to Wigan to try and bring Rodallega to London, which is being considered by The Latics.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports have stated that Stuttgart marksman Pogrebnyak is undergoing a medical with the Premier League side.

The Russia international has fallen out of favour with the Bundesliga team and is eager to find first-team football ahead of Euro 2012.

West Brom had been linked with the eastern European also, but Fulham are now reportedly close to signing the 28-year-old, who will become a free agent in the summer.

Lastly, reported Fulham target Marc Janko has left Dutch side Twente to join Porto, ending speculation that he could be moving to the Premier League.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Chris Hughton ’s sacking seems like an awfully long time ago now. Newcastle fans were devastated and opposition fans were perplexed. It was a move that just didn’t appear to make any sense. During his brief reign at the club Hughton had done a stand-up job and deserved better treatment. When I ask if Ashley was right to sack Hughton, I don’t mean was he right in the moral sense, because Chris had done nothing to merit his dismissal. But surely it is worth considering that it may actually have been the best move for the club?

Many Newcastle fans were flabbergasted with Alan Pardew ’s appointment and saw him as something of a step-down in class. He has turned out to be anything but. Discounting the second-half of last season where he seemed to be biding his time until the summer, he’s had an excellent start to his Newcastle tenure.

I remember fans at the time claiming that Pardew couldn’t match Hughton in terms of man management, but it strikes me that Pardew’s getting the most he possibly can out of each and every one of his players right now. Furthermore, I can’t help but feel that Pardew is tactically more astute that Hughton too. Not such a step-down after all.

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Hughton had managed to obtain the backing of both players and fans, something of a rare occurrence on Tyneside and deserved more of a chance to show what he could do. Mike Ashley ’s decision to send him packing could well have triggered a mutiny in the dressing room and potentially another relegation for the club. It was simply awful timing.

Luckily Pardew proved to be a better manager than most people thought and over the course of his ten months in charge he has more than proven that he knows how to galvanise a dressing room. It’s not like Pardew has had an easy ride. He has overseen some high profile departures that led fans to question the future of the team.

Instead, Newcastle has only grown stronger and Pardew deserves a healthy share of the credit for how the club has improved. Given his professionalism and ability, is there anybody out there who really believes that Hughton is the better manager?

Still, that doesn’t make the decision to sack Chris any more right. Strange that what first appeared to be a moment of madness may end up being one of the best decisions of Ashley’s career.

Article courtesy of Harry Cloke from This is Futbol

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Pep Guardiola has proved himself to be an exceptional coach. His success in all available competitions has players and managers everywhere apart from Madrid cooing in delight as they watch his ever-evolving team. Whilst initially his success was put down to the outstanding players he has at his disposal after seeing such consistent success in the face of the equally impressive Real Madrid squad it would be bigoted and ignorant to deny that he is indeed an extremely tactically astute manager. With that in mind to what extent will his emphatic opinions and tactics be copied around the world? The most interesting comments that he has declared in recent months are those about the future of football, about teams without strikers, about teams made up almost entirely of midfielders. Guardiola has, since 2008, reshaped the Barcelona team in to one more dominated by midfielders than ever. He told FIFA.com in an interview:

“The midfield is a crucial part of any team. Midfielders are intelligent players who have to think about the team as a whole. They’re selfless players who understand the game better than anyone and the more midfielders you have, the easier it is to slot them into other positions. That’s how they become versatile and helps us to have smaller squads that are still able to offer more options.”

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Before Cesc Fabregas moved to Barcelona many wondered how he would even get in to the team yet Guardiola has not only found a place for him alongside Iniesta and Xavi, he has made Fabregas into Barcelona’s second highest goal scorer for the season. The versatility he inspires in his players is nothing new. He began by using Yaya Toure in defence as well as midfield and now he does the same with Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets. On top of that David Villa has been converted in to more of a midfielder than a striker and Dani Alves’ role in the team is far more like a winger than any defender in world football. At times this season Barcelona have been playing with two defenders, a goalkeeper and eight midfielders. It works pretty well too.

What he is trying to instigate here in football not only appears to make sense from a footballing point of view, but also a financial one as less players are needed to have a more complete squad. Barcelona’s success over the last few years has been achieved with a very small squad yet the success they have achieved is remarkable considering how many competitions they have been in. It makes a mockery of English teams’ that claim they don’t have the squad size to pursue multiple competitions. Guardiola is talking about squad rotation, but squad rotation in a positional as well as personal sense.

People might say that this is only the future for Barcelona, that only they have the players capable of performing well in positions other than their natural ones, but that isn’t necessarily true. It is always the best teams and managers in football history that inspire tactical evolution. Not all teams will evolve in this way but players could. In fact it is already happening, particularly with defenders. These days it isn’t enough at the top level to simply be an excellent defender, there has to be more to a defender’s game, they have to be technically better. Defenders like Thomas Vermaelen, Thiago Silva, Gerard Pique and others are demonstrations of the value of having a player who is more versatile. Similarly whereas in the past having full backs capable of going forward as well as being able to defend was a luxury, now it is almost a necessity. Strikers too have to have a more accomplished game. The value of a striker that can help out in midfield as well as attack is a priceless option; you only need look at Wayne Rooney for evidence of this.

Perhaps what Guardiola is talking about is less a ‘team of midfielders’ and more a team of players whose roles are interchangeable, with players who are capable of performing multiple positions. As I said before it not only makes sense on the pitch but also off it financially. With that being the case it seems only a matter of time before more managers and more players try to replicate this idea.

Follow me on Twitter @H_Mackay

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With the English Premier League kicking off for the 2011/2012 season I thought it would be fitting to make a top ten list of players who will be making their debuts in the most and best competitive league in the world. There has been plenty of transfer activity this summer and will still be some more to arrive come deadline day, but there are also 3 new teams to the EPL this season with a handful of players set to play at the top flight for the first time.

That’s why I’ve left the likely lads out of this top ten, of course Sergio Aguero of Manchester City and Gervinho of Arsenal are the focus point for Premier League debut’s and I don’t like to comment on the hype and common talking points. I’ve also omitted the likes of Connor Wickham (Sunderland) and Adel Taarabt (QPR) because, despite their lack of Premier League experience the hype surrounding these youngsters is sometimes over bearing.

The following top ten is players that have not really made the headlines as much as the aforementioned and are set to make their Premier League debut’s this season. Some are new signings, or part of one of the newly promoted teams but this multitalented list is certainly one to take note of (it might give you some bargain ideas for your Fantasy Teams too).

>>>CLICK ON JAY BOTHROYD TO BEGIN THE TOP 10 PREMIER LEAGUE DEBUT BOYS <<<

Robbie Keane’s return to the Premier League was short and sweet. His short-term loan spell with Aston Villa can be considered a success, as the Ireland record goal scorer netted for Villa against Newcastle and twice at Wolves and generally had a positive influence on Alex McLeish’s side. I think all parties involved want Keane to return to the west Midlands sooner rather than later, while the rest of the Premier League supporters will be hoping his WAG Claudine doesn’t stay away too long.

Claudine Keane managed to do some work herself while her hubby was back in the UK, as she launched a special Valentine’s Day lingerie range for Ultimo earlier this month. The former Miss Ireland may be less inclined to return to the UK, as the 28-year-old is looking to forge a career in the USA as a TV presenter after having made it big as a model. So if Claudine gets her way then the pair may stay in LA and Keane will continue to play for the Galaxy, but Robbie, Aston Villa supporters and Premier League fans in general will be hoping Mr and Mrs Keane return to these shores.

Click on Claudine below to launch her WAG Gallery

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QPR manager Mark Hughes has stated that he is confident that his side will avoid being relegated despite their difficult remainder of the season.

The Loftus Road club are currently in 18th place in the Premier League standings, and are embroiled in a five-team scrap to stay in the English top flight.

With a tricky game against Liverpool on Wednesday, Hughes admits his side are up against it.

“It’s not easy — we make no bones about that. It’s a difficult run-in,” he told The Sun.

“Maybe, going into those games, the pressure is off somewhat, bizarrely.

“We’re the underdogs and we’re not expected to win. We can use that as a positive and hopefully gain from that. There are going to be twists and turns.

“We know each game is going to be crucial, irrespective of the opposition we’re going up against.

“It’s really key we perform at our maximum. If we do that then, certainly in our home games, we can take on anybody.

“It’s been frustrating. We haven’t helped ourselves on some occasions and, on other occasions, circumstances have gone against us.

“But we’re still very, very confident that we have enough ability to make sure that we’re still in the Premier League next year.

“It’s going to take hard work — we realise that — and we’re not going to stick our heads in the sand and think otherwise.

“But we’ve got enough quality to score enough goals and defend our goal as well. That gives me confidence that, in the next games that we have, we’ll get points on the board.

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“We just need a fair crack of the whip.

“If we perform as we know we can, at our maximum, and we get that element of luck that you have to have to be successful then we’ll be fine. But it needs to start quickly and it needs to start on Wednesday,” he stated.

By Gareth McKnight

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The PFA have certainly opened up a whole can of worms in vocalising their support of the Rooney Rule this week- a rule that dictates that each Football League club has to mandatorily interview a black candidate for each managerial position. While trying not to get too bogged down in the whole affirmative action issue, the thing that troubles me about this issue is the rather tricky position that it places clubs boards and Chairman in the future.

The statistic of the week – 25% of players in the Football League black, yet just 2% of it’s managers are from a black or from an ethnic minority background (Chris Hughton and Chris Powell). It’s abundantly clear that this is an issue that needs addressing.

The Rooney Rule (named after Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who is white but was the driving force behind getting more black coaches into the NFL at coaching level) certainly offers that. It isn’t a form of a positive discrimination, as some spectators have decried, it merely offers a person from an ethnic or minority background the chance of an interview. It doesn’t stipulate anywhere the need to employ a manager due to the nature of his colour or race. Nor does it impose any obligation on the clubs to do so. It is merely a tool to grant a fairer and broader process to try and go some way to addressing the disparities that our game has when compared with the rest of society. If no candidate from an ethnic minority applies for a position, as I understand it, the club in question are free to choose from whoever applies.

Some fans are troubled by this latest development though. Not because they are racist, but because they feel that it grants an unfair advantage to candidates that are less qualified than others. While understandable to an extent, it is complete folly to suggest that underqualified managers will get the job due to the nature of the colour of their skin. It simply opens more doors to people that may have had problems advancing their careers in the past.

The problematic position it places Chairman in the future though in is the only aspect of the rule that troubles me. To put it in another context, if you work in an office and are forced to interview a candidate rather than choose to interview a candidate, does that then make you more or less likely to hire them in the future? It’s human nature to approach something that you are forced to do with both a hint of suspicion and trepidation; this process would prove no different.

Also, what happens if five years further down the line, after the implementation of this policy, that the figures stay relatively the same? Does this then imply that football clubs are institutionally racist? At what point is the new rule adjudged to have been a success? There are many potential political potholes that may require negotiating further down the road with a policy like this.

In relation to the aforementioned statistic – is there actually any quantifiable evidence to suggest that Chairman aren’t already interviewing black candidates for available jobs? Because if there isn’t, then this rule change could prove quite controversial with some clubs. When Sir Alex Ferguson eventually retires at Man Utd, does that mean Paul Ince is granted an obligatory interview due to his past connection with the club on the account of his race? When does progression give way to tokenism? And at what point does it become both patronising and insulting towards the candidate?

Without trying to labour the point too much, how is the above statistic even relevant to todays game? Surely the 2% in management now is indicative of a time where the Football League didn’t comprise of 25% black players. As time goes on and the next generation of players begin to approach retirement, surely we are bound to see an increase in the number of black players considering entering both coaching and management. It could well turn out that the Rooney Rule may be entirely redundant in five to ten years time due to the process simply occuring more naturally as time goes by. While the overall aim may be admirable, is it one that really requires legislating on?

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The rule change may represent a foot in the door, an equal opportunity and a fairer system from the candidates point of view, but from the perspective of the employers, it does back them into more of a corner. It could have a negative effect on Chairman, or those in charge of hiring and firing in the future. Enforcing a change of proceedure on a group of people (Chairman) that may have been unwilling to embrace the solution in the first place could prove extremely problematic. Chairman very rarely accept the help of outside influences and the PFA may be venturing too far with this one.

Promoting change and instigating a rule are two very different things. The main problem is not the fans questioning the effect this rule may have. Nor is it the enforcement of a rule promoting a fairer system for black coaches, it is the reaction that may take place at board level at clubs all across the land and the repurcussions it could have on the game further down the line.

Increasing pressure and scrutiny on a Chairman’s selection policies with regards to hiring coaches and managers could have an adverse effect on the very problem that this rule is trying to address.

John Barnes didn’t get hired at Celtic because he was black. He didn’t get fired because he was black either. He was fired because it turns out that he’s not very good at this football management lark, great player though he was.

And that is the wider issue that needs addressing here; the opportunities afforded to players of prestige and the fact that their roles often far outweigh their expertise on the coaching front. Surely the issue that needs addressing is the amount of ex-pros that get jobs in management based entirely on their ability on the pitch and the subsequent lack of opportunity afforded to first-time coaches trying to break through intocoaching and management. Are Steve Bruce and Roy Keane (please forgive the Sunderland bias with this one) really better equipped to be successful football managers at Premier League level than John Coleman at Accrington Stanley or Dario Gradi at Crewe? A successful playing career does not always equate to a successful coaching career, but it does supply a helpful leg up in getting started out.

The two black managers currently operating in the Football League have both taken different routes to where they are now. Chris Powell gained his current position through recognition of his efforts as a player at Charlton. He acquired this position a lot sooner than what is normally deemed neccessary experience-wise due to his standing at the club.

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Whereas Chris Hughton worked his way around various clubs coaching staffs, admittedly after a successful playing career, and took the longer route. His success at Newcastle was the culmination of years of hard graft at coaching level, which is what made his baffling dismissal last term all the more difficult to comprehend.

The Rooney Rule could prove a step in the right direction. After all, it simply affords candidates the opportunity of an interview, nothing more. However, with concerns to football management and race, please forgive the pun, but things are rarely as clear as black and white. The myriad of issues with implementing a policy such as this may have yet to fully avail themselves and while the aim may be laudable, in practice, it may be something that simply requires a little more time and patience.

You can follow me on Twitter at – http://twitter.com/#!/JamesMcManus1

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Bolton boss Owen Coyle looks set to fine striker Ivan Klasnic, after the forward was given a straight red card for an altercation with Marc Tierney in The Trotters 2-1 defeat against Norwich.

The Croatia international was given his marching orders in the first half on Saturday, whilst his team were 2-0 down, and Coyle is not happy with his player.

“The skipper [Kevin Davies] and Tuncay both had to be sacrificed because of Ivan’s folly in getting himself sent off. Will I fine him? He certainly knows my feelings on the subject,” the Scot told The Telegraph.

“Sometimes, you can understand it when a young boy gets caught up in the heat of the moment, but he is an experienced player. He is a seasoned international who has played at the very highest level all his career.

“That is when you have to use your experience, because going down to 10 men when you are already 2-0 behind is not exactly ideal,” he stated.

Coyle has revealed that Klasnic is repentant after the sending off, but this may not be enough to avoid the 31-year-old getting a fine.

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“He is full of remorse, but the bottom line is, you’ve got to keep your full personnel on the pitch. It is tough enough in this league as it is,” he concluded.

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Cardiff have made it through to the Carling Cup final, beating Crystal Palace on penalties in dramatic fashion.

The Welsh side went into the semi final second leg one goal down, but an Anthony Gardner own goal levelled things up. Neither side could find the winning goal in normal or extra time, so the game was decided on penalties.

Bluebirds goalkeeper Tom Heaton was the hero, saving both Jermaine Easter and Sean Scannell’s spot kicks, before Jonathan Parr blazed wide to send the hosts through.

Cardiff boss Malky MacKay was ecstatic after the victory, and spoke of his pride at reaching the final.

“I’m delighted for everyone at the football club. It’s a fantastic achievement for everyone and I thought the players were terrific tonight,” he told Sky Sports.

“I think the first goal settled the whole stadium down and it certainly settled the players down.

“I thought we started at a fantastic tempo and with real belief. Getting the goal meant we could sit and probe.

“We knew the way Crystal Palace were going to play, they wanted to hit us on the counter-attack with pace. We had to make sure that we manipulated the ball.

“I think the fact that there were so many chances in and around their goal meant that the team kept believing,” he concluded.

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Cardiff will play either Manchester City or Liverpool in the final, with the second semi final being decided on Wednesday night.

By Gareth McKnight

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