Blackpool beat the transfer deadline by a matter of minutes to seal the signing of former Everton and Sheffield United midfielder David Carney.
The 26-year-old Australia international has joined the Seasiders on a one-year contract from Dutch club FC Twente.
Pool's club secretary told The Gazette:"We got the emails back from FC Twente just before six o'clock last night (Monday), so it was a mad rush to get them printed off and faxed to the FA and the Premier League.
"Fortunately, the confirmation came through and I was delighted to tell the gaffer and the player that the move had been given the green light."
Carney himself added:"It has been a busy 24 hours, but I am delighted it is done now and I am looking forward to getting out there playing.
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After dispatching of Young Boys in the previous round, Tottenham kicked off their Champions League campaign proper last night against Werder Bremen in a thoroughly entertaining spectacle. The game finished 2-2 in the driving rain at Werder’s Weserstadion which on reflection was a fair result for both teams. Here’s 5 things we found out from Tottenham’s Group A opener.
1. Lapses in concentration cost Tottenham dear.
Tottenham came out of the blocks last night all guns blazing and had Werder firmly on the back foot for most of the first half. The German side simply had no answer to Tottenham’s high tempo game and found themselves two goals down after only 18 minutes but lapses in concentration on either side of half-time were to prove costly for Spurs.
First it was Benoit Assou-Ekotto whose attempt at a fancy cross-field pass with the outside of the foot gave Bremen a lifeline in the game. With the first half coming to a close, Assou-Ekotto errant pass gave Bremen the ball and from the resulting throw-in, Hugo Almeida converted Wesley’s pin-point cross.
Then, within minutes of the second half restart, Werder were level. Just as Tottenham did to Werder, the German side punished Tottenham for their slow start. The defence gave Marko Marin far too much room and he fired in the equaliser past Cudicini.
On the whole, Tottenham acquitted themselves admirably on their first Champions League group game but found out to their cost that concentration for the full 90 minutes is crucial at this level of football.
2. Despite all the injuries, Tottenham do have strength in depth
With injuries piling up on Harry Redknapp, there were concerns about whether the squad players would be able to step in a do a job for Tottenham. Last night, they proved that they certainly can. Jermaine Jenas started in favour of Wilson Palacios and looked highly assured alongside Tom Huddlestone in Tottenham’s midfield.
Jenas has polarised opinion amongst Tottenham fans but his performance last night was almost faultless. He looked assured in possession, passed the ball well and was a revelation in only his second appearance of the season.
Similarly, Younes Kaboul produced an excellent performance alongside Ledley King in the heart of Tottenham’s defence. He was a commanding presence all night and impressed with his aggressiveness, tenacity and ability to bring the ball out of the back and influence attacks. Kaboul’s display will go some way to alleviating the concerns at the back following Michael Dawson’s long-term injury.
Continued on Page TWO
3. 4-5-1 is the way to go for Harry in Europe.
Redknapp abandoned his preferred domestic 4-4-2 formation in favour of a 4-5-1 formation last night and it proved to be the correct one. He employed Rafael van der Vaart in the support striker position behind Peter Crouch, operating a free role in the hole behind midfield and attack. Van der Vaart was hugely influential in his role behind Crouch and it was his cross that set up Peter Crouch to head in Tottenham’s second goal.
4. Aaron Lennon looks off the pace
Gareth Bale was a constant threat down Tottenham’s left, giving right-back Clemens Fritz a torrid time all night. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Aaron Lennon who was ineffectual against Mikael Silvestre.
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Lennon hasn’t been his usual blistering self since he was rushed back from injury by Fabio Capello to join England’s disastrous World Cup squad. Lennon has been somewhat untouchable in the right-wing spot and maybe Redknapp should contemplate rotating Giovanni dos Santos with Lennon to remind him that his place in the team is not guaranteed and to guard against complacency.
5. The group is wide-open
Tottenham and Werder Bremen produced a pulsating game last night but their fellow Group A opponents showed that this group, maybe of all groups in the Champions League could be the most wide-open in the whole tournament. FC Twente and Inter Milan fought out a 2-2 draw in Enschede, leaving all 4 teams with 1 point after the first game. With Inter Milan looking less of a force under Rafa Benitez than they did under Jose Mourinho, it looks all to play for when FC Twente roll into White Hart Lane in two weeks time for the next Champions League fixture.
Whilst watching Manchester United at home this season, I noticed a couple of things: 1) The amount of Green and Gold is starting to deteriorate, and 2) the majority of those still sporting the ‘anti Glazer’ merchandise don’t seem to understand quite what it represents.
Towards the end of last season, especially in the bigger games, Old Trafford looked more like Carrow Road than the Theatre of Dreams. The colourful attire was accompanied by some lyrically brutal songs aimed at the clubs owners, and protests were happening all along Sir Matt Busby Way. The aim, of course, was to persuade fans to join the Red Knight’s plight: Boycott the start of games, stop buying merchandise and consequently force Malcolm Glazer out of pocket and out of Manchester.
For the time being, though, quite the opposite seems to be happening. Old Trafford, despite managing to sell out yet this season, still sees fans flock to the stadium from all over the country, with the majority proudly wearing the clubs merchandise. I am not for one minute condemning such fans. Although the ones who accompany their brand new United shirt, hat and badge with a green and gold scarf, seem to have become lost in translation.
The green and gold colours are meant to represent the club before it became Manchester United, and thus before they were owned by certain American businessmen. It was to mark a signal of intent: take the club back to its roots before it becomes no longer financially viable for the club to operate. In reality what has started to happen is the colours seem to have been adopted as a fashionable new addition to the winter wardrobe, for a section of the Old Trafford faithful at least.
Hearing the financial jargon often associated with such articles is enough to send anyone to sleep. But the simple message the anti Glazer brigade are trying to send out to fans is that any merchandise bought with the United logo on will inevitably end up in Mr. Glazer’s rather expensive Armani suit pocket. What was it the Stretford End used to sing? ‘We won’t buy Nike or Vodaphone’ back when they were sponsors, of course.
Despite the club being in millions of pounds of debt and struggling to pay back any incurred interest, United’s owners are personally doing pretty well out of the deal. Why wouldn’t they be? Not one part of the loan is secured against any of the Glazer family personally, and if fans are still going to pay the ever increasing ticket prices and buy the new shirt, (which rumour has it will now be changing every season) their own financial future seems pretty stable. Who cares if there is a bit of green and gold around?
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The next time United entertain at home I’m sure we will all hear the anti-Glazer chants chorusing around Old Trafford as passionately as ever. Emotions run high whenever Malcolm and co. are mentioned, but as long as fans are still happy to plough money into the club, the ‘green and gold until United are sold’ fight seems like it’s losing its edge.
When Didier Drogba arrived in the Premier League it was with a hefty reputation and an even weightier price-tag. The rampaging savagery he displayed against English teams in Marseille’s European exploits the previous season had put clubs on red alert, and the fact that the new billionaires managed to snare him was of little surprise. Despite helping Chelsea to their first league title in fifty years, the hulking Ivorian struggled to convince even his own fans at the beginning. That is no longer the case.
Despite being a beast of man, there was far too much theatrics. There seemed to be plenty of charging about, until contact with defenders was made, in which resulted in flung arms, and screams of agony: perhaps deemed acceptable in Ligue 1, the Premiership wasn’t buying it.
16 goals (in all competitions) in each of his first two seasons was by no means a disaster, particularly as Chelsea had won the league in both seasons, but it still didn’t quite justify the £24m that Abramovich had shelled out.
While Drogba managed to win over any Chelsea fans that had their doubts, there was still much scepticism from the average fan. Part of it was probably wrapped up in the anti-Chelsea sentiment that still exists today, but not nearly as much as it did during Jose Mourinho’s title winning years.
Since then Drogba has become more and more reliable, more important to Chelsea’s cause, and more destructive in his performances. The potentially loose first touch has become as soft as silence, the sometime wayward finishing has become clinical, and the theatrics have become (thankfully) a much rarer sight to see. What’s more, there is a far broader passing range, the amount of assists he gets is severely underrated (tenth on the PL history list), and he has shoved Frank Lampard away from free-kick duty because he is actually far more capable of finding the top corner.
Fans have really begun to appreciate how good a player Didier Drogba actually is. Certainly if we’re talking about strikers that can hold the ball up, there is no one better in the world. Right now, maybe only David Villa is the only striker who can realistically lay claim to being on the same level as Drogba. Regardless of the style of play, Drogba is capable of adapting, and if in the mood, it is simply up to him how many goals he scores – just ask any Arsenal defender of the last five years.
I think fans get a genuine sense of awe in watching a player single-handedly beat teams. Cristiano Ronaldo did it, and Thierry Henry before him, now it is Drogba’s turn. There is much to admire in the way he beats teams, as the fulcrum of what has become a potent Chelsea front line. There is also however, as much to appreciate in terms of how he has adapted to the Premier League, and listened to the gripes of his critics. The charity work he does in his native Ivory Coast; building hospitals and donating entire endorsement fees (Pepsi) put him in a sort of demi-god status. And there is the work he does for his first professional club; Le Mans.
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Drogba has become one of those players that you watch, hoping he will turn it on and run a team ragged, unless he is up against your own team, which is when he becomes one of those few players that you actually fear. In his time at Chelsea, as he as increased his own level of performance to unrivalled standards, he has transformed himself from moody, aloof and whining, to destructive, exciting and admirable. The Premier League, and its fans, are now far more pleased that he is theirs to enjoy all year round.
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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Owen Hargreaves is unlikely to play again until mid-December.
The England international midfielder lasted less than ten minutes of Saturday's 2-1 victory against Wolves, his first start for more than two years, before limping out of the action with a hamstring problem.
Veteran United boss Ferguson told Key 103:"We were at the stage where we knew Owen's knee was okay.
"His training performances for eight or nine days previously had been terrific. He'd done really well, which is why we took the chance.
"But maybe the tension in the build-up for the lad was too much and he suffered because of it."
Ferguson has also revealed that Ryan Giggs will miss Wednesday's Manchester derby as he is also struggling to overcome a troublesome hamstring injury.
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The United manager added:"Ryan is out and Nani is doubtful. At this stage it doesn't look as if Nani will make it. It isn't a great position for us to be in. We're counting heads at the moment.
"But there's nothing more satisfying than winning a derby game. It doesn't matter what year it is or when it is."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Manchester City anchorman Vincent Kompany believes the club will be in the fight for the Premier League title this season if they can perform like they did at Fulham last week on a regular basis.
The Citizens battered Mark Hughes' outfit 4-1 at Craven Cottage to move within three points of Chelsea at the summit and the powerful defender is confident they can sustain their charge.
But with a tough trip to Stoke City ahead of them this weekend, he has called for a sense of realism.
"We have Stoke next and I wouldn't say they were any less difficult than Fulham because both are difficult teams to play against, particularly on their own ground," he said.
"It will be a tough, physical challenge but we will go into the game in great confidence and really go for the win.
"We'll be prepared because Stoke gave us a number of tough encounters last season and they were up the challenge each time.
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"They are also on a good run of form at present so it will be a real test, but if we play to our maximum in defence, midfield and attack we are a match for any team.
"In fact, if we show the kind of mentality we did at Craven Cottage on a weekly basis, we will have a very good season."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
I imagine that Arsene Wenger has different priorities than most other people this Christmas. He won’t be hoping that he finds a PlayStation, or an iPod, or some other gizmo at the bottom of his stocking. He eats, sleeps and breathes football. What Wenger wants for Christmas, no doubt, is for his side to fight their way to their first piece of silverware in five years.
This Arsenal side has its problems. Recent defeats have exposed a fragility that must be dealt with if this Arsenal side are to be title-challengers this season. Certain areas of the squad are stronger than others, whilst other areas need slightly increased competition. I understand that Wenger is not one to go out and splash the cash and that the January transfer window is likely to be pretty quiet for the Gunners. Nonetheless we can dream. Here are three players that I believe would bolster and boost this Arsenal side.
The first port of call must be the defensive midfield position. Alex Song is a good player, but he’s been disappointing on a number of occasions this season (not least his poor showing against Manchester United on Monday evening). A defensive midfielder should not be a box-to-box player. He has to be the anchor in front of the back four and Song simply doesn’t provide Arsenal with this basic protection. With this in mind, I’d love to see Arsenal swing for West Ham’s Scott Parker. He’s feisty, his competitive and he’s English. Not only is a he as hard worker and a tough-tackler, but he’s organised and could excel in the centre of the park for Arsenal. He could provide Arsenal with the backbone they appear to have been missing this season.
The next port of call is to assess the situation with the strikers at the club. Maroaune Chamakh has started well and I’m sure will continue to excel. Robin Van Persie is a slightly more worrying case. Talent to burn, but constantly either injured or lacking fitness – is it time the Gunners gave up on the Dutchman? Nicklas Bendtner doesn’t appear to have the quality necessary to make it at the club. With this in mind, Arsenal need a strike partner for Chamakh who can perform week in and week out. Given that it’s Christmas and it’s the season of wish fulfilment, I’d like to see Arsenal go after Karim Benzema who isn’t getting a look in at Real Madrid. Yes, he’d be pricey, but Arsene might be able to appeal to the Gunner’s French connection by means of enticement. He’s a proven goal-scorer and might fancy himself in the Premier League.
Finally, a look needs to be had at the goalkeepers within the club. Almunia isn’t up to scratch and Fabianski is dodgy. I wouldn’t be too sad to see the back of either of them at the Emirates. Wojciech Szczesney looks like a genuine prospect, but at just 20 years of age, he might not be fully ready for the rough and tumble of the Premier League just yet. With that in mind, I’d like to see the Gunners get back on the trail of out-of-favour Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given. We all know that Given is a quality goalkeeper who has already proven himself in the Premier League. City don’t need him and Arsenal desperately need an experienced keeper. It should be a no-brainer.
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Those would be my picks. Who would you like to see join Arsenal this January? Feel free to leave a comment or follow me on Twitter: @ThePerfectPass
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Manchester City head to The Emirates Stadium tonight to face Arsenal and to try and erase memories of their loss to the Gunners at Eastlands earlier in the 2010/11 Premier League season. That day City’s hopes were ruined by a red card early in the match, but which players will Roberto Mancini and indeed Arsene Wenger be looking towards to make the big difference this time around?
If Arsenal are to beat Manchester City and in turn move ahead of them in the Premier League table then much of their hope will rest on Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri once more. They are Arsenal’s most consistent Picklive performers this season and if you were to select either of the two for tonight’s live fantasy football event you couldn’t go far wrong.
However, if you’re looking for more of a left field selection, then maybe you should turn to Alex Song. Song broke the 100 points barrier in Arsenal’s last Premier League fixture that was featured on Picklive against Chelsea, and is sure to complete a whole bunch of passes tonight. Other than Fabregas, Nasri and Song, maybe Gael Clichy would be a good pick as the Frenchman will be looking to stamp his mark on the left back slot before Kieran Gibbs returns from injury.
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Manchester City will need to take control of the midfield if they are to get a stranglehold of the game tonight, and that will largely depend on the work of Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure and Nigel de Jong. While de Jong may not be the wisest selection due to his tendency to throw in a bad tackle or two during the 90 minutes, either Barry or Toure, or both, would be good additions to your Picklive trio.
With City looking solid at the back and earning clean sheets in their last two matches against Blackpool and Aston Villa, Joe Hart could be a wise choice. It would certainly be a bold selection given Arsenal’s attacking talents, but Hart would rack up the points if the England ‘keeper could make it three clean sheets in three.
So for the Arsenal v Manchester City LIVE fantasy football match I’d select Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Joe Hart in my Picklive Trio, but who would you select?
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Darren Bent might only have scored one goal in an England shirt but, following his surprise move to Aston Villa, top-flight managers have now spent a total of £53m to acquire the striker’s services throughout his career. The reason? As has been widely quoted this week, only Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney have scored more Premier League goals than Bent since the summer of 2005. What’s more, the 26-year-old’s tally is only one fewer than that of the Chelsea and Manchester United strikers.
Why, then, has the size of Bent’s transfer fee been so widely derided? After 32 strikes in 58 league appearances on Wearside, it is not difficult to see why Gérard Houllier has identified the former Ipswich, Charlton and Tottenham player as the man to address his side’s goals-for column as they languish in seventeenth place in the table. Does £24m for Darren Bent represent any more of an abandonment of common sense on Aston Villa’s part than the £27.5m that Manchester City paid Wolfsburg last week for Edin Džeko? After all, the Bosnian’s goalscoring ratio of 66 in 111 games in the Bundesliga works out at but 0.04 goals better than Bent’s average at Sunderland.
Perhaps the indifference that a lot of fans in England feel when presented with the statistical merits of Darren Bent as a forward is rooted in his failure to stick around at one club long enough to truly become a part of any set of supporters’ affections. Since breaking through as a teenager at Ipswich, Bent has followed up that spell with relatively brief stints at three clubs. Two years in south-east London were followed by two years in the north of the capital, and just eighteen months in the north-east.
Another factor could be that, for all Bent’s personal success plundering goals, this has not always coincided with his various clubs enjoying a happy period. Sunderland are the first club he has left in a better position to the one in which he joined them. The striker was only 18 when Ipswich were relegated in 2002 at the end of his first season as a professional but Charlton went down five years later despite Bent hitting the net 13 times. His £16.5m move to Spurs went through that summer but, following the exit of Martin Jol as manager, there followed Juande Ramos’ year in charge at White Hart Lane that admittedly brought League Cup success but also left the club bottom of the table with two points from eight games at the beginning of the 2008/2009 season.
Leaving a team lying sixth for one just above the relegation zone with such eagerness – even handing in a transfer request to push the deal through – inevitably raises the issue of any financial incentives that Bent might have been offered to swap red-and-white for claret-and-blue. Nonetheless, had this transfer been proposed during the close season, after Villa had finished the previous campaign seven places and 20 points better off than Sunderland, then the move would have made a lot more sense – particularly with the £26m that Manchester City stumped up for James Milner leaving Villa newly flush.
Taking all these ideas together, then, perhaps being a player still in his mid-twenties who is already on to his fifth employer, who experienced relegation with two of them and left another after two tumultuous seasons for the club, and who has now opted to leave a team seemingly on the up for one fighting for its Premier League survival, all counts against Bent’s image. That is not to say that he is an unpopular player with fans – he might be a Villain now, but Bent is a long way from being disliked in the way that, say, El Hadji Diouf is – but he just doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as well-loved or well-respected as a player with his obvious scoring ability should be.
With Stewart Downing and Ashley Young to supply him, Bent should be provided with the opportunity to add to his goal tally and help lift Aston Villa away from trouble at the foot of the table. However, if he is to make a name for himself as something more enduring than a reliable Premier League scorer, he should try to stay in Birmingham long enough to work his way into the fans’ long-term memory. Should Villa climb the table this campaign and push for a return to the top six next term – thanks to Bent’s goals – then it could also see him become a fixture in the England team in time for Euro 2012. For their part, Sunderland fans will probably remember that they still have Asamoah Gyan, Jordan Henderson and (once fit again) Danny Welbeck, and find it easier to forget about the player they’ve just sold for a very tidy profit.
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Birmingham City have signed Nigeria international Obafemi Martins from Russian side Rubin Kazan on a six-month loan deal.
Martins passed a medical at St Andrew’s on Monday and could line up for the Blues as early as Wednesday’s clash with Manchester City.
The 26-year-old, who scored 39 times in 105 appearances with Newcastle United before departing for Wolfsburg in 2009, has agreed to a six-month move with a view to signing a permanent deal in July.
He becomes the Blues’ third signing of the January window after Tottenham winger David Bentley joined on loan and defender Curtis Davies arrived from Aston Villa in a 3.5 million-pound deal.
Birmingham City Acting Chairman Peter Pannu said the West Midlands club was delighted to have achieved their aim of bolstering the squad for the latter half of the season.
“We are thrilled to have secured the three players in this window,” Pannu told the club’s official website.
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“It represents a comprehensive strengthening and support for our back four in Curtis, rejuvenation of the midfield in Bentley and further strengthening of the attack line in Martins.”
“I am certain these new additions will augment and supplement what we already have and create some competition within the team for places which benefits the whole squad.”