Manchester City’s Gareth Barry is finding life harder as reigning Champions compared to when his team were seeking their first Premier League title.
City struggled against an in-form West Brom team at the weekend, staging a late comeback with two goals from substitute Edin Dzeko to stop Chelsea extend their four point lead at the top of the table. In the Champions League this season, Roberto Mancini’s team are yet to win with only one point from two games.
Barry believes the reason the Citizens are finding it harder this season is because Premier League and European teams are being provided with a greater incentive to defeat Man City now that they are the Champions of English football.
“It is a strange feeling having won the title last year and coming back. For a lot of the players it was the first title they had won, including myself” said the England international.
“It’s important – you need that desire, that work attitude to produce what you have done again but you are playing against teams week in, week out who are desperate to beat the champions.
“They are trying a bit harder than they were last season, they’re playing the best team in the country. They are desperate to put one over you and that is what we are facing at the minute.”
The 31-year-old recently told Manchester Evening News that he is enjoying his role as City’s unsung hero in midfield without attracting too much attention.
“I am that sort of player. I don’t go on to the pitch thinking about walking back into the media area and looking for headlines.
“All I care about [is] playing my game, and as long as I’m playing and the team is winning, it’s perfect.
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“It’s fantastic to receive the ball and see the attacking options we have, the options to give the ball into feet, or put it in behind, and know they will create chances” added Barry.
Manchester City are in action against Ajax tomorrow night Champions League fixture which will be crucial to their progress in the tournament.
Andre Villas-Boas is adamant Tottenham are still on track to make it through to the knockout stage of the Europa League despite drawing with Maribor, according to Sporting Life.
The Slovenian side had won only twice their previous 15 European games at home but did enough to put a major dent in Spurs’ hopes of qualification from Group J.
Despite lying third in the table Villas-Boas is adamant the North London club are in a good position after Gylfi Sigurdsson’s equaliser earned them a point.
“Certainly on the running of the first half. The second half was extremely good, the first half was not so good,” he said.
“We came back into the game, which is pleasant to see again and it is good for us to bounce back.
“It is obviously not the full result we wanted bearing in mind the draw between Lazio and Panathinaikos, but certainly we will take a point.
“The group is completely open. What we face now is two games at home and I think we are in a good position in the group.
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“We are in third position. We have three games to play, there are nine points to play for.
“You see the group – it is very tight. It is not a group where the leader has run off with points.”
Manchester City have taken steps to bolster their depleted squad by recalling 19 year old midfielder Abdul Razak from his loan spell at London club Charlton.
As injuries are mounting fast for the Champions – including those to Javi Garcia and Rodwell, Mancini faced little choice but to sanction the return of the Ivorian midfielder well before his loan was set to expire in January.
With Razak only featuring twice for Charlton since his move in September it remains to be seen how bigger part he will play in a squad dubbed “tired” by their manager after their win over, given that the player can at best be described as a bit part player during his previous three seasons at the Manchester club.
Despite this, the youngster is now set for a chance at the Champions and will be looking to live up to the tag of “a first teamer of the future.” Mancini’s men are currently looking at an uphill battle to get out of their Champions League group of death and with the games coming thick and fast every member of the squad is required.
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Numerous reports are however claiming that Charlton will be returning with a second loan proposition for the player in January should City be prepared to let him leave a second time in order to gain first team experience, with Razak previously claiming he is “ready for the tough league” after three previous spells in the Championship.
As fans of Hartlepool United will agree – new manager John Hughes faces a helluva task to save their season.
After another hammering (5-0 home defeat to Coventry) – the side’s fourth time this season they’ve (without fight) shipped five goals or more – the probability scale of remaining in League One has ticked from “improbable” to “impossible”. Failure to beat Oldham on Tuesday then the club may as well start planning how they are going to mount an attempt at promotion in League Two next season.
Pools are simply not good enough. And that is not a exaggeration fuelled by overriding emotions; it’s the stark truth in light of a dire campaign.
Crafting space is an art. It is a talent. It often elicits an ovation. Teams who face Hartlepool don’t have to unleash their tapestry art; Pools invite the space for them to exploit. It is far too easy for teams to dismantle the Victoria Park outfit.
They say that form is temporary and that class is permanent. Is 20 successive under-par performances down to form? No, it’s not. That’s down to class and ability; or rather a lack of it.
This is a Pools side who are confidence-sapped. They do not have belief in their capabilities. But that does not excuse their regular head droppings when they concede. Determination, character and fight does not require confidence. It requires heart, pride and a hunger to prevent defeat. None of that is in abundance.
But that is not to mask their failings. Scratch beneath the dearth of mental attributes and you will quickly realise that this side is not League One standard. Neil Austin is past it. Sam Collins can too easily be exposed. The shocking decline in performance from Peter Hartley must now ask questions about his ability. Maybe last year’s player of the season displays from Hartley were flukes.
Paul Murray can halt patient attacks but has no answer in repressing counter-attacks. Simon Walton’s love affair with pretty football is bordering on foolish. He hides when the going is tough. Ryan Noble, Jono Franks, Andy Monkhouse, Ritchie Humpheys, Antony Sweeney – they are not League One standard.
John ‘Yogi’ Hughes arrived last week from Livingston as Neale Cooper’s successor and faces an almighty challenge to arrest the sinking slide. One suspects he can’t wait until the summer when he can rid the team of its dire footballers.
You can find me on Twitter @cmbell310 for Pool chat.
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Fans always think they know best. I remember being a young Charlton fan surrounded by overweight forty-year-olds, during the very long ago Premier League days, shouting, cursing and blaming the great Alan Curbishley as the only reason the small club from south London weren’t playing Champions League football. At the time it seemed ridiculous, and now it seems completely absurd.
Charlton fans always liked a good moan, but every club has a group of fans that constantly want more. The problem is that the average beer-bellied football fan has little concern for the other side of the game – the off-pitch finances, boardroom constraints and long-term implications of running a football club.
Fans aren’t as powerful as they used to be and with the influx of billionaire owners in the form of Russian oligarchs, cash-rich Sheikhs and members of the Asian upper class, the wishes of fans are often overlooked to make ruthless business decisions. But fan power should not be so readily dismissed. Fans can make or break a manager overnight, and even with the backing of the board, still have the ability to leave any member of their club to continue their career on borrowed time.
Everyone’s favourite fall-guy Steve Kean is a perfect example of that. Kean quickly became the butt of every football joke going during Blackburn’s relegation campaign last season, but what didn’t help the Scotsman is a sheer lack of support from fans. The Blackburn faithful took poorly to Kean, probably due to the fact most of what comes out of his mouth in post-match interviews is verbal diarrhoea and often a very warped view of what has just happened on the pitch, not to mention the fact Kean seemed to have very little grasp of tactics. Looking back on it, maybe they had a point. Kean’s management credentials included being in charge of Coventry reserves and…well, that’s it.
Also he announced the “very real” prospect of signing Ronaldinho, and said about David Goodwillie: “David’s always been put on a par with a young Rooney and he can certainly score all types of goals… It’s not just nice tap-ins, he can create a goal for himself, score from outside the box, chip them in, pass them in, smash them in.” I could sum up David Goodwillie in much fewer words.
The humorous gift of Kean’s career that keeps on giving aside, Blackburn fans made Kean’s position untenable, despite starting well in the Championship this season. Flags and banners saying “get Uncle Fester out” are hardly good for a team’s morale, and pressure from fans finally took its toll on a man who appeared indestructible to constant wisecracks and criticism during his time in the Premier League. When you look at Blackburn’s squad however, did Kean, or any manager for that matter, have a chance of staying up? Apart from some fanTastic performances from Yakubu, Rovers were seriously lacking in all departments, and at least Kean was a cheaply-paid loyal lapdog.
The sacking of Roberto Di Matteo is another example. Cheeky Italian legend out, former Liverpool manager and Chelsea hate-figure in, it is understandable why the fans are annoyed. But, where would Chelsea be without Roman Abramovich? Possibly bankrupt, possibly relegated, probably rubbish and they would never have got rid of Jesper Gronkjaer. Rafa Benitez was greeted in his first home match against Manchester City with a frosty reception to say the least, but the former Liverpool boss did manage to get a point from the league champions, it is unknown whether Di Matteo would have been able to do the same. The Italian may have been a fan favourite, but from a financial point of view, the knock-out stages of the Champions League are a must for a club like Chelsea.
Unless Benitez manages to win the Champions League, the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Strictly Come Dancing this year it is unlikely he will keep his job past the end of the season not only because Abramovich throws away his new toys almost as quickly as he signs them, but also because the Spanish scouser has minimal support from the fans.
The problem is that there are two sides to the footballing world. Even the most hardcore of fans would find it difficult to cry with joy because their club finished 14th in the Premier League and managed to avoid a relegation battle all season, but for certain clubs, can they truly expect any better? For many teams, the prospect of breaking-even probably calls for a round of champagne in the boardroom as they wipe the fear of administration off their sweaty brows.
Fans want more and they always will. Mancini and City fans continually moan that the team needs another striker, as they beg their Sheikh owners for the £48million to meet Falcao’s release clause. But they already have four top level strikers, and the club’s owners have spent over £900million since taking over. Much of the money has been wasted; Wayne Bridge, Roque Santa Cruiz for example. They should have donated it all to a Donkey Sanctuary instead of filling up the reserves.
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Football fans will never see the whole picture; they only get an hour and a half performance to judge their team on. Always wanting more is a problem. It pushes the board into rash investment, leads to the sacking of managers and the demise of footballers. But the football world is changing, and keeping a club alive financially is becoming ever-the-more important; unfortunately, watching your club is more exciting than reading through their accounts.
In my opinion, fan power is on the demise, and perhaps for the better. It’s all well and good getting into Europe, or signing a £20million striker as the fans demand progress, but in fact, most fans should be happy to have their club in the Premier League without fearing bankruptcy.
Too much expectation only adds to extra pressure. Alan Pardew said Newcastle were set for a top five finish at the start of the season, but I think he’d probably be happy with a finish above the bottom five – not that the fans would be content with that mind you.
The FA have fined Liverpool midfielder Suso £10,000 for calling team-mate Jose Enrique “gay” on social networking site Twitter, The Guardian reports.
The young midfielder has apologised after being fined and warned of his future conduct by the football authorities following the incident which took place last month.
The comment was made when Suso posted up a picture of defender Enrique having his teeth whitened, writing ” What f— is he doing? This guy is gay … he does everything except play football.”
He then deleted the tweet and uploaded the photo again with a different comment, instead saying “I dunno what to say …”
The FA however still took action on Tuesday after deeming the comments as homophobic, and issued Suso with a fine and a warning of his future conduct.
This lead to an apology from the young Spaniard on his Twitter page which read:
“I’m very sorry if anyone has been offended by my comments about the photo of my team-mate Jose Enrique.
“It was only a joke between the two of us. I realise that my words were unfortunate and it was not my intention to offend anyone. I apologise again if anyone was offended.”
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Enrique was also quick to defend his compatriot and took to the social networking site to say, “Is amazing how FA can fine my friend Suso Fernandez for a banter thing. Was just a joke!”
On the plus side for 19-year-old Suso, he has enjoyed more first team opportunities under manager Brendan Rodgers, making 13 appearances so far this season.
The Capital One Cup has been a fantastic competition so far this season, with some of the highest scoring games in years featuring all within the first few months of the competition. But it’s not just the quantity of goals that has been astounding; it’s also the high quality of said goals that has had many crowing about how great the League Cup is as an English competition.
Here, I’ve put together my top 10 goals in the Capital One Cup so far this season. With the amount of high-scoring games we’ve had so far this season, I wouldn’t be surprised if this list is completely different come the end of the competition in February. However, for now, these are my favourite strikes of the competition.
Click on Liverpool’s Nuri Sahin to see the best goals of the Capital One Cup so far
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UEFA’s Financial Fair Play has good intentions and the European governing body intends to stand by their latest move. It said as much when the hammer came down on Malaga and a number of other clubs scattered around Europe for their outstanding debt. However, you have to ask whether UEFA would have taken the same action against teams with much higher standing in European football. At this stage, it looks as though UEFA were taking a stance over clubs who were big enough to get noticed but not big enough that they’d face a fiery backlash.
But can FFP really work with it’s current principles? Doesn’t it need a few added elements to make it seem like a legitimate move towards fair play?
At some point or another, the football world has to start taking pages out of the American sports book. Unfortunately, as fantastic as the draft system is in American—albeit with it’s own flaws—it simply wouldn’t work in the structure of European football. But what about salary caps? Doesn’t that play into UEFA’s stance of living within your means? And what about player trading rather than purchasing?
It’s probably a wacky idea that may seem as though it has no place in modern football. After all, how would dynasties form if clubs couldn’t buy their way to the top? But UEFA don’t want that, and yet it appears that Michel Platini’s group want the rich and powerful to stay rich and powerful, while the unattractive stay well away.
But how could player trades work? Well again, the American leagues seem to have it figured out. Would it put a halt to big clubs growing and staying at the top of the mountain? Well no not really. Smart clubs stay at the top. Well-run clubs stay at the top. Clubs who don’t make bad calls in transfer negotiations stay at the top.
I was laughed out of town (well it was more of a restaurant) for suggesting back in August that the Washington Redskins would do something impressive this season in the NFL. Prior to this season, I have never known the Redskins to be a successful or winning team. Their last NFL championship came back in the 1991 and it’s been a long time since they had a truly great quarterback. That did change this past summer when they traded three first-round picks to St. Louis for the right to pick second in the most recent draft, selecting Robert Griffin III. The Redskins have since beaten the New Orleans Saints, the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants, and are currently in the postseason. I’d go as far as to say Robert Griffin III is one of the most spectacular athletes I’ve seen in all of sports.
[cat_link cat=”wayne-rooney” type=”grid”]
There was no money involved in the trade; the Redskins didn’t stroll into the Rams’ HQ and slam a blank cheque down on the table. And as of this proposal to coincide with UEFA’s apparent desire, clubs like Manchester City or Chelsea wouldn’t be able to do that either.
But that’s just within the Premier League. As I said, it’s very difficult to follow the Americans’ rule book to the letter because of the difference in structure. It’s simply a proposal that states Premier League clubs, or La Liga, or Serie A clubs get something substantial back for their assets. Purchases can be made from foreign leagues, but player trading within one league would help in the matter of finances as well as helping to form a far more competitive league.
What if Manchester City have no one they wish to send over to Fulham in order to land their best player? Well the deal doesn’t go through. It’s an idea that would also help to lessen player power in the modern game and restrict bigger clubs bullying the selling club into submission.
Rick Nash moved from Columbus to the New York Rangers last summer because the Rangers had a package deal that suited Nash’s old team. Well that would be a stretch too far. The Rangers actually had a deal that was slightly better than what everyone else offered but was still well short of what Columbus initially wanted. The player wanted the move and he got it, showing that player power can never truly be eradicated from sports.
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Columbus picked up two players who would help them out, as well as a prospect and a first round pick in the next draft. There’s no guarantee they’d move forward significantly, as other factors such as their market and management could have a different say. Similarly, following the Texas Rangers’ trade of Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves in 2007, the return package from Atlanta helped the Rangers to form a team which went to back-to-back World Series. They lost both, but that’s not the point.
At some point, more and more people in football are going to catch onto the idea that the numbers switching hands in transfers is taking it’s toll on the game. It’s not to say there won’t be big figures exchanged between two clubs from different leagues, but trading players within the same league is an idea that could be a benefit to every club and would also strengthen Financial Fair Play.
After Reading boss Brian McDermott revealed that the club had an offer in the region of £10m turned down for Tottenham midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson towards the end of the January transfer window, you have to question the logic in keeping around such an obvious square peg in a round hole, so will the north London outfit come to regret turning down such an attractive offer in the future?
It’s worth noting that Sigurdsson was very much a Daniel Levy signing, put in place even before the Portuguese manager had walked through the door. Andre Villa-Boas was certainly asked his opinion on his first signing in charge, and after such a successful six-month spell at Swansea the campaign before, for a fee of about £8m, with Rafael van der Vaart being ushered towards the exit door, it made sense to bring in a suitable replacement.
Nevertheless, after starting just six league games so far this season and eight across all competitions, it’s become clear that life at White Hart Lane has proven more of a struggle than even his biggest critics would have previously assumed. There’s a sense that unless the 23-year-old is scoring, that he doesn’t really contribute a whole lot less, but he’s still reasonably young and learning his trade, so is there a future still for him at the club?
Villas-Boas would seem to think so, telling reporters why he blocked the deal towards the end of the window: “Obviously he’s a player that means a lot to Reading. But he’s a player that we rate very highly. We brought him here after his amazing contribution [on loan] for Swansea last year and he’s a player that we have high expectations for. Probably this season at the moment he is not going to the level that he wants, but he’s a player that we believe a lot in, and in his future here. We couldn’t allow him to leave.”
The arrival of Clint Dempsey as a utility forward towards the end of the summer and the January acquisition of Lewis Holtby, brought forward a full six months ahead of schedule would seem to complicate matters even further, with Villas-Boas clearly earmarking the latter for that role behind the lone striker, whoever that may be next season. The fact that a deal had already been put in place for Holtby to arrive in the summer when his contract runs out from Schalke, but that a £1.5m switch was secured last month is a sad indictment of the faith they place in Sigurdsson at the moment, who looks bereft of confidence whenever he has featured these past few months, even being tried out in an unfamiliar wide left position.
McDermott revealed that Reading made three offers which were all turned down by Tottenham, so that shows a degree of persistence on their part just as much as it does a stubborn refusal to give up on a player so soon after buying him in the first place.
The club’s fans haven’t quite taken to him either and there’s a sense that he’s something of a forgotten man around the place; not quite quick enough, not quite tricky or technical enough, nor dependable enough to have any sort of lasting impact on the starting eleven and he’s been forced to make 19 of his 27 appearances this term off the bench.
He was bought with a specific role in mind but has faced increased competition in the position he is most effective in and Villas-Boas has even preferred picking Emmanuel Adebayor just behind Jermain Defoe at times in a more traditional 4-4-2 formation, with Dempsey pushed out wide to cover Gareth Bale’s absence, rather than trust Sigurdsson to fill the gap temporarily.
The final offer made by Reading would have seen Tottenham make a £2m profit in terms of the fees involved and you have to wonder whether they’ll ever get as an attractive offer as that further down the line, particularly while his stock continues to fall. Cutting your losses can often be quite embarrassing for every party involved, but with Villas-Boas set to add to his squad once more in the summer, perhaps with another move for Joao Moutinho, you have to ask yourself, how much longer do you wait before coming to the same inevitable conclusion? That’s he’s just not up to the standard required for a side with Champions League ambitions.
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The logic behind his decision to reject Liverpool’s advances and continue to work under a manager in Brendan Rodgers at Anfield that he had a good relationship with at the time looked a strange one, but with every passing fixture, as his rivals continue to stake their claims, it looks even worse. Sigurdsson can only watch from the bench now, frustrated at his lack of prominence and inability to change the tone of the narrative, with the route back looking ever more distant and difficult to travel.
There are two ways to digest Roberto Mancini’s assertions that Manchester City are out the Premier League title race as April approaches. They are either the words of a pragmatist or those of a defeatist. Looking at what they’ll have to achieve in order to topple Manchester United and earn a second top-flight crown you’d have to agree with the former. In defence of Mancini his players have seldom hit top gear this term and have far from resembled the devastatingly slick and allied unit that lifted the title Too many of his top players, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany in particular, have failed to hit the standards set last season and while Mancini may come across as pessimistic in his surrender it is also an acknowledgement of how poor City have been across the board.
Alan Pardew can relate to his Italian counterpart. Newcastle were the top-flight’s surprise package in 2011/12 and eventually finished in fifth earning a place in the Europa League. It’s been a completely different story for the Magpies this season as they battle to avoid a second relegation in five seasons while struggling with the bloated fixture list that is part and parcel of competing in Europe. That said their continental exploits have proved a welcome distraction from a dismal league campaign and Pardew will certainly have one eye on the quarter final clash with Benfica on Thursday. Despite sitting 13th in the table the 51-year-old knows his side need at least two more wins to guarantee their top-flight status. A draw at the Etihad Stadium would be welcomed given Newcastle are without five key players.
Team News
Vincent Kompany is Manchester City’s main concern after he featured for Belgium in midweek, much to the annoyance of Roberto Mancini, after spending eight weeks out with a calf injury. Sergio Aguero (knee) is available but may not be risked straight away.
Cheick Tiote and Mathieu Debuchy (both hamstring) along with Davide Santon and Massadio Haidara (knee) are all missing for Newcastle as they soldier on in the midst of another injury crisis.
What the managers said…
“I think when you are a top team and you have good players, you should be very strong when you win or lose. This doesn’t change. Also, when you can’t win a title you can have other situations that you can improve. For this reason it is very important to do our best in the next nine games. We have the FA Cup and we have to get second position. I am sure Chelsea or Tottenham want to take second. We need to do our best for this reason, we want to stay there. If we take second position and have a chance to win the FA Cup – I think in the end, with all the problems we have had this year, I think this could be a good season.” Roberto Mancini is demanding a strong end to the season from his players (The Mirror)
“He’s come out and said it’s over. I think that’s probably to take a bit of pressure off his team. They’ll want to get eight wins, and see where they end up. That’s probably his plan. We won’t get fooled by that. That stadium’s a difficult place to get a result, but we’ve got the players to do it. That’s what we believe, and that’s how we’ll approach the game. I just think there’s always a chance of winning. We were at Man United with 12 minutes to go, and were 3-2 up. And we didn’t have as good a side as we’re taking to Man City, So it’s always possible.” Alan Pardew insists he won’t be fooled by Roberto Mancini’s mind-games (Evening Chronicle)
Pre-Match Statistic: Three of City’s last five goals against Newcastle have come from Yaya Toure. He hasn’t managed that total against any other Premier League team.
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Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United
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