Title hopes and Champions League aspirations are on the line when Chelsea host London rivals Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.With just four matches remaining in the English Premier League this season, both sides still have plenty left to play for in the run home.
Defending champions Chelsea trail league leaders Manchester United by six points and must win all of their remaining games to keep their slim hopes of back-to-back titles alive.
The Blues extended their winning streak to four games with a 3-0 victory over West Ham on Saturday, with 50 million pound signing Fernando Torres finally breaking his drought with his first goal for the club.
The win came at a cost however, with Michael Essien injuring his knee in the match, while Ramires and Alex both remain on the sidelines.
Florent Malouda joined Torres on the scoresheet at the weekend, and said Chelsea will keep fighting for the title until the final match.
“That’s our object until the end of the season,” Malouda told Chelsea’s official website. “Right now we are getting back to our best performances, so we have to keep putting pressure on and keep winning.”
“Honestly, (winning the title) will be difficult. The only thing we are looking at now is winning every game we have, then you never know.”
For Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham, the aim for the remainder of the season is ensuring a Champions League berth for next season, aspirations which took a blow after they were held to a 2-2 draw by West Brom at the weekend.
Despite being a revelation on Europe’s biggest stage this season, reaching the last eight of the Champions League for the first time, Spurs are in danger of missing out on next year’s competition as they trail fourth-placed Manchester City by four points.
They also come into Saturday’s match on a horrible run of form, with just one win in their last nine matches in all competitions.
Tottenham’s injury concerns have eased slightly, although Ledley King, Alan Hutton and Jonathan Woodgate are all unavailable, while Gareth Bale is expected to play after completing a full 90 minutes against West Brom at the weekend.
England boss Fabio Capello believes Theo Walcott did not suffer a serious ankle injury during Tuesday's 3-1 victory over Switzerland.
The Arsenal forward was stretchered off in the early stages of the Euro 2012 qualifying victory in Basel after his standing leg was clipped by defender Yves Oehri during the passage of play which led to Wayne Rooney opening the scoring.
Walcott was immediately taken to hospital after suffering what appeared to be a serious injury.
However, he returned to St Jakob Park afterwards where he told Capello the injury was only a "little problem".
"I spoke with Theo and he told me it is not a big problem," said the Italian.
"I said 'two weeks', he said less."
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will now be anxiously awaiting the return of the in-form winger.
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Walcott has scored four goals in three domestic appearances for the Gunners at the start of the new season.
Wenger is currently without Nicklas Bendtner and Samir Nasri and learned on Tuesday that Netherlands striker Robin van Persie will be absent with an ankle problem of his own until at least mid-October.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Former Liverpool and Everton defender Gary Ablett has died at the age of 46, succumbing to cancer on Sunday night.
Ablett was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 16 months ago, and leaves behind his wife Jacqueline and three children.
Ablett’s last role in the game was as manager of Stockport in 2009-10, and the League Managers Association revealed his death.
“On behalf of Gary Ablett’s family the LMA has today confirmed that Gary passed away peacefully last night following a hard fought 16-month battle against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” an LMA statement reads.
“Respected throughout the game by players, coaches and managers alike Gary will be sadly missed.
“The LMA’s thoughts and condolences are with Gary’s wife Jacqueline and children,” it concluded.
Condolences have come flooding in from many in the game, with Kenny Dalglish leading the tributes to his former player.
“It’s a sad, sad day for his family and everyone connected with Liverpool Football Club,” he told The Reds official website.
“The most important thing just now is to pay our respects to Gary, his wife Jacqueline, the two boys and his wee girl.
“Obviously he had a long battle and I’m sure it was a lot of suffering and a lot of pain for him but the only thing you can say is at least he won’t be suffering any longer.
“I gave Gary his debut and remember him scoring on his first start at Anfield against Nottingham Forest.
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“He was a really good servant to the football club not only as a player, but also as reserve team coach.
“He served the club proudly and credibly. It’s very sad for everybody,” he commented.
Manchester United reached the Champions League semi-finals and kept their treble dream alive as they beat 10-man Chelsea 2-1 on Tuesday.Sir Alex Ferguson’s men progressed 3-1 on aggregate thanks to goals from Javier Hernandez and Ji-Sung Park in an irrepressible display at Old Trafford.
It was a terrible night for Chelsea, who scored through substitute Didier Drogba, but had Ramires sent off and saw their Champions league dream ended yet again.
United beat Chelsea in the final in Moscow in 2008 and this result was another famous victory for Ferguson?s side who are also top of the English Premier League and through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
In this tie they should have gone ahead after 26 minutes when Rooney?s excellent cross was turned home by Hernandez, only for the goal to be harshly ruled offside.
But they grabbed the all-important goal two minutes before half-time to take a 2-0 advantage in the tie.
It was a clever touch from Irishman John O?Shea that set Ryan Giggs free on the right side, and the veteran midfielder danced into the area before crossing low for the predatory Hernandez to stretch and slide home at the far post.
It was just desserts for United, who showed real energy and desire to get at the Chelsea defence with Rooney, Hernandez, Park and Nani all showing pace, energy and zip.
Chelsea, though, had started the stronger, surprising their hosts with a new ?christmas tree? formation that featured Fernando Torres up front on his own and Nicolas Anelka in a deep-lying creative role.
Anelka had the first real chance of the game, curling an effort just wide, and also went close with another shot from 20 yards. But the best opportunity fell to Frank Lampard early on when he side footed straight to van der Sar when well placed.
Chelsea lived to rue that miss as United took the advantage and by half-time Ancelotti had seen enough ? ruthlessly substituting Torres for Drogba at half-time.
The Ivorian quickly made a difference, seeing one shot fly narrowly wide and a free-kick saved by van der Sar. But Chelsea?s night was effectively over when Ramires, already booked in the first half, lost balance as he clattered into Nani and was sent off.
The decision was perhaps harsh but in many ways it had been coming – Chelsea thundering into a series of tough challenges that left the Old Trafford crowd irate. They simply couldn?t cope with the pace and trickery of Nani, Rooney and Hernandez.
Drogba did equalise after 76 minutes, turning superbly on a long pass from Michael Essien. But United replied within 60 seconds when Park drilled home a left-foot strike to clinch United a place in the last four and leave Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti under intense pressure.
New Manchester United signing Bebe is hoping to emulate compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo's achievements at Old Trafford.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson snapped up the little-known 20-year-old striker from Vitoria Guimaraes last week for a reported fee of £7million.
Ferguson admitted Bebe is the first player he has signed without either first seeing him in action or watching videos of his performances following interest from Real Madrid and a number of top clubs in Portugal.
However, the player himself has no doubts about his ability to make the grade in the Premier League.
"To come to a team like Manchester United is a dream come true for any player," he declared."The Portuguese factor at Old Trafford was a motivation for me.
"You have very big names like Cristiano Ronaldo who has played here and is a very big player now. Nani and Anderson are still at the club.
"I want to become like them and I will work hard to become a top quality player."
Speaking about the swift transfer deal, Ferguson explained:"You've got to trust your staff at times and our scout in Portugal was adamant we must do something quickly.
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"So were one or two other clubs and that's where you have to make quick decisions in life and I'm not too bad about that. I also spoke to (former assistant and now Portugal coach) Carlos Queiroz about him.
"Sometimes you have to go on an instinct, you look at material. You look at their age and whether they're bringing pace, balance, desire to play and things like that."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Tony Pulis will be demanding his side take all three points against relegation threatened Blackburn at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday lunchtime and avoid a fifth successive Premier League defeat.
The Potters were narrowly beaten by QPR last weekend losing out by the odd goal in five although Pulis will be disappointed that his players were outperformed by the newly promoted side. The defeat was Stoke’s seventh from their last eight games and they now sit in 14th just three points above the relegation zone. It was another performance that promised so much but delivered so little as the Potters once again as they started the game brightly with Jon Walters opening the scoring after eight minutes. However they faded drastically as the game wore on allowing Rangers to see it out with ease. Their entry into this season’s Europa League has certainly put a massive burden on them with league performances suffering as a result and they’ve struggled to string a consistent run of positive results together. Pressurising their opponents high up the field has been a huge factor in the clubs success over the past few years but their exploits on the continent have sapped energy levels giving their opponents the edge. The Britannia, which was labelled a fortress after the avoided defeat until the end of October, has now bore witness to consecutive defeats for the first time this season. Confidence is clearly low at the Potteries and Pulis will need his big hitters to get them out of this rut with the likes of Peter Crouch and Matthew Etherington anonymous against QPR on Saturday. The visit of Blackburn this weekend will give them a real chance to get out of their rut and get a win on board before the frantic festive period begins.
Rovers seem to have forgot how to win games having failed to emerge victorious from their last seven games since beating Arsenal 4-3 at Ewood Park in September. Boss Steve Kean was once again the subject of negative chants from the away stand during last week’s 3-3 draw with Wigan although both parties will be happy with the resilience shown by their side. A last gasp penalty from Yakubu saved Rovers from the ignominy of losing to the rock bottom Latics but it was the never say die attitude that shone through as they kept plugging away until the end despite David Dunn’s sending off. Truth be told they deserved to take all three points away from the North West derby but once again defensive frailties cost them dearly as they saw their goals against tally rise to an alarming 27. Scott Dann looked shaky alongside Christopher Samba who had to cover two positions at times whilst Michel Salgado’s age finally caught up with him. The back four will be vital against a brutish Stoke attack who take no prisoners when marauding forward with their physical approach likely to prove a huge problem to the Rovers rearguard. However should they combat and excel over the Potters forwards then they should stand a chance with goals no longer hard to come with Yakubu and Junior Hoilett supplying goals on a regular basis with the pair contributing five of the six scored in the last three games. The chances of them winning are high with Stoke looking frail and although three points wouldn’t lift them out of the relegation zone it would certainly boost confidence levels at Ewood Park. Saying that they’ve managed to remain unbeaten in the last three on their travels.
Stoke – 14th
Last Five: Lost 3-2 v QPR (H) Lost 5-0 v Bolton (A), Lost 3-1 v Newcastle (H), Lost 3-1 v Arsenal (A), Won 2-0 v Fulham (H)
Potential Starting X11: 1. A. Begovic 28. A. Wilkinson 17. R. Shawcross [C] 4. Robert Huth 12. M. Wilson 16. J. Pennant 6. G. Whelan 24. R. Delap 26. M. Etherington* 19. J. Walters 25. P. Crouch
Injury News: Tony Pulis has no new injuries to worry about with Mamady Sidibie out long-term with a knee tendon problem.
Key Player: Matthew Etherington
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Despite a few under-par performances in the last couple of games the winger is still a danger whenever the ball is at his feet. His speed and trickery haven’t been utilised as much as usual by Stoke with Pulis opting for a long ball approach that hasn’t paid dividends. Using Etherington more often could be the key to ending their barren run of form with his ability to bring the ball out of defence and use it wisely in the final third vitally important to the clubs attacking game.
Match Fact: Stoke have a strong record against Blackburn beating them in four out of the six Premier League meetings keeping five clean sheets in the process and have won the last three.
It can’t be easy to be Gerard Houllier right now. The world is very much against him and regardless of whether it is or isn’t his own doing, it’s not a nice position to be in. Following Aston Villa’s 1-0 home defeat by Wolves, the manager was greeted by a sea of boos. This soon transformed into a chorus of “We want Houllier out!” and it was clear that fan feeling towards Houllier was at an all time low. Villa too, are at something of a nadir, resting as they do just one point clear of the relegation zone. They are placed rather precariously at the ledge just beyond the edge, ready to drop into the precipice below.
Houllier’s post-game interview was somewhat fascinating as he attempted to weigh up the consequences of another disappointing result in combination with the wealth of poor feeling projected his way amongst fans. He started off rather well – “[The fans] are not happy with me and I’m not happy with what we are doing,” before going on to confess that “the hostility was not something I have really faced before.”
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Unfortunately, he went on to say, “The fans need to support the team”. Which, regardless of context just seems callous, provocative and generally misjudged. No fan likes to hear their support or loyalty questioned, particularly by a manager who seemingly refuses to acknowledge or bear responsibility for his own mistakes.
Surely after everything that’s happened, Houllier is in a better position than most to attest to the passion prevalent throughout Villa fans. There’s nothing wrong with being dissatisfied with the current position of the club – Villa deserve better. To have a dig at the fans for voicing this dissatisfaction seems to me to be a step too far. Particularly as it was clear that the fan’s dissatisfaction was levelled at him and not at the team.
The trouble with Houllier is that he has acknowledged that there are various problems within the squad whilst at the same time refusing to tackle them head on. With Villa in their current position, it’s not good enough to merely wait for the summer and attempt to fix things. At the moment it appears the fan’s image of Houllier is of a man at one removed from his team, of somebody not fully committed to the Villa cause and it seems that every other day brings further evidence that this could be the case.
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It’s Houllier, not the fans who ends up looking passionless. Something has to change.
Read more of Harry’s articles at the excellent ‘This Is Futbol’
There are few players who could sensitively and eloquently offer their sentiments on England’s troubles at the World Cup, especially without sounding at least slightly condescending. But Xabi Alonso managed to do just that in a lengthy interview with The Sunday Times this weekend. His assessment of the English game is both honest and astute and, with regards to the cultural connotations of English football, he admits an advancement of thinking is required for international success to stand a chance.
“For me it is very important to have players in a team who complement one another. Sometimes the 11 best do not make the best 11. You have to have players with different qualities and, in my opinion, the England team had too many players who can run all day long, who invest a huge physical effort, who attack and defend – ‘box to box’, as they say in England. But the way I understand the game, you also need someone who delivers short passes, even if they seem innocuous at the time. That sort of player has been missing from the England team.”
Alonso was at pains to stress that he didn’t wish to come across as an ‘opportunist’ or being ‘wise after the event’ but his knowledge comes from being a direct factor in Steven Gerrard’s repeated match-winning performances. He reiterated that Gerrard is a ‘great player [who] inspires and leads’ but also that he needs players of different skills around him to play his best. It’s certainly no coincidence that Alonso’s departure has been difficult for Liverpool, as would the departure of any world class player, but the impact has indelibly affected Gerrard’s output. Especially in the 2008/2009 campaign, Liverpool highlighted the growing importance of a trident relationship in midfield (as commented in a previous article) of destroyer-passer-creator (Mascherano-Alonso-Gerrard). One shields, one distributes, one creates – and this is an example, not a perfect model for England to replicate, of players with markedly differing skill sets complementing one another superbly.
I don’t think it is a surprise to note that Owen Hargreaves was widely derided in England prior to the 2006 World Cup for being a player who lacked telling contributions in matches. His worth was underestimated until the competition began and, by the end, he was England’s best performer. There are multiple reasons for this: the international game is more akin to the rest of Europe (Hargreaves had the added experience of honing his abilities at Bayern Munich, where the ‘rhythm’ of the game, as Alonso later alludes to, is starkly contrasting to the English Premier League) and his role of destroying, shielding and simply distributing gained in exposure/acclaim as the competition progressed.
Continue reading on page 2…
When asked why, Alonso had no definitive answer for the English lacking conviction, sharpness and enjoyment in South Africa. But he did share an experience that goes some way in elucidating his point about the ‘rhythm’ of football playing an incalculable role in individual (and in our case, collective also) output:
“Since I joined Real a year ago I’ve been watching a lot of Premier League games and I think to myself, ‘My god, what a rhythm they play at! And I was playing like that too?’ And yet, here’s the funny thing, which I must confess I am unable to explain: during my first months playing in Spain I’d be more tired than I was in England. There might be a clue here as to what happens to the England players in big international games. The rhythm at that level is not like the rhythm in the Premier League and maybe it’s hard for the English players to adapt to…my impression was that they struggled to enjoy the game.”
This is an effect, rather than the cause, of something far more entrenched in the English game. Countless discussions have raged before and after England’s World Cup exit with regards to the emphasis on skill sets at youth development. To succumb to a generalisation, we place too great an emphasis on physical attributes at the youngest level. Subsequently the pace, tempo, and ‘rhythm’ of our football is far quicker than the rest of Europe. But the danger of our long standing affiliation to grit, determination, strength and pace is that technical proficiency degrades and, when separated from the complementary abilities of their club teammates, English players are exposed.
“I remember when I used to go to the Liverpool Academy I would ask the kids there what their virtues were as football players and the first answer they’d give would be ‘tackling’. Now, that can never be a virtue; that’s a resource that you deploy when needed. Your chief virtue can never be the ability to make a good tackle. Now, I’m just giving one example, but you can extrapolate that there are other qualities that should be given greater priority at youth level. For me the notion of ‘game intelligence’ is so important.”
This is certainly the central issue of Alonso’s argument and it all interlinks to the cultural tenets we connote to typically ‘English’ football. Our young players forgo technique and the finer, more cerebral, aspects of football (tactics, understanding how to play with our teammates, composure when faced with decisions on the pitch) and the result is a noticeable dearth of what Alonso calls ‘game intelligence’. Arrigo Sacchi used to say individuals could be great footballers but terrible players and the adage gains in meaning when juxtaposed with Alonso’s sentiments. We can’t teach game intelligence; it can only be nurtured, honed and experienced from youth academies – in a technically focused manner – through to the professional game.
“It basically means how to associate with other players. The rest follows, the physical aspects, the technical aspects. But understanding the game, that is what is most important.”
**
Related articles:
Why is 11-a-side dying in England?
Is it too late for English youth?
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Click on image below to see the ITALIAN babes at the World Cup
A radical plan to reform youth football in England was announced last month in order to improve the quality of our national team and give youngsters the best possible chance of making it in the beautiful game.
The current system was deemed not strong enough according to the Director of Football Development at the FA, Sir Trevor Brooking in his FA youth development review taken place earlier this year. This coincided with the arrival of Gareth Southgate as the head of elite development and he had an input in the development revue alongside Sir Trevor.
In the old system children from the age of 10 and above were being thrown onto full size pitches and had to learn to adapt to them, whereas the new review will ensure no youth player will play on an 11-a side pitch until they are 13. The winning mentality was also pressured onto children at a young age; and that will be tough to shy away from; but that is going to be withdrawn, with games having smaller, or no goals, to focus on skill and first touch rather than getting the ball in the goal.
The current 11 a side leagues at ages of 13 and below will slowly come to an end and 9-a side leagues will be introduced to improve touch and skill to add to the smaller goals which will improve accuracy and finesse.
Another criticism is that competitive football was introduced to early which is unhealthy for young children as it can dent their confidence and change the style of football that they play. The age of competitive football will be raised to ensure that leagues and cups are no longer available until the age of nine when the 7-a side game is introduced.
The extra hours and facilities that have been insisted in the plan; that all 20 Premier League clubs agreed to this year; will give youngsters aged nine to 16 up to 20 hours of coaching a week, a huge rise from the current five hours a week that is on average spent with the youth teams in Premier League clubs. The rise will give the chance for more coaches to get involved as well as the coaches getting to see the real strengths and weaknesses of a player in depth.
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Some have said that the amount foreign players coming to English game has affected the level of home-grown talent, but there were 222 English-qualified players who played first-team football in the Premier League last season, surely that is enough to find 11 to perform in international competition. Time will tell if Mr Capello can select a squad good enough to have a chance at the Euro’s next year but this tournament will just be the start of what the FA hopes will be a long term success of their scheme.
The scheme is hoped to be fully functional by 2014 and that could create a whole new era of English football, making the nation more competitive and producing more, talented players.
However, could the FA have gone a different way of putting together this plan? You would have thought that the big wigs would have hired the help of the people who know more about academy football in this country than anyone else, namely, Tony Carr.
The head of Youth Development at West Ham United is famous for consistently bringing through young stars over his 38 years of coaching at Upton Park. There is no man in English football with a better history or experience than Carr, so should he not have lead any plan into reforming youth football.
Carr had seven players in the England World Cup squad last summer that have come through his youth system including John Terry, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, showing what a dominance he could have over the English game and surely his expertise could have been used this summer.
With the likes of Jermaine Defoe, Michael Carrick and Glen Johnson struggling for first team football at their respective clubs, Carr’s players may be victim of being edged out by foreign players that will infuriate the East End born coach and you would like to think he had some answers to questions posed by the FA during the reform.
While cleaning the boots of Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst as a youngster, Carr said he dreamt of becoming a professional footballer but was declared not good enough by West Ham and he turned his attention to coaching, which he has been doing ever since. Football fans, managers and players alike, all around the country will sit up and listen when a coach of Carr’s experience has ideas so why didn’t the suits at the FA?
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With clubs such as Southampton, Leeds United, Everton and Middlesbrough having fantastic youth systems that were equally not involved in the new reform, surely firsthand experience will be more relevant than numbers on a page for the future of English football.
Lille recaptured the top spot on the Ligue 1 table with a last-gasp 2-1 win over visiting Valenciennes as Paris Saint-Germain lost ground.In a thrilling finish, Belgian starlet Eden Hazard struck in the dying seconds to deny Valenciennes a point and send Lille three points clear of Stade Rennes at the head of the table.
Lille started poorly and looked bereft of creativity without suspended midfielder Florent Balmont, but nevertheless took the lead in the 39th minute through Moussa Sow.
The Senegal international, who leads the Ligue 1 scoring table with 18 goals this term, latched on to a well-placed feed from Hazard and fired a powerful shot from the right that took a deflection on its way past Valenciennes goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau.
The visitors started to find their feet in the second half and drew themselves level in the 59th minute on a clever bit of play from Renaud Cohade, who feigned a dash and slotted the ball between two Lille defenders for a cool finish from Gregory Pujol.
Valenciennes looked to have secured a well-earned point as the game reached injury time, but Lille captain Rio Mavuba had other ideas and found Hazard unmarked in the penalty area with a terrific cross, and the Belgian striker made no mistake with his finish.
It was Valenciennes’ first league loss in two months, and leaves the visitors 14th on the table and a mere three points from the relegation zone.
Elsewhere, PSG had to settle for a point after drawing 2-2 in the capital with Montpellier.
France international Guillaume Hoarau put the hosts ahead in the 11th minute, and two minutes later Montpellier defender Mapou Yangambiwa deflected a cross into his own net to put PSG 2-0 up.
But an Oliver Giroud brace in the second half ensured Montpellier could leave the Parc des Princes with their pride intact, the former Tours striker scoring two minutes after the restart and again in the 59th minute.
The result leaves PSG fifth on the table, three points behind third-placed Lyon and eight adrift of Lille.
Monaco climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time in 2011 with a 1-0 victory at Bordeaux.
Adriano’s 22nd-minute winner was enough to earn the struggling side just their second away win of the season, the Brazilian defender rising highest head a corner past Bordeaux custodian Cedric Carrasso.