Fabio Borini is currently on loan from Chelsea and the striker has been a real hit down in Swansea, scoring two on his debut and then bagging a brilliant goal against Norwich at the weekend.
About the goal itself, in the opening five minutes of the game Swansea were awarded a free kick around twenty five yards out. Up stepped Borini who curled in a brilliant effort past John Ruddy. The free kick reminded me of Juninho Pernambucano who curled in some beauties for Lyon, while the technique was very similar to that used by Didier Drogba.
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Newly promoted Kashiwa Reysol continued their perfect start to the J-League season on Saturday with a 1-0 away win over Omiya Ardija.As the J-League resumed for the first time since the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami that wreaked havoc on Japan, last year’s J-2 champions moved to the top of the table with the win, which came courtesy of a goal from Brazilian striker Leandro Domingues after 54 minutes.
The result gives Kashiwa Reysol a maximum six points from their opening two games.
Shimizu S-Pulse bounced back from their 3-0 loss to Kashiwa Reysol in their opener with a 1-0 win over another promoted outfit, Avispa Fukuoka, with Genki Omae scoring the only goal of the game 10 minutes from the end.
Last season’s fourth-placed side Kashima Antlers suffered a 3-0 loss at home to Yokohama F Marinos.
Shohei Ogura opened the scoring for the visitors after two minutes and a second-half brace from defender Yuzo Kurihara wrapped up the three points.
Vegalta Sendai had to come from a goal down to score a 2-1 win over Kawasaki Frontale on the road.
Yudai Tanaka fired the hosts ahead six minutes before half-time, but late goals from Yoshiaki Ota and Jiro Kamata secured a memorable win for Vegalta Sendai.
And promoted Ventforet Kofu played out a 1-1 draw at home with Vissel Kobe after a goal from Brazilian defender Daniel cancelled out Yoshito Okubo’s 41st-minute opener for the visitors.
Celtic kept their Scottish Premier League title chances alive with a 3-0 win at Hearts on Wednesday, while Hibernian’s poor run continued.But Celtic’s trip to Tynecastle on Wednesday will be more remembered for an attack on Celtic manager Neil Lennon as he celebrated his side’s second goal, scored by striker Gary Hooper after 49 minutes.
A man managed to get past ground stewards and the police before running at Lennon and making brief contact with him, but he was quickly thrown to the ground and dragged up the tunnel by stewards and police.
The win will at least raise Lennon’s spirits, with Hooper’s 12th-minute opener crucial in determining the outcome of the match.
After the early goal, Celtic looked settled and 20 minutes later Hearts’ David Obua was given a straight red card to hand the visitors a further advantage.
Hooper’s second just after half-time gave Lennon’s side some breathing space before Kris Commons scored the third and final goal with 12 minutes remaining, just moments after receiving a yellow card for diving.
Commons was booked again for running into the Celtic fans, ensuring both sides ended the match with 10 men on an ugly night for Scottish football.
Celtic now trail table-toppers Rangers by one point with both sides having just one fixture left.
Walter Smith’s side travel to Kilmarnock on Sunday while Celtic host Motherwell.
In other matches, Kilmarnock will finish fifth – regardless of what happens against Rangers – after they claimed a 1-1 away draw at Motherwell.
Steve Jones put the hosts in front after just eight minutes, but Gabon striker Willy Aubameyang secured a point for Kilmarnock with his 49th-minute goal.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle also wrapped up their final spot on the table after a 2-0 home win over Hibernian.
They will finish seventh after goals to Adam Rooney and Nick Ross gave them all three points.
Hibernian will either finish ninth or 10th in a disappointing campaign for the Edinburgh-based outfit, who have won once in nine league games.
Arsene Wenger has revealed he is ‘very optimistic’ about Samir Nasri extending his contract with Arsenal, even though the 23-year-old Frenchman and full-back Gael Clichy are moving towards the final year of their current deals.
The Gunners boss said: “We are talking to Nasri and his agent already and we have the same situation with Clichy. We have agreed to speak about it during the summer. When you sign a contract for four or five years, you are committed through your contract to win trophies with the club where you sign. It is in no contract that if you do not win a trophy the first year, you can leave.”
Nasri’s situation is particularly frustrating for Wenger seeing as he believed that the midfielder had agreed on a four-year extension that would have almost doubled his annual salary to £5 million. But Nasri stalled following the club’s rapid elimination from the Champions League by Barcelona and the FA Cup to Manchester United at Old Trafford, following a last-gasp defeat to Birmingham in the League Cup in February. It is understood that Nasri’s agent, Jean-Pierre Bernes, is now seeking assurances on Arsenal’s summer transfer strategy in addition to improved financial terms for his client who has scored 15 goals in 45 appearances this season and was nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award.
Whilst the Gunners’ manager may be correct in stating the lack of trophy guarantees within Nasri’s contract, the 2010 France Football French Player of the Year would certainly have expected more from his three years of service at the Emirates. Negotiations have not been assisted by Wenger’s distrust of Bernes’ association with Marseille’s tainted French championship successes of the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the agent’s increasing influence on his young star causing significant concern.
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What’s more, Wenger has become a progressively confrontational and irate figure as his team’s form has deteriorated, and last month he accused the Spanish football magazine, Don Balon, of ‘twisting the words’ of his captain, Cesc Fabregas, into criticism of not only the team but Wenger as well. The publication subsequently released a recording in which the player apparently declares that Arsenal have a decision to make between developing young talent and winning trophies, and that no major Spanish clubs would be patient enough to allow their managers to go six seasons without claiming a trophy, as Wenger has.
Although Fabregas proclaimed his intentions to leave the Emirates following a bid of around £35million from Barcelona last summer, he was convinced by his manager to complete at least a further portion of his contract that runs until the summer of 2015. While Arsenal remain in a strong contractual position over their captain, despite their continually depleting control, they risk losing Nasri for free in 12 months if they fail to persuade the French international to sign a new deal. Gunners fans have been here before, and had to witness the departure of Mathieu Flamini for no return three years ago when the French midfielder left for AC Milan having featured in 40 of Arsenal’s fixtures during his last season in north London. Wenger was reluctant to offer Flamini a new deal seeing as he had spent three seasons drifting in and out of the first-team, but the former Marseilles player forced his way in to the starting XI alongside Fabregas, at the expense of Gilberto Silva, and made his debut for France during a committed final campaign in the Premier League.
Flamini carried a reputation for disappointing managers after moving from Marseilles to Arsenal without money changing hands, having been a key contributor to the club’s run to the 2004 UEFA Cup Final, leaving then manager, Jose Anigo, to bark: “He’s a traitor – this is a beautiful treason.” Nasri represents a far greater cause for trepidation considering his consistent importance to the side, and with Fabregas’ inevitable departure, Wenger can ill afford to lose possibly his most dependable and potent asset. The French professor has a propensity for convincing his ailing stars to stay longer than they wish, as evidenced with Thierry Henry and of course his current skipper, and whilst Nasri may be induced by Wenger’s charms this summer, he will have to seriously contemplate an easy exit next year if Arsenal don’t demonstrate significant improvement at the beginning of next season.
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Should Nasri stay or go? Have your say, follow me on Twitter
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Last night was a little hectic in the Tavern to put it mildly.
What began as an average night of debauchery became a full on knees up that some witnesses suggest might finish sometime tomorrow. Some of us can remember a time when end of season celebrations were for winners – not just those who took part. Quite why people like Wolves and Blackpool are ordering champagne is beyond me.
Anyway, amidst the carnage this little gem turned up, apparently accidentally scooped up in some paperwork by a member of the Blackpool entourage who was snatching everything that wasn’t nailed down in a back office on Sunday as souvenirs for his ebay shop friends & family.
Is it real, well I really scanned it and simply will let you our highly esteemed readership decide.
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Article courtesy of Escapini at the Transfer Tavern
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With Guus Hiddink odds on favourite to take over the reigns at Chelsea on a permanent basis during his second spell at the club, the news that the move for the Dutchman could cost £15m will come as a surprise to many – but is Hiddink really worth that much? And more pertinently, does his appointment signal little more than a continuation of the short-term managerial merry-go-round that has done nothing but hinder Chelsea of late?
I’m not going to lie to you, I’m playing devils advocate here. Everyone seems fairly certain that the job is Hiddink’s to turn down, which he has shown no indication as yet that he intends on doing. His first spell at the club as caretaker boss after Felipe Scolari’s departure in 2009 was a resounding success. So often in football, short spells such as Hiddink’s have a tendency to be overly romanticised, but in this case, Hiddink definitely did do an outstanding job.
He took over a fantastic side low on confidence and crucially did what Scolari had failed to do – made them perform to the best of their abilities. He won the FA Cup final against Everton and won 15 of his 21 games in charge in total, losing just once to Spurs in the league. He also came just a hair’s breadth away from taking them to the Champions League final after being knocked out by an Andres Iniesta goal in the 93rd minute at Stamford Bridge at the semi-final stage. In short, a fantastic spell.
However, it has since come to light that should Roman Abramovich wish to employ Hiddink as the club’s next manager, the move could set the Chairman back a cool £15m in compensation and wages over the course of the next year. Sure, it’s small change to a man such as Abramovich, but is Hiddink really worth that hefty sum? Is any manager worth that sum? I’m doubtful on both counts.
The Turkish FA are thought to be keen so pursue the maximum amount of compensation that they are entitled to squeeze from the Russian oligarch, thought to be in the region of £3m. Then there is the £6m compensation figure to be issued to former manager Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian would have only receive half that figure if he went onto manage a club within 6 months of his departure from Stamford Bridge, but his decision last week to take a year-long sabbatical from the game should be seen as a middle-fingered salute to his former boss in the only language that the Russian understands – money.
Hiddink is thought to be demanding a similar wage to Ancelotti’s £6m a year which brings the total to £15m. Interestingly, Ancelotti’s sacking also brings the total compensatory packages dished out by Abramovich to sacked managers and coaches since he took over the club seven years ago to an astonishing £74m – a remarkably short-sighted structure for a club the size of Chelsea to operate with.
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Hiddink has also failed in the last two international jobs to secure progress to an international tournament – firstly with Russia and the 2010 World Cup and more recently with Turkey and Euro 2012 qualification. His stock with Chelsea fans and their Chairman remain sky high, but on the international stage at least, it’s taken a bit of a dent.
There is also the nature of the deal to contend with. Hiddink is now 64 years of age and any deal is likely to be around 2 years in length. It can hardly be said to be planning for the future to employ Hiddink for such a short period of time, especially when there is such a big rebuilding job to be done at Stamford Bridge in the immediate future. Surely appointing a younger coach such as Porto’s Andre Villas-Boas or Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp would make much more sense in the long run. The job that faces Hiddink now is very different to the one that he had in 2009.
Could it not be considered somewhat financially reckless to entrust a significant rebuilding plan to a manager who may not be around to see the job through? If Hiddink is moved upstairs, an entirely possible situation considering his close relationship with Abramovich, then there are further legacy and succession issues to deal with. Does the next manager’s vision have to fit in with Hiddink’s? Will that decide who gets the job in the future? The handover could be very messy. These are the sorts of questions that have completely glossed over in the club’s pursuit of their man – it may be fine for the short-term, but what happens afterwards can often prove just as important.
It’s also worth remembering, barring his 4-month stint as Chelsea caretaker boss in 2009, Hiddink hasn’t been involved with the day-to-day running of a football club since his time with PSV ended in 2006 and he’s only held one full-time managerial position at club level in the last decade.
Roman Abramovich is thought to be keen on Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola in two years time after Hiddink steps down. However, what is truly narrowing the field with concerns to the club’s managerial choices in the future has to be the chopping and changing nature of their overbearing Chairman. Abramovich could well and truly turn out to be their Achilles heel.
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Why would a world-class manager want to move to Chelsea when the confines that he has to work within are always so strict and the stakes so high? Coupled with the constant threat of being undermined at every turn and the job, where it was once one the most appealing going in Europe, begins to look more like an uphill task even for the most qualified. To put it simply, how do you satisfy an obsessive character such as Abramovich?
In all honesty, Hiddink remains a fine candidate for the job, but we shouldn’t be so myopic in thinking he’s the only man for the job. He’s being painted as a returning hero in some sections of the media; the man to topple Man Utd and bring and end to their top flight dominance. But dig a little deeper, and a few doubts do begin to surface when discussing the topic of his appointment.
Simply because it’s been expected to happen for so long does not necessarily make it the right move for the club in the long-term. Stop gap appointments rarely work out and all they do is make the job all the more difficult for the man who inherits the role next. Hiddink looks set to take the job, but whether it is the best option for all concerned remains to be seen. If it all goes tits up though, fret not Chelsea fans, Bryan Robson has just left his job as Thailand manager – you know, just thought I’d throw it out there while I’m here playing devils advocate.
Algeria have joined South Africa in offering to host the 2013 African Nations Cup finals.The finals, scheduled to be held in Libya, look increasingly likely to be moved because of the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.
Algerian Football Federation officials said they would be interested in replacing their fellow north Africans when the Confederation of African Football makes a decision on Libya’s ability to host the event at its next meeting in Cairo in September.
“It might help in our bid to qualify for the next World Cup finals,” federation spokesman Abdelkader Berdja told reporters.
South Africa, which will host the 2017 tournament, have already offered to substitute for the Libyans, should their civil conflict not end shortly.
Next year’s Nations Cup finals will be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon after which they move from every even year to every odd, starting 12 months later in Libya.
South Africa in April stepped in to replace Libya as hosts of this year’s African Youth Championships.
Libyan league football has been suspended since mid-February but clubs have continued to play in continental club competitions, by forfeiting their right to play their home leg in knockout ties, which were reduced to a single match at their opponent’s home ground.
Not surprisingly, no Libyan side got past the third round of the African Champions League and African Confederation Cup preliminaries.
Libya’s national team used Mali as their home ground in the Nations Cup qualifier in March and played in the Comoros Islands last month.
But Libya have withdrawn their team from the All-Africa Games qualifier this weekend, handing opponents Egypt a bye into the final tournament in Maputo in September.
Liverpool have announced the signing of Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni for an undisclosed fee.The 31-year-old will put pressure on the English Premier League club’s number one Pepe Reina, who has been a regular at the club since signing from Villarreal in 2005 and has been rumoured to be a target for other teams in the past.
Fringe Brazil international Doni follows midfielders Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam as off-season arrivals to Anfield, with Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing set to join them.
Liverpool director of football, Damien Comolli told Liverpoolfc.tv: “We are delighted to sign Doni. It’s a position we felt we had to strengthen because it will allow our young goalkeepers to go on loan and get some experience at some point during the season, which is crucial in their development.”
“We are getting a very experienced goalkeeper who is used to handling the pressure of big games and international matches with Brazil. He had a very good end of last season with Roma, so we are very pleased.”
Doni spent time at Botafogo, Corinthians, Santos, Cruzeiro and Juventude in his homeland before signing for Serie A club Roma in 2005.
He made 179 appearances for the capital city club during his six-year stint in Italy, twice winning the Coppa Italia alongside a SuperCoppa Italiana title.
Doni has represented his country on 10 occasions and was part of the squad which won the 2007 Copa America.
His arrival at Anfield is tipped to spell the end of Brad Jones’ stint at the club.
Schalke won the German Super Cup 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.Kevin Grosskreutz and Ivan Perisic had penalties saved for Bundesliga champions Dortmund, with goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann, brought in to replace Manuel Neuer, the man to deny them for Schalke.
Lewis Holtby, Edu and Benedikt Howedes all netted their spot kicks for Schalke, before Jurado sealed it for last season’s German Cup winners.
The game got off to an exciting start as Dortmund created their first real chance after five minutes.
Ilkay Gundogan took a corner kick on the right and his cross found Robert Lewandowski in the penalty box, who in turn hit the post with a header from seven yards out.
Schalke’s answer came 10 minutes later when Benedikt Howedes headed over the bar from close range after managing to squeeze past Mats Hummels and Felipe Santana.
Dortmund slowly began to take control of the game, creating two great chances just before the half-hour mark.
First, Chris Lowe went close with a fine shot from the left side of the box, following a delightful one-two with Shinji Kagawa, and then Gundogan tried his luck from 15 yards out, but Fahrmann stood strong to parry his shot.
Jurgen Klopp’s men enjoyed their best chance of the first period moments before the half-time whistle when Robert Lewandowski was denied by Fahrmann in a one-on-one.
The second half picked up where the first ended with Lewandowski culpable again for a glaring miss.
The Polish striker was released by Mario Gotze with a delightful through-ball, but shot just wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Schalke were forced to defend deep in the following minutes, and had Howedes to thank in the 57th minute when the centre-half somehow managed to clear Kagawa’s cross, narrowly denying Lewandowski.
Gotze missed a glorious chance shortly afterwards when he failed to beat Fahrmann with a low finish from outside the box.
Schalke were not without opportunities and did threaten through Holtby, while substitute Jan Moravek also failed to beat Roman Weidenfeller.
But despite the teams’ best efforts, the scoreline remained unchanged, forcing the contest to be settled on penalties.
AC Milan captain Alessandro Nesta is confident his team’s defence is in good form ahead of the Supercoppa Italiana clash with rivals Inter.The Serie A champions conceded three goals in two games at the Audi Cup last week as they finished last in the four-team tournament, which also featured Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Internacional.
But Nesta, 35, said he was confident the defensive line was playing well ahead of Saturday’s game at the Beijing National Stadium.
“I think AC Milan’s defence played very well last season, together with the rest of the team. In the second half of the Italian league, our rivals only scored seven times against us and not many teams can say the same,” he said on Wednesday.
“Furthermore, this year we were joined by (Philippe) Mexes, who at the moment is not well but is recovering. We also have (Taye) Taiwo and Thiago Silva, who is a world-class player.”
“Therefore, I think AC Milan’s defence is in good form as it is.”
The fierce rivals have never met in a Supercoppa final, but Inter – having won the Coppa Italia – will be aiming for their sixth title. League title holders Milan are also out for their sixth Supercoppa trophy.
It is the first competitive Milan derby to be played outside of the city’s iconic stadium, the San Siro.
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AC Milan begin their Serie A title defence at Cagliari on August 27, while Inter start their season at home to Lecce a day later.