Tottenham defender Ledley King has spoken of his happiness at being able to play for the club again, but feels he is not yet firing on all cylinders.
The veteran centre back has had an injury plagued career at White Hart Lane, and had a particularly frustrating time last term, but has been able to play at the start of this campaign.
With Arsenal the next opponents in the league and King set to start, he has spoken of his desire to feature for Harry Redknapp’s side.
“This is my biggest season at Spurs yet,” the defender told Mirror Football.
“It is the first time I have been in a situation like this – when my contract is up. So it is a big season. I have to prove I am still worth it. I can’t see myself pulling on a shirt for anybody else at this stage of my career – although a player can never say never.
“At the end of the day, I just want to stay fit and if I can play, let’s see what position that puts me in at the end of the season. It is down to me to play the games. If I don’t play enough games, it is a difficult position.
“We will see what the situation is when all is said and done. If I get to 20 [games], I am not going to stop! I will keep playing as many as I can. At the moment I am just trying to bed in, get a bit of fitness and hopefully not get any niggles. If I can do that, I can get stronger and keep playing,” he concluded.
Tottenham have won their last three games with King in the team, and will look to take advantage of Arsenal’s vulnerable start to the campaign on Sunday.
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As a lifelong Manchester United fan, I have witnessed a good deal of disappointing signings. These have tended, typically, to be over-priced foreign signings whom I have backed for greatness in the face of my friends’ scepticism, usually along the lines of “Kleberson has won a WORLD CUP!” Or failing that, “but have you SEEN Forlan’s strike rate??” Don’t get me started on Juan Sebastien Veron, either.
Over the last couple of years, then, I have soured distinctly in reaction to United’s transfer policy of buying unproven youngsters for inflated prices. I was furious when the club spent £10m on Chris Smalling, and apoplectic to see United pay twice that for Phil Jones. I also felt Ashley Young was somewhat over-priced and unnecessary. The club doesn’t actually have a great deal of disposable income, you see (thanks largely to a certain American leprechaun), so to see it ‘wasted’ in such heavy quantities was alarming.
Imagine my consternation and confusion, then, as I watch all three blossom into star players in this still-young but already enthralling 2011/12 season. Jones’ runs from the back have been as mesmerising as they are unstoppable, and Smalling’s defensive improvements have more than covered for his colleague’s occasional absence in the back four. Young, meanwhile, is holding the excellent and indefatigable Park Ji-Sung out of the team, and forcing Antonio Valencia – one of the 2010/11 Premier League’s most improved players – into covering at right-back. Additional, cheaper (or home-grown) young arrivals are also thriving in Fergie’s new up-tempo system, primarily Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Tom Cleverley.
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That brings us, then, to the last element of Old Trafford’s youth revolution – and the man who has probably come in for more criticism in his embryonic United career than the other three put together. David de Gea briefly looked over-whelmed by the astronomical price-tag which has made him the second-most expensive goalkeeper in history (behind Gianluigi Buffon, no less) at the tender age of 20.
He was unconvincing at best against Manchester City in the Community Shield, and seemed intimidated by West Brom’s physicality in the league curtain-raiser, something he doubtless has barely experienced in two years as Atletico’s number one. It was beginning to look like another typical Ferguson blunder in his on-going pursuit of becoming a decent judge of goalkeepers – a flaw that Tomasz Kuszczak is probably painfully aware of right now as he officially slides behind Ben Amos in the Old Trafford pecking order.
In the last four games, though, after an uneventful night in the triumph over Tottenham, the real de Gea has started to emerge from behind his price-tag. United may have conceded twice against Arsenal in one of the most famous games in Old Trafford’s century of service, but the young Spaniard saved Robin van Persie’s spot-kick. Then, against Chelsea, despite succumbing to a deft finish from Fernando Torres, he produced a couple of excellent reaction stops, especially the one that denied Ramires in the first half. At the weekend, de Gea looked transformed, sprinting out to punch away Rory Delap’s early throw and standing up to the threat of Peter Crouch in the air.
It is too early to say whether de Gea is on the path to fully justifying that enormous price-tag – but in the last two years, Ferguson and his scouts have unearthed a plethora of young diamonds ready to shine. We wait with baited breath to see if the Spaniard is another.
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Serie A giants Juventus are eyeing up a loan move for Manchester City troublemaker Carlos Tevez when the transfer window reopens in January according to talkSPORT.
The Argentine striker is on his way out of the Etihad Stadium after he was suspended by the club for refusing to come off he bench in last week’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich.
City boss Roberto Mancini has insisted he will never select again with speculation now rife that he will move on when the window opens for business with a host of European clubs supposedly chasing his signature.
It’s now emerged that Juve want to take advantage of his current situation and bring him to their new Juventus Stadium on loan with reports in Italy suggesting talks have already been held over the proposed deal.
He has been yearning for a move away from Eastlands since the summer with Corinthians and Inter Milan unable to strike a deal but it now seems he will be heading to Italy after all.
The 27-year-old’s agent Kia Joorabchian and Juve sporting director Beppe Marotta have reportedly already met to discuss a move for the striker with the Turin club prepared to subsidise Tevez’s enormous £200,000-a-week wages.
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Barcelona have been widely considered as the best team in the world for a number of years now. Winning trophies has been complemented by their unique attacking style of play, which was taught at La Masia (the fabled youth team house where Barcelona students were tutored) for decades. Over the years, Barcelona have usually employed two formations in a flexible manner, regardless of opposition: the base of a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, with slight tactical variations but always using the principles of Johan Cruyff’s Total Football philosophy.
As opposition teams have tried to work out ways in which to stop all the attacking talents which the Catalan giants possess, they themselves have needed to adapt, conscious that they must evolve to stay one step ahead of the many defensive tactics now employed to halt their success. The most recent evolution is to line-up without playing a recognised out-and-out striker in a traditional number-9 role, which is leading many to ask: is this the formation of the future?
It sounds ridiculous, on the face of it, to suggest a team plays attacking football without playing any strikers, but that would be to look at formations with a narrow view, not seeing the wider picture. After all, it is not actual formations which are defensive or attacking, but rather the way they are interpreted and deployed by coaches. It is true to say Barcelona now play without use of a traditional striker, but to simply imply that Barcelona now play without an out-and-out goalscorer is not true; they have a very successful one in David Villa, and before him Samuel Eto’o. But in this ‘new’ formation he doesn’t occupy the traditional out-and-out strikers role as we know it, starting wide usually on the left hand side. Another player occupies the same role on the opposite side – which has usually been Pedro, which leaves the area where the traditional number-9 in the central area free – or does it?
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Lionel Messi, the world’s best player and Barcelona’s number-10 now lines up in the central area where a traditional striker would usually occupy, however in this new formation, once the game begins he often vacates that space by dropping deep – he becomes a ‘false-9’. From this position he is liberated, free from the shackles of having to remain up-front, and in doing so, becoming easier to mark by the centre-back. As he drops deep finding space, he gives the opposition a conundrum; do the centre-backs step out to mark him, and in doing so leave space in behind for the wide forwards to run into diagonally? Or does a central-midfielder pick him up, thus risking being outnumbered in the traditional midfield areas? The positions Messi now takes up compliment his abilities perfectly and gets the best out of his attacking attributes. From this position he has more space to turn, pick a pass, or run and dribble at the opposition, able to both create and score, the fulcrum of the attack – a traditional number-10 role for a modern day fantasista…in the guise of a false-9.
The narrow view that a team must always employ a traditional number-9 figure is something which historically Britain has tended to do. The strong reluctance to dismiss anything other than 4-4-2 has now been widely blamed for England’s failings at recent international tournaments but England have been aware of the false-9 for decades, having painfully witnessed its benefits first-hand over 50-years ago. In 1953 Hungary faced England at Wembley and demolished the home side 6-3, becoming the first team from outside the British Isles to win at the famous stadium. More embarrassing than the actual score-line was the manner of defeat, as England were shown to be technically and tactically inferior with Hungary’s false-9 of Nandor Hidegkuti running riot alongside Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis, in a formation not too dissimilar to the one Barcelona now use. Although radical changes were made to the English game in the wake of that defeat, a wider acceptance of the false-9 or creative number-10 was forgotten.
So why aren’t every team now following suit with its success?
Back to Spain and the rise of Messi probably helped dictate this formation for Barcelona, more than a conscious decision of its need. With manager Pep Guardiola needing to get the prodigal Argentine in the game as much as possible and to cause havoc from central areas, not just from out wide where he had been usually deployed. Of course there is only one Lionel Messi, but it also helps when you have players in the class of Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, and Pedro who are now joined by Fabregas and Sanchez who can play that style and interchange at will. Could anybody else be brave enough to play with no ‘number-9’?
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Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has praised Darren Bent ahead of his team’s game against Tottenham, and has defended the England international after a derogatory comment from Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp famously stated: “My missus could have scored that one,” after Bent missed a glaring header against Portsmouth back when playing for Spurs, but McLeish has defended his main man.
“He’s had a lot of experience since [Redknapp’s comment],” the Scottish coach told Mirror Football.
“He’s the guy who still gets into the positions. I know what Harry said was meant to be tongue in cheek but I’m sure Darren’s scored about 20 or 30 goals since then that Sandra [Harry’s wife] would not have put away.
“There’s no doubt Benty’s been very crucial to our team in that if we create chances, there’s a guy who’s going to find some space in the box.
“Darren’s had a lot of chances, scored five goals and could’ve scored 10, so that tells you the team are creating opportunities,” he stated.
Bent will be keen to prove himself to his former club, and should lead the line against Spurs with the support of Gabriel Agbonlahor.
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I have written repeatedly in the past about transfer fees, first commenting last summer on how ridiculous it was that so many people were comparing the transfer fees of James Milner to Manchester City and Mesut Ozil to Real Madrid when there were a number of extenuating circumstances. In January we got the same response of shock, horror and outrage at the fee for the transfer of Darren Bent from Sunderland to Aston Villa. Yet again people were all too keen to point out other transfer fees as some sort of proof that he was overpriced.
As I said at the time, every transfer is unique – so many factors come into play that decide what that fee is, that the actual skill of the player becomes the tip of the iceberg. And what is a market value for a player? Well the fact is there isn’t one. There’s no manual available, no graphs to check to see what a player is worth, no complex formula – it is a figure that cannot be determined – what is the worth of a human being to a football club? Almost impossible to say. And there are other costs as well of course – wages, signing on fees, payments to agents and so on. The transfer fee is just the beginning, and it often includes add-ons that will only be paid if the player is successful anyway, plus sell-on clauses, image rights, and so much more.
The factors include:
Do the selling club need to sell?
Do the selling club want to sell?
Does the player want to leave?
How good is the player?
In what position does the player play?
What nationality is the player?
How long does he have left on his contract?
Are there a number of clubs after him?
Age
And that’s just some of the reasons. There are more– injury history, attitude, lifestyle – the player might have a release clause – as I said, every deal is unique.
But having also written recently about the “British premium” as Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones made big-money moves to Liverpool and Manchester United respectively, where I argued it is perhaps more of a premium on players with Premiership experience, not just British players, a new edict is looming on the horizon that perhaps explains further the purchases made by United and Liverpool, and which will heavily shape future transfer policies for clubs.
The move towards such premiums started with the planned introduction of the “6+5” rule, then with the 25 man squad rule. The FIFA Congress, at its meeting in 2008, decided to fully support the objectives of “6+5”, the rule stating that at the beginning of each match, each club must field at least six players eligible to play for the national team of the country of the club. There was no restriction however on the number of non-eligible players under contract with the club, nor on substitutes to avoid non-sportive constraints on the coaches, so potentially a match could end with only 3 home grown players on the pitch
The rule was on numerous occasions described as illegal by the European Union and was rejected by the European Parliament on 9 May 2008, and last year, was finally abandoned by FIFA, who said it would look at “other eligibility” options.
An offshoot of that was the introduction last season where there must be eight home-grown players in a premier league’s squad of 25. Home-grown players do not have to be English of course, simply those who have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to their 21st birthday.
It was widely presumed that this rule has further pushed the clubs’ drive for home-based talent (at huge cost). But not necessarily.
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You’ll have probably read a lot about FIFA recently, most notably revolving around their recent congress, and the issue of corruption, Sepp Blatter, and his unopposed re-election as FIFA president for another four years. However, as Matt Scott of the Guardian recently wrote, that is not all that happened at the meeting.
FIFA is working on introducing a whole new system whereby nine players on every 18-man matchday squad sheet must be home-grown. The measure was voted through at the recent congress, and FIFA’s player-status committee, headed by the former Football Association chairman, Geoff Thompson, is holding discussions across Europe as it works up the new rules.
Thompson told the congress: “We must use the qualities associated with the 6+5 in trying to manage a workable solution.”
One other offshoot may not be a reliance on home-grown talent though, as was intended. The cheaper route is to buy young foreign talent that will be “home-grown” under the rules by the time they reach their 21st birthday. Of course the advantage of buying the likes of Henderson and Jones is that the club is buying an asset it can use right away, rather than hope that four years down the line they might be good enough to break into the first team. But teams are looking abroad for youth rather than paying extra for that premium. Arsenal have done it for ages, though they are hardly unique, and so far this summer, Manchester City have only bought two youngsters, while Chelsea are rumoured to be close to signing Romelu Lukaku.
Either way, FIFA is intent on introducing further caps on foreign players, and it seems the 9-man rule could come in as early as next year. The premium on buying British may be something of a myth as there are other factors involved, but if FIFA has its way we may see the prices for British players rise even further, and may also explain the reasoning behind Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish‘s transfer policies this summer. The real reason behind some high transfer fees may well be a rule that doesn’t yet exist.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has defended striker Andy Carroll in the build up to Friday’s game against Newcastle, and feels that the media have been unfairly sceptical over the frontman.
Carroll moved to Anfield from former club Newcastle back in January, but has failed to live up to his £35 million price tag as yet.
The England international’s life away from the game has also been questioned in the press, but Daglish feels that the criticism is unfair.
“I think you yourselves have a bigger problem with Andy Carroll than anybody else,” the Scottish coach told Sky Sports.
“Every week there is questions. This time it is understandable, I suppose, because he is playing against Newcastle United, if he is to start.
“But I don’t understand the rest of the stuff. I think somebody has got some imagination about the lifestyle that big Andy leads compared to the one that we know he leads.
“So, really, he is unfortunate that he attracts a bit of attention to himself from yourselves.
“But, for us, he has come here and gone about his work very well on and off the pitch and is adjusting to life at a new club with new philosophies and a new way of playing,” he commented.
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Carroll looks in line for a start against his former club, and will want to build on the five goals he has scored on Merseyside since joining Liverpool.
Now that the winter break is over, I have not only regained my inner peace and happiness with the world, I have also noticed a worrying trend that Real Madrid seem to have acquired over their break, and unless Santa Clause brought them memory dust and the ability to forget to turn up in the first half of games, I fail to see what other excuse they can make for this. What then is even more frustrating is the performance they put in during the second half – it looks like an entirely different team, and to be fair, Mourinho did say that’s what he wished for after the first half in the Copa tie against Malaga.
This got me to thinking – no not who I would have in my entirely new first 11 for Los Blancos, because lets face it saying ‘Xavi, Iniesta and Messi’ would be like saying Voldermort – you just don’t do it. No I thought about the amount of times a team totally goes missing in the first half, or until they go a goal down or even a man down and then they produce a performance nothing short of fantastic and end up winning the game.
Take Liverpool’s now infamous comeback in Istanbul – it took until they were three goals down for them to show exactly what got them to the final – well bar a ghost goal that is – and they went on to win the game. If they could do that after all the pain of the first half, what stopped them from doing it initially?
It is much the same when people wonder why a team who is down a player look better than they did before – in fact you would never be able to tell they were a player down. Take Manchester City’s spirited attempt at a comeback in the FA cup – they were goals and a captain down, yet looked like they had 12 men and kept running and pressing right until the very end. Much like Blackburn Rovers, who couldn’t buy a win for all the chicken in India (and lets face it Venky’s have a lot!) yet when they were a man down on the weekend, they managed to pull it together and get the three points to lift them out of the bottom three.
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When West Ham were managed by Zola and faced a ten man Arsenal for more than half the game, and still failed to win, Zola lamented the fact that they ‘did not make use of the extra man’ and how often do managers end up saying this – yet perhaps what they should consider is the fact that the team with ten men work even harder, and it can bring the very best out in some players – take Denilson in the aforementioned game – simply phenomenal.
Perhaps it is a mental thing- where players switch off in games they feel are easy and winnable or when they have an extra man and perhaps do not bring everything that they should to the table? This is one explanation, and can offer some reasoning as to why the so called lesser teams can go a goal up – not to mention the fact that they tend to raise their game against a bigger side- and it is entirely possible that the combination of these two factors can mean that a shock result is on the cards.
Players can also be accused of not taking certain games as seriously as they should – goalkeepers and defenders are particularly culpable for this, and often a goal that is conceded is more down to someone switching off than an actual stroke of brilliance by the opposition – something Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes has been guilty of in the past on more than one occasion.
I would put money on the fact that any football fan could name countless occasions where their team has done exactly this – again a possible explanation for cup upsets and dropped points where there should not be.
When such a thing happens, it is up to the managers to unleash the hairdryer in the changing rooms and bring the players to their senses, yet on some occasions it can be too late – and the players only have themselves to blame. Should Real Madrid fail to turn up in the first half of the Clasico on Wednesday, they will find it nigh on impossible to get back into the game – even with the Special One on the sidelines.
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Some of the UK’s finest football gaming talent battled it out in London last night in the latest leg of live qualification for the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC). In the race to be crowned FIWC 12 Champion, 18 contestants from all over the UK were in London’s bustling Oxford Street, with Premier League footballers Jay Bothroyd, Queens Park Rangers and Dickson Etuhu, Fulham FC among the spectators.
The FIWC is the world’s largest online gaming tournament, organised by FIFA in association with Presenting Partners EA SPORTS ™ and PlayStation®. The event gives football fans the chance to live out their passion for football by competing against each other at FIFA ‘12. With over 800,000 players already registered around the world, the FIWC is a fiercely contested tournament, with the FIFA ’12 game boasting Wayne Rooney, Gerard Piqué and Nemanja Vidic among its fans.
Birmingham resident and 2011 Grand Finalist Ty Walton emerged victorious last night, securing his place in May’s Grand Final, where prestigious prizes of an invite to the FIFA Ballon d’Or and a coveted $20,000 prize will go to the eventual World Champion.
In an unusual match-up, Ty Walton’s Real Madrid met Adam Johnson’s Real Madrid in last night’s Final of the UK Qualifiers. Walton, a 2011 Grand Finalist, endured a tough night but claimed his place at the Grand Final after beating Irishman Adam Johnson 2-1 in last night’s final. In a tense affair, Walton took the lead in the 18th minute with a fantastic effort from Cristiano Ronaldo. Walton pulled off a signature move as he bypassed two players in the penalty area with a 360 spin before striking low and hard. The post intervened but Walton made sure by following up on the rebound and putting the ball into the net.
After failing to convert a penalty in the 25th minute, Walton doubled his advantage with a cracking header from Benzema taking a comfortable two goal cushion into the second half. However, Johnson cranked up the pressure in the second half and pulled a goal back in 56th minute. Although this was not enough as Walton held off the fight back and stayed calm under pressure to claim a spot in the 2012 Grand Final.
Walton commented, “I was delighted to be back again challenging for the Qualifier event here in London, so knowing that I’ve secured a place at the Grand Final is a dream come true. My experience at the 2011 Grand Final in Los Angeles was unbelievable so hopefully I can go back and win the tournament outright this year. The competition tonight was really strong as expected but I managed to pull a few tricks out of the bag to clinch a victory in the Final.”
QPR striker Bothroyd said: “The FIWC is a fantastic way for football fans from all walks of life to come together and showcase their FIFA 12 skills. The competition was fierce and the some of the goals scored were incredible, I played against one lad who told me I should stick to my day job! Congratulations to Ty Walton, I’ll be making sure I stay away from him online!”
Dickson Etuhu and Jay Bothroyd attended the UK final of the FIFA Interactive World Cup on EA SPORTS’ FIFA 12, which was won by Ty Walton. Players can still compete online through their PLAYSTATION 3. For more information, visit www.fifa.com/fiwc
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In the job that I’m in it is amazing to see the way supporters see the beautiful game, with many clearly believing that football only started the moment Sky Sports got its mucky paws on it and created this monster that is now the Premier League. The game did exist before and in my view was far better.
Sky certainly gave LIVE coverage the kiss of life it needed, after years of watching the likes of Elton Welsby and Jim Rosenthal attempting (and failing) to add excitement to the proceedings, however somewhere in the next 20yrs they proceeded to destroy the game I love, largely down to the obscene millions that has been pumped into it. It has brought with it greed and ruthlessness within football that has slowly killed the romance and competitiveness for everyone. My biggest gripe however is reserved for the way they have single handily moved the goal posts in football reporting, which has subsequently rubbed off on the whole of the media industry.
The whole Evra/Suarez race row highlighted for me the real change in attitude towards football. All Sky was interested in was a stupid handshake between the players than arguably the biggest domestic game in this country, which seemingly paled into all significance. Kenny Dalglish rightly turned on the grotesque Geoff Shreeves and although the Scot should have reserved his anger for his player, who only fuelled the incident, he made a valid point about the Sky coverage and how it played a huge part in the circus that the incident became throughout the weeks. Let’s be honest Sky now turn a mistimed tackle into a two day event and get referees and ex-players in the studio to discuss it. The scrutiny they show for even the most minor of incidents is obscene and their sensationalism has had a domino affect all round.
While many of you may think I am little old fashioned and think that I should move with the times, I ask the question as to when football stopped being a game? I use to enjoy the reading of Sunday papers after a game, looking at match reports and the detailed analysis of some of Fleet Street’s finest, but all you find now is column inches responding to incidents that have been highlighted and fuelled by Sky the previous day. When did journalists stop practicing their art and jump on this sensationalist bandwagon that is destroying the game? Every weekend we are being subjected to this intense negativity, where the game appears to be an afterthought throughout their coverage.
Unfortunately for me the horse has now well and truly bolted and I am fully aware that the game will not change and we will continue to live in this hyperbolic bubble of Sky’s making. For me it is interesting talking to football supporters who appear to have fallen out of love with the game, who now keep an eye on their team from afar. I was talking to an Arsenal fan who gave up his season ticket for 30years because he was sick and tired of the modern day supporters who fail to see the wood from the trees and buy into the media hype around his football club. A single defeat has suddenly become a media-induced crisis that has spilled over into the stands and unfortunately into the boardrooms of many football clubs, who will perhaps go against their own principles and sack a manager as long as it keeps supporters happy. Many a true word there and a true reflection of the utter circus the once Beautiful Game has become.
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