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.
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has allayed fears that Frank Lampard is facing a lengthy period on the sidelines despite ruling the midfielder out of Saturday's trip to Manchester City.
Lampard will miss his fifth consecutive game for the Blues after undergoing surgery on a hernia problem during the recent international break.
The 32-year-old England international could also miss next week's Champions League encounter with Marseille plus the home game against Arsenal on September 3.
But despite fears over Lampard's long-term fitness, Ancelotti claims the lay-off is designed to ensure the injury does not return in the future.
"He has a weakness on his adductor and we want to strengthen that to avoid a problem when he comes back to play," he explained.
"The surgery was very good. There's no problem there, but his adductor is weak.
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"We want to avoid an injury."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
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.
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.
Patrick Vieira has defended Manchester City amid accusations that they are needlessly stockpiling star players.
Vieira, who arrived at Eastlands in January from Internazionale, has seen City spend an estimated £120million on new players during the summer transfer window.
England international James Milner was the final big-name signing following the earlier arrivals of Aleksandar Kolarov, Jerome Boateng, David Silva and Yaya Toure.
That has led critics to suggest that manager Roberto Mancini will struggle to juggle a squad containing too many high-profile players.
However, Vieira claims every member of the first-team squad will be needed during a gruelling Premier League and Europa League campaign.
"When you look at the Chelsea bench they also have a good team on the sidelines," said Vieira.
"But if you want to go from the start to the end you need everyone, and for everyone to be fully committed.
"Anything can happen in the first few months. Eleven players will start the first few games, but there are so many games to play, in so many competitions.
"The team which starts will not be the team that finishes the season, so everyone has to get focused.
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"It will bring some frustration, because quality players do not like to be on the bench.
"But at a club like City which is ambitious, you have to accept it, and what we can do is put the manager in a difficult position when he picks the eleven who will start."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
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.
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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Listen to the first episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and Toploader’s Dan Hipgrave makes a special appearance!
With only four days until Manchester United kick-off their season with the Charity Shield, the misdemeanours of two of his players will be cause of both frustration and anger for Sir Alex Ferguson. Anderson can count himself lucky that the car crash he was involved in didn’t cause himself further harm; being dragged from a car that then burst into flames is not how you recover from injury. The fact that he was in a two-seater car, with two other people, at 7:30am on his way home from a club will surely get Fergie warming up his hairdryer. Rooney on the other hand, kept things closer to home, being photographed leaving a Manchester club, smoking, appearing to urinate in the street, dancing down the road and singing football chants at 5:30 on Sunday morning. All not great preparation for a title push.
If football players are going to have a night out, and a chance to put their rigorous training to one side, then the summer break is surely the time to do it, but one would think a little earlier in the holiday period might suit all concerned a bit better, not when pre-season is underway. Hardly Ferguson’s favourite player, Anderson was fined £80,000 for returning to Brazil last January without Sir Alex’s permission, and this latest incident will be a real test of his patience with the midfielder. Considering the amount of games that United play, and the competitions that they compete in, Anderson has the potential to play a key role in this season’s campaign, and Ferguson will need to call on the depth of his squad to challenge for trophies. Maybe now is the time for Anderson to start appreciating the position he is in, the club he plays for and the opportunity he has been given. Anderson is a good player, but Ferguson will have no qualms about moving him on and giving his place at United to someone with greater displays of commitment should he continue to frustrate.
For Rooney, considering his almost unparalleled high-profile, incidents such as this have been at a premium – a night with a grandma seems to have taught him a lesson – so there is a chance that Fergie may go easy on him. The World Cup was the first moment in the 24-year-old’s career that he seemed fazed, and that he could be the victim of pressure, although it was pressure of a weight and burden that few will ever experience. Rooney’s performances were of a freakishly high-standard last season, and he will need to go close to replicating that if he is left to compensate for his strike partners in the same way; United fans will hope that Javier Hernandez can help solve this problem.
At the end of last season, Sir Alex Ferguson said that his side would have won the league had it not been for the injuries that they suffered, so there must be a large part of him that thinks the group of players he has are enough to win this year, especially considering the lack of transfer activity his rivals have been involved in (Man City excluded). For this to happen, these incidents cannot. With the money, time and effort invested in these players, the least Ferguson can expect in return is a modicum of restraint and self-control. The problem will probably be a bigger one for Anderson than Rooney. The latter is likely to have another good season, and is clearly a more important player to United’s cause than Anderson, although that is not to say Anderson does not have the potential to show his worth. Anderson’s due date for a return is around late September, and nine months without competitive football will take some hard work and discipline to overcome, not what he has shown this week. Sir Alex Ferguson will do everything within (and slightly beyond) his power to succeed this season, he is right to expect that his players do the same.
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As reported by The Daily Record, Rangers have failed with two bids for Brighton & Hove Albion defender Connor Goldson over the last week.It’s clear that the 25-year-old is wanted by the Ibrox outfit, with defensive reinforcements needed if they are to compete with Celtic for the silverware in Scottish football next season following their double treble.The Light Blues conceded more goals than every other side in the Scottish Premiership’s top six in 2017/18, which was especially disappointing considering they scored more goals than any other team, including the Hoops.If they can sort out that leaky defensive line then it’ll go a long way towards showing improvement under new manager Steven Gerrard.With two bids rejected though, other options must now be considered should an agreement with the Premier League side become impossible.Here are THREE alternative centre-back options that could do a job for Rangers next season…James Collins has played his last game for West Ham United after the expiration of his contract at the London Stadium. Spending ten seasons at the club in two spells, Collins is a favourite with supporters and gave 100% commitment to the club right until the very end, helping them avoid relegation in 2017/18.A 51-cap international with Wales who has played in the Premier League in every season since 2005/06, he would offer Rangers immense experience and leadership, perhaps following in the footsteps of the likes of David Weir and Clint Hill.His average of 9.1 clearances a game in the English top-flight last season was more than any other player in the division, as collated by WhoScored, demonstrating a no nonsense style that could be a big hit in a team that is crying out for defensive ruthlessness.At 34 years of age, he doesn’t have massive long-term potential, but as a problem solver on a season-by-season basis, he could prove be a shrewd signing by Steven Gerrard this summer.Another hugely experienced option available on a free transfer this summer is Aston Villa’s John Terry. After his surprise move to Birmingham from Chelsea last summer, Terry was a massive part of the side that almost clinched promotion from the English Championship in 2017/18, but will not be at the club next season.His departure was announced on Wednesday, with financial reasons stated by the club for not renewing his contract as Villa are under pressure to comply with financial fair play regulations.Terry would of course command high wages should he decide he wants to play somewhere else, but perhaps linking up with his former England teammate Steven Gerrard would prove appealing.The Chelsea legend has achieved pretty much everything in club football and despite now being 37-years-old, he could be another short-term option to come in and forge a way forward for the Rangers defence.If Rangers don’t want to go down the more experienced route and would prefer to bring in a young centre-back with plenty of potential, they could do a lot worse than considering Aberdeen stand-out Scott McKenna for a transfer.The Scotland international has been one of the division’s best over the last year, nominated for the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2017/18.A captain of the Scottish U21s side when not selected for the senior squad, the 21-year-old also hit headlines with his stunner of a strike against Kilmarnock in January, winning the division’s goal of the season award this week.
Having recently signed a new long-term contract at Aberdeen, Rangers may find it difficult to convince the Dons to part with one of their prize assets, but the lure of the Light Blues is strong and there’s no doubting a move to Ibrox could advance the player’s career.
Outside of Celtic, there aren’t many better prospects in Scottish football right now and the Gers should be making an effort to bring the best young Scottish players to the club, building for the future.
Six weeks after taking the reins from Brendan Rodgers, there was a moment that truly announced Jurgen Klopp’s arrival in English football.
While a 3-1 win over a down-and-out Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge showed undoubted promise, Liverpool’s 4-1 mauling of Manchester City at the Eithad Stadium two games later – back when Manuel Pellegrini’s side were the setting the pace in the Premier League and firm favourites for the title – was something truly special.
It was the game in which Klopp’s much-lauded style of play from his Borussia Dortmund days and his enigmatic style of management appeared to truly take effect on a lukewarm Liverpool squad inherited from Rodgers.
Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana combined in attack to a scintillating degree; pressing high to win the ball off City’s shaky defence and marauding to Joe Hart’s goal with irresistibly fluid passing moves.
Liverpool were three goals up within 32 minutes and the performance became a template for what many envisaged from Klopp’s Liverpool – not only energetic, attacking football at ferocious velocity, but also huge results against the Premier League’s top clubs.
That was the prevailing theme from Klopp’s first full season at Anfield as well. Incredibly, Liverpool went the whole campaign without losing a single game to the rest of the big six, averaging two points per match. They became the side most feared by divisional rivals, not least because their style of pressing was the direct antithesis of what the rest of the big six were doing on the most part – focusing their efforts almost entirely on retaining possession and inadvertently allowing themselves to be picked off.
But this season, something has drastically changed; from six encounters thus far, Liverpool have taken just six points off their big six competitors and rather than handing out heavy thrashings like we saw at the Etihad Stadium in November 2015, the Reds have found themselves on the receiving end.
The Etihad Stadium was in fact the scene of their most humbling defeat of the campaign so far – annihilated by City in a 5-0 drubbing – and that was soon followed by a 4-1 loss at Wembley to Tottenham Hotspur. The paradox was once Liverpool’s ability to obliterate those closest to them in the table but come unstuck against the Premier League’s more workaday sides; this time around, the Reds are yet to lose to any side outside of the top six, but have only beaten Arsenal.
Despite this, history suggests Liverpool are still the best-placed side in the league to end City’s unbeaten run when they travel to Anfield this weekend. The Citizens have only claimed one top flight win at Anfield throughout the Premier League era, and lost during their last four consecutive visits. Likewise, Liverpool have only ever lost one league game to a big six rival at home under Klopp’s watch – a 1-0 defeat to Louis van Gaal’s laborious Manchester United back in January 2016.
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Tactically too, Liverpool are one of the few teams capable of playing Pep Guardiola’s side at their own game – something the vast majority of the big six simply haven’t attempted this season, instead opting to park the bus with disappointing results all-round. They have the energy to press as relentlessly as City and the speed on the counter-attack to exploit the space behind their pushed-up backline. Combine the two with the fact City are still relying upon error-prone centre-halves – particularly John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala – and Liverpool appear well-equipped to take something from Sunday’s game, especially while backed by a vibrant Anfield crowd.
“Since Klopp’s arrival the players have always stepped up in the bigger games and mistakes were few and far between. It gave the team a solid base to build from.
“This time around, however, we’ve seen individuals have shockers against Spurs, City and Arsenal. Klopp’s tactics haven’t been that bad when you look at how he’s set his team up. He’s just been let down by certain players.”
Sam McGuire, Football Whispers
And yet, Liverpool’s underwhelming return against the big six this season remains difficult to ignore. Football Whispers’ Sam McGuire believes individual errors have been the biggest problem, something that certainly rings true regarding the reverse fixture in August when Sadio Mane was sent off for a high boot.
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But it feels as if there’s been something more systematic at work than simply players who performed so admirably against top teams last season suddenly falling afoul of personal mistakes. Whether it’s the balance of the starting XI, the way Liverpool approach the match, the personnel involved or the height in which the Reds press, lessons must be learned from this season’s slump against the big six.
The crucial positive for Liverpool though, is that they know they still have the potential to beat their closest rivals – City included.