Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney could face FA action after threatening one of his Twitter followers.Rooney, 25, signed up to the social networking site in late April and has already accumulated more than 570,000 followers.
But he did not take kindly to an abusive tweet on Tuesday and suggested a meeting at Manchester United’s training ground.
“I’ll put u asleep within 10 seconds,” Rooney posted, before adding: “hope u turn up if u don’t gonna tell everyone ur scared u little nit. I’ll be waiting.”
Rooney then tried to defuse the situation, tweeting: “Haha bit of banter and people go nuts chill all people.”
The account of the follower who taunted the former Everton player was later deleted.
Rooney could join the likes of West Ham’s Carlton Cole and Liverpool’s Ryan Babel in being fined for inappropriate comments on Twitter this season.
Rooney was recently charged by the Football Association and banned for two matches after he swore into a television camera just after scoring a goal for Manchester United in a 4-2 win at West Ham in April.
Many great footballers have graced the Premier League over the years. Since the league started back in 1992 English football has been revolutionised and the standard of football in this country has been transformed. The Premier League has been renowned for being lit up by many great foreigners who have brought skill and flair to the English game, but there have been plenty of great British players too who have wowed Premier League crowds for many years.
If you had the supreme fantasy football task of picking your Ultimate Premier League XI who would make the grade? You may find that you are selecting a player from any of the Premier League champions over the years including Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and Arsene Wenger’s unbeaten Arsenal team of the late 1990s, or players who have helped carry certain clubs and become cult heroes. From prolific strikers to solid defenders, we are looking to create a team mixing strength with speed, skill with determination. Flick through the FIVE nominees that have been pre-selected and give us your choice in the comments below.
The first jersey that needs filling is the Goalkeeper’s one – click on the shirt below to see those in contention to fill it.
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Select your chosen goalkeeper in the comments below…
Well, there you have it then, the four-year reign of terror of Fabio Capello is at an end, let’s all take to the streets and rejoice, right? This is not an article about Harry Redknapp and the England job, for he is such an overwhelming favourite that his eventual coronation is something of a moot point. No, this is an article that pleads for context amongst the rubbish about Fabio Capello that’s likely to be spouted in the coming days, months and years and his apparent tyrannical tenure as England boss.
Capello appears to have fallen on his sword in protest to seeing his captain, John Terry, stripped of the captaincy by the FA board. He said shortly after his shocking resignation that: “The FA insulted me and undermined my authority.” Not many managers would be content to sit by as a board stripped a player of the captaincy, no matter how odious a fellow he happens to be, and be happy to go on in their employ. A step that essentially left Capello as a lame-duck manager desperately trying to see out the final days of his contract.
The Terry decision is the right one. He cannot go to Euro 2012 as if nothing has happened, whether he is guilty or not, it sends all kinds of mixed signals and wrong messages. He should have either stepped down (something seemingly out of the realms of possibility when dealing with the Lionheart), or been stripped of it earlier on and banned from the squad. Now we are left with the inevitable half-measure of Terry going to the championships anyway, just not as captain. It’s nonsense half-measure that’s left whoever takes over in no-mans land over the issue.
After the debacle of the Steve McClaren years, where England failed, yes, you read that correctly, failed to qualify for Euro 2008, there were calls for more order to be brought to the ranks.
The job eventually went to Fabio Capello, a manager with a truly glittering CV that included seven Serie A titles with the likes of Juventus, AC Milan and Roma, two La Liga titles with Real Madrid and a Champions League triumph with Milan. A world-class manager in every single respect and someone not afraid to crack the whip.
After the McClaren reign, during which he cringeworthingly referred to players by their nicknames in press conferences, Capello was brought in to restore order, professionalise the ranks and exert his influence over an underperforming squad.
But here is where the problem enters – he cracked the whip so hard, that he forgot to involve the media in every step of his decision-making like McClaren did. He barred them from the training ground, rather unreasonably requesting that the players focus on, you know, actually training rather than showing off for the cameras and doing interviews.
He was criticised for telling the delicate souls in the dressing room who was going to be starting just a mere hour before kick-off – a practice that is designed to mentally focus every single player in the squad. A tactic that Capello has used throughout his career to great success and is common place in clubs all over the world. But not here, oh no, not with our brave boys, they need a bit more time to adjust to being told to go out and do their jobs.
This lack of access makes finding interesting copy terribly difficult to come by for most reporters you see, so the majority took to throwing giant rocks at Capello in the manner of a child forced to stay indoors while all his friends were outside playing. And if the England job has taught us one thing in recent years, it’s that much like the captaincy now, it’s essentially as much an ambassadorial role now mixed in with a bit of PR as it is to do with coaching and selecting a team.
To put it into perspective – Capello negotiated England to two successive unbeaten qualifying campaigns with a squad that had failed to qualify for the previous international torunament. He boasts the highest win percentage of any England manager in history at 66% and lost just two competitive games.
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The main criticism levelled at Capello is that he failed to get the best out of a talented England side. For those of you that still believe this current squad to be anything even approaching ‘talented’, you seriously need your head re-examining.
As far as I can work out, he’s being blamed solely for not making a group of overhyped and underperforming players overcome generations worth of poor coaching and technical defaults in a short four-year spell. Shame on you Fabio for not teaching old dogs new tricks in the 20-odd days a year that you get to spend with them.
Capello is regarded as a world-class manager all over the world, everywhere it seems, except here. There has been a clamour for an English manager for quite some time now, with the media agenda carrying a fairly sickening xenophobic tone to it.
Mike Ingham of BBC 5 Live had this to say immediately after the resignation: “Isn’t it symbolic that he made his comments about John Terry in Italian? Looking back, the fans have found it difficult to relate to him and they have been tense and joyless years.” Before going onto offer: “My problem with Capello is that he never embraced our footballing culture.” What exactly is our footballing culture? Mollycoddling semi-talented footballers to the extent that they become excuse-making cry babies. is not a definable culture.
Neil Warnock had this to say: “He brings humour to the dressing room and that has been missing in Fabio’s time and in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s time too.” Whereas the monosyllabic Alan Shearer stated: “England should be managed by an Englishman.”
So instead of getting in the best man for the job regardless of his nationality, according to Mike Ingham,Neil Warnock and Alan Shearer we need a joyful comedian, but an english one. This apparent ‘golden generation’ is a fallacy. No manager in the world would have made England world beaters, they simply aren’t good enough. The playing field had clearly been changed, the media no longer wanted what they once called for in an England manager; all of the qualities Capello brought to the job were now obsolete, he wasn’t playing along after all.
The irony behind all of this, of course, is that if Jose Mourinho were to leave his job tomorrow at Real Madrid and suddenly become available, the clamour for an English manager would surely die down. He’s a headline-helping, quotable manager if ever there was one, and Redknapp would soon find himself out of the running, so save me this whole ‘an english manager for the english’ shtick, it’s just so patently hypocritical.
Capello has brought in a whole raft of young players ranging from Kyle Walker to Jack Wilshere to Joe Hart and made them regulars. If an Englishman had Capello’s record they would lauded for such achievement. But not Fabio, though, oh no, because he’s one of those jonny foreign sorts isn’t he.
In the interests of balance, though, I think that it’s fair to say that Capello has at least made some rather large mistakes. I’ll just list them so as to not appear unbiased – appointing John Terry as captain, leaving Scott Parker at home during WC 2010, starting both Robert Green and David James instead of Joe Hart at WC 2010, the Capello Index, the bundling of a last-ditch attempt to coax Paul Scholes out of international retirement, his handling of David Beckham’s international future, the re-appointment of John Terry as England captain.
He is not faultless, far from it, but he is immensely qualified and most importantly, widely respected in the footballing world, particularly among the players. He commands respect from everyone except journalists, who repugnantly take to creating pressure where there is none, driving wedges where none exist and question his committment, passion and decisions at every turn, always with the added help of hindsight.
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In short, the press wants Redknapp as manager not just because he’s done a good job at Spurs, but just as much because he’s a rent-a-quote who enjoys a great rapport with them. Capello has and will never bow down to playing the media game, and that more than anything appears to have cost him his job.
Somewhat prophetically back in 2007 while Real Madrid manager, Capello offererd two kernels of wisdom most managers worth their salt abide by and two instances why his relationship with the British press and ultimately the England job was always doomed to failure. “I can’t stand the crap that gets talked by everyone: players, fans, the media, club officials,” and “why should I waste my time listening to people who are clearly less intelligent than me?”
Call it arrogance, call it self-serving, but Capello has been undermined at every turn and hounded out of a job that he clearly just didn’t want anymore. Hamstrung by his nationality, brutally undermined and let down on the pitch, it’s reactionary hysteria of the worst kind. He wasn’t perfect, far from it, but the rationale that he’s rubbish simply because he failed to make a rubbish team not as rubbish is both flawed and illogical.
Now it looks as if the media’s choice of England manager, Harry Redknapp, will finally get his chance. They’ve managed to get what they always wanted. After branding McClaren clueless, Keegan tactically inept and Eriksson passionless, England have just let a manager resign who is the antithesis of every single one of these attributes. Good luck Harry, something tells me that you’re going to need it.
It has been reported this week that Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew, is hoping to beat off competition from Tottenham and Liverpool for the signature of Ipswich Town striker Connor Wickham. The Magpies boss is hoping to entice the England under-21 forward with the incentive of regular first-team Premier League football, and apparently retains a healthy sum of Andy Carroll’s £35million transfer fee to spend on new recruits, with attacking solutions the highest priority at St. James’ Park heading in to next season.
Pardew in fact signed the precocious talent for Reading at the age of nine, and has monitored the 18-year old ever since, who, according to his club, requires a bid of at least £10million to encourage the Tractor Boys to sell. His coach, Paul Jewell, appears reluctant to let his prize asset depart Portman Road, but admits that a significant cash injection would be difficult to refuse. “I’m not looking to sell Connor Wickham, and I don’t think Connor Wickham is looking to leave,” he announced, before conceding, “if someone came in with a silly offer, and he wanted to go, we would have to listen to it.”
Wickham has scored eight goals this season, each of them since the end of January following Jewell’s appointment, but whether or not he is ready for Premier League football remains open for debate. At the age of 16, John Bostock made the leap from Championship side Crystal Palace to Tottenham in the Premiership, and three years on is still waiting to make his first league appearance for the Lilywhites. There are several recent examples where fledgling footballers have been deluged with an unreasonable volume of attention and subsequent expectations that they struggle to fulfill. Freddy Adu will forever be mentioned in this context but is just one illustration of many before and since who have induced meteoric hype initially before fading in to obscurity.
We must remind ourselves that football is a billion-pound industry, and young determined talent represents the natural resource which motivates clubs and agents to compete for the best quality. This trade has been chaotic for some time, but clubs now recognize the requirement to identify the most impressive competitors from all corners of the globe to avoid being left behind. These players are made vulnerable by their ambitions and are often tempted by clubs, agents and sponsors with the offers of cars, jobs, money and fame. With the exception of Manchester City, the trend amongst English clubs has shifted from auctioning for particular players to aggressively investing in youth. Of course, competition for the finest young talent has been healthy for some decades, but two important rule changes have intensified this situation recently.
The first adjustment is the implementation of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play system, which will, if successful, force clubs to operate within their means. Expensive transfers will become an extravagant indulgence and an organized and productive academy a necessity. The second is the Premier League’s squad rules which were altered last year and have made an immediate impact on transfer activity in this country. Each club is required to name a 25-player squad of which at least eight must be ‘home-grown’ – defined as players of any nationality who have spent three seasons with an English or Welsh club prior to turning 21 – which means having a resourceful academy will increasingly have a direct influence on a club’s ability to compete in the league.
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“People are waking up to the fact that this is going to have a huge effect on them,” explained Huw Jennings, academy director at Fulham. “Young players in the English system will become even more expensive and we will see an intensification of what is already a competitive market,” he added. The purpose of both these amendments lies in the motivation towards making all football clubs sustainable, and more English teams are beginning to question the value of an increasingly irrational transfer market. “Investment in youth is central to our club as it directly relates to our long-term sustainability,” said Ivan Gazidis, the chief executive of Arsenal, the club who registered as many as 56 players under the age of 21 for the current Premiership campaign.
The Gunners are renowned for their notoriously gifted academy and are perhaps the ideal model for others to imitate. Manchester City have one of the largest and most expensive scouting networks which encompasses each and every continent, and Liverpool have recently hired Damien Comolli as director of football strategy with the express intent to uncover the most exciting global flair. The Frenchman approved the signings of Turkish goalkeeper, Yusuf Mersin, and Swedish striker, Kristoffer Peterson, at the end of last year, and the arrival of both sixteen year-olds is expected to signal the expansion of Liverpool’s academy with a host of foreign imports.
This scenario is only exacerbated by English clubs’ willingness to spend anything for the greatest. When Spurs finalised Bostock’s contract at White Hart Lane, the club were forced by a tribunal to pay £700,000, with additional payments of £1.25million dependent on appearances and a further £200,000 should the midfielder make his full international debut. This isn’t the only transaction of its kind to take place in England since the turn of the century, but when placed against the rules which govern the acquirement of continental youngsters, it is easy to see why English teams are attempting to lure talent from Europe and further afield. An EU player signed up to the age of 17 warrants compensation which is fixed at €90,000 per year of development, or between the ages of twelve and 15. If the buying club waits until the player is 18, then compensation is stabilized at only €10,000 per year, which makes imports from Europe considerably cheaper than signing players domestically.
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Wickham’s future lingers in the balance while his raw abilities remain open to scrutiny. He has shown plenty of early promise, not least for the England under-17 side when he scored the winner against Spain in the European Championship finals last May, but those who watch him regularly feel he still has room for development. His eventual Premier League move is likely to follow an extortionate transfer fee which implies his potential rather than immediate ability, but similar player shifts will become less frequent as the Premier League continues to obliquely guide its managers in the direction of foreign talents.
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The Premier League has had a history of ‘bad boys’, from Tony Adams to Joey Barton, but who makes up the top ten Premier League rogues?
1. Joey Barton
Joey Barton has been one of England’s most controversial footballers in recent years, and the list of his misdemeanours is a long one indeed. When he began his career at Manchester City, he looked like a real talent, but that has gone to waste as his career was derailed by a number of unsavoury incidents. In December 2004 Barton stubbed out a cigar in the eye of Man City youth player James Tandy in a nightclub, for which he was fined six weeks wages. In May 2008 Barton was given a six month prison sentence for assaulting a man and a teenager in the same evening. Barton also assaulted team-mate Ousmane Dabo whilst at Man City, and was given a four month suspended sentence.
2. Tony Adams
Arsenal legend Tony Adams is now a rejuvanated character and is widely respected in the game, but during his playing career he had some serious issues. A one club man, Adams found himself in a battle with alcoholism in the early 90’s, in one incident in 1990 he crashed his car into a wall in Southend, after he was way over the drink-drive limit, and was jailed for four months. After his release Adams still suffered from alcoholism and let off fire extinguishers in a Pizza Hut with Ray Parlour after being taunted by rival fans. Adams has since turned his life around, and set up the Sporting Chance clinic to help other sports people deal with their problems.
3. Marlon King
Marlon King has played for a few player Premier League clubs but he is probably now best known for his 18 month prison sentence. Dating from 1997, King has 14 convictions for a range of different crimes, but his most notorious offence took place in December 2008. King on a night out in Soho, had his advances rejected by a 20 year old student and he was arrested on suspicion of punching her in the face, causing her a broken nose and a split lip. King was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and had his contract cancelled by Wigan. King has since been released but has yet to find a new club.
4. Craig Bellamy
Craig Bellamy is another controversial figure with a host of nefarious incidents in his past. At Newcastle in 2005 Bellamy fell out with then manager Graeme Souness over selection issues and also sent abusive text messages to Alan Shearer, ending his career at St James’. In 2006 Bellamy was cleared of assaulting two women in a Cardiff nightclub, but his reputation was already sinking. In 2007 whilst playing for Liverpool, it was alleged that Bellamy had attacked John Arne Riise with a golf club and both players were fined for the incident. The Welshman is not all bad however, and in 2008 he set up a football academy in Sierra Leone in which he invested a significant amount of his own money.
5. Jermaine Pennant
The former Arsenal and Liverpool winger had looked like a star of the future, but his career stagnated and was also marred by off the field events. Whilst serving a 16 month driving ban for a previous offence, in 2005 Pennant crashed his car into a lamp-post after he had been drinking, he was sentenced to 90 days in jail but was released after 30, though he did have to wear an electronic tag when playing for Birmingham.
Continued on Page TWO
6. Lee Bowyer
Lee Bowyer was a fine player at Leeds United, but his career there was damaged in 2000 when he and Jonathan were alleged to have caused grievous bodily harm to a student. He was cleared and Woodgate was convicted of affray, Bowyer did however agree an out of court settlement of £170,000 with the individual in 2005. Whilst playing for Newcastle, Bowyer and Kieron Dyer had a fight in the middle of the game and had to be separated, ending the formers career with the Magpies.
7. Rio Ferdinand
One of the world’s best centre backs for the past five years, Rio Ferdinand has been no stranger to controversy. Ferdinand became Britain’s most expensive player when he signed for Man Utd in 2002 for a fee of £30 million. In 2003 though, his United career took a turn for the worse as he failed to attend a routine drugs test, and he was banned for eight months, missing Euro 2004. Since his ban, Ferdinand established himself as one of Europe’s top defenders.
8. Ashley Cole
For a number of years Ashley Cole has arguably been the nations most hated player, and this is down to two different factors. The first instance when Cole became unpopular was when he turned down an Arsenal contract of £55,000, saying in his autobiography that it was “taking the piss”, even though it was a weekly wage most of us can only dream of making in a year. Cole was already widely hated by football fans, and when it was revealed he had cheated on the nation’s media darling Cheryl Cole, he became one of the most reviled figures in England.
9. John Terry
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The Chelsea captain was the subject of intense media scrutiny when it was revealed that he had had an affair with Wayne Bridge’s ex wife. At this point John Terry was England captain, but Fabio Capello deemed his misdemeanours as bad enough to justify his removal as captain, and Rio Ferdinand was given the armband in his place.
10. Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney has become the latest England international to be embroiled in a tabloid scandal, with the News of the World alledging that he cheated on wife Colleen on a number of occassions. Rooney was once seen as a loyal family man, yet his latest antics which he has not denied have ruined this image. His form for Manchester United and England has suffered since the World Cup, and he needs to put his personal problems aside before he is able to reach his full potential once again.
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Mark Hughes’ first game as QPR boss ended in misery after Leon Best’s first half goal secured a vital win for Newcastle that moves them unto sixth in the table.
The Republic of Ireland did superbly to control Danny Guthrie’s pass before beating Luke Young to stroke the ball past Paddy Kenny and into the net to score his first goal since September. It proved to be one of the few bright spots in a dour afternoon on Tyneside that saw Yohan Cabaye stretchered off in the mid-way through the first period as the home side struggled to break down a resolute Rangers back four. The visitors weren’t as potent in attack as they were in defence as they nullified the threat of Shola Ameobi, Best and Hatem Ben Arfa with great ease. New boss Hughes will be more concerned with the minimal impact his forward line offered as Jay Bothroyd and Shaun Wright-Phillips squandered the few decent chances his side created. However on the balance of play the win was deserved for Alan Pardew’s side who have now won two in a row in 2012 to move back into contention for a Europa League place.
You wouldn’t have thought the Magpies were battling for a position in the top six on the evidence of their shaky start to the game as Rangers carved a couple of decent opportunities in the first 10 minutes. Heidar Helguson forced Tim Krul into a smart save before Wright-Phillips saw his drive from 18-yards skim the bar with Dutchman beaten. Akos Buszaky then swerved one wide only for a Cabaye’s injury, following a tough challenge from Shaun Derry, providing a period of respite for Newcastle. Ben Arfa came on to replace his French compatriot but QPR immediately picked up where they left off and Bothroyd went close to breaking the deadlock curling a sumptuous effort beyond Krul that clipped the post on it’s way wide. The hosts seemed to wake up after that and Ryan Taylor forced Kenny into a routine stop with a strike from distance as they turned the tide on the Hoops. Their growing dominance was rewarded eight minutes before half time as Taylor burst forward from midfield and somewhat fortuitously found Best who did brilliantly to slip past Young with some quick feet and dispatch the ball past Kenny for his fourth of the season.
Whatever Hughes said at half time seemed to have an effect on his side after the break as Jamie Mackie shot over after seeing his initial effort blocked whilst Bothroyd wasted two more chances to bring the R’s level. The hosts also had chances to extend their lead with the impressive Davide Santon seeing his strike deflected wide following a good run before Jonas Gutierrez tried his luck from distance as Kenny backtracked after losing possession near the right touchline. Best then had the chance to double his tally but couldn’t find a route to goal after latching onto Ben Arfa’s defence splitting pass. It didn’t matter though as Pardew’s men held on to extend their leapfrog Liverpool into sixth and leave Rangers stranded in the relegation zone.
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From a purely attacking point of view, Rooney has proportionally been directly involved in as many goals this season as he was last: last season he played 2,723 minutes in the Premier League, scoring 26 goals and claiming three assists. This season, in 1,950 minutes, he has scored 10 and made 11 assists. To put it another way, he scored or assisted a goal every 93 minutes and 54 seconds last season and every 92 minutes and 52 seconds this. As if to illustrate these statistics, Rooney both assisted Giggs for the first goal tonight and then managed to subtly interchange with Hernandez, turning reciever rather than provider and drill a strong finish past the magnificent Neuer for the second.
Personally I’ve long been a champion of the LRBR (Let Rooney be Rooney) movement, a campaign designed to persuade Sir Alex to play the mercurial merseyside-born maestro in his most natural role.. off the front man as a trequartista, an archetypal number 10 – unrestrained by tactical orders, allowed to stamp his authority on any given match and take the game to the opposition. In fact the manager who first had the foresight to re-deploy Rooney in his favoured role was Fabio Capello, who unconvinced by Rooney’s efforts as a lone frontman decided that in order to get the best out of the englishman, it was best to partner him up with a strong physical number 9 capable of stretching the opposition and holding the ball up, in order to feed Wayne with plenty of possession. The downside to this plan was the fact that the No.9 in this case happened to be the much maligned Emile Heskey, who instead of drawing the attention of opponents, through his mediocrity in front of goal and outside the box, piled even more pressure on Rooney.. it left England’s talisman having to create and be the sole source of goals. A difficult task at the best of times and not helped by having the hopes of an over-expectant and hapless nation on his shoulders.
As for his role at United, during 08/09 he was undoubtedly magnificent up front alone in the big games and was a constant goal threat and nuisance for backlines.. and his injury against Bayern proved telling as to just how much of a pivotal figure he’d become even in an unaccustomed role. So on a purely statistical basis, you’d be hard pressed to argue that Rooney could only become a ‘great’ player by playing in his favoured position.
However what was arguable was that whilst he had become very effective in that role and was a consistent matchwinner, it wasn’t particularly pretty and it felt as if we were restricting him, turning him into a machine.. rather than letting him strut his stuff and display his god given talents to their fullest. Well whilst it was all well and good for Sir Alex to come to this conclusion, the question remained as to whether or not we had a side capable of fielding Rooney in a No. 10 position, there’s no point of catering for a players desires if it is to the detriment of the team and at the end of the day.. United these days especially, are in the results business.
At first Berbatov and Rooney formed a pretty competent partnership up front, capable of wreaking havoc against most Premiership defences, cleverly interchanging and switching positions with the Bulgarian racking up the majority of the goals and Wayne tallying up the assists. Without doing much wrong however, it just seemed to be superceded by the burgeoning partnership of Rooney & Hernandez.. sometimes things just click so well, you just tag along for the ride and let nature take its course.. in many ways this is exactly what Sir Alex has proceeded to do. He has an astute sense of backing the right horse (no pun intended) at the right time, and more importantly.. at his best as a manager, he is ruthless in doing so. Sentiment simply doesn’t come into it and in this particular situation it has been poor Dimitar Berbatov that has born the brunt of Sir Alex’s predatory instincts.
So what is it about these two that makes them mesh so well to the extent that the leading scorer in the Premiership has been left trailing in their wake… well they’re a dangerous concoction of pace/intelligent movement/boundless stamina/lethal finishing/vision/skill/defending from the front/aerial ability/great first touch… in fact reading this all back makes you realise just how lucky us United fans are to possess such a potent striking force seemingly from nowhere. The only weakness this strike-force possesses is that in terms of hold-up play, it perhaps isn’t the best.. neither Rooney nor Hernandez are the best players with their back to goal and having to bring down a long ball, but the style United are employing at the moment negates that weakness at the moment, so they’re looking pretty unstoppable at the moment.
2. Giggs & Carrick
United had 67% of possession to Schalkes 33%, 754 passes compared to Schalkes 386, Carrick managed 112 passes tonight, 98 being successful.
Put simply, Carricks best performances this season have been when he has been partnered with either Anderson or Ryan Giggs in a 4-4-2. In a little spell midway through the season, we were playing some glorious football, a period which included a 7-1 demolition of Blackburn.. the manner of which took the breath away. It was a reminder of what United could do with the right personel and a reminder of how good Carrick can be going forwards as well as producing his customary defensive brilliance. The main factor behind why he was unable to maintain that form was both the loss of Park to the Asian Cup leaving only Nani as our remaining wideman of pace & quality and the loss of Anderson to injury, thus robbing him of a fluid attack minded partner who can take over the creative responsibilities whilst always providing him with an easy passing option under pressure.
Scholes used to be Carrick’s partner of choice, but the ageing legs of the Ginger Maestro and his inability to carry the ball under pressure for sustained periods these days means that under heavy pressure, the midfield duo of Scholes & Carrick is prone to collapse and can be overwhelmed to quite devastating effect. As we saw against City, until Anderson came on.. we were unable to change the momentum once it went against us and Carrick looked half the player he can be.
So with Anderson prone to injury and Scholes not really up to the task in the heavyweight encounters, it was the renaissance man himself Ryan Giggs who has proved the catalyst for getting the best out of a malfunctioning United midfield and a beseiged Michael Carrick. His ability to demand the ball in tight situations and wriggle out of them, to carry the ball forward/ eat up yards, his voracious appetite to get back – perform his fair share of defensive duties and last but not least nip in with goals and creative passes has taken a heck of alot of pressure off Carricks back and allowed to him to return to a much simpler performance template.. that of winning the ball and distributing it effieciently to more attack-minded players within the United set up. Whilst Giggs has had an undoubted impact, credit must also be given to the returning Park & Valencia and the work of Hernandez… all seek to stretch the pitch and provide the space for which Carrick is most grateful, it allows him to carry the ball without pressure and not have his clumsy footwork exposed, whether this can be possible against the likes of Barcelona remains to be seen.. but if it does, expect Carrick to once again rack up a huge number of successful passes.
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3. Rolls Royce Rio & Pedestrian Patrice
How does he do it? He rarely plays in first team training games, let alone feature for United in the premiership and yet he’s capable of just walking into the most high profile matches and keep a clean sheet with the minimum of fuss. Natural talent, pure and simple… sheer unadulterated class, a player that regardless if fully fit would walk into any backline in the world, Club or National. Much fanfare has been associated with his Twitter feed and whilst he’s capable of quite humourous soundbites by footballer standards, its good to know that he can still more than deliver on the football pitch and I for one will miss him greatly if he was ever to cut his career short due to injury.
Now from a case of underplaying and performing brilliantly, to a player who has been overplayed and is performing awfully by his very high standards. Its got to the stage where I just don’t trust him at the back anymore, he tracks back in a meandering fashion and his precision in the tackle, well.. there isn’t any, not at the moment anyway. Apart from his still very crucial ability to carry the ball at left back under pressure and provide a passing option on the overlap, he is contributing very little to the United cause and it is sad to see. Hopefully he recharges his batteries this summer and returns to his best, but one things for sure.. we can’t afford defensive lapses against the likes of Madrid or Barcelona.
4. The Valencia v Nani Debate…
How brilliant has it been to be subjected to two very different types of wingplay, but both equally mesmerising in their distinct ways. The only problem for me has been the fact that it doesn’t really work for them both at the same time.. they both work best on the right and with Park doing the left wing shift.
Its a dilemma only because it is very hard to leave either of them out and the one who particularly suffers is Nani because he is seen as the more versatile player and the one more subject to being shifted around. His best position is for me.. on the right, where he is most unpredictable for opposition full backs, he can whip a cross in or come in and strike off his potent left, he’s also more likely to pass on that flank.. whereas on the left, he is unable to cross as effectively with his left foot and he is more prone to coming off the flank and striking with his right, his general passing game suffers as a result.
5. Opposition MOTM: Manuel Neuer
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As Fergie put it “Best goalkeeping performance against us I’ve ever witnessed” and boy was he right. It was a one man army keeping us at bay tonight, such was the one sided dominance that United had.. 4-0 by half time wouldn’t have flattered us and yet we went in at 0-0. All down to the German in goal… Germany’s answer to Peter Schemichel.
He’s been reknowned for producing these ’ ‘Thou Shalt Not Pass’ sort of performances, and they’re usually a brilliant collection of long range spectaculars followed by a series of One v One Star Jumps and fantastic distribution from his hands. He also seems quite strong on collecting crosses and is very quick to come off his line, the only slight question mark I’d have on him is his feet.. is he as good at kicking and passing as say Van Der Sar. Everything else though.. very impressive, strong mentally and good presence too.
Conclusion:
Overall a fantastic performance, brought about partly by our own brilliance and also just the poor quality of opponent. There are still bigger tests to come, both domestically and in Europe.. we can’t afford to take our eyes of the ball, but there is a feeling of momentum behind us, instead of worrying we need to seize the moment!
Internazionale have confirmed making a formal offer for unsettled Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.
The Argentina captain has told Reds boss Roy Hodgson of his desire to leave Anfield after three and a half seasons and Barcelona were believed to be in pole position to sign him.
However, Inter, who are coached by former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, have submitted an offer which they claim is closer to the Reds' valuation of the player.
Barcelona are believed to have offered just £12million for a player Liverpool value closer to the £25million mark.
Mascherano was left out of the squad for Thursday's Europa League play-off encounter with Trabzonspor in Turkey after Hodgson claimed he was not in the right frame of mind to play.
"I sent an offer to Liverpool by fax on Tuesday and I am waiting for a reply from them," Inter's sporting director Marco Branca told The Sun.
"We're not speaking to the player at the moment because we want to do this in the right way and make sure that Liverpool are happy.
"Everybody knows that Mascherano would like to change team and to change country. He also has a good relationship with our manager Rafa Benitez.
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"We've made a very good offer, around the amount they are asking for.
"We have a strong team here, the best in Europe, but we would like to add one or two players to make us even stronger."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Sam Allardyce is preparing an audacious bid to bring Premier League-bound Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha to Upton Park in January according to The Sun.
The England under 19’s sensational has been touted as one of the best youngsters in the country at the moment and looked set for a move to the top flight in January. However, Allardyce believes he can tempt the winger to stay in London and help the Hammers earn promotion at the first attempt.
Earlier this week, Palace boss Dougie Freedman suggested that Zaha could sign a new deal at Selhurst Park but the £5million rated player could be open to a long term contract at West Ham instead.
Irons boss Allardyce has informed owners David’s Gold and Sullivan that the club need to strengthen in the window if they are to stay on track for promotion after a loss of form and a series of injuries. Wingers Gary O’Neil, Henri Lansbury and Matty Taylor all missed Saturday defeat at Reading and Jack Collison will start a three match ban this week after being sent off at the Madejski.
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The reality of a 46-game season is dawning on Allardyce, therefore a January move for Zaha could be forthcoming.
Blackpool manager Ian Holloway thinks they will have the edge against their upcoming opponents due to the Tangerines’ early season form.Holloway’s men have an impressive record against the sides they face in their battle to remain in the English Premier League, including Saturday’s visitors Wigan, who they beat 4-0 on the opening day.
“Over the last 18 points we have got to fight for, we have already got 13 points from corresponding fixtures earlier in the season,” Holloway said.
“It’s a fantastic division this year – nobody knows who is going to beat who.”
“To stay up would be a major achievement for this football club – and for football in general I believe – someone with a budget of our size can stand up for the man in the street and smash all these big people in the face and say ‘have that’.”
“I believe by the end of this season we could be having the biggest party this place has ever seen.”
“It was fantastic last year when we won promotion and it will be even bigger if we stay up.”
“The fans are as huge a part of this as anybody.”
“They make the atmosphere a delight to come and work in.”
Blackpool have won only one of their last 11 Premier League games as promising early season form has slipped severely.
Holloway slammed referee Lee Mason after he failed to award a penalty in last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at home to Arsenal. It was the latest in a catalogue of seemingly unjust decisions for Blackpool who have had little luck with match officials recently.
“I’m ever so sorry but if the foul on Gary Taylor-Fletcher wasn’t a penalty, (the referee) needs glasses,” Holloway said.
“We need to score more goals than the team we’re playing against – simple as that. At the moment we are not doing that so we will have a go.”
“It would have helped if – having watched it again – the decisions went our way.”
Richard Kingson continues in goal as Matt Gilks remains out with a knee injury.
Defender Chris Basham (broken leg) and forward Billy Clarke (knee) are both on the sidelines.