Tottenham are unlikely to rekindle their interest in Joao Moutinho in January, according to Andre Villas-Boas.
Spurs worked tirelessly on transfer deadline day to get a £22m deal secured for the Portuguese playmaker, but were thwarted in their efforts after failing to agree a deal with a third party owner of the Porto Player.
Villas-Boas believes that January proves an expensive time to conduct transfer business and also feels that the club are well covered this season:
“We were prepared for missing out on that player.
“We set our sights on that player in the end of the transfer window – we couldn’t conclude the deal but we were ready if that failed.
“It’s not likeable that we go back in January. Generally the market is very difficult and very expensive, and it’s highly unlikely that we will continue to pursue that transfer because by then we will have Parker coming back, and he’s a player that we want to come back as soon as possible.
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“He’s a player who had maximum importance for this club last season and we feel that he can add so much to the squad that we are waiting for the moment when he can come back, so it’s just a question that we have to reassess at that time.” (Sky Sports)
Tottenham travel to the Madjeski Stadium tomorrow afternoon in search of their first win of the season.
Leeds United midfielder Michael Tonge says that joining the Whites on loan has been ‘like a breath of fresh air’.
The 29-year-old joined the west Yorkshire club on a three-month loan from Premier League outfit Stoke City and has played a part in two wins and two defeats for United since joining the club two weeks ago.
Arguably the greatest win for Tonge in his short spell at Leeds was in the Whites’ 2-1 surprise victory over Premier League high-flyers Everton in the third round of the Capital One Cup. Goals from youngster Aidan White and Rodolph Austin have set the Championship side with another top-flight opponent in newly-promoted Southampton.
Tonge admits he was delighted with the performance and application his side showed in the win over the Toffees, “I was very impressed. We made a really good start to the game, played with a high tempo and we maintained this tempo throughout the whole match.”
The central midfielder doesn’t believe that Everton would have been taken aback by the quick start that Leeds made to the game, “I don’t think Everton would have been surprised because we are only in the division below.”
The former Sheffield United man believes that the early goal was key and may be imperative in helping Leeds improve their league position, “Although it’s a win the cup, it just keeps up the winning mentality.”
He admits that the fourth round tie against Southampton will be an exciting but difficult challenge, “It’s another home game which is important. Southampton are a tough team though and it will be a tough game.”
Tonge, who has also enjoyed loan spells at Preston, Derby and Barnsley, says he is really enjoying life at Elland Road, “Coming to Leeds has been like a breath of fresh air. It’s nice to see some familiar faces.”
The Leeds loanee, who played under manager Neil Warnock at Sheffield United, says that being reunited with the Whites boss played a part in him coming to the club, “It played a factor but Leeds is a fantastic club anyway.”
Tonge admitted that playing alongside former Blade Michael Brown in the Leeds midfield has been great, “It’s been nice playing with Brown again, who I thought was fantastic against Everton by the way. He was a real catalyst in the midfield and got in Everton’s faces.”
Tonge also expressed his desire to extend his three-month stay at Elland Road, “I’d love to stay for the season but at the moment I’m just taking it week-by-week.”
El Hadji Diouf, who was perhaps the stand out performer for United in their win on Tuesday night, is another of Neil Warnock’s additions to the squad this season, and Tonge was full of praise for his teammate, “I have been impressed, I think he is relishing the opportunity of playing for a club like Leeds.”
As well as Neil Warnock and Michael Brown, Tonge has also been reunited with the number 18 shirt,a number which the midfielder admits he likes to acquire, “Yes it has always been a lucky number, usually when you join a club on loan there is normally numbers available from 15 upwards. I tried to get the number 18 shirt at my other clubs but unfortunately they have been taken so I have had to settle for 19’s and other numbers.”
In the league, Leeds currently lie in twelfth after an inconsistent start to the campaign. Despite this, Tonge is confident the club can push on and sustain a promotion challenge, “The team spirit is really good. A lot of new players have come in and really gelled. Wins always bring players together. Losing Ross [McCormack] is a big blow, but overall I think our performances have been really good.”
Since joining the club, Tonge has been in a United side that lost at Cardiff and to Hull, and most recently defeated Nottingham Forest.
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Tonge believes that the Hull game in particular could have been very different, “Cardiff was a tough game, they are a good side. Against Hull however we could have been three up and out of sight in the first 15 to 20 minutes if we had just capitalised on our chances.”
The United midfielder believes that the Forest game was crucial, “You don’t want to lose three games on the bounce in the Championship so it was really important. Forest are a good team and we put them under a lot of pressure.”
Tonge is also optimistic about overcoming the challenge of Bristol City on Saturday, who have played above expectations this season, “We need to use the Everton game and use it to our advantage. Derek McCinnes is a good manager and he has turned things around there. We don’t want to be worrying about them though, we need to focus on ourselves and focus on what we can do to hurt them.”
Arsenal are set to sit down with contract rebel Theo Walcott this week to once more try to forge a new deal for the player, Mirror Football report.
The England international is in the last year of his current deal, and has refused an offer of an extension from the north London giants already.
However, with Walcott scoring one of his side’s goals in a 3-1 victory over West Ham at the weekend, Arsene Wenger has revealed that he wants the attacker to stay.
“We are always in touch. He has character Theo. He keeps focused and he wants to show he is 100 per cent professional and I have a big respect for that attitude,” the French coach confessed.
“Theo’s game is based on movement off the ball, timing and finishing. He can play wide, he can play centre.
“Basically it is not so important. He has improved a lot in his finishing. Even if he plays wide or centre he gets in positions where he can score.”
When asked if he felt that Walcott wanted to stay at the Emirates Stadium, Wenger remained positive.
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“I think so. But I cannot tell you what he tells me,” Wenger concluded.
Arsenal’s annual general meeting today generated much debate and talking points to pour over as the club’s hierarchy attempted to justify the sale of star striker Robin van Persie in the summer, the subsequent lack of investment in the squad and the team’s continued struggles out on the pitch, so let’s take a look at what came out of it.
It was clear from the off that the likes of Ivan Gazidis, Peter Hill-Wood and Stan Kroenke were going to be faced with a tough line of questioning, particularly given that the club have slumped to two consecutive defeats against Norwich and Schalke which rendered just two shots on target in total. Satirical leaflets were handed out beforehand aimed at the increasingly unpopular Gazidis and it appears as if the main gripe was the club’s gamble that Uefa was going to uphold Financial Fair Play (FFP) to the letter.
Since work began on the Emirates Stadium back in 2002, it’s become abundantly clear that the club were going to pay in the short-term for long-term sustainable growth and that in order for them to stand on their own two feet and with sound financial footing, that cut-backs were going to have to be made.
Arsenal have spent £250.75m approximately over the past 11 seasons since then and have brought in 273.45m for a net spend of – £22.7m. The cries of the club being predominantly a selling club are certainly true to an extent, but going right back to Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka being sold to Barcelona and Real Madrid between 1999-2001, the same could be said of them, so it’s hardly a trend based solely around the stadium move rather one which has been accelerated by it.
Hill-Wood left himself open to ridicule at the function by absurdly trying to claim that van Persie was sold for footballing reasons, in a re-run of last year’s timid and flawed defence of the Cesc Fabregas sale arguing: “We undertake our transfers for football reasons and not FFP. Money is available to Arsene.” The truth is that van Persie did leave the club for ‘football reasons’, but not the ones which Hill-Wood would state, namely an inability to compete for silverware.
Gazidis backed this up with the following: “Our ambition is all about football – to compete at the very top of the game here and in Europe. To win trophies, it’s important we understand our off-field journey if we want to understand our football future. The club is increasingly well positioned to take advantage of its excellent global reputation. Within the next two years Arsenal will have the financial resources to sit and compete with the biggest clubs in the world.
“I have no doubt we can and will return club to winning trophies and drive it forward to new heights. Financial success is relevant because it supports our football vision, the money we make is made available to our manager and he decides how to invest those funds. Standing together we can make Arsenal one of the leading clubs in the world. We have outperformed that spend every single year for 15 years. An extraordinary record of consistency. We do make the money available for re-investment of the team, but that doesn’t mean in every window we spend everything we have. Manchester City and Chelsea won’t be able to spend forever.”
Of course, the sensible approach that the club is taking requires a long-term viewpoint and in this day and age when fans are increasingly reactionary and knee-jerk, it goes against the grain somewhat. Nevertheless, seven years and counting without a trophy is not a statistic that looks like changing any time in the near future and the most worrying thing is the company line that finishing in the top four in the league is tantamount to a piece of silverware.
Wenger told the AGM: “For me there are five trophies: Premier League, Champions League, the third is to qualify for the Champions League, the fourth is the FA Cup and the fifth in the League Cup. A player does not want to know if you’ve won the League Cup. I know there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction and I can understand but it’s important we don’t go overboard. We hit a wall in the past two games in an unexplainable way, but this team can deliver. I am optimistic. Would like to say every club uses money from its own resources. Our policy will stay the same; to produce 60-80% of our own players. My job is not finances its to deliver a team.”
We all understand the financial implications that missing out on the Champions League can have on a club, particularly one which spends only what it makes, but placing fourth in the league above the FA Cup is distorting what qualifies as success in the extreme. This near constant obsession with planning for the future isn’t healthy and at some point you have to govern your decisions on the here and now. Only Arsenal would consider bringing on an untested 17-year-old to try and turn a game around in Europe at home, as they did last night with Serge Gnabry against Schalke, which in itself highlights a much larger problem.
Wenger made a reasonable point that despite their struggles in recent games, making a mockery of those that tipped them for the title just over a month ago, that the defeat to the German club was their first on home turf in 43 games in the Champions League. They are not quite a fading force just yet and the Frenchman has done well to still make them competitive while others all around them have invested heavily, but they look as if they face an uphill task this term to finish in the top four.
Arsenal fans can often be found ranging from ‘those that indulge the Wenger Out’ hysteria to other that are entrenched FFP idealists and the supporters seem fairly split on several contentious issues. The praise dished out to assistant Steve Bould, which was ridiculously over the top to say the least given the opposition, has dissipated now given that they haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last nine games and while they’ve scored 24 goals in 12 fixtures this season, 12 of those came in just two games against Southampton and Coventry, so there’s clearly some serious work to be done at both end of the pitch.
While the rise in ticket prices were given a deeply condescending answer from the incredibly patronising Hill-Wood and pretty much dodged by Gazidis, as he looked set upon answering an altogether different question rather than actual give a reasoned response as to why Arsenal fans pay on average more than any other club in Europe.
The shtick that the aim is still to win trophies has all been heard before by Arsenal fans but there’s been no real improvement and they count for little more than empty platitudes aimed at staving off the masses for another year. Selling your best players every year is a systemic problem and the root causes simply haven’t been addressed, but the worrying thing is that in public, everyone involved at board level just pretends as if nothing is going on and that it’s business as usual.
For a club the size of Arsenal, merely taking part and being happy to be one of ‘the gang’ so to speak simply isn’t good enough. It was stated that the club are now in the final phase of their stadium process which will see them expand their commercial revenues which coupled with the introduction of FFP should not only see them meet the requirements but get the best out of them, but at the moment that all purely theoretical.
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As with every AGM meeting at Arsenal these past few years, the image that the board portray of the club is completely different from the one the fans know and it’s this crucial disconnect which is most troubling. The club has gone stale and by putting all of their eggs in one basket, Gazidis, Hill-Wood and Wenger are taking one hell of a major gamble, for if it doesn’t come off, there may be no reversing the trends which they have played a part in setting in motion.
Are Arsenal suffering from a lack of ambition? Or should they stick the course? Have your say below.
It hasn’t exactly been a dream start for Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool as he attempts to wake the sleeping giant and return them to the top of English football. The reds mixed results have highlighted Liverpool’s lack of firepower and Rodgers’ need to improve the squad if he wants his side to finish anywhere near the top seven this year.
So who is Rodgers’ top target that is going to turn around the fortunes at Anfield? Is it super strikers Demba Ba and Klaas Jan Huntelaar or flying wingers Theo Walcott and Dries Mertens?
No. In fact Rodgers is setting his priorities on a 3rd choice goalkeeper from the Championship.
Former Swansea goalkeeper and current Wolves number 3 Dorus de Vries is the man that Brendan Rodgers is after in January as he believes the Dutchman could be just as valuable to the squad (link).
Rodgers’ advances in the summer were both turned down by Wolves but now it seems the Liverpool manager is more intent than ever to link up with his former number 1 both at Chelsea and Swansea.
The Dutchman has failed to make an impact between the sticks at Wolves and now with his recent falling out with manager Stale Solbakken he could well be on his way out of Molyneux.
Rodgers will be hoping he can take De Vries to Anfield in January as he sees him as genuine competition for Pepe Reina and he is a goalkeeper that already understands the managers philosophies and style.
De Vries is certainly competent enough to play in the Premier League and is well drilled in acting as a makeshift sweeper, but surely this signing is not the priority for Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool.
The Dutchman may add a little more stability and comfort to Liverpool’s defence when they are on the ball but realistically Liverpool should be sorting out some other areas of the team before the goalkeeping situation. Rodgers should be focusing on finding a new goalscorer or a player that is going to improve the reds options going forward, not trying to sign a goalkeeper that can’t even get a game in the Championship.
The Liverpool manager really needs to improve his record in the transfer market, especially after the Andy Carroll and Clint Dempsey situation, and signing fringe player like Dorus de Vries is only likely to get some Liverpool fans foaming with fury.
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In one way you can see why Rodgers wants to reunite with De Vries as he is a former student and advocate of his style, but surely there are more pressing matters for the Liverpool manager to contend with and he should address those problems first before it is too late.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini claimed that his side’s 3-2 Premier League defeat to Manchester United was undeserved.
The Sky Blues went behind to a last minute Robin van Persie free-kick after fighting back from a 2-0 deficit.
Mancini felt his team’s efforts over the 90 minutes deserved a share of the points:
“For 20 minutes they didn’t touch the ball and the first chance they got, they scored a goal,” The Italian told SkySports after the game.
“We recovered very well and we dominated the second half.
“We wanted to win the game and we had chances.”
Despite the relatively early stage of the season, speculation had been rife in to the build up to the game that the winners would have a clear advantage in the title battle.
The Red Devils moved six points clear of their rivals at the top of the table, but Mancini feels that the fight is far from over:
“We have showed we are a really strong team and we can win this title again. We can’t win always.
“There is a moment when you lose at home and it happened today. But the season is a long one.
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“We won the league with the last touch of the ball last year. But we didn’t deserve to lose this game. We played very well.”
Wayne Rooney struck twice to give United a 2-0 lead, before goals from Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta levelled.
Van Persie provided the winner as his deflected free-kick evaded Joe Hart.
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has expressed his desire to finish his career at the club and is hungry to help bring more silverware to the Etihad, the Guardian reports.
The Ivory Coast international has become a key figure of Roberto Mancini’s set up since joining from Barcelona in the summer of 2010, and has now vowed to see out the remainder of his career with the Premier League champions.
“I would love to end my career here,” said Toure. “Nobody knows what the next step is in football and I believe that if you stop dreaming, you should stop playing football, but this is where I want to be.
The news will be greatly welcomed by City fans who saw the powerful Ivorian play a huge part in the clubs success last season, scoring six goals as well as providing nine assists in the league.
The Sky Blues have had an indifferent start to this season, eliminated from the group stages of the Champions League and now six points off the pace behind leaders Manchester United in the Premier League following their derby defeat last Sunday.
Toure however remains confident that last seasons title win will be the first of many for the Manchester club:
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“We want to make history and that was part of my plan when I first signed – to make history – and we’ve made a start but there is so many more chapters to be written,” he told the club’s website.
City will hope to get back on track in the Premier League this weekend when they visit struggling Newcastle United at St James Park.
Arsene Wenger has urged his Arsenal players to reverse their recent poor form, as they take on Reading.
The Gunners have been out of sorts lately, winning just one of their last four Premier League games.
Last week the Londoners were defeated by League Two outfit Bradford City in the Capital One Cup, and Wenger has called upon his players to bounce back from the disappointment with a positive result against the Royals:
“There has been disappointment and frustration (this week), but that is normal when you go out in a competition like that.” He is quoted by The Metro.
“However, having said that, we can only look at ourselves, get on with it and look for the future.”
Poor results have seen Wenger’s transfer policy called into question, with many fans urging the Frenchman to spend in January.
But, full-back Kieran Gibbs defended his manager, pointing out that his strategy has unearthed a number of stars at the Emirates Stadium:
“He has built a reputation for signing players for a modest fee and turning them into great players.
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“I don’t think many people in England had heard of Thomas Vermaelen before he arrived and yet he became an instant fan favourite.
“The manager has an eye for noticing the potential in promising players.”
Queens Park Rangers and West Ham have both missed out on the chance to sign Nicolas Anelka as he is set to link up with Juventus for the rest of the season according to goal.com.
Juventus have been in constant contact with Anelka’s club Shanghai Shenhua this week and have now come to an agreement to cancel his current contract in order to sign on in Turin.
Anelka will join Fernando Llorente as a new signing at the Old Lady and they still haven’t given up hope of bringing Didier Drogba to the Italy either.
QPR boss Harry Redknapp had admitted that he was a big fan of Anelka’s and with money to spend; many thought his arrival in West London could have been imminent.
West Ham are still on the lookout for a forward who knows where the goal is and Sam Allardyce’s friendship with Anelka seemed to pave a way for the Frenchman to join the Hammers.
Both clubs will now be in the market to add to their strikeforce before the Thursday night deadline.
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It didn’t take long for Liverpool loanee Andy Carroll to remind West Ham United fans what they’d been missing upon his recent return to the side.
Making what was only his first start since November following a knee injury, Carroll marked his return to Sam Allardyce’s team with a trademark-thumping header, in what turned out to be the winner during the Hammers’ 1-0 win over Swansea City.
Yet in doing so, not only did Carroll help end a drastically poor spell of form for his team, he also managed to put away his first goal of the calendar year – which coincidentally saw him double his tally for the Premier League season so far.
To look so sneeringly at Andy Carroll’s scoring record is of course offering an extremely superficial judgment on a season that’s been plagued by disruption and it’s worth noting that when the former Newcastle United man has played in between injuries, the team has generally tended to do quite well.
Sam Allardyce’s side have picked up 17 points in the 12 games that Carroll has featured in since making his loan move from Liverpool during the summer, with three of the five defeats coming against the likes of Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester United. While Carroll might not necessarily have been putting the goals away himself, the team certainly seems to benefit in his presence.
And that feeling of collective worth has generally been the positive theme that’s underwritten Carroll’s time in claret and blue, when he’s not been stuck on the treatment table.
Allardyce’s team don’t play with the sort of archaic one dimension that many would have them down as, although the ex-Bolton manager’s philosophy certainly verges on the pragmatic and Carroll has been the focal point of much that’s been good about West Ham term. He may not be making many personal gains, but his presence and physicality has opened plenty of doors for those around him.
Yet for all the positives that Carroll has brought to this side and for all the benefits that his teammates reap from his place in the starting line up, as a striker, his job first and foremost is to score goals. And he’s not done that consistently for over the best part of two years now.
You have to go back to when the 24-year-old was still wearing a Newcastle shirt for the last time he showed anything resembling a hot-streak in front of goal. His problems at Liverpool have been well documented but the school of thought was that once Carroll was placed within a set-up catered for his needs, the goals might start flowing again.
In Allardyce, Carroll has found a manager not just happy to cater to those needs but seemingly willing to build his side around him. Yet despite his aforementioned injury issues, even when he has been starting games, rarely has Carroll given the impression that he’s a man ready to make any drastic changes to his waning goal scoring record.
With 13 games left of the season to play, there’s adequate time for Carroll to start racking up a steady slew of goals and considering that the big England international was still someway short of match sharpness against Swansea, the fact he’s already netted upon his return to the side bodes well for supporters. But what happens in regards to his future at the end of the season remains somewhat hazy.
Sam Allardyce has made no secret of his desire to make Carroll’s loan spell at the club permanent but although it’s hard to imagine the striker going goalless from now until the end of the season, should he fail to pick up his goalscoring form, the club are going to be left in a difficult situation.
Despite recently acknowledging Carroll’s difficult season both with injury and front of goal, he recently stated his belief that a ‘settled future’ might have the ability to change all that. But with their first-refusal option from Liverpool reported to be just under the £17million mark, investing such a huge outlay on a player that could have been out of goalscoring form for nearly two-and-a-half years come the summer, could be a very big risk indeed.
Given his injury issues this year, you’d imagine there might be room for negotiation within West Ham’s option to buy the striker and Allardyce’s musings that signing the striker would be a ‘long process’ suggests that the club probably isn’t going to pay what still feels like a king’s ransom for the man who once cost £35million.
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For the player himself, too, the prospect of staying at West Ham past this season might not be quite the banker for success that some may think.
The effectiveness of Allardyce’s set-up when Carroll’s in the team isn’t in any doubt, but while it may suit the team as a whole, it might not necessarily be one that bears endless amount of fruit for the man at the centre of it. Carroll’s heading ability helps his teammates out in defence as much as it does to those running on to his knock-ons up front.
Although in a system that sees the England international often isolated high up the pitch on his own, it remains to be seen whether he’s really capable of frequently scoring within this Sam Allardyce-backed team. He’d certainly find a lot more in the way of attacking support up at Newcastle United, but it remains cloudy as to whether a move back to St. James’ Park is realistically feasible for all parties involved.
Either way, both club and player have some very pressing decisions to make come the end of the season. Andy Carroll’s form between now and May could play a big part in where he eventually ends up. But should he make a move to Upton Park stick this summer, you imagine all involved are going to have indulge in a little compromise.