Will be watching the Real Madrid/Zenit and Manchester United/Aalborg game while keeping an eye on the Arsenal/Porto match up. Do feel that Porto won’t be leaving London with any points sadly. While all that is going on I’ll be online posting on a message board that I spend time on. So if you wish to shoot the sh*t while watching today’s game go to the links section, sign up, start posting and share your thoughts on today’s games.
Fiorentina: Mutu Not Joining Roma
Fiorentina have released a statement in which they rubbish reports in today’s press that Adrian Mutu is set to join Roma next summer.
You will hear me say this plenty of times over the next couple of months but it would be foolish to take stock of a teams summer transfer plans so early in the season. Mutu could of joined Roma in the summer but decided to stay. Fiorentina would only actively look to sell Mutu next summer if they don’t qualify for a European place to recoup the monetary loss.
Zenit St Petersburg coach Advocaat fancies Spanish Liga job
Zenit St Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat admits he has ambitions of working in Spain.
After being lost in the football wilderness the last couple of years Advocaat has seen his stock improve dramatically leading Zenit to the UEFA Cup last year.
AC Milan’s Flamini frustrated over bench role
AC Milan midfielder Mathieu Flamini admits he was disappointed not to start Sunday’s derby win over Inter.
Quite frankly want did Flamini except signing on with a team loaded for defensive midfielders such as Gattuso, Pirlo, and Ambrosini?
Everton will make another move for Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone in the January transfer window. (The Sun)
Yes, Sinnacle is leading today’s EPL Gossip with a Tom Huddlestone rumor which I’m sure sparked everyone’s interest out there. With the glut of midfielder players currently at Tottenham, Huddlestone often finds himself on the outside looking in come game day. A move to Everton wouldn’t be the worse move Huddlestone can make and Everton need to do something in the next transfer window to make up for their poor showing in the previous transfer window.
Chelsea have signed 12-year-old French schoolboy Jeremy Boga – dubbed “the new Zinedine Zidane”. After weeks of talks with the boy’s parents, Chelsea have reached an agreement for the midfield prodigy to join them when he turns 16. (The Sun)
I do give Arsene Wenger flack for this but really it’s an issue that every top European team exploits. I wonder how many players will be dubbed “the new Zinedine Zidane” before the next Zidane becomes a reality if even possible. For example every young attacking midfielder from Argentina has been dubbed “the next Maradona” with only a handful even coming close to living up to the comparison.
Middlesbrough have stepped up their effort to sign Belgium midfielder Steven Defour, 20, who captained Standard Liege to last season’s title and was Belgian Footballer of the Year. (Daily Star)
Middlesbrough don’t many many moves in the transfer market but the players they have considered all have the right quality. Be with Afonso Alves or Didier Digard who ended up joining Boro or Michael Bradley who they missed out on.
Former Spurs boss Terry Venables has blamed former striker Dimitar Berbatov for Tottenham’s disastrous start to the season. (The Sun)
With this logic it doesn’t shock me that Venables is out of a job. Tottenham should of sold Berbatov before he become a distraction instead of waiting until the last possible minute to finally agree to let him go which the entire world knew they would be doing. Tottenham have many problems, laying the blame on one player doesn’t go to the root of the problem. Besides if Berbatov was the problem surely Spurs play would of improved once the dark cloud that was Berbatov was removed.
Tottenham are in an even bigger hole than Derby were this time last season. The Rams had four of their eventual total of 11 points after six games, while Spurs have so far mustered just two. (The Sun)
Answer to a future trivia question. Who did Derby record they only league victory against last year? You’d be correct if you said Newcastle. In fact Derby got four out of a possible six points from Newcastle last year. Sorry Newcastle fans it would of felt weird if I didn’t spend a day talking about your team.
Escalettes Is A Coward, Blasts Zidane
Zinedine Zidane is the latest former French international to criticise the reign of Jean-Pierre Escalettes as president of the FFF, branding him a coward for maintaining Raymond Domenech at the mof the national side…
Always enjoyed hearing the rumours of Zidane come the knock out rounds of the 2006 World Cup casting Domenech aside and taking over guiding that French side. Speaking of France it may be along time before their back to back World Cup and European Champions double will be repeated.
Belusconi Hails Ronaldinho Birthday Gift
Milan patron Silvio Berlusconi has hailed Ronaldinho after the Brazilian scored the winner in last night’s Derby della Madonnina.
No one in the Italian media is going to care about Ronaldinho partying this week after his goal against Inter on Sunday.
Juninho Boost For Lyon
Olympique Lyon have received a boost ahead of their forthcoming Champions League clash with Bayern Munich as influential midfielder Juninho has returned to training…
Can watch Juninho and Shunsuke Nakamura strike a free kick all day. While getting up there in years Juninho has been a key reason behind Lyon dominance in France.
Super-agent Pini Zahavi is in talks with an unnamed Asian billionaire about a takeover of Tottenham. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has previously said he would listen to offers and values the club at about £400m. (Daily Express)
At that price one would be foolish to purchase Tottenham. This team is a mess which means money will have to be poured in to purchase new players and sell some players for a loss. While the reality of it may be slim if Tottenham were to be sent down there value would also crash.
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish could make a surprise move for Tottenham’s Egyptian midfielder Hossam Ghaly. (Daily Mail)
It’s a surprise that anyone is even interested in Hossam Ghaly.
Bolton will receive an apology from referee Rob Styles for his decision to award a penalty against them at Old Trafford on Saturday. (Daily Mail)
Somehow I don’t think that will make Bolton feel any better.
Manchester United legend Eric Cantona says he fears for the future of the club after current boss Sir Alex Ferguson retires. “The philosophy of the club will never change while he is at the club,” said Cantona. “After he leaves… that’s what makes me worry.” (The Sun)
I wouldn’t want for replace Sir Alex Ferguson. Those shoes are just too big to fill. Whoever takes over is just doomed for failure.
Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies has championed the England credentials of club colleague Ashley Young. “I am sure he is good enough for an England call,” he said after the winger helped Villa beat Sunderland 2-1 on Saturday. (Various)
Maybe it would carry some more weight if it was someone else other than Curtis Davies. He is right however Ashley Young is good enough to play for England.
- Carlo Ancelotti still has a few tricks up his sleeves. His A.C Milan beat Jose Mourinho Inter squad at their own game on Sunday. Despite being in 4th place Inter can’t feel too bad considering they are still ahead of A.C Milan, Roma and Juventus.
- Mauro Zárate with a two goal performance over the weekend against Torino. Every time I think of Zarate I wonder why in the world didn’t Alex McLeish play Zarate more down the stretch when Birmingham were fighting for their premiership lives last year.
- One day Manchester United will regret selling Giuseppe Rossi to Villarreal. Instead of spending 30 million euros on Dimitar Berbatov they could of had a talented home grown option in that spot.
- Still early but the big boys in Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid may have something to worry about with Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla, and Atlético Madrid all within striking distance of the top spots.
- Things not exactly going as planned for Jurgen Klinsmann and Bayern Munich. Following up the 5-2 defeat last to Werder Bremen with a 1-0 lost to Hannover isn’t a reassuring sign.
- So much for my prediction of Hull finishing bottom of the table this season.
- Any more games like that and there goes my prediction that Arsenal will finish the season in first as well.
- Arsenal can have no excuse with Saturday’s result. All the credit in the world should go out to Phil Brown and his Hull players. Instead of doing what so many teams continue to do and that is play 10 man behind the ball hoping for a draw Hull played with three up front and took the game to Arsenal. The Arsenal defenders didn’t close off Geovanni and he made them pay with a wonder strike. Daniel Cousin winning goal came as a result of a perfectly executed set play. Cousin header to the top corner was top notch. Even after Hull took the lead they still tied to pass the ball around keeping Arsenal at bay. Yes, the gunners had there chances with Carlos Vela not able to react when the ball was right in front of him and Robin van Persie rocketed a shot that narrowly missed.
- Which brings me to Arsene Wenger. Unless Arsenal can win with style they can’t win. I’ll take a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson who if they team can’t win pretty will go to plan B and somehow find a way to win even if it is ugly. More on United later. Every year I hear about the great future Arsenal has in front of them. It’s one thing to win 6-0 in the Carling cup midweek, like the loopsided
defeat they handed to Slavia Prague last year beating them 7-0 in the Champions League. At some point the future has to be now for Arsenal. I’m not impressed with early season beatings of smaller clubs. I will be impressed when Arsenal manages to win 1-0 in a hard fought match late in the season. That’s the type of result that has been missing for the last three years.
- Everyone could see that wasn’t a penalty on Ronaldo and while Bolton can feel hard done by Manchester United were the better team and deserved the three points. As suppose to Hull City Gary Megson sent Bolton out there to play in a defensive shell and hope that Manchester United don’t score. What type of message does that send to your players? It pretty much says I have no faith in your talents and that your a second rate team. Not exactly an attitude that will inspire his players.
- Great win by Liverpool this weekend. No one will say a word about Robbie Keane’s lack of goals when Torres is scoring and Liverpool is winning. Good to see Rafa Benitez do away with his rotation policy of last year.
- It was highly unlikely that Stoke City were going to grab points in back to back games against two of the big four and Chelsea made sure of it. 2-0 result was pretty much how most had drawn it up.
- Wigan has come along way in one short year. A year ago this time Wigan were a team going no where under Chris Hutchings and after their 2-1 victory over Manchester City Steve Bruce has this team going places.
- Going to be another long year for Tottenham and Newcastle fans. Still amuses me that Joe Kinnear was given an 8 week contact to coach this team but Newcastle ownership didn’t realize that Joe Kinnear still had a two match ban to serve from back in 2004.
Villa: I Want To Win The League With Valencia
Over the past few years David Villa has come to be regarded as one of the top strikers in Europe and now the Valencia hitman says he has his eyes on a league title with Los Che…
With a win this afternoon against a tough Deportivo La Coruña team Valencia could find themselves in top spot. While early it happens Valencia are moving on from a season to forget in 2007-2008.
Serie A: Juve held by struggling Sampdoria
ROME, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Juventus dropped points in Serie A for the second game in succession when they were shut out in a dull 0-0 draw at winless Sampdoria on Saturday.
Instead of focusing on Jose Mourinho this week Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri should of game planned more for a Sampdoria side that was there for the taking.
Moratti Reveals Hamsik Regret
Inter president has revealed his regret over not signing Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik when he had the chance to.
One of these years Napoli is going to earn a healthy profit from the sale of Hamsik considering the 5.5 million euro price they paid for him.
Manchester City and Manchester United will go head-to-head for the £80m signature of Lyon striker Karim Benzema in January. (News of the World)
British newspapers are a funny thing. Last year Lyon president dismissed any transfer inquiries for Benzema by slapping a 100 million euro price tag. Now both Manchester teams are supposedly racing to sign him. Lyon is not a team that will be selling any of their top players mid season.
Arsenal will see off Chelsea’s interest in their teenage star Jack Wilshere by offering him a professional deal worth £15,000 a week – 200 times his current wage – when he turns 17, on New Year’s Day. (News of the World)
This shocks me as currently Wilshere is making 75 pounds a week. Bet Wilshere can’t wait for 2009.
But if Tottenham’s sporting director Damien Comolli doesn’t rejuvenate his transfer policy, he will lose his job, following a £100m spending spree which has left Spurs at the bottom of the Premier League. (Mail on Sunday)
Shocked that Comolli still has his job. He was the main man behind Martin Jol firing last year. With Jol gone Comolli should be the next one who has to answer for Tottenham’s poor start.
Daniel Agger is refusing to commit to a new deal at Liverpool until manager Rafa Benitez confirms whether the Dane has a first-team future at the club. (News of the World)
Victim of the numbers game currently as Liverpool are doing just fine with Jamie Carragher and Martin Škrtel playing well at the back.
Alan Shearer has rubbished claims by Joe Kinnear that he will join up with Kevin Keegan once new owners take over. (Mail on Sunday)
Alan Shearer is no fool and it would be foolish to come anywhere near Newcastle at this point.
Steve Bruce admits that he and Mark Hughes, former team-mates at Manchester United, are not friends and have not spoken for years. (Various)
Guess these two won’t be having a post match glass of wine together after today’s game.