There Is Only One Sinnacle

Jose is back with the final word of the transfer window.

David Beckham will get the chance to win a record-equalling 108th cap for England – while Carlton Cole and Phil Jagielka could get their first after being named in the squad to face Spain in Seville next week.

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Wonder how quickly Joe Hart is going to phone his agent telling him to find his way out of Manchester City. Being close to becoming England’s number 1, Hart would have no chance of that spot playing second fiddle to Shay Given.

Goalkeepers: Green (West Ham), Hart (Man City), James (Portsmouth).

Defenders: Bridge (Man City), A Cole (Chelsea), R Ferdinand (Man Utd), Jagielka (Everton), G Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Upson (West Ham), L Young (Villa).

Midfielders: Beckham (LA Galaxy), Barry (Villa), Carrick (Man Utd), Downing (Middlesbrough), Lampard (Chelsea), Milner (Villa), Wright-Phillips (Man City), A Young (Villa).

Forwards: Agbonlahor (Villa), C Cole (West Ham), Crouch (Portsmouth), Heskey (Villa).

Maybe I’m going through the Winter blahs but for the time being I’m going to update this website Monday-Friday for a couple of weeks at least. A couple of reasons why. A) Don’t suffer burn out juggling this site and life. B) Most of you don’t visit this site on the weekend (which is fine by me, I know my work drops off on the weekend)

Nicolas Anelka has delivered a scathing assessment of Chelsea’s title chances, saying his team are not good enough to overcome the Premier League’s big guns. (Various)

Anelka is right but he is still dumb to say such a thing out loud. Considering Avram Grant played Anelka out of position last year, I don’t see why he has taken these digs lately against Scolari who has played him week in and week out.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has warned young English footballers that they are in danger of being squeezed out of the game unless they match the hunger shown by African players. (Times)

Aren’t young English players already been squeezed out of the game?

Portsmouth midfielder Sean Davis has begged Portsmouth not to sack manager Tony Adams. (Sun)

And Adams is ignoring newspaper speculation surrounding his future and insists he has no indication Pompey want to fire him. (Daily Telegraph)

When a coach has to answer questions about his future every day it clearly means the club is thinking about sacking him.

Keane, who has returned to Tottenham, says he would give away his medal if Liverpool won the Premier League. (Sun)

Don’t think Keane has to worry too much regarding what to do with that medal.

Danish defender Daniel Agger has committed his future to Liverpool by signing a new contract worth around £70,000 a week. (Sun)

Agger is a good player but 70k a week is pretty rich for a 3rd central defender.

Liverpool Missed Ricardo Quaresma Opportunity – Ex-Red Steve McManaman

Former Liverpool star ‘Macca’ wants wingers at Anfield, and rues Quaresma moving to Chelsea…

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Will always contend that Liverpool missed the boat by not signing Simao first off. For crying out loud what else did he have to prove to them? The player single handily knocked out Liverpool from the Champions League in 2006, a year after they won the crown. The same could of been said about Quaresma who could of given Liverpool a short term jolt for a team in desperate need of one.

Roberto Mancini Could Take Over At Napoli Next Season – Report

Azzurri boss Edy Reja looks set to take up an executive position at the end of the campaign, and President De Laurentiis has set his sights on replacing him with Mancini.

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The only way Mancini would consider going to Napoli which quite frankly is a step back from Inter Milan would be if De Laurentiis opens up the vault. Taking into account Napoli’s rise from Serie B to the top half in Serie A it wouldn’t be out of the question for De Laurentiis to pour even more money into the team.

Queiroz calls on Manchester United pair

Manchester United pair Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani have both been named by Carlos Queiroz in his Portugal squad to face Finland in a friendly next Wednesday.

Portugal squad:

Goalkeepers: Daniel Fernandes (Bochum), Eduardo Carvalho (Braga).

Defenders: Bruno Alves (Porto), Goncalo Brandao (Siena), Pepe (Real Madrid), Rolando (Porto), Miguel (Valencia), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea).

Midfielders: Deco (Chelsea), Joao Moutinho (Sporting), Maniche (Atletico Madrid), Raul Meireles (Porto), Duda (Malaga), Tiago (Juventus), Eliseu (Malaga).

Forwards: Danny (FC Zenit), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Nani (Manchester United), Orlando Sa (Braga), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).

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Mark my words Portugal will win 3-0 when it doesn’t matter against Finland and tense up when World Cup qualifiers start up again next month. Orlando Sa you are my next great hope for even a half decent Portuguese striker.

Portsmouth manager Tony Adams says he will not quit the club, despite facing a barrage of criticism from fans after the 3-1 defeat by Fulham. (Various)

Another loss or two by Portsmouth and Tony Adams may not have a choice when it comes to leaving Portsmouth.

However, former Charlton and West Ham manager Alan Curbishley has been lined up to replace Adams, with ex-Chelsea manager Avram Grant also in the frame. (Daily Express)

You could make the case that Curbishley should of been hired all along. When you need a manager to finish comfortably mid table year after year Alan Curbishley is your guy with his stints at Charlton and West Ham. Grant will always be linked due to being Harry Redknapp’s assistant two years ago but it’s unlikely he’ll decide to start his coaching career again with Portsmouth.

Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has lifted the lid on the power struggle at Anfield and admitted the club’s American owners and manager Rafael Benitez are involved in a “tug of war”. (The Sun)

I’ve often repeated Rafael Benitez is a smart man. He plays the politics game well. When Liverpool where going well not a sound was spoken regarding Hicks and Gillett. Now that they are losing let’s start name dropping Hicks and Gillett since it must be their fault.

Wigan signing Charles N’Zogbia has hit out at former club Newcastle and believes they should sack manager Joe Kinnear as they need someone who can control the club properly. (Various)

No matter the coach, Newcastle is in a better spot without N’Zogbia who clearly wore out his welcome.

England manager Fabio Capello has hinted that he will hand midfielder David Beckham the chance to equal Bobby Moore’s record of 108 caps in the friendly against Spain. (Various)

David Beckham or David Bentley for England? Not exactly a tough call there.

It’s not official that David Beckham’s Galaxy days are over. Despite that let me be the first to write the obituary on David Beckham’s MLS career. In life sometimes things occur simply due to good timing. Going back to late 2006, David Beckham was riding the bench at Real Madrid, who haven’t won a cup in his four years there. Add to that fact England coach at the time Steve Mclaren dropped Beckham from his England squads. With his top level career to go along with his International career seemingly over Beckham felt the time was right to take on soccer in the United States. Had he be winning titles in Real Madrid and still playing for England would Beckham gone to Los Angeles? It appears doubtful looking back now.

Will the David Beckham era in American be considered a success or failure? Looking back you can make a valid argument for each. Simply boils down to if your a glass half full or glass half empty type of person. The amount of publicly and awareness Beckham created could never be seen as a bad thing. At least people are aware of MLS as a sporting league now. The jersey sales didn’t hurt anyone’s bottom line either. Right from the get go however things didn’t go according to plan. Beckham’s ankle injury which water down the hype he was receiving coming into the league hurt since you only get one chance to make a first impression. David Beckham to Edson Budle doesn’t sound too appealing consider Beckham had been feeding crosses to the likes of Owen, Van Nistelrooy, Raul during the previous 10 years. The Galaxy just weren’t a good team, having two good players and 9 average ones will only take you so far. When you are not playing for a good team nor is that team showing any signs of improvement it wears on you considering Beckham has precious few years left in him at the highest level.

While people are not going to blame Beckham for leaving what appears to be a sinking ship in Los Angeles some credit should be given to A.C Milan. Coming from the mess that is Los Angeles to a first class organization like Milan is a night and day different. Look at how they respect Paolo Maldini after all these years. In a time where age is considered a bad thing and your usefully to many teams runs out once you turn 30, A.C Milan relies on experience to help them succeed. Beckham at this stage of his career is in the perfect team and in the perfect league to suit his skills. Something that could never be said regarding his time in Los Angeles.

Nothing of note regarding any EPL Gossip so skipping it for the day.

Inter President Massimo Moratti: Quaresma Is “Not A Flop”

The Internazionale president believes that it will be a case of third time lucky for Ricardo Quaresma…

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Deep down I’m sure Moratti wouldn’t mind if Quaresma succeed at Chelsea which would make it easier to sell him come the summer. The better Quaresma the easier it would be recouping the 18 million Inter Milan paid Porto.

Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o Wants To Finish Career At Mallorca

Samu has reiterated his desire to return to his former club before he hangs up his boots.

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With his brother currently on the books at Real Mallorca I’m sure Eto’o would be interested in one day winding down his career there. Much like Carlos Tevez and his desired to play for River Plate it will be interesting to see if either player returns to the teams who launched their career.

City’s Richards arrested over nightclub assault

England and Manchester City footballer Micah Richards has been arrested over an alleged assault outside a nightclub.

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Hasn’t been a year to remember for Micah Richards who will now fall further down the pecking order when Fabio Capello picks his next England squad.

Beckham admits he wants to swap LA for Milan

After weeks of speculation David Beckham has finally admitted what many football fans across the globe already suspected: he wants to cut short his time in the MLS with Los Angeles Galaxy and move permanently to Italy’s Serie A and European giants AC Milan.

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Only a matter of time before my David Beckham Galaxy jersey becomes outdated.