Good news for Freddy Adu with Benfica agreeing to loan Adu to Portuguese club Belenenses this season. Always found it unfair that Adu has already been tagged with the bust level. The reason he shouldn’t be called a bust is due to the fact he hasn’t been given an opportunity to play since moving over to Europe. It’s seems like every club he joins since moving over to Europe the coach who bought him there has been fired soon afterwards. At the start of the 2007-2008 then Benfica coach Fernando Santos was fired after one game. For the 2008-2009 season Benfica sent Adu out on loan to AS Monaco were soon after head coach Ricardo Gomes was also dismissed. There are few tougher spots in football being a loan player when a new coach takes over. The new coach has very little motivation to use a player who will not be a part of his future plans leaving Adu frozen out again.
Belenenses doesn’t have any profile outside of Portugal but this move should prove useful to Adu. He won’t have to move again as Belenenses like Benfica are a Lisbon based club. Personally I’m happy Adu is staying in Portugal where he should benefit from the playing time ahead into next year’s all important World Cup.
Back in 2006 when rumours of Andriy Shevcheko going to Chelsea heated up again, AC Milan fans were seen crying during the final game of the season begging Shevchenko to stay. Maybe Shevchenko should of listen as I can barely recall another player who has seen his stock drop these last three years. During this time he has gone from being considered one of the best strikers in the world to barely a footnote when his departure to Dynamo Kiev was announced.
This move back to Dynamo Kiev the club he left ten years ago should go better than his previous home coming last year with the forgettable loan spell at A.C Milan. Shevcheko will finally see regular playing time after spending three years as a bit player. Despite having the defending UEFA Cup Champions Shakhtar Donetsk the Ukrainian Premier League isn’t know as a top league. Shevcheko will still have his hands full in the Champions League facing the likes of Barcelona and Inter Milan who will provide top class opposition.
Given everything that has happen this last three years I do marvel how well Andriy Shevcheko has carried himself. It’s not easy going from being the man to becoming an unwanted player. Suffering through those three years no matter how well paid you are must take it’s toll on anyone. Andriy Shevcheko deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the way he has handled himself. It would of been easy and maybe even justify to lash out at Chelsea as he slide down the ladder. Instead he focused on what he could control and did his best not to become a distraction to the team. Sometimes in life things don’t go according to plan and for Andriy Shevcheko sake let’s hope he still has another headline or two left to grab.
Tottenham, Sunderland and Stoke are locked in a three-way battle to sign Portsmouth goalkeeper David James before the transfer deadline. Daily Mirror
Despite Sunderland and Stoke strong start to the season don’t see David James picking either of them over Tottenham. Besides, with the way Stoke are playing why risk it by bringing in a new goalie when Thomas Sørensen has played well.
West Ham have reportedly turned down an offer from Italian side Fiorentina for defender Matthew Upson. Sky Sports
Won’t be the end of the world for Fiorentina as English players are often fish out of water when playing outside of England.
Spurs will offer £8m to capture both James and Pompey midfielder Niko Kranjcar. Daily Mail
Would be insult to injury for Pompey fans if the first thing new ownership does is sell Niko Kranjcar to Tottenham.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is still hopefully of concluding deals to bring Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh and Inter Milan’s former Gunners midfielder Patrick Vieira to the Emirates. Daily Mirror
Maybe Arsenal will get an extra two days to wrap the transfers up like they received when finally signing Arshavin in February.
Stoke are keen on bringing Manchester City winger Martin Petrov to the Britannia Stadium, but could face competition for his signature from Tottenham. Daily Star
With Luka Modric injured it seems Tottenham are linked with every player you could think of. Someone should jump in and rescue Martin Petrov from rotting away this season on the Manchester City bench.
Sunderland are in talks with Hull over a £9m swap deal for defender Michael Turner. The transfer could see Frazier Campbell move in the opposite direction. Daily Mirror
Talk about wearing out your welcome quick if this was the case. Sunderland only signed Campbell back in June. Can’t see Hull taking Campbell back after he has rejected them twice in two years.
Portsmouth are hoping to sign Aston Villa left-back Nicky Shorey. The Sun
With Stephen Warnock coming in, Shorey doesn’t need tea leafs to figure his first team chances will be limited.
Everton’s £6m-move for Atletico Madrid defender Johnny Heitinga is in danger of collapsing over the player’s large wage demands.
Full story: Daily Mirror
I’m surprised it got this far. Everton needs to think what can they offer Heitinga for him to make the switch. Considering life in Spain, Taxes and Champions League football well the answer is going to be cash and lots of it.
Chelsea defender John Terry will become the highest-paid player in the country after agreeing a new £8m-a-year deal with the London club. The Sun
Terry has put pen to paper. I’m sure this was agreed weeks ago when the Terry-Manchester City rumours were heating up by announced today with it being an international week.
- What a difference a week makes for Inter Milan. After one early season gift in their flat performance against Bari they weren’t in the mood to repeat that performance this week. Jose Mourinho up against a rookie head coach in Leonardo who looked powerless to stop his team getting run over by a determined Inter side. This victory should quiet the Italian press for a bit after Inter Milan’s 4-0 trashing of A.C Milan.
- Juve fans also have good reason to be pleased. Not only did Juventus pass a tricky test facing Roma on the road with flying colours. Juventus big summer signings, Brazilians Diego and Felipe Melo scored all three goals in their 3-1 victory against Roma.
- You can tell how the loss of Champions League income has hurt Roma. The club who took Inter down to the wire for the Scudetto two years ago will most likely spending another year fighting to avoid becoming a mid table club.
- Julio Cruz getting used to life after Inter Milan nicely with his two goals to give Lazio the 2-1 victory over Chievo.
- The new Galacticos era started off much in the same vain as the previous one did. Entertaining football on display with lapses of concentration being made at the back leading to Deportivo La Coruna’s two goals. A win is a win however plus it would be useless in the grand scheme of things to play your best game of the season on the first game of the season.
- Currently I’m finding the whole Pepe suspension interesting. What happens if after four games Real Madrid finally get it right at back with Raúl Albiol and Ezequiel Garay? Do they risk it by placing Pepe back in the starting lineup or do they have him sit on the bench and wait his turn? The same also applies to Sergio Ramos who missed yesterday’s game due to injury.
- You’d win good money if you bet Lassana Diarra to be the one who scores the winning goal for Real Madrid. The former Portsmouth player wasn’t on everyone’s lips heading into the game but ended up grabbing the headlines with his winning goal.
- After playing their way into the Champions League Atletico Madrid must of been looking ahead to the bye week. Malaga quickly made Atletico Madrid pay for that mistake, easily beating them 3-0 to start the season.
- The Burger King sponsorship seems to be paying off already for Getafe as they had it their way beating Racing Santander 4-1 on the road.
- Looking back, Bayern Munich defeat against Mainz might be the best thing to happen this season. Cause of this Bayern Munich shelled out the money to buy Arjen Robben who style of play is perfectly suited for Bayern Munich. The Dutch winger should finally find a long term home playing for Dutch manager Louis van Gaal. Already the Robben move is paying dividends as Bayern Munich outclassed defending champions Wolfsburg 3-0.
- How dumb is Aiden McGeady? After Celtic were in an uproar over Eduardo’s dive against them in the Champions League what does he go out and do? That’s right McGeady goes out and takes a dive against Hibs. Move back fired however as McGeady earned his second yellow card of the game and was rightly sent off.
Must admit I find it quite amusing how a fringe player like Wes Brown is recalled to the England squad yet Michael Owen misses out once again.
Below is the England team who will face Slovenia in a friendly and a World Cup qualifier with Croatia at Wembley. A win against Croatia will kill two birds with one stone. One it will atone for England’s defeat in Euro 2008 qualifiers and more importantly it will also clinch a World Cup birth for the Three Lions.
Goalkeepers
Ben Foster (Manchester United), Robert Green (West Ham United), Paul Robinson (Blackburn Rovers)
Defenders
Wayne Bridge (Manchester City) Wes Brown (Manchester United) Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Liverpool) Joleon Lescott (Manchester City) John Terry (Chelsea) [captain], Matthew Upson (West Ham United)
Midfielders
Gareth Barry (Manchester City), David Beckham (LA Galaxy) Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Forwards
Carlton Cole (West Ham United), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
- Not all is lost for Arsenal after losing to Manchester United but it was a sucker punch heading into the international break. Thankfully football is not decided by judges like Boxing/MMA but one could make the claim Arsenal were the better team against Manchester United and lost due to bad luck.
- This is were people will often say Manchester United are the luckiest team in football. Quite frankly it isn’t luck when you can almost count on Manchester United grabbing the win in a tight game. The main difference between Manchester United and Arsenal is the fact even if Manchester United are not at their best they can still pull out a result. Despite all the question marks United have going into the season the swagger of being Champions is still there. For Arsenal to take the next step they will need to overcome adversity when fate hands them a cruel hand.
- Referees often say the home crowd doesn’t effect their decisions. I’m not buying it. While watching the game kept wondering if this game was played at the Emirates stadium would Fletcher tackle on Arshavin be called a penalty and no penalty being given on Almunia block on Rooney?
- If you are an Arsenal fan you must love the fact it seems Andrei Arshavin saves something special for the best games. Last season with his four goal game against Liverpool and yesterday with his goal against Manchester United. Even if Ben Foster should of done better it’s still a top class goal.
- The bloom may be coming off the rose when it comes to Ben Foster being England’s future number one.
- What a week it was for Abou Diaby. First he scores two goals against Portsmouth. As a result Raymond Domenech calls him into the French national side then scores in his own net to decide the Arsenal-Manchester United match. Here I was thinking Lucas Leiva own goal against Aston Villa was awful but Diaby takes the cake. At least Lucas Leiva could claim to be in a crowd of players. On Diaby’s goal no one was even close to him. Peter Crouch would of been proud of that well placed header.
- Well done Arsène Wenger going into the crowd after being sent off by the 4th official. Happy to read Wenger is about to get an FA apology over it as well. Common sense should of prevailed but sometimes common sense is too much to ask for.
- Burnley had their chance to play giant killer yet again but when Martin Paterson slipped his clear chance on goal wide you just had a feeling it was never going to be Burnley’s day. Once Nicolas Anelka tapped in Drogba pass late in the first half it was game over. The only thing worst than battling for the entire first half only to give up a late goal is for that to happen in the second half. Burnley were never able to recover and it wasn’t long into the second half Michael Ballack made it two. Once Ashley Cole made it three, Carlo Ancelotti pulled in the reigns or else the scoreline could of gotten out of hand.
- Speaking of Ashley Cole, he must be watching some of the goals Glen Johnson has been scoring and decided to get in on that action himself.
- It’s not often I agree with Gary Megson on anything but he was right when he said Bolton’s repetition proceeded them. Lucas Leiva clearly was trying to draw the second yellow card on Sean Davis and unfortunately he was granted his wish which turned the game on it’s head. At that point Liverpool were a desperate team making silly mistakes. It seems like Arsenal’s lack of defending set pieces last year has caught on to Liverpool with Bolton’s first goal and when you are trying to get a result it’s stupid to come out for the second half flat and were punished by Tamir Cohen for Bolton’s second goal.
- For 83 minutes Steven Gerrard was having an awful game. Then as he often does for Liverpool saves the day and becomes the hero once again. I’ll say one thing about his goal. Someone should make a video of his goal and use it to teach kids how to strike a ball on the first touch. Simply perfect which left Jussi Jääskeläinen with no chance.
- Considering the mess of a game between West Ham-Milwall this week I’m sure Gianfranco Zola didn’t mind an uneventful 0-0 game against Blackburn who themselves will be happy getting their first point of the season.
- It only took fourteen months but £5.5 million dollar signing Dave Kitson sure picked a great time to score his first goal for Stoke. With Tuncay now in the fold Kitson needed to get that monkey off his back if he was to have any future at Stoke.
- Hull scored three minutes into the first half and Wolves scored one minute into the second half. The rest of the two halves weren’t nothing to write home about.
- On the topic of nothing to write home about we have the first 72 minutes of the Tottenham-Birmingham game. Alex McLeish must of felt good going into this game as it was in his first game in charge for Birmingham a last minute Sebastian Larrson stunner won them the game.
That was 2007
This is 2009 (Fast forward clip to 1:40 mark)
For the second week in a row Aaron Lennon’s winner gives Spurs a perfect start to the season. The way 2009 has started for Tottenham reminds me of the way 2008 started with Liverpool as all the breaks going their way. Harry Redknapp must hate the fact he’ll need to release most of his squad over the international break instead of being able to keep this momentium going.
- Sad to hear the news of Modric breaking his leg against Birmingham. After getting used to the English game last season Modric was well on his way to coming into his own before this injury occured.
- Manchester City start to the season reminds of a highly regarded boxer who fights nothing but bums in his first dozen fights to pad the record. The true test for Manchester City will come September 12 and 20 when they face Arsenal and Manchester United.
- If you are an Everton fan you must feel like a dark cloud has been lifted from their shoulders. After a boring first half followed up by an opening Wigan goal Leighton Baines last minute penalty against his former team might of turned Everton’s season around.
- Fulham reminds me of Sam Allardyce Bolton teams minus the dirty play. They have one game plan and if that is undone like it was against Aston Villa thanks to the early goal they have no answer the rest of the game.
Barcelona’s megabucks signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to impress as the Champions League winners claimed a last-gasp victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup.
Ibrahimovic, who moved from Inter Milan for £40million plus Samuel Eto’o, was completely overshadowed by Lionel Messi, who created the only goal for Pedro Rodriguez in the 115th minute.
Time for me to be honest. Could not stand to watch this game any longer so before extra time went out to enjoy my day. Credit to Shakhtar Donetsk who kept Barcelona off the score sheet for 115 minutes until Messi set up Pedro for what ended up being the deciding goal.
During the game kept thinking one thing. For a part of the world as rich and lavish as Monaco couldn’t they have done something with the pitch beforehand? Despite the heat excuse the pitch was in no shape to host such an event. Congrats to Barcelona who has continued to add another trophy to their already impressive list of achievements in the last twelve months.
A new round of debate regarding diving in football has taken place thanks to Arsenal’s Eduardo swan dive to gift Arsenal a penalty against Celtic. Below is a clip for those who may not of seen it previously.
Did this in the end effect the outcome of the game? You can make the argument however Arsenal were in full control of the contest and it would of taken something special for Celtic to back into the game considering they were already down 2-0 on aggregate. It did however spike the final nail in Celtic’s coffin and cost them a place in the Champions League.
What annoys me about diving in football is not so much the act itself but the hypocrisy most fans have towards it. When fans see an opposing player do it they want to hang the player for treason. When it’s their own player a blind eye is turned or even worst the excuse “well everyone else is doing it comes into play.” For three years I use to get a big kick out of Liverpool fans and even English fans in general blasting Cristiano Ronaldo for diving. They would speak ill towards him then in the next sentence claim English players are tough but honest and would never do such a thing as dive. Then of course Steven Gerrard blows that theory to bits with his antics.
I’m not even going to condemn Steven Gerrard for his blatant dive against Atletico Madrid which cost them a win in the Champions League. Nine out of ten players in that position will try to gain an advantage fair or unfair. That is just the way it is. With football matches being decided by the slimmest of margins players are going to do whatever it takes to gain that edge.
While I approve of UEFA opening up charge against Eduardo which has less to do with a witch hunt and more to do with sending a warning to other teams not to repeat those actions come the group stage. It does not go far enough. Football has always been behind with the times. Considering UEFA and FIFA are sitting on billions of dollars you can’t really blame them but the last progressive change they made was awarding three points for a win instead of two and that occurred ages ago.
The yellow card for diving simply does not go far enough because it’s rarely awarded since referee’s do not like to change the outcome of a match but awarding a yellow card in that spot. This rule needs to be enforced more. Let the referee decide if it’s a penalty or not. Every time a player falls to the floor the player himself and the entire team are ready with arms in air trying to convince the referee to give a penalty. Often convincing the referee to give it. These appeals should be the first thing to go. If a player goes down in the box, then tries to lobby the referee to give the penalty and the referee didn’t feel it was a penalty a yellow card should be awarded for simulation. I know it’s not all so simply and it wouldn’t remove diving completely from the game but if players truly risked taking a yellow card for trying to con a referee into awarding a penalty less of it would happen and players would instead play on and leave the decisions up to the referee even after going down in the box.
With the new rules for Champions League seeding taking effect the bottom clubs will often be from weaker countries as UEFA tries to open up the riches of Champions League football to more result. As a result clubs who would normally take up the 3rd or 4th seeds in a Champions League group now get pushed down to the Europa League Draw. When you get right down to it after the top ten clubs in European football there isn’t much difference between the 11th to 50th best European club so it doesn’t surprise me that many teams won’t be thrilled with this draw.
Group A
Ajax
Anderlecht
Dinamo Zagreb
FC Timisoara
Group B
Valencia
Lille
Slavia Prague
Genoa
Group C
Hamburg
Celtic
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Rapid Vienna
Group D
Sporting Lisbon
Heerenveen
Hertha Berlin
FK Ventspils
Group E
Roma
FC Basel
Fulham
CSKA Sofia
Group F
Panathinaikos
Galatasaray
Dinamo Bucharest
Sturm Graz
Group G
Villarreal
Lazio
Levski Sofia
Red Bull Salzburg
Group H
Steaua Bucharest
Fenerbahce
FC Twente
FC Sheriff
Group I
Benfica
Everton
AEK Athens
BATE Borisov
Group J
Shakhtar Donetsk
Club Brugge
Partizan Belgrade
Toulouse
Group K
PSV Eindhoven
FC Copenhagen
Sparta Prague
CFR Cluj
Group L
Werder Bremen
Austria Vienna
Athletic Bilbao
Nacional
Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is keen to swoop for former Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari from Inter Milan, using Jermaine Jenas as bait to lure the Ghana international. Full story: The Sun
Just because Jose Mourinho pulled Sulley Muntari 30 minutes into Inter’s match with Bari last week cause of Ramadan doesn’t mean he is going to sell him.
Birmingham are tracking Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara as an alternative should their £2.5m move for Sporting Gijon’s Michel fall through. Daily Mail
Always liked O’Hara. Be it starting or coming off the bench a coach knows what he is going to get from O’Hara week in and week out.
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is considering a move for Feyenoord’s Canadian-born Dutch midfielder Jonathan de Guzman, on the recommendation of Chelsea’s sporting director, Frank Arnesen. The Guardian
de Guzman would be cheap considering he’ll be a free agent this summer. Don’t see him playing for Chelsea. A Bundesliga team is the most likely destination should he move.
Meanwhile, Bruce is planning another raid on former club Wigan with a £5m bid for left-back Maynor Figueroa. Daily Mail
Wigan must love the country of Honduras considering the profit they have made from signing players from there.
Middlesbrough have rejected a £6m bid from Everton for centre-back David Wheater. Full story: Daily Mail
Toffees boss David Moyes also wants Atletico Madrid’s Netherlands international defender Johnny Hettinga, as well as Celtic midfielder Scott Brown. Moyes is also keen to take Tottenham midfielder David Bentley on loan. The Times
That £6 million bid is just an opening offer. If Everton are serious about adding Wheater they’ll increase that offer leading up to the transfer deadline. As for Hettinga, no way he turns down Champions League football for Everton. Scott Brown can be had but Everton would need to cut Celtic a big cheque and couldn’t care less what happens to Bentley.
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson is hunting Kosice’s £2m-rated Slovakian striker Jan Novak. The Mirror
Fulham will most likely make a move for another striker Novak or otherwise before the deadline considering Andrew Johnson injury.
Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish has defended his decision to turn down a move for Wilson Palacios in 2007 – even after Spurs paid Wigan £12m for the Honduras international. “I saw Wilson play in a Birmingham Cup game against Banbury and he looked OK, nothing more than that.” (Daily Mail)
Just admit you were wrong and move on from it. This is the same Alex McLeish who took on Mauro Zarate now of Lazio on loan then benched him in their derby match against Aston Villa. That resulted in Villa trashing Birmingham 5-1 which speed their way to Championship football last year.
