There Is Only One Sinnacle

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp faces a battle with Liverpool to sign former Arsenal favourite Patrick Vieira from Inter Milan in the January transfer window. Daily Telegraph

Could see why Liverpool would be interested in Ruud van Nistelrooy but can’t see why Liverpool would have any interest in Patrick Vieira and quite frankly can’t see why Vieira would be interested in Liverpool.

The two clubs are also keeping tabs on Atletico Madrid and Uruguay striker Diego Forlan after the former Manchester United man admitted he would like to return to England. Daily Mirror

Liverpool would have to pay Atletico Madrid another cheque like they did for Fernando Torres. Don’t see Liverpool coming up with that kind of cash. Didn’t Jermain Defoe score five last weekend? Why is Tottenham in the market for another striker?

New Portsmouth boss Avram Grant has been promised funds for players in the new year, with the club expecting its transfer ban to be lifted before the January transfer window. The Sun

Don’t know what would be more impressive. Grant taking Chelsea to the Champions League finals or lifting Portsmouth to safety this term?

Defender Brede Hangeland is set to sign a new deal at Fulham, scuppering Arsenal’s hopes of luring the Norwegian to north London. Full story: Daily Mirror

If your happy and you know it clap your hands. CLAP. In Hangeland’s case you also sign a new deal.

Manchester United have concluded a deal for Cardiff’s teenage defender Adam Matthews, who will move to Old Trafford for £5m in the January transfer window. The Sun

Manchester United waited until the summer to try and sign former Cardiff player Aaron Ramsey only to lose him to Arsenal. No chance of United making this mistake if they are interested in Adam Matthews.

Tottenham have tied up a £4m deal to bring Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra to White Hart Lane. Full story: The Sun

Considering Rangers have a for sale sign on every player this wouldn’t shock me.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill is tracking Portugal international Miguel after the right-back fell out with Valencia coach Unai Emery. Full story: The Sun

It’s time to move on Miguel. Don’t think O’Neill and Miguel would become drinking buddies either mind you.

Former Manchester United star Fabien Barthez has sparked uproar in France when it was revealed he charged 70 Euro a minute as Raymond Domenech’s goalkeeping coach. (Daily Star)

Nice work if you can get it by the Ringo Starr of those great French teams.

Gary Neville, the Manchester United club captain, says Liverpool got what they deserved following their Champions League exit. (Various)

Neville is right, woe is me doesn’t get you very far in football. The top two teams rightfully advanced.

The newest MLS franchise the Philadelphia Union held their expansion draft today. Smooth move by MLS to hold it right in the middle of today’s Champions League matches. This couldn’t wait til Friday? Below are the players selected by MLS newest franchise.

MF Andrew Jacobson (D.C. United)
F Alejandro Moreno (Columbus)
D Shavar Thomas (Chivas USA)
GK Brad Knighton (New England)
F Nick Zimmerman (New York)
F Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle)
MF Shea Salinas (San Jose)
MF Stefani Miglioranzi (Los Angeles)
D Dave Myrie (Chicago)
D Jordan Harvey (Colorado)

McGeady: I wouldn’t pay to watch us play

“The fans want to watch good football and, the way we’ve been playing, that’s just not happening,” he said. “They’re entitled to do what they want and, if I was in the same boat, I think I’d be doing the same.

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Credit to McGeady for saying what most fans of Celtic must be thinking even if being honest about it isn’t exactly the best career move. On another note what is happening with McGeady? Two years ago it seemed he was going to bust out on the European scene but these last two years McGeady has yet to take that next step. Some of it can be blamed on the cautious style of football not to mention frosty relationship with previous Celtic coach Gordon Strachan but with Tony Mowbray you would think things would change.

Bayern Munich Coach Louis van Gaal Suspends Luca Toni – Report

The outspoken Italian recently vented his frustration against his manager, telling to Rai TV, “It’s been four months that I have had problems with him. Enough is enough. Our rapport is almost non-existent…”

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Is lashing out to the press the smartest thing to do? Well, no but neither is playing a 4-3-3 which pushes Toni and Klose out wide with Mario Gomez in the middle. Both Toni and Klose are goal poachers so it makes little sense to move them from the penalty area. Louis van Gaal was given a team not suited to his style of play and it’s becoming clear with Bayern Munich play that neither the coach or players are willing to adapt in order to make it work.

Robinho will make his Manchester City return on Saturday. The forward has not featured since August after suffering a stress fracture to his ankle. Full story: Daily Mail

It would be amusing if Robinho came back and Manchester City lost. Knowing Manchester City recent form it will be another draw.

Arsenal will make a £17m summer move for Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor if the 23-year-old has a strong finish to the season.
Full story: Daily Star

Or Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger could instead bid £14m in an attempt to lure 20-year-old Nice striker Loic Remy to the Emirates.
Full story: The Sun

£10 million, that’s the magic number. Any rumour over £10 million can not believe Wenger will make happen.

Nemanja Vidic will leave Manchester United in the summer and head for a club in southern Europe. The 28-year-old defender and his wife Ana have failed to settle in Manchester and will head for sunnier climes. Daily Mail

Even more reason to regret letting Gerald Pique go. Then again rumours of Nemanja Vidic hating life in Manchester is nothing new.

Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik could be a summer arrival at Old Trafford. The 22-year-old has been earmarked as a player who can breathe new life into a Manchester United squad that features several stars in their mid thirties. Daily Telegraph

I’m sold on Marek Hamsik. You want Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Anderson have in common? None of them can score in double digits over an EPL season. Every top team across Europe has midfielders who can score, something Manchester United by and large is missing.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is weighing up a swoop for Honduran striker Melvin Valladeres. The 25-year-old, recommended by Spurs midfielder Wilson Palacios, has been given a two-week trial by the club. The Mirror

Valladeres is already higher on the depth chart than the forgot Giovani dos Santos. Interesting to see his brother Jonathan dos Santos got a run out yesterday for Barcelona against Inter Milan. Hope he’ll learn from his brother’s mistake.

Pompey could chose former Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson and name him in time for Saturday’s game against his father’s team – Manchester United. (Daily Express)

That would be weird but makes some sense as the younger Ferguson left because Peterborough felt he was talking to other clubs.

Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar could come out of international retirement to play in the World Cup for The Netherlands next summer. Van der Sar will only be four months short of his 40th birthday when the tournament starts. The Guardian

I know he came back briefly to help the Dutch at the start of World Cup qualifying but this move would have to cause some resentment in the Dutch camp and we all know the Dutch don’t need many reasons to fight amongst themselves.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been included in Real Madrid’s squad for their Champions League Group C clash with FC Zurich on Wednesday.

Ronaldo has missed Real’s last 10 games with an ankle injury and was also unable to play in Portugal’s World Cup qualifying play-off with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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Smart move by Manuel Pellegrini naming Cristiano Ronaldo to face FC Zurich tomorrow. You don’t want to throw him into the El Clasico match ice cold coming from a two month layoff. It would be unwise to start Ronaldo against FC Zurich but let him make a cameo in the last 10-15 minutes to get some feel for the game back and that should reap benefits heading the all important clash of the titans against Barcelona this weekend.

There is a reason why Barcelona are the defending European Champions and they showed their class again today. Just think without Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic Barcelona were still in a different class compared to Inter Milan. I’ve said this before and I’ll use it again now but when you are a coach of a team this is how your season is going to go. Let’s use a 50 game domestic and Champions League season as an example here. On 10% of those games so five games a club is going to be world beaters and everything is going to click. On the flip side there will be another five games were nothing goes right and are clearly second best. A team’s success is then determine on the other 80% of games where all things are equal. Mourinho won’t be happy about it but today against Barcelona was clearly one of those five games where nothing clicks. Mourinho and his Inter players should quickly forget about this result and focus on their match against Rubin Kazan that will decide their Champions League fate.

Considering how father time has seemingly caught up with Rio Ferdinand wonder if Sir Alex Ferguson regrets selling Gerald Pique?

My other main focus was on Liverpool this afternoon. Before I’ll start with the good. I like Liverpool fans, let’s be honest here going 20 years without winning the league must be tough considering all the success has had previously so you know Liverpool fans are truly devoted without being glory hunters. With that said I’m glad they are out of the Champions League. They started out flat with a previous 1-0 win over Debrecen and were never able to build from there. Congrats to Fiorentina and Lyon for advancing from Group E, both teams were worthy in advancing with Fiorentina beating Liverpool at home and Lyon coming back to earn a last minute win and a draw respectably against Liverpool.

Maybe this is just me but don’t you want to see a non European Giant make the Semi Finals of the Champions League? To a point it’s good seeing the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and A.C Milan in the semi finals but I wouldn’t mind seeing the days were PSV and Porto were able to challenge for the title of being Europe’s best team.

Finally congrats to Arsenal on advancing. Not that there was any doubt but good to get it out of the way before matchday six.

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola insists the club will not be forced to sell striker Carlton Cole in January, despite interest in the £20m-rated player from Manchester United and Liverpool. The Sun

Let’s be honest here. This is the same West ham club which sold Craig Bellamy to the highest bidder last January. If another club offers up £20 million for Carlton Cole they are going to take it. Then the club who bought Cole will have buyers remorse soon after.

Chelsea have dropped out of the running to sign Benfica’s Ángel Di María after balking at the £36m asking price, leaving the way open for the Argentine winger to join Manchester City next summer. Daily Telegraph

Talk about a price increase. A team could of had Angel Di Maria for £10-15 million last summer.

Birmingham’s £4m bid for Standard Liege’s Serbian striker Milan Jovanovic has collapsed, leaving Manchester United, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton to battle it out for his signature. Daily Mirror

Somehow I can’t imagine Manchester United picking up the scraps from a player Birmingham couldn’t close the deal on.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is willing to listen to offers for defender Anton Ferdinand and Spurs are believed to be preparing a £6m bid. (Various)

Coaches will always take a chance on Anton Ferdinand based on potential but so far during his West Ham and Sunderland days he hasn’t lived up to the talent.

Benitez believes Liverpool can produce a miracle

To stay in contention for a last 16 place, Liverpool need to beat Hungarian champions Debrecen in the Puskás Ferenc Stadion and hope Lyon do not lose away to Fiorentina in tomorrow’s other Group E match.

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Don’t get me wrong what else is Rafa Benitez going to say heading into their match against Debrecen? I’ll wish Rafa the best of luck tomorrow but here are some other mythical things Rafa believes in.

Santa Claus

Tooth Fairy

and Liverpool’s title chances

Amr Zaki courts controversy over Portsmouth rejection

Amr Zaki has astonishingly claimed that he will not consider signing for Portsmouth on the grounds that they employ two Israelis – Tal Ben Haim and Avram Grant – as well as an Algerian in the form of Nadir Belhadj.

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Steve Bruce all but suggested Amr Zaki was a mental midget during his time at Wigan but this comment has all but confirmed it.

It’s one level of dumb to reject Portsmouth because of Ben Haim, Grant and Belhadj. It’s a whole new level of dumb to admit this publicity. Zaki might as well enjoy his career playing in the middle east because any European club would be foolish to bring Zaki into the fold. Football is about bringing a group of men (or women) together and making 11 stronger than one. Zaki has proven with his misguided comments that he is all about himself.