All posts by h79snht.top

The race for third place is hotting up and Arsenal face a real fight to hang on to their dreams of automatic qualification to next seasons Champions League. A 0-0 draw last week opened the door for the resurgent Magpies to close the gap and they’re now breathing down the Gunners’ neck. One potential factor that could hamper their hopes of fulfilling their objectives is Robin Van Persie’s scoring drought. Despite notching 34 this season the Dutchman has experienced a testing time in front of goal of late finding the net just once in his last seven games. 46 games in all competitions for Van Persie have taken it’s toll on the striker who’s looked a weary and lethargic in recent weeks. Wenger will be desperate for his captain to rediscover his goal touch in Arsenal’s three remaining fixtures and fire them into Europe’s elite club competition.

This week on FFC a potential transfer target’s suitability to Arsenal’s current system is analysed and  could a move to the Emirates Stadium be the best way to go for a recently departed European coach?

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Best of FFC

Do Arsenal provide the ideal next move?

Would he truly fit into the Arsenal dynamic or just a good player in his current system?

A change in coaching philosophies needed in order to move forward

The Curse Of Individual Brilliance in football?

Have we been here before with Wenger’s transfer talk?

Does Arsenal’s ‘next generation’ actually have the potential to become a force?

The Top TEN Would-Be Arsenal ‘Exports’ This Summer

Arsenal set to finally land their man in £10m deal

Arsenal in advanced transfer talks

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Best of WEB

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Defensive Clarity Will Bring About Third Place – A Cultured Left Foot

Has this forward impressed in his first season at Arsenal? – Gunnersphere

What stops Arsène Wenger from being a truly great manager  – Online Gooner

Penalties, discipline and shop windows – Arseblog

Barca say no… | Third is the new fourth for Arsenal | Wilshere plays it sensible – Le Grove

Do we really need Yann M’Vila? Hazard on his way to the Premier League…. – Highbury House

Surely Arsene Won’t Let A Potential £7M Asset Slip Away To Toon – Transfer Tavern

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Quote of the Week

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“He took his role seriously on and off the pitch and I think it added something to his determination as well. That is why maybe his commitment was even stronger – because he feels more responsibility. He grew into this role.

“The best way to be a captain for me is to be a fantastic football player, that is the best way to get respect in your team. He did that remarkably well.” Arsene Wenger believes the Arsenal captaincy proved the catalyst for Robin Van Persie’s prolific season

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Match Highlights

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Bolton chairman and FA official Phil Gartside has backed Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp to become the next England manager.

The Three Lions have been searching for a new national selector since the resignation of Fabio Capello, with the White Hart Lane supremo the favourite and frontrunner.

Despite the FA insisting that they are being patient in their search for a new boss, Gartside has confirmed his support of Redknapp for the position.

In an interview set to be aired on BBC World Extra Time this weekend, Gartside states that he believes Redknapp would make ‘an outstanding England manager’ and that he is ‘a good motivator with a winning mentality’, according to The Daily Mail.

With Euro 2012 less than two months away, many are prompting the FA to make a move soon to give the new man the maximum time possible to prepare for the tournament in Ukraine and Poland.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Newcastle are reportedly ready to make a move for Manchester United prospect Ezekiel Fryers, according to Metro.

The 19-year-old defender has only made two first-team appearances for the Premier League champions, and is out of contract at the end of the season.

Fryers has represented England up to under-19 level, and is judged to be one of the most promising products of the United youth academy in recent times.

As there has been no sign of a contract extension, Alan Pardew is set to offer the youngster the option of more first-team exposure at the Sports Direct Arena.

It is believed that Tottenham are also monitoring the situation, with the Red Devils only entitled to a mediocre compensation payment should be leave Old Trafford.

If Fryers was to leave United he would be the latest in a number of cases of youngster departing the club, after Ravel Morrison opted to move to West Ham and Paul Pogba has stalled on a new deal.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre and Wigan chairman Dave Whelan have started a war of words, with bad links between the clubs after Roberto Martinez decided to stay with the Latics.

The Spanish coach was the frontrunner for the vacant Anfield role, but due to concerns over potentially having to work under a director of football on Merseyside decided to stay at the DW Stadium.

Ayre feels Whelan’s role in this may have played a part, and was not impressed with the Wigan chairman’s constant comment in the media.

“Our aim from the outset was to conduct a proper, thorough, search and do it in the proper manner,” Ayre told the Liverpool Echo.

“From our point of view, we did all the right things. We approached the clubs we needed to approach, and conducted ourselves properly at all times.

“It is disappointing, then, that Dave Whelan felt the need to run the kind of sideshow he conducted via Sky Sports News and various other media outlets.

“To be honest, I always thought John Bishop was the biggest comedian in the north west but Dave Whelan seems to have taken that mantle over the last couple of weeks,” he said.

Whelan has hit back with an attack of his own, leaving a sour taste in the mouth between the sides.

“He’s the fella who said the top-six clubs should share most of the Premier League TV revenue isn’t he? He is obviously very knowledgeable about football,” Whelan commented to The Telegraph.

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“Liverpool have got themselves a very good manager and I wish him good luck. I’m delighted Roberto is staying at Wigan. We’ll leave it at that.”

By Gareth McKnight

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Chelsea are readying a £4 million bid for teenage Southampton defender Luke Shaw, and will contact the newly-promoted Premier League side this week according to The Daily Mail.

The west London club are looking to revamp their squad this summer, with a number of the old guard expected to leave and new faces galore expected.

With Roberto Di Matteo brought in on a permanent basis as the club’s manager, the additions of Marko Marin, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard have already been captured.

However, 16-year-old Shaw is next on the Stamford Bridge club’s wishlist, after impressing for England under-17’s.

The young left-back made his first-team debut for the Saints against Millwall in the FA Cup last season, and is highly-rated amongst youth scouts.

However, despite Chelsea’s interest, Southampton are keen to keep hold of their young star and will resist the Blues’ attempts to snatch him away.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Team GB captain Ryan Giggs has admitted that he is desperate to win gold at the Olympic Games.

The Manchester United man is eager to lead his side to the final on August 11, and states that the competition will be his last hurrah internationally.

“As a footballer, you don’t start out in your career hoping to win the Olympics. You want to win leagues, FA Cups and European Cups,” he admitted to The Sun.

“I’m still disappointed I never got to a major championship with Wales but we weren’t good enough to get to a European Championships or World Cup.

“But to get the chance to play in a tournament at such a late stage of my career is obviously one I’m excited about and looking forward to.

“Of course, you want to win every game and win the tournament. We know it’s going to be tough — but having seen the quality of our team over the last few weeks, we’re hopeful of going a long way.

“An Olympic gold would be up there with my European medals. I don’t like to prioritise any medal or trophy, because it’s always a good feeling when you win.

“It’s always a challenge — no matter what you win — and this is a big challenge.

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“It’s going to be difficult because there’s a lot of quality in the tournament but there’s quality in our dressing room as well,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Manchester United midfielder Anderson is at a crossroads in his career at Old Trafford; one more season interrupted by injury and poor form will surely see him shipped out to bring an end to a frustrating six year-spell at the club, but is he even up to the task in hand?

The Brazilian midfielder signed from the club back in 2007-8 for a fee in the region of £17m from Portuguese club Porto with a burgeoning reputation as a creative attacking midfielder off the back of some superb performances for his country at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship where he won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player as Brazil took silver. There is clearly a player there, or was to be more precise, there was, which is what makes him such an infuriating figure.

Upon moving to England, though, Sir Alex Ferguson set about altering his style from a creative attacking midfielder into more of a box-to-box midfielder and it’s been a bumpy transition, with the 24 year-old failing to score in his first two seasons at all, while enduring a series of muscle and joint-based injuries, which would indicate that he struggles to cope with the physical rigours of the position and the league in general.

I’ve long thought that his reputation in his debut season, where it appeared that everyone thought he was brilliant, was built more upon two superb eye-catching performances in the big televised games against Liverpool that term as opposed to any real consistent form and he’s struggled to put together a decent run ever since to be honest, not making more than 20 league appearances in his last four seasons. He plays the game at a lively tempo, which the at times static midfield at the club could do with a bit more of and he’s got a decent range of passing, but he needs to prove it over a sustained period to be truly worthy of another shot.

There’s also the fact that last season, while back in Brazil, that he was fined for refusing to take a breathalyzer test after being pulled over by the police, not to mention his ballooning weight problems prior to pre-season and he starts to represent something of a lost cause. Can the club really afford to carry him for another year?

With Tom Cleverley equally as injury-prone, Darren Fletcher ruled out with a long-term illness for the foreseeable future and both Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs coming to the end of their respective careers, the midfield department at United looks threadbare with options. Anderson featured just three times after the turn of the year last campaign and they simply cannot afford for him to do the same this term. Add into the mix that the club have bought Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell this summer and it looks as if Ferguson is preparing for the worst-case scenario already.

Anderson said of his injury troubles last term: “The last two years have been very difficult,” he told reporters. No-one wants a player who has a lot of injuries. But I am still young. I am only 24. And I believe I can get through this. All summer I stayed in Europe to work on my knee. Now I am 100%. I don’t have any more injuries. I don’t have a problem. This is a very big season for me. The thing is, if I stay fit, I can be that player. I can be a success at United. You have seen, when I don’t have a problem, I play well. The problems come when I have an injury. After six or seven games last season it felt as though one leg was 30% weaker than the other.”

The problem with Anderson has never been his talent, nor his potential, but his application and his determination, two key values which United fans appreciate more than anything. He doesn’t quite have the discipline to play a holding role, and his partnership alongside Tom Cleverley at the start of last season, which has been cited by the pro-Anderson brigade that he’s worthy of another shot, saw the central midfield area riddled with gaping holes in it as time and time again the opposition just seemed to walk right through it at will.

He can deliver the odd brilliant performance, and somewhat unusually, in big games as opposed to the more routine ones, with decent showings against Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham last term, but it’s that crucial consistency which is sorely lacking and at £17m –  it’s bizarre that Alberto Aquilani is often touted as a huge flop whereas Anderson has been just as bad to be honest and cost roughly the same fugure. The club would do well to see any sort of return on their investment at the moment and I’m not entirely sure whether a club in Europe would take such a risk if they did decide to sell him.

Liverpool fans are often mocked for the “this will be our year” schtick, although I can’t say I’ve actually met one of these mythical fans ever before, but Anderson apologists are just as bad, “if he stays injury free, he could be a top-class midfielder, this will be his year” – his continued support from some sections of the terraces is just plain bizarre.

In his defence, he has had a torrid time with injuries and he’s still pretty young, so there’s plenty of time to prove himself over the course of his career, but his time away on the treatment table is far too often used as an all too convenient excuse by his supporters and truth be told, nobody is really sure what he’s capable of delivering over the course of a long campaign, stretched over four competitions, and that’s the most concerning thing of all.

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Hope in this instance is blind and there’s no real evidence that he’s good enough these days. Blinkered fans would do well to remember that after six years at Old Trafford, he is still something of an unknown quantity, which tells you everything you need to know about how poor and frustrating he’s been. Talk about Anderson is always centered on the word ‘if’, but if he has one more iffy season, then you wouldn’t begrudge Ferguson for cutting his losses and getting rid at the end of the season.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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Fernando Torres has spoken about his year from hell at Chelsea, and revealed that when he was on the bench he did not want to come on as he was afraid things could only get worse.

The Spanish striker has suffered a dramatic dip in form since a January 2011 move from Liverpool, and was largely used as a substitute as a consequence last season.

Torres admits that he has had a tough time, and thanked the fans for their patience.

“The season was not for me, it was for others,” he told La Razon, translated to English by The Sun.

“Chelsea wins the FA Cup but I don’t play the semi-final nor the final. I didn’t taste anything.

“I feel I participated a bit more in the Champions League but even so it was not the Champions League I wanted to win, not like that. I want to win another Champions League and in a different way.

“The fans helped me a lot — and you don’t understand why.

“You come from outside and you have played well in this league and, with the Spanish mentality, the first who should have turned against you are the fans. You are not living up to expectations but they still support you. These people are special.

“At times I was thinking, ‘I will sit here on the bench, I won’t make any noise, I don’t even want to play.’ But they are demanding that you jump on the pitch and play. They lifted my spirits so many times. Not even my team-mates succeeded in doing that in this way. Whatever I do from now on will be for the fans.

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“That is why I want to win another Champions League. For them,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Manchester United have agreed a five-year deal with Japanese company Toshiba to build a £13 million state-of-the-art medical centre at their training ground in Carrington, according to The Telegraph.

Manchester United’s injury woes last season led many people to argue that it made the difference between Manchester United winning and eventually losing the title to Champions Manchester City last season.

Research carried out at the end of last season showed that the Red Devils had the worst injury list in the Premier League. Manchester United suffered 39 “significant” injuries to their squad last campaign which resulted in a combined 1,681 days being lost to injury by Sir Alex Ferguson’s men. By contrast, Manchester City picked up just seven “significant” injuries with a combined 186 days lost to injury.

Last season, Sir Alex Ferguson responded to criticism by former United and City midfielder Owen Hargreaves after he suggested that the medical team put his career on the line after administering him with the wrong treatment for his chronic knee injury. At the time, Ferguson argued that Manchester United had “some of the best sports medical staff in the world” at the club.

The new medical centre will be built with the aim of fast-tracking players progress back to full recovery and enabling the players to be treated in a more private setting as appose to the nearby hospitals where they currently receive treatment.

The Premier League runners-up have argued that the implementation of the new medical centre is necessary in order for the club to keep up with the constant advances in sport science. The centre is thought to be ahead of schedule and will open in the November of this year.

Meanwhile, United have also completed the signature of talented Chilean youngster Angelo Hendriquez from Universidad de Chile for a fee of £4 million. Ferguson spoke of his delight in being approved international clearance for the 18-year-old striker, “Angelo has made a tremendous impact on the game in his short career so far. His pace is a great asset and he reads the game really well for someone of such a short game.”

United veteran Paul Scholes has also revealed his delight at being able to play alongside another new arrival at Old Trafford this season, Shinji Kagawa. Kagawa has made an impressive start to his Manchester United career after joining the club from German champions Borussia Dortmund.

Scholes said of Kagawa, “Shinji is a top player who did great in Germany and we’re lucky to have him. He is just a clever footballer who gets into those great positions where it’s difficult for other teams to pick him up.”

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with the performances of new arrivals of Kagawa and Robin van Persie who arrived from Arsenal who appear to have moulded into Manchester United’s style of play comfortably. We will likely to be seeing more of his other new additions, Henriquez and youngster from Crewe Alexandra Nick Powell, for the Capital One Cup tie against Newcastle United later this month.

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Demba Ba climbed off the bench to earn Newcastle a share of the spoils against Everton who had two goals disallowed in a breathtaking contest at Goodison Park.

The Senegalese striker was sensationally left out of the starting line by Alan Pardew prior to kick off but came on at the break to save the Magpies after Leighton Baines and Victor Anichebe looked to have sealed a deserved victory for the home side. David Moyes’ men also had two clear cut goals from Marouane Fellaini and Anichebe controversially ruled out as they had to settle for a point.

It took the Toffees only 15 minutes to break the deadlock as Baines played a neat one-two with Steven Pienaar before charging into the penalty area and blasting the ball past a helpless Steve Harper. The visitors struggled to get to grips with their opponents but still had chances to equalise with Papiss Cisse volleying wide from close range whilst Vurnon Anita was denied by Baines on the line.

Some slight tweaks by Pardew at the interval worked wonders as Ba was sent on in place of the ineffective Sylvain Marveaux and levelled proceedings just give five minutes after his introduction finishing superbly after being picked out by a pinpoint pass from Yohan Cabaye. Fellaini than had a goal disallowed for offside before Everton were left fuming as Ancihebe’s header crossed the line 12 minutes from time only for referee Mike Jones to wave play on after glancing at his motionless assistant as Mike Williamson scrambled the ball clear.

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It didn’t take the Nigerian long to get his name on the scoresheet as he turned Steven Taylor in the 88th minute before firing low across Harper. But there was more drama to come as Williamson’s long pass was chested down by Shola Ameobi for Ba to touch the ball under Tim Howard and earn Newcastle an unlikely point.