Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla has stated that he is relishing added responsibility at Arsenal, and feels his career has progressed since moving to England.
The talented attacker joined the north London side from Malaga in the summer, and has initially impressed with his skill and eye for a pass.
Cazorla has stated that moving to the Emirates Stadium is a new and worthwhile challenge for him.
“It could be that in the few months I have been there people have been talking a lot more about me,” Cazorla told Spanish reporters, published in The Telegraph.
“I feel important at Arsenal and I want to keep developing. The way Arsenal play and the responsibility they have given me is something I have always sought out.
“I think it’s a step forward in my career and I hope to improve a great deal in the future, he continued.
Cazorla is in Spain’s squad for upcoming World Cup qualifiers, and although he is behind the likes of David Silva and Cesc Fabregas in selection terms, wants to play a role in the side’s success.
“I am happy with my role and it’s a privilege to be here.
“Hopefully I can continue to help out as much as possible, I am working every day towards that. I am feeling in very good shape and I consider myself fortunate to have the opportunities I am being given,” he concluded.
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There are a select group of Premier League players, that wherever they go, whenever they touch the ball, will be greeted with a chorus of boos and jeers.
Some will experience this at just one particular ground. For example when Fernando Torres goes back to Anfield, you can imagine the reception he receives from the fans who used to idolize him is frosty to say the least.
But some manage to achieve it at every ground in the country.
Luis Suarez has been in England less than two years, but has already carved out a reputation as one of the most hated players in the league, down to his dramatics on the pitch and incidents off it.
John Terry is exactly the same. The former England captain finds himself the pantomime villain at every ground in the country following off field scandals.
A few Premier League players suffer for their actions with their country. Wayne Rooney receives a fair amount of stick for the times he has not produced it for England, while being so often impressive for his club.
Then likes of Lee Cattermole and Joey Barton when he was plying his trade in the division do little to endear themselves to supporters with their dirty play on the pitch. Players such as these, notorious for picking up cards, are never the object of fans affections.
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There are a fair few to pick from, but who do you think is the most hated player in the Premier League?
Liverpool are considering a £7m swoop for Newcastle striker Demba Ba in their attempt to bring a top-class striker to the club in January, reports The Daily Mail.
The Reds were already looking short in the attacking department after letting Andy Carroll join West Ham on-loan for the season but the situation worsened this week with the news that Fabio Borini broke his foot while on international duty with Italy U21’s.
Brendan Rodgers has been following the progress of South Korean youngster Son Heung-min but the Anfield club have been informed by Hamburg that the one of brightest stars in Bundesliga is not for sale causing them to switch attentions to Newcastle’s Ba.
The 27-year-old Senegal international has an £7m buy-out clause that kicks in again January which may result in a move away from the North East especially with Ba in such fine goalscoring form. He has six goals to his name this season and is currently the leading goalscorer in the Premier League ahead of Liverpool’s very own Luis Suarez.
While it appears that Rodgers can pick up the striker for a bargain price, trying to agree reasonable personal terms with Ba may prove more problematic. Newcastle boss Alan Pardew has already expressed his disgust at the strikers request for an inflated wage package which he deemed as unrealistic and Liverpool will not want to pay over the odds in wages.
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Rodgers will be especially eager to bring in extra firepower during January after missing out on Clint Dempsey on transfer deadline day and Ba could be a proven solution to the problem.
Arsène Wenger has insisted that he wants to keep Theo Walcott and for negotiations to be resolved prior to the end of the year.
Many rumours have been circulating over the future of Walcott, whose contract lasts until summer 2013, at Arsenal, with reports representatives rejected a deal in August, with Walcott apparently wanting higher wages than what was being offered, while also wanting to be a lead striker, causing speculation about interest from clubs including Liverpool.
However, Wenger has made it clear that he wants to fight to get him to stay on. He said: “My desire is to keep Theo. We do what’s needed to keep him and hopefully [as] I told you many times, we can sort this situation out very soon – very soon is before the end of December, one way or another, that is for sure. I don’t want to go into any details [over wage negotiations], but you can believe me [that] we do the maximum we can to keep our best players.”
Wenger also insists that he is not concerned that players are revolting against his tactics, with Lukas Podolski the latest player wanting to be leading Arsenal’s attack.
He said: “I don’t find many players who don’t want to play central. Podolski has 101 caps in Germany and 101 on the left. I brought him as well with the idea that, when needed, he would play through the middle. I like the idea, but we will use him where he is useful for the team.”
Walcott scored in Arsenal’s Champions League draw with Schalke this Tuesday.
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England manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that Wilfried Zaha should be “thankful” to be part of the Three Lions’ squad for their friendly against Sweden.
The Crystal Palace man received a shock call-up following news that established stars such as Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott were unfit to play.
The winger was actually born in the Ivory Coast, but has spent much of his life in England making him eligible to play for either nation.
Should he fail to make it onto the field of play Zaha will still be free to join the Ivorian set-up, but Hodgson has insisted that this will not force him to play the 20-year-old:
“If any players prefer to play for a national team other than England they are welcome to do so,
“If our national team is not strong enough motivation for them then that they are not the type of player we want anyway.
“Perhaps I naively assume that when you give a player who has played for the Under-19s and Under-21s that they would want to play for the national team.
“I’d expect them to cycle there. I’d expect they’d be thankful for the opportunity.”
Hodgson did admit that he is a big fan of Zaha and has been watching him for a long period of time:
“He has not been chosen on the basis of one short training session,
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“He has been selected on the basis of the past couple of years. He was a target of West Brom when I was there. I know what qualities he brings.
“When the opportunity arose with a gap in the squad to bring him it was an obvious chance to bring him in.”
Newcastle and Fulham are both level on 17 points going into this one and looking to add impetus to their seasons respectively.
For the Magpies they have struggled to adapt to Premier League fixtures after Thursday nights and now this is out of the way for the near future, they can focus on domestic issues.
Fulham will be looking to bounce back from their 3-0 defeat to Tottenham last time out and get back to winning ways.
Alan Pardew, made nine changes for Thursday night’s 2-0 Europa League defeat in Bordeaux, was expecting defender David Santon (groin), midfielders Cheick Tiote, Hatem Ben Arfa ( hamstring) Gabriel Obertan (toe) and striker Demba Ba (hamstring) to train on Friday, while Jonas Gutierrez (knee) is in line to resume on Sunday. Steven Taylor and Yohan Cabaye are long term absentees
The Newcastle boss will hoping to have all at his disposable as they look to their season back on track after their stopped the rot last Monday with a 3-0 win over Wigan. This was their first win in 5 Premier League outings.
Martin Jol expects to be able to welcome back Brede Hangeland for the clash at Craven Cottage with the Norwegian international being suspended for the last three matches. Alex Kacaniklic is back too after suffering a hamstring injury. Bryan Ruiz and Sascha Riether are expected to be out for slightly longer, with the former expected to be out for at least a month.
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Fulham have won 5 of their last 6 Premier League home fixtures against Newcastle and will be looking to build on that, come Monday.
Liverpool have little time to recover as they host a revived Southampton at Anfield on Saturday after three winless matches.
Reds manager Brendan Rodgers was left incensed after Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat by Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Wednesday, believing his side were denied two ‘clear’ penalties. As has been the case for much of the season, Rodgers’ side were unlucky to go 2-0 down early on after strikes from Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale, but the officials did little to appease the Northern Irishman with Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez harshly denied penalties.
Rodgers insisted his side were ‘magnificent’ and could not have played any better than they did, but both he and Liverpool are in the business of results and they are not falling for the club at the moment. Back-to-back draws against Swansea and Young Boys in the Europa League as well as a run of only one win in nine matches may belie the general quality of Liverpool’s play, but that alone will not suffice for much longer.
All that makes Saturday’s clash a must-win for Liverpool against a Southampton side that has not lost in their past four games and has endured perhaps an even worse run of luck.
Defensive errors have blighted the promoted side’s campaign so far with both their draws in the latest undefeated run – versus Swansea 1 – 1 and Norwich 1 – 1 on Wednesday – coming courtesy of goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga blunders after Southampton had taken the lead. Indeed the Saints have dropped more points (16) from winning positions than any other side in the Premier League this season.
Comprehensive wins over QPR and Newcastle in between these draws appeared to instil plenty of belief amongst a talented group, particularly in defence where the Saints have conceded a league-worst 31 goals. A first clean sheet against Newcastle proved a turning point and aside from keeping errors the defence has tightened up considerably with only three goals conceded in Southampton’s past four games.
Nigel Adkins could regain left-back Danny Fox (knee) for the clash and will be relying on trio Rickie Lambert, Gaston Ramirez and captain Adam Lallana (nine league goals between them) to do the damage up front.
With a threadbare squad, Liverpool rely on Suarez (10 league goals) more than any team relies on a single player in the league and will need more goals from the Uruguayan.
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Both sides love to maintain possession and interchange players in the final third but the last time Southampton came up against a side with a similar philosophy in Arsenal, they were thrashed 6-1.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will not overspend on greedy players in January.
The Reds will almost certainly be spending money in the new year to improve their squad after missing out on key transfer targets in the summer and they let first team players leave on loan.
Rodgers has promoted youngsters such as Raheem Sterling, Suso and Andre Wisdom to the Reds first team this season and things are slowly coming together at Anfield after another three points yesterday against Fulham.
Despite picking up points in recent weeks, the Anfield club are desperately lacking strikers and heavily rely on Luis Suarez for their goalscoring opportunities.
Rodgers is keen to add to his squad but is not willing to give in to ridiculous agent demands when it comes to player contracts.
If a player wants more money than they are offered then Rodgers simply feels they do not have enough passion to play for the prestigious English club.
“You have to get hungry players in who want to work and want to fight to be successful – that is the biggest thing for me,” Rodgers told Sky Sports.
“They will get a good contract coming here but if they want to argue over money, and other things that go around it, I don’t want them here. In my experience those players will eventually let you down anyway.
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“So, for us, it is about getting players in who are hungry to succeed and to pull on the shirt.
“That’s the simple message for any player coming here – you can’t take the money and run. You have to earn the right to play for this club and to help us succeed.”
Sunderland are set to make a move for Swansea striker Danny Graham, according to reports from Sky Sports.
The 27-year-old has struggled for game time with the Swans under new manager Michael Laudrup, leading to speculation that he may opt to leave the club during the January transfer window.
Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill, who is reportedly looking to bolster his attacking options, has outlined the former Watford man as one of his top targets and could press ahead with a move in the coming weeks.
Graham has recently returned to the South Wales club’s first-team, capping some impressive displays with a late equaliser against Arsenal in the FA Cup, forcing a replay.
The likes of Newcastle, Reading and Norwich have all been linked with a move for the front-man, but it is believed that the Black Cats are in pole position should he leave the Liberty Stadium.
According to reports they have already made an official enquiry, and are likely to follow this up with a concrete bid.
Sunderland have been far from prolific in front of goal this term netting on only 29 occasions in their 21 Premier League games, making a centre-forward a must this month.
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O’Neill is keen to give Steven Fletcher some much needed support, and sees Graham as the perfect man to work alongside the Scot.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers attracted plenty of plaudits for the way he managed to integrate plenty of young players into the first-team squad during the first half of the campaign, with many becoming key figures, but over the last couple of months he has reverted back to experienced and older heads in games of importance – is this merely a period of rest for some or a sign of things to come?
During the club’s U-21 fixture against Manchester United’s U-21 side last night, Suso, Raheem Sterling, Jonjo Shelvey and Andre Wisdom all lined up in the starting eleven and as a foursome, they have 62 top flight appearances between them this season, with 46 of those coming from the start, but slowly and surely, since the the acquisitions during the January transfer window and resurgence of both Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing, they have become more marginalised as the fixture list has become less hectic.
There was a sense that as much as Rodgers liked to talk, and at great length, about his firm commitment to integrating youth-team member into the first-team squad that this was a situation foisted upon him more than anything by the club hierarchy’s demand to bring the weight wage bill in check. This saw seasoned pro’s such as Craig Bellamy, Charlie Adam, Maxi Rodriguez, Dirk Kuyt, Andy Carroll and Joe Cole all leave within six months, leaving Rodgers little option but to pad out his squad with younger players from within.
In particular, Shelvey has spoken to the press at his frustration at seeing his route to the starting eleven blocked in recent months, arguing that he had been made a scapegoat for the 3-1 Boxing Day defeat to Stoke away from home, while Sterling ever since he signed a new deal has become more of a squad player to be rotated in games that mean less as opposed to being protected to ensure he was fit and firing on all cylinders for the biggest games as he was earlier on in the season. Meanwhile, Suso has struggled to even make the bench of late and Andre Wisdom could fall down the pecking order even further once Martin Kelly return to full fitness.
Since that Stoke defeat, for example, in the eight league games that have followed, the foursome listed above have started just eight games between them in the top flight, when they had started 38 times in the previous 19 games between them. There’s a clear reduction in playing time being handed out and it comes at just a time when Rodgers is looking to see a consistent run in Europe and in the league.
Of course, that is not to say that the youngsters that have made an impact this term are not talented, nor that they will not go on to play more next season, but with the club set to strengthen even more in the summer, with Liverpool quietly starting to spend significant amounts of money in the transfer market yet again, they face an uphill challenge to secure first-team football to the extent they have done at times this year.
The signing of Daniel Sturridge seems to have increased the team’s options up top and out wide and limited the impact of Sterling, Suso and Shelvey in the second half of the season, with the England international assured of his central attacking role, Suarez has been pushed out wide and Downing has quickly become a firm favourite when it comes to team selection.
Over the course of a long season, various players will go through peaks and troughs of form and the main beneficiary of Joe Allen’s collapse in form around the festive period was Henderson, which then had a knock-on effect on how much playing time the versatile Shelvey received, whereas if we flash back to before Christmas and he looked to be forcing his way into Roy Hodgson’s England squad, and it now looks as if he could benefit from a loan spell away next term instead.
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Liverpool’s squad at the start of the season wasn’t quite of the bare bones variety, but that was only because the young players that were brought in took to their jobs so well, but inconsistencies are inherent in those still learning their trade and they haven’t done enough in the last few months to warrant continued selection over the returning, wiser heads of the squad. They were merely warmer spots until someone better came along and it looks for all intent and purposes that while Rodgers will be glad that they delivered when he needed them to, he won’t rely on them in the future in the same way many had envisioned.