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.
Manchester City and Chelsea target Neymar is set to decide on his own future according to Santos vice-president Odilio Rodrigues.
Sky Sports have reported that Rodrigues will allow his star man to decide when he wants to leave the Brazilian club and where he will go next.
Barcelona are the front runners for the 21 year old’s signature and some reports have suggested that a deal has already been negotiated for 12 months’ time.
Manchester City and Chelsea have both been long term admirers of the talented Brazilian international but many feel his style will be more suited to La Liga rather than the Premier League with inevitable comparisons to Lionel Messi being bounded around.
If Barcelona are on the verge of signing the Santos forward it could be a club record fee for the Spanish giants after Pele branded Neymar as the best player in the world.
“Barcelona are a great club with excellent players and they would be good for Neymar,” Rodrigues told La Xarxa Radio
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“We are aware of the interest in the player. But there are other clubs interested. It will be Neymar’s decision.”
goalkeeper Ben Foster can push Joe Hart all the way for the England number one jersey, according to Liam Ridgewell.
The Albion defender has spoken out on the battle for the Three Lions’ goalkeeper spot after Foster agreed to end his self-imposed retirement from international football to return to former Baggies boss Roy Hodgson’s squad.
Manchester City’s Hart maintained his place between the sticks for the 8-0 thrashing of San Marino in Friday’s World Cup qualifier, while he looks favourite to stay there for Tuesday’s tougher test against Group H leaders Montenegro in Podgorica.
However Ridgewell feels Foster deserves to be playing for England and he does not envy Hodgson having to select between the two.
He told the Daily Mirror: “I know them both very well and they’re both very good keepers.
“The two of them are brilliant shot-stoppers, good at kicking, good at talking and when you need them most they make that vital save.
“I’d hate to be Roy in having to try to pick one of them! I am sure it will be a very good competition between them. It is phenomenal to think there is someone ahead of Ben, we have two such good goalkeepers who both deserve to play in every game.”
On whether Foster should be described as a ‘world class’ custodian, Ridgewell added: “I don’t see why Ben shouldn’t belong in that bracket, he has been playing so well for a long period of time. He is easily an international class goalkeeper and I think he would get in most international teams in Europe.
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“It’s brilliant for England to have someone like that. It’s just been unfortunate for him that England has two goalies at top-drawer level in Joe and him.”
Chairman John Berylson was at ‘Walls 2-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers and how this game summed up the season, and will carry on next season unless big changes are made.
Leading 1-0 at half time, so what do we do? Go to 4-5-1 and try and hold on to a single goal lead. Not for the first time this season, mid-game changes have resulted in Millwall losing points.
I love KJ, don’t get me wrong, the bloke has done wonders for my club, but this season is likely to have been the worst league season under KJ for the Lions, lets take the FA Cup semi final out of the equation and just focus on the league.
This season was looking to turn into a good one, with Chris Wood banging in the goals and pushed us as high as 4th. He was never going to sign for us, he used us to get a big move elsewhere and eventually went to Leicester. Then we let Darius Henderson, the bloke who kept us up last season, go to Forest on a free. I can see why though, on 16K a week, pick and chose when he turned up to training and wasn’t “in the right state’ when he did.
It was all about replacing them, KJ called this a “regeneration” of our strikeforce.
Well, one striker brought in was Nathan Tyson from Derby on loan. A bloke who doesn’t score and is injury prone, but KJ thought he could make a decent player there, he has not started one game. No wonder his nickname is “Tampax Tyson” one week in, three weeks out.
Next one was Rob Hulse coming in on loan from QPR. Hulse had a decent record playing at Charlton earlier in the season, so worth a go. How wrong was I. He has scored one goal (against Luton). He’s a target man who cannot head the ball or jump up and frankly he looks like he just doesn’t care and his happy to just get his money, and to storm down the tunnel after coming off against Blackburn.
Hope he drove straight back to QPR…
Another striker brought in Jermaine Easter from Palace on loan. Most couldn’t see why he was brought in, but he has done the best out the lot, the best of an abysmal lot. He seems to bring calmness into play and is a good passer of the ball, but KJ seems to insist on him playing on the wing or on his own, he wins a few share of headers but is not a target man, he needs support.
The striker signings have been a failure and will be the main reason for us going down if we finish in the bottom three.
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Berylson must see that money will need to be spent. I’m hoping to see somehow the money from the cup exploits being spent, but I won’t be holding my breath.
Lets just hope whatever division we are in next seaman, their are big changes within the squad in the summer…
By the time I came to actually writing this article, in comparison to when I thought up the title, I had fully expected Gonzalo Higuain to be an Arsenal player by now. Gunners fans are undoubtedly concerned that the Argentine international is yet to arrive in North London, with reports from Madrid insisting Real President Florentino Perez is yet to actually receive a formal bid for the 25 year old.
But in some ways, it makes this article easier to write, as it centres around Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy. Earlier in the season it was announced that the Gunners gaffer would be handed £70million to invest in new players and propel the club back towards the Premier League title race, whilst the potential sales of Gervinho, Bacary Sagna, Marouane Chamakh and Andre Santos would add further revenues to spend on reinvigorating a stagnating squad, and the departures of Denilson, Andre Arshavin and Sebastien Squillaci would free up a troubling wage bill.
It’s all good news in theory for Arsenal, with this summer for many reasons marking arguably the most important transfer window at the club throughout the last decade. A Gunners fan will tell you that Wenger is on the cusp of turning it all around – he’s accepted that you can’t win the Premier League title, or even auxiliary silverware, by spending £10million here on Mikel Arteta and £10million there on Olivier Giroud based on one season of noteworthy success in the French top flight, whilst at the same time, he’s understood that spending an overzealous fee can have subliminal and psychological effect in a positive sense, even if some number-crunching analyst points out it’s not cost-effective.
[cat_link cat=”arsenal” type=”tower”]
But are we yet to actually see Wenger take on board any of this season’s criticisms? It may be early in the transfer window, but Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United have all made substantial ground, whilst the Arsenal boss has made just one acquisition from his favourite recruitment pool – Yaya Sanogo, from Ligue 2, for free.
If there’s one player who sums up Wenger’s transfer policy since their last title win, The Invincibles’ unbeaten domestic campaign in 2004, its Sanogo. I’m not suggesting the France U21 international doesn’t have the potential to be a good player, whose transfer is undoubtedly a sensible piece of business, but is another unproven teenager what the squad needs this summer?
I’m sure at some point Arsene Wenger will break the club’s record transfer fee amid the current off-season, which currently stands at just £16million for Santi Cazorla. If it won’t be Higuain, and his proposed £23million deal, it will be another striker with a similar price tag. Wayne Rooney remains the obvious candidate, whilst the Gunners’ apparent pursuit of Luis Suarez I personally find rather difficult to believe.
My hunch is however, that the purchase of a new, proven centre-forward will be where the Gunners gaffer decides to draw the line. If we look at his previous history in terms of signings, the last purchase to exceed the marketing norm was Sylvain Wiltord at a fee of £13million, which wouldn’t be eclipsed at the Emirates for the next eight and a half years.
Arsenal fans will point out that the situation is different now – spending as a means to succeed has become compulsory over the last decade at the Premier League’s summit, whilst Arsene Wenger’s plan of making his club almost entirely autarkic and self-sufficient on their youth products has failed, and the apparently impossible-to-overcome burden of a new stadium has now been fully paid off, despite the fact the Gunners’ pre-tax profit continually grew in this period, from 2002 to 2010, freeing up the club’s finances to invest in a cast of continental talents.
But old habits die hard, and Arsene Wenger is hardly known as a man who is always keen to change his ways for the better. Wenger’s monolithic approach to management appears to be centred around determinedly sticking to his own philosophies and principles, compromising only when he has to. His rumoured spat with Steve Bould over the first team’s defence is a prime example, whilst the board must also take a share of the blame for failing to challenge Wenger’s methods and ethos, despite the club’s continual decline. At one point it seemed the Frenchman would be forced to spend this summer, with his job on the line after a lukewarm at best campaign, yet the board have now offered him a new contract, amid their perpetual fear of change.
Similarly, it wouldn’t be the first time the Gunners boss has sugar-coated a message for the Emirates faithful. In January, he promised a striker and turned up with occasional Spain left-back Nacho Monreal, and the summer previous he promised a viable replacement for Robin Van Persie, and turned up with Olivier Giroud.
Would it be that inconceivable if Wenger spent around £25million on one player, and then reverted back to making £10million acquisitions to address other departments of the Arsenal roster that require improvements? The North Londoners have already been linked with the likes of Sebastien Corchia and Etienne Capoue, and although both are decent footballers who can claim impressive 2012/2013 campaigns, they won’t be pushing the club back towards the Premier League title race any time soon. The same can be said for Swansea’s Ashley Williams, who is regularly rumoured to be on his way to the Emirates, but would bring no substantial improvement to the Arsenal backline.
The fan base has dreams of Marouane Fellaini, Stevan Jovetic or even Christian Benteke arriving at the Emirates this summer, but I firmly believe Arsene Wenger will come up short, and once again maintain the damaging ideology that he knows best when it comes to all things Arsenal.
Even if I am wrong about the Gunners manager’s intentions, he is still yet to overcome the most important hurdle. The transfer of Gonzalo Higuain must go ahead, or failing that Wayne Rooney’s, or else, even if Wenger plans on bringing in players of the calibre the fans are desperate for, they will be repelled by the club’s inability to make star signings, and opt for domestic or European rivals who are moving in a promising direction.
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My advice to the Arsenal faithful is quite simply not to get your hopes up. Once again from Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, we’ve heard a lot of talk, but are yet to see any action.
Will Arsene Wenger fully commit in the transfer market this summer?
We’ve heard of the Oscars, we’ve heard of the Grammys but now Rio Ferdinand wants to add his own football equivalent of these into the mix- the Footies.
Ferdinand is known for his media savvy ways- having an intensely popular Twitter account, having his own restaurant as well as his own brand of clothing. The switched on South Londoner felt there was a gap in the market for this idea even we have the PFA Awards, the Ballon D’Or, the LMA awards, the Club Football Awards to name but a few.
According to the press release the Footies will ‘bring together football and music at a star studded event’. Now ask yourself this, do footballers need to adopt celebrity culture anymore than they already have done? Many of them already think they are movie stars but it looks like Ferdinand wants to turn them into bigger prima-donnas than they already are!
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