Sunday, March 11, 2012
Norwich rival Arsenal for DC United star Andy Najar
Saturday, March 10, 2012
West Brom boss Hodgson silent on England interest
West Bromwich Albion boss Roy Hodgson is tightlipped on the England job.
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Sports News: Ennis happy ahead of Olympics
Jessica Ennis insists she is in a great position ahead of this summer's Olympic Games, despite the "awful moment" when she realised she had lost a second world title in the space of seven months.
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Portsmouth back in rehab but sympathy for overindulgence wears thin | Jeremy Alexander
Pompey's descent from princes to paupers finds pity in short supply at budget-minded clubs like Barnsley
Portsmouth have long run out of credit. Now they are straining the wells of goodwill in the game. After Barnsley beat them 2-0 at Oakwell the home manager, Keith Hill, was asked whether he had any sympathy for Pompey. "Absolutely none," he said, "because they've recruited players I couldn't afford and are paying wages I could only dream about paying. They are spending money they haven't got, so why should I have sympathy? For Michael Appleton, yes, the players and supporters, yes. But for what the club are doing, no."
Appleton had no idea what lay ahead when he took his first managerial job in October. In November the owner for six months, the Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov, resigned as his company, Convers Sports Initiatives, went into administration. Portsmouth followed suit on Friday, for the second time in two years.
In 2010 the nine points docked effectively guaranteed their exit from the Premier League, where they had spent seven seasons and more money than they had. The 10 deducted last week sent them from 18th to 21st in the Championship. Nottingham Forest's Saturday win made that 22nd. Pompey have not been in the third tier since 1983. They have 15 games in which to preserve their status and a lot of work to do to restore a proud name.
They are not alone in taking advantage of the special relationship football has forged with finance. Pompey seem happy to drop into administration as others do into a rehab centre, then return there a few owners later. The "football creditors rule" means that, in cases of insolvency, debts to players and other clubs are prioritised; HMRC can wait, though they did win an appeal against the same administrators being re-engaged. Trevor Birch, former chief executive of Chelsea and Leeds, will front the administration for the firm PKF. "I'm used to dealing with clubs in crisis; 30% of the clubs in the Championship are paying wages in excess of 100% of turnover," he said. "The intention is to sell the club as a going concern. Hitherto someone has always come out of the woodwork to buy football clubs." Craig Davies hit Pompey's bar early on but no one came to the rescue.
Though they have the smallest squad in the division, at 19, many are on Premier League wages with Premier League experience, notably in defence, and they held on until the last 15 minutes. Until funds were released through administration they claimed not to have the wherewithal to travel or the minimum 14 players to fulfil the fixture. Having hunted for a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Championship, they went by coach rather than air and left the bench two-fifths empty. Stools would have done. And this was a club that won the Cup in 2008 ? in hindsight maybe under false pretences.
Last week they could not afford to scan Liam Lawrence's injured calf. On Friday they re-loaned George Thorne, who had returned to West Brom. Three players started with injuries; one substitute was a goalkeeper. Dave Kitson's dismissal for a second yellow card before half-time did not help. Appleton could fairly have given them a "heads down" but, until they ran out of markers to let Jim O'Brien break the deadlock, they held out with a poise that did not flatter Barnsley. Matt Done's breakaway second came with all defenders up for a free-kick.
David Lampitt, who has run Pompey between administrations as chief executive, paid tribute to "everyone who had kept the club going despite not being paid since Christmas". He previously ran the Football Association's compliance unit. Pompey had 618 fans at Oakwell and most have had enough of him. "All we want is the right owner to secure long-term sustainability," said one, Tony Goodall.
Appleton, a model of wry philosophy, said he could not fine Kitson as he had not been paid. "I try to control what I can control," he said. "Hopefully the Football League show sense and let us get players in or other clubs could start complaining. All we want is a level playing field." That was Hill's point: level for Pompey may not be level for others. And that presumably would be the Football League that saw Antonov as fit and proper.
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Racing Santander - Barcelona Preview: Catalan giants look to keep faint title hopes alive with victory at El Sardinero
Pep Guardiola's side could be 13 points adrift of Real Madrid by the time they resume their pursuit of the league leaders away to the struggling Cantabrian outfit on Sunday
Friday, March 9, 2012
Karim Benzema / Benzema returns from injury for Real Madrid (Reuters)
Read more Karim Benzema news
Sports News: England expected to retain starting XV
Interim head coach Stuart Lancaster will confirm the England team to play France in Sunday's RBS 6 Nations encounter in Paris on Friday morning, and he looks set to keep changes to a minimum.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
L?ancien espoir de l?OM Ahmed Yahiaoui refait surface
Jol wants Fulham to push for sixth
Fulham boss Martin Jol is urging his players to kick on and go after sixth spot on the Premier League table.
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Man Utd boss Ferguson admits admiration for Athletic Bilbao striker Llorente
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted his admiration for Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
POTD: Guess the Quote
Sam is on Twitter. There aren't any aliens in his ears, either.
What The Preseason Has Taught Us
Blackburn Rovers 1 Aston Villa 1: Like playing a pub team for 45 minutes and we still don't win
This was most definitely a game of two halves. In the first, Blackburn were so poor, they actually made us look good. Honestly, this isn't me trying to take something away from the players today, but Blackburn were poor and we must have had 70% possession.
And we had so much space and time and only scored once. This is exactly the reason why Alex McLeish has to be removed from his post. He doesn't know how to send out a team to attack and create chances and win games. I'll prove it below too!
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Arsenal boss Wenger heaps praise on Oxlade-Chamberlain: He made things happen
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was delighted with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's performance in victory over AC Milan.
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012
In Case You Forgot About AFCON?
This is not your prawn sandwich brigade. It’s more like a carnival crossed with a drag show dashed with a touch of Japanese game show. Which makes the stands equally as watchable as the happenings on the pitch – if not more so.
And I’m fairly [...]
Manchester United Beats Tottenham 3-1: 5 Things Learned from Sunday's Match
Manchester United kept up the pace with Manchester City as they pulled within two points if the leaders after beating Tottenham 3-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
The first half was an even affair when Louis Saha thought he had put his side on top. However, replays showed that referee Martin Atkinson made the right call as the ball deflected off Adebayor’s hand.
As he has done so many times in his fabulous career, Wayne Rooney stepped up right before the break and headed home a free kick to give the Red Devil’s the lead going into the half.
It was more of the same in the second as again Spurs were caught off guard by a quick restart. A throw-in caught the hosts out as Nani was able to put a low hard cross to Ashley Young who volleyed in for the second goal and a 2-0 cushion.
Young would make it all United 10 minutes later as his curling shot beat Brad Friedel to the corner and made it all, but officially over.
Jermaine Defoe would grab one back on a Ryan Giggs misplaced pass, but it was only consolation.
Here are five things learned from the match.
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Football League: your thoughts | Scott Murray
Reading keep on truckin', Wednesday begin life post-Megson with a goalless draw, and Swindon melt down at Oxford
? Reading continue to be the form horse in the Championship. Brian McDermott's side sealed their sixth win on the bounce with a 2-1 victory at Millwall. Andy Keogh gave the home side a 16th-minute lead, but Hal Robson-Kanu equalised shortly after half time, and Adam Le Fondre scored the winner with 14 minutes remaining. There was a hint of controversy about the goal; Le Fondre, offside at the start of the move, rejoined play in its second phase. The win moves Reading to within a point of second-placed West Ham United, who visit Cardiff City on Sunday.
? Reading's comeback was eclipsed by that of Watford, who were 2-0 down at home to Burnley, Jay Rodriguez scoring for the Clarets just before half time, Nyron Nosworthy putting through his own net just after it. But Nosworthy made amends almost immediately, grabbing a goal at the right end, before Alexander Kacaniklic and Troy Deeney hit a quickfire double to turn the match around.
? Middlesbrough moved back into the play-off places with a solid 3-1 win at crisis-hit Portsmouth. Barry Robson's penalty on 56 minutes set Boro on their way, Matthew Bates and Marvin Emnes also scoring; Greg Halford's penalty for Pompey wasn't much of a consolation, while Rhys Williams' late dismissal made no odds whatsoever.
? Birmingham City lost their unbeaten home league record to Nottingham Forest last week, and looked like rebounding well against Derby County, Erik Huseklepp and Marlon King putting Chris Hughton's side 2-0 up. But Derby replied with two goals in five second-half minutes from Steven Davies and Theo Robinson.
? At the bottom, a late El-Hadji Diouf penalty earned a draw for Doncaster at home to Brighton, cancelling out Craig Mackail-Smith's first-half strike. Rovers are now level on points with Portsmouth. Coventry, who went down 2-0 at Leicester, David Nugent and Jermaine Beckford with the goals at the King Power Stadium, complete the bottom three.
League One
? All eyes on Sheffield Wednesday, who preposterously sacked Gary Megson during the week. His replacement Dave Jones started out with a goalless draw at struggling Rochdale.
? Wednesday hearts will have been raised by events at Bramall Lane, however: Sheffield United went in at the break 2-0 up against Oldham, Matthew Lowton and Ched Evans the scorers. But Lowton would end the day the villain, not the hero. He was sent off for a late challenge on James Wesolowski midway through the second half with the score 2-1, Richard Cresswell having already put through his own net. Oldham almost immediately equalised through Kieran Lee, and after Harry Maguire collected United's second red card of the day, former Wednesday star Shefki Kuqi converted a last-minute penalty.
? Two first-half goals from Scotland striker Jordan Rhodes helped Huddersfield on their way to a three-goal lead at Bury by the 29-minute mark, and took his personal season's total to 30 from 28 games, a remarkable stat. But Steven Schumacher pulled a goal back almost immediately, and an equally remarkable comeback was on. Lenell John-Lewis made it 2-3 on 70 minutes, before Ashley Eastham grabbed the equaliser for Bury deep into injury time.
League Two
? Expect some entertaining/idiosyncratic/tiresome (delete according to preference) press conference action starring Paolo Di Canio. His Swindon team went down 2-0 at Thames Valley arch-rivals Oxford United. Asa Hall and Oli Johnson were the heroes for Oxford, who consolidate their position in the play-offs. All galling enough for Swindon, without the added insult of playing against ten men for 79 minutes, Oxford striker James Constable getting his marching orders at the Kassam early doors.
? Swindon's four-point lead at the top of the table was cut by a point, thanks to Cheltenham's late comeback at home to Northampton. The Cobblers were two goals to the good through Brett Williams and Adebayo Akinfenwa, but a Daryl Duffy penalty on 70 minutes reduced the arrears, and they were wiped out deep into added time by the same player.
? Rock-bottom Northampton will be doubly - nay, trebly - sick, as the two teams directly above them both won. Dagenham & Redbridge beat Bradford at home by a single Matthew Saunders goal, while Hereford did for AFC Wimbledon 2-1, Lyle Taylor and Tom Barkhuizen their men on the scoresheet.