Real Madrid welcome Levante to the Bernabeu in La Liga on Saturday, as Jose Mourinho prepares to face a date with destiny.Should Mourinho’s men avoid defeat against the league’s 15th-placed side, it will be nine years since the Portuguese last lost at home as a manager. His last defeat on home territory came when he was in charge at Porto on February 23, 2002. When quizzed on the long-standing record, however, Mourinho insisted that his focus was on reducing Barcelona’s lead at the top of La Liga.”I don’t do anything to maintain my record. If we are drawing with fifteen minutes to go, I don’t order my team to defend in order to maintain my home record of nine years undefeated,” the former Inter Milan and Chelsea boss said. “If you journalists didn’t tell me how many games or years it is, then I wouldn’t really know. Tomorrow, what I want is to win the game – not to defend my record.””I consider Levante the most important match of my career, because it is tomorrow. The next 100 days are as important as the last 100 days.”Mourinho said the mentality of playing 24 hours prior to their title rivals Barcelona meant nothing, and all Real could do to better their hopes of catching the Catalans would be win.”That they give us the chance to play a day ahead of Barcelona is either to trick us or has no significance. Barcelona play on Sunday, and if we win then we will be two points behind, but if they win we will be back to five. It is the story of pressure … and this doesn’t create pressure,” he said.
Arsene Wenger is looking to end Arsenal’s trophy drought at Wembley in a competition that he has previously shown an element of disdain to in the past. The bookies feel it is a foregone conclusion on Sunday, with very few neutrals expecting Birmingham City to cause a shock.
In the papers this morning there has been a mixed bag of stories that includes the Glazers rule out sale; Mancini bemoans the fixture schedule in England, while West Ham are rocked by Faubert’s desire to quit Upton Park.
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Glazers rule out United sale – Sky Sports
Mancini: Players treated like machines – Guardian
Gareth is simply unbelieva-Bale – Sun
Wenger firm on Toral deal – Sky Sports
Sparky: City can’t look me in eye – Sun
West Ham ‘less than 50-50’ to stay up – Guardian
Spurs chief Redknapp in the market for out-of-favour Barca striker Bojan – Daily Mail
Faubert hits Hammers with exit demand – Mirror
Ferguson rules City out of title race – Guardian
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Houllier: no chance of a ‘full English’ – Daily Telegraph
Petr Cech is clinging to hope that Chelsea can erase their deficit on leaders Manchester United and win the English Premier League title.The Blues trail their rivals by 12 points with two games in hand, even after beating Sir Alex Ferguson’s men 2-1 on Tuesday.The Chelsea shot-stopper said it was not impossible for the champions to hold onto their title, but admitted results needed to go their way – starting with a trip to Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road on Monday.”You can see teams dropping points so we will definitely have a go and try to retain the title. Realistically, we know it is not in our hands,” Cech said.Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said their triumph over the league leaders would propel one final push from the Londoners to try and knock United from top spot.”When you win against United, it means you’re good enough to play against stronger teams. So this result obviously improves your confidence,” the Italian boss said.”It’s the wrong way to prepare by thinking it will be easier against Blackpool than United.””We have to be more in focus against them than against United. It’s easy to stay focused against United because there’s so much attention on the game, and a lot of pressure.”
A late Erik Huseklepp strike salvaged a 1-1 draw for Norway in Saturday?s Euro 2012 qualifier with Denmark, while Cyprus and Iceland drew.Veteran winger Dennis Rommedahl fired Denmark into the lead with a well-struck volley in the 27th minute, but Huseklepp guided a left-footed shot home nine minutes from time to grant the hosts a point that stretches their lead atop Group H to three points.
The home side failed to carve out clear-cut chances throughout the encounter and opted for a direct route to goal, with towering Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland a constant menace for the Danish defence from set pieces.
Olympiaklos winger Rommedahl netted the opener somewhat against the run of play, firing home a fierce volley into the top-right corner after Norway?s defence failed to clear a corner.
The Danes settled well after taking the lead and motored occasional bursts forward through Ajax man Christian Eriksen, a constant menace for the Norwegian defence on the wing.
After seeing his side struggle to trouble the goal of Thomas Sorensen for most of the second half, Norway coach Egil Olsen replaced defender Espen Ruud with forward Daniel Braaten, a ploy that paid off when Braaten fed Bari front-man Huseklepp to level proceedings.
The draw means Norway lead the group standings on 10 points, three ahead of Portugal and Denmark on seven.
Cyprus and Iceland round out the standings but remain winless after sharing the spoils from a lacklustre 0-0 draw in Nicosia.
Chryssis Michail squandered a 21st-minute penalty for the hosts, with Iceland gloveman Stefan Magnusson parrying his effort to safety.
The hosts were also denied a late winner when Constantinos Makridis? long-range effort struck the post, while Iceland, who spent most of the match defending, saw Birkir Saevarsson waste their only opportunity of note before half-time.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has defended midfielder Gareth Barry after he was at the receiving end of a barrage of criticism.Controversial Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton had earlier compared Barry’s pace to that of a “tortoise” in an interview with French magazine, So Foot.
The former Man City midfielder went on to question the ability of Barry, who captained England in their friendly win over Ghana last month.
“Barry’s got a very good agent. He’s also discreet and always agrees with the manager. He’s like the guy who sits in the front row and listens to the teacher. I certainly don’t lose any sleep when I play against him,” Barton said.
“Did you see the game against Germany at the World Cup? If you watch the fourth goal, when (Mesut) Oezil was up against Barry, it was like the hare and the tortoise.”
But Mancini has responded, claiming that Barry is a “fantastic” player while Barton is merely a “good player”, also stating that every manager would want a player of his quality.
“Gareth Barry for me is a fantastic man. As a player, he is an incredible player, he works very hard, always 100 percent, he doesn’t speak but works and works for every game. I think that all managers want a player like Gareth,” Mancini said.
“I think that Barton is a good player, but I think that Gareth Barry is a fantastic player, I can only say this, the other situation is not important for me.”
Mancini’s side, fresh from thrashing Sunderland 5-0 last weekend, travel to Anfield on Monday to face a Liverpool side looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at the hands of West Brom.
And Mancini believes his side are in the right shape to maintain their quest for a top four finish
He added: “I think we always had a good spirit and desire. Maybe we had one month when we were really tired because we had injured players.”
“At the moment it’s good, I think it’s important we continue (to have desire) if we want to continue to win and we should start with Liverpool.”
City will have to make do without Micah Richards (hamstring), Jerome Boateng (knee) and Kolo Toure (suspended) for Monday night’s clash.
Manchester United target Manuel Neuer has decided where he will spend his future, according to reports on The Guardian website.
Neuer was quoted as saying was “The important people know“.
It appears extremely unlikely that the German number one will be Edwin Van der Sar’s replacement. If his destination was to be Manchester the news would have surely broken by now.
Bayern Munich Sporting Director Christian Nerlinger was keeping his cards close to his chest when quizzed about Bayern’s chances of signing Neuer in German newspaper De Bild. Although, he did give an indication that the much sort after Neuer could be heading for The Allianz Arena “We know which way this is going, the question is now whether we can find a quick solution.”
If Neuer is set to sign for the Bavarians it will cause initial displeasure among some of Bayern’s die hard fans. They have been protesting about the potential transfer as a result of Neuer’s allegiance and strong roots to Schalke.
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Bayern legend Oliver Kahn gave his take on the matter, he is quoted in De Bild as saying, “It takes a couple of training session and a saved penalty, and everyone’s on your side, around 75-80% of fans would say it makes sense to get him, because he’s on his way to become absolute world class.”
It appears there is a strong likelihood that Neuer will be keeping goal for Bayern Munich next season. We still don’t know for certain where the Schalke’s skipper will be playing, but he knows and so do the club.
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has hosed down speculation linking him with a move for Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.Mourinho enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Ivory Coast frontman, having signed Drogba from French outfit Marseille in 2003 while at the helm of the English Premier League club.
Drogba was a key element in Mourinho’s back-to-back Premier League titles with the west London club, and the 33-year-old – who has 11 goals to his name this season – has been linked with a reunion with his former boss at La Liga powerhouse Real.
“Everybody knows the professional and personal relationship that I have with Drogba,” Mourinho said.
“But everybody also knows the relationship that I have with (Blues owner Roman) Abramovich and Chelsea.”
“Therefore if it were true that Chelsea wants to sell him I would be one of the first to know because we have got a very direct, friendly relationship and they have told me nothing.”
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“So I think that Didier is going to stay where he has to stay, where he has made history.”
Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is gearing up to relegate Mick McCarthy from the Premier League for the second time on Saturday.McCarthy was in charge of Sunderland when they were relegated in 2003 and it was Bruce’s Birmingham City side who dealt the final blow with a win at St Andrew’s in April of that year.
Former Ireland manager McCarthy’s Wolves side is just a point clear of the bottom three with two games left and defeat at Sunderland would put them in big trouble of being overtaken.
“I remember that game at Birmingham,” Bruce said.
“Everyone had known for weeks that they were going down but it was losing to us that made it official.”
“But it will be different this time because Wolves had a terrific win at the weekend against West Brom, which lifted them out of the bottom three and gives them a fighting chance of avoiding relegation.”
“It is in their hands – they know that if they win both their remaining games, they will stay up.”
“But we want to make sure that they do not win on Saturday and that if they do stay up, they do it without beating us.”
Bruce expects a battling game to unfold and argued that his side’s final two games of the season – against Wolves and basement boys West Ham – could not be tougher.
“People might look at our last two games, against Wolves and West Ham, and see where those clubs are in the table and think we should beat them easily, but it isn’t necessarily so.”
“They are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table and both our last two games will be very tough for that reason.”
“He is a genuinely decent man and when he was at this club, it was in a very different situation financially to the one it is today.”
“We know what kind of team Mick will bring. He will have a team that is up-and-at-you and he will demand that they have a go – just as he did when he was a player.”
“As a player he was always fiercely competitive and very hard to beat, and his Wolves team mirrors his personality.”
“Everybody will know that Mick, coming back here, will want to turn us over and beat his old club.”
Sunderland will be without goalkeeper Craig Gordon (knee), defenders Titus Bramble (knee) and Michael Turner (knee) and midfielders David Meyler (knee), Jordan Henderson (ankle) and Lee Cattermole (shoulder).
Forwards Fraizer Campbell (knee), Richardson (calf), Danny Welbeck (hamstring) and Asamoah Gyan (hamstring) will also be unavailable.
Rafael Benitez’s agent has scoffed at claims he could take over from Guus Hiddink as coach of the Turkish national team.Hiddink has been touted as a potential replacement for deposed Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, after the Dutchman enjoyed a successful spell as caretaker boss at Stamford Bridge in 2009.
The 64-year-old is under contract with Turkey until their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign ends, and Benitez’s agent Manuel Garcia Quilon denied his client had been approached to replace Hiddink before that time.
“Absolutely not,” Quilon said. “He has not been approached by Turkey and hence, he has not held talks regarding coaching the national team.”
Benitez was sacked as Inter Milan boss in December and Quilon said the 51-year-old Spaniard and former Liverpool boss would like to be involved in the English Premier League again.
“He has received some offers from several clubs. His priority is to remain in England,” he said.
Hiddink’s agent, meanwhile, has said his client would honour his commitment to Turkey, while the national squad’s communications manager Turker Tozar said they were content to let the Dutchman make up his own mind.
“At this stage, we will leave everything to Mr Hiddink and if he sees the need to speak about this issue, he will do this personally,” Tozar said.
“We have a press conference on May 27. If he wishes comment on these rumours or leaks, he will do it. If there are new issues, Hiddink will talk about this.”
It’s been announced that Manchester United have agreed a fee and personal terms to sign Aston Villa winger Ashley Young for a estimated fee of around 15 million pounds. If your oblivious to the world of Twitter (and I’d recommend for your health you stay far away from it!) then this may have come as a surprise despite the heavy speculation of a possible transfer.
With two top class wingers in Antonio Valencia and Luis Nani , the big match player in Ji-Sung Park , the evergreen Ryan Giggs still going strong and with two starlets who are more than capable deputies to play on the wing in Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck it be hard to reason why we would need another winger, and a right-footed winger at that. However, when you look deeper into the surface it’s a very clever and astute signing. Heres some reason why:
1) Luis Nani hasn’t been as good on the left as he has been on the right: For two and a half seasons Luis Nani was the cause of much frustration among many reds, including myself. He obviously had bundles of potential, but at times he seemed too self-centered and everything he did on the field was for the benefit of himself and not the team. Something that the Portuguese winger echoed himself recently. However, since the turn of 2010 it’s fair to say Nani has been nothing else then sensational. Mainly because he’s been given more games on the right then he was earlier on in his United career. With Valencia out for majority of the season it was up to Nani to step up, and he did it emphatically. He was the top assist maker in the Premier League this season with 18 and he scored 9 goals himself. There was a period in the season where every United goal virtually involved the lad. Unfortunately the horror tackle from Jamie Carragher on Nani back in March has seemed to have dented the boy’s confidence and he hasn’t really been the same player since.
However, another reason I believe that Nani hasn’t been the same is that the week after Nani was carried off on a stretcher at Anfield, Antonio Valencia made his return from injury against Arsenal, and he has been a fixture on the right ever since leaving Nani pushed out onto the left where he has been very ineffective. On the right he is dangerous, explosive and a nightmare to defend against because he can either take his defender to the byline and cross the ball in, or he can cut inside an unleash an effort on goal.
On the left he is limited, frustrated and very predictable because of his reluctance to cross the ball in with his left foot, meaning he has to cut onto his right foot to shoot or cross. This signing doesn’t mean the end of Nani, but as a gauntlet thrown down to the lad to try and better himself even more and make the transition from on the verge of world class to world class.
2) Ashley Young is at his best on the left and is very versatile: One of the main complaints of this transfer from United fans is that he’s another right winger to add to the likes of Valencia, Nani, Park and Obertan. However, Young best form comes from when he is playing on the left. He will prove a valuable squad member as he can fill in the ‘hole’ where Rooney currently plays in, or if ever needed he can play on the right. However, for most of his United career Young should be playing on the left. Given time and space he will cut in and cross the ball or take a shot, however, unlike Nani he is more then willing to charge to the byline and whip the ball in with his left foot. Making him dangerous and unpredictable (sound familiar?). He also proved his worth in the ‘hole’ and if we are ever without Wayne Rooney for a prolonged spell (touchwood) then we have an more then able deputy and won’t have to change from the 4-4-1-1 formation which proved very effective in the final few months of the season.
3) He’ll add some more creativity and is a match-winner: Last season we seemed to be over reliant on Nani for a piece of magic in tight situations and when he was having an off day or wasn’t available the team suffered. As the season wore on the duty fell on Rooney to score or create a goal. In my opinion why we were so poor away from home in the Premiership is we lacked people who could change a game in a blink of an eye, at home with the backing of 70,000 + plus fans it was much different.
The main reason we were so successful and dangerous between 06-09 is because we had an abundance of match winners. Consider the 2008 double winning team, we had the likes of Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney, Nani, Giggs and Scholes all able to win a match on their own. Last season we were much more workman like and had to grind out results on many occasions, something we achieved purely down to the character of the side. Players like Park and Fletcher rather sum up the United squad – effective rather electric – both have been brilliant for United but neither are likely to conjure something out of nothing.With Young in the ranks we have someone who can whip in a fantastic cross, score a goal and something we haven’t had since Ronaldo have the ability to take a deadly set piece.
Continued on Page TWO
4) Aging Park and Giggs: Despite very little evidence of it, Ryan Giggs no matter how much yoga sessions he takes: will eventually run out of legs. Last season towards the end of the season Giggs was used more in a central midfield position alongside Michael Carrick. A position where were more likely to see Ryan play in a lot more next season. Ji-Sung Park has turned 30 in the last few months, and with much of his game relying on heavy running and pressuring the opponents it could mean that our ultimate big game player could be used less and less in the coming season. Both Park and Giggs contract run up in a years time and while Gigg’s situation depends on his performances and his willingness to continue, Park on the other hand could be shown the door after what will have been seven years of fine service. With Ashley Young joining and Ravel Morrison coming up through the ranks this could be Park’s final season with the red devils.
5) Cleverley and Welbeck aren’t natural wingers: While the two starlets who were loaned out to Wigan and Sunderland respectively played the majority of their loan spell on the left wing it’s fair to say it wasn’t there natural position. Both did a very good job on the left wing, but Manchester United haven’t created a legacy of quick lighting wing play with players who could do a ‘job’ there. Speaking to a few Wigan fans a few weeks ago they also felt that Tom’s future in the game is in the center of the midfield rather than out hugging the touchlines. Danny Welbeck had an impressive loan spell at Sunderland, Danny was forced out left for most of the season as Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan were ahead of him in the strikers department. When Bent left for Villa in the January transfer window Danny must have though he’d be given a chance down the center from now on, however, numerous injury problems limited his chances for the remainder of the season as Sunderland plummeted down the league table.
6) Young is approaching his prime and is relatively cheap: With his 26th birthday coming up next month Ashley is no longer classed as a youngster with potential. He’s reaching the prime of his career and with experienced heads like VDS, Neville and Scholes all having left the club he’s experience will be a welcomed addition to the squad. While English players are often very much over-hyped and overrated, the same can’t be said for Young. The winger won the PFA young player of the year back in 2009, but his progress has seemed to stall in the last couple of the seasons (remember this is the guy Martin O’Neil once described him of being at the level of Ronaldo and Messi!). Comparing his performances for Villa this season to his recent appearances for England seem to suggest that Young is desperate for a new challenge something he will get at United with Champions League football ahead for him next season. With a year left on his contract Ashley Young won’t be as expensive as someone like Alexis Sanchez who is unproven in the Premier League or as expensive as someone like Gareth Bale who is supposed to be the top target for many clubs around Europe. This means the signing of Young will leave some more cash for a top central midfielder that we all desire.
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7) Advantage of playing with better players: When SAF signed Dwight Yorke he reckoned the striker would thrive under the platform and being among higher quality players. The same could be said for Young who in is 189 appearances for Villa he has scored 37 goals and made 57 assists. An impressive record for a winger, especially considering for the majority of his Villa career Young was trying to supplement the likes of Carew, Heskey and Agbonlahor. You would imagine he would have greater success playing with the likes of Rooney, Hernandez, Berbatov and Owen. Young managed 9 goals and 14 assists last season compare that to PFA Player Of The Year winner Gareth bale who managed 7 goals and a single assist last term. So stats-wise where signing no mug!
These are several reasons why I believe Ashley Young will prove a success at United and will soon endear himself to the Old Trafford faithful!
Read more of Ryan Donavan’s articles at Red Flag Flying High