UK Football

photo: James Adams

Manchester United’s defensive troubles continue ahead of this weekend’s Carling Cup Final.  Young Brazilian right back Rafael was expected to start, but has picked up a hairline fracture in his ankle that will now keep him sidelined for at least a month.  Rafael played pretty much every cup game for United this year, and did an incredible job in doing so, especially for a player so young.  Rafael has exhibited an incredible understanding of his defensive responsibilities, and will be sorely missed by a United back four that has seen too many possible injuries over the last few weeks.  Sir Alex Ferguson left a message on the Manchester United website in reference to Rafael’s injury, “He’s out for a month with a hairline fracture of his ankle.

“It’s a blow because he’s been playing in all the cup games and he’s done so well. He deserves to be in the final.”

Liverpool have made their intentions clear in the Rafael Benitez contract drama.  Benitez, whose current deal ends at the end of this season, has yet to sign a new contract with Liverpool, apparently over many disputes, one of which money.  But the Reds have responded, and clearly showed their desire to keep the Spaniard right where he is by letting go of club chief executive Rick Parry.

It’s no secret that Rick Parry and Rafael Benitez butted heads over practically ever decision at the club, but I just don’t know that this is enough of a gesture for Rafa to stay.  I think the pressure is starting to get to Benitez, for example the random outburst against Sir Alex Ferguson a few months ago, and his really stupid decisions like putting a player in his starting eleven too soon from injury, and effectively ruining Fernando Torres’ season.

Despite their position in the league this year, and how well they’ve shown that they can play, I think Liverpool need a new manager.  Liverpool’s legitimate challenge for the Premiership crown this season is all due to the passion of the players, who have made themselves play like a team more this season than I’ve seen in a long time.  I just don’t know how much Rafael Benitez had to do with that, and I wouldn’t doubt a better manager could do even more with what Liverpool have.

Jose Mourinho has made it clear he hopes to return to the Premiership someday, why not try to lure the ‘special one’.  I’m sure he’d leave, despite having only managed for one season at Inter Milan.  Mourinho loves the Premiership, and I don’t doubt he’d love to return, even for a different club than Chelsea.   And who has proven themselves more worthy to win that elusive league title than Mourinho?  The man solely responsible for making Chelsea the team they are today.

photo: scartinho

Newcastle United’s chairman Derek Llambias and owner Mike Ashley have basically finally admitted that parting ways with Keegan was a tremendous mistake, especially because of the fallout suffered from Newcastle supporters.  Kevin Keegan was the Magpies messiah to supporters, and why Llambias and Ashley would ever let someone with that sort of overwhelming support be pushed out of the club, cannot be understood.  Especially over something so stupid as not giving the club manager a say in transfers in and out of the club.

Derek Llambias in an obvious attempt to cool the rage Newcastle supporters have been showing through pre-match protests at St. James’ Park said this of Keegan’s departure, “The reaction was so big it was naïve on our part we didn’t realise how big it would be.

“Kevin is the messiah. He is a great guy, I promise you, Kevin was where we wanted to go.”

I don’t think that’s going to quiet any Newcastle supporter, and from Derek Llambias, that’s just not enough of a message of intent to fix the many problems at the club.  Saying you made a mistake by letting one of your club’s biggest heroes be thrown out with so much bad blood left over, is a little more than a ‘naïve’ action.

Fernando Torres is out with injury again, and I still blame Rafa Benitez for having played him too early from his initial hamstring injury early on this season.  Although the current injury is a previously uninjured ankle, I can’t imagine forcing him to play a full match, running at full burst on the pitch before he was fit, was in any way good for the Spanish striker’s health.

Maybe now Rafa will learn his lesson?  Especially with talk of Gerrard returning this weekend, you can’t tell me it’s not too early for him to return from a hamstring injury.  With decisions like these, and with the contract negotiations having dragged on for years, maybe it would be best for all parties if Rafael Benitez parted ways with Liverpool.

I think it’s time.

Well it’s footballers go to jail day today, apparently, and first up is Ricardo Fuller of Stoke City who finds himself jailed for suspicion of driving offences.  Although Stoke won’t miss their striker much, considering he’s been out of action anyway with a dislocated shoulder since February 7th.  And I seriously doubt a reckless driving charge will keep him away from football for any longer than his shoulder injury has already threatened to do.

Marlon King joins Ricardo Fuller as strikers in trouble, the Hull City man faces a court charge of sexually assaulting and punching a woman in an incident at a bar from December 7th.  A fairly serious charge if Marlon King can’t offer some sort of defence, and King is the sort of player Hull City really would miss, especially with the way that they have been struggling in the latter part of this season.  But I have to say, I really won’t miss watching King play should he be guilty of sexually assaulting a woman, something about that would just make me respect a player’s ability less.

And finally, Pompey rejected a takeover bid from Swiss finance group VS Investments.  Apparently current owner Gaydamak was unhappy with the amount, which apparently was low after factoring in Portsmouth’s £40million debt.  Meaning anybody who was unhappy with the way Portsmouth is being run will have to wait a little longer until anything is actually sorted out.

Joe Kinnear is looking to make his return to managing Newcastle United after having to take an absence to undergo heart surgery.  Kinnear has his sight fixed on April 11th’s fixture against Stoke.  Although considering Kinnear’s history of heart problems, and the fact that the same sort of ailment pushed him out of management in the first place, I’m not so sure Kinnear should even return at all.  Managing a football club is an incredible strain on your ticker, whether through the stress of winning or losing, or yelling at the officials for making bad calls during a match.  And while I understand someone not wanting to let go of that world once they’ve been a part of it, your health has to come first, and I’m just not so sure that Kinnear is healthy enough to run a football club.

It’s not fair to Kinnear or Newcastle to have a manager that is unable to commit himself one hundred percent on account of illness.

The ruling on Mikel Arteta’s injury means the Everton midfielder will be out for at least six months, confirming speculation that the Spaniard would be unavailable for the rest of the season.  David Moyes will be hard pressed to find a replacement, especially with a squad that has had so much trouble through injury and finding consistent goal scorers.  But I don’t think he’ll worry too much, as Everton have found a way to win when it counts, despite having a squad that seems lacklustre compared to last season.  Although I still think selling Andy Johnson was a stupid move, I say it all the time, and here I am saying it again.

Everton can kiss their hopes for a spot in a European competition next season goodbye now that Mikel Arteta has picked up a knee ligament injury that will sideline him for the rest of the season.  Arteta is probably Everton’s most brilliant attack specialist, creating a wealth of opportunities, as well as the club’s joint top goal scorer with seven league goals this season.  If only the Toffees hadn’t sold Andy Johnson, perhaps Arteta’s goal scoring ability wouldn’t be missed as badly.

Which is also why I’m happy that the FA will protest any move Blatter makes to attempt to bring this new proposal into becoming a FIFA rule. 

photo: Gordon Flood

Inter Milan are the latest club to voice their interest in Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez, the Italian giants join Real Madrid and Manchester City as interested parties, despite the £20million+ price tag the Argentine carries.  But I just don’t think Tevez is worth that much money, he hasn’t been producing this season, and he’s had enough chances to prove himself worthy of a place in United’s starting eleven, yet Ferguson continues to leave him on the subs bench.  Tevez just isn’t a star striker anymore, but rather a man who had a lucky run with West Ham and most of last year with United.

Playing at the top level has revealed Tevez to be an inconsistent striker, some days he’s an attacking threat, other days a useless waste of space on the pitch that should be subbed as soon as possible.  And that’s just not the sort of player you spend £20million on, I don’t care how high is work rate may be.  Doesn’t matter if you’re working the hardest on the pitch, if others aren’t putting in half as much effort as you but scoring twice the goals.

Madrid, Milan and City would do well to focus their finances elsewhere.

Speaking of Manchester United, another old man will be staying on a bit longer, captain Gary Neville has signed a new contract extension will which keep him at the club until the end of next season.  Neville took a while to find his form this season, but that’s forgivable considering the length of his previous absence.  And since then Neville has been every bit the United captain anyone would expect him to be, and I’d imagine, like Giggs, Neville will soldier on as long as his fitness holds out.

photo: Jesse Michael Nix

And finally, a move for David Beckham looks to be completely out of the question as LA Galaxy chief Tim Leiweke has officially said that Beckham is absolutely returning to America come March 9th when his AC Milan loan deal runs out.  Leiweke says the club refuses to sell Beckham because the Galaxy feel AC Milan’s offers for their star player have been extremely lowball.  Apparently the Italian giant’s offer wouldn’t even cover the money that the Galaxy would lose from David Beckham shirt sales, a big concern for the American club, especially considering all Beckham has accomplished playing there is his prolific ability to sell t-shirts.

I still say it’s a stupid move on the Galaxy’s part, and goes to show the inexperience of American football clubs in today’s modern game on the world stage.  Because first off, you can’t keep a player at a club if said player doesn’t want to stay.  And second, Beckham has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave in November for free.  Now that Becks has announced his desire to stay in Italy, the Galaxy need to suck it up, cut their losses and sell Beckham for the biggest amount AC Milan will offer, or risk not benefiting at all financially from Beckham’s eventual departure.

David Beckham has found the form he’s been lacking since leaving Manchester United years ago, at AC Milan.  He’s not going to end his career rotting in an inferior league like MLS, not when AC Milan could be just a few short months away.   Get over it and sell him Galaxy.

photo: Nick

Poor Phil Brown, the guy finally gets to spend big money on a player that Hull City desperately needed in Jimmy Bullard, and now almost immediately after the deal is done, Bullard will be out for the rest of the season after requiring surgery on his knee.  Hull City spent a club record £5million for the England hopeful, and Bullard only played 37 minutes in a Tigers shirt before re-injuring the same knee that caused him so much trouble at Fulham.

But good news is, Hull are in a great position to stay afloat after this season, meaning Bullard will have the chance to make the same sort of return he made for Fulham.  After his injury is through, should Bullard be able to soldier on and continue his football career, I’d bet he’s still got enough in him to become that vital midfield player Phil Brown wants him to be.

Eduardo almost made a dream return for Arsenal, but not quite.  Eduardo’s long awaited return did start well however, the Croatian scored 2 goals in Arsenal’s 4-0 victory over Cardiff in their fourth round FA Cup replay.  And then the dream story ended, as Eduardo had to come off, having picked up a hamstring injury, meaning Eduardo has returned only to face another three week layoff.  But at least he’s proven to be the same goal scoring Eduardo Arsenal have been missing.  When they can get him to stay healthy again, no doubt Eduardo will once again play a vital role in Arsene Wenger’s first team.

And finally, for any argument as to why Wayne Rooney should always start ahead of Tevez, should there be no mitigating factors like injury, was proven without a doubt yesterday during Manchester United’s 3-0 stomping of Fulham.  Rooney had missed the last seven matches with a hamstring injury, Fergie finally let him take the pitch in the 60th minute, Rooney is on for two minutes, and with his first touch, Rooney scores United’s third goal off a brilliant Ji Sung Park cross.

Sure it was a poachers goal so any striker worth their weight in the team could have put it away, but Rooney did, and Tevez didn’t.  In fact Tevez was United’s one weak link in that match last night, which saw the resurgence of Paul Scholes, the emergence of Gibson as a great midfield threat, and the significance of Berbatov playing as United’s lead striker.  I guarantee the scoreboard would have read a different result had Rooney started in place of Tevez.  Because all those times Tevez gets a pass and is then immediately tackled because he sits on the ball, or those times Tevez puts a pass astray because he can’t read his teammate’s intentions very well, would have been played differently with Rooney’s foot on the ball.  Fulham are lucky the England striker was only given thirty minutes, or else you could chalk up at least another two goals for United on the night.

Photo: stella_gonzales2003

Looks as though Rafa Benitez is going to continue his bad run of putting out his top players much too early after injury, now with Steven Gerrard.  Gerrard was injured in Liverpool’s FA Cup clash with Everton, in which the skipper picked up a hamstring injury, and anyone who knows anything about football will tell you, any hamstring injury means at least a three week layoff.  I can’t imagine there’s any way that Gerrard is actually fit to play, and I would hope Rafa Benitez isn’t trusting the England man to tell him when he’s ready, because of course Gerrard is going to want to start every match, whether injured or not.

You can’t play someone too early with a hamstring injury, or else you risk them never getting over it during the course of the season.  Benitez has already ruined one player by being too stupid to wait with Fernando Torres.  Torres hasn’t been 100% for most of the season, mostly because Benitez keeps playing him way too soon after recurring hamstring injuries.  If Gerrard comes back to play this Sunday against Manchester City, I guarantee he becomes the new hamstring troubled player, probably for the rest of the year.

photo: 20 Minutos

Speaking of Manchester City, the richest club in the world are eying David Villa for their next high profile transfer, and City will reportedly be willing to stake £50million on the Spaniard.  After seeing how well countrymen Fernando Torres adapted to Premiership life, if Villa can do the same, he’ll be worth every penny to City.

And finally, Wayne Rooney will make his long awaited return to the Manchester United first team after suffering a hamstring injury, and missing seven matches.  United have missed Rooney’s injection of talent and ferocious play, and his return will mark the strongest United side we’ve seen since the club handed Chelsea a 3-0 loss at Old Trafford.

Cold John Terry actually be set to leave Chelsea this summer?  So far the England captain seems to be out of favour with the Chelsea bosses, after having publicly voiced his support of Scolari and also criticized the decision to fire him, Terry has been linked with possible transfers ever since.  And usually the rumour mill is always in some way correct, if not always 100%.

The newest to enter the fray?  Manchester City of course.  That’s right, the richest club in the world is planning on making a bid for England’s captain this summer, and for anyone to be tempted it’s going to have to approach Kaka territory, because John Terry is world class.  You put Terry in your squad to keep the defence incredibly solid, as well as put a new dimension into your set pieces.  Terry alone could fill almost all of City’s defensive weaknesses, and turn them into that top four competitor everyone expects they should be.

The LA Galaxy bosses have pulled rank on David Beckham and refused the former England captain’s requests to make a permanent move to AC Milan.  And that just goes to show how stupid the Galaxy are.  You can’t stop a player from leaving when he wants to, and Beckham has a clause in his contract that will allow him to depart in November for free, which he’ll no doubt do.  The Galaxy should have taken the money AC Milan were offering, that way at least they would have some sort of a profit off the failure of bringing Beckham to America.

What they were thinking, or even what Beckham was thinking by going to MLS I’ll never know.  Beckham is the sort of player that makes good players into fantastic players, you buy him to bolster your squad, you don’t build a squad around Beckham.  His talent doesn’t work that way.  The Galaxy don’t have anyone for Beckham to make better, because they’re all awful, the dregs of football society.

The Galaxy should have just cut their losses and taken the cheque Milan would have handed them, and no doubt they’ll regret the decision to turn down Beckham’s move when he just leaves for free later this year.

And finally, Hull must be very angry about how their most expensive club transfer in history has gone so far.  Jimmy Bullard only played 37 minutes for the club before re-injuring the knee that has troubled him for years at Fulham, and now the England man will require another surgery to repair the damage, the same sort of surgery that put him out of the Fulham squad for a year and a half.  Kind of funny though when you think  about it, Hull finally decides to spend the money it takes to be successful in the big time, and then it all goes so wrong.

Wayne Rooney is set for a comeback after his lengthy absence with a hamstring injury.  The United striker was out for five weeks, and is set for a return this weekend against Blackburn, and there is still a possibility of the England man showing up on United’s bench for Wednesday’s fixture against Fulham.  United have been lacking that killer instinct that Rooney brings to the squad through his movement and incredible passing, and now that he can take his rightful place back from Carlos Tevez, United will really be set to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership table.

Adding to Chelsea’s money woes, owner Roman Abramovich, who has sunk an estimated £700million+ into the club, has been affected fairly harshly in these tough economic times by posting an almost £7billion loss last year.  Meaning Chelsea really could be in deep trouble, what with all the wasted money that’s been shelled out on managers and senior staff lately.

The debt is piling up, and Abramovich isn’t going to have the money to pay off the banks when the time comes, meaning Chelsea could end up being owned by someone who can’t float the bill for their recent style of buying a player to strengthen the squad, instead of developing talent.  Also meaning Chelsea could be prepared for a drop in their placement on the table, sooner rather than later.

And finally, the revelation that has been Carlton Cole at West Ham will be sorely missed over the next two weeks, as the England striker picked up an ankle sprain during the Hammers FA Cup draw with Middlesbrough at the weekend.  Carlton Cole has become West Ham’s most important attacking component, and after losing Dean Ashton and Craig Bellamy this season, West Ham are running out of players that can successfully bolster that attack and keep them winning matches.