With a third of the Premier League season now gone by, the table is starting to find its level and supporters are starting to get a better understanding of where their respective clubs are at this season and the challenge that faces them in the coming months. Once again the Premier League has been broken up into three tiers, with each team facing their own private battle.
Unlike previous years there has certainly been some stability on the managerial front with only Steve Bruce succumbing to the bullet so far, as clubs look to show patience with their managers to turn around their current plights. The managers may not be so patient with players at their disposal and may look to make significant changes in the January transfer window.
The January transfer window is loved and loathed in equal measures, with many managers and supporters alike welcoming the opportunity to freshen things up, while others see it as a source of distraction. History shows it is a renowned place for panic buying, as last January certainly proved, but there have been notable successes in the past that shows it can be a significant period to turn around a club’s fortunes. I feel the African Cup of Nations and the unprecedented amount of long term injuries we have seen will force many club’s hands and subsequently we can expect to see another expensive month for many Premier League chairman.
So how do you feel about Aston Villa’s fortunes so far this season and would you look to see changes made in January? Who would you like to see brought in and ultimately who would you like to see moved on in the up and coming window?
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Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness says incumbent manager Jupp Heynckes was always the club’s number one choice.Heynckes is currently the manager of Bayer Leverkusen, who sit second in the Bundesliga, but will leave his post at the BayArena to manage the Bavarian giants next season.
Hoeness admitted Heynckes needed some time to think about the decision but was pleased that the club’s preferred choice had signed on for his third stint with the Bavarian giants.
“He is the candidate we all wished for,” Hoeness said.
“The board had no problems to back this decision. We all agreed that if we could get Heynckes then we should get him, and only him. He knew he was our number one candidate and that we have not talked to anybody else.”
“He did ask for some days to think it through since he has grown close to Bayer Leverkusen over the last two years, he also was very successful with them. But in the end we all knew that we could make it happen to bring him back.”
Hoeness believes that with the appointment of Heynckes, Bayern have a ‘good chance’ of winning next season’s Bundesliga.
Bayern have struggled under Louis van Gaal this season and face a battle to qualify for the Champions League.
But the Bayern president says things will change with the new appointment.
“We are a club striving for success,” he said.
“We want to win titles again next year and I think we have a good chance to do that.”
You may love or loathe the transfer windows but it certainly has most football supporters fixated to the rumour mills on a daily basis. I don’t know many fans that don’t go straight to the BBC’s gossip column as a first port of call every morning, before they move on to SkySports.com. Most of what is written is complete tosh; however it doesn’t stop many buying into what they have read. I guess everyone just loves a rumour, despite how outlandish they might be.
One thing that does amuse me about those who bite at the rumours is their sheer naivety and this belief that the club have a bottomless pit of money and cannot understand why player X Y and Z won’t be playing for their club next season. There is a lot to be said for a little bit of realism and general understanding of the complexity of club finances. Sometimes players have to be sacrificed in order to raise funds to strengthen elsewhere, or clubs have a restricted budget due to incompetent owners or the need to finance new stadia. Money doesn’t grow on trees and therefore clubs have to live within their means.
So what about your club this summer? No doubt you have been taken in by some of the rumours, poured cold water over some and I’m sure there is a long list of players that you will be happy to see the club cash in on during the coming weeks. The transfer window, with the exception of City, has been somewhat constipated up to this point, although I’m sure it won’t be long before the transfer storm starts to erupt.
Who would you like to see arrive at the Anfield during the next five weeks, and equally who should be issued with their P45?
Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer
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Robin Van Persie was the hero once again for Arsenal scoring twice as Arsene Wenger’s side came from a goal behind to win their fourth successive Premier League game.
The Dutchman has now scored 31 top-flight goals in 2011 and was once again on hand to save the Gunners after they fell behind to Steve Morison’s opener on the quarter hour mark – his third goal in as many games. The Canaries could only hold on for 10 minutes though before Van Persie struck from close range to score from Theo Walcott’s cross before superbly clipping home Alex Song’s pass to secure victory. It was just rewards for Arsenal who rolled back the years to produce an energetic display of attacking fortitude that ultimately proved too much for Paul Lamberts men. Norwich looked good for a point with the visitors squandering a hatful of chances but it wasn’t to be as Van Persie proved to be the difference once again for the North London side. They should have been at least a goal to the good within the first 15 minutes only for some tremendous defending to thwart them. Firstly Gervinho saw his close range shot blocked, Van Persie then dragged an effort wide before Russell Martin produce an astonishing goal line clearance to deny Walcott.
It proved to be costly as the Canaries Morison opened the scoring against the run of play punishing Per Mertesacker for failing to deal with Marc Tierney’s long ball brushing the German defender out of the way and calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner. However that seemed to spur the Gunners on as they continued to pile the pressure on agains only to be denied by two more goal line clearances from Martin with the defender hacking Van Persie’s header off the line before saving keeper John Ruddy’s blushes after he let a Gervinho shot find it’s way towards goal. You could sense a goal was on the horizon and it was Van Persie who delivered tapping in from six-yards out after Walcott flew past Tierney on the right and fizzed the ball across the Norwich penalty area. The Gunners continued to attack at every opportunity but still lacked a cutting edge in front of goal with Gervinho wasting a host of chances. The most notable saw him round Ruddy after latching onto Van Persie’s threaded pass only for the keeper to recover and prevent the Ivorian from putting Arsenal into the lead.
Still the away side continued to attack with vigour and they got their reward’s just before the hour mark with Van Persie scoring his 10th goal in five games. Canaries defender Martin, who had been impressive throughout the contest, surrendered possession on the half way line allowing Song to play the 28-year-old in and he made no mistake stroking the ball home with supreme ease to put Arsenal in front. Norwich tried in vain to find an equalising goal only to see Anthony Pilkington scuff Elliott Bennett’s cross wide from close range with the goal gaping. It almost got worse for the home side as Walcott, who had tortured the home defence all afternoon with his pace, sprung clear once again but saw his drive hit the outside of the post. Never the less it twas the Gunners who held on and picked up a deserved 10th win in 12 games to move level on points with fourth placed Chelsea for a few hours at least.
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Goal II was on television the other day. You know the one, it’s the second film in the Hollywood football trilogy about a wide eyed Mexican everyman puppy thing who dreams of becoming an unrealistic footballer and bedding a Geordie nurse. I’m still undecided on Goal II. I’ve decided it’s bad of course, obviously, but I’m undecided whether it’s bad enough to be good, or just simply bad. It’s better than Goal I, by which I mean it’s worse, making it much better at being bad, and thus closer to being good, than it’s predecessor – which isn’t remotely bad enough to be good, merely just bad enough to be bad – but certainly not on a par of badness with Goal III, which isn’t even good enough to be considered bad in the first place it’s so terrible, and thus clearly unable to be bad enough to be good, if you catch my drift.
I think I’ve decided that I don’t think it is. Bad enough that is. I think it retains just enough goodness to be merely bad, though it does put in a sterling effort towards the end by way of a comically fascinating Champions League Final tussle with Arsenal and their imaginary wunderkind TJ Harper (the kind of ludicrous Americanised name dreamed up by someone called Brock in a lunch meeting in LA) and some fantastically Shaolin Soccer-esque swerving kung fu super shots. Not to mention the fact that both teams seem to be playing with at least four strikers, what with the film’s writers clearly unable to invent any imaginary characters that could possibly be, say, combative defensive midfielders and not clichéd party boy forwards who score a suspicious amount of Lineker-esque tap ins that can be conveniently filmed from behind the goal.
Where Goal II succeeds in it’s goodness (or badness) however, is in this very same overblown comic book drama. Goal I played it too safe in a presumed attempt to be realistic. It downplayed the footballing romance to the perfectly imaginable (well, for the time) task of getting a still Shearer-some Newcastle into Champions League qualification, and whilst that’s all very commendable in a “well that could’ve plausibly happened” type of a way, real football often works on a much higher platform of romance and wish fulfillment than it’s cinematic counterpart.
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Take the case of Javier Hernandez, Manchester United’s very own wide eyed Mexican everyman puppy thing, who has been busily going about the business of scoring dramatic late winners in important Premiership and Champions League ties for seven months now without anyone batting an eyelid or even having to suffer the obligatory turbulent beginnings/middle period where he falls over in the rain a lot and gets bullied by Gary Neville. In fact such a dream start has “The Little Pea” (a name that’s encouraged me to now codify my trips to the bathroom as “going for a Chicharito”, much to everyone’s annoyance) made that if his first season in Manchester were to be adapted into a mega-bucks Hollywood franchise, no one would take it seriously.
Sports dramas often suffer from his paradox, in stark contrast to most other biopic genres, where the dramatisation of events only serves to make them less interesting than their real world counterparts. The best footballing narratives would stretch the credibility of a film and have you yearning for the days of Sean Bean taking a last minute penalty against a suspiciously fat Man United side despite it being his first professional start and him clearly pushing forty.
Hernandez’s meteoric rise has also evaded the usual media rights of passage hype by virtue of the fact he isn’t English. With less domestic starts and more goals than Andy ‘£35m’ Carroll and more World Cup strikes to his name than Wayne Rooney the boy is a genuinely brilliant find, and it’s not hard to imagine the red top clamor had he been snapped up as a product of the Maidstone youth set up a la Chris Smalling and not arrived by way of the Mexican scouting system. Even more significantly, Sir Alex Ferguson seems to have seen the potential of a first team partnership with Rooney, leapfrogging even the Solskjaer-like cult super sub expectations of United’s most optimistic fans.
At 22, his progress shows no signs of abating any time soon, baring a jinx-worthy Michael Owen like crock-attack, and if his pride filled badge-kissing enthusiasm is anything to go by (which if the history of badge kissing has taught us anything, it’s not) then he could very well end up as one of those players who’s name unexpectedly creeps up on the all time Premiership scorers list like a Hasselbaink or Heskey before his time in England is out. Forget the signing of the season, he could be the signing of the decade. Which considering it’s only one year old, is already looking a good bet for at least another 12 months.
Screw Hollywood, give me he real world any day.
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You can follow Oscar on Twitter here http://twitter.com/oscarpyejeary where you can find out why he’s taken to drinking solely drinks named after attractive but ultimately useless female tennis players.
With the World Cup finally beginning to live up to the hype it seems football’s world governing body can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.
Not only are goals finally flying in, but with all the scaremongering about potential robbery rape and murder the fact that there have been relatively few violent incidents also means the safety aspect has been well handled.
Well while the World Cup may be a success- unless you’re English, or an Italian manager- FIFA’s handling of certain aspects has been nothing short of shocking.
There was the whole orange dress girls debacle, where FIFA inadvertently gave the chaps at Bavaria beer far more publicity than the scantily clad ladies did alone. I was at the Holland Denmark game and had my picture taken with a pair of the ladies in question and had no idea what they were meant to be advertising. It wasn’t until they were arrested and the story hit the headlines worldwide that I along with most other people realised they were part of an advertising campaign for Bavaria beer.
Not only did FIFA give the company more publicity they could ever have dreamed of, they also made themselves look harsh and foolish for over-reacting.
Then there are the FIFA fan parks which are scattered around the country. Here you can watch all the World Cup games on huge screens free of charge with entertainment in between games. Simple eh?
Well not when they’re run by FIFA. Before the World Cup thousands of South Africans applied for licences to trade at these parks. The cost wasn’t cheap – around 20,000 rand –around 2000 english pounds as a deposit plus a lot more in expenses.
FIFA promised these traders they’d be given prime locations in the parks and that entertainment would be put on near their stalls to keep punters happy.
In the fan park at Innesfree park I visited the stalls were set so far behind the screen, I almost didn’t realise they were there.
The Coca-Cola stalls as well as other sponsors MTN were in prime locations where you literally couldn’t miss them.
The place was like a ghost town and I spoke to a couple of the traders about their predicament.
Jamiliah Khan was running a food stall with her family, she was quite vocal in her anger at the situation: “My kids education fund, I’ve dug into that, it’s going to take me years to recoup my losses.
They promised that there was going to be a stunning line-up of entertainment that was going to pull crowds.
We thought it was going to be win-win situation for everybody but it’s only a win-win situation for coca-cola and FIFA the small vendors get screwed.”
Joseph Molwatnwa was another trader who was furious with FIFA’s broken promises: “It’s bad, bad, bad, horrible, they’re changing the rules every day- there’s no entertainment it’s terrible. We’ve lost a lot of money.
“The first day this was open people came because Bafana Bafana were playing, but it wasn’t arranged properly, there was only one till open.
“We’ve decided to close down and pack up, FIFA said there would be twenty thousand people a day but there’s been around only twenty people. It’s a disaster.”
While the official fan parks have been something of a total let down that’s not the only area that FIFA have behaved badly.
Recently stewards at five stadiums across the country went on strike due to a pay dispute. This meant that the South African police force has had to step in. While that may seem hardly the fault of Sepp Blatter and his mob, once you scratch beneath the surface you can see it’s again down to the misdeeds of football’s governing body.
Workers were told that they would be given 500 rand per day but then were only paid them 190 causing uproar.
FIFA awarded the security contract to Stallion Security despite several warning signs that this would lead to disaster.
The security company lost their international partner, Securitas from Sweden, earlier this year when they pulled out of the tournament, apparently following financial disputes.
The South African Police Service also had to step in to protect another FIFA tournament in June last year, after the local organising committee and Stallion fell out over money shortly before the Confederations Cup.
According to the FIFA safety guidelines, the local organising committee and FIFA itself, is responsible for safety at stadiums on the day of matches.
While everyone I’ve met here is justifiably proud to not only be hosting the World Cup but also to have done it with a warmth and friendliness I’ve not seen since my raving days ended, there are some major concerns.
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Last week thousands took to the streets of Johannesburg in protest at the amount of money the government is spending on the World Cup when so many people are living in poverty.
FIFA has made record amounts from the South African World Cup and many here, feel the South African bid committee allowed football’s governing body to make far too many stipulations just to have a successful bid.
Here the South African government could be accused of adhering to too many demands, but FIFA should be held culpable for exploiting the situation to their utmost benefit.
South Africa missed out on the World Cup in 2006 by a single vote, after Charles Dempsey- who’s almost as famous as Francois Pienaar in parts of South Africa- abstained from voting despite being told by his confederation to vote for South Africa.
Many of the stadiums here will likely be unused or even demolished after the tournament as some are in areas where there will be absolutely no need for them.
It seems in the nation’s eagerness to become the first African host of a world cup- it was announced that this tournament would be in an African country before the bids were in- the government may have given too much leeway and paid a price that people here will have to live with for many years to come.
The question is did FIFA exploit South Africa, or is this nation’s government to blame?
Having spent thousands of hours watching football, I have spent a fair few days reading about it too – not just in newspapers, or online, but books too. Not all hit the spot – Shaun Goater’s autobiography or that of Jeff Stelling were entertaining enough, but hardly classics. Listed below are my top ten football books, in no particular order, a varied bunch of reads. With thousands more available, it is just the tip of the iceberg, but the books show that there is much more to the sport than kicking a football around a piece of grass.
A Season With Verona – Tim Parks
Less a football book, than a social commentary on a whole nation paired with a travelogue, the book’s title pretty much says it all. Tim Parks was born in Manchester, moving permanently to Italy in 1980. The book follows Parks’ attempts to attend every game in Verona’s epic 2000-2001 Season in Serie A. During it, we see much of what defines the country, and its football fans, with anecdotes that will be familiar to anyone who follows the beautiful (and often not-so-beautiful) game.
“Addictive reading…each chapter is a short story, the whole book an epic.” The Observer
“A fascinating emotional journey…his descriptions of Italian football are descriptions of Italy itself, its regional differences, its squabbles, its distinctive temper.” The Daily Telegraph.
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The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro – Joe McGinniss
The first season spent in the dizzy heights of Serie B, in their entire history, by Castel Di Sangro is shared by American writer Joe McGinniss in what becomes an increasingly fascinating read. McGinniss spends the entire 1996/97 season in the small hamlet of Castel Di Sangro.
The book starts with some reservations, as McGinniss explains in simple terms the rules of football, and you soon realise that (understandably) the book is aimed at an American audience. However, it is written with great warmth and attention, and more importantly, fate supplies the author a staggering story that no Hollywood scriptwriter could have dreamt of, building to a sensational end to a season full of highs and lows, and a fair amount of tragedy too.
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Paul Lake – I’m Not Really Here
This goes on the list with no bias from me – whilst it is fair to say there is more to be gained from this book for Manchester City fans, I would strongly argue that any football fan should give it a go. Thinking of all the turgid autobiographies I have read in my time, it is rare to see a footballer’s autobiography written so well, with such emotion, and humour. Co-written with his wife Joanne, it is a must-read, dealing not only with football but with the depths a man can sink to when his life is ripped apart – it shows a side of football we rarely see, and the last line of the book still brings a lump to my throat.
Read my full review here: https://www.footballfancast.com/2011/08/football-blogs/book-review-paul-lake-autobiography-im-not-really-here
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Why England Lose: And Other Curious Phenomena– Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski
I recently took this book on holiday, and it mysteriously kept disappearing, such was the fascination at what it had to say amongst my friends. A superb read that details various statistical anomalies within football, without ever getting boring, such as:
“Why do England lose?”
“Why do Newcastle United always buy the wrong players?”
“How could Nottingham Forest go from winning the European Cup to the depths of League One?”
“Penalties – what are they good for?”
Why England Lose isn’t in the first place about money. It’s about looking at data in new ways. A prizewinning writer and a leading sports economist have come together to present the sport in a new light, from new angles. The book’s scope is wide – from racism, to the mistakes of the transfer market, to how city size reflects club glory, or which country loves football the most. A great read, as are Kuper’s other books on football.
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Inverting The Pyramid – Jonathan Wilson
A definitive football book. It can be a dry read at times, but Jonathan Wilson’s look at basically the history of football, and how the sport was spread and tactics evolved around the globe is a fascinating read. He shows how countries shaped their own methods and styles, looking at how teams lined up in some of the key games in the sport’s history, all leading to the tactical variations used in the present day.
“A fascinating history of tactics, a book that is guaranteed to enhance your football watching: your team may still lose, but you’ll have a far better idea why they did.” The Independent on Sunday
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You are the Ref: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide to the Laws of Football: Keith Hackett & Paul Trevillion
A book that reaffirms how ignorant I am about parts of the sport I love.
It’s a penalty to the away side. Just as the kick is about to be taken, the home side’s official mascot suddenly jumps up behind the net, dancing. The penalty-taker misses and turns to you in outrage. What do you do?
You are the Ref is the cult classic comic strip from legendary Roy of the Rovers artist Paul Trevillion – if you’r eone of the few people not to have stumbled across the strip, it puts you in the spotlight and asks the question: what would you decide?
Written by former international referee Keith Hackett, and brilliantly illustrated by the aforementioned Trevillion, it is the perfect book to test your knowledge of the laws of the game, great for dipping in and out of, with added profiles of some of the game’s biggest names. You’ll be amazed as much at what you didn’t know as what you did.
Add plenty of extra trivia and a top ten spot is guaranteed.
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Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino: by Tony Cascarino
One of only two autobiographies on the list, it is not a surprising choice, often listed as one of the best.
The book was received so well due to the searing honesty of Cascarino – he does not hold back on admitting his thoughts, and his many mistakes. It is well-written too of course, as it was put together (I.e. ghost-written) by award-winning Irish journalist Paul Kimmage, written in a style akin to a thriller by slowly revealing details.
Cascarino reveals all – he talks of his gambling, and his worship of Jack Charlton, and hatred of Glenn Hoddle. He talks of his crippling self-doubt, and of taking unknown medicines whilst at Marseille. And then there was his international career…
The Guardian said, “Compared with the standard-issue footballer’s autobiography, this is Tolstoy.” Perhaps not quite, but it’s brilliant storytelling, and gives a shockingly honest portrait of one footballer and his world.
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Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
Fever Pitch is both an autobiography and a footballing bible rolled into one, winning the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 1992.
Everyone knows about the book, so little needs to be said – but it makes the list because quite simply Hornby is an excellent writer – any football fan could associate with his stories of what the game meant to him, how it affected the rest of his life, from work to personal relationships, and how it shaped who he was. His story of growing up in a world that revolved around football is a familiar one for millions of us, and the climax to the story reminds us why we do what we do.
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Broken Dreams: Tom Bower
Another one from the archives.
Broken Dreams is Bower’s controversial account of how some of the sport’s most high-profile managers and chairmen have been getting their snouts in the trough at the expense of their clubs and the game.
Focussing on the likes of Terry Venables, Brian Clough, Ken Bates and Harry Redknapp–and a huge cast of FA officials, club bigwigs and super-agents–Bower draws together threads from existing sources, with newly acquired information from over 200 interviews, weaving a compelling tale of vanity, greed and corruption at the heart of the football establishment.
The book is a real eye-opener, raising serious doubts over the characters of many of the nation’s most famous footballing names. We read of missing money in Redknapp transfer deals, Ken Bates’ disastrous business decisions and Terry Venables’ even worse business dealings. But there’s lots more about the murkier side of the sport, of what goes on behind the scenes, the extent to which money tarnishes the actions of those that run the game and our clubs, the bungs, the missing money – and even to this day much of what it has to say is relevant. Little has changed.
Another William Hill Sports Book of the Year, in 2003.
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Football Grounds of England – Simon Inglis
Does what it says on the cover – lots of pictures of football grounds, and how they developed (though not up to date by many a year). What’s not to like?
Abou Diaby’s petulant match-turning red card against Newcastle was just the latest in a long line of controversial incidents on and off the pitch involving Arsenal’s players this season, which begs the question, is ill-discipline becoming a very real problem for the club to deal with?
Glancing at the statistics, Arsenal already have the third worst disciplinary record in the Premier League this season, which boasts a rather unenviable record of 6 red cards and 44 yellow cards. Contrast this with last season’s total of 56 yellows and 1 red card, which left them as the club with the third best disciplinary record in the league and the difference is startling.
Diaby’s red card was fully deserved at St James’ Park and his reaction was simply unacceptable. His dismissal came hot on the heals of another controversy involving the club; this time surrounding captain Cesc Fabregas and his supposed comments to the match official at half-time during the club’s home fixture against Everton.
David Moyes, not usually a manager to stick his ore unnecessarily into other people’s business, let alone court controversy, alluded to the fact that Fabregas questioned the referee’s integrity in the tunnel at half-time for allowing Louis Saha’s dubiously offside goal to stand.
Moyes opined: “Cesc Fabregas should have been sent off at half-time in the tunnel for the comments at the officials coming up the tunnel. It was disgusting.” Moyes later went onto clear things up a little better and it has since emerged that Fabregas asked fourth official Lee Mason how much Everton were paying him to swing the game in their favour – a ludicrous suggestion it has to be said.
It appears frustration got the better of Fabregas on this occasion. You simply cannot question the integrity of Everton football club and the match officials in the manner that he did. All it does is add fuel to the fire and it does nothing more than put manager Arsene Wenger immediately on the defensive after the result. At a time when the only topics Wenger should be discussing are his side’s fantastic comeback or the great resilience shown by his title contenders, he has to waste his time discussing incidents outside of his control.
But that is the point entirely – just how much control does Wenger have over this Arsenal side?
He is a father figure at the club, that much is beyond question, and he was also the main reason that Fabregas decided to stay in the summer despite overtures from his boyhood club Barcelona. This Arsenal side is the best team that Wenger has had at his disposal for the past 4-5 years and they remain Man Utd’s main challengers for the title this season.
They are not particularly bad natured, nor are they especially dirty, but there is a petulance that bubbles beneath the surface throughout the whole side and the manager has to take some credit for this. Wenger is widely known for his less than humble post-match remarks to the press, particularly in defeat and perhaps this attitude has seeped through to some of his players somewhat.
Jack Wilshere too was fortunate to escape FA censure over his comments via his Twitter feed after the Newcastle game where he questioned the quality of the decision-making of referee Phil Dowd. In all honesty, Wilshere made a sound enough point and Dowd did have a poor day at the office, but surely the club has to have a blanket set of guidelines for players on social networking sites? If they don’t, they should certainly look to install one in the near future.
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Over at Liverpool, the furore that surrounded Ryan Babel after he posted a mocked up photo of Howard Webb in a Man Utd shirt proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back and he was out of the club within a matter of days.
It wasn’t necessarily what Wilshere said that was the main problem, it was the fact that it led to another series of difficult and needless questions for his manager to face. Wilshere, of course, is no stranger to trouble and the player in question has been involved in numerous scuffles off the pitch since his breakthrough into the Arsenal starting eleven, and while he’ll certainly mature with age, his penchant for getting himself into hot water is a worrying aspect to accompany his developing career.
On the pitch, this Arsenal side plays to the strict blueprint laid out by their astute manager, but off the pitch, Wenger seems to have a little more difficulty controlling this talented group of players.
A siege mentality is a great thing to have, especially if you can harness it to your benefit. Certain sides such as Liverpool and Chelsea thrive under one. But with the spotlight focussing on Arsenal’s title challenge at the moment, the sheer amount of newsworthy controversies dogging the club only serves to highlight that a degree of discipline needs to be brought back to the Emirates, before it has the potential to derail any title ambitions the club may harbour this campaign.
West Ham United's co-owner David Gold retains hope that his club could seal the signings of England midfielder Joe Cole and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry this summer.
Gold and fellow co-owner David Sullivan have installed Avram Grant as the new man in charge at Upton Park and are keen to show their intent in the transfer market.
"We, as much as anyone, want England to do well at the World Cup so there's absolutely no chance of us talking to Joe during the World Cup," Gold commented.
"We wouldn't do that during this very delicate period, but after that, that's a different matter. When it comes to big transfers we don't like to any stone unturned.
"The chance of getting Cole is 10-1 and therefore there is a one in ten chance of us getting him. We probably won't get him but the offer is still there.
"There is the same chance of Henry coming, but we will try. We had a chat with him for a bit, but it looks like he is going to be offered another contract.
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"The offer is still on the table for him too and it will be there for another two or three weeks.
"We have had it in the past where we have thrown the net out far and we will throw the net out again in the future."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
An extra time Gael Givet goal secured a 4-3 win for Blackburn over Newcastle on Wednesday night, and provided under-fire manager Steve Kean some respite as his team progress through to the cup quarter finals.
Rovers flew into a 2-0 lead through goals from Ruben Rochina and Yakubu, but two injury-time goals by Danny Guthrie and Yohan Cabaye forced the game into extra-time.
Morten Gamst Pedersen recovered the Lancashire club’s lead in the first half of injury time, but the visitors refused to lie down, and Peter Lovenkrands made it 3-3.
French defender Givet scored the winner on the 120 minute mark in an epic display, and received sparkling praise from manager Kean.
“Gael Givet encapsulates the whole spirit we have got here – he had a hamstring nick but would not come off,” the Scottish coach told The Daily Mail.
“He’s a warrior, he has put his head where other people wouldn’t put their feet. He was fantastic.”
The win will give Blackburn a cup run and be a welcome distraction for the league, where Rovers are bottom. Despite this, Kean has admitted that he has been working on his side’s defence in training.
“We had worked so hard to get a clean sheet so when their first goal went in it was a horrible feeling.
“It’s tough mentally when they scored so late to go and score again but we did it.
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“We are always going to score goals but we have been working day in, day out defensively so that when we lose possession we get a good shape,” he concluded.