Sunderland are set for a huge injury lift this week over defender Danny Batth…
What’s the latest?
According to the Sunderland Echo, the centre-back is hopeful of being back fit and available for selection against Gillingham this weekend in League One.
Sunderland Echo quote the player as saying: “It’s been a niggly injury so we’ve kind of had to let it build up and obviously I’ve been working hard off the pitch in the gym and physically.
“The injury was pretty unfortunate, it was in a blocked tackle. I’ve won the ball and the guy has put all his weight into my ankle. There was no massive damage on the scan, it has just been niggling and niggling so hopefully that’s behind me now and I can crack on.“I’ve just been using the international break to get up to speed.” Buzzing
This update will surely leave Alex Neil buzzing, as having the 31-year-old back will be a major boost to the Sunderland squad heading into the final weeks of the campaign.
The Black Cats are vying for a place in the play-offs and need as many of their best players available as possible to give themselves the greatest chance of making the top six. They are currently seventh and two points off sixth in the table, so Batth’s return will be a timely boost.
He has already proven himself to be a reliable option at a higher level. The defender averaged a superb SofaScore rating of 7.10 for Stoke as he won 68% of his duels and made 2.6 tackles and interceptions per game in the Championship this season.
This shows that he has the quality to be an outstanding performer in the second tier as he delivered brilliant displays for the Potters. His statistics prove that he is playing below his station at the moment, and Sunderland supporters can look forward to seeing him hit top gear in the coming weeks.
Therefore, he should be able to replicate that form whilst playing at a lower standard of football. His experience and ability as a centre-back should make him an excellent player for Neil to call upon between now and the end of the season, as he could be able to have a huge say in their campaign if he can get back to the form that he showed for Stoke in the Championship.
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This is why the 40-year-old will be buzzing that the defender is on his way back from injury and could be in contention to face Gillingham next weekend.
AND in other news, Sold at £9m, now worth £720k: Sunderland played a blinder with “unit” whose career has flopped…
Since getting promoted to the top flight in 2007/8, Stoke City have embarked on a project; transforming themselves from relegation favourites into a stable Premier League force. While they will always have their detractors, it may be about time that the somewhat patronising platitudes and plaudits finally heading their way come to an end, for they could be a serious threat to those with Europa League aspirations this term.
Of course, Stoke are already competing in Europe this season courtesy of an FA Cup final appearance last term against Man City, yet people still feel the need to belittle their achievements as merely a blip on the radar before the status quo is rightly resumed.
Whenever an article is written about Stoke praising their progress it is often met with the caveat about their style of play. It’s become an obsession for most that when discussing Stoke (granted, I accept the irony that I may be falling into that very same trap now) that to praise them is to highlight their limitations at the same time. With no other club in the Premier League does this happen.
Under Tony Pulis’s astute leadership Stoke have finished 12th on 45 points, 11th on 47 points and 13th on 46 points. This summer’s heavy spending in the transfer market then can be seen as nothing more than a statement of intent through fear of giving way to stagnation.
Cast your eye around Stoke’s squad now and it’s filled to the brim with Premier League, and in some cases, international quality players. The arrivals of Peter Crouch, Wilson Palacios, Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson this summer all signify a step in the right direction and fittingly for a Tony Pulis signing, they all arrive with a point to prove.
We’ve all fallen into the trap before of praising ‘little old Stoke’ for doing well, but the biggest compliment that you can pay them is that last weekend’s 1-0 defeat of big-spending Liverpool at the Britannia Stadium didn’t come as a surprise. I’ve long been a fan of Pulis’s side and welcome the change for once of a team not merely settling to make up the numbers – see here for further proof of an article I did just over a year ago on the topic – https://www.footballfancast.com/2010/09/football-blogs/fortune-favours-the-brave-for-bold-stoke
Could they emerge as a serious threat to those challenging for a Europa League place this season?
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Most certainly. Spurs are a dishevelled and deeply unsettled side after this summer’s transfer window. Arsenal, while they have strengthened, are susceptible to a challenge and have shown time and time again that they lack the desired mental strength over the course of a long campaign. Liverpool are likely to be inconsistent for the majority of the campaign as they begin to blood new faces. Everton are well and truly skint and a top-half finish would be an achievement in itself for Moyes’s charges and Aston Villa look like a side on the precipice of regression under Alex McLeish.
It’s far from certain, but when you analyse their nearest challengers, Stoke have the most dependable back line out of the aforementioned sides and the least amount of outside pressure on them. They will still struggle to score goals (Cameron Jerome, why?) but they remain difficult to break down and a pain to play.
They’re the model by which future Championship sides will base their first summer in the Premier League on. It seems that only now are they beginning to garner the plaudits that they truly deserve.
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They’ve been labelled as ‘honest’, ‘hardworking’, ‘committed’ and ‘tough’ in the past, but perhaps before we all give way to the worst kind of revisionist thinking, it would be best just to praise Stoke for what they are good at for once, as opposed to judging them for what they aren’t.
The coming together of Liverpool and Manchester United is one of the Premier League’s titanic clashes and you have the opportunity to watch all the action from the Legends Lounge at Anfield this Saturday lunchtime.
The good people of 188Bet have provided an EXCLUSIVE competition for Football FanCast readers, where a pair of VIP tickets is available for this weekend’s clash.
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So if you want to see Steven Gerrard up against Ryan Giggs, or Luis Suarez up against Rio Ferdinand in style then click on the banner below to enter.
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While Samir Nasri arrived at Manchester City as one of the brightest talents in Europe and with an array of experience at the highest level from his time at Arsenal, he also brings with him one of the tennis world’s gems in girlfriend Tatiana Golovin.
Nasri may not be one of the Premier League’s most decorated players, nor did he feature in the 2010 World Cup for France, but as one of the most gifted attacking players in the league he adds another dimension to Manchester City’s already seemingly flawless attack.
Tagging along for the almost limitless City adventure is Nasri’s stunning girlfriend Tatitana Golovin – a native of Russian who was known for one of the best forehands in tennis.
Currently an inactive pro, she’ll give Nasri enough company as he settles into his new home in Manchester.
Click on Tatiana below to see her gallery
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This week Liverpool’s incredibly generous and unquestioning owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) stated that ‘it would be a major disappointment’ if the team failed to qualify for the Champions League in the forthcoming season. Is it fair of them to expect this level of success from Kenny Dalglish so soon?
When Dalglish replaced the world weary Woy Hodgson as Liverpool manager on the 8th January this year, the side sat 12th in the league, four points above the relegation zone. Nobody really believed they would sink further, (it seemed hard to imagine they could get any worse) but then the idea had been for Hodgson to halt the slide at 7th not push them on down.
Dalglish succeeded in restoring a passion and identity to the side that had been noticeably absent under Hodgson and the side’s improved form and the impact of Luis Suarez in particular were enough for Liverpool to finish the season with a sense of optimism. The squad still looked unimpressive though, after a very messy 2010 calendar year there were too many expensive flops and inexperienced youngsters to consider this a side capable of competing for the Champions League.
Now Dalglish has spent, and he has spent a lot. It is natural that FSG’s backing should come at a price and with pressures so high and patience so thin at the top of the Premier League, their expectations are unsurprisingly high. FSG would have been considered mad if they’d spent all this money and then set their sights on Europa League qualification!
If Dalglish spends yet more money in strengthening Liverpool’s defence, which he should as they’ve conceded 15 goals in 5 friendlies, then he can have little grounds for complaint. His problem will not lie in the owner’s ambitious but justified expectations but with the actual task ahead, knocking out one of the current top four. Based on Arsenal’s dramatic decline at the end of last season, they would seem like the team to beat however their consistency in top four finishes is phenomenal, (a straight run since 1997 now). Dalglish will not only have to hope they pick up from how they finished last season, he will also have to ensure that his side gels incredibly quickly.
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FSG have set Kenny Dalglish a tough target but they have given him a huge amount of help in reaching it. Liverpool’s considerable spending this year has already put pressure on them to achieve Champions League qualification, with or without FSG saying it explicitly. It is only right to start the season with great expectations.
Uefa’s financial fair play legislation has arrived. The limit on spending will come into effect for the 2013/14 campaign but the monitoring of teams has begun. Over the next two seasons clubs will not be allowed a total loss greater than €45 million and UEFA reserve the right to ban them from European club competitions should they overspend.
At face value, this seems like an excellent idea. The inflation of debt and spending is undoubtedly one of biggest problems of the modern game and it is high time rules were implemented. However, whether or not Uefa’s rules improve the game may be difficult to assess for several more seasons. Many people are sceptical as to whether this will in any way help the poorer clubs close the gap on Europe’s wealthiest. Whilst this would be an admirable result, it is not the point. The point is quite simply to stop clubs spending what they don’t have, to force them to live by their means.
A concern is that Uefa’s financial control will push Europe’s largest clubs towards forming their own breakaway league. At the moment there is little cause to worry.
For a start, the legislation is not as restrictive as many think. First of all, youth development, training facilities and stadiums are amongst the expenses that are not included. Second, if a club sign a player for £40 million on a four-year contract, this will amount to £10 million per year as the fee is spread over his contract, this means that the big clubs will still get to spend big money. Third, if a club can show that it’s on the field improvement is triggering off the field growth, their entry into European competition may be considered with more leniency.
These instances of flexibility and consideration show that Uefa has attempted to get this right. The intention is not to stifle clubs, just to protect them from their own recklessness. It should not be deemed a sufficient intrusion to prompt a revolution. (For those clubs that fear it may serve to level the the playing field, a quick look at Manchester City’s sponsorship deal will remind them of the gulf that exists and show them how it can be maintained.)
A breakaway European league is always talked about as though it is an imminent possibility but it would be a huge risk for the clubs involved. The sacrifice of teams’ domestic leagues and their dominance within them is something that requires careful consideration. Uefa’s attempts to slow down the crazy inflation of football debt should not serve as a trigger. Attempting to reel in the bank loans should, in theory, be welcomed. If, however, several years down the line the profits of the top clubs are affected, then a revolution would definitely be on the cards.
Would you want a breakaway league? Leave your views below…
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Catch up with me on twitter for more football goodness: http://twitter.com/#!/philipwroe
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In the football world, the Euros is the biggest event happening this year, but there’s one particular sporting event later in the summer that’s going to completely overshadow it. The Olympics is coming to the UK and London will host the greatest sporting event in the world. The greatest athletes in their field will compete in their disciplines, but you also have the chance to show off what you’re good at.
No matter where your skills lie everyone’s best is worth celebrating, no matter what it is. While we don’t want to eliminate any particular skills, here we’d like to unearth the best footballers, or at least the ones with skills that they can show off. Whether that be that you’re adept at the crossbar challenge, amazing at keepy ups or can do something with a football that’s never been seen before, if you can wow the judges of Olympians then you’ll be in with a chance of winning some great prizes.
The prizes on offer include being featured in a TV advert for the Olympics that will be shown around the world closer to the time of the big event, but the big prize is winning a trip to London and tickets to the 2012 Olympics. Considering how difficult it is to get hold of these tickets, this prize is something special and you could even go to Wembley to watch Stuart Pearce’s Great Britain team attempt to lift the Olympics trophy.
Whatever your skill is, all you need to do is film yourself performing it with a camera or your smartphone and upload it for the judges to take a look at it. All the advice you need is to: keep it simple, keep it safe and, most importantly have some fun! Take a look at the video below for some more information and to find out how to enter…
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Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has stated that he was happy with his team’s performance on Monday night, as his men drew 0-0 with Tottenham.
The Anfield crowd saw a positive display from The Reds and Luis Suarez return from the bench, but no goals against the north London side.
The Scottish coach applauded how the Merseysiders went about their business, despite not recording a victory.
“I think the most important thing for us was we’re really pleased with the way the team played,” he told Sky Sports after the stalemate.
“We put them under an awful lot of pressure. We kept our own shape, purpose and determination.
“Like any other game you just need the bounce of the ball to go your way. If we’d got one to go our way we possibly would have won it.
“We’ve played all the top sides here, Tottenham are a top side, and we’ve done very well against them.
“So whether we think it’s just or unjust is irrelevant at the moment. The most important thing for us is we’re really pleased with the way everyone performed.
“Everybody deserved credit. Pepe didn’t have much to do. Everyone made a contribution.
“It would have been disappointing had we not got anything from the game. I don’t think the harshest of the critics would have said we deserved nothing.
“Andy Carroll was very, very good tonight. We’re delighted with him.
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“We’re in a better position than we were in last year. We’ve got a cup final to look forward to.
“Like everyone else we’d like to convert more chances. There’s not another team that has constructed as many chances as we have, I don’t think. And there’s not as many teams that has lost of few goals as we have. So we’re three quarters of the way there,” he concluded.
Spain slipped to an unlikely 1-0 defeat at the hands of Fabio Capello’s under-strength England side at Wembley on Saturday. While England’s limited yet encouraging performance has dominated the back pages, and rightly so, little attention has been paid to the quite frankly petulant response of Spain’s players in the aftermath. Tiki-taka has had fans creaming themselves all over the world for the best part of six years now, and while it is certainly a fantastic way to play if you have the requisite players at your disposal, it is not the only way to play. The eulogising over this style of play has now given way to a warped and bizarre state of affairs by which all over styles of football are measured. A hierarchy has been established, with tiki-taka as its sovereign master.
Barcelona are most football fans second team. When they’re at their best, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever see another team quite like it. In full flow, they are the epitome of what most footballers aspire to. Effective, possession-based football is the Holy Grail; it’s the in-vogue style of the decade.
However, what has begun to irritate me is the fact that most people see victories lessened if they are not done in that very same style. To use an extreme example, if England somehow managed to win the Euro’s playing like they did against Spain for the entire tournament, by that very same token, their victory would be somehow less worthy as it flies in the face of the only apparent accepted footballing principles of our times. This all begs the question, when did we begin to trade substance for style? Or more pertinently, perhaps, when did we begin to rank styles of football based on their aesthetic quality?
Spain’s success at international level has been built primarily around Luis Aragones insistence that they replicate Barcelona’s domestic success, style included, on the international stage. It has worked a treat – Spain are unquestionably the best international side of the last 25 years or so and Barcelona are now arguably the best club side ever. There‘s clearly something to this tiki-taka, then.
But what does bother me, is the way that these footballing deities react when it all doesn’t go their way. Simply because they are sticking to their principles despite it becoming abundantly clear during the duration of the match that their style isn’t working, that they attempt to take the moral high ground. It’s a get-out clause to fall back on in defeat that we’ve seen time and time again.
Cesc Fabregas stated after the England game: “We made England defend nearly the whole 90 minutes. You want teams to have a go at you and test you and see what happens.”
“We saw two completely different styles of football. The more defensive one won but we know that the only way they could score was from a free-kick or a corner and we conceded a not very intelligent free-kick. We paid for it but, basically, we are happy because we played very well.”
For anyone that actually watched the match, Fabregas’s version of events is a generous way of spinning it. Spain lacked penetration, width and invention. They were slow on the counter and were by and large predictable. They were the worst kind of tiki-taka – passing for passing’s sake.
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When Fabregas argues that he wants teams to ‘have a go at you and test you and see what happens’, in lamens terms what he is actually saying is ‘we want them to play openly, because we know that we have the better players, it’ll make us look good and we’ll definitely win.’
Whenever Barcelona or Spain lose, the opposition is always derided for having played ‘negative’ or ‘defensive’ football. But when you consider the quality of the opposition, how the hell else are they supposed to play?
Spain and Barcelona are in possession of some of the best players in the world, in a system that they’ve been trained in for the entirety of their footballing education and subsequent careers. England on the other hand were a side missing arguably their three best players (Rooney, Gerrard and Wilshere, not to mention Ashley Young) while in the midst of experimenting with new players in unfamiliar positions.
To play an openly attacking brand of football without the players necessary to carry it off would have been absolutely brainless (just look at Wigan). England were well within their rights to play defensive football if they felt that it was the best way to go about getting the desired result.
Spain have a fierce commitment to passing football, so much so that it has spawned an ideology practiced and imitated all over the world with varying degree of success. While their style of play is easy on the eye, without the necessary spark like Barcelona have with Lionel Messi, it can become somewhat, dare I say it, boring to watch.
Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque said after the game: “England played very deep and did what they had to and are very physical.” while the deplorable Sergio Busquets offered in direct contrast to the all-knowing Fabregas: “We weren’t expecting England to play so defensively, with 10 behind the ball but we also have to respect that style of play.”
The subtlety of their language cannot fail to portray their patronising tone. England may have been the victors on the pitch, but somehow, amidst all the fawning over their abilities, a degree of faux moralising has crept into football – so much so that Spain will probably see themselves as the real victors of the match because they tried to play football ‘the proper way’, therefore completely contradcting the point of football in the first place – to win.
Spain and Barcelona are both fantastic sides. At their best they exemplify all the best qualities that you’d possibly want from a football team. However, their style of play, as admirable as it may be, is not the only way for a successful side to operate.
Somewhere amongst all the hyperbole we’ve lost our perspective. Part of what makes football an inherently absorbing game is the plethora of contrasting of styles; the beauty of it is that it has no formal hierarchy in terms of accepted principles – a scrappy 1-0 can mean just as much as a 5-0 trouncing.
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The over the top praise often attributed to tiki-taka has distorted the playing field. To decry a style as ‘defensive’ or ’negative’ simply because it contradicts with your own smacks as little more than an excuse trotted out when the likes of Fabregas don’t get their way and steamroller the opposition into submission. Spain and Barcelona are the standard-bearers of our times, however amongst all the mythologising and moralising, it’s worth remembering that to be successful, there are other ways to play the game aside from tiki-taka, as blasphemous as that may sound.
Roberto Mancini has reportedly asked the Manchester City hierarchy for additional funds to strengthen his squad’s defensive options, as Vincent Kompany is set to learn his fate on Tuesday.
The Etihad Stadium skipper was dismissed for a challenge on Nani in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, which Mancini’s men have appealed against.
Kompany will find out whether the appeal has been successful or not on Tuesday, and if the red card is upheld will face four matches on the sidelines, as it is his second dismissal of the season.
The Telegraph indicate that Mancini has approached the club’s owners for additional transfer funds to buy a new defensive player in January.
As Kolo Toure is also unavailable through international commitments at the African Cup of Nations, Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic are the club’s only recognised centre backs available for selection currently.
Meanwhile, City are being linked with a move for Real Madrid centre half Raul Albiol in an attempt to bolster their backline, according to Spanish newspaper AS.
The Spain international as been frozen out at the Santiago Bernabeu, and risks missing out on Euro 2012 if he does not play more first-team football in the second half of the 2011/12 campaign.
Big-spending Malaga and Serie A giants Juventus have also been speculated with a bid for the 26-year-old.
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