All posts by h79snht.top

Park Ji-Sung has matured into a very important player for Manchester United this season. Over the last couple of months he had demonstrated that he is in the best form of his United career. Yet it wasn’t so long ago that fans were calling for Park to be dropped; he’s always been a decent squad player, but never quite seemed to be on the same level as recent United wingers Giggs, Nani, Valencia and Ronaldo.

Yet times have changed at Old Trafford and Park has matured into a rather decent, capable and dependable winger. Performances like the one against Arsenal last Monday demonstrate his importance to the team. He’s feisty, good on the ball and has a knack for getting goals.

It’s no surprise then, that he shall be sorely missed when he jets off to the Asian Cup this January. Park’s last game for United before the cup shall be the Boxing Day clash with Sunderland. The 29 year-old could miss up to six Premier League games and an FA Cup tie.

Even Sir Alex Ferguson seems somewhat concerned about Park’s absence. “It is a shame he has to go, but there’s nothing we can do about that. He is very important for us…” So how exactly will United deal with Park’s absence?

Antonio Valencia would be the obvious choice to replace Park, but he’s still recovering from his horrific injury against Rangers back in September. It’s unlikely we’ll see the Ecuadorian back until February. As such, United will have to survive the month of January without both Park and Valencia. Can they cope?

There is of course, Ryan Giggs, who still has the ability, if not the stamina to compete in the Premier League. Giggs can’t be relied upon for 90 minutes, but he can come on as a sub and still light up a game. Unfortunately for United, if they aren’t going to bring in a player during the transfer window, they will have to look to the club’s younger players.

This leaves Gabriel Obertan and Bebe. Both players are prospects, but lack in experience. I think most fans will agree that Bebe isn’t ready for the rigours of the Premier League – at least not on any regular basis. Furthermore, Obertan is without doubt the more skilful player, though he often frustrates when given the chance. Obertan suffers from a similar problem to the one that plagues Theo Walcott at Arsenal – both struggle with basic decision making. When Obertan gets the ball he often takes too long to decide what to do with it. Although Obertan can appear at times to be nervous on the ball, there is hope that age will give him a dynamism more suited to the Premier League. Still, you have to wonder whether he is ready to be thrown into the deep end just yet?

It’s important to remember that these comments were made about players like Ronaldo at a young age and are still made about Nani, who appears to be developing well. Decision making ability comes with experience. Obertan has the talent and technique required to make it at Manchester United and thus he deserves a chance. This is especially true considering that players like Ronaldo and Nani had many more chances to show their worth than Obertan has had yet.

United may have limited options and their hand may have been forced, but it’s time to give Obertan a shot.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

For more footballing debate and discussion, be sure to follow @ThePerfectPass on Twitter.

Buy Man United Champions League tickets here!

After yesterday’s results in the Premier League, this morning’s newspapers are full of stories of which Premiership manager will be the next to face the sack. Liverpool’s Roy Hodgson, West Ham’s Avram Grant, Chelsea’s Carlo Ancelotti and Aston Villa’s Gerard Houllier are all under pressure after defeats and none can be sure of their future at their respective clubs.

Elsewhere the January transfer window rumours are starting to get into full swing, as Arsene Wenger is reportedly set to turn to Liverpool to solve his defensive worries, Man City outcast Emmanuel Adebayor is in demand both in the Premier League and abroad, and Harry Redknapp and David Beckham are ready to join forces.

*

Hodgson and Grant looking down the barrel – Daily Mail

Adebayor in demand – The Sun

Arsenal after Agger – caughtoffside

Harry and Becks to form managerial ‘dream team’ – Daily Mirror

Stoke and Blackburn battle for Collins – Sky Sports

Keane set for Birmingham move – Guardian

Wolves get one over West Ham in transfer race – Daily Mail

Fergie planning squad overhaul – The Telegraph

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Xisco set to leave St James’ – Dailly Mirror

New rules are bad for City – Guardian

The defensive resilience shown by Manchester United in last Sunday’s goalless draw against Spurs should have given answers to a few of those questioning souls wondering how the league leaders have managed to avoid defeat in the Premier League so far this season. Lapses in concentration at the back might have cost United a lot of points earlier on in the campaign but these now appear to have been eradicated.

Having a settled back four certainly helps. Rio Ferdinand has enjoyed a consistent run in the team alongside Nemanja Vidic, putting in several classy performances. Vidic – for whom United fans have an affectionate chant casting certain ironic aspersions of murderous intent against the imposing Serb – certainly killed off enough Spurs attacks on Sunday. If the two tall central defenders are the muscle in the middle of United’s defence, then, Patrice Evra and Rafael da Silva are the two attack dogs flanking them at full back.

Unfortunately, Rafael took that analogy a bit far at White Hart Lane. First he snapped at the ankles of Wilson Palacios to earn a yellow card after 28 minutes and then he foamed at the mouth when, with the game approaching the final quarter of an hour, the referee Mike Dean adjudged the young Brazilian to have clipped the legs of Benoît Assou-Ekotto and gave him a second booking. Rafael was furious at being sent off as a result of what he perceived as an accidental trip caused by two players crossing paths, but the fury with which he contested the decision to the match official’s face was deeply unedifying.

Another disappointing show of character from Rafael had occurred earlier on, when in the first half he appealed for Palacios to be booked after the Spurs midfielder had exacted revenge on the United player for his earlier tackle. Palacios duly received his caution from Dean but Rio Ferdinand was seen to remind his teammate that the waving of an imaginary yellow card so as to influence the referee’s decision is, in football’s admittedly complex and contradictory moral code, just not the done thing.

Rafael’s dismissal did not stop United from leaving north London with the point they needed to move back to the top of the table, but the misplaced aggression and impetuousness that he showed against Spurs were unfortunate when considered alongside the words of Sir Alex Ferguson before the game.

In praise of his emerging right back, the manager had said: “His form has been absolutely brilliant. He has learned.” On the evidence of Sunday, Rafael might be in need of a few more classes.

To his credit, the 20-year-old had only been booked once this season before the weekend, but his early exit against Spurs brought back memories of his other red card in a United shirt against Bayern Munich in the two sides’ Champions League quarter-final. Ferguson admitted that Rafael was “quite an impulsive young boy” last season, citing a moment of overexcitement against Milan that cost his side a goal in the away leg and the needless shirt pull that earned the defender a second yellow card against Bayern when United had been on course to win the tie.

As a result of being sent off last Sunday Rafael will miss United’s game against Birmingham on Saturday through suspension. He has also accepted an FA misconduct charge for the manner in which he argued with the referee after being shown his second yellow, as well as for his initial reluctance to leave the pitch and for kicking over a microphone stand when eventually he did so. The player has requested a personal hearing, to be held on Friday, in which he could be banned for a further game – United play Blackpool next Tuesday – or face a fine.

Rafael’s absence will be a blow to United. They have kept seven clean sheets from the nine games in which he has started alongside Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and Patrice Evra in front of Edwin van der Sar in goal. That statistic points to his defensive qualities but the team will also miss his rambunctious forays forward. Wes Brown and John O’Shea both played for the reserves on Monday and the latter would probably be the favourite to take Rafael’s place against Birmingham, Gary Neville having sadly looked nothing less than a liability on his rare appearances this season. Whoever fills in for Rafael, though, he is currently the team’s first-choice right back and United will want him back as soon as possible. The hope amongst the club’s support is that the Brazilian can address his temperament issues and emerge as the latest in a long line of excellent right-sided defenders to have been produced by his nation of birth, which he certainly has the talent to do.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Follow William Abbs on Twitter.

[divider]

Love fantasy football? Love live footy? You’ll love live fantasy football! Take part in the Wolves v Liverpool match and play Picklive for FREE Go on, give it a go!

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has been obviously upset recently. Danny Welbeck gets crocked for up to eight weeks and then Darren Bent decided he’d had enough in the North East and moved to Aston Villa. The fall-out from that move has dominated the back pages, but after his side won well at Blackpool, was all the talk over Darren Bent really that necessary?

It would be frustrating for any manager to lose one of his best players, especially the main focal point of his attack. But Sunderland showed no signs of missing the England striker on Saturday. It isn’t ideal, but for the time being, Asamoah Gyan is more than capable of leading the attack by himself, and if Kieran Richardson continues to revel in the role just behind the striker, then they won’t find goals too hard to find.

There is also talk of bringing in Stoke City’s Ricardo Fuller. The powerhouse doesn’t get too much of a look-in at the Britannia Stadium these days but whenever he does feature, he bullies centre-backs for fun. He’s a real handful and has an eye for goal. Because of his height and strength, the Jamaican compliments the direct style in which manager Tony Pulis likes to operate at Stoke, but more than that he can actually play. It baffles me that Pulis would rather John Carew to Fuller in the first place, but Bruce won’t be grumbling.

Fuller would cost a fraction of the money Sunderland received from Villa for Bent so they could also use the money to tighten up other areas, or bring in another option up front. Welbeck looks set to stay at Old Trafford next season so the concern for Bruce about the amount of strikers he has will resurface soon enough. At least now he has the funds to plan for life without the on loan Man United star.

But such is the nature of football these days that players do break contracts and do move clubs. Managers may not agree but moaning about the way in which Bent moved to Villa Park isn’t going to get Sunderland a new striker. It isn’t as though Bruce himself hasn’t left clubs to pursue his ambition of winning trophies before. Remember Wigan?

The fact is, Bruce has put together a fantastic squad at the Stadium of Light and sitting in sixth just two points of a place in the top four, it would be cruel to say they are punching above their weight. They are there on merit. Losing Bent will make it harder, but it is merely an obstacle which Sunderland must overcome if they are to continue to challenge for Europa League positions.

Bigger players have left bigger clubs but you just have to move on. Say what you want about the ethics of the transfer or the motivation behind his move, Darren Bent is now a Villa player and Sunderland are £18 million better off because of it. There are plenty of strikers out there who are priced below Darren Bent’s worth who are just as good.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Time is not on Bruce’s side, admittedly, but he has a week to sort out a short-term solution to the ‘how to solve a problem like Darren Bent?’ saga. Fuller and Gyan would suffice and I’m sure he is working on other avenues as well. But the summer isn’t too far away and he now has a lot of money to work with. Sunderland will have another front man soon enough and Bent will become just another player who has come and gone. He’s moved on, it’s time for Bruce to as well.

[divider]

Love fantasy football? Love live footy? You’ll love live fantasy football! Take part in the Bolton v Chelsea match and play Picklive for FREE Go on, give it a go!

Former Chelsea duo Marcel Desailly and Gianfranco Zola believe the club can still win this season’s Premier League title.

Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge sees the reigning champions sit fourth on the table, 10 points behind leaders Manchester United.

But despite a wretched run of form over the Christmas period, Desailly believes Carlo Ancelotti’s side can come out on top at the end of the season.

“Manchester United proved a couple of years ago that even with 15 points behind, you are still able to make it,” Desailly said at the Laureus Sports Awards event in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

“But the future is there for Chelsea. You can see that with Torres and all the other players.”

Zola also sees the signing of Torres as a major boost to the Blues’ title bid.

“Of course he (Torres) will make a difference,” Zola said.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

“He is a big and great player and he will need a bit of time to adapt and settle down in the team. But he has got all the qualities to make a big impression.”

“Yesterday’s defeat was obviously a big blow. But they will come back. Nobody doubts Chelsea’s strength. It is just that they need to find a little bit more rhythm. I thought they were coming back very strong.”

Everton teenager Jack Rodwell is in line to return against Sunderland at Goodison Park on Saturday.Rodwell, 19, was expected to be out until April after injuring his groin playing for England Under-21s against Italy a fortnight ago.Rodwell is desperate to play some part in the crucial clash against Sunderland as Everton look to build on their FA Cup triumph over Chelsea.With the Toffees just three points above the Premier League drop zone, Rodwell is under no illusions about the importance of the clash with Steve Bruce’s side.”Sunderland is a massive game for us,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “We need to pick up as many points as we can – especially at home.”Rodwell has paid tribute to Everton’s medical staff as he has made quick progress in his recovery.Manager David Moyes is keen to involve Rodwell, particularly as Tim Cahill is in doubt with an ankle knock that forced him out of the FA Cup win at Chelsea after 70 minutes.It’s the second time this season Rodwell has shown his powers of recovery as he returned ahead of schedule after damaging ankle ligaments last August.”The medical staff here are really good,” Rodwell said. “I have full faith in them and hopefully I can shave off a few weeks.””My last injury I was told it would be three months but I was back in two, maybe even less.”Sunderland, who have lost their last three league matches, are seventh on the table, 10 points behind fourth-placed Spurs.The Black Cats have not played in the league since losing 2-1 at home to Spurs on February 12 but young England midfielder Jordan Henderson believes the break has paid off.”I think it’s been a really good break for everyone, now we’re looking forward to being back,” Henderson told the Sunderland Echo.”Everyone’s been lively in training and we cannot wait for Saturday.””We just want to concentrate on the future.””The first thing is the Everton game and hopefully we can do well.” Manager Steve Bruce’s hand will be strengthened over the next few weeks with the return from injury of some key first-team players.”I don’t think it’s a case of hanging in there waiting for players to get fit again,” Henderson said.”We’ve got enough quality players in the team to go and get some good results against some good sides.””We’ve played well against the top teams and hopefully, in the next four or five games, we can do that again.””Personally, I didn’t feel as though I needed a rest.””I felt okay, my stats were up to what they had been all season, so I wasn’t really worried about being tired.””I just wanted to get out there.””Possibly in the last couple of games I didn’t play as well as I could have. But I’m just going to concentrate on the next three games now and try to take it to the level where I was at before.””I just love playing football, so I want to play as many games as I can.”

Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean cancelled his players’ day off this week in a bid to halt his side’s bad run ahead of their match at Fulham on Saturday.

Blackburn have lost four of their past six Premier League games including a comprehensive 4-1 defeat at Aston Villa last week and Kean knows they desperately need to create more goal-scoring opportunities.

“We have got to make sure we get service to the front men and make sure we can dictate play. That has been one of the disappointing aspects of recent weeks; we have not had enough service to the front unit. We have been working to fix that,” he said.

“We had a good meeting with the players on Tuesday afternoon and we watched certain aspects of the game against Aston Villa. We’ve worked on that all week and the mood is good.”

The players have been forced to forego their usual Wednesday day off in order to get in an extra day’s preparation for the Craven Cottage showdown.

With new club owners Venky’s expecting great things from the Lancashire club, the manager will be trying everything he can to improve on the club’s current 14th position in the Premier League table.

“We’ve had a long week; normally we train very hard on a Tuesday and I give them the Wednesday off but we’ve been in all week. They have put in a lot of hard work on the training ground so hopefully we will see the rewards on Saturday,” Kean said.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

“This match is an opportunity for us to bounce back. Fulham are in decent form so we know it will be a tough game.”

Blackburn will be without David Dunne (hip), Mauro Formica (fitness) and Phil Jones (knee). David Hoilett (hamstring) and Roque Santa Cruz (back) are both doubtful.

FC Copenhagen midfielder Jesper Gronkjaer has conceded his side has just a slim chance of progressing in the Champions League over Chelsea.The Danish champions travel to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday looking to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the home leg of their last-16 tie with Chelsea.Nicolas Anelka scored a brace at the Parken Stadium to install the Blues as firm favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.Veteran winger Gronkjaer, who made 88 appearances with Chelsea in four years under Claudio Ranieri, admitted Copenhagen are aware of the mammoth task ahead of them.”We know the chances are slim for us to progress,” Gronkjaer said.”We know we’re going to play against a team who, on paper, is much better than us. They played better than us in Copenhagen. And we have to hit form now straight away.””As I said before, we want to keep the dream alive. It’s really been a dream for FC Copenhagen the last five years.””Especially in this last half year, where we’ve played the best football ever and we want to reach that level again and I think within the group, we all want to play at that level.”

The Football Supporters Federation (FSF) met with Sports Government officials, football authorities and police to discuss the call by fans to bring back terracing into grounds in England. The use of terracing at stadiums in the top two tiers of English football was banned in 1994 on the grounds of health and safety but this latest news has seen the Premier League say they won’t encourage the government to change the laws. Is there a need for terracing to be brought back? Have the fans missed out or should it be left in the past?

My first taste of a live football game came in the early 1990s when as a 5-year-old I was taken to Loftus Road by my Uncle to see Queens Park Rangers FC. At the time I can remember being very restless having to stand on a packed terrace full of grown men for what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time. I couldn’t see much of the game and didn’t take to watching football at first, but luckily my complaints as a young child must’ve been heard and I was next taken in the seated area of the ground.

Eventually Loftus Road would become an all seated ground only a few years later and coincidentally I loved going to games. More ironic however, is that by the age of 15, when I started going to see Rangers play on my own accord, I sat in my seat for about 5 minutes of the whole 90 and purposely chose my season ticket seat for the next 5 seasons at the back of the stand which allowed the freedom for me to stand or sit.

[bet_365 type='generic' size='468' af_code='365_061609']

Although this could’ve been the result of the seats at Loftus Road being so cramped and congested, as a 6ft plus teenager, I had no choice but to sit at the back if I was to prevent the threat deep vein thrombosis if I had persisted sitting down in those awfully cramped seats at the ground over a number of years. But at the time, Rangers were relegated to the third tier of English football and I had the chance (fortunate I believe) to visit a lot of old football grounds in England.

It was there that I became very fond of grounds with terraces and it persuaded me to travel to away games where the away end would have a standing section. Despite not being old enough to have conscious thoughts on the tragedy at Hillsborough in the late Eighties, I was brought up in the aftermath and the continual documentaries that analysed the event and condemned the use of terraces in English football.

Continue to the NEXT PAGE…

The Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) have strongly opposed the proposition of terraces by the FSF and rightly so considering what happened on that ill-fated day in 1989. However, a combination of the old fashioned fencing and poor policing contributed to the terraces failing on that day and of course, a terrace system similar to that of Hillsborough in the Eighties would and should never be considered.

However, during my experiences of using terraces, I never found it to be a problem. There wasn’t the issue of cramped seats making for uncomfortable viewing, there was freedom to move around which allowed you to see many of your fellow supporting friends from around the away end and it also felt like it made for a better atmosphere.

[ad_pod id=’unruly’ align=’right’]

It was only in a packed away end during a League game with Brentford in 2003 that I witnessed first hand that terraces can be rather dangerous. As Marc Bircham smashed home a volley in the dying minutes of the game right in front of 3,000 R’s fans, I suddenly found myself in the front row having previously been standing near the back. Luckily there were no apparent casualties in this case but it made me realise that terraces are not safe for large packed crowds.

The Bundesliga in Germany has proven that terracing can work in modern football grounds without any health and safety threats. Plus in some grounds they also have a versatile system that allows the terraces to be transformed into seats for European games so that they meet UEFA guidelines.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

It’s certainly something that football grounds in this country should look into, especially for football clubs that are to be re-building new stadiums. Older grounds, like Loftus Road would have no chance in re-introducing the terrace due to a lack of space that would be needed in order to build a safe terrace environment.

Terracing would also allow cheaper ticket prices for standing that could see the attendance of football matches back in the hands of the working-class families and especially young males like myself who have been priced out of the all-seater stadiums in the last decade or two.

If a stand was purposely built to support terracing as well as the use of seats when needed it could work out safely without fences caging fans in like animals. After all, there are concerts and festivals every year up and down the country where large numbers of fans can stand to enjoy the music without any major tragedies and I can’t see why a better system can work in the future of English Football.

[bet_365 type='odds' size='300' af_code='365_061609']

Tim Cahill has revealed he will skip Australia’s June friendlies in order to rest ahead of his next Premier League campaign with Everton.Cahill, 31, has been troubled by a chronic foot injury this season and has not played a competitive match since the Toffees’ 2-1 win over Fulham a month ago.

The ailment also forced him out of Australia’s friendly in Germany last month, though the Socceroos still managed to record a memorable 2-1 victory.

Cahill’s troubles have in part been brought on by a willingness to play at all costs, the Australian disregarding his own fitness to prop up the Toffees through their early struggles and join the Socceroos on their Asian Cup campaign.

But as the end of one season nears and another approaches, Cahill is keen to give his body some well-earned rest to ensure he is 100 percent fit for his club next time around.

“I’ve played seven years (with) no rest in the summer, probably more,” Cahill told Australia’s The World Game in an interview to be aired on Monday.

“I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve got a foot problem but I’m buzzing. I love football and I love playing for my country.”

“But also I think common sense has to prevail. I missed the Germany game and I’ll probably miss the next couple of games because they’re friendlies.”

“For me, when it’s competition and it’s something where I’m going to win something or get something out of it, then I’ll be back playing.”

“But at the moment now my main focal point is the Premier League and obviously doing well for my club.”

Cahill’s absence may count for little if Australian football officials are unable to keep their friendly schedule from falling apart.

The Socceroos are scheduled to host Serbia on June 7 but it is believed that nation is wavering in its commitment.

Reports from New Zealand suggest that the All Whites would be keen to take Serbia’s place should the latter opt against the trip down under.

Chile have already withdrawn from a proposed clash at Adelaide Oval on June 3.