Oh what a busy week it has been, one striker in, one striker out, and a cup shock at the Den.
Last Thursday saw what will be considered somewhat as a shock move, Darius Henderson moving to Nottingham Forest on a free transfer. Most Lions fans were thinking, “Why let him go, especially on a free?”
Henderson’s goals basically kept us up last season. Yes people say that the Keogh & Kane partnership in the last seven games helped and yes they done exceptionally, but we would’ve been long gone if it wasn’t for Hendo. Even this season, he didn’t play many games but was on seven goals.
But then you come to the other side of Hendo. First, his injuries, he always seems to have a knock or sprain, for a big strong player he seems to be made of glass. Then there is his high wages, it came out after the transfer that Henderson was on £16k-a-week, which came as a shock to me.
Then there is his pending court case, he could be sent down to prison come March if the decision goes against him. So by March we could be laughing at how we saved over £120k in wages, or he could be not found guilty and stay at Forest…
This left most ‘Wall faithful in a panic for the Friday game against Villa. “who will we play upfront?”
I was happy to see local lad John Marquis getting a start, a youngster who has become the latest boo-boy over the last couple years, but he is still young! Fans ask for youngsters to be given a go, and when they do, they get abuse.
And what a night it was for John, heading the winner a minute from time to put the Lions through against top flight opposition.
When Villa went 1-0 up through a scuffed Darren Bent effort I thought it was going to be like recent years against Premier League sides, getting our belly’s rubbed as the other team get a easy ride.
Oh but this wasn’t the case…
I said last week about a young Villa side being intimidated by an atmosphere that a special night The Den can create, that is exactly what happened.
And a special mention to the man-mountain that is Danny Shittu, a goal from a corner to equalise, and his celebration was class, an explosion of true emotion. He did not put a foot wrong all game, all down the Den love him.
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The draw for the 5th round saw the Lions receive a winnable tie against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. Yes they have beat Norwich and Wolves in previous rounds, but surely this can be their time they go out?
The league is the most important thing, but the cup is a nice distraction…
Liverpool and Everton have spent the season chasing dreams of finishing fourth in the Premier League and making it into the Champions League. Although both Merseyside clubs are still in the mix, it would be safe to say that they’ve become outside contenders compared to Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.
Reaching Europe’s most prestigious club competition will no doubt be the target next season for both clubs, not only for the pride, but also the financial rewards that accompany the tournament, which both the Reds and the Toffees desperately need as David Moyes and Brendan Rodgers struggle to keep a firm grasp of the purse strings while improving their squads.
Both Liverpool and Everton are expected to bring in new recruits in the summer to fulfill their ambitions, but which players are on the clubs’ radars?
Here’s a list, compiled of realistic transfer targets from across Europe, that could soon be gracing a pitch on either side of Stanley Park.
Click on Scott Sinclair to see the ten potential new recruits that could propel Everton or Liverpool to the promised land of the Champions League
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Stoke were trounced by Chelsea on home turf, Jon Walters experiencing a torrid game in particular, while Pavel Pogrebnyak was the last gasp hero for Reading at the Madjeski Stadium. Southampton gave their survival hopes a timely boost courtesy and Sunderland contined their fine recent run with a comprehensive win over West Ham. And a rare phenomenon gripped the Premier League as 40% of Saturday’s games ended in stalemates.
Stoke City 0-4 Chelsea: It was an afternoon to forget for Jon Walters after he scored two own goals and missed a penalty as Stoke were steamrolled by Chelsea at the Britannia Stadium. The Republic of Ireland striker must have wished the ground would open and swallow him whole after heading Cesar Azpilcueta’s cross into his own net just before the break. He repeated the trick on the hour mark, this time from a Juan Mata corner, before Frank Lampard put the result beyond doubt with a penalty three minutes later. Eden Hazard blasted home a fourth from 30-yards soon after before Walters’ misery was compounded when he blasted a spot kick high over the bar as the Potters’ 17-match unbeaten home run came to an abrupt end.
Reading 3-2 West Bromwich Albion: Reading scored three times in the final eight minutes to come from behind to beat West Brom to secure a third league win of the season. The visitors looked home and dry after Romelu Lukaku struck either side of half time to give his side a deserved lead. The Belgian striker was hand to convert from close range in the 19th minute before finishing cooly past Adam Federici in the 62nd. But the Royal’s finally kicked into gear as the game dripped towards its conclusion and Jimmy Kebe headed in to give the home fans hope before Le Fondre converted from the spot to restore parity. The turnouraround was complete in stoppage time Pavel Pogrebnyak bundled the ball past Foster to boost Reading’s survival hopes.
Aston Villa 0-1 Southampton: Aston Villa ended a wretched week on another low note as they slipped into the bottom three after fellow strugglers Southampton left the West Midlands with a valuable win under their belts. After losing to lower-league Bradford in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday the need for a reaction was crucial for Paul Lambert’s men. However they will feel hard done by after Enda Stevens was penalised for a foul on Jay Rodriguez 10 minutes before half despite the Saints striker appearing to dive and then profess his guilt to referee Mark Halsey, who pointed to the spot. Rickie Lambert stepped up to sweep home what proved to be the winning goal and, despite Villa’s best efforts, they couldn’t force an equaliser in the second half and find themselves in real trouble.
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham United: A superb long-range strike from Sebastien Larsson put Sunderland on course for an impressive win over West Ham at the Stadium of Light. The Swedish international produced a 30-yard thunderbolt with his weaker left foot to break the deadlock after 12 minutes as the Hammers crumbled early on. Adam Johnson then pounced on a mistake from teenager Dan Potts to make it 2-0 in first half injury time, before James McLean finished from an acute angle to ensure the Black Cats faithful were celebrating come 5pm.
Fulham 1-1 Wigan Athletic: Franco Di Santo’s ended a three month barren spell in front of goal to earn Wigan a vital point against Fulham. The Argentinian has struggled to find the net once again this season and it looked as if his infertility would continue after missing from close range in the first half. His woes were compounded in the 22nd minute when Giorgios Karagounis broke the deadlock with a sweet 25-yard strike. But Di Santo would have the last laugh and with 20 minutes to go he drilled past Mark Schwarzer after cutting in from the left to deny the Cottagers a second league win on the bounce.
QPR 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Redknapp’s first meeting with former employers Tottenham failed to produce the desired result as QPR sank back to the foot of the table. The R’s boss had goalkeeper Julio Cesar to thank for earning his side a point with a number of fine saves to thwart a laboured Spurs. Jermaine Defoe went closest to breaking the deadlock when he cracked the bar with a fierce long range effort before Cesar pounced to deny Emmanuel Adebayor on the follow up.
Everton 0-0 Swansea City:
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West Brom’s on-loan striker Romelu Lukaku has vowed to make a name for himself at The Hawthorns – after growing tired of comparisons with former Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba.
The Belgian, 19, was dubbed the “new Drogba” when he joined the Blues last summer, because of his similar playing style and physical presence to the Ivorian, but he found his path to Chelsea’s starting XI blocked by Drogba and managed just one Premier League start following his £18million move from Anderlecht.
Despite the Blues legend leaving Stamford Bridge for a new career in China, Lukaku also opted to move away from west London this summer in his quest for regular first team football. Now, he is desperate to step out of Drogba’s shadow during his season-long loan spell at West Brom. He told Sky Sports:
“Didier and I have a similar playing style, but I don’t think he would have wanted to be compared to someone when he was young. Every player wants to be their own person, their own personality. I don’t want to be the new anyone. At first it was OK – but now I’m bored of it. It isn’t necessary and I don’t like it now. I have my father’s surname, I am Romelu Lukaku – I’m not anybody else. This is my own name and the name I want people to remember.”
Lukaku was hoping to recover from an ankle injury for Belgium’s World Cup qualifier against Wales last Friday, and managed to play the entire second half. For the Baggies, the 19-year-old has bagged one goal in two substitute appearances.
I’m not convinced by the romantic notion that Ryan Giggs can step in and guide Manchester United out of the nadir. I’m not convinced that a man with no prior experience of managing a major European club can be bettered by a man with no managerial experience at all.
Unfortunately we’re living in a time where Pep Guardiola is the rule rather than the exception. There will be campaigns aplenty to argue Giggs’ case. Part of the composition will be the routine 4-0 win over Norwich on the weekend, while much of the other will be that the 40-year-old and Manchester United can offer a reimagining of what happened at Barcelona.
But there is actually no sense behind Giggs taking over the managerial job, at least nothing that goes beyond the clichés and fairly pointless ties the midfielder has to the club.
In an interim capacity, with nothing to lose let alone anything to gain, it’s a safe bet. Giggs looked the part, both in suit on the touchline and in the pre-match press conference. He said all the right things where the previous manager couldn’t. He was bold in his team selection on the weekend, dropping the invention of Juan Mata for the pace of Danny Welbeck. And what’s interesting is that no one said a thing.
Instead of statements being made of Giggs, which have very little relevancy when it comes to selecting a manager other than for the appeasement of supporters, questions should be asked of his credentials.
What are his ideas for taking United forward and importantly getting them back to where they should be at the top of the Premier League tree? How does he plan to set up his team? It’s facile to say United will play attacking football under Giggs simply because he knows that football of that nature is engrained in the club. What will his methods be for rediscovering that attacking instinct?
As an example, Barcelona have a host of attacking players who are rightly considered the best in the world, yet Tata Martino has either struggled or been unable to bring about their maximum potential on the pitch this season. They’ve struggled for parts of the second half of the season, both domestically and in Europe, and players alone are no guarantee of the successful deployment of attacking football.
Whatever happens in United’s final three games of the season, it would be wrong to use such a small window to measure Giggs’ credentials. If the players go out and win the final games, will it be because of their respect for him, respect that wasn’t present for David Moyes? United are a club with a huge pool of talent with which to choose when shopping in the market, and who’s to say every player will come in and immediately take to Giggs as a manager? Does he have the ability to control a dressing with potentially half a dozen egos and personalities?
We don’t know how Giggs will handle European football, which United won’t have to worry about for some time anyway. The Champions League can show the best in England to be inferior to the best from the continent, and that counts for managers as well as teams. Giggs might look the part, but will he act the part? Is he able to counter the tactics of a top European manager, or will his vast inexperience be found out?
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Giggs’ history with the club does set him up to become manager at United at some point, but not now. The club can’t afford to take another sizeable gamble on the basis of romantic ideals. They need to be pragmatic. If Louis van Gaal is to become the next manager then by all means Giggs should be part of the coaching staff. Get him to learn from a man who tutored both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. Like the latter, give Giggs an opportunity to coach one of the youth teams and let him work his way up. If there’s success at a lower level then the argument for him to be manager of a senior team will be more convincing that anything we’ve heard thus far.
Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong will be out of action for two months after receiving surgery for a knee injury.
Frimpong picked up his injury during a loan spell with Fulham, being forced off during the 3-0 victory over Swansea City on the final day of the season.
The Ghanaian has struggled with a number of injuries in his career and he made only five appearances for Wolves in 2012 before he suffered a previous knee injury which also required surgery.
The 21-year-old was scheduled to represent his country during the summer as they aim to secure qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Frimpong tweeted: “I had surgery yesterday night and am expected to be out for 8 weeks. It saddens me that I couldn’t go play for Ghana in the World Cup qualifiers next month but i wish the coach and the players good luck for the matches.
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“I Hope we get maximum points from the games. I wanna thank everyone at Fulham for their support but it is a great feeling to be back at Arsenal.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that he was delighted with the performance of Andrey Arshavin, during the Gunners’ 6-1 thrashing of Coventry City, according to Goal.
Arshavin was the stand-out performer in a comfortable night for the Premier League outfit. The 31-year-old started the move which led to Arsenal first goal of the night and perhaps more importantly Olivier Giroud’s first goal for his new club.
Arshavin then won the penalty after a clever piece of trickery which the Frenchman Giroud subsequently failed to capitalise on. To add to this, the midfielder set up Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s blast for the Gunners third of the night, scored the fourth himself and produced a sublime ball for youngster Ignasi Miquel to nod home to convert Arsenal’s fifth.
Wenger believes that the key to the Russian internationals success last night was the fact he was played in behind the striker, Giroud, rather than out on the wing. As a consequence, this enabled the playmaker to get on the ball more often, “His best position looks to be behind the striker now. That’s where his vision and creative side of game becomes most efficient. When he is central, he can influence the game.”
Perhaps with a new role, Arsenal fans may witness a new lease of life with Arshavin, who, over the past year, has cut a consulate disinterested figure on the left-hand side of midfield for the Gunners. Maybe it was only League One Coventry City, but most Premier League defences would have been struggling to have kept up with the movement and acceleration of pace that the former Zenit man showed last night.
One man who saw his chances of playing a more central role for the north London club do no harm was Theo Walcott. The 23-year-old disproved any doubters who are sceptical about his ability to finish in front of goal. If the first of Walcott’s goals was polished, the second was classy with a sublime side-footed curler past the despairing Sky Blues stopper Joe Murphy.
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As for Giroud, the Frenchman has got the proverbial monkey off his back, for now. Although he would have been grateful for the opportunity to grab his first goal for the club in the Capital One Cup, he would surely love to get his Premier League tally off and running too.
Arsenal will now travel the Premier League’s bottom side, Reading, in the fourth round of the competition.
James Morrison has said that West Brom have “to move on as quickly as possible” from defeat to Newcastle on Sunday, insisting they have a chance at home to Southampton.
Morrison believes they have an opportunity to win because of their record at home.
He said to The Birmingham Mail: “It’s a good opportunity to get three points and forget about what happened on Sunday. We need to move on as quickly as possible.
The Baggies star has also admitted that morale amongst the team was low after the loss at the weekend.
He said: “The dressing room was very flat and we almost wanted to shed a tear as we played really well. We were the only team that looked like winning. The second goal was particularly difficult to take. He shanked the ball and I don’t know whether it hit one of our defenders or Cisse but it hit the back of the net and I think that’s our luck at the moment. We kicked on from there and we had chances to win the game.”
Midfielder Morrison signed a deal lasting four years last month, with boss Steve Clarke calling him one of the side’s “best players.” It has been five years since Morrison left Championship side Middlesbrough to join West Brom, and he had had two more years left on his last deal.
Manager Steve Clarke is hoping to be able to bring back skipper Chris Brunt, Claudio Yacob, Jerome Thomas, Boaz Myhill and Billy Jones for Monday’s match.
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An intriguing sub-plot to Robin van Persie’s surprising move to Manchester United from Arsenal this summer is the potential impact that it could have on the positional future of last season’s top goalscorer at the club, Wayne Rooney – is his time as a striker coming to an end at Old Trafford, in the short-term at least?
Last term, Rooney was widely criticised for the nature of his overall performances, even if he managed to bag 27 goals in the Premier League, second only to the Dutchman on 30. It’s a theory that certainly carries some weight and Rooney appears to have forsaken a measure of his unpredictable, creative nature in favour of a more ruthless cutting edge in front of goal, which is no bad thing in itself, he’s just evolved as a player into a slightly different beast to the one we’ve become accustomed to seeing.
The trouble is now, though, having forked out £24m on a 29 year-old striker with a rotten record of injuries in the past is that Van Persie is likely to be given the mantle of leading the line, but whether that means in place of Rooney or beside him remains to be seen. The inevitable comparisons to the club’s treble-winning strike-force of 1999 – Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – have been made by plenty of people, even Ferguson himself, but will Van Persie’s arrival change the shape of the side?
Ferguson said after the former Arsenal man signed: “In 1999 I had Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the four best strikers in Europe. We are going towards that now. They (Rooney and Van Persie) are two fantastic players and it will be great to have both of them. It gives us more strength and more combinations up front. It is a fantastic collection of players and hopefully I pick the right combinations. It is great to have a player of Robin van Persie’s qualities to come into the squad. I am very pleased.”
When he talks about ‘combinations’, that intimates a partnership between Rooney and Van Persie which would effectively mean a 4-4-2 system or something very similar to it, which will only put even more strain on an increasingly weak and fragile centre-midfield area which has been overrun repeatedly in the past year by more energetic and combative opponents.
There’s also the fact that because the move came relatively out of the blue, with Ferguson admitting that he hadn’t planned for such a deal until the Dutch international stated he wasn’t going to sign another contract at the Emirates, is would they even have bought Shinji Kagawa this summer otherwise had they known?
The Japanese creative midfielder is capable of playing out wide on the wing but arrived from Borussia Dortmund for an absolute bargain £12m fee with the idea of playing in the hole behind the striker, with Rooney likely to be that man. Would you really play Kagawa in a two-man central midfield?
Probably not is the answer to that one, which leaves them then with four wingers into two spaces and while that’s some admirable strength in depth from the club’s and fan’s perspective, you suspect that keeping Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Nani and Kagawa all happy and with enough playing time will be a difficult task, which partly explains the speculation linking the Portuguese wide-man with an exit this summer, even if that would be an ill-advised move considering the sheer weight of his end product in terms of goals and assists.
There’s also the consideration that Rooney could be pushed out wide onto the left, a role he often occupied in Europe to great effect with Cristiano Ronaldo taking the lone central role a few years back. Van Persie has often played out wide for Holland in the past, but the physical demands of the Premier League and international football are two different kettles of fish entirely and Rooney’s energy and versatile nature make him more of an ideal candidate for the switch.
It’s certainly a bold move recruiting Van Persie and Ferguson appears to have allowed himself this one indulgence as he seeks to overhaul Manchester City this season, who also possess a frightening forward line in terms of both depth and quality.
United failed to score in just three separate games last season, less than City with five and they scored an impressive 89 goals, only marginally less than City’s 93, so recruiting a goalscorer, on the face of it at least, would not appear to be a pressing concern. However, Ferguson has clearly decided to try and fight fire with fire and this may allow Rooney to return to a deeper role than he’s played in previous seasons gone by and return to his creative best.
Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez are exceptionally strong third and fourth-choice strikers to have in your squad and they both bring different skills to the table, but the temptation with playing Rooney and Van Persie up front together has to be tempered with the sneaking suspicion that they may be a bit too similar to hit it off right away.
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Of course, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez are broadly similar players and they have a fabulous partnership together, so good players can often co-exist alongside one another in the same side as long as the support structure behind them is right. It is an interesting concept to see if Rooney will be pushed back, perhaps not as far as he was at times last season, but deeper than we have become accustomed to seeing him of late.
Shifting a man who has scored 64 league goals in his last three seasons and 85 across all competitions is an extremely risky strategy, but the rewards if it does come off are huge and it may just be a gamble worth taking that has the potential to benefit both players in the long-term and help the club impose themselves more on the top table of European competition this term.
Arsenal appear to be well down the road to signing Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona, essentially killing two birds with one stone in their need to address the centre-forward position and add depth beyond Theo Walcott for the flanks.
If there was any doubt about Alexis’ credentials, especially after a frustrating and completely forgettable 2012-13 campaign with Barcelona two years ago, the World Cup in Brazil has shown the Chilean to be exactly the kind of marquee forward Arsenal’s supporters have been crying out for.
We’ve been here before though, and many will be sceptical until pictures of Alexis with an Arsenal shirt in hand emerge. Last summer, Arsenal were said to be on the brink of signing Gonzalo Higuain, only for the Argentine to land at Napoli instead. The north London club had accused Real Madrid of moving the goal posts on the deal at the last minute.
But Alexis would more than make up for that loss. With Olivier Giroud also experiencing a good World Cup with France, Arsenal, on paper at least, would look a far more threatening outfit over the course of next season.
The Chilean would also negate the need for Angel Di Maria, who is another big-name South American who looks set to leave La Liga.
Arsenal were interested last year and could have landed the Real Madrid winger had it not been for Carlo Ancelotti’s intervention, instead securing the signing of Mesut Ozil. What is certain is that Arsenal need two forwards, one capable of playing on the wing. In the case of Alexis and Di Maria, one would cancel the other out.
Di Maria does provide different qualities to the Chilean. This past season he showed himself to be a more than capable central midfielder, playing alongside of Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric and given the freedom to roam. He was sensational against Barcelona in particular, while his best season in the white of Real was capped with victory in the Champions League.
There’s no doubt that Di Maria is a player who would improve Arsenal over the coming seasons. He and Mesut Ozil would interchange roles in the attacking three while both were playing at the Bernabeu, and there’d be an opportunity for both midfielders to strike up a similar partnership.
But Arsenal would be getting that and much more in Alexis, who, unlike Di Maria, can play at centre-forward and relieve some pressure from Giroud.
To venture down the avenue of suggesting Arsenal don’t need Di Maria would be wrong; it wasn’t too long ago that many, including myself, were talking up the value of having Cesc Fabregas return to the club. Above all, Arsenal need strength in depth.
But Real want £40 million for Di Maria, while Alexis would be a little under £30 million. With a high-class defensive midfielder needed, as well as a right-back and another forward (possibly Loic Remy), the focus must be on what the team need first and foremost. In addition, Fabregas was available for a deal that was far better value for money than Di Maria’s price tag.
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If the club can wrap up a deal for Alexis in the coming weeks, it will be a positive sign to the supporters, who need convincing after the failure to properly strength during the last two windows and the complete collapse last season.
If what is said to be on the table does come to fruition, missing out on Angel Di Maria will be dusted away with the kind of renewed confidence that can only be delivered by star forwards such as Alexis.