Italian giants Juventus are ready to rival Manchester United in the chase to sign promising Austrian youngster Marcel Sabitzer, according to talkSPORT.
The 18-year-old forward is out of contract at his current Austrian club side Admira Wacker at the end of the season and is valued at £1million.
He has scored eight goals since the start of last season and his form lead to him earning a first senior international cap in Austria’s 0-0 draw with Romania in June, however he has since dropped back down to the Under-21 squad.
While United are keen to secure the services of Sabitzer, reports in Italy suggest that Juventus have emerged as frontrunners to sign him and could make a move for him as early as January.
His current club are reluctant to lose him, but the lure of playing for one of Europes major clubs will be a temptation for the young player.
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Sabitzer adds his name to a string of players linked with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side recently, with the United chief looking keen to strengthen his squad this winter as his side bids to reclaim their Premier League title from bitter rivals Manchester City.
Liam Ridgewell believes West Brom deserve their current fifth spot in the Premier League table and more.
The Baggies have moved into this arguably unexpected position, after a 2-0 victory over Nigel Adkins’ Southampton on Monday night.
However, the defender has given a warning about the club’s busy schedule ahead, and insists that West Brom must keep gaining points.
“We deserve to be there. In fact, I think we deserve to have even more points, to be honest. We’ve done really well but the main thing is to keep that going and show people it’s not just the start of the season,” he told the club’s official website.
“We are going into a lot of games now with the Christmas period coming up and we’ve got to try to keep it going and keep picking up points. Monday was a big game because it was probably the biggest test for the new team since Roy left. I thought we did it very well and came through solidly.”
The left-back claims the team were not put under too much pressure by Monday’s match and that this relaxed approach helped them win the game.
“We didn’t really feel lots of pressure. Pressure is playing against Manchester United at Old Trafford when you’re bottom in the league. Monday was a night when we had to make sure we did the right things, start well, get the first goal and make sure they didn’t come back at us,” he added.
“If we’d lost people would have started saying it was a fluke start to the season, blah, blah, blah. But we know what we’re all about, we know we’re a good team and hopefully we can keep showing that.”
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Boss Steve Clarke has warned the team about not getting complacent following Monday’s victory reiterating that “you always have to be careful in the Premier League.”
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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.
As Andre Villas-Boas and Tottenham Hotspur are perhaps currently finding out, cultivating change at a football club, can be something of a patience-testing and often very tedious process indeed.
Part of the Portuguese’s remit upon employment by chairman Daniel Levy, was to instill a more modern-day, tactical nous within a squad cultured to the tastes of previous incumbent Harry Redknapp’s, more old-school take on proceedings. Although it’d be fair to say that the transformation so far, is a lot more Grand Designs than it is 60-Minute Makeover.
Of course, it would be naïve to think that making the transition from Redknapp’s 4-4-1-1 to the more continentally refined 4-2-3-1 of AVB would be a simple walk in the park, but it’s produced its fair share of teething problems. But where as you’d like to think that progress down in N17 wouldn’t be akin to one of those gormless developments that go both overtime and over budget, it’s probably worthy of one those overcautious Kevin McCloud monologues.
Is it time to tweak the architect’s plans slightly at White Hart Lane? A reversion back to the more traditional set-up of two up front may appear like regression to some, although as a temporary measure, it certainly might not do any harm at all.
One of the biggest criticism’s that plagued Harry Redknapp’s time in charge at Spurs, was the perceived lack of a ‘Plan B’ or some form of tactical escape route. The 65-year-old was hardly as naïve as many people made out, but his penchant for simplicity was certainly no urban myth – his recent “Bullshit baffles brains” sentiments, offers a decent window into the world of Redknapp.
His philosophy was to send the players out, first and foremost, to simply play. Tottenham’s recent success was hardly catalysed by some top-secret, magical tactical blueprint. Spurs prospered through pacey and traditional wing play, an extremely well balanced central midfield and a dynamic pairing up in attack. When they were found out, Redknapp’s side would often come to a grinding halt, but for the most part, it was very successful indeed.
Yet perhaps the biggest hindrance in Andre Villas-Boas’ efforts to evolve this side into his 4-2-3-1 set-up, comes in the very players he still has at his disposal. Because in essence, even after the summer transfer window, he has a squad of players that still feel more roundly suited to the Redknapp set-up of last season. At the very least, it marks a Plan B that would arguably beat many Premier League teams’ Plan A.
Before the lynch mob set in, this is not a call for Villas-Boas to abandon the style of playing he’s trying so hard to implement. During their 4-2 loss to Chelsea during the weekend, the Lilywhites had five first teamers out, including the already talismanic Mousa Dembele, of whom the formation relies so much upon. The impatient among us will be loathsome to hear another article promoting the virtue of patience, although the side need time to adapt.
But while the likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker and countless others within this Spurs side acquaint themselves with what a whole new way of playing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the ways of yesteryear need to be abandoned completely.
An occasional switch to a 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1 from time to time wouldn’t signal some white flag of surrender in AVB’s quest for tactical change. Of course, the more the side play in the new way, the more they will improve in both confidence and execution, but from time to time, a switch wouldn’t herald such a bad move.
Against Chelsea, for example, Villas-Boas would have been able to field a team that could have potentially been a little more effective if set-up a little more traditionally. You can only work with the tools available to your disposal and with players such as Bale and especially Dembele out, the team didn’t look quite so suited to a 4-2-3-1.
Huddlestone would have certainly looked a lot more confident in a more general, traditional midfield role than the defensive pivot that he was told to play against Chelsea. The England man did a poor Mousa Dembele impression primarily because his abilities aren’t suited to such a role. Similarly with Clint Dempsey. The American looked awkward on the left-side of Villas-Boas’ attacking three and even when switched more centrally, he seemed to pine for a role slightly closer to goal.
Dempsey netted many of his 17 Premier League goals last season for Fulham, playing as something as a second striker or just behind the frontman in a supporting role. When we did see Villas-Boas switch to this set-up in the second half of the 2-1 win against QPR, Dempsey was in his element behind Jermain Defoe.
Furthermore, despite scoring five league goals himself so far, Jermain Defoe offers a different kind of threat up front in a revised system. With less onus on him to hold up the play and bring others into it, he could revert back to his more natural game, in running at defences and causing a very direct threat. Equally, you could go for the more traditional 4-4-2 and play both Defoe and Adebayor together. We saw little of it last season, but when we did, it didn’t work too badly at all and it offers another viable option for the manager.
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It’s at risk of playing devil’s advocate and the irony won’t be lost on some, but if Dembele still isn’t fit for the trip to Southampton this weekend, a temporary switch back to a more direct style of playing might not be such a bad idea after all.
The fact that the 4-2-3-1 appears to hinge so prominently upon the Belgian suggests that perhaps deeper problems lie in Spurs’ engine room and the failure to capture more players capable of fluidly stepping in to play the system, isn’t all Andre Villas-Boas’ fault. Such troubles can be addressed in January but if the need arises, he shouldn’t be afraid to go back to the future.
Would you be comfortable with a temporary switch back to a more traditional set-up at Spurs? Or should Villas-Boas be unwavering in his implementation of the new system? Let me know what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus for all things Spurs.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini believes he is currently the best manager in England and doesn’t fear the sack.
City are currently second in the Premier League but 12 points off leaders and rivals Manchester United and they also suffered an early exit from the Champions League.
Despite getting through to the Quarter-Finals of the FA Cup it has still been hinted that Mancini could get the boot at the end of the season.
Last season saw City win the league in the closing moments of the final game after closing an eight point gap on United but this year they face a tougher challenge with 12 points to claw back and they don’t seem to have maintained their impressive form. There has also been some behind the scenes changes with Txiki Begiristain taking on the director of football role which have only served to fuel the speculation.
However the Italian remains confident about his position at the Eithad and believes he will still be in charge at the end of the season.
“In the last 15 months I am the best manager in England, I won one Premier League, one FA Cup, one charity shield, there is not another manager that’s won like me in the last 15 months,” he told BBC Sport.
“Someone says for six months that Manchester City would change manager, Guardiola would come in, and after Guardiola went to Bayern Munich, now another manager.
I can do nothing but it is the reality.”
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Pep Guardiola had previously been rumoured for the manager’s position but he takes over Bayern Munich in the summer, however Jose Mourinho who confirmed last week that he is Premier League bound for his next job is rumoured to be replacing Mancini in the summer.
West Brom defender Liam Ridgewell wants to keep Dimitar Berbatov quiet tomorrow after watching the Bulgarian run riot the last time he lined up against him.
Berbatov scored a hat-trick for Manchester United when Ridgewell was forced to fill in at centre-back for Birmingham City just before they won the Carling Cup in 2011. Tomorrow he will have to be on top form if he is to thwart the 31-year-old striker, who looks certain to make his home debut for new club Fulham. The 28-year-old told the Birmingham Mail:
“He’s a new face but everyone knows about him and how good a player he is. It is sometimes worrying because you can get a bit laid-back, then suddenly he spurts into scoring a hat-trick. So you’ve got to keep your wits about you. They have got a lot of good players, though, and we will have to be on our game to make sure we stop them. We will definitely be up for the game, that’s for sure.”
Berbatov made his Cottagers debut from the bench in the 3-0 defeat to West Ham last time out but couldn’t affect the result. Albion will be hoping he fails to kick-start his career for a second game running but Ridgewell knows Fulham have plenty of other players who can cause damage if he does have a quiet day. He continued:
“Over the years they have always been good at home and they are a good side, whoever they’ve got in their team. “Fulham away is a tough game but we will be going down there with a lot of confidence and hopefully we will be able to come away with a positive result.”
West Brom face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
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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.
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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Zoltan Gera has insisted that he is happy being part of Steve Clarke’s rotation policy at West Brom.
Despite impressing in the Baggies’ impressive start to the season – which has seen them enter the top four of the Premier League – Gera has found himself dropped to the bench in recent weeks.
But the 33-year-old insists he is happy to share the midfield responsibilities with the likes of James Morrison, Chris Blunt and Graham Dorrans for the good of the club.
“I’m happy,” said Gera.
“I’m playing well, so if the manager sees I can help the team he will pick me. It’s no problem at all.
“We have a good squad with lots of good players.”
The Hungarian played a pivotal role during Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea but knows it wont guarantee him a start in the first team.
“Of course as a player I always want to play but I know we have other players who are as good as the ones in the team.
“So when I have a chance I want to play well to keep my place in the team.
“I wouldn’t say I’m happy when I’m not playing, but I expect it and there is no problem at all.
“After the first game of the season when I scored against Liverpool, I didn’t play the next two or three games.
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“But I said ‘it is no problem’ because I trust in the gaffer to know what is best for team,” he added.
“You always need to fight for your place now, there is no question about that.”