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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Liverpool fans were left stunned last week when Jurgen Klopp’s right-hand man Zeljko Buvac suddenly left the club.
The 56-year-old has worked alongside Klopp as his assistant manager since the pair were at Mainz.
The duo have known each other for around 20 years, but prior to Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Roma, Buvac was given a leave of absence.
The official line from the club is that his position in Klopp’s backroom team has not been affected, but the Bosnian will not return for the remainder of the season.
Speculation has been rife regarding the possible reason behind Buvac’s exit, with The Mirror recently claiming that Buvac left following a huge bust-up with Klopp.
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The publication claims that the assistant manager was approached by Arsenal regarding a potential coaching role, but decided to keep it a secret from the Liverpool boss.
Twitter account Anfield Express has since claimed that Buvac is back in Merseyside, and the fans have made it clear what they want to happen.
Football and social media are quickly intertwining. It’s hard to find a club or player without a Twitter account nowadays, while sides over in America’s MLS even actively get stars involved in the day-to-day running of accounts to help break down the boundaries between the fans and the action.
For most supporters the first port of call for trusted news online is their team’s own Twitter account. Breaking team developments, starting XIs and transfer stories become official when the club put their name to it, and such tweets generate massive amounts of attention. So, with teams like Manchester United widely followed you’d expect them to get the most responses, right? Well, it’s actually Leeds United’s supporters who get most involved with their side, interacting with the official feed on average more than any other group of supporters.
Leeds Middlesbrough Everton Preston North End Arsenal
Official research from CrowdScores – who analysed interaction with each of the 92 Football League Clubs’ official Twitter feeds over the last six months, looking at the amount of followers each club has compared to the number of tweets which included the Twitter handle – reveals that the Whites top this particular league table from the last six months with 7.7-posts-per-fan, while another Championship side in the shape of Middlesbrough come in second. Everton are the most ‘popular’ of the Premier League sides with 6.3-per-fan, while Crystal Palace and AFC Bournemouth make up the ‘Champions League places’ behind Arsenal.
While all tweets are by no means positive, Sheffield United supporters are the friendliest, with nearly nine times more positive interactions than negative.
Here’s how the 2015/16 season could end if judged on the results:
Premier League
Champions – Everton
Champions League – Arsenal, AFC Bournemouth, Crystal Palace
Relegated – Sunderland, Swansea City, Norwich City
Championship
Champions – Leeds United
Promoted – Middlesbrough
Relegated – Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Fulham
League One
Champions – Bradford City
Promoted – Southend United
Relegated – Chesterfield, Coventry City, Wigan Athletic, Peterborough United
League Two
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PUMA® introduces the new evoSPEED 1.2 FG, the latest performance boot that helps players maximise their speed on the pitch. For the first time ever, the boot features the PUMA brand name on the inner side of the boot instead of the formstripe – the brand’s iconic trademark. This weekend, the new black and fluorescent yellow boot makes its on pitch debut with Sergio Agüero, Radamel Falcao, Olivier Giroud and many more PUMA players.The new evoSPEED 1.2 FG is designed to enable players reach top speed quickly without sacrificing stability or comfort. This is made possible through the use of light materials in combination with an internal midfoot support cage (EverFit cage) that maintains a good fit during all points of sprinting. The outsole is reconfigured with smaller conical studs that give the player a better grip on the ground and enhances manoeuvrability on the pitch. For optimal comfort, a minimised tongue and heel have been added, reducing pressure on the Achilles tendon whilst the sock liner distributes the foot’s pressure evenly.Inspired by the shape of muscles, tendons and the smooth curves of a race car, the new boot features subtle black glossy graphics that round off the look of the more visible yellow prints. Finishing touches are the transparent dotted print on the vamp for better grip in wet conditions, and small details in fluorescent blue that complement the striking look.Sergio Agüero commented after testing the finished boot, “I am always excited to wear a new boot. After the v1.11 and the first evoSPEED, this is the third SPEED boot that I have worn and it is definitely the best. PUMA’s boots are constantly improving and the innovations they create help me to perform better when I play. I appreciate the fact that they incorporate my feedback when they develop new boots and I am delighted with this latest result.â€The new PUMA evoSPEED 1.2 FG football boots will be on pitch from today and available in-store globally from the 1st of June 2013.For more information, please visit www.puma.com/football
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.
West Ham United would have known the tough task they faced to get any kind of positive result when they welcomed rampant Premier League champions Manchester City to the London Stadium on Sunday, but they also knew that they needed points themselves.
The Irons came into the clash against Pep Guardiola’s men just three points above the relegation zone following Southampton’s 2-1 win against Bournemouth at St Mary’s on Saturday, and it had certainly put a bit more pressure on them to produce what should haveat least been a committed and top-drawer performance against a classy Citizens side.
The Irons needed to match or even try and beat their opponents in terms of effort and work rate, even if they knew they didn’t have as much quality.
That is what they did earlier in the campaign where they were seven minutes away from grabbing an unlikely point against City at the Etihad Stadium, and David Moyes and his players had a blueprint to work from following that impressive display.
They also knew following their 4-1 collapse against Arsenal previously, and with a trip to Leicester City before they host Manchester United and Everton in their final two matches, that they could still need another win to secure survival.
Moyes’ line-up against the Citizens never suggested to the team or the supporters that they were going to get anything from the game however, and the decision to bring in Patrice Evra for Arthur Masuaku was strange given as though the former is nowhere near as fast as he once was.
Even so, when you know you aren’t as good as your opposition, you need to have a plan, be organised and work hard, and it was just never the case during the whole 90 minutes with the players on the pitch perhaps beginning to feel that the London Stadium faithful are turning against Moyes.
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As was pointed out on Match of the Day 2 by Alan Shearer, too many of West Ham’s players were simply jogging about and happy to let their opposition not only have possession, but also break forward with the ball relatively unchallenged.
It wasn’t good enough when you are getting to the crunch stage of the campaign, and matters were hardly helped by the fact that Andy Carroll walked straight down the tunnel when he wasn’t part of Moyes’ triple substitution when the score was 4-1, coupled by the fact that Javier Hernandez came on and putting in a rather half-hearted 24 minutes.
Moyes and Carroll had a heated exchange on the training pitch the following day, while according to club insider @ExWHUemployee on Twitter, the Mexico international also raised concerns about his situation to his manager.
While the Scot must take some of the blame for such a lacklustre display, the majority of the players that were out on the pitch need to take a long, hard look at themselves, too.
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And that includes captain Mark Noble, whose comments post-match were rightly slammed by his own fans on Twitter.
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It seemed clear that some of those individuals weren’t playing for Moyes – as they weren’t for Slaven Bilic at the beginning of the campaign – and if that is the case then that is dangerous for the Irons in what is going to be a hugely important end to the season.
The former Manchester United manager needs to lay down the law and prove that he is an authority figure in training this week, and he has already done that by fining Carroll following the duo’s altercation on Monday – forcing an apology from the centre-forward.
The 55-year-old needs to reunite his squad and have them all working from the same page away against a Leicester side that already look to be on their holidays, and three points at the King Power Stadium could give them what they need to preserve their Premier League status for at least another year.
Tony Parr is a lifelong Blackpool fan who has been on the mic at Bloomfield Road for over nine years.
He has been through the highs or lows of the club during that time, and he tells Football FanCast about his role at the club…
FFC: How long have you worked for the club?
TP: I worked at the club between 1990 and 1996 and then left to go to St Helens, but I have been on the mic for nine years. I started in 2006.
How did it start?
It’s a funny story really. Chris Hull who was on the mic before me had been doing the job for 28 years before he decided to retire.
He’s a good friend but after the Blackpool Gazette did a piece on him leaving I went to see him. He tried to convince me to do it during a Saturday match and I was adamant that I was not going to take over but by the Tuesday night I had been convinced.
The club agreed and the rest is history.
What is the favourite game you were on the mic for?
The three Wembley appearances [Yeovil, Cardiff and West Ham] were incredible. On all three occasions I was given the chance to be on the pitch.
Obviously, the Cardiff one was a dream come true. Just to play a small part in that day is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. Wembley, apart from my daughters being born, was the best day of my life.
Who is your favourite Blackpool player?
John Burridge. He was a boyhood hero of mine and I was lucky enough to meet him a few times.
What is your match day routine?
It’s not the most exciting role in the beginning. I arrive about an hour before kick-off and get the team sheet. My first job is to go through the names and check if there are any that are hard to pronounce. It’s usually the away team but the occasional loan player can get me stuck too.
I then hang around until we start making announcements on the pitch about 2.30pm on a Saturday match. I chat to the crowd, announce any upcoming events the club have given me, get the mascots on the pitch. I love the role; it’s great to be so close to the action!
Do you think Ollie [Ian Holloway] will be coming back?
I am 99.9% sure he will not be making a return to Bloomfield Road. I think he is creating a media hype around himself to keep other clubs interested in him.
I will never take away what he did for the club but people are always shocked when they hear that I think Ollie’s run was down to luck not judgement. If you think about the players that were so influential were already at the club when he came.
When he left we had 47 players on the books and then most of them were out of contract on the same day. It was bad management! I love him but he won’t be coming back.
Will you be back next season on the mic?
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As usual with Blackpool they have a unique way of doing things. Every season I get to the end and that is it. I never get asked if I am coming back so I just turn up on the first day and presume I am.
People were telling me to go out on a bang last season and say something controversial on the mic but I would never do that. My loyalty is to the club not to the people in it. It doesn’t matter if the team were playing on Stanley Park I would still be there.
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.”
When a club has won the Premier League and the Carabao Cup, it is unlikely that fans would find many negatives.
However, it appears that Manchester City’s following are different as they have listed the mistakes that were made throughout the campaign.
Pep Guardiola’s side wrapped up the league title with around a month left to go before the end of the season as they took an unassailable 16-point lead.
City, who have lost just twice in the top flight so far, blew their opponents out of the water early and never looked back.
The FA Cup proved to be a sticking point for the North-West outfit, though, while the Champions League remains their Achilles heel.
Guardiola failed to guide his team beyond the quarter-final stage as they were thumped 5-1 on aggregate by Liverpool.
It was a hugely one-sided tie as Jurgen Klopp’s attacking stars ran riot to send the Merseyside outfit into the semi-finals of the elite competition.
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City were roundly mocked by their rivals for falling to Liverpool, and that failure has has stuck with the supporters.
In a discussion on Reddit, fans discussed what the club’s biggest mistakes were this season.
Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.Comment from discussion What is a mistake from this season that needs to be avoided in the future?.
On the 2nd April, Leeds United’s assistant manager Steve Thompson was suspended from his position with immediate effect. It was widely reported but nobody in the media had any idea what it was for.
After keeping quiet for so long, Thompson has finally broken his silence to tell FootballFanCast.com exactly what went on.
He said: “I will have my say on the matter, I have been quiet for two long now but there was no incident. I was suspended for no reason what so ever.
“I got suspended and I am still waiting for the reason why,” he added.
With things happening in the background for Thompson, there are certain things he must keep quiet but it seems clear he has had enough. The news about his suspension was broken on Sky News and that was the first he had heard that he had been “suspended.”
Thompson told us: “It has been very upsetting. I can say with 100% accuracy that I did absolutely nothing wrong.”
The Former Blackpool caretaker boss is waiting to see what happens next but he is not planning to go back to Leeds. “I won’t be going back. There is no way. Leeds United is a big club, you don’t have to sell anybody the club’s history, but no one treats me like that, especially when I have done nothing,” he added.
“Thats the disappointing thing for me. If I had done something wrong, I would have held my hand up and walked away but to suspend someone for nothing – I don’t work for people like that.
Neil Redfearn and ‘Thommo’ took charge at Leeds United when they were just two points from the relegation zone and eventually guided them to Championship safety, but Redfearn hasn’t secured his job for next season. Last week it was announced that Uwe Rosler was the new manager at Elland Road and Thompson was deeply disappointed by the news.
“I think he wanted to stay. It’s disappointing how it has all happened,” he admitted.
It is still unknown as to whether Redfearn will take up his previous position as Head of Youth Development but Thompson doubts it.
“Neil has kept his dignity in how he has handled things. He deserves a lot of credit for the academy and the young players that have come through. I have been at clubs where they have got amazing young players, but these are the best I’ve seen and it’s all down to Neil.”
There have been many rumours surrounding owner Massimo Cellino’s involvement in the club and Thompson hinted to us that the rumours the owner may insist on picking the team could be true: “You cannot work under those circumstances and how things in the dressing room were. There are many things that are not right at that club.”
The 50-year-old still wants answers to why he was suspended but now he is looking forward to a future and starting afresh at another club: “I’m waiting to see what happens with this stuff in the background but I just hope that people [at other clubs] look past the suspension.
“I just pray it doesn’t tarnish the work I have done. It’s just a case of waiting for the phone to ring and I can move on and make a fresh start.”
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