Reading manager Brian McDermott has revealed that he is “surprised” by the lead Manchester United have opened up at the top of the Premier League.
The Royals travel to Old Trafford this evening for their FA Cup fifth round clash as underdogs.
The Red Devils have opened up a 12-point gap between themselves and local rivals City at the top of the table with 12 games yet to be played.
McDermott said that he is shocked by the buffer United have built, and that he feels they have been driven to succeed by last season’s title disappointment:
“It’s a surprise to see United so far ahead in the Premier League when you look at the calibre of opposition they’re up against,” He told Sky Sports.
“They’re 12 points in front with 12 games to go and Sir Alex Ferguson won’t take anything for granted, there’s no doubt about that.
“To move on the way they did from last season, to take that on to the pitch and that hurt, tells you the power of the people there.
“The hurt that day would have given them a tough summer, but you have two ways of going – you either go under as a club or get stronger. United have got stronger.
United are often praised for their ‘never say die’ attitude, which has seen them rescue countless points in the closing stages of games.
Reading have gained a similar reputation of late, with the newly promoted side making some stunning last gasp comebacks to salvage precious points in their battle against relegation.
McDermott praised Fergie’s attitude and drew some similarities between their two sides:
“Sir Alex has an incredible will to win and you can see that from the way he is on the touchline.
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“Whatever he puts into the game, they never feel like they are beaten. We’re trying to get that too.
“Luckily we have had that over the last few years. We’ve kept going in the last few games particular.”
Following Adam Johnson’s miserable start at Sunderland we look at ten players who have fallen well short of expectations.
Johnson arrived on Wearside as the marquee signing, that had fans believing in the possibility of a top eight finish. Along with the failings of other important, creative players in the North East, the England international now seems somewhat of a let down. Still undecided on whether his performance against Aston Villa was worthy of a three or four out of ten, the main thing I’ve been musing, this week, is was the 25-year-old ever that good? After all, maybe a few impressive goals and cameos may well have masked his short-comings at the Etihad Stadium.
The rest of the list sees players who either have a confidence which their ability belies. Or footballers who failed to capitalise on early promise to the point where their good form is the anomaly. From great youngsters who became average adults, to players who were never that good, this list is devoted to those who just never lived up to the hype.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has warned Luis Suarez to change his ways, as he looks to impose a new philosophy at the club.
The Uruguayan confessed to diving in a Premier League game in a bid to win his side a penalty, but believes that the media is treating him unfairly.
Rodgers revealed that he has had a chat with his star striker, and calmly warned him to alter his actions on the field of play:
“We have a philosophy here – the team always going into every game looking to win in the best possible way and sporting manner and we don’t want that to change,” he is quoted by The Mirror.
“I sat down with Luis and talked to him. He knows how I feel and what we are trying to do. This is a big club, bigger than anyone, and whatever people say goes around the world. He accepts that and understands now.
“Anything detrimental towards the club and the group we have here is not something I take lightly.”
Suarez has gained quite a reputation since his 2011 arrival in England, with his questionable temperament and style of play earning him headlines almost as regularly as his individual ability.
He received a lengthy ban last term for racially abusing Patrice Evra and was further punished for an offensive gesture targeted at Fulham fans at Craven Cottage.
As well as this he has been criticised for a willingness to go to ground in a bid to win free-kicks and penalties,
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Rodgers did defend the 25-year-old, suggesting that he gets treated unfairly due by officials:
“He feels he gets harsh treatment and I understand that issues which may get laughed off if it’s a British player can be seen more cynically from European or South Amercian players.”
Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder’s agent has rubbished speculation of a January move to Tottenham.
The Dutch international has been linked with a move to the Premier League in recent months, with Spurs becoming the latest club to be rumoured as his destination.
Due to a contract dispute, the 28-year-old has not played for the San Siro side since September and appears highly likely to move on sooner rather than later.
Despite rumours of an imminent switch to White Hart Lane, his representatives have played down the speculation:
“There is nothing, absolutely nothing true about that.” He is quoted by Sky Sports via Algemeen Dagblad.
Manchester United were linked with the playmaker over the summer, but a move failed to materialise.
Big-spending French club Paris Saint-Germain are thought to be interested, although a move to the Parc de Princes may not appeal to Sneijder, who would be battling with many talented players to break into the first-team.
The Holland international began his professional career with Ajax, after graduating from the Amsterdam club’s legendary youth set-up.
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After five years, Real Madrid swooped to take the midfielder to Spain in a £20m deal.
He struggled to command a regular starting berth at the Bernabeu before moving to Inter in 2009.
Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay has insisted he will be taking the necessary steps to ensure a successful return to the top flight.
The Bluebirds secured their promotion to the Premier League with Tuesday’s goalless draw with Charlton and Mackay is already looking to the future.
Cardiff owner Vincent Tan has promised £25m to spend on new players in the summer and Mackay has insisted he will put sentiment aside and do what he feels is best for the club.
“I’ve had to be ruthless from the very first day I came here,” said Mackay.
“What we are doing is for the good of the football club. You have to realise life changes and situations change and you have to go with change.
“If you don’t then you’re left behind. But that’s not just me, that’s throughout football.
“In end-of-season games, everybody’s playing for something, whether you’re in contract or going out of contract.
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“You’re trying to impress every time you walk over the white line so the players know they’ve got to be playing well to be part of something here next year, which is very exciting.”
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew remains keen to manage England, but only after he has served his eight year contract on Tyneside.
The 51-year-old guided Newcastle to fifth in the Premier League in his first full-season, earning the unprecedented deal that runs until 2020.
Pardew told The Independent of his long term goal, “I do have ambitions internationally – I would like to do that at some point.
“Hopefully I will see this contract out and see what I’m doing later on. I have always felt that a person can be a success as England manager. I won’t change my opinion on that, but I don’t think it’s easy.
“Roy Hodgson probably has a tough spell as England manager because our pool of players is not as great as it used to be.”
The ex-Southampton boss also went on to talk about his much publicised new deal at the Sports Direct Arena.
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“Both of us looked at the contract [him and Magpies owner Mike Ashley], and felt it lacked a bit of security. So this contract is more secure for Mike in terms of keeping me at the football club.
“The eight years came from Mike. I never got to the point of talking about how long I wanted the contract for. He spoke to me about eight years and I thought: OK.”
West Bromwich Albion centre forward has called up on his teammates to find a ruthless edge to see out results.
This comes after the ace saw his side lose to Manchester City on Saturday, despite retaining a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute.
The Republic of Ireland International was left ruing a wasted opportunity as the Baggies put in a magnificent display, but still left The Hawthorns with nothing.
It comes as even more of a blow when it is considered that City were down to 10 men for the majority of the match, with James Milner sent off.
Steve Clarke has been trying to deliver a brand of football that is pleasing on the eye, but the Albion striker put an emphasis upon securing results like they have done so far this season.
Long told the West Brom official website “: “The crowd were getting behind us and we really felt like we could win the game. That is the confidence we have in the squad at the moment. But at the same time, we have probably got to learn from these situations.”
Despite, the disappointment, the striker was quick to realise that current premier league champions won’t be dropping many points this season, so the side can still take heart from Saturday.
He elaborated by saying “But at least we lost in the right way, trying to win the game and taking the game to them. There aren’t many teams that will take points off Manchester City this season.”
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Long will be looking to feature in West Bromwich Albion’s next game at St James’s park against Newcastle on Saturday.
Tottenham are expected to confirm the signing of France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris later today, according to The Mirror.
The fee for the Lyon stopper is expected to be in the region of £12 million pounds, which would make him the fifth most expensive goalkeeper of all time.
Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas says that the decision now lies with Lloris on whether he wants to move to England after accepting an offer from Spurs: “We were close to Tottenham and now the decision is up to Hugo, who must have had a number of contacts with the English club. This transfer can be done at the end of the transfer window.”
Aulas added that ideally Lyon would like the transfer to go through in order for the French club to appease their soaring wage bill, “Would it be better for us to see him leaving? Since we have an objective to reduce the wage bill, this transfer enters in our programme.”
Lloris, who is captain for both his club and country, was one of the stand out performers for France in what was a less than convincing Euro 2012 campaign. Manager of the French national side Didier Deschamps said he is still unsure whether Lloris will go to Tottenham: “I talked with him by phone. He has a choice to make between Lyon and Tottenham. He has until Friday to decide, we will see.”
Lloris could potentially be one of a number of players entering White Hart Lane before the transfer window closes tomorrow night. Tottenham have already splashed £15 million pounds on attacking Moussa Dembele from Fulham and now according to The Mirror, manager Andre Villas-Boas is still targeting several more players. These include midfielders Joao Moutinho from Porto and Alan Dzagoev from CSKA Moscow, as well as strikers Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk and Leandro Demiao from Brazilian side Internacional.
Tottenham are still waiting to hear from Rennes after submitting a bid for the talented youngster, Yann M’Vila on Monday. There are funds available to Villas-Boas following the £30 million pound departure of central midfielder Luka Modric to Real Madrid.
There could also be a number of players leaving White Hart Line of the over the next 36 hours, including left-winger Danny Rose who is expected to join Sunderland as a replacement for Kieran Richardson who signed for Fulham yesterday. Midfielder Rafael van der Vaart may also be leaving White Hart Lane in favour of a return to the club where he made his reputation as a top-class European playmaker, Hamburg.
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Meanwhile, as one keeper may be arriving at White Hart Lane, Tottenham also confirmed this week that they have sold reserve goalkeeper David Button to Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee.
Some view Tim Sherwood’s version of Premier League management – post-match interview rants, gillet throw-downs, touchline bust-ups with opposing managers, basic 4-4-2’s and all – as an incredibly refreshing approach amid the corporate, kid gloves climate the English gaffer racket now finds itself in.
As the Independent’s Michael Calvin has labelled the Tottenham manager; “Tim Sherwood was the gaffer reinvented as the geezer.” Through his actions thus far in the White Hart Lane hotseat, the 44 year-old has resembled a figure much closer to a Spurs supporter you might find in a North London pub than his overbearingly intellectual, almost emotionless predecessor, Andre Villas-Boas.
But let us not be fooled; the Tottenham gaffer’s apparently passionate, ‘signing-from-the-heart-not-the-script’ demeanour is sourced from nothing other than his immense naivety as a manager.
There’s a reason you don’t see Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrini screaming at players from the touchline and booting around water bottles on a weekly basis – because it’s incredibly unproductive and rage can only further cloud ones judgement.
Despite these three managers taking a far more subtle and distinguished approach in the dug-out in comparison to the apparently passionate Sherwood, would you describe any of them as having less enthusiasm for the beautiful game or desire for victory than the Spurs boss?
If arrogance is a poor man’s confidence, then chucking your body-warmer on the floor and flailing your arms in the air is certainly a poor man’s passion. A ten-minute discussion of Tottenham’s tactics would be a far more convincing show of lust for the job than any of Sherwood’s touchline or press conference dramas so far.
Premier League managers have already received a disturbing warning this season for all head coaches who can’t keep their temperament in check, in the form of Newcastle manager Alan Pardew. The Magpies boss already had a prominent wrap-sheet of touchline misdemeanours, but brought a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘losing your cool’ when he decided to try and go head-to-head with Hull City’s David Meyler earlier this month, in possibly the greatest showing of unprofessionalism the Premier League has ever seen.
Like Pardew, I fear that Sherwood’s ferocious approach to dugout administration makes him an accident waiting to happen. Unlike the Newcastle gaffer however, I fear that Sherwood’s touchline aggression isn’t sourced from a hazardous over-enthusiasm, but rather the understandable insecurity of being incredibly out of his depth.
At the start of the season, Sherwood was part of the development structure at White Hart Lane, imprinting his desire and love for the club on the next generation of Tottenham hotshots breaking through. By mid-December, he was suddenly in charge of a first team squad that’s meant to be challenging for Champions League qualification – the holy grail of club level football – and expected to turn £110million’s-worth of transfer flops into flagship performers.
Considering he’s been in the top level management game for just 100 days and counting, Sherwood can feel proud of the progress he’s made thus far. But that’s like judging victories over Olympiacos and West Ham as a great week for Manchester United. In context, yes. In the grand scheme of things, no.
It’s not only Sherwood’s touchline antics that suggests he’s struggling with the weight of the task at hand. His team selections are random and reactionary with seemingly little thought as to how his line-ups will actually influence the match, barring the knowledge that Emmanuel Adebayor’s physical presence in the final third is vital to the Tottenham game-plan of kick-it-and-chase-it 1990’s football.
He’s left the most talented playmaker in Tottenham’s ranks – Christian Eriksen – squandering on the left hand side. Although the Danish international has claimed a stunning six goals and two assists in eight appearances on the left flank, it’s an astonishing waste of by far the most intelligent midfielder at Sherwood’s disposal, who last year was ripping Champions League opposition apart in a No.10 capacity. Amid Erkisen’s absence in the attacking midfield hub, that role has instead gone to Nacer Chadli, Aaron Lennon and Harry Kane over the last few weeks, none of whom can compare with the 22 year-old’s grace, technique or intellect – but that’s not what Sherwood’s all about.
Rather, the Spurs manager’s faith has been bizarrely cemented in academy product Nabil Bentaleb. Sherwood saw this kid develop through the Lane youth ranks and clearly has high hopes for his future. Furthermore, the 19 year-old has put in a number of decent performances in his 13 Premier League outings to date.
Yet, Bentaleb’s showings have not been so almighty and inspiring that the Algerian deserves his place in the Lilywhites first team to come with a virtual guarantee. Sherwood has overseen 15 Premier League fixtures in the Spurs dugout and, despite having never made a single senior appearance in any competition for the North London outfit previously, Bentaleb, who dons an average rating of 6.74 according to Whoscored.com, has featured in all but three of them. That includes starts against Arsenal and Chelsea, as well as against Benfica in the Europa League.
Facing the two London rivals and the Portuguese outfit represented the most determinate week of Tottenham’s 2013/14 campaign. From the three contests, Spurs didn’t record a single win, unsurprisingly so when a rookie 19 year-old is chosen to bedrock the midfield over Moussa Dembele, Paulinho, Sandro and Etienne Capoue. Just for the record, that’s four established international midfielders that Sherwood has sacrificed for the sake of Bentaleb’s development.
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Sherwood’s actions over the last 100 days – his public condemnation of the Tottenham roster’s lack of character, his gilet-slamming, abrasive touchline antics, his run-in with Benfica boss Jorge Jesus, and his team selections that strike a disturbing mix between vanity, arrogance and inexperience – don’t suggest a man in the know, or even a man who knows something remotely worthwhile.
The Tottenham gaffer is dangerously out of his depth; he’s a managerial accident waiting to happen. Daniel Levy’s chairman tenure in North London has been plagued by controversial appointments and knee-jerk decisions – sacking AVB for not getting the best out of a batch of prime transfer flops being one of them.
But axing Sherwood would not fall into that category. At this point, it would be like putting a headless chicken out of its misery – before it inadvertently crushes the golden egg.
Prior to their FA Cup triumph back in May, Arsenal fans had been forced to endure a long, painful and sometimes unbearable nine years of trophy-less football.
But that all seems to have been brushed under the carpet now that they’ve dusted off the silverware cabinet to make way for the FA Cup and the Community Shield.
Arsene Wenger’s determination to persevere with a journey that looked like it could continue forever has to be commended. It’s an impressive feat to have not given in when the road was at its bumpiest – just as impressive as TrustFord’s new Signing on Fee offer, which gives you £500 off the purchase off any new Ford car.
The Frenchman has been criticised for his lack of spending during that time period, with his more businesslike approach to the job seemingly clouding his managerial judgment in the transfer window.
But the last two summers have seen him rediscover some of his old self. He’s spent money, albeit more than he’s ever done before, on some top class talent that will no doubt go some way to restoring Arsenal as Premier League champions.
How long it takes is anyone’s guess, but Arsene Wenger is beginning to take the steps that could see the time come sooner rather than later.
So, with that in mind, here are FIVE reasons Wenger should still be trusted by the Emirates faithful to deliver a title…
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Click on Alexis Sanchez to reveal
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Big Money Signings
Gone are the days when fans criticised Wenger for not spending the money to ensure the Gunners kept up with their rivals.
But now the Frenchman is doing just that, with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez both arriving in mega-money deals over the past two summers. Such deals can only mean Arsenal a stronger side than before.
Wenger appears to have woken up to the fact that spending money is the only way to ensure you’re in with a chance of silverware, and he’ll eventually be rewarded with a Premier League crown.
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Buying for the future
The £18m capture of Calum Chambers from Southampton initially appeared to have been for back-up reasons. But the 19-year-old has slotted in nicely at centre-back so far this season and has been extremely impressive in his first few games for the club.
With Mertersacker having an extended break after the World Cup and Thomas Vermaelen being sold to Barcelona, Chambers looks like he’s been brought with the future in mind, as well the present.
As things stand, he could be the first step towards a new era at Arsenal under Wenger.
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During the 18 years Wenger has been in the Gunners hot-seat, he’s won three Premier League titles, five FA Cups and five Community Shields. That’s a fairly impressive haul, despite him recently struggling to emulate to successes of his earlier years at Highbury.
It’s clearly frustrating when your team goes a long time without winning anything and watches as your rivals go on and fill their trophy cabinets up. But the transitional period the Gunners went through with the stadium move will have made a difference to the on-field fortunes of the club.
But now that Wenger is showing more promise now than he has for the best part of a decade, you wonder why he or the club should put an end to it and risk another baron spell with a wrong managerial appointment.
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He’s ended the trophy drought
The wait is over and Arsenal have two new trophies in the cabinet. That has to the basis upon which Wenger and Arsenal fans build for the future. ‘You’re only as good as your last game’ is the old saying, and Arsenal are currently only as good as their last trophy. That was the Community Shield (if you can call it a trophy), which they thrashed Premier League champions Man City 3-0 to win.
If that’s a sign of things to come then Wenger has to be trusted to keep delivering from now on.
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Stronger squad this year
After going close last year, Wenger has spent the summer strengthening his squad. The arrivals of Mathieu Debuchy, Alexis Sanchez and Calum Chambers are an obvious improvement on last season, and they’ve still got the likes of Per Mertersacker, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil to return from their extended break.
All they arguably need now is a defensive midfielder and a striker to help Olivier Giroud and they’ll be all set for a proper title challenge.