The 2010/11 season has arguably Nani’s year and the Portuguese winger has finally shown the Old Trafford faithful what all the fuss was about and why Sir Alex Ferguson maintained his belief that he would come good at Manchester United. It is a shame that his season has been cut short during the past week, but that is generally what happens when an opponent puts studs into your shin bone.
While Nani looks to recoup at home and get himself back to full fitness he can take great pleasure while his beautiful other half, Daniela Martins, looks after him. I’m sure Nani is gutted at missing a chunk of United’s run-in, although I am certain that Miss Martins will more than cushion the blow judging by the gallery below.
Click on Daniela Martins to see her in all her glory
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The UEFA Champions League sponsored by Heineken returned last night and across Europe there were plenty of exciting encounters. Werder Bremen and Tottenham Hotspur shared four goals, as did FC Twente and the current holders Inter Milan, while at the Nou Camp Barcelona’s Lionel Messi was back to his best as Barca netted five times. Sadly the action at Old Trafford didn’t live up to the standard set by the other Champions League matches as a goalless draw between Manchester United and Rangers ensured that this ‘Battle of Britain’ won’t live long in the memory. So why was there a lack of excitement for football fans in Manchester?
European football nights are fantastic occasions. There are few better stadiums to host such nights than Old Trafford and The Theatre of Dreams was rocking, with Rangers fans hugely contributing to the fantastic atmosphere. The fans did their part, especially the Scots who travelled and were singing throughout, but this wasn’t rewarded with scintillating action on the pitch. Throughout the game Rangers lined up with ten men behind the ball, often with five across the back line, parking the proverbial bus in front of the goal. It was left to United to unlock the defence, something the Red Devils just couldn’t do and thus a frustrating night ensued. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this sort of encounter either.
The 2010 World Cup largely failed to live up to expectations, with many games mirroring the one at Old Trafford and a general lack of ambition shown as teams played for a point. Rangers can’t be held totally to blame for this, as an away draw will always be a good result. Ultimately they achieved what they set out to do and the cheers from the Rangers section as the final whistle was blown told you exactly which set of fans were happiest. Rangers manager Walter Smith seemed disheartened by the fact that he prepared a team with only one task in hand – to defend, but in this results-driven business points take precedence over panache.
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It isn’t the first time that teams have shut up shop from the first whistle to the last and it certainly won’t be the last time it happens either. When teams of differing quality come up against each other 90 minutes of attack v defence will be played out. This time the defence came out on top, as was largely the case in South Africa and the consequence is that the football on show will struggle to capture the imagination of fans. Man United v Rangers will quickly be erased from the memory but the problem is that matches like this seem to be becoming common place across different competitions. So what’s the solution? Score within the first ten minutes and then the next 80 will fly by!
Check out the Top 10 Footballing ‘Battles of Britain’ – unsurprisingly Manchester United v Rangers didn’t make the cut!
Newcastle striker Demba Ba has stated that he would be interested in a move to Paris Saint-Germain, as reports in France have linked Carlo Ancelotti’s men with a transfer bid for the attacker.
The Senegal international has been in sparkling form since joining Alan Pardew’s men in the summer, and has already netted 15 times in the Premier League this term.
PSG have been rumoured to be lining up a move for the African hitman, something that Ba refused to rule out.
“I have always supported PSG and it’s a club that is enticing but it will be difficult to do that in January,” he told RMC Sport.
“My first goal is Senegal and getting a good result, then I want to continue playing good games for Newcastle.
“I’m in Newcastle, the fans like me, and then the transfer market will be closed when I go back, so I’m not focused on it,” he concluded.
BA is believed to have a buyout clause in his contract on Tyneside, with a number of suitors reported in the press after his impressive start to the season.
Ba will be unavailable for Newcastle for the next 4-6 weeks, as he is currently on international duty in preparation for the African Cup of Nations.
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Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez is adamant that the referee’s sending off of Real Madrid’s Pepe was the right decision.Portugal defender Pepe was given his marching orders for a lunge on Brazilian wingback Dani Alves on 61 minutes in Barca’s 2-0 defeat of Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday, which also saw Madrid boss Jose Mourinho sent to the stands for his continual protesting over the decision.
But despite the post-match attention centring on the officiating – with Mourinho stating he believed Barca continually received favourable decisions – Xavi insisted the refereeing should not overshadow his side’s performance.
“I don’t want to talk about (Jose) Mourinho. I only want to discuss Barcelona. We put in a good performance and it’s a fair result. This is a victory for football,” he told Spanish sports daily Marca.
“I just want to talk about football. There will always be decision from referees that will be talked about. Sometimes they go against you and sometimes they go in your favour. It was clear to see for everybody that Pepe’s dismissal was a correct decision.”
The 2-0 result, courtesy of two goals from Argentine dynamo Lionel Messi, has put the Catalans in a commanding position ahead of the return leg at Camp Nou on Tuesday.
“We got the result that we deserved. We were again superior. We’re a team that wants to play attacking football and have fun on the pitch. They (Real Madrid) are just hoping that we’ll make mistakes. That worked in the Copa del Rey final, but not this time,” Xavi said.
Team-mate Gerard Pique blamed Real Madrid for naivety and negative tactics on their own turf, which he believed led to their demise.
”We fought well and had a good result. Now it is up to the second game,” he said. “It’s always the same. They didn’t want to play at football, (even) at their own stadium. They play at the limit of violence. If you play with fire, you can end up burning.”
Javier Mascherano, however, warned his Barca team-mates of complacency, insisting their rivals were capable of mounting a comeback in the reverse tie.
“I’m very content with the outcome from this match, but this doesn’t change anything about the second leg,” he said.
“There is another game to be played and Real Madrid are a very strong team that will do their utmost to turn things around.”
England boss Fabio Capello has been given a fitness boost ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers after all 24 members of his squad reported fit for international duty.
Capello's side take on Bulgaria and Switzerland in their first competitive fixtures since the disappointing World Cup exit in June.
Chelsea pair John Terry and Frank Lampard plus Fulham striker Bobby Zamora all picked up injuries playing for their club sides at the weekend and were ruled out of the squad.
Everton defender Phil Jagielka and Spurs strike duo Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe were doubts after the weekend's Premier League action, but all three joined up with the rest of the squad on Monday evening where they reported fit for international duty.
Speaking about the double-header, which begins at home to Bulgaria on Friday night, Capello has stressed the importance of the Three Lions making a strong start to their qualifying campaign.
He said:"It will be two important games because in this period the players are in a good situation and physically will be strong.
"Bulgaria is a dangerous team. I watched three games that they played, two before the World Cup and the last against Russia. They lost 1-0 but they played very well, it will be a tough game that we will play here at Wembley.
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"On Switzerland, they played the World Cup and they are a good team with good organisation.
"They have a really important manager (Ottmar Hitzfeld) and when you play away in Switzerland it is not easy to beat this team."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Sir Alex Ferguson will be hoping to get revenge on their great rivals after their 6-1 drubbing at Old Trafford early in the season. United don’t go into the game with any great confidence, given their back to back defeats.
At FFC this week there’s been plenty of United blogs that include the Pogba conundrum; in defence of David De Gea, while something of a faux pas by Sir Alex Ferguson.
We also have a selection of the best United blogs from across the web.
Something of a faux pas by Sir Alex Ferguson?
The TEN Manchester United starlets that proved anything but
Transfer dealings at Manchester United?
Proving his worth at Old Trafford in a time of need
United stopper certainly doesn’t lack confidence
‘Modern Manchester United’ all set for January revamp
A £30m gamble worth taking by Sir Alex?
United could be party to one of football’s great travesties
When Paul Pogba is ready, he won’t be held back
In defence of David De Gea
A problem Ronaldo can address, but will his ego let him?
Sir Alex Ferguson given transfer greenlight
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Best of WEB
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Is It Time For Sir Alex To Ask For Some Assistance? – Red Flag Flying High
Liverpool loses dignity, respect and legitimacy – United Rant
A Starlet Well Deserving Of Praise – The Busby Way
We’re Not Skint. So Why No Midfielder? – 7Cantonas
Who Will Follow Macheda Out The Old Trafford Door? – The United Religion
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Click on Wayne Bridge’s current lady below to unveil our WAG XI of the season
Inter boss Leonardo has conceded a comeback against Schalke in the Champions League quarter-final could be beyond their reach.Despite a positive start at the San Siro after Dejan Stankovic’s long-range strike, the Italians saw their lead and hopes of retaining the title slip away from them courtesy of a three-goal second-half performance by the Bundesliga club, who go into the return leg 5-2 up.
“Tonight’s game started in the best possible fashion and it would have been difficult to predict what was to come,” the Brazilian said after the game.
“Early in the second half we missed a couple of chances and immediately Schalke scored their third.”
The Inter boss, who saw also the Nerazzurri concede ground in the Serie A title race following the loss in the Milan derby on Saturday, rued Schalke’s ruthless conversion rate on Tuesday.
He admitted his side had a mountainous task to overcome in the return leg at Gelsenkirchen next Wednesday.
“They had six or seven shots and scored five goals, so in that we can feel hard done by,” he said.
“After their third and fourth goals responding became difficult, especially with ten men, and in the end we lacked balance, as we did on Saturday against Milan.”
“It’s difficult to think about mounting a recovery in the second leg, but we’ll try to capture the best possible result.”
“Unfortunately, the crucial period of the season has come at the wrong time for us. It took a lot of effort to climb the league standings and Inter always play to win. It’s the only way we know.”
Despite the emphatic away victory, Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick refused to be taken away by the result, insisting the contest was not over – yet.
“We are not in the semi-finals just yet, but we have a pretty big chance now,” he said. “In the end, we could have scored even more.”
“It is surely the best game of my career. Had someone told us before the match that we would beat Inter by three goals, we would have had him (or her) declared crazy.”
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has admitted that Gabby Agbonlahor, Carlos Cuellar, Curtis Davies and James Collins are all struggling to be ready for the start of the new Premier League season because of injuries.
The quartet all missed Friday's pre-season stalemate against Valencia because of various ailments.
Agbonlahor and Cuellar are struggling with hamstring injuries, Curtis Davies has a knee problem while James Collins has failed to recover from a calf niggle.
O'Neill said:"Gabby's had a stop-start pre-season. He's been able to do some training yet when the games have come up it's caused him a bit of a problem.
"He played in the first half in Ireland. He's come off with a bad back. He trained on Friday morning and we were hoping he was going to be OK. But he said his hamstrings were sore, which might be a reaction from the back.
"Really, he is very keen to play – there's a possibility of trying to get into the England squad which would be great.
"The prognosis with Curtis is better than first anticipated. It's a shorter time-frame, let me put it that way, so that's good news. We thought at one stage it might be months but I think it's a matter of a couple of weeks.
"He's definitely hyper-extended his knee but things are progressing reasonably nicely. That's where he is.
"James, a wee bit like Gabby, has had a stop-start pre-season. He pulled up after a minute at Walsall and came out with us to Portugal. We didn't expect him to play but this is one where we pull him back again and not go in when he's three-quarters fit.
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"He's really frustrated because he was looking forward to starting the season well and carrying on from where he stopped off last season. We will take that a bit carefully.
"Carlos went off with a hamstring problem against Benfica. Again, he is anxious to get out and play but that's one of those where you've got to wait and see. If you're asking me about the situation concerning the start of the season, I don't know."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Stuart Pearce remarked recently that he thought that the FA’s new St George’s Park facility could help England end their forty-five year wait for a trophy. Until now England has been the only major European country to be without such a facility and Pearce says it will help with the training of British coaches and young players.
“I think St George’s Park could be the one single thing that could push us on, possibly for the next 100 years. It’s an exciting project. When I first came in to the organisation, I had problems. The analysis department was based in Liverpool, the conditioning department was based somewhere else, and as a manager you wouldn’t accept that at any club so why should we accept it at the elite end of football in this country? To have everyone under the same roof, to be able to invite young players in for coaching weekends, to be able to support our players and managers within this country to develop all under one roof, one venue, will be absolutely outstanding.”
In many ways Pearce makes a valid point; the infrastructure currently in place for the development of both players and coaches in this country is pitiful in relation to our continental cousins. And it shows in the stats; figures from 2010 showed that there were fewer than 2,800 English coaches who were in possession of Uefa’s ‘B’, ‘A’ and ‘Pro’ badges, it’s top qualifications. However Spain, Italy, France and Germany all had between 17,600 and 35,000. This makes for sorry reading indeed and not only is it an indication of why our international side consistently underperforms but also why the standard of English coaches is so poor.
It is imperative that we address this problem in the UK and the St George’s Park facility will go some way to addressing this problem. However unless our major clubs give English coaches a chance how are they ever expected to truly succeed? All of our top clubs look abroad for either their managers or directors of football. And when an Englishman is hired, such as Roy Hodgson for Liverpool, he does a poor job and is fired within six months.
The problem is that coaches and managers, just like players, can only develop so far without top-level experience. A player can have the best training from the best academy where he will learn the most is with experience at the top level. This scheme to help encourage and train new coaches will certainly have a positive effect but will we ever get to the stage where Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and the likes will be willing to give the top managers a chance? Harry Redknapp and Roy Hodgson are currently the only torch-bearers for managers at a high level and only Redknapp has any proven success in recent times.
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Twenty years ago there wasn’t a foreign manager in sight in the Premier League. Now, with the exception of the Glaswegians, there is barely a British manager in our league. As a club team, with a multi-cultural squad, the continental approach of some managers does work but in our national team we have seen under both Capello and Sven that an English manager would serve the qualities of our players much better.
Undoubtedly the continental approach of club managers can alter the style of play of our players but it is of no use if the top English managers are not used to managing our top players. Eventually our cubs will have to take the plunge and take a chance with an English manager. It worked well for Spurs but to be fair Tottenham were in danger of relegation before Redknapp. He has however proved his worth and if he does ever get the England post hopefully he can prove that English managers are good enough to perform at every level.
Ultimately though, whether our big clubs give home grown managers a chance or not all we can do is continue with projects like the FA’s current one. Before we can think about good managers we must address our lack of qualified coaches. From there hopefully we can more efficiently develop our youth prospects and in time see the arrival of a new era of English managers, how much time that will take however if they are rarely given the chance is another matter altogether.
Follow me on Twitter @H_Mackay
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It is often said that Manchester United are the biggest club in the world, let alone the Premier League, and I guess you could say that these stats kind of prove that. Almost everyone on the globe is on Facebook these days and it appears that a huge number of people that are support Man United! We have been scouring Facebook for the official club fan pages of the 20 teams in the Premier League and you could say that the results weren’t surprising in regards to the most followed pages.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were by far and away the leaders with more than 10 million fans, that’s more than twice as many as Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, who are the second, third and fourth most liked official Premier League club fan pages respectively. The rest of the top ten is to be expected, with the traditional bigger clubs’ larger fan bases resulting in more followers.
So Gunners, Reds and Blues fans, make sure you become a fan of your team’s fan page to help your club become the second in the Premier League to break the 5 million Facebook fans mark. Here are the top ten…
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Man United – http://www.facebook.com/manchesterunited – 10,883,239
Liverpool – http://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolFC – 4,890,949
Arsenal – http://www.facebook.com/Arsenal – 4,879,868
Chelsea – http://www.facebook.com/ChelseaFC – 4,449,082
Man City – http://www.facebook.com/mcfcofficial – 493,012
Tottenham – http://www.facebook.com/TottenhamHotspur – 489,383
Aston Villa – http://www.facebook.com/avfcofficial – 146,380
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There you’ll find plenty of awesome stuff, including videos like this…