Chelsea summer signing Asmir Begovic has claimed the he can usurp Thibaut Courtois to become the club’s number-one, according to reports from the Daily Mail.
Begovic joined the Blues from Stoke City in an £8million deal as a replacement for veteran Petr Cech, who was sold to Arsenal.
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And although he was brought in to become Thibaut Courtois’ back-up, the 28-year-old has no regrets making the move to Stamford Bridge despite the knowledge he is likely to get less playing time.
However, the Bosnia and Herzegovina international is ready to test himself and challenge Courtois for the position.
“Obviously everyone has their opinion but for me it was more of a challenge to try something different,” said Begovic.
“I think I was at that stage where I want to test myself against the best and that’s ultimately what I’ve come here to do. Even after the first week you can see the quality here and how they can improve you with the levels and demands here.
“It was tough for the fact that I had a lot of ties and good relationships with Stoke City after five-and-a-half years and it was difficult to leave it behind.
“I want to test myself against Thibaut, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world but I believe in myself. Hopefully every time I can show everybody what I’m all about and ultimately help this team. We all have to play our part and at a club like this I think you get to do so.
“There have been no guarantees. The challenge that’s here, the manager and players was what attracted to me and that was a big part of my decision. I’ll back myself, absolutely. I’ll be keeping my head down and working hard to see how I can help this team in the future.”
Chelsea have been relatively quiet in the transfer market, with only Begovic and Radamel Falcao’s loan deal as their major summer signings.
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Now Blues manager Jose Mourinho is keen on a back-up left back following the departure of Filipe Luis back to Atletico Madrid, with the Brazilian failing to settle in the Premier League after just being signed a year ago.
According to reports in The Times, Liverpool attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho believes that he has played his last game for the club as he eyes a January move to Barcelona, and Reds fans have been quick to have their say on the rumour.
The Times says that the Brazil international has been given hope that he can finally secure a move to the La Liga giants this month with the Merseyside outfit refusing to say that the 25-year-old is not for sale, but Barca will have to pay around £133m to get their man.
The playmaker was the subject of a number of bids from the Catalan side during the summer, but they failed to submit an offer that the Reds were willing to consider.
Coutinho is currently absent with a thigh problem, but many of the Anfield faithful are sceptical seeing as the Brazilian also missed all of their August matches with a back problem.
Liverpool supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the story, and they certainly weren’t happy.
While one said “the lack of respect is disgusting from him”, another said “I’ll never support Coutinho ever again”.
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Leicester City have not won in 12 Premier League games and now appear doomed to be dropping back into the Championship next season.
The Foxes started their campaign promisingly, with draws against Everton and Arsenal, before wins against Stoke and Manchester United. However unexpected wins against sides like the Red Devils are not what relegation survival is built on – this comes by beating the sides around you.
The Foxes had a chance to demonstrate that they could do this during their recent run of fixtures, yet instead have shown nothing of the sort. Problems have mounted across defence and attack and developing into bigger issues, including a distrust between Nigel Pearson and the fans.
Leicester have now not won in over three calendar months, gaining just two draws, with the results against their rivals suggesting there is no hope left.
This horrific run has included surrendering a 2-0 lead to draw at home to Burnley, who at that point were winless, with this result coming just after losing 2-0 at Crystal Palace. Leicester have also lost at West Brom, Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers, results that are wholly unacceptable if you wish to stay up. Moreover the Foxes have shown a total lack of mental fortitude, taking the lead at both Villa and QPR before ultimately surrendering.
The Foxes’ terrible recent run has highlighted huge problems at both ends of the pitch. In defence excellent goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has received an embarrassingly poor level of protection. Moreover, Schmeichel is now out for a month due to injury – surely even the most optimistic fans would admit all hope is gone.
Paul Konchesky embodies their defensive problems, as theoretically he has Premier league and international experiences to offer. However he’s had frequent discipline problems and has been caught out of position countless times, caught pushing forward when defensive solidity is desperately needed. The Foxes have kept just two clean sheets all season, and things are not exactly improving – they have conceded 11 in their last five.
In attack things are little better – at one stage the Foxes fired blanks in six games from seven this. These were against Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Swansea, West Brom, Southampton, Sunderland. Not exactly the Premier League giants, instead the sort of teams against which Leicester need results to survive. However, their goal threat is almost solely dependent on £8million summer signing Leonardo Ulloa, who is scoreless in three months after a promising start. However, even if he regains his previous form, this alone will be far from enough.
Leicester are also doomed because of an inherent disunity between the manager and the fans, who widely appear to believe that Pearson is no longer the right man for the job. The Leicester boss was called arrogant by the chairman of a supporters group, after refusing to apologise for abusing a fan after a 3-1 loss to Liverpool. This led to a £10,000 fine and a one-game touchline ban, while his relationship with the fans appears beyond recovery.
Leicester compare particularly unfavourably when examined alongside the two other promoted teams, QPR and Burnley. The Foxes romped to the Championship title last season with 102 points, giving them significantly more time to plan for next season than either of their rivals. However, while Leicester have faded drastically after a promising start, the other two are gradually improving and adopting the Premier league life. Burnley have gained 11pts from their last seven games, while QPR have 16 from their last 10, both significantly above relegation form after slow starts.
Some say it is too early to condemn the Foxes season because two wins will take them outside of the drop zone. However given their problems in management, defence, attack, an inability to beat relegation rivals and being winless in three months, can you honestly see them actually winning two games anytime soon? Thought so.
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The Foxes currently sit rock bottom with just 10 points from 17 games – at this rate they would gain just 22 points this season, an embarrassingly low figure. History shows that you need about 36 to have a realistic chance of survival. To reach this the Foxes would need to average 1.23 points per game from now on, nearly double their current average of 0.59. This appears a wholly unrealistic target given their current plight.
Though fans will inevitably call for mass and wild spending January transfer window in desperate hope of change, a pragmatic approach should be considered to protect the long-term health of the club. This involves accepting their impending fate and deciding whether Nigel Pearson is the right manager to bring an instant return to the Premier league. Whoever the manager will be, they must be given time, and parachute payments, to help the Foxes build towards a more promising future.
Alan Pardew has reportedly been told he has the next two league games to prove that he is the right man for the job.
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has grown impatient in waiting for the Magpies’ form to return to that of the first part of last season, but is now the right time to call time on The Englishman’s reign at St. James’ Park?
Newcastle are still without their first win in the Premier League so far this season and although the only game they’ve lost was versus Manchester City, The Toon failed to take the full points from Hull City and also Crystal Palace – where they took the lead in the 88th minute. Ashley was angered with Pardew’s decision to play five first-team players in the Capital One Cup game against Gillingham days before the Crystal Palace clash, as he felt this was to blame for them conceding a late equaliser.
There’s no doubting that in an ideal world for Pardew his side would have comfortably put The Tigers and The Eagles away, but if his side fail to win either of their next two fixtures, Pardew will have some explaining to do. I certainly understand Mike Ashley’s frustration as he must have been licking his lips when the fixture list was announced. Apart from the opening day clash with City, The Toon don’t have another tie against a top six side (from last season) until late October.
There’s therefore no reason why Ashley shouldn’t have expected that his side would be in the top six themselves come late October. Of course they still could be but they’ve already dropped four winnable points from two games. The owner is well within his rights to expect this level of performance after giving a generous £37m transfer budget for Pardew to use – the eighth largest budget in the Premier League.
The Magpies’ decline has come since the turn of the year and since 2014 began they’ve picked up only 18 points from a possible 66, so this is no rash decision to give an ultimatum to Pardew. I do however wonder why he was allowed to continue through pre-season and spend the large transfer budget if he was only going to be given a short period of time to get it right again? After all it’s only two years since the ex-West Ham boss signed an eight year contract with the club. Last year’s biggest overachievers Everton actually failed to pick up a victory in any of their opening three Premier League fixtures last year and of all those sides finished inside the bottom four! The Toffees still managed to finish fifth and that opening blip was a distant memory for supporters. Just a little bit of evidence that a disappointing start isn’t season defining.
I think that Mike Ashley really missed his chance to offload Pardew when things were on the downfall when he was involved in the head-butt incident with Hull City’s David Meyler. The owner stuck with him and now he has seemingly decided that he HAS had enough. Ashely doesn’t strike me as an owner who will hesitate to do what he thinks is right but now doesn’t seem the right time to do so. It’s both too late and too early to sack Pardew – the obvious time to end his reign of the Geordies was either post-head-butt or after the season was over, but now that he’s spent all of the club’s budget and after just three league matches, which Everton proved last season isn’t decisive, is a bizarre time to realise you now don’t want him.
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Derek Boateng has confirmed that he will join Fulham on a two-year contract after his current deal expired with Ukrainian side Dnipro.
The 30-year-old Ghana international midfielder had looked set to join the Cottagers in the January transfer window but the move fell through when Dnipro pulled the plug just before the deadline.
However, despite looking like Boateng would then move to Greek giants Olympiakos when his contract expired this summer, the player has opted for a move to the Premier League with Martin Jol’s Cottagers.
“I have signed a two-year deal with Fulham and will be training with them for the first time today [Tuesday’,” Boateng told Accra-based local radio station Happy FM.
“I believe it’s a good move and I’m finally happy to see this deal concretised.”
The news will come as a big boost to Jol who has been chasing Boateng for some time with the player, who has been capped 46 times by Ghana, set to bring a big work-rate and plenty of energy into the Cottagers’ midfield next season.
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Arsene Wenger hasn’t just bought a world-class forward in Alexis Sanchez, as well as addressing a number of gaps in his squad through the signings of Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and David Ospina.
There isn’t any doubt about the club’s willingness to spend. Last summer, the spending, as big and influential as it may have been, came extremely late in the day. The following window in January, where Arsenal were crying out for a striker, or just some form of inspiration, a loan deal for Spartak Moscow’s Kim Kallstrom was completed, in spite of the reported cash reserves at the Emirates.
Going into this summer’s window, Wenger made it quite clear that a holding midfielder was needed. Mikel Arteta has performed courageously in that role since arriving from Everton in 2011, and Mathieu Flamini performed well in bursts last season, despite the negative reaction that surrounded his signing.
But unlike transfer windows of the past, there is little pressure on Wenger to get that area of the team sorted out, largely because everyone expects him to do so eventually.
That expectation wasn’t present in the past. It was a glimmer of hope struggling to the surface in a sea of resignation that the manager will stick rather than twist.
In terms of targets, Sami Khedira has been playing hardball over his wages, and Sporting’s William Carvalho won’t move unless the Portuguese club get their valuation of the player paid in full.
On both fronts, each club, Real Madrid and Sporting, know they’ll have to sell their player eventually. The European Cup winners are in danger of losing Khedira on a free next summer – and having just spent £63million on James Rodriguez and £24 million on Toni Kroos, that really shouldn’t be an option.
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As for Sporting, Carvalho is too good to be limited to the Portuguese Liga; he’ll follow other highly-rated talents in moving to major clubs around Europe.
It’s for that reason that Wenger has every right to wait and see how things pan out. In fact, the best thing to do is to look to Real’s signings of this summer. Prior to the World Cup, it seemed unthinkable that Bayern Munich would allow Kroos to leave, and again ahead of the tournament in Brazil, no one was really talking about James as a big mover in this window, certainly not Real’s blockbuster signing.
But situations change, and there’s still plenty of time left in the window.
And in any case, Wenger does have two options to fall back on in Arteta and Flamini. Neither are good enough anymore to carry the burden for the entire campaign, but both will see minutes throughout the upcoming season, so where is the real damage in letting them partake in the season opener against Crystal Palace? If the best deal for Arsenal happens towards the back end of the window, then so be it.
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All the indications point to Khedira being the player Arsenal bring in to fill that holding midfield role, because while there is clearly interest in Carvalho, Real are under more pressure to move their player on now. But again, that situation could change over the coming days and weeks.
Defensive midfield is the most important area Arsenal need addressing. Olivier Giroud may be the team’s obvious centre-forward choice, but there is far from a shortage of goal scorers in the squad. Going the other way, however, Arsenal have been unable to stem the tide of opposition attacks, particularly against title contenders last season.
There is no doubt that Wenger will buy what the team need, but with so much positive action taken already this summer, the Arsenal boss can afford to take his time over what appear to be a set of complicated transfer targets.
Hugo Lloris made his Premier League debut for Tottenham at the weekend, ending Brad Friedel’s 310 consecutive games in the starting XI.
The French keeper managed to secure Spurs’ first clean sheet of the season, but was still told by coach Andre Villas-Boas that he will not be the permanent first choice.
The Les Blue’s captain impressed White Hart Lane fans with his anticipation and impressive saves during the 2-0 win against Aston Villa. However he gave Villa a great chance, giving the ball away recklessly, but Christian Benteke couldn’t capitalise.
After the game Villas-Boas indicated that he still had a decision to make on who will be between the sticks for their next clash.
“We decided it would be logical to play Hugo to get him acquainted with the Premier League,” he told the Telegraph.
“Nothing tipped the balance. We are fortunate that we can do this rotation. Brad was disappointed but accepted it as a good professional. We respect his performances. He will be back as soon as possible,” the coach added.
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Lloris joined Spurs on the last day of the transfer window for a fee of £12 million, and his first Premier League inclusion meant that 41-year-old Friedel sat on the bench for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
A wintry Friday evening at Ewood Park greeted Cardiff City and their travelling band of 600 supporters, who were along with the nation watching on TV to see The Bluebirds chalk up a stupendous and rare away win to see-off fellow Championship promotion hopefuls Blackburn Rovers.
Cardiff fielded the three Craig’s Conway, Noone and Bellamy in an attack minded team that signaled Malky Mackay’s intent to take the game to Blackburn and send a message out to the chasing pack that The Bluebirds mean business and are not about to settle for anything less than promotion to the promised land.
It was a slow burning game initially with Craig Conway seemingly all over the pitch, first he produced a tracking run and tidy tackle that prevented Blackburn’s Jordan Rhodes from delivering a cross from the right after he had been allowed to run with the ball out wide, minutes later Andrew Taylor’s throw-in found Conway who was felled as he jinked away from his marker.
Craig Bellamy stepped up to take the resulting free kick, but his effort drifted disappointingly high of the back-post. It was to be Blackburn who had the first real chance at goal, Mauro Formica wrong-footed Mark Hudson five yards outside the Cardiff area, the City captain lunged in with what can best be described as a clumsy challenge. Earning himself a yellow card from referee SimonHooper, Hudson’s fifth of the season meaning an automatic one match ban. City fans shook their heads in disbelief at the moment of madness from Hudson and pondered why the yellow cards are not wiped for Championship players at the end of November. The Cardiff City wall blocked the initial shot from the free-kick itself, then cleared the follow-up effort.
The match was a scrappy, even affair, until City poured forward on the counter-attack. Whittingham freed Don Cowie wide on the right and his deep cross found Craig Conway wide on the left who picked out Andrew Taylor on the overlap; it took two Rovers defenders to prevent Craig Noone from turning the cross home at the back-post. It served to spur on The Bluebirds.
On the half-hour mark tempers boiled over, several players were involved in a spot of handbagging in the centre-circle resulting in young Blackburn defender Jason Lowe being booked following his petulant reaction to his clash with Craig Bellamy. Cardiff wasted no time working the ball to right, where Noone who picked out Mark Hudson as he darted in-front of his marker Scott Dann and guided a header down and past the hopeless Blackburn ‘keeper Paul Robinson.
Minutes later a similar move very nearly doubled City’s lead. Craig Conway, playing with confidence on the Cardiff left, looked to have lost possession whilst trying to turn away from two defenders, but somehow he not only recovered his feet, but also stole the ball back flashing in across which was tantalisingly just centimetres away from making contact with Heidar Helguson’s head at the back-post.
Cardiff were now in control and running the show, twice they came just inches away from doubling their advantage before the break, Craig Noone was the catalyst on both occasions.
Half-time and Blackburn needing to change it up made a substitution: Colin Kazim-Richards replaced Markus Olsson. It seemed to work at the restart, Joshua King, blazed a decent chance high into the stands, before the on-loan Manchester United striker raced onto a ball in the left of the box before calmly slotting the ball past David Marshall to pull Blackburn level.
The home side invigorated poured on the pressure and Cardiff City could have found themselves behind as Colin Kazim-Richards powerful shot was deflected narrowly wide and Rovers bombarded the City box with a series of corners. Cardiff were staunch in their defence though and rode out the storm.
The Bluebirds retook the lead via local hero Craig Bellamy, who had enjoyed a fine spell as a Blackburn player and who had been greeted very warmly by the Blackburn supporters, but he was to be the catalyst in what followed which was to break many of their hearts.
Bellers picked up the ball on the edge of the area, played a one-two with Heider Helguson and taking the return pass onto his left, he jinked outside a defender, before firing back across Paul Robinson into the back of the net, to mass celebration from City players and supporters alike.
David Marshall then produced a stupendous save he had to readjust in mid-air after Jordan Rhodes’ shot was deflected, Rhodes was alert to the rebound though, he squared the ball to Formica at the back-post who crashed his effort off the bar it was to be his last contribution to the game as he was taken off and replaced by Fabio Nunes, Cardiff City also made a substitution: Kim Bo-Kyung on for Craig Noone,.
Jordan Rhodes who had looked alert all evening sparked a contentious moment midway through the second-half as he and Hudson tangled on the edge of the Cardiff area and Rhodes threw himself to the floor, replays later showed Hudson had made contact, but outside the box and that Rhodes had withstood that contact taken the ball on, but lost control before pulling off a dive that would have been worthy of Tom Daley!
Referee Simon Hooper was less impressed though and quickly waved away all Blackburn protestations much to The Bluebirds relief.
Blackburn continued to look dangerous going forward, and the game looked far from safe for the Bluebirds until Cardiff hit them on the break for a decisive third.
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Joe Mason, fresh and eager, took a Heidar Helguson flick-on , he wrong-footed his marker and to bore down on former England keeper Paul Robinson, one-on-one, the youngster calmly, simply and sweetly slid the ball home.
Just a minute later and the City faithful were delirious. A loose pass in midfield was pounced on by Kim Bo-Kyung who broke away, he played a neat one-two with Helguson on the left, before finishing clinically across Robinson.
Faithful Rovers supporters who had started to leave as the third goal went in started to pour out disgruntled, several launched their scarves angrily onto the pitch. These were elderly gentlemen and young female supporters it as to be noted normally the cornerstone of level-headed support at games, not petulant youths or the remnants of the old firm that still posture at the back of stands reliving their youth. A fact which was shocking and borne out by one man looking for all the world like everyone’s favourite grandfather, who was to be repeatedly shown launching his scarf furiously onto the pitch, well into the wee small hours on the news channels, a damming indictment of the modern game that fans are pushed to the point of breaking thanks to owners meddling with history, tradition and the very fabric of their team.
In the dying minutes of the game Rudy Gestede replaced Heidar Helguson, but all eyes were on the clock the final whistle blew Cardiff City were four points clear at the top going into the Christmas period. It felt great to be a Bluebird!
Ex-Manchester City manager Peter Reid believes that Manchester United will win their 20th Premier League title this season and it’s down to their ability to win vital games.
United currently sit at the top of the league with a 12 point advantage after beating Everton on Sunday. With just 13 matches to go until the last day of the season, Reid doesn’t believe that any of the clubs will be able to catch the Red Devils and this is due to their ability to win games even when they aren’t playing well.
“Champions win football matches when they are not playing well, Manchester United have done it and Manchester City haven’t and that’s the bottom line. That is why they are 12 points clear and that is the reason I think they will win it,” Reid told The Daily Mail.
The Citizens won the league last year in a memorable season finale when they beat Qpr with a goal scored in injury time. The reigning champions have found it hard to defend their title and their form this season falls short of the effort made last year. Reid believes several factors are to blame for this, one being their early exit from the Champions League.
“In the Champions League they had a hell of a difficult group but they got three points and for the Premier League champions that is a really poor return,” he added.
“As a result I think confidence and momentum were lost early on by City as it showed you where they are in the grand scale of things in Europe and that has been borne out in the Premier League.”
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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is aiming to secure at least one more Champions League trophy before he retires.
The Old Trafford boss has only won the competition twice in his 26 years in charge, reaching a two further finals.
But the Scotsman believes that his squad have enough capability to challenge Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona in the latter stages of the competition this season.
Ferguson turns 71 at the end of this year and is aware that he won’t have too many European campaigns left, reiterating that securing the European hatrick is amongst his top priorities.
Sir Alex secured titles in both 1999 and 2008 and feels it is not out of the club’s grasp to add 2013 to the list.
Ferguson went on to tell the Manchester Evening News: “I think in terms of the history of our club, we should have one more and I want to win it again and get into the bracket of winners like Liverpool, our biggest rivals, Bayern Munich and Ajax.
“I think AC Milan and Real Madrid have got separated from the rest of the bunch but that definitely drives me on a bit.”
United’s manager also reflected on the club’s positive form in Europe, which has been in stark contrast to last season.
“We were careless and this year we made sure we were going to qualify and so far we have done well,” he added.
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In the process of securing their fourth straight victory in the Champions League this season, Manchester United ensured qualification for the last 16 knockout stages.