Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has confirmed that he wants to sign Arsenal playmaker Samir Nasri before the season beings – which gives him up until Monday to make the deal happen.
Speaking ahead of the opening Premier League fixtures, when City are at home to Swansea on Monday night Mancini talked openly about their plans and the hope of completing his squad before the season opener.
Speaking on Nasri, he stated: ‘I don’t know at the moment the situation. I hope we can do this very quickly because we need other players. The club are still working on this. It is not easy but it is important we complete our squad. I don’t know,’ before adding: ‘At the moment we don’t have this player. I ask [for Nasri] and I hope we can do it this week. At the moment the squad is not complete. When it is complete we can talk about this. If we complete our squad, which is the problem at the moment, then we can fight for the title. The market is difficult. But when you have a target for two or three months, it’s important that player arrives.’
The City boss then seemed to confirm that want-away striker and captain Carlos Tevez was unlikely to feature in their first game of the season, although he has returned to the club: ‘Carlos is here but maybe he is not ready to play as he only worked for four days. For Monday I think it is difficult. But for the next game he will be available.’
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Srdjan Lakic netted a hat-trick in Kaiserslautern’s 4-1 win over Koblenz in their DFB Pokal round-of-16 affair on Wednesday.Thomas Klasen got Koblenz off to a dream start in the cup tie in front of their home fans at Stadion Oberwerth with a goal on 17 minutes, and they maintained their lead to the main break after Lakic failed to convert from the penalty spot in the 37th minute.
But in the space of 11 second-half minutes, Lakic scored thrice around Adam Nemec’s goal to not only wrench the ascendancy from the hosts, but seal the victory.
It was the Croatian striker’s second hat-trick in the German cup this campaign, in addition to his treble against Arminia Bielefeld in Kaiserslautern’s 3-0 win in October.
Kaiserslautern will face MSV Duisburg in their quarter-final clash later this month.
Nuremberg booked their place in the final eight of the DFB Pokal with a 2-0 triumph over Kickers Offenbach.
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A Timmy Simons brace was all the visitors needed at Stadion am Bieberer Berg to set up a meeting with Schalke 04 in the next round.
Newcastle have made a £8 million bid for FC Twente attacker Luuk de Jong, according to Sky Sports.
The skilful Dutch forward was in Netherlands’ Euro 2012 squad, but did not get a chance to show his ability as the likes of Robin van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar were preferred by Bert van Marwijk.
However, with the Oranje’s elimination from the tournament in Ukraine and Poland, Newcastle have made a move to capture the impressive striker, who has scored 39 goals in 76 games for the Enschede-based team.
Steve McClaren’s men are thought to value their star man at around the £12.5 million mark, and as such some negotiation will be needed to facilitate any possible move.
The attempt to sign De Jong will raise further question marks over the future of Demba Ba, who has been heavily linked with a move away from Tyneside.
Newcastle have good links with Twente, as they have signed Cheik Tiote from the Eredivisie side in the recent past.
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Barcelona’s Dutch forward Ibrahim Afellay has been linked with a shock move to north London club Tottenham Hotspur according to The Daily Mirror.
Reports that Spurs chief scout Ian Broomfield attended last night’s Audi Cup match in Germany to run the rule over the exciting attacking winger, as Barcelona took on Internacional of Brazil. Afellay played the entire first half, hitting the woodwork with a curling effort with once chance, giving Broomfield the chance to compile a brief report for Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp.
The Dutch attacking star, who only joined Barcelona in January for a cut-price fee before his contract expired, has so far found it difficult to break into Barcelona’s front three, mainly being used as just an impact substitute or in cup matches. He will find his task even harder this season after the Catalan club’s capture of Chilean attacking sensation Alexis Sanchez, which may lead Afellay, who was once heavily linked with moves to Liverpool and Arsenal, to seek a move away from the European Champions in search of more regular action.
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If you put together all of Manchester United’s greatest players and put them into one team imagine how good it could be. Without doubt you will have to leave a few quality players on the bench but maybe with Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby uin charge – they could keep them happy. We have put together a Manchester United dream eleven, a team that you will agree would be great to watch.
Click on image below to see the Man United DREAM Team
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Is your favorite left out? Comment below and contact me on twitter
Holy Crap – its live fantasy football! Become part of the Sunderland v West Ham match on Sunday and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!
Manchester City have retaken the initiative in the Premier League title race, after beating rivals Manchester United 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Monday night.
A Vincent Kompany header on the stroke of half-time sealed victory for the hosts, and drew City equal on points with the current champions.
However City go back top due to their superior goal difference, and now have their title hopes in their own hands.
Another talking point of the game was a touchline clash between Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini, with the United manager accusing his opponent of badgering the match officials.
“He (Mancini) was badgering the referee the whole game, the fourth official and the linesman, and the minute I go out there…” he told Sky Sports.
“He was complaining about referees all week, he can’t be complaining tonight, that’s for sure.”
Despite City now being in pole position to steal United’s crown, Mancini has maintained that the battle is not yet over.
“We are happy, but I think that next Sunday we will have another difficult game,” he stated.
“I think we deserved to win this game. We scored. We played well and had the chance to score the second goal.
“I don’t think that they had the chance to score.
“It was a difficult game, because United are a top team. We know this,” he concluded.
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City face a tricky away day at Newcastle next before hosting QPR on the last day, whilst United play Swansea at Old Trafford and then Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Spurs are closing in on 20-year old Mexican striker Antonio Pedroza Whitham, according to the Daily Mail.
The forward’s contract with club Jaguares is expiring and Spurs have reportedly agreed a fee in the region of £1 million for the player’s services. The young attacker was born in England but moved to Mexico at a young age. Pedroza would become the second player to move to White Hart Lane this summer after the acquisition of veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel from Aston Villa.
Another young striker linked with the club is 16-year old Caen prospect M’Baye Niang. The France Under-17 striker only made his first team debut in April but enjoyed a fine end to the season scoring 3 goals in 7 games. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is reported to be willing to offer up to £7 million for the youngster.
Manchester City are also chasing Niang and are rumoured to be willing to offer £10 million for his services. However, Harry Redknapp will hope to tempt to player to White Hart Lane as his side push for a return to Champions League football.
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Redknapp is rumoured to be keen to overhaul his striking options with any of Jermaine Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch believed to be available for transfer.
There were mixed feelings for Manchester City fans last night. The good news that Carlos Tevez withdrew his transfer request quickly turned sour as City lost at home to Everton and missed the chance to go top of the Premier League table.
Manchester City just didn’t get out of the blocks at Eastlands last night, going two down within 20 minutes and then forced to chase the game. City did pull a goal back through a Phil Jagielka own goal on 72 minutes, giving them 20 minutes to try and get an equaliser. Despite plenty of possession it just wasn’t Manchester City’s night, with Mario Balotelli coming closest when he hit the post. To rub salt into the wounds Kolo Toure was sent off late on for two bookable offences, leaving Roberto Mancini to rue a missed opportunity.
So what are the five things we learnt about Everton last night?
After turning 23 on Monday, Hector Bellerin still has a few years left before he’s truly entered his prime – the period of his career where the utmost consistency is expected and there will be inevitable discussions over whether he belongs in the bracket of world-class.
But by that point, the Spaniard should be something close to the total package, only adding extra experience to the qualities he’s already acquired, and while Bellerin remains an incredibly promising player, there are still clear weaknesses to his game.
The most significant of those are undoubtedly defensively, a typical consequence of former wingers who are converted into full-backs. Going forward, Bellerin’s natural talent is obvious – not only in terms of the speed in which he can join the attack to overlap, but also through the high level of technical quality you’d expect from a La Masia product. Sure, his output can be improved upon, finding two goals and one assist in the Premier League this season, but that will come with time. His confidence isn’t exactly at a career high either, such has been the humbling effect of another disappointing campaign for the north London club.
But for Bellerin to move into the realms of truly world-class over the next few years, his development must follow a similar path to Ashley Cole’s. It’s often forgotten that the former England man was once a forward in Arsenal’s academy setup, and while he earned praise during his first season in the first team for the dynamism, penetration and threat he offered going forward, it was only when he managed to combine it with an increasing consistency in defence he really became comparable with the likes of Paolo Maldini and Roberto Carlos.
At his peak, Cole was a full-back who could do it all going forwards and backwards, and that’s exactly what Bellerin should be aiming for as well.
Just a few weeks ago though, Lee Dixon dispelled one of the biggest myths behind the Invincibles and the end of Arsene Wenger’s most successful era at Arsenal. During the club’s AGM meeting, he told supporters that Le Prof wasn’t responsible for making Cole a world-class defender; that honour truly belonged to Tony Adams.
Of course, most Gunners fans wouldn’t be particularly surprised by this. Wenger inherited an iconic defence when he first arrived at Arsenal and the other most successful defender of his tenure was snatched from Tottenham Hotspur in Sol Campbell.
When you look the rest of Wenger’s record with both signing defenders and developing them, there aren’t a huge amount of success stories. Kolo Toure and Laurent Koscielny perhaps fall into that bracket, but neither have quite reached the level of world-class. After that, you’re left with the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Thomas Vermaelen, Philippe Senderos, Johan Djourou and Calum Chambers – they all impressed after joining the club at relatively young age, but never really progressed from that point.
Admittedly, we’re mostly talking about centre-halves rather than full-backs, and Wenger does boast a much better track record there. Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna both earned moves to Manchester City after consistently impressing for Arsenal, Lauren was a key part of the Invincibles side and Kieran Gibbs was always a decent option for the north Londoners when not blighted by injury.
But the question remains; how many of them were really world-class? If any of them were, perhaps excepting Sagna, it wasn’t because they could defend as well as they could attack.
Make no mistake, this isn’t another stick to beat Wenger with amid a period in which the majority of public opinion appears to be against him. He’s hardly the only manager in world football to focus more on attacking verve than defensive structure, and if anything his vision of full-backs becoming ultimately offensive-minded players has only become truer since he selected a former midfielder, Lauren, and forward, Cole, on either defensive flank of his Invincibles side.
But the problem now is the lack of role models Bellerin has to learn from. Cole had Adams, one of the toughest and most tactically astute defenders of his era, as well as a seasoned Martin Keown. Bellerin, at best, has Koscielny to lean on. The Frenchman, for all his qualities, just isn’t the same calibre of out-and-out, anticipatory, battling defender, and one high-profile figure behind the scenes at Arsenal recently lamented that he ‘isn’t reliable as he should be’.
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Even if Wenger’s approach of letting the art of defending be passed down from player-to-player rather than coach-to-player is an acceptable one, the level of nous has declined with practically every defence he’s constructed over the last 20 years.
Which all begs the question of where Bellerin – who Transfermarkt value at £31.5million – could receive that kind of education to balance out his game, and earlier this week the right-back was fittingly linked with a move to Manchester United. While there is a worrying lack of positivity around Old Trafford at the minute, and while their squad also lacks those stalwart type figures to impart defensive wisdom onto him, Jose Mourinho is the perfect manager to address those deficiencies in his game.
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.