Newcastle fans are absolutely furious with Danny Murphy, after the former England international said Rafael Benitez would be perfect at Arsenal.
Another summer with limited investment from Mike Ashley means another summer of exit rumours about Rafa Benitez, and Newcastle fans are already fed up of it.
The Spaniard has guided the Magpies from relegation trouble to a likely top ten finish, and his class and composure has endeared him to everyone on Tyneside.
There could be several top Premier League teams without a manager this summer, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton all looking likely to part ways with their bosses.
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Arsenal is of course the most intriguing job due to the length of time Arsene Wenger has been at the club, and Murphy says Benitez is the perfect fit in North London.
“Rafa Benitez would be perfect for Arsenal,” the 41 year-old said.
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Murphy won over some Newcastle fans recently when he heaped praise on Jonjo Shelvey, but we think he’s back in the bad books after these latest comments.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
He may not be their top scorer, their top creator, worth much on the transfer market or linked with a stunning move to Real Madrid this summer like one of his team-mates, but no player has had a bigger impact on Manchester United’s results this season than midfielder Michael Carrick.
With the 33 year-old in the starting XI, the Red Devils’ Premier League win rate is 75%; without him, it drops to 37.5%.
And the United playmaker is finally receiving the recognition his many talents deserve. After impressing for England against Italy in March, The Telegraph’s Mark Ogden compared Carrick to Azzurri’s iconic Andrea Pirlo, bemoaning the mob of Three Lions managers that inexplicably overlooked him for the last decade. A host of Premier League pundits have since jumped on the Carrick bandwagon – Robbie Savage recently described him as ‘the invisible man making United tick’.
Now 33 years of age, however, the Carrick appreciation society are a little behind the times – and Manchester United need to think about what lies ahead for a player proving so pivotal to their cause. The two midfielders who kept him out of the England line-up for so long, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, are about to head off for their swansongs in MLS, aged 34 and 36 respectively, and Carrick’s not too far behind. Now’s the time to consider preservation, not appreciation.
Unlike Lamps and Stevie G, the United midfielder has never relied upon the dynamism of relative youth; an astute reading of the game and immaculate composure on the ball remain his defining assets. They could continue to serve him equally effectively for the next four or five years – but only under the right conditions.
And in my opinion, those right conditions are largely dependent on who partners him in central midfield. Looking around Europe at players United could realistically sign this summer, I see no better accomplice, no midfielder complimenting and contrasting the veteran playmaker so perfectly, than Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan.
The German international’s blessed with the drive and energy – both with and without the ball – that Carrick’s always lacked, those surging runs through the middle of the park becoming a predominant feature of Borussia Dortmund’s play en route to the 2013 Champions League final. He’s defensively disciplined but always determined to get forward – this term averaging 1.6 tackles, 1.7 interceptions, 1.4 successful dribbles and 1.1 chances created per match – and that all-action combination makes him the perfect dynamo to cover Carrick’s limited yardage.
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But there’s much more to it than simply physicality – else, United could easily turn to one of the Premier League’s great many up and down merchants. Carrick needs somebody he can bounce the ball off, who knows how to craft a few yards of space with a quick one-two or a deft flick around the corner, which is exactly why he and Marouane Fellaini failed so spectacularly as a partnership last season.
Indeed, Carrick has always been a great orchestrator but he needs an accomplice who changes the pace in the middle of the park, who can link up with him in deep positions or drive forward to create space. Think of Pirlo and his protective partners at Juventus; Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio – players with not only fantastic physical attributes, but more importantly, great intelligence, awareness and cultured feet.
Gundogan has that within him too. Dortmund’s build-up play is as lung-bursting as it is intricate and the 24 year-old embodies that philosophy perfectly, equally prepared to take the ball in tight areas as galloping into oceans of space on the counter-attack. There’s an interesting blend there, a unique ying and yang; the German international swash-buckling his way up the pitch, Carrick engulfing the gaps he leaves behind.
There are may midfielders of a similar forte, two of which – Pogba and Vidal – I’ve already briefly mentioned. But in comparison to the Juventus stars and their enormous price-tags, Gundogan could be attainable for just £15million this summer when his Borussia Dortmund contract enters it’s final year – as alleged by The Daily Mail.
And it’s not so important who United’s summer signing is, as long as he helps preserve Carrick’s career. Why spend a record-breaking sum on Pogba when all the England international needs is a counterweight? Gundogan, a relentless dynamo with fantastic feet, is the perfect balancing act.
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Manchester City’s resolve to keep Sergio Aguero could be tested this summer, if Real Madrid offer Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain in exchange.
Aguero has been linked with a return to Spain for some time and is thought to be a top target for Real in the summer.
So far this term, the former Atletico Madrid star has regularly failed to hit the heights he displayed in his first season at City as he helped them to the Premier League title, although he remains a world-class talent on his day.
City do not want to sell the Argentinian, who cost around £35million in 2011, but an offer from Real, with either Higuain or Benzema thrown in, may be tempting when they reassess things this summer following a disappointing campaign.
Any potential transfer deal between the two clubs could depend on managerial changes at both clubs over the close season. Speculation is growing that Roberto Mancini could leave the Etihad, and Jose Mourinho’s position as Real coach looks even less secure.
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Mohamed Salah has silenced his critics by having a stellar first season as a Liverpool player.
The Chelsea reject, who moved to Anfield from Roma last summer, has scored 39 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions.
The man who struggled to get game time at Stamford Bridge has become a pivotal figure on Merseyside, and over the course of two legs played a starring role in the Reds reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.
After netting the opener in a 3-0 triumph at Anfield in the team’s quarter-final tie against Manchester City, Salah struck to secure a crucial away goal at the Etihad Stadium in the second leg.
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Jurgen Klopp’s team coped with waves of pressure from City’s attacking force in the first 45 minutes, and Salah later changed the complexion of the contest with an audacious chip over goalkeeper Ederson.
Roberto Firmino rounded off the victory with a goal of his own, but Salah will take most of the plaudits.
Unsurprisingly, the Egyptian international’s form has made others take notice, with Spanish publication Don Balon recently reporting that the attacker is a top target for Real Madrid this summer.
Liverpool fans have made it clear on social media that they are desperate for the ex-Roma star to stay put.
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Given how prolific Salah has been this season, and couple that with the fact that Liverpool have lost star players to Spanish giants before, are the Reds capable of holding on to the 25-year-old?
When I think of the FA Cup, I think of giant killings and I think of grainy footage of FA Cup legends and vintage games. Ricky Villa, Bert Trautmann, Ronnie Radford, Steven Gerrard.
These are the things that create the ‘magic of the FA Cup’, a competition where the smallest teams in the country get to play alongside clubs from the football league, teams made up of professionals, and some lucky clubs get the tie of a lifetime and pit themselves against some of the best players in the world.
This year we’ve had plenty of iconic moments. Bradford coming back from 2-0 down at Stamford Bridge to beat Chelsea stands out chiefly amongst them. They’re in the hat for the Semi-Finals and are only a home game against Championship opposition away from booking their place at a Wembley semi-final. Y
eovil and Cambridge have both had home ties against Manchester United, and we’ve had some less romantic but still noteworthy giant killings where non-league teams have beaten league sides.
But as we reflect on the semi-final draw, we see Reading and Blackburn of the Championship, Bradford of League One, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool all there. Isn’t that exactly what we mean when we talk about the ‘magic of the cup’? The big sides are still there competing and the minnows are still there with them, trading blow for blow.
Well, yes and no. In one sense that’s exactly what we mean. In another, it’s symptomatic of an ailing competition.
In one sense, we do all love to see the minnows still in the cup at this stage of the season. It shows us that anything is possible in football, and most people will usually love to see the underdog prevail.
But this only works if the big teams actually want to win the competition, if they actually take it seriously.
The three Premier League clubs still in the competition have won the cup a combined 25 times, they are also three of the top five in the list of teams to have won the most league titles. So these are teams of pedigree, and they are each taking the cup seriously this time around.
Yet ask any one of those clubs’ fans if they’ve had a good season so far and they’d have to say no. They might have something positive to point to, especially Liverpool fans with their team’s form since December, but as a stand-alone season this one has been poor for all of these big clubs.
The FA Cup is really the last hope for all of them to turn a bad season into a good one.
The teams who are already having good seasons don’t prioritise the FA Cup, they prioritise the league and European competitions over and above it. And only when their season is on the ropes do they look to the FA Cup to become the saviour for their season.
Few Chelsea fans were heartbroken when they were dumped out by Bradford. Sure, they’d have liked to have won the cup, but they saw bigger and brighter things ahead in the league and Champions League and didn’t want the extra games to get in the way of these bigger prizes. I wonder if they wish they’d have maintained that lead against Bradford now?
Arsenal had nothing else last year when the cup became their everything. When they won, their season turned into a positive one, and perhaps even saved Arsene Wenger’s job. The year before, Manchester City were nowhere in the league and out of Europe too, so the cup was their last hope, and that’s when they poured their souls into it. Roberto Mancini was even sacked after failing to land it.
In 2012, Chelsea won the FA Cup and Champions League double, but six weeks before their cup wins they seemed in turmoil and disarray. But two (possibly lucky) cup wins saved their season again.
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The FA Cup will only be a magical competition when the big teams take it seriously from the beginning, and not just as a panacea to save their dying seasons. Only then will the lower league team actually be competing with a big team who are interested in winning and not just playing in a game that they see as a distraction.
It’s only a good competition when everyone takes it seriously – because that’s when the magic happens.
I’m all for a five-year plan when the need to start from scratch arises. Liverpool have been put into that position and have entrusted Brendan Rodgers with overseeing a return to success. But a consistent lack of Champions League football could throw a spanner into the works time and again with players wanting to leave. And that, more than any internal disagreements, will be the manager’s toughest challenge.
But here’s the thing: I don’t believe Champions League football is as important as it’s made out to be. Sure, everyone would like to win it. But how many clubs make a genuine drive to become champions of Europe rather than just viewing the revenue as the ultimate prize?
The problem is, it doesn’t matter what anyone else’s perception is of the Champions League, or even if Liverpool what to think of it as a necessity from their own point of view in building. But you’ve always got to ask questions of teams like Liverpool or Arsenal and Tottenham if they’re capable of managing European football of that scale while trying to build towards something domestically.
You look at Juventus as an example who needed to re-establish themselves at the top of Serie A and did so without Champions League football getting in the way. Now that’s not to say Antonio Conte’s side wouldn’t have been able to juggle both competitions, as well as the Copa Italia, a competition in which they progressed to the final, but UEFA’s elite tournament should be seen as battle ground for those who are prepared. Yet once again, the prize money has turned it into something else, as well as the fact it’s not really about the champions of each country.
So what kind of advantage does that put Liverpool in? For starters, the Champions League is a benefit because of the attraction and the wider market it offers the club in the transfer window, not to mention the willingness for the team’s top stars to remain at Anfield. However, what is the bigger prize? The Premier League title, or a cup competition which is dominated by teams with vastly better squads and financial means?
Liverpool don’t have the backing of clubs like Manchester City or Chelsea, so they have to go down this route of planning for the long term but in smaller blocks. Isn’t that how sports should be played? There isn’t anything wrong with Liverpool’s approach and they should be commended if they achieve success come the end of the cycle.
But as always, you’ll have the argument for the need to be pushed along by the windfall of Champions League revenue. And once again that highlights the problem with football. If it isn’t owners backed by billions disrupting the patient building of other clubs, it’s the clamour for Europe’s top competition. And that isn’t just limited to the media or fans; players also want to be at the top of the tree and fighting, in their mind, for the greatest prize in club football.
I don’t think Liverpool should have to worry about reaching the Champions League for next season, and maybe Monday night’s loss to West Brom proved that perhaps everything isn’t quite settled yet. The top tier of European football will come, but it will come much more naturally when the club find themselves in the top four based on merit rather than the shortcomings of others or panic buying.
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You can’t fight the desire from players wanting to leave, but it isn’t just central to the Champions League. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo had the world and more at Manchester United but wanted the move to Real Madrid. Luis Suarez could be enticed away by the draw of wages which could be doubled elsewhere, in spite of whether or not Liverpool are an established top four team.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is planning to move for Barcelona goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, according to Don Balon.
What’s the word?
Defensively, the Reds have had problems for some time, but the January arrival of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton has helped improve the back line.
There still remains an issue over the goalkeeper options that Klopp currently has at his disposal.
Simon Mignolet was the number one, but he relinquished the jersey at the turn of the year.
Loris Karius has since been promoted to first choice, but a report in Don Balon claims that Klopp is not convinced by either shot-stopper and wants to bring in Cillessen.
Is Klopp making the right move?
There is no denying that signing a world-class goalkeeper will boost Liverpool’s chances of winning silverware.
Cillessen has been unable to force Marc-Andre Ter Stegen out from the number one role, but he has the quality to thrive in a top team.
It is unlikely that Mignolet is going to win back his spot at Anfield, so it could transpire that the Reds need to find a replacement for him.
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Cillessen would expect to be first choice, though, which means that Karius would drop back to the understudy role.
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At the moment, it seems unfair to oust the German considering that he has conceded just six goals in his last 10 outings in between the sticks.
In total, Karius has kept 12 clean sheets in 23 games in all competitions this season, his most recent being Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory over Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie at Anfield.
Disrupting the 24-year-old this summer may not be the best option for Liverpool, but if a top-class keeper becomes available, the Reds need to be part of the conversation.
Arsenal fans’ dreams of some January transfer business have come true so far this month.
Ok, so they would’ve preferred seeing some players coming in that going out, but I suppose you can’t always have it your own way.
After Lukas Podolski completed his loan move to Inter Milan last week, it was Yaya Sanogo’s turn to leave the Emirates for first team football – joining Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace on loan until the end of the season.
The French striker hasn’t exactly impressed at the Emirates and has struggled to get in the Gunners’ first team ahead of the likes of Olivier Giroud and even Joel Campbell.
Arsene Wenger had been hopeful of the youngster progressing and becoming a serious strike option for his side as he seeks a 18th consecutive top four finish in the Premier League – but that just hasn’t happened.
Still, the general consensus amongst Gooners is that Sanogo needs game time away from the club in order to improve and become a regular. But then again, some believe it’s about time the club finally got rid of him so Wenger could make some room for a world class goal scorer. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess, but that didn’t stop Arsenal fans taking to Twitter this morning to express their delight at the deal.
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The true beauty of the whole Sanogo to Palace move has to be the fact he’ll be linking up with former Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh, which certainly wasn’t lost on Gunners faithful either…
The 2012 FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) ‘12 winner, Alfonso Ramos, 24, yesterday lived every football fan’s dream as he attended the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala, met a host of the world’s top footballers and took on Barcelona star Gerard Piqué at a game of FIFA 13.
Alfonso stormed to victory at the FIWC ’12 in Dubai beating former champion Bruce Grannec in a tense penalty shoot-out on the way to the $20,000 prize and invitation to the FIFA Ballon d’Or as a FIFA world champion.
Real Madrid met Barcelona at the FIFA Ballon d’Or as Real Madrid fan Alfonso took on Barca ace Gerard Piqué. In the virtual El Classico it was Alfonso’s Madrid who came out on top, beating Piqué’s Barcelona 3-1 as Ronaldo bagged two goals. The encounter lived up to the drama, surprise and controversy expected of one of the World’s greatest football clashes.
As the game approached halftime Alfonso’s Real Madrid led Piqué’s Barcelona 1-0, thanks to Ronaldo’s first of the match. But in a moment of madness that was tinged with irony, Pique made a rash challenge and saw himself sent off and Barcelona go down to 10 men as they went in for halftime.
Prior to the match Alfonso benefitted from speaking with football legends Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi, who gave him some advice on how to deal with big game pressure and get results against their compatriot Piqué.
Commenting on the match Alfonso said, “Winning the FIWC and getting the chance to attend the FIFA Ballon d’Or really is a dream come true. For any football fan this is without question one of the greatest experiences you can have. Meeting my heroes an getting the chance to play FIFA 13 against Pique is something I will never forget.”
Despite his loss, Piqué was full of praise for Alfonso, “Alfonso is the best player I have played against for sure. I don’t play FIFA as much as I’d like to, but I’m usually in the final against Leo (Messi) when we play at Barcelona so I’m not bad, but against Alfonso every player seems bad!”
The FIWC is a virtual football tournament organised by FIFA and its presenting partners EA SPORTS™ and PlayStation®. With over 1.6 Million players already signed up for this year’s tournament the FIWC cements its place as the world’s largest online gaming tournament giving football fans the chance to live out their passion for the game and to interact with other fans around the world.
The FIWC 2013 sees players compete against each other at the latest version of the EA SPORTS™ FIFA 13 videogame to qualify for the Grand Final in Madrid, where the FIWC World Champion is crowned. The online tournament takes place on the PlayStation® Network and can be accessed through FIFA 13. Contestants can participate in this year’s FIWC, by registering ‘in-game’ in FIFA 13 on their PS3™.
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For more information on the FIWC, go to: www.fifa.com/fiwc.
Leeds United centre-back Pontus Jansson has admitted that he is flabbergasted that teammate Pawel Cibicki has struggled for minutes this season.
Jansson, who should be the club’s captain in the eyes of many of the fans, has been an ever-present for the Whites during the 2017-18 campaign, but his fellow Swede Cibicki has made just seven Championship appearances since arriving in last summer’s transfer window.
The 24-year-old had previously been linked with Manchester United, but it was Leeds that swooped to sign him on August 31.
The forward has not been involved in a league game for Leeds since January, and Jansson has claimed that ‘it’s pretty sick’ that Cibicki cannot seem to buy a minute of Championship football at the moment.
Jansson told Fotboll Skanalen:
“I think it’s pretty sick. We won 4-5 matches when he started and he did well, but later he did not play anymore.
“It’s the boring part of the football world with a lot of politics. I try to help Pawel every day and keep him in good mood.
“He did well when he played and he deserves more, but then I can understand the new coach who may not have seen Pawel so much.”
Cibicki is yet to score for Leeds in his 10 appearances for the club, but he has managed a couple of Championship assists.
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Paul Heckingbottom’s side are without a win in their last four league fixtures, with that poor run of form leaving them down in 14th position in the table.