All posts by h79snht.top

Everton’s recent points total is so slim they should probably considering attending an Anorexics Anonymous meeting, but scratch the surface of some scratchy results and performances haven’t been all that bad. They outclassed what turns out to be a decent Bolton team and deserved more than a last gasp equaliser to claim a point. They created enough chances against Arsenal to at least merit a point and gave another good account of themselves at the Stadium of Light against an in-form Sunderland.

In contrast, West Brom’s recent performances have been every bit as bad as the results suggests. Roberto di Matteo won plaudits for getting his expected relegation battlers to play a nice brand of football, but a run of 1 point from a possible 15 has seem him get labelled more naïve than a working class schoolkid hoping to go to university under a Tory government. They’ve lost valuable points to teams likely to be joining them in the frantic scramble to avoid the drop and the enjoyment of the early season has been replaced by the more familiar feeling of trying to keep the head above water.

A win for the Toffees looks likely at 8/13, but that nagging feeling at the back of your mind may be the memories of the Baggies going to the Emirates and winning as well as other fond recollections such as Edwin van der Sar handing them a point at Old Trafford. They’re certainly a capable side, but the confidence to persist with the lovely football may have been drained thanks to defeats to Blackpool, Stoke and Wigan. If you reckon they can get their mojo back, the 11/4 for a draw doesn’t look like the worst option.

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Part of the Toffees’ problems is down to the lack of a contribution from the strikers. It’s nice that Tim Cahill is popping up with so many goals, but a little more from Yakubu, Saha and Beckford if he gets a run out, would have the points tally looking healthier than it is at present. Similar to the West Brom team, we all remember a time when they used to be able to perform, so there’s no reason why they won’t be able to do it again. That said, on recent form Cahill to be 1st goalscorer at 5/1 looks like the shrewdest move. Likewise the Wincast of Cahill to score and Everton to win @ 11/5 immediately strikes you as something that’s entirely plausible.

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The week in the run up to Christmas started with a interesting Premier League fixture at Eastlands, which Everton won 2-1 against Manchester City thanks to goals from Tim Cahill and Leighton Baines. So Everton got one over Manchester City on the pitch, and City were also second best off it. Away from football Mario Balotelli was seen wearing the most ridiculous headgear I’ve ever set my eyes on (check it out at the FootballFanCast.com Facebook Fan Page if you haven’t seen it already). Everton fans weren’t to be outdone though and in the spirit of Christmas trumped Balotelli with their turkey hats. Can you come up with a funny caption for this photo?

Leave your suggestions below…

This week you can win a copy of FIFA 11!

FIFA 11 reinvents player authenticity – on and off the ball – for every player and at every position on the pitch with Personality+, an all-new feature that sees individual abilities reflected in game, enabling clear differentiation for every player.

For the FootballFanCast.com Caption Competition Terms and Conditions click here

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Check out our Caption Competition Gallery for some inspiration and to see the winners so far.

Last week’s winner: Grave – click here to see all entries

As my story on Friday explained, Jose Mourinho is in desperate need of a striker. It now appears he might have found one, in NFL Wide-Receiver, Chad OchoCinco.

The 33-year old may well be the biggest ‘soccer’ fan in the League and played a lot of the sport as a youngster and is currently in Madrid and has spent the weekend at Real’s training complex as part of a post-season holiday.

It appears that Jose Mourinho is interested in the free-agent to boot. The twitter fanatic, OchoCinco tweeted;

“Mourinho says he needs a striker, I’m coming here to play.”

Then went on to later announce;

“I’ve a trial with Real Madrid after my surgery,” despite this, the American was unable to train with the Madrid squad as of yet due to his own sponsorship with Reebok being at odds with Real’s adidas deal.

However, Real may well face a battle to sign him from their greatest rivals Barcelona. After tweeting Gerard Pique that he was coming to Madrid, the Barca defender tweeted back that it would be ‘better for u to come to Barcelona’.

Chad OchoCinco (born Johnson), would certainly add spice to the Galacticos goal celebrations if not their line-up. He once was voted the ‘number 1 showboat in professional sports’ and actual admits he puts part of his salary aside each year to pay league fines for ‘excessive celebration’. (see below)

This includes one occasion when he held up a sign saying;

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“Dear NFL, Please do not fine me again.” For which, he was fined.

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However, last year was an interesting one for the Cincinnati star, who has his own brand of cereal in Ohio. He added a charity phone-line for ‘Feed the Children’ to the cereal packets. However, due to a misprint, the number on the box actually sent you to a phone-sex line!

Liverpool will be hoping the return of captain Steven Gerrard can inspire them to victory against Fulham on Wednesday.

Gerrard will come straight back into the Liverpool first team for Wednesday’s Premier League encounter at Anfield after serving a three-game suspension for his straight red card against Manchester United in the FA Cup.

The Reds enter the match against Mark Hughes’ side on a high after a resounding 3-0 win at Wolves on Saturday, which snapped a four-game winless run and moved them up to 11th on the Premier League table.

And manager Kenny Dalglish believes Gerrard’s return could inspire the Reds to another surge up the table.

“Your captain being available after missing three games will be a fantastic lift for everybody,” Dalglish said.

“We had a great result and performance at Molineux on Saturday and we’ve got a very difficult game coming up against Fulham on Wednesday, so for us to have Steven back on the back of the performance and result we got at the weekend is a great boost for everybody.”

Liverpool’s form this season has been patchy at best, with encouraging wins too often followed by disappointing losses against lower-ranked sides.

A leaky defence will be a major concern for Dalglish, with Liverpool keeping just seven clean sheets in 23 league matches this season.

On the other hand, they come up against one of the worst attacks in the Premier League on Wednesday, with only four sides having scored less goals than Mark Hughes’ men this season.

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With Bobby Zamora out with a broken leg, much of the goal-scoring responsibility has fallen to American midfielder Clint Dempsey, who has eight goals for the season, including a double in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Stoke.

Worryingly for Hughes, none of his recognised strikers have scored more than two goals for the campaign.

Wednesday’s match will be the first time the two sides have met this season, with the corresponding fixture lat year ending in a 0-0 draw.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel says he will decide on his playing future at the end of the season.

Friedel, 39, will become the oldest player to ever play for Villa if he lines up against Manchester United on Tuesday at Old Trafford, surpassing the record set by Ernie Callaghan in 1947.

Speculation about the American’s future is constant, but Friedel is not concerned about turning 40 and says if he stays fit, he will keep playing.

“I don’t know if it will be a good thing or a bad thing to be the oldest player ever to play for the club,” Friedel said.

“I will continue to just keep myself as fit as possible and hopefully be chosen to play football matches.”

“Age is a number. I don’t think about it. I just go by how I feel. If I feel good and able to play – that makes me happy.”

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Friedel is likely to be involved in Sunday’s fourth-round FA Cup tie at Villa Park against former club Blackburn. He made nearly 300 appearances during a nine-year stint at Ewood Park.

After Liverpool’s loss at Manchester United in the FA Cup 3rd round, I wrote an article suggesting that it was time Fernando Torres left the Anfield club. During the game he offered nothing and looked like he would have rather of been anywhere else. Understandably, Liverpool fans jumped to his defence. But in hindsight, was it a good move for the club and the player?

To put it into context, the game I mentioned above saw Torres marked out of the game by Jonny Evans. We are talking about a striker who has on several occasions made fellow Manchester United centre-back, Nemanja Vidic, look stupid. I’m used to seeing the Spaniard chase lost causes, harass defenders and scoring wonder-goals, not trying to find his way out of a pretty ordinary defender’s pocket. What’s more, his reaction to being subbed was almost non-existent. His team were 1-0 down to their biggest rivals and faced being dumped out of the cup – the only chance left of any silverware this season – at the first hurdle. Was he bothered?

To put it bluntly, he didn’t want to be there and probably hasn’t done for a while. The problem is Liverpool have spent the last 12 months trying to accommodate a player who wasn’t willing to put the work in for them. That’s not to say that has always been the case. But in fairness to Torres, Liverpool haven’t exactly been operating at the top level recently. He moved to Anfield to win trophies and in that respect, nothing has changed.

I don’t agree with his timing, or the way he has set about rubbing it in his former club’s nose that he is now a Chelsea player, and ‘finally playing for a top club’, after all, Liverpool have much more history than the London side. But Torres had to move. Why stay with a team you no longer have any desire to do well for, especially if you are as good as he is? Liverpool merely served to pay him a ridiculous amount every week for very little in return.

Phil Thompson was questioned about Torres’ move before the Tuesday night fixtures and his reaction was one of pure anger towards the forward. As a Liverpool fan, Thompson is another who blindly defended Torres despite what the rest of us could see. This week, in between all the exasperation and emotion, he attempted to point out that Liverpool are bigger than Torres and his move was disrespectful to everyone at the club. He was clearly wound up, but why? It wouldn’t be the first time a world-class player stops performing because he wants out. If he wanted to go, then Liverpool made the right decision in trying to get as much as they could for him.

£50 million is a lot of money, and to be fair to the club, they have used it to reinvest. Luis Suarez has real pedigree and it’s a shame we don’t get to see him alongside Torres. Andy Carroll is a gamble at £35 million but at least the club are showing some ambition. For far too long they have been playing a way to suit Torres because they haven’t had another option, but now they do.

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As far as Torres is concerned, instead of doing his best to talk himself into trouble, he needs to concentrate on playing for Chelsea. He moved to win trophies and he has as good a chance as he will ever get.

Chelsea spent £50 million to turn their season around. Torres moved to win trophies and Liverpool sold to get rid of a disruption. The move has been a long time coming and seems the best solution for all concerned. The Kop now have a new number 9 to worship, and whatever you may think about Carroll, he will certainly give his all. Fernando who?

Shakhtar Donetsk will be looking to continue their record-breaking run in the Champions League when they take on Roma in the last 16.

This season marks the first time that Donetsk have made it to the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition, just 18 months after they won the 2009 UEFA Cup.

Former Inter Milan manager Mircea Lucescu has transformed the club since taking over in 2004, and now he intends to send a message by guiding Shakhtar into the quarter-finals for the first time.

“We wanted to get to the knockout stage for the first time and, after missing out before, we finally managed it this season – and deservedly so,” Lucescu said.

The Ukrainians finished on top of Group H with five wins from their six games, including a 2-1 victory over English Premier League side Arsenal.

Last time the two sides met in 2006, Shakhtar was on the end of a 4-0 drubbing, but Lucescu is convinced his side will give a better account of themselves when they go head to head on Wednesday.

“The fans (in Rome) create a certain pressure on opponents, but also on their own team,” Lucescu said.

“Certainly, what we learned from that last game will help us this time. I am convinced about that.”

“Also the difference in class between football in eastern and western Europe is narrowing. Many talented players have come to the east.”

“The UEFA Cup wins by Galatasaray, CSKA Moskva, Zenit and Shakhtar mean these countries have greater hope for Champions League success.”

Roma qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second behind Bayern Munich in Group E.

But their form on the domestic front has been less impressive, with Claudio Ranieri’s side slipping to eighth in the Serie A after taking just two wins from their last six matches.

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Ranieri has been under pressure to keep his job with rumours Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was in line to make a shock move to the club.

A run to the Champions League final, which they achieved for the first and only time in 1984, would certainly help Ranieri’s prospects, but he admitted getting past Shakhtar would be tough.

“Lucescu’s teams always play very good football,” Ranieri said. “Shakhtar are a quality team and they have some very strong players. On top of that, Lucescu knows Italian football very well. This is going to be a good tie to watch.”

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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Manchester United have made no secret of their desire to replace the retiring Edwin Van Der Sar this summer and manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has announced his intention to augment the squad with at least three new arrivals. The Red Devils boss confirmed that specific transfer targets have been identified and that the Glazer authority is comfortable in approving a summer spending spree at Old Trafford. But are United, who sit contentedly at the summit of the Premier League and are yet again chasing a European treble, in desperate need of new recruits or is Ferguson’s latest proclamation an attempt to convince the fans, and Wayne Rooney, of United’s transfer ambitions?

United’s need of a long-term replacement for their veteran Dutch ‘keeper is well known, and Ferguson will be cautious not to repeat the transfer blundering which saw the Scot sign no less than 10 goalkeepers in the six years between the departure of Peter Schmeichel and arrival of Edwin van der Sar. Reports over the last few months have revealed Ferguson’s interest in a number of young and promising shot-stoppers, amongst them Maarten Stekelenburg of Ajax, Manuel Neuer of Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen’s Rene Adler and 20 year-old David de Gea of Atletico Madrid. All four have featured prominently for their clubs this season and which one, if any, will be playing at Old Trafford next season remains to be seen.

Perhaps the greater interest lies in Ferguson’s wish to add to his outfield force. United’s transfer dealings since the acquisition of Dimitar Berbatov have mainly highlighted an intention to build towards a bright future but caveated with the exits of two of Ferguson’s greatest assets, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. The high-profile exodus, coupled with United’s less than inspiring overall performance last season, encouraged Wayne Rooney to declare his intention to leave in October. Even though the England international eventually reneged on his avowal, Ferguson’s latest revelation would appear to upset a recent pattern of subdued transfer activity.

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The most important question is surely whether the United side have any weak areas in need of improvement, especially as Antonio Valencia has just returned from a lengthy injury and Fabio, Rafael and Javier Hernandez appear to be developing rapidly. Ferguson implied that he is satisfied with the Old Trafford strike-force, highlighting Danny Welbeck’s and Mame Biram Diouf’s impending returns from loan spells as evidence of United’s attacking depth.

Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Patrice Evra have all procured contract extensions within the last month, which suggests that Owen Hargreaves and Park Ji-Sung could soon find themselves cut-loose from Ferguson’s long-term plans. Rumours have been circulating for some time intimating moves for Wesley Sneijder, who could provide a solution to United’s creative paucity in midfield, and Daniele de Rossi, who would be able to deliver the defensive tenacity Michael Carrick fails to. Ferguson has proved his ability to land prominent players in the past, as the signings of Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov demonstrate, but his latest admission represents something of a transfer U-turn from the League’s longest serving manager.

As aforementioned, Ferguson has, in the last three years, tangibly attempted to sign up-and-coming talent with varying results. Even though Fabio, Rafael and Javier Hernandez appear to be flourishing, Ferguson will have to admit his oversight in the acquirement of Zoran Tosic and Gabriel Obertan and the lack of commitment United showed in purchasing 19 year-old Adam Ljajic who has exhibited some impressive performances in Fiorentina’s first-team this season. Perhaps these lapses in transfer market intuition have provoked Ferguson to revert to type.

It is still anyone’s guess which new faces will feature in United’s pre-season show-piece against Barcelona in Washington on 30th July, or if any will have joined by then. But the club’s recent transfer record, Wayne Rooney’s exit threat and United’s less than convincing outings in the League this season suggest Ferguson’s latest intentions are not just empty talk.

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Despite the disappointing Europa League elimination to SC Braga, Steve McManaman is certain that King Kenny is the man to restore Liverpool’s fortunes.

The 60-year-old Scot is in charge at Anfield until the end of the season but it is unclear as yet whether he will remain in charge thereafter.

It was Dalglish who gave the former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder his first team debut as an 18-year-old towards the end of his last spell at the club and McManaman wants to see his former gaffer re-installed on a permanent basis.

Speaking as the UEFA ambassador at the Bangkok leg of the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour, McManaman said: “Who else can you name that is available at the moment that would be a more suitable candidate for the job on a full time basis than Kenny?  There isn’t anyone.

“He knows the academy inside out as well as a host of players across Europe.

“Even when he wasn’t at the club, he could have told you everything you needed to know about each player in the academy, their strengths and weaknesses.

“This wasn’t a man who took time off and wasn’t involved in football.  He was still heavily involved on a variety of levels and always has been and still is an expert when it comes to the knowledge of the game.

“He has unified the club and taken them from just outside the relegation zone to the lofty heights of sixth in the league.

“Back in January, when I spoke to people about Liverpool, everyone was moaning and asking what was happening at club.  Now everyone seems happier and they know that the team is tick along.

“He has rescued a pretty average season really if you are a Liverpool fan.  I think everyone knows that the Reds won’t win the league without significant investment but now everybody is walking around with a smile on their face and that’s down to King Kenny.”

As well as the huge upturn in form, there seems to be more stability at the club since Dalglish returned to the Anfield hotseat.

McManaman reckons that his former mentor has helped Liverpool Football Club to re-find its identity.

“Football has changed a lot in the 20 years since Kenny left.  We now live in an age of scientists, doctors and dieticians but he has brought a lot of old school values back to the club.

“There are certain things that should be sacrosanct within the club and he understands that.  The old boot room mentality of getting help and the Liverpool way, the things used to be done that had been lost over the years.

“The club started to have headlines splattered on both the front and back pages of the newspapers and that is not healthy.

“Being brought up with the boot room mentality with likes of Kenny, Ronnie Moran and Roy Evans, I felt that a lot of those old school traditions needed to be brought back and Kenny is the perfect man to do that.

Despite being pleased that Dalglish is bringing back some of the traditional ways, McManaman refutes any suggestion that his old boss is out of touch.

“Kenny brings a certain sensibility to the club but as much as he is an old school manager, you have to move with the times.

“Alex Ferguson has been in charge at Old Trafford for what seems like forever and there’s no way that he could be accused of being stuck in old ways.

“And it’s the same with Kenny, just look at the people he has got sitting around him on the sidelines.  They are people who know about all of the latest technical advancements available to squeeze just another one-per-cent out of players.

“With the history and traditions of Liverpool there is still a time for the old school methods but there is no doubt that Kenny has moved along.

“In the 10 years he hasn’t been in management he certainly hasn’t stood still and he will embrace the old with the new now that he is back in charge.

“I am sure that he is definitely the right man to restore Liverpool Football Club to where they should be.”

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The Trophy Tour

The schedule of the 2011 UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken is:

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February 22 – 27: Kuala Lumpur

March 5 – 6: Penang

March 11 – 12: Kuala Lumpur

March 16 – 17: Bangkok

March 19 – 20: Chiang Mai

March 25 – 27: Kon Kaen

April 6 – 9: Seoul

April 15 – 17: Hong Kong

There will me more to follow about the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken…

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