New signing Charlie Adam played the second half as Liverpool began their pre-season tour of Asia by beating Guangdong Sunray Cave 4-3.Liverpool’s team featured a mixture of first-team and reserve players, with Adam a welcome site for the fans inside the stadium.
Christian Poulsen scored Liverpool’s first, calmly slotted in a cross from Joe Cole.
David Ngog got the second just two minutes later as Liverpool took control.
The Chinese side responded well in the second half, with Ricardo Steer heading in a reply.
Liverpool regained their hold on the match and teenager Conor Coady made it 3-1 after being set up by Andy Carroll.
Adam managed an assist on his debut, passing for Carroll to make it four.
Guangdong Sunray Cave were only formed in 2007, but have quickie risen up the leagues in China.
They finished the game the stronger side. Lu Lin reduced the deficit with a neat finish.
And Lu set up Jin Hongbo to fire the ball past goalkeeper Martin Hansen to make it 4-3.
Liverpool held out for the win, they continue their Asia tour with a game against a Malaysia XI on Saturday.
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Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has stated that his side’s experience should stand them in good stead as they face fellow Champions League qualification hopefuls Newcastle on Wednesday.
The Stamford Bridge club are currently a point behind Alan Pardew’s men, as fifth and sixth in the standings meet in west London.
The Czech Republic international is eager to get three points, and is in confident mood ahead of the fixture.
“I think experience will be really important on Wednesday. Newcastle are in a position they have not been in before – or maybe once, a long time ago – we have been there many times,” he told Mirror Football.
“That could be the decisive factor. There is everything to play for. The experience could help.”
Cech also looked ahead to the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on May 19th, but is hoping to have secured a top four place before then.
“We would like to go to Munich and have a week with the sense of having a job done, that would be ideal, but we have to fight for that.
“Bayern can’t win their title so all they have to concentrate on is a game at home against us in the Champions League final.
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“We play so many games with pressure so we will be used to be playing with it. Let’s see how it goes. You can never say what will happen, but hopefully it will be a day to remember,” he concluded.
With the transfer story that keeps on giving showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, Cesc Fabregas’s laborious and protracted move back to his boyhood club Barcelona finally looks like happening in the foreseeable future. But just how much is the Arsenal captain really worth?
Arsenal are thought to have rejected an offer in the region of £27m for Fabregas within the last week or so, which is a serious devaluation of the supposed £35m that the Catalan club had bid for him last summer.
Barcelona President Sandro Rosell said as much arguing: “If last summer we offered £35m, and since then he has a year less on his contract, it is evident that this year he is worth less.” It’s clear that Barcelona’s need for the player is not great and that they are perfectly willing to bide their time with the move, for it is one that is as inevitable as the day is long.
Fabregas, to his credit at least, has never hidden his desire for the move. Nor, it is worth mentioning has he acted disrespectfully to Arsenal or Arsene Wenger despite the constant haranguing over the issue.
But, Rosell’s words seem to hint that should Arsenal continue to hold onto their man, then Fabregas will be reluctant to sign a new deal, meaning that Arsenal are playing a dangerous game and time is not on their hands. Whereas last summer Arsenal were the club holding all the cards, the tables have since turned and Barcelona now appear in control of the matter.
Arsenal have wistfully been rumoured to be looking for roughly £60m for Fabregas – a bargaining tactic at most it has to be said. They are apparently willing to accept in the region of £45m for Fabregas, but is he really even worth that?
Fabregas is a fantastic player. There, I’ve said it. You can quote me verbatim on that one if you like. So, the ‘you’re biased’ brigade that will inevitably treat whatever I write from hereon as nonsensical bile can at least pipe down for a bit. Please. No? Okay then.
Despite obviously being a hugely saleable asset at the club’s disposal it’s worth noting just how injury-prone Fabregas has become in the past few seasons. Just what do Arsenal do to these players that makes them so injury-prone? Fabregas has failed to start 30 league games or more in the past three Premier League seasons. To put it another way, how can they deem a player worthy of a £45m transfer fee when it is inevitable that he will miss large portions of the seasons through injury?
A player is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for them. In essence, all transfer fees are now are prospective clubs buying players out of their long-term contracts, so the approach and reasoning behind Rosell’s valuation of the player would appear to hold up.
It’s become a pub debate for the ages – just where does Fabregas fit into Barcelona’s plans? He has been seen as the heir apparent for both potential club and his country to the immeasurably brilliant Xavi Hernandez for nearly half a decade now.
However, whenever tasked with fulfilling a slightly deeper role at Arsenal, Fabregas’s performances have always been somewhat subdued. In reality, he is more of a like-for-like copy of Andres Iniesta, with arguably more end product to his game.
His estimated value to Arsenal is quite rightfully high, for he is one of their only two genuine world-class players – the other being Robin Van Persie. His worth to them is around the £45m mark, but this is a market completely distorted by Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid in 2009.
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Ronaldo is a freak of nature. A one-man team wherever he goes it appears. A colossal talent only surpassed in the last 20 years or so by Lionel Messi and possibly even his Brazilian namesake. In short, he may have cost £80m, but could you honestly argue that he isn’t worth it? Of course you couldn’t. Fabregas being worth £45m and upwards though is another question entirely.
The fact that a preposterously rich President was willing to pay such an astronomical sum of money for him does not mean that this is the barometer by which all future transfer activity should be conducted by. It appears that the current market now measures all future transfers of world-class players by the fee paid for Ronaldo and this is simply the wrong way to judge things.
Xabi Alonso moved to Real Madrid for £30m in 2009 and you could argue that Fabregas is a player of similar quality and should therefore command a similar fee to that of the former Liverpool man. Of course that is not quite how the market works, but that seems to be the way that things are done these days since the Ronaldo deal.
Arsenal are well within their rights to drive a hard bargain for a player that they wish to keep. However, it has become clear that Fabregas’s heart is not completely attuned to the Arsenal cause anymore. His head has been turned. Barcelona will be perfectly willing to play the waiting game for another season and with it drive the potential price down even further.
The time to sell Fabregas for a huge sum has passed – his stock has fallen somewhat and if Arsenal truly wanted to cash in on their prized asset, then the time was last summer, not this one.
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Barcelona have no pressing need for Fabregas, despite his undoubted quality. They are supremely well-stocked in the areas where he is most comfortable and a move for Alexis Sanchez makes more sense at the moment for them. They seem to revive their interest out of nothing more than routine these days.
Barcelona and Arsenal have been dancing this dance for one summer too many. As a result, Fabregas’s market value simply isn’t as much as either it was last year or Arsenal hope it is now. Until Arsenal realise that the ship to cash in on their skipper has rather unfortunately sailed, they’ll simply have an unhappy player on their hands whose value continues to fall every passing year he spend at the club.
A deal around the £30-35 mark would appear to be a fair price for all those concerned; if Arsenal continue to rather unrealistically ask for more though, then they’ll only be hurting themselves in the long-run in the century’s most inevitable transfer.
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26th November 2010: The Only Way is Essex stars Mark Wright and Lucy Mecklenburgh brought football chic to Chelmsford City yesterday in preparation for the club’s 2nd round FA Cup battle with Wycombe Wanderers this Saturday.
Mark Wright, 23, a former Tottenham youth team captain, knows what a battle Wanderers face this weekend having frequently come out on the losing side against City during spells with both Crawley Town and Rushden & Diamonds.
Mark said: “This weekend’s clash with Wycombe is like a cup final for Chelmsford. It’s great to see one of my local Essex sides doing so well in this season’s competition and I just hope the boys can pull off a shock. I’d love to see them in the hat for the 3rd round draw on Sunday, it would be a dream to see them take on Scunthorpe United, the team my brother Josh plays for. Come on the Clarets!”
The 2nd Round of The FA Cup kicks off this evening with non-league Crawley Town taking on Swindon Town live on ESPN (KO 7:45). The weekend’s TV coverage continues on Saturday with all the live action from Kingsmeadow as League 2 Stevenage travel to AFC Wimbledon (ITV 1, KO 12:50).
The weekend’s FA Cup action culminates in the 3rd Round draw on Sunday at 6pm (live on ITV 1) with special guests Noel Gallagher, an avid Manchester City fan, and Leicester City supporter Serge from the multi million selling band Kasabian.
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The 2nd Round FA Cup draw in full
Sheffield Wednesday v Northampton Town
Burton Albion v Chesterfield
Huddersfield Town v Macclesfield Town
AFC Wimbledon v Stevenage
Hartlepool United v Yeovil Town
Bury v Peterborough United
Notts County v Bournemouth
Droylsden v Leyton Orient
Crawley Town v Swindon Town
Brighton & Hove Albion v FC United of Manchester
Southampton v Cheltenham Town
Torquay United v Walsall
Charlton Athletic v Luton Town
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Quite a few long range strikes were enjoyed by Premier League fans on Easter weekend. Clint Dempsey, Paul Scholes, Mohamed Diamé and Mikel Arteta were the men providing the moments of fine technical skill. However, let’s appreciate something altogether more subtle – Papiss Demba Cissé’s impudent dink over Michel Vorm was majestic.
The Senegalese striker has made an excellent start since moving over from Germany in January. Cissé’s fantastic finish on Good Friday ensured he now has nine goals from his first eight games in the Premier League. Should he score on Monday against Bolton, he’ll become the second quickest man to 10 goals in Premier League history, a further indication of how quickly he’s adapted to the Premier League.
Player of the Weekend
Like Cissé, Clint Dempsey is enjoying a fine season in the Premier League. He netted twice in Fulham’s away win over Bolton on Saturday. The American powered in a 30-yard free-kick (although the positioning of the wall by Adam Bogdan was questionable). His second demonstrated good anticipation as he stole into the six yard box unnoticed before planting a header past Bogdan for Fulham’s second. Dempsey may have missed his chance for a hat-trick in the second half but it was nevertheless, a terrific performance from the attacking midfielder, ensuring Martin Jol’s side picked up only their third away win of the season.
Miss of the Weekend
This weekend, there was a Flemish flavour to the scarcely believable missed opportunities. Belgian international Thomas Vermaelen failed to slide in from two yards after the ball ricocheted off the post from Walcott although Yossi Benayoun was equally culpable. However, Liverpool’s Dutch winger Dirk Kuyt chipped in with a contender for Miss of the Season. As Captain Steven Gerrard rifled the ball across the box, Kuyt was no more than a yard out from goal when he managed to fire over the crossbar. No wonder the Reds are struggling to win at the moment.
Quote of the Weekend
Staying with Liverpool where manager Kenny Dalglish hasn’t been a happy bunny (had to get an Easter reference in somewhere). After Referee Michael Oliver didn’t award a penalty to Liverpool on Saturday, Dalglish said in his post-match interview:
“Somebody needs to be assassinated for us to get a penalty”
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Just a slight over exaggeration there…
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Ruud Gullit’s tenure in charge of Chechen club Terek Grozny ended with his sacking minutes after a 1-0 defeat to Amkar Perm on Tuesday.Dutchman Gullit, a former FIFA World Player of the Year, took over at the Russian Premier League club in January 2011, charged with bringing European football to the troubled state.
But Terek have managed just three wins from 13 matches this season under Gullit.
The former Chelsea and LA Galaxy coach was told by Chechen leader and Terek President Ramzan Kadyrov that if the team did not beat Amkar, he would be sacked for ‘thinking about bars and discotheques’ rather than football.
After a 1-0 defeat at the Zvezda Stadium, courtesy of a last-minute own goal from defender Sergey Omelyanchuk, Kadyrov proved true to his word, dismissing Gullit within moments of the final whistle.
“Gullit will no longer train Terek,” the Interfax news agency quoted Kadyrov as saying.
“Unfortunately, he was unable to prove his mettle as a trainer. Under his leadership, the team played exceptionally poorly this season.”
Gullit, who won two European Cups with AC Milan and the 1988 European Championships with the Netherlands, said after the match that he expected to be sacked regardless of the result.
“I don’t think it would have mattered if I had won or lost,” Gullit said.
The 48-year-old departs with Terek 14th in the Russian Premier League, three points and just two places off the foot of the table.
Liverpool’s recently appointed Director of football, Damien Comolli, is not one to shy away from blowing his own trumpet. He claims credit for the recent successes of the Spurs team, particularly the uncovering of Gareth Bale. Having been in charge of recruitment for three years at Spurs from September 2005- October 2005, it is no wonder that the majority of the team are players he has signed. Especially given that this was a period of strong investment in the transfer market by Tottenham. His claims, although debatably credible, expose a lack of professionalism and hunger for media attention for the man now at the helm of Liverpool’s transfer policy. When surely the club are wishing to turn attention away from the backroom staff and running of the club and onto positive events on the field.
It also shows an extremely selective memory, neglecting such expensive failures as Darren Bent and David Bentley, Tottenham’s two most expensive signings. Other players bought to the club that have evaded Comolli’s memory consisted of Hossam Ghaly, Ricardo Rocha, Gilberto and Dorian Dervite to name but a few. Such an expansive but scattered transfer policy was bound to bring in a few gems that have gone on to establish themselves in the first team. But the long list of failings in such a short space of time suggests Comolli is not the shrewd recruiter of talent he would have us believe.
Under Martin Jol there was a clear emphasis to bring in young British talent to the club in order to build for the future. This could go some way to explaining why Comolli’s signings at Spurs are only now beginning to flourish given time and correct management. And perhaps given a different brief at Liverpool i.e. to find players that would immediately improve the first team; he could prove beneficial in the short term given his eye for talent. As his successful signings at Spurs, which he is more than happy to point to, suggest he does possess. However aside from the less than successful players mentioned he also resided over the recruitment of two strikers each costing over £13m, Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko. They were subsequently deemed by two successive managers, Ramos and Redknapp, unable to play together at a time when they were the only recognised senior strikers in the squad. Although it is unclear who is entirely to blame for this scenario, it seems to me that a Director of football should recruit players to fill the positions needed and should know how they can fit in to the existing. The failure to address the departure of Michael Carrick, that so badly affected a team that was a lasagne-gate away from qualifying for the Champion League in 2004, has got to be seen as a huge transfer failure. Especially if Zokora was intended as that replacement, given his game is completely different of that of Carrick’s.
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The most baffling transfer scenario that developed during Comolli’s time at Tottenham was the failure to address the problem on the left wing. A problem admittedly that Spurs had had for a few years before his arrival. But I find it hard to believe that neither Jol nor Ramos told the Director of football that this was a position they needed to fill by entering the transfer market. Yet instead of a left winger or even left sided midfielder Spurs became flooded with mediocre central midfielders such as Murphy, Ghaly, Boateng, O’Hara who were all forced to play out on the left and therefore never got the opportunity to show what they could really do. Right back was the other position where Comolli’s scattered transfer policy was overindulged, with Hutton Chimbonda, Corluka and Gunter all coming to the club in the space of two years. Seeing as Hodgson seems to be doing a reasonable job of signing central midfielders that are not going to set the world alight in Poulsen and Miereles. Liverpool fans should be concerned with the possibility of a high influx of young right backs to settle their problems in front of goal.
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Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley has admitted that he is keen to be involved for Team Great Britain in this summer’s Olympic Games.
Stuart Pearce will lead a team comprising players from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to compete at the tournament, with ambassador David Beckham rumoured to be one of the high profile players set to play.
Cleverley, who will also be in contention for England’s Euro 2012 squad despite an injury-plagued campaign, is eyeing a place at the Olympics.
“It is something that everyone strives for – to experience new things throughout your career – so the Olympics would be different,” he told Mirror Football.
“For a young English player, it is an exciting summer of football with the Euros and Olympics, and I would be proud to represent at either of those.
“Having the chance to have an Olympic gold medal in your trophy cabinet would be unbelievable – a lot of the players are talking about it.
“I always looked up to David Beckham when I was young. To play alongside him would be great,” he concluded.
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Manchester United and Barcelona will be in search of their fourth European Championship when they meet in the UEFA Champions League final.Saturday’s final at Wembley will mark the second time in three years the sides have met in the final of Europe’s most prestigious club competition, after the Catalan giants prevailed 2-0 in Rome in 2009.
Pep Guardiola’s team, champions in Spain for the third straight time, lost only twice in their successful La Liga campaign.
United, who won the European crown in 2007-08 with a penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea, are also coming off a successful domestic campaign that saw them claim a record 19th Premiership in England.
Some claim it was an unconvincing title win, yet Sir Alex Ferguson had his team playing consistent football and clinching points late in games to finish nine points clear at season’s end.
His team lost just four games all campaign, twice as good as the next best in Arsenal and Tottenham, who both lost eight.
Built on a strong defence featuring captain Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand and well supported by the retiring Edwin van der Sar in goal, United have one of the best defensive trios in the world.
They will need to be in form against some of the world’s best attacking players – including Lionel Messi, David Villa and Andres Iniesta – who have the ability to take a game away from the opposition teams in moments of brilliance.
Xavi will pull the strings in midfield and Sergio Busquets will also have an impact across the middle of the park, but all the talk in the lead-up from the United camp has been focused on Messi.
The dynamic Argentine scored the second goal in the Rome final in 2009 and his form this European campaign has been even better.
Messi has found the net 11 times in 12 appearances this time around, improving his record of nine scored in 12 games two years ago.
Barca dominated that final and United cannot afford to give up a 10th-minute goal like they did at the Stadio Olimpico.
Guardiola’s team was happy to keep possession after taking the lead and they will do similar if United allow the opener.
Whether Ferguson will be willing to give up the ball to his counterparts remains unknown, but his side will need to keep their attacking wits about them if they do.
Wayne Rooney and his ability to produce in critical moments will be decisive, while Javier Hernandez has scored four times in the Champions League this season and could cap off what has already been a memorable debut season with the Red Devils, should he get his name on the score sheet.
A mouth-watering battle out wide between Dani Alves and the evergreen Ryan Giggs could also be on the cards.
Barcelona have the chance to etch themselves in history as one of the great teams, while this United side will be out to prove they are better than the pundits are willing to give them credit for.