Vasco da Gama climbed to fifth in the Brazilian Serie A after a 2-1 win over Atletico Paranaense on Sunday.In Rio de Janiero, the hosts had to come from behind to record the victory after receiving an early scare from the league’s bottom side.
Kleberson was the man who scored the 10th minute opener, silencing the home crowd.
But Alecsandro’s goal on the stroke of half-time gave Ricardo Gomes’ side a much-needed boost heading into the break.
Vasco da Gama came out after half-time looking for a winner and they got it with 20 minutes to play, thanks to Alecsandro who netted his double.
In other matches, Santos were 2-1 winners over Atletico Mineiro in Sao Paulo.
Danilo and Borges both scored first-half goals to secure the win and continue the club’s unbeaten home record this season.
Goals to Marcos Aurelio, Pereira and Bill gave Coritiba a 3-1 home win over Fluminense while a battle between two sides in the relegation zone ended in a 1-0 win to Avai, with William’s 10th minute goal giving them victory against Atletico Goianiense.
The once great club Liverpool have now failed to win any silverware since the 2006 FA Cup but under Kenny Dalglish, who was the last manager to bring the league title to Anfield, could the five year drought soon be at an end?
Kenny Dalglish himself has not won any trophies since picking up the Scottish League Cup in 2000 during his short spell at Celtic. During his six year tenure at Anfield in the ’80s, he won three league titles and two FA Cups and the Reds never finished outside the top two. People have said that Dalglish took over from Joe Fagan when Liverpool were the best team in Europe and that the team was built for success. However, in his debut season as manager at Anfield he led the club to their only league and cup double and did so while still playing. Now that he has returned, Liverpool fans will be hoping he can replicate this success in the 21st century.
After the new owners New Sports England Ventures offered him the job last season, firstly on a caretaker role and then on a permanent three year contract, I think Dalglish has shown that he is the man for the job. The saviour of Liverpool football club didn’t spend the twelve years previous out of the game; instead he was heavily involved on a variety of levels and didn’t let his level of knowledge drop, regularly being spotted at Anfield, following his team’s progress. Since his appointment he has brought stability back to Anfield with his old-school mentalities that had been lost over the years and it looks like the players have embraced this approach.
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His presence last season lifted disillusioned players and the introduction of the Liverpool youngsters, that he had followed through their development at the club, propelled Liverpool to a sixth place finish in the Premier League. He has now brought in the players he thinks are necessary to bring success back to Anfield, sticking to a transfer policy of picking up young English talents with the potential to sell them on at an even bigger price.
These summer arrivals have certainly given hope to Liverpool fans that silverware could be back at Anfield soon. They now have the right balance of youth and experience at the club. With Luis Suarez leading the line alongside Andy Carroll they appear to have goals in the team and we all know about the huge competition for places in midfield. However, there is room for some strengthening in the defence as the left back position still needs sorting and a new centre back could be brought in before the end of the transfer window.
Kevin Keegan’s fated time at Newcastle proved that former managers should not always return to the club where they are loved. However, it seems that Kenny has managed to find the right balance and with owners, who appear to have the club’s interest at heart, things are looking positive for the new season.
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There is the prospect of ending the last five years without a trophy at Anfield and then maybe one day soon Kenny could be just the man to take Liverpool to that long-awaited 19th league title. It would be fitting.
Follow me on twitter @aidanmccartney for more football discussion.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has called his side’s 8-2 defeat to Premier League rivals Manchester United ‘humiliating’, and targeted the signing of three new players to ease the club’s injury woes.
The English champions ran riot against their lacklustre opponents on Sunday, and the French coach was hurting after the game.
“After a game like that it’s terribly painful. It hurts, it was humiliating,” the 61-year-old told reporters.
“We were short in some areas, we had eight players out and they had class. They punished us in front of goal.”
The Emirates outfit have recently sold senior players Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, but the former Monaco boss is standing by his decisions.
“I’m in a public job and I have to accept that. I make the right decisions for the club and I will continue to try to do that. The players we have sold I also brought to the club,” he continued.
“It’s difficult when you lose 8-2. It’s better that you don’t talk too much because it hurts and it looks like you’re looking for excuses.
“I feel it was under very special circumstances and what’s important is we’ve played three games of the season. It’s not like it’s the end of the season, when you make a balanced judgement of the season,” he stated.
The Gunners have had a tentative approach to player employment in Wenger’s span as manager, who is reluctant to spend extortion transfer fees, but he has stated that the London club are in the market for three new faces before the window shuts on August 31.
“We’re working very hard on transfers. We’re close to signing a striker at the moment and we want a defender and a midfielder as well,” the Frenchman admitted.
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“I say I’m very open to finding the right players. If we find the right players we will sign them. We have the money to sign the right players – if we find them we’ll do it – we have 20 people working on it, I’m not the only one.
“I know that in England when you lose a game the signing is a solution but we need first to get our players back. We had eight players out today and anybody would suffer with those players out,” he concluded.
Ivory Coast international Seydou Doumbia has never made a secret of his desire to play in the Premier League, and the CSKA Moscow striker may find his dream coming true sooner rather than later with reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur.
German media 4-4-2 have claimed that the striker is high on Harry Redknapp ’s wish list, as he continues to tinker with and rejuvenate his attacking options. Spurs were believed to be keen on adding new attacking threats to their squad this summer, following the departure of both Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane , but due to the ongoing transfer saga involving Luka Modric , they were limited to just bringing in Emmanuel Adebayor on loan.
Should Spurs follow up their interest in Doumbia, a fee in the region of €20M is believed to be needed in order to convince CSKA to sell their star striker. Although Spurs fans will be hoping that Redknapp is backed financially and allowed to bring in Doumbia without having to offload any players in the meantime, there is a cheaper option reportedly available to the North Londoners.
Ander Herrera of Athletic Bilbao is also thought to be in Redknapp’s sights, and would likely cost slightly less, somewhere in the region of €15M. At only 22, Herrera offers tremendous potential, and should Redknapp be able to convince Bilbao, a club notorious for keeping hold their talented youngsters, to sell, he may well have procured himself a real star of the future.
Article courtesy of Alex Shaw from the excellent Transfer Tavern
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Over the last 20 years Sky have brought numerous fantastic self-promoted innovations to the football viewer, all in the name of making football bigger and better than ever before, but none are more timeless and successful than Super Sunday.
Perhaps I’m just a sucker for the endless hyping of the Premier League, but when I see a Super Sunday coming up I know I’ll be watching. Every couple of months the scheduling fates collide and throw up two mouth-watering clashes, then Sky whack them back to back on a Sunday and that’s it. Six hours of my day are locked down and I know there will be absolutely no need to leave the house.
The question ‘what are you doing this weekend?’ is instantly met with ‘well on Sunday I’m watching the football.’ It makes absolutely no difference what the weather’s like – why would you need to know when the pre-match build starts at one and the pundits round it all off at 7? It’s a glorious medley of sofa sitting, split up only by jumping up and down with delight, burying your face in your hands and the occasional pee.
Sunday is traditionally a day of rest so I have no qualms with the lie-in, late breakfast and build up routine. Bring on the completely over-the-top half hour of endless adverts and montages, at one o’clock on a Super Sunday I’m ready to soak it all in. Build build build, I’m not going anywhere. If it’s a glorious day outside I might open the back door, maybe.
I face the row of pundits, responding as though I’m in the studio, agreeing, contesting, scoffing, even laughing with the banter with a worrying over-familiarity. ‘Oh Jamie! How could you! Hahahaa..’ (Seems surprisingly camp reading that back!) I’m in the zone and it’s a great place to be.
Sky do a fantastic job of getting you excited about teams that you don’t support, playing games that won’t necessarily matter at all in the long run. Every game is HUGE, every decision is HUGE, even every advert is bookmarked with epic Sky voiceovers and shots of crowds going mad. It’s impossible not to get sucked into Sky’s distorted world in which football matters more than everything else put together.
At the end of it all, six hours later, you realise that you’ve actually just watched two football matches, not the most important events of all time. There’s also a high chance that next weekend you’ll do the same again, but there’s no time to dwell on that. Just have some dinner and settle back into that sofa groove. Match of the Day 2 starts at 10.
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When I’m not watching football you can find me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/philipwroe tweeting about guess what….
Louis Saha and Jack Rodwell struck late in the game to snatch all three points against Fulham at Craven Cottage as they tasted victory for the first time in four games.
The game looked dead set to end in a draw after Bryan Ruiz’s first strike for the Cottagers since signing on deadline day cancelled out Royston Drenthe’s second minute opener in a game that fell flat after an enterprising opening. But Saha and Rodwell had other ideas pouncing at the death to relieve the pressure built up on David Moyes after their recent winless run. He rewarded Greek striker Apostolos Velios for his goal against Chelsea last week with his first Premier League start as they looked to win for the first time in October. For Martin Jol’s it was another disappointing afternoon on their own patch as they failed to kick on once again despite looking to have turned the corner after the 6-0 thrashing against QPR last month. The Dutchman will be left rueing Bobby Zamora’s late miss which would have put Fulham ahead in the final minutes. Their Europa League campaign seems to be catching up with them as they looked jaded in the second half in what was their 22nd fixture of the season.
Whether they were still awake at kick-off is debatable as Everton pressed from the first whistle and took the lead after just two minutes through Drenthe. The loan signing from Real Madrid has slowly grown into the English game and produced a moment of real quality curling a superb effort past Mark Schwarzer following Rodwell’s lay-off. The Toffee’s played like a team brimming with confidence and should have doubled their lead but Marouane Fellaini and Rodwell were both unable to covert two delicious crosses from Leighton Baines. Drenthe was also looking lively and tried his luck again from distance but found Schwarzer equal to his effort this time. Fulham finally woke from their slumber and were unlucky not to equalise after Danny Murphy lashed an effort off the post with the ball hitting goalkeeper Tim Howard on the head and flew across goal and out for a corner. The American had to be at his best to minutes later to keep out a Brede Hangeland header as Jol’s side continued to grow into the game.
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They took their supremacy into the second period and they finally equalised through £10 million man Ruiz who met a Clint Dempsey through ball before dinking the deftest of chips over Howard to open his account for the Cottagers. As the game started to fade out Zamora was presented with a glorious opportunity to give his side the lead with a minute to go. The England striker showed great poise to bring the ball under control and take it round Howard only smash the ball over bar with the net ready to bulge as his composure deserted him at the vital moment it what is the miss of the season so far. He was made to pay dearly for his failure in front of goal as Everton went on a smash and grab to secure their only their second win on the Thames in 10 years. Saha was the man to break the West Londoner’s hearts as he superbly controlled the ball on his chest before expertly guiding it past Schwarzer. The icing on the cake was then applied by Rodwell who steered a wonderful volley into the net.
At the risk of this sounding more like a ‘Rant by Rebecca’ than a quality article – or at the very least an article – I am going to risk raising the subject of ticket prices. Now I enjoy going to games as much as anyone, and have been to an array of stadiums in my time, ranging from the Bernabeau to Ewood Park, and I have enjoyed all the games. What I don’t enjoy however is the price you have to pay for said game.
Now going to El Classico, I fully expect to pay premium price for a game, but if I was an away fan who had travelled half way across the country to a game and then found out the price I had paid for my ticket was double that of the team who had visited the previous week, my reaction would be roughly the same as when I get called Football Barbie– not best impressed.
Both United and Liverpool plan to bring this very issue up in the Premier League Shareholders meeting, and are, in my opinion, more than justified to do so. Whilst I will begrudgingly admit that there is some logic in charging away fans roughly the same price for a ticket that home fans have to pay, the so called ‘fairness’ of this rule is then totally negated when one away team pays under £20 for their tickets, and another pays nearly £50. It is not the fault of the supporter that they follow a so called more successful team, and the example above is that of Liverpool and Bolton at the Hawthorns.
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Clubs will tell you that in order to sell out the stadium for so called less attractive fixtures, especially should the game be on TV, they have to lower prices for fans, and I do think this idea has merit – Blackburn Rovers are offering a ‘treble ticket’ for £20 to get fans to fill the seats during games against Swansea, West Brom and Bolton, which given the state of Rovers at the minute is probably charging £19.99 too much, but in all seriousness no one can criticise offers like this, which benefit both the teams and the fans will a better atmosphere and energy around the stadium.
What people will criticise is the fact that those three sets of away fans will pay very little for their tickets yet when another side visits, they will pay much more – especially fans of say Chelsea or United. Just because a fan supports a club that come in the ‘Category A’ fixture section does not mean they have more money than a fan who supports a team that charge, by comparison, very little to watch.
From a supply and demand perspective, yes I can understand that top clubs will charge more for tickets and it does work both ways – a Swansea fan visiting Old Trafford will pay a similar price to the home supporters, and probably for the privilege of getting hammered – yet this is once a season. For ‘Category A’ supporters this is every away game, and as a fan, who can blame them for feeling that is unfair? And whilst I’m on a roll, have you seen the prices for a pie at games these days? You need a second job just to pay for the food, let alone the ticket!
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Phil Jones scored his first goal for Manchester United to see off Aston Villa in the Midlands and stay within five points of neighbours City at the Premier League summit.
The 19-year-old scored the only goal at Villa Park to give United a fourth 1-0 win in their last five games as they continue their recovery from October’s Derby day massacre. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were in control for much of the game but were almost pegged back by James Collins late header which brought the best out of goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard. After seeing league leaders City beat Norwich earlier in the day to extend their lead to eight points the pressure was on the Red Devils to take home all three points and stay within touching distance of their rivals. Alex McLeish’s side had won only one of their last six games and their evening was soured further with on-loan midfielder Jermaine Jenas and goalkeeper Shay Given both having to go off injured. The away side also suffered an injury blow after Javier Hernandez was carried off with suspected knee ligament damage after catching his studs in the turf during the first half.
Despite that United dominated proceedings with their intelligent passing and blistering pace out wide proving too much for the hosts and it was no surprise when Jones opened the scoring on 20 minutes. The newly capped England defender showed that he is just as good in the opponents penalty area timing his run to perfection to meet Nani’s elegantly flighted cross to score his first goal for the club since his £18 million move from Blackburn in the summer. The visitors stepped up their dominance from then on with Given saving brilliantly from Nani’s header before Antonio Valencia saw his 35-yard strike sail over the cross bar. An insipid first half display from the hosts saw them booed off at half time and it proved to be the wake up call they needed as they started brightly after the break. Emile Heskey had an early chance to restore parity but could only head over from three yards out after Richard Dunne had flicked on a corner.
United were strolling with Villa’s lack of invention in the final third meaning Lindegaard, making his fifth appearance of the season, was rarely troubled. The Dane proved his concentration levels hadn’t dropped though with Collins’ header forcing him into a superb finger tip save 15 minutes from time. Wayne Rooney, without a goal since September, should have sealed victory with three minutes over but could only blaze over from close range. It didn’t matter though as Ferguson’s side secured all three points to move five points behind City one again going into the hectic festive period.
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The FA suggested that Luis Suarez’s evidence was unreliable and inconsistent and that is the reason for his eight game ban. Liverpool has said they will review the evidence of the report, before deciding whether they intend to appeal the sanction.
Elsewhere in the news Rooney was axed over Boxing Day night out; Germans rage at Capello’s jibe, while the Tax office is investigating player perks.
Suárez evidence was unreliable and inconsistent, declares FA report – Guardian
Rooney ‘axed’ over Boxing Day night out – Daily Telegraph
Redknapp: ‘You can’t win every game but we can still take title’ – Independent
Title now ‘a fantasy’, says Villas-Boas – Guardian
Germans rage at Capello’s ‘stealing’ jibe – Independent
Arsenal look to Germany and £10m bid for Cologne star Podolski – Daily Mail
Liverpool plot shock £24m swoop for England striker – Mirror
Tax office ‘investigating player perks’ – Guardian
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West Ham refuse to budge on Tomkins deal as Newcastle are told to up bid – Daily Mail
Man United face losing top starlet for just £300k – Mirror
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has spoken of his disappointment after his side were beaten 1-0 at the Stadium of Light by Sunderland on Sunday.
A last-gasp strike from Black Cats’ substitute Dong-Won Ji in the third minute of injury time continued the Wearside club’s revival under Martin O’Neill, and prevented the Etihad Stadium outfit from opening up a lead at the top of the Premier League.
Mancini was upset with the nature of the defeat, and feels that if City want to challenge for honours this season they must not be beaten in such dramatic fashion.
“I can’t believe it. I am really disappointed,” the Italian told Sky Sports.
“Second half we had a lot of chances to score, but we didn’t score.
“We can’t concede to a counter attack like this. A top team can’t concede like that. Sometimes when you can’t win because it is difficult to get the ball in the goal, you can’t lose.
“You need to defend. When you attack with seven players, that is enough. You can’t then concede how we conceded.
“I am disappointed because it is impossible to lose a game like this.
“In the first half we played so-so, we didn’t play very well, second half we were better. We deserved to win this game but this is a strange situation,” he stated.
Mancini knows that his side need to bounce back against Liverpool on Tuesday, and with Manchester United and Chelsea also being beaten over the weekend, the coach is disappointed that City couldn’t take advantage.
“We need to get the concentration for the next game. We play again in 48 hours.
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“I think we threw out of the window a big chance to go clear at the top, but the championship is long and we have another 19 games. We need to get another 45 points,” he concluded.