Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has stated that he still has the backing of Roman Abramovich, and wants to lead the team to success in coming seasons.
The Portuguese coach has come under scrutiny due to the fact that The Blues are not in the race for the Premier League title, but Villas Boas is eager to fulfil the club’s objectives this term.
“We have two competitions where we look better, and another competition where we have to dilute the damage and try to finish fourth, at least, which is not a very honourable position for the dimension of this club,” he stated in a press conference, which is documented by The Telegraph.
“I think when we set up with this team, we believed that the team was ready for four trophies.
“We had a transfer window open when we didn’t do any market activity, apart from Gary [Cahill].
“So we are confident on playing still to reach the objectives that we have for this season with this team, and then eventually move on to what is next year.
“The reality is that in the last years there was a pattern of managers shifting. In the end, you have to agree that from 2004 Chelsea has been massively successful. It has been the best period of Chelsea’s history.
“And hopefully we can progress that within the three-year range with me here,” he commented.
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Chelsea face Everton on Saturday and will look to close the gap on London rivals Tottenham in the position above them.
Swindon Town’s defeat at Wembley last Sunday to Chesterfield would have been a hard pill to swallow if it was not for the fact that they are four points clear at the summit of League 2.
Also, the extra cushion of having 2 games in hand will sit nicely with the Wiltshire side. Paolo Di Canio will be looking for Swindon to bounce back with a ‘warrior’ like attitude and performance. Captain Paul Caddis is still out injured and this is a major blow to the Robins as he has been an influential figure this season. Striker Paul Benson is doubtful for the weekend’s game due to a slight neck injury.
Lowly-Season…
Bristol Rovers visit the County Ground on Saturday after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Aldershot on Tuesday Night. Rovers may feel aggrieved by this loss but 1 shot on target is not the sign of a team on form. The Gas have under achieved this season lying in 14th place with nothing notable to play for. With 1st Round, 2nd Round and 3rd Round defeats in JPT, League cup and FA Cup respectively, this has come as somewhat of a consolation for the fans during a poor season. Rovers will need to vastly improve their performances if want to keep key players in the summer. This season Rovers have had severe defensive issues shipping 58 goals in 39 games, which manager Mark McGhee had said ‘this is not what I expect from my players’. This will not deter Rovers from selling out their allocation against their local rivals.
Head-To-Head…
This is the 94th meeting between the teams with Swindon Town leading the way with 43 wins in comparision to Bristol Rovers’s 35. Swindon’s are looking for their 13th straight home win in the league but the form book goes out of the window in derby games.
Earlier This Season…
When the teams met in December they could not be separated. Swindon’s captain Paul Caddis put the Robins into the lead in the 37th minute with a left footed strike from the edge of the box. This effort was cancelled out late into the game by Danny Woodards headed goal. This point for Rovers kept them in touch with 17th place AFC Wimbledon whilst the Robins climbed to 6th, 11 points behind the leaders Crawley.
Trip down memory lane…
Saturday 29th May 2010
Millwall 1 Swindon Town 0
Attendance: 73,108 (32,000 Swindon Fans)
Goals From: Robinson (39’).
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Why I Remember The Game: This was my first trip to the new Wembley. An awesome stadium and had ever confidence beforehand. One moment will forever be with me and that’s the ‘Bobble’ from Charlie Austin. I suppose with this loss and the relegation that followed the next season we have ended up with the Italian maestro Paolo Di Canio therefore we cannot have any complaints.
You can follow me on Twitter for more discussion about Swindon @engoism.
Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that full-back Fabio will go out on loan next season to try and get more regular first-team football.
The Brazilian defender has only made five appearances for the Premier League champions this term, and the Scottish coach is hopeful that a temporary deal elsewhere will help the young star.
“I hope that Fabio will develop in the same way as his twin, Rafael,” Ferguson told The Sun.
“To help him, he will go out on loan next season to give him concentrated first-team experience.
“I have already talked to him and he understands the value of playing regularly at a higher level than we can give him at the moment,” he confessed.
Fabio has been a bit-part player at Old Trafford this campaign due to the continued progression of the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.
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A letter from Blackburn deputy chief executive Paul Hunt to Rovers co-owner Anuradha Desai has been leaked, which urges the Indian owners to sack under-fire manager Steve Kean.
The letter, dated December 2011, stresses that the Scot is not the man to take the Lancashire club forward, which may well have been proved right since Blackburn’s relegation.
“I write now to ask you to make significant changes to save the club, perhaps from relegation and perhaps from administration,” the letter reads, according to The Daily Mail.
“With the bank closing in, I fear that they will look to foreclose and have the potential to implement financial restrictions upon the club that could as a worst-case scenario enforce administration. Publicly I have been asked to support the manager and I always have as I personally like Steve.
“I have supported him from the start and have been desperate for him to do well. However, I am now of the opinion that it isn’t working and he is ready to go.
“He has lost the crowd and as a result of this evening’s game against Bolton has lost the dressing room as well – the players no longer want to play for him.
“It is a shame and disappointing but we must act now to save the club. The board should be asked their opinion on who should be the new manager,” he concluded.
Kean has stated that he will not resign from the club, despite demotion to The Championship.
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The Dons were in red hot form before Saturday’s defeat to Walsall where they were simply not good enough.
If we play like that against Huddersfield then we will lose by 2 or 3 goals. However, if we play like we did against Sheffield United then we will win for sure.
Our home form of late hasn’t been the best and stadium:MK has become less of a fortress. The pitch hasn’t helped the way we play and our free flowing football isn’t working as well. The pitch is starting to look a bit better and hopefully we can use this to our advantage on Saturday
Did you know?
MK Dons have scored a record breaking 106 goals this season, with 20 different goal scorers!
I think it’s vital that we get an early goal to settle our nerves. We must put pressure on Huddersfield from the first minute and not let them feel comfortable. I have no doubt that Karl and John will prepare the lads in the best possible way for the two games and I don’t think they need to be fired up as they know a place in the championship is at stake!
Playoff heartache will be fresh in the minds for both teams so I would expect a very open game and a few goals. I’m going to go for a 2-1 win to the Dons! I’d hope we could put clear daylight between us and Huddersfield but it will be tough and would require a performance of real quality which I know we are capable of.
My MK Dons XI v HTAFC
Martin,
Chicksen, MacKenzie, Williams, Lewington
Potter, Gleeson
O’Shea, Ibehre, Bowditch
MacDonald
Karl has stated that Doumbe should play some part in the playoff games but I feel it would be better to bring him in for the away leg where it’ll be more difficult for us. Hopefully MacKenzie is fit to play because his strength in the box is unrivalled by any other centre back we have. We must go for an attacking front four that will interchange constantly so that Huddersfield cannot man mark us and hopefully leaving us with more space to exploit.
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The dons faithful have been treated to a few cracking games at stadium:MK this season the 6–2 v Chesterfield, a few 3-0 wins, a 5-0 thrashing of Oldham and even a 4-3 win against local rivals Wycombe! Dons are capable of running riot and they need to make sure this game will live long in the memories of Dons fans!
With the Dons knowing this will definitely be John Gorman’s last home game, we all (fans included) need to make this a very special occasion for a legend that we have been lucky to have helping us out these last two years. Here’s to a very successful game for the Dons, let’s get the road to Wembley off to the best possible start! Come on you Dons!
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I’m in shock. When football finally returned to our screens after what seemed like an unbearable gap (2 weeks), I logically expected the pundits that would take this magical journey with us to be knowledgeable, astute, well-spoken fellows, like what they always have been you know? Imagine my surprise then when some of them turned out to be rubbish.
If you collated articles bemoaning the level of football punditry in this country you would have enough material to last you a lifetime. So it’s not surprising that the pundits are getting it in the neck again, especially the BBC.
The BBC didn’t help itself by starting proceedings with an explosive interview between Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney (insert sarcasm hash tag here). To call it banal would be an insult to banality itself. As for the likes of Lawrenson and Hansen, it’s all been covered before, so I’ll just sum it up by sitting here whilst sighing dramatically. Lawrenson has nothing (and I mean nothing) to offer, but the annoying thing about Hansen is that you know he’s capable of more. In fact, I have vague memories of the old Hansen doing this thing called analysis once upon a time. Maybe it was a dream.
Alan Shearer has escaped the wilds of Salford Quays to commentate from the grounds, and seems to have upped his game slightly. This isn’t saying much though, and the comments such as “Lewandowski seems like a good player” continue to flow. The vain hope that he’s done some research on a man who is rather key to his nation’s chances and has won the Bundesliga for the last two seasons was probably showing ridiculous levels of optimism. But do you need to do research? Take Greece for example – punditry school tells you that there little need for knowledge about their squad. Constant references to their poor economic status will do (include as many puns as possible – Greek tragedy, bailed out, indebted to their keeper, you get the idea). As for Shearer’s analysis of Sweden and Ukraine, all he could muster after watching one game is that they won’t bother England (do we ever learn??). Need I even ask if he has checked their qualification campaign, when they scored 31 goals, or looked at the new expansive play they are trying to adopt? They were poor against Ukraine, but useless they are not. Still, he looks happy to be there, so we should be thankful for that. And as for Harry Redknapp – well, don’t get me started.
ITV have fared better, for once. They haven’t cut to adverts during a goal (yet), and the scheduled adverts probably help them as they have less time to fill around the matches. I’ve nothing against watching Joe Hart play head tennis in a swimming pool but I’d want a bit more besides that.
Jamie Carragher’s accent takes time to adjust to, resembling Steven Gerrard on fast forward, but he has plenty to offer as a pundit (plus the odd generalised footballing cliché). The style may upset the Queen’s English brigade, but at least he was willing to make some valid points, and criticise the French team when sat next to Patrick Vieira. As for Patrick, again he was better than some of the previous offerings, though on early showings I’m not sure we’re getting full value out of an astute, educated man.
For the Czech Republic v Greece, we had the unassuming Matt Smith hosting, a man that rarely stands out, but does his job, so is fine by me. The pundits were Roberto Martinez and Gordon Strachan, and they assessed the game well. Martinez is the star of the show for me, giving straight-forward logical analysis, and whilst Gordon Strachan is a man who can irritate me (and most sports journalists) more than anyone, he too had far more to offer than the grey canvas on offer over at the BBC.
Of course ITV’s coverage is always worth watching for the constant possibility that at any moment Roy Keane may “go rogue” and turn into Michael Douglas in Falling Down. Expect a police statement demanding the safe return of Adrian Chiles. As for Keane’s performances – well he is what he is. He never smiles, he seems to have a grudge on life itself, and he is not one for a joke. But at least he has something constructive to say every now and then. The same goes for Gareth Southgate, who neither excels nor bombs, but is worth his place on the team, the “water-carrier” of the ITV squad. And a better bet than Martin Keown, another pundit with little of any substance to impart.
But – there’s still the problem of Adrian Chiles. For a man who professes to love football, and be a season ticket holder to boot, he seems to have very little idea about what to say. He is sadly something of a bumbling idiot at times, always coming out with unfunny quips and stuttering last night to the point that I had to turn over as it was just too excruciating. I don’t like saying it, as he is genial and inoffensive, and I wanted him to be a roaring success when he made the move to ITV. But any man who comes out with the line, “as a child Jakub Blaszczykowski watched his father murder his mother… but he’s bounced back!” is not schooled in how to say things the right way. His “banter” with Patrick Vieira before the England v France match was a low point of the Euro 2012 coverage so far.
Key in all this is the fact that the BBC decided to stay in Salford rather than ship out to Polkraine en masse, as they used to do. It’s not surprising really, as they are criticised for every pound they spend, so counting the pennies makes sense, and in theory it shouldn’t matter where they are as long as they watched the match. But as it turns out, it does matter. The BBC panel seem detached, cold, and rather depressed at times. On the other hand, the ITV panel are stationed on a lovely bespoke wooden platform in the heart of the action, giving the impression of a group of holidaying veterans cutting the breeze. They seem to be having a better time, which is hardly surprising, and it shows. The lighting is top notch too.
As for during the match, the less said the better. Co-commentators are uniformly rubbish in my head. Main commentators aren’t much better, always looking for their Kenneth Wolstenholme moment by quoting Shakespeare or tying Gdansk in with Polish solidarity in some mangled metaphor attempt that will always fail.
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So it’s advantage ITV for me so far. We’re all watching for the football, so the punditry is a sideshow. But like the weather it’s a staple topic of discussion with football fans. But when most of us can’t decide whether a draw against France is good or bad, I can’t see a few minutes of punditry helping us out much over the coming weeks. But the BBC needs to up its game after a poor month of general coverage that included a right royal slating for their Jubilee coverage. The easiest way they can do that though is to ditch the old guard, and it’s too late for that. Let’s hope then that the likes of Hansen can remember why they are being paid large amounts of money to sit in a TV studio, before they drag Lee Dixon and Gary Lineker down with them.
You can buy Howard’s Manchester City 2011/12 Season Review on Kindle for just £2.50
Manchester City begin the new season as favourites with the bookmakers ahead of rivals Manchester United. Mancini’s men will be looking to retain the trophy that they so dramatically won last campaign. With a considerable amount of finance in the clubs pocket, City have the ability to pick and choose from the wealth of talent available. However, the clubs challengers have already engaged in spending sprees and the Champions will need to move quickly in order to claim the players that they desire.
Manchester United and Chelsea rank second and third favourites to win the title in the betting market. Sir Alex and his young team just missed out on the trophy last season, having it snatched away in the last seconds by their City neighbours. The club will be as hungry as ever to reclaim the silverware that has become accustomed to standing in the Old Trafford Trophy cabinet. Chelsea meanwhile are in a period of transition. Having lost star striker Didier Drogba, Di Matteo has acted quickly, acquiring Marko Marin for Werder Bremen and Belgian starlet Eden Hazard from Lille. The club will be looking to improve on last season’s disappointing showing in the league by making a challenge for the trophy that they have obtained three times.
Arsenal have been given the fourth shortest odds with the new season now just weeks away. The Gunners have never failed to make a challenge for the league’s top spot at early moments in the season but sudden lack of form usually sends the club slipping down a couple of places. Holding on to Van Persie may see the North London clubs odds shorten even further, lose the Dutchman however, and there may be trouble ahead for Wenger’s men.
Tottenham and Liverpool both come into the season with matching odds for title glory. With both clubs in a similar transitional period; new managers bringing new philosophies and a sense of the mystery for the future could mean that these clubs will not be quite ready to launch a serious title challenge this campaign.
Newcastle sit just above Everton in the odds market, both clubs considered to have had excellent seasons last year. The Magpies were the surprise package of the season, fighting for a Champions League place all the way until the competitions unforgettable climax. Pardew and his form team could repeat their 5th placed finish should they acquire some new talent. While David Moyes will once again be hoping for a similar campaign. The Toffees have been supremely consistent over the last few years, finishing above expectations on a shoestring budget and the Goodison faithful should be content with another season of relative success.
Fulham are priced next with last season’s impressive showing seemingly leaving an impact on the bookmakers. Under Martin Jol, the club could achieve another top ten finish; a decet achievement considering the size of the club. The remaining 11 teams are all placed as firm outsiders; an indication of the divide between the Premier League’s top and bottom half. From the also rans, QPR have spent lavishly thus far and could make progress toward the top half of the table. Stoke remain an unpredictable team to judge. Whilst their squad does not ooze quality, their stalwart defending and bloodied work rate may generate a top ten finish. Whilst Aston Villa could be worth an outside shot should they improve on their disastrous campaign last term. Paul Lambert is an astute manager and with the clubs stature and fan base, the top ten should be acquirable.
Below are the current odds for next seasons Premier League Champions – courtesy of Bet At Home
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During a summer transfer window clubs are linked with multiple players and fans all have their own opinions, stating that some players just aren’t worth their transfer fee and there are better ones out there. That must be bad enough for a new signing- to feel like they are second, or even third best in the eyes of the fans, but what about those players who are not even considered the best in their family?
How must it feel for players to be compared to their more successful sibling time and time again, always knowing that they are going to come off worse, and not quite live up to the expectation their sibling created. Football is no different from anything in life and sibling rivalry exists with a vengeance with the players not just vying to be their parents golden boy, but the fans too – and here is a look at the top ten footballers who did not quite reach the dizzy heights of their brother.
Click on Joel Cantona below to get the ball rolling
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Romelu Lukaku has explained the frustration he suffered at Chelsea last season, just days after sealing a season-long loan move to West Brom Albion, reports the Daily Mail.
The 19-year-old Belgian international, was signed last summer by former Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas in a deal worth £18 million, however Lukaku only started one Premier League game, and found himself fourth in the striking pecking order, behind Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge.
New Baggies boss Steve Clarke, has acted quickly in signing up the powerful forward, who had two prolific seasons with Belgian club Anderlecht prior to his big money switch to London.
‘I couldn’t see myself staying at Chelsea. I sacrificed a year of my career with them and didn’t want to put up with it any more,’ Lukaku explained.
‘I decided in March I wanted to go out on loan, and told my agent to find me a club. I am relieved to have found a solution.
‘On the first day of pre-season I told the manager I wanted to leave.
‘Roberto Di Matteo told me I ought to think about Chelsea as there weren’t going to be many other strikers this season, but this is the time for me to think about myself.
‘I got sick of watching the others from the bench. I just played 12 games and when I was playing well, they would take me off.
‘I lost my hunger for the game over the past year. I won’t beat about the bush – my season at Chelsea went very badly.
‘As regards getting minutes on the pitch, I wasted my time.
‘Last season I was in the reserves alongside a young lad who’d barely turned 15 and I asked myself what I was doing there.’
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Lukaku will be hoping to show Baggies fans the sort of form that saw him described as one of Europe’s hottest young striking talents, and is looking forward to linking up with Steve Clarke.
‘Steve Clarke constantly phoned me when I was on Chelsea’s US tour,’ he explained.
manager Martin O’Neill is hoping that his side can react possitivley in the Premier League this weekend after crashing out of the Capital One Cup in mid-week.
The Black Cats were beaten 1-0 by local rivals Middlesbrough at the Stadium of Light to add more frustration to the start to their league campaign, which sees them 14th after drawing six of their opening eight fixtures.
And O’Neill believes his side are capable of better performances and puts current form down to a failure to create enough goal scoring chances.
He told Sky Sports: “I think that this season we haven’t created enough clear cut chances in many games. I think that’s the biggest thing.
“If you take a ratio of chances there is a bigger likely hood that if you, let’s say, create eight chances in a game there is a decent chance you are going to take one or two of those.
“If that is the case then we need to create more chances and I believe we have the ability to do so.”
O’Neill went on to confirm that he has every faith in his players and he believes he has the right resources to improve the side’s league position.
“I am far from having lost faith in any one. Quite the opposite. I believe we have the capabilities to do this.”
Sunderland host Aston Villa, who are without a league win in five and just two points off the bottom three, on Saturday afternoon.
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