The candidates for this season’s PFA Players of the Year have been named, with Manchester City having three of the six possible winners.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart, playmaker David Silva and striker Sergio Aguero head the list of players ready to claim the prestigious accolade.
The Etihad Stadium trio are joined by Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney, Arsenal goal-machine Robin van Persie and Tottenham’s midfield dynamo Scott Parker.
Last year’s winner Gareth Bale is not included in the six candidates, but will be considered for the Young Player of the Year award, along with Spurs team-mate Kyle Walker.
Aguero is again included in the Young Player of the Year reckoning, as is Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge.
Danny Welbeck is rewarded for his breakthrough at Old Trafford with inclusion in the running for the Young Player award, with Arsenal Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain completing the list.
The awards will be presented on April 22nd at a ceremony in London.
PFA Player of the Year shortlist: Joe Hart, Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie, Scott Parker.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
PFA Young Player of the Year shortlist: Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kyle Walker, Sergio Aguero and Gareth Bale
The 2011/ 2012 season was dubbed by many to have been the most entertaining we have seen for years. Arsenal Football Club have had a particularly turbulent year, concluding in their wait for a trophy still ticking over. The season began with one of the worst starts to a league season the red half of north London has ever experienced, and from there on in life as an Arsenal fan would be tested to the limit. They have seen the lows, with a 4-0 defeat in Milan followed by a FA Cup exit at Sunderland. But there have been highs for The Gunners this year too, most notably a 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge, and beating the old enemy 5-2 to help overturn a ten point deficit. But what exactly can Arsenal fans learn from this season? We look at ten concluding points to Arsenal’s season.
Click on Oxlade Chamberlain to unveil the top 10
[divider]
[divider]
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Theo Walcott is a major doubt for England’s decisive Euro 2012 Group D game against Ukraine on Tuesday after he picked up a knock in training.
The Arsenal man impressed when he came off the bench against Sweden on Friday by scoring one and setting up another, which give the Three Lions a 3-2 victory.
England boss Roy Hodgson has revealed that Walcott could well miss the game against Oleg Blokhin’s men after pulling up in training.
“Unfortunately he had a slight setback in training,” Hodgson said.
“He felt the hamstring that kept him out for so long at the end of the season and which we were slightly concerned about when he came to us,” The Telegraph quote Hodgson as saying.
“We have been lucky nothing has occurred with that but in a little training session today we had to take the precaution of taking him from the field because he felt some tightness there.
“Whether he is a real contender for a starting position will depend upon what the medical people can tell me and how much guarantee they can give me that if I do start him he won’t be leaving the field after five minutes, forcing us to have 13 men rather than the 14 I would rather count on,” he confessed.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Real Madrid are ready to take the initiative in the race to sign Tottenham’s star playmaker Luka Modric, and will make a £30 million bid in coming days according to The Daily Mail.
The Croatia international’s future at White Hart Lane is unsure after the side missed out on Champions League football, and with his nation now eliminated from Euro 2012 it is expected that the transfer talks will commence.
Modric was pursued by Chelsea last summer but Spurs held firm and rejected approaches from their Premier League neighbours, however Manchester United are thought to be serious suitors of the midfielder this time round.
However, Jose Mourinho’s Madrid team are looking to strengthen their Primera Division squad, and it is believed that the Santiago Bernabeu chief has told the club to make a bid for Modric.
With Spurs reluctant to part with their star man, a sale to a foreign side would be preferred over selling Modric to any of their Premier League rivals.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
As Martin O’Neill prepares to get stuck into his Sunderland squad, the Stadium of Light rumour mill is in full swing with a host of names being linked with a move to the North East.
It’s an exciting time for Black Cats supporters as they debate the merits of potential new recruits and attempt to predict O’Neill’s targets, despite the Northern Irishman keeping his cards typically close to his chest. While a number of fresh faces could well be lining up in Red and White next season, their places in the side must be vacated by members of the current squad and as such many of O’Neill’s troops could find themselves surplus to requirements this summer.
With the club reportedly chasing at least two new strikers, defensive reinforcements and some speedy wingers, they must free up space in a side brimming with talented squad players. As well as finding the room to accommodate any new signings, the club must also consider the financial implications of their recruitment drive and freeing up wages while recouping as much of their outlay as possible is of paramount importance if they’re to maintain their sustainability.
It’s time to take a look at the 10 players who could be surplus to O’Neill’s requirements this summer as he looks to stamp his authority and mould his team into European challengers.
Click on Connor Wickham to unveil the 10
[divider]
[divider]
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
It’s Saturday evening; you’ve secured the prime sofa position for optimum television viewing and struggled through an entire episode of Casualty. Now all that’s left is to ‘look away now’ at the end of the news and you can saviour the delights of another set of Premier League fixtures.
Now, Saturdays can be somewhat demanding, with a long list of activities on offer and the exciting prospect of consuming alcohol without the fear of having to get up in the morning. This will inevitably mean you’re not as attentive as you should be and it’s at this moment when certain players convince you of their bogus talent in their 5-minute airing on the BBC. You might witness a fantastic mazy run or a blinding solo effort but just like when meeting your idols, watching them in the flesh is always a disappointment.
Click on David Luiz below to reveal my top 15 players who only look good on MOTD
[divider]
[divider]
Join on me Twitter @theunusedsub where I think the greatest incentive for a club to achieve promotion is so they no longer have to endure Steve Claridge analysing their games on The Fooball League Show.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
It’s here. It’s finally here. After months of stressing over England buggering up and losing on penalties, Team GB buggering up and, well, losing on penalties. The football season has returned and my, have Wednesday wet the appetite…
On Monday night The Owls took on Oldham Athletic in what was the first test for the new squad that Dave Jones has assembled for our most recent stint in the Championship and, had we gone on the first half display, we’d be shaking in our boots. However, a tremendous second half performance not only forced a comeback and won us the game, but it gave me those goose bumps. Those goose bumps that only football can give.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there’s been an unusual air of optimism surrounding Wednesday this preseason. We’ve signed well, got a good coach at the helm and for the first time in ages we’ve got a bit of stability. Despite all this, half an hour into the Oldham game we found ourselves 2-0 down with our backs to the wall and, by half time we’d managed to miss a penalty as well.
I’m not ashamed to admit that my first thoughts were, “Well, what did I expect, it is Wednesday”. I tweeted something along the lines of, “Good start Wednesday. 2-0 down”, but then, from deep inside me, I had a pulse of assurance. Whether it was the fact that it was a cup game, the fact that my girlfriend said it would be alright, or purely because, for some reason, I actually have confidence in this team, I don’t know, but I added ‘#KeepTheFaith’ to my tweet. Anyway, when the second half started up, despite the score, I didn’t think we were out of it.
Football is a wonderful game isn’t it? Over the years we’ve seen comebacks like Liverpool v Milan and Newcastle v Arsenal, but nothing really beats seeing your own team do it. To non-Wednesdayites we were dead and buried at half-time. United fans tweeted their happiness, “Let’s all laugh at Wednesday”, obviously just bitter about their defeat at the hands of heavyweights, Burton Albion.
However, the boys came out fighting in the second half. DJ said after the game that he’d had ‘one or two words’ with his troops and I’d put money on the fact that some of them weren’t suitable for sensitive ears.
Anyway, second half goals from Jermaine Johnson, Chris O’Grady (2) and Michail Antonio secured a 4-2 win over the Latics and, in turn, cued a Twitter attack on those Blades who, like last season, had begun tallying their roosters before they’d come into the world.
Yes, we could focus on the fact that we were 2-0 down against lower league opposition, but do you know what? I’d rather take heart from the fact that we came back from a shite first half to really show a pair of bollocks and score four goals to win the game.
I, like many Wednesdayites, will choose to see the second half display as a true indicator of what to expect this season and continue to be excited at what we could offer to England’s second tier.
Jones said, “I’m spitting feathers. That was the worst first half I’ve seen. I remember the first 45 rather than the second.” And so he should, his job is to stop us doing that again, to get the player’s heads right. Our job however, is to support our boys, to take the positives and keep battling against the moronic Unitedites who continue to regurgitate the same spiel quicker than a nauseas drunkard.
It’s nice to go into my office and be proud of what my team are doing, proud of their resilience and proud to see a group of players that really know what it means to pull on that blue and white shirt.
On one final side note, I’m dead chuffed to see Antonio signing, he proved his quality against Oldham and I think he could be the final piece in DJ’s puzzle. There’s also talk of Jose Baxter and Jay Bothroyd coming to Hillsborough. I’d be happy with both of those if they happen, as long as Bothroyd doesn’t bring his Ugg boots…
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Instigating change is tough in football. This week has shown the dangers of doing it quickly, with Andre Villas Boas coming under instant pressure at Tottenham and Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool struggling to come to terms with the new style of football that was the signature of his Swansea team. It is unsurprising then that Roy Hodgson, holder of the poison chalice that is the England manager’s job, has distanced himself from this new fad, insisting that he is in no rush to dispose of the ironically named ‘Golden Generation’, which has never led England to anything like silverware, never mind gold.
At the heart of the issue, as usual, is England’s midfield dilemma. For years the questions in the build-up to England games surrounded which of the 400 players England had tried on the left side of midfield would be given the nod to start the upcoming match. Nowadays another issue is at hand. The centre of midfield the position up for debate, particularly with injuries to steady Gareth Barry and golden boy Jack Wilshere leaving Hodgson with such depleted options in the area that Jordan Henderson cannot be far away from another call-up.
As a result, in the build-up to Friday’s World Cup qualifier in Moldova Hodgson has intimated that he may select Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard alongside each other in the middle of the park. It would be a disappointing decision by Hodgson, who flatters to deceive by suggesting he is ready to make brave decisions by selecting the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and yet continues to follow in the path of his predecessors by sticking with squad players who have previously been found wanting and making tactical decisions such as the Gerrard-Lampard one which are likely to see England move backwards rather than forwards. England have failed to reach the last four of a major tournament since 1996, and yet Hodgson seems to think that nothing is broken and therefore, as the saying goes, he is not going to fix it. In reality, the time has surely come to realise that international success for England can only follow large-scale changes.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the best of the bunch among managers, recognises this need for change to reignite a team, and having suffered the bitter disappointment of defeat to the ‘noisy neighbours’ last year on goal difference, he has drastically altered his attacking options. The futures of key players such as Nani and even Wayne Rooney have been thrown into question, with new blood such as Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie providing a new dimension at Old Trafford. Ferguson has never been one to fear cutting ties, with countless superstars like Keane, Beckham and van Nistelrooy able to testify that when he feels a player needs to be moved on for the good of the team, Ferguson is never slow to respond. It is one of the many characteristics that make him arguably the greatest club manager of modern times.
Obviously, the task is significantly less straightforward for Hodgson. If he decides to usher the likes of Gerrard and Lampard from the international set-up, he cannot simply spend an oligarch’s ransom on a world-class midfield player to replace them in the same way that top club sides can. He must look to promote from within, and the number of international standard players in England declining, with the influx of foreign talent that makes its way to the Barclay’s Premier League every summer leaving even those with the most exciting of potential such as Danny Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Steven Caulker with a tough battle to hold down a first-team place. These three players are all examples of those who have dropped down to clubs of lesser resources on loan to learn their trade , but a mid-table Premier League club does not prepare them for international football in the same way as Champions’ League experience with a club that teaches them the habit of winning. As a result, many of the best young English players are still learning the game at the top level.
But it is too easy to say that picking Gerrard and Lampard in midfield together is the best option because there is no better option. Barry and Wilshere may have been the pair’s closest rivals if fit, but they are far from the only options. Tom Cleverley shone in his last England outing. Jack Rodwell looks to have added an extra dimension to his game in his brief spell at Manchester City, and has also impressed in his fleeting cameos at the heart of the England midfield. Michael Carrick, recently returned to the international scene, has won countless medals down the years but has never been a regular starter for England. Leon Britton had a pass completion rate to rival Andres Iniesta, and yet has never been considered for an England side that was shown to be hopelessly incapable of retaining possession at Euro 2012.
These players may currently be on the rung below Gerrard and Lampard as individuals, but that is not to say that they should be disregarded as options for what is fast becoming a problem position for Hodgson. After all, creating a great football team isn’t about picking the most talented players, but about picking the best team to win the match. Sergio Busquets, for example, is a regular for Barcelona and Spain, there are many other rivals for his place that would be considered more technically proficient. The Gerrard-Lampard axis has never looked natural since Lampard became an England regular in the build-up to Euro 2004. They have had plenty of chances, and have shown what they are capable of. With this pairing in midfield, England might get to the quarter finals of major tournaments, but they are regularly hopelessly outclassed against the world’s elite.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
The conservatives will argue that wholesale changes may result in disaster. England may fail to qualify for the World Cup. They may get knocked out in the group stages. But in reality what is the difference between a first round exit and a quarter final? Both are failures. Both will be greeted with the same feeling of deflation that has become all too familiar to England fans in recent years. England need to improve, and only experimentation and new ideas can lead to improvement. Selecting the same team again and again will lead to continuity, and for England, continuity is no longer the order of the day. So come on Roy. Take a chance, go for glory. Make England exciting again. Make a change.
Following the upheaval and struggle that both Tottenham Hotspur and Andre Villas-Boas have had to endure during the month of August, this weekend’s fixture away to Reading offers the perfect opportunity for the Portuguese to get his side’s league campaign up and running. But this month also represents the beginning of a new challenge on a separate front, in the form of this season’s Uefa Europa League campaign.
Europe’s secondary cup competition has seemingly evoked a rather mixed sense of emotions in N17 over the last twelve months. For some, its place on the fixture list represents a footballing migraine; a unwanted distraction that takes momentum away from Premier League efforts and pre-empts the death of the Saturday afternoon fixture. For others, it’s a genuine piece of European silverware that the club should be looking to respect and make a concerted effort to win.
Feelings towards the Europa League remain mixed, but there is a belief that attitudes towards the competition are certainly warming at White Hart Lane. The clubs’ last taste of success in the competition, in its traditional guise of the Uefa Cup, was a very distant 28 years ago – but the names of heroes such as Steve Perryman, Mark Falco and Micky Hazard are uttered around as if it was yesterday. Some feel that maybe winning the Europa League wouldn’t represent such a bad achievement after all. And they have just the man to make it happen.
Andre Villas-Boas’ may have a relatively short managerial resume during his time in the game, but one of his undisputable triumphs was how his Porto side triumphed to Europa League glory in the 2010-11 season. In an effort that saw him complete the treble in his first season at the club, his Porto side displayed a stunning level of maturity and attacking intent to win the competition, culminating in a 1-0 victory over Braga in Dublin in the final.
Those who watched Porto’s performance in a final, dictated by Braga’s preference to negate, may not have been overwhelmingly impressed. But his performance in the rest of the competition was a textbook example of how to win a trophy that’s often very much underestimated by teams on these shores.
Harry Redknapp made his malice for the Europa League felt on more than one occasion last term, and it can’t be denied that it has its disadvantages. The ‘Thursday nights, Channel Five’ chants, cause more of a headache for supporters in the necessity it brings in having to play league games on a Sunday, rather than it’s dubious broadcasting credentials and having to fly to far flung corners of Eastern Europe mid-week probably doesn’t do the team too many favours.
But the truth is that for a team of Spurs’ size and caliber, they should have had enough to get out of the group stage, even if they weren’t always fielding their first choice XI. Luck certainly deserted them during their campaign last term, especially in the home tie against PAOK, but their fate was perhaps ultimately dictated by their performance away to Rubin Kazan in which Redknapp fielded what was in effect, a reserve team, bar the presence of Jermain Defoe. Although one could suggest that giving youngsters such as Ryan Fredericks, Andros Townsend and Yago Falque a run out was admirable, fielding such a team away from home to the groups’ strongest team was in effect, writing the tournament off. A strong line up at home to PAOK was too little, too late for Tottenham.
It will be interesting to see quite what Villas-Boas’ approach is when his team take on Lazio at White Hart Lane in their opening Group J fixture on the 20th September, but you would have hoped that the Portuguese wouldn’t view the competition in quite the same way as Redknapp. If his side are still failing to pick up results in the league, the subsequent pressure could see him turn a blind eye to Europa League proceedings. But considering how well it served him during Porto, you’d find it hard to think he’d consider bottling it with Tottenham.
Because most importantly for Spurs, Villas-Boas has seemingly got the basics right in the cup competition, such as negotiating out of the group stage safely and grinding out results away from home. In 2010, AVB negotiated Porto out of an extremely tricky group, which included hostile trips to the likes of Besiktas and CSKA Sofia, undefeated with five wins and one draw. Even last season at Chelsea, however unconvincing it may have seemed, the Blues finished top of Group E under his stewardship.
From there on in, Porto knocked up an astonishing 22 goals in the knock-out stages on the way to the final as they produced some ruthlessly clinical football to see off the seasoned likes of Sevilla, CSKA Moscow and Vilarreal on the way. Villas-Boas knows how to win this competition and he knows how to win it well. An art of which many English teams have tried and failed to master.
There is often a pre-conceived idea that if any of the Premier League’s teams actually sought to take the Europa League seriously, that they’d come out on to. Yet in reality, this simply isn’t the case. In recent times the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and most prominently Manchester United, have all come unstuck in recent years after fielding strong, strong line-ups. If anyone had any doubts about the pedigree of Europa League football, you need to look no further than the fate of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team at the hands of Marcelo Bielsa’s Athletic Bilbao side last year.
Because the prestige, the honor and jubilation that comes with winning a piece of European silverware simply cannot be underestimated. Of course, the Europa League isn’t quite of the stature of the Champions League but that doesn’t matter. Look at the footage of Villas-Boas’ Porto side from 2011 or any side that has won it for that matter. Witness the unparalleled joy and outpouring of emotion from the fans and players alike; that is what football is all about, as the great Danny Blanchflower said – the game is about glory.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Look at the likes of Perryman and the standing of that ’84 winning team against Anderlecht in the history of the club. No one is saying AVB will go down in history, but that is the sort of prize that’s on offer – long, hard history. A fourth place finish doesn’t have a place in any record books or trophy cabinets- but a European trophy lasts forever.
Spurs have the manager to achieve that success, in the short-term anyway. Andre Villas-Boas has had a tough time adjusting his side to Premier League fortunes and the undeniable truth is that it is a team in transition. A challenge for Champions League football must beckon but he can’t let the pressures of the league affect his outlook for Europa League success. This is a trophy the manager; the club and the players are capable of winning. And what better way to get supporters on board, than lifting it in Amsterdam next May.
How do you feel about a run in the Europa League? Do you not fancy a twirl with the Champions League’s unfancied sister or do you think it’s time Spurs brought some real silverware back to White Hart Lane? Let me know what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and bat me all your views.
Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has described 2012 as the worst year of his career and indeed his life, reports Sky Sports.
The influential midfielder is currently out with a thigh injury he picked up during the second game of the season, and is set to be out for a further two months.
This has come after the Brazilian was out injured for 6 months, following a serious knee injury he picked up in November 2011.
His injury coincided with Liverpool’s awful dip in form during the last campaign, and Brendan Rodgers looks to be suffering without him also, as he is still in search of his first Premier League win.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“This is the worst year of my career and of my life as well. When we can’t do what we like to do and perform your job, it’s always a bit frustrating,” the 25-year-old told Sportv.
“Everything is a bit new to me because I have never had so many injuries. Two in a row is very complicated,” he added.”We tried to stay positive when the first one happened, but the second one was much tougher as it happened so close to the other one.”