Celtic have made a winning start to their Scottish Premier League campaign with a convincing 2-0 victory over Hibernian on Sunday.Striker Anthony Stokes and midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung struck at the Easter Road Stadium as Neil Lennon’s side collected three points on the opening weekend, something arch rivals Rangers failed to do after drawing 1-1 against Hearts a day earlier.
A howler from Hibernian goalkeeper Graham Stack, who completely missed a free-kick delivered from deep by Kris Commons, allowed Stokes to smash the ball into the net from a tight angle to put Celtic in front after 14 minutes.
The scoreboard would have read 2-0 in favour of the visitors soon after had Mark Wilson’s goal not been ruled out for offside.
Celtic did go two goals to the good on 63 minutes when Hibernian midfielder Lewis Stevenson lost possession, allowing Stokes to feed Ki, who slammed the ball home with his left foot leaving Stack powerless.
Celtic looked likely to find a third goal when full-back Emilio Izaguirre was brought down in the area but Stack denied Gary Hooper, tipping his spot-kick onto the post and scrambling to prevent the rebound.
In the day’s other game, Danny Swanson struck a 70th-minute equaliser to help Dundee United secure a 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock.
Rory McKeown had put Kenny Shiels’ side in front a minute into the second half before Swanson ensured United would take a point from the contest.
Arsenal managed to book their spot in the knock-out stages of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Partizan Belgrade, while Chelsea suffered their first defeat in the competition this season at Marseille.
The Gunners started brightly but were frustrated for the first 30 minutes of the tie by a resolute Partizan side. However, Robin van Persie won a penalty which he calmly dispatched himself to hand Arsenal a 1-0 lead at half-time.
The Serbian side made Arsenal sweat when Cleo levelled matters early in the second-half as his shot took a wicked deflection off Sebastien Squillaci before looping over a stranded Lukasz Fabianski.
Arsenal were always the stronger side and their persistence paid off as second-half substitute Theo Walcott restored their lead, before Samir Nasri put the game to bed to make it 3-1 late on.
Had Braga won on their trip to the Ukraine anything less than a victory for the Gunners would have resulted in Europa League football at the Emirates this season but the Portuguese side were beaten 2-0 by Shakhtar Donetsk.
Chelsea had already guaranteed top-spot in Group F ahead of their visit to the Marseille but boss Carlo Ancelotti chose to start with key man Didier Drogba regardless. With both the French side and the Blues already through to the next round the contest was never going to be the most exciting of affairs but there were talking points in the first half.
Chelsea were awarded an early penalty after Salomon Kalou was brought down in the area but the referee changed his mind, under pressure from the Marseille players, after consulting his assistant.
Drogba was removed from the action in the second-half and received a standing ovation from the Marseille fans, with the French side the club where he made his name.
The bragging rights went to the French side though as Brandao snatched a late winner for the hosts.
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In Group G Real Madrid destroyed French side Auxerre 4-0, with Cristiano Ronaldo amongst the goal scorers. Real had already qualified from Group G and AC Milan will also be involved in the latter stages despite slipping to a 2-0 defeat at the San Siro to Ajax, who will now be competing in the Europa League.
In Group E a 1-1 draw at CFR Cluj-Napoca was good enough for Roma to secure their spot in the next round, the Romanian side's European dream came to an end despite Basle's 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich.
In Slovakia crowd disruption at the start of the game halted proceedings in the contest between MSK Zilina and Spartak Moscow, the other two side's in Chelsea's Group F. When the action resumed the Russian side managed to secure a 2-1 victory, with Spartak heading into the Europa League after finishing third in the group.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
A Fairy-tale story straight out of Senegal, Demba Ba has become one of the most sought after players in the Premier League this summer, after an illustrious campaign with Newcastle. Unfortunately the ogre in this Fairy-tale is his evil contract, which states that Ba can leave the club for a meagre £7 million. With such a magnificent season under his belt, Derek Llambias refuses to increase Ba’s wages in order to eradicate the release clause, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph. Fans at St. James Park must be scratching their heads as to why they are choosing not to tie down their striker but are instead accommodating for a bombardment of transfer speculation and rumours that will undoubtedly unsettle Ba and his teammates.
The arrival of Papiss Cisse in January changed the entire landscape of Demba Ba and his future with Newcastle. The unexpected form of Newcastle’s new no. 9 left Ba in an unfamiliar position in the team. His ineffectual performances and Cisse’s incredible dominance in front of goal now means that Ba is not the Magpies’ most valuable asset. With this in mind, Chief Exec Llambias announced that no plans had been made to increase Ba’s wages in order to eliminate his ridiculous release clause. With finances on Tyneside running smoother than ever, the club are hesitant to increase one player’s wages on form alone. However, after one of Newcastle’s most successful seasons in recent years, the idea that the club would not accommodate a wage increase for Ba is unbelievable. To disrupt a team in such a sparkling vein of form by removing one of its foundations, could destroy the whole metaphorical building. Ba is pivotal in rebuilding the club as a top 6 team. Not only are his abilities on the pitch vital, his presence off the pitch is just as important. With Papiss Cisse admitting that it would have been tough to settle in the North-East had it not been for his Senegalese teammate, allowing Ba to leave could end the glorious form of the former Freiburg striker.
However, what has not been questioned is Demba Ba and his commitment to Newcastle. Obviously aware of the clause in his contract, the French Born striker could see this summer as an opportunity to advance his career by joining one of Europe’s elite clubs. It is no surprise that Ba has been linked with a never ending list of clubs that see his bargain transfer fee as an opportunity to snatch a player at the top of his game. Chelsea, PSG, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United and AC Milan will be laughing if they manage to prize Ba away from St. James Park for so little. For these interested parties, £7 million is pocket fluff. Newcastle’s number 19 is now in a win-win situation. If he stays at Newcastle, chances are his wages will increase considerably, if he leaves, he faces the prospect of joining a club where silverware is not uncommon.
Officially the manager of the season, Alan Pardew surely has the sense to refute Llambias’ stance on Demba Ba and the surrounding contract issue. Ba was the key man in seeing the Magpies meteoric rise in the table and to offload him is surely not in the current plans of the former West Ham manager. If Newcastle tie Ba down to a long term contract and he produces another dazzling season, the offers that the club could receive for him this time next year could triple from his release clause value.
Will Ba stay in the North East? Bleat me on Twitter @mattpegg1
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Steven Gerrard has praised Liverpool team-mate Lucas Leiva and stated that the addition of a number of midfielders will not impact upon the South American’s chances of a starting place at the Anfield club.
The Brazilian has had an up and down time in England, winning over fans in 2010/11 after an inconsistent start to his career on Merseyside.
Kenny Dalglish has added Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson to his squad, and Italian international Alberto Aquilani has returned to the outfit following a loan spell at Juventus. Despite this, the England international feels the added competition for starting places will help the 24-year-old improve.
“He has a strong, positive mentality. I’ve seen all the difficulties he’s been through. He has basically rolled his sleeves up, worked hard and improved,” Gerrard told Sky Sports.
“He has got stronger in the gym and has never let his head go down. He’s been prepared to fight to prove a lot of people wrong and was consistently one of our best players last season,” the 31-year-old concluded.
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Leiva joined The Reds from Gremio in 2007, and is currently on international duty at the Copa America.
If you ask a group of football fans what annoys them the most about the modern game, there is a good chance that a many of them will say ‘diving’, or as the FA so harmlessly put it ‘simulation’. It is arguably the scourge of the world game, but what can be done about it?
Let me tell you about an incident from Italy. On the 24th of October this year, Juventus were playing away at Bologna and in the 34th minute of the game Serbian midfielder Milos Krasic won a penalty. Vincenzo Iaquinta missed the spot-kick, but the controversy after the game surrounded the way in which the penalty was won. It was clear from video evidence that Krasic had dived, and two days later the Italian FA gave the player a two week ban for ‘unsporting behaviour’, the sixth such ban issued by the FIGC.
Many who have just read the above story will have breathed a sigh of relief, happy that somebody is trying to tackle this problem. But equally, many will see the problems that this raises. A ‘dive’ is hard to define and where do you draw the line? One man’s dive is another man’s foul and when running at speed it can only a take a small touch to knock you off balance. Has a player dived if he jumps out of the way of a knee high two-footed challenge? The game has evolved so much that it is hard to define exactly what a foul is.
Marouane Chamakh won a penalty for Arsenal against Birmingham last month and his description of the event blurred the lines even further. “There was definitely a contact – the Birmingham defender touched me and then it was all about the ref, to give it or not. If they think it is not a penalty then they can be disappointed but for me I was definitely touched and I fell because I was touched otherwise I wouldn’t have fallen down in the area…But for me it was definitely a penalty”. This quote tells us two things about the mentality of the modern game. Firstly that a ‘touch’ is the same as a foul, and secondly that a referee’s decision can justify the means. So is a dive an incident where there has been no contact at all or where there has been an overreaction to the amount of contact received?
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When UEFA tried to take a stand on cheating players by banning Eduardo for his dive to win a penalty against Celtic it was refreshing to see an instance where a governing body was actively trying to clean up the game. But after all the fuss the ban was over-turned when Arsenal appealed and produced a video of the incident where they could prove that there was ‘contact’. I imagine UEFA would have watched a video of the penalty decision before they handed out the ban, so if they didn’t know what they classed as a dive, so how could anybody else?
If the Premier League were to introduce retrospective bans for diving they would need a crystal clear set of guidelines regarding what they would issue punishments for, otherwise each decision would result in a farcically drawn out appeal process.
The idea of such a ‘Simulation Panel’ wouldn’t be to hand out fines or bans, but to act as a deterrent to players who cheat to gain an advantage. But if a player wins a decisive penalty through deception in the last minute of a game will he be booed by his own fans or criticised by his manager? Of course not. There is too much money involved in football nowadays, if a player ‘does his job’ and helps his team win the game, he knows that he will always have the backing of his club should the FA intervene.
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I consider myself a football traditionalist and seeing players go down easily and feign injury really winds me up, so retrospective bans for diving is a fine concept, but one impossible to enforce. Has a ball gone over the line? It either has or hasn’t, it’s black or white. Whether a player has dived or not is the opinion of an individual and arguments could usually be made for both sides. Diving ruins the integrity of football, but unless players start to take responsibility it appears that little can be done.
For every weekend of success at Liverpool there seems to be one of frustration lurking around the corner . Two wins in the space of a week, including an FA Cup semi final victory over their Merseyside rivals, provided a much needed morale boost to both players and fans who’ve had to endure a dismal season on and off the pitch. But in typical fashion the Reds managed to extinguish their positive momentum last Sunday succumbing to an embarrassing defeat at the hands of West Brom managed by Kenny Dalglish’s predecessor Roy Hodgson. The days of Anfield being a fortress are long gone with five wins from 17 games at home shameful by Liverpool’s high standards. With nothing to play for in the Premier League the Kop faithful will turn their attentions to next months FA Cup final and hope Dalglish can deliver another trophy that will paper over the cracks of a disastrous campaign.
This week on FFC plaudits are heaped on one Liverpool defender and Dalgish’s decision to show faith in a misfiring striker may be the best he’ll make during his second managerial spell at the club.
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Best of FFC
One in the eye for Chelsea and Liverpool fans
One of the best decisions Kenny Dalglish’s can make as Liverpool manager?
A change in coaching philosophies needed in order to move forward
The Curse Of Individual Brilliance in football?
Does he get the praise he deserves outside of Anfield?
Kenny calls on Italians to play the transfer game
Premier League quartet given £10m price tag
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Best of WEB
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LFC Legend admits: Two cups may not save Dalglish from the sack. Agree? – Liverpool Kop
Is There Too Much Pressure On Suarez? – Live 4 Liverpool
Is Pepe Reina right with this shockingly defeatist view of LFC? – Liverpool Kop
Liverpool FC – Big changes in the summer? – This is Anfield
The Cultural Complexities Of Liverpool Football Club – The Tomkins Times
Our Midfield Also Needs To Be Held Responsible For This! – Live 4 Liverpool
The Beauty and Hope of Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey – This is Anfield
Liverpool linked with £7m Swede Rasmus Elm – Transfer Tavern
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Quote of the Week
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“We want to win games but it would be nice if we were rubbish and won a game. Our incentive is to get as much as we can from every game we play.We want to finish with as many wins and points as we possibly can and the incentive we have is just representing the football club as much as anything else.
We have always set ourselves high standards in terms of the level of performance and there are not too many times when we’ve let ourselves down on that front. But winning is what it is all about and points on the board is what it is all about.” Kenny Dalglish he’d sacrifice Liverpool’s in exchange for wins
Sam Allardyce begins his campaign to get West Ham United back in the top-flight with a tricky home game against Cardiff City on August 6.In a showpiece match to kick off the 2011/12 Championship season, the relegated Hammers face a tough task against Cardiff, who made it to the semi-finals of the Championship play-offs last time out.
The match will be Hammers’ fans first glimpse at football under Allardyce, who was sacked in December by Blackburn, as well as new addition Kevin Nolan following his move from Newcastle United.
Away games against Doncaster and Watford will follow for West Ham as they attempt to win promotion at the first attempt.
Blackpool, who were relegated from the Premier League on the final day of the 2010/11 season, readjust to life in the Championship with a first-up trip to Hull City on opening day.
Birmingham City start their campaign at Derby County.
Leeds United take the long journey to St Mary’s to face Southampton, while play-off finalists Reading host Millwall.
Former England boss Steve McLaren will ring in his first managerial stint in his homeland in nearly four years when Nottingham Forest host Barnsley.
League One champions Brighton will officially open their new stadium with a visit from Doncaster Rovers, while Peterborough United also start at home to Crystal Palace.
In other opening day fixtures, Bristol City host Ipswich Town, Burnley face Watford at home, Coventry City and Leicester City square off in a Midlands derby and Middlesbrough welcome Portsmouth.
1. Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea – Despite (sort of, like, just) winning their last three fixtures, Liverpool entered this clash at the longest odds they’ve ever been to win a home game in the Premier League era. Unfortunately for the bookies, Fernando Torres – who was also probably the longest odds he’s ever been to score during his Premier League era – suddenly remembered that he was still Fernando Torres, despite the masculine hair, and that Fernando Torres was once actually pretty good, before he went to the World Cup and tried to help boost Wayne Rooney’s reputation. Chelsea missed the man flued Drogba in the first half and looked the better side with him on in the second. But they still couldn’t beat Reina, leaving John Whenry and his clearly fascinated wife to enjoy their first taste proper of the Anfield experience.
2. Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle – After having to spend mid-week listening to everyone and their cat wax lyrical about how brilliant Tottenham are, Arsenal fans had to suffer the further ignominy of losing at home to a manager with a 20-year Spurs connection. Chris Hughton is now firmly a Toon – as evidenced by his admirably dedicated black and white striped hair – and his greatest achievement here was that this wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, a smash and grab win. Arsenal of course had the best of it, as they’re wanton to do against any and all comers to the Emirates, and Łukasz Fabiański was culpable for trying to camply swat the ball away from the large hairy bullet train head of Andy Carroll, but the Magpies held their own and went for it. If Mike Ashley isn’t a masochist for the good old days of being hated he’ll give Hughton the contract he so clearly deserves, and make him the 435rd Messiah at St James Park since the invention of the iPod.
3. West Brom 0-2 Man City – With the Italian National coach Cesare Prandelli in disguise as the Scarlet Pimpernel watching two Italian managers battle it out on a cold night at the Hawthorns, it was fitting that the game was decided by the Italian youngster the Special One decided was both a special talent and special needs. Mario Bat-shi*teli gave us our first real taste of the Jekyll and Hyde character he can be by scoring twice in six minutes, diving to try and win two penalties, refusing to smile at anything before getting himself sent off for petulantly kicking a player who was himself sent off a few minutes later. And another new star of the Premier League is born.
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4. Man Utd 2-1 Wolves – 24 years to the day that Sir Alex Ferguson took charge of Manchester United, and 28 years to the day that Owen Hargreaves was last truly fully fit, the aging red nosed maestro pulled a surprise out of his magic hat by naming the curly haired Germanandian Englishman in his starting line up for the first time since 2008. And after watching his manager pull that surprise, Hargo pulled one of his own, in his hamstring, and trudged off the field swearing like a sailor after only 5 minutes. As United’s remaining first team players struggled admirably to remember who their team mates were, Wolves gave them a good run for their money until Park Ji Sung – In apparent fancy dress as Rufio from the 1991 Steven Spielberg film Hook – grabbed that most United of footballing things, the last minute winner to leave Mi’ Muc’Harthy in his usual post match role as Unlucky Alf from the Fast Show. Bugger.
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5. Bolton 4-2 Spurs – At the spiritual home of ‘being brought back down to earth’ Tottenham suffered the dreaded European hangover as Gareth Bale failed to live up to his newfound status as the greatest player to ever grace the world ever ever, slightly embarrassing overenthusiastic twitterers (and the occasional respected journalist) the world over. Managing to live up to their newfound expectations however were Owen Coyle’s Bolton, who’s recent ability to actually play some slight variation on attractive football has left Big Sam’s assertion that he’s just as good a coach as Arsene Wenger for what he did there a little wide of his already considerably wide mark. Kevin Davies continued his assault on the England squad with two goals and a Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez back headed assist, whilst the player who was actually marking The Balenator, Grétar Steinsson, grabbed one himself, officially making him the greatest right back in the World ever under boxing rules.
Other things I noticed – Match of the Day’s insistence on trailing not just future programs, but future segments of their current program after every single game. Manchester City’s logo’d undershirt, which is much nicer than their actual shirt. Asamoah Gyan’s celebratory tribute to the dangers of stepping on a firework during Guy Fawkes night, and David Sullivan’s evil genius decision to take his Mini-Me along to the Birmingham game in lieu of David Gold’s banning. Awwww
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has stated that he is on the verge of returning to action, and could be fit to play against Arsenal this weekend.
The Argentina international has been on the sidelines with an ankle injury, with a number of claims that he had fallen off a motorbike or down the stairs of the team bus to pick up the ailment.
However, Aguero rejects these reports as completely false, and is hoping to face Arsene Wenger’s men on Sunday.
“During the match against Chelsea, I injured my ankle and it was sprayed with a topical anaesthetic that caused a burn on the upper part of my right foot,” he told the club’s official website.
“The injury worsened after a few days and when boils appeared I was told I wouldn’t play against Stoke and then against Sunderland.
“You can imagine how I felt, being out of playing condition when my team is trying to take the championship. It’s always worse from the bench.
“After that I started receiving incredible rumours about how it all happened.
“I know my life is very public and I’m willing to take criticism even if I disagree with it. But I will not sit quietly while lies are being spread – even more so if they cast doubt upon my professionalism.
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“This is a simple injury and not a plot of intrigue,” he confided.
It appears Sir Alex Ferguson has finally got his man and is set to complete the signing of Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea. Ferguson feels that De Gea is an outstanding replacement for Van Der Sar and there is little doubt he is an outstanding goalkeeper in nearly every way. But Premier League goalkeepers are much like fine wines, as they tend to get better with age. One example being Van Der Sar himself and another being the evergreen Brad Friedel – who has been linked with a move to Liverpool at 40 years young. So does a 20 year old keeper who has only had 2 years at Ateltico Madrid and has been yet capped for his country really ready to be become United’s No1?
Well it appears Ferguson is convinced and is prepared to pay £18m in a deal that is set to be finalized on Monday. Ferguson said on De Gea “He’s a young goalkeeper, very quick, good composure, presence and an outstanding replacement for Van Der Sar. We were looking for the same type of qualities as Edwin, because the one great quality Edwin always had was his composure and organizational ability. With David De Gea, he is very similar that way.”
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However, isn’t part of what makes Van Der Sar the great goalkeeper he is, the experience he has in the game? This is something that De Gea will have to contend with and prove despite his lack of experience he is an outstanding goalkeeper. Manchester United fans will be wary that this is a big gamble from Ferguson and few early errors next season would not help to calm any nerves.
It’s unlikely that De Gea will get the opportunity to ease into life as it appears he has very much being picked as the number one choice next season and not just purely one for the future or back up for a more experienced keeper. Next season will be interesting because Van Dar Sar is retiring and Tomasz Kuszczak is likely to have moved on, leaving only De Gea and Danish keeper Anders Lindegaard. Lindegaard was only really brought to the club as backup and besides you wouldn’t expect an £18m player to be sitting on the bench.
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So the bottom line is De Gea will have to learn quickly and rise to the challenge of playing for one the World’s biggest clubs. But to be fair to Fergie he doesn’t get a lot wrong and although it is a gamble, he has obviously seen something in the player that is worth taking a punt on even though that would have been other more experienced options. But Ferguson has obviously been impressed with what he has seen from De Gea playing in La Liga and Europe. De Gea has also represented Spain at various youth levels up to the U21 squad and came close to making the Spain 2010 World Cup squad.
Follow me on Twitter and tell me is De Gea too young or just another masterstroke from SAF
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