Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier has told Nigel Reo-Coker to curb his temper, after the former West Ham United star almost got himself into trouble during the 0-0 stalemate with Birmingham City.
Houllier substituted Reo-Coker after the midfielder was involved in a tussle with City's Craig Gardner, but he appeared to be keen to continue the argument when he came on to the pitch after the final whistle.
The Villa boss was unimpressed, saying:"Sometimes when you are tired you lose a bit of control and I didn't want to lose a player. I warned them and wasn't happy with the reaction. He will learn.
"We all know how competitive matches in the Premier League are but the Midlands derbies are maybe more so than others.
"You've got to be strong enough to take it on the chin and go on. In that particular circumstance the referee had whistled and it was a free-kick so we should get on with it."
Of the grim stalemate, the former Liverpool boss admitted:"We could have done better. Maybe it's because it's a derby and it's extremely tense, very tight and competitive.
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"Both teams were extremely committed to the job and didn't allow many chances.
"It's a derby and sometimes they are not allowed to play. Credit to Birmingham they had a clean match. It was physical but not over the top and the referee dealt with the two teams very well."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Liverpool have been linked with a move for out-of-favour Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago, according to the Daily Mail.
The 25-year old moved to Real from Argentine side Boca Juniors in January 2007 and has made 121 appearances for the club. However, he has fallen down the pecking order under Jose Mourinho in favour of Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira and only made 7 appearances last season. With the summer arrivals of Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop from Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively the Argentinean’s opportunities next year could be even more limited.
Real signed the midfielder for a fee in the region of €20 million but are willing to do business for £15 million. However, Liverpool look like starting the bidding at closer to £10 million.
The club have already splashed £20 million on ex-Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson and continue to be linked with a move for Blackpool’s Charlie Adam. However, the club must first look to offload high-earners such as Maxi Rodriguez, Joe Cole and Christian Poulsen. The future of Alberto Aquilani is also to be decided whilst Raul Meireles has recently been linked with a move to Inter Milan.
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Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has also been linked with a move for Newcastle due Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez but has yet to make a move for either player.
Charlie Adam’s shocking attempt at a tackle at White Hart Lane on Saturday has left Welsh wing wizard Gareth Bale with ruptured ankle ligaments. The injury will ensure the PFA Player of the Year plays no further part in Tottenham’s Premiership campaign. Bad news for the North Londoners! However, it will come as a crumb of comfort to Spurs fans that Bale’s injury has come when seemingly the fight for fourth place is over. Furthermore, there are only three games to go until the end of the season. After already suffering one injury set back this year the 21 year old will be cursing his luck, on the other hand he was fortunate not to have broken his leg as a consequence of the tackle. Obviously, no Spurs fan would have wanted to see their star player on the end of such a horror tackle, however could Bale’s injury be advantageous to the club in a strange way?
I know what the Spurs fans are thinking, ‘What is this guy talking about, how can having our best player on the treatment table over the summer be an advantage?’ Well here’s my explanation….. Unless Manchester City have a collapse of epic proportions in the next three games, then Tottenham will at best be in the Europa League next season. This is likely to be a signal for Europe’s elite clubs to start dusting off their cheque books and stalking their Welsh prey. Even if Bale has every intention of staying with Spurs this summer, it won’t deter the big boys from lodging multi million pound bids for one of the hottest properties in world football! Now here comes, the probably obvious, but still worth while observation, will they still be interested in an injured Gareth Bale? Who knows, maybe some clubs would, but it may be enough to cause some of Bale’s suitors to look elsewhere!
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It’s not unheard of for injured players to move clubs, Andy Carroll, for example, made his move from Newcastle to Liverpool whilst suffering an injury. So the bids could still come flooding in for the former Southampton starlet. Then there is the argument that Bale will be match fit by the time the season gets underway anyway. Not only that, but the transfer window doesn’t close until 31st of August! However, Bale’s injury may prevent the tabloids from continually splashing rumours all over the back pages…… ‘Bale in Madrid talks’, ‘Inter in pole position for Bale’, ‘Chelsea step up Bale interest’… you get the picture. I’m sure Spurs fans would much rather pick up the morning papers and see Fabregas’ name all over the back pages this summer than Bale’s.
FootballFanCast.com WORLD Exclusive: Robbie Savage’s Face in a Baby Scan…
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Pep Guardiola is Chelsea’s No.1 choice to replace Andre Villas-Boas if Roman Abramovich loses patience with the Portuguese boss. AVB suggested after the defeat at West Brom that he doesn’t expect the Roman to back him and understands that Chelsea sitting in 5th position isn’t an ideal situation for the football club.
Elsewhere in the news Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced that Harry Redknapp will take the England job; Arsenal are looking to break the bank to secure Van Persie on a permanent deal, while Mario Balotelli looks set to get a heavy fine for breaking the club’s curfew.[divider]
Headlines
Andre Villas-Boas suggested that he isn’t worried if he hasn’t got Roman Abramovich’s support and he doesn’t expect the Russian to back him – Guardian
Arsene Wenger hasn’t ruled out beating Milan in midweek and says it is Arsenal’s job to make the impossible possible – Guardian
Sir Alex Ferguson believes it is inevitable that Harry Redknapp will leave the Tottenham job and take up the England post at the end of the season – Guardian
Mario Balotelli faces up to a £250k fine following his visit to a strip club on Thursday night. Mancini doesn’t like his team going out 48hrs before a match; a boundary that the Italian striker has crossed – Daily Telegraph
Goal-line technology has been given the green-light to be used in 2013, despite opposition by Michel Platini – Independent
Arsenal will break the bank to secure the long-term services of Robin van Persie, who’s contract has less than 18 months to run – Daily Mail
Arjen Robben has put Tottenham and Chelsea on alert by revealing that he is ready to quit the Bundesliga as his situation at Munich isn’t ideal. A bargain fee of £10m has been mooted as the Dutchman has only 18 months left on his contract – Mirror
Pep Guardiola has emerged as Chelsea’s top target to replace Andre Villas-Boas if Roman finally loses patience with the Portuguese boss – Mirror
Kyle Walker and Glen Johnson are on Real Madrid’s summer hitlist as they look to bolster their options at right back at the Bernabeu – Metro
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Dave Whelan will meet Roberto Martinez this week to get an explanation for the unacceptable performance at the DW Stadium yesterday – Sky Sports
Manchester United visit Arsenal on Sunday with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men closing in on what would be a record 19th championship.Until recently, this match was considered a pivotal one in deciding the eventual destination of the English Premier League title, but the form of Arsene Wenger’s side has dipped so markedly that they have slipped to third place behind Chelsea, nine points off the pace.
Interestingly, it has been Arsenal’s form at home that has let them down this season.
Since the New Year they have been held by Blackburn (0-0), Sunderland (0-0), Newcastle (4-4), Manchester City (0-0) and Liverpool (1-1) – with all but the Newcastle game at the Emirates.
In their most recent match, a 90th-minute header from Tamir Cohen lifted Bolton to a 2-1 win at the Reebok Stadium, prompting Wenger to all but concede his side’s title challenge was over.
For Ferguson’s men, the march towards a 12th Premier League title continues relentlessly – and they could also be heading towards a third Champions League crown under the Scotsman’s watch, after taking a 2-0 lead over Schalke in the first-leg of their semi-final on Tuesday.
In their most recent league match, a late goal from Javier Hernandez handed United a 1-0 win over Everton at Old Trafford.
Both squads are in excellent shape for this time of the season, with Arsenal’s only casualties being goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, whose season is over with a shoulder injury, and midfielder Abou Diaby who is nursing a calf problem.
In better news for Wenger, Belgian centre back Thomas Vermaelen made it through 90 minutes of Arsenal’s reserves clash with United on Thursday unscathed, after missing most of the season with an Achilles tendon problem.
For United, striker Dimitar Berbatov did not feature against Schalke and is in doubt, midfielder Darren Fletcher is still battling back to full fitness after a virus and Owen Hargreaves is still unavailable.
Former Blackburn chairman John Williams had lost interest in the club and struggled to work with Steve Kean after Sam Allardyce’s sacking.
That is the view of Blackburn owner Anuradha Desai, who agreed to a severance package with Williams after the long-serving chairman handed in his resignation on Friday, ending his 14-year tenure at the Lancashire club.
Desai, chairperson of owners Venky’s Group, believes Williams’ commitment to the club began to wane following the axing of popular manager Allardyce in December.
Williams is believed to have been dismayed by the treatment meted out to Allardyce and considered resigning in the aftermath.
But Desai convinced the club great to stay on board, and said she and her family still would have preferred Williams to remain at Blackburn.
“John has gone. It is something we have been talking to him about and he felt that he could not continue,” Desai told the Lancashire Telegraph.
“It is disappointing for us but we have agreed a settlement with him.”
“I think that after Sam left, John lost a lot of interest in the club. After that happened I think he knew that he wanted to move on.”
“I know that he did not get along with Steve (Kean) and he had struggled to accept Jerome (Anderson)’s role at the club.”
Anderson is the boss of sports agency Sport Entertainment and Media Group (SEM), and has been advising the Desai family since Venky’s bought out the club in November.
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He has been mooted as a possible replacement for Williams, but Desai said the club would look elsewhere for a new chairman.
“Jerome has helped us but I want to be very clear that he does not run the club,” Desai said.
“We will be working with anybody and any agents to make this club successful but we are not controlled by his company. His role will now diminish.”
Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott has admitted that his side have learnt their lesson from a slow start in the Champions League, and are ready to book a place in the qualification rounds against Napoli on Tuesday.
The Etihad Stadium outfit travel to take on Walter Mazzarri’s men in Naples in midweek, and will know that three points can ensure their inclusion in the knockout rounds.
After drawing with the Italians at home and getting beaten 2-0 by Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in their opening two games, Lescott feels Robert Mancini’s men have learnt their lesson.
“There’s a lot to play for and if we win we qualify though I’m sure they’ll be thinking the same kind of thing,” he told Mirror Football.
“But we need to go there knowing that if we don’t win, it’s not the end of the world. We’ve still got to play Bayern at home in our final game, but we’re confident we can beat most teams,” he stated.
Lescott expects temperamental striker Mario Balotelli to receive a hostile welcome back to Italy, but feels the forward can handle it.
“He’s played for one of the top teams over there and performed consistently for the national team, so I’m sure the fans will have something to say to him,” he concluded.
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In the week of John Terry’s court case, racism is again coming to the forefront of football. In the last couple of years, we have had the rearing of many discriminations in football, leading to the question of if they were actually ever dying down at all, or simply flying under the radar. One of the biggest issues of all yet one that is rarely ever talked about and could be accused of being the last taboo in football was subject of a documentary recently – homosexuality in football.
In most cases I tend to shy away from using statistics to illustrate a point, yet there are a couple in this case that simply have to be recognised and discussed. One in every ten people are gay – and there are 5000 professional footballers in England, yet how many can you name as being openly gay? A rather disturbing and disappointing zero – does this mean there are no gay footballers in England?
Of course not – prominent PR guru Max Clifford stated he knows and has advised at least half a dozen premier league footballers not to ‘come out’ through fear of recrimination and effectively killing their career. It is at this point most people would think back to the only gay footballer in England to come out, and the subject of the BBC 3 documentary last night – Justin Fashanu – who eventually committed suicide after being spurned by even his own family. Why would someone come out, even now, decades later, when such abuse could still be levelled at someone?
Footballers, people often forget are human just like the rest of society, and have the same worries and concerns about being accepted – both by the general public and by their teammates, and of course this will affect their decision to hide their homosexuality and stop the potential of both abuse and rejection.
World cup winning coach Scolari was quoted during the 2002 world cup saying that should a player come out as gay to him, he would throw them out of the team. A disgraceful and not to mention highly discriminatory statement which of course is highly unacceptable to say the very least, but can go a long way to explaining the concerns and hesitation of gay footballers when deciding to effectively live a lie.
The reaction of teammates is also something that is cited as being a huge concern for footballers when choosing not to come out – yet during the BBC 3 programme, both Millwall players and high profile QPR captain Joey Barton stated that it would not be a problem, and yes there would be banter, but there is in every walk of life and it could well make the player feel more included and accepted by the dressing room as oppose to the issue being suspected and skirted around.
The only openly gay footballer can be found in the fourth tier of Swedish football – Anton Hysen – who states that he has found teammates to be accepting and has effectively carried on as normal, yet it is not unfair to say that the lifestyle and attitude in Sweden is much more liberal than in the UK, and it is a sorry yet true state of affairs that players are open to receiving abuse from fellow teammates – or at the very least running the risk of feeling out the loop in the dressing room.
Of course, crowds and players can be blamed until the sun comes down for the hesitance of players when coming out, yet there is far more to it than that – footballers not only make huge amounts of money from their talent but also from their endorsement rights – and as Clifford rightly pointed out this could end up being severely affected by the coming out of a player; another consideration that would weigh heavily on their mind.
Alternatively, this could work the other way, players such as Beckham and Ljungberg who have been questioned over their metro sexuality and in Ljungberg’s case sexuality have become gay icons and have very lucrative contracts due to this – the first player to come out could benefit a huge deal from this possibility.
Aside from this, the fact remains that the governing bodies are simply not doing enough to show that homosexuality should be accepted as a normality in the game – the PFA sending out posters and a DVD to all 92 clubs is simply not good enough by any stretch of the imagination. As the head of the Gay footballers support network ,Chris Basiurski stated; nowhere near enough is being done, and there is little sign governing bodies are willing to change this.
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Big steps need to be taken to raise awareness of this issue in the game – yet what chance do the PFA have when FIFA have allowed the 2022 World Cup the biggest footballing event of all to be held in Qatar (where homosexuality is banned) and Sepp Blatter stated that gay people should ‘refrain from sexual activity’ whilst there for the World Cup.
Joey Barton stated that ‘without a doubt in the next ten years there will be an openly gay footballer’ in the top sections of football, yet I wonder what they will think of the location of the 2022 World Cup, and the fact homosexuality is illegal there? Not to mention what gay fans must think. Yet another huge deterrent for a gay footballer to come out, and with archaic people like Blatter leading the top bodies in football, is it any wonder?
Edy Reja believes Lazio can shift focus to European qualification after securing their future in the Serie A with victory over Fiorentina.
Despite being one of the front runners early in the campaign, Reja has consistently talked down Lazio’s prospects of remaining in contention for the Serie A title.
After struggling for much of last season and finishing only 11 points clear of the relegation zone, veteran coach Reja ensured his players were focused on guaranteeing their survival in the top flight.
While the prospect of slipping into the bottom three became increasingly remote with each victory, it took a 2-0 win at home to Fiorentina on Saturday to make absolutely certain they would not run into trouble again.
“Today we have 40 points, therefore are mathematically safe and anything else that we achieve this season will be a bonus,” Reja said.
“We’ll battle for the Europa League, as that is now our objective. If we achieve that, then it will have been a great campaign.”
Czech youngster Libor Kozak impressed Reja by scoring both goals in the victory at the Stadio Olimpico.
“Kozak had already shown against Roma that he had talent and did so again not just with his goals, but also his work rate,” he said.
“This lad can see the net and that is down to instinct, plus we’ve worked with him over the last six months to help him improve.”
Fiorentina meanwhile are just six points clear of the relegation places.
According to coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, they have only themselves to blame.
“We are in an ugly situation and got ourselves into it,” Mihajlovic said.
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“Now it is up to us to get ourselves out of it too.”
“I am somebody who never gives in and I’m accustomed to battling for every result.”
“At this moment in time, though, we mustn’t raise our voices. We must instead remain calm and prepare for the next match.”
Didier Drobga has been one of the best strikers in the Premier League in the 21st century. Is that a statement that you can argue against? He first caught my attention, like many other English football fans, helping Marseille to overcome Newcastle in the UEFA Cup in 2004. Come the summer Chelsea had spent £24 million on the Ivorian international and the rest is history. He may get some criticism for going to ground too often, but you can’t argue with a record of close to 100 goals in nearly 200 Premier League matches. However, it seems like his time at Chelsea may be coming to an end…
There have been plenty murmurings that with the arrival of Fernando Torres in January, that 33-year-old Drogba is set to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer. Drogba clearly still has much to offer Chelsea, as he showed by scoring the equaliser against Stoke at the weekend, but after that same game he clashed with the away fans at the Britannia Stadium. Below is footage of Didier Drogba squaring up to some Chelsea fans following the final whistle on Saturday and he clearly wasn’t happy with what they said, as the striker reponds by shouting “Say it to my face, say it to my face.” It was left to Paulo Ferreira to drag Drogba away, but will the Ivorian be dragging himself away from the Premier League this summer?
[divider]
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