Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has set his sights on a top-eight finish next season, but accepts that it will be a difficult target to achieve.
The Black Cats finished in 13th place in the Premier League last term, with Bruce targeting a major improvement in the campaign to come.
He told the Sunderland Echo:"I think it will be very difficult for us to break into the top teams group next season, though that has got to be the aim.
"They're some distance ahead of the rest, both in terms of resources and of being established in the Premier League.
"They're teams that are either super-rich or have benefited from the financial success that finishing high up the division regularly will bring.
"As a club, we are playing catch-up compared to where we have been in the leagues and where we want to be.
"Hopefully we've jumped one of the biggest hurdles now in that I think we are now being seen as a genuine Premier League club.
"Hopefully, by the end of next season that will be a question that will not even be put any more.
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"If we stay up next season then we'll then going into our fifth consecutive season and I think people will be looking at us differently.
"There'll be no question Sunderland will be a Premier League club at that stage."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Cesc Fabregas has reignited the speculation surrounding his protracted move from Arsenal to Barcelona after revealing his admiration for the Spanish club's coach Pep Guardiola.
Fabregas is believed to have told Gunners boss Arsene Wenger of his desire to return to the Camp Nou after seven seasons in north London.
Arsenal have already rejected one bid for their 23-year-old captain, who is currently away on World Cup duty with Spain.
But despite claiming he is totally focused on the World Cup , Fabregas has ensured his club future remains a hot topic after describing former Barcelona captain and now first-team coach Guardiola as his "idol".
"Guardiola has always been my idol since childhood," he said. "I played in his position and I noticed him. My coach even gave me a shirt signed by him."
Meanwhile, Fabregas claims the uncertainty surrounding his club future is not a distraction while in South Africa.
"I won't think about anything until after the World Cup," he told Spanish radio.
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"It won't be a problem if I return to Barcelona because Barca is my home.
"The people there are always sensational in the way they treat me."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Caretaker manager Ray Lewington believes Fulham will appoint a top-quality new boss to replace Roy Hodgson.
Lewington was placed in temporary charge of the Cottagers following Hodgson's departure to Liverpool last month.
A string of top names have been linked with the Craven Cottage job in recent weeks, including former Spurs boss Martin Jol, ex-England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and veteran German Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Jol is the favourite for the role and Lewington fully expects a quality name to get the job ahead of the new Premier League season.
"I really don't know if I'll be in charge for the Sweden tour. All I know is that I'm in charge up until the new manager is appointed," he said.
"We don't know if it's Martin Jol. It's just another name that has been plucked out of the air as far as we are concerned.
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"What I do know is that they are going to try to go for a top-drawer manager. We are a big club and we should be attracting a big-name manager now.
"We go for the top now. Having had Roy, you need to bring in someone of that stature to match him."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
If Tottenham fail to get planning permission for their new stadium at White Hart Lane then there is only going to be one real loser in this piece and that is Haringey Council and the N17 area as a whole. Defeat in their application will see the Lilywhites explore other options out of the borough and away from its spiritual home for good.
I’m actually amazed that permission is yet to be granted and having appeased the conservationists at the Victorian society, by giving up the proposed open square and walkway to ensure the four listed buildings (apparently they are an important layer of local history) that the club planned to demolish remained; the Haringey Police have now intervened with a document outlining their concerns about the proposed stadium due to lack of segregation between home and away fans outside the ground. I may be somewhat naive but I have never been outside a stadium in the Premier League that I have been unable to walk around prior to kick-off in my colours, so what’s the difference? If they are really that concerned then how come the current away end of the ground at White Hart Lane is only manned by a handful of stewards and policemen along with four or five police barriers? It is hardly the kind obstacle that will keep warring factions apart? Surely the solution for the new stadium is to simply put up temporary fencing like they do at Eastlands, to steer supporters towards the coaches and car-parks.
It is like any obstacle that they can put in front of Tottenham’s development is being put in front of Haringey Council in order to ensure that they turn down our application. I don’t know how thin the Tottenham board’s patience is becoming but you cannot blame them for reconsidering other options and perhaps relocating away from N17. Here is a club who on top of building a new stadium is attempting to plough millions into regenerating the whole area that will be create jobs and bring business to the local shops and companies within the vicinity. All they have faced throughout this process is obstacles, and petty ones at that. You would think that they would be biting our arm off to get this project moving, not potentially dragging us out of the borough for good
Tottenham Hotspur is the only positive aspect of the area and brings a lot of wealth to neighbouring businesses as a result. Those causing obstacles need to realise that it is the football club that is keeping this area together and they should be embracing change. Tottenham needs a new stadium in order to compete and if Haringey Council and other factions think our plans are a hindrance to the local area; then I’m sure there will be plenty of neighbouring boroughs who will beg to differ and will only be too happy to accommodate.
Written By Roy James
With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery
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Joey Barton was signalled out for treatment last Saturday against Wolves. Regardless of what Mick McCarthy would have us believe, there was a plan amidst Wolves’ tactics and it was to rile Barton, in the hope that he would react and that maybe Alan Smith would follow. Half the challenges that Barton felt the brunt of were fair; they were tough but ultimately what we like to see in the Premier League and one of the reasons we love it.
To McCarthy’s credit, it was a ploy that could very easily have worked; Barton’s moustache may have gone, but his temper remains, or does it? Barton waited until the final whistle had gone to remonstrate with the Wolves boss, and although he was vocal during the game about his treatment, there were no overzealous actions on his part.
Joey Barton’s struggles with his aggression are hardly a secret, but if anybody was unaware, here goes (deep breath):
Dec 2004: Stubs a cigar in youth player Jamie Tandy’s eye and tries to set fire to his shirt while on tour with Man City.
May 2005: Breaks a man’s leg while driving his car through Liverpool’s city centre.
July 2005: Assaults a 15-year-old Everton fan in Thailand.
Mar 2007: Arrested and cleared of assault and criminal damage.
May 2007: Assaults Ousmane Dabo during training at Man City. Fined £100k and given a 4-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty in court to the charge of assault.
Dec 2007: Arrested for common assault and affray for an incident in Liverpool. Sentenced to 6 months in prison.
Dec 2007: Admits to suffering from alcoholism.
May 2009: After being sent off in a match crucial to Newcastle’s relegation from the Premiership, Alan Shearer calls him “a s***.” He replies that Shearer is “a s*** manager with s*** tactics.”
It is prolific at the very least. The thing is, Barton remains a Premier League player because he is rather good. More than just a tenacious hustler, he both energetic and creative. As valuable as an attacking force, as he is helping the likes of Butt and Smith with his midfield defensive duties. Barton, along with Kevin Nolan, Smith and Sol Campbell are the Premier League experience that most promoted teams simply don’t possess. When Barton kept his nose (relatively) clean during his time at Man City he was one of their best players. Under both Kevin Keegan and Stuart Pearce he was a key part of the side, but there was always the next potential explosion simmering away.
Three games into the season may be jumping the gun, but what Barton showed at Molineux is that he is capable of self-control. It must go against all his natural instincts not to lash out, and yet under immense and relentless pressure, he kept his temper in check. While Newcastle’s squad has good players, it is not the largest, and lengthy and unnecessary suspensions will be the last thing that Chris Houghton needs in his quest to ensure Premier League survival.
An in-form Joey Barton will help take Newcastle onto better things. His goal against Villa, although afforded far too much room, was an example of his quality. Some may argue that he doesn’t deserve to play professional football, that he is an awful role model for children, and while this may or may not be true, it is a debate for another day. But Barton is playing professional football, and playing it well. If it continues then Geordie fans will reap the rewards.
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Not even the 750 miles of land and sea between Italy and England can stop Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson taking a swipe at his old Liverpool enemy Rafael Benitez.
Sir Alex chose to reopen old wounds ahead of last Sunday’s clash between his United side and fierce rivals Liverpool by blaming Benitez for the recent decline of the five time European Champions and not the club’s squabbling American owners. Ferguson could have easily avoided the Benitez issue if he had wished, but couldn’t resist one last dig at the new Inter Milan boss.
“I don’t know if Liverpool’s current situation is anything to do with the financial position,” commented Fergie.
“In the last regime they spent a lot of money on players, far more than Manchester United did. They had a huge squad of players, so I don’t know if the financial position is anything to do with it.”
The pair clashed repeatedly over transfer spending and budgets while Benitez was in charge at Anfield. In March 2009 the Spaniard told his United counterpart to ‘check his figures’ after Ferguson argued that the Merseyside Reds had easily outspent their rivals since the start of Benitez’s reign in 2004.
Depending on whose figures you believe, Benitez spent £240m during his six-year Anfield tenure, while Ferguson spent £223m over the same period. The former Valencia boss recouped around £165m, giving him a net spend of £88m (or £14.6m per season). While Ferguson’s net spend over the last six seasons works out at £58m, £30m less than Benitez. Benitez’s £14.6m-a-season certainly does not represent outlandish spending for a club which needed complete overhauling when he arrived in 2004. The over-inflated £80m cheque United received from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo also tips the scales in United’s favour.
Ferguson spent money reshaping his United side following Chelsea’s emergence as champions in 2004 & 05, while world class talent Wayne Rooney arrived from Everton in 2004 during Benitez’s first summer at Anfield. Sir Alex also added the defensive duo of Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra to his squad in 2006, undoubted high-quality additions to the Old Trafford set-up. Benitez also had successes in the transfer market with signings Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina and Javier Mascherano. Although Ferguson has been building from a position of strength, he can still point to three league titles and a Champions League win having spent less money than Benitez.
Benitez had success himself at Anfield, twice breaking the club’s record Premier League points total, a European Cup and a FA Cup triumph. It is incredibly harsh to blame Benitez for Liverpool’s decline when the club have been underachieving for the last two decades. The ownership saga did not help Benitez who had to manage in difficult conditions throughout his time at the club, as the boardroom battle rumbled on in the background. The effects of the ongoing sale process still continues to suck the life out of the club today and cannot be simply discarded when evaluating the club’s current plight.
Ferguson has seen the departure of six Liverpool managers during his 23-years at Old Trafford, claiming to have got on well will all of them except Benitez.
“You should examine him [Benitez] not me. I’ve always enjoyed a good relationship with Liverpool’s managers,” revealed Ferguson.
“Both clubs have always addressed the situation properly after games. That changed under the last regime, but it’s not a big issue for me.”
Clearly not. Liverpool fans have always backed Benitez’s stance on Ferguson and his refusal to pander to the longest-serving manager in English football. Benitez clearly got under Ferguson’s skin and still continues to provoke strong opinions from the Scot despite having long departed to Italy. Here’s what the former Liverpool boss had to say about Ferguson’s comments.
“I am honestly surprised that an experienced and important manager like him said these things and spoke so much about me, considering I’ve been in Italy for three months,” said the Nerazzurri boss.
“I can only add that the Liverpool fans know the story and they know the truth. They also know it’s easy to judge when you’ve been in power for 24 years.”
Of course Benitez had his failings but you cannot alter history to blame him for the club’s gradual decline and mismanagment over the last 20 years.
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Liverpool old boy taking the Championship by storm
Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has emerged as an injury doubt ahead of Saturday's Premier League trip to Tottenham.
The England international missed the opening few games of the season with a calf problem.
He made a substitute appearance during last weekend's 2-1 victory over Wolves but has missed training the week with a groin problem.
"My concern is Gabby because he again has felt his groin," revealed manager Gerard Houllier.
"We will have to investigate a bit more. The calf problem has gone now. Now it's gone up his body. I hope it doesn't get much higher."
Meanwhile, Houllier has welcomed the selection headache Carlos Cuellar's performances at centre-half in the absence of Richard Dunne have brought.
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He added:"That sort of headache I can take. A bad headache is when you've not got enough players.
"Carlos looked strong and solid and reminded me of (Liverpool's) Jamie Carragher. He goes for everything in the air and is brave."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has come out in a staunch defence of his time at Liverpool arguing that he left the squad in good shape, but some of his comments are disingenuous and misleading to say the least.
Benitez’s exact words were as follows: “I was very clear that when I left we had a better squad than we had in the past, and a better team. We knew we had to bring in better players. We left a good team, a very good team. A lot of people are talking about the legacy but the legacy is fantastic. When I left the club, (Javier) Mascherano, (Yossi) Benayoun and (Albert) Riera were there, along with Carra [Jamie Carragher], (Steven) Gerrard, (Jay) Spearing, (Stephen) Darby, (Emiliano) Insua, (Diego) Cavalieri and (Jonjo) Shelvey. They cannot talk about legacy when (Christian) Purslow [managing director] and Hodgson signed seven players. They have already changed the squad.”
While I don’t doubt for a second that the squad Hodgson has inherited was better than the one Benitez inherited from Gerard Houllier, I do doubt that it was even Benitez’s finest squad during his time at the club with departure of Xabi Alonso in particular hurting the club terribly on the pitch last season, but whether a side that lurched from crisis to crisis last season limping to a 7th place finish in the league and poor performances in every cup competition can be labelled as a ‘very good team’ is doubtful.
The hangover from last season has continued well and truly into this season and despite a good team on paper, Liverpool have underperformed to the extreme, even going as far as to eclipse last season’s disappointments with notable defeats at home to both Northampton and Blackpool.
While Hodgson has doubtless made mistakes since taking charge, with the constant calls for patience and downgrading of ambition understandable yet grating at the same time, often trotted out to the press seemingly on a daily basis now, I think it’s fair to say that the club has been on the slide for more than just these last few months since Hodgson took charge and it’s time that Benitez took some of the blame rather than trying, and failing may I add, to paint a rose-tinted view of his last few months at Anfield and washing his hands clean in the process.
The legacy cannot be said to be ‘fantastic’ as Benitez puts it. No youth team player has broken into the starting eleven during his time at the helm and gone on to feature consistently, despite the excellent performances of the youth teams in the FA Youth Cup, which makes naming players such as Spearing and Darby all the more puzzling. Whereas Shelvey was signed at the end of last season and hadn’t even kicked a ball for the club under Benitez’s tenure, and although he does have potential, his signing was a surprising one. The less said about Insua the better and the worst news the club had all summer was that his move to Fiorentina broke down.
The quotes attributed to Benitez include some very strange views indeed. The youth setup was derided by Rodolfo Borrell, a former Barcelona youth coach brought in by Benitez himself last season to help with the youth team’s infrastructure, with Borrell stating that “The reality of what we found here was unacceptable. The under-18s had no centre forward, no balance, no tactical level, no understanding of the game. We are working hard but you can’t change things overnight. I think if we keep working hard maybe in two tears somebody can appear in the first-team.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but after already being manager at the club for six years, isn’t the youth setup’s failings Benitez’s fault as much as anyone’s.
Can anyone honestly tell me that Daniel Ayala was a better defensive prospect than Jack Hobbs? The lack of chances afforded to young players at Liverpool during Benitez’s reign was palpable. I became sick and tired of hearing stories about the latest bright young thing from the reserves that looked all but ready to set the world alight. It never happened. Nothing ever materialised. Benitez never gave them a chance. So far, to his credit at least, Hodgson has. If they are not good enough, fine, but don’t try to change the past please Rafa, Darby and Spearing were less than fringe players under your tenure.
Continued on Page TWO
But it’s in naming the likes of Benayoun, Mascherano and Riera that I begin to believe that Rafa’s now truly off his rocker, why not just name Ryan Babel as well while you’re at it. Riera had been frozen out after some ill-advised comments about the club towards the end of Rafa’s reign, Benayoun openly stated upon joining Chelsea that one of the main reasons for his departure was Benitez and Mascherano was always destined to leave the club this summer no matter who was in charge, the club wasn’t the problem in his case, simply the location and proximity to his family.
Labelling these three as evidence of a strong squad is laughable, as two of them had nothing but contempt towards Benitez due to the lack of playing time he granted them and the other, Mascherano, had wanted to depart the club last summer only to see any potential move scuppered by the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid. If he had highlighted the string spine that he left, the likes of Reina, Agger, Carragher, Gerrard and Torres I wouldn’t have any quibbles, but highlighting the players listed above is nothing short of bonkers.
Hodgson had this to say in a thinly veiled attack on Benitez’s transfer policy towards the end of his time at the club and the squad he inherited: “We were unbelievably overstaffed when I came to the club and we still are overstaffed. It was just as big a job making sure that some of the players who never feature for the first team move on. We had to limit our squad to players who are either in the frame to play first-team football or who have a bright future [and] who are still anxious to play academy and reserve-team football. We don’t want that middle group, who are too old for reserve football but are not serving any purpose for the first team because they never feature.”
I don’t know about you, but quite how the likes of the players that departed this summer, such as Phillip Degen, Damien Plessis, the aforementioned Cavalieri or Nabil El Zhar could be constituted as being part of a ‘fantastic legacy’ at the club is beyond me and the squad Hodgson inherited had as much dead wood in it as the one Benitez inherited and Hodgson was entirely correct with his sentiments.
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Former managers always like to take credit for a club’s successes after they leave just as much as they like to apportion blame to the new manager if the club continues to do badly after they’ve gone, but Benitez’s latest comments leave a bitter taste in the mouth and although he’s trying to wash his hands of the current mess that the club find themselves in, he was the one in charge of player recruitment, and as much as the owner issue is like an albatross hanging weightily around the club’s neck, dragging it further down into the mire, Benitez has to be held accountable too.
It’s clear for all to see that with Liverpool currently in the relegation zone for the first time since 1964, that things are going extremely poorly on the pitch, but on the face of it at least, Hodgson’s signings look to be pretty good. Wilson and Jovanovic had been tracked by the club while Benitez was still manager which makes his ‘they have already changed the squad’ claim seem even more hollow. Joe Cole is still finding his feat but should pay-off in the long term and Raul Meireles looks to be a fine addition. I still have my doubts about Paul Konchesky at this level and I think it’s fair to say that Christian Poulsen has struggled somewhat since his move but has a great pedigree, and Brad Jones will rarely feature only serving to be an able if unused understudy to the excellent Pepe Reina.
I completely understand that Benitez worked under incredibly difficult circumstances for a number of years at the club, and that these restricted the impact he could have had on the club’s fortunes immeasurably, but he was afforded a power and responsibility over first-team affairs that was unprecedented in scope and scale, and one that no manager previously could claim to have acquired. The legacy he has left the club is there for all to see right now, languishing in the bottom three of the Premiership. Rather than wash his hands clean of the mess the club currently finds itself in, perhaps it’s time Benitez took off the rose-tinted specs, as he’s not kidding anyone with this latest baffling ramble.
Walter Smith has not given up hope of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League even after watching his Rangers team slump to a 3-0 defeat to Valencia in the Mestalla.
Victory against Bursaspor and draws with Los Che and Manchester United had raised hopes of the Gers reaching the knockout stages of the competition, but that now appears unlikely after the result in Spain.
Smith is aware of the difficult task his side now faces, saying after the loss:"We need circumstances to go with us if we're going to win games in the Champions League. That didn't happen here and Valencia took their chances to score.
"Steven Naismith had a good opportunity at the start of the match and, if that had gone in things might have been different. But credit to their keeper for making a fantastic stop.
"Steven then had a header which could have caused a bit of nervousness in the latter stages of the match. But it wasn't to be and, in the end, we can't have too many complaints about the final result. Valencia played very well and we can do better but we can't dwell on this result.
"We have a difficult game against Manchester United at home next and they look as though they've qualified. So we'll wait and see what happens but we'll aim to acquit ourselves well in our remaining games.
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"We still have a chance to put pressure on Valencia in terms of getting that second spot in Group C. It will be a big ask for us to do that now when you consider we play Manchester United and Valencia will probably be favourites to beat Bursaspor.
"We need results to go for us but we just have to go out and try to win the games and play better than we did tonight."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
The 3-2 loss to Spurs was Arsenal’s third home defeat of the season. That’s a pretty damning statistic considering it’s still only November. Arsenal have played seven home Premier League games this season and have won only four of them – not the form of title contenders. They may be only two points behind Chelsea, but results such as this will not fill the Arsenal faithful with too much hope.
Regarding the situation, Wenger said this: “Three home defeats are three too many. The first two games we didn’t deliver the performance and we can only say that we got what we deserved. Today we delivered the performance, but what is worrying for me is that we had an opportunity to go to the top of the league and when we have to deliver we can’t.”
The fact of the matter is this: opponents should fear coming to the Emirates. It should be an impenetrable fortress. When opposition players look across their fixture lists, they should register some concern when they know they are heading to the Emirates. At the moment that’s just not the case. Arsenal are too soft, too brittle and always on the verge of cracking.
How can Arsenal turn this around? The change has to start with Wenger. He has to encourage and motivate the players better. If he can’t motivate his players to give their all for the full 90+ minutes, then there’s something seriously wrong with the dynamic at Arsenal. It’s simply not good enough to go ahead and then take your foot off the pedal. Arsenal have to learn not only how to kill of games, but how to maintain a performance over 90 minutes. At the moment Arsenal are much too prone to falling apart at the end of games, and this will always give the opposition team hope and desire to get back into the game.
The next point of call is the defence. Offensively Arsenal are fine: 2 goals should have been enough to see off Spurs. Defensively on the other hand, Arsenal’s back four are always liable to leak goals. Yet it’s not fair to lay all the blame on the back four – Arsenal’s midfield must work harder to support the defence. Alex Song is Arsenal’s midfield anchor, but his attacking spirit often sees him travel too far up the pitch. This buccaneering attitude has seen Arsenal caught out a couple of times this season. Players like Andrey Arshavin need to work harder and show a willingness to track back.
It’s all about developing the correct attitude. Manchester United have shown this season that they still have the attitude required to win the Premier League. That’s why they remain unbeaten. It’s their refusal to crack and their belief in their own ability that has seen them come this far. Arsenal have shown signs that they’re capable of reaching this level of self-assurance, but they are certainly not there yet.
With the right kind of attitude, Arsenal can set right their current home form. In time, The Emirates will become a place that opponents fear once more.
If you’re interested and want to hear more feel free to follow me on Twitter, where you can also keep up to date with the latest Arsenal news!
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