Category Uncategorized

Harry Redknapp has suggested in the past that the level of abuse players are now receiving in the game is vicious and has begun to step over the line. Players like Emmanuel Adebayor are the constant subject of vile chants and abuse from ‘fans’ and it appears that although supporters should be entitled to express themselves, many are simply going too far.

Hurling abuse in football has long been considered acceptable as a form of passion. There has always been pretty shocking stuff chanted at football grounds, but of late the issue has come into the spotlight, with constant abuse and heckling of players in the most disgusting fashion. A few months back we saw the youtube video of the ‘fan’ teaching their four-year old to sing the crudest song about the Munich air crash emerged, highlighting the appalling behaviour that has become second nature to a lot of football ‘fans’. Of course not everybody goes about acting like this, and it is probably just a minority that are acting so atrociously, but it needs to be stopped, and clubs and the powers that be need to do more to cut stuff like this out of the game. Football is a beautiful game, but elements like this take the shine off and show its ugly side.

I’m not suggesting that fans shouldn’t be allowed to express themselves, booing an opposition team or player on the field is fair enough, it is part of the theatrical nature of the game, but the constant taunting and negative chanting is embarrassing for football, as well as clubs, and the areas the fans represent.

The constant ferocious stick that some players receive from supporters is simply too much. The level of abuse shown is simply pure hatred and footballers, as human beings, shouldn’t have to take some of the disgusting abuse hurled their way. How can you insult someone that you don’t even know?

It is difficult for players not to react to abuse, but it is a long established part of the game so they must try to ignore it. A player must be sensible in the situation and the worst thing they can do is react and incite it. We have seen players in the past, like Emmanuel Adebayor and Gary Neville, running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the opposition fans after receiving abuse. Sure they had been getting horrendous stick all afternoon, but they have a role to play in the game and should have reacted with sensitivity, instead of further inciting the fans.

It has now become common for supporters not just to vent fury at the opposition, but also their own side. Alex McLeish and Arsene Wenger have taken the full brunt of fans criticism so far this season, with boos often ringing out around their respective stadiums. Having spent their hard earned money to watch the game, fans are perfectly entitled to express themselves and perhaps it is the only way they can get their voices heard, although I don’t see how it can be anything other than self-destructive.

Football is passionate, and displays of emotion are a vital part of the game we all love, but some of the abuse these days has stepped over the mark and the game doesn’t need to be ruined by this kind of behaviour. Booing is fine, but the kind of personal insults we often hear nowadays are too much.

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It can be difficult for players not to react when they are getting outrageous stick, human nature will scream at them to give a bit back to the supporters who are taunting them, but common sense must prevail, and they must continue to go about their game professionally and try and shut the fans up with their actions on the field. Supporters are perfectly entitled to vent their opinion and their frustrations, but it needs to be within reason. Some of the abuse currently hurled at players is disgusting and there is simply no place for it in the game.

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Former England captain David Beckham says he would love to be part of a Great Britain football team at the 2012 Olympics.No official announcement has been made about the inclusion of a British side in next summer’s London Games – but the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder would be happy to play any part.

“So far I’ve heard I’m going to be managing, coaching, playing, so we’ll see,” Beckham said.

“But I would like to be part of it in some way, I’d love to be a player in it of course, but to be just part of that team would be pretty incredible.”

“You know for a football team to go into the Olympics in England, you know it’s a huge thing, so yeah I would love to be part of it in some way and playing would be a bonus.”

Beckham is back in action for LA Galaxy against New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

Injury-plagued Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has made his latest return to first-team training.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken of his amazement at the condition of the England midfielder, who has made just one substitute appearance in two years for the Red Devils.

Hargreaves has undergone extensive surgery on both knees in recent times following a long-running battle with tendinitis.

"Owen Hargreaves has come back training," Ferguson told MUTV."He trained yesterday (Thursday) with the first team. He looked very good. I was surprised actually how good he was looking.

"It's an extra string to our bow. Bringing him in at this time, after being out for so long, obviously we'll have to monitor him and see how he's going to progress in the next few weeks. But it's good to see him back.

"Because he's been out for so long you have to see whether there's going to be a relapse.

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"That's the first thing on our mind at the moment but having watched him in training yesterday if he continues that way he's going to give me another selection problem, no question about that."

Hargreaves has made just 38 appearances for United following his £17milliion arrival from Bayern Munich in 2007.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has stated that the club’s fans who booed Arsene Wenger in the club’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday should remember what he has done for the club.

The French manager replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with out-of-form Andrei Arshavin in the second half of the loss, much to the distain of some of the supporters.

The Poland international is full of respect for Wenger, and has stated that the Emirates Stadium faithful should stand by their coach’s convictions.

“No one will ever forget [what he’s done],” Szczesny told The Telegraph.

“I think he’s still doing a fantastic job and that’s not a question, really, his position at this club. He’s done a magnificent job over the 15 years and he’s still doing it now.

“So I don’t think his position at this club should ever be questioned. Fans have their opinion. They’re entitled to their opinion and they show it in the way they do. That’s fine with me.

“I think this club should be in the Champions League, year in, year out so I understand the manager’s point, absolutely.

“We’ve been there before and we’ve reacted very well. I think we’ll do the same thing again and make sure that this club goes in the right direction and we finish the season where we should.

“There’s a lot of pressure. Obviously, fans expect us to do better than what we’ve been doing. I’m confident we will pick ourselves up, we’ll win games and we’ll get our position in the Champions League.

“I’m not worried. I’m disappointed, obviously, but I’m still confident we can do it. It should be a big confidence boost for us, the likes of Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna coming back, Kieran Gibbs as well. They’re very important players for us.

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“Hopefully, we can deal with all the pressure that’s around us at the moment and live up to the expectations because these fans and this club deserve better results than it is has got in the last few weeks,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Leeds United dropped out of the Championship playoff places after drawing 0-0 with Reading on Friday.Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy was the hero for the visitors, constantly thwarting the Leeds attack.

The closest the home side came was through a dazzling run from Bradley Johnson.

Johnson did all the hard work to break his way through the Reading defence early in the second half, but he struck the crossbar from just inside the area with McCarthy beaten.

Young substitute Sanchez Watt had a glorious chance in stoppage time after getting past McCarthy, but he poked his shot wide with his back to goal when he had more time than he thought.

While Reading remain fourth, the draw leaves Leeds in seventh place on goal difference after Nottingham Forest recorded a 3-2 win over local rivals Leicester City.

Forest twice gave away the lead but eventually secured all three points after Leicester goalkeeper Chris Weale allowed a late effort from Paul McKenna to squirm under his body and make it 3-2 at the final whistle.

The hosts led through a header from forward Marcus Tudgay 15 minutes into the match at the City Ground.

Visitors Leicester equalised five minutes later courtesy of midfielder Matt Oakley’s drive from outside the area.

Forest keeper Lee Camp got a hand to the shot and might have been expected to keep it out.

It took until the 73rd minute for Forest to restore their lead, with striker Robert Earnshaw netting from close range after Weale could only parry Lewis McGugan’s strike.

Again Leicester levelled quickly – this time in less than a minute – when substitute Darius Vassell pounced to make it 2-2 after Camp failed to hold fullback Kyle Naughton’s shot.

Leicester appeared set to take a point and put a serious dent in Forest’s playoff hopes, before the speculative effort from McKenna and Weale’s error six minutes from time combined to hand Billy Davies’ side victory.

In other matches, relegation-threatened Scunthorpe gained a point with a 1-1 draw away to Coventry City.

Ramon Nunez equalised for visitors Scunthorpe after Marlon King put Coventry ahead in the fifth minute at the Ricoh Arena.

A draw leaves Scunthorpe third from bottom, three points behind Crystal Palace, who occupy the safety of 21st place.

Palace also picked up a point in a 0-0 draw away to Doncaster Rovers, who are just two points and one position better off in 20th.

Want-away Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano finally got his wish today as Liverpool have accepted a bid of around £18 million from Barcelona for the Argentina captain. Mascherano’s relationship with the club reached an all time low on Monday when the Argentine withdrew himself from the squad to face Manchester City. Mascherano’s decision to withdraw from the squad came about due to the fact that Barcelona had tabled a bid for his services and both he and manager Roy Hodgson felt that he was “not in the right frame of mind” to play for the club. Mascherano’s refusal to play for the club even though they pay him an exorbitant amount of money to do so is hugely disrespectful and unprofessional.

It is disrespectful to the fans who have paid their hard earned money to support the club and watch their players play, only for one of their best to mock their loyal stupidity by refusing to play and leaving the team severely depleted. It is a huge disrespect to a club of the stature of Liverpool for a player to openly demand a move from such an exalted club; a club which rescued Mascherano from his West Ham nightmare and helped to establish his reputation as one of the world’s premier defensive midfielders.

His selfish actions have threatened to disrupt the harmony of the team. Following his withdrawal from Monday’s squad, reports surfaced that a number of senior players confronted Mascherano in training about his decision to omit himself from the team. I’m pretty sure that if he was available, Hodgson would have played Mascherano on Monday evening. Therefore, Mascherano’s decision to leave himself out would have seriously comprised Hodgson’s tactics and formation for the game- and so it proved as Manchester City ran out convincing 3-0 winners against a disjointed Liverpool team which lacked the steel and intensity that Mascherano would have undoubtedly brought.

Macherano’s decision to effectively go on strike until he gets his move points to how player power is increasingly getting out of hand. This offseason has seen a number of players refuse to play for their clubs in an attempt to engineer a move elsewhere. We have seen it at Stoke City where goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has not featured following interest from league leaders Chelsea. We have also seen it at Fulham where another coveted goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has found himself out of the team after handing in a transfer request.

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson deserves huge credit in standing up to the pressures of player power. He refused to be bullied and only agreed to sell Mascherano on the club’s term and not on the player’s.

Mascherano should be ashamed of his actions. He refused to play for the club but still colleceted a sizeable wage packet for his disloyalty. The PFA and FA should step in to curb this problem before player power threatens to spiral out of control.

For more football chat, follow me on Twitter.

*

Click on image below to see the gallery of Mario Balotelli’s stunning girlfriend

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Christmas can be a stressful and tense time for everybody, not just those involved in football. How you react under these conditions depends on your character. For example, Wolfsburg boss Felix Magath threatened to cancel his squad’s Christmas if they failed to overcome Stuttgart at home on the Saturday. You’ll be glad to know (unless you’re a sadist) that there’ll be celebrations in Lower Saxony after they edged out Bruno Labbadia’s side 1-0 at the VW Arena. One man though didn’t seem to coping so well with added pressure.

Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery would have been angered by events earlier on Friday where he was ordered to pay €2.66 million to his former agent. The former Marseille man appeared to let his frustration spill onto the pitch. After a fairly innocuous tangle with Cologne’s Henrique Sereno, Ribery earned himself a pair of yellow cards in under a minute as the Frenchman failed to control his emotions.

The Bavarians needn’t have worried as Stale Solbakken’s Cologne were insipid despite being handed a fantastic opportunity at the Allianz Arena. The game was goalless but the Billy Goats seemed content enough with the score line.

In hindsight, a big mistake as Heynckes side effortlessly cruised past the visitors with three second half goals. This epitomised Bayern’s season to date. At times, there have been some shaky moments both at home (Dortmund and Gladbach) and away (Hannover and Mainz). However, otherwise they’ve been ruthless as their impressive goal difference suggests. Mario Gomez’ remarkable knack of being in the right place at the right time has helped contribute to this significantly.

Nevertheless, just three points behind the leaders are fierce Ruhr rivals Borussia Dortmund and Schalke who both grabbed convincing victories on the weekend. The Black and Yellows made the long trip south to Freiburg who were dispatched 4-1. Despite being beaten in the derby three weeks ago, Schalke had the upper hand result wise this time round. The Royal Blues thrashed a hapless Werder Bremen 5-0 including a hat trick from Raul. Both Jurgen Klopp and Huub Stevens will be confident of challenging their Bavarian rivals in the new year.

Will either be able to catch Germany’s most successful club in 2012? The statistics would argue against it. This is the 17th time Bayern have been top at the halfway stage of the season. Only twice before have they failed to go on to become champions. It would certainly be a major shock should they not win with the players they have available to them.

Their mettle will be tested immediately in January with a trip to old adversaries Borussia Monchengladbach. The Foals ensured they’re still in the title shake-up sneaking past Mainz. Marco Reus, a man who will move to either Dortmund or Munich come the end of the season, returned from injury. He broke his toe in their derby victory against Cologne but Reus limped off towards the end after catching his foot in the turf.

This could be what decides the destination of the title – injuries. Three of the top four have certainly had key players missing recently and strength in depth is not abundant amongst the top teams in the Bundesliga. Of the title chasers though, Bayern Munich look best set, especially with Bastian Schweinsteiger returning. The winter break will ease any stress and tension amongst Jupp Heynckes’ ranks however, they should be warned. This is the Bundesliga and Bayern Munich have looked susceptible to the occasional implosion, even if it looks unlikely in 2012.

If you’d like to read more Bundesliga musings, then why not follow me on Twitter  – @arhindtutt

Matchday 17 Results:

Bayern Munich 3-0 Cologne

Bayer Leverkusen 0-3 Nuremberg

Freiburg 1-4 Borussia Dortmund

Hamburg 1-1 Augsburg

Hoffenheim 1-1 Hertha Berlin

Wolfsburg 1-0 Stuttgart

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Schalke 5-0 Werder Bremen

Kaiserslautern 1-1 Hannover

Gladbach 1-0 Mainz

Bundesliga Table:

Rank

Club

Matches

W*

D*

L*

G*

GD*

PTS*

1

FC Bayern Munich

17

12

1

4

43:10

+33

37

CL*

2

Borussia Dortmund

17

10

4

3

35:12

+23

34

CL*

3

FC Schalke 04

17

11

1

5

38:22

+16

34

CL*

4

Borussia Mönchengladbach

17

10

3

4

25:11

+14

33

CL* Qual.

5

SV Werder Bremen

17

9

2

6

30:31

-1

29

EL* Qual.

6

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

17

7

5

5

22:22

0

26

EL* Qual.

7

Hannover 96

17

5

8

4

20:24

-4

23

8

VfB Stuttgart

17

6

4

7

23:20

+3

22

9

1899 Hoffenheim

17

6

4

7

19:19

0

22

10

1. FC Köln

17

6

3

8

27:35

-8

21

11

Hertha BSC Berlin

17

4

8

5

24:26

-2

20

12

VfL Wolfsburg

17

6

2

9

23:34

-11

20

13

Hamburger SV

17

4

7

6

21:27

-6

19

14

1. FSV Mainz 05

17

4

6

7

22:29

-7

18

15

1. FC Nuremberg

17

5

3

9

17:28

-11

18

16

1. FC Kaiserslautern

17

3

7

7

13:21

-8

16

Play-offs

17

FC Augsburg

17

3

6

8

15:28

-13

15

Relegation

18

SC Freiburg

17

3

4

10

21:39

-18

13

Relegation

Table thanks to the Bundesliga Official Website

In a follow up to the TOP TEN Best moments of the season earlier this week, today I focus on the worst moments of the season, so far. These moments are the worst in the sense that I could not really believe what had happened – for negative reasons. These moments are sensational but are not good for the game. They are more lowlights than highlights that football as a whole could have done without.

I am not going to focus on the worst decisions, I will leave that for later in the year. I am sure everyone will want to have a say on which decisions were the worst and which were most influential. The worst moments for me are ones that have made the Premier League a worse division. I am not intending to criticise the league at all, instead I just want to pick out moments of the season that have been bad for the game.

Of course these will not be every team's worst moments. Arsenal fans will probably think the League Cup final or home defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle were the worst moments of the domestic season. Likewise a Tottenham fan will rue picking up only 1 point from 4 games against the bottom 4 sides in the League. Every side will have their own 'worse moment'.

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Click on Rooney below to see the TEN Worst Moments of the season

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Listen to the first episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O'Reilly and Toploader's Dan Hipgrave makes a special appearance!

Blackburn Rovers boss Sam Allardyce has reacted calmly to reports suggesting that his club could be in line for a big-money takeover.

Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed is reported to be heading up a consortium aiming to take charge at Ewood Park, with a potential transfer pot worth up to £100million being mooted.

However, Allardyce is aware that even if a deal goes through, the money will not be available to spend in the current transfer window.

He told reporters:"Chairman John Williams tells me we can't get the deal done any sooner than maybe even as far as the end of September.

"This transfer window will be well and truly shut at the end of August, so that will not allow us to do anything between now and then.

"If it becomes a reality, that would be obviously very, very exciting, but at the moment it is still in the process of negotiation.

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"The chairman says to me it would be almost impossible to think that any of that money might be available before the end of this window.

"So we continue down the same line as we have all summer and bring in another frontman if we can find him."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

QPR and West Brom meet for the first time in the Premier League with both teams desperate to maintain their mid-table position after suffering disappointing defeats last week.

Neil Warnock’s Rangers men were beaten in a close game with fellow promoted side Norwich at Carrow Road last Saturday failing to build on their impressive win over Stoke seven days prior. It’s been a good start to life back in the Premier League for the R’s who sit pretty in 11th after being tipped to struggle after spending 15-years out of the top flight. The late recruitment drive from Warnock at the end of the transfer window bolstered the squad with some much needed experience from the likes of Joey Barton and Luke Young. Their influence and knowledge has proved invaluable in such a short space of time with the West Londoners already picking up some memorable results with the win in the Potteries and their victory over Chelsea ones that stick in the memory. However that win over the Blues stands as their only home success of the season with their form at Loftus Road a constant worry for Warnock with performances on their own turf proving to be drab. It’s a mystery as to why Rangers perform so poorly on their own turf with with three draws and two defeats from their six games at home not good enough if you want to stay in the top flight. Goals have been hard to come by at Loftus Road with a measly return of five goals at Loftus Road giving supporters hardly anything to celebrate. Summer signing Jay Bothroyd has struggled to make the step up to the Premier League despite scoring goals for fun in the Championship with Cardiff last season. It’s a problem that will need to be addressed with games against Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal on the horizon.

West Brom have a similar problem to their hosts with goals coming in short supply this season despite possessing a strike force of Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie. The latter has been out injured for most of the season and when he has stepped out for the Baggies he’s looked a shadow of the player that took the Premier League by storm last season. Long, on the other hands, has weighed in with his fair share of goals scoring four times as he continues his top flight education following his record breaking move from Reading in the summer. However boss Roy Hodgson will be unhappy with his side after they threw their lead away at home to Tottenham last week before going onto lose 3-1 dropping to 14th in the table having started the day in 10th. The Baggies have been frustratingly inconsistent this season losing or drawing very winnable games despite easily beating Aston Villa away and Bolton at home in the last month. Scoring goals is the main issue at the moment with Albion finding the net just 12 times in 13 games this season. Creating chances has never been a problem for them with James Morison, Jerome Thomas and Chris Brunt in midfield although the latter was the main culprit blazing a glorious opportunity over the bar against Spurs. The old adage of ‘goals win games’ comes into play and if West Brom could take half of the chances they create then they wouldn’t be sitting just five points above the drop zone. Despite that their form on the road is one of the big positives of their season so far and they’ll be confident of getting something out of QPR having won two and drawn three of their games away from the Hawthorns.

QPR – 11th

Last Five: Lost 2-1 v Norwich (A), Won 3-2 v Stoke (A), Lost 3-2 v Man City (H), Lost 3-1 v Tottenham (A), Won 1-0 v Chelsea (H)

Potential Starting X11: 24. R. Cerny 18. L. Young 35. A. Ferdinand 6. D. Gabbidon 3. C. Hill 11. A. Faurlin  4. S. Derry 7. J. Barton[C] 10. J. Mackie 32. S. Wright-Phillips* 10. J. Bothroyd

Injury News: Warnock has been dealt a serious injury blow with key players Paddy Kenny and Heidar Helguson joining Matt Connolly, DJ Campbell, Kieron Dyer and Rob Hulse in the Loftus Road treatment room.

Key Player: Shaun Wright-Phillips

The former Manchester City winger has become an essential part of the QPR side in such a short space of time since moving to Loftus Road at the end of August. His pace and directness gives the R’s an outlet every time they go forward whether it’s chasing a ball over the top or beating a man one-on-one. He’ll be expected to get at West Brom at every opportunity when they meet on Saturday.

Match Fact:  Despite meeting each other 31 times in over 60 years QPR and West Brom have never contested a Premier League fixture. Their last encounter came in March 2010 with the R’s coming out on top with a 2-1 victory against the Baggies who finished runners-up in the Championship a few months later.

West Brom – 14th

Last Five: Lost 3-1 v Tottenham (H), Won 2-0 v Bolton (H), Lost 3-0 v Arsenal (A), Lost 2-0 v Liverpool (H), Won 2-1 v Aston Villa (A)

Potential Starting X11: 1. B. Foster 12. S. Reid 3. J. Olsson 33. P. Scharner 20. N. Shorey 14. J. Thomas 21. Y. Mulumbu 7. J. Morrison 11. C. Brunt[C] 5. S. Tchoyi 9. S. Long*

Injury News: Albion lost Zoltan Gera to a serious knee injury last week and it looks likely that the Hungarian playmaker could be out for the rest of the season.

Key Player: Shane Long

Despite scoring just two goals in his last nine games the Republic of Ireland striker has become a key player for the Baggies since his move from Reading. His tendency to play on the shoulder of the last defender and intelligent movement give West Brom’s creative midfield something to aim at which will come in handy against a relatively sturdy QPR defence.

Match Fact: The Baggies were victorious on their first ever trip to Loftus Road in 1948 winning 2-0. However their last 10 visits to West London have yielded just three wins, one draw and six defeats and with their last victory coming in 2008.

Last Time at Loftus Road

Championship

QPR 3-1 West Brom

Simpson, 13 Connolly, 18 Buszaky, 67

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Brunt, 36

Attendance: 14,578

Referee: Stuart Attwell

PREDICTION

Both teams are frighteningly inconsistent and struggling to score goals on a consistent basis which is alarming going into the hectic festive schedule. QPR have struggled to get going at home this season and will need to start wining games at Loftus Road if they are to maintain their lofty mid-table position. West Brom have similar problems although their form on the road has kept them well away from the relegation zone. A win for either side could spur them onto better things although a draw is the likely outcome.

Score: 1-1

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