Thursday, August 2, 2007

Reina ready for carson battle


Pepe Reina has admitted he is relishing the challenge of battling for the goalkeeping position at Anfield with Scott Carson this season.

Carson is back at the club after a successful loan spell with Charlton Athletic last season and is likely to begin the campaign as number two to the established Reina.

But the Reds' Spanish stopper is well aware of Carson's quality and having already seen off the challenges of both Chris Kirkland and Jerzt Dudek for a regular first team place, he knows he must keep his standards high to stay in the team.

"I think it's a great challenge for me – Scott coming back will mean I have to be even better and that is only better for the team," he says.

"I'm not worried, I know that Scotty will be pushing me hard for a place. He's a great shot stopper, he showed that last season for Charlton, so with the two of us competing for a place it's better for the team."

taken from liverpoolfc.tv

Boss thankful for stern test


Sir Alex Ferguson rued the uncharacteristic defensive frailty United showed against Inter Milan, but was delighted with the overall test posed by the Serie A champions.

Quickfire first half goals from David Suazo (2) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave Inter a 3-2 win at Old Trafford, where they were helped by some generous defending from the hosts.

After the relative ease of United’s four game Asian Tour, however, Sir Alex was thankful for a sterner challenge from Roberto Mancini’s side.

“It was a meaningful game tonight,” he told MUTV. “We understand that when we go to the Far East the quality isn’t going to be as high as it was tonight, that’s obvious. So tonight’s game was needed, we needed that tempo to the match.

“The sharpness and the professionalism of the Inter Milan team was very good, their tackling and defending was aggressive. We needed that type of game too.

“All in all the four games in the Far East were a step in terms of playing games, tonight was a step forward in terms of the pace needed to win top matches.”

Although critical of his side’s first-half defensive lapses, the Boss was pleased to see an improvement after the interval, especially with Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Chelsea looming large.

“The first half they were so open,” he said. “We were all over the place when we lost the ball. If you defend like that you’re going to lose but, in fairness to them, they stepped up and did much better in the second half.

“There was some really good one-touch play at times and it was a delight. Even with the experience of Inter Milan, there was nothing they could do about it at times. But I’m happy overall with the workout of the night.

taken from manutd.com

Marcelo, Baptista, Robinho and Gago rejoin the squad


All of the squad's 27 men were at training this morning and listened to Schuster's briefing, in which the coach analysed last night's game against Hannover 96. The squad divided into groups to tackle different exercises. Yesterday's starters did recovery work, while the rest worked on dribbling exercises and played a practice game. Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Fabio Cannavaro worked out on their own to recover from their injuries; the latter never left the gym.

Real Madrid's physical fatigue took its toll last night in the friendly against Hannover 96. This morning's training session took place at the AWD Arena and was attended by the 27 players of the squad -Marcelo, Robinho, Gago and Baptista rejoined the team yesterday.

Training started with Bernd Schuster's briefing, which lasted for over five minutes and served the coach to anaylse last night's encounter. After this, the squad was divided into groups. Fabio Cannavaro left the pitch in order to to some recovery work on the bruise on his left leg in the gym.

Once again, Ruud van Nistelrooy also trained on his own doing recovery work on his injury. He jogged and did several ball exercises with recovery expert José Luis San Martín. Dudek, Guti and Soldado still suffer from mild niggles, but they worked with the the largest group -Saviola, Granero, Pepe, Salgado, Adrián, Codina, Emerson, Metzelder, Iker Casillas and Alberto Bueno-, whose work was much more intense.

Those who arrived yesterday joined this group for warm-up and the physical obstacle course. They jogged and did series of skipping, zig-zags, sprints, changes in pace, etc. Guti led the group. The three Brazilians and Gago left to train under the supervision of physical coach Jordi García, and the keepers joined keeper coach Pedro Jaro to do some specific exercises. The rest practiced dribbling, passing and touching the ball, and worked on one-on-ones and two-on-ones.

Baptista, Marcelo, Robinho and Gago joined them again to play a practice game in which they had to score in a goal defended by Codina on one end of the pitch, and in small goals at the other end in order to improve on last night's poor aim. Many goals were scored by the recent arrivals and by Saviola and Pepe, who always score many strikes in training sessions. After the game they worked on set pieces from outside the box.

ORANGE TEAM: Salgado, Metzelder, Marcelo, Guti, Baptista, Bueno, Soldado.
BLUE TEAM: Pepe, Granero, Emerson, Gago, Robinho, Adrián, Saviola.

Yesterday's starters -Torres, Ramos, Balboa, Higuaín, Raúl, Cicinho, De la Red and Diarra, tackled mild stretching exercises on mats and did some recovery work in the gym. Cicinho decided to jog around the pitch prior to entering the gym.

The squad, besides the recent arrivals, will have the afternoon off. They will all return to training tomorrow morning prior to leaving for Moscow, where they will play in the Russian Railway Tournament against Lokomotiv Moscow, Milan and PSV.

taken from realmadrid.com

Toni happy with the female support


BERLIN (AFP) - Italian striker Luca Toni says he's enjoying life at Bayern Munich, especially the tradition of allowing fans in to watch the team training.

He said: "The main difference between Germany and Italy is that the training sessions are up to now open to the public. I find that very positive and we should change this tradition in Italy where everything takes place behind closed doors."

"I'm really happy that the female sex turns up for training. it's very good that women are there when we train," Toni, who is dating model Marta Cecchetto, added in an interview with Wednesday's Die Welt newspaper.

The 30-year-old World Cup winner arrived from Serie A side Fiorentina on a 12 million euro deal and he claimed his objective in the Bundesliga was to be liked rather than to be a star.

"I joined Bayern to score goals. At Palermo and Fiorentina I scored goals and they liked me for that."

Since joining Bayern Toni has developed a strong following among teenage girls and referring to this interest in a second interview in the weekly Sport Bild he said: "I do pay attention to my appearance, we Italians never hide that fact: when I arrive in a new city I'll always go first to clothes shops rather than furniture stores."

But Toni, who is temporarily sidelined with a knee injury, denied being self-obsessed with his looks.

"I don't spend more than five minutes a day in front of the bathroom mirror, sometimes not even long enough to shave or comb my hair."

taken from soccernews.com

Zambrotta joins criticism of Barca's Asian tour


MADRID (AFP) - Italian World Cup winning defender Gianluca Zambrotta has joined in criticism of Barcelona and #39;s upcoming promotional tour of Asia, saying it will hamper preparations for next season.

"It would be better to stay in Barcelona to prepare for next season. It is not easy to prepare in such a distant place," he told a news conference on Wednesday.

"It is not easy for the players, the constant travel, the jet lag," the 30-year-old former Juventus player added.

Barcelona, who finished second in the Primera Liga last season, head to Beijing on Thursday and will play three exhibition matches in China and Japan before returning to Spain on August 11.

The team and #39;s French defender Lilian Thuram has also questioned the wisdom of the tour.

"I do not think it is possibly the best way for the team to prepare. But that is how football is and all the big clubs do it nowadays," he told a news conference on Tuesday when asked about the tour at a press conference.

"Technical ability is also crucial, but the physical side is still vital too. Training is hard now, but that is normal. We are in pre-season and you have to push yourself to be fit for the whole year," the 35-year-old added.

Barcelona will face Beijing Guoan on August 5 in the Chinese capital and Yokohama Marinos in Tokyo two days later.

The team will then face Mission Hills Invitation XI, a squad made up of players from Kitchee FC and Happy Valley FC, in Hong Kong on August 10.

The Spanish championship kicks off on August 25.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta defended the trip, telling reporters that a similar pre-season tour of Asia in 2005 did not stop the team from going on to win the Spanish championship that season.

"We have a club membership of 150,000 and it is necessary to give back to them the maximum amount of profit," the online edition of Catalan daily La Vanguardia quoted him as saying.

In August 2006 Barcelona went on a two-week pre-season tour of the United States and Mexico which was blamed by several players, including Ronaldinho, for their lack of peak fitness when the season began.

The leg through the United States alone earned the club four million euros (5.5 million US dollars), according to Spanish media.

Real Madrid stars, including Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, also protested against an 18-day promotional tour of the USA and Asia carried out before the 2005-06 season that included six exhibition matches.

Real this year will not tour either Asia or the United States and has limited its pre-season travel to locations in Europe.

Barcelona and #39;s Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, Brazilian midfielder Edmilson and defender Carles Puyol will miss the tour of Asia due to injury.

The Catalan giants will also be without Argentina and #39;s Lionel Messi and Gabriel Milito, as well as Mexico and #39;s Rafael Marquez, since the three players are on holiday after taking part for the national teams in the Copa America.

taken from soccernews.com

Lazarus like Marseille look to confirm revival with trophy

MARSEILLE, France (AFP) - Marseille may not amazingly have won a major trophy for 15 years but many see their finishing second in last season and #39;s title race as a sign that the club and #39;s troubled past is well behind it and a much brighter future awaits it.

Having put the embarrassment of a financial scandal and imposed relegation behind them Marseille will enter the 2007-2008 season having also booked their return to the UEFA Champions League.

Marseille are the most decorated club in French footballing history and are the only French team to have won Europe and #39;s top club competition, in 1993, which capped off a dominant run of five consecutive league one titles in the early 1990 and #39;s.

However, financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal in 1994, during Bernard Tapie and #39;s reign as President, saw the southern French outfit punished with relegation to the second division, where they stayed for two years, and stripped of their 1993 domestic league crown.

Since rejoining the French top flight in 1996 L and #39;OM have struggled to recapture the glory days of Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle and Basile Boli and have slipped up on the four occasions they have got to within 90 minutes of securing a major trophy - the UEFA Cup final in 1999 and 2004 and the French Cup final the last two seasons.

Marseille managed to find some consistency in recent years and under the guidance of former Marseille player Albert Emon last season the side were championship runners up, their best result in the domestic league since 1998/1999.

The Marseille faithful will take comfort in Emon and #39;s June decision to extend his contract for a further year until 2009.

At Emon and #39;s disposal this term is a mixture of youth, experience and an injection of fresh blood to help Marseille in their bid to dethrone champions Lyon and mount a serious European campaign.

Marseille will count on their French young player of the year Samir Nasri and battle-hardened summer signings such as Djibril Cisse and Dutch winger Boudewijn Zenden, who joined from Liverpool, after the departure of inspirational France midfielder Franck Ribery to German outfit Bayern Munich.

France international striker Cisse, who spent last season on loan at Marseille, cemented his move from Liverpool on a five year contract and is confident he will make his mark in the French Championship.

"It will be Djibril Cisse and #39;s year. Last year I joined the group halfway through their campaign and I know that I disrupted the balance of the team slightly," he said at the beginning of June.

"I have set a personal target this season of scoring at least 20 goals in the League."

Following the summer departure of Ribery to Bayern, Emon made a string of summer signings to beef up the midfield notably with Algerian international Karim Ziani and Frenchman Benoit Cheyrou, both of whom joined from Auxerre.

Marseille open their 2007-2008 title challenge on Saturday away at newly-promoted Strasbourg.


taken from soccernews.com

Eriksson prepared to face Thaksin time at City


MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - From the moment he arrived at Manchester City last month, Sven-Goran Eriksson has carefully steered clear of making predictions on how his new side will perform next season.

And for good reason.

There is a good deal of optimism sweeping around Eastlands and the Swede knows he must limit the growing expectations among the blue half of Manchester.

Despite major question marks being raised about Thaksin Shinawatra and #39;s suitability as an owner, concerns about his human rights record during his time as Prime-minister of Thailand are all external and will be a long way down the list of conversation topics in Manchester and #39;s pubs.

Thaksin is realistic.

"I would like to see City in the top six. It will not happen overnight.

"Especially this season, it and #39;s a bit too late for us to do much but I think this year will be better than last year.

"Within three seasons you will see a big change at City."

So far Thaksin has been good to his word on transfer funds, making plenty of cash available for a raft of new signings as Eriksson begins re-building what had become a stale and sub-standard squad under Stuart Pearce.

Eriksson has not held back, with 8.8 million pounds going on Reggina forward Roland Bianchi and another 4.7 million pounds on Atletico Madrid winger Martin Petrov and Brazilian Geovanni and Swiss youngster Gelson Fernandes.

The speed and efficiency of Eriksson and #39;s business is already making him look like a much better appointment than former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri, who was initially Thaksin and #39;s first choice for the job before choosing Juventus.

The 59-year-old is unlikely to have another job in football after this one and, regardless of his public defiance, will be keen to rebuild his reputation, which suffered a hammering during his reign as England manager.

What Eriksson and #39;s new men all have in common is a lack of Premiership experience which should mean they will take time to settle.

While Eriksson insists he is doing the right thing by bringing down the average age of his first-team, it can also be argued that he is bringing in inexperienced players.

That is not to say his signings are without pedigree.

Bianchi hit 18 goals in Serie A with Reggina last season, a division notorious for tight defences.

The pulling power of the Premiership is without question but, while players have flocked to England from all over the world, Italian success stories - other than the irrepressible Gianfranco Zola - are few and far between, particularly expensive strikers.

Petrov boasts more than 60 international appearances for Bulgaria, Geovanni once cost Barcelona 11 million pounds and Eriksson has described Fernandes as the best player in Switzerland.

There will be plenty more to follow before the end of August but this transitional season will not be judged solely on City and #39;s final position.

In these upbeat times, it is easy to forget how low City sunk last season.

They may have finished 14th but managed just 10 goals in their 19 home league matches and ended four points above the drop zone.

Eriksson currently finds himself in a similar position to Martin O and #39;Neill at Aston Villa a year ago and he will be afforded plenty of patience.

Although Villa had a good start to last season only to tail off badly, O and #39;Neill and #39;s first campaign in charge is viewed as a success and Eriksson and #39;s debut in the Premiership is likely to follow a similar pattern.

Fans will be satisfied if shoots of recovery are regularly evident and the Swede and #39;s ability to charm the press pack will also buy him plenty of time as would a favourable result against United in City and #39;s third league match of the season.

The fact that it took so much of the summer for Thaksin and Eriksson to arrive will not be forgotten and City can not fail to give their fans more joy at home than they had last season.

Expect a top-half finish and a new feel-good factor at Eastlands as a sound basis for a challenge for Europe in Eriksson and #39;s second season.

taken from soccernews.com

Lens fans looking for Roux-d awakening from veteran handler

LENS, France (AFP) - After winning his fight with the French Football Federation, who believed he was too old to coach Lens, veteran handler Guy Roux received a hero and #39;s welcome at the club and has attained a superstar status with the suporters even before the 2007-2008 season has begun.

Almost two hours after Lens and #39; 3-1 win over Odessa in the Intertoto Cup on Saturday Roux struggled to exit the stadium grounds for the horde of supporters trying to touch or just get a glimpse of the former Auxerre tactician.

The fans, who have instantly taken to their new coach, voiced their enthusiasm at his arrival by chanting his name for the remaining few minutes of the Intertoto tie.

"I hope it will still be the same on the evening of May 16," joked Roux, referring to the end of the season.

Just two months after his arrival at Lens, Roux, who has 890 first division games under his coaching belt, has already made himself at home.

From his first training session with the side on June 24 he knew how to seduce the Lens faithful and opened up the training camp gates for the general public and was constantly chatting to the spectators - something of a rarity under the reign of his predecessor Francois Gillot.

Roux has never missed the chance to remind people to what extent the ambience at the Bollaert Stadium influenced his choice to become handler of Lens.

"I have always loved this club. I remember the reception I was given by the supporters during the match Lens-Auxerre on my 60th birthday.

"I received a miner and #39;s lamp which, to this day, sits on my mantlepiece. That gesture played a key role in my final decision."

It was at that point Roux realised the level of popularity of his new club, more commonly know by its fans as the and #39;gold and blood and #39; due to the colour of their strip, his second as coach in a 43-year career.

The former Auxerre manager has always been keen to proclaim his fondness for his adoptive region: "The Racing Club of Lens is followed with true passion and I do not want to let them down."

The ageism battle with the FFF did little to diminish his popularity with the supporters. With the vocal support of France president Nicolas Sarkozy, Roux suddenly became a state matter.

"I felt the whole region support me," said Roux.

On July 18 the National Olympic and French Sports Committee (CNOSF) gave Roux the green light to sign on the dotted line with Lens.

With the ageism battle won, he will now continue his immersion in the world of the "gold and blood", starting with a photo session with his summer signings, including Ivory Coast internationals Kanga Akale and Bonaventure Kalou, followed by a close inspection of the training pitches.

It will be, henceforth, difficult to avoid the presence of Roux the superstar at Lens.

taken from soccernews.com

Spend, spend, spend as English clubs prepare for battle

LONDON (AFP) - Boosted by multi-million pound foreign takeovers and record television deals, England and #39;s leading football teams are splashing the cash on new players ahead of the forthcoming Premiership season.

Liverpool, who finished third last season, believe they can win their first league title for 18 years after paying a record 20 million pounds (30 million euros, 41 million dollars) for Spain striker Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid.

The Reds, who were taken over towards the end of last season by American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks, have also spent 11.5 million pounds to secure the services of Dutch forward Ryan Babel from Ajax.

The money-is-no-object approach of Liverpool and their Premiership rivals shows no sign of changing, according to a leading sports finance expert.

"I think this is going to be the biggest transfer window we have ever seen," Dan Jones of Deloitte and amp; Touche told AFP.

"It and #39;s not massively surprising because you and #39;ve got a number of new owners looking to reshape things and you and #39;ve got the new TV money coming in."

In June, Manchester City became the eighth current Premiership club to be taken over by foreign investors.

Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Portsmouth and West Ham are also owned by foreign businessmen.

Premiership clubs are being bought at a time when the income of each of the league and #39;s 20 teams is set to soar following a recent record-busting overseas television rights deal.

Booming demand from Asia and the Middle East has allowed the league to tie up contracts worth 625 million pounds for broadcasting rights for the next three seasons, boosting overall media income to 2.725 billion pounds, 60 percent above previous levels.

Thailand and #39;s ousted prime minster Thaksin Shinawatra earlier this summer paid 81.6 million pounds for Manchester City. He quickly installed former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson as City and #39;s new coach, who in turn has spent 13.5 million pounds on buying foreign players Rolando Bianchi and Martin Petrov.

City and #39;s neighbours United - winners of the Premiership last season - have spent 50 million pounds during the summer transfer window on Owen Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani.

The Premiership was the most profitable league in world football last season, with revenues of more than 1.4 billion pounds in 2006/07, according to Deloitte.

Other Premiership clubs who have had major investments this close-season are Newcastle - bought by British tycoon Mike Ashley - as well as Arsenal and Birmingham.

American billionaire Stan Kroenke purchased 12 percent of London side Arsenal, while Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung grabbed a third of Birmingham, who won promotion to the elite division last season.

Arsenal and #39;s coffers have also been filled by the sale of Thierry Henry to Barcelona for 16.1 million pounds, of which 14 million has been used to sign Croatia striker Eduardo da Silva and French defender Bacary Sagna.

Chelsea, who in recent years have easily been the Premiership and #39;s biggest spenders, have paid out a relatively modest 13 million pounds on Lyon winger Florent Malouda.

Their other major signings - Claudio Pizarro, Steve Sidwell and Tal Ben Haim - have been free transfers. However the Blues have also handed England captain John Terry a new five-year contract, reported to be worth a record 135,000 pounds a week as the spending goes on.

taken from soccernews.com

Rossi could make Manchester United return


The Italian Under-21 international has left old Trafford to sign for Spanish side Villarreal in a £6million deal, yet Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed the Reds secured a buy-back clause on the young striker.

"We have put in a clause in the contract, so maybe he will come back to us at some stage," the United boss told MUTV. "We wish Giuseppe well and we know he will do well at Villarreal.

"It was a difficult decision to let him leave. I had several meetings with him to try and convince him that he would get plenty of football with us this season and all he needed was a bit of patience.

"But, having been on loan last season, he wanted first-team football all the time."

Story by Paul Meadows for FansFC

taken from fansfc.com