Abu Dhabi Doo….(Transfer Deadline Day)

Berbatov to Manchester City?? What?? Can a man not go to work for a few hours and come back to some sort of semblance of a normal footballing world. The weirdest thing is they actually have a bid accepted. 32 million. Ish. Give or take a million. What’s a million between friends? Still the smart money with less than four hours left is on Man Utd taking him. Despite Spurs insistence that Utd didn’t have permission to talk to Berbatov, the Bulgarian has apparently had a medical already and has certainly met with Alex Ferguson. Utd will more than likely have to up their offer to closer to 30 million given that City have had a huge bid accepted. I wouldn’t rule out Spurs playing hardball and keeping Berbatov if Utd refuse to budge, particularly as the relationship between the clubs has gone sour. Whether or not Berbatov will even meet with City remains to be seen. With his hear set on Old Trafford and Champions League football, the likelihood of City snapping him up must be slim…..

Chelsea and Robinho? Real Madrid insist the deal won’t be done. Media outlets believe it will, it would certainly be surprising if the Brazilian stays after being so public about his desire to leave…It would also be extremely strange to see Chelsea not buy anyone….Given that it is what they do best, we should probably expect some sort of signing before the end of the day….

Liverpool look more and more lightweight, despite the arrival of Riera from Espanyol. Man City fans remember him as being slightly average. Liverpool fans certainly won’t want to look at YouTube clips of the left winger, which make the words Gomez and Cheyrou spring to mind. Has Benitez splashed out on another expensive mistake? Steve Finnan has signed for Espanyol. In a slightly bizarre move (It’s nowhere near Aston Villa Stevie…) the Spanish and Irish players have swapped clubs, suggesting Liverpool got a little bit of cash off the deal given that both have been undisclosed….Liverpool have also offloaded Voronin to Hertha Berlin and with the news that Torres will miss their next game against Utd, the Merseysiders look slightly weak up front.

Sunderland have continued their recruitment drive by bringing in George McAcrtney from West Ham which could pave the way for Paolo Ferreira to move across London from Chelsea. Rumour has it the Portugese is on his way to Upton Park with Northern Irish international McCartney already signed on a year-long loan for Roy Keane’s men…

The thing about transfer deadline day is that once one deal goes through, a whole lot more follow…..

With Berbatov on his way out of White Hart Lane and Pavlyuchenko having already signed, Emile Heskey is reportedly on his way to Spurs. This will apparently pave the way for a Wigan bid for Man Utd striker Fraizer Richardson. Unless they go for Mido. Which could mean the Utd striker choosing Hull…..

Ben Haim to City

Rooney and Ben Haim will renew acquaintances in the Manchester derby

Well it’s official, Man City have an abundance of cash and are happy to fork out over the odds on, pretty much anyone. You have to feel sorry for the fans who will certainly be feeling blue today (or not as the case may be, man that was a confusing play on words) after dreams of Ronaldinho went with his transfer to AC Milan, only to see the most -unlike-Ronaldinho-type player in the Premiership sign for them.

No doubt, Ben Haim is a handy player. There is also no doubt he was being linked with a £2 million switch back to Bolton a few months ago. Unless he’s putting in three times as much effort these days, it’s hard to jutify that kind of fee. Chelsea have done well from signing a player for free, realising he’s no good enough and making back a bit of wasted money on Shevchenko.

 It’s also strange that Hughes would choose to sign a player in a position where he’s possibly got his best two players in Dunne and Richards. Maybe Richards will be going back to right-back or maybe he’ll be going altogether. A club like Arsenal could do with him at the moment and he would certainly suit their style of play.

So Chelsea have recouped most of Deco now. Sobering thought isn’t it? I always wonder why it is that managers come in with an ‘everyone starts with a blank slate’ attitude, only to farm out the player that got left behind last season. Do the coaches tell the incoming manager, hey, listen, that Ben Haim is a pile of shi**…..?

So Man City have a strong central defence now, time to get moving on the forwards Hughesy. With the likes of Dunne and Johnson set to plede their future to the clubs, Man City fans only need a type of Ronaldinho to get their dreams going for the season ahead….

Carling Cup Final

                    

Chelsea meet Tottenham at Wembley today as Juande Ramos and Avram Grant look to earn their first trophy for their respective clubs.
Chelsea are most people’s favourites, however Ramos has a terrific record in cup finals having won the last two UEFA Cups with Sevilla, while Grant has yet to experience that level of pressure in a cup final.
The big debate surrounds whether or not John Terry will start the game. As club captain it would be expected that he would, however Avram Grant has done nothing to quell the rumours of Alex patnering Carvalho at the back for the Blues.
For Spurs, Ledley King is desperate to be fit however his lack of match practise may count against him.
Spurs’ defence is the big question-mark on their chances of winning the cup with Didier Drogba having scored in cup finals against Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal.
Despite all this the game is likely to be an entertaining one. Spurs play with a reckless abandon at times, while Chelsea are used to winning and the likes of Anelka and Cole are in great form going into the game. Likewise Keane and Jenas for Spurs, who I just fancy to nick it, possibly in extra-time.

Prediction: Spurs 3 Chelsea 2

Champions League Update: 20/02/08

All of the Champions League games are delicately poised going into the second legs in a fortnight’s time.
                
Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona are in strong positions having secured an early advantage in their respective ties.
Liverpool produced a dominant performance to secure a 2-0 win over Inter Milan. Having been held by ten-man Inter for 86 minutes, the Italians were on course to pull off a terrific result having defended doggedly from the outset. However goals from Kuyt and crucially Steven Gerrard in the 90th minute, have given Liverpool a terrific platform from which to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Gerrard’s goal may well prove to be the difference as Inter would surely have settled for a 1-0 defeat. Materazzi’s suspension and an injury to the superb Ivan Cordoba will also give Liverpool hope that they can grab a vital away goal in the San Siro.
The Inter Milan team may well be a much-changed outfit however, with the likes of Viera, Figo and Hernan Crespo likely to feature prominently in the second leg. While Torres was, for the most part, kept quiet by Inter’s excellent defence, the Spaniard will fancy his chances against a weakened defence in the second leg, especially as Inter will have to push far further upfield than they ever did in the game at Anfield.
              
An 87th minute goal from substitute Carlos Tevez gave Manchester United a vital away goal despite a lacklustre performance. Lyon took the lead early in the second half after United-target Karim Benzema scored a terrific solo effort, with four Red shirts around him the Frenchman somehow shifted the ball from his right foot to his left and belted the ball past Edwin Van der Saar.
In a free-flowing game Wayne Rooney’s 1-on-1 with Coupet was well saved while Juninho went close with a free-kick.
Benzema had a chance to make it 2-0 when he evaded a Rio Ferdinand challenge only for the ever-reliable Vidic to step across and sheperd the forward wide.
Ronaldo had a quiet night but produced a terrific save from Coupet late-on when his free-kick threatened to sneak in at the far post. However when Giggs and Scholes were replaced by Nani and Tevez, United began to look brighter and sure enough when Nani’s cross was deflected by Fred, Tevez pounced on the line to give United a foot in the quarter-finals.

              

Celtic and Barcelona put on a terrific game of football at Celtic Park but with the Catalans running out 3-2 winners, Barcelona will be confident they can secure victory in the Nou Camp, and they are already looking like the team to beat. Despite a disappointing campaign so far in La Liga, Barca have cut the gap on arch-rivals Madrid to just five points and on this display they look like peaking at just the right time.
Celtic took the lead through Venegoor of Hesselink, a terrific header against the run of play. However despite Robson’s goal to make it 2-1, a brace from Messi and a brilliant strike from Thierry Henry leave Barcelona in the driving seat.
Gordan Strachan joked after the game that he wouldn’t put his house on Celtic winning in two weeks time and he’s rarely wrong about these kind of things.

Elsewhere AC Milan and Arsenal played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Emirates. AC will be favourites as the old masters denied an exciting Arsenal team. Adebayor’s stoppage time miss will be giving him sleepless nights this week, the Togo striker slamming a header against the bar with the entire goal gaping in front of him…..Chelsea did enough to take a 0-0 game back to London and should progress past Olympiakos. With one eye on Sunday’s Carling Cup Final, Avram Grant rested Terry and Lampard and with one of the strongest squads in Europe, Chelsea should progress to the next phase in two weeks time…… Fenerbache’s 3-2 win over Sevilla makes for a hell of a return leg in Spain. An 87th minute deflected winner means the Turks can progress to the quarter finals for the first time if they avoid defeat in Spain. However, Sevilla will be confident they can turn the game on it’s head at home, and are many peoples’ tips as a dark horse this season…..Roma and Real Madrid served up an entertaining encounter which the Italians shaded 2-1. Despite a strong first-half performance from Real, Roma take the advantage thanks to two Francesco Totti-assisted goals….Shalke 04 lead FC Porto 1-0 thanks to a fourth minute Kevin Kuranyi strike. While the game was always likely to be tight, Shalke are firmly in the driving seat, aware that an away goal will give the Portugese team a mountain to climb. While Shalke’s defence has been their achilles heel so far this season, in Kuranyi they have a top striker and they will look to score and force FC Porto to gamble at the back, having to attack in search of three goals…

Champions League 2nd Round

Tonight’s action:

Liverpool V Inter Milan
Olympiakos V Chelsea
Roma V Real Madrid
Shalke 04 V FC Porto

   V 

The pick of the ties comes at Anfield where Liverpool and Inter lock horns for the first time since their controversial 1965 European Cup semi-final where the Merseysiders took a 3-1 advantage into a second leg that the Italians won by three goals to nil, sealing their place in the final. Allegations of corruption have refused to go away since that night when the referee, Jose Maria Ortiz de Mendibil, allowed two goals that Liverpool felt should never have been allowed to stand. Ian St John also had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside. While the memories of that game still linger in the minds of the older generation of Liverpool fans, Inter Milan fans went out and bought Liverpool replica jerseys by the bucket-load following Liverpool’s 2005 win over their arch rivals AC Milan.
Tonight’s game is likely to be a tight affair with some intriguing battles. When Liverpool last came up against Zlatan Ibrahimovic they knocked Juventus out of the Champions League en route to glory in Istanbul. Sami Hyypia often struggled against the Swede though, and the lanky striker hit a post that night in Anfield.
Javier Mascherano will also come up against some familiar foes in his Argentine teammates Esteban Cambisso, Javier Zanetti and Julio Cruz, who is expected to lead the attack alongside Ibrahimovic.
Meanwhile Fernando Torres will start for Liverpool up front and will be anxious to score on a night that epitomises why he chose to come to Anfield.

Prediction: While many are predicting Inter to come and destroy a Liverpool team lacking confidence, this one should be tight. Liverpool respond well to Champions League adversity and might nick it, 2-1.

Olympiakos V Chelsea

  V 

The suggestion is that Chelsea will be resting the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard, while Nicolas Anelka will drop to the bench to make room for Didier Drogba. Michael Ballack and Alex should return to the starting lineup for Chelsea in place of their captain and vice-captain.

FA Cup Quarter-Final Draw

After the weekend’s action put paid to another couple of Premiership teams, the draw for the quarter-final of the FA Cup has been made.

         
(Terry and Lampard celebrate last year’s victory over Man Utd)

Manchester United have been rewarded for their victory over Arsenal with another home draw against Portsmouth while Chelsea will travel to giant-killers Barnsley.
Middlesbrough or Sheffield United will entertain Cardiff City while the final game sees a guaranteed place in the semi-finals for a team outside the Premiership when Bristol Rovers host West Bromwich Albion.

The full draw:
Barnsley V Chelsea
Brstol Rovers V West Brom
Man Utd V Portsmouth
Sheffield United V Cardiff City
(ties to be played Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th March: Man Utd’s game against Bolton, Chelsea’s game against Derby and Boro’s game against Aston Villa will all have to be re-scheduled)

Sunday Preview

MAN UTD V MAN CITY

                        

A thrilling derby is in store for the lunchtime kick-off tomorrow, Sunday February 10.
While the first talking point will be whether the Man City fans will respect the minutes silence for the victims of the Munich air crash, the game itself should be entertaining.
Benjani’s confession that he didn’t want to leave Portsmouth will probably not have endeared him to the City fans. A goal at Old Trafford may go some way to changing that.

Carling Cup Quarter Finals. Reaction and Preview.

After Everton’s last-minute winner over West Ham last week, Arsenal and Spurs joined the Merseyside club in progressing to the semi-finals last night.

Spurs took an early lead through Jermaine Defoe who was substituted soon after following Didier Zakora’s straight red card.

Zakora’s dismissal was harsh and Defoe was furious with the decision, expressing his anger by berating the fourth official as he left the pitch.

Steed Malbranque was the beneficiary of Zakora’s straight red. Had Steve Bennett not shown the red card on that occasion he almost certainly would have minutes later as Malbranque committed a far worse foul close to the left-hand touchline.

Another Huge European Night?

Um, no, not really. Liverpool know they have to beat Besiktas. And they will. The real test will come away to Marseille and home to Porto. The fact that Benitez is talking about the financial implications of going out not being a problem and Carragher is talking about it not being a disaster if they go out as well, means it’s hard to summon up any enthisiasm for the game. Which might trickle down into the performance, though Liverpool should have too much. Last time Peter Crouch faced Turkish opposition at Anfield he battered Galataasary. Tonight, spurred on by renewed calls for his inclusion, Crouch should be among the goals.
Chelsea face a tough trip to Shalke 04, made slightly easier by Shalke’s star man Kevin Kuranyi missing the tie through injury. Avram Grant’s start as Chelsea manager has been impressive, barring their easy defeat to Man Utd in the Israeli’s first game in charge.

Preview: Arsenal V Manchester United

United and Arsenal in happier times… 

It feels like it has been missing for the past few years. There were epics, pitched battles, moments to savour and, unfortunately, a couple of dull ones but when the Arsenal and Manchester United have met it invariably provides talking points, controversy and deepening distaste between fans.

Arsenal falling off the pace of the likes of United, Chelsea and Liverpool over the past number of seasons has been the major factor in this fixture slipping under the radar but now the two top teams in the premier league come face to face again with the stakes higher than they have been in recent times.

This game has a high billing. The two most attrctive, arguably most consistent over the past decade and the two best managers in the league coming face to face on even points with Arsenal having one game in hand.

Ferguson has come out saying that this game won’t decide the title and he’s right but the confidence and the mental advantage that is at stake here will go a long way to getting there. It is a testament to the consistencey and performance levels of the top teams in the league that clashes such as this are so vital. We have seen Chelsea, United and Arsenal all sit on top of the league for months and months at a time. Even though it is only a table and the real decisions will be made on the pitch, the confidence of being on top is crucial to a league winning side. We saw it with United and Chelsea last year, Chelsea simply were not comfortable chasing the title.

No matter what the managers, players, pundits, tea-ladies or your mother says, this game is vital. And it is sure to be an absolute cracker. Often this fixture can be over-hyped and since the exit of Messrs. Keane and Viera it has most definitely lost some of its appeal but now there is a host of new, young players in each club and hopefully tomorrows clash will be the breeding ground for many new rivalries.

With both teams on song and both squads relatively healthy it is next to impossible to pick a winner tomorrow but when push comes to shove it has got to be United really.

Arsenal have talent and what they lacked in experience over the past few years they are making up for with determination and conviction this year but they still lack that cutting edge and if it becomes a real battle tomorrow at the Emirates then I don’t know who they have to fight for them. Fabregas is turning into a real player, a soon to be “great” player but his attitude and desire haven’t really been tested so far this season so it remains to be seen how good he is. Far be it from me to question the judgement of Arsene Wenger but, for tomorrow especially, he has to pick Gilberto over Flamini. The Brazilian’s experience of the big games and his ability to lead on the pitch is second to none, even if Wenger bowed to pressure by giving the Captain’s armband to Gallas.

Ferguson doesn’t have too much to do for tomorrow but will be boosted that Gary Neville, Louis Saha and Michael Carrick are all available. Neville is unlikely to feature but Carrick is likely to come in for the injured Scholes and then Sir Alex must decide if Saha sits on the bench or disrupts the balance of the attacking phenomena which is currently in progress. The form of United at the moment is likely to carry them through tomorrows game and give them the win they need. Big performances are expected, hoewever, from the likes of Hargreaves who needs to show why he was signed. He has yet to play the way he played for England in the World Cup and I wonder if we will see that side of him.

I’m still backing United but I don’t think there will be as many goals for either side as in previous games. It will be good to watch so make sure you see it. Anything tipped to be “GAME OF THE SEASON” usually disappoints but maybe, just maybe we could be in for something special tomorrow afternoon.