Archive for January, 2009

Premier League: Fulham have completed the loan signing of midfielder Giles Barnes from Derby County

Fulham have completed the loan signing of midfielder Giles Barnes from Derby County.

The 20-year-old will join Roy Hodgson's side until the end of the season, at which point Fulham will have the option of making the move permanent.

The highly-rated Barnes, who has struggled with injury over the past two seasons, is set to replace Jimmy Bullard in the Fulham midfield after he signed for Hull City for £5m earlier in the January transfer window.

Read more...

Premier League: Manchester United v Everton – live!

Have you seen our fancy new Interactive Chalkboards? They're very clever. I'm not, however, and haven't learned to use them yet. So the tactical analysis above will have to do. Mind you, it pretty much illustrates what happens whenever Everton go to Old Trafford for their annual 90 minutes off, so you're not losing out too much.

Kick off: 5.30pm.
Estimated time of arrival of first email from Everton fan Gary Naylor (No1 in a series of 637): 4.53pm.

Manchester United, who will go five points clear at the top if they win this evening: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Berbatov, Tevez.
Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Giggs, Welbeck, Fabio Da Silva, Gibson, Eckersley.

Everton, who haven't won at Old Trafford since 1992 and have emerged victorious from ONE of their last 27 games against United: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Arteta, Neville, Pienaar, Fellaini, Cahill.
Subs: Nash, Yobo, Castillo, Jacobsen, Rodwell, Anichebe, Gosling.

Rafael Benitez is sitting at home sticking pins in a lifesize doll of this man: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

Read more...

Premier League: James Beattie scored as 10-man Stoke overcame Manchester City at the Britannia Stadium

This was physical, ill-tempered and had little continual quality. Stoke City, second-bottom when they woke this morning, will hardly mind though. Three points with 10 men will feel like a double victory and then some and is precisely what manager Tony Pulis would have asked for.

His team, despite the riches the visitor's brought into town, had more menace, certainly in the first half even after Rory Delap was told to head for the changing rooms nine minutes before the break. His hack at Shaun-Wright Phillips's ankles appeared malicious, the follow-up whack of ball into the prone striker's midriff petty. Simply, he had to walk.

Off he went to the fury of the crowd and Pulis. And, with the Irishman and his sling-shot throws, which had bedevilled City, Stoke's chances of victory, apparently.

But, no. Instead the home team used their support and sense of injustice to propel them on, continuing a half of dominance in which Manchester City had threatened only sporadically. And, at the close of five minutes of added time Pulis's men scored their 21st league goal of their first year back at the top of English football.

Matthew Etherington, who appears a shrewd £2m get from West Ham by Pulis, used his left foot to find the always willing head of James Beattie.

The striker, another highly useful January acquisition who also has the experience of five England caps, made it 1-0 to his new team.

While that made it two goals in three games for Beattie, City and Mark Hughes need to quickly sort out their flakiness at the back, and what is, on this showing, the lack of a determined operator in midfield. It was telling that Hughes had to pull off central midfielder and £14m signing Nigel De Jong 17 minutes from time.

He, like the billionaires, had been particularly disappointing.

Read more...

Premier League: the agent of Arsenal target Andrei Arshavin has denied that his client is in London

Andrei Arshavin's agent has denied that the midfielder has flown to London to complete his transfer from Zenit St Petersburg to Arsenal.

Reports suggested that Arshavin would attend today's game against West Ham at the Emirates Stadium before finalising a £15m transfer to the Gunners, but his representative Dennis Lachter has said, "No, he is on his way to St Petersburg."

Wenger yesterday denied that the club had applied for a work permit for Arshavin and said that they had not yet agreed a fee with Zenit, despite reports which suggested that the Russian had dropped his wage demands by £1m to help the deal go through.

Arsenal have until midnight on Monday to finalise a transfer which they have pursued throughout the January transfer window.

Read more...

Premier League: Stoke City v Manchester City – Live!

21 min: A thrusting run down the right by Fuller leads to another Stoke corner. And another. And then it's a throw by You Know Who: this one, from the right, finds the head of Shawcross, who flicks his header miiles over the bar from eight yards out. Stoke's first real chance of the game.

18 min: Throwing Man takes another long throw. This time there's a cloud with fists and boots poking out of it, and a corner is the result. Hart paws away the first, then from an initially neatly-worked second, Etherington's low cross is cut out and the visitors flood upfield. Ireland slips the ball down the right to Bellamy, with Robinho free in the centre. Sadly for Man City, Bellamy's ball inside is just behind Robinho, forcing the Brazilian to put on the breaks. He still gets a shot in, but his low attempt is weak and easily gathered by Sorensen.

16 min: Throwing Man takes a long throw. A shrill blast of the whistle comes as a result of a six-man shoving melee in the Man City box. Nothing much happening here at the moment.

13 min: Kompany clubs it out of play for a Stoke goal kick from his own half again! Jesus wept.

11 min: Man City haven't created much so far, but they are enjoying the lion's share of the ball. Kompany takes a free kick in his own half and belabours it out for a Stoke goal kick. Oh dear. "So Robinho has little English but he's trying to communicate with Craig Bellamy? Given that objective, history shows that having complete command of English won't get him much further." Ladies and gentlemen, Gary Naylor is here all week, try the chicken in a basket.

8 min: Man City are beginning to take a grip on this game. Bellamy charges down Shawcross's clearance on the edge of the Stoke area. The ball drops from the sky, inviting Ireland to volley it. His attempt is spectacular... ly awful, shanked miles wide left. A difficult chance, though, in fairness.

5 min: Fuller zips down the right wing and, once he reaches the byline, fires a cross towards Etherington in the centre. Hart claims with supreme confidence. "Are you aware that the home page of Guardian Sport is promoting your report with a picture of the man in his free throwing glory and with the tagline: Will Rory Delap's howitzers upset City?" asks Jerry Ferguson. No, sorry, I've been ostentatiously browsing the Daily Mail site all morning. "As Michael Corleone would say: Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

3 min: That's a wonderful passage of play from Man City, who knock it around awhile, then spring forward as Ireland slips a delicious ball down the inside-left channel for Robinho. Shawcross bundles ball and man out for a corner. Ireland swings it to the far post, but Sorensen is impeded and the whistle goes. A nice open start to this game, here.

Anyway, the teams are out on the pitch. "COME ON YOU MIGHTY POTTERS!!!" screams, by the sounds of it, the most aggressive PA announcer in the country. Is he all right? The ball's set rolling, and within 20 seconds Whelan tries to find Fuller with a Michael Carrick-style ball rolled straight down the centre of the park and into the area. The big striker only just fails to latch onto it, Hart coming out to smother.

The Observer's Jamie "The Observer" Jackson, comin' straight atcha from source: "Mark Hughes, Garry Cook and City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak have just completed a very chummy chat pitchside at a chilly Brittania Stadium," he writes from the "comfort" of a freezing press box. "Meanwhile Craig Bellamy and Robinho are warming up side-by-side. They look quite cute together, actually. And appear to be exchanging words. Though goodness only knows how Bellamy's Portuguese is, as Roibinho has little English. Might be a good thing actually." Ah, providing Robinho can belt out a song or two on demand - an Antonio Carlos Jobim number, perhaps, or something by Gil Gilberto - he should be safe enough with his new little pal.

It's a relegation six-pointer at the Brittania, except there are only three points available. Or two if it's a draw. Confused? I can't help you. I can't help myself. But I'll tell you this for nothing: this is going to be the first report about Stoke City written in the last year, anywhere, that won't bang on incessently about R*** D****. I'm sick of reading about him. Let's hope he doesn't score, eh. And that the ball stays in play. A lot.

Kick off: 12. 45pm.

Disillusioned Manchester City fan sitting immediately to my left and no doubt moaning loudly at regular intervals: Lawrence Booth.

Stoke City: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Pugh, He Who Will Not Be Mentioned, Whelan, Amdy Faye, Etherington, Beattie, Fuller.
Subs: Simonsen, Olofinjana, Cresswell, Lawrence, Griffin, Kitson, Sonko.

Typical Bloody Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Onuoha, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Zabaleta, Ireland, Bellamy, Robinho.
Subs: Schmeichel, Fernandes, Garrido, Elano, Caicedo, Jo, Vassell.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)

Read more...