Posts Tagged ‘Daniel Taylor’

This could turn our season, says Benítez

• Liverpool can now get on a winning track, says Benítez
• David Moyes claims Everton deserved more

Rafael Benítez described Liverpool’s 2-0 victory at Everton today as a possible “turning point” in the club’s season but admitted that his team were indebted to Pepe Reina’s goalkeeping in a match which Everton largely dominated.

“Derbies are always difficult and important and to win could be a boost for the rest of the season,” the Liverpool manager said. “We are higher in the table now and we will see if we can keep winning. This could be a turning point.”

Liverpool’s win was sealed by Dirk Kuyt’s 80th-minute goal; the scoring was opened by a Javier Mascherano shot that ricocheted off Joseph Yobo to wrong-foot the Everton goalkeeper, Tim Howard, after 12 minutes. The result extended Everton’s miserable run to one win in 11 games, leaving them fifth from bottom of the Premier League. Their manager, David Moyes, spoke with a sense of injustice.

“Until they made it 2-0 I can’t remember them having a single other chance, apart from one header in the first half,” he said. “The players worked extremely hard and I thought they deserved more. I don’t know how many times Liverpool had been in our half before the first goal but it wasn’t many. We were trying to set the pace, making it difficult for them, and at half-time I just felt that if we did the same again maybe our luck would change. In the main we kept them quiet, so it’s difficult not to get anything from the game.”

• Everton 0-2 Liverpool: Andy Hunter’s report
• Read Sean Ingle’s minute-by-minute report
• Daniel Taylor: Lady luck stayed with Liverpool
• Martin Kelner: Liverpool put Sky on the back foot

Benítez, who said Reina’s performance had been “amazing”, acknowledged that Everton had been the better side for long spells. He was asked whether he thought his team had been lucky to win.

“Clearly it was a difficult game,” he said. “Everton were direct and playing a set-piece game from the beginning and it was very difficult to control. They are big and good in the air. We had to show character and tried to play on the counter-attack. Sometimes our possession was good but other times it was not so good and they were on top of us. We had to show character but maybe at the end we had more control.”

At 1-0, with Everton pressing, Reina produced a double save to keep out Tim Cahill’s header and a follow-up from Marouane Fellaini.

“It was a great save,” Benítez said. “Today Pepe showed he is a world‑class goalkeeper. We had to defend a lot of throw-ins, free-kicks and corners against a team that is good in the air, and that is not easy. It was not only his saves but the way he helped his defenders, too. When we signed Reina we knew he was a good goalkeeper but he is learning and improving all the time. For me, he is one of the best keepers in the world and he showed that again today.”

Neville criticises stand-in United forwards

• ‘The play in the last third wasn’t decisive enough,’ says Neville
• ‘For our pride we want to finish top of the group’

Gary Neville has blamed Manchester United’s forwards for the club’s Champions League defeat against Besiktas, criticising the team for not taking their chances. The defender believes his side did not create enough opportunities to score, and failed to make use of those they did forge.

“We didn’t convert our chances, the goalkeeper made a few good saves, some of our decision-making was poor, the last pass often wasn’t good, some of the crossing wasn’t up to scratch,” he said. “The play in the last third wasn’t decisive enough and we didn’t take our chances.”

• Daniel Taylor’s match report from Old Trafford
• Paul Wilson: United’s kids still have plenty to prove
• Barney Ronay’s minute-by-minute report
• In pictures: The best images from last night’s games

Besiktas’s surprise 1-0 win came courtesy of a deflected Rodrigo Tello strike, but Neville believes United should have managed to carve out an equaliser.

“Usually we’d expect to score a goal in 96 minutes of football at Old Trafford but we didn’t do that,” he said. “In general, I thought we were good – [Federico] Macheda and [Danny] Welbeck did very well with their link-up play in the first half and we should have created more from that. We just didn’t do enough to score that goal.”

With qualification for the next round of the Champions League assured, Manchester United were hoping to secure top spot in their group. The defeat against Besiktas, though, has hampered their cause.

“We need to go to Wolfsburg and get a result,” Neville said of their tie on 8 December. “Is top spot important? It depends. You can finish second and get a favourable draw or you can finish top and get a disastrous draw – that’s what can happen in the Champions League, and this year the competition seems particularly topsy-turvy.

“I think it will be difficult whoever we get drawn against in the next round, but for our pride and the way we like to do things we want to finish top.”

Wigan Athletic v Manchester City

Mark Hughes may have spent £120m in the summer but the Manchester City manager has been left fretting about the size of his squad going into Sunday’s match, with 11 players either out or struggling because of injury problems. Wigan beat Chelsea in their last match and Roberto Martínez could be forgiven for sensing that City might be vulnerable to another upset given the list of possible absentees, including Robinho, Kolo Touré and the in-form Craig Bellamy. The most pressing concern for Hughes is that all four of his first-choice defenders are having treatment. Daniel Taylor

Venue DW Stadium Tickets £5-£27 Last season Wigan 2 Man City 1 Referee A Wiley

This season’s matches 7 Y24, R2, 3.71 cards per game

sportingbet odds Wigan 15-4 Man City 13-20 Draw 5-2

Wigan Athletic

Subs from Pollitt, Koumas, Edman, Cho, Gómez, De Ridder, Kingson, McCarthy, King, McManaman, Kapo

Doubtful None

Injured None

Suspended None

Form guide LWLWL

Disciplinary record Y16 R0

Leading scorer Rodallega 3

Manchester City

Subs from Taylor, Petrov, Santa Cruz, Johnson, Sylvinho, Weiss, Garrido, Ball, Vidal

Doubtful Petrov (knee), Lescott (calf), De Jong (ankle), Zabaleta (hamstring), Bridge (groin)

Injured Touré (heel, Oct), Bellamy (groin, Oct), Robinho (ankle, Oct), Kompany (toe, Oct), Onuoha (thigh, Nov), Mwaruwari (hip/thigh, unspecified)

Suspended None Form guide DWLWW Disciplinary record Y10 R0

Leading scorer Bellamy, Adebayor 4

Match pointers

• Man City have lost three and drawn one of their four Premier League visits to Wigan

• Only one of Wigan’s last 20 league games have ended in a draw

• Craig Bellamy has scored or assisted six of City’s last 10 league goals

• Wigan have won their last three league home matches played on a Sunday, all by a 1-0 scoreline

• 38 per cent of the goals City have conceded this season have been from headers – the highest proportion in the top-flight

Rooney tantrum takes shine off United’s victory

• Striker engaged in heated confrontation with Turkish fans
• Alex Ferguson stands by decision to substitute Rooney

Wayne Rooney’s febrile temperament came under scrutiny again last night when he reacted angrily to being substituted in Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat of Besiktas and became involved in a verbal confrontation with Turkish supporters behind the dugout before hurling his right boot to the floor.

Rooney was replaced by Michael Owen 63 minutes into an otherwise satisfying evening for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, making no secret of his displeasure after playing as a solitary striker with little success. The England international traipsed off, making only the briefest of contact as he shook Owen’s hand, and after sitting down in the dugout he pulled off a boot and threw it to the ground, pictured above.

Security men moved to the area because Rooney also reacted to something he heard from behind the dugout and shouted towards the fans. After taking his seat he could be seen covering his eyes with his hands in an open show of his annoyance.

“He is never pleased about coming off,” Ferguson said. “With his energy, he wants to play all the time. But I always planned to make a change and bring on [Dimitar] Berbatov and Owen because Michael needs some more minutes on the pitch.”

Ferguson said he had not seen Rooney lose his temper because he was watching the game but felt it was the right decision to replace him after a hectic period for the striker in which he played in England’s games against Slovenia and Croatia. “It was always in my thoughts to freshen up a bit in attack. Wayne had played as a lone striker for an hour and it was always going to be the case that he came off.”

Thought of leaving Blues never crossed my mind, says Terry

• Defender confirms he will reject move to Eastlands
• Captain set for new deal worth £150,000 a week

John Terry is expected to agree an improved contract at Chelsea this week after the England captain finally broke his silence on Manchester City’s ambitious attempt to secure his services by committing his future to the London club.

City had a £30m bid for the centre-half rejected out of hand earlier this month but retained hope that Terry might agitate for a move to Eastlands for as long as he refused to comment publicly on the matter. The 28-year-old had privately been unnerved by Chelsea’s inability to secure a marquee signing this summer, and by two years of managerial upheaval since Jose Mourinho’s abrupt departure from the club, but insisted that leaving Stamford Bridge “was never a possibility”.

He had held talks with Roman Abramovich before the team’s departure for their four-match pre-season tour of the United States, but has since met the club’s owner and the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, for further discussions during their stay in the US as he sought assurances over their long-term vision at Stamford Bridge. Although Chelsea were always convinced that they would not lose the defender and believed they had an agreement in place with Terry, the player himself did not make up his mind definitively to stay until Saturday.

• Ancelotti insists he always knew Terry would stay
• Daniel Taylor on Terry’s decision to resist City’s millions
• Dominic Fifield: Chelsea’s pre-season is going to plan

The carefully worded statement released through Chelsea ahead of the team’s game against Club America will be the prelude for discussions to move on to securing the captain on improved terms likely to swell his weekly wage from £135,000 to nearer £150,000 – considerably short of what City were prepared to pay him – which should be signed before the end of the week. The new deal is not expected to extend the defender’s stay at the club beyond the three years still to run on his current contract.

“I am totally committed to Chelsea and always have been,” said Terry. “Chelsea have also made it clear to me consistently that there was never any intention to accept any kind of offer. When you are linked with any club, or with a manager [Mark Hughes] who I have huge respect for, it will always make headlines, but me leaving Chelsea was never a possibility.

“I know there has been comment that I should have made a statement earlier. However, throughout this period there have been numerous discussions between myself, the owner and the Chelsea board and we all agreed that the timing of any statement would suit everyone involved in those talks, not any outside influences or agendas. What is clear to me following those discussions is that Chelsea’s ambition remains as high as ever.”

That ambition has yet to yield either Franck Ribéry or David Villa, the players Terry suggested Chelsea should pursue in the wake of victory in the FA Cup final in May, though the club remain in the market for new blood. Securing their captain will provide a timely boost, particularly as Terry was genuinely intrigued by the project being put in place by the Abu Dhabi United Group at City, though Carlo Ancelotti insisted he was never perturbed by the issue. “There was not a problem because we have been sure that John stays at Chelsea,” said the Italian. “There’s never been a problem with this.”

The new Chelsea manager has already indicated he will build his team around its English core, typified by Terry, with the captain pinpointing the Italian’s influence as another reason to stay. “I am certain that he will take this club on to the next level,” he added. “Another important factor was knowing that Chelsea would be securing key current players for the long term. The strengthening of the squad around this core is crucial to pushing us on to greater success. I am as committed as ever to helping drive Chelsea forward and I will be proud to lead the team for as long as I can.”

The implications for City are less encouraging, though a move for Terry had always been hugely ambitious. Hughes still hopes to secure the Arsenal centre-half Kolo Touré, a long-standing target, as he seeks defensive reinforcements to complement the mouth-watering attacking resources already lured to Eastlands this summer.