New Tottenham signing Gylfi Sigurdsson has admitted that a conversation with Andre Villas Boas was enough to convince him to sign for the north London club.
The Icelandic midfielder impressed last term on loan at Swansea, and has been the subject of a transfer wrangle between the Welsh club, Liverpool and Spurs this summer.
Despite this, the talented playmaker has agreed to move to White Hart Lane, and has revealed that a conversation with new club boss Villas Boas swung his decision.
“I like him (Andre Villas-Boas) and the ideas he has,” Sigurdsson told mlb.is, translated to English by Sky Sports.
“He has faith in me and I’m looking forward to working under his leadership.
“I enjoyed playing under Brendan and I am grateful for everything he has done for me, but after careful consideration I liked Spurs best.
“The team has world-class players in their ranks and they play good football, which I like.
“I was impressed with the club’s plans for next season and the coming years. There is clearly great ambition at Tottenham and the club intends to do big things.
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“It is a pleasure to see that Gareth Bale has signed a new contract. There are top players in the team and the club is getting a new training ground,” he concluded.
When former England international Joe Cole left Chelsea last summer after seven years it was seen as a surprising move but definitely not the end for a player blessed with fantastic skill and technique. Liverpool promptly snapped him up on a four-year deal but now only a year later, Cole is on the outside at Anfield as he looks set to try and resurrect his career at a new club.
Cole’s enjoyed many successful years at Stamford Bridge, winning three Premier League titles and two FA Cups. His time in London came to an end after injury problems and being restricted to substitute appearances in his final season. Liverpool’s capture of Cole on a free transfer was seen as a coup for the Reds with many other clubs linked with the player and it was a chance for Cole to continue to make an impact in the Premier League.
But under Roy Hodgson and then Kenny Dalglish Cole has been on the periphery at Liverpool, limited to substitute appearances as a lack of form and injuries hampered his first season at Anfield. He recorded a reasonable 32 appearances last season but during that time he only made nine league starts, scoring a total of three goals. Despite experiencing a torrid time on Merseyside, 29-year-old Cole is surely still a possible bargain yet to be considered properly this summer.
Despite figuring in the club’s pre-season and assistant manager Steve Clarke’s comments that he has a contribution to make, the significant investment in Liverpool’s midfield this summer means that Cole’s chances to make an impact in his second season with the club look limited. Premier League new boys QPR have been linked with a loan move for Cole whilst Tottenham and PSG have also reportedly shown an interest in the player. But why hasn’t anyone taken a chance on a potential bargain of the summer?
The problem for Cole is that we said the same about him last summer. After his release from Chelsea Cole was a real bargain, a player with bags of experience who seemingly just needed a new challenge. He got that opportunity with Liverpool but looked horribly off the pace when he did feature for the Reds. Teams like Tottenham or QPR would again be taking a risk on Cole and unfortunately this one poor season on Merseyside may have left a lasting impression on potential suitors as a warning that Cole is not the player he once was for Chelsea and England.
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However a season-long loan deal to Loftus Road would present Cole with the opportunity of regular first-team football and as Liverpool signed Cole for a free, his loss without gaining a fee would not be a big blow for a club desperate to cut out the deadwood in their squad. Although a move to Tottenham would see him reunite with former boss Harry Redknapp, Cole would not be guaranteed first-team football at Spurs with their wealth of midfield talent and he desperately needs a run of games to try and regain some form. Moving abroad to a team like PSG would also allow Cole to make a fresh start away from the glare of English football.
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Whilst his move to Liverpool has turned into a bit of a nightmare for Cole, he still has plenty to offer the Premier League if given the chance. His one season at Anfield may have had a lasting effect but all could be forgotten if the old Joe Cole can regain the sort of form that made him one of the most skillful and talented English players to grace the Premier League in the last decade.
Do you think clubs should take a chance on Cole? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5
So whose place on the bench will Steven Pienaar warm?
For the first time in many years Tottenham have a wealth of talented midfielders at their disposal to more than cover every position. It seems an extremely strange signing unless Pienaar has been brought in to pave the way for the departure of one of Spurs first team players?
Pienaar by all accounts seems a model professional who has performed well under the guidance of David Moyes to become an integral part of the Everton team. The player was out of contract at the end of the season and offers are thought to have been tabled from top European clubs, in addition to Spurs and Chelsea. With such interest, the player must have been given certain assurances by Redknapp that he would be given a starting role in the Spurs line-up. Which poses the question, for whom?
On the left Bale has become a key figure in the Spurs midfield, as has Modric who has been a revelation in the central midfield role this season. Lennon has been much preferred to Kranjcar and Bentley on the right and VDV has cemented his place off of the main striker. So unless Redknapp intends to have the smallest, most vulnerable central midfield partnership in the league it would seem someone from the first team will be on their way.
For me Pienaar is a great player but a return of 12 goals from 132 appearances from an attacking midfielder suggests he is not an adequate replacement for any of these first team players. Pienaar is only a marginal improvement on the promising players Spurs already have at their disposal to come off the bench like Kranjcar, Gio, Sandro and Townsend whose first-team chances will now be even more limited.
What are your thoughts, will Pienaar be a bench warmer or does his arrival pave the way for the highly anticipated exit of one of Spurs most valuable assets?
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Holland coach Bert van Marwijk is confident his side can beat Germany and avoid early elimination from Euro 2012 when the pair meet in Kharkiv on Wednesday.
A shock defeat at the hands of Denmark in their opening game has left the Dutch teetering on the verge of an early exit from the finals but Van Marwijk believes his side can come out on top against the Germans who have been tipped to win Group B.
However the 60-year-old did admit his unhappiness with the treatment he and his players have got from the Holland media but insisted he is used to fielding criticism as he paid little attention to any negative questioning during his post-match press conference.
“I am used to it by now,” he said. “We are here preparing for one of the most important games in the last few years and so I don’t want to talk about other things.
“The Germans are very strong, but we can beat them, but I won’t tell you how we are going to do that.”
After beating Portugal 1-0 on Saturday night German boss Joachim Low knows a win will guarantee progression to the quarter finals and is debating over whether he should alter the side that won in L’Viv.
Low is aware that a draw or defeat wouldn’t be good enough to secure a place in the knockout stage and emphasised need to stay focused during a fixture that is brimming with historical undertones.
“We have got to ensure we qualify for the next round so it plays no role what their situation is,” he said. “We want to win the game and take a decisive step towards qualifying.”
“For me, the phrase ‘never change a winning team’ does not apply. There are always different situations in which, as a coach, you get the feeling that a change or two may do you good.”
Team News
Joris Mathijsen could replace Ron Vlaar in the Holland defence after returning to full training whilst Klaas Jan Huntelaar could start at the expense of Robin van Persie or Ibrahim Affelay.
Germany have a fully fit squad after Bastien Schweinsteiger came through the Portugal game unscathed despite nursing a calf complaint that kept him out of the pre-tournament friendlies.
Key Player
Arjen Robben
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Despite misfiring against Denmark the Bayern Munich winger is still a vital cog in the Dutch attack. Having operated from the right in the opening game it’s likely Robben pitched there again to keep Germany skipper Phillipe Lahm occupied and create space down the wing for full back Gregory Van der Wiel to exploit.
Mario Gomez
Whether he’s in the game or not Gomez is always a threat and he displayed against Portugal that he only needs one chance to make a difference for Germany. His winning goal against Portugal displayed all the all hallmarks of a top strike and came after a frustrating 72 minutes in which scoring opportunities were scarce justifying Low’s decision to play him ahead of Miroslav Klose.
Championship side Ipswich Town have acquired some more English Premier League talent – signing Arsenal midfielder Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.The England Under-19 international became the club’s second signing in the space of 24 hours, after they secured the services of Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale on a season-long loan deal on Monday.
Emmanuel-Thomas said he wanted more game time at senior level after being starved of opportunities under Arsene Wenger, and he believed Portman Road was the place to find minutes on the pitch.
“Obviously it came to the stage in my career at Arsenal where I needed to be playing games. I had a decision to make and Ipswich seemed the right place for me,” Emmanuel-Thomas told Ipswich’s official site.
“I was impressed with what (manager) Paul Jewell had to say – and the team he is building. I know he is looking to bring in more players and it is the club’s ambition to get in the Premier League.”
Stockdale has made the switch after making 13 appearances for the Cottagers, but should incumbent Mark Schwarzer fall injured, it is believed Fulham can recall their on-loan shot-stopper due to a clause in his loan deal.
Walcott is an excellent player who does not realise it.
Theo Walcott is quite simply the Marmite Man of the Premier League! 50% of football fans think he has quality attributes, whilst 50% see him as nothing more than a player who has a decent turn of pace. If you’re an Arsenal fan, you may agree when I say that Theo Walcott strikes me as an incredibly talented player lacking in self-belief. As you will also read later in the article, Walcott compares very similarly to Gareth Bale this season, but with one fundamental difference…
I’d like to initially highlight what I think Walcott does well; the clear strengths of his game. Walcott has lightning pace, which I feel he relies on too much at times. I have no doubt that Walcott’s pace both with and without the ball is a superb attribute to have in what is an increasingly fast paced game. It is difficult to name any players who are quicker than Walcott in the Premier League. He shows maturity on the pitch, perhaps something that has been instilled since his move to Arsenal in 2006. Whilst I do not mind admitting I dislike Arsene Wenger in many ways, his ability to spot and nurture potential in young football players is sensational. Walcott is good in possession of the ball; showing he can confidently pass the ball and maintain possession in keeping with Arsenal’s style of play.
There are a few key aspects to Theo Walcott’s game which if improved would put him right up with the best wide players in the Premier League. Firstly, Walcott’s final pass lets him down; when you consider the number of excellent positions he can get himself into. Walcott is equally happy coming deeper to collect the ball and beat a player, or playing on the shoulder and bursting into space in the channels. What often follows such scenarios is a poorly placed final pass that results in the goal scoring opportunity being lost. I do believe that this is something Walcott is improving. Two assists in the 3-0 victory over West Ham at the weekend shows that he can be composed in the final third when it counts.
Similar to my previous point, Walcott at times seems to lack composure and belief in front of goal. When you consider his pace and ability to craft scoring opportunities, 15 goals in 100 games is not an outstanding record for a player like Walcott. You get the feeling that Walcott is always looking to play somebody else in, instead of adding a ‘selfish’ side to his game; one I feel would drastically improve his success in front of goal.
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Whilst we could assess Walcott’s game in a deeper context, the main problem essentially comes down to one thing… consistency. The 21 year old can at times look unplayable, but can anyone honestly say that this happens anywhere near frequently enough? Walcott will follow an outstanding individual performance with a lackluster and frustrating performance; and I just wish we could see the best of Walcott week in week out. Whilst it may not be completely appropriate to compare Theo Walcott with Gareth Bale, the two players are expected to produce similar things. Both are expected to get chalk on their boots (play in wide positons). Both are expected to beat opposition full-backs and create chances in front of goal for themselves and others. Statistically in the Premier League, you can barely separate each of them this season. Walcott’s six goals are only one shy of Bale’s seven. Simiarly Walcott’s four assists are one better than Bale’s three this season.
However, one startling fact is that Walcott has played 1252 minutes LESS than Gareth Bale in this season’s Premier League. Considering the hype that has been made about Gareth Bale this season, the statistics show Walcott has has had an equally successful season having played an incredible 21 hours less football than Bale!
I do not think Walcott has reached his full potential yet, but I am an advocate of the fact that he could without doubt become the Premier League’s best and most threatening wide-man. I also think that so much is being made of Gareth Bale when he has achieved little more than Theo Walcott in this season’s Premier League. Granted, the hype surrounding Bale has also been based on his performances in the Champions League, but I do not think he is significantly better than Walcott, but simply has more belief in his own ability.
An injury-free Theo Walcott playing on a regular basis is something I cannot wait to see. I believe that Walcott will finish this season with better Premier League statistics than Gareth Bale, despite playing 21 hours less football. One thing is for certain; Southampton have produced and subsequently lost two of the most exciting wingers in the Premier League. Hopefully those who still think Theo Walcott is a waste of space can be persuaded to think otherwise!
Written By Danny Holliday
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A season beyond the fans’ wildest expectations could have one glorious gift still to give for Newcastle United. Defeat to Manchester City has dampened expectations, but the chance of Champions League football once more is still there. And it would be a fine end to the season if it could be achieved, though plenty of obstacles remain, not least the possibility of Chelsea winning the Champions League and taking away the 4th place entry into the qualifiers (and pushing third down that road instead). But for Newcastle, there is added pressure in securing that Champions League slot. It is not just about the excitement of pitting yourself against Europe’s premier teams. The added incentive is keeping together your team.
Alan Carr is a comedian with his own chat show, who feared telling his dad Graham that he wasn’t going to follow him career-wise down a footballing route. Graham Carr is a success in his chosen career, but any mention of him is always done by association with his famous son. But Graham Carr is a massive factor in Newcastle’s resurgence. As chief scout at Newcastle (once Dennis Wise had moved on), the Newcastle supporter’s eye for a good player and detailed scouting of foreign talent has helped transformed the side into a potential Top Four side, and all on an admirable budget. It involved a lot of hard work along the way – Carr, who has scouted for Manchester City and Spurs amongst others (following Sven Goran Eriksson for many years), watched Tiote for four years before concluding he was worth the risk. But this is a trick he may well have to continue for many a year, as predictably with any team that breaks through and exceeds expectations, the vultures are already circling.
This is the problem with doing well. You need to keep doing well, to really excel, or you will be picked off by the stronger animals in the pack. The Champions League revenue is there for a reason, to protect the status quo, to allow certain teams to dominate and take their pick of players. This is partly why Manchester City have upset many as it has broken the cartel, and their wealth means their players can’t be picked off. So if Manchester United want Wayne Rooney off Everton, they will inevitably get him. If City want Gareth Barry off Aston Villa, then likewise. Not that you can blame the players of course. Players may be portrayed as money-grabbing mercenaries, but they want to win things too. The Manchester City of old, or the current Everton or Aston Villas of the world have no chance of long-term success through prudence as the power of the “big” clubs will always see them off eventually. They may have their moment in the sun, but it will barely colour their skin.
Or perhaps Newcastle will prove otherwise, and buck the trend. It would be nice to see Newcastle make the Champions League for this reason. It would be good to see the team stay together for at least one year, interesting to watch how much further they can go with a couple more additions. They are guaranteed to be playing in Europe next season one way or another, but would the Europa League be enough for Newcastle’s most talented players?
Well probably. You would think that these players would want to continue the progress, as a matter of pride. They must surely have enjoyed their season, and would have little desire to leave. Cisse has only just joined anyway, so won’t be going anywhere. Ba may be more of a problem, with a reported (low) release fee in his contract. Ben Arfa must be happy to be playing again, and at the peak of his potential. The likes of Cabaye, Santon and Krul will make Newcastle a force next season should they remain.
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Whatever happens on the final weekend of the season, for many Alan Pardew will be the Premiership’s manager of the year. As a victim of his own success though, he will now be under extra pressure next season. But extra pressure will come in rebuffing bids for his star performers. Already, the early summer gossip has mentioned that Arsenal are plotting a double raid for Ba and Cabaye. In what should be a summer of excitement for Newcastle fans eagerly awaiting bold new signings and wondering what the next season will hold, will be tinged with the anxiety caused by the inevitable transfer stories linking moves away for some of their players. Let’s hope the team can stay intact, for the sake of the fans and for the competitiveness of the Premier League, as now Newcastle have a great springboard to progress even further.
Coach Mano Menezes said it was a sad day for Brazil after they were knocked out of the Copa America by Paraguay on Sunday.Paraguay beat the defending champions on penalties after their quarter-final match finished 0-0 after 120 minutes, with Brazil missing their first four spot-kicks in the shootout.
Brazil had a plethora of excellent chances during the match, but a combination of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping from Justo Villar came back to haunt coach Menezes and his side.
“Defeats always bring sadness, because we worked to win,” Menezes said.
“We have to get out of a match like this one with the clear notion of how much Brazil has evolved, to the point of being far superior throughout the entire 120 minutes.”
“It was not enough because we did not score the goal we worked so hard for.”
“Today we did our best to win. Only the goal was missing. We need to have maturity and be calm to analyse this properly.”
Paraguay failed to register a shot on target during the 120 minutes, and have progressed to the last four of the competition despite failing to win a match in the tournament so far.
“We lost a place (in the semi-finals) to an opponent who have drawn four times (in the competition),” Menezes said.
“These are the hard things about football and we have to live with them.”
“Football is not just about wanting. It is a series of things. We have two great teams, Argentina and Brazil, out of the semi-finals. I do not believe there are teams who get into a match with no desire to win.”
Paraguay goalkeeper Villar admitted Brazil had been the better side, but praised his team-mates for remaining focused in the face of the onslaught.
“It was incredibly tiring to play against Brazil, but the team maintained order and concentration and that is why we came out ahead,” Villar said.
“Brazil dominated the whole game and we had to fall very far back, but then in the penalties our strikers were better, but that’s a lottery.”
A fairly obvious choice really, I simply feel that as he just isn’t being played at all there is no need to hold onto the player. It’s no longer even a case of if you think he’s a good player or not, although I do think he is no longer of Spurs quality having previously served the club extremely well. It is fairly obvious through the lack of time he has spent on the pitch that Harry Redknapp believes he’s no longer of the quality required, and that is what is more important. There is no point having a 30-year-old sitting on the bench constantly at any club, or sometimes not even making that. This is especially true when he is one of the highest paid players at the club. He needs to be shipped out to save on the Tottenham wage bill. Although it will probably be at a loss at least there are clubs out there that will pay money for Keane at the moment and they may not in the Summer after another six months of him not playing.
David Bentley
He was a costly mistake in my mind. I feel the main reason he has stuck around for so long at Tottenham is the club want to recuperate as much of what they spent on him as they can. As he has not been playing much this would obviously not be anywhere near the amount Spurs spent, therefore they may wish to hold on to him to get value out of him whilst getting rid of cheaper alternatives such as Kranjcar, which I think would be mistake. The best thing to do is just to take the financial loss with Bentley and move on. He doesn’t add that much to the team, is extremely slow and for essentially a squad player is not very versatile. The few times that he has been on the pitch this season he has done little to change my opinion of him.
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Jamie O’Hara
I debated for a while which final player to have, as there are a fair few hanging on in Tottenham’s massive squad, but I still believe players like Dos Santos or Kranjcar can add something to the team either this season or next. So I settled on O’Hara, again he just doesn’t add anything to the squad. He has been injured for the majority of this season so far. So perhaps he is unfortunate not to have got a look in during the recent glut of injuries to central midfield. But Spurs have better options in central midfield to accompany Modric; Huddlestone Palacios and Jermaine Jenas (who has performed far better than I thought he was capable of in recent games, and because of that has avoided being on this list himself) are all higher in the pecking order. And now with Sandro arriving as the up and coming youngster in that role it’s hard to see where O’Hara will get a look in.
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If you have got your breath back from an enthralling final day in the Premier League, your pulse might be set racing one final time on Saturday evening! If you are of the Chelsea persuasion, you may be aware of a small, little game in Munich that is occurring. The Champions League final they call it, or something or other. But seriously, Saturday evening’s game represents arguably the pinnacle of all footballing competition, with many believing that securing the big eared trophy eclipses even World Cup final glory in terms of prestige and difficulty. It remains whether Chelsea can hold their nerve and be the first London club to lift the Champions League when they take on Bayern Munich at the weekend.
Last week I was invited along to a press day in Central London by male grooming enthusiasts BRUT who this year launched their ‘Man Up’ Challenge; a series of high pressured moments that makes the modern man step up, take a risk and rise to the ultimate test – in sport or life. The series which has previously featured Premier League stars such as Tottenham’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto separates the men from the boys with spider removal from a bath, gutting a freshly caught fish, dealing with the dentist’s drill and taking a penalty kick representing a few anxious incidences which require a manning-up to the challenge.
Distant (to say the least!) in my attempts to even stand near the frightful-looking tarantula enclosures, I side-stepped the eight-legged friends to acquaint myself with two of the human variety in polar adventurer and doctor Ed Coats and GB Olympic Team Sports Psychologist Dr Steve Bull. Coming from a football standpoint myself, I was eager to learn how they have dealt with the pressure of superhuman ventures and managing sporting spectacles of a lifetime.
Dr Coats who was selected to join James Cracknell and Ben Fogle in their race to the South Pole, captured in the BBC documentary ‘On Thin Ice’ feels a lot of the personal preparation employed to land on the ice can be applied to football, with the management of expectation, one of the key hurdles for Chelsea to man up and face head on.
‘There is an awful lot of expectation; that is the toughest thing for anyone. Managing that expectation from the fans, that they put on themselves, from the manager and all the backroom staff around them. I think that is a really big thing to conquer and its taking them out of their comfort zone. Everybody wants to be in that position, to come within reaching distance of that trophy’.
Of course, Chelsea have indeed been within touching distance before in Moscow in 2008, with John Terry’s slip and missed penalty representing one of the cruellest denials of glory within recent footballing history. With Terry and Chelsea fans likely to have had more than their fair share of sleepless nights reflecting on that devastating moment, stewing on old mishaps and issues of what could’ve been need to be flushed away, disposed of and buried for at least ninety minutes in Bavaria at the weekend. Dr Steve Bull spoke of how his athletes utilise one or two ‘swing thoughts’ ahead of athletic competition, which are just enough to focus the mind, yet not expose the competitor too much, to over-analyse their destiny.
‘They (athletes) will have a very simple swing thought. Now it might change from day to day, it might even change by the hour but you absolutely need to keep it simple and that’s true for a sporting event, job interview or driving test. Chelsea’s preparation should not be thinking about raising the cup after the game. It should be what have I got to do in this game. What are my swing thoughts for this game; that first tackle? That first pass? Those positive orientating swing thoughts need to be in the mind’.
Of course, UEFA will again position the silver and gold clad trophy right at the end of the tunnel before kick-off, but as we have seen before, some players choose to walk alongside it without even the merest glance and some choose to stare into the prize, almost checking their nervous reflection in its proud body. This is where the mind must remain focused and whereby nerves either grab hold and detriment or are overcome and channelled into good energies. Dr Ed Coats continued and paid diligence to those incidences whereby a good run in a competition can be met with an almost anti-climaxing final appearance whereby all that hard work is undone by nerves.
‘As soon as you get in a situation where it matters, you can go to pot and it’s that standing up in front of people thing, it’s that first hundred metres or it’s that first flight landing on the ice where you’re thinking it could be minus thirty out there; there could be a blizzard or anything. It’s just about keeping calm, believing in what you’ve done beforehand because you’ve got to remember I’ve done this a hundred times, I can do this and like I say, embrace it, get out there and think I can take this on’.
Chelsea can’t forget the road which has led them to Munich, whereby they toppled the odds to overcome not only Napoli from a precarious situation but also favourites Barcelona who were widely believed to win the tie with relative ease. These are the real incidences of survival instincts in a way and these experiences cannot be understated going into a big game such as at the weekend.
As we have seen this weekend, anything is possible in football and Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp league winner serves as evidence to that old football cliché that it really isn’t over till the fat lady sings. If like me, you are slightly jealous of the Chelsea personnel in stepping out at the Allianz Arena, in front of the watching world on Saturday, BRUT will be bringing the stadium experience direct to you as early as in September. If you are a supporter of a Championship club, football enthusiasts will be invited to ‘Man Up’ and face that excruciating pressure of taking a spot kick in front of their own fans in the watching arena. In the meantime, what better way to make your dad ‘Man Up’ by offering him the BRUT Father’s Day Gift Set which is available at a cost of £6.99. Details of both this offer and the forthcoming ‘Man Up’ Challenges can be found at the website www.brutformen.co.uk
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Chelsea fan? How do you think you will fare in Saturday’s massive game? Can they hold their nerve? Follow me @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989