Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has played down the significance of Wednesday's derby clash with Manchester City at Eastlands.
The France international claims City said last season that they were in the process of overtaking their bitter rivals but, when it came to the crunch, United came out on top on the pitch.
He said:"They always say that and they never beat us. We don't care what people say.
"I can say it would be nice to beat Manchester City because it is a special game, it is the derby and everyone wants to win, but it is not the priority. The priority for us is to win the league.
"When we start the league season we think about winning every game. We don't just need to win against Manchester City, we look to win the league, that's it.
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"If we beat City, it is a good result for Manchester United. It will be normal, but it will not be so special."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
After last Saturday’s poor performance by Crystal Palace, in which they lost to fellow strugglers Middlesbrough 2-1, it seems to be that George Burley’s men are lacking the spirit and character that ensured them safety last season.
The Championship’s bottom club went into half-time with a 1-0 lead at the Riverside, but the Eagles were out-played in the second half and goals from substitute Kink and a second own-goal of the season from captain Paddy McCarthy meant Palace would stay in the dreaded 24th place.
With Edgar Davids confirming yesterday morning that he would be leaving Selhurst Park after only seven starts for the South London outfit, it doesn’t seem to be getting any better for the Eagles after such a poor start to the season.
The most frustrating thing for Palace fans would be the lack of spirit and character that everyone expected to see last season and what ultimately ensured Palace would stay in the second tier of English football after the nail biting draw against Sheffield Wednesday in the last game of the season.
But what has gone so wrong for Palace this season?
Having lost influential youngster Victor Moses and manager Neil Warnock during important stages of the campaign last season, Palace done well to avoid relegation but if the performances don’t change this season, it may be too late for the Eagles to make another ‘great escape’.
Being a Palace fan, I feel strongly about this subject and in my opinion, the loss off Clint Hill and Shaun Derry to QPR was massive and George Burley is feeling the effects having not found suitable replacements for the pair.
Although the duo were not the best footballers, the work rate they both possessed and the spirit that they showed was second to none and they always managed to ensure they had to whole squad behind them.
With no disrespect to the Palace players, the likes of Darren Ambrose and Julian Speroni clearly possess talent but in the dressing room there are no real personalities who can get the team behind them, lead from the start and scrap for a win.
The other problem I feel for Palace is that the squad has too many young loan-signings, where they are not committed to the cause and have no experience in a relegation scrap.
The likes of Obika and Bennett seem to be fringe players at their parent teams who are sent out on-loan to teams like Palace who are desperate for players and play just for the sake of it.
After watching every home game at Palace for various seasons, these loans singings seem to lack commitment as they know by the end of the season they will be back at their clubs and Crystal Palace will be a distant memory.
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Going into the game against Sheffield Wednesday last season, Palace had the likes of Matt Lawrence, Danny Butterfield, Alan Lee, Stern John and Shaun Derry, all of whom have various experiences that most loan singings and youngsters lack.
With the majority of the squad leaving Palace during the summer, George Burley was left with a very small team and has done extremely well to bring players in but experience is always necessary when building a successful team and this season, the Eagles lack that experience.
However, with Palace securing a vital three points against high flying Watford on Tuesday, could George Burley’s Palace career finally get going?
This season it’s been a case of Palace performing well but failing to take their chances, however the win against Watford proved to fans that Palace can win ugly when the odds are against them.
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After going into half-time with a 1-0 lead, Palace looked to throw the win away for a second successive time when Watford scored two quick fire second half goals, but Owen Garvan wasn’t willing to let Palace go down without a fight and the Ireland u21 international scored two fantastic long range efforts in 3 minutes to secure a thrilling 3-2 win at Selhurst Park.
The effort and commitment shown throughout the emphatic win against Watford is exactly what I am questioning and nothing would please me more than to see that exact performance against Coventry this Saturday.
I have to say that George Burley got his tactics 100% correct when he brought Wilfred Zaha on as a substitute for Counago when Palace went 2-1 down and the youngster changed the game in an instance when his cross after fine play caused Watford problems and Garvan equalised for Burley’s men.
Although I won’t get too ahead of myself as Palace seem to perform badly when things are just starting to look good, Tuesday’s performance really did show the fans that Burley can do things the right way and we can show the character that is needed to secure hard wins.
To make the win even better, all three goals from the Eagles were absolute screamers with Darren Ambrose scoring his first goal for the Red and Blue army since his return from injury.
I’d like to think that things will eventually come good and after the owners assured fans that Burley is staying, it looks to be a case of Palace fans getting behind the team home or away as they usually do and the spirit I’m desperately asking for will eventually show in every game.
West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady has insisted the club will not make any rash decisions over the future of manager Avram Grant.
With the Hammers rooted to the foot of the Premier League table with just nine points from their opening 12 games, times appear tough at Upton Park.
But the former Birmingham City managing director is looking at ways to improve their fortunes on the pitch rather than ditching the beleaguered Israeli, who joined the club from Portsmouth in the summer.
"I think it's very easy for people who run football clubs to sit back and that finger of blame comes out and ultimately always ends up on the manager," Brady told Sky Sports News.
"We don't want to hit the panic button yet but we do want to look deep into ourselves and say 'what can we do to help the team and the manager and what can we do to improve things?' as opposed to sitting and playing the blame game, which unfortunately, there are no winners in.
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With the Newcastle hot-seat still warm following Chris Hughton’s shock departure, Mike Ashley has moved quickly to find a permanent replacement. With Alan Shearer ruling himself out of the running and saying that; “I won’t be the next Newcastle manager, I can guarantee you that”, and Martin Jol reportedly turning the job down on the grounds of limited transfer funds and contract details, it is Alan Pardew who has emerged as the man most likely to take the job.
There is no question that Pardew is not the big name that Toon fans were after, but is he the right man for Newcastle?
Arguably, his biggest and most difficult job will be to win over the famously passionate Newcastle fans who are still recovering from Hughton’s sacking. A quick look at an online Newcastle message board where Pardew’s potential appointment has been described as a ‘joke’, an ‘insult’ and as ‘one of the strangest decisions in football’ tells you what you need to know about popular opinion.
It seems to defy logic that Mike Ashley is set to replace Chris Hughton, a manager who came from nowhere to bring relative success and stability to a team on the rocks, with a man whose last job was at Southampton in League 1. The only thing that seems to be in Pardew’s favour is his limited Premier League experience, but his seasons in the top flight with West Ham and Charlton can hardly be classed as successful. He took West Ham to 9th in 05/06 but was sacked in December 2006 after a poor start to their second season in the Premiership. He then took over at Charlton Athletic for the second half of the 06/07 season but was unable to steer them away from trouble. What does Ashley believe Pardew can do for Newcastle that Hughton couldn’t?
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The only reason that I can see for appointing Pardew is that no compensation will need to be paid and he available to take over immediately. Obviously I can understand that Ashley would want to get in a replacement quickly in order to restore some normality and order to his club, but if he doesn’t want to disrupt Newcastle then why sack Hughton in the first place?
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I think that Mike Ashley would have rebuilt some of the bridges that he’d burnt if he had persuaded Martin Jol to take over. Earlier in the week when Jol resigned from Ajax on the same day that Houghton was sacked it seemed as though he was destined to take over, but alas it wasn’t to be.
If, as expected, Alan Pardew takes over in the next few days I wonder how fans will react during Saturday’s home game against Liverpool, will Pardew get their backing or their wrath? This is another twist in the Newcastle history books just when things were starting to settle down and I find myself feeling a little sorry for Pardew who is inevitably going to become the new face of Newcastle fans’ angst. I get the feeling that over the next few weeks fans and the media alike will realise just how important Chris Hughton was to the Newcastle renaissance.
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Finishing in sixth place in the Premier League guarantees you nothing, those conveted Europa League spots are reserved for the fifth placed finisher and the winners of the FA Cup and the League Cup. However, as I’m sure you all know, if the winners of one of these trophies has already qualified for Europe through the league then their Europa League place goes to the sixth placed team, and this is precisely what has happened for the last six seasons running. There are currently four teams within five points of sixth place, but which of these teams would be best suited for a stint in European competition?
Sunderland
Currently lie: 6th, 33 points
How they’ve got to where they are: Sunderland currently occupy sixth place simply down to the fact that Steve Bruce has made them very hard to beat. They have lost the fewest games of anybody outside of the top four and have conceded fewer goals than any team below them. Sunderland have been playing well all season, but it was their 0-3 away win over Chelsea that made people sit up and take notice. Despite losing two consecutive games over Christmas, Sunderland followed that with two wins and will be hoping to cement their European push with a game against local rivals Newcastle next up in the league.
Why they’d be ok in Europe: Over the last few seasons Sunderland have been a big club in just about every criteria except on-field achievement. However, this season finally seems to be the one where they’ve broken through the glass ceiling from ‘mid table underachievers’ to ‘genuine European contenders’. They have a young, talented squad with a good amount of strength and depth in every position and would be well suited to the demands that a European campaign can have on a season.
Why they wouldn’t: Other than experience, the main problem so far for Sunderland has been goals. Despite, on paper, having four top quality strikers, Sunderland have been lacking in the goals department this season. Their tally of 25 is someway behind the teams around them and this is an area that they would need to address if they were to finish sixth, especially with the in-form Danny Welbeck’s loan spell ending in May.
Bolton
Currently lie: 7th, 30 points
How they got to where they are: Owen Coyle’s side are a shadow of the Bolton team which we got accustomed to watching under Gary Megson. Bolton now play with a certain confidence and have an attacking edge which has lost them the tag of being a ‘long ball team’. The emergence of the partnership between Johan Elmander and Kevin Davies has been a revelation, and even though the two haven’t been finding the net often in recent weeks they continue to pose a significant threat. Bolton have gone about their business quietly, and aside from impressive wins over Spurs and Newcastle have largely been achieving good results with attracting too much attention.
Why they’d be ok in Europe: A few people may forget, but Bolton enjoyed a spell in the UEFA Cup in the 07/08 season which included an impressive draw away to Bayern Munich and a two legged win over Athletico Madrid. The core of that team are still at the Reebok Stadium and that experience could prove vital. Owen Coyle is looking like a really top manager and seems quite capable of taking of taking big steps forward. He took Burnley from Championship strugglers to the top half of the Premier League, so leading Bolton into Europe should be no problem. The prospect of European football could also convince Gary Cahill to stay at the club amid rumours that Chelsea are considering making an offer.
Why they wouldn’t: It could be argued that Bolton are over-achieving. Bolton lack depth in their squad and are always few key injuries away from a potential disaster. If Bolton do clinch a European spot you would get the feeling that Owen Coyle would need to add some more quality to his squad, something which financial restrictions might not allow him to do.
Continue to the NEXT PAGE to see the rest of the Europa League contenders…
Newcastle
Currently lie: 8th, 28 points
How they got to where they are: Sheer doggedness. Despite set-backs and some poor results, Newcastle United always seems to bounce back with some big wins and could certainly be given the tag of the ‘Premier League Entertainers’. Their incredible 6-0 win over Aston Villa in Week 2 made people sit up and take notice of the Magpies, and made Andy Carroll a household name. The spirit in the squad has been clear for all to see, just as people were tipping Newcastle for relegation after the sacking of Chris Hughton, new boss Alan Pardew leads them to three wins from his first five games including the 5-0 demolition of West Ham. A 5-1 victory over local rivals Sunderland can’t have done the team much harm either…
Why they’d be ok in Europe: Newcastle have some real quality in their squad. Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan have been star performers this season and if they can hold on to Andy Carroll over January you wouldn’t bet against them clinching sixth spot. The fans at Newcastle would be sure to turn up in numbers should the Toon get into Europe and no team would fancy an away tie at St James’ Park. They’ve already proven that they can hold their own against the best in England and have won away at some tough places so far this season.
Why they wouldn’t: Newcastle’s back line has been leaky at times this season. Bringing in Sol Campbell didn’t work and their record of 31 goals conceded is worse than many of the teams below them. Mike Ashley would be likely to back his new managerial appointment in the transfer market, but to what extent is yet to be seen.
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Blackburn
Currently lie: 9th, 28 points
How they got to where they are: I’m not too sure. One of the winners of a tightly fought Premier League, two wins in three have lifted them up to within touching distance of sixth, yet they will still have one eye looking downwards. In fairness to Blackburn, when they’ve played well this season they’ve recorded some very good wins. They’ve acquired a knack of beating teams around them this season, wins over Newcastle, Blackpool, Liverpool and Everton means that Rovers have been able to steal a march on some of their rivals. Unfortunately, all the good they’ve done this season has largely been overshadowed by THAT defeat at Old Trafford.
Why they’d be ok in Europe: Should Blackburn qualify for Europe then it seems that their new owners would be able to finance some big changes to the squad.
Why they wouldn’t: In many ways Blackburn are an average Premier League side and could struggle to attract big names to the club, even with the lure of European football. Their six strikers have 12 goals between them this season and I think that they would struggle to cope with the extra fixtures. In the near future Blackburn could well become a top six/seven team, but this year would be too soon for them and new manager Steve Kean.
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Everton manager David Moyes has no regrets over his decision to sell midfielder Steven Pienaar to Tottenham.
Everton host West Ham on Saturday without the South African, but Moyes was not overly concerned.
“It was not a difficult decision to make financially. I said we would not let him go if we did not get a good offer,” said Moyes.
“I was happy to let him see out the contract – he played well in the games for us and I have no problem with Steven.”
Moyes was delighted to see Seamus Coleman and Victor Anichebe both sign new contracts at Goodison Park.
“It is really important news for the club,” he said. “Seamus already had a contract but we thought he had done well and he deserved a new one. It is what Everton do – we reward people who do well.”
“There have been talks with Victor for a while and he has now put pen to paper to stay in the place where I think he should be. Hopefully he can stay injury free because I think he has the potential to become a really good player.”
West Ham have propped up the table for most of the season but Moyes is not underestimating Avram Grant’s side.
“They have good players and a good manager and I think there is no easy game in the Premier League,” said Moyes.
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“West Ham were on a bit of a run, OK they had a bit of a bad result at Newcastle a few weeks ago, but overall they have been going about their job just fine.”
Striker Louis Saha is a doubt with a thigh strain and Tim Cahill is still away at the Asian Cup with Australia. Phil Jagielka is expected to return from a thigh problem.
Liverpool will need to be willing to adapt their game when they take on Stoke in the English Premier League on Wednesday.
Tony Pulis’ side have a reputation for playing a direct, uncompromising brand of football, a style which saw them get the better of Liverpool earlier this season at the Britannia Stadium.
The Reds lost 2-0 on that occasion and manager Kenny Dalglish is determined to avoid a repeat this time around.
“My next managerial challenge on the pitch comes against Stoke City at Anfield on Wednesday night,” Dalglish said.
“I’ve always had to adapt to facing different styles as a manager; in my first time at Liverpool we had to play the likes of Millwall, who had Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino and played a very direct game, or Wimbledon, who were led by John Fashanu.”
“Whether it’s Arsenal’s passing style or Stoke’s long throw, you have to try to deal with it and combat it.”
“And let’s credit Tony Pulis with doing a good job at Stoke. It’s common sense for a manager to select a style that suits his players.”
Liverpool head into the match on the back of two straight wins, against Wolves and Fulham, and can equal their best run of the season with a win on Wednesday.
Dalglish has plenty of options to choose from, with only defender Jamie Carragher unavailable through injury, while new signing Luis Suarez is also a chance to play, with the Uruguayan forward expected to complete his transfer from Ajax on Monday.
It remains to be seen whether unsettled striker Fernando Torres will join him, with Chelsea expected to make a last-ditch bid to lure the Spanish ace before the transfer window closes on Monday.
Stoke’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Wolves on Sunday starts a run of three games in seven days for Pulis’ side, and the manager was disappointed with the scheduling log-jam.
“We have got the short straw because we go to Anfield on Wednesday night and then Sunderland on Saturday morning,” Pulis said.
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“I’m a bit disappointed at the FA Cup and its placing in the calendar with the smaller clubs not having squads as strong as the top sides.”
Stoke are just two points behind Liverpool with a game in hand, and could move as high as seventh with a win on Wednesday.
However, Stoke have never won at Anfield, with their best result a 0-0 draw in 2008.
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish believes Nikola Zigic can follow in the footsteps of Peter Crouch and become a major star in England.
Zigic stole all the headlines playing against West Ham once again when his second-half header won the points for Birmingham and helped them move out of the bottom three.
The Serbian international has had a slow start to life in the Premier League following his six-million-pound move from Valencia last summer, but he netted his sixth goal of the season at Upton Park and looks to be hitting his best form at the right time of the season.
McLeish has no doubts he can get even stronger and has been showing him videos of Crouch to show him how he makes a success of his height in the Premier League.
McLeish said: “He’s a bit more like Crouchy. When he started he was a little awkward and ungainly but worked hard at his game and became impossible at times for defenders to play him.”
“He’s still doing it. We’re looking for the big fella to use Crouchy as an example. He’s watched vidoes of Crouch.”
“He’s upped his game. He’s at a good level now. He’s an international player and it’s been a challenge getting used to England.”
“He’s beginning to hold his own. He was pushed in the back for the goal but he managed to stay firm and get his head on it.”
“It was a matter of showing him videos and some of his own footage. It’s a very different style of football to Spain and Serbia. I’d like to see a big return in this half of the season – 20 goals,” he joked.
West Ham manager Avram Grant admitted his birthday celebrations were cancelled and revealed his concern over the team’s poor defending which cost them dearly.
Grant said: “How could I celebrate (my birthday), we didn’t score and we didn’t win. It is not a happy birthday but it is not me that is important, it is the team.”
“We didn’t deal well with the set-pieces. We need to deal better with this.”
“We gave them easy free kicks and we know this is their strength because from open play they didn’t create chances against us.”
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“The disappointing thing is that we lost to a team near us and it is a game of six points.”
“We take a few steps forward and one back and we need to learn from this. We deserve to stay up but we need to do it. We cannot lose games like this.”
“We have 12 games until the end of the season and there are not so many points between the teams. We can do it but we want to do it as quickly as we can.”
“The thing that disappointed me most was the tempo of the game. We are used to playing with a high tempo and confidence and today we didn’t play in the way we know.”
France players acted like ‘foolhardy brats’ during the 2010 World Cup, according to then-manager Raymond Domenech.
Les Bleus crashed out of the tournament at the group stage after failing to win a game.
And the dismal campaign was marred by in-fighting, with Nicolas Anelka sent home and the rest of the squad going on strike.
Domenech – since replaced by Laurent Blanc – has not before spoken publicly about events in South Africa.
But he has broken his silence in an interview with L’Express magazine, due to be published on Wednesday.
“Looking back, I see them above all as a bunch of irresponsible, foolhardy brats,” said Domenech.
Turning to the strike itself, which followed Anelka’s return to France, Domenech added: “They knew perfectly well what they were doing.”
“They even closed the bus curtains to hide from the cameras.”
He also described the actions of the squad as a ‘masquerade’ and said that the 1998 World Cup winners had been turned into a ‘laughingstock’.
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Domenech accepted some of the blame, admitting that his selections, and team talks, had not been good enough.
However, he insisted: “I’m not the moron that’s been described.”
There are some footballers you know that you can just light the touch paper with and then watch them fly off the handle. It would be ill advised, for example, to terrier-like snap at the heels of Joey Barton, should you not wish to feel his next challenge the next time the ball is in your vicinity. Personally, I would never consider excluding the goalkeepers from a 5-a-side training game when Roy Keane was in my international squad, should I want to avoid several bust ups that resulted in his acrimonious departure from the World Cup. It’s probably not a good idea, also, to be a fan of the opposing team standing near the tunnel, if Eric Cantona has just been sent off.
Step forward Mario Balotelli. The City player that opposition fans love to hate, Balotelli is the one player that, when he starts for City, you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get: an anonymous 90 minutes, a hot-headed substitution, a red card for a silly kick-out, two yellow cards for dissent, a brilliant hat-trick, moments of pure genius with the ball at his feet… Any of those things (and more) could happen and little of it would be a surprise.
His first City appearance yielded his first City goal: away in Romania to FC Timisoara, he scored the only goal of the game and set City on their way to the group stage of the Europa League, before quite seriously injuring his knee. It hasn’t helped him that that injury ruled him out for large spells of this season and, despite a scoring record of ten goals in eighteen games, City still haven’t seen the Italian’s best form. And, clearly, if ten goals in eighteen appearances isn’t his best form, a lot of blues won’t be able to wait to see it.
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If there is one player in City’s team, though, that would be entitled to have something of a chip on his shoulder, it’s Mario Balotelli. As a small child, he had serious intestinal problems that required a series of life-saving operations to fix. His parents, both Ghanaian immigrants living in Italy, asked the country’s social services for help because of cramped living space. Balotelli was then fostered and, as he grew up into the life of a professional footballer, his biological parents asked for their son back – a move that Balotelli himself disagreed with, describing them as ‘glory hunters’ and believing they only wanted him back because of his success.
And Mario’s problems didn’t end there. Despite a desire to represent Italy, he was denied the chance to join the Under 15s and Under 17s squads because of bureaucratic issues: to the country in which he lived and the country he was from, he wasn’t an Italian citizen. Yet, his wish to play for Italy couldn’t have been stronger, a point he re-iterated when turning down an international call-up from Ghana.
Then throw into the mix a career in Italy shrouded by racism: in only his second senior cap for Italy in November 2010, he was subjected to abuse by a section of his own fans. These fans also held aloft a banner reading “No to a multi-ethnic national team”. And it’s not just while he was representing the national team; while he was with Inter Milan, sections of the Juventus support targetted him and taunted Balotelli with vile racial abuse.
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When City travelled to Turin to play Juventus, Balotelli was reportedly relieved that he didn’t have to make the trip; a decision made by Roberto Mancini, very aware of the problems Balotelli had faced there in the past, and a decision taken on that basis that City had already qualified.
Yet it is this boy who has ten goals in eighteen appearances, this boy who has had injury problems throughout his first season in England, this boy who has suffered racist abuse for most of his life, this boy who was denied the chance to represent his country because of a daft law, this boy who has had a turbulent upbringing… He is the one who is petulant and troubled. It’s easy to forget that he is just a kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
So he doesn’t smile, who gives a damn? His reasoning, on his arrival at City, was simple: scoring is as normal to him as any other everyday activity is to everyone else and one wouldn’t smile because they were cooking dinner or driving to work. And who cares if he looks glum if his scoring record stays as good as it is?
The problem is, Balotelli’s reputation precedes him. He’s the petulant child that shows dissent when things don’t go his way. Several times already this season, he has been shown yellow cards for his reaction to decisions; reactions that are no different than those of the likes of Rooney or Terry or Gerrard. Yet you can count on one hand collectively the number of yellow cards those players receive for that reaction over the course of a season.
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And yet, this week, we have seen a brand new Mario Balotelli. This is a Mario Balotelli that acted as the peacemaker in a ‘disagreement’ between Aston Villa’s Richard Dunne and City’s Yaya Touré in the FA Cup fifth round tie. The man normally associated with causing trouble was the one man who was preventing it from happening.
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His goal in that game, too, was something I was surprised hasn’t garnered more attention. The ITV commentators were totally underwhelmed, but it was one of the best goals you’ll see this season. A first time, side-footed, placed, half-volley, from a ball that was on its upward motion after bouncing from over his shoulder was greeted as if it were a tap-in.
And that off the back of Roberto Mancini’s open criticism of the forward after the 1-1 draw with Fulham. Balotelli scored another corker that match, too, but, as Mancini pointed out, he didn’t do much else. Normally, I would feel very uneasy with a manager openly criticising his players, but Mancini has got form (Adam Johnson, Joe Hart, Carlos Tevez) and it has worked. And if there’s anyone who knows how to get the best out of Mario Balotelli, then it’s the man in the Eastlands dugout.
For the moment, Mario’s in the middle of what he needs: a quiet few games, with a few goals and without controversy. He doesn’t need to grow up, as so many pundits have commented; in fact he’s probably the one player in City’s squad that has grown up quicker than anybody else, given what he has dealt with in the past.
Perhaps it’s time everybody else got off his back and just let him do his job.