West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson still believes in Fernando Torres as a top-class striker.Hodgson says the Spanish finishers will prove value for money despite not scoring since his 50 million pound move to Chelsea from Liverpool last January.
Hodgson, speaking ahead of his side’s clash with Chelsea on Saturday, admitted that Torres’ current poor form does not come as a surprise to him.
But the former Fulham and Liverpool manager, who managed Torres at Anfield this season, believes the 27-year-old striker will prove a bargain when he rediscovers his confidence.
“(Torres’ current form) doesn’t surprise me because he didn’t have a good time at Liverpool from the start of the season,” Hodgson said.
“He has moved to Chelsea and everybody was hoping it was going to be night and day in terms of how he performed and it’s not.”
“Fernando is working hard, like he did for Liverpool, and it’s not working for him.”
Hodgson is hoping the Spaniard does not hit a vein of form on Saturday as Chelsea look to bounce back from their Champions League exit at the hands of Manchester United.
“Chelsea will get a lot of value from Fernando Torres and I think, even between now and the end of the season, you will see him scoring goals and doing a great job for the team,” he added.
“But I would rather he had scored a few goals before Saturday because it’s sod’s law that his first goal will come against me.”
The 63-year-old, meanwhile, has praised his home fans for their raucous support in recent weeks and called on them to continue making the Hawthorns a difficult place for visiting teams.
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“We have great respect for Chelsea and know to beat them is going to be a massive task,” he said.
“With that type of support behind us, we might be able to pull off another surprise result.”
Cameroon midfielder Somen Tchoyi is expected to return for West Brom after missing two games to be with his sick wife while Scottish midfielder Graham Dorrans is still missing with an ankle injury, although he is hopeful of returning before the end of the season.
AC Milan will aim to take another step closer to their first Serie A title since 2003-04 on Saturday when they travel to Brescia.Massimiliano Allegri’s men are six points clear of second-placed Napoli with five games to play, but the coach is demanding the full attention of his squad ahead of their trip to strugglers Brescia.
Milan head into the match high on confidence having won their past three league games, although they were held to a 2-2 draw by Palermo in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia semi-final first leg.
“We must remain awake because there are five games remaining and if we are not careful, we could also lose,” Allegri said.
“Brescia are fighting to avoid the drop and this is a delicate game for us.”
Allegri will be without strike pairing Alexandre Pato and Zlatan Ibrahimovic through injury and suspension respectively.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Napoli travel to Palermo keen to respond from their 2-1 loss at home to Udinese last weekend.
Third-placed Inter Milan – who are eight points behind the league leaders – play fourth-placed Lazio at the San Siro, sixth-placed Roma host Chievo Verona and Udinese will look to keep their Champions League drive going strong when they welcome Parma.
Seventh-placed Juventus will continue to push for a Europa League berth when they welcome Catania, and Fiorentina travel to Cagliari in a mid-table clash.
Cesena will be keen to move further away from the relegation zone when they visit Bologna, as will Lecce when they travel to Genoa.
And bottom side Bari will confirm their relegation from Serie A should they fail to win against fellow strugglers Sampdoria at the Stadio San Nicola.
Lazio and Milan both recorded victories after scoring four goals in their respective Serie A matches on Saturday.Lazio’s 4-2 triumph over Genoa snapped a run of three successive losses and took them above Udinese into fourth, which would enable them to enter the qualifying stage of the Champions League.
But Udinese do play tomorrow – away at 12th-placed Chievo – meaning Lazio will be hoping for the hosts to record some form of result.
Their win on Saturday was largely down to a superb start to the second half, although Giuseppe Biava set the tone of the match nicely with his seventh-minute goal.
Rodrigo Palacio hit back five minutes later for Genoa to ensure both sides entered the break on level terms.
But in the 21 minutes after half-time, Edy Reja’s side scored three times to wrap up the victory.
Naturalised Italian midfielder Cristian Ledesma provided the assist for Tommaso Rocchi’s goal after 52 minutes and he was the provider again four minutes later when Brazilian Hernanes made it 3-1.
Hernanes doubled his account on 66 minutes and, while striker Antonio Floro Flores pulled back a late consolation for Genoa, Lazio were easy winners.
In the day’s other match, Milan romped to a 4-1 home win against Cagliari thanks to a first-half masterclass from Robinho.
After opening the scoring on 22 minutes, the Brazilian set up captain Gennaro Gattuso for just his second goal of the season two minutes later.
Robinho grabbed his second strike of the game ten minutes before the break and, although Andrea Cossu replied almost immediately, victory was never in doubt for the champions as Dutch veteran Clarence Seedorf wrapped up the rout with 13 minutes to play.
Queens Park Rangers celebrated promotion from the Championship despite losing 2-1 at home to Leeds United on Saturday.After the Football Association announced earlier in the day the club would not be docked points over the transfer of Alejandro Faurlin, Neil Warnock’s team was guaranteed promotion to the English Premier League.
Icelandic striker Heidar Helguson gave QPR a first-minute lead at Loftus Road, but Leeds scored either side of half-time to take the three points.
Goals from midfielder Mark Gradel and Scottish attacker Ross McCormack left Leeds relying on Nottingham Forest to record a three-goal loss to steal the sixth playoff spot.
But it was not to be as Forest took a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Midfielder Lewis McGugan opened the scoring on 17 minutes and their task was made easier when Palace defender Dean Moxey was sent off eight minutes later.
Goals in the last 20 minutes from Marcus Tudgay and David McGoldrick guaranteed Forest would face Swansea City in the playoff semi-final.
Swansea rose to third on the back of a 4-0 thrashing of Sheffield United and the failure of Cardiff City, who drew at Burnley.
A brace from Scottish attacker Stephen Dobbie, along with a Scott Sinclair penalty and a Leon Britton strike, were enough to hammer League One-bound United.
Michael Adams’ team was in the game until Australian defender Shane Lowry was given his marching orders in the 54th minute.
A 90th-minute strike from Craig Bellamy was all that saved Cardiff from defeat at Burnley in their 1-1 draw.
His goal cancelled out a 13th-minute opener from Jay Rodriguez as Burnley finished the season in eighth.
Norwich City celebrated promotion, but only after a 2-2 draw against Coventry City.
All the goals at Carrow Road came in the second half as Coventry’s Richard Keogh and Norwich’s Grant Holt began the scoring after they exchanged strikes.
On-loan Liverpool attacker Daniel Pacheco gave Norwich the lead, five minutes after coming on for Holt, but Lukas Jutkiewicz pegged them back two minutes later as the teams were forced to share the points.
Reading ended a three-game winless run with a 2-1 win over Derby County.
With fifth place assured, Reading will enter their playoff clash with Cardiff City in winning form thanks to Hal Robson-Kanu’s 72nd-minute winner.
Ian Harte’s 24th-minute penalty had been cancelled out by Jamie Ward in the first half.
Elsewhere, Barnsley finished their campaign in style after a Reuben Noble-Lazarus goal gave them a 1-0 win over Millwall.
Middlesbrough ended the season with their fourth-straight win, a 3-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers.
Barry Robson broke the deadlock two minutes before the interval, while Leroy Lita and Adam Reach scored second-half goals.
At Glanford Park, Portsmouth forward David Nugent struck nine minutes before the end to secure a 1-1 draw against Scunthorpe United, who had led thanks to a Ramon Nunez goal.
Preston North End ended their season with a 3-1 win over Watford.
Andreas Weimann had given Malcolm Mackay’s team an early goal, but Barry Nicholson, Iain Hume and Jamie Proctor hit back for the hosts, who have been relegated.
Bristol City breezed past Hull City 3-0, mainly thanks to goals from Jon Stead and Brett Pitman in the opening 14 minutes with Jamal Campbell Ryce wrapping up the points early in the second half.
Leicester City recorded an entertaining 4-2 win over Ipswich Town after holding a three-goal lead at the break.
Andy King, Yakubu and Yuki Abe scored before the interval, but two goals in the space of as many minutes put Paul Jewell’s team back in the contest.
Grant Leadbitter struck from the penalty spot and Connor Wickham made it 3-2 a minute later, but Diomansy Kamara restored the two-goal buffer in the 72nd minute.
Goals from Aaron Ramsey and Robert Earnshaw helped Wales to a 2-0 friendly win over Northern Ireland on Friday.The match was part of the inaugural Carling Nations Cup in Dublin and the result saw Northern Ireland finish bottom of the tournament without a point or a goal and having conceded 10 in three matches.
They were slightly better defensively in front of a poor crowd at the Aviva Stadium on Friday, but their resistance was broken after 36 minutes when Arsenal’s Ramsey netted the opener.
Ramsey was the beneficiary of a rebound from Jonny Tuffey’s save, after he pushed Craig Bellamy’s cross away from goal, and from 15 yards out the midfielder buried a well-struck shot high into the net.
Earnshaw capped the victory with his second goal in as many matches for his country with 21 minutes remaining and it was a goal to remember.
After receiving a pass from David Cotterill, Earnshaw took a touch and turned before rifling a swerving shot into the back of the net from outside the area.
The win saw Wales avoid a seventh successive defeat, something they had never done in 107 years of football, and gave Gary Speed his first victory as national team boss.
The Carling Nations Cup comes to a close on Sunday when the Republic of Ireland battle Scotland in the final of the four-team tournament.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) says Libya will still host the 2013 African Cup of Nations.But with rebels looking to overthrow leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and in control of large parts of the country’s east and violence continuing, other options are being explored.
CAF secretary-general Hicham El Amrani told the BBC he is concerned by the ongoing violence in Libya.
“Of course we are thinking about it as a matter of priority,” El Amrani said.
“All the tournaments that Libya has agreed to host – not only the Africa Cup of Nations but also the CHAN (African Nations Championship) and the Futsal Championship next year are today still held in Libya.”
“At the same time the CAF executive committee is thinking about plan Bs or plan Cs.”
“We agreed an internal timeline (for the) latest moment at which we should decide on switching the tournament to another venue but as of today the Nations Cup of 2013 is still in Libya.”
The CAF has already shifted one event set down for Libya this year, when it moved the African under-20 tournament to South Africa.
“It was a challenge; when it became clear that it was impossible to organise it, we only had about five weeks to look for another host,” El Amrani said.
“We were grateful to have South Africa ready to host – they did a terrific job.”
Peru coach Sergio Markarian lashed out at referees, journalists and coaches after his side’s 1-0 Copa America loss to Chile on Tuesday.Despite securing a place in the quarter-finals by being one of the best third-placed teams, the Peru coach was an angry man in his post-match press conference.
Uruguayan Markarian said defender Giancarlo Carmona did not deserve his red card during the match, and described the yellow card shown to right back Aldo Corzo as ‘laughable’.
Markarian’s main gripe seemed to be with journalists, who he said were too quick to label teams as either defensive or attacking.
“I’m fed up with labels, fed up with them,” he said. “The media, the journalists, the coaches who put labels on everything, I’m tired of it.”
“There are some coaches who are labelled as attacking, others who are labelled as not, it’s everywhere, in every country.”
“It’s very easy when they have the players and the pedigree that they do to say ‘I’m an attacking coach’. I’m tired of it. Enough.”
Markarian refused to clarify precisely who he was talking about, but Peru have been criticised by some quarters during the tournament for a defensive approach.
They will find out on Wednesday who their quarter-final opponents will be.
“Erm, no,” seems the fairly logical and obvious answer to the question, both Fabregas and Nasri are world class players in an Arsenal side that has struggled to truly challenge for the title in recent years.
Yet despite the seemingly rhetorical nature of the question, when you scratch below the surface there’s a case to be made that Arsenal could be better off by letting both midfielders move on.
Before you click off the site or bombard me with comments telling me why I’m off my little Mancunian head, allow me to elucidate.
Cesc Fabregas has been linked with a move to Barcelona, for two years now and seemingly has his heart set on joining his ‘boyhood club.’ The whole sorry saga reminds me of what happened with Ronaldo at United, in the fact that since his head’s been turned Fabregas hasn’t quite seemed the same player- this may sound incredulous given what Ronnie achieved in his final United season, but his attitude wasn’t quite as before. Don’t get me wrong Fabregas is still a hugely talented individual but from what I’ve seen in the big games he can often go missing.
Whenever United play Arsenal Fabregas is totally dominated by Darren Fletcher, in fact the only Gooner victory over us of late came when the Spaniard wasn’t in the side. I’m aware Fabregas played well against Chelsea at the Emirates last season, but let’s not forget this was one of the poorest Chelsea sides in the last 8 years, enduring their worst spell in the same period.
I rate Fabregas highly and in the past have even advocated United making a cheeky bid for him but the fact is since the Barcelona rumours have started he doesn’t seem the player he was for Arsenal. The Gunners seem to rely on him too much and when he doesn’t perform there’s a lack of people willing to take some responsibility. You could argue surely that make’s him indispensable but I’d put forward the opposite view, that if Fabregas was no longer in the equation then other players would rise to the occasion and be forced to do more than simply look for the skipper.
Arsenal had a brief period of rejuvenation when their talisman Thierry Henry left, with players such as Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor proving their worth. Although it ultimately resulted in yet another trophyless season, the first seven months of 2007/08 it looked as though Arsenal were on course for the title.
In the case of Samir Nasri, again he’s a talented player that I’d be more than happy to see at Old Trafford, but if he doesn’t want to play for Arsenal anymore then it may be a good idea to simply get rid and move on.
Like Fabregas Nasri can also go missing and the back end of last season he was nowhere near as influential as he had been at the start. If he really doesn’t want to be at the club then Arsene Wenger should do what he’s done in the past with the likes of Adebayor and Kolo Toure and simply sell him and move forward.
With the departure of Gael Clichy many would argue that for Arsenal to lose two more experienced players would be nothing short of disastrous however it may not be the catastrophe some predict.
If the likes of Nasri and Fabregas left for around £50 million then surely even someone as miserly and stubborn as Arsene Wenger would realise that money could bring in two quality midfielders to replace them.
Admittedly you may not get someone of the same calibre as Fabregas but by maybe investing in a bit of steel and grit rather than another playmaker, you could actually add an edge to the Gooners that’s been missing for some time.
The smart money seems to be on Arsenal not really being a problem for United this season when it comes to retaining our title. Even Liverpool have been getting more kudos from the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney when it comes to being title challengers next season.
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Should Arsenal lose their two main midfielders then you can’t imagine anyone backing them for the title.
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Call me a mentalist but I simply cannot imagine Wenger not being able to see it’s now or never for his Arsenal career and if he did lose the pair and invested in players that could perform now, rather than in a few years time, then he may give his side a fighting chance.
Arsenal still have the likes of Robin Van Persie, Jack Wilshere plus players like Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey who on their day can win matches. As United proved in 1995, losing some of your most influential players doesn’t always signal the end of your title winning chances, everyone may be counting Arsenal out- even if the titular duo stay- but I feel there may be one more good season left in Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and while I obviously hope I’m wrong, I won’t be discarding their chances just yet.
Have I gone in off the deep end? Is it City and Chelsea that United should be worried about? Is it all over for Wenger should he lost his midfield pair?
Read more of Justin’s articles at Red Flag Flying High
Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish may put an end to his spending if he is successful in signing Wigan’s Charles N’Zogbia.The French winger is expected to sign for Villa for a reported fee of 9.5 million pounds later this week and would join Manchester City’s Shay Given at Villa Park as new arrivals.
But the new boss is happy with the depth in his squad and feels that he has the talent within it to deal with Ashley Young’s departure.
“You can never say never but at the moment if we get N’Zogbia, which is looking good, then it’s unlikely we will do anything, unless there’s more trading with the players we already have in the squad,” McLeish said.
“At the moment we don’t plan to do any more business. I believe we’ve got some great young players and we’ve got one or two sleepers in there that could emerge.”
“I know Ashley Young’s boots are big ones to fill but there are one or two players that could emerge as a result of Ashley leaving the club.”
With FIFA’s financial fair-play regulations set to be introduced in 2013, McLeish is keen to work within a budget – especially on wages.
“We’re watching the wages don’t spiral out of control. Even bringing in free transfers, everybody thinks they don’t cost you anything but they could be 50-60,000 (pounds) a week in wages and it just escalates the wage bill out of all proportion,” he said.
“Randy Lerner has already stated that he wants to keep it tighter and work within a means and that’s normal, especially with 2013 coming up, and I believe a lot of clubs will follow suit.”
“We have a good squad, I have to pay respect to the lads that are already there. They’re on big wages and I can’t just discard them.”
Sir Alex Ferguson has given the clearest hint yet that Dimitar Berbatov will leave Old Trafford this summer. The Manchester United manager was surprisingly cagey when questioned about the transfer links in the paper to PSG suggesting that the Bulgarian is likely to move to the French big spenders.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Frank Lampard insisting his is not past his best; Scholes sees Wesley Sneijder as his ideal replacement, Scudamore calls on FIFA to ease the tensions.
*
Newcastle fine Barton and want him gone by the weekend – Guardian
Ferguson coy over Berbatov’s future – Guardian
Scudamore calls on Fifa to ease tensions – Guardian
Lampard: I’m not past it yet! – Mirror
Premier League sees Avatar-style future – Daily Telegraph
Liverpool will allow Aquilani to leave for £9m as Serie A duo chase midfielder – Daily Mail
Cheap as chips in Blackburn but Liverpool is top-flight’s dearest day out – Daily Mail
£10m Samba tops Tottenham hitlist – Sun
Scholes: Wesley is the new me! – Sun
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Potters plot ambitious £16m double deal for Spurs duo – Mirror
Council leader throws Liverpool new stadium lifeline – Mirror