Recent Posts
In the Liverpool club magazine Steve Gerrard has spoken out about the team's season and about the behind the scenes wrangling at the club.
"In the position we find ourselves now, fourth is the least that is acceptable. But we have bigger ambitions than that," He said.
"The only way we can fulfil those ambitions is in the Champions League. And I am not going to pretend that even winning that trophy - and we are a long way away from it at the moment - will make up for the disappointment of the league campaign."
Gerrard's honesty about the Premier League being more important to him than the Champions League may not go down too well with his boss, as Rafa would appear to feel the opposite.
Gerrard also claimed that the constant speculation over a possible takeover at the club and the future of Rafa Benitez has affected everyone at the club.
"It's sad so much of the club's business has been conducted in public," added Gerrard.
"The club I have grown up supporting always did its business behind closed doors, and that is what we have to get back to. It's been a damaging situation for everyone."
Again, this appears to be directed at Rafa as well as the American owners. Come the end of this season, I suspect the Liverpool board may be faced with an "either he goes, or I do" situation.
If that does happen, I would expect Rafa Benitez to move on.
A proposed meeting between the Premier League, led by Chief Executive Richard Scudamore, and FIFA, to discuss the Premier League's plan to play a round of matches in cities across the world, has been delayed by the Premier League.
A statement released by the Premier League says, "It is our considered view following these discussions that we need to conduct further internal studies and consultation before seeking the advice of the world governing body Fifa and the key confederations.
"This project is still very much in its infancy, was always subject to development, clarification and wide consultation and we remain disappointed that these facts and many others were lost when early opinions were formed by many without any detailed knowledge.
"Having consulted with Fifa, we have decided to delay our planned visit whilst we conduct further work prior to addressing them and their confederations formally.
"We sincerely believe that the Premier League has much to offer the development of the game internationally as witnessed by the many federations and leagues that currently seek our involvement and advice.
"There never has been a rush to conclude these matters and we are more than willing to take time to develop our proposals further before seeking approval, without which it is not our intention to proceed."
The above statement can be translated into the following:
"The Premier League would like to apologise for the fact Richard Scudamore announced an idea before it had been properly thought through, and before we had consulted with anyone who matters. In order to avoid further humiliation, we are going back to the drawing board."
It is hoped that Arsenal's Croatia striker Eduardo will make a full recovery from his horrific leg break in nine months.
Eduardo will have his leg in plaster for the next six to eight weeks before beginning a rehabilitation programme. If all goes well, he should be running again inside six months.
Since the incident, Martin Taylor the Birmingham centre half who caused the injury has been targeted by some angry fans, including from Croatia, who have posted threatening messages on various internet sites.
Security personnel had to restrain Croatian journalists who ran on to the road and tried to get into Taylor's car as he left the club's Wast Hills training complex on Monday.
But Croatia manager Slaven Bilic, who will now be without his prolific striker for the European Championship finals this summer, has been quick to defend the 28-year-old centre-half.
"The injury made the tackle look bad," Billic told BBC Radio 5 Live. "You see many tackles like that, almost every week."
He continued, "That's perhaps wrong for football but I'm sure Martin Taylor is a sportsman and he wanted to play the ball. On another occasion Eduardo could have received a worse tackle and got away without injury. Everything went wrong but Eduardo knows Taylor didn't do it deliberately."
Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Phillipe Senderos of Arsenal are two of the hard men of the English Premier League. Or so I thought. This weekend I have seen both of them fly through the air with all the grace of a top ballerina performing the dying swan. I hope they are both embarrassed when they watch the replays on television
[ Click here to read more ]
With two goals each from Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo and a late goal from substitute Louis Saha, Manchester United inflicted a 5-1 humiliation on Kevin Keegan's Newcastle in front of their own fans at St James' Park yesterday
[ Click here to read more ]
As an English football fan I have been ashamed of the behaviour of our so-called fans on many occasions. However, over the last few years policing in England has seen trouble within the grounds all but disappear
[ Click here to read more ]
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was both honest and realistic after his side's 3-2 defeat at home to Barcelona. "We were playing against one of the best teams in the world, and when we had the ball, we were not keeping it," he said
[ Click here to read more ]
There are too many overseas players in the English Premier League. We don't have enough of our players playing at the top level. Our players don't get to play Champions League
[ Click here to read more ]
I hate players getting sent off, and I hate the fact that football is becoming a non-contact sport. Having said that, the FA must be consistant in its decision making or the game falls into disrepute
[ Click here to read more ]
Obviously this is a subjective view, but with so much talk about the quality of the England team, and whether it is affected by the number of overseas players plying their trade in the EPL, I wondered just how many English players would make it into an EPL representaive side
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Comment by Graham Fisher
on 2008 A-League Champions: Newcastle Jets