Football audiences are always likely to get carried away, and it’s nothing really unusual. But plenty of talk from a certain angle helps to create an image of a player that doesn’t really fit. Whether it Tottenham’s Gareth Bale, Manchester United’s new signing Wilfried Zaha or Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the sheer hyperbole that surrounds certain players beggars belief.
England will continue to speak highly of the Premier League, however it starts to become embarrassing when names in this country are spoken of in higher terms than established greats on the continent. In addition, we’re never far from the flavour of the month in the top flight of English football. It’s all part of the show, I suppose.
Click on Hulk to start the countdown of players who don’t deserve their reputation
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Chris Brunt is hoping in-form West Brom team-mate Gareth McAuley signs a new contract soon.
The Baggies have begun negotiations with the 33-year-old, whose current deal at the Hawthorns runs out in the summer, about staying on after an impressive campaign in the Premier League.
Club captain Brunt has described the centre-back’s influence on Steve Clarke’s side as “massive” and hopes McAuley, who had never played in the top flight until he was 31, will agree a new contract soon.
“I can’t speak highly enough of him as a lad, or of his performances on the pitch,” said Brunt. “He’s a good friend of mine as well so I would love him to stay, and hopefully the club will sort it out.
“He’s been massive for us. From day one, since he stepped into the team, he has been our most consistent player. And that’s coming from someone who had never played in the Premier League until he was 31.”
The Northern Ireland international added: “I had known him for a long time and I knew he was a good defender. But when it came to the Premier League it was as unknown for me as it was for everybody else, and probably to him as well.
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“But he has stepped up and been fantastic for us.”
Andreas Weimann could be set to help Paul Lambert entice Basel centre-back Aleksandar Dragovic to Aston Villa in the summer.
The Austrian defender has his heart set on a switch to the Premier League and is regularly in touch with his international team-mate Weimann.
Dragovic, who impressed in both legs of Basel’s Europa League quarter-final victory over Tottenham last month, said: “I regularly speak to Andreas, who has told me a lot about how much he enjoys playing in England.
“It’s competition at the highest level, which is what I am looking for.
“The fans are fantastic, and the clubs command a lot of respect around the world.”
Everton, Fulham and Southampton are all tracking his progress, but Villa have been eyeing the 22-year-old for over a year with former chief scout Michael Henke having sent back several reports on Dragovic prior to leaving the club in January.
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Henke watched Basel play Bayern Munich in a friendly just before quitting as chief scout to join Ingolstadt and Lambert is understood to be looking for a defender of his type to come in this summer.
Barcelona are set to step up their pursuit of Liverpool’s Daniel Agger, after failing to lure number one target Thiago Silva away from Paris Saint-Germain, according to reports from The Express.
The La Liga champions had made the Brazilian their transfer priority, but having only signed for the nouveau riche Parisians last summer he is set to stay in France.
Barca will now turn their attention to Agger, who is thought to be their alternative option.
The Dane has been a major hit at Anfield since his 2006 arrival from Brondby, maturing into one of the Premier League’s top centre-backs.
The Spaniards are believed to see him as the ideal man to provide cover for Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, who have both suffered with injury on numerous occasions during the course of the past few years.
Liverpool are likely to resist any offer made, with manager Brendan Rodgers seeing Agger as one of his key players, thanks to his reading of the game and technical ability.
But, the defender himself could be tempted by a switch, with the chances of silverware likely to be much higher at the Nou Camp.
Agger is also wanted by Monaco, who could rival any offer from Barca.
Liverpool fans, is keeping Daniel Agger a priority this summer?
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French international Yann M’Vila could be moving to the Premier League this summer, according to talkSPORT.
Arsenal have been strongly linked with the 22-year-old, while the former Rennes midfielder is also on Tottenham’s shortlist.
M’Vila joined Rubin Kazan in January for a £10.5million move, despite interest from English clubs. But just six months later, the midfielder has been linked elsewhere. The Frenchman has been hampered by knee injuries with the Russian side, but is still a wanted man this transfer window.
Fellow Russian giants Anzhi Makhachkala are also interested in M’Vila, and intend to make him a central partner to former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Lassana Diarra.
But the North London duo will be eager to persuade M’Vila to move to the English capital, with both clubs searching for a holding midfielder this summer.
The future of Spurs midfielder Scott Parker is in fresh doubt, while Arsenal are looking to replace the injury prone Abou Diaby.
The 22-year-old is an accurate passer and likes to quickly distribute the ball to the attacking team mates in front of him. Both Arsenal and Tottenham have fast wingers, and M’Vila could be crucial in breaking up the play before quickly setting off the side’s wide-men on the counter attack.
Would M’Vila be a good signing for both clubs? Who should he pick: Arsenal or Tottenham?
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Last season: Palace made it to the Premier League after a Play Off Final against Watford at Wembley. Kevin Philips’s penalty in extra time was the golden goal the Eagles were looking for against the Hornets to get promoted back to the big leagues for the first time since 2005.
The Eagles finished 5th in last season’s Championship, just three points behind Brighton and Hove Albion. Ian Holloway’s team had a pretty tough season as the Glaziers won 19 out of 46 games but lost 12, in which 10 of them took place in away games which proved to be the team’s Achilles heel.
Nevertheless, Crystal Palace managed to finish in the top six spots and overcome the likes of Watford, Brighton and Leicester City thanks to an impressive season by striker Glenn Murray who scored 30 out of Palace’s 73 goals which made him last season’s top scorer in the Championship.
It is worth noting though that Palace conceded 62 goals, in which half of those were scored in Selhurst Park.
Trasfers In:
Elliot Grandin (Blackpool)
Kevin Philips (Blackpool)
Jose Campana (Sevilla)
Jerome Thomas (West Bromwich Albion)
Dwight Gayle (Peterborough United)
Stephen Dobbie (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Marouane Chamakh (Arsenal)
Transfers Out:
Andre Moritz (Bolton Wanderers)
Alex Marrow (Blackburn Rovers)
Jermaine Easter (Millwall)
Antonio Pedroza (Cruz Azul)
Aruna Dindane
Player to watch: As said above, Murray scored the majority of the Eagles’ goals that sent him to the top of the goal scoring charts. Palace though will be missing Wilfried Zaha who caught the attention of Premier League champions Manchester United and signed a contract with the Red Devils in January, but stayed on loan for the remainder of the season.
The striker will be expected to help on the scoring part a lot more this season as the Eagles will have to face the world’s strongest teams such as Man Utd, Manchester City, Chelsea etc. The 29-year-old reads the game well, has some very good positioning on the field and possesses good aim in his shot, which is the reason why he takes the team’s penalties.
It will also be interesting to see Wembley’s gold scorer Kevin Phillips in action. The 40-year-old seems to be trusted by the Palace side as he earned a new contract, after a loan deal with Blackpool, and aims to become the oldest scorer ever in the Premier League. It is worth mentioning that the veteran managed to score six goals in 14 appearances and looks to have another crack on the Premier League after signing for one more year.
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It will also be interesting to see how well Marouane Chamakh performs for Palace. The former Arsenal winger will be looking to make the sort of impact he didn’t manage to make at the Emirates and what better way than keeping the Eagles in the Premier League?
Young player to watch: It would be interesting to see what Jose Campana could bring to the table. The former Spain U20 international comes with 20 appearances for Sevilla in La Liga and he could quite possibly be able to improve in the Premier League.
Prediction: No matter how well a team did in the Championship and no matter how easy it was for this club to be promoted all squads are expected to up their game in the Premier League. For example, Reading managed to finish on top of the Championship a year ago but immediately returned after a one year stay. Palace lost 12 out of 46 games last season and only managed to win seven more which is not exactly an impressive resume.
The Eagles will have to work on their shortcomings if they want to have a long stay in the Premier League. Even though they scored the second highest number of goals of the top six teams in the table they still managed to concede the highest amount.
It is hard to predict these things, but based on last year’s figures this team looks to be a possible candidate for the bottom three spots. Nevertheless, the Premier League is full of surprises every year and last season we got to see some good football by the likes of Swansea, Southampton and West Brom.
Let’s be honest: Arsenal were horrific for most of the ninety against Crystal Palace. Nevertheless they came through unscathed. If that had been Manchester United, it would have been classed as the form of champions.
I’m not lost on the concept of winning ugly or even being off form; good teams do generally find the means to get through those poor spells that crop up from time to time.
The game at Crystal Palace, however, forced questions about the team. Firstly, was there yet again an issue over pre-match preparation? Was the manager doing enough to properly motivate a group of players who may have been led to believe that the game was just a formality?
I can’t really see that. That may have been an excuse in the past, but Arsene Wenger understands the pressure on the team to deliver as much as anyone else. He may not be as animated or fiery as his managerial counterparts, but that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of preparing his team.
So what’s the problem?
It’s the problem that crept in at West Brom. The matter of fatigue and tiredness can be rubbished by the majority for the simple fact that these are professional athletes who should know how to condition themselves for the congested schedule of English and European football. But that only stretches so far.
The team who started against Palace were largely unchanged from the one that lost at home to Borussia Dortmund. I’ve already dismissed the idea that the loss to Dortmund would have a negative effect on the team and its forthcoming fixtures. The mentality is quite clearly different from what it was in the past.
Instead, it’s a case that the centre-back pairing haven’t received much in the way of rest, featuring regularly for club and country. Olivier Giroud is being forced to fight on two different fronts at present, and likely three if Arsenal don’t add another forward in January when the FA Cup rolls around.
The point is that Arsenal play a high intensity game. It’s about possession and movement. You could argue that the team were lacking in ideas against Palace on the weekend, but I fail to see how an XI consisting of Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta, and Aaron Ramsey couldn’t find or even conjure a clear path to goal prior to the penalty claim.
There’s little rotation because there’s little in the way of options. Wenger was right to field his strongest team against Palace because the Premier League is the priority. Honestly, I don’t see the point in the League Cup, at least for those teams who compete in Europe. So what if Arsenal loss to Chelsea? The squad isn’t big enough to juggle two top competitions and then one that should be deemed more of a nuisance than the Europa League. Based on the resources of both clubs, there should be more questions asked of Chelsea if they fail to win at Arsenal than if Arsenal fail to advance.
Such is the state of the Arsenal squad at present – and by that, I mean due to the high volume of injuries – competitions simply must be sacrificed. Importance lies in the league fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester United. Even a failure to qualify from the group in the Champions League shouldn’t be considered a horrendous mess because Arsenal are paying the price for a lack of depth – and obviously because of the quality of the group – but in turn are topping the Premier League table.
Teams with the depth of Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid can afford to field strong teams in every competition. But as Wenger sees priority in the league and Champions League, fans should accept that those two competitions are the limits of this team’s ability. Failure in one doesn’t mean failure in others, quite the opposite. But success – and a win against Chelsea, for example, would be deemed a success – would come at a price.
If the maximum points are being achieved, winning ugly can be forgiven and generally forgotten. But with the opportunity Arsenal have this season, Wenger can’t continue to push and strain this team, even in league competition. Further depth is needed, quite simply because Arsenal are incapable of keeping all their players fully fit. And worryingly it’s not an impossible task.
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Does Arsenal’s lack of depth mean competitions have to be sacrificed?
Crystal Palace stole all the headlines on deadline day with a series of moves aimed at freeing the Londoners from their current relegation pressures. If anyone was going to save Palace it was going to be Tony Pulis, a man seasoned in these kinds of struggles.
Looking for players with both the heart and quality for the fight, could the capture of Joe Ledley prove to be a transfer masterstroke?
Celtic’s Welsh midfielder was subject to interest from across the whole Premier League, and Palace’s eventual £2.5m capture is looking like something of a coup. Neil Lennon would have been aggrieved to lose his man, but given that Ledley had just 6 months left on his current deal this looked like a prudent move for both parties.
Steve Parish and indeed the whole Crystal Palace were delighted to finally get the deal across the line, just as time seemed to be running out at the back end of the window. But the Eagles were soon able to confirm that the deal had been ratified, with a contract tieing down Ledley until the end of the 2016/17 season. A statement from Crystal Palace read:
“Ledley brings plenty of experience to SE25, having played Champions League football and won two Scottish Premier League titles during his three-and-a-half seasons at Parkhead.”
“The Welsh international began his career at Cardiff City, progressing through the club’s youth ranks and making more than 250 appearances for the Bluebirds after making his senior debut in September 2004.”
“He went on to win the Wales Club Player of the Year award in 2007 and 2008, and was also named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year in 2008/09.”
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Ledley welcomed his switch to south London.
“I’m just glad to get it over and done with and look forward to the new challenge ahead,” he said.
“I reported at the training ground today at Celtic and spoke to Neil Lennon, made my decision and came down, caught the next flight and managed to come here in time.”
So why all the fuss about Ledley, why is he the man to guarantee Palace’s survival?
Joe Ledley embodies everything that Pulis looks for in a player. He is a versatile central midfielder, able to do the dirty work effectively but at the same time able to offer something a little more refined in the final third. He has always been admired for his athleticism and willingness to fight for the cause, characteristics which will be crucial for a Palace side looking to ensure their Premier League survival.
Midfield has also been an area blighted by injury, and hopefully Ledley can now be a consistent feature that Pulis can build his side around in the upcoming months. This won’t be a run in to phase the Welshman, having considerable experience at both International and club level. Indeed, his Champions League exploits with Celtic will have readied him for the kind of tasks that Palace are likely to face.
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Given the quality of opposition in the league, Palace more often than not have to do a containing job with a view to countering with pace. This is a strategy that was employed to great success by Neil Lennon’s Celtic in recent years and something that Ledley has excelled in. His versatility in first nullifying the attacking threat and then going box to box to try to carve out opportunities is likely to be the way forward for him again at Palace.
If Palace can keep Ledley fit then this could prove to be the best £2.5m that they have spent in recent times; someone that is likely to flourish under Pulis I cannot see this doing anything but bolstering the clubs survival hopes.
Tweeting live during the Champions League encounter between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich last night, Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker’s big mouth may have got the former England striker into a spot of bother.
With Madrid leading 1-0 at the interval, Lineker boldly tweeted this claim:
The final score? Real Madrid 1-0 Bayern Munich. Oh dear. With 2.32 million followers, demands have inevitably come for Lineker to deliver on his promise.
Lineker has even received some tongue-in-cheek advice and remarks from fellow former sporting professionals.
Unsurprisingly, Lineker has attempted to squirm his way out of his promise.
But if the aggregate scoreline remains the same after ninety minutes in the Allianz Arena, could Lineker live to regret his claim?
Yesterday wasn’t the best of nights for Manchester City or, in particular, Joleon Lescott.The often-benched City centre-half was thrown into the mixer at the Camp Nou as Manuel Pellegrini’s team sought to find a way to battle back in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.Up against Lionel Messi though, Lescott had a ‘mare. Please reference below:
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