A tame 3-0 defeat to Colchester United followed shortly after by a drab 0-0 at home to Chesterfield has piled the pressure on Graham Westley despite his short-time in charge.
Our impotency in front of goal continued and we have now only scored 3 goals in the last 8 games against teams which mostly Preston fans would be expecting to defeat quite comfortably. It now seems that Preston could be dragged into a late season relegation battle if this poor form continues for much longer.
On Saturday, Preston slipped to a deserved 3-0 defeat at Colchester and apart from a bright 20 minutes at the start where Chris Robertson had a goal disallowed and young George Miller smashing the bar from just over 20 yards, the Whites were poor at best and never recovered from going 1-0 down from a well worked set piece, something that is bound to annoy Westley more than anything else. While we were a better defensive outfit on Tuesday night to keep our fourth clean sheet in eight games, Chesterfield were probably the worst away team to visit Deepdale and at any other time we would have beaten them convincingly.
Another thing to note from the last two games is how uncomfortable we looked in the oppositions half, while I wasn’t at the Colchester game, the reports indicate a similar tale there and it was something which was extremely evident last night, defensively we were sound but as soon as we got anywhere near the oppositions penalty area, our players panicked and were unsure of what to do next and then lost possession. We might have even lost the game on Tuesday but Chesterfield had the same mentality and only the crossbar in stoppage time prevented ex Preston player Neal Trotman giving the 3 points to the visiting team.
Aside from 4 clean sheets in the last 8 games, the only other positive to take is that we’ve lost only 1 of our last 5 games so in a sense we are now a harder team to beat at Deepdale but we are drawing too many games at home and losing away which is relegation form by any teams standards.
Scunthorpe United at home on Saturday has suddenly become a must-win game with both teams nervously looking over their shoulders after starting the season with high hopes of a quick bounceback to the Championship. However this has failed to happen and now survival is the key word in what could almost be described as a relegation six pointer, particularly for the visiting team, with much harder games coming soon, it is certainly one Preston have to win if they want a less strenuous end to the season.
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We like to applaud brilliance, yes. Perhaps Peter Crouch’s sublime strike from range against Manchester City this term or that unmistakable Wayne Rooney overhead kick against Manchester City (again!) last time round provide some of the league’s great hits. But with football being more over clichéd, sensationalised and hyped up more than ever before, we have all grown a tendency to award hero-like status so much more readily. Nowadays, it only takes a little run of form, for our jaws to drop, as we carelessly clap our hands together and blindly utter that this footballer could be the ‘next big thing’.
Of course expectation can be very dangerous, with a few great displays followed by some of the mediocre variety representing an inconsistent performer. Perhaps the following 15 pros suffered from their constant hyperactive high billing as they embarked on a career in England’s top flight. With flashes of genius only evident in spells, these players may look back on their Premier League career and admit that they were perhaps ‘overhyped’. So as we cast our eyes back across the 20 years of the Premier League in its current format, let us embark on the top 15 overhyped footballers in that period.
Click on Adel Taraabt below to unveil the top 15
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Who was ‘overhyped’ in your eyes? I’m sure you’ll have many suggestions that I’d like to know @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989
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While the NFL is coming off the extremely heavy punishment handed out to the New Orleans Saints, their head coach Sean Payton and other members of staff for their participation in the bounty program, the FA are steamrolling in the other direction and avoiding justice in any ridiculous way they can.
Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints have been punished due to their participation in a bounty program which saw Saints players receive rewards upwards of $10,000 for targeting and injuring players, and specifically those with serious injury in their history. The Saints head coach has been suspended for the entire upcoming season, while similar punishments have been handed out to other members of the organisation who took part.
In unbelievable comparison, the FA have completely ignored violent play, rather looking to uphold the authority of their referees, who show nothing but incompetence. This has absolutely nothing to do with player safety or stamping out violent challenges, it’s simply the FA doing their best to avoid undermining their officials. And once again, they’ve done absolutely the opposite of the right thing.
The FA’s decision to avoid punishing Mario Balotelli following his ridiculous, undisciplined and violent attitude against Arsenal players on the weekend, specifically the challenge on Alex Song, is beyond laughable. So Martin Atkinson has admitted to seeing the challenge but not deeming it worthy of a red or even yellow card. Forget the almost unanimous cries for video technology, assaults such as this is where the governing bodies need to start doing their job. Sadly, players’ comments on Twitter seems to take priority over any important matters.
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Again, this is nothing to do with wanting to uphold the laws of the game; any referee with a bit of sense would have sent Balotelli off, as would his manager, the Arsenal manager, as well as any of the large number of players and former players that were sitting on both benches. The FA were rather seeking to avoid the hysteria created by the media and fans and simply look the other way. Well honestly, who cares if Martin Atkinson is undermined and his judgment called into question? He’d still be able to walk, which is more than could be said for Song had his leg been planted in the ground.
As well as this, the Shaun Derry incident sparked more than one debate, rather than just the single foolish misjudgement from the officials. Where was the outrage for Ashley Young conning the referee? Or to put it in language they’d understand, “Young was looking to ‘deceive’ the referee.” The ridiculous language used to describe Eduardo’s penalty incident against Celtic a number of years ago in the Champions League. Well that aside, the FA have once again got it so obviously wrong. There’s no concern for a club fighting relegation—no, no, they prefer to fine clubs for fielding ‘weakened sides’—instead, they’re simply looking to uphold the judgment of their referee, despite him and his assistants being wrong.
In a time where the National Hockey League hand out anything up to and beyond 10-game suspensions for hits to the head, and the National Football League being persistent with their initial punishment towards the Saints despite appeals, the football world, headed by FIFA, need to start taking similar acts to ensure player safety. Unfortunately, leaders of governing bodies like Sepp Blatter are more interested in creating talking points from the game and offering fans a number of topics to engage in discussion. Despite the dislike—a very polite term in this case—for the NHL’s commissioner Gary Bettman, he, nor any of the league managers would stand for such nonsensical notions against their game.
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Last week it came to light that the MLS had suspended three players for violent conduct upon review. How embarrassing must it be that a league so far down the pecking order in quality such as the MLS is light years ahead of where the FA and English football should be with regards to player discipline.
As the new England manager, many questions are being asked of Roy Hodgson prior to his leading of the team into Euro 2012. Who will lead the line of attack in the absence of Wayne Rooney against France and Sweden? Will Gerrard and Lampard be given another chance together in midfield? Is John Terry’s inclusion going to be turbulent to everyone else in the team? Will they be raving?
There has already been plenty of speculation during the first month of the former West Brom manager’s England reign. From surprise squad selections to the inclusion of Gary Neville as part of the coaching team, there is plenty to talk about. Past England managers have had plenty of problems with team antics, and players from Aston Villa and Sunderland have proven the dangers of gallivanting whilst in the public eye this season. It was something that Fabio Capello was always very strongly against, and to some extent worked to his disadvantage. Roy Hodgson will be hoping to avoid the same fate, by taking his team out for some much needed bonding this week, ensuring everyone is on the same wavelength by June 11th.
After all, what better way is there to prepare your team for a major tournament? All the teams are doing it, but just what does this team bonding consist of? A tranquil trip to a museum perhaps, maybe a spa session, or even a relaxing day on the golf course? Well, Paddy Power’s recent advert shows what England’s team bonding may consist of prior to the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, and it certainly isn’t anything as relaxing as that!
The advert is based on the viral sensation ‘Russian Forest Rave’ and shows some of England’s key players raving it up and having a whale of a time in a Ukrainian forest. Whether or not this is what Roy Hodgson had in mind with his team bonding this week, this video has already become very popular.
The new England boss has demanded his team are on their ‘best behaviour’ in Poland and Ukraine this summer, and this is probably the sort of thing he wouldn’t have had in mind. We all know what Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and co. are like though, and this video shows just the kind of bad behaviour you would expect Hodgson to be wary of.
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Whilst we would all like to see a united England team this summer, there are probably better ways to ensure it than a techno rave in a Ukrainian forest!
Liverpool are ready to make an offer for Parma striker Fabio Borini, according to The Daily Mail.
The Reds are eager to bolster their playing squad this summer, with new boss Brendan Rodgers keen to bring in a few new faces to freshen things up at Anfield.
One of the main reasons for the Merseysiders’ poor eighth-placed finish in 2011-12 was the lack of a clinical edge, with a new centre forward thought to be firmly on the club’s wishlist.
Borini spent last season on loan at Roma, but is owned by Parma, and will return to the Stadio Ennio Tardini after the capital-city side decided not to make the attacker’s move permanent.
Rodgers knows Borini well, as the sprightly forward spent time on loan at the Liberty Stadium in 2011, scoring six goals in nine games for the Welsh side.
The new Liverpool boss is eager to use that link to bring the hitman back to England, however there are thought to be a raft of other interested parties.
Borini is currently on international duty with Italy at Euro 2012, but has had limited chances to play.
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Manchester City are thought to be ready to make a bid for highly-rated Argentine youngster Paulo Dybala, who has been touted as the ‘new Sergio Aguero’, according to Mirror Football.
The Premier League champions are eager to add Robin van Persie to their ranks this summer, but are thought to be keeping an eye out for young talent, with the Instituto forward certainly fitting the bill.
The 18-year-old bagged 17 goals in 38 appearances for his home-town club in his first season in senior football, and as such is being monitored by some of Europe’s top teams.
Palermo president Mauricio Zamparini revealed that the Italian side had sealed a deal to sign Dybala three months ago, but it is thought that this is untrue as the Sicilians negotiated with an agent not authorised to represent the teenager.
As such both Inter and AC Milan are keeping tabs on Dybala, with Chelsea also credited with an interest.
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Despite this, Roberto Mancini’s men will offer £5 million for the player, who will not need a work permit as he has European grandparents.
When your team is in with a shout of signing a 30 league goal a season striker, the chances are, you’re not particularly likely to think of any ramifications. With reports suggesting that Manchester United are perilously close to acquiring the signature of Robin van Persie, the only thing United fans are thinking about is how many the Dutchman might net next season.
But should the transfer go ahead, not everyone is going to prosper from it and there is likely to be at least one casualty in the Old Trafford dressing room. Berbatov might be off, but Van Persie, Rooney, Welbeck and Hernandez can’t all fit in the same team. Only 18 months ago, Javier Hernandez was one of the hottest strikers in the Premier League, but the Mexican could be left sweating should Van Persie switch London for Manchester.
It may be tempting fate to talk about Robin van Persie as a Manchester United player and the chances are that we could all be well off the mark in pre-empting his transfer away from Arsenal. But with speculation reaching something of a fever pitch in recent days, now feels like the right time to evaluate the real impact of his potential arrival.
Sir Alex Ferguson may simply view Robin van Persie’s availability as an opportunity that’s too good to turn down. The striker may have a suspect injury record and it’s quite likely that he will come at an extreme expense to the wage bill aswell, but even at £20million, it still offers real value for one of the league’s few proven goal scorers. At 29, he is unlikely to have much of a resale value if any at all, but if he fires United to a couple of Premier League titles or European silverware, it won’t matter.
But there is only so much room at the inn. Not everyone can co-exist in the striking ranks at Old Trafford and if United really do compliment Wayne Rooney with Robin van Persie, then a passage to a first team striking spot looks bleak for the rest. That’s if it wasn’t hard enough already- just ask Dimitar Berbatov.
So why single out Javier Hernandez for the doom mongering?
Fate hasn’t been too kind on the Mexican after his breakthrough year for United in hid debut 2010-11 term. This time last year saw Hernandez struggling with a bizarre head injury that saw him suffering with migraines after he was concussed by a football to the head, of all things. Consequently, it was Danny Welbeck that started the season leading the line with Wayne Rooney for United as Hernandez missed the opening game against West Brom.
But what was Hernandez’s loss was ultimately Welbeck’s gain as the England striker never looked back, The two seemed to be in direct competition for a place in the team alongside Rooney and it was Welbeck who often seemed to get the nod over the 24-year-old Hernandez. That didn’t necessarily stop the Mexican from scoring goals though.
Hernandez seems to epitomize the phrase ‘right place, right time,’ and he proved that as the season went on. Following a successful two-goal return to the starting line-up against Bolton, Hernandez popped up off the bench to score in the controversial 1-1 draw with Liverpool which saw him hit a good run of form going into the new year. But even as he scored against Everton in the 1-0 win at Goodison Park, there was a feeling that he, Rooney and Welbeck might not be a particularly affluent starting trio. And so It proved as more often than not, as Rooney was paired with either Welbeck or Hernandez, as opposed to all three starting together.
But just as Hernandez was looking to find some form and get a run of games, injury really disrupted his form and flow. An Ashley Cole tackle, which was potentially one of the worst of the season, damaged ankle ligaments back in September and a freak injury against Villa in December to the same ankle set him back further. Both knocks took time to get back to full fitness, but as Welbeck cemented his place in the team further, full match time seemed hard to come by.
In the second half of the season, Hernandez was by no means poor, but he seemed to lack a bit of the zip of his previous term. His aforementioned fitness issues probably didn’t help and when your team’s challenging for the title, there isn’t any place for sentiment. But surprisingly, Hernandez actually played one more league game than he did last term and managed 10 goals in the process. Not a terrible return for someone who supposedly endured a difficult second season.
It is difficult to see how Sir Alex Ferguson would rank his strikers next term, although if Van Persie does come, Hernandez is vying for third choice with Welbeck. The problem is for the Mexican, that Welbeck offers the more varied skillset. The young England man offers a more physical presence with the better all round play where as Hernandez has more specialist goal scoring attributes. You can argue till you’re blue in the face about who you think is better, but Welbeck’s versatility is likely to see more game time- he could survive in an altered formation in the same way Daniel Sturridge did at Chelsea. Hernandez has to play more centrally.
As a result of that, the signing of Van Persie could drastically harm his chances of first team football. But one half-difficult term doesn’t necessarily mean that his Old Trafford future is doomed to failure. Sir Alex wouldn’t hand out a five-year contract, as he did to Hernandez last October, unless he seriously rates his future at the club. Furthermore, Robin van Persie’s injury record is more than just an elephant in the room. Last season was the first time he’s made over 30 league appearances in his career. The chances are that Welbeck and Hernandez would both see game time.
But after Welbeck’s performances in the Euros, there is a chance that Hernandez could find himself as the fourth choice striker should Robin van Persie come in. There is plenty of football to be played next season, but last season’s fourth choice striker didn’t see all that much game time. And he once cost £30million.
Hernandez is a great talent and a fantastic striker. But if Fergie really pushes on with Van Persie, then the Mexican is going to have to make every chance count next season. Or else face an uncertain Old Trafford future.
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How do you see Hernandez’s future playing out if RVP comes in? Will he be happy with a bit part role or do you see trouble ahead? Let me know how you see it panning out on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and bat me your views.
Ligue 1 outfit Marseille have announced they are willing to sell Spanish right back Cesar Azpilicueta to Chelsea, as reported by Talk Sport.
The Blues are looking to sign a right back to fill the void left by the release of Jose Bosingwa earlier in the summer, and the 22 year old Spaniard has been their first choice target for a number of weeks.
Marseille originally signed Azpilicueta from Osasuna in 2010, but are now willing to sell him on toWest Londonin order to have some money of their own to spend. ‘Everybody has to sell before buying’ Les Pocheens sporting director Jose Anigo announced.
Having already secured the services of Marko Marin, Eden Hazard and Oscar this summer, Roberto Di Matteo is looking to further strengthen his Champion League winning side, and the signing of the £7 million rated right back would take their spending to over the £70 million mark.
Azpilicueta has revealed he is flattered by the interest from the Champions League holders, but also announced that other clubs were also monitoring his progress. Currently on Olympic duty with theSpainside, he will be focusing on rectifying the favourites defeat to Japan on Thursday before deciding on his future in London.
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Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur target Yann M’Vila, is happy to remain at Rennes should neither North London club agree a deal for the midfielder, says the London Evening Standard.
The 22 year old has been subject to speculation linking him with a move out of France all summer, with the Gunners said to be lining up a bid for the France international following Alex Song’s departure to Barcelona.
Rennes have recently added holding midfielder Jean Makoun to their side on loan from Aston Villa, perhaps triggering M’Vila’s exit from the club.
“In France we have until September four, [when the transfer window closes],”M’Vila told Sport 24.
“If I have to stay with Rennes for another year, I’ll stay- if I go that’s life – but whilst I am here I am 100% focussed.”
The French side’s general manager Pierre Dreossi claims the club are holding out for a fee of £15.7 million for their prized asset. “For the moment there are three offers,” Dreossi told French radio station RMC. “There is no agreement. We enter negotiations this week to hope to find a solution.”
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Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has stated that his side are ready to do battle in the Champions League.
The Premier League champions were eliminated from a tough Group A last term, and have been drawn alongside Real Madrid, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund this time round.
Despite the calibre of this campaign’s opponents, Kompany is confident his side can progress.
“Games like this are why you are in the Champions League. I thought it couldn’t get more difficult than last year but there you go,” the centre-half is quoted as saying by The Sun.
“It’s a great challenge. I think we are the sort of team which gets better as the challenges get even greater.
“It’s perfect for us. There won’t be any moments where we will be surprised. The motivation will be sky-high, the atmosphere great. I couldn’t think of a better way to play the Champions League.
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“It’s all about how far you can get but it’s even nicer when you play against the best teams,” he concluded.
City take on Real Madrid in their first Champions League fixture next Tuesday.