Arsene Wenger has stressed to his players that they should not fear meeting Barcelona in the Champions League.
The Gunners booked their spot in the last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday night, with Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri on target to ensure Arsenal's progression.
However, Arsenal qualified for the next round in second place as Shakhtar Donetsk secured a 2-0 victory over Braga on Wednesday and the Gunners now face the possibility of a tricky last 16 showdown.
Spanish giants Barcelona are the current favourites to take the Champions League title and Arsenal could be handed the task of facing Pep Guardiola's men in the next round, with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Schalke the other possible opponents for the Gunners.
Despite the fact either Barcelona or Real Madrid could lie in wait for Arsenal Wenger remains optimistic about his side's chances in the competition.
"Let's be realistic, Barcelona are the super favourite at the moment," Wenger said,"but we take what we get and if it is Barcelona, it is Barcelona.
"It depends whether you have your best players available, whether we have a good level of confidence then.
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"It is very difficult to predict how far you can go.
"In the last 16 it becomes a different competition, a cup competition and that means for 180 minutes you have to be at your top."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
It’s more Groundhog Year than Groundhog Day at White Hart Lane this season. Complete capitulation in the second half of the season, another year propping up Arsenal in the league table and an air of uncertainty around several key players. And how good of Luka Modric to come out today and put his future on hold, just to perfect that Summer 2011 feeling.
But whist the mood of a Spurs fan might not have changed in 12 months, a lot of other things have. Luka Modric will stay, if he knows what’s good for him
On the face of it, the diminutive Croatian could well pack his bags and jump ship this summer. Despite a relatively unspectacular 2012 so far, Modric has had a solid season. His touch, vision and composure are undeniable and he is capable of being an asset to any, top European club. A couple of great showings at Euro 2012 next month will propel him straight back into the gossip columns and Spurs fans straight back to the chemist; but hold the headache for just a moment.
If Chelsea loose to Bayern Munich this Saturday, the game changes for them completely. The Blues may have bid a supposed £40million for Modric last summer, but if Spurs benefit from their missed Champions League spot, a transfer to West London might not stick. Modric said today, “I will make the decision where to continue my career. I’m ready for the big tests.” I’m not a mind reader, but I would hazard a guess that he isn’t talking about a Thursday night trip to Salzburg in the Europa League.
Of course, there is always the notion that Mr. Modric is simply looking to paint his landing gold and put a helipad in his back garden. But there is already a £100,000 a week contract on the table at Spurs. Chelsea will pay more, but he won’t be looking at Manchester City wages. There is still massive uncertainty over the managerial post at Stamford Bridge and their Champions League run shouldn’t fool anyone- as outstanding as they were to beat Barcelona, Chelsea will need a lot more than Luka Modric to sustain any form of title tilt next year.
£40million is, even in today’s transfer marker, still a mammoth sum. For a player who has at times, especially in the wake of the 5-2 disaster at the Emirates, pandered through games like he’s got one foot out the door already, selling him might not feel like such a mitigating disaster.
But when he is in full flow, he is a delight to watch. Ignore the stats brigade and his relatively low goals and assists return. Watch Spurs from September to January. Who was scampering around, and pinging balls off to Bale, Lennon & Van der Vaart to get those assists and goals? How many times during a match has he shielded the ball and kept possession in seemingly impossible situations? The impact of his departure, purely in footballing terms would be a disaster. Perhaps it is a case of you won’t miss him till he’s gone.
But when he’s not playing well, he still gets in the team. It is difficult to imagine Ferguson or Mancini keeping faith with Modric as he switches off when the chips are down, or half-heartedly trots back as their team are hit on the break. But Spurs do. That’s why Scott Parker or Sandro are there. The way Spurs are set up, suits Modric perfectly. He doesn’t need to worry about the stats with Bale and Van der Vaart there. At United or City, he will do.
Manchester United aren’t going to mould their team around Modric, they are going to mould it around Wayne Rooney. Manchester City are not going to mould their team around Modric, in fact, what would he honestly add to that team? The only position you can see him playing in Roberto Mancini’s team is where David Silva is. He won’t drop David Silva. Luka Modric’s uniqueness as a central midfielder might also be his biggest problem. He doesn’t make masquerading tackles, he doesn’t gallivant from box-to-box and he doesn’t score regularly. Not every team needs a human metronome.
Modric will earn more money elsewhere, that is basic fact. But he can still be handsomely paid, play Champions League football and participate in the “biggest tests”, whilst playing every league game. If he leaves Tottenham, that simply isn’t a guarantee.
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It’s a horrible cliché, but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It’s been a difficult last few months for both Modric and Spurs. But neither can loose sight of how important they both are for each other.
Laughing at the thought of him staying at Spurs? Reckon he’d make it into the City team? Tell us what you’d do: follow @samuel_antrobus
Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has asked the club’s fans to give him time to show he is the right man for the job.The former Birmingham City manager crossed to the city rivals last week to replace Gerard Houllier, who stood down as boss.
Villa fans were unhappy with his appointment, but McLeish asked on Monday to be given a chance.
“Let me prove myself and I will win you over. It is not a case of proving the fans wrong. I want to go forward with them and prove I am the man for this job,” he said.
“I can understand the passion and emotion of football and as long as it doesn’t get out of control I can understand their feelings. Am I fazed by it? No. Have I had it before? Yes. I really look forward to the challenge.”
The former Rangers manager, 52, led Birmingham to success in the League Cup last season.
The club was relegated to the Championship after a 2-1 loss at Tottenham on the final day of the season and City powerbrokers were unhappy when he resigned on June 12 with two years left to run on his contract.
McLeish said the offer from Villa was too good to refuse.
“To think I have been able to manage both of them (Aston Villa and Birmingham City) is a wonderful honour,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say it was a difficult decision in my career but it was a tough one. It is not every day you get offered a job like this. There is no way I couldn’t have been the manager of Villa.”
“I thank them very much for their support over the four years I have been there. Not everybody was sure of me at Birmingham and OK, I left on relegated, but we just fought one of the hardest Premier League campaigns ever.”
The Scot did not rule out making a move for some of his former players at St Andrew’s.
“I know there are many good players there but the policy that I have always maintained is not to talk about other clubs’ players,” McLeish said.
“If I thought a player could improve Aston Villa Football Club, why not?”
McLeish’s first competitive game in charge will be away at Fulham on the opening day of the Premier League season on August 13.
Before we begin with the gratuitous insults, we’ve got to tell you about the fantastic Money-Back Special Paddy Power are running for this game. If there are more than 4 goals in the match, they’ll refund all losing 1st goalscorer, last goalscorer, correct score and scorecast bets on the match.
“Pah! Well more than 4 goals is 5,” you might scoff in response to our transparent and ill-conceived choice of language, “there won’t be 5 goals in this game.” In response to that cynicism we’d say then you clearly haven’t seen either of these teams try to defend this season.
Whilst Tottenham have generally been able to cover up their defensive shortcomings by scoring more goals then their opponents, Liverpool have struggled in the goalscoring department. And the defending department.
A trouncing of West Ham has helped, but the reality is that Liverpool are still no where near their best. If Gareth Bale was able to destroy alleged best right-back in the world, Maicon, think what he’s going to do to poor Glenn Johnson – a man who’s defending is suspect at the best of times!
If that paints a picture gloomier than a Goth in art class, then there is hope for the Reds. Midweek matches have had a significant impact on Spurs Premier League campaign to the point where they’ve suffered some shock defeats and dropped valuable points. In their six games following European action so far this season they’ve picked up 10 points out of a possible 18. It’s hardly a disaster, but it suggests a potential weakness. Liverpool’s players have spent the week taking it easy and saying ill-advised things on Twitter and their freshness should give Tottenham else to think about.
When trying to pick out a result, you could make a case for virtually any of them. Spurs are clearly good enough to claim a straightforward win @ 11/10. Liverpool could improve their general performance levels and possibly claim at least a point and if not all three points. We’ll be indecisive about our indecision and nail our colours to the mast of the draw @ 23/10.
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One bet that we’ve been watching closely for the last number of weeks if Raul Meireles to get one the scoresheet at any stage in the match. Throughout his career he’s chipped in with goals for Porto and Portugal and he seems to be finding his range a bit more as he settles in to the Liverpool side. It’s only a matter of time before he opens his account and the 6/1 for that to happen this Sunday is tempting. If you’re that way inclined, then the option of Meireles to be 1st Goalscorer @ 16/1 may also appeal.
For Spurs, there’s such a wide variety of goalscoring options it’s difficult to single out one. Incredibly, Spurs have had 11 different goalscorers in all competitions this season and with less than half the season gone, 4 players are already in the foothills of notching up 10 goals. As we mentioned before, Bale could get his fair share of joy out of Johnson, but with Liverpool unlikely to commit when forward, it’s likely he’ll then provide the assist for a team-mate. Against one of his many former employers, Peter Crouch may have extra motivation to score and 13/2 for his to open the scoring looks like value.
***Click HERE for a FREE £20 Bet for New Customers***
Have a bet on the Football FanCast specials, including Kranjcar to join Liverpool in the 2011 January Transfer Window at 11/2!
Leeds fans are absolutely delighted for Hadi Sacko after the 23 year-old was called up for Mali’s international friendly with Japan.
There probably weren’t many Leeds fans planning on spending the international break watching Mali play Japan, especially after enigmatic Leeds loanee Yosuke Ideguchi was surprisingly left out of the Japan squad.
Now there’s another reason to keep an eye on the friendly though, as 23 year-old Leeds winger Hadi Sacko could make his senior international debut. The French-born winger has played through the youth teams for France, but has switched allegiances and earned his first senior call-up with Mali.
Sacko hasn’t featured much since joining Leeds permanently from Sporting CP last summer. He’s made 14 Championship appearances, 13 of them as a substitute, and he’s yet to find a league goal. Still, an international appearance could spur him into life and instil some confidence in the youngster.
Sacko has taken plenty of stick from fans since his arrival at Elland Road, but there is certainly still hope amongst many that he will blossom into the player they thought he could be.
Some of the best Twitter reactions to Sacko’s great news can be found below…
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The weekend loss at Swansea leaves Arsenal in a tricky position. The Gunners are among a pack of top four chasing clubs that have all faltered early in the campaign, which is sure to make for a fascinating battle, but one which will heap the pressure on the perennial European qualifiers..
Liverpool are blunt up top and shaky at the back, Spurs cannot cope with Europa League and domestic commitments, Manchester United are so top heavy it’s ridiculous, while West Ham and Southampton are unlikely to be able to maintain the momentum they’ve shown so far.
Money is set to be splashed in January – with Brendan Rodgers and Louis van Gaal likely to be big spenders – but reports suggest that Arsene Wenger will be given just £20m. It may seem a big sum, but in modern football it’s unlikely that many top class players will be within the Gunners’ price bracket. However there are some, and here are SIX cost-effective options for the Londoners…
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Fabian Schar
Wenger has already revealed that a centre-back will be his major target in January, with the reliance on Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny having been ruthlessly exposed by injuries already this term. Mats Hummels is the dream sighing, yet his abilities will command a massive fee, leaving Schar as an alternative.
The classy Swiss defender’s contract expires at the end of the season, so Basel may be receptive to a cut-price offer with the player himself thought to be eyeing a switch to one of Europe’s bigger leagues. At 22, Schar has bags of ability and potential, as he showed at the World Cup over the summer.
Virgil van Dijk
Scottish football may no longer be the breeding ground for top talent it once was, but Van Dijk has flourished with Celtic. The Dutchman has been in Glasgow since 2013 after relocating from his homeland, and is widely being described as ‘too good’ to be plying his trade north of the border – even though the Hoops are struggling this term.
Celtic want between £10m-£15m for their man, who is open to joining Arsenal:
“Arsenal are an amazing club,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s a big club with a great history. I’m happy here just now and I want to play well and we’ll see what happens in the future.
“Until there are bids I can’t say thing. There is no rush to leave but you never know in the future.”
Sami Khedira
//www.youtube.com/embed/RetIjHKY6pA
A World Cup and Champions League winner in 2014, it seems odd that Khedira could be leaving Real Madrid for as little as £8m in January. But with his contract due to expire at the end of the season and Los Blancos resigned to losing the 27-year-old, a switch to the Emirates Stadium at a reduced rate is a possibility.
Khedira himself is thought to be open to relocating to north London to link up with international colleagues such as Lukas Podolski, Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil, with reports over the summer having claimed that a contract was all but agreed. Top class cover in the middle of the pitch for a minimal fee? Not even Wenger can pass on this one, surely?
Romulo
A somewhat left-field target, Romulo has been linked with Arsenal in recent weeks. The Brazilian enforcer has impressed in Russia with Spartak Moscow despite a range of injuries in recent seasons, and has been aligned with a few top clubs.
Wenger is reportedly considering a £9.5m offer, plus Yaya Sanogo on loan, for the 24-year-old enforcer, who could add the steel missing in the Gunners’ midfield.
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Stephan Lichtsteiner
//www.youtube.com/embed/SqkBYvpIqjw
Yet another play whose contract expires at the end of the season – seeing a theme here? – Lichtsteiner is a genuine option for Wenger. The experienced 30-year-old Swiss defender may not be of the age range the Frenchman usually pursues, but for a minimal fee his versatility could be a major draw.
The Juventus man is able to play on either side at the back, which has been a problem for the Gunners in recent weeks given the never-ending bout of injuries being suffered at the Emirates Stadium. Short-term fixes aren’t Wenger’s style, but this one could tempt him.
Winston Reid
Keeping his options open as his contract runs down, Reid is likely to be available for a reduced fee in January, The New Zealander is said to be aware that his stock is at an all-time high following West Ham’s successful start to the campaign, which is thought to be luring interest from the Gunners.
A leader at the back, the Hammers ace could slot in nicely alongside either Koscielny or Mertesacker and provide the cover missing since the sale of Thomas Vermaelen.
Tottenham Hotspur’s William Gallas has disclosed Andre Villas-Boas’ meeting with defenders leading up to their win against Swansea in the Premier League.
AVB met with Spurs defenders to convene a meeting intended to help stop the North London team’s tendency toward allowing late goals, a regular occurrence at White Hart Lane under the helm of the Portuguese.
“We have had a meeting with him [AVB] because we have been conceding late goals and we have to be a little bit more focused, a bit more strong,” said Gallas.
In the last 15 minutes of games Spurs have conceded 10 goals this season, a statistic shared with Premier League strugglers Reading.
Explaining his team’s defensive fragility in the dying minutes of games, Gallas noted that “Sometimes, maybe we are panicking and we have let goals in.”
“So we’ve been working very hard and we have had some meetings to look at the video to see what is good and bad, and against Swansea it was good to keep a clean sheet,” he said.
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Gallas admitted that the Christmas period “is very intense,” and continued by reminding everyone “we have a lot of games and some players are tired. They have already played more than 20 games this season, which is a lot.”
Spurs have the lowest goal difference of the top five teams in the Premier League, letting in a total of 25 goals in 17 games. Their solid 1-0 win against Swansea last weekend has lifted them to 4th spot and level on points with Chelsea who have a game in hand.
After finding out what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a Mousa Dembele master class, Tottenham fans are starting to wonder if they’re making a huge mistake letting the Belgian leave this summer.
Dembele is expected to leave North London this summer, as the fan favourite midfielder enters the last 12 months of his contract.
The 30 year-old’s style of play is extremely physically demanding, especially in such a fast-paced league, and he has been linked with moves to both China and Italy.
Mauricio Pochettino has not done much wrong since taking over at Tottenham, but fans are starting to feel cashing in on Dembele is a mistake, after the wiry midfielder dominated Belgium’s 1-0 win over England.
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The Belgian beast made four tackles, a total matched only by Danny Rose and Youri Tielemans, and he also completed 99 per cent of his passes. Yes, you read that right; Dembele had a 99 per cent pass success rate.
On the other side, Eric Dier struggled massively, not making a single tackle or interception.
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While Pochettino and Daniel Levy will undoubtedly bring in a new signing to atone for the loss of Dembele, playing against him has made fans realise exactly what they’ll be missing if he goes, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
Kyle Walker-Peters scored his first senior goal for Tottenham Hotspur in the club’s 6-1 win over Rochdale in the FA Cup on Wednesday night.
Rochdale earned a replay at Wembley in the fifth round of the competition, but could not prevent the Premier League club from reaching the quarter-finals.
Fernando Llorente bagged a hat-trick for the home side, while Son Heung-Min also grabbed a double during a match that was dominated by talk of VAR.
It also proved to be a very special night for Walker-Peters as the full-back came off the bench in the 82nd minute before getting his name on the scoresheet in the final moments.
The 20-year-old, who is valued at £2.3m by transfermarkt.co.uk, has now made eight appearances for Tottenham this season, and it seems that the club’s fans want to see more minutes handed to the defender before the end of the campaign.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
As everyone is now aware Wayne Rooney is approaching his 100th cap for England, but has the Manchester United captain peaked already?
In the seasons of 2009/10 and 2011/12 Wayne scored 26 and 27 goals in the Premier League respectively – putting him second in the top scorers list in both campaigns.
Top goalscorers such as the England captain can quite regularly score hat-tricks, yet Rooney’s last Premier League hat-trick came on the 10th September 2011 against Bolton Wanderers. In that season he scored 38 goals in all competitions for England and Man United. But it’s been three years since Rooney reached these heights and one must now wonder whether we will see them again.
However, Rooney rarely starts in the de facto centre forward position for Manchester United these days. ‘Wazza’ was once a pure goalscorer who went into games with one target in mind – score as many goals as possible.
However, he has been moved further back for club and country, often playing as more of a No. 10. than out and out centre-forward. Subsequently he is likely to get fewer chances per game and consequently score fewer goals.
Conversely, Rooney now sees more of the ball in these deeper positions and this allows the player to show off his passing range which has always been excellent, especially for a striker. Therefore as his goals tally decreases, his assists should see an increase – and that is certainly the case in the recent years.
In the last two seasons, Wayne has assisted 20 goals in the Premier League in 56 appearances, but only scored 29. So does this mean we have lost Wayne Rooney the goalscorer?
In his 99 appearances for his country, Rooney has managed to score 43 goals. But what about recent years? Well in England’s last four fixtures he has scored a goal in three of them, and he was also one of only two players to get a goal for England at last summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil. Not bad, even if he was the best of a bad bunch.
In recent seasons the England and Manchester United captain has taken a step back in positional terms, and that has led to him scoring less goals, yet assisting considerably more.
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Wayne is still directly contributing a similar amount of goals when goals scored and assisted are combined. Perhaps he’s more of a complete player than he once was as he isn’t just trying to sniff out the next goal, but also creating for his teammates. He may well not be scoring as many goals but the stats show that he is still very important to both club and country.