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Redknapp not happy with Liverpool performance

Liverpool and Aston Villa played out a rather drab nil nil draw yesterday which had former Reds midfielder Jamie Redknapp fuming. Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Redknapp claimed that Liverpool played for nothing more than a draw and this is one of the reasons why the team will once again be a mile off the title celebrations come the end of the season.

Liverpool have actually got a very good record at Villa Park in the Premiership, but will point to the fact that Steven Gerrard was injured in trying to diffuse their at times woeful attacking presence.

Yet Redknapp was less than complimentary over the tactics of Rafa Benitez, claiming that going to places like Aston Villa are must win matches for the eventual champions and the fact that they seemed not to try to says so much about the club’s ambition.

He also stated that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all had better players than Liverpool and that the boardroom rift which is dominating the club is affecting progress on the pitch. It is difficult to see one of the three other teams in the top four playing for a draw at Villa Park, but are Liverpool genuine title contenders anyway?

Stoke come back down to earth with a bump

Premiership newboys Stoke City came back down to earth yesterday as they were beaten 2-1 away to Middlesbrough. Stoke are everyone’s favourite to go straight back down to the Championship, and bookmakers Paddy Power have already paid out on them being relegated after their opening day defeat away to Bolton.

However they dug in last week and narrowly beat Aston Villa at the Britannia, with a last gasp goal, to give their critics something to think about.

Yesterday at the Riverside however it was Stoke who succumbed to the late goal, denying them the away point they richly deserved.

After having Amdy Faye dismissed for a two-footed tackle, and the subsequent free kick being converted into a goal, Stoke looked like they would suffer a serious hammering. However Borough missed a penalty that gave them the chance for a 2-0 lead, and incredibly Stoke equalised through a Justin Hoyte own goal.

It looked like Stoke would cling on until the dying minutes when Tuncay was fed through to beat Thomas Sorensen.

Gareth Southgate, the Borough manager, said about the game:

In the end we’ve just had enough to win it. It is the poorest we have played but the points are the important thing for us.

The way they play they cause you problems and we were a bit off it and didn’t pass the ball as well as we should have done.

We have six points but lots of work to do. We sneaked through when we weren’t at our best.

Man UTD sell Saha to Everton?

Despite their obvious problems up front this season, Manchester United look like letting another striker go, in the shape of Louis Saha, to Everton. According to reports, the French striker will join Everton this weekend, ahead of the close of the transfer window on Sunday, subject to his passing a medical at Goodison Park.

David Moyes, Everton manager, stated about the signing:

He can do a bit of everything, he can run, head it, and he can link play up.

Everton are signing Louis Saha on a 2 year deal with the option of a 3rd year at the end of it. This would keep the Frenchman at Everton until he is 33.

Saha has suffered through injuries of late, and Everton will hope they can bring the best form out of their new signing. Moyes continued:

There is no doubt he is a fantastically talented player, the question now is can we get him fit and we are hoping we can do that.

He was involved in 17 or 18 games for Manchester United last year and if he can be involved in a few more than that for us than he will certainly play a part.

If you do get him on the pitch there is no doubt he is a very good player and adds qualities that we will need.

The sale of Saha could be taken as a sign that Manchester United are on the bring of signing Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham.

City and Villa progress in UEFA cup

Manchester City have their young goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank as they edged past FC Midtjylland to reach the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Although City won the tie one nil, the sides went all the way to penalties after the Danes recorded the same score at the City of Manchester stadium a fortnight ago.

Hart arguably kept the Blues in the tie during the 90 minutes with a string of fine saves, although Ched Evans and Daniel Sturridge can both count themselves as unlucky not to send City through earlier.

Yet, the former Shrewsbury Town keeper saved spot kicks from Jonas Borring and Kolja Afriyie to send City through 4 – 2 on penalties.

Aston Villa will join them in the hat after they strolled past FH Hafnarfjordur 5 -2 on aggregate. Craig Gardner put Villa ahead with a top quality strike just inside the area. Yet within two and a half minutes scores were level when Atli Bjornsson sneeked through at the near post.

Yet Villa already held a 4 – 1 lead from the first leg and that never looked in any danger as they hardly broke sweat to see themselves through.

The draw will be made in Monaco at 12:00 tomorrow afternoon.

English quartet learn their fate in Champions League

The four English teams in the Champions League learned their fate in today’s draw, with champions Manchester United being drawn once again with Scottish side Celtic. Man UTD have a fairly easy group for them to navigate as they’re in the pot with Villareal of Spain and Aalborg of Denmark.

Chelsea have been paired with Italian side Roma, and two easier ties against Bordeaux of France and CFR Cluj of Romania.

Arsenal have the toughest group of the English sides, being drawn with FC Porto of Portugal, Dynamo Kiev and a tricky trip to Fenerbahce. Liverpool, who only scraped through last night, also have a difficult group in the shape of PSV, Marseille and Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

David Barnard, the Chelsea secretary, stated about his side’s draw:

It’s a mixed bag but any team that reaches the group stages has to be given respect.

We are totally focused on Champions League, the determination is there and they are completely focused on making the final again this year.

Rick Parry, the chief exec of Liverpool, was optimistic about his side’s chances this time around:

It’s not easy but the three teams are fairly close by and there’s no challenging trips.

There are no easy games - you just take it as it comes. We are just delighted to be in it.

The full draw is:

Group A
CHELSEA
Roma
Bordeaux
CFR Cluj

Group B
Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Panathinaikos
Anorthosis Famagusta

Group C
Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon
Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group D
LIVERPOOL
PSV Eindhoven
Marseille
Atletico Madrid

Group E
MAN UTD
Villarreal
CELTIC
Aalborg

Group F
Lyon
Bayern Munich
Steaua Bucharest
Fiorentina

Group G
ARSENAL
Porto
Fenerbahce
Dynamo Kiev

Group H
Real Madrid
Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg
Bate Borisov

Liverpool and Arsenal through to Champions League draw

Both Liverpool and Arsenal made it through to tomorrow’s draw for the Champions League group stages in very different styles.

Arsenal cruised to a 4-0 win on the night, giving them a 6-0 aggregate victory over former England manager Steve McLaren’s Dutch side FC Twente. However Liverpool made decidedly more hard work of the affair, being held from the away leg 0-0 by Belgian side Standard Liege.

With 6 points from 6 so far in the Premiership, Liverpool’s results have flattered them somewhat. Both of their league wins have come from very late goals as they’ve looked decidedly unspectacular. This form continued tonight as the Belgian side looked the more impressive in the first half. Indeed if it weren’t for the Liverpool keeper Reina, they’d have been out of sight by half time.

The second half saw Standard Liege retreat into their own half, but Liverpool couldn’t make their possession pay as they barely troubled the Liege goal. New signing Robbie Keane missed a gilt edged chance, and Fernando Torres looked well below his best.

As the game entered extra time it looked all the way as though penalties would be needed. Even inspirational skipper Steven Gerrard was below his mercurial best. Finally, with just two minutes remaining before spot kicks, Liverpool’s Dutch contingent combined to win the game through a Ryan Babel cross and a Dirk Kuyt goal at the far post.

Manchester United secure first league win

Manchester United notched their first league win of the season last night as they beat Portsmouth at Fratton Park, securing the South coast club to the foot of the table.

With Chelsea and Liverpool leading the way with 2 wins from 2, United couldn’t afford to lose any more ground after their home draw to Newcastle on day one. They didn’t, and managed the win with a first half Darren Fletcher strike after Wayne Rooney set up the Scottish midfielder.

After their opening 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Chelsea, Portsmouth were counting on the sort of home form that saw them undefeated last season against the top four sides, United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. However it was not to be today for Portsmouth, as United held on to secure the win and leave Pompey without a point from two games.

The win for Manchester United sees them jump up the table to third spot, behind Chelsea and Liverpool.

Sir Alex to lead Team GB at 2012?

As the 2008 Olympics draw to a close, attention turns to London and 2012. Can Great Britain field a team in the football, combining the English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish FAs?

It’s London, and the hosts really should have a representative in the football, since after all it is the hosts that invented the game. However politics rears its ugly head and the thought of national identity being compromised for the English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish in order to field one team has become something of a talking point.

If they can put aside their differences and agree to field a united team, who better to lead the team than the country’s (by that, we mean GB) most successful manager, Sir Alex Ferguson? Fergie should have retired from United by then, if he keeps his word this time, so would be in a position to lead the team without distractions.

According to the minister for sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, Ferguson is the ideal candidate. That must be the first time that a minister has got something right about sport!

Previously Fergie has stated that he didn’t want to commit to the Games, but yesterday Prime Minister Gordon Brown put his sizable weight behind the campaign to get Sir Alex involved, and even stated that Fergie had been approached by Lord Seb Coe about leading Team GB.

Britain didn’t enter a team at this year’s Olympics in Beijing, making it 48 years since Team GB has competed in the football at a Games.

Fergie, speaking about the possibility of him leading the nation, stated:

I will be 70 in 2012. I’ve not made any commitment to anything like that.

I would not, in any way, shape or form, try and commit myself to something that is four years ahead.

Britain has to have a team in the London Games, it can’t fail to enter. It would be disastrous for the nation.

Chelsea and Liverpool lead the way

Everyone has played twice now this season (bar Manchester United and Portsmouth, but they can’t effect the top spots) and it’s Chelsea and Liverpool who lead the way with six points each from a possible six.

What both teams have in common is that neither has looked very impressive so far, Chelsea’s 4-0 demolition of Pompy aside. Liverpool struggled to beat Sunderland 1-0 last weekend and then yesterday had to come behind and rely on captain fantastic Steven Gerrard to save them in stoppage time. Chelsea meanwhile looked very ordinary against Wigan today and thanks again to new signing Deco were able to steal a 1-0 away win.

Even at this early stage of the season, this signals very good news for both Chelsea and Liverpool, as winning when you’re playing badly is the key to success. Liverpool especially have been troubled in the past by putting on great performances, dominating games and not turning their possession into goals and points. More than one occasion in the last few years have Liverpool completely outplayed Manchester United at Anfield, only for the reigning champions to snatch a 1-0 win.

With United themselves stalling at home against Newcastle and Arsenal losing to Fulham, the league title looks to have some real competition this season.

Perhaps even Newcastle themselves, who occupy fifth spot right now and ground out a win while playing badly yesterday against Bolton, thanks to Michael Owen’s late winner.

The game is on, it seems.

Thaksin Shinawatra offers to quit Manchester City

Manchester City’s Thailand owner Thaksin Shinawatra has offered to stand down from his position, amid the turmoil over the warrant for his arrest back in his home country of Thailand.

City chairman Garry Cook has revealed that Shinawatra has offered to resign his position from the board of the club.

Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, was supposed to return to Thailand last week to face charges, but instead chose to fly to back the UK.

Garry Cook stated:

Dr Thaksin is embarrassed about the indignity brought on all the entities - the club, the Premier League - he never intended this.

Dr Thaksin has been really open about this.

He has said to me, ‘if you need me to resign from the football club as a director, because it would serve the needs of the Premier League, then I’m fine with that as long as that doesn’t change any other thing.’

The City board has yet to respond to the offer made by Shinawatra. The whole situation is also being monitored by the Premier League, who could step in if they believe Shinawatra isn’t the right person to control a Premier League side.

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