There are few clubs in England that have a greater tradition of putting faith in youth players than West Ham, so much so that it is known as the academy of football in some quarters. With Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe just some of the many examples in recent years and the current Hammers boss, Sam Allardyce, believes it is vitally important that clubs look to develop their youth set-ups for the sake of the future:
“I think that every football club’s strategy should be to develop young players and I think there should be more emphasis on it than there has been in recent years. The problem is that results are everything in the Barclays Premier League and everybody focuses far too much just on that. People forget that development and long term strategies are extremely important.
“West Ham’s history is one of the best, the development of players at West Ham has been an outstanding bonus to the football club over many years. Tony Carr has done an absolutely terrific job but unfortunately it is getting more and more difficult due to the circumstances that we have to work under. There is more development money coming into the game but yet again it is still a question of time. There really isn’t enough time.
“We don’t have enough qualified coaches in this country and until we get that sorted out and act in the same way as we did towards the Olympics, we will not develop the next generation of top players for the England team.
“From a club perspective at West Ham we work very hard to get as many academy graduates in the West Ham side as we possibly can. At the moment we have got Mark Noble, Jack Collison, James Tomkins and Danny Potts who is only 18. We are on the right track but we should be developing more.”
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Wigan will desperately be looking to halt their dip in form when they welcome West Ham to the DW Stadium this Saturday.
Roberto Martinez has seen his side pick up just one Premier League victory this season, coming against Southampton back in August.
Six games have followed without a win, which now sees Wigan just a single point above the drop zone.
Meanwhile West Ham continue to impress, comfortably beating Southampton 4-1 last time out. They have now only lost one in their last six Premier League games.
Wigan will once again be without winger Albert Crusat (knee) and defender Antolin Alcaraz (groin), while Japanese international Ryo Miyaichi is doubtful with a groin injury.
Sam Allardyce will continue to be without long term absentees Ricardo Vaz Te and Jack Collison but is set to welcome defender Joey O’Brian back into the squad, following an injury he picked up in the win at QPR earlier in the month.
Prediction: Wigan 1-2 West Ham
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Jordi Gomez scored a superb hat trick for Wigan as they left it late to see off a plucky Reading side at the DW Stadium.
The Spanish midfielder was the standout player for the Latics as they ended their two match losing run to move above Sunderland and up to 15th in the Premier League table.
It was tough on the crestfallen Royals, who were a goal to the good at half time and thought they’d earned a vital point with 10 minutes to go after falling 2-1 behind, but ended up empty handed.
A bright start for the hosts almost conjured a goal in the early stages, but Arouna Kone was unable to convert Jean Beausejour cross despite being unmarked in the six-yard area.
The Ivory Coast striker came close again after he rounded goalkeeper Adam Federici but was then thwarted by Nicky Shorey’s goal line clearance and it proved to be a vital intervention from the left back as he laid on the opening goal for Sean Morrison.
Shorey’s whipped free-kick found the 21-year-old in the area and his header beat Ali Al-Habsi to had the visitors a 35th minute lead that they carried over into the second half.
However, just before the hour Gomez scored his first of the afternoon, needing two bites of the cherry to beat Federici after being set up by substitute Franco Di Santo.
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He doubled his tally 10 minutes later with a clever header from Beausejour’s cross to put Wigan ahead, only for an error from the usually reliable Al-Habsi gifting Reading an equaliser, deflecting Hal Robson-Kanu’s strike into the net.
But with the clock winding down to its climax Gomez would deservedly have the final say as he secured a vital three points for Roberto Martinez’s side, cooly firing home from 10-yards after good work from Kone.
Manchester United winger Nani has reportedly retracted his initial increased wage demand, according to The Sun.
At the latter end of last season, Nani, 25, initially requested a pay increase from £90,000 to £130,000 pounds a week which would mean a weekly pay rise of just under 50%. However, in the second half of the 2011/12 season the winger suffered a subsequent loss of form, scoring only two goals.
Nani’s loss of form continued to slump during Portugal’s Euro 2012 campaign and seemingly has failed to improve after a disappointing performance against Everton on Monday, which eventually saw him replaced by Ashley Young with just over ten minutes remaining. The Sun now claims that Ashley Young will now start ahead of Nani when Manchester United play Fulham at Old Trafford tomorrow.
As a consequence, Nani has dropped his wage demands in fear of losing his place in Sir Alex Ferguson’s first eleven. Nani faces stiff competition in his position, with Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young and veteran Ryan Giggs also able to perform on both wings. Sir Alex Ferguson has told the winger that in order to receive a wage increase he needs to emulate the kind of form that saw him in the PFA team of the year at the end of the 2009/10 season.
Nani earns considerably less than the United top earners. These include Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie who comfortably exceed the £10 million pound income received per annum. This is compared to the £4 million pounds Nani earns per annum. Conversely, Nani still earns less than his colleagues vying for the same position Ashley Young and Ryan Giggs, but still earns more than Antonio Valencia.
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Nani was rumoured to be of interest to both Real Madrid and Zenit St. Petersburg in the summer but consequentially to these rumours Manchester United have said that with two years left to run on Nani’s contract, they would not be willing to let him go for any less than £25 million pounds.
Aston Villa striker Darren Bent has endured a year to forget at the Midlands club and under their new manager Paul Lambert it only seems to be getting worse, so what does the future hold for the fallen England international?
While the remnants of the truly dreadful reign of Alex McLeish may not be totally gone, under the former Norwich boss, the club have started the season in similarly patchy form and they currently sit in 17th place in the Premier League with just five points from eight games.
Criticism of such a poor start has been in relatively short supply due to the good press that Lambert enjoys when compared to his predecessor and a tacit acknowledgement that turning around a sinking ship is going to take some time, particularly given the inexperienced squad that he has at it disposal.
Moreover, this is what makes it so strange that Lambert has taken to benching one of his better, most senior players in Bent and handing the captaincy over to new signing Ron Vlaar. The club record signing practically kept them up after signing for them from Sunderland back in 2010 and while 20 goals in 46 league games is hardly pulling up any trees, it’s a more than decent record comparable with most around the same level of club and approaching the benchmark by which all strikers are judged, the much-vaunted 1 in 2 ratio.
A concern with Bent is that he simply doesn’t involve himself enough in the play and relies solely on the service into him, which at the moment it has to be said, is far from consistent or even creative. He made just 20 touches of the ball, only three of which were inside the penalty area, against Fulham away last Saturday during a 75-minute showing.
However, when you see the chances that Christian Benteke is missing at the moment, the reluctance to place any sort of faith in Bent at the moment remains puzzling and Lambert appears to insist on playing the £10m Belgium international simply because he signed him as opposed to anything exceptional he has done on the pitch as of yet.
Bent aired his frustrations at Lambert’s rotation policy last weekend, when asked if he was happy with his current situation and playing time.
“When you start getting rotation systems it’s difficult to find a rhythm especially as a front-man. It’s the manager’s decision and we stand by that and just have to work hard in training and show you want to play. Goals are difficult at the moment but we need to get in the right place at the right time. That’s all I’ve done throughout my career. Once we get a team blend and start creating chances, I’ll start finishing them.”
While talk that the pair are barely on speaking terms may have been blown out of all proportion, it’s clear that Bent seems reasonably unhappy at how he’s been treated, particularly given that he’s still the club’s top goalscorer with three goals this season and a move in January has been mooted.
Liverpool are of course the main side that’s been mentioned and Brendan Rodgers squad does look worryingly thin of attacking options, especially so after Fabio Borini’s foot injury. The 39-year-old manager stated last week that recalling Andy Carroll from his loan spell at West Ham hadn’t yet crossed his mind but with the side competing on four fronts at the moment, the workload on Luis Suarez is intense and they will surely strengthen there when the window opens.
The same critique that Carroll would struggle to adapt to Rodgers’ style of play applies to Bent; he is a goalscorer, pure and simple, but he rarely gets involved in any build-up play, at least not to the degree that the former Swansea boss would want and while Liverpool undoubtedly need someone capable of finishing their chances and going some way to getting rid of the team’s systemic profligate ways, I can’t really see Bent starting every week at Anfield at the moment.
There’s also the fact that despite falling out of Roy Hodgson’s plans at international level of late, that Bent is a striker with international pedigree, at the peak of his career at 28 years of age and he cost £24m just two years ago, so Villa are likely to want a fair chunk of that fee back if he were to seek pastures new.
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Arsenal could do with a player of his predatory instincts given that they’ve struck just 13 goals in the league this season and appear to be struggling to put the ball in the back of the net, but again, he wouldn’t be first-choice at the Emirates either, while Chelsea and Tottenham, due to past affiliation and money will certainly be setting their sights a lot higher.
The thought that Bent may leave Villa in January is a perfectly feasible one, but picking a club that would be able to both afford him and grant him an assured first-team role is difficult. His relationship with Lambert may be fractious and his frequent omissions considering their current situation increasingly baffling, but the only route back to where he was at the beginning of last season may be to stay put where he is and make the most of a far from ideal environment.
With the summer transfer window looming in, every Premier League club will be looking to tailor their roster in time for next season. Although fans much prefer the often hyperbolic and unfounded stories regarding their team’s future purchases, in order to make room for new recruits to bring improvements to the squad, room has to first be made by getting rid of some of the deadwood.
Liverpool, just as any club, have a number of stars who have become surplus to requirements, and are furthermore no longer cost effective. Whilst at Anfield their generation of promising youngsters is finally coming through, there are plenty of senior players who’ve overstayed their welcome, and are no longer living up to expectations.
We’ve complied a list of five Reds players whose tenure on Merseyside is set to be cut short in the summer, unless they fancy making the rare walk across Stanley Park and switch allegiances to Everton.
Click Here or on Stewart Downing to reveal the Five Liverpool stars set for the transfer list.
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Sam Allardyce has declared he is hoping to secure “one or two players” in the January transfer window to ease West Ham’s growing injury worries.
George McCartney injured a knee during training this week and is unlikely to feature at West Brom.
The defender joins a long list of players in the Hammers’ treatment room, with Mohamed Diame (hamstring), Yossi Benayoun, Andy Carroll and Jack Collison (all knee), Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) and Alou Diarra (thigh) all sidelined.
Unsurprisingly the West Ham boss feels it is essential to recruit new bodies in January.
“I think with our injury list at the moment, which is pretty severe and very concerning as far as I’m concerned, we obviously need to look in the market and see what we can do in January”, Allardyce told Sky Sports News.
“It is critical for us to try and get one or two players in during that period.”
But Big Sam says he may have to rush Jack Collison back into action early, even though the Wales international still requires two weeks of training before being fully ready for a return.
“Jack is training but not available to play,” Allardyce told London24.
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“He has been out of the game since the end of last season so it will be at least two weeks before we really should consider him, unless we become absolutely desperate on our injury front which is looking a little bit like that.
“I want to try and resist at all costs throwing Jack into the fray and risking another injury but I may be so desperate I might have to do that.”
We have seen many open games involving Manchester United over the years, with their philosophy to play attacking football, however we may have seen it more so this season than any other.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have pretty much gone with the attitude of ‘you score and we will score more’ so far this campaign, scoring a hat full of goals but also conceding far more than we are used to seeing. In a strange way, has the vulnerability at the back benefitted United this season?
Now I say this in the fact that teams may have been more willing to take the game to them and attack, knowing that the defence is susceptible to conceding chances. With the forward players United have at their disposal, they have been able to compensate for poor defending with this and the signing of Robin van Persie has certainly added an extra clinical edge to the front line.
At the end of last season, United had scored 86 while letting in 33 goals, and after just 23 games this season they have scored 57 and already conceded 30. That’s a staggering amount of goals for them to have let in, but it has worked so far especially with rivals Manchester City struggling to reproduce their form from last season.
[cat_link cat=”manchester-united” type=”list”]
The Citizens have found it a lot harder to finish teams off this term which could be a case of Roberto Mancini’s men now just experiencing the territory of being Premier League Champions with other teams naturally more cautious when playing them. This is something United have faced many times down the years, with teams ‘parking the bus’ as the phrase goes. They have however found a way to come through it and continue their success, something which City need to be able to handle. I personally feel their lack of width makes it very difficult at times as it’s often not possible to pass through teams and you need a plan B, as good as the likes of David Silva are.
Of course we could also reverse the initial argument by looking at it in the sense that teams feel that sitting back against United is pointless as they will score anyway, whereas they may feel City can be contained easier.
United’s team is set up to attack with two attacking full backs as well as two wingers so are likely to create more chances. The Red Devils also lack a real tough tackling holding player with Tom Cleverley and Michael Carrick now seeming to be the first choice pairing in the centre of midfield. While Carrick does a job in terms of interceptions and has improved defensively in general this season with areas such as his positioning, he still doesn’t provide the cover that a proper defensive midfielder would. Attack is certainly United’s best form of defence.
Although this style of play may have served them well in the league, they will certainly need to adapt slightly if they are to progress further in the knockout stages of the Champions League. While Madrid are not the best themselves defensively, they have the familiar face of Cristiano Ronaldo to punish any holes in United’s backline. I do feel Ferguson’s side have begun to show improvements at the back in recent weeks though, and it is no surprise that this has coincided with the return of captain Nemanja Vidic.
This will also bode well for them in the league as we start reaching the business end of the season, and the games become even more difficult with each team fighting for their respective goals for the end of the season.
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So far though, United’s excellent attack along with their patchy defence has worked well for them one way or another. The theory that sides now feel more confident to take the game to them is just an observation and could simply be a coincidence with the fact that more managers seem to want to play attacking football now, with the Premier League also a more open league in general than we have seen in the past.
With the sight of Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini generously handing out fruit pastels just after half time during the City game, it made me wonder not just about why Mancini has a fondness for the sweets, but about the other traits managers have become famous for over the years.
Of course we are all used to seeing managers of just about every level getting irate and swearing on the touchline – even getting sent to the stands on occasion, with their job just about the most pressurised one in football. Every substitution is analysed and focused on, every word spoken in a press conference, so is it really any wonder that from time to time a manger loses it or does something slightly out of the ordinary on the side-lines?
Here is a look at the top ten traits of a manager – from ones so recognised they should be copyrighted by the manager who originated them to ones that all manager have been guilty of from time to time.
Click on Rafa Benitez below to unveil the 10
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Not for the first time this season Ipswich were on the receiving end of a good thrashing as Crystal Palace stormed to a 5-0 win.
The Tractor Boys were destroyed by Blackpool earlier this season and the obvious connection between both games is that Ian Holloway was managing the winning side in each game. Holloway must enjoy playing Ipswich more than anyone as he has now seen his sides score 11 goals past them this season whilst keeping clean sheets in each game.
Hopefully the former Blackpool boss won’t move to another Championship side this season and we will only have to play him once more.
Of course it wouldn’t be fair to say that Ipswich are only getting thrashed because Holloway is an expert at beating them. Sheffield Wednesday are a struggling side but they managed to get a 3-0 win at Portman Road and it has to be said that they should have scored more.
Many fans travelled to Crystal Palace in the hope that we would get a decent result there or at least put in a respectable performance. It seems that after the win over Birmingham everyone thought that Mick McCarthy had already turned things around. Unfortunately the problems within the team are too big for McCarthy to sort out right away and the Crystal Palace result highlights that.
The fact of the matter is that Ipswich have a team that are yet again consistently inconsistent. Sometimes they may be up for the games and put in a good shift but a lot of the players are still not giving it their all.
Against Birmingham there were some good performers but there were obviously some players who were still not working as hard as they should be. The team managed to get the desired result even with a few players not at their best when against a team that are in the bottom half of the table but that wasn’t the case at Palace. This is because against the top teams you need every player working hard and concentrating otherwise the opposition will exploit the weak links, which is exactly what happened on Tuesday night.
As I have said before we need to wait until January or even February before we can expect McCarthy to fully turn things around. Any points that he picks up between now and then will be fantastic but we must not take them for granted. It is going to be a difficult season where we will see the Ipswich team be completely rebuilt. Any finish above the bottom three will be a good season given the position that the team are currently in.
Personally, I would like to see McCarthy use experienced players to get us safely out of the relegation zone (easier said than done I know!) then work on bringing younger players into the side.
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We aren’t going up this season so it really doesn’t matter where we finish as long as it is outside the relegation zone. Once we know we aren’t going down we might as well just work on making the team successful next season and the club have some good youngsters that are worth trying out.