Posts Tagged ‘Midfield’
Newcastle go for Gosling
After one of the most bizarre transfer stories of the summer, it looks as though Dan Gosling will sign for Newcastle this week.
Gosling was released on a free from Everton earlier this summer. A tribunal decided that although Everton had verbally offered Gosling a new contract, they hadn’t made a written offer for the player.
The result is that Everton have lost one of England’s most exciting prospects, for absolutely nothing and Premier League betting pundits are certainly questioning the club’s policy on contract renewals.
Newcastle are believed to have won the race for Gosling’s signature, ahead of West Ham and Sunderland. He will be Chris Hughton’s second signing this summer, after James Perch was brought in from Nottingham Forest.
Everton have appealed the courts decision over Gosling. The club are trying to claim some compensation from any transfer that goes through. The compensation figure being reported by the press could be as high as £4million.
Everton will need the money to find a player to replace the versatile Gosling. The 20 year old can play in the middle of midfield, as well as right back and on the right wing. After playing for England at U17, U18 and U19 levels, Gosling made his under 21 debut against Portugal under Stuart Pearce.
While Newcastle fans will be happy with the capture of Gosling, they’ll have to wait a while to see him in action. Gosling suffered a serious knee injury for Everton against Wolves in March.
The timescale for the injury is between seven and nine months, ruling him out till around Christmas. The Geordie faithful will be hoping their new signing will be able to defy the Premier League betting odds and help their side cement their place in the Premiership after a year away from the big time.
Tags: Betting Odds, Big Time, Contract Renewals, Everton, Knee Injury, Lost One, Midfield, New Contract, Newcastle Fans, Nine Months, Premier League, Premiership, Pundits, Right Wing, Stuart Pearce, Timescale, U18, U19, West Ham, Wolves
Capello needs to ditch 4-4-2
Fabio Capello must change his formation ahead of England’s do-or-die date with Slovenia.
Against most world cup 2010 prices England have collected just two points from their opening Group C games and they must defeat top-of-the-table Slovenia on Wednesday to seal a place in the round of 16.
While the opening 1-1 draw with the USA was far from disastrous, Friday’s goalless draw with Algeria was a disappointing result. Capello’s charges have failed to hit any kind of form so far and key players such as Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have failed to sparkle.
Capello has started both group games with a 4-4-2 formation with Emile Heskey partnering Rooney in attack, but it’s time now for the Italian tactician to change tact. Heskey has not been the only one to struggle in South Africa, but the Aston Villa man has become a scapegoat for some fans - still he looks all set for the axe against Slovenia.
Fans, pundits and those who bet World Cup 2010 money on England have been calling for Gerrard to be played as a supporting striker behind Rooney and that is certainly one option for Capello. That would free up another space in midfield and Joe Cole, who has not featured at all so far, deserves his chance to shine.
The wideman, who played for England at the last World Cup, should be a shoo-in to start against Slovenia. He is one of just a handful of England players who can beat an man and his clever use of the ball will be a valuable tool for England as the try to unlock the Slovenia defence. Aaron Lennon, starbed off the ball in the first two games, deserves another chance on the right and Lampard and Barry are the men to knit England’s midfield together, but Capello must let Gerrard roam free.
Tags: Aaron Lennon, Ascii, Aston Villa, C Games, Cambria, Capello, Ditch, Div, Emile Heskey, England Players, Fabio Capello, Font Definitions, Font Format, Footer, Frank Lampard, Group Games, Joe Cole, Midfield, Mso, Orphan, Panose, Paper Source, Pitch, Props, Pundits, Sans Serif, Scapegoat, Slovenia Fans, Steven Gerrard, Style Definitions, Style Name, Style Type, Tactician, Theme Font, Times New Roman, Two Games, Valuable Tool, Wayne Rooney, Wideman, World Cup 2010
The World Cup rise and fall of Theo Walcott
From England hero to England reject, it has been quite a couple of years for Theo Walcott.
The Arsenal winger was the headline making absentee from Fabio Capello’s England squad, paying the price for an indifferent 12 months with Arsenal.
Many Arsenal fans will not be surprised by the decision. They have been underwhelmed by Walcott this year as he repeatedly failed to match his blistering pace with an end product. England’s World Cup football betting suggests they are in with a good chance of winning the tournament, but they will need something special from midfield and Walcott hasn’t offered this lately.
However, I feel Walcott is another player to fall victim to English football’s media hype machine. Ever since Wayne Rooney, a once in a generation talent, burst on to the Premier League scene eight years ago the press have been hungry to discover the next hidden gem, no matter how young they may be.
Walcott stood out as a 16-year-old at Southampton, then a middle ranking Championship side, but he was nothing more than promising. Despite this, the sensationalist headlines soon followed and made him out to be England’s next wonderkid.
In his defence, I think he then became a victim of circumstance. Firstly Southampton, heavily in debt, saw Walcott as an asset and when Arsenal came calling, they were only too happy to take the money on offer.
All of a sudden Walcott was rocketed up into the Premier League’s top four, under a manager renowned for nurturing young talent. But Walcott isn’t a Rooney or a Fabregas and although players develop at different rates he was expected to hit the heights immediately.
The situation wasn’t helped by his ridiculous inclusion in England’s World Cup 2006 squad. No one would have placed a football bet on him going to that tournament and it was one of the final acts of a man truly losing the plot when Sven decided to include Walcott, despite never seeing him play and watching just half a training session.
Walcott’s image was racing way ahead of where he truly lay as a footballer. He was nowhere near international standard and, to be honest, could have done with a few more years down out Southampton to aid his progress.
The ensuing years have seen one injury after another and, one magic night in Zagreb aside, a stalling career that is threatening to never meet people’s sky high expectations.
His exclusion from the squad must now be turned into a positive. A clear summer to rest and recuperate before a committed bid to rediscover that lost potential.
Tags: Arsenal Fans, England Squad, English Football, Fabio Capello, Fabregas, Football Bet, Hidden Gem, Hype Machine, Losing The Plot, Media Hype, Midfield, S Media, Theo Walcott, Victim Of Circumstance, Wayne Rooney, Winger, Wonderkid, World Cup 2006, World Cup Football, World Cup Football Betting
Croatian connection to down Fulham
Tottenham face Fulham for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals on Wednesday, but they will have to do so without goal getters Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Defoe, who has 17 league goals to his name this term, is missing with a hamstring problem, while the in-form Pavlyuchenko is also absent with a hamstring strain. It leaves Harry Redknapp without two of his most potent frontmen and the onus will be on Peter Crouch and Eidur Gudjohnsen to do the business in the quarter-final replay at White Hart Lane.
Gudjohnsen opened the scoring in the weekend victory at Stoke, but the Icelandic wizard is not an out-and-out goalscorer and his link-up play with Spurs’ creative midfield is more than likely to take up the majority of his game against Fulham. Gudjohnsen is only 9/2 to open the scoring and considering the former Chelsea forward’s tendency to drop deep and exchange passes with forward-thinking midfielders, he doesn’t represent any value. A better proposition would be to have a small Football bet interest in Luka Modric (10/1).
The Croatian ace has scored only twice all season - a disappointing return so far for a player of his class - and he will surely add to that tally in the closing months of the season. Modric and Gudjsohnsen are likely to be on the same wavelength and with Modric’s clever runs Gudjohnsen might just provide him with the chance to add to his scoring tally against Fulham. Another player who Fulham will have to keep an eye on will be Niko Kranjcar and he could be another man to side with to open the scoring as 9/1.
Kranjcar, a Croatia team-mate of Modric’s, has scored five times this term and has proved to be a real bargain at just £2million from Portsmouth. Kranjcar, like Modric, is a clever footballer with an eye for goal and his knack of getting in and around the box could pay off.
FA Cup final betting suggests that Fulham will be no pushovers however, as they showed in the original goalless draw, but the odd goal from one of the Croatian pair should just be enough for Spurs to squeeze through.
Tags: Defoe, Eidur, Fa Cup Final, Fa Cup Semi Finals, Football Bet, Footballer, Fulham Tottenham, Goal Getters, Harry Redknapp, Knack, League Goals, Luka, Midfield, Onus, Peter Crouch, Portsmouth Kranjcar, Same Wavelength, Spurs, Team Mate, White Hart Lane
Are Arsenal the real deal?
I’m sure most people expected Arsenal to beat Porto in the Champions League - the Portuguese side have an awful record in England after all. However, the manner of the 5-0 victory, achieved without talisman Cesc Fabregas, should force people to sit up and take notice.
Arsenal put in a sparkling performance against the 2004 European Champions, dominating pretty much from start to finish. Nicklas Bendtner will no doubt take most of the headlines with a face-saving hat-trick going some way towards making up for his horror show against Burnley at the weekend.
But credit also has to go to the two chief architects, Samir Nasri and Andrey Arshavin, whose probing midfield runs were instrumental in the victory and eased the pain of being without captain Fabregas.
The win caps off a satisfying few weeks for Arsene Wenger, whose side are visibly growing in confidence. Following last Saturday’s win over Burnley they will firmly believe they can take advantage of their favourable fixture list and win their first Premier league title since 2004.
After the Porto result what is stopping them going all the way in the Champions League as well?
Wenger himself has admitted he would relish the chance to avenge their heavy league defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United should they be drawn together in the next round.
Personally I feel the Champions League is a step too far. The Gunners have shown already they struggle against the top sides in the Premier league and I feel that when up against a similar side in the Europe they will fall just short. The Champions League football betting certainly suggests this will be the case.
The momentum is definitely with them in the league, however. Their win at Stoke the weekend before last was celebrated with extra vigour, not just because it was in response to Aaron Ramsey’s shocking injury but because it was seen as a rare banana skin in what is a dream of a run-in fixture list.
Local rivals Spurs and fellow fourth place chasers Man City are the only other major hiccups remaining for the Gunners and if the past few games are to go by, they shouldn’t present a problem. If this proves to be the case, then the title could be heading to Arsenal’s new Emirates Stadium for the very first time.
Meanwhile, hat-trick hero Bendtner will be hoping he can hit form in time for the World Cup.
He will be representing Denmark and while the side are unlikely to be many people’s World Cup 2010 tips they could still cause an upset.
Tags: Andrey Arshavin, Banana Skin, Burnley, Cesc Fabregas, Champions League Football, Chasers, Chief Architects, European Champions, First Premier, Fixture List, Going All The Way, Gunners, Hat Trick, Horror Show, Last Saturday, Man City, Midfield, Nasri, Vigour, Wenger