NFF includes Iheanacho on World Cup squad

Following the complains of non inclusion of kelechi Iheanacho on the list submitted by Coach Sunday Oliseh and the MVP performance of the teenager in the colours of Manchester City in Capital One cup game agaisnt Crystal Palace.
NFF have now announced he has been included by Oliseh.

On Wednesday night, Iheanacho justified his first competitive start for Manchester City with a goal and two assists against Crystal Palace to set up a League Cup quarterfinal against Hull City.

Before then, he has made six appearances totalling less than 45 minutes of action in the English Premier League on his debut season.

Last year, he trained with the 2014 CHAN-bound Eagles before he opted to finalise his transfer to England.

According to the official Twitter handle of the NFF, Oliseh has invited Iheanacho to make his squad 24 players.

The MVP of the 2013 FIFA

U17 World Cup could play as a striker or in midfield.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE GOSSIP

Andre Villas-Boas has revealed Zenit St Petersburg considered signing Radamel Falcao before the striker moved to Chelsea, but has ruled out the Colombian moving to Russia shortly.
Reports suggested Falcao, who has struggled for playing time with the Premier League champions, was hoping to cut short his loan from parent club Monaco, with Zenit a possible destination.
Former Chelsea manager Villas-Boas has not spoken to Jose Mourinho about the possibility and says the move will not happen.
“No I haven’t had a conversation with Jose,” Villas-Boas told fc-zenit.ru.
“The player belongs to Chelsea, on loan from Monaco.
“It’s difficult to bring such a player to Russia with the rules and regulations we have.
“We tried to bring him here in the summer at the start of the season, but then the rules changed a week before the season started.
“We can’t bring him here because of the rules and we don’t have space.
“We have (Artem) Dzyuba, his form is great for the club and the national team and he deserves respect.
“Due to the limitations we can’t bring Falcao here, his salary is immense too and the financial rules in place prevent this, this is the rule chosen by (Zenit president) Mr Mutko and so this is impossible.”
EDRO FEELING THE BLUES
It hasn’t gone well for Pedro, has it? From making 50 appearances in Barcelona’s treble-winning campaign last season, the Spaniard now finds himself at a side 15th in the Premier League and seemingly on the verge of imploding. Poor dear.
Well, according to reports in his native Spain, the winger is feeling rather aggrieved. We say reports in Spain, we mean Fichajes (obviously). They claim the 28-year-old has privately informed Cesc Fabregas of his unhappiness at the club under Jose Mourinho (private but a Spanish website and no-one else has found out), and that he wishes to return to Barcelona.
They claim a lack of game time could be the reason for the Spain international’s disappointment upon his £21million move. Pedro has played 533 minutes in the Premier League so far this season, fewer than 11 team-mates, but of course he signed after two games had been played.
The Metro and the Daily Express have picked up on Fichajes’ reports, so the next in the food chain appears to be the Daily Telegraph. We give it two hours.

ARSENAL AND MAN UNITED BACK IN FOR HAKAN
Sticking with the Daily Express, whose delightfully named Charlie Phillippe brings us news of Hakan Calhanoglu, a previous reported subject of interest of both Arsenal and Manchester United.
According to the Express, Bayer Leverkusen’s chief executive Michael Schade has said the set-piece specialist ‘will not be leaving for any less than £29million’ (although the headline reads Bayer Leverkusen reveal star may leave for £29m – which one is it?)
Asked by German newspaper Bild on the interest in the ‘next Ozil’ – presumably dubbed as such because he’s a bit Turkish – what Schade actually said was: “I see that. We want to keep Hakan, but with us there is a pain threshold. I am calm and relaxed.”
Strangely, he doesn’t mention a valuation. Yet he has both ‘revealed he may leave for £29million,’ as well as saying he ‘won’t be leaving for any less than £29million’.

CITY AFTER HAPPY EVER
They may already boast Yaya Toure, Fernandinho, Fernando and Fabian Delph (can you boast Fabian Delph?) among their central midfield ranks, but Manchester City are after another, if The Sun is to be believed.
Their man Tom Gardiner claims that Manuel Pellegrini is keen on Ever Banega after the Argentinean midfielder impressed against City in the Champions League for Sevilla. Banega has been in fine form this season after initially struggling to break through in La Liga with Valencia, but the 27-year-old has shone for Sevilla.

AND THE REST
Chelsea believe they need a major signing to get back on track next summer and remain determined to make Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann that man…West Ham are planning a £5million January bid for AC Milan playmaker Keisuke Honda…Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been linked with David Beckham’s new MLS franchise.

New Ronaldo? Memphis the new Nani

Date published: Thursday 29th October 2015 10:29

Given that we’re using one-off games in a cup (that is the lowest priority for most involved) to judge teams’ ability to compete in the league, I suppose we can also write Man Utd off now then
David, Gooner


Writing this mail during the frustratingly horrible united vs middlesborough game trying my best not to punch through the screen.
Contrary to most of the other united games this season where we have been sterile in possession and slower than sloth with a football. This game was even more frustrating due extreme wastefulness you will have ever seen in a game of football. So many good positions and half chances wasted due to some horrendous decision making in final third. The chief culprit in that would have to be Memphis. Given his age and stage at he is in, there are two possible ways he can go, either step up his game and be atleast as half decent as ronaldo or become nani. Based on what we have seen from him so far, especially in this game against middlesborough, it is mostly likely going to be Nani. I called it first. Memphis the new Nani!
Happy to eat humble pie if he becomes atleast one fourth of what ronaldo was.
On the whole, middlesborough defended well. But one can’t really say, since this attacking “force” of united is not a standard to measure standard of defence. Secondly, by second half, Lee Mason got so bored i guess he forgot to referee and didnt really care much (he was bad for both teams).
Regards
Santa Klaus ( the NEW “insert name” trend should also be used for sh*tty players), Stuttgart


Memphis the ‘new Di Maria’
I must admit a growing concern over the performances of Memphis Depay. This is not just from last night, I had these concerns when he was signed. From the highlight reels I saw of him, the player I thought he most resembled, was Di Maria. He liked to run with the ball, liked to shoot from distance and try play the odd killer pass. He generally took a lot of risks with the ball (that did pay off quite a few times), and certainly gave it away a fair amount. This is completely at odds with van Gaal’s low risk, possession at all costs approach. These types of players are at their best when they are un shackled, allowed to run with the ball and take on risky passes/shots. Not when they are constantly cutting inside to try play simple passes because they are afraid of giving the ball away.
Van Gaal tried to temper Di Maria’s natural instincts and it seemed to drain his confidence. I’m worried that Memphis is under such huge pressure to adapt his natural game to what van Gaal wants, that the same could happen to him. I know they worked together at Holland and Memphis was close to him, that relationship probably brought him to Utd but could also be putting him under further pressure to adapt to his mentor’s demands. I’m concerned that Memphis could lose his natural game, the game that prompted bids from several large European clubs.
He definitely needs to improve his decision making (most players at 21 do) and needs to improve his work rate, but these should be added to what he already has. I really hope he doesn’t get coached into playing like Antonio Valencia. Van Gaal is a good coach and has done very well at Utd to improve the midfield, tighten up the defence and bring in some good young players. However I do fear, the attacking side of the game won’t get any better under him.
Dan, Ireland MUFC

Enough is enough, Louis
I’m now absolutely convinced that Rooney’s got a clause in his contract stipulating he has to play when fit. That’s the only way to explain how LVG could drop Rivaldo at Barca and Luca Toni at Bayern, and not do the same with Rooney now. Rooney coming on for James Wilson must have shattered the young man’s confidence, yet was it any surprise that we continued to look slow and ponderous upfront with Rooney leading the line? Only with Martial’s appearance did we start to look threatening. The most conspicuous aspect of all of United’s best moments was that Rooney was absent in all of them, save for the header he totally fluffed before Lingard hit the post. And let’s not even talk about the penalty miss. At this point, it’s tempting to point the finger at Davy Moyes for putting that clause in his contract, but surely even he couldn’t have envisaged Wayne Rooney sinking to such levels of sh*teness.
It also baffles me as to why United fans criticizing Rooney seems to be out-of-line to supporters like Harry The Manc. Let’s get this straight, when he wears the red shirt and steps on the pitch, I’m sure we as United fans all wish him well, hope he scores a goal or two or three and gets out of this looooong slump. I don’t doubt that he gives it his all when on the pitch. But off-the-pitch is a different matter. Our loyalty is to the club, not to one player. And if we fans think it’s in the club’s interests for him to be dropped, then why shouldn’t we voice that out? Isn’t this similar to when Rooney asked for a transfer in 2010? Gave it his all on the pitch. But off it, when he felt that the club wasn’t doing enough to sign the top players (i.e. acting in its best interests), he voiced it out. Harry The Manc says us United fans should consider what a great servant Rooney’s been for the club before voicing out our misgivings about his presence in the current first team. But did Rooney stop and think “But wait, these United fans have been supporting me for years, singing my name every week and buying the kit with my name on it every season…”  before changing his mind on the transfer request? Did he f**k!
Now’s the time for LVG to show what he’s made of and drop Rooney for the good of the team. Here’s hoping his marbles didn’t come off together with his pants in the Bayern dressing room.
Andrew C (UTID)

But the boy is irreplaceable
Wayne Rooney is now taking the heat for being too good to replace for more than a decade
I´ll start by admitting two things:
1. I am a Wayne Rooney fan.
2. I think he looks shot now, and might not even break the Bobby Charlton goal record at Man United.
But the unprecedented amount of criticism Wayne Rooney might have another twist than his world class salary and, up until now, Louis van Gaal´s persistent blind faith.
Might it has got something to do with the fact that Wayne Rooney has been as good as irreplaceable for more than a decade at Manchester United?
Man United moved on, eventually, after Eric Cantona, after David Beckham and, almost unaffected, after Cristiano Ronaldo. It seems they won´t cope as easily with the demise of Rooney.
The first to realize that, was probably Sir Alex Ferguson.
After famously axing Wayne Rooney for the deciding game vs. Real Madrid in the 2013 Champions League (this at a stage of the PL season where Rooney, with one goal or assist every 75 minutes, more effective than Bale and Suarez at that stage of the 2012/13 Premier League season) – causing an irreparable rift between the two.
Having the league title basically wrapped up already by then, United went on to one of their worst spells under Ferguson, losing four home games to big rivals in Real Madrid, Man City and Chelsea (two times, second through a replay after Old Trafford home draw in FA Cup).
Ferguson then resigned.
After the 2012/13 season, Daily Mail showed the simply staggering statistic that over Rooney´s nine year spell at the club, the win ratio was 10% (!) better with Rooney playing (72%) compared to him not playing (62%). I´d like to see something similar for other world class players at world class clubs.
He´s matched the leagues greatest players in terms of goal contribution for more than a decade.
Here is another stat: When Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney played together, Rooney matched Ronaldo´s goal contributions per game in PL (both at 0.7 goals/assists per game). He did the same with Luis Suarez for the years those two played together. And then he matched Sergio Aguero for the Argentinians first three years in England, until Rooney´s statistical decline speeded up rapidly upon the arrival of Louis van Gaal.
That´s probably not Louis van Gaal´s fault. But even though he can now be considered overpaid, like a few other footballers on the slide, it´s not Wayne Rooney´s fault that his club simply cannot deal with his decline.
Every football player has his day. But very few, if any, were as irreplaceable as Wayne Rooney for Manchester United.
Lars Eidissen

Peak United
I checked my phone about twenty-five minutes into the United game last night to see how they were doing. According to the BBC website they had 73% possession, 0 shots on target, 0 shots of any description and 0 corners.
I don’t think I could imagine a set of figures defining Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United more accurately.
He brought on Rooney at half time you know.
Stephen O’S, MUFC

Peak Arse
I keep seeing “Peak Arsenal” plastered all over the place, everywhere.
We all know that when we start the season well that “Peak Arsenal” doesn’t arrive until early February at least.
James (and I was like “duhhhh”) AFC

Nacho man
Nice piece by Sarah this morning on Nacho Monreal but I feel that she has missed a key reason for Monreal’s improvement.
Early last year Arsenal being Arsenal had injuries in defence which meant that our Nacho had a stint at centre-back. Initially he looked pretty uncomfortable there and his performances showed that but he eventually grew into the role and I genuinely feel this has helped him become the player he has become today.
Tackling, positioning, aggression. All the basics for a centre-back Nacho has now added to his game. He already had some composure and the ability to pass the ball so all these attributes seem to have helped him cement his place in Arsenal’s back four, and deservedly so.
Next step for Nacho would be to break his way back into the Spain squad but with Gaya, Bernat, Azpilicueta, Alba and Jonny all being called up recently this may be easier said than done. To be honest I couldn’t care less if he’s never picked for them again.
He is ours.
Go away.
Ginge, London

Lamela is sh*t
I’ve always thought Spurs fans have historically had a bit of a problem with letting go of players who they want to be good but just can’t cut it. I remember back in the day, must have been the late 90s, when Ruel Fox seemed to be on the way to Leicester City after a couple of underwhelming seasons in what was a truly dreadful Spurs side. I remember hoping he would stay at the Lane, he’s bound to come good, he played in that swashbuckling Newcastle side, he cost over £4 million, he will prove everyone wrong! Of course, he did stay for another season or two in the end, continued being sh*t and eventually sodded off to West Brom.
Fast forward a decade and a half and we have Pamela, masquerading as a quality forward, always on the verge of breaking free of whatever shackles are holding him back. He did a few nice things against City, his stats are ok. He scored a rabona don’t you know. But please, just accept the fact that he is sh*t. He’ll be remembered as a mediocre squad player who, inexplicably, was our record signing. His average game can be summed up in one continuously repeated cycle until he is substituted in the 66^th minute: collect ball, run in general direction of full back, stop, obligingly wait for further opposition defenders to retreat behind ball, attempt to run through defenders, lose ball, fall over, repeat.
And no, £30 million is not “the going rate for this sort of player”. Dusan Tadic, Dimitri Payet, Georginio Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane, Bojan Krkic, Xherdan Shaquiri, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Christian Eriksen, Nacer Chadli. There’s a handful off the top of my head who are far better for less than half the price.
For the love of god, put the man out of his misery and let’s move on.
GM, Spurs

Justice for Skrtel
I’ll keep this quick. I’m a United fan and maybe Liverpool fans can shed a bit of light on this for me, but what the hell does Martin Skrtel have to do to be named captain? He’s been there years, seems to put his heart and soul into every game(he does tug a lot of shirts too) and then Klopp names Toure as captain! Her highness Brenda wouldn’t give him the armband either? How many more slices in the head does he have to take before he gets it?
Paddy(tasty front four for United) Ireland

What’s in a Neym?
‘Manchester United have been boosted in their bid to land Neymar,’ reads the opening paragraph of Vic Holly’s article for The Sun. Sounds interesting…
The piece contains quotes from former Barcelona president Joan Laporta, who says: “To balance the club financially the president has to sell players or assets. The easy solution is to sell a player.”
What Laporta truly knows about Manchester United’s interest in Neymar is negligible, considering he hasn’t worked for the Catalans since 2010. But wait, Mediawatch has more.
‘United blow as Neymar set for double-yer-money deal,’ reads the headline on a piece by Antony Kastrinakis on The Sun’s website. ‘BARCELONA are set to DOUBLE Neymar’s wages to £500,000 a week and derail Manchester United’s hopes of signing him,’ it reads. ‘The Brazil striker will become the world’s third-highest paid player behind team-mate Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
‘Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu said: “This is the season we will sort out a new deal with Neymar. But we will try not to talk about the negotiations and to work discreetly until we can announce it.”
From United being ‘boosted in their bid to land Neymar’ to suffering a ‘blow’ in their chase within the space of a few hours. At least they’ll be right one way or another.

Dreams can come true
It’s safe to say The Sun‘s Phil Thomas was impressed with Liverpool’s three debutants against Bournemouth on Wednesday. Connor Randall, Cameron Brannagan and Joao Carlos Teixeira were all handed their first starts for the Reds, and all performed admirably. As Thomas wrote in his match report:

‘Brannagan and Teixeira certainly showed enough composure, savvy and style in midfield to suggest we will be seeing plenty more of them under the German. And at full-back local boy Randall’s performance suggested Joe Gomez’s absence with a smashed cruciate suddenly does not look the massive headache of a month or so ago.’

Said match report is handily accompanied by The Sun’s dream team ratings. Among them, Brannagan was given a five out of 10, with Randall and Teixeira receiving sixes; the only other starter to score worse was Kolo Toure, who was handed a six out of 10 after being subsituted on the half-hour mark.

What are the odds?
When Mediawatch saw the headline ‘Brendan Rodgers in line to replace Jose Mourinho at Chelsea – report’ on the Metro website, we simply couldn’t resist offering them another delicious click.
‘Brendan Rodgers is in the frame to become the next Chelsea manager as pressure grows on Jose Mourinho,’ reads the opening paragraph from our old friend Jamie Sanderson. It attributes a piece on the Belfast Telegraph‘s website, with both claiming that Rodgers has emerged as a ‘shock’ candidate to replace under-fire Mourinho after his odds were slashed from 20/1 to 7/1 to become Chelsea’s next permanent manager.
A quick check shows the shortest odds you can find for such a ridiculous scenario are 14/1, while it remains as long as a 33/1 shot with most.
Still, what a lovely thought.

Every day’s a school day
Ross Gregory was a busy boy for The Sun last night at Anfield, leaning lessons and all sorts. He learned, for one, that ‘Liverpool do not have a fit striker’.
1) They do. His name is Divock Origi. He literally started the game.
2) At what stage did you learn Christian Benteke (injured on Sunday against Southampton), Daniel Sturridge (has missed four games through injury) and Danny Ings (out for most of the season) were not fit?
But Gregory is not done there. His apparent ignorance of Origi’s strikerness is, at least in part, explained in lessons 2 and 3:
‘Origi could prove the man capable of filling Raheem Sterling’s boots. Left Sylvain Distin for dead in the build-up to Nathaniel Clyne’s goal and has pace to burn. But needs to improve defensively.’
‘If Origi does not come good for Klopp, Jordon Ibe could be the man,’ begins the next point. So Origi (no longer a striker) will either a) replace a £44million player or he’ll be rubbish. Cover all bases and all that.

Tony award
While Ross Gregory believes Ibe will (or won’t) be the man to replace Sterling, Tony Cascarino in The Times has other ideas.
‘There are plenty of players at Liverpool who are not quite reaching their full potential but Jordan (sic) Ibe is the one who could become integral at the club…His passing needs to improve but he reminds me of the way Daniel Sturridge performed at Manchester City and Chelsea. Perhaps, like Sturridge, he will become a central striker.’
Sturridge didn’t ‘become’ a central striker, Tony, he always was one. That the majority of his games for Chelsea and some for Manchester City saw him play on the wing doesn’t change that.
And Ibe is either set to replace Sterling or Sturridge. Ibe of zero goals in 28 Liverpool games fame. The 19-year-old is good – he may even turn out to be excellent – but let’s slow down, eh?

Do the maths
‘UNITED LEAVE ALMOST £200M ON THE BENCH!’ cries a piece accompanying the Daily Mail‘s match report on Manchester United’s defeat to Middlesbrough. They tally up the costs of David de Gea (£18.9m), Juan Mata (£37.1m), Anthony Martial (£58m), Wayne Rooney (£27m), Ashley Young (£12.6m), Ander Herrera (£28.4m) and Bastian Schweinsteiger (£6.3m) to conclude that United’s substitutes comprised a talent pool of £196.5m.
A couple of things:

• Those valuations tally up to £188.3m, not £196.5m.
• The Mail themselves claimed Young joined United for £16m in 2011, not £12.6m
• Anthony Martial cost £36.7m, not £58m
• The actual valuations of those seven players adds up to around £170.4m, not £196.5m

£170.4m doesn’t sound quite as sexy as ‘almost £200m’, does it?

Dirty Harry
‘Writes’ Harry Redknapp in his column for the London Evening Standard:

‘There is a trait in this country that a lot of people love to see others fail. When you are on the floor, they like to put the boot in. That is the way of life here. Jose Mourinho was at the top of his profession a few months ago but now he is suddenly having a bad time. Everybody wants to kick him when he’s down. Negative stories are appearing about him every day and he is obviously worried that the “rats”, as he called them, in the camp are leaking things in an effort to destabilise him.’

Said Redknapp on October 7: “Maybe some players don’t like him. It’s quite possible. I think everybody loved him the first time he came. Maybe now, some of the new players aren’t happy with the way they’re being treated or don’t like the way he talks to them.
“There’s something not right within the club at the moment, that’s for sure. Suddenly he’s getting beaten and beaten. He’s never had to cope with that before. It must be very strange for him.
“It’s not easy, I’m sure he’s finding it very difficult. But they are not good, they’re not playing well.”
‘Wrote’ Harry Redknapp in his column for the London Evening Standard on October 8:

‘He can’t complain about his team. They are nearly all world-class players. He has to get on with it. But, then again, he’s not used to losing. Now he knows how the rest of us feel. Even Arsene Wenger has times when he has been under pressure and getting grief.’

Sounds an awful lot like someone ‘putting the boot in’, both just three weeks ago. Would Redknapp describe those as ‘negative stories’?

SWAZI THRILLER:  MOSES, IHEANACHO DROPPED IN A SHOCK MARTINS RETURN

Super Eagles Coach Sunday Oliseh has released the list of players slated to battle Swaziland in Nigerians first World cup qualifier match in November. It is no longer news that the former captain of the team Vincent Enyeama and former goal poacher Emmanuel Emenike have both called it quit with the National Team as their names were conspicuously missing in the list. 

The biggest Surprise is  the return of Obafemi Martins who last featured for Nigeria in world cup qualifier match against Kenya in March 2013. Martins forced  his return to the national team with his impressive display in MLS.

When contacted, Obafemi Martins said

I thank coach Oliseh for this great opportunity. I'm just looking forward to going out there and playing for Nigeria again," .

What is most disturbing in the list is the absence of Victor Moses who has shone like a million stars in the colors of West Ham United.  Many are wondering if the performance of Moses Simon in the match against Cameroun has forced Eagles gaffer to change his mind Victor Moses just like it was speculated that the performance of Carl Ikeme forced   Oliseh to do away with Enyeama.

Another player whom Nigerian fans are seriously clamoring for  his inclusion is the inform young  Manchester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho. Pundits have predicted that he is the missing link in the Nigerian Midfield that parades the likes of Mikel and Onazi.  Iheanacho have been particularly impressive playing behind Wilfred Bony in Manchester City colors just the way he played behind Taiwo Awoniyi/ Isaac Success in his under 17 days.

Oliseh has however surprisingly kept faith in young Arsenal winger, Alex Iwobi and FC UFA of Russia midfielder Sylvester Igbonu.

Another player who should be in Sunday Oliseh’s radar is the highly impressive bundesliga striker Anthony Ujah of Werder Bremen who was part of Oliseh's first match as super Eagles gaffer.  Oliseh has however made it clear that he cannot invite all the players at the same time.

Nigeria squad:

Goalkeepers: Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Sunshine Stars); Dele Alampasu (Club de Sportivo Feirense, Portugal)

Defenders: Abdullahi Shehu (Uniao da Madeira, Portugal); Kalu Orji (Enugu Rangers FC); Elderson Echiejile (AS Monaco, France); Chima Akas (Sharks FC); Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz, Germany); Godfrey Oboabona (Caykur Rizespor, Turkey); Efe Ambrose (Celtic FC, Scotland); Austin Oboroakpo (Abia Warriors)

Midfielders: Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio, Italy); Paul Onobi (Sunshine Stars); John Mikel Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Rabiu Ibrahim (AS Trencin, Slovakia); Wilfred Ndidi (KRC Genk, Belgium); Sylvester Igbonu (FC UFA, Russia)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Odion Ighalo (Watford FC, England); Ezekiel Bassey (Enyimba FC); Alex Iwobi (Arsenal FC, England); Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders, USA)

CAPITAL ONE CUP ANALYSIS

Middlesbrough caused the shock of the Capital One Cup fourth-round clashes by beating Manchester United on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
Boro goalkeeper Tomas Mejias saved from Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young, while Michael Carrick blazed his effort over in between as Boro advanced to the quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory following a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes.
Louis van Gaal’s side were lacklustre on the night against a side that took Liverpool to penalties in this competition last year and eliminated Manchester City in the FA Cup – and United were fortunate to survive past 90 minutes, with Daley Blind twice surviving own-goal scares.
He saw one wild hack into the net chalked off for an offside flag against Kike before he breathed a huge sigh of relief as Sergio Romero’s mis-control from his back pass went narrowly wide.
Jesse Lingard struck a post in the 90th minute while Grant Leadbitter and Stewart Downing were denied by Romero in stoppage time.
The hosts should then have sealed their progress as they produced a spate of extra-time misses, Marouane Fellaini, twice, and substitute Anthony Martial guilty of missing close-range headers.
And Boro, losers of a 14-13 shoot-out epic at Anfield last season, made them pay on penalties as United joined Arsenal and Chelsea in crashing out at the last-16 stage.
The travelling contingent for this fixture stretched into five figures and they made their presence known vocally and visually by shining phone lights 10 minutes in as a show of solidarity for the job losses in the steel industry on Teesside.
They had cause to cheer when George Friend nutmegged Lingard and, moments later, the same player should have sent them in ecstasy. United failed to clear a corner from the left and Emilio Nsue’s ambitious overhead kick fell straight into Friend’s path, but the full-back placed his effort directly at Romero from six yards out.
For the hosts, the likes of Fellaini and Memphis Depay were doing little to prove they warranted consideration from Van Gaal in more high-profile fixtures, the latter in particular constantly losing possession with loose touches and firing a halfway line lob well over Mejias’ net.
Van Gaal had clearly seen enough at the interval, taking off James Wilson for Rooney, and the hosts at least tested Mejias with a series of shots down his throat, one from Depay that he almost fumbled back over his line.
That error would have made a blooper DVD but the one from Blind 12 minutes into the second period deserved to grace a cover.
Kike was flagged offside when hitting an effort against Romero’s far post and as the ball came back across the six-yard box, Blind somehow managed to slam the ball directly into the net with no one around him.
His head entered his hands but fortunately for him the linesman’s flag spared his blushes.
The comedy of errors continued, though, as Romero allowed Blind’s back pass to almost creep in at the back post in a manner reminiscent of ex-Aston Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman’s howler against Birmingham.
That, coupled with Leadbitter’s fierce shot at Romero, prompted Van Gaal to call for Martial too in place of the disappointing Depay with 19 minutes left.
The game was meandering towards extra-time until both sides came to life in the dying stages. Lingard, who hit the woodwork in the Manchester derby on Sunday, smashed an effort against a post before the visitors broke on the counter and Romero stood up to repel Leadbitter’s lob and then Downing’s drilled effort in stoppage time.
In extra time Fellaini was pushed in advance of Rooney and somehow failed to head in from close range on two occasions.
The hosts felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Martial flicked up onto Daniel Ayala’s outstretched hand and the Frenchman could have prevented the flurry of spot-kicks that soon followed had he nodded in Lingard’s head across in.
Rooney was the first to miss and although David Nugent blazed over, Carrick did likewise before Mejias guessed right again to deny Young and send Boro through.

Kevin de Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho both scored and assisted as Manchester City eased to a 5-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
With Sergio Aguero still injured, the spotlight remains on City’s other forwards and Wilfried Bony set them on the way to a comfortable win at the Etihad Stadium with a fine header.
The lively 19-year-old Iheanacho then got in on the act after De Bruyne had maintained his recent scoring streak with City’s second.
Yaya Toure added a fourth from the penalty spot and substitute Manu Garcia rounded off a good night’s work with a fifth in stoppage time after a Damien Delaney consolation.
City’s victory came without them ever really hitting top gear, although they were soon into their stride as De Bruyne seized on a Scott Dann mistake and burst clear only to shoot across goal after two minutes.
Palace threatened briefly as Yannick Bolasie sliced a volley wide and then both he and Joe Ledley had chances in a goalmouth scramble but Willy Caballero eventually dived on the ball.
Pablo Zabaleta and Bolasie had a bruising battle on the flank and both required lengthy treatment after a clash of heads. Zabaleta was bandaged in now trademark fashion while Bolasie was down for some time – accounting for most of the five minutes first-half stoppage time – before eventually getting back to his feet.
Worse did follow for Zabaleta as he was carried off on a stretcher after a clash with Wilfried Zaha early in the second half, but by then City were already 3-0 up and cruising.
Their opening goal came in the 22nd minute as Bony met a De Bruyne corner with a firm header that Wayne Hennessey could not keep out.
It was a fine finish and seemingly just the confidence boost the Ivorian needed as he continues to lead the line with Aguero out, but he could not follow it up.
With his next chance he sliced high and wide, and he could then only shoot tamely at Hennessey. There was an even poorer effort after the break as he completely miskicked in front of goal.
City doubled the lead just before the interval as Iheanacho raced onto a Fernando pass and pulled the ball back for De Bruyne to tuck in from close range.
Palace should have pulled one back immediately but Ledley blasted over after a cross squirmed out of Caballero’s grasp.
City upped the tempo to claim a third just before the hour. De Bruyne, who had himself tested Hennessey just moments earlier, squared for Iheanacho to bury a low shot.
Palace’s misfortune continued as Zaha slipped when in on goal and Patrick Bamford could not beat Caballero. They then needlessly conceded a penalty as Damien Delaney bundled over Mangala at a corner. Toure confidently converted from the spot.
Delaney pulled one back with a superb header with 89 minutes on the clock but 17-year-old Garcia, having been introduced as a late substitute, showed fine composure to claim City’s fifth.
Date published: Wednesday 28th October 2015 10:36

Jurgen Klopp tasted his first victory as Liverpool manager after Nathaniel Clyne’s first-half goal was enough to beat Bournemouth 1-0.
England defender Clyne, playing in an unfamiliar left-back position, netted his first goal for the club he joined in the summer to book a Capital One Cup quarter-final place.
Considering the club’s problems with their strikers of late – Christian Benteke not deemed 100 per cent fit and joining Daniel Sturridge and Danny Ings on the sidelines – it required someone else to step up.
Clyne would not have been many people’s choice as the match-winner but after three successive draws Klopp was more than happy to take it after making nine changes from the side which drew at home to Southampton on Sunday, with only Clyne and Divock Origi surviving.
The German handed first starts to academy graduates Joao Teixeira, Cameron Brannagan and Connor Randall – the right-back making his debut – and all fared well.
But the fact none of starting XI had scored this season and only two, Dejan Lovren and Joe Allen, had ever found the net for the club would have given Bournemouth, who made six changes, encouragement.
And considering the Liverpool defence’s long-held lack of confidence the result could have been different had they taken the lead after five minutes.
Junior Stanislas cut inside Lovren, leaving the Croatia international on his backside, but gave Adam Bogdan the chance to save with his legs.
The Bournemouth midfielder had two other chances in the first half with a close-range header and free-kick but on both occasions the Liverpool goalkeeper was more than a match.
Even with the regular generosity presented by their opponents’ defence visitors cannot afford to squander too many opportunities at Anfield and with £29million summer signing Roberto Firmino starting to find his feet in a central, attacking midfield role Liverpool began to dominate.
The Brazil international, who twice threatened with shots from outside the area, played a significant part in their 17th-minute goal as his slide pass picked out the perfectly-timed run of Teixeira.
Showing the cockiness of youth the 22-year-old Portuguese’s clever backheel beat Adam Federici and although Adam Smith got back to clear off the line Clyne, who had charged forward from left-back, fired home the weak clearance.
Firmino should have doubled the lead after half-time when Randall’s pressure forced Marc Pugh to concede possession to the Brazilian but his angled shot flew wide of the far post.
It may have been because it was only the League Cup, possibly because Bournemouth had offered little threat or even because there has been something of a sea-change at Anfield, but there was none of the previous anxiety a 1-0 lead would have held heading into the last 20 minutes.
The Kop appeared much more relaxed and that seemed to filter down to the players with Teixeira’s confidence still on a high as he forced Federici into a good save from his 20-yard free-kick.
But with no alarms at the other end Liverpool managed to hold on to a lead for only the fourth time this season to offer yet more progress for Klopp.

Southampton eased past a managerless Aston Villa to secure a convincing 2-1 victory and safe passage through to the Capital One Cup fourth round.
Despite an often disjointed performance, classy goals from Maya Yoshida and Graziano Pelle proved more than enough to defeat clearly demoralised opposition and to build on the promising form of recent weeks, even with Scott Sinclair’s stoppage-time penalty.
Southampton had made seven changes from the team which drew 1-1 at Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday and it repeatedly showed.
That James Ward-Prowse, Steven Caulker and Oriol Romeu were among those recalled to Ronald Koeman’s starting XI said much about the strength of their squad but instead of the often hoped-for hunger of fringe players they lacked cohesion.
Villa far from thrived in their first fixture since manager Tim Sherwood was sacked and Kevin MacDonald was placed in temporary charge but they at least showed incremental improvement and were the only team to pose a threat throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Three goalscoring opportunities fell to Rudy Gestede but the striker twice headed harmlessly wide and once at goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, who saved then as routinely as he did Leandro Bacuna’s near-post shot towards half-time.
It was defender Yoshida who surprisingly gave Southampton the lead six minutes into the second half.
Exchanging passes with Ward-Prowse having run from defence, Yoshida approached Villa’s penalty area with the composure of a seasoned striker before shooting with his left foot into the bottom right corner beyond goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s reach.
As is so often the case with a struggling side, much of the confidence Villa had had gradually disappeared, and prompted questions about why the experienced Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott were rested.
Substitute Jack Grealish, who benefitted more than any other from Sherwood’s brief reign, soon miskicked on the edge of the area but Gabriel Agbonlahor collected the loose ball and tested Stekelenburg with a curling shot.
If they were to have any chance of avoiding defeat the next goal was essential, but Pelle’s soon followed and ended the fixture as a contest.
Substitute Dusan Tadic had both time and space on the left wing, and with Pelle equally free in the penalty area he sent a perfectly-weighted pass into the striker’s path which he volleyed with his right foot beyond Guzan and into the bottom left corner.
Deep into stoppage time, Virgil van Dijk clumsily fouled substitute Jordan Ayew in the area to allow Sinclair to score from the resultant penalty, but even that barely felt a consolation.

NIGERIAN PLAYERS WRAP....

Manchester City are through to the quarter - finals of the Capital One Cup in the wake of their 5  - 1 rout of Crystal Palace.

Nigeria youth international Kelechi Iheanacho was back amongst the goals, netting in the 59th minute as City raced into a three - goal lead and set up two goals scored by Kevin De Bruyne and Manu Garcia.

In his first start for the Citizens, the 19 - year - old went the distance and picked up the Man of the Match accolade. 

Also through to the last eight are Liverpool, who beat AFC Bournemouth 1 - 0 at Anfield. Jordon Ibe was in action for the whole duration of the match.
Gabriel Agbolanhor played the full game in Aston Villa’s 2 - 1 loss to Southampton.

For the second game in a row, Anthony Ujah scored against his former club, hitting target in the 23rd minute in Werder Bremen’s 1 - 0 win over Cologne in the DFB Cup.

Super Eagles midfielder Michael Babatunde leveled the scoreline two minutes from time before his teammate scored the game - winner in Dnipro’s hard fought 3 - 2 victory over Olimpik Donetsk in the Cup.

Chinedu Udoji  again was the hero for Enyimba, who has simply been outstanding in the on going NPL .
Udoji has been responsible for crucial goals in recent times and he single-handedly delivered the three points on Wednesday that has now taken Enyimba’s tally to 65 points from 35 games. The club now has three more matches left for the season.
​
Second placed Warri Wolves will attempt to close the gap on Enyimba as they take on Lobi Stars in their rescheduled Week 35 tie in Markudi on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Giwa FC have momentarily moved to second spot on the log after securing a nervy 3-2 win over Wikki Tourists in Jos. Giwa came from behind to secure maximum points in the five-goal thriller.
Also, Sharks FC and Kano Pillars had come from behind to secure 2-1 wins over Shooting Stars and Enugu Rangers.

In Port Harcourt, Dolphins made the most of their home advantage as they eased their relegation worries with a 2-0 win over El-Kanemi.
On their part, FC Ifeanyi Ubah and Bayelsa United secured 1-0 wins over Heartland and Abia Warriors respectively. Ifeanyi Ede converted the 28th Minute goal from the spot to beat Ebere Obi (MIKEL'S elder brother) of heartland.

Emmanuel Amuneke Singles Out Victor Osimhen For Special Praise

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke has praised the Golden Eaglets and Victor Osimhen in particular after they defeated Australia 6 - 0 to advance to the last eight of the Fifa Under 17 World Cup.

The Nigeria boss fancies his team’s chances of winning the title for the fifth time but is aware that Brazil are one of the favourites too.

“It was a very interesting match. We knew that Australia was a good team because they qualified from a very difficult group, but my players were able to recuperate themselves from the loss against Croatia and regained their level, ”  Amuneke told fifa.com.

“Victor (Osimhen) had a great game, although the philosophy of this team is to play collectively.

“We are candidates to win the title, but so are Brazil. We will work to put up a good fight. ”

The Golden Eaglets will square off against Brazil at the Estadio SausalitoVina Del Mar on Sunday, November 1, starting from 2000 hours Nigerian time.

IHEANACHO STEALS THE SHOW.
Nigerian nineteen year old prodigy stole the show in a match that paraded the likes of YAYA TOURE, KELVIN DEBRUYNE, JESUS NAVAS and WILFRED BONY on his debut in the league cup and the first start for CITY. The Nigerian scored and provided two assist to win the man of the match against Crystal Palace who he incidentally scored his first professional goal on the big stage. Could this be his response to ALAN PARDEW who said he didnt know the young Nigerian?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n71XJ-UmzXI

Manchester City vs Crystal Palace 5 - 1 2015 ~ All Goals & Highlights League Cup 28/10/2015

Manchester City vs Crystal Palace 5 - 1 2015 ~ All Goals & Highlights League Cup 28/10/2015…

youtube.com

GOLDEN EAGLETS WALLOP AUSTRALIANS.
Nigerian Golden Eaglets continued their impressive run in the on going Under 17 world cup in Chile. Nigerians scored six un replied goals to book their place in the quarter finals against the young Sambas of Brazil who incidentally also thrashed another Oceania team (Newzealand) by four goals to nothing. Victor Osimhen the tournaments highest goal scorer so far produced amazing sparks while Chidiebere Nwakali continued his wonderful dominance in the middle of the pack. Could this be the birth of another Golden era?

Kudos to Emmanuel Amunike and his boys.
https://www.facebook.com/CoolFMNigeria/videos/10153587854165490/?autoplay_reason=gatekeeper&video_container_type=0
www.petonsports.blogspot.com

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12,895 Views

Nigeria and Swaziland will clash under floodlights at the Somhlolo National Stadium in Lobamba, in their 2018 FIFA World Cup African Round 2 first leg tie, the Nigeria Football Federation have announced.

The Swaziland Football Association has fixed the match to start at 7pm Swazi time (6pm Nigeria time) on Friday, November 13 at the 20,000-capacity Somhlolo Stadium, which is an all-standing arena.

Swaziland eliminated Djibouti 8-1 on aggregate in round one of the qualifiers to set up the Super Eagles tie.

FIFA have appointed Germain Koole of Benin Republic as referee for the match, with his compatriots Bienvenu Dina, Sena Ulrich Houedin and Gustave Eugene Tohouegnon as assistant 1, assistant 2 and fourth official respectively.

Mohamed Bahou from Morocco will serve as the referee assessor with Joseph Nkole from Zambia to serve as match commissioner.

The Super Eagles, currently rated 52nd in the world, drew a bye in the Round One as the Sihlangu negotiated past Djibouti easily. The Sihlangu sit in 135th place in the FIFA ranking.

Swaziland have never qualified for any major competition.

The Super Eagles will resume camping for the match in Abuja on Monday, November 9.

U-17 World Cup Top Scorer Osimhen: I’m Not Under Pressure

Golden Eaglets top scorer, Victor Osimhen, has stated that his focus is not to add to his four goals tally but help his team beat Australia in Wednesday's second round FIFA U-17 World Cup clash in Chile.
Speaking ahead of the game against Australia, Osimhen told thenff.com that what is imperative is the team's success rather than individual achievements.

"I'm not under any pressure because we are a solid team and anybody can score goals for us. It is nice to have scored four goals so far in this competition but as a team, our objective is to win collectively.
”We are not going to underrate any team because all the teams left in the competition want to win and it is even going to be more difficult because we are the defending champions,” Osimhen said.

"It doesn't matter to me if I score or not, what we want as a team is victory against Australia on Wednesday and we are not going to underrate them.”
Meanwhile, Funsho Bamgboye and Udochukwu Anumudu will be available for selection against Australia after serving their suspensions.

EPL GOSSIP

MOURINHO OUT

Well, well, well. There was news on Monday that Jose Mourinho could lose his job if Chelsea lose to Liverpool next week, but now the Daily Mirror are claiming that senior players are expecting the Portuguese’s exit rather soon.
Dave Kidd is the man in the know, and he reports that players now believe it is a case of ‘when not if’ Chelsea will lose patience with the manager and show him the door. Kidd reports that players are not rebelling against the boss, but are growing more ‘bemused’ with each week as the fines and charges continue to roll in for Mourinho. The best part is this:

‘While a handful of players have aired grievances about Mourinho, there is an insistence that the manager has not “lost the dressing-room” and a feeling, in the words of one, that “we just want our Jose back”.’

Like a grieving parent praying for the safe return of their missing child, Chelsea’s players ‘just want their Jose back’.
But what of Mourinho’s future? There’s some confusion, with the Independent claiming his representatives are ‘investigating’ a move to the obvious destination of Paris Saint-Germain or the less obvious return to Inter Milan. Spanish newspaper Sport believe Monaco could be his next calling, while the Sun claims Pep Guardiola is the overwhelming favourite to replace Jose. The Times believe the Spaniard is open to extending his stay at Bayern Munich, however.
Basically, no-one’s got a f***ing clue.

AVB WANTS FALCAO
More terrible news for Chelsea fans: Radamel Falcao could be on his way out.
The Colombian striker has scored one goal in eight Premier League games since joining the Blues on loan from Monaco in the summer, and has carried on his stellar form from his spell at Manchester United.
The Telegraph believe Zenit St Petersburg are willing to hand the striker an escape route, with Andre Villas-Boas keen to link up with the forward he once won the treble with at Porto, scoring 33 goals in 36 games. He’s a very different striker now, Andre.
Zenit are keen on bringing Falcao in as soon as the January transfer window reopens, but it would require Chelsea cancelling their loan deal with Monaco. While he’s a bit rubbish, he is an actual striker (according to reports). Chelsea don’t have many of those.

THE END FOR TOWNSEND
Ladies and gentlemen, Charlie Wyett has an exclusive. The Sun’s man in the know reports that Andros Townsend actually plays football at club level. Not only that, but Andros could be moving clubs in January. Mental.
Wyett reports that Tottenham are willing to let professional international and part-time club footballer Townsend head out on loan in January, with the winger failing to win a place in the starting XI under Mauricio Pochettino. Swansea and Newcastle would be interested in the 24-year-old’s services.
The thing is, Spurs would need a replacement. Fear not however, as Wyett has us covered. He believes Spurs could go back in for Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie, but that the Congolese would cost upwards of £15million.

DELE RIGHT UP PSG’S ALLI
More worrying for Spurs than the exit of perennial substitute Townsend is the future of Dele Alli, who has been in fine form this season. Alli has acquitted himself to the Premier League with aplomb since joining from League One MK Dons, but his excellent performances could come at a cost.
According to reports in French newspaper L’Equipe, PSG assistant sporting director Olivier Letang was in attendance for Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Anderlecht in the Europa League in midweek. Letang’s subjects of interest were Anderlecht’s Youri Tielemans and Alli. Letang was likely disappointed therefore to see Alli play only 25 minutes as a second-half substitute, but it’s fair to note PSG’s interest nonetheless.

MAN UNITED WANT ANDERSON
…and while his name is indeed Anderson and he is Brazilian, it unfortunately is not the plump one. No, this is that fella at Lazio who’s meant to be really good.
Felipe Anderson is the guy, and you might remember him from last summer. United were reported to be heavily interested in his services and even apparently lodged a bid of close to £30million for him, but Lazio stood firm and the Red Devils settled for Anthony Martial. ‘WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY’, eh, the Mirror?
Anyway, Gazzetta dello Sport claim United will be back in for Anderson come January. He has started this season well with four goals and one assist in nine Serie A games. That valuation is unlikely to have changed an awful lot.

Mourinho just Allardyce with a budget

Date published: Tuesday 27th October 2015 3:20

If you have anything to add on any subject, you know what to do – mail theeditor@football365.com

Replace Rooney with a team, not a player
One of the main defenses I have seen of Rooney this season is that there is no direct replacement for him. And that is probably true, United would be hard pressed to replace a player of his stature and (former) ability in the current market. The likes of Agureo and Lewandowski are not going to move there. Higuain is probably more of a temporary fix than a long term solution. The issue is that people are ignoring the replacement that is already there.
No, not Martial (not yet anyway) but you replace Rooney with a fully functioning team rather than ten men lumbered with an immobile focal point. Put Martial in as centre forward. Your midfield base is two out of Schwienstiger, Schniderlin, Blind and Carrick. Behind a committed, mobile centre forward with an actual first touch, any three out of Herrera, Mata, Depay, Young and Fellaini. You could add Januzaj to the list next season.
You get a team with more guile, movement, invention. You get a team of 11 instead of 10+1. You get a collective that is better than the current collective. That is your replacement. Maybe Martial can become the proper focal point of the team. Maybe not. But the main point is that, at the moment, he is a damn sight better than Rooney.
Kev (Even Rooney must be hankering for some MLS by now)

No, replace him with Aubameyang
Dan Wardle: the question of who United replace Rooney with is much more complex than a simple comparison of the hassle of selling him and buying in a narrow talent pool with his current performance levels (which have been laughably poor since 2012, a fair few United fans called Rooney’s decline years ago).
If you want to replace Rooney with a bona fide world class striker, you aren’t replacing like-for-like. Rooney had, at best, two seasons in which he was a genuinely world class striker, and five or six years as a world class attacker, all of which are long gone. There’s certainly a compelling argument that United should move heaven and earth to sign a genuinely elite attacker. Hence why Ed Woodward spends most of every summer sending blank cheques to Munich and Madrid for Muller and Bale.
But United’s acquisition of any player of this calibre is entirely separate from the Rooney situation. United and Woodward want one, for commercial and sporting reasons, and eventually somebody will sell. It might be Bale, it might be Reus, it might be Muller, but it’ll happen irrespective of Rooney.
If United want to replace Rooney with what he’s become, a utility attacker who can be relied for about ten to fifteen goals a season, can play across a front four, and will do a tactical job for his team, there are no shortage of them. Januzaj, Pereira, Lingard et al. are already at the club. Kevin Kampl would a decent shout, albeit with atrocious hair, and most CL level clubs have at least one such player who plays that role. Florenzi at Roma can do that job, and play at right back too.
If United want a versatile attacker who would add a meaningful goal threat and isn’t a youth project, they could always look at Aubemayang. 20 odd goals already this season, can play across a front three, terrifying pace, mid-20s, and has the ego and arrogance to lead the line at United. Might be expensive, but the saving on Rooney’s ludicrous wages would help.United, at the club and on loan, currently have a young, talented, quick and versatile battery of attackers. Memphis, Martial, Januzaj, Wilson, Lingard, and Pereira, with Mata, Herrera and Young, are as exciting as anything at Old Trafford since 2007. Given the time and space to develop without having to accommodate a slow, technically limited has-been in attack, they might become something very special. RvN was sacrificed for Rooney and Ronaldo, I would suggest it’s now Rooney’s turn.
There is absolutely nothing to fear from a post-Rooney world. He has long since exhausted any patience he was due, and should have been moved on years ago. LvG could United a massive favour by putting a bullet in his career at the club this summer.
Chris MUFC

GNev and Rooney
Something I would like to address regarding G Nev and his lack of criticism of Wayne Rooney. He is still Rooney’s coach with the national team, a position he seems to value highly. Rooney is currently an England player so I don’t see how Neville could tear strips off him in commentary and then go try and coach him a few weeks later. I understand that this is a conflict of interest but I’m sure that was discussed with Sky when he took the job. I don’t think Neville can be 100% honest in his assessment of any current England player because of his role with the National side. I have never heard Neville properly criticise a current England player (happy to be corrected if he has). It’s a shame really because I would love to see him do a piece on Rooney’s declining performance standards but I don’t see that happening as long as Neville still works with him.
I also fully agree that Rooney has been rubbish for a while now and deserves every bit of criticism he gets. That’s just how it is when you are paid that kind of money and performing as he has been.
It’s never a good idea to publicly criticise your current colleagues, I’m sure Neville learned that from Roy Keane.
Dan, Ireland MUFC


Dat Guy (S)
Harry the Manc needs no defence from me, since he clearly sits on the side of ‘facts’, ‘evidence’, ‘logic’ and alongside the likes of previously-acclaimed-but-now-dismissed-because-they-disagree-with-your-n*rrative Neville. That he made some strong arguments is discounted because he had the audacity to call out a distant fan for some daft comments.
But it’s fascinating psychology to see the plot twist that “Mata and Herrera can’t do much if Rooney isn’t able to run the channels to give them options to pass to” as a retort. Funny that this wasn’t the case against Everton a couple of weeks back. Hmm… what could have changed.
I wonder if – just possibly – it was the increased standard of the (6 man) defence that Rooney was facing (and keeping on their toes)?
Had Lingard not got in Rooney’s way with his crossbar grazing effort, had Martial picked up Rooney’s reverse pass, had the ball been delivered in to Rooney rather than the near post after he’d spread the ball out wide, had we had the penalty that Sterling should have conceded, this anti-Rooney n*rrative would have been on hold for another week again.
But close tight games can happen when both sides set up with 6 man defences and one striker. Apparently though, that’s all Rooney’s fault. Damn him and his huge wages.
Guy S

Transfer request
Have to have a word on this famous transfer request that many United fans use to bash Wayne Rooney.
Firstly, remember the situation – we’d just sold Ronaldo, lost Tevez having messed around, and signed Obertan and Michael Owen on a free as their replacements.  We had a season where Rooney led from the front banging in goals left right and centre, and he questioned the ambition of the club.  Basically he was repeating what every single fan was saying at the time.  We were feeling the full force of Glazernomics and things looked pretty dire.  With hindsight, we still had Fergie, so he managed to continue working miracles for the next few years.  That is with hindsight.
Secondly I would like to mention a few things which are worse than (or at least on a par with) handing in a transfer request and subsequently changing your mind:

• Ronaldo agreed with the President of FIFA that Manchester United Football Club were “treating him like a slave” by forcing him to honour his contract and actually play football for us.  A SLAVE!
• Eric Cantona left the country and said he was never coming back – Fergie had to follow him to go to France and beg for him to play for us again
• Paul Scholes refused to play for us.  Refusing to play is up there with the cardinal sins of football
• George Best has a statue outside OT – however he had also reached a difficult situation with the club. Had reached the point of seeking a transfer? “Yes, I’m sick enough to ask for a move, I’ve got nothing against the management. It’s the team. It’s just not good enough. It’s just not going anywhere. I could go right through the team and find things wrong. People knock me when I’m not doing it, but when I’m not doing it who is?”. Sound familiar?
• David De Gea was pen in hand ready to actually sign for another club, having run down his contract.
• Countless examples of players trying to maximise their income from the club, which Rooney also did (Rio, Keane, etc).

Anyway, beat him with a stick for playing badly, but people seriously need to move on from the “transfer request”.  It’s rather pathetic.  What a player contributes to a club during their career is always more important than anything that happens off the field.
Brian D.  (P.s. I agree it’s time to drop Rooney for a few games and make him fight for his place again)

Mourinho is not the problem
Hi F365 –
I wrote in at the start of the season expressing my concern about the way the season was shaping up at the Bridge and as a Chelsea fan I am, sadly, not surprised. I did want to offer a slightly different perspective however on the problems at the club – I don’t actually think that Mourinho is part of the problem and nor do I think he is trying to get himself sacked. First up though, let me just state that I am not a Mourinho apologist – the man got it wrong with his treatment of Carneiro and the medical staff and has on occasions this season made statements that sound paranoid at best. However, while he has contributed to the issues this season, it is clear to me that he is not the cause of the of the problem, he is merely failing to solve it.
The cause of the problem is, very simply, the players. Take a really critical look at the squad and, pretty much across the board, there has been a 10% drop off in performances in all, bar maybe 1 or two players. But allow me to group them into the following categories :
Elite level players performing at their level : None
Elite level players underperforming : Hazard, Fabregas
Top level players performing at their level : Willian, Pedro (arguably), Azpilicueta
Top level players underperforming :  Matic, Ivanovic, Oscar, Costa
Squad players performing at their level :Loftus-Cheek, Begovic
Squad players underperforming :Cahill, Zouma, Ramires, Mikel, Remy, Falcao, Terry
Others, not enough game time : Courtois, Traore, Rahman
At the start of the season the message from Mourinho was clear : the same players would all need to improve if they wanted to retain the title – he made this abundantly clear to through the media bright and early. The squad was not significantly invested in and he recognised that more would need to come from the players to be able make a similar impact on the league as last year. Unfortunately, for whatever the reason, this message was not understood by the players and it was very much a case of “standing still is essentially going backwards”.
The problem was caused by a) the players dropping off their performance and b) a real lack of appropriate investment in the team over the summer in 2 problem areas (centre back and centre midfield).
This problem has been caused by the players and the director of football and Mourinho is the one struggling to pick up the pieces and solve  it. Unfortunately for  him, as each week passes it looks more and more like he is not the man who can do this. It is a shame as, like him or not, his record as a winner is untouchable.
Lee

But he’s Big Sam with a budget
I have to laugh when I read mails like this morning’s offering from Ahsan, AFC. Some people really are salves to hype.  “Mourinho is a genius”, he’s the “special one” – this is the kind of shite that the press were happy for years to pump out to sell newspapers.
Let’s look at his career a little more critically, shall we?
Porto, Chelsea (first time around) Inter & Madrid. Notice a common theme there… they were all the biggest spenders in their respective leagues. The biggest spenders, with the biggest budgets, paying the biggest salaries. Everything was skewed for their success and not winning the league with any of them is a sackable offence.
However there is more to the Mourinho magic. Not satisfied with every financial advantage, Mourinho also insists on referee baiting, cheating, time wasting, eye gauging, siege mentality etc…basically every possible variable also being skewed towards him and his team.
With absolutely everything in his favour, then he will deliver leagues playing defensive, dour, negative football.
Yep, he won Champions Leagues with both Porto and Inter. Porto had an easy run of oppenents (Monaco in the final???) and Inter won by replicating Greece 2004 Euros winning tactics.
So brainwashed are people that even when his reputation is being shattered as it currently is and he’s being exposed as the charlatan that he is, people assume it must be part of his own grand plans as opposed to being discovered for what he actually is…Fat Sam with a bigger budget and better PR team.
Sean

Lamela a rip-off or a good buy?
With Spurs playing quite well at the moment, I keep hearing commentators, pundits and the like saying things like “Lamela is beginning to repay his transfer fee”. Here is a list of the prices of attacking players who regularly start and have been signed within roughly the last 3 seasons for the big six this season;
Man City- De Bruyne- £55mil, Sterling- £49mil, Bony- £28mil
Arsenal- Ozil- £42.5mil, Sanchez- £35mil
Man Utd- Mata- £37.1mil, Martial- £36mil, Depay- £25mil
Chelsea- Hazard- £32mil, Costa- £32mil, Willian- £30mil, Pedro- £21.4mil
Liverpool- Benteke- £32.5mil, Firminio- £29mil
Spurs- Lamela- £30mil, Son- £22mil
I suppose you can look at this two ways; compare Lamela to a number of the other players and say he’s not as good and conclude that he is over priced.
Or, conclude that if you want a player who is good enough to play week in week out for a top 4 challenger, even if the player is not a superstar performer but is not a young prospect you are developing, you have to pay £30 million for them. Spurs paid about market value and got about market value.
Wondering what other mailboxers think? Is Lamela is a rip off? A good buy? or just about what you expect for £30 million these days.
Also, looking through these transfers made me think that the following are all relative bargains; Rooney- £25mil, Eriksen £11mil, Coutinho £8.5mil, Walcott £12.5mil, Ramsey 5mil, even Giroud at £12.5mil.
Joel (running the numbers) Nottingham


Didcot directions
Dear MC,
I’m sure that the mailbox will be packed full of fans celebrating or panicking about the FA Cup 1^st round draw last night (sorry, I mean the Emirates FA Cup, other cup competitions are available).  For my lot there is a worrying feeling of déjà vu, drawn away from home to the lowest ranked team in the draw, hopefully this time all the media focus will be on FC United and Salford City, meaning we can carry on with the job of winning a football match without a media narrative following us around for the next 10 days.
This draw did however bring to light the reason for me writing this mail, which is that Didcot is perhaps the rap centre of the UK.  Don’t believe me?  Just check out the directions on how to get there, driving north:
Straight Outta Compton, 8 Mile.
Terry Hall, Switzerland (unable to claim this as original comedy, entirely willing to plagiarise in the interest of publication.)

Sturridge a busted flush for Liverpool

Date published: Monday 26th October 2015 2:34

If you have anything to add on any subject, you know what to do – mail theeditor@football365.com

Blame Mata, Herrera, Kagawa…
In response to Saladinho, MUFC, Botswana, take you self-entitled, glory hunting, we-haven’t-won-so-I’m-going-to-spit-my-dummy out approach to fandom, and p*ss off. That’s our club captain you’re  talking about. A player who has contributed 200 goals to the cause, a player who had a decent game yesterday for all the carping and whinging this in this morning’s press. He was certainly no worse than any other attacking player on the pitch, and yet we find his name and pictures splashed all over the papers again this morning as though he’s the only footballer in the world? Did we all of a sudden forget that Mata and Herrera were both on the pitch yesterday and were just as flat and uninspiring? And this rumour that Rooney somehow denied Kagawa the chance to become the reincarnation of Ferenc Puskas is laughable. Kagawa was disappointing from start to finish for United, barring a handful of games. I won’t get started on the transfer requests; they must have really hurt from Botswana.
Harry The Manc.

Is Sturridge a busted flush?
There was an air of inevitability about yesterday. Bright start, a few reasonable chances then the inevitable nerves from both team and crowd as time wears on and the breakthrough is not forthcoming. I agree with a great deal of what CB, Washington DC wrote in this morning’s mailbox. I’m not one to point fingers (other than to Mr Veneers’ and his lack of competency at his day job) as many of our current woes are collective but it felt as if we’d swopped one limited, English Captain who’s want to try and score a thnderb*stard from last season for another. Can someone please tell Milner not to shoot. The Captain had an absolute shocker! Silly foul leading to their goal. It was every bit as bad a performance as Stevie Me was dialling in all of last year.
Anyway, I’ve been through enough 5yr plans (who many corners did that French imposter turn!?) to still have plenty of patience. And as I wrote recently we’ve got ourselves proper class gaffer for the first time in eons. Pinch ourselves to remind who’s been in the Liverpool hot-seat… Roy Hodgson FFS!!! I do hope Mr Veneers’ refreshing silence for once is due to embarrassment at how he performed.
We did look a different side with the Belgian beast on the pitch.. I’m starting to worry for Sturridge though. Is he a busted flush? I hope not as when fit and firing there’re few better in my humble and red-tinted opinion. Chelsea, Palace then Citeh in between League Cup and Europa… Not getting any easier any time soon for KloppMeister.
Gregory Whitehead, LFC

More on Klopp
I’m hoping that by the time we play Chelsea we will have Benteke ready to play 90, Firmino ready to at least start & hopefully Sturridge fit enough for the bench.
When Klopp came in, he didn’t make any grand announcements on playing style, formation etc. He wanted us to be aggressive in pursuit of the ball & be hard to beat. That was it.
So far, we have been hard to beat (still making defensive mistakes but conceding 1 doesn’t lead to 2 or 3 and I don’t fear every set piece whereas I did under Rodgers) and have shown periods of aggression in getting the ball back. Exactly what he’s said he wanted. The trouble is, when you’re making yourself hard to beat, you rely heavily upon the quality of your forwards to win matches. And we’re only just getting our quality forwards back to fitness.
I’ve seen you do a piece on comparing how others would cope with the same level of injuries but this can be reductive reasoning. The fact is that we were forced into playing our 4^th choice striker (who many media outlets were linking with a loan away in January) and we’ve struggled for goals as a result. Looking for a set piece to pay off (against Kazan and almost against Spurs) or for a moment of quality from next to nothing (Benteke yesterday).
Footballers are human beings and matches aren’t played in a vacuum. Klopp says that he saw a lack of belief after we conceded yesterday and that ties directly into the goal threat. We’re getting Benteke and Firmino up to fitness and we laboured for ¾ of the match to get a goal. Everyone knew as soon as they scored it was a draw nailed on. When we start getting these lads playing together and scoring a couple, then when we concede it won’t be the killer blow it has been because the team will believe more. Hopefully.
Kris, LFC, Manchester

As disappointing as it was to see Liverpool trip at the final hurdle there is much to be optimistic about. Liverpool look more in tuned with what Klopp wants to do, now it’s all about getting the player up to speed fitness wise. It is obvious that the team is not yet at the required fitness levels because most of the players looked knackered by the 80^thminute.
The Red’s upcoming fixture list looks favorable in this moment. Bournemouth trip to Anfield could not have come at a better time. The league cup game could be the perfect springboard for the Reds. It will also give those who have been playing a lot a much need rest while those in the fringes (I’m looking at you Lovren) will have a chance to prove their worth.
With Chelsea in full blown crisis mode and revenge on the mind in Russia, Liverpool could be unbeaten in 6 while cementing their place in their Europa league group, beat a premier league rival at their home and still be in 4 competitions by the start of November.
Paints a rosy picture doesn’t it.
Brian (Congrats to my New York Red Bulls for finishing top of the league last night!) LFC

Chelsea playing chicken
A couple of things on Chelsea. Firstly, who is most at risk from their current position and form? After the previous defeat against Southampton a stat was trotted out that no team had made the top 4 after such a slow start. Now, with another added to the mix, those hopes must be getting slimmer and slimmer. Granted, it’s not impossible, but if we were to write off their top 4 chances now, and also (perhaps generously given recent games) say they won’t go down either, isn’t Jose staying in the job more damaging to himself and his reputation than it is to Chelsea?
Every other week (at least) another poor performance comes along suggesting that he can’t right the ship, which he then compounds with his childishness and/or arrogance on the touchlines and with the press. If Chelsea were to fail to qualify for Europe, they would still be a team that could lavish money on any players they wanted, as Man united did in their year-long absence. Sure, their reputation would take a bit of a hit, but they could weather that storm. But if the team continues on this path, how damaged will Jose be? Which other European giants would want him? Real wouldn’t have him back, surely? Barca wouldn’t want him, both given his Real past and his eye gouging past. Bayern wouldn’t want him, would they? Would any English club? Maybe PSG, I guess…
The point is, really the only way for Jose to go is down and the longer he stays at Chelsea the further he’s going to plummet. From Chelsea’s point of view, they’d have to pay £30m (so I’ve read) to dump him and have been very wise when it comes to investing money in recent years. Are they now at a point where they’re daring Jose to quit to save himself? He seems to have been daring them to sack him for the last couple of weeks. Which one will give in first? As a non-Chelsea fan, I hope neither of them do. I’d love to see it all go up in flames…


Toon their own worst enemies
Rob Madeley is going to attract the majority of the ire of Newcastle fans for his (admittedly, absolutely awful) refereeing display in the Wear – Tyne derby, but for me (Clive), the biggest problem created by the referee’s incompetence is that the sense of injustice will almost certainly see to it that the club’s persistent internal errors go without investigation.
Up until the sending off, Steve McClaren would no doubt have been happy with the performance; Newcastle were turning the screw and looked the only side likely to score, never mind go on and win the game. And then the turning point. Chancel Mbemba, for the fourth or fifth time this season (that lead to a goal) was turned inside-out by a simple slide-rule pass. Rob Elliot, lard *rsed League Two-standard goalkeeper that he is, is about half an hour too slow off his line to make what would have been, for a keeper more alert / carrying slightly less timber, a routine claim of the ball. That left 33-year old wantaway Coloccini, inexplicably handed a new deal in the summer instead of being replaced, to be outpaced by the ponderous Steven Fletcher, and forced into jostling him. The result was, in fairness, not a foul and should not have been given as a penalty; it’s the correct and allowed usage of the shoulder, and the striker did not have control of the ball; whether he is first to it or not is subjective and for that reason it’s impossible to state it was a definite goalscoring opportunity. However, Coloccini is an experience defender who should know better than to give the referee that type of decision to make in that atmosphere. Likewise, questions should be asked as to why he is even still at the club, having proved unreliable for a period of two years now.
The defending for the corner leading to the goal, again, farcical. Elliot’s organisation of his defence is extremely questionable, and despite the heft he’s carrying, he does not pose an intimidating physical figure in the penalty area. Given the protection afforded to goalkeepers, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be throwing his not-inconsiderable bulk into the melee to claim or punch clear crosses, and he’s rarely successful in doing either.
Third goal, fair enough – we’re chasing the game and always likely to get caught on the break, no real complaints.
However, the overall feeling in the reports / social media is that NUFC “were robbed” by the refereeing; and I fear this is the stance that will be taken by the club’s hierarchy, rather than questioning why defensive reinforcements were not prioritised in the summer over spending £14m on a poncey haircut, sorry “Florian Thauvin”, to sit on the bench and why we’re still making the same academic mistakes week in, week out – even against Norwich we’d have conceded FIVE if not for the woodwork and a clearance off the line. I’ve heard time and time again that NUFC dominated possession – sorry, but again the worst team in the league, and a Sam Allardyce-managed team, who will always cede possession in favour of counter-attacking, that’s not something which should be celebrated, it should be expected. The bottom line is, Newcastle have been catastrophically mismanaged since their return to the Premier League. Persisting with a failing Alan Pardew, hiring Joe Kinnear, giving John Carver the manager’s job, all the while selling the best players and replacing them with cut-price imports… it’s not a foundation for success on the pitch, is it? You reap what you sow, and Newcastle have been sowing the seeds of relegation and a subsequent lengthy spell outside the top flight for a while now.
P.S. I’m a Newcastle fan – or at least I always was before they became a Sp*rts D*rect billboard, anyway.
Steven Mole

British ain’t best
This proper football man does my nut! Had this discussion with my dad this morning and he insightfully said “yeah, its all well and good to look for a British manager who knows the club… but this isn’t the 60’s anymore?”
Football is now, and has been for awhile, an elite sport played by elite athletes. You need an elite coach to manage this situation, to get more than the average out of the team. As John Nic rightly said, the alarming trend seems to be “British is best” which is horrifying on so many levels…
And the lazy journalism is to point to the German and Spanish leagues and say “oooooh… they have got plenty of krauts playing AND managing in there and the Spanish manager he can pick from loads of players starting in the Spanish league… Why not give our Brits a chance because we are bloody brilliant they’re always coming over here and stealing our jobs and our wives!”
The glaring misconception of unfairness and it being a god given right because we are bloomin’ British couldn’t be more wrong. The Bundesliga and La Liga play more players of their leagues national origin because they are technically more gifted – end of discussion. The same goes for managers, are you saying that Liverpool for example should’ve either let Rodgers lead to club to further down the league or replaced him with a “non-foreign” because they’re a British club?
Sherwood just simply isn’t good enough. Say what you want about Levy but the guy makes the “hard” calls when needed… Redknapp didn’t achieve the minimums, so was cut lose. Sherwood did well on paper but still didn’t achieve the minimums so its bye bye. He has done the same to AVB so can’t be accused of “Anti-PFM” bias.
Lerner did/has done the same. Lambert was let go, McLeish too and Sherwood was dragging the club further and further down that previously thought possible. Christ, listing those managers and the problem might be in who is having the final say but thats a topic for another day…
Whether you look at Owners/Chairman with a cynical or realistic eye, the more successful the club the more money/glory the Owner/Chairman has?
Should the Owner think “F*ck, we are bottom but this Sherwood is a proper football man and by god is he British so relegation be damned!”
We are happy to trot out the cliche for a player “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” but for managers “if you’re good enough… show us your passport and you better bloody love the Queen and by god you better be a proper football man…