Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy has admitted to being puzzled by the relative lack of movement in the transfer market so far this summer.
McCarthy has drafted in Jelle Van Damme, Steven Fletcher, Steven Mouyokolo and Stephen Hunt since the end of last season and has been more active than a number of his Premier League counterparts.
He told the Birmingham Mail: “I’ve no idea why it’s slow. People have budgets and can they get the players? Do they want to get better players who are costing too much?
“Teams have done that in the past. Do they want to make sure and wait? Are they all playing a bit cagey?
“I guess all those reasons come into play and players wait and try to be clever and cute and don’t accept the first thing.
“We’ve got five weeks to name our squad of 25, so I don’t think that’s causing any grief. It’s the start of the season that’s more important, surely.
“I can’t see any of the clubs who haven’t signed players suddenly going out and signing five or six. That would be hard to integrate them.
“We are all kinda fishing in different pools. There is a section where we can go and buy, there is a section others can go and buy – then there’s Manchester City.
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“Even Manchester United and Liverpool don’t appear to be doing much, but there are little pockets of players we all know we can do business with.
“The players know that as well. They might have two or three clubs in their ears, so they can be selective.”
Arsenal target Patrick Herrman has emerged on the radar of Napoli, who look set to rival the Gunners for his signature (Talksport)
The 20 year old Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder has attracted the interest of a number of clubs, notably of Arsenal, according to reports in Germany.
The youngster made his debut in 2009 and made 15 starts last season. A talented German under-21 international, Herrmann has made a superb start to the season, scoring twice in the first 10 games as his team sit 3rd in the table.
Source in Italy today confirmed that Napoli have registered an interest in Herrmann and are currently considering making a bid in January.
Arsenal will be ready to act if the club from Naples do make a bid, with reports suggesting that a bid of as little as £3 million may be enough to tempt Monchengladback to part with their talented youngster.
Meanwhile, Napoli have this week moved to confirm that talented trio Marek Hamsik, Edson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi are categorically not for sale following interest from Manchester City, who have recently sent chief scout Carlo Cancellieri to watch the stars.
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Laurent Blanc was content with France’s 2-0 Euro 2012 qualifying win over Luxembourg, despite a lacklustre attacking display from Les Bleus.Goals from Phillipe Mexes and Yoann Gourcuff at Luxembourg’s Stade Josy Barthel were enough to lift Blanc’s side four points clear of Belarus at the top of Group D, but the former Bordeaux manager watched his men squander a number of good opportunities.
Real Madrid star Karim Benzema was one player who looked particularly out of touch, leaving Blanc with some selection headaches ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Croatia in Paris.
“Offensively, it was not a very good or very powerful performance. But we must make a comprehensive analysis,” Blanc said.
“In saying that, we lacked consistency, but there was little space against Luxembourg.”
The match was the first game back for Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Manchester United defender Patrice Evra after their controversial suspension in the wake of France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign, and Blanc was pleased with the influence of both.
“They took a tentative start. They then gradually got into the match. They did a good job and there is a chance to see them stay with us. They actually are part of the France group,” he said.
Ribery paid tribute to the fighting spirit of Luxembourg and said he was relieved to have gotten through the match.
“It was not an easy game, but the win was the main thing,” he said.
“It was nice to play the full 90 minutes, but the main thing is to work well.”
Liverpool are hopeful the groin injury Fernando Torres picked up during the World Cup final is not as serious as was first feared.
Torres was an extra-time substitute during Spain's 1-0 victory over Netherlands in Johannesburg on Sunday, but ended the match in pain after pulling up sharply holding his groin.
The 26-year-old striker has struggled with a succession of injuries since arriving at Anfield three years ago from Atletico Madrid.
He still managed to score 22 goals last season despite two bouts of knee surgery restricting him to just 32 appearances.
Torres is now back in Spain with the victorious national team and the Reds are preparing to send a medical team to Madrid to assess his latest injury scare.
However, Liverpool's new head of medicine and sports science, Dr Peter Brukner, is hopeful that the latest concern is not too serious.
"We've been in touch with the Spanish medical team and they don't think it's too serious. It's an adductor muscle injury but they've not had a chance to assess it today," he told Liverpool's official website.
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"Fernando will have a proper assessment and probably a scan tomorrow and some of the Liverpool medical staff will go to Madrid later in the week to fully assess the injury and organise his rehab. At this stage we don't think it's too serious.
"We can't say too much more at the moment until it is properly assessed."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Bolton head to the Hawthorns on Saturday looking to make it back-t0-back wins against a West Brom side who have a serious problem scoring goals at home.
Roy Hodgson’s men have failed to replicate the form that saw them shake off their notorious yo-yo tag and finally prove that they are capable of making an impression in the Premier League. The former Liverpool boss’ arrival in February was credited as a turning point for the club with the Hodgson providing some vital inspiration and experience to guide the Baggies to within inches of a top-half finish. However the current campaign has been far from positive with three wins in their 11 games so far and some seriously drab performances with their home form proving the most alarming of all. The Hawthrons faithful have had to endure three defeats in their five home fixtures with the Baggies managing only one win and three goals on their own turf. Their struggles to find the net at home haven’t been helped by injuries to last season’s top scorer Peter Odemwingie and record signing Shane Long with understudies Simon Cox and Marc Antoine Fortune failing to adequately step into to replace the pair. At one point, however, it did look like Hodgson’s men were turning a corner with a run of four games without defeat which included a morale boosting win away at Midland’s rivals Aston Villa. Unfortunately they slipped back into old habits although failing to put up so much as a fight against Liverpool and Arsenal before the international break. The well travelled Hodgson will need to get his team working in tandem and scoring goals at home if they are to steer themselves clear of the dreaded drop zone.
Moving clear of the bottom three is the only task on Bolton boss Owen Coyle’s mind after watching his side dismantle Stoke at the Reebok Stadium a fortnight ago. The Trotters finally buried the ghost of their FA Cup Semi Final defeat to the Potters – seen as the catalyst for their poor start to the season – smashing five past them without reply. It was only their third win since the opening day of the season with Coyle seeing his side slip to eight defeats in nine games since then. That dreadful run of form saw the club slide down the table and into the relegation zone which was a position many tipped them to be well clear of coming into the festive period. Injuries to key players haven’t helped Bolton whilst a run of games against five of last season’s top six was always going to be difficult. New signings like Chris Eagles, Darren Prately, Nigel Re0-Coker and David N’Gog took a while to get going but have now fully integrated themselves into the side and all four played a part in their first home win of the season. Eagles in particular was the star of the show scoring twice and dictating the play displaying the sort of game winning talent that Sir Alex Ferguson saw in him as a youth at Manchester United. Should the Trotters emerge victorious from this one it will be the first time they have managed consecutive wins in the Premier League this season and will move them out of the drop zone.
West Brom – 14th
Last Five
Lost 3-0 v Arsenal (A), Lost 2-0 v Liverpool (H), Won 2-1 v Aston Villa (A), Won 2-0 v Wolves (H), Drew 2-2 v Sunderland (A)
Potential Starting X11
1. B. Foster 12. S. Reid 3. J. Olsson 23. G. McCauley 20. N. Shorey 14. J. Thomas 21. Y. Mulumbu 7. J. Morrison 11. C. Brunt[C]* 17. G. Dorrans 31. S. Cox
Injury News
Albion are without three of their key players with strikers Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long ruled out with knee injuries along with Austrian Paul Scharner who is suffering from a similar problem
Key Player
Chris Brunt – It’s been a rather dull start to the season from the Baggie’s inspirational skipper and now is the time for Brunt to stand up and be counted. Brunt has the ability to turn the game on it’s head with one swing of that deadly left foot although it hasn’t been seen as regularly this season. Should he have his focus and feet finely tuned on Saturday he could cause havoc for the Bolton defence.
Match Fact
Goals have been hard to come by at the Hawthorns this season and the Baggies will need to start scoring if they are to secure all three points having won only once in 10 games against a visiting Bolton side.
Bolton – 18th
Last Five
Won 5-0 v Stoke (H), Lost 3-1 v Swansea (A), Lost 2-1 v Arsenal (A) Lost 2-0 v Sunderland (H), Won 3-1 v Wigan (A)
Potential Starting X11
22. J. Jaaskelainen 39. J. Riley 5. G. Cahill 31. D. Wheater 4. P. Robinson 7. C. Eagles* 6. F. Muamba 19. N. Reo Coker 11. M. Petrov 17. I. Klasnic 14. K. Davies [C]
Injury News
On loan Manchester City fullback Dedryck Boyata is the only injury concern for Coyle with the five other players in the treatment room unlikely to return until next year.
Key Player
Chris Eagles – After a slow start to his career at the Reebok Eagle’s has emerged from the shadows in recent weeks turning in some splendid performances much to the delight of his manager. The former Manchester United winger has finally started to display the promise that many saw in him during his early days with his two goals last week showing his intelligence and composure in front of goal.
Match Fact
The Trotters enjoy their trips to the Midlands and will be expecting to pick up some valuable points on the road once again having managed to avoid defeat in three out of the last four Premier League fixtures at the Hawthorns.
Last Time at The Hawthorns
Premier League 2nd October 2010
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West Brom 1-1 Bolton
Elmander, 64
Morrison, 78
Attendance: 22,846
Referee: Peter Walton
PREDICTION
Bolton have had a dreadful start to the season but have picked up most of their points on the road and will be confident of taking something away from the Hawthorns. West Brom have real issues playing in front of their own fans and it’s imperative that they start picking up points on home soil if they want to avoid being sucked towards the bottom of the table. This weeks visitors are on a high after their recent victory and the Baggies will need to be on their game if they are to avoid another home defeat.
Lazio coach Edy Reja is already looking forward to the Rome derby next weekend after his side triumphed 2-0 over Palermo on Sunday.Lazio consolidated their hold on third on the Serie A table with victory at the Stadio Olimpico, which came courtesy of a Giuseppe Sculli brace inside the first 18 minutes.But the Italian striker was substituted off in the 52nd minute for what Reja described as an allergic reaction to the pitch, which had been treated with green paint to cover up patches of dry grass.Reja’s men will face Roma next Sunday in a clash vital to both teams’ hopes of securing European berths.Roma have gone undefeated since manager Vincenzo Montella took over from Claudio Ranieri, and Reja is anticipating a thrilling encounter.”We struggled a little in the second half (on Sunday), even if we defended in an organised fashion,” Reja said.”I expected a little more push, but we took our foot off the accelerator.””Now there is the derby next week. Roma have quality and experience, so we’ve got to give it heart, just as we have done up until now.””We are slightly ahead of them in the standings and hope we can keep both Roma and Udinese behind us. I’ve lost a few derbies, so I hope it’s our turn this time round.””I have brought harmony back to the locker room and that was a great conquest for me.”Palermo coach Serse Cosmi experienced a first-up defeat after replacing Delio Rossi, and did not mince words in his first post-match press conference.”I had a great deal of enthusiasm and hunger to get back to work, but we were shocking in the first 20 minutes,” Cosmi said.”We were too timid, so Lazio were allowed to go in front too easily and then doubled their lead straight after.””There’s a long way to go yet, but the fact remains we basically lost to their only two shots on goal.”
Former colleague Avram Grant expects Real Madrid to change the football philosophy of Jose Mourinho. The new West Ham manager was asked if he had a strained relationship with the Special One whilst at Chelsea and then went on to elaborate on the changes he thinks will occur at the Bernabeu:
“I enjoyed working with him. He is a good person, an organised coach, who knows how to use technology in football and has the capacity to analyse the games…Everyone knows that if you sign Jose you have one certain style of football. His Chelsea played good football in general. I mean, they had a way of dealing with games and tournaments. Mourinho likes to defend, he feels good that way. And we know that he will not be able to do that at the Bernabeu. I would not say that Mourinho will change their philosophy in Madrid, but Madrid will, in the end, change the philosophy of Mourinho.”
Real Madrid is a club steeped in historical prestige; the mid 50s and 60s saw Puskas and Di Stefano in a team that virtually monopolised the European Cup (5 consecutive wins from 1956-1960 and another in 1966). Then, just over 30 years later, the Galácticos supplied three more in five years. But a crucial difference at this stage is that Madrid have not been a force in European competition for half a decade. Not progressing past the round of sixteen consistently (6 consecutive attempts) is a damning and sobering statistic. And I think Grant underestimates the obsession Madrid have with returning to the summit of European club competition. Though their callous and surface driven ethos is unquestionable (the need to play attacking, care-free football maintains the Madrid image) it is only heightened by the appointment of Jose Mourinho; someone who wins.
It’s probably most fitting at this juncture in time that Mourinho finds himself head hunted by Madrid. It underpins the necessity of victory – by any means necessary. Though many have commented how the desire for great football supersedes the imperative of winning at Madrid, the very act of appointing an exponent of functional, tactically astute football is evidence enough to the contrary. It goes further than words, or player signings, or manager sackings to elucidate the image obsession that prevails at Real. Will the fans and the hierarchy grumble if victory is achieved unglamorously? Certainly. But if it brings the first Champions League trophy in nearly a decade the grumbles will not facilitate overhaul. A much more fitting scenario for Madrid and Mourinho to end with will be European success coming through the Portuguese’s methods and then the two parting company i.e. Madrid sacking him – only after he has restored them to the summit.
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But again, this remains purely speculative. The Madrid media monster is unlike anything Mourinho has undertaken previously. His unique ability as a manager is not the habit of winning but more so how he reacts to the players at his disposal. To say he always plays the same way is a sweeping misjudgement; though the output has the same tone, the method does vary. At Chelsea he clinically instilled a 4-3-3 because he knew it would be tactically superior to the heavily used 4-4-2 in the Premier League (it was a reactionary step with regards to the league, it wasn’t because it was his unmitigated system). With Inter the tactical setup differed as the fulcrum shifted to a double pivot in midfield and Wesley Sneijder as a playmaker – the best coaches adapt and Mourinho will certainly do the same:
"I am a coach who adapts his philosophy to the players he has, trying to get the best out of my players. Normally, players feel valued again after their work with me. A team needs to have equilibrium. One needs to work with and without the ball, be strong offensively and defensively, have psychological balance, and win matches. Winning matches is very important because it makes one psychologically stronger and more confident, without which it is impossible to win titles."
Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has accused Liverpool’s Luis Suarez of racially abusing him during the 1-1 draw between the teams at Anfield on Sunday.
With pair had running battles in the tense stalemate on Merseyside, with Javier Hernandez equalising after Steven Gerrard had given the home side the lead.
The France international was visibly upset with Suarez in the second half after something the South American had said to him, which he claims was racist.
“There are cameras, you can see him say a certain word to me at least 10 times. There is no place for that in 2011,” Evra told French media sources.
With the seriousness of the claims, the FA is set to look into the incident further.
“Referee Andre Marriner was made aware of an allegation at the end of the fixture and subsequently reported this to the FA,” an official statement reads.
“The FA will now begin making enquiries into the matter.”
The Uruguay international has rebuffed Evra’s claims however, and maintains his innocence.
“I’m upset by the accusations of racism. I can only say that I have always respected and respect everybody,” he told The Daily Mail.
“We are all the same. I go to the field with the maximum illusion of a little child who enjoys what he does, not to create conflicts.”
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It will be a difficult task for the FA to get to the bottom of what really happened, and determine whether Suarez has a case to answer or if it can just be put down to the built up nature of an important Premier League fixture.
Hannover and Mainz kept the pressure on the Bundesliga leaders on Saturday as both sides recorded hard-fought away wins.Hannover had an 89th minute header from defender Christian Schulz to thank for their 1-0 victory over St Pauli, a result that temporarily lifts them into third place on the table ahead of Bayern Munich’s clash with league leaders Borussia Dortmund later on Saturday.A 2-1 win over Hoffenheim ensures Mainz remain in fifth spot on the table.Mainz took the lead through Andreas Ivanschitz at Rhein-Neckar-Arena, but the hosts looked to have salvaged a share of the spoils when David Alaba equalised seven minutes from time.Enter Elkin Soto, and the Colombian midfielder secured all three points for Mainz just two minutes later when he found himself on the end of a Marcel Risse cross to fire home the winner.Elsewhere on Saturday, Cologne moved five points clear of the relegation zone with a surprise 1-0 win over Freiburg thanks to a Lukas Podolski goal.Relegation battlers Kaiserslautern claimed a valuable point at home with a 1-1 draw against Hamburg, while Schalke and Nuremberg also drew 1-1 when Raul cancelled out Jens Hegeler’s opener for the visitors.
England goalkeeper Robert Green insists he has the mental strength to recover from his calamitous World Cup mistake.
Fabio Capello's side had taken an early lead thanks to Steven Gerrard's well-taken goal and were in control of the match until Green inexplicably allowed Clint Dempsey's weak shot to slip out of his grasp and trundle over the line in a 1-1 Group C opener in Rustenburg.
The West Ham keeper could be dropped for Friday's second game against Algeria with David James and Joe Hart pushing for the number one jersey.
But despite his high-profile mistake, Green believes he can cope with the scrutiny he will be under should Capello keep faith with him.
"It was a mistake," he said."The important thing is not to let it affect you for however long is left in the game.
"That is what you prepare for mentally. You don't prepare mentally for making great saves and playing the perfect game. You prepare for trauma.
"It is regrettable and not what you want to happen but that's life and you move on, you hold your head up high and get to work in training.
"It won't affect me psychologically. I'm 30, I'm a man and you have hardships in life and prepare for them.
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"I'm strong enough to move on. At a younger point in my life it would have affected me more.
"But you hold your hand up and say 'that's gone, move on and don't let it affect you'."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email