The draw for the League Cup was held last week to decide every league club’s starting fixture.
Ipswich haven’t ever had much luck in the competition and in recent years they have used the cup as a chance to give reserve players some game time.
A lot of other sides have chosen to do the same and as a consequence the credibility of the League Cup has been in decline since it was founded over 50 years ago.
The prize money for winning the league cup is only £100,000 which is significantly smaller than the £2 million prize given to the FA Cup winners. The other incentive for winning the League Cup is Europa League qualification but neither that nor the cash prize is enough to make it worth the time of a top 4/5 clubs.
However, for a Championship club like Ipswich, Europa League qualification would be a massive prize. The only question Ipswich would need to ask is whether it is worth risking the teams fitness levels for a shot at the cup?
It is safe to say that most Premier League clubs won’t be too bothered about the cup this year and they will probably use a lot of reserve or youth players in the earlier rounds. This could well give a Championship side a good chance to steal the trophy and cause an upset. After all, Cardiff managed to get all the way to the final last season and a few other Championship sides have got far in the competition recently.
Club’s like Ipswich will be weighing up their chances and deciding whether it is worth potentially tiring out a few first team players for a shot at the League Cup trophy. Cardiff certainly suffered last season because of their run in the competition. They invested a lot of energy into the cup by fielding their strongest team every game which could have cost them promotion.
The only consolation prize for Cardiff was the £50,000 runners up prize which is pretty insignificant even for a Championship side. In hindsight Cardiff’s cup run probably wasn’t worth it as the extra games hindered their chances of succeeding in the play-offs or even pushing for automatic promotion.
When Roy Keane was in charge of Ipswich he made it clear that he did not care for the League Cup as he played mostly youth and reserve players. Although Keane made a lot of mistakes at Portman Road this wasn’t one of them. Any team hoping to gain a play-off place should refrain from using first team players in the League Cup because the potential risk of damaging league form isn’t worth it.
Personally, the only sides I can see the newly named Capital One Cup appealing to are Premier League clubs that know they have no chance of qualifying for Europe via their league position and know they have no chance of being relegated, sop very few.
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It could possibly appeal to Championship sides who have no chance of going up or down but the division is always so open that this rarely happens. There isn’t much appeal for League One and League Two teams either as they don’t have the strength in depth to stand a chance of winning the cup, even against weaker higher level clubs.
In conclusion, for Ipswich I don’t think the League Cup is good for anything apart from maybe giving some youth and reserve players some game time. Looking on a much bigger scale I don’t think the cup is good for anyone apart from a few Premier League teams. In total 92 clubs enter and it is only good for 4 or 5 of those clubs. I think we should consider scrapping the cup altogether.
Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van Der Vaart may re-join former club Hamburg, as he could find himself surplus to requirements at White Hart Lane under new boss Andre Villas-Boas, reports The Guardian.
The 29 year old enjoyed a rich vein of form in the Spurs starting eleven under Harry Redknapp, but with his position less assured under Villas-Boas, he could move back to Hamburg, where he played for three years prior to joining Real Madrid in 2008.
Having been initially linked to a move to Schalke 04, Club CEO Clemens Tonnies recently bought an end to any speculation, leaving Hamburg the front runners to sign the Dutchman.
The arrival of Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim last week also doesn’t favour Van Der Vaart, who could leave alongside Luka Modric, subject to a bid from Real Madrid.
The move could suit Van Der Vaart however, as not only will he be guaranteed more first team football, he also enjoys cult status among the Hamburg faithful. It will also suit his wife, a German television presenter who regularly finds herself travelling between Germany and London.
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Tottenham could find themselves in different shape ahead of the new season under their new boss.
Denial can be a difficult thing in football. The admittance of error is something we seldom hear in the Premier League and in an industry where mistakes often cost millions, perhaps it’s easier to skew our opinions and beliefs into believing what we’re witnessing is right.
There is always a nature of blind faith supporting any football club and Liverpool fans aren’t any different from any others in the league. Although there has to be a cut off point. A backdrop of cultural and ethical implications may have shrouded the support of Luis Suarez, but there are no blurred lines in the support of Andy Carroll’s place in the team.
If Brendan Rodgers wants him out, then that is the only stance supporters should be buying into – that of footballing principles. Because at the end of the day, transfer fees, bruised pride and idyllists aren’t going to win you football games. The vision of the manager and the way his players perform in his set-up, will. Nothing else should matter.
The Andy Carroll situation has fast turned into something of a burning dilemma up at Anfield. It’s been quipped a million times, but it wasn’t the Gateshead born striker’s fault he cost £35 million. He wasn’t worth that much and probably never will be. Although the fact is that it has played its part in his difficult last 18 months at Liverpool.
But there is also a fact that you don’t become a bad player overnight. Form is temporary; class is permanent, so they say. Some may be ready to ridicule such a statement, but his time at Liverpool doesn’t mean that he can’t still become a massive Premier League success.
Carroll showed enough at Newcastle to suggest this and towards the closing stages of last season at Liverpool as well. His overwhelming gift is of course an immense aerial prowess, but he has a decent ability to hold the ball up too and a sincerely powerful shot as well. What he needs is a team that is willing to base their entire side around him. Play to his strengths and there are rewards to be reaped. It might not be tiki-taka football, but what does it matter?
There is more than one way to play football and just because Carroll epitomises the strengths of a less favourable style in today’s game, it doesn’t mean that a Premier League team can’t be successful with him in their side.
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But that also decrees that Carroll’s game isn’t going to be suited to all set-ups. And the question has to be, does Brendan Rodgers have a need for an archetypal English number nine in his new Liverpool set-up? In the fluid, mobile system Rodgers will look to play, the emphasis is going to be all around possession; pass, pass and pass again. The ball is going to be kept on the deck, as opposed to launched into the air. His frontman is going to need to bestow intelligent movement and technically excellent hold up play. You can see where this is going.
You can’t force the shoe on if it doesn’t fit. If Brendan Rodgers doesn’t see Andy Carroll as part of his long-term plans, and unless he has some really quite drastic change of philosophy, then he has to be moved on. New managers arrive at clubs all the time and when they do, players who don’t fit into their conception of a team that will win football matches, are usually moved on. It doesn’t matter that it’s Andy Carroll, it doesn’t matter that he cost so much money and it doesn’t matter that Kenny Dalglish signed him either.
There is a school of thought that Brendan Rodgers is naïve in shifting Carroll without giving him a chance or looking at him in close quarters. Rodgers might learn the intricacies of Carroll’s game a bit better and there will be elements that may well surprise him.
But the bread and butter of Carroll’s game is there for the world to see. It’s not as if he is some shrinking violet with a hidden aspect of his game that has been restricted through playing out of position. Rodgers knows exactly what Carroll’s game is all about and if he doesn’t, it’s only going to be a stay of execution if he does.
This isn’t to say that there is any form of bad feeling around Carroll and not everybody wants to see the back of him. But if he was to stay, he needs to be backed to the hilt and have Rodgers craft his team around him. Rodgers has made the right noises about having Carroll in his team, but it’s difficult to tell whether the Northern Irishman is simply indulging in good PR. Luis Suarez will of course play a prominent part and the singing of Fabio Borini represents a tried and tested player for Rodgers. There’s no smoke without fire and if the club have indeed accepted a bid from West Ham then the gaffer must be happy to let him go. If that’s the case then Carroll is fighting a losing battle staying at Liverpool.
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When you cost your club so much money to acquire, the subsequent focus and expectation is unavoidable. Andy Carroll has become a victim of a transfer fee that he had no control over. One of the unfortunate sideshows has been the media’s continuous stirring of his situation and the added exposure certainly hasn’t done him any favours. It may seem like pedantic critique, but did a man as wily and experienced in the game as Kenny Dalglish not wonder what effect the title of most expensive British signing in history might have on Carroll? It’s academic now, but still food for thought.
But there is no more time for posturing and denial. Perhaps it’s time Rodgers made his intentions crystal clear. Because the current hesitation and indecision are only going to cost Liverpool and Andy Carroll dearly.
Carroll needs to play in a team that aren’t going to be afraid to back him all the way. Liverpool can’t pour any more time into something if their heart’s not truly in it.
Stick of twist with Andy Carroll? A simple question, but what would you do? Tell me how you see it all on Twitter, follow @samuel_antrobus and bat us your views.
Now this is the first time that we’ve tried one of these features for the site, but with the biggest game of a surprisingly busy Wednesday evening to look forward to at White Hart Lane between the two sides separated by just four points in the current Premier League standings, it’s an interesting one to explore and debate considering that the two squads are somewhat comparable in terms of the strength of their first XI.
Victory tonight could see Andre Villas-Boas’ side leap up into fifth while Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will be hoping to finally guide his team back into the top ten. The only criteria for selection is that injured players for this fixture are not eligible to play in the combined eleven, so that rules out Scott Parker (achilles), Younes Kaboul (knee) and Benoit Assou-Ekotto (knee) for the hosts and Lucas Leiva (thigh), Martin Kelly (knee) and Fabio Borini (foot) for the visitors. Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation that both teams have shown a penchant for this season, let’s get on with our starting eleven.
Click on Luis Suarez to see the full combined XI
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“Don’t get carried away, don’t get carried away, don’t get carried away.”
That’s what most Blackpool fans are trying desperately to tell themselves after witnessing some of the best football they have seen by a Blackpool side.
And I don’t say that lightly.
Fans much older than myself came away from the Leeds game saying that is the best team they have ever seen. Even for much younger fans, who watched Vaughan, Adam and co. embarrass some Premier League sides, came away saying this football is better than that.
The most important thing is that this wasn’t one of those games where everything clicks and you give a side a right old pasting. Far from it. It looked like it would be ‘one of those days’ after two denied penalty claims, two strikes of the woodwork and countless missed chances.
But no, this was a game that we saw our new and improved philosophy and style of football come to fruition. The slick passing, the pressing, the movement, the creativity and the strength in depth. All this against a Neil Warnock side who pressed and harried, huffed and puffed and worked harder than a lot of teams will. And they never got near us.
Leeds will be up there at the end of the season, I don’t doubt that, they are a good team, but they left Bloomfield Road last night stunned and exhausted.
After a great start to the campaign against Millwall ending the first fixture looking down on the league, albeit only by virtue of alphabetical order, Blackpool looked to keep the ball rolling at home to a Leeds side that also tasted victory on the opening day.
All things considered it looked to be a great game. Two sides full of confidence, with some gifted players on show in front of a loud if not sell-out crowd. The only downside was some monsoon style rain earlier in the day that made the pitch very heavy, with 10 inch divots coming up with every turn. Thankfully, it had no bearing on the game, and we got a great spectacle. Two good sides playing out a fast-paced and entertaining match.
Right from the off there were chances, mainly for Blackpool as Leeds struggled to get a grip on our passing in the middle and pace out wide. But despite this, our long-term achilles heel of conceding from corners came back to haunt us. A soft goal all round, but before and after that goal, the game was almost entirely played out in only two thirds of the pitch. Only two dubious refereeing decisions and two great saves by Kenny stopped Blackpool ending the half with in the lead.
And in all honesty, that pattern continued after the break with Blackpool hitting the post after about a minute. A signal of intent and a sign of things to come. Three or four chances came our way within the first five minutes of the second half, all spurned. But something was coming. To be fair to Leeds, they had a 10 minute spell after about an hour, but aside from that it was waves of attack against them and in the end it was no surprise that they finally crumbled after two superbly crafted goals.
I can safely say it’s good to be back. It seems an age since our last game at Bloomfield Road, and after a night that saw such a great game, nobody can contain their excitement for Saturday.
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So that good result and fantastic performance makes for a very decent start to the season. Although it is only after two games, we sit top of the league, but most importantly we look on top form. With us still getting to grips with our mammoth squad, getting some of the late arrivals fitter and getting to know the system even better, surely things can only get better…
In truth, a successful next few weeks for us is not on the pitch, but off it in terms of keeping hold out our best players. Having looked safe over the summer, some are starting to worry now with offers and rumours coming in all over the place. If, come September, Phillips, Baptiste, Evatt and Ince are all walking out in tangerine, we can consider it the best possible start to the season. And if that is the case, I can’t see us finishing too far away from those top two spots.
But let’s try our best to not get carried away. Please…
The Premier League last season was dominated by strikers, as the malaise on the overall standard of defenders continues. With Robin van Persie’s move to Manchester United from Arsenal perhaps tipping the balance of power back towards Ferguson’s side, it’s worth taking a look at the main contenders to see which club currently operating has the best strikeforce on show?
Firstly, let’s set some ground rules, otherwise we’ll resort simply to a ‘he’s better than him’ debate, which is all rather reductive and boring. This is in no way scientific, so feel free to chew the fat in the comment section below and I’m also discounting creative midfielders and wingers simply because they are not what you would term conventional strikers, so there’s no place for Hatem Ben Arfa, Juan Mata or Santi Cazorla I’m afraid, despite their obvious talent.
The criteria are – first-choice starters, back-up, variance to their attack, impact and pedigree. So without further ado, let’s get the ball rolling.
Manchester City are the first club that springs to mind, having won the league title last term and containing the likes of Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko within their squad. Aguero and Tevez are the first-choice pairing for the club and they’ve struck up a wonderful partnership in recent months, so we’ll give them 9/10 as they’re comparable to any in the rest of Europe.
When it comes to back-up, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko are also formidable, with the Italian striking a double in the semi-final of Euro 2012 to knock Germany out, while Dzeko struck 14 times in the league last term despite not being first-choice, so we’ll give them 9/10 again. The variance is there, with Dzeko the big man, Aguero and Tevez the small, intricate forwards and Balotelli somewhere in between, so again, 9/10.
In terms of pedigree, Balotelli, Dzeko, Tevez and Aguero are all recognised players at international level and have experience of European competition – none have set either alight just yet, though, so 8/10 for that one. The impact of Tevez had transformed City as club laying the groundwork for future star players to follow, while Aguero’s record is exceptional despite only being in England a year – Balotelli and Dzeko have been somewhat more inconsistent, but they’ve scored goals in big games that helped them clinch the title last term, which at the end of the day, is what it’s all about, so we’ll mark them a brave and bold 10/10 for that – for those of you counting in the back, that’s an overall score of 45/50.
To Stamford Bridge next and the club’s three recognised strikers, one of which is out on loan, are Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge and Romelu Lukaku. The £50m Spaniard is the first-choice man in a 4-2-3-1 system, but a record of just 13 goals in 69 games, only seven of which have come in the league is quite frankly very poor, so 3/10 for him.
The back-up of Daniel Sturridge is decent, and this could all change soon, with the club reported to be chasing both Edinson Cavani and Hulk at the moment too, but there’s not much depth to speak of at the moment. The England international spent most of last term out wide on the right and despite an excellent first half of the campaign, faded badly, so we’ll give him a 5/10, given that Lukaku is out on loan at West Brom.
When it comes to variance, Sturridge is certainly different to Torres, relying on his pace more than positioning and sharply timed runs, so 6/10 for that, although it would be more if the big Belgian were still at the club. Impact at the club, having lost the hugely experienced Didier Drogba at the end of last season also comes in for a battering, with just 4/10. Pedigree is almost entirely weighted on to Torres, and despite his struggles, he’s a World Cup, Champions League and double European Championship winner, so in that regard, along with Sturridge, they get a 9/10 – a grand total of 27/50 for a club in a period of undoubted transition.
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Newcastle can also stake a claim, with the likes of Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Shola Ameobi to choose from. With Ba pushed out onto the left flank to accommodate Hatem Ben Arfa as much as Cisse, they do play with two strikers, but one in a less conventional position, but they retain that threat, so first-choice we’ll plump for 8/10, but back-up, with only Shola and his younger brother Sammy Ameobi at the minute in supporting roles brings it in at just 4/10.
Variance is another poor one, for all four players are largely similar, with Cisse and Ba capable of playing it on the deck and in the air, while the Ameobi brothers are the same and they all largely rely on a powerful, somewhat physical approach, so 5/10 for that one. The two Senegalese players impact, though, cannot be underestimated, with Ba carrying the side in the first half of last season, Cisse in the second on their goals alone and they wouldn’t have finished fifth without either one of them playing their part, so 10/10 for that.
Their pedigree, while they’ve scored goals wherever they’ve been so far in their careers, they’ve only just started out at international level and boast little to no European experience at all, so 5/10 with room for improvement there – grand total of 32/50 edging just ahead of Chelsea.
Swiftly moving on to Manchester United, the main rivals for City and in terms of first-choice starters, considering they have the two top goalscorers in the league last season up front in Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, we’ll mark that down as a solid 10/10, with 57 league goals between them last term.
The club also boats enviable back-up, with Dimitar Berbatov fifth-choice and searching for a lifeboat out of the club behind Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez, so again 10/10, with no side in Europe aside from perhaps Real Madrid and Barcelona having as much firepower in reserve.
When it comes to variance too, with Rooney and Van Perise capable of playing multiple roles out wide or through the centre, and possessing the ability to create chances and drop deeper, Welbeck’s pace, Hernandez’s poacher style and Berbatov’s languid elegance see them achieve another great mark of 10/10.
Pedigree is again a strong suit, with 133 goals at international level between them and a further 95 in Europe, which when you compare it to City’s 53 at international level and 50 in Europe is on an entirely different level, and even when you take out Berbatov’s tally, should he seal a likely departure, they’re still ahead on both counts, so in keeping with City’s mark, they get 9/10.
Impact is the final and worst category for the club, with Welbeck still in the first stages of his blossoming career and boasting massive potential, Hernandez looks somewhat injury-prone after an excellent first year at Old Trafford and Berbatov something of a flat-track bully, while Van Perise has only just arrived, leaving Rooney to carry the burden here for a generous 7/10 – this leaves them with a grand total of (drum roll please) 46 out of 50 to move into the lead.
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Liverpool don’t really even have an attack worth looking at, with only Luis Suarez to speak of, with Fabio Borini new and Andy Carroll ineffective, while Tottenham have only just signed Emmanuel Adebayor to help out Jermain Defoe, so they won’t even come close, with their threat coming out wide from the likes of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon and through the middle in Gylfi Sigurdsson and Rafael van der Vaart, with both clubs predominantly opting for one up top, so they don’t particularly factor into this debate, despite being top eight sides.
The final club on offer is Arsenal, and having just lost Robin van Persie, they could be directly hindered here, with their first-choice duo of new signings Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski both in their first respective seasons in the top flight and it remains to be seen how Wenger will play them in the same side, with the pressure on them to settle straight away absolutely huge now, so we’ll give them a cautious 6/10.
Moving on to the back-up players and the likes of Marouane Chamakh, Nicklas Bendtner and Park Chu-Young are all bracketed under the term ‘deadwood’ and while the Dane may still have something to offer, the cupboard’s pretty bare, so 4/10 for that. Variance is again a troubling one, with most of the striking options fairly slow and cumbersome players, relying on the pace and trickery of wide players to help them out, so 5/10 here. Impact is a difficult one to quantify, as both the main men are new to the club, so without trying to sound too unfair, they only way forward here is to assign them a middle of the road 5/10.
Pedigree is the final category and Podolski boasts an exemplary one at international level, with 44 goals and 101 caps for Germany, even if his club career isn’t quite up to the same standard, but Giroud is a relative infant with just one goal and 10 caps. The back-up comes to the rescue here, though, with Bendtner, Chamakh and Park amassing 60 international goals between them, adding to large total of 282 international caps across the entire strikeforce, but a lack of top-level European football holds them back to just 7/10 – this leaves the grand total for Arsenal at 27 out of 50.
So there you have it, using my somewhat bonkers and completely non-scientific scoring system, the top five strikeforces in the Premier League are as follows – Manchester United (46/50), Manchester City (45/50), Newcastle (32/50), and Chelsea (27/50) and Arsenal tied (27/50), with Liverpool and Tottenham bringing up the rear due to a lack of discernible depth. Sir Alex Ferguson’s purchase of Dutchman Robin van Persie this summer has tipped the scales in United’s favour and they now have the strongest set of strikers in the entire top flight.
Do you agree with the scores attributed to each club? Any that you think I’ve been overly harsh or lax with? You know the drill by now, post them in the comment section below.
You probably wouldn’t need to tell Andre Villas-Boas this, but when it rains, it very often seems to pour. After shelling out £11.8million for a goalkeeper rated amongst one of the best in continental Europe, it seems unfathomable that the Portuguese could be facing a goalkeeping related headache after one league game in-between. The realities however, are rather different.
As the Premier League already takes a weekend to regain it’s breath with the imminent round of international fixtures, it’s not seemed to stop the almost continuous media speculation that’s surrounded Tottenham Hotspur. Hugo Lloris hasn’t even been a Spurs player for longer than a week, but an instant meet-up with the national side has already produced something of a minor flash point with his new employers.
Following the superb exploits of Spurs’ current number one this season, the evergreen Brad Friedel, Villas-Boas ommended the American and suggested that Lloris would have to work for his place.
He said:
“Brad is doing extremely well and deserves to be playing and he’ll continue to do so.
“There are players who need more time, players who need less time. But when you have a keeper who gives so much confidence to the team and is doing so well, he deserves to be in goal.
“We have to work with that and he will have to adapt to the Premier League.”
Villas-Boas’ public backing of Friedel appears to have caused far more of a moral panic than perhaps what one would have expected. After such a superb string of performances, most notably against Norwich on Saturday, why would Villas-Boas say anything else? For a man that has continuously been cited for his poor levels of man management and public relations, coming out and saying that Lloris is a banker to start their next game against Reading would have gone down like a lead balloon.
In effect, he would have been ending Friedel’s Spurs, perhaps his Premier League career, in the press, after one his best performances in years. He may have seemed forthcoming but Villas-Boas had seemingly played this one with a straight bat.
However, that’s not entirely how it’s been construed in the media and certainly not by France manager Didier Deschamps. Instead of keeping his feelings to himself, Deschamps has taken it upon himself to act as Lloris’ mouthpiece as the comments of Villas-Boas look to have gone down badly on the other side of the channel. Speaking ahead of his team’s World Cup qualifiers with Finland and Belarus, he said:
“I saw what Villas-Boas said. “These statements surprised me.
“If I comment, it will make an echo on the other side of the Channel. I’m not going to create a problem that I don’t have today. I have other problems to solve but, if it happens, it deserves consideration.
“I do not want Hugo put in this situation. He did not appreciate the statements.”
It would appear that Deschamps may not have entirely be aware of what he was saying when he claimed he didn’t want to put his number one in any position, but what he’s done is quite the opposite.
Besides dropping his goalkeeper in it before he’s even had a chance to train with his new manager, Deschamps has been completely irresponsible with the timing of his comments. Whether he not he gives an adequate monkeys about Villas-Boas is beside the point but he’s heaped an already under-pressure boss under unnecessary pressure. Of course he cares about his international goalkeeper but to make these sorts of comments before Lloris has even joined his new manager were out of line. If Lloris does feel like that, airing his grievances in the public domain before he’s had a chance to immerse himself at a new club isn’t helping any of the parties involved whatsoever.
But the underlying problem is that Villas-Boas is already facing a scenario in which it’s difficult to see how he can win. Brad Friedel has perhaps unarguably been Tottenham’s best player over their first three games. He is the veteran of not just Tottenham Hotspur, but the Barclays Premier League but despite his 41 years, he is still a superb goalkeeper. He may have only been around N17 for one season, but he’s brought stability back to the position between the sticks and he was an integral part of the Redknapp team that finished fourth.
Although the fact is, he is 41 and he won’t be around forever. His body and his reflexes defies age but as every season ticks but he simply is not a viable long term option. Tottenham fans know that and even the man himself knows that. Speaking earlier this season, the American said:
“When I first signed here, there was no secret Tottenham would one day need a new long-term goalkeeper.
“I will do whatever asked of me, whether that is number one, two or three and will do it to the best of my ability.
“When you get older, it is easier to realise this is a team sport and the egos have to take a back seat if you want to be successful.”
Despite demonstrating a remarkable sense of humility and professionalism, Friedel is completely correct in his statements of the long-term. Tottenham had to act and the fact is, there are few around better than Lloris. Why wait until next season, when a potential Friedel retirement would see clubs charged a premium, when Lloris was available now? The Frenchman is a truly outstanding goalkeeper and many in France were slightly shocked to him go to Spurs; the feeling there was that he was destined for one of Europe’s elite.
The sticking point is where Lloris makes his debut. If he comes in against Reading and has a howler, than Villas-Boas is likely to be slaughtered as a result. Yet if their new, highly rated and extremely talented goalkeeper becomes unsettled or Friedel goes on to make a mistake, then Villas-Boas will take pelters. He can’t win and there is no uneasy answer.
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A sensible option would be to wait till at least the next home fixture, as AVB did with Jan Vertonghen, to allow him to make his debut, but in truth, there is never an easy time to blood a goalkeeper. In many respects, Villas-Boas is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Spurs need stability but when the time’s right, he can’t shy away from starting Hugo Lloris. Because as even Friedel himself has said, it’s no secret that Spurs need a long-term goalkeeper. They now have one of Europe’s best and it must be a matter of if -not when.
What would do in Villas-Boas position? Would you throw Lloris straight into action against Reading or are you happy to make him wait? Let me know what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and bat me your views.
Aston Villa manager, Paul Lambert has defended Nigel Adkins against speculation linking him with the sack at Southampton. Sky Sports reports.
Adkins has led Saints to back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League and Lambert feels the criticism is unjustified.
He said: “It’s getting a bit silly now. With what he’s done for them, and when it’s only four games into the season, I think it’s a bit ridiculous. But football is like that – you just never know what’s around the corner.”
The south coast side are currently bottom of the Premier League, conceding 14 goals in four games-including six away at Arsenal and face Lambert’s Aston Villa side at St Mary’s tomorrow.
The Scot is more than aware of the pressures at top-flight management, as Villa lost their opening two games against West Ham and Everton, but have since bounced back with a draw at Newcastle and a win over Swansea.
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“The Premier League is an unforgiving division. Every game is hard, whoever you are playing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a side in the top six or bottom six. It’s a hard, hard league”, he added.
Patrice Evra has spoken out about Manchester United’s bad defensive habits in the build-up to their away fixture at St. James Park this Sunday.
The same fixture last season left the Red Devils victim to a 3-0 hammering by Newcastle, but the French left-back is determined to not let history repeat itself.
United are currently third in the Premier League, four points adrift of first place Chelsea. Last weekend saw Spurs break their 23 year curse without a win at Old Trafford, and question marks have loomed over the United defence who have conceding first in six of their nine opening games.
The Frenchman said: “Having to keep trying to come from behind is not a worry but it is a bad habit I would say.”
Turning his attention to the Newcastle game, Evra continued, “Last season up there was a disaster, we played very badly.
“This year is going to be very important because we have already lost against Tottenham and we have to react.”
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Alex Ferguson will be determined to improve his squad’s defensive efforts to fulfill United’s Premier League title ambitions this season.
Stoke City boss Tony Pulis is prepared to let Cameron Jerome join Championship club Blackburn on loan.
However, the Potters boss insists that the move does not signal the end for the 26-year-old at the Britannia Stadium.
Since the departure of Steve Kean at Blackburn, Erik Black is in charge of the Ewood Park club and is keen to strengthen his attacking options.
“Blackburn have enquired about Cameron and we will see what happens in the next couple of days,” Pulis told the Stoke Sentinel.
“It would be a three-month loan with a recall available after 28 days if it happens.”
Since Michael Owen joined Stoke at the end of August, Jerome has fallen to fifth in the pecking order of strikers at the club and has yet to start a Premier League game this season.
“If it comes off, it would be a good one because Cameron is the kind of player that needs game time,” Pulis added.
“It’s not far away and they are a decent Championship side.”
Although some believe this is the end for the striker, Pulis remains adamant that the door is always open, as long a she gets some playing time under his belt.
“He would be the first to say he needs to play.”
One striker that Pulis insists is not going anywhere is Kenwyne Jones despite reports linking him with a loan move away to Leicester.
Jones will start on the bench on Saturday against Sunderland, the club he joined the Potters from for £8 million for a club record fee two years ago.
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Despite Glenn Whelan returning to full training following injury, Dean Whitehead is set to keep his place in the centre of midfield.