Liverpool failed to secure the signing of Hungarian winger Balazs Dzsudzsak after Dynamo Moscow refused to sell the player in the January transfer window.
Brendan Rodgers was interested in the winger after the deal with Tom Ince fell through, and he enquired about the player in january according to agent Jozsef Vorosbaranyi. He also confirmed that Inter Milan were also interested in signing the Dynamo star.
‘Inter along with Liverpool wanted to add Balazs to their squad,’ said Vorosbaranyi to The Metro
‘But Dynamo would not let the player go. My client really likes Moscow, but he wants to move to one of the major European leagues.
‘I hope in the summer, Dynamo would look at doing a deal if an offer arrived.’
Dzsudzsak only signed for Dynamo just over a year ago but was open to moving again, especially if it meant playing in the Premier League. Speaking to Nemzeti Sport the 26 said
“I stay, but it wasn’t up to me.
“Dinamo didn’t let me go, not even to Liverpool, I can’t say any more because it is not my position to do so.
I am not that disappointed. What I couldn’t do during the winter transfer window can be done in the summer. It’s also a nice feeling that in Moscow they have faith in me.”
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It is still thought that Dynamo may accept an offer of £12million for the Hungarian star in the summer should he still want to move.
Ricky van Wolfswinkel answered his Portuguese critics as the Canaries’ £8.5m capture hit a hat-trick for Sporting at Braga last night.
The Dutch striker, 24, scored a stoppage time winner to complete his triple as 10-man Sporting won 3-2 in Braga to dent the hosts’ Champions League qualifying hopes.
That took his tally for the season to 16 and shut up those fans and media commentators who had suggested his mind was already in Norfolk following City’s move to set up summer deal worth £8.5m with Sporting Club last month.
He told Record: “I know it’s hard to explain to people, many think I’m ‘in England’. I want the best for the club, I want to give the best I have and to give the maximum. The fans deserve as much. It’s always bad to leave a club you like, but it is a new step in my career development.
“The season is not over, I don’t want to think too much about the Premier League.”
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Manchester City started life without Roberto Mancini with a comfortable win over already relegated Reading at the Madjeski Stadium.
Just 24-hours after Mancini was dismissed City turned in one of their more efficient performances of the season to see off the Royals in a match that took was overshadowed by events behind the scenes.
Nigel Adkins post-match…”We have got a lot of players who have played in the Championship. We know the demands of Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday, the mental side of it. There is a lot of positivity about the place. On the training ground the players are certainly in a positive mind set and everyone wants to be in and is looking forward to the future.”
Bryan Kidd post-match…
Man of the Match…David Silva: There hasn’t been enough of this from Silva this season. This was a performance in which the Spaniard oozed his creative juices and was a buzzing hive of innovation for City.
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Flop of the Match…Pavel Pogrebnyak: Isolated up front by himself for a large majority of the evening but cut a disinterested figure when the ball did come into his vicinity. One suspects this will be penultimate, if not, the final match of Pogrebnyak’s brief stay at Reading.
Neil Taylor will return to the Swansea first-team before the end of the season if he suffers no setbacks, Michael Laudrup has said.
The defender is on his way back after suffering a dislocated and fractured ankle which kept him on the sidelines for seven months and Laudrup says the plan is to give him a run out in one of the remaining games.
Taylor will make his fourth appearance for Swansea’s under-21 side against Millwall at Stebonheath tonight and Laudrup says the next step could be a return to the first team.
“I think physically Neil is more or less there now,” Laudrup revealed. “He played 90 minutes for the under-21s last week and he will play again tonight.
“After that it will just be about getting back up to Premier League level.
“It’s good for him. He is looking forward to coming back and I think we will see him in the first team before the season ends. That is our plan at least.”
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The return of Taylor will give Laudrup a huge selection headache as Ben Davies has been a revelation at left-back and will be fighting hard to keep his place.
Manchester City and Chelsea are ready to do battle for the signing of Paris St Germain forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, according to the Daily Star.
The Swedish striker has reportedly fallen out with new manager Laurent Blanc over the recent signing of Edison Cavani, and is looking to leave after just one season at the Parc de Princes.
The news has alerted both City and Chelsea, two of the only clubs in Europe perhaps capable of matching the Swedish forward’s wage demands.
The 31-year-old is thought to earn more than £11million a year, something he is unlikely to get offered at either club – although they will provide closer to that figure than most.
Both City and Chelsea have turned their attentions to the Swede after missing out on Cavani themselves, as well as Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski, who is set to see out the final year of his contract at the German club.
Chelsea appear the more likely to make an offer at present, with the news emerging that City are close to completing deals for two new forwards, in the form of Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina, and Alvaro Negredo from Sevilla.
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Jose Mourinho’s number one striking target is thought to be Wayne Rooney, but a bid for Ibrahimovic may well be launched to get things moving.
David Moyes has been praised by powers above at Manchester United for his handling of the club’s summer transfer activities.
He supposedly had two aims, keeping Wayne Rooney and signing a midfielder, which have both been fulfilled, the latter one by the capture of Marouane Fellaini.
With Moyes therefore starting the season with the squad he wanted, one would have been forgiven for presuming the Scot had plans on how to make use of all the resources at his disposal.
However, Shinji Kagawa has made just two competitive appearance for the Red Devils so far this season, playing 70 minutes in the Champions League and appearing in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.
The mystery behind why the 24-year-old is not playing is made even more baffling by the fact that Borussia Dortmund were not allowed to re-sign their former charge, who they wanted to link back up with.
Kagawa might not have had an awe-inspiring first season at Old Trafford, but the £17million signing was hampered by injury and when he did appear his talent was undoubted.
Moyes insists the reason Kagawa has not been getting game time is due to his international schedule.
He said: “There are quite a lot of players who have not featured yet.
“But if you look at it most of them were late back from international duty after the Confederations Cup, then they were away for a friendly international and a long-haul flight, then they were away again for another international.
“If you look at the reasons why people haven’t played it is more to do with them not being available for that to happen.”
Could there be more to it though? Is there more to it?
It could certainly be said that, if considering Kagawa’s best position, there seems not the space for him in United’s side at the moment.
When he helped Dortmund to back-to-back titles, the Jap was a vital component of the German side, slotting in the hole behind Robert Lewandowski.
Of course, due to Robin van Persie’s arrival at Old Trafford, that position in United’s team has been filled more often than not by Rooney.
The England forward still holds that position down ahead of Kagawa despite having to wear a headband for protection from a cut.
Indeed, when Kagawa featured for United against Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool, he appeared on the left, where it was clear, from the amount of times he drifted inside, he was not completely comfortable.
Perhaps it is not a positional issue and more that Moyes is not overly keen on Kagawa as a player.
He might have denied Dortmund access to Kagawa in the summer, but maybe since then he has not found Kagawa to be the player he thought or wanted.
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Equally, perhaps there is a personal issue.
Kagawa was quoted saying “please ask David Moyes why I’m not in the side” when asked why he was not playing, although he has since said that he was misquoted and the evidence suggests he was.
Whatever the case, Man Utd fans, who have been unhappy not to see Kagawa feature in the Premier League, will have been happy when they heard that Kagawa was willing to fight for his place.
“Tough times are continuing, but all I can do is to work hard,” he said at the beginning of this month.
Whether Kagawa’s hard work will be enough to see him become a regular player under Moyes though, remains to be seen.
Millwall change their formation and seem to be on the up, but the defensive frailties shine massively again, as the Lions lost 3-2 at Blackburn Rovers.
This was a game we could’ve got something from if it wasn’t for mistakes. Defenders slipping and failing to clear the ball was a theme of the 90 minutes.
It was always going to be a struggle as we don’t have a settled team. Scott Malone & Shane Lowry have both had the left back position, but Malone has won that battle for now.
Most of the season at centre back it has been who will partner Beevers, skipper Paul Robinson or Danny Shittu? Shittu isn’t good enough now, and maybe rose tinted glasses come into play for Robinson, yes he is the captain, but is he still good enough for this level?
We have played also four right backs this year and Lomas still doesn’t know who to play there.
But let’s be honest, this season was always going to be a transitional period, we need to keep our heads above water which is what we are doing at the moment, just.
The club will see it the same way, we could be slightly struggling and Lomas won’t go, there are three worst teams in the division for sure.
We still don’t know whether Lomas is good enough, and signs point to most likely not. But we knew how hard a job this was to take after the squad Kenny Jackett left us with last year and even with the signings and wage increases we still have one of the lowest budgets in the division.
Lomas has made mistakes both with tactics, team selections and formations, but he is learning from them, even if it isn’t as quickly as we would like.
He has sorted the frontline massively, but now it’s time to work on the defence, whether it’s with our players, or new blood. But then it’s down to Berylson and how much he’ll want to spend in January.
It seems that aslong as there are three teams below us, Lomas will keep his job.
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Okay we are not in the best position at the moment, but we are showing we can compete against some of the big teams in the division, the likes of Blackburn and Forest.
Let’s hope the fine home form can carry on against Middlesborough on Saturday. We need a win to push us up the table while moving into the busy festive period which can make or break a season.
Sometimes you have to ignore context. At times like this, you have to attack and dissect what is in front of you without the restraint of the good that came before.
The truth is this result, Arsenal’s 5-1 loss away to Liverpool, was coming. And no, not because half the country were baying for this kind of capitulation.
There has been evidence of it for much of the New Year. There have been wins, but they haven’t been great, comprehensive or overly convincing. But for some, a win is a win, and we can’t ever really get away from that old cliché of winning ugly eventually breeds title winners, or vice versa.
Arsenal’s high quality, stylistic and easy-on-the-eye football isn’t a right in which the other team must indulge them. There’s a languid, laziness about Arsenal’s play at times, something which has been true of them for many years. Yes it’s a great tactical option to pursue; it’s one for purists, and when in full pomp it’s the brand of football most would happily pay to see.
But in the midst of some of Europe’s finest executioners of the style, Arsenal have displayed the half-baked version, the one which, if not played out with all the necessary ingredients, will land you a humiliating loss against a team who are capable of dishing it out.
At Southampton, Arsenal were also slow out of the traps. It’s one thing to talk about fatigue setting in, and that may be the case for some, but on the whole, Arsenal have never (or hardly ever) adhered to the full scrip that comes with playing this style of football.
At Liverpool, and equally against Southampton and Crystal Palace prior, they were ponderous in possession, unable to move the ball at pace and with any great purpose. Without the ball, the idea of pressing and harassing the opposition – which Brendan Rodgers’ side did so well – appears alien to most of the Arsenal forwards, where defending in such a manner has to start.
There have been some who have questioned the desire of certain players. Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski, when selected, don’t like to defend; though in fairness how many forwards are known for their love of working tirelessly without the ball? Such faults in a team’s system comes down to the manager.
Arsene Wenger spoke after the loss at Anfield and of his willingness to shoulder much of the blame. Were Arsenal ill-prepared? From the looks of it, yes. But their lack of preparation lay beyond the simple matter of having failed to get out of bed. Possession was pointless and wasteful at every turn, being far too easy to defend for a back four in Liverpool’s who are far, far from the best in the Premier League. There was once again no interest in getting the ball back when it was lost.
Much of the same could have been said for the draw at Southampton. The difference at Anfield wasn’t just that Arsenal were much worse, it was that the opposition’s attack were of higher quality.
Wenger has an excellent selection from which to choose from in midfield. But there does appear to be a pointlessness to some of the deployments, such as opting to partner Mikel Arteta with Mathieu Flamini against Southampton when there was no real need for two holding midfielders. All it did was dull the team’s play when in possession, slowing down the supply to the forwards and stripping the centre of midfield of drive and creativity.
Without Jack Wilshere, who was once again wasteful against Liverpool, and Aaron Ramsey, whose goals are sorely missed, why not play Cazorla in the centre of midfield alongside one of the holding players?
The criticism of Arsenal’s ponderous approach lies in nothing else but the choices in the centre of the pitch. It’s a case of getting the ball from back to front as quickly as possible, which the team haven’t always been able to do. Often, Ozil would drop extremely deep to pick up the ball and attempt to find runners (generally non-existent) to initiate something meaningful.
Arsenal are capable of much better and an avoidance of such defeats, as were dished out by Liverpool and Manchester City this season. Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Bayern Munich harass(ed) the opposition when looking to get the ball back. It’s the type of football that led to Dortmund slaughtering Manchester City at the Etihad in the Champions League, where were it not for a complete one-off, the result would not have been 1-1. The same is true for Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, and now of his time in Bavaria.
On the one occasion that does stand out of Arsenal playing to such a high tempo, both in attack and when seeking the ball back, they beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Emirates in December 2010.
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The question is: why can’t it be done every week? Why is there so much neglect for such a vital part of this style of football?
Wenger will want to take much of the blame for what happened at Anfield, but he’ll continue to feel the brunt of frustrations if he can’t coach his team, even those who don’t enjoy working without the ball, to properly adhere to the rules of this tactical set up.
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Manchester City cruised past 100 goals for the season with a dominant win over struggling Cardiff.
Edin Dzeko was the man to tip City over the century milestone after getting on the end of a David Silva cross, despite claims of hand ball in the passage of play before the strike.
Many onlookers would not have expected Cardiff to bounce back so quickly knowing how strong Man City have been at home this year, but Craig Noone silenced the Etihad crowd with a left footed strike past Joe Hart.
However they were level for just three minutes before Jesus Navas finished a City counter attack. Yaya Toure made it 3-1 and substitute Sergio Aguero made it 4-1 after skinning Steven Caulker to put the ball in the back of the net. A late consolation goal from Frazer Campbell made it 4-2 at the final whistle.
West Ham 1-3 Newcastle
Newcastle dispatched a woeful West Ham United outfit at Upton Park thanks to some individual brilliance from Yohan Cabaye.
The Frenchman was the star of the show and tormented Sam Allardyce’s side all game. He opened the scoring within 15 minutes after sliding the ball into the bottom corner following a pass from Yoan Gouffran.
Newcastle’s Loic Remy made it 2-0 on 33 minutes after Moussa Sissoko slotted him in on goal. Remy controlled with ease and put it round West Ham keeper Adrian with ease.
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West Ham, now under pressure from the crowd, found a response before half time after a long ball fell to Carlton Cole, whose attempt to chest the ball went through Tim Krul and the ball somehow found its way into the back of the net.
Despite a few chances in the second half, West Ham looked pretty blunt in attack and the game was wrapped up when Cabaye slotted a free kick home in the dying minutes. Not good for Sam Allardyce, who is looking under even more pressure following that loss.
Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has stated that he was shocked at how awful Manchester United were in the last derby, Mirror reports.
The Citizens thrashed their neighboring rivals 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium last September, a score-line the Brazilian doesn’t believe will happen again as easily.
Fernandinho was a £30million signing from Shakhtar Donetsk last summer and going into the first derby against champions United, he expected them to put up much more of a fight.
However Fernandinho has promised that the Sky Blues will attempt to cut through United once again at Old Trafford tonight.
“It was the first time I’d played them after joining City,” he said.
“United are a club with history, with very good players and they were the champions. So I was surprised at how badly they played, how easily we won.
“The situation is different now, because we’re fighting for the title and they’re not. They’re just fighting for honour now. But a derby is the same whichever country you are in – each team wants to win.
“We’ll go there expecting to win, but we know in a derby a lot of things can happen. We’ll be ready for it and have to play well because it’s a very important game for us.”
Fans and critics watching Manchester United will point to their weakness in midfield, with City’s far superior.
Yaya Toure has 20 goals for the Citizens this term – Fernandinho with four – while Manchester’s top midfield goalscorers are Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley – with only one goal each.
And Manchester United boss David Moyes has pointed to City’s midfield scoring threat, which could provide the derby match-winner.
“They have goalscoring midfield players and it’s important to have goalscorers all over the field,” he said.
“That contributes a lot to your goals. But we’ve got good midfielders. We still think Marouane Fellaini can get goals and he was unlucky on Saturday against West Ham.
“He should have scored with a header and then you could argue it was a penalty with the one where he went through. So I think he’s beginning to show signs he can get some goals for us as well.
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“But I do agree they’ve got very good midfielders who are goalscorers.”