Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has insisted he will not let his striker Papiss Cisse lose his form to such a drastic level that he is compared to Chelsea’s Fernando Torres.
The Senegalese international has only managed to hit the back of the net once in the Premier League and only three times in all competitions so far this season.
The 27-year-old signed from Freiburg for a figure believed to be in the region of £10million in last January’s transfer window and 10 months on is struggling to replicate the start he made to life at St James’ Park.
Cisse managed to score 13 league goals last term as the Magpies managed to secure a surprise fifth place finish.
Pardew is keen to get his striker back in a rich vein of form and scoring goals as soon as possible with Newcastle failing to win in their last 4 Premier League outings.
“I am talking to him and trying to calm him, tell him that he’s still the same player and we are still very confident in him,” Pardew told Press Association Sport.
“It’s only been a small period if you compare it to, say Torres’ period, but you would have to say it’s something we are going to have to keep an eye on because we don’t want it to end up like poor old Torres has ended up at times.
“He’s a great player, Papiss, and we want to get the best out of him.”
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Newcastle take on Stoke City tonight at the Britannia stadium in a 19.45 kick off.
Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has praised winger Raheem Sterling, saying he sees a level of maturity in him which puts him a cut above other young prospects.
The 37-year-old striker who scored 183 goals during two spells at Anfield rose to prominence in a similar fashion to Sterling who has only recently turned 18-years-old, and the former Red is very impressed by what he’s seen from the winger at such a young age.
The clubs website quote him as saying to the Mirror, “What I’m seeing is that this is a kid who’s had the right attitude drilled into him, and I think that’s a good thing for Liverpool – a big thing.”
“Sterling has a great talent, but what he also has that makes him stand out is a maturity in his approach to the team’s needs that you rarely see in youngsters. That shows he’s being coached and developed in the right way.”
“I watch Raheem and I can see he has respect for the team and for the senior players around him.”
Fowler also expressed his admiration for Sterling’s ability to choose the right ball rather than always looking for glory himself, while saying Brendan Rodgers deserves a great deal of credit for the players development as well.
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Sterling has reportedly agreed a new deal at the club which will come as great news to Liverpool fans following rumours that he was a target for the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal.
They will now hope he can develop at the club for years to come, the same way Fowler did.
Alan Pardew has hinted he may have to reshuffle Newcastle’s forward line if Papiss Demba Cisse’s barren run in front of goal continues.
The Senegalese striker made an immediate impact at St James’ Park upon his arrival from Freiburg last January, but he has struggled to recapture that form and has just two goals to his name this season.
By contrast, Cisse’s compatriot Demba Ba has enjoyed a purple patch, establishing himself as the Magpies’ leading goal scorer, his strike in last weekend’s defeat to Manchester City his 11th of the campaign.
Fans of the Toon Army have questioned whether Cisse and Ba can play together, even after last season’s scoring patterns, which saw Ba’s goal tally dry up as soon as Cisse arrived at the club.
And Pardew has not ruled out changing the Toon’s attack for Saturday’s visit of QPR and the Boxing Day clash at Manchester United, revealing that Shola Ameobi is now competing for a starting berth.
“It’s natural for pressure to be applied when you have one striker scoring and one not scoring,” Pardew told the The Shields Gazette.
“We’re having to work our way through it – that’s what we’ll try to do.
“Sometimes with players you need to show loyalty, and sometimes you need to show faith. I’ll always do that with my strikers.
“But there does come a point when I have to say ‘OK, let’s try something new.
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“Shola (Ameobi) is knocking on the door at the minute.
“He wants to have a go, and that’s something I’ll need to look closely at over the next couple of games.”
’s widening losses are a result of the club’s emphasis on improving its league position, according to chief executive Robert Elstone.
The Toffees reported a net loss of £9.1m in the 2011-12 season, compared with a loss of £5.4m a year earlier, with turnover down slightly at £80.5m.
Wages were the biggest expenditure for the club last season, at 75% of turnover. It spent £63.4m on players’ salaries, up from £58m a year earlier.
But those extra expenses appear to be paying off, with strong season tickets sales and fine results on the pitch so far this season, and the Merseysiders said it expected better financial results for 2012-13.
“The club has demonstrated its commitment to first-team success with increased expenditure on player wages,” Elstone told BBC News.
“We continue to try to enhance our competitive position and, at the same time, manage cost base and debt levels effectively.”
Meanwhile, club owner Bill Kenwright insists he is also looking for fresh investment to boost spending power in the transfer market.
“My desire to find a person, or institution, with the finance to move us forward has not diminished,” he said.
“Despite the challenges presented by the global economic downturn, we remain positive and determined.”
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Everton are currently in the hunt for a top-four spot in the Premier League and with it a chance to play in the lucrative Champions League next season.
After their 2-1 victory over Newcastle last night, the Toffees sit in fifth position, two points behind Chelsea in fourth.
Arsene Wenger is targeting centre-backs in a bid to improve his team’s defence in the summer transfer window.
After a string of bad performances in the Premier League the Arsenal boss has been left frustrated by defenders Per Mertsacker and Thomas Vermaelen, and he is eyeing up replacements.
Current captain Vermaelen has had a huge dip in form this season and there is reports that the captaincy is to blame but he has also suffered an ankle injury. Mertesacker and Sagna could also be leaving the Emirates come May.
The Arsenal scouts having been trying to find central defence targets and it has been indicated that they are interested in Swansea captain Ashley Williams as well as Fernando Amorebieta, Nicolas N’Koulou and Raul Abiol, according to The Daily Mail.
Arsene Wenger has never spoken publicly of individual failings in the team but behind closed doors he is frustrated that the defence aren’t playing as well as they should be. He considered a change in formation before Christmas, which would have meant placing an extra defender into the backline, but decided to stick with the current formation.
He has spotted a weakness in the backline and he wants to improve that, but the French boss is also looking for a new goalkeeper, right-back, defensive midfielder and a forward which he hopes will enable Arsenal to compete for silverware next season.
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Wenger is considering removing the captaincy from Vermaelen and handing it over to 21-year-old Jack Wilshere next season bringing forward the plan to do from 2015.
Arsene Wenger has prided himself on the 15 consecutive years that Arsenal have qualified for Europe’s most prestigious cup competition, the Champions League. Further than priding himself, the Gunners boss has used the impressive feat as a justification for the club’s inability to keep up in the title race over the past five years; although failing to get past the round of 16 for three campaigns in a row is hardly anything to write home about.
In addition to the glory and pride that comes with playing in the Champions League, comes huge financial rewards in Television revenues, which is calculated by a rather complex formula to divide UEFA’s overall earnings accordingly between each club based upon domestic standing as well as which round they reach in the European competition. Additionally, there are win and draw bonuses, and fixed fiscal prizes for each stage.
For example, in the 2011/2012 season, according to The Guardian, UEFA cashed in €1.1billion in selling TV rights and sponsorship deals. 79% is then divided between all of the participating clubs, and the rest is kept by UEFA to cover the tournament’s running costs. The remaining €865 million (79%) split between the clubs is divided into two pools, firstly the fixed rewards, such as €3.9million for reaching the Group Stages, plus €550K per win, and secondly for their final standings domestically and in the European competition.
Perhaps the £25million Arsenal earned from the Champions League in the 2010/2011 season is not as much as one would have first thought, and although it creates a big difference between the clubs at the bottom of the table in the Premier League, it is still a fraction of the club’s overall revenue; 11% in fact for the year in question.
But along with the financial rewards of the Champions League itself, comes a number of commercial opportunities for exposure and sale of merchandise. Essentially, being in the competition gets your club’s name heard around the world, as it’s broadcasted in 220 different countries, and therefore boosts your profile globally, allowing for independent sponsorship deals to be made.
So how have Tottenham Hotspur, a club with a single year of Champions League experience under its belt, come to eclipse their local rivals in terms of league standing as well as quality in their roster, despite the obvious financial rewards and commercial exposure Arsenal have benefited from for 15 years straight?
I am not arguing it is the end for Arsenal, or that they will now and forever always be a lesser team than Spurs, but excluding Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere, would any of the Gunners starting XI be guaranteed a hypothetical place in the Tottenham first team? Furthermore, whilst Arsene Wenger possesses a squad full of injury-prone-has-beens and lacklustre flops, Andre Villas-Boas is spoilt for choice in defence and midfield, with a balance of young and old, and a natural pecking order established at White Hart Lane.
The Arsenal wage structure has come under scrutiny this season and it’s easy to see why. According to The Independent, the club’s total wage bill is verging on the £150million mark, whilst Tottenham’s stands at just £90million. The difference is more understandable when taking into consideration the contracts of players like Marouane Chamakh and Sebastien Squillaci, who are both on £50k per week deals for literally making up the numbers at the Emirates and doing nothing more.
Squillaci has made just a single league appearance over the past two seasons, whilst Chamakh has now been farmed out, along with Johan Djourou, Denilson, Andre Santos, Park Chu-Young and Nicklas Bendtner, but all are on deals that vastly surpass their roles at the club considering none have been first team regulars for quite some time. Of course, Champions League clubs are held to ransom by agents demanding Champions League wages for their players, but considering much of the Gunners roster are now not Champions League quality, the club’s wage structure, which has been described as “socialist” by a number of the newspapers, clearly isn’t providing value for money.
Furthermore, some of the blame has to be attached to Arsene Wenger. His lack of ambition in the transfer market has left the squad deteriorated in depth, and similarly the first team have depreciated in value and quality over the past five years. Without Robin Van Persie carrying out a talismanic role up front this season, the rest of the team has been shown up for its widespread lack of talent compared to the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham.
The club’s record transfer fee is currently the £16million spent on Santi Cazorla in the summer, whereas Chelsea’s is £50million, City’s is £37million, Liverpool’s is £35million and United’s is £31million. Out of the five clubs, who have all been Champions League regulars at one time or another, Arsenal’s is by far the least, and is even £2million less than Tottenham’s record fee of £18million for Luka Modric. It’s clear that whilst other clubs have taken advantage of the additional revenues and commercial exposure provided by the Champions League, the Gunners quite frankly have not.
Arsene Wenger has used the building of the club’s new stadium as a justification for his reluctance to spend big in the past. But now that all debts are paid, he should have a free reign in the next transfer window, and has already discussed an apparent £80million transfer and wage kitty that will be at his disposal in the summer. However, it could easily be a case of too little too late if the Gunners miss out on a Champions League spot to their local rivals, which will seriously hurt the Arsenal supporters.
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Whereas in the past, Wenger had the opportunity to pay large fees for players desperate to play European football, which he turned down, he may find recruitment for the 2013/2014 season much harder should the North Londoners fail to qualify. Similarly, he will now have a group of players on Champions League wages, who aren’t Champions League quality, without the additional revenues of the tournament to cover their salaries.
Of course, being in the Champions League is no guarantee of success. Liverpool won the competition in 2005, and have since slid down the Premier League table and now find themselves squandering in the middle order of the English top flight. But the fact that Tottenham’s rise has collided with Arsenal’s decline highlights just how the inefficiently the club is being run, with the majority of profits being sucked up by the wage bill alone, leaving little left for transfer funds. Furthermore, and most importantly, it symbolises how Wenger has failed to take advantage of his 15 years of success, and has now allowed local and league rivals Tottenham to better him.
Gareth Barry says he loves life at Manchester City and is hoping to commit his future by signing a new contract.
The 32-year-old has just under 18 months to run on his current deal but he is keen to stay well beyond 2014 and is hoping to open talks with the club over a new contract in the summer.
Whether City will offer a player of his age anything long-term remains to be seen, but Barry has no thoughts about moving on and would love to put pen to paper.
“I am happy here and very settled,” Barry revealed. “I spent 12 years at Villa and I’ve spent four years at City and I’m not really one for moving around. I’d like to stay as long as possible.
“For a player to feel settled and feel very comfortable, you generally want to be playing regular football – and I’ve been lucky enough to feature in a lot of games this season.
“That’s one reason why I am happy to stay.”
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Norwich will pitch fit-again keeper John Ruddy in to face West Brom at Carrow Road on Sunday following his five-month injury absence.
The England international has battled his way back from a long-standing groin problem and, despite being fit in the past few weeks, boss Chris Hughton was unwilling to throw him back into the first-team too soon and risk doing any further damage.
However, it seems Ruddy will get the nod ahead of Mark Bunn for Sunday’s visit of the Baggies, as the Canaries still require a win to be almost certain of Premier League football next season.
Winger Robert Snodgrass has recovered from cramp which saw him substituted in last weekend’s late 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa, but centre-half Michael Turner is still sidelined with a groin injury.
Meanwhile midfielder Anthony Pilkington insists the squad is in good spirits ahead of the game as they look to secure only their third win in 20 outings which would take them six points clear of third bottom Wigan.
“Everyone’s been positive around the dressing room, all around the club, and everyone’s behind each other,” said Pilkington.
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“Everyone was disappointed and gutted after the defeat to Aston Villa. But the boys have picked each other up and the staff have picked us up as well.”
With this season in many ways marking the end of an era for Manchester United, following the retirements of Paul Scholes and Sir Alex Ferguson, incoming Red Devils boss David Moyes will be keen to start a new period in the club’s history from the start of next season.
But before we get to the opening fixtures in August, the former Everton manager has the summer transfer window to contend with. Whilst many will be looking at whom he will attempt to bring in, citing former Toffees’ players and one of Europe’s top strikers up for sale during the off-season, he will also have to balance out his new recruits by shifting some of the deadwood at Old Trafford.
Just in case Moyes is not yet well acquainted enough with the United roster, we’ve complied a list of the Five players who’ve become surplus to requirements for Manchster United.
Click Here or on Anderson to reveal the FIVE players that David Moyes should ditch this summer.
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Luis Suarez’s absence has brought about a number of positives in the Liverpool camp, one being the obvious desire from Daniel Sturridge to step forward and take responsibility at the tip of the attacking sword.
It’s far too early and certainly too much of a long shot to say that Sturridge is the internal solution to the Suarez issue over the short term. Despite holding a place at two big clubs in the Premier League is his career prior to Liverpool, the England forward has never really had an opportunity to show his worth on a regular basis, bar one season at Chelsea. Falling down the pecking order was routine at both Manchester City and Chelsea, though now there is a clear path for him to forge his own legacy at a club who are more than willing to place confidence and faith in him.
Sturridge’s two Premier League goals in two games hold a lot of promise. Whatever happens with Suarez and a possible replacement, Brendan Rodgers knows he has a forward in his ranks who is good enough to lead the attack and make a difference. But even the most optimistic of supporters shouldn’t over think the good performances thus far. We’ve seen nothing to suggest Sturridge is a striker capable of 30 goals in a season. His form may be good, and it certainly is, but is he the type of striker that will go through dry spells? We simply don’t know that yet. The almighty upside, however, is that he is still only 23 and already looks like a player who is completely at ease with the demands of playing for a top club every week.
What can also be said about Sturridge is that he is a player with a point to prove. As talented as he may be, he hasn’t delivered at international level with the England U21s or the Olympic team of last summer. He has his flaws, including his desire to go it alone rather than looking for a teammate. But the environment at Anfield currently is clearly one he can thrive off. The focus is elsewhere and the team are set up to offer younger players the opportunity to build towards something in the future. It doesn’t matter if he isn’t a 30-goal-a-season striker now, Liverpool are focusing on their youngest and brightest, and Sturridge clearly falls into the category alongside Coutinho.
The important factor of all of this is that the club cannot rely solely on Sturridge for goals. If he’s going to develop into a leading striker for a top club, that transition phase clearly needs to take place – a transition which is likely to happen this season and builds on his 10 league goals for the club last season. But supplementing the attack remains paramount to achieving the club’s objectives. Without Suarez, Liverpool have put together a run of six games in which they’ve only lost once. It can be done without the Uruguayan, but complacency shouldn’t be allowed to set in.
For now though, Strurridge looks to be fulfilling the potential that was so often held back in previous seasons. The clinical striker Liverpool need over the long term could certainly be sitting in house.
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Is Sturridge good enough to take over the reins from Suarez over the long term?