Why don’t Englishmen like Lampard want to play abroad?
August 14, 2008
Frank Lampard’s decision to sign a new contract with Chelsea and shun the advances of Inter Milan was hardly a surprise.
The midfielder made a wise choice if he based the decision on the previous experiences of English players in Italy.
Only David Platt at Sampdoria was really a success. Ian “it’s like living in a foreign country” Rush lasted just a season at Juventus while the likes of Luther Blissett, Lee Sharpe, Ray Wilkins, Des Walker, Paul Ince and Jay Bothroyd hardly set Serie A alight.
Paul Gascoigne was injured for much of his time at Lazio. Rather than his stunning play, he is best remembered here in Italy for shocking the nation by burping into a microphone.
In recent years only David Beckham at Real Madrid can claim to have done well away from English shores. That’s largely because he was one of the few who dared to try something new.
I actually think Lampard would have been a success at Inter, especially playing under former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. The Italian champions, and Serie A in general, are crying out for a goalscoring central midfielder.
Instead Lampard will start another English season this weekend, admittedly with packed stadiums and bags of money in his pocket. Stuttering Serie A can’t quite compete with that.
Mark Meadows, Milan
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ATLETICO LOSE AWAY TO SCHALKE 04 IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PRELIMINARY
August 13, 2008
It was always going to be a tough affair for ATLETICO DE MADRID
in the home leg of the Champions League Preliminary match
against German side SCHALKE 04. The optimistic levels were high
for the Spaniards, until they saw how hard the game really was: 8 yellow
cards & 1 Red (Antonio Lopez, Atletico), with a final result 1-0 in
favour of the Germans.
It now all goes down to the away match ( 2ºleg) at Madrid, were Atletico
MUST WIN if they are to participate in the dreamed Champions
League 2008/09. Let´s face it, if your an Atletico fan you must be
immune to the fact that you & Atletico will have to suffer until the
last minute to know if your objective will be achieved.
The only goal come in the 29th min from a direct free kick that
was scored by PANDER ( seen above celebrating). From then
on it was an even fight for the rest of the game, with Atletico
holding on with 10 men on the field for the latter part of the 2º
half.
The scenario is not good, but not a disaster, as Atletico has its
opportunity to re-group, attain the home advantage & go for the
qualifier in the 2ºleg. Lets wish them luck.
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REAL MADRID DRAWS AGAINST EINTRACHT FRANKFURT IN FRIENDLY (SEE VIDEO)
August 12, 2008
Last dress rehearsal for REAL MADRID before it´s Spanish Super
Cup match against Valencia CF. The Spanish Champions travelled
to EINTRACHT FRANKFURT to play a friendly game that ended
in a 1-1 draw.
Perfect stage to fine-tune the Real Madrid machine with all of its
players available to fine the touch needed to be 100% ready for the
kick off to the new season. Great game that saw an unlucky Real
Madrid being held out by an excellent Frankfurt goalkeeper
NIKOLOV who stopped it all. However, the Germans scored first
via BELLAID in the 6th min after Real defender Pepe failed to clear
the ball to see it hit the bar & place the sphere for the German to touch
in.
In was not until the 2ºhalf when Coach Schuster changed the team
around with De La Red, Baptista & Robinho that saw more spark
up front. It was the young Brazilian ROBINHO (above) that finally
got his teams equalizer in the 71st min - from a Saviola pass - after
numerous close goal calls up until then.
End result: a draw which was well received, as Real Madrid kept the
level & skill, while it changed & gave all its squad a run, illustrating
depth in the squad & good form in the pre-season.
MATCH SUMMARY:
EINTRACHT 1
Nikolov; Ochs, Russ, Bellaid, Spycher; Chris (Fink, m.46), Steinhöfer
(Galindo, m.61), Inamoto (Mahdavikia, m.61), Toski (Heller, m.79);
Liberopoulos (Fenin, m.46) & Amanatidis (Meier, m.61).
REAL MADRID 1
Casillas; Sergio Ramos (Salgado, m.65), Pepe (Javi García, m.79),
Heinze (Metzelder, m.46), Torres; Diarrá (De la Red, m.46), Guti
(Baptista, m.46), Van der Vaart (Higuaín, m.65); Robben, Raúl
(Saviola, m.65) & Van Nistelrooy (Robinho, m.46).
Goals: 1-0, m.6: Bellaid. 1-1, m.71: Robinho.
SEE VIDEO :
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United Must Recruit a Masterful Striker to Bolster Their Trophy Hopes
August 12, 2008
With Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Andriy Shevchenko in their striking ranks, Chelsea own one of the most exciting, powerful and experienced attacking line-ups in world football. And complemented by the offensive starlets of Deco, Florent Malouda and Joe Cole, who themselves sit in front an immensely strong central midfield duo of Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack, means they have world-class ammunition lethal enough to fire any club down on their day.
That is the proposition that Manchester United are up against this season in their quest to regain both their Premier League and Champions League titles. They faced similar dangers from their fiercest competition in the last campaign and overcame them to great success, albeit by only two points in the league and by one penalty in the European Cup. The Portuguese threat of Deco was not against them then, but him aside and Sir Alex Ferguson’s men triumphed over their London rivals quite emphatically on all fronts.
Whether they can reproduce their glory this season remains in considerable doubt though, despite the fact that there have been no significant departures from the club and, other than Deco, no arrivals of the same magnitude to Chelsea. Both squads remain almost parallel to the level of quality that they were last season, and that is likely to be reflected in another tight and hard-fought battle between the pair on all fronts.
The two clubs have been in the media spotlight for very different reasons throughout the summer months, and there is no doubt that the extra attention afforded to Chelsea was welcomed much more by the club than the added interest on Manchester United. Whilst many column inches were expectedly filled when Luiz Philippe Scolari became the new manager of former, the latter’s desperate attempts to resolve the ongoing Cristiano Ronaldo transfer saga caused unwanted debates and discussions from all corners of the nation and beyond. Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to fly to Portugal just to restore the player’s faith in the club, and for the time being turn his head away from the mouth-watering prospect of playing for his dream team Real Madrid.
And whilst Ferguson’s actions have succeeded in convincing Ronaldo to stay at Old Trafford for one more season at least, the uncertain cloud which hung over the club disrupted the pre-season focus somewhat. Ronaldo is not fit to start the new Premier League campaign on Sunday against Newcastle, but when he does return to action in around two months time his every move will be closely watched and scrutinised by fans and the media. How commited he really is to the club is still in some doubt. We will soon find out the answer though.
With fewer attacking options at the beginning of the season, United have been left well short of the quality possessed by Chelsea in that area of the pitch. At his age Ryan Giggs can now only take part in a limited number of games, and Paul Scholes is walking along the same path gradually. Nani is still learning but can produce moments of explosive brilliance, whilst the team lack attacking drive from the centre of the park. United managed to achieve truly special things last season with these same problems, but whether they can pull off the same feats this time around is still a mystery. At least they began the season in the same vein as the last with a penalty shoot-out victory in the Community Shield match on Sunday.
The biggest problem for United is their strikeforce, and Wayne Rooney’s untimely virus means that Carlos Tevez must lead the line alone in the opening matches of the new campaign, unless Ferguson feels young prodigy Frazier Campbell is ready for first-team football. This will happen only if the club do not sign a new forward before the end of the transfer window on the last day of August.
A quality accusation in this area is a must for Ferguson if he is to feel fully confident of his side regaining their domestic crown. With Tevez, Saha (who is always injured and is expected to leave very soon) and Rooney as their only three senior strikers, a fourth would be much welcomed. The current pair offer hard-work, endeavour and great skill at times, but neither act as a target man of any sorts to the rest of the team. Rooney prefers to sit deeper than the regular forward, so playing him up front on his own is almost suicidal, whilst Tevez is also more of a creative player rather than somebody who likes to lead the line. United have lacked this kind of individual ever since Ruud Van Nistlerooy left for Madrid, as Louis Saha has been injured for so much of his time at the club.
Tottenham star Dimitar Berbatov has been heavily linked with the club, and seemingly wants the move to go ahead himself, and Valencia forward David Silva has recently been courted by the manager too, though the Spaniard says he wants to stay in his native country rather than move abroad. It appears that Berbatov would be the best option for United, although his services could prove expensive. He oozes class though, and his exceptional touch, control, technique and finishing ability would help the team so much in their push for silverware.
A significant signing of Berbatov’s level needs to be made this summer by Manchester United if they are to be anywhere near as strong as Chelsea in the offensive department, but with this new addition Ferguson’s men could well march on to yet more glory in this coming campaign.
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ROBINHO & REAL MADRID: A CHESS GAME
August 12, 2008
It´s normal, you to would be pissed off if you knew that your
Club was thinking of selling you to another Club for another
player. That´s the case of REAL MADRID & its Brazilian player
ROBINHO in its quest to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, the Manchester United Portugues star is now not coming
& Robinho is in a strong bargaining position because he has a
serious offer from Chelsea FC that offers him 6M€/season wage.
With a “crafty” representative & a chance to “stick it up” Real
Madrid, Robinho now asks that his Club at least get close to the
Chelsea offer. The Brazilian now earns 2.1M€ & Real offer 3,5
M€…however Robinho wishes 5M€ at least & has put that
condition for him to stop courting with Chelsea.
SFS believes the following: that the Brazilian wishes to stay at Real
Madrid, that he will use the Chelsea FC offer to force Madrid to
greatly better his salary, using the lever of threats that he will leave.
Pure strategy & politics.
But be careful, a big offer may make Real Madrid think twice & take
him away from his “dream” & the “Biggest Club In History”. Money
vs Dream/Prestige…A credible Football Star vs A simple mercenary.
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