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European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Arteta: Wenger Guided Arsenal Out Of Slump To QPR Victory by skyupdate: 9:40am On Oct 31, 2012
Arteta: Wenger guided Arsenal out of slump to QPR victory
The midfielder has praised the influence of his manager in the Gunners’ dressing room, while the Frenchman has hailed the “outstanding” 30-year-old after he netted the winne.

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has heaped praise on manager Arsene Wenger for helping his side to recover from two consecutive defeats to beat QPR 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
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The Gunners came into the game against their London rivals having lost out to Norwich in the Premier League before being beaten at home by Schalke in Champions League.
However, what had been a tightly contested affair against the Rs turned into an Arsenal onslaught after a rash Stephane Mbia challenge saw the Cameroonian sent off late on in the match.
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And Arteta, who went on to score the late winner in that match, has hailed his manager’s influence on the squad's morale.
“The boss was brilliant because he was very positive about the way we have to play and the belief we have to have,” the midfielder told the club's official website.
“It is good that in the bad moments he keeps believing in us and gives us confidence, so we kept playing as we always do and got rewarded.
source:http://skyblueupdate..com/2012/10/arteta-wenger-guided-arsenal-out-of.html

European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Rooney: I Want To Be England's Eric Cantona by skyupdate: 3:06pm On Oct 10, 2012
Rooney: I want to be England's Eric Cantona
The 26-year-old striker is aiming to emulate the talismanic former Red Devils man and admits his performances at international level have not met his own standards.
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Wayne Rooney claims he wants to inspire England's younger players in the same way Eric Cantona did at Manchester United.
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Rooney, who has 76 caps, believes that as a "senior player" he must begin to show his leadership qualities at international level and is willing to offer advice to the younger personnel in Roy Hodgson's squad.

"I hope it is time for me to show I am a senior player and that I can lead the team. I understand the scrutiny I'm under and I have no problems with that," Rooney told reporters.

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"Hopefully in the near future we will be coming out of a tournament and you will all be praising me because we have won a trophy. That would be great for everyone.

"It's especially important now, when we have a lot of young players in the squad. I always try to speak to them and offer advice.

"I always remember what Sir Alex Ferguson says about how Eric Cantona was such a big help to the younger players at United. It is something I can look at and try do for England, to try to help them. Hopefully I can bring the best out of them and they can bring the best out of me as well."

After being part of a Three Lions squad which suffered a quarter-final exit at the hands of Italy at Euro 2012 in the summer, Rooney admits his own performances at international level have struggled to live up to expectations.

“Performance-wise, there have been times when I’ve not done myself justice. I always try to give everything, leave everything on the pitch," said Rooney.

“Sometimes it happens where you don’t play well but you have tried. It just happens. Whether I have played well or badly. I always try to come off exhausted.

“I’d have liked to have played better for England. For whatever reasons it hasn’t happened. I’d like to know why, because I’ve always worked hard and given everything.

“Looking back at games and tournaments, I know I can do better. Going into the next game, I always feel I am going to play well, and I’m confident. I wouldn’t let the previous tournament or previous game distract me.

“I think I haven’t played at my best but being honest as a team we can do better. So I am not going to win a tournament on my own. We need the whole team."

England will resume their World Cup qualification campaign on Friday with a home tie against San Marino and are currently second in Group H, level on four points with Montenegro and Poland after two games.
source:http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1414031467704798683#editor/target=post;postID=2711583584249220664;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname

European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / The Premier League Has Evolved, Says Arsenal Boss Wenger by skyupdate: 2:53pm On Oct 10, 2012
The Premier League has evolved, says Arsenal boss Wenger
The Gunners manager has discussed the changes in tactical flexibility and formations which have taken place since he took charge at Highbury in 1996.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has spoken out about the "evolution" of the Premier League since his arrival in England over 16 years ago.
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The Frenchman believes teams nowadays are more tactically flexible, insisting that the majority of sides simply stuck to 4-4-2 in the past.

"When I arrived in England I would say there was one rigid formation, 4-4-2," Wenger told Arsenal Magazine.

"Today teams are more versatile, they can go to three defenders, five defenders, they can go to 4-4-1, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, all kinds of variants.

"I think the formations teams use are much more flexible than 15 years ago, more adaptable."

However, the 62-year-old insisted the modern emphasis on controlling the midfield has come at the expense of attacking play.

"So yes, evolution has happened, aided by a lot of European games and the influence of foreign players," he added.

"You can call it evolution, but to reduce it to an overall point you would say the midfield has been strengthened and attack has been weakened."

Meanwhile, the Gunners have announced that English youth player Chuba Akpom has signed professional terms with the club on Wednesday.

The 17-year-old from Newham is a regular in the Arsenal Under-21s and has scored twice in three NextGen appearances this term.

Sports / Ahmed Musa: I Can Play As Top Striker For Super Eagles by skyupdate: 2:44pm On Oct 10, 2012
Ahmed Musa: I can play as top striker for Super Eagles
The CSKA Moscow forward is relishing his new found goal-scoring form in Russia and would like to reprise that role with the national team against Liberia if the coach desires.
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EXCLUSIVE
Forward Ahmed Musa has said that he would not mind playing as the top striker for the Super Eagles against Liberia this weekend considering his present scoring run at his club.
Musa has been playing in the main striker position for CSKA Moscow this season following injury to Ivoirian team mate Seydou Doumbia.
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The Nigerian has scored four goals since the season started and is feeling confident that he could reprise the role for the national team if given the chance against Liberia in this weekend’s crucial 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game in Calabar.
Stephen Keshi has used him as a winger and he scored a goal in the 2-0 defeat of Rwanda in Calabar in June.
source:http://skyblueupdate..com/2012/10/ahmed-musa-i-can-play-as-top-striker.html
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Guardiola Would Be Perfect For Arsenal, Claims Former Barcelona Defender Marquez by skyupdate: 2:53pm On Oct 09, 2012
Guardiola would be perfect for Arsenal, claims former Barcelona defender Marquez
The New York Red Bulls centre-back believes his former trainer, who he worked with at the Spanish giants for two seasons, will next manage a club in the Premier League.
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Former Barcelona defender Rafael Marquez believes Pep Guardiola would be the "perfect" coach for Arsenal.
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The 33-year-old played under Guardiola at Camp Nou for two seasons before his move to MLS side New York Red Bulls in August 2010.

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Guardiola has been linked with a host of top European sides following his departure from Barcelona at the end of last season, while Goal.com exclusively revealed in September that Sir Alex Ferguson has earmarked the 41-year-old as one of two candidates to succeed him at Manchester United, with the other potential appointment being Jose Mourinho.

But Marquez claims Guardiola would be a better replacement for Arsene Wenger at the Emirates Stadium and believes the Spaniard's next managerial role will be in the Premier League.

Marquez told Cadena SER: "I didn't yet have the chance to meet Pep in New York. We've been in touch before, to help him move here.

"He will soon return to the game. I think he'll go to England. He'd be perfect for Arsenal."

European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Wenger: Wilshere Will Come Back A Stronger Player by skyupdate: 6:20pm On Sep 24, 2012
Wenger: Wilshere will come back a stronger player
The 20-year-old international has been out of action for 14 months with an ankle injury but the Gunners' boss insists he still has the potential to become a world-class footballer.
Arsene Wenger has tipped Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere to bounce back a better player as he recommences training after a long spell out with an ankle injury.
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The 20-year-old has been out of action for 14 months and counting for the first team and there will undoubtedly be fears in many fans’ minds about whether he can recapture the form that saw him tipped to be a future world-class player.
Wenger, however, insisted the Gunners' starlet would not see his career adversely affected by the long spell out, and said any comparisons between Wilshere and Eduardo - the former Arsenal striker who was out for a long spell through injury - are irrelevant.
"He will be a better player - if you have this kind of injury at the age of 20, you will take off again and move forward normally,” the French coach told reporters on Friday.
"If you have the injury after the age of 25, it is different. At his age it is no problem.
SOURCE:http://skyblueupdate..com/2012/09/wenger-wilshere-will-come-back-stronger.html
Sports / Gunners On Drog Alert by skyupdate: 6:00pm On Sep 14, 2012
Gunners on Drog alert
ARSENAL want to prise Didier Drogba away from Shanghai Shenhua.
The Gunners are desperate to find a proven scorer to replace Robin van Persie.
And they have made enquiries with the Chinese club to see if there is a way of bringing the striker, 34, back to London.
The Gunners are aware of internal upheaval at Shanghai where Drogba and ex-Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka have been caught up in a boardroom power struggle.
source:http:[url]//skyblueupdate..com/2012/09/gunners-on-drog-alert.html[/url]
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Reus Underlines Ambition To Progress In The Champions League by skyupdate: 4:45pm On Sep 11, 2012
Reus underlines ambition to progress in the Champions League
The 23-year-old Germany international has revealed that there is a real sense of belief within the Bundesliga champions that they can progress from a difficult continental pool
Jose Mourinho is not concerned about the seemingly unlimited funds available to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Zenit St Petersburg, and is confident that the history and success of Real Madrid will continue to lure players to the Santiago Bernabeu for years to come.
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Zenit splashed out a reported €80 million on Axel Witsel and Hulk from Benfica and Porto respectively on Monday, while PSG spent over €100m on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Lucas Moura over the course of the summer.

But Mourinho feels that the history of Europe's elite clubs will prove most attractive when players come to weigh up their options, and is also encouraged by the impending introduction of European financial fair play regulations (FFP).
SOURCE:http:[url]//skyblueupdate..com/2012/09/reus-underlines-ambition-to-progress-in.html[/url]
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / The Dossier: Villas-boas' Tottenham Transition Needs Players To Abandon Th by skyupdate: 12:14pm On Sep 11, 2012
The Dossier: Villas-Boas' Tottenham transition needs players to abandon the Redknapp way
Jermain Defoe was left isolated in Spurs' 1-1 draw with Norwich at White Hart Lane, highlighting the club's need to steadily adapt to the Portuguese manager's system
Sep
7
The Dossier: Villas-Boas' Tottenham transition needs players to abandon the Redknapp way
The Dossier: Villas-Boas' Tottenham transition needs players to abandon the Redknapp way
Jermain Defoe was left isolated in Spurs' 1-1 draw with Norwich at White Hart Lane, highlighting the club's need to steadily adapt to the Portuguese manager's system

Sep 7, 2012 8:00:00 AM
More On : Tottenham, Clint Dempsey, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Moussa Dembele, André Villas-Boas, Jermain Defoe




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ANALYSIS
By Jonathan Wilson

Three games gone and Tottenham Hotspur have just two points. There was booing after the game against Norwich City on Saturday as another late equaliser cost Spurs a win.
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The frustration is understandable: Harry Redknapp left after being denied Champions League qualification only by a quirk of Uefa’s rules and Chelsea winning the competition. If Andre Villas-Boas achieves anything less than qualification it will feel like a terrible let-down.

Yet Redknapp wasn’t the only departure. Not including loan deals, 12 players left Spurs over the summer, including Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart. Six players have arrived, but this is a time of transition, something evident in the tactical hodge-podge in the first half on Saturday, which led to Jermain Defoe playing as a lone central striker with minimal support.

Defoe is a classic example of the sort of centre-forward in danger of being refined out of existence by the evolution of the modern game. He is quick and he is a fine finisher, but he lacks the bulk or hold-up play to operate as a lone centre-forward – at least in the present Spurs set up.

Perhaps if he had a different type of support from the flanks, if he had inverted wingers who could cut in and score goals or central midfielders who could get forward to help, there wouldn’t be such an issue. As Defoe himself said: “I have been playing the lone striker for my club and I have enjoyed it. To be honest playing with good players it is not really a problem if people get close.”
Limited | Bale works for Spurs as a wide-man, not a forward
on

But Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon are classic British wide-men: they’re quick, perfectly equipped to beat a full-back and get crosses into the box but not naturally adept at the sort of fluid link-up play required to play a front three without a physically robust central presence. Lennon is in his eighth season at Spurs and has only scored 21 league goals.

Bale is rather more prolific, having cemented his reputation with his hat-trick against Inter at the San Siro and scored 17 goals over the past two league seasons.

He can hit shots from range and he is excellent coming in at the back post, but even he is stronger on his left – that is his outside – foot. Despite the experiments with him in more central positions towards the end of last season, he is a wide-man who scores goals rather than being a player like, say, Edinson Cavani or Fabio Borini, essentially forwards who frequently start in wide positions.

In the first half against Norwich, Spurs started with two holding midfielders in Jake Livermore and Sandro, with Gylfi Sigurdsson stroking the ball about smoothly in front of them. It was all sedate and neat enough, but there was nobody driving through the centre of midfield to support Defoe.

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Again and again the ball was swept wide by Sigurdsson to either Bale or Lennon who would then look to cross and realise they had only Defoe to aim at, at which they’d check back and the momentum of attacks would be lost.

The arrival of Mousa Dembele at half-time helped, and it was he who got the Spurs goal, turning in exactly that space on the edge of the box that Spurs hadn’t been attacking in the first half. Even with his dynamism, though, it was notable how much better Spurs looked when Emmanuel Adebayor came on.
At last there was a target in the box for Lennon and Bale to aim at, somebody to draw defenders away from Defoe, somebody for Spurs’ midfield to play off.

Villas-Boas’ essential problem is that this was a squad constructed to play in the Redknapp way, that is, in the classic British manner of getting the ball wide and getting crosses into the box. It’s a squad suited to a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 set-up.

Villas-Boas, though, has historically preferred a 4-3-3: it was what he was used to at Chelsea when he worked under Jose Mourinho and it is what he played at Porto – when he did have a great wide forward in the form of Hulk.

The period of transition may be awkward. Dembele will help, as will Clint Dempsey. Villas-Boas already seems to have learned the lessons of Chelsea, where it is generally accepted he tried to impose his style too quickly.

Notably this season, he has not insisted on the high line he clearly favours, recognising the problems that would cause William Gallas given his waning pace. Perhaps the first step is a 4-2-3-1, using Dempsey or Dembele to link the back of the midfield to the front three.

Given his ability to drift in, Dempsey perhaps could be used in one of the wide roles to provide that link between midfield and attack (he preferred the left at Fulham, which would mean Bale either being left out or switching flank, but he has played on the right for the USA).

However he does it, though, from an attacking point.
SOURCE:http:[url]//skyblueupdate..com/2012/09/the-dossier-villas-boas-tottenham.html[/url]
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Sep 11 Manchester United Prepared To Sell Brazilian Midfielder Anderson by skyupdate: 11:52am On Sep 11, 2012
Manchester United prepared to sell Brazilian midfielder Anderson
Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson has lost patience with the 24-year-old's injury record and lack of improvement, with talks held over selling the former Porto man last month
Sep 11, 2012 8:30:00 AM

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is ready to cash in on Brazilian misfit Anderson after losing faith in the former Porto star.
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Anderson has frustrated United with his lack of improvement since joining the club in 2007 and conversations were held over the summer about selling the 24-year-old, with Benfica and Tottenham linked with the 24-year-old.

United would want to recoup as much of the £18m (€22.5m) they paid to sign the all-action midfielder as possible in order to re-invest in the squad, with Ferguson understood to be keen to upgrade his central midfield options.

Anderson made just 10 Premier League appearances last season and has been blighted by injuries since arriving at Old Trafford, prompting Ferguson to raise concerns about his future.

“He hasn't really realised his potential, which is there for all to see,” said Ferguson in April. “He is a fantastic footballer. I just hope he doesn't have the bad luck that Michael Owen has had throughout his career.”
SOURCE:http:[url]//skyblueupdate..com/2012/09/manchester-united-prepared-to-sell.html[/url]
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / The Dossier: Sir Alex Ferguson Must Drop Rooney To Get The Best Out Of Van Persi by skyupdate: 5:24pm On Sep 10, 2012
The Dossier: Sir Alex Ferguson must drop Rooney to get the best out of Van Persie & Kagawa
The Japan international has impressed since arriving at Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund, though accommodating him and the England man may leave the side too narrow
Sep 10, 2012 9:00:00 AM

Robin van Persie may have got Manchester United out of trouble with a hat-trick in their last Premier League match against Southampton, but the Dutchman and Sir Alex Ferguson both cited the introduction of Paul Scholes as a second-half substitute as the turning point in the game.
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"I thought we were well out of it until Paul Scholes came on - his vision and consistency of passing gave us control again," said Ferguson after the 3-2 victory, while Van Persie felt ‘everything was ticking' with the 37-year-old on the pitch and conducting proceedings from central midfield.
SOURCE:http://skyblueupdate..com/2012/09/the-dossier-sir-alex-ferguson-must-drop.html

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