Sunderland boss Steve Bruce slammed the inexperience of referee Anthony Taylor following his side's opening day 2-2 draw with Birmingham City.
The Black Cats threw away a two-goal lead as they were held to a stalemate at the Stadium of Light.
Darren Bent's penalty and an own goal from Stephen Carr had put the home side comfortably ahead.
However, midfielder Lee Cattermole was sent off just before half-time for a second bookable offence and afterwards Bruce was furious with the match official.
"Today, all the big decisions, in my opinion, he got them wrong," he said.
"I don't want to criticise referees but I think he's only been refereeing for four years and it looked like it.
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"For it to be in a Premier League game, when we've got (fourth official) Chris Foy standing there, one of the best officials, it doesn't make sense."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Eden Hazard’s growing number of potential suitors has been bolstered by the news that Spurs have joined the chase for the 20 year Belgian international, according to the Metro.
North London rivals Arsenal have long tracked the rising star with Arsene Wenger hopeful of doing a deal next summer. However, recent developments have seen Manchester City and now Spurs join the race, with Barcelona and Real Madrid both watching on with interest in Spain.
Lille will not allow Hazard to leave on the cheap, and a bid of at least £30 million has been touted as the required fee for the playmaker. This may rule Arsenal out of the running with the clubs strict financial model, yet Spurs are allegedly ready to smash their transfer record in order to sign Hazard and challenge for the title.
Another Belgian courting interest from the capital is centre back Jan Vertonghen. The 24 year old Ajax stopper is likely to be available for around £10 million in January and both Arsenal and Spurs are considering making a move.
However, despite Arsenal’s long standing interest, the return of Thomas Vermaelen has quelled Wenger’s desire to move for a centre back in the immediate future.
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Porto, Benfica and Sporting Braga all progressed to the Europa League quarter-finals in a good evening for Portuguese sides on Thursday.The night was not so kind for British teams, with tournament favourites Manchester City, Liverpool and Glasgow Rangers all exiting continental competition far earlier than they would have liked.Porto, who are unbeaten in 32 league games and are 13 points clear of Benfica at the top of the Liga Sagres table, produced another excellent performance to defeat CSKA Moscow 2-1 at the Estadio Do Dragao.After they won the first leg in Moscow 1-0, Brazilian striker Hulk, who has 29 goals in all competitions, gave Porto the perfect start with a goal inside the first minute.Freddy Guarin doubled Porto’s advantage after 24 minutes and although Zoran Tosic scored five minutes later for CSKA, the Russian side was unable to take advantage of their chances and were knocked out of the competition.After a 2-1 victory at home, Benfica’s 1-1 draw in France against PSG secured their progression.Nicolas Gaitan’s 27th-minute goal put the Portuguese side two goals in front on aggregate and despite Mathieu Bodmer’s equalizer eight minutes later, Benfica progressed to the last eight where they will be joined by Sporting Braga who held on for a 0-0 draw at Anfield against Liverpool to give them a 1-0 aggregate triumph.Aleksandar Kolarov’s first-half strike was not enough for Manchester City, who despite defeating Dynamo Kiev 1-0, failed to progress after losing 2-1 on aggregate while Rangers also missed out by a goal, with Jeremain Lens’ 14th-minute away goal at Ibrox giving PSV a 1-0 win on the night and over the two legs.Villarreal knocked Bayer Leverkusen out of the competition after a 2-1 second-leg win at El Madigral.The fourth-placed La Liga outfit claimed a brilliant 3-2 away win in the first leg and booked their spot in the last eight with goals to Cazorla and Giuseppe Rossi, before Eren Derdiyok struck a late consolation for the Bundesliga side.Other results saw four-time European Cup winners Ajax Amsterdam knocked out after they were hammered 3-0 by Spartak Moscow, thanks to goals from Dmitri Kombarov, Welliton and Alex, which ensured they won 4-0 on aggregate.But Ajax’s Eredivisie rivals Twente had more luck, progressing despite a 2-0 defeat at Zenit St Petersburg.Twente won the first leg 3-0 but first-half strikes to Roman Shirokov and Alexander Kerzhakov made for an exciting second half, in which Zenit were unable to extend their advantage as the 2008 UEFA Cup winners exited the competition.
Portsmouth have confirmed that David James is on the verge of leaving the club after they withdrew a fresh contract offer to keep him at Fratton Park.
England's veteran World Cup goalkeeper looks set to move to Scottish Premier League giants Celtic and chief executive David Lampitt and manager Steve Cotterill have reluctantly decided against offering him new terms.
"It was a tricky situation. Steve Cotterill and I discussed it at length," Lampitt told The Portsmouth News.
"From my point of view, we did our absolute best in trying to keep him. I would have loved for him to stay at the club.
"We had various meetings with him and the process went on for quite a long time. The difficulty for us is that we have got to resolve our goalkeeping situation.
"It got to a point where we needed to have some certainty with only three weeks to go until the new season and we need to look at other options.
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"We kept the offer open for as long as we reasonably could to try to give us the best opportunity of retaining him. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has stated that he will give £3,000 to charity if Tottenham finish higher in the league than his side, and has challenged the White Hart Lane faithful to donate to a good cause also.
Spurs’ 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday night lifts Harry Redknapp’s men up to third place, three points ahead of The Gunners with an extra game to play.
The England midfielder feels that talk of Spurs finishing above Arsenal is premature, and has issued a challenge to his rival fans on Twitter.
“All Spurs fans buzzing that they are ahead of us in the league (for once). Its a marathon, not a sprint!
“I tell you what; at the end of the season if Spurs finish above Arsenal I will give £3,000 to charity and if Arsenal finish above Spurs every Spurs fan that follows me must send me a pound each and I will give it to the Jack Marshall charity,” he stated on the social networking site.
Wilshere has been sidelined for the entire campaign due to injury, but is expected to return to action for Arsene Wenger’s side towards the end of the year.
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West Ham capped off a great week with their second win in seven days, as they followed up the impressive victory against Liverpool to cruise past Stoke 3-0 at Upton Park and in turn move out of the Premier League relegation zone.
It has to be said that Avram Grant’s men were gifted the opener by Stoke, as Demba Ba capitalised on a defensive mix-up to give the Hammers the lead after 20 minutes. 10 minutes later it was 2-0 thanks to a Manuel Da Costa header, a two-goal cushion that West Ham took into the break. They were tested more after the break, but managed to keep a clean sheet and Thomas Hitzlsperger continued his good form since his return from injury with a trademark strike to put the icing on the cake.
So what FIVE things did we learn about West Ham today?
Bolton Wanderers boss Owen Coyle believes that central defender Gary Cahill has a big future on the international stage.
The 24-year-old missed out on selection for the World Cup finals this summer, but is expected to be called up by coach Fabio Capello if the Italian decides to make changes following England's dismal performances in South Africa.
Coyle told the Bolton News:"I still think he was very unlucky not to be in that squad for the World Cup. Michael Dawson and Ledley King are great players, but I would also put Gary in that bracket.
"He showed such guts to get over his injury and get back to top form. I know people will accuse me of bias or whatever, but from a purely footballing view I would definitely have given him a shot.
"Regardless of whether there are major changes, or people hanging up their boots, I honestly think that Gary will go on and earn international caps for England.
"He's good enough right now, it's not as if we're talking about whether he will improve and mature in the future.
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"Hopefully, he can hit the ground running this summer and get back into the England squad. Once he gets his chance, I'm positive he'll take it."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
So, it’s derby week. Everyone loves derby week. What self-respecting City fan doesn’t want to read endless articles by ex-United players (and current ones too) telling us how you can’t buy history or class or how the match doesn’t matter to them, and on and on and on, all merely a warm up until Alex Fergurson starts his legendary mind games.
Align this with Paul Scholes’s autobiography being out and I expect we won’t be able to shut up the notoriously shy and private family man in the lead up to Sunday. Oh Paul, how I yearn to hear your views on City’s emergence, it really will complete my week. Not that it’s all one-sided of course.
So we are treated to five days of tiresome, banal interviews with ex-players, ex-managers, or current players talking PR-fed nonsense and endless clichés like it being another game at the end of the day and the lads are over the moon at the thought of winning and sick as a parrot with the thought of defeat and so on. Sky Sports News will wheel out some fancy new graphics with accompanying bombastic music and the charade is complete.
It started on Wednesday with a laughable Daily Mail article, by that notoriously shy “Sportsmail Reporter” who is too modest to put his name to the endless guff he, or they produce. The article claimed that Anders Lindegaard had claimed that the Manchester derby was not that important – a complete lie, he said nothing of the sort, simply pointing out the obvious- that it won’t decide anything at this stage of the season. Sadly Nigel de Jong was soon being quoted saying City were the top dogs now – I didn’t open the article, he probably said nothing of the sort, merely mentioning the league table. Inevitably one of the old guard had to have a word or two, and it was Ryan Giggs who broke ranks first, making some laughable comments about Mario Balotelli:
“He is a little strange….. god knows how many fines he has received in England! No one except ManchesterCity fans really like him. ..”
If only he could cheat on his wife or girlfriend with a succession of women like most footballers do, and stop embarrassing himself by getting the odd parking ticket instead (which was a made-up story anyway). And if Giggs had the remotest idea of what football fans in this country think, he might be aware that Mr Balotelli seems rather popular with many opposition fans, due to being two pepperonis short of a pizza.
It has always been thus. Before the derby that fell close to the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster, Paul Scholes had plenty to say, as fears rose that the minute’s silence may be disrupted:
“There is always that few who might cause problems. It would reflect badly on their club but that’s not stopped them over the years.”
Rick Boardman of the band Delphic said in a recent interview, talking about City fans before a derby:
“They care more about us losing than winning games themselves – I just don’t get that. It could all change but I’ve got confidence in our club. And whatever happens, we’ll always have the history. “
Today we see Mario Balotelli proclaiming the Manchester derby will soon be the biggest in the world, Chris Smalling discussing Aguero, Micah Richards claiming United are frightened of City and various other fascinating insights (such as some tactical advice for City on Sunday from Robbie Savage – cheers Robbie).
The media don’t help. After all, Sky Sports News will hype up anything. If the intensity of a Norwich v Ipswich match can be compared to the last days of Rome, then a Manchester derby is perfect fodder for them, especially if it falls into one of their Grand Slam Sundays, Super Sundays, Magnificent Mondays, Showdown Showcase Specials or World War Wednesdays.(I may have made a couple of them up). What’s more, as the internet has taken over the world, papers have more room to fill, with as much news available as they’ve always had.
Of course it’s not all bad – derby week can offer the odd nugget of gold, such as positive in-depth interviews with managers and players (there are ones with Balotelli, Young and Mancini this week), but please spare us Lou Macari’s views on City’s money. Every man has his breaking point.
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But the last word should go to the The Daily Telegraph’s pointless feature about Wayne Rooney’s bicycle-kick goal against City last season. Fans and players commented on WHERE THEY WERE at that historic moment, but the go-to man must be David Prosperi, the vice-president of Aon Global PR.
“Not only was the Aon logo extremely visible throughout the multiple global TV replays and photo images when it happened, but years from now, when the goal against Manchester City is shown time and again as perhaps one of the greatest of all time, you will still see the Aon name. That one image epitomised the value of Aon’s relationship with Manchester United.”
AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso has apologised for losing his cool in his side’s Champions League defeat on Tuesday.
Tenacious midfielder Gattuso was involved in several incidents during the Italian giants’ 1-0 home defeat to Tottenham, which means Milan will need to win at White Hart Lane to make the Champions League quarter-finals.
The game became ugly when AC Milan’s Mathieu Flamini only received a yellow card for a crude two-footed lunge on Tottenham’s Vedran Corluka, who had to be substituted.
Gattuso traded words with Tottenham’s assistant manager Joe Jordan before shoving him in the face. Tempers flared again after the final whistle, with Gattuso head-butting the Spurs coach.
The retired Italy international had to be restrained by team-mates and escorted down the tunnel. He is expected to face a sanction from UEFA.
“I lost control,” Gattuso told reporters after the match.
“There is no excuse for what I have done. I take my responsibilities for that.”
“I was nervous. I didn’t want to argue with players and I did it with him, but I was wrong to do what I have done.”
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp did not want to comment on the incident at the post-match press conference, but was quoted as telling The Daily Mail: “He picked on the wrong man there. I know who I’d pick between Joe and Gattuso anyway … Joe all night long.”
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Redknapp believes the incident showed Milan were ‘rattled’ – a fair achievement for a club who are making their first appearance in the Champions League.
“Milan lost their heads at the end there – they were rattled, for sure – and I guess that’s a good sign,” he said.
Gattuso also picked up a yellow card in the match, meaning he will miss the second-leg clash at White Hart Lane on March 9 regardless of any UEFA punishment.
In fact, he is very much representative of what football is at present; a theatrical, results driven business. Where Mourinho is concerned, football itself fades into an easily ignored backdrop: Victor Valdes completed more passes than any outfield Inter player, Barcelona ended up with 555 passes compared to Inter’s 67 and enjoyed 86% possession…vitriol and endless statistics have been conflated, corroborated and spewed yet the only stat that matters is the number 3. This is the number of trophies Mourinho’s Inter team finished 2009-2010 with.
Any club Mourinho has managed has had a very simple aim: win. Just win. The directive contained nothing on beauty, nothing on the aesthetic representation of a higher ideological belief, nothing on art, or integrity, or anything except the endgame itself. Winning is a finality that does not discriminate against form. And it is something he has, not just a habit of doing, but a compulsion. Domestic titles in three countries (champion of Portugal twice, champion of England twice, champion of Italy twice and this is all discounting the ‘minor’ cups), a UEFA Cup victory, and two Champions League successes – with different teams – all within an eight year period. It is absolutely ridiculous. Mourinho cannot be ascribed the mantle of ‘anti-football’ when it is clear he represents the most marketable, most sought after, and most valued asset in the professional game: a veritable guarantee for success.
What Mourinho is, before every derogatory epithet the press and people can affix to his name, is a great tactical manager. To think otherwise, given his repeated achievements, is honestly baffling. If it were really that easy then why haven’t more attempted to even vaguely replicate? ‘His teams are all worth hundreds of millions of pounds’ is the most common argument. Porto weren’t. His Chelsea team remained largely unchanged but consecutive years followed without a Premier League crown. At Inter this year six of the starting eleven (Lucio, Motta, Sneijder, Pandev, Eto’o, Milito) are in their debut season, meaning he bought them. This year’s team is a Mourinho team; last year’s was the one he inherited. To introduce six new players into the team and create immediate success is indicative of his greatest talent that perhaps isn’t as measurable as tactics, money spent, and trophies won: individual player management.
The bond he creates with his players is probably rooted in the simplest of psychoanalytical theories: create a common enemy and the followers forego their differences, focus more willingly, band together and are thus galvanised. The siege mentality he creates whereby it is his men who are the universally persecuted is transfixing. More so than any other manager he has a natural ability to garner absolute obedience – even more, it is impassioned acquiescence. And this is where I think maybe the bravado, the ego, and the function of his personal theatrics is most overlooked.
At Chelsea he was the self proclaimed Special One. At Inter, in the Bernabeu, the Sky cameras panned to his solitary figure doing a lap of honour while the players celebrated with the trophy; we are all so enamoured and brimming with opprobrium at the man that we are at the whims of his greatest deceit. He leaves himself as the sole proprietor of his own success and failure – the team is not to blame. At Chelsea he intentionally magnified the pressure on his own reputation and the function was to detract from the team (arrogant, no doubt, but with a degree of foresight and mediation). It’s probably why his players love him so much.
And now, with every conquest and every achievement he is adding to that first proclamation of being the Special One. He has made himself the entertainment, the orchestrator and – if he fails – the culprit. That second leg at Barcelona, the only place that derides his reputation with superciliousness, was probably his greatest achievement: Mourinho defeated Barcelona, not Inter. Finger aloft, his celebration positively screamed I am the sole reason for your demise and soldered the point home to every Catalan fan who pejoratively tagged him as ‘the translator’.
All of this I can concede without ever liking the football his teams play. I don’t have to like what he stands for but cannot be blinkered against what he has achieved. Johan Cruyff perfectly encapsulates the differing ideology at work in the game at present – something which is more an indictment on football at present and its directives than it is on Mourinho as a manager:
“It’s better to lose with your own vision than win with someone else’s.”
The moment teams start believing this is the moment Mourinho will be less the spectacle and football, as an aesthetic and as an art, returns to being the means and the ends.
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