Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor does not feel under threat despite the arrival of more big-money signings this summer.
City have spent over £75million on David Silva, Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng and Aleksandr Kolarov in recent weeks, while they continue to be linked with a move for Internazionale's £25million-rated striker Mario Balotelli.
However, Adebayor, a £25million signing from Arsenal last summer, has dismissed the threat posed to him by the influx of new players.
"A lot of good players are coming in but I still want to be number one striker and that is what I am trying to do," said the Togo striker.
Meanwhile, Adebayor has spoken of his zest for life following his involvement in the gun attack at January's Africa Cup of Nations which left three people dead.
"At the end of the day I am lucky to be alive and to be able to enjoy my football," he continued.
"Whenever I talk I am thinking about my team-mates after the gun attack. One got a bullet in his back and he was not even able to walk.
"We are lucky boys and that is why I am enjoying every minute of life.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
"After the shooting it was quite difficult to forget about those things. People died in my hands. But what happened has happened and I will live with that until the end of my life.
"I have been away on holiday, two months of doing nothing, and now I am back I want to score a few goals to make me happy again."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
You may love or loathe the transfer windows but it certainly has most football supporters fixated to the rumour mills on a daily basis. I don’t know many fans that don’t go straight to the BBC’s gossip column as a first port of call every morning, before they move on to SkySports.com. Most of what is written is complete tosh; however it doesn’t stop many buying into what they have read. I guess everyone just loves a rumour, despite how outlandish they might be.
One thing that does amuse me about those who bite at the rumours is their sheer naivety and this belief that the club have a bottomless pit of money and cannot understand why player X Y and Z won’t be playing for their club next season. There is a lot to be said for a little bit of realism and general understanding of the complexity of club finances. Sometimes players have to be sacrificed in order to raise funds to strengthen elsewhere, or clubs have a restricted budget due to incompetent owners or the need to finance new stadia. Money doesn’t grow on trees and therefore clubs have to live within their means.
So what about your club this summer? No doubt you have been taken in by some of the rumours, poured cold water over some and I’m sure there is a long list of players that you will be happy to see the club cash in on during the coming weeks. The transfer window, with the exception of City, has been somewhat constipated up to this point, although I’m sure it won’t be long before the transfer storm starts to erupt.
Who would you like to see arrive at Goodison Park during the next five weeks, and equally who should be issued with their P45?
Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
After peppering Joe Hart’s goal with scant reward on the first day of the season, and a half-hour horror show in Switzerland during the week, you could forgive Spurs fans for a hint of wariness concerning a trip to the Brittania Stadium. The White Hart Lane physio room has also quickly been gathering as many strikers as possible in the last week to compensate for the work shelled out on defenders over the last few seasons, as Robbie Keane, Jermaine Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko were all ruled out. That meant that Peter Crouch had to lead the line alone, and even the much maligned Jermaine Jenas found himself in the unfamiliar surroundings of a starting line-up, in a swollen midfield five.
Tottenham won this game, and more to the point, deserved to. At times Gomes may have rode his luck: quality saves came hand-in-hand with moments of indecision, and the goalmouth melee could have easily gone in any number of directions concerning fouls, handballs and goal lines, to give Stoke a point, but Spurs stood firm. It is a characteristic that is becoming increasingly common in Redknapp’s team, with wins at Blackburn and Stoke, and draws at Birmingham and Bolton last season. Without wanting to either generalise or sound disrespectful, these battles against physical teams were previously the undoing of Spurs in their quest to climb the Premier League ranks. Only the year before, the very same teams all took three points off Tottenham when playing them at their respective homes. Redknapp certainly has a better group of players than Ramos had, but it is more the variety in players he has at his fingertips: Dawson, Palacios and Huddlestone are up for the fight.
When at White Hart Lane, against most teams, Spurs can rely on Modric, Defoe, Lennon, and now Bale, to play teams off the park, but it is the trips away from home that have previously been the undoing of the team, and now where they must continue to bring three points with them on the journey home. If Redknapp wanted to dip his toe into a murky selection dilemma, and test the strength of his squad, he will have been delighted with the result. First choices Defoe, Modric, King and Woodgate were missing, as well as able deputies in Keane and Pavlyuchenko, and the eleven he put out did the job in hand. Spurs will have known that the addition of the Champions League will have tested their squad to its limits, but maybe not at this early stage of the season.
The next stage for Spurs, to really show the big four party has been well and truly crashed, is to take regular points of the teams around them. Chelsea may have won the league with an unfamiliar six defeats, but they had a 100% record against Arsenal, United and Liverpool. This Spurs side has to do everything they did last season and more. Redknapp will be relieved that the return leg against Young Boys is followed up with the relative rest bite of a home encounter against a Wigan side responsible for donations of LiveAid proportions; his team can put everything into Wednesday’s game, knowing that the weekend should be rather more straightforward.
In a season where so much is expected of Redknapp and his men, they have passed their first test, but there are far greater ones to come. After Wigan, an alliterating sequence of fixtures against West Brom, Wolves and West Ham follow in the league, where anything less than 12 points will be seen as insufficient. The trip to Stoke neatly portrayed what is needed to win trophies within just ninety minutes: grit, flair, technique and large slice of luck. Spurs possessed all those thing on Saturday, it is now a case of repeating the combination throughout the season.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Get updates on my articles by following me on twitter.
Brazil striker Luis Fabiano has put an end to speculation about his future by signing a new two-year contract extension with Sevilla.
The 29-year-old, who had been of interest to both Tottenham Hotspur and Marseille, is now tied to the Rojiblancos until the summer of 2013, with his previous deal having been set to run out at the end of the season.
The South American told his club's official website:"Much has been spoken about my future and in the end I am content to renew with Sevilla.
"This club is my home, already I have been here six years and I will try to continue scoring goals, to continue making history for Sevilla. It is a very special day for me.
"My first option was to renew with Sevilla. I rejected many offers and many interested clubs.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
"My will was always to stay put and the certain thing is that Sevilla and I delivered a great plan for renewal. For that reason now the speculation stops."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Celtic have apparently, on the face of league results, cruised through their first seven games this season but an air of concern still looms over the Glasgow team’s defence.
Celtic Boss Neil Lennon was pleased with the final result despite the visitors, Hamilton Academical, dominating the early stages Saturday’s match and taking an early lead only three minutes in.
This highlighted the all too familiar question that Celtic’s current defence is suspect and lacks the consistency and discipline that you would think a title contending team would possess.
Celtic Manager Lennon however, remained optimistic and refused to pile on any unnecessary pressure onto his centre-back pairing of Glenn Loovens and Daniel Majstorovic. Lennon furthermore, remained defiant and explained that any issues surrounding the team’s defence were minor and it was something they would be working on in the coming weeks.
Is Lennon’s optimistic nature matched by the 60,000 fans that invest their hard earned money and walk through the turnstiles every week? As a Celtic fan myself, I won’t have any complaints if the team is winning and we sit above the ‘blue side of the city’ in the league standings.
However, this skin deep approach does only scratch the surface. Currently the Hoops only top the table on goal difference and you soon realise that if it is a similar story come the end of the season every goal counts even at these early stages. Celtic will most certainly have to shore up a defence that flatters to deceive if they want to rescue the title from the West End of Glasgow.
The Celtic team’s nervy centre-back pairing of Loovens and Majstorovic, during the early stages of the Hamilton Accies match, did however, inadvertently highlight the fact that Celtic might have found a hidden gem in ‘on loan’ goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Lennon acknowledged one of his latest acquisitions by saying “Our goalkeeper was fantastic and he had to be. He had to make some very good saves to keep the score down and allow us to get back in to the game”. I think most; if not all, of the 60,000 fans would have matched Lennon’s confidence in his new stopper.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
It would not be unfair to say that since Forster’s arrival the Celtic defence has improved and there seems to be a new found assurance between the goalkeeper and the club’s defence
Individuals who have taken their place between the sticks prior to Forster shall remain nameless, but have not exuded the same amount of confidence that the current keeper instills in ‘the faithful’ who flock to Celtic Park each week. Communication between, not only the centre-back pairing, but the whole back four seems to be stronger and in turn has improved not only the manager’s but the fans’ confidence in the team.
This said, The Bhoys are showing signs of improvement every game since they crashed out of Europe earlier on in the season, which leaves me with this final thought: maybe, the 60,000 fans that invest their hard earned money and walk through the turnstiles every week should have total confidence in ‘Lenny’. How can we not when he is yet to lose a domestic league game.
For many Liverpool fans, the bi-annual Liverpool derby between Everton and Liverpool is one of the most anticipated fixtures of the season but the roller-coaster events of the past week have put things rather more firmly in context.
Even before the sensational events of last night, Liverpool were a club in dire straits. They currently sit in 18th place in the table with only 6 points to show from seven games. The club come into Sunday’s game with Everton off the back of a humiliating home defeat to newly-promoted Blackpool. With Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard both struggling for form, the international break was supposed to be a time where the team could go away with their national teams and then return back to the club refocused and ready for the challenge of facing Everton.
However, the drama that has unfolded has put paid to any such notion.
Yesterday in the theatre of a London and Dallas courtroom, Liverpool were witness to their very own Greek tragedy.
It all began with great hope for Liverpool fans. Last week, chairman Martin Broughton announced that John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and his investment company NESV have had a £300 million bid for the club accepted by the board. In their first move of subterfuge, owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett attempted to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre and replace them with Hick’s son Mack and Lori Kay McCutcheon, a VP at Hick’s Holdings. Needless to say, their plan didn’t work and the takeover by NESV was approved by the Premier League on Friday.
Obviously, Liverpool fans were joyous at the news that the deeply unpopular Hicks and Gillett were finally being run out of town. The prospect of new investment and ownership would hopefully be the kick-start to their stuttering season so far. But Hicks and Gillett weren’t going to lie down that easily.
In another extraordinary move, Tom Hicks brought the proposed sale of the club to the High Court in London, claiming that Broughton and the board had conspired to accept an offer for the club that is well under the valuation that Hicks and Gillett were seeking for the club.
Then came the news of a higher offer from Singaporean businessman Peter Lim. The offer of £320 million was £20 million more than that of NESV and would be paid for in cash. The deal would also include £40 million towards the purchase of new players in the January transfer window.
In the space of only a few days, Liverpool now had two sizeable offers on the table for the club. Things were looking up despite the looming High Court date.
Speaking of the court date, yesterday saw the case of the Liverpool sale heard before the High Court in London. The Court ruled in favour of Broughton and the board which paved the way for a quick sale of the club. Once again, the Liverpool fans went from a state of anxiety to one of jubilation as the Hicks and Gillett era was apparently coming to an end.
But that state of jubilation was to last only a few hours. As the board convened to hopefully dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a potential sale to NESV, Hicks and Gillett made one last desperate play to cling onto the club by filing a temporary restraining order on the Liverpool board and RBS in a Dallas courthouse.
The TRO was filed at around 10 p.m. with Hicks and Gillett claiming that the sale of the club is an “epic swindle” while seeking $1.6 billion of damages from the Liverpool board, RBS and NESV for selling the club “hundreds of millions of dollars below true market value”.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
While the jurisdiction of a Texas court order regarding matters is not immediately clear, RBS, NESV and Broughton in his role as chairman of BA have sizable commercial interests in the state of Texas which would be at risk if they were to go ahead with the deal.
And so Liverpool fans are back at square one after being put through the emotional wringer. The TRO filed in Dallas was a one-sided affair with evidence heard only from Hicks. The TRO doesn’t stop the sale; it only delays it until 25th October when a hearing date is set. The most recent development will see Broughton and the Liverpool board return to the High Court today to try and overturn the Texas judge’s verdict and facilitate the sale of the club before the 25th October.
In the midst of the chaos at Liverpool, Everton have been preparing for Sunday’s game with little fuss. They come into the game only one place above Liverpool in 17th but their last game saw them pick up their first win of the season against Birmingham at St. Andrew’s. With Liverpool in limbo, David Moyes will see Sunday’s game as a perfect opportunity to beat his cross-town rivals as they look to continue their momentum and climb out of the relegation zone.
But for Liverpool, the game with Everton is the least of their worries. They have their future to sort out and sadly, it is being played out in the courtroom rather than on the field.
Like my article? Follow me on Twitter – Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says that he has been surprised by the amount of coverage given to the Wayne Rooney-Manchester United contract story this week.
After seeming set to leave Old Trafford, the 24-year-old England forward has penned a new five-year contract with the Red Devils, a move which caught many off-guard, but which did not surprise Wenger unduly.
He said:"Once the club came out and said that they couldn't find an agreement, it was a message that they wanted to sell.
"Certainly Rooney has got the guarantees he wanted – you can translate that like you want, but that's it.
"It was just a story that for me, from the start to the end, was of no interest to me. When I saw the headlines I just turned the page.
"I was never really interested in that story because what happened with Wayne Rooney happens to every club, every year – plenty of times.
"Just because he has a different name it was certainly a story, but it is a super-classical story which happens in every club, every week, so I could never understand what was really special in this case."
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti said that he was not too surprised that Rooney had eventually opted to stay put, adding:"I'm not surprised. Manchester United are happy to keep a fantastic player.
"I think that Rooney did a fantastic job for Manchester United and in the future I think he will do the same."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
It’s that time in the week when the weekend’s Premier League fixtures are on the horizon and fantasy football players are looking to make tweaks to their teams. Before you do, see what the experts have to say about this weekend’s Premiership matches, with one of the most eye-catching matches being Arsenal’s visit to Goodison Park to face Everton on Sunday. The footy journalists are undecided on the outcome of this game, but FootballFanCast.com writer Karl Sears has gone for a home win for the Toffees. You can see the rest of his Premier League predictions here, but if you trust the experts more see their Premiership predictions in full here.
Martin Lipton:
[youtube lNb_A3RV-Cc]
Andy Dunn:
[youtube ovW5DrVvrp4]
Do you agree with the Premier League predictions made this week?
Football Writers’ Association Predictions – Week 14
Overall standings
1. Steve Bates – 61 (4)
2. Martin Lipton – 61 (5)
3. Shaun Custis – 60 (6)
4. Andy Dunn – 60 (6)
5. Danny Fullbrook – 59 (5)
6. Des Kelly – 59 (1)
7. Glenn Moore – 55 (3)
8. Patrick Barclay -50 (3)
November standings:
1. Shaun Custis – 6
2. Andy Dunn – 6
3. Danny Fullbrook – 5
4. Martin Lipton – 5
5. Steve Bates – 4
6. Patrick Barclay – 3
7. Glenn Moore – 3
8. Des Kelly – 1
–
Patrick Barclay (The Times)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
H
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
H
Wigan
V
West Brom
D
Wolves
V
Bolton
D
Stoke
V
Liverpool
D
Everton
V
Arsenal
D
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
A
Stoke v Liverpool: Point for Pulis, with a little help from the ref?
Des Kelly (Daily Mail)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
D
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
D
Wigan
V
West Brom
D
Wolves
V
Bolton
A
Stoke
V
Liverpool
D
Everton
V
Arsenal
H
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
A
Newcastle v Fulham: Fulham are the away draw specialists of the Premier League. I’m banking on another.
Shaun Custis (The Sun)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
H
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
H
Wigan
V
West Brom
D
Wolves
V
Bolton
H
Stoke
V
Liverpool
D
Everton
V
Arsenal
A
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
D
Everton v Arsenal: You just don’t know what Arsenal will come up with at the moment but they have enough quality to win at Goodison.
Head to the next page for more football predictions…
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Andy Dunn (News of the World)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
D
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
H
Wigan
V
West Brom
A
Wolves
V
Bolton
A
Stoke
V
Liverpool
A
Everton
V
Arsenal
H
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
A
Man City v Birmingham: If Carlos Tevez fires, it’s tough to see City not getting maximum points from this game – a home banker.
Martin Lipton (The Mirror)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
D
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
D
West Ham
V
Blackpool
H
Wigan
V
West Brom
H
Wolves
V
Bolton
H
Stoke
V
Liverpool
A
Everton
V
Arsenal
A
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
D
Tottenham v Blackburn: Spurs seem to be suffering from their Euro exertions and Rovers will be looking to turn this into a real physical battle. Sam Allardyce will think he can leave N17 with a crucial point.
Steve Bates (The People)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
D
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
H
Wigan
V
West Brom
D
Wolves
V
Bolton
A
Stoke
V
Liverpool
A
Everton
V
Arsenal
H
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
A
West Ham v Blackpool: The Hammers’ only chance of survival this season is winning their home games. And if you can’t beat a promoted team like Blackpool on your own patch you don’t deserve to stay up. West Ham to nick it by the odd goal.
Danny Fulbrook (Daily Star)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
A
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
D
Wigan
V
West Brom
A
Wolves
V
Bolton
D
Stoke
V
Liverpool
A
Everton
V
Arsenal
A
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
D
Chelsea v Sunderland: This should be a walk in the park for the champions
Glenn Moore (The Independent)
Home Team
Away Team
Man City
V
Birmingham
H
Newcastle
V
Fulham
H
Tottenham
V
Blackburn
H
West Ham
V
Blackpool
A
Wigan
V
West Brom
A
Wolves
V
Bolton
D
Stoke
V
Liverpool
D
Everton
V
Arsenal
D
Chelsea
V
Sunderland
H
Notts F
V
QPR
D
Wolves v Bolton: Two improving teams with big wins recently, and who just might cancel each other out.
West Bromwich Albion manager Roberto di Matteo is confident his side can turn the corner after making a poor start to the month of November.
The Baggies have collected just one point from a possible 15 to drift down the table and, with a tough away trip to Everton coming up at the weekend, the former Chelsea midfielder believes they can turn things around.
A 2-2 draw at West Ham United, that was sandwiched in between losses against Blackpool, Manchester City, Wigan Athletic and Stoke City, has left Albion in 16th position, but their head coach is confident they have the quality to overcome their blip.
"We believe we can win the game and draw a line under the previous games," the Italian said.
"It will be an interesting game. (Everton) are a good side with some very good players.
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
"Our performances have been quite good, getting close to winning and drawing, but we have not been rewarded with what we have produced and have not been happy with some of the decisions given against us."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
With Roy Hodgson you do sense it is a case of not if, but when, he departs the Liverpool hotseat. Taking a swipe at supporters is a cheap shot, especially as they aren’t responsible for the woeful performances on the pitch. Roy has since apologised for his outburst, although you do sense the damage has already been done.
At FFC we have seen a mixed bag of articles which includes why Liverpool should avoid £9m swoop; an obsession costing Liverpool dear and three deals to end Hodgson’s nightmare.
We also look at the best Liverpool articles around the web this week.
*
[VIDEO] The 2010 ‘Goal Of The Year’…take your pick
A real ‘obsession’ that has cost Liverpool dear
Why Liverpool must avoid £9m swoop at all costs
TEN things we have learnt about the first half of the Premiership season
How much more can Liverpool fans take?
Love or loathe Comolli, Spurs’ squad shows the significance of the structure
Arguably the right transfer policy for Liverpool this January
Despite outburst Liverpool fans will see his quality shine through
THREE Liverpool signings that will turn Roy’s nightmare around
Top TEN Whizzkids who promised so much but delivered little
* Best of Web *
Entitlement – the reason Hodgson won’t change or quit – This Is Anfield
FootballFanCast General: Subscribe and never miss what matters Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
My TOP FIVE Liverpool January Transfer Targets – Live4Liverpool
A New Year, An Old Story! – Kopblog
A year when things simply have to change at Liverpool FC – Liverpool Echo
The Massive Dilemma facing John W Henry – Live4Liverpool
[divider]
[divider]
Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Become part of Chelsea v Aston Villa and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!