David Bentley will be sidelined for up to six months after undergoing a knee operation, in a further setback in the Tottenham man’s career.
The midfielder found opportunities at White Hart Lane hard to come by last season, and has not lived up to the £15 million price tag that Spurs paid for him back in July 2008.
Bentley was farmed out to West Ham on a season-long loan in the summer, but he will now be out until April after only making five appearances for the Championship team.
Upton Park boss Sam Allardyce has stated his disappointment at the news, and has wished Bentley good luck in his rehabilitation.
“It is a great shame for David as he had settled in well to the squad. We wish him well and hope he has a speedy recovery,” he told West Ham’s official website.
The injury will be a blow for West Ham’s promotion bid; the Hammers currently sit in fourth place, four points behind leaders Southampton.
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What a night it was for Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League last night. They went to the San Siro and not only beat AC Milan, but also kept a clean sheet and go into the second leg at White Hart Lane next month in a great position.
As well as winning, Spurs win clearly got under the skin of their opponents, none more so than Gennaro Gattuso. Rino Gattuso was involved in an amazing scuffle with Tottenham coach Joe Jordan, as the Italian went head-to-head with Harry Redknapp’s assistant.
Afterwards Gattuso said that “I lost control, there is no excuse for what I did. I take my responsibilities for that.” Redknapp made light of the situation saying that “There would be only one winner there – Joe. I’d have my money on Joe. Of all the people to pick on, don’t pick on Joe.” I’d have to agree with Harry…
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Internazionale president Massimo Moratti does not know when Rafael Benitez will be appointed as the club's new coach.
Speaking on Tuesday evening, Moratti revealed he had agreed a deal with the Spaniard to replace Jose Mourinho in the hot-seat following his departure to Real Madrid.
Benitez only left Liverpool by mutual consent last week after six years in charge at Anfield.
However, despite suggesting that an appointment was imminent, Moratti now claims that he is unsure when the former Valencia manager will officially put pen to paper with the Italian and European champions.
"Wait for the club to tell you something, I do not do that kind of work here," he told the club's official website.
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"Wait for (sporting director) Marco Branca and the others to tell you when the time will be and when the new coach will be presented."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
After playing a vital role in the rise and fall of Team GB at the Olympic Games, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey feels he is still improving as a player and that his best years are ahead of him.
The Welshman’s progress was hampered by a horrific injury after his move from Cardiff to Arsenal, which took him almost a year to fully recover from, but at the age of 21 Ramsey is still considered a youngster in the Gunners squad.
Ramsey returns to his club after a busy summer but despite a crucial penalty miss in the Olympic quarter final, his confidence seems sky high and amidst a real competition for places at the Emirates, he still feels he will improve.
“The best is yet to come from me,” Ramsey told the Daily Star.
“I’m delighted with how it has gone – apart from my injury.
“I missed about ten months, which stalled my progress, but I still think there is a lot more to come from me.
“I’m working hard and wanting to learn more every day to become the best player I can possibly be.”
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Tottenham’s defensive crisis has worsened, as Michael Dawson will be out for two months with an achilles injury.
The centre back picked up the knock in training, and missed the London side’s 2-0 win over Wolves at Molineux on Saturday.
The news is a real blow to manager Harry Redknapp, who is already missing a number of key defensive players, and has a congested fixture list to contend with, as his team face PAOK in Greece on Thursday and Liverpool at home on Sunday.
“The whole situation is a nightmare, I have no idea what team I will be able to play,” he told The Daily Mail.
“I will sit down and see who I can take out to Greece. It may well be a chance for some of the fringe players to take their chance. I really don’t know who will be ready for Liverpool,” he admitted.
William Gallas is believed to be on the recovery trail however, as a calf injury has sidelined him for the start of the campaign.
The 34-year-old, who featured heavily in Spurs’ Champions League run last year, has started light training.
Although he is doubtful for the Liverpool clash on Sunday, Harry Redknapp hopes to have him available for their game against Wigan on September 24th.
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Chelsea’s hopes that 50 million pound record signing Fernando Torres would become an instant hero lasted only 66 minutes.
He was substituted at Stamford Bridge and could only watch as his former club Liverpool scored a famous 1-0 victory.
A goal from Raul Meireles after 69 minutes gave Kenny Dalglish’s side a stunning and deserved victory leaving Liverpool fans to sing ‘you should have stayed at a big club’ as Torres looked on from the bench.
Earlier Torres had been given a rousing reception by Chelsea fans and booed by the visitors after moving to London from Anfield in a shock transfer deadline day deal.
But the Spaniard looked out of sorts and out of form as he barely touched the ball all match, wasting two good chances before being hauled off in favour of Salomon Kalou.
By that time Meireles had won the game for resurgent Liverpool, firing home a Steven Gerrard cross to seal a result that takes Liverpool up to sixth and leaves Chelsea hanging onto fourth, tied on points with Spurs, and now 10 points adrift of the leaders.
Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti had attempted to squeeze his new striker into the team without dropping either Didier Drogba or Nicolas Anelka, but his new-look 4-3-1-2 formation was a disaster.
When Mikel was booked after only 22 seconds for a bad foul on Gerrard it was clear the home side were off to a bad start.
But it could have been different if Torres had been more alert as he wasted two good chances.
First he raced towards goal after Maxi gave the ball away, but fired his effort over the bar; then, with 31 minutes on the clock, he was sent away by Drogba but saw his shot superbly blocked by Jamie Carragher.
Carragher, playing his first game since November because of injury, was outstanding all match and Liverpool grew in confidence as the minutes ticked by.
In fact, they should have gone ahead when Gerrard fizzed a low ball right across goal – and Maxi somehow managed to hit the bar from only three yards out with keeper Petr Cech stranded.
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With Chelsea struggling to cope with their new system the home team became increasingly frustrated, not least when Cech and Ivanovic argued on the cusp of half-time following a mix-up in the six-yard box.
Glen Johnson then went close after the break for Dalglish’s team and when Meireles’ goal came it was well deserved.
Chelsea, with Kalou on for Torres, did have a couple of half-hearted penalty claims – the best when Johnson ran into Ivanovic in injury time – but Cech also had to produce a superb save to deny Liverpool sub Aurelio and the visitors were worthy winners.
Everton have ruled out a move for veteran striker Michael Owen, The Daily Mail state.
The Toffees were linked with a controversial move for the former Liverpool forward, who is available on a free transfer after being released by Manchester United at the end of last season.
With David Moyes working on a shoestring transfer budget due to the Goodison Park club’s well-documented financial troubles, the Scottish boss was thought to be considering making an approach for the forward.
However, with Owen’s injury worries and his affiliation to Everton’s arch rivals, Moyes will now walk away from a deal for the former England international.
With Owen desperate to find a new club and prove his ability as his career draws to a close, Stoke have emerged as favourites to sign the player.
A pay-as-you-play deal has been touted, with the Potters ready to take a chance on the injury-prone attacker.
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As he approaches his 62nd birthday, Wenger’s future as Arsenal boss was being doubted like never before last week. You wouldn’t discount the possibility of Wenger clocking up 25 years at his club, like Ferguson, and managing on until his 70s. But Wenger has NEVER signed an established world-class footballer and has never even seemed to want to.
His belief in young talent and pure, passing football is admirable. But it is not enough to compete with the financial might of the Manchester clubs or Chelsea. And if he doesn’t think he is capable of making Arsenal a true force again, then he may start considering his exit strategy.
The great reigns in English football management have rarely had happy endings. Alf Ramsey was sacked by England and Bill Nicholson quit Tottenham as a victim of player power. Brian Clough simply went on for far too long, becoming a parody of himself and damaging his health as well as his reputation and legacy.
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Had Ferguson retired in 2002, as he had intended to, the whole Manchester United empire could easily have gone into meltdown – instead of a further five titles and three Champions League finals. But the Scot trusted his instinct and perhaps learned a lesson from Bill Shankly, the last manager to build a true dynasty of greatness at an English football club – and yet never stuck around to see his club conquer Europe. Shanks was a lost soul after shocking the football world by retiring in 1974, leaving his assistant Bob Paisley to carry off three European Cups.
The two managers I spent most of my career playing under both met unhappy ends. When Bill Nick quit Spurs in 1974, the club were still reaching cup finals but the manager began to realise he had “lost the dressing room”. I know from grim experience that Bill believed players should have been happy to play for Tottenham Hotspur for nothing – you should have tried negotiating a contract with the bloke! But a few years after I’d left, he started having to deal with more bolshy modern players, who started demanding bonuses and appearance money, and he ended up thinking: “This just isn’t my game any more.” Three years later, Spurs were relegated.
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As for Sir Alf, our World Cup-winning manager, he’d made too many enemies inside the FA. His was perhaps the only great reign in English football to end with a brutal, out-and-out sacking. In hindsight, he could have stood down after the 1970 World Cup, when England blew it against West Germany in the quarter-finals. Alf had stood up to the FA bigwigs so many times.
During the 1966 World Cup finals, he’d defied them when they demanded he dropped Nobby Stiles for his bruising style. And he’d spoken out against the culture which saw the blazered FA farts revelling in the reflected glory of having breakfast and dinner with the players on away trips. So as soon as England failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, the same old boys were hardly going to hand Alf any leeway.
Even if Arsenal had been knocked out of the Champions League, it would surely have seemed unthinkable for them to treat such a great manager as Wenger quite so shabbily. As the old Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd once said: ‘You don’t sack a man like Sir Bobby Robson’. A few months before he went and sacked Sir Bobby Robson.
West Ham boss Avram Grant insists he has not been distracted by talk of his job being on the line.
The Israeli takes his side to Everton on Saturday having received a public vote of confidence by the West Ham board.
Yet last Saturday it appeared that Grant would lose his job, with Martin O’Neill reportedly being lined up to replace him.
But O’Neill apparently turned down the post, leaving Grant in charge of a side that are bottom of the Premier League having won just four times in 23 games.
Grant insists that he is not affected by the talk off the pitch and says the team is more important than his own future.
“”What’s happened has happened off the pitch and for me it belongs in the past,” said Grant.
“What’s important for West Ham, the fans and everybody is to concern ourselves with what happens on the pitch.”
“I feel that I need to do my job and we need to take points, because I believe we can get out of relegation.”
“My personal matter is not important. The team is more important than anybody.”
But Grant admits that he needs to make an impact in the January transfer window if his side are to survive, and has refused to rule out making a move for Joe Cole.
“There aren’t many days until the end of the transfer window, we have a lot of injuries and we need players to make the squad stronger,” he added.
“We have a few targets and I’m pretty sure that next week we’ll see new players. About Joe Cole, I’d be happy for him to be here. He was my player at Chelsea, maybe his best season then.”
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And Grant is adamant that avoiding relegation is far from impossible for his side.
“It is possible,” he said. “We are two points from safety, there are 15 games to go.
“They aren’t easy games but they are possible to win. We want to do what we did before against Fulham, Wolves and Everton (when West Ham took seven points from nine) and take points. That is what we need.”
Spain’s Vicente del Bosque has no regrets over passing up the opportunity to eliminate Italy from Euro 2012 ahead of Sunday’s final.
Had Spain settled for a 2-2 draw in their group game with Croatia then it would have seen both sides go through and subsequently see Italy fail to qualify.
The thought never entered Del Bosque’s head, who suggested that such a tactic would have been damaging for the sport:
“Never have we regretted not drawing with Croatia to eliminate Italy. This wasn’t good for sport.
“Italy and ourselves have lived parallel lives and now we have to be at the level that a final demands.
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“They are a team with a lot of experience and are based around Andrea Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi in the centre of the field. Their axis is the connection between Pirlo and Mario Balotelli. In the game in the group stages they were possibly superior in the first half. They were the team that gave us most problems.” (Guardian)