Rickie Lambert hopes if he continues to score goals he will get opportunities to play for his country.
At times in Southampton’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United Lambert bullied Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. The 30 year old has also scored against the two top Premier League clubs already this season.
The frontman who has served a long apprenticeship in the Football League before grasping the opportunity to play in England’s top division, is refusing to be disheartened by England’s decision not to replace injured striker Andy Carroll.
Last season’s Championship top-scorer discussed his chances with The Daily Mail, “Maybe not right now but hopefully in the future.
“That’s my dream. That’s everyone’s dream. It’s a serious ambition. I just want to improve every single day at this club.”
The target-man in a similar fashion to former strike-partner at Rochdale, Grant Holt has worked his way to this opportunity establishing himself at Macclesfield, Rochdale, Stockport County and Rochdale, before Southampton gave him the launching to play at the top level.
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Lambert added, “I’ve always believed in myself it’s not a different game. You still try and score in the same goals and you still play with a round ball it’s not too much different.”
James Collins is ready to make a big impact at West Ham, after joining from Aston Villa for his second spell at the club.
Collins made his debut against his former employers in the 1-0 victory at Upton Park and was delighted with his own performance, nullifying the threat of Darren Bent.
Kevin Nolan scored the decisive goal five minutes before half-time to give the Hammers a perfect start to life back in the top-flight, but confusion unfolded as the linesman raised his flag, only for referee Mike Dean to overrule the decision as the resulting flick- on came from Villa’s Ciaran Clark.
Collins told the London Evening Standard: “It did help knowing Darren so well and the way he plays. I knew that he wouldn’t take the ball much in front but that he is such a threat over the top so we tried to stop that happening and seeing he had only one shot on goal, I suppose it worked.”
The Welsh international faces stiff competition in the centre-back position, with James Tomkins eager to re-claim his place in the side after being ousted by Collins.
Collins added: “I watched Winston (Reid) and James Tomkins last season and saw how well they played in the Championship. Obviously James was disappointed not to be in the starting line-up against Villa but the three points are all-important.”
Collins re-joined the Hammers for a fee of £2.5 million last month- a shrewd piece of business by Sam Allardyce at a club whose spending is restricted by the £10 million still owed to Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez saga.
Bu the East Londoners’ business in the transfer market appears to be far from over, as Razak Boukari is on the verge of a move to Upton Park from French side, Rennes.
The Hammers’ interest in the Togolese international means a move for Wolves’ midfielder, Matthew Jarvis appears to be unlikely.
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The Championship side are reportedly holding out for £10 million, while West Ham are only prepared to bid as high as £9 million.
It seems only a fleeting juncture since the ‘Arsenal Invincibles’ toured around the country, defeating every opponent with consummate ease. Arsene Wenger’s men stunned the footballing world as they went an entire season unbeaten, a feat that couldn’t have been accomplished without the Gunners’ foreign contingent.
5 years earlier and Manchester United were creating similar shockwaves around the world as they won an unprecedented treble, claiming the Champions League in dramatic circumstances at the Nou Camp; a night that will remain the pinnacle of success for all United fans. Once again, a band of foreign stars assisted Sir Alex Ferguson in his record breaking year.
These two examples indicate how influential the rest of the world has been in the road to success for English football. From Danish goalkeeping stalwarts to incredibly skilful Italians, this list highlights some of the greatest foreign stars who have ever plied their trade on our shores. There have been many players from distant lands who made unforgettable impacts on the Premier League that have not made this 15.
This alone indicates that the import of talent from around the globe has been advantageous to the development and popularity of the English game.
Click on King Cantona to see the full list of foreign stars
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Liverpool have ended Nuri Sahin’s loan spell with the club five months before scheduled after his poor performances.
The Reds won a fierce battle with Arsenal to sign the highly rated Real Madrid midfielder on loan in the summer, but the Turkish international has failed to live up to his reputation.
Three goals in 12 appearances is not bad for a midfielder, but his overall contribution has been limited to a bit part role and the player was promised something very different in the summer.
Sahin has now re-joined Borussia Dortmund on an 18-month loan deal, a club with whom he won the Bundesliga in 2011 as stated on Liverpool’s official site.
Contracted to Real Madrid, Sahin has never had a look in under Jose Mourinho with the likes of Luka Modric and Xabi Alonso ahead of him in the Madrid pecking order.
Liverpool are now sure to sign a midfielder this month after losing Sahin and Joe Cole in a matter of weeks and the fitness of Lucas and Steven Gerrard is always a worry.
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Martin O’Neill may allow first team members to represent Sunderland Under 21s in their derby clash at the Sports Direct Arena.
David Vaughan has already represented Kevin Ball’s side in his quest to re-find fitness following a hernia problem, while Connor Wickham and Ji Dong Won may also be made available by the Ulsterman. Both strikers have dropped down the pecking order at the Stadium of Light, with the arrivals of Steven Fletcher and Louis Saha, meaning neither have seen first team action, yet.
Vaughan is eligible for the team as one of three overage players while Wickham and Dong Won are still young enough to play. O’Neill told The Sunderland Echo, “I was pleased to see David get 45 minutes under his belt for his country – for the moment he needs as many minutes on the pitch as he can get.
“He’ll come into contention for the reserves games but were continuing to monitor him and make a decision on the day.”
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Sunderland triumphed over their bitter rivals at under 18 level this weekend and would welcome the increase in quality to their under 21 side.
Ajax’s victory over Manchester City in the Champions League proved to everybody that the iconic Dutch side still have what it takes to compete at the very top level.
True, the Sky Blues have been out of sorts this season, but for a team put together on only a fraction of the budget used by their English opposition it was a remarkable feat.
Nowadays Ajax find it hard to keep hold of their star names, with the financial rewards in many of Europe’s top leagues tempting players to depart Amsterdam. As a result they have carved out a niche as a stepping stone club.
However, if they could have kept hold of their big-hitters they would be a truly fearsome force, able to compete with the biggest and the best teams on the planet.
This XI incorporates the best ex-Ajax players who are still playing professionally, making for a balanced and exciting team-sheet.
Click on Maarten Stekelenburg to unveil the XI
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Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso’s reluctance to sign a new contract at the club has set reports in motion about a possible return to Liverpool in the summer, but what are the chances of such a transfer coup coming to fruition for a player who enjoyed five successful seasons on Merseyside?
The 31-year-old Spain international currently has a contract at Madrid which runs through until the end of next season, but with manager Jose Mourinho’s future up in the air, he remains reluctant to commit himself until things become clearer about what path the club intend to take in the future. With the side currently 13 points behind rivals Barcelona in the league, in what has represented a pitiful defence of the title they won in such style last season, not only is a potential change in manager on the cards, but a freshening up in the squad in what promises to be a period of great upheaval if they fail to triumph in the Champions League this term.
In what looks certain to be a quote that will be revisited more and more the closer we draw to the end of the season and the summer, Alonso told the BBC in February: “With Brendan, Liverpool are building a project. They need to be patient. We all want to see Liverpool fighting for the Champions League places. I still follow the Premier League and I still feel very attached to Liverpool and I follow them. I consider myself a Liverpool fan.”
The midfielder’s Anfield exit in the summer of 2009 wasn’t brought about by the need to test himself on a bigger stage, after all, Liverpool had just seriously challenged for the Premier League title losing out to Manchester United by just four points and a couple of Federico Macheda shinned last-minute winners. The club were competing in the Champions League each and every year and in Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard, the club had perhaps the best midfield trio in European football outside of Catalonia.
The departure was all but sealed, as everyone knows, by Rafa Benitez’s clumsy pursuit of Aston Villa man Gareth Barry – a move which doesn’t look any more sane with the passing of time. It should be noted, though, that of Alonso’s five years at Anfield, only his first and last touched the heady heights we have come to remember him for; one when trying to impress in a new league and the other when trying to force a move through elsewhere in what has been a convenient re-writing of history to suit the man-love agenda. He has been hugely missed and by just how much has only become easier to quanifty the more time passes, but he’s definitely stepped up a level in terms of consistency while in Spain, certainly more so than he ever managed while at Liverpool.
Alonso moved to Liverpool because of Benitez, but after offering him around anyone that would have him, only Arsenal’s reluctance to offer anything above £15m (has Arsene Wenger made a bigger mistake in the market in the past five years?) stopped him from moving elsewhere in the top flight. Equally so, Alonso wanted to move because of Benitez, rather than a need for a new challenge and a desire to move back home. His one-time mentor had fallen out with him over his desire to be by his wife’s side at the birth of their first child on the eve of a crucial Champions League game and it never recovered and Alonso’s form fluctuated during the 2007-8 campaign before he was made available for transfer, with injuries taking their toll on his form.
When that is put into context, it makes the idea that Alonso fancies a return to Anfield all the more understandable and a reported £80k-a-week contract has been put on the table, while the fee ranges from £12m to £8.5m depending on where you look. What is clear, though, is that Alonso’s departure signalled the end of Liverpool as a top four force, with his ability to control and dominate possession in the middle of the park being sorely missed ever since.
[cat_link cat=”liverpool” type=”list”]
The narrowly avoided financial disaster of the final days of the Hicks and Gillett ownership saw the side fail to capitalise on a second-placed league finish in 2009 and they refused to invest for another push that summer which saw them subsequently finish seventh the following campaign, sack Benitez, appoint the patently out-of-his depth Roy Hodgson and being forced into selling Mascherano to Barcelona. It’s a state of affairs the club have still struggled to fully recover from and they hovered between eighth and sixth in the league ever since.
Despite his deal at Madrid being worth £130k-per-week, Alonso has spoken of his surprise when he watches top flight matches and how quick the pace and flow of the game is; with time hardly on his side, he could be equally reluctant to dive straight back into a league that he has been absent from for four seasons, even taking into account the significant wage drop. However, with Joe Allen struggling so much this season, Brendan Rodgers will be in the market for an experienced midfielder in the summer, even if he hadn’t bet on setting the bar so high.
Considering the midfield is such a central area of Rodgers possession-based philosophy, it’s remarkable what a mess he’s made of it this season, from playing out of form players (Allen), to unfathomably dropping those in form at times (Jordan Henderson) to just simply playing them out of position altogether (Nuri Sahin). The way he’s chopped and changed points to a manager struggling to pick his best trio or even knowing what they are, while failing to consistently deliver on his message that the side are capable of controlling a game for prolonged spells and Alonso could certainly help in that regard, even if the tempo of the league could ensure a bumpy first few months back.
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As with many sub-plots that have developed over the past few months, plenty rests on the future of Mourinho and whether he chooses to extend his stay in the Spanish capital beyond the end of this season. If he leaves, Alonso may be seriously tempted to look elsewhere too and Liverpool would understandably provide a comfortable and familiar environment to see out the final days of a fantastic career and what better way to try and convince Luis Suarez to stay for another year at the same time, by signing a truly world-class midfield operator in what would represent a real signal of intent and ambition.
Harking back to the initial question and whether the deal is likely, it’s too early to tell at this stage, but he fits the style, the system and already loves the club which ensures they remain right at the front of the queue. If I were a betting man, I’d put it on Alonso staying at Real Madrid until his contract expires, turning down the two-year extension and then perhaps returning to a young and vibrant Real Sociedad side, the place where he started his playing career. His Basque roots will always ensure a stronger emotional pull than his Scouse credentials, but the ball remains firmly in his court and he’s never been a player who has terms dictated to him, rather a principled individual in control of his own career, something which could potentially be a determining factor that could count in Liverpool’s favour ahead of a proposed romantic and sensational comeback to the top flight. It’s a long shot, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out.
Leighton Baines has admitted to being surprised at the lack of interest Manchester United showed in signing him.
Early in the transfer window lots of speculation linked the 27 year old with a move to Old Trafford but Sir Alex Ferguson opted for Alexander Buttner instead.
Buttner signed from Vitesse and appears to have been signed as back up to Patrice Evra, who will remain United’s first choice at left back, despite a sloppy start to this season, and sub-par performance last year.
Baines told The Metro, “People were asking me and yet I didn’t know anything. It was getting mentioned that often that I was getting puzzled by it and yet I heard nothing.”
The England international stated he is content at Everton, but wants to play Champions League football and would be unlikely to turn down a move to United.
“I’ve never been one to rock the boat. I appreciate the position I’m in life and I love what I do. At the same time you do have to have ambition because it doesn’t last long and before you know it’s over.
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“The main thing in football at club level is the Champions League which is always going to be an aim and if you can do that it strengthens your chances at International level as well.”
Manchester United have invited 15-year-old Lars Troense Langgaards over for a trial with one eye on signing the Danish defender.
The youngster was spotted by United scouts playing for Denmark’s Under-16 side at the Aegean Cup in Turkey this January and has also been watched by academy director Brian McClair.
He is currently on the books of Danish Superliga side AGF Aarhus where he plays for their Under-17s and will be accompanied to his trial by the club’s sporting director Brian Steen Nielsen.
“It’s clearly going to be a great learning experience that Lars can use in his further development,” said Nielsen.
“He has been developing rapidly since joining AGF, and is now being rewarded with this chance.”
Nielsen has been impressed by United’s handling of the situation from the time that he was made aware of their interest in the schoolboy, who signed a three-year youth contract with the club last year.
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“Right from the first contact Manchester United have acted very professionally. They have had several scouts and their academy director over to follow Lars and I had a meeting with them about the test training [period]. They have done a thorough job, and we have therefore said thanks for the invitation.”
Everton scored twice in stoppage time help Everton to a dramatic victory over Tottenham at Goodison Park to snatch fourth place in the Premier League.
The Toffees had stuttered of late, drawing three games on the trot after losing at Reading last month, but returned to winning ways on home turf to keep their Champions League dreams alive.
David Moyes was tipped as the favourite to take over at Spurs in the summer before Andre Villas-Boas stepped in and the Portuguese coach will be left cursing his luck after his side threw away their slender lead so late in the game.
Leon Osman saw a shot blocked early on as the hosts started with a vim and vigour missing from their recent performances and only some last ditch defending and excellent goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris stopped them from taking the lead.
The French shot stopper did well to thwart Nikicia Jelavic in the penalty area before Seamus Coleman flashed an effort wide as the first half somehow ended without either defence being breached.
Steven Naismith came on at the break for Everton and almost broke the deadlock straight away, side footing wide after Leighton Baines’ free kick rebounded off the wall.
Their profligacy in front of goal was eventually punished 15 minutes from time when Clint Dempsey’s long range strike clipped off Sylvain Distin and beat Tim Howard.
Substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson then went close to sealing all three points for the visitors only to see his fierce strike come back off the crossbar and from that the home side dug deep to force the equaliser their performance deserved.
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It was Steven Pienaar, a former Spurs player, who did the damage thundering a header past Lloris in the 90th minute from Seamus Coleman’s cross.
And just over a minute late the turnaround was complete as Jelavic swept home the winner after Apostolos Vellios’ overhead kick fell into his path eight yards out to bring Moyes roaring out of the dugout in celebration.