Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will turn his focus to the Premier League after Wednesday's comfortable 3-0 win against Red Bull Salzburg eased his side into the last 32 of the Europa League.
A Mario Balotelli brace and a further goal by Adam Johnson lifted spirits at a wintry Eastlands and moved City into the knockout stages of the competition with a game to spare.
Mancini said: "I am glad we are through as we can now focus on the Barclays Premier League."
On Balotelli, the City boss added:"I think he can improve on that performance. He could run more and take more of his chances. He might have got two or three more goals.
"My only disappointment was we could have scored more goals in the first 20 to 25 minutes."
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City's final group game is in a fortnight's time against Juventus who are already out of the competition after drawing 1-1 with Polish side Lech Poznan on Wednesday.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
It’s not even been a week since West Ham secured promotion back to the top flight, but already Big Sam has been busy.
This week the Hammers boss has already let six players leave, and has conducted his transfer wish list. Big Sam has always been good in the transfer market, he has always attracted good players and big names and he is hoping to continue this trend in this window. In fact, Allardyce has 32 names to mind.
Already four enquiries have been made for four players. These four players all come from the Championship with Big Sam and the club keen to take young, fresh players from the league below.
Below are Big Sam’s top four targets from the Championship.
Robert Snodgrass:
Top of West Ham’s list is Leeds talisman Snodgrass. The Hammers attempted to sign the 24 year old in January but were unsuccessful with a bid.
The club will continue to pursue the Scottish international this summer and where a deal will look more likely. The player has already rejected a contract from Leeds, and with Leeds short of money a bid in the region of £3m should be enough to bring him to Upton Park.
Snodgrass has reportedly said he wants to be in the Premier League next season and he would love to join the Hammers.
If West Ham capture Snodgrass it will be a great signing. He would fit the bill in Big Sam’s 4-3-3 formation, playing on the left hand side.
Being left footed he would offer great balance to the side and with Vaz Te on the other flank, it would be a force that would certainly create chances and score goals.
Nathaniel Clyne:
With Big Sam releasing Faubert, and Demel injury, the West Ham boss is hoping to bring in a top quality, young right back.
Top of Big Sam’s wish list at full back is Crystal Palace right back Nathaniel Clyne.
The 21 year old has turned into an integral part of the Palace team and has performed with great maturity all season. He is certainly a cut above the championship.
He is an attacking full back but can certainly defend. His performance in the Carling Cup against Manchester United was highlight.
But, with his huge potential other top Premier League sides will be going in for him, and West Ham could face competition from the Likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.
The club are however, confident of landing him as they can offer him first team football. Clyne could be signed in the region of £5m.
Wilfired Zaha:
West Ham have already sent an enquiry in for Zaha, and are hopeful of signing this great prospect.
Zaha won Championship young player of the year last campaign and set the division alight with a string of superb performances.
At only 19 he is already thought of as one of the brightest prospects in English football.
He is reportedly interested in joining West Ham, due to the chances he will get to play in the Premier League, and with him only having to move a short distance across London this is a deal that could be done.
The youngster can play either upfront or on the wings, and like Snodgrass he will be the perfect fit in a 4-3-3 formation and give great competition to others in the squad,
Zaha possess blistering pace and bags of skill, but he also has an end product. He can pick out a good pass as well as find the net.
Zaha could be signed for around £8m.
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Jay Rodriguez:
The Hammers have already enquired about Rodriguez and are hopeful of capturing the Burnley man.
The young striker has enjoyed a great season with Burnley but now wants to step up to the Premier League.
The forward has scored 21 goals in 42 league games this season. He has the ability, pace and skill to play up front on his own and would offer great competition to Cole and Maynard.
However, Rodriguez is in high demand. Newly promoted Southampton have had a £6m offer turned down for the striker. Burnley know the potential Rodriguez has and will only sell for what they believe is a good price.
It’s unclear whether Saints will bid again, but West Ham would be happy to bid more than £6m and would even offer a player swap, with either Baldock or Sears potentially going the other way.
They are Big Sam’s top targets from the championship but other players he is interested in include: Richardson, Lansbury, McCartney, Seedorf, Berbatov, Olson, Dann, Samba, Simpson Lukaku plus others.
All the talk around the Emirates this week has been about players leaving the Gunners with Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy continually linked with a move away. Theo Walcott has suggested that a long of players have grown restless and could be looking to move on this summer.
At FFC this week we have seen a mixed bag of Gunners blogs that include Lee Dixon’s exclusive interview; why Wenger should learn a valuable lesson from 1998, while Sam Eto’o would be a good fit at Arsenal.
We also look at the best Arsenal articles around the web this week.
*
VIDEO: Lee Dixon talks to Football FanCast about all things Arsenal
Why Arsene Wenger should learn a valuable lesson from 1998
What to do with Gervinho and Eboue’s silence is puzzling
Caption Competition: RVP identifies his own Arsenal transfer target
Why Arsene Wenger shouldn’t look to cross the divide this transfer window
Samuel Eto’o to Arsenal? Not a bad fit
A Fabregas/Villa swap deal for Arsene Wenger to consider?
A case of ‘one more year’ for Cesc Fabregas
Does the fixture list have a bearing on who will win the Premier League title?
Udinese star set to snub Arsenal for Liverpool
*Best of WEB*
For every Wilshere, there are more Bentleys! – Highbury House
The Future is Bright – Online Gooner
Exclusive: We beat United, City, Spurs, Liverpool + Chelsea at something… but what? – Le Grove
The Arsenal Civil War. – A Cultured Left Foot
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Should Arsenal meet Samba’s £12M price-tag? – Gunnersphere
Click on Mikel Arteta’s lady to unveil our WAG XI of the season
There have been reports this week that should West Ham fail to win this weekend, that Avram Grant’s time at Upton Park is as good as over. Whilst this may seem a touch melodramatic considering the relatively small point deficit between the Hammers and the main pack, the ease with which Grant’s side have been dealt with in recent weeks suggests that this game could genuinely make or break the league season.
Perhaps it is unfair to judge the current state of West Ham’s quality of football on their performance at Anfield last weekend, as the game was virtually over after 25 minutes. However, they welcome a side that without two red cards at Old Trafford last weekend, could have taken something off the former Premier League champions and this suggests there will be not an easy breath for any of the Hammers faithful before five o’clock on Saturday afternoon.
A victory would be a massive fillip, much could depend on which Wigan decides to make the long journey south. Grant may think he is owed a win, but the Premier League does not always work that away.
Turkish club Besiktas are thought to be interested in Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou and Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner, according to The Daily Mail.
The eastern European club are believed to have sent a delegation to London last week to discuss a potential summer move to Turkey with Kalou’s representatives, with a bumper pay packet on offer.
The Ivory Coast international is out of contract at the end of the season and has also attracted interest from Tottenham and a number of other clubs.
Chelsea are thought to be eager to keep the attacker, but as yet there has been no hint of whether a new contract has been offered.
Meanwhile, Besiktas have also earmarked Nicklas Bendtner as a potential new signing.
The Turks tried to ensnare the Denmark international last summer but the striker rejected a move to the Super Lig club, but after a season on loan at Sunderland, the forward’s future remains unclear.
It is evident that Bendtner does not have a role to play in Arsene Wenger’s plans, and it is rumoured that the Black Cats will not take up their option to sign him on a permanent basis.
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Palmeiras defeated Atletico Paranaense 1-0 on Saturday to take the lead in Brazil’s Serie A, while Fluminense and Figueirense also won.Visitors Atletico held Palmeiras goalless into the second half at Estadio Paulo Machado de Carvalho.
But their task became harder when defender Romulo received his marching orders just before the hour mark.
And the hosts made their advantage count, with defensive midfielder Chico netting the winning goal 15 minutes from time.
Elsewhere on Saturday, a brace from striker Rafael Moura helped Fluminense win 2-1 at home over Cruzeiro.
Moura put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time at Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange.
Cruzeiro levelled through forward Anselmo Ramon on 68 minutes, but parity lasted just three minutes before Moura struck again to complete his double and secure all three points for Flu.
Botafogo earned a point with a 2-2 draw away to Ceara.
The visitors led through a goal from midfielder Elkeson on 28 minutes, before Osvaldo and then Michel struck to make it 2-1 to hosts Ceara.
But an equaliser from defender Antonio Carlos 15 minutes from time saw Botafogo escape with a share of the spoils.
Finally, two goals in five second-half minutes from forward Heber and defender Edson Silva saw Figueirense win 2-0 at home to Atletico Goianiense.
Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier heaped praise on substitutes Emile Heskey and Stewart Downing after they came on and scored in the 2-1 Carling Cup victory over Burnley.
Villa needed extra-time to see off their Championship visitors, with Downing's effort in extra-time at Villa Park proving decisive in the end.
Houllier said after the victory:"I don't take credit for the subs. The manager makes the decision to bring them on, but it's down to them.
"They scored the goals, I didn't. I wanted to rest some players but I knew at some stage, with other players tiring, they would make a difference.
"The problem with the subs is they have got to be in the right frame of mind. If they have the right attitude, if the hunger is there, then they bring something.
"Their freshness can bring initiative which was the case. Emile came on and changed the game because he held the ball up."
The Frenchman also paid tribute to the beaten Clarets, adding:"Credit to them, they played well. We made it difficult. We should have scored at least one in the first half.
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"That affected our confidence and we didn't play as well as we should have done in the second half.
"They really wanted it, credit to them. We really wanted it too, which is good."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
As the Premier League celebrates 20 glorious – well certainly lucrative – years, it’s worth remembering the bloke whose brainchild it all was. He was also the fella who gave the world Roland Rat – my former boss at TV-AM , Greg Dyke.
Back in 1990, Greg, who was managing director at London Weekend Television, gathered the main men from England’s five biggest clubs of the time around a dinner table and told them the topflight should break away from the Football League.
Always regarded as a visionary in the television industry, Greg was also canny with cash. I still remember when he called me in and offered me a job at the ailing TV-AM – “Only one catch, Jim,” he said, “we won’t be able to pay you!” It shows just how good his powers of persuasion were that I accepted.
A few months later they did start to pay me and, after Roland Rat came along to save the breakfast-time broadcaster, I went on to I recall to a enjoy 10 years there. Much of that time was spent watching a bloke called Dave Claridge hiding behind a sofa with his hand up Roland Rat’s backside.
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While boss at LWT, Greg was hoping his own company would be beneficiaries of the breakaway Premier League he envisaged. Ian St seeing hatred, massive presence, crumbling stadium game was So he got together with Martin Edwards of Manchester United, Noel White of Liverpool, David Dein of Arsenal, Philip Carter of Everton and Tottenham’s Irving Scholar to sow the seeds of the breakaway. Yet even though he was a man blessed with foresight, not even Greg could have predicted the scale of the revolution he was setting in motion.
Football was at a terribly low ebb when he chaired that initial meeting back in 1990. I recall going to a match with Ian St John – I think it was at Goodison Park, but it could have been anywhere – and seeing the abuse and hatred between supporters, th i li li the massive police presence, the crumbling stadium and getting the general feeling that the game we loved was dying on its arse. You wouldn’t want to take your kids to a football match back then, so we have certainly come a long way since those dark days.
The Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster would have transformed England’s football grounds, with or without the advent of the Premier League, but it all became part of the same process, as change swept through the game. Foreign players soon became commonplace – the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Eric Cantona and Gianfranco Zola were magnificent arrivals, even if quantity began to outweigh quality when the next wave of overseas players came along. And, of course, the most astonishing changes have come in terms of football’s finances.
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This was where Greg missed the boat, as LWT were blown out of the water by Sky, with Alan Sugar – who was busy flogging satellite dishes at the time – insisting that TV going match with John, the the police the rights for football were going to go through the roof. Yet if Sugar knew as much about business as he tells us, he would never have sold Spurs.
Interestingly, none of the five movers and shakers assembled by Greg Dyke has any real involvement at their clubs any more. Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal are all under American ownership, Spurs are bankrolled from the Bahamas and Everton – still under British ownership – are struggling to keep up.
I’ll never be one of those ex-players who begrudges the fact that average Premier League footballers now earn far more than I ever did. I’d never criticise anyone for making as much money as they can for their families. But I do wish I’d been born 50 years later. Greg Dyke never did pay me footballers’ wages for sitting on that TV-AM sofa.
Doesn’t the saying go….’ a good player doesn’t always make a good manager?’ From what we saw of Alan Shearer’s brief stint in charge of Newcastle, it’s a saying which could well be applied to the Premier League’s all-time leading goal scorer. Although maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, as that statement is a rather premature. Yes Shearer’s first foray into management was a failure, but he was thrown in at the deep end at a time when Newcastle were in a desperate state, so they turned to their favourite son to try and save them. However 5 points from a possible 24 and relegation doesn’t give Shearer the best looking managerial CV should he want to step back into management in the future.
Management is still something on Shearer’s to do list, but how many teams would be willing to offer a man of Shearer’s managerial experience an opportunity? After Sam Allardyce was sacked by Blackburn, Shearer’s name was mooted as a potential candidate for the position. This could mean that due to his reputation the opportunities could be there for him to walk into a job in the Premiership or Championship in the future. However I should mention that his links with Blackburn were a large contributing factor to his name being linked with the vacant manager’s position. Shearer has set his sights high regarding any potential return to management as this quote on NUFC blog confirms, “I would seriously consider going back into football, but it would have to be right. It’s imperative that you have a chance of success at your first job. That’s what I would be looking for.”
What type of success Shearer is referring to is down to assumption, it could be winning trophies or gaining promotions, but I sense Shearer is expecting to go straight in at the top. Which I suppose should be expected from a man who has spent his entire playing career at the very top of his profession. As I alluded to in my opening gambit, it doesn’t always work like that though, and I think Shearer would benefit from following the example set by his fellow Geordie Lee Clark. Clark has started his management career in League One with Huddersfield Town, learning his trade in a lower league which has seen him blossom into a fine manager.
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I can’t help but think, irrespective of what Shearer has said about the possibility of stepping back into management full time, that it will never happen for him. The tidy pay packet he receives from the BBC for sitting on their sofa, in one of his shocking shirts, is surely a way of life whichwould take a special job offer to draw him away. Then I think, what club hunting for success would offer a pretty much untried manager a shot? Has Shearer potentially missed his chance in management by not keeping Newcastle in the Premier League in 2009? You can rest assured that if he had kept Newcastle up that year he would have been installed as the permanent manager for the following season.
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Under the current ownership Shearer can forget any chance of a return to St James’ Park in a managerial capacity. So is he better off sticking to his punditry? Well let’s be honest, Shearer isn’t the most charismatic of people and his punditry shows very little enthusiasm when compared to, say Jamie Redknapp, but he seems to be doing something right. So why would he want to change the cushy number he currently has sitting on the Match of the Day sofa for a dugout? I can’t see Shearer being offered the desirable job he appears to want and as time goes on I think he will become more and more content in his TV role, so maybe the management game is over for Shearer before it started.
Promising Aston Villa winger Marc Albrighton has signed a new three-and-a-half year contract with Gerard Houllier’s side.
The 20-year-old, who has been one of the stars of the opening three months of the season and who came through the club’s academy sysytem, will remain at Villa Park until the end of the 2013-14 season.
Houllier told the club’s official website:“The contract with Marc is until 2014. Marc has stepped up very well to the first team. Everything is about attitude – and his attitude is an example to everyone.
“He was devastated after being sent off against Burnley but he went to play for the reserves this Monday after being suspended for Sunday (against Birmingham City).
“Kevin McDonald (reserve team coach) told me his work-rate was fantastic, that his attitude and effort were an example.
“When you have the talent and the attitude, the commitment, looking after yourself, working hard in games, it means a lot. He enjoys playing.”
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Albrighton has made 18 appearances for Villa’s first team since making his debut in the UEFA Cup defeat to Spartak Moscow in February 2009.
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