Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun has been ruled out for up to six months by an Achilles injury sustained while on international duty with Israel.
The 30-year-old will go under the knife in Finland at the start of next week, having suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon during training.
A brief statement on the Blues' official club website read:"Yossi Benayoun will undergo surgery on his Achilles on Monday.
"The Israel international returned to the club from international duty last week and will now be out of action for approximately six months."
Benayoun, who only moved to Stamford Bridge in the summer from Liverpool, has recently been sidelined by a calf problem and has not featured for his club since the 4-3 Carling Cup defeat to Newcastle United in late September.
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The former West Ham United and Racing Santander schemer has scored once in six appearances for Chelsea to date.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
He was undoubtedly one of the Premier League’s best players last campaign with Arsenal, but Samir Nasri is finding that with a big money move to Manchester City, has come big questions over just where he fits within Roberto Mancini’s short and long-term plans. Does he even fit at all?
Nasri has indeed managed 25 starts in all competitions for City this term but has had to be content with six appearances from the bench; a role he didn’t fulfil during his time in North London. Part of one of the Premier League’s largest squads, Nasri was always likely to be competing with fellow star-studded names for a starting berth; understandably so, following Sheikh Mansour’s investment in the club’s revolution.
But three-quarters of the way through his debut season at the Etihad, and arguably the summer signing with the least impact, Samir Nasri is still not at home in his new Manchester surroundings, questioning was it ever the right move?
Let us retrace our steps back to the summer whereby a clutch of clubs were purring at the thought of adding the Frenchman to their ranks following the best season of his career whereby he struck 15 goals in all competitions for the Gunners.
It is not disputable that any club back then would have been criticised in their attempts to land the unsettled Arsenal star, but by employing the wisdom of hindsight, it is clearly evident that Nasri’s talents are being wasted in Mancini’s side.
Nasri spoke this week aiming another shot at his former employers:
“Sometimes it’s good to win ugly. You don’t always have to play good football to win”.
But you gain the overriding notion that Nasri is talking about the team philosophy and not of his own individual preferences. After all, he has had to be content to play second fiddle to the hard working exploits of James Milner in the ‘big’ games this season.
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Nasri was the artistic and creative force in the Gunners ranks last term and someone who they have struggled to replace. Aside from his jibes, how Arsenal would love to employ his attributes alone back into their underachieving side.
The Frenchman often played in a more attacking role at Arsenal as a playmaker if you will. Here, Nasri’s aesthetic qualities were abundant for all to see, but at City, Mancini prides more of his game plan upon solid defensive work and lightning counter attacks. Nasri has never been much of a tracking back player and Mancini’s Italian mentality surrounding being hard to beat is in stark contrast to the attitude employed at the Gunners.
Perhaps, this explains James Milner’s preferred choice in the team given his grit and hard-working qualities up and down the flanks, as opposed to Nasri’s flair and sparkle, deemed much more appropriate from the bench.
Of course, one of Nasri’s reasons to leave North London was his desire to win trophies and the Frenchman may just do that at City this season, but it would all be achieved through a bit-part role, in contrast to the consistent roles Kompany, Yaya Toure and Aguero play at the Etihad.
At any big club, the mark of quality is the strength of the squad, but you learnt during his time at Arsenal that Nasri was on the way to becoming one of the world’s top talents. Playing consecutively and in Arsenal’s style, which was a match made in heaven, truly made the Frenchman stand out. Laurent Blanc was ready to build the France squad around his qualities but his moves to do this may prove a little premature.
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Nasri’s impressive season inevitably saw him headhunted by a new club this summer, but he is finding out quickly just like Torres and Carroll before him that the team philosophy just doesn’t seem to match up with that of his own.
It remains to be seen whether Nasri is to really grasp his chance at City and stamp his own mark on an efficient team this term. The gut feeling is that he was most definitely an ‘Arsenal’ type player. He is still not at home at City.
Is the best yet to come from Nasri or should he have stayed at Arsenal? Join the debate @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989
England’s number two goalkeeper Ben Foster has announced he is taking an indefinite break from internationals to focus on his club career.The Birmingham City shot-stopper has represented his nation in goal on just five occasions – debuting in 2007 – and his most recent appearance was in England’s 2-1 friendly loss to France in November.
Foster has been injury-prone in recent times, and the 28-year-old said he will make himself unavailable for national selection to focus on maintaining his spot at Birmingham, who are beginning to prepare for a Europa League campaign next term after their League Cup triumph.
“Performing at the highest level game in, game out and particularly when there’s been as many matches as there have been this season really takes it out of your body,” Foster told Birmingham’s official website.
“It’s no secret that I’ve had a few niggling injuries and that I’ve had to pull out of the past few England squads because of that.”
“I’ve spoken to the management team and coaches here at Blues and told them what I want to do but it’s also very important that I say just how much I have loved playing for England and being part of the set-up.”
Foster did not rule out a return to the international scene, but said he was not leaving the proud football nation in the lurch, stating that Manchester City custodian Joe Hart was more than capable of holding the reins in goal for England.
“I’ve enjoyed my time with England and am certainly not closing a door on the international side of things forever but this is the right thing for me to do right now in terms of club football,” Foster said.
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“Inevitably every time I’ve had the opportunity to give my body a rest there has been an international fixture and the demands that come with that.”
“In Joe, England have a goalkeeper who is extremely talented and a top guy and he is an excellent custodian for the national side to have. I have no doubt he is going to go on to be one of the greatest.”
The captain of your team should be reserved for the most influential player in your side. He should be the one player who can rally the team in times of crisis and show great leadership on the pitch. Usually, these players would be one of the more senior members of the side who had greater experience than that of their peers. However, the recent spate of Premier League captains has put paid this traditionalist notion of what a captain should be and exposed the captain’s armband as little more than a title.
All of the other duties commonly associated with the captain’s role have been perpetuated by the iconic images of captains such as Bobby Moore and Roy Keane who have epitomised the leadership that we so readily associate with the captain position. But these days, the captain is used more as a political tool rather than a position of any real responsibility.
For example, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini decided to strip Kolo Toure of the captain’s armband at the beginning of the season and hand it to Carlos Tevez. This is in spite of the fact that Tevez had previously been vocal in his criticism of Mancini in relation to his training methods. Mancini’s reasoning behind his decision was a desire to see Tevez interact more with the squad and the captain’s armband would help facilitate this. Mancini’s decision is indicative of a need to pander to and massage the egos of the “top” players to ensure that they perform to the best of their ability by giving them an illusion of responsibility that they haven’t earned.
Captaincy can be also used as a means to instil confidence in a player that has otherwise been lacking. Arsene Wenger did this with Manuel Almunia when he handed the error-prone goalkeeper the armband in Cesc Fabregas’ absence. On paper, Alumunia doesn’t instantly strike me as captain material. He isn’t renowned for his communication skills as evidenced by the amount of goals Arsenal concede through set-pieces and crosses into the box and he hasn’t proved to be an authoritative leader during his time at Arsenal. While he is one of the more senior members in the Arsenal squad, the cynic in me is saying that Wenger’s decision to select Almunia as captain despite his lack of credentials has everything to do with increasing his goalkeeper’s confidence in the light of widespread criticism of Almunia in his time at the Emirates.
Tottenham’s pre-game build up for Saturday’s 1-1 draw against West Brom was dominated by talk about who was going to captain the side in Michael Dawson’s absence. Harry Redknapp caused a bit of a commotion when he suggested that William Gallas was in the frame to claim the captain’s role at the Hawthorns. The possibility of giving William Gallas the captaincy after only a few weeks at the club is somewhat questionable. There has not been sufficient time for Gallas to establish a sufficient rapport and understanding with his new teammates for him to lead the side effectively. Add to that the fact that his last captain’s role ended with Gallas being stripped of the armband by Arsene Wenger due to his emotional, petulant behaviour and you can see why Gallas would not be an ideal choice.
The role of the captain has become somewhat emblematic in this country. However, the image of the captain as team leader has been diluted by the individuality that is becoming increasingly pervasive in the modern game as the captain’s role is becoming a hollow honour.
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It’s not a new debate nor is it one to do strictly with football, or money, but just why is it that English players, in large, refuse to travel abroad and make their home in other countries?
I thought about this whilst reading Ruud van Nistelrooy’s response to David Winner’s fascinating book about Dutch football, Brilliant Orange. Van Nistelrooy said:
“As a Dutchman reading it, it’s a kind of mirror. It shows you things about yourself you’ve never seen before.”
Although van Nistelrooy is one individual and not representative of the whole, the mere fact that a Dutch footballer has read a book outlining theories on why his nation may perform like they do on the pitch is a welcome break from the tabloid pages most invariably find themselves in.
Succumbing to a generalisation I think it is absolutely fair to say English players don’t exhibit the kind of cultural versatility that players from Europe certainly possess. Taking a loosely football related argument as an indicator of the chasm between the breadth of adaptability on show at this World Cup alone we can take Germany’s match against England. When the final whistle blew we can safely assume that it was the German players who approached the English, speaking English. I don’t see John Terry offering a conciliatory ‘guten tag’ to Bastian Schweinsteiger had the roles been reversed. And with some of the Dutch, Spanish, German and French players able to give press conferences in two, sometimes three, languages I’m left wondering why we can’t replicate a similar standard of diversity.
This isn’t to uniformly blame the current English players in our league; they are more products of a longstanding tradition that we don’t travel well. Why is this? The first reason is that English has been the desirable language of business for a long time (although that’s now being gradually challenged). Another reason is that in the past five or six years especially we’ve had a strong showing in Europe, which confirms to many (albeit in this country more than others) that the Premier League is the best league in Europe. These are strong reasons to remain in England but what about the years where English football was by far a distant second to Spain and Italy?
A persistent and undeniable inability to want a move onto new shores, elsewhere in Europe, is very much an English failing. Talented foreign players constantly flood into England and increase their chances of becoming better footballers, often ousting promising homegrown talent in the process, but this is hardly their fault. A distinct complacency (perhaps even a fundamental lack of curiosity or belief) certainly exists amongst our players, both established and promising. It’s always beneficial for a proportion of our players to attempt life outside the Premier League; it gives them a chance to hone their match intelligence and general adaptability (something evidently lacking at this World Cup), on the pitch, culturally and socially. We definitely understate just how difficult it is for young foreign players to make it in this country (there is a dangerous habit of viewing young players as adult footballers, which is completely unfair, in our media). If we take Alex Song’s experiences as an example; he was born in Cameroon, grew up in France and moved to Arsenal in his late teens:
“Coming to Arsenal at the age of 17 was more difficult than going to Corsica at 13. There, I had someone [François Ciccolini, a youth team coach from the Corsican club Bastia]; when I came here I didn’t have anybody, I didn’t understand the language, the food was very different and I had no confidence. I lived in a hotel and when training ended I would go to my room and spend all of my time on the phone. To leave everybody you know in France and come to a new country, that is not easy. But it got better because I realised I had the boss [Wenger]. He would speak to me all the time at training and that gave me motivation.”
Aside from the very personal and individual struggles that Song overcame to make a success of his talents his story is indicative of the kind of hardship foreign players can endure, though far from easy, for the sake of what they love doing; which is playing football. That Song has potentially taken the place of a less able, less willing, less determined homegrown player should not be an issue for us, which is why merely citing foreign influence as the major contributing factor of the English failing is a parochial stance – it does not paint the whole picture.
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I can’t explain what keeps our players caught in their home countries for all their playing careers, even to the detriment of their progression as professionals. Even the successes (Paul Lambert, Chris Waddle, David Beckham, Steve McManaman) are more exceptions that prove the rule. It’s a cultural and educational problem too, not simply footballing; sport merely reflects, not causes, the endemic issues within our culture.
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Relegation-threatened Borussia Moenchengladbach conceded a late goal in their 1-0 loss to Mainz in the Bundesliga on Friday.Lucien Favre’s men are two points from the relegation play-off spot, conceding an 87th minute goal at Mainz to deepen their troubles.
Andre Schuerrle struck from 25 yards past an outstretched Marc Andre ter Stegen to extend Mainz’s lead on fifth spot to five points.
It was the 20-year-old’s 13th goal of the season, equalling the best return for the club, which was set by Mohamed Zidan during the 2006/07 season.
The visitors’ task of getting anything out of the game was made difficult when striker Mike Hanke was sent off after picking up a second yellow card in the 53rd minute.
It was a disappointing result for Moenchengladbach after their 5-1 thrashing of Cologne last weekend.
The win ended a four-game winless run for Mainz and put them within five points of the Champions League qualification spot, although Hannover will have the chance to restore the buffer with a trip to Hamburg on Saturday.
The transfer window always reminds me of Christmas. Full of expectation, excitement and then suddenly it becomes something an anti-climax once it is over. Some are happy with their presents, while others are left seething at the lack of effort that was put in. City fans are undoubtedly happy with their lot this summer, although others are bound to be disappointed.
It has been a relatively quiet transfer window as clubs remain cautious with their transfer spending, given the current climate. Chairman may have had little option but to be prudent, but it doesn’t stop supporters feeling slightly disappointed that a few more gambles haven’t taken place. Surprisingly a lot of managers have actually been sympathetic towards the situation, highlighting the curse of high wages that has made transfer dealings all the more difficult, rather than bemoaning the lack of backing from their club chairman, while others have simply made the best out of the stagnant transfer market, negotiated well and brought in some real bargains.
So how has Everton’s transfer window been and have you been happy, or disappointed, by the progress that has been made? Has David Moyes done enough to ensure that the Toffees will be challenging the top four this season? Do you foresee any last minute deals in the last 24hrs of the transfer window?
Reported Arsenal transfer target Lukas Podolski has ruled out a move away from Bundesliga side Koln in the January transfer window, as he has Euro 2012 in his sights.
The Germany international has been linked with a move to a bigger club after impressing domestically this season, with Arsene Wenger thought to be interested in the attacker.
Despite this, Podolski looks set to stay with his current employers until at least the summer.
“I have always said that I have not been dictated by the pressures of time when deciding my future,” he told reporters.
“I do not believe in lightning strikes, I must be clear. I believe that I will see everything in the summer.
“With Koln, I hope to get as high as possible. I want to exceed the number of goals I scored last season.
“With the national team, I want to play in the European Championship in Poland, my homeland.
“We are among the favourites and our dream is to win the trophy. We cannot hide,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Poldolski’s agent has stated that his client will not leave Germany this January.
“A move is all but impossible”, Kon Schramm told The Guardian.
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“Koln has priority right now; we have time for everything else in the summer.”
Liverpool’s £20 million Xabi Alonso replacement, Alberto Aquilani, started nine Premier League games in his first season at Anfield, was loaned back to Serie A with Juventus for the current campaign and his limp performances when called upon reflected the rapid transition Liverpool were experiencing from title challengers to Europa League drop-outs. Aquilani’s impact at Anfield is generally considered minimal, but imagine how severe an appraisal of him would be if his delayed debut was postponed a total of 15 months, he headed his first goal in front on the Kop against his own goalkeeper and was sent-off for two bookings just after the hour before embarking on a further lengthy injury absence.
That fateful scenario describes Jonathan Woodgate’s first appearance for Real Madrid following a move to Spain that initially seemed to vindicate the maturing career of one of England’s finest defenders. Although Aquilani could soon be returning to Merseyside, principally due to his parent club’s intention to recoup a healthy amount of the Italian’s original fee and a subsequent lack of willing suitors, his once promising career presently hangs in the balance. Woodgate, however, was able to complement his devastating debut with a standing ovation from the Bernabeu crowd at the time of his dismissal. The Middlesbrough born centre-back’s deteriorating physical condition then provoked a return to his home-town club in an effort to rebuild his faltering reputation and he quickly sealed a further move to Tottenham, scoring the decisive goal in a man-of-the-match winning performance against Chelsea in the League Cup Final a month after his arrival.
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Woodgate actually recorded 113 appearances overall between his return to England in 2006 and the culmination of the 2008/2009 season but has featured on just three occasions in the League since, during a period in which Spurs have transformed in to a Champions League outfit. Although he was employed as a late substitute in Spurs’ recent away trip to the San Siro, the former Leeds and Newcastle player’s latest injury setback must surely indicate an impending conclusion to his time at White Hart Lane and encourage him to seriously contemplate retirement, a consideration Harry Redknapp suggested during pre-season.
His wages are believed to be in the region of £3 million a year so a departure would signify a considerable easing of Tottenham’s accounts. What’s more, Spurs have recently strengthened their defence with the January signing of Bongani Khumalo and although the Lilywhites have been unfortunate with injuries this term, they can still boast an expansive, experienced and reliable assemblage of defenders when fit. Ledley King’s frailties are well known, but Harry Redknapp retains the services of William Gallas, Sebastien Bassong, Younes Kaboul, Vedran Corluka and Michael Dawson who each represent a more dependable short, medium and long-term option than Woodgate.
The 8 times capped former England International has been fortunate that the ability he demonstrated at the dawn of his career and his personable attitude have got him this far. The Madrid fans’ encouraging reaction to Woodgate’s debut over five years ago mirrors the support he has received from each manager he has worked under. It is unlikely that Woodgate’s next move will intimate anything other than the overdue acceptance of his career’s twilight, the alternative being the acceptance of his career’s termination. His footballing archive describes a depressing series of events peppered with momentous highlights, but now is a good time for Tottenham to release the player whose days in football are numbered.
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To say the transfer window (so far) has been uneventful is tantamount to saying the Arctic is a bit nippy, as the majority of Premier League clubs are seemingly being careful with their finances. In some cases clubs simply have to sell before they can buy, much to the frustrations, no doubt, of many managers and supporters.
The lack of spending at the top of the Premier League has surprised many, especially given the open nature of last season’s title race. You would have thought the likes of United and Chelsea would have looked at a big outlay this summer, to ensure the also-rans remain at an arm’s length in their pursuits of the title. Only City have made substantial moves this summer, although you do feel that they may well struggle to strike a balance. This means this season’s race for the title, Champions League and Europa League places are very much as they were last year, unless we witness a major change in the transfer wind in the coming fortnight.
The media is predicting that a transfer storm is set to erupt, but it begs the question as to whether Newcastle really need to partake in some last minute shopping.
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Does Hughton need to bring any players in before the transfer window shuts in 16 days time and if so who would you like to see him bring in?