Football News And Views

Ivory Coast 5-0 Guinea

I wasn’t going to report on any of the matches from the African Cup of Nations because I have not really been watching many full matches. In fact this match was the first one I have watched the full 90 minutes of and I was rewarded with a treat as Ivory Coast cruised past Guinea. There was only one first half goal and it was a well taken goal from Abdelkader Keita who took on two defenders before firing home from a tight angle when it looked like he was going to cross. Questions will be asked of the goalkeepers positioning for Guinea as he was too far off his line. Not much else happened in the first half until the final few minutes when Kemoko Camara in the Guinea goal made up for his earlier mistake with a fine double save to deny Aruna Dindane and then Saloman Kalo and moment later he made an even better stop from a Didier Drogba effort.

Ivory Coast started brightly in the second half and picked up where they left off, in control. Guinea did have a chance when Daouda Jabi saw his free-kick go just wide of the post. As he dived low to save, Boubacar Barry (surely that’s the best name ever!) hit his head into the upright but was okay shortly after. Miss of the tournament came from Dindane who had done well to take the ball around Camara only to shoot wide with the net gaping. A minute later Ivory Coast made it 2-0 when Arthur Boka picked out Drogba who runs past two defenders and finished as well as you would expect from a world class striker.

This was game over. Guinea just fell flat after the second goal and it wasn’t long before Kalou made it three. Drogba found his Chelsea team mate who rounded Camara and just walked the ball in to the net. Kalou then added the 4th when he was picked out by Yaya Toure who had made a powerful run into the box. He then pulled it back to Kalou who couldn’t miss. The 5th was the best goal of the match and it came from Kone who smashed the ball in from 20 yards. It was a powerful strike and flew as straight as an arrow into the back of the net. This tournament just keeps on giving us great matches and great games.

At last the transfer window is well and truly closed shut and I spent most of yesterday paying close attention to all the deals going on. There were a couple of deals such as Jermain Defoe moving to Portsmouth, Middlesboro finally getting Brazilian striker, Alves and Tottenham signing full back Gilberto even though it was earlier announced the deal wasn’t going ahead. The top four were not involved with any incoming transfers however several youngsters were loaned out. personally I was surprised at the amount of loan deals that took place yesterday. Special mention must go to Norwich City who brought in 4 players on loan including Gibbs from Arsenal who did show some really encouraging signs in a couple of pre season games so he could turn out to be a really big signing for The Canaries. I wont go into every move in detail because I’ll be here forever but thanks to the BBC I can provide you with a list of all the days transfers.

Simon Ainge [Bradford - Halifax] Loan
Brian Allison [Falkirk - Stirling] Loan
Afonso Alves [Heerenveen - Middlesbrough] Undisclosed
Mikael Antoine-Curier [Hibernian - Dundee] Loan
Curtis Aspden [Hull - Farsley Celtic] Undisclosed
Matt Bailey [Wolves - Kidderminster] Loan
Matthew Bates [Middlesbrough - Norwich] Loan
Elliott Bennett [Wolves - Bury] Loan
Kevin Betsy [Bristol City - Walsall] Loan
Michael Blackwood [Kidderminster - Oxford] Loan
Leigh Bromby [Sheff Utd - Watford] £600,000
David Brown [Accrington - Rushden & Diamonds] Loan
Elliott Buchanan [Northwood - Stevenage] Undisclosed
Ronnie Bull [unattached - Ebbsfleet]
Lee Bullock [Hartlepool - Bradford] Free
Stephen Bywater [Derby - Ipswich] Loan
Felipe Caicedo [FC Basel - Man City] Undisclosed
Tony Caig [Gretna - Houston Dynamo] Free
Stuart Callaghan [Brechin - Berwick] Player exchange
Iain Campbell [Kilmarnock - Clyde] Loan
Roy Carroll [Rangers - Derby] Free
Jamie Clapham [Wolves - Leicester] Free
Billy Clarke [Ipswich - Falkirk] Loan
Nick Colgan [Barnsley - Ipswich] Free
Sam Collins [Hull - Hartlepool] Undisclosed
Lee Cook [Fulham - Charlton] Loan
Michael Corcoran [unattached - Rushden & Diamonds]
David Cowan [Gretna - Dundee] Loan
Dyron Daal [St Johnstone - Fuenlabrada] Free
Ousmane Dabo [Man City - Lazio] Undisclosed
Michal Danek [Viktoria Plzen - West Brom] Loan
Scott Dann [Walsall - Coventry] Undisclosed
Steven Davis [Fulham - Rangers] Loan
Anderson De Silva [Everton - Barnsley] Undisclosed
Gary Dempsey [Yeovil - St Patricks Athletic] Free
Iain Diack [Berwick - Brechin] Undisclosed plus player exchange
Jonny Dixon [Aldershot - Brighton] £56,000
Ian Dobbins [Montrose - Stranraer] Undisclosed
Craig Dobson [Stevenage - Milton Keynes Dons] Undisclosed
Nathan Elder [Brighton - Brentford] £35,000
Anthony Elding [Stockport - Leeds] Undisclosed
Stuart Elliott [Hull - Doncaster] Loan
George Elokobi [Colchester - Wolves] Undisclosed
John Eustace [Stoke - Watford] £250,000
Shaun Fagan [unattached - Clyde]
Leo Fortune-West [Cambridge - York] Loan
Paul Gallagher [Blackburn - Stoke] Loan
Anthony Gardner [Tottenham - Everton] Loan
Chris Geddes [Brechin - Forfar] Undisclosed
Kieran Gibbs [Arsenal - Norwich] Loan]
Billy Gibson [unattached - Clyde]
Gilberto [Hertha Berlin - Tottenham] Undisclosed
James Grady [Gretna - Hamilton] Free
Anthony Grant [Chelsea - Southend] Loan
Stuart Green [Crystal Palace - Blackpool] Loan
Darren Gribben [unattached - Stranraer]
Rostyn Griffiths [Blackburn - Gretna] Loan
Erik Hagen [Zenit St Petersburg - Wigan] Loan
Steven Hammell [Southend - Motherwell] £110,000
Dean Hammond [Brighton - Colchester] £250,000
Jamie Harris [Dunfermline - St Patricks Athletic] Free
James Henry [Reading - Norwich] Loan
Paul Henry [Tranmere - The New Saints] Loan
Geoff Horsfield [Sheff Utd - Scunthorpe] Loan
Chris Hughes [Brechin - Albion] Free
Roddy Hunter [Albion - Montrose] Undisclosed
Michael Husbands [Macclesfield - AFC Telford] Free
Ben Hutchinson [Middlesbrough - Celtic] Undisclosed
Dougie Imrie [Clyde - Inverness CT] Undisclosed
Simeon Jackson [Rushden & Diamonds - Gillingham] £150,000
Jiri Jarosik [Celtic - FC Samara] Undisclosed
Ryan Jarvis [Norwich - Notts County] Loan
Allan Jenkins [Gretna - Morton] Undisclosed
Toni Kallio [BSC Young Boys - Fulham] Undisclosed
Graham Kavanagh [Sunderland - Sheff Wed] Loan
Przemyslaw Kazimierczak [Bolton - Darlington] Undisclosed
Darren Kenton [Leicester - Leeds] Undisclosed
Do-Heon Kim [Seongham Ilhwa Chunma - West Brom] Loan
Darryl Knights [Yeovil - Kidderminster] Loan
Artur Krysak [Birmingham - Gretna] Loan
Aaron Labonte [Dunfermline - Finn Harps] Free
Scott Laird [Plymouth - Stevenage] Undisclosed
Simon Lappin [Norwich - Motherwell] Loan
Neil Lennon [Nottm Forest - Wycombe] Free
Jari Litmanen [Malmo - Fulham] Free
David Livermore [Hull - Oldham] Loan
Paul Lunan [Forfar - Arbroath]
David Mannix [Ham Kam - Accrington] Free
Dave Martin [Crystal Palace - Millwall] £50,000
Willie Martin [Elgin - Albion] Undisclosed
Alan Maybury [Leicester - Aberdeen] Loan
Billy McKay [Leicester - Hinckley] Loan
Steve McKay [Peterhead - Elgin] Free
Rhys Meynell [Gretna - Barnsley] Loan
Lubomir Michalik [Bolton - Leeds] Undisclosed
Ishmael Miller [Man City - West Brom] £900,000
Vitezslav Mooc [unattached - Partick]
Ian Moore [Hartlepool - Tranmere] Undisclosed
Charlie Mulgrew [Wolves - Southend] Loan
Colin Nish [Kilmarnock - Hibs] Undisclosed
David Niven [Ross County - Elgin] Free
David Norris [Plymouth - Ipswich] Undisclosed
Lewin Nyatanga [Derby - Barnsley] Loan
Jim O’Brien [Celtic - Dundee Utd] Loan
Joe O’Cearuill [Barnet - St Patricks Athletic] Free
Gary O’Connot [Berwick - Stenhousemuir] Loan
David Partridge [Brentford - St Patricks Athletic] Free
Jim Paterson [Motherwell - Plymouth] Undisclosed
Alex Pearce [Reading - Norwich] Loan
Krystian Pearce [Birmingham - Port Vale] Loan
Lee Peltier [Liverpool - Yeovil] Undisclosed
Mark Randall [Arsenal - Burnley] Loan
Isaiah Rankin [Grimsby - Stevenage] Free
Grzegorz Rasiak [Southampton - Bolton] Loan
Carl Regan [Macclesfield - Milton Keynes Dons] Undisclosed
Andy Reid [Charlton - Sunderland] £4m
Craig Reid [Celtic - Queen of the South] Free
Reuben Reid [Plymouth - Brentford] Loan
Barry Robson [Dundee Utd - Celtic] £1m
David Rozehnal [Newcastle - Lazio] Loan
Alan Sheehan [Leicester - Leeds] Loan
Enoch Showunmi [Bristol City - Sheff Wed] Loan
Rob Sinclair [Luton - Salisbury] Loan
Rudi Skacel [Southampton - Hertha Berlin] Loan
Paul Stalteri [Tottenham - Fulham] Loan
Pavel Steinbors [FK Jurmala - Blackpool] Loan
Alan Stubbs [Everton - Derby] Free
Shane Supple [Ipswich - Falkirk] Loan
Cleveland Taylor [Scunthorpe - Carlisle] £50,000
Gareth Taylor [Tranmere - Doncaster] Loan
Aswad Thomas [Charlton - Accrington] Loan
Lee Thorpe [Brentford - Rochdale] Free
Nicky Walker [Stirling - Brechin] Free
Tony Warner [Fulham - Barnsley] Loan
Andrew Waterworth [Lisburn Distillery - Hamilton] £20,000
Glenn Whelan [Sheff Wed - Stoke] £500,000
Ben Wilkinson [Hull City - Gretna] Loan
Fabio Zamblera [Atalanta - Newcastle] Undisclosed
Abderouf Zarabi [Gueugnon - Hibernian] Free

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle

Arsenal were once again on hand to pile on the misery for Kevin Keegan who just days ago was labeled ‘The Messiah’ by many in the media. Three games without a goal  now for Keegan’s Newcastle side who in all fairness have had to travel to The Emirates twice in a few days and it’s no easy place to go. Saturday’s game ended 3-0 to the Gunners and the league game was a repeat and it was just as easy for Arsenal as it was before. I didn’t expect Newcastle to win but I did expect them to learn from their mistakes from Saturday but they never really had any of the game and Arsenal were in control throughout.

Newcastle held out for a while and it took Arsenal nearly 40 minutes to find the break through. Flamini sent in a delightful cross from the right hand side for Adebayor to easily header past Shay Given. Adebayor had a shot over the bar just minutes before the opening goal and that was about as far as first half chances went. Newcastle started the first few minutes of the second half looking brighter but couldn’t do anything with the ball. Michael Owen found himself offside on so many occasions as the Newcaslte midfield tried to find him and this did not help Newcastle’ cause.

After 72 minutes the goal of the match came and it had looked like Arsenal were going to get anotehr one and they did in some style. Cesc passed the ball from the left to Flamini who struck the ball from 20 yards and it floated into the top corner. Just as it was on Saturday 2-0 was game over but again it wasn’t enough for Arsenal who got the third from Cesc Fabregas who couldn’t miss after being played the ball square in the box from Bendtner. It was a typical Arsenal move.

So where does this leave The Messiah and his new recruit, Dennis Wise? I think the next few days are critical for Newcastle United. They need to bring in a few faces. They clearly need a centre back and a defensive midfielder. They are missing Martins and playing Owen up front or with Alan Smith behind him does not appear to bring much joy. A winger should also be on their shopping list as they never really looked threatening out on their wide positions. A lot of people will be looking at Keegan and wondering if he is the man for the job but only time will tell. Losing at The Emirates is not a problem but his side need to bounce back. They have a local Derby with Boro at home next, a tie which is very much winnable and if Keegan wants to live up to his Messiah tag then 3 points is critical.

Yesterday it was announced a third club was interesting Woodgate hours before he made his move to Spurs. A lot of places announced that this club was Arsenal but it is now being said this is a hoax and Arsene Wenger has denied all reports on Arsenal being linked with the centre back. and had very little to say on the matter.

“I do not know where that story came from,” he said. “There is no truth in it at all. We have never been in touch with Middlesbrough about Jonathan Woodgate.”

To be honest I do think Arsenal need another centre back as I don’t think Djourou is good enough and Senderos is inconsistent and without Kolo Toure at the moment Arsenal are a little short at the back. A lot of reports say Arsene is interested in Joleon Lescott who I personally think would be a great signing for the Gunners but with Yobo playing at the African Cup of nations, Everton would not sell Lescott now and I don’t think they will sell him cheap anyway.

As for Spurs they have a good signing in Woodgate if he can stay fit. Ledley King and Woodgate could be a great pairing but neither of them have stayed fit long enough between them. If they do get a run of games together at the back then Spurs may be able to sort out their lack of clean sheets.

It’s nice to see that George Burley has taken over as the new manager of Scotland. There is no doubting his ability after being successful with Ipswich and more recently at Hearts, where he briefly challenged Scotland’s top two with them. His international ability however is unknown but that has been said about many successful club managers who have gone into the International scene.

Scotland fans will of course be hoping that George Burley pick up where Alex McLeish left off and personally i think he has the players under him to be able to do so. The first aim for Burley will be to reach the World Cup and he is confident he can do it.

“This job gives the opportunity to try to do something, to try to get to the World Cup finals, and as a manager you couldn’t ask for more than that.”

“It’s something I’m really looking to. I feel I’m ready for it.

“Let’s got for it, two, two-and-a-half years, can we qualify for the World Cup? That’s my aim.”

Scotland were unlucky not to reach the European Championships after their brave displays against France and Italy and if they can get the big results in the world cup qualifiers against the likes of Norway and the Netherlands then I can see them reaching the World Cup Finals and even as an Englishman I believe Scotland have what it takes to do this and under Burley they have a manager who will bring the best out of the players.

I was thinking of something offensive and polite to use as the title of this post but couldn’t really find anything to use. What can you say really about Lassana Diarra. He joined Arsenal on deadline day so he could get first team football. No one said he would be promised first team football and surely he should have already known that Arsenal have a handful of really talented centre midfielders, second only to the crop at Manchester United IMO (on paper at least). He soon made it clear he wanted to leave. I find it hard to believe he thought he was in with much of a chance especially as Cesc Fabregas will always start in the middle and Gilberto, Flamini and Diaby are all talented players as well as Denilson who looks promising. Diarra did get his chances in the cup games but didn’t make much impact. All the before mentioned centre midfield players have scored this season already for Arsenal too.

So Diarra was sold to Portsmouth. A little bit of profit was made for Arsenal and Portsmouth got themselves a promising player for a low figure. However no matter how good Diarra is or how good he thinks he is he still lacks any type of personality. He proved this straight away at Portsmouth by saying the following:

Portsmouth is a respectable club, which has achieved a very good start to the season. Some people say I made a mistake by joining Portsmouth considering Les Bleus. I don’t think so. The people at Portsmouth know I will not spend my life at this club. If I shine, if a really big club wants me, I know already that everything will go well.

Nice that he thinks so highly of Portsmouth. They are a mere stepping stone in his bid to get a first team place at a bigger club. Instead of helping his club progress he wants to just help his career and let other scouts see that he is a good player. I hope after this statement he struggles to make an impact at Portsmouth and I hope a big club never comes in for him. At this stage in his career he is not good enough t play in the first teams at Chelsea or Arsenal and he could be a real star at Portsmouth but his attitude could disrupt harmony and as it did at Arsenal it could also restrict his chances.

The draw for the 4th round of the FA Cup was made earlier today at Soho Square and it threw up a couple of interesting ties. The one that most people will be talking about it undoubtedly the prospect of Liverpool hosting Havant & Waterlooville from the Conference South if both sides win there respective replays. Apart from this it was a relatively disappointing draw from the giant killers propesctive but there were a few all Premiership ties with Arsenal hosting Newcastle or Stoke, Chelsea being away for once against Wigan and Tottenham or Reading visiting Old Trafford. The draw in full can be found below with matches taking place the weekend of the 26/27th of January.

Arsenal v Stoke City/Newcastle
Coventry v Walsall/Millwall
Oldham v Huddersfield Town
Swindon/Barnet v Fulham/Bristol Rovers
Wigan v Chelsea
Luton/Liverpool v Swansea/Havant & Waterlooville
Southend v Barnsley
Southampton v Norwich/Bury
Man Utd v Tottenham/Reading
Portsmouth v Plymouth
Derby/Sheff Wed v Preston
Watford v Wolves
Peterborough v Charlton/West Brom
Sheff Utd v West Ham/Man City
Mansfield v Middlesbrough
Tranmere/Hereford v Cardiff

A terrible decision today meant Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-1. Kalou was a good 4 yards offside when he scored Chelseas winner yet the linesman gave the goal and the referee did not argue with his decision. What makes this even more of a joke is that 3 Newcastle players were booked for protesting when they were right! I really hope those yellow cards will be rescinded. It was yet another inept display by officials in the Premiership which again will bring up the call for some sort of goal line technology, replays etc. I cannot see why we don’t have replays in football. They are a huge success in Rugby (unless Aussies are involved in watching them) and some may argue that it’s not good to stop play but this situation doesn’t really come up more than once a game. A lot less than a dodgy try.

Another solution though is to punish those involved. We have seen refs dropped before because of their mistakes and I hope this will happen to those involved in todays game. I don’t know if they lose wages for being dropped from a game but they deserve it because they have not done their job. Disgraceful.

The quarter finals of the Carling Cup are now over and Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham are all through. Everton defeated West Ham last week 2-1 thanks to goals from Leon Osman and Yakubu after West Ham had earlier took the lead through Cole. Tottenham became the first team this year to win at the city of Manchester stadium when they beat Manchester City 2-0 with goals from Defoe and Malbranque. Tottenham played 70 minutes of the match after Zokora was sent off for a rash tackle on Elano. Despire having 10 men Tottenham outplayed Man City and deserved their victory. Arsenal had a tricky tie away to Blackburn. In typical Arsenal fashion, Wenger played a young side in this competition and once again they were victorious, this time against a very strong Blackburn side. Arsenal found themselves 2-0 early on after goals from Diaby and Eduardo but Roque Santa Cruz pegged one back for Blackburn before the break and the goal hungry striekr scored a second to level the tie. Denilson was sent off for Arsenal late on and Arsenal had to play extra time with 10 men. However it was Arsenal who took the advantage when Song burst from defense to pick out Eduardo with that killer ball and the Croatian made no mistake with his cool finish.

The tie of the round saw Chelsea entertain Liverpool. The first half was very tight with neither side managing a break through. Frank Lampard broke the deadlock on 59 minutes when his shot deflected off Carragher and into the back of the net. How many more deflected goals will Chelsea score against Liverpool? Moments after the goal things went from bad to worse for Liverpool when peter Crouch was sent off for a reckless challenge on Mikel. The final half hour was easy for Chelsea who late on found their second when Shevchenko scored from a tight angle.

Arsenal will now face local rivals Spurs in the semis, whilst Chelsea face Everton. Personally I was hoping for Liverpool to go through so we could have had two local derbys in the semis. Instead Chelsea and Arsenal could be set for a rematch in the final.

Joey Barton spoke out over the weekend how Newcastle players are scared of their own fans. Big, fat bald Geordies is enough to scare anyone I think especially when you can’t get a result at the moment. Joey isn’t scared of getting banged up though. He could face a prison term if he is found guilty of assaulting former team mate Osmane Dabo. In these modern times, footballers are basically celebrities so we all know he wont be found guilty and even if he was his sentance would be cut short by about 90%. Let’s just hope if he is found guilty he isn’t sharing a cell with a Newcastle fan as he may find prison very scary if he does.