All posts by h79snht.top

With the Wayne Rooney contract saga out of the way, it is time to look at the cost that huge wages of Premier League stars are having on both fans and clubs alike. Wayne Rooney, who was in the stands for the game against Tottenham on Saturday evening, should be showing Manchester United fans more humilty than he has over the last week as new figures have shown that 10% of Manchester United’s gate receipts will be needed to pay just a week of Wayne Rooney’s new contact.

The Mail reported, ‘7,407 of them. Because that is the number required through the turnstiles to pay just a week of his new £10million annual wage, a staggering 10 per cent of the club’s average home gate.’

Over at Manchester City the figures are even more staggering. Manchester City’s Yaya Toure’s £221,000-a-week wages need even more paying supporters, more than 10,000 a game. But Rooney’s new deal is a significant escalation in the value of English players, part of the inflation that has now taken the Premier League’s total annual wage bill close to £1.5billion.

This is the chance for fans to vote with their feet. How out of touch have these players become, and can fans keep flooding through the gates to support their clubs. Fans have taken the brunt of this boom in Premier League salaries. Ticket prices across Premiership grounds have increased to record levels, when is the time that we say enough is enough. Fans are now realising that the burden of this is being placed solely on their shoulders and its time for them to act with their feet. At Old Trafford the process in under way. Thousands took to the streets on Friday to demonstrate against the American owners.

After the Glazer’s takeover at Manchester United, Mike Turton and others founded FC United. This club embodies the disgust that Manchester United fans have towards what is happening at Old Trafford. The Mail reported that, ‘their crowd of 3,229 in the last qualifying round was bigger than those at four of that Saturday’s League Two matches. It would take the cash from just 15 of them to pay the weekly wage of their own star striker, Mike Norton, who is on about £120 a week.’

On this subject, Mike Turton said to the Mail, ‘I followed United for 30 years and I was a season-ticket holder but the Premier League is less interesting for me now. There is a lack of soul and quite a few mercenaries just passing through.’

This is a common feeling from many football fans. Can we really have heroes on the pitch when they earn such vast sums of money, and have no humility on their earnings. Of course some footballers do some amazing charity work, and that always has to be applauded but are the majority of footballers so out of touch with the real world. Next season when the governments cuts come in, these top earners will not be effected. However the vast majority of fans that pile into grounds across the country each week will be – and they will expected to pay huge sums of money to fund wages.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Football is loosing touch with reality. Fans can have a huge say in the future direction of the game if they vote with their feet. Why should fans be expected to finance debts and fund wages with money they work so hard to find. If fans groups got together and unified on the same position, football would be better for it. A small percentage of Manchester United fans taunted Wayne Rooney on Saturday – a reaction that is very understandable.

We need to take our game back from the money men that are conspiring to destroy it. If every Premier League ground was empty on a weekend they would have to take notice. Fans are the life blood of clubs. Chairman’s, director’s, managers and players will come and go but fans will always be their to support their badge. If the balance isn’t restored between player and fan what future does football have. Fans can have a massive say in the future of this discussion. Passion is something that fans want from their players. Passion is something fans have for their team. It is now time to passionately stand up for every fan who is being mistreated by their club.

Fancy playing your mates every week in a Premium Fantasy Football game?

It isn’t any secret that Roy Hodgson will be extremely interested in strengthening his Liverpool squad when the January transfer window commences. With the new ownership having publicly declared their approval of Hodgson, he now has the comfort of knowledge that will allow him to plan for the acquisition of new players. The January transfer window is notoriously flooded by clubs looking to add to their squad due to poor performances, injuries or such like and this saturation of the market can lead to the ‘panic buying’ mentality. This mentality is often employed by managers when under extreme pressure which is brought on by demands for instantaneous success. Will Hodgson succumbed to this pressure or will he manage to buy the players he deems necessary?

Hodgson as quoted in the Daily Star says of this matter: “I’m prepared to accept that a number of players we’re looking to sign do make five or six – but I don’t wish to specify positions other than one is obviously a front player.” With fans still undecided or declaring their reservations against the current Liverpool manager, there is obviously the desire to go out and spend your woes away by signing players to satiate the fans. What can’t be warned against enough is the dangerous avenue of signing players merely in a state of panic. To ward off those negative comments and forms of derision emanating from loyal fans isn’t a motivating factor that should be condoned.

Hopefully though Hodgson won’t succumb to this, for he is a fastidious manager and one that is eager to prove that the beginning doesn’t determine the way in which things are to proceed. With the mandate at Liverpool being one of success, there is a tendency, as with the majority of clubs, that with the instigation of a new manager must follow a period of improvement and if not imminent there is little time afforded to rectify the situation. This is why Hodgson will be desperate to acquire signings of superior quality that can assist him in the resurrection of Liverpool, but if these signings are hard to come by then Hodgson has already sealed his fate by issuing statements as highlighted above.

He further adds: “In January we should be really looking to solve one or two situations. We are desperately short of players. Front players. Having three front players at the club, and that’s if you include Ryan Babel, is nowhere near good enough.” The pressure gravitates towards Hodgson at an accelerated rate and will continue to do so until score lines end favourably, even then the fans will expect signings of a high caliber in order to compete for the Premiership in the coming years. For if Fernando Torres becomes injured and knowing his luck it is more than likely, Hodgson will effectively have to hand his future over to David N’Gog until January and if forwards aren’t forthcoming, he may have to settle for a ‘panic buy’.

With declarations such as these Hodgson could easily be seen to make rash signings when the all too competitive and despised transfer window opens. Liverpool are in desperate need of some fresh faces, as when Steven Gerrard and Torres aren’t producing creatively there are few who may hold the torch to lighten their burden. But will the influx of players require an outflow and if so who would it be? I hope for Hodgson’s sake that the players of quality are easily attainable and not mediocre players brought from a sense of agitation. If successful fans will think themselves felicitous in having had Hodgson to see through a period of uncertainty and change, even if the beginning was a little more worrying than they would have enjoyed.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

To read more articles of mine follow me on Twitter or RSS Feed.

Fancy playing your mates every week in a Premium Fantasy Football game?

This year’s Premier League must be the toughest to predict in years, and of course this week will be no different. While Manchester United’s home game against Blackburn appears to be a home banker, the other top clubs face potential banana skins.

Arsenal kick-off the weekend with a tricky tie at Aston Villa knowing that they can ill-afford to drop more points. However, Arsene Wenger will be heartened to know that Chelsea and Manchester City both face tough away days at Newcastle and Stoke respectively. Tottenham’s game against Liverpool at White Hart Lane on Sunday also promises to be an interesting affair.

Bolton are a team creeping towards the top four and they’ll fancy themselves in a home game against Blackpool on Saturday afternoon.

With so many unpredictable matches picking your fantasy football team could be tough, but here are my 11Kicks week 14 picks to give you a helping hand. It’s not often that I ignore Chelsea players, but this is a weekend where Carlo Ancelotti’s men don’t seem to offer many good options. I’ve chosen a 3-5-2 formation because I think that midfielders give you the best chance to score big every week:

Tim Howard

Everton are still looking a little dodgy at the moment, but they will take heart from coming behind twice to take a point from Sunderland. Everton and West Brom both have 16 points so according to the league it should be a close game, but in reality the Baggies are on a slippery slope so Everton will hope to take a clean sheet from this one.

Nemanja Vidic

As I said, Manchester United’s home game against Blackburn appears to be one of the easier games to call so Vidic seems like a good shout. Despite their good little run of form, Blackburn seem lacking in the striker department so United look good to keep things tight this weekend.

Richard Dunne

Clean-sheets have been few and far between for Villa so far this year, as anyone who has had Dunne in their team all season will be able to testify. However, a home game against a struggling Arsenal team is a perfect time for them to break this duck.  Even if they don’t, the memory of Younes Kaboul finding a gap in Arsenal’s defence last week could bode well for Dunne.

Brede Hangeland

Birmingham have shown that their strength this year is in stopping goals rather than scoring them, which bodes well for Hangeland’s Fulham. It appears to be a decent match-up for the men from Craven Cottage so for that reason I’ve chosen Hangeland.

Gareth Bale

You don’t need me to tell you how good he is, so I won’t. Tottenham didn’t exactly have to run themselves into the ground to beat Werder Bremen in midweek so presumably they’ll be fresh on Sunday afternoon. Liverpool will be tough so Spurs will need a real match winner and with Van der Vaart doubtful, Bale could be the man.

Continued on Page TWO

Tim Cahill

Cahill is on the scoring run of his life and it doesn’t seem like Everton can go a game without him scoring so for that reason Cahill is my captain this week. West Brom are in dreadful form, Cahill isn’t. Simple as that.

Chung-Yong Lee

The great thing about changing your team every week is that you can jump on the bandwagon of any player who’s experiencing a purple patch, and Bolton’s Lee is one of those players. A few weeks ago he was well off the radar, but after his good showings against Wolves and Newcastle I expect another at home against Blackpool.

Stewart Downing

Arsenal’s back five to look shaky to say the least so it makes sense that Villa’s biggest attacking threat this season will be looking to have a profitable day. With a goal and two assists in his last three games Downing is hoping to impress this season to get his name back into England reckoning.

Kevin Nolan

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Nolan and Carroll have been Newcastle’s most important players this season and despite Chelsea’s slump, Newcastle will need big performances to take three points. Nolan has a very impressive seven league goals this season and Chelsea seem to be inconsistent at the back of late.

Kevin Davies

Davies is experiencing one of his most productive seasons in the Premier League. With six goals to date he is only one goal behind his tally for the entirety of last season, and even though Blackpool have accrued more points in away games this season I think Bolton will win convincingly.

Frederic Piquionne

Despite only winning one game this year, on more than one occasion West Ham have proved that they can be tough to beat. The Hammers, and Piquionne especially, were pretty bad last week at Liverpool, but Wigan at home is a totally different proposition and Piquionne could guide West Ham to their second win of the season.

[divider]

[divider]

As we approach the Christmas period, it’s fair to say that 2010 has not been kind to Liverpool fans. We had a mediocre 2009-10 season; Rafa Benitez was sacked which, for a large number of Reds fans, was the years lowest point. Then the announcement of Roy Hodgson as his replacement was greeted, largely, with bemusement. The second half of 2010 has staggered from pillar to post, like a middle-aged drunk trying to find his way home in the dark. In plainest terms: the year can’t end soon enough. So, as 2011 steam-rolls toward us, here are a few things I’m hoping the club – belatedly, in some cases – gets for Christmas.

New Manager – I welcome all criticism for this, as I have been loud and open in my opinion of Roy from the start; writing a number of articles in the past 4-5 months surrounding his performance, methods and suitability for the job. In contrast, I have equally given praise where it’s due. We were asked to judge him after 10 games, he’s had nearly 30. An overall record of 12 wins; 7 draws and 8 defeats is incredibly average and can’t mask a league record of 6 wins; 4 draws and 7 defeats. By comparison, our league form is – to quote Tom Werner – ‘unacceptable’. Call me a typical fan; call it a knee-jerk reaction but the man has to go.

Players – Paul Konchesky anyone? Christian Poulsen? Brad Jones?? (I know – who?). Apart from the re-signing of Fabio Aurelio and the great form of Raul Meireles, we have had a dearth of good signings this year. While the jury will remain out on Joe Cole for some time, there are a number of players and positions that need to be addressed and we can only hope that Santa (or perhaps, John Henry) sends a few crackers our way in January. If he has any plans to start reform in the playing squad he should start at left back. My initial anger at the signing of such a low-quality player has since been replaced by pity. I now actually feel sorry for Konchesky, in the same way you had to feel for Djimi Traore; it isn’t his fault he’s out of his depth, he didn’t sign himself and he doesn’t pick himself every week. He just happens to vaguely resemble a deer in headlights. As such (and unless Aurelio suddenly finds some kind of miracle injury cure), we first need a new left back.

Second, we need goalkeeping cover. After the odd game in ‘unimportant’ early-season games, Brad Jones has clearly been found out – he’s tosh. The fact that Reina has played in pretty much every league, cup and European game this season says a lot. We let a perfectly good back up go in Cavalieri – for buttons – and used those buttons to pay for Jones. They often say you get what you pay for and unfortunately we paid far too much for a below average keeper. This needs to be addressed; Pepe needs at least the illusion of competition.

Finally, in terms of players, we need better attacking options. They should come in the form of an actual, real-life wide player, not a converted forward or ‘left-midfielder’; somebody who can actually take a man on and provide proper width. (As I have done already, I’ll avoid speculation and suggestions as to who this could be, as without prior knowledge of the transfer budget there’s no way of knowing which bracket we’re working in.) Along with a wide-player, we desperately need an experienced, proven striker; one who can contribute an extra 12-15 goals per season and who can bear the brunt of being the attacking focal point in Torres‘ absence. Because as good as Ngog is becoming, he is not ready for that responsibility yet. And besides: we need more options from the bench!

New Stadium/Refurbishment – This is the least important in the short-term but our future relies on it. While we don’t necessarily need any news on it right now, if the end of the year/start of 2011 was to bring some definitive news regarding what the plan was, Reds fans could rest easy in the knowledge that plans were at least being made up. If however, there were dates, plans, time-frames and more that would just be the icing on the cake.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

There are other issues, I’m sure, for Liverpool and its fans at the moment but I would hazard a guess that these 3 are foremost in 99% of fans minds and as we head toward next year, we can only hope that we will start to get answers to certain questions and solutions to these problems. Roll on 2011.

Written By David Tryer at the excellent Live4Liverpool website

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal can handle Elland Road’s daunting atmosphere when they face Leeds United in an FA Cup replay on Wednesday.The two sides drew 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium on January 7, with Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas’ last-minute equaliser from the penalty spot cancelling out Robert Snodgrass’s opener.

Crippling debts saw Leeds go from Champions League semi-finalists to League One in a matter of seasons, but the club have now recovered some of their standing to sit in the Championship promotion places.

Throughout their freefall, however, the club maintained their healthy support, though Wenger is confident his side has the mettle to deal with Leeds’ parochial home fans.

“I believe no matter what they do, the fans will be behind the team at Leeds,” Wenger said.

“But on the other hand, we are used to that. It would not be any excuse for us. We have played all over the world – everywhere – in vociferous stadiums, and I don’t think that will be any excuse for us to say, ‘OK they had a massive support’.”

“It’s normal. It’s natural. You want that to happen. What is important is that you show your quality no matter in what kind of environment you play.”

Wenger was impressed with the ‘tactical discipline’ and ‘positive attitude’ in the 1-1 result at the Emirates, but said his side knew where it had to improve to get a better outcome at the second time of asking.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

“We want to be sharper, more positive,” he said.

“We started the game a little off our usual level, and that means first of all, mentally you want to switch on much quicker.”

Luis Suarez believes he can make an impression in England as Liverpool bid to bring the Ajax forward to the Premier League.

Suarez had been consistently linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur after some impressive displays for Uruguay in their run to the 2010 World Cup semi-finals in South Africa.

But Liverpool are now reportedly leading the race to sign the 23-year-old, who has scored 81 goals in all competitions since joining Ajax from Eredivisie rivals Groningen in 2007.

And Suarez, who began his career with Nacional of Montevideo, is confident of following in the footsteps of fellow South American Carlos Tevez by lighting up the Premier League.

“(England) is a league that attracts me, a country where the football is really good,” Suarez told the Sunday Times.

“Alongside the Spanish league it is the best in the world. In England you have a lot of clubs with aspirations to become champions and they are also very strong in the Champions League at the European level.”

“I used to think that English football was not my style. But I saw Tevez play at Boca and Corinthians and I never imagined that he would play in the Premier League.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

“When I see the way that Tevez plays there I think I can be a big name in England. It’s because of the energy, and the spirit they put into the game in England. Now, I think it’s a kind of football that suits me.”

Ajax have insisted that any deal must be completed well before the January 31 transfer deadline to ensure they are left enough time to secure a replacement.

I think we’ve all been there. A dubious decision from a referee that is quite obviously wrong. A decision that could, potentially, change the course of a game and, as a consequence, a season. A red card given (or, indeed, not given) to a centre back for a clear professional foul or a penalty awarded for a dive or not awarded when both the forward’s legs were taken as he was about to slot the ball home. What makes these incidents worse is that every fan in the ground can see that it’s wrong, every player on the pitch can see that it’s wrong and every one of the billions of people watching worldwide can see that it’s wrong.

Yet, the decision is made and the referee isn’t going to change his mind.

“Tell me, David,” I hear you say… “Just who could have wound you up like this?” Could it be Mark Clattenburg and his extravagant showmanship in awarding kicks? Or maybe Peter Walton, who has managed to badly officiate most of the recent visits of Liverpudlian clubs to the City of Manchester Stadium? Perhaps Howard Webb and his penalty decision at Old Trafford? Maybe even the now retired Graham Poll and his three yellow cards.

But no, it is none of these men. Indeed, anybody who regularly reads what I have to say will know that I’m a firm believer in not criticising referees. They have a difficult job, says I. They have to make spur of the moment decisions, with no help from video replays, and they’re expected to get every single one of them correct, so, with this is mind, you must be wondering who it is that has caused me such fury to the point of a near murderous rampage.

His name, dear reader, is Derek Milborrow.

And the man is a complete anus of the highest order.

(Incidentally, if you have no idea who Derek Milborrow is, you’re probably better off stopping reading here. If you do know who he is, then you, like me, have played Fifa 11 at some point this year and have been screwed over by one, some, more or all of his decisions. Some people get on with the game, others get annoyed and turn off the console. I, on the other hand, write 932 words complaining about him on a football website. Some people say I need to sort my priorities out.)

[divider]

[divider]

This man was single-handedly responsible for Manchester City not winning the FA Cup at the end of the 2012/13 season. Not content with awarding free kicks for running, tackling fairly, passing, shooting, winning corners, breathing and purely existing, he took it upon himself to book any Manchester City player that was responsible for any slight indiscretion.

Liverpool probably couldn’t believe their luck.

It started brightly, with a goal through Carlos Tevez on just 2 minutes, but it quickly went downhill faster than a bathtub in Holmfirth. Fernando Torres, tripped by Dirk Kuyt in the area, won a penalty, with the City players clueless, given that there wasn’t a single one of them near the incident. A header from a corner by Vincent Kompany was then not given as a goal, despite the ball travelling a good yard over the line, before Gareth Barry was sent off for being fouled by Joe Cole. James Milner then slotted home, but was ruled offside, despite the pass to him being a backward one, before Liverpool won the day as Milan Jovanović hacked down Kolo Touré, missing the ball entirely, before thumping it past Joe Hart.

While Andy Gray, the man who loves to disagree with refereeing decisions on Sky Sports, infuriated me further by stating, without hesitation and with complete conviction, that the referee had no option. I normally don’t mind Andy Gray and generally agree with him, but this almost had me ready to smash the mug on by bedside cabinet.

More irritating, though, wasn’t his frequent awards of free kicks for winning battles of strength (while not awarding them the other way in the very same situation), nor his inability to play an advantage in a good position (unless it’s for the opposition), but rather his smug, arrogant, self-righteous posture as he thrust his arm in the air to indicate the direction of the foul, with a speed that would be worthy of the Third Reich.

And his whistle! The maddening three short peeps he gives when pulling back the play. From a stumble in a challenge: Peep! Peep! Peep! From any shoulder-to-shoulder: Peep! Peep! Peep! For a fair sliding tackle: Peep! Peep! Peep! For nearly everything that happens in the entire match: Peep! Peep! Peep!

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

It reached the point in that FA Cup final that, with around 67 minutes played, I screamed at the television: “If you blow that f****** thing one more time, I’m going to shove it up your a***!” And this was at 2.30am, so, if they heard, God only knows what the neighbours thought was going on.

Anybody who has had a game officiated by this man will understand my pain. Fifa 11 is home to some strict and to some lenient referees, but there is only one who is both strict and completely incompetent, bordering on useless. I’m pretty sure a rubber plant could do a better job than Milborrow. At least it wouldn’t be capable of rational or irrational thought and, as such, couldn’t just make up some new rules to play by.

“1-0 to the referee!” as a chant is a must for next year’s game.

Especially if this lunatic returns.

[divider]

Love fantasy football? Love live footy? You’ll love live fantasy football! Take part in the Wolves v Liverpool match and play Picklive for FREE Go on, give it a go!

Wayne Rooney has hailed his stunning overhead winner in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City as the best goal of his career.

Saturday’s Manchester derby will forever be remembered for Rooney’s glorious strike, one which pushed United eight points clear of their bitter rivals and seemingly ended City’s title aspirations this season.

Rooney leapt to meet Nani’s cross 12 minutes from injury time and magically picked out the top-right corner beyond a despairing Joe Hart, prompting scenes of wild celebration at Old Trafford.

Asked after the game if the goal was the best he had ever scored, Rooney told Sky Sports: “Yeah, I think so. I saw the ball come in the box and I thought, ‘why not?’.”

“I tried to get in a good position from when Nani crossed it. Nine times out of 10 they go over the crossbar or wide. I tried it and thankfully it’s gone in the top corner.”

“You don’t have time to think about what you’re going to do. It’s the first (overhead) one since I started playing professionally so I’m delighted, especially as it has given us three points.”

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was effusive in his praise of Rooney’s winner, declaring he had never before witnessed a goal quite like it.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, that’s for sure. It was absolutely stunning; unbelievable,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.

“The thing about that goal is that Nani’s goal (in the 41st minute) will be completely forgotten. It was an unbelievable goal but no-one in their right sense will even talk about it.”

Asked if he thought the goal would kick-start Rooney’s at-times sluggish season, Ferguson said: “I hope so. His performances away from home have not been as good as they have been at home and with the ability those two (Rooney and Nani) have, they should really dictate games away from home.”

Ferguson said his side had bounced back brilliantly from their shock loss to Wolverhampton, though he cautioned that City were not out of the title race yet.

“I thought City made the bright start, they got inside (Patrice) Evra with (David) Silva and Yaya Toure and that caused us a bit of bother,” he said.

“But from the 15th minute on I thought we played fantastic football.”

“(City) got a lucky break when (Edin) Dzeko’s shot deflected off Silva and from that moment on they gave them the impetus.”

“They are in the top four. They’ve got a big, strong squad. They will win more games than you’d think. They are still a threat.”

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

City boss Roberto Mancini felt his side deserved a draw, but conceded that little could be done to stop a goal as brilliant as Rooney’s.

“When a fantastic player like Rooney scores a goal like that, you should clap,” Mancini said.

“When you score a goal like that, it is incredible. He scored a fantastic goal.”

“I feel sorry for my players because we didn’t deserve to lose this game. I’m proud of my players. We played as a team and played very well.”

“In the second half we controlled the game and United had 10 players behind the ball in midfield.”

The views of Lyon coach Claude Puel and Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho differed greatly after their teams played out a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.French hosts Lyon battled hard to deny Real space in the first half of the Champions League knock-out clash at the Stade de Gerland.Former Lyon man Karim Benzema eventually opened the scoring for La Liga giants Real, before Bafetimbi Gomis equalised with seven minutes remaining.The sides will meet again at the Santiago Bernabeu on March 16 in the second leg of their round-of-16 tie, but few observers – apart from Puel – would be likely to describe the initial encounter as a classic.”We produced a great game, a real spectacle,” Puel said.”We dropped off the pace in the second half, when they played longer balls and put us under more pressure. They made the most of Karim coming on to score. After that we started to play our own game again and we finished very strongly to get the equaliser.””It’s a pity we missed opportunities, especially in the first half. Our final pass wasn’t clinical enough. We deserved more because we gave our all. The scoreline is not satisfying but the performance was good.””It’s not over yet. We know we will have opportunities in the second leg – we’ll have to convert them.”After being on the wrong end of Lyon’s disruptive pressing game, Real boss Jose Mourinho had a very different view of first-half proceedings. “We’re happy with the result but it could have been a lot better,” he said.”The first half was an extremely ugly affair – as sometimes happens in these games – but the second belonged to us. I knew it was going to be a tough, tight game with lots of pressing.” “When things began to open up a bit I threw on Karim. I’m happy he managed to score here on his return home; it’s really fantastic for him personally and it was great for us as a team.””A draw is a fair result tonight. In the first half Lyon left us little space and put us under a lot of pressure and we didn’t play well. In the second, Madrid were the better team.” “When we broke the deadlock, I thought we could get a second which would have all but taken us through – but at 1-1 the contest remains open. We have a slight advantage but Lyon are quality rivals.”

Jeonbuk Motors moved top of AFC Champions League Group G with a 4-0 win away to Indonesian club Arema Malang on Wednesday.Midfielder Ji-Woong Kim put the South Korean visitors ahead 25 minutes into the match at the Kanjuruhan Stadium.China international Bowen Huang made it 2-0 on 78 minutes, before a late brace from Brazilian Luiz Henrique completed the scoring.Also in Group G, first-half goals from Assis Renato Silva and Yongpo Wang helped Chinese club Shandong Luneng beat Cerezo Osaka 2-0.Shandong finished with 10 men after Cui Peng was sent off with seven minutes remaining. Jeonbuk are top of Group G with six points, ahead of Shandong and Japanese side Cerezo, who both have three points. There was another 4-0 victory for a South Korean team, with Suwon Bluewings comprehensively beating Shanghai Shenhua of China in Group H.Forward Ha Tae-Kyun had hosts Suwon in front after just two minutes and defensive midfielder Oh Jang-Eun made it 2-0 three minutes before half-time. Ha struck twice more in the second half to claim a hat-trick and wrap up a 4-0 win for the home side at the Suwon World Cup Stadium.The win takes Suwon top of Group H with four points. Goals in the first half from Nabil Al Dawoudi and Hadef Alzaabi gave Al-Emirates of the UAE a 2-0 win over Qatari club Al Rayyan, while Al Shabab drew 0-0 with Zob-Ahan in Saudi Arabia.
In Group C, Hossein Badamaki’s 65th-minute equaliser helped Perspolis of Iran secure a 1-1 draw at home to the UAE’s Al-Wahda.Ibrahim Mahazaa had put the visitors ahead on 54 minutes at the Azadi Stadium.Also in Group C, Osama Al-Mouallad’s first-half effort gave Saudi Arabian club Ittihad a 1-0 win away to Kuruvchi Tashkent.In Group B, Lee Jung-Soo put Al Sadd 1-0 in front before Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov equalised for Uzbek club Pakhtakor Tashkent.Ali Afif struck the winner for the Qatari hosts on 60 minutes. Pakhtakor ended the match a man short after Komoliddin Tadjiev saw red moments before the final whistle.