Bologna stun Milan on Ronaldinho’s debut

ROME, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Francesco Valiani scored a stunning goal as promoted Bologna beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro on Sunday to spoil Ronaldinho’s Serie A debut.

Midfielder Valiani blasted the ball home from outside the box in the 79th minute after Massimo Ambrosini had cancelled out Marco Di Vaio’s goal for Bologna in the first half.

Last year’s runners-up AS Roma drew 1-1 with Napoli, who had defender Fabiano Santacroce sent off for a second yellow card in the 54th minute.

Champions Inter Milan were held 1-1 at Sampdoria on Saturday in new coach Jose Mourinho’s league debut, while Juventus kick off their campaign at fierce rivals Fiorentina later on Sunday.

Former Italy forward Di Vaio, a close-season signing from Genoa, dented the San Siro’s excitement at Ronaldinho’s debut in the 18th minute with a fine diagonal strike.

The Brazilian had a hand in the equaliser, floating a cross into the area four minutes before the break for Ambrosini to head home.

Ronaldinho went on to create a string of chances that his team mates failed to put away.

One fell to Andriy Shevchenko, who could not find the net with only the keeper to beat at the start of the second half after coming off the bench to mark his return to Milan after two troubled seasons at Chelsea.

At Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Alberto Aquilani nudged the ball home for the hosts just before the half hour after fellow Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi had picked him out in the area.

Marek Hamsik knocked in the rebound of his own header on to the crossbar to level for Napoli shortly after Santacroce’s sending off.

In Sunday’s other matches, Torino beat Lecce 3-0 in Turin, Lazio came from behind to beat 10-man Cagliari 4-1 in Sardinia, Atalanta and Catania secured 1-0 home wins over Siena and Genoa, and Chievo beat Reggina 2-1 in Verona.

Those teams join Bologna and Udinese, who beat Palermo 3-1 in their opening game on Saturday, at the top of Serie A. (Reporting by Paul Virgo; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

FROM: YAHOO

Ball in the Face

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Inter seeks 4th straight Italian A title

MILAN, Italy (AP)—Inter Milan is coming off three straight Serie A titles and new coach Jose Mourinho will be keen to live up to his nickname the “Special One.”

“When this team has had time to work together we will win games 2-0 and 3-0 not 1-0,” Mourinho said of this weekend’s league openers. “I have only worked with the team for one month so we will get much better.”

Though unable to lure Frank Lampard from Chelsea, Mourinho should get midfield help with the acquisition of Amantino Mancini from Roma. Inter also is hoping for another impressive season from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had 17 goals last season. And Adriano is back for Inter after a six-month spell in Brazil.

Mourinho led Chelsea to English Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, then was fired early last season. Fans and owner Massimo Moratti want the Portuguese coach to deliver Inter’s first European Cup title since 1965.

“I don’t know our rivals sufficiently to say what our chances are, but the Champions League is a rather difficult competition,” Moratti said. “Mourinho is an expert and the players have gained experience. This could be our year.”

Roma, which finished second the past two seasons, must hope coach Luciano Spalletti can once again get the best out of a perennially weak bench and that forward Francesco Totti can stay healthy. Even if that happens, it will still struggle to overcome the loss of Mancini’s fancy footwork in midfield.

“Roma is very strong and has experience and you need to put them at the top of the list (of contenders) because they also have an excellent coach,” Moratti said.

Help in attack arrived with the newly signed Julio Baptista who gives Spalletti another option up front besides Totti and Montenegro’s Mirko Vucinic. The midfield will again include Italy stars Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Aquilani and Simone Perrotta.

Milan, which will be in the UEFA Cup following a fifth-place Serie A finish, has an all-Brazilian attack of Kaka, Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho, obtained from Barcelona following a disappointing season. Milan lost striker Alberto Gilardino to Fiorentina, but added Marco Borriello, who scored 19 goals for Genoa last year, and Andriy Shevchenko, who returns after two unsuccessful seasons at Chelsea.

While the midfield looks solid with the return of Italy midfielders Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini, the defense is cause for concern for coach Carlo Ancelotti. Paolo Maldini is 40 years old and Alessandro Nesta has had injury problems, although they will be helped with the arrival of Gianluca Zambrotta.

Christian Abbiati, Dida and Zeljko Kalac are competing to start in goal.

“The (league) championship is Milan’s primary objective,” said Filippo Inzaghi, who scored 10 goals in Milan’s final seven games last season.

In its quest for its 28th Serie A title, Juventus has an attack of Alessandro Del Piero (21 goals last season) and David Trezeguet (20). The club’s offseason signings include Brazilian forward Amauri, who scored 15 goals last season for Palermo, and Sweden defender Olof Mellberg.

Fiorentina spent more than $58 million on players during the offseason and rejected Roma’s $29 million offer for Romania striker Adrian Mutu.

“For years I just got by, but this time I really spent,” said Pantaleo Corvino, Fiorentina’s sporting director. “The big teams are no longer in another galaxy. Inter, Milan, Juve and Roma are still far away, skyscrapers, but we are now a big house.”

Sampdoria may struggle to repeat its sixth-place finish from last season, though the creative Antonio Cassano is back to lead the attack.

Napoli finished a surprising eighth last season following its promotion from Serie B. The team might do even better this season with the return of the speedy Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi in attack, supported in midfield by Slovak Marek Hamsik.

“Napoli has improved a lot and will continue to improve,” Ancelotti said.

Genoa may struggle after selling Borriello to Milan and concentrating its efforts on a crop of young players, including Raffaele Palladino, who played for Juventus last season.

Palermo shed several key players, including Amauri, and will likely struggle. The same fate probably awaits Atalanta and Lazio.

Siena, Cagliari, Reggina, Torino and Catania may well repeat last season’s battle to avoid relegation. The three additions from Serie B are Chievo, Bologna and Lecce.

But the focus will be at the top of the standings.

“Mourinho is the man to beat,” Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri said. “Inter is to be feared.”

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Robinho's going nowhere, insists Real president

MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon insisted Saturday that Brazilian winger Robinho would be staying with the Spanish side, despite the player saying he is still in talks with English club Chelsea.

"He's going to stay here, I'm saying that," Calderon told the daily ABC, adding that the Brazilian was "a good boy, badly advised" by his entourage.

Robinho, 24, said in an interview with Brazilian television Globoesporte on Friday that he wanted to leave, adding that "negotiations were ongoing" for his eventual transfer to the English club.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted on Friday he was in the dark over his club's bid to sign Robinho.

Scolari made Robinho his top transfer target when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in July but Chelsea have been unable to seal the deal.

The Premier League club have had a bid turned down by Real, who are adamant Robinho will remain at the Bernabeu even though the player is keen to move.

Meanwhile, Calderon boasted that Real were the "best team" in Europe and would be bidding to win everything - the Primera Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Cup - this season.

"We don't have any need to sign (new players). I challenge anyone to tell me that there is a better team in Europe!"

Real failed in bids to sign Valencia striker David Villa, Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

West Ham make returning Paul Ince suffer

Crisis? What crisis? West Ham’s manager Alan Curbishley was a satisfied man after this very timely triumph. With first-choice players seemingly leaving Upton Park in procession, a gruesome 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last weekend, a very uneasy 4-1 League Cup win in midweek over humble Macclesfield, the Hammers indeed seemed in potential turmoil.

A few days earlier they had been obliged to sell their promising young centre-back Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland, looming on the horizon is a court case, the result of all that controversy over the signing of Carlos Tevez two seasons ago, in which the Hammers are being sued by Sheffield United, plus rumours that Carlton Cole, who hammered the last nail into Blackburn’s coffin here, may himself be on the way out of the club.

The wonder of it was that Blackburn, who had reduced a 2-0 lead to 2-1 and missed a penalty that could have levelled matters, capitulated pitifully during second-half stoppage time when first Craig Bellamy, on as a 67th-minute substitute for his first match of the season, then Cole, drove home two more West Ham goals to humiliate Paul Ince’s team.

Ince, as was generally expected, not least by himself, was greeted by a hostile chorus of “Stand up if you hate Paul Ince”. West Ham fans seem never to forget that distant moment when Ince, on his way out of Upton Park, where he had begun as a 10-year-old, was photographed posing in the jersey of Manchester United, whom he was just about to join. But, by the end of this curious affair, even the most vindictive West Ham fan must have been all but assuaged.

What collapsed in those closing minutes was the whole left flank of the Blackburn defence, the more surprising as, in Stephen Warnock, they have a left-back who, at times, has shown international class. However, for the second half, someone, perhaps his partner Ryan Nelsen, should have called on him to move out towards the left flank, rather than leave super-abundant spaces that West Ham gleefully exploited.

For the first of those two late goals, Warnock was culpably out of position and Bellamy exploited the consequent lightning cross to smash his shot past Paul Robinson. Then, again on the right, Valon Behrami had moved forward from right-back after the effective French winger, Julien Faubert, had been forced off after a heavy fall, he sent the ball across as Lucas Neill previously had. When Scott Parker, lively, industrious and effective in midfield together with Mark Noble, flicked on, there was Cole to crack in West Ham’s fourth goal.

It has to be said that West Ham’s defence hardly looked concrete, even though it was not so prone to give second chances as was Blackburn’s central rearguard pairing. But up front it was one of West Ham’s centre-backs, in the shape of Calum Davenport, who forcefully headed in a left-wing corner by Faubert after just 12 minutes to give the home side the lead.

Eight minutes later, West Ham scored something of a fortunate goal when Faubert crossed, Noble got in a shot, Christopher Samba, the Blackburn central defender, tried unsuccessfully to deal with it and the ball found its way past Robinson into the net, with Dean Ashton following it up. Blackburn protested angrily, but in vain that the goal was offside.

Just two minutes later Jason Roberts, always vigorous and sometimes excessively so, brought the score to 2-1 after an attempted clearance by Behrami found the Rovers striker, who swiftly and skilfully turned Davenport on the left and scored.

On 31 minutes Warnock, looking rather better in attack than defence, sent over a cross which Roberts got his head to and Matt Derbyshire seemed to touch over the line. Was the goal offside? Mike Riley, the referee, thought so; Blackburn did not.

Throughout the game West Ham’s Matthew Etherington was playing as a classical left winger, with plenty of pace and a fine left foot, putting over searching crosses in double-quick time. One of them, on 37 minutes, gave Cole a clear chance, but his header flew well over the top.

After a couple of minutes of the second half, Morten Gamst Pedersen sent in a free kick, a hand — courtesy of Cole — went up, a penalty was given, but Roberts took it inadequately, enabling Robert Green to go full length and turn the ball away. The West Ham goalkeeper has a habit of doing so, after three successful spot-kick saves last season.

After that, chances were at a premium until the 63rd minute, when Derbyshire — a lively substitute for Blackburn’s leading scorer Roque Santa Cruz — beat Green to the ball on the edge of the West Ham box, only to shoot over the bar.

Curbishley was predictably delighted: “Blackburn demonstrated what they are: a very good side. We raced into a 2-0 lead but they were always in the game, forcing the issue.” He had particular praise for Green, his goalkeeper, who made “a fantastic save”.

As for Paul Ince, he said: “We took the game to them in the second half and had enough chances but it wasn’t to be.”

West Ham: Green 7, Behrami 6, Upson 6, Davenport 6, Neill 6, Faubert 7 (McCartney 59min, 6), Parker 7, Noble 7 (Mullins 81min), Etherington 7, Cole 7, Ashton 7 (Bellamy 67min)

Blackburn: Robinson 6, Ooijer 6, Samba 6, Nelsen 5, Warnock 5, Emerton 7, Reid 7, Grella 5 (Andrews h-t, 6), Pedersen 7 (Treacy 65min), Santa Cruz 6 (Derbyshire 28min, 7), Roberts 7

Star man: Mark Noble (West Ham)

Yellow cards: West Ham: Bellamy. Blackburn: Ooijer, Emerton, Grella, Roberts, Nelsen

Referee: M Riley

Attendance: 32,905

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Jermain Defoe brace lifts Portsmouth off bottom

The big screen at the gable end of the Bullens Road stand kept flashing up adverts for Goodison Park’s next league match, the Merseyside derby on September 27. Everton spent much of last season with hope of finishing higher than Liverpool. This time they look further than ever from their neigh-bours and the rest of the Big Four and maintaining the status of being “best of the rest” in the Premier League is going to be a struggle.

Portsmouth, beaten by Chel-sea and Manchester United in their opening games, may feel their season only began in earnest yesterday and this was impressive stuff. Fifth place is theirs if Harry Redknapp’s players can continue in this manner. Pompey were solid, slick and penetrative, all shield and rapier against Everton’s lumpen thrusts.

Alas, Fabio Capello, the England coach, was elsewhere. At Goodison he would have witnessed Glen Johnson, still not quite free of immaturity, but developing in a direction that could see him become England’s best football-playing right-back. He would have also seen Jermain Defoe suggest a solution to Capello’s striker problems. Playing off a big man - say Dean Ashton or yesterday’s accomplice, Peter Crouch - Defoe can be deadly and using such a combination for England could set Wayne Rooney free.

At the very least a place in the squad Capello will name today for World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia, must be guaranteed. Defoe put Portsmouth ahead by producing an electric piece of play and lobbed Tim Howard contemp-tously for 3-0. Sandwiched between was a canny assist for Johnson’s goal. “I’m not sure what Mr Capello will do, he’s got Rooney there,” said Redknapp, “but Jermain’s a fantastic little player, a scorer with good ability. He’ll be in the squad, I’m sure.”

Redknapp changed his system yesterday, playing with three centre-halves and Johnson and Armand Traore as wing backs. It worked handsomely. Sol Campbell was protected from Yakubu’s pace and Johnson and Traore used their speed to dominate the flanks. Portsmouth’s shape suited the counter-attacking game Redknapp likes playing, giving them outlets going forward while rein-forcing their defensive core.

Everton were allowed plenty of ball but when they went upfield found goalkeeper David James shielded by six men, the centre-backs, Lassana Diarra doing a passable Claude Makele-le impression, and Johnson and Traore who tucked in. Everton did not have the guile to pass their way through the roadblocks Redknapp erected. They would huff their way over halfway and puff into the final third, where their moves would wither.

Yakubu did have the chance to score from a penalty when Johnson, daftly, blocked James Vaughan’s run, but the Nigeri-an, off a lazy run-up, spooned the ball straight at James.

Everton’s main problem was in centre midfield where they had Jack Rodwell, an impressive athlete and accomplished player at the age of 17, but educated in their academy as a centre-back. Alongside Rodwell was Phil Jagielka, another defender. Neither could pierce Pompey with passing.

You pitied the earnest Jagielka, cast as Everton’s playmaker, which was a bit like asking a banjo player to perform a violin concerto. Moyes is perfectly aware of the imbalances in his squad and his desire for a central, creative player has led to a long pursuit of Joao Moutinho. Unable to meet Sporting Lisbon’s £16m asking price, Moyes may look elsewhere.

“I’m going to try (to make a signing before the transfer window closes),” said Moyes. “We are lacking quality at the moment and we’re probably not ready to win Premier League games. We had Jagielka, a centre-back, and a 17-year-old, in the central area and that’s where we’re short. We had another youngster, James Vaughan, up front. That said, I don’t think these are necessarily the players letting us down. There are big players in the team who are not performing.”

Moyes may have had in mind Yakubu, Mikel Arteta and his centre-backs, Joleon Lescott and Joseph Yobo. Defoe’s opening goal disgusted him. It delighted the neutral. Crouch flicked on a long throw and Defoe gathered possession eight yards out, his back to Lescott and with Neville and Jagielka closing in. Switching the ball from instep to heel to instep once more, he maintained control of it in the tightest space then, just as the tackles were arriving, swivelled to tuck a shot past Howard.

James made a fine stop when Yakubu crossed and Arteta, arriving late, smashed a half-volley towards a large tract of unprotected net from close range. Portsmouth’s goalkeeper flew across and pushed it onto the post. Vaughan and Yakubu could not connect with good centres from Leighton Baines and Everton’s play began deteriorating. Johnson passed to Defoe and darted in from the right wing to receive the return ball and place the ball past Howard. 2-0.

For Pompey it got better, for Everton worse. Yakubu missed his penalty then Shaun Davis backheeled to Defoe who noted Howard was out of position and lofted the ball over the American who, falling back, managed to tip it against the underside of the bar. It bounced down and over the line.

Everton: Howard 6, Neville 6, Yobo 6, Lescott 6, Baines 7, Arteta 6, Jagielka 5, Rodwell 6, Osman 6 (Baxter 71min), Yakubu 5, Vaughan 6 (Anichebe 58min, 6)

Portsmouth: James 7, Johnson 7, Campbell 6, Kaboul 7, Distin 6, Diarra 6, Davis 6 (Mvuemba 90min), Diop 5, Traore 7 (Hreidarsson 77min), Crouch 7, Defoe 9 (Utaka 76min)

Star man: Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth)

Yellow card: Everton: Baines

Referee: M Halsey

Attendance: 34,418

FROM:TIMESONLINE

Tuncay late strike defies ten-man Stoke

With five minutes of this pulsating encounter remaining, Stoke City’s 10 men appeared to have eked out the point their doughty contribution warranted. Then, Stewart Downing’s cross was cleared to Didier Digard, whose feeble attempted shot bobbled to Tuncay Sanli. As Andy Wilkinson foolishly appealed for offside rather than attending to the Turk, Tuncay swivelled and fired the winner past Thomas Sorensen.

For Middlesbrough, three desperately hard-earned points. For Stoke, another reminder that the top flight is the harshest of mistresses. Both teams, however, could take much from their afternoon’s toil. “These things happen,” sighed Stoke manager Tony Pulis. “We’ve just got to take it on the chin.”

Last week’s trip to Anfield may have been pointless in a literal sense, but another lambent Middlesbrough performance underlined the notion that manager Gareth Southgate’s mix of local youth and international sparkle might be on the cusp of something more substantial than their habitual half-hearted tussle with relegation.

“A few of us weren’t at our best today,” admitted Southgate. “We should have run the legs off them but, although I wanted seven points from the first three games and we’ve only got six, it’s been a good start.”

Stoke arrived with some fizz after their win over Aston Villa last weekend. Pulis’s signing of central defender Ibrahima Sonko on Friday suggests he knows where his problems lie. If not, he was reminded after 14 minutes when Afonso Alves rose unchallenged to nod Gary O’Neil’s cross down, but inches past Sorensen’s post.

Stoke were not without hope in a most entertaining first period. As if discovering colour television after a lifetime of black and white, they have added brain to go with their brawn.

Certainly, Rory Delap still hurled long throws towards Middlesbrough’s young goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, who the tricky Liam Lawrence forced into a dramatic claw aside from a 20-yard free kick but, when Stoke swept forward, they looked the Premier League part. Ricardo Fuller might have had two first-half penalties and led Robert Huth and David Wheater a most merry dance.

“Yes Rory does his long throws,” admitted Pulis, “But we played good football today.”

Then, in the 38th minute, the light at the end of Stoke’s tunnel turned out to be an oncoming train. First, Amdy Faye got himself sent off for a two-footed lunge at Mohamed Shawky 20 yards out. The Egyptian made the most of it and was soon gambolling around the pitch like an excited faun, but even Pulis accepted a straight red card was the correct decision. “It changed the game, though. We were enjoying ourselves until then.”

If being a man down was insufficiently punishment, City were immediately a goal adrift too, when Alves gloriously curled the subsequent free kick past a transfixed Sorensen. It could have been worse for Stoke, when only Leon Cort’s heroic block denied Tuncay’s fierce drive.

For the second half, Stoke switched Delap into central midfield and to 4-3-2. If the 10 men had no choice but to attack whenever possible, Middlesbrough’s 11 did so because they know no other way.

Downing went close with another free kick; Tuncay, playing like a man who feels Mido’s restless breath on his neck every time he squanders a goal chance, ran himself and Abdoulaye Faye into the ground. When, unmarked nine yards out, he ballooned Alves’s low 56th-minute cross into the stands, his personal fat lady was surely clearing her throat. As it was, she never got to sing.

The break that Stoke were so desperately seeking came in the 64th minute when Alves took a gymnastic tumble inside the penalty area after the lightest of touches from Seyi Olofinjana. Downing blasted the penalty at Sorensen’s bar and Stoke lived to fight another 25 minutes.

If fortune had smiled benignly on the visitors vis-a-vis the penalty and immediately afterwards when Tuncay and O’Neil went close, it was positively grinning for the equaliser. Lawrence ambled down the right and put over a low cross to the back post. Sensing Kitson behind him but not his own peril, Justin Hoyte — starting his first league game for his new club, unaccountably bundled home the third own goal Middlesbrough have conceded in three games. “I wouldn’t blame him for the goal,” said Southgate generously.

Middlesbrough roared but Stoke seemed to have weathered Hurricane Boro until the 85th minute, when fortune went into hiding once more and Tuncay achieved the redemption he so deserved.

Middlesbrough: Turnbull 5, Hoyte 5 (Taylor 71min), Huth 5, Wheater 5, Pogatetz 6, Aliadiere 5, O'Neil 7, Shawky 5 (Digard 61min), Downing 7, Tuncay 7, Alves 8 (Mido 76min).

Stoke: Sorensen 7, Griffin 6, Cort 6, Abdoulaye Faye 5, Dickinson 5 (Wilkinson 67min), Lawrence 7, Olofinjana 7, Amdy Faye 5, Delap 6, Kitson 7 (Cresswell 83min), Fuller 7 (Sidibe 74min).

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Time to stop talking and start winning

Like Robert De Niro, Fabio Capello is waiting, talking Italian. Nearly nine months after his appointment, England’s second foreign coach is struggling to master the lingo, and if communication is as big a problem for him in the dressing room as it is in his dealings with the press, there could be a few more of those Czech Republic performances to be endured yet.

Capello is still heavily reliant on an interpreter and his media aides at the FA, and it is not only the nuances but the true meaning of his words that is often lost in translation. It is worrying with phoney war friendlies now over and the World Cup qualifying campaign about to begin. The latest misunderstanding was both typical and illustrative. Discussing David Beckham’s efforts against the Czechs, Capello said: “He ran as much as the others, in some cases more,” then resorted to his native tongue for further explanation. The interpreter relayed: “He [Beckham] didn’t do anything amazing,” and was promptly corrected by the correspondent from Gazzetta dello Sport, who barked: “Fabio didn’t say amazing, he said dangerous.”

It may appear to be a semantic point, but there is an important distinction here. Beckham hasn’t done anything “amazing” for seven years, since getting England to the 2002 World Cup with his heroics against Greece at Old Trafford. He could still command a place in the team without ever replicating that stellar performance, but the truth is he hasn’t done anything “dangerous” for a long time either, unless you count stray showboating long passes.

The difference between amazing and dangerous is significant in this context and these misconstructions are becoming routine. Before naming his squad for the Czechs’ visit, Capello said he was keen to see more of Peter Crouch, the impression conveyed that he meant playing for England. The following day, Crouch was left out and it transpired the coach wanted to see Crouch playing regularly at club level.

If journalists and managers who have spent half a lifetime analysing such things can misconstrue Capello’s statements, can the players be expected to fare any better? It has emerged that Steven Gerrard thought he had been briefed to play on the left against the Czechs, whereas Capello intended him to have a free role behind Jermain Defoe. Houston, we have a problem.

It is unfortunate that the coach has surrounded himself with a staff of compatriots – Franco Baldini, Ita-lo Galbiati, Franco Tancredi and Massimo Neri. If he was working exclusively with Englishmen, it is reasonable to expect he would be more conversant by now. Some will say this is the price to be paid for appointing a foreigner, but nobody ever had a problem understanding Arsène Wenger, Gerard Houllier or even Sven-Göran Eriksson.

What is easily grasped is that nitty-gritty time is upon us, the end of Capello’s honeymoon period and the onset of The Real Thing. After five near-meaningless friendlies we are into World Cup qualifiers away to Andorra on Saturday and Croatia the following Wednesday. England will not be at full strength, which is unlikely to seriously undermine them in Barcelona next weekend, but might do in Zagreb four days later. Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick will be absent, injured or convalescing, which weakens the midfield, especially when it comes to screening the back four. There is no pressing need for an anchor man against Andorra, but the defence would appreciate all the help it can get against Croatian opponents who embarrassed them at Wembley last November.

Given that goal difference could prove decisive in a tight group, England need not only to win, but by a good margin next Saturday. Eighteen months ago, in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, it was only 3-0, courtesy of two goals from Gerrard and a bur-gled tap-in from the one-cap wonder that was David Nugent. The strikers need to be more productive than Wayne Rooney and Andy Johnson were then and no time should be wasted in recalling Michael Owen.

Will Capello do it? He is no great admirer of the injury-plagued striker, and left him on the bench throughout the one match for which he had him available, in France last March. Shortly before taking up the job, the Italian was asked what sort of role he envisaged for Owen, and replied: “Number 12.” Before checking on the Newcastle striker at Arsenal yesterday, the coach called him “a sniffer” – or at least that’s what the interpreter came up with – and likened him to Paolo Rossi, whose goals helped Italy to win the 1982 World Cup.

“Owen is a good player who has always scored a lot of goals, although not so many at Real Madrid,” Capello said. So was the man with 40 in 89 international appearances back in favour? “He is not completely fit and we need fit players at this moment.” England have nobody as reliable in front of goal and it is no coincidence that the last time the attack functioned effectively, in defeating Russia 3-0 at home, Owen scored twice. He is still only 28 and, even if all those injuries have cost him a yard of pace, he remains more of a potential match-winner than any of the alternatives.

The same cannot be said of Beckham, who should be dropped and David Bentley given 90 minutes to prove his worth. A change would be welcome, too, in defence, where Micah Richards is a better, more adventurous right-back than Wes Brown, and a place needs to be found, probably on the left, for Joe Cole, who is the one England midfielder with the tricks to beat an opponent. The two matches are very different and, under normal circumstances, would warrant different formations, with 4-3-3 appropriate for Andorra and 4-2-3-1 against the Croats. However, such has been England’s difficulty mastering even one configuration under Capello that changes should be kept to a minimum.

The club versus country conflict raised its head again on Friday when Capello complained he had been kept in the dark by Liverpool over Gerrard’s need for surgery. Manchester United’s talk about playing Hargreaves in the Super Cup while declaring him unfit for England eight days later also angered Capello. It was ever thus, the problem with Sir Alex Ferguson dating back to the days when Paul Ince suffered dubious injuries when England came calling.

Capello, clearly irked, is making the time-honoured demands for cooperation and consideration. “Respect is important,” he said, tacitly implying he was not getting it. He had also not been happy about Harry Redknapp’s comments after the Czech match when the Portsmouth manager described England’s performance as “awful” and accused Capello of “killing” Gerrard’s effectiveness by playing him on the left. “I’ve spoken with him about what he said,” Capello said. “In Italy and Spain, managers don’t speak about the national team, here it is different. Everyone has got an opinion.”

It comes with the job, Fabio, along with that £6m a year wage.

England v Andorra: how hard can it be?

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Sept 2 2006 Euro qualifier England 5 Andorra 0
Mar 28 2007 Euro qualifier Andorra 0 England 3

Andorra had never even played an international match until 1996 and have so far managed only three victories, all at home. Only one of these has been in a competitive match, Marc Bernaus, giving them a 1-0 win over Macedonia in a World Cup qualifier in October 2004

They have already begun their World Cup campaign, losing 3-0 to Kazakhstan

Andorra are ranked 182nd in the Fifa world rankings, while England are 14th

ENGLAND WORLD CUP DATES

Sep 6 Andorra (a)
Sep 10 Croatia (a)
Oct 11 Kazakhstan (h)
Oct 15 Belarus (a)
Apr 1 2009 Ukraine (h)
Jun 6 Kazakhstan (a)
Jun 10 Andorra (h)
Sep 9 Croatia (h)

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Robin Van Persie conducts Arsenal masterclass

Not long before the end, Setanta TV caught Fabio Capello picking his nose, which was excusable in the circumstances. There was not much else for the England coach to pick here.

Enduring a frustration that will be familiar for any England manager of recent vintage, Capello was at the Emirates yesterday to check on Michael Owen, but was left admiring the classy football of an Arsenal team featuring 11 foreigners, Theo Walcott not getting on until 72 minutes had ticked by.

If England could call on Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie, World Cup qualification would be a doddle. Instead, when Capello names his squad today, he has a difficult decision to make about Owen, whose international scoring record warrants his return, but who looked understandably rusty on his first start of the season.

He had one gilt-edged chance but shot wide when, in fairness, his partner, Shola Ameobi, got in his way. Owen also tested Manuel Almunia with a header, but from an off-side position. In truth, the England striker was a bit part player, forced by circumstances to do too much of his work in midfield.

With the peerless Fabregas back to orchestrate Arsenal’s midfield and Van Persie intelligence personified in attack, the Gunners are no longer firing blanks. The scoreline should have been doubled, Van Persie scoring twice, a penalty after 18 minutes and an emphatic finish close in after 41, before hitting the crossbar. A third goal came eventually from Denilson after 59 minutes.

For Newcastle, after their promising start in the Premier League against Manchester United and Bolton, it was two steps forward, one step back. They were outplayed throughout. Newcastle were deprived by injury of Geremi, Obafemi Martins, Damien Duff, Mark Viduka and Claudio Cacapa. With these absences, their bench was largely a case of “Who’s he?”, with the exception of the reprobate they call Joey Barton, roundly booed when he was introduced after 89 minutes, to chants of: “You’re supposed to be in jail.”

On for only three minutes, including stoppage time, Barton was still at the centre of controversy, when an exchange of unpleasantries with Samir Nasri brought a booking for the Frenchman and left Kevin Keegan infuriated and pointing an accusing finger at Nasri and William Gallas as the players came off the pitch at the end. On entering the fray, the fractious Barton, who faces a Football Association charge of violent conduct next Friday, had disposseed Nasri with an aggressive, but legitimate tackle to which Nasri took exception. Almost immediately, when Barton advanced through the middle, Nasri brought him down with an obvious foul, for which he was booked. Keegan claimed afterwards that Nasri should have been sent off for “slicing down” his man. He was wrong but found it necessary to remonstrate at the end when Gallas, the Arsenal captain, stepped in on behalf of his teammate.

To his credit, Keegan saw sense later and said the incident should not detract form “an excellent game of football.”

Arsenal almost scored twice before the match was six minutes old. After only two they had a penalty appeal rejected when Van Persie went down under challenge by Fabricio Coloccini and, moments later, Gallas, contrived to shoot over from three yards. Arsenal were soon back, Kolo Toure’s 25-yarder demanding a plunging save from Shay Given. Van Persie brought a similar response from 20 yards, and the pressure had its reward in the shape of Van Persie’s penalty.

It was an easy decision for the referee, Adebayor’s cross from the right being cut out by Charles N’Zogbia’s arm. Van Persie drilled the kick low into Given’s left-hand corner.

With the interval looming, it was 2-0. Abedayor’s centre from the right was backheeled by Eboue, creating the space for Van Persie to shoot into the roof of the net from six yards.

Denilson rattled in Arsenal’s third after clever play by Nasri and Adebayo. Ten minutes from the end, Nasri would have made it 4-0 but for a top-notch save from Given.

- ARSENAL are attempting to beat tomorrow’s transfer deadline by signing Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso to bolster their midfield. Alonso, who won Euro 2008 with Spain two months ago, has fallen out with Rafael Benitez and would welcome the move. Wenger said last night: “We are trying to bring in somebody who is at least as good, or maybe better, than what we have.”

Star man: Robin Van Persie (Arsenal)

Yellow cards: Arsenal: Fabregas. Newcastle: Given, Coloccini, Nasri

Referee: R Styles

Attendance: 60,007

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue (Walcott 72min), Fabregas, Denilson (Song Billong 69min), Nasri, Van Persie (Vela 63min), Adebayor

Newcastle: Given, Beye (Edgar 89min), Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique (Bassong 44min), Gutierrez (Barton 89min), Butt, Guthrie, N'Zogbia, Ameobi, Owen

FROM: YAHOO

I am no prince, says Shevchenko

MILAN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Andriy Shevchenko has rejected former coach Jose Mourinho’s assertion that he failed at Chelsea because he was too used to being treated like a prince at AC Milan.

The Ukraine striker has just returned to Milan, where he spent seven successful seasons, after struggling for form during two torrid years in London.

Mourinho, now Inter Milan coach, was in charge of Chelsea when they signed Shevchenko in 2006 for a club record fee of around 30 million pounds.

“It’s been said that I was treated like a prince, but that is not how it was,” Shevchenko told a news conference on Saturday.

“Here I had difficult moments as well, which I overcame with work and sacrifice. Now I’m very optimistic because returning to Milan is like returning home.”

Shevchenko also compared the Chelsea set-up unfavourably with Milan’s.

“When I was at Chelsea what I missed most was the organization, the preparation and the atmosphere of this club, lots of little things that are nevertheless important,” the 31-year-old said.

Swiss defender Philippe Senderos also said he was confident he had moved on to better things after his transfer from Arsenal this week.

“Arsenal are a great team, but Milan are the greatest in the world,” Senderos was quoted as saying by Milan’s website (www.acmilan.com).

“I’ve seen that players work more here in the Italian championship than in the English championship.”

(Writing by Paul Virgo in Rome, editing by Justin Palmer)

From: YAHOO

Robinho's going nowhere, insists Real president

MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon insisted Saturday that Brazilian winger Robinho would be staying with the Spanish side, despite the player saying he is still in talks with English club Chelsea.

"He's going to stay here, I'm saying that," Calderon told the daily ABC, adding that the Brazilian was "a good boy, badly advised" by his entourage.

Robinho, 24, said in an interview with Brazilian television Globoesporte on Friday that he wanted to leave, adding that "negotiations were ongoing" for his eventual transfer to the English club.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted on Friday he was in the dark over his club's bid to sign Robinho.

Scolari made Robinho his top transfer target when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in July but Chelsea have been unable to seal the deal.

The Premier League club have had a bid turned down by Real, who are adamant Robinho will remain at the Bernabeu even though the player is keen to move.

Meanwhile, Calderon boasted that Real were the "best team" in Europe and would be bidding to win everything - the Primera Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Cup - this season.

"We don't have any need to sign (new players). I challenge anyone to tell me that there is a better team in Europe!"

Real failed in bids to sign Valencia striker David Villa, Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

From: YAHOO

Kevin Pietersen finds heroes all around for England

If Kevin Pietersen were a commodity on the London Stock Exchange, economists could stop all this talk of a recession. Everything the England captain touches turns to gold, it seems, and his stock rose again yesterday as England's third one-day victory against South Africa this summer gave Pietersen his first trophy.

The job is not yet over, however. If England can win the final two matches in the NatWest Series, at Lord's tomorrow and in Cardiff on Wednesday, they will - brace yourself - rise to second place in the ICC's Reliance Mobile world rankings. There are still a lot of balls to pass under the bat before then, but Pietersen is not a man to do things by half-measures.

“We've hit our straps in every department,” he said after the match. “The boys have been magnificent. But we want to improve and try to win it 5-0 if we can.” England's ascent from mediocrity to something better than competence has been astounding. At the start of the summer, their one-day ranking was seventh. South Africa, who could have replaced Australia as the best one-day side had they won this series 4-1, could now slip to third.

Pietersen's personal contribution yesterday was minimal. He made only five runs before being struck on the pad in front of off stump by Jacques Kallis, standing in as captain while Graeme Smith nurses his tennis elbow, and chose not to give his part-time off spin another outing.

Instead it was Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison and Samit Patel who shared the hero's role. The foundation for a winning score was laid with aggressive brilliance by Bell, who took only 77 balls in making 73, and then, after a mid-innings wobble, Flintoff made 78 runs of his own to see England to the threshold of 300.

To think that there were questions not so long ago about whether Flintoff had lost his batting mojo. It was his second score of 78 in a row, having done the same at Headingley Carnegie a week earlier, and the final scampered single off the last ball of the innings took him to 1,000 runs in his 37th NatWest Series match.

After two watchful overs, Bell and Matt Prior had set off at a gallop, reaching 100 off the first ball of the sixteenth over. Makhaya Ntini came in for particular punishment: his first over was a maiden but the next four went for 47. When Prior departed, caught at short extra cover off a top edge, England stuttered, but from 182 for five, Flintoff was able to take them to 296 with able assistance from Patel, making 31 in his first innings for England, and Luke Wright.

Patel, 23, made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire as long ago as 2002, when he outscored a certain KP Pietersen against West Indies A, and he has been quick to impress his former county team-mate in this series, even if he earned a trademark Pietersen glare early in South Africa's reply for failing to back up his captain's throw. A splendid catch over his shoulder by Patel, running backwards from mid-wicket, made up for it, sending Kallis back to the pavilion for nine off the bowling of Flintoff.

South Africa were 77 for three and only Hashim Amla had looked in control but he got a faint bottom edge when slashing at a ball from Harmison and walked for 46. Harmison also claimed the fourth wicket when his throw from square leg ran out A.B. de Villiers, and then it was over to Patel and his left-arm spin to finish the job.

Mark Boucher went first, stepping back to cut and playing on to his leg stump. Johan Botha also went in odd fashion, the ball ricocheting from bat to foot and backwards on to his wicket. The Morkel brothers, Albie and Morne, were both caught slogging and Patel claimed his first five-wicket haul for England when Ntini edged behind.

Only four England spin bowlers have taken a five-fer in a one-day international, Patel joining Ashley Giles, Graeme Hick and Vic Marks (twice). Has Pietersen's Midas touch now unearthed a spinning all-rounder?

England

I R Bell lbw b Botha 73

†M J Prior c Gibbs b J A Morkel 33

O A Shah b Kallis 23

*K P Pietersen lbw b Kallis 5

A Flintoff not out 78

P D Collingwood c Boucher b Botha 14

S R Patel b Ntini 31

L J Wright c Gibbs b Steyn 17

S C J Broad not out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 16, nb 3) 22

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 296

S J Harmison and J M Anderson did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-144, 3-146, 4-155, 5-182, 6-256, 7-295.

Bowling: Steyn 10-0-67-1; Ntini 9-1-68-1; M Morkel 10-1-51-0; J A Morkel 5-0-30-1; Botha 9-0-35-2; Kallis 7-0-42-2.

South Africa

H M Amla c Prior b Harmison 46

H H Gibbs c Shah b Anderson 12

*J H Kallis c Patel b Flintoff 9

A B de Villiers run out 12

J P Duminy c Prior b Flintoff 18

†M V Boucher b Patel 19

J A Morkel c and b Patel 16

J Botha b Patel 17

M Morkel c Broad b Patel 6

D W Steyn not out 5

M Ntini c Prior b Patel 0

Extras (b 5, lb 4, w 1) 10

Total (42.4 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-67, 3-77, 4-82, 5-114, 6-134, 7-142, 8-160, 9-170.

Bowling: Anderson 7-0-17-1; Broad 6-1-28-0; Harmison 9-1-28-1; Flintoff 7-0-33-2; Patel 9.4-2-41-5; Collingwood 4-0-14-0.

Umpires: N J Llong and S J A Taufel (Australia).

TV umpire: P J Hartley.

Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Reserve umpire: I J Gould.

Series details: First (Headingley Carnegie): England won by 20 runs. Second (Trent Bridge): England won by ten wickets. To come: Tomorrow: Fourth (Lord's). Wednesday: Fifth (Cardiff).

FROM:TIMESONLINES

Thaksin Shinawatra offers to resign as pressure grows

“The term 'fit and proper' is a pretty broad one. I mean, is he a nice guy? Yes. Is he a great guy to play golf with? Yes. Has he got the finances to run a football club? Yes. I really care about those three things. Whether he is guilty of something over there, I can't worry too much about that.”
The man in question is Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, who is holed up in Surrey, seeking political asylum in Britain, after refusing to face corruption charges in his homeland earlier this month. The man doing the talking and, one suspects, the caddying, is Garry Cook, appointed by Thaksin as executive chairman of Manchester City with the mission of delivering his vision of a club that is the equal of its neighbour.
First things first: according to Cook, Thaksin is “embarrassed” about the damage that his legal, political and financial circumstances have inflicted upon City of late; Thaksin has offered to resign from the club's board in order to alleviate growing pressure from the Premier League, whose “fit and proper person” test he no longer seems to satisfy; Thaksin is close to selling a significant minority stake in City to another Asian tycoon who will help to bankroll the club while £800million of his own assets remain frozen in Thailand.
The financial picture at City is far healthier than it appears from the outside, despite a recent flurry of borrowing from the banks and from John Wardle, the former chairman. Thaksin recognises that he made mistakes last summer and is prepared to be realistic, rather than ruthless, with Mark Hughes, the new manager. Even if no outside investment is forthcoming before the transfer window closes in nine days, Hughes has money to spend on new players.
Cook's intention was to assure the media and, by extension, the club's supporters, and holding court at the City of Manchester Stadium this week, he did that. But he also talked about the pressing need to sign a superstar in order to satisfy his and Thaksin's global ambitions and expressed disapproval of a City veteran team's use of the club's “intellectual property” in a Masters tournament.
He also predicted that the club not only could, but would, become as big as Manchester United and, to the horror of the traditionalists among us, declared that, in order to embrace the challenges of globalisation, he would favour a 14-club breakaway Premier League with no promotion and no relegation. With City in it, presumably.
Football is changing and, in Cook, an intelligent, dynamic executive who was born in Birmingham but has spent much of his working life in the United States as a creative force behind the expansion of the Nike brand, Thaksin has found a man to help City embrace those changes.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Put it this way, Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, has found a kindred spirit. Where he and Scudamore differ is on the subject of Thaksin, but Cook and the owner are in constant discussion with the league to try to find ways around the “fit and proper” hurdle.
“Dr Thaksin has been really open about this,” Cook said. “The man is embarrassed about the indignity brought on the club and on the league. He never intended for this to be the case. He has said to me: ‘If you need me to resign as a director to serve the needs of the Premier League, I'm fine with that as long as it doesn't change anything else.' There is this fit and proper person's test and that's one of the reasons why we would maybe look to take him off the board as a director.
“We're talking about a lot of things. We've talked about restructuring the board and selling part of his stake to an equity partner, who could come in and take some of the pressure away.
“Three months ago, the situation was very different and then it took a turn [the corruption charges and Thaksin's refusal to face them] that changed the whole aspect of it. We've talked about many different options. One thing we're adamant about is not giving up the majority stake-holding. And we're not looking at [selling to] institutions. It's a friend of a friend.”
Cook suggested that investment could be secured within days, giving Hughes further room for manoeuvre before the transfer window closes on September 1. Hughes would be forgiven for regretting his decision to leave the comfort of Ewood Park for the madness of City, but Cook said that he did not mislead the manager about the situation that he was coming into.
“I actually painted a picture of instability for Mark,” he said. “We told him there was plenty of money to spend on players, but that we had taken in some players that weren't right for the club. Our acquisition and disposal strategy was wrong and it is still coming back to bite us a little bit.
“We have talked about the need to sign a superstar, a global franchise entity. We went after Ronaldinho and we nearly got him. We told Mark not to come here if he thought we didn't need a superstar. I know people are going to say: ‘Here we go again, another guy from America telling us how it should be'.
“But in the intellectual property world of running a football club, when you have 3.7 billion people looking at you, you have to move away from football the way it is. It's reality. China and India, 30 per cent of the world's population, are gagging for football content to watch and we want to try to tell them that Manchester City is their content.”
These grandiose plans invite the inevitable question: can City ever become the equal, in global terms, of Manchester United? “We will,” Cook said. “If I didn't have that goal, I wouldn't be here. Can we? Yes. Will we? It might take a bit longer. At Nike you don't sit around saying, 'Can we?' you say, 'We will'. I've got to change that here. I call it the cultural cascade.
“I talk to my employees and I get: 'This is England, not America, you know,' 'This is Manchester, not London, you know,' 'This is Manchester City, not Man United, you know.' We have to change that culture.”
Before they can even think about that, City must change the culture of self-harm that has hindered the club for about four decades. Things seemed to be changing under the previous board until Thaksin came along last summer with his plans for global domination.
Time will tell whether he is the long-awaited saviour of Manchester City or whether the club, with a megalomaniac owner at the wheel, is hurtling towards oblivion in a golf kart.
Blue Moon with stars in its eyes: big names who would fit the bill
Ronaldo (AC Milan and Brazil, aged 31): No longer the force he was but still a marketing man's dream, despite the goofy teeth and the spare tyre around the waist. Manchester City have inquired about him in the past and will no doubt do so again. Cook's associations with Nike, the player's sponsor, could help.
Thierry Henry (Barcelona and France, 31): Another Nike client and another who, as he finds himself on the wrong side of the hill, might return to the Premier League for one final pay day.
Carlos Tévez (Manchester United and Argentina, 24): A long shot, but not quite as outlandish as it might sound. United are not guaranteed to pay the £32million required to buy out his contract from the businessmen, such as Kia Joorabchian, who “own” him. Joorabchian has close links with Thaksin Shinawatra, the City owner.
Ronaldinho (AC Milan and Brazil, 28): A persistent chase may have ended in predictable failure this summer, but at least he now knows there are two clubs in Manchester. A realistic option if things do not work out in Milan.
FROM:TIMESONLINE

Cristiano Ronaldo will be given time to recover

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, will not rush Cristiano Ronaldo back into action, despite the sight of the Portugal forward jogging at the club’s training ground fuelling reports that he may return to fitness sooner than expected.
Ronaldo has been given the green light to step up his recovery from ankle surgery, but Ferguson is cautious about the prospect of an early reappearance. The manager has suggested that the club’s leading scorer last season will be out until the beginning of October, but the speed of the 23-year-old’s recovery has led to claims that Ronaldo will return sooner.
“If a player is out for a certain period there is no point rushing him,” Ferguson said. “You may as well wait the extra week or two to make sure they don’t suffer any setbacks. Cristiano may get back quicker, but we are not putting him under any pressure.”
FROM:TIMESONLINE

Window Watch: Andrei Arshavin, Roque Santa Cruz, Philippe Senderos, Nikola Zigic

Andrei Arshavin, the Russia playmaker, could finally be on his way to Tottenham Hotspur after Zenit St Petersburg agreed to lower their £20 million asking price. Arshavin, who is keen to move to London, has been left out of the Zenit squad for the match against Krylya Sovetov Samara this weekend.
Zenit need the money to buy players before the transfer window closes on September 1, but are worried that Tottenham have lost interest in the 27-year-old. However, Dick Advocaat, the Zenit coach, seems confident that a deal will go through.
“The transfer period is yet to finish and things can still change,” Advocaat said. “Last year we sold Martin Skrtel to Liverpool for £10 million, and now probably Arshavin will go to Spurs.”
Roque Santa Cruz, the Paraguay striker, has ended speculation about his future by signing a new four-year contract with Blackburn Rovers. The 27-year-old has been the subject of failed bids from Aston Villa and Manchester City this summer. The new deal will tie him to Blackburn until June 2012 and his wages will rise to around £60,000 a week.
Santa Cruz has been a huge hit since arriving at Ewood Park from Bayern Munich for £3.8 million last summer and scored 23 goals in all competitions. The forward is thought to have been keen to repay the faith Blackburn showed by signing him from Bayern, despite his poor injury record, while the arrival of his 18-year-old brother, Julio, at the club was another reason to stay.
West Bromwich Albion have signed Borja Valero, the Spanish midfield player, from Real Mallorca for a club-record fee of £4.7 million.
Shaun Maloney has returned to Celtic from Aston Villa in a deal that could rise to £2.5 million. The midfield player moved in the opposite direction 18 months ago for £1 million.
Decent bets
Everton are in pole position to sign Nikola Zigic, the Serbia forward, from Valencia. Zigic was available only on a permanent transfer but his club are now willing to let him go out on loan.
Daniel Arismendi, the Union Atletico Maracaibo and Venezuela striker, has arrived in England for talks with Wigan Athletic.
Long shots
Philippe Senderos’s father has claimed that Newcastle United and AC Milan are trying to sign the Arsenal defender. “If his dad is right, he’s got two tremendous clubs to choose from,” Kevin Keegan, the Newcastle manager, said. “We need another defender.”
Arsenal are not interested in signing Gareth Barry, according to Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager.
One of Thiago Neves’s representatives has said that Manchester City are to sign the Brazil midfield player from Fluminense. Neves is said to have caught the eye while playing for his country in the Olympic Games.
FROM:TIMES

Luiz Felipe Scolari expects to seal deal for Robinho

Chelsea expect to sign Robinho in a matter of days after the Brazil forward told Real Madrid that he wanted to move to Stamford Bridge. Luiz Felipe Scolari is worried that his team will be too predictable without some Brazilian flair this season and the Chelsea manager has told his employers to do whatever it takes to sign the 24-year-old from the Spanish champions.
Real are holding out for £31.7 million for a player who has failed to live up to expectations at the Bernabéu, but Chelsea believe that they can reach a compromise quickly after Real turned down offers of £19.7 million and £25.4 million. “I dream of playing in the English league,” Robinho said. “Chelsea have a great squad and a great team. My objective is to play there. I've got nothing against Madrid, but I want to resolve this as soon as possible. It's not about money, I simply want to leave.”
Chelsea have offered to double the Brazilian's wages to about £70,000 a week and are confident that they will have signed the two players that Scolari wanted - Deco and Robinho - when he agreed to replace Avram Grant last month. Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, met Scolari and Frank Arnesen, the director of scouting and youth development, yesterday to update them on developments after flying back from Madrid.
Robinho has become disillusioned in Spain after Real tried to use him as a makeweight in their attempts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United this summer and after he was refused permission to play for Brazil in the Olympic Games in Beijing.
“I like Robinho because his style is different from what we have,” Scolari said. “We need one player who can make a difference. To change our system we need a different type of player. If we only use one system it will be easy for other teams to beat us.”
Scolari trained with his first-team squad yesterday morning to prepare for tomorrow's match away to Wigan Athletic and the Brazilian made a point of having a quiet word with Frank Lampard after the England midfield player was booed by his own supporters during England's 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic at Wembley on Wednesday. Scolari advised Lampard to try some retail therapy. “I asked Frank if he was upset and he said no,” Scolari said. “I told him that now he had renewed his contract he should go out and spend some money.”
Lampard was happy to stay at Stamford Bridge after the club agreed to give him a five-year contract worth about £140,000 a week, but there are still question marks about the futures of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Andriy Shevchenko. Portsmouth are trying to sign Wright-Phillips on loan and Scolari will not stand in the winger's way if he decides to move to Fratton Park.
“I have 26 players in my squad so to lose one or two would not be a problem,” Scolari said. “I don't know what Shaun thinks about offers from other teams. I have three or four wide players so if we sell one it will not be a problem for me.”
Shevchenko stopped off in Milan on Thursday on his way back from Ukraine's 1-0 victory over Poland in Kiev but his hopes of returning to the San Siro appear to have been dashed temporarily after AC Milan insisted that they would sign him only on loan. “He was having negotiations in Milan on Thursday but he trained on Friday and everything is normal,” Scolari said. “I am happy if he stays because he will be one more option for me.”
Didier Drogba has an outside chance of playing in the home match against Tottenham Hotspur next weekend. The Chelsea forward has been sidelined with a knee injury but Scolari expects him to return to full training this week. “He is getting better and his knee is very well,” Scolari said. “Maybe he will play against Tottenham but whatever happens he will be ready in 15 days.”Steve Bruce, the Wigan Athletic
manager, goes into the match at home to Chelsea tomorrow having suffered humiliation at the hands of one of the London club's players this summer. Bruce, a keen golfer, could not resist a round with Andriy Shevchenko when the pair bumped into one another while holidaying in Barbados.
“I got hammered,” Bruce said. “Shevchenko's partner was the pro at Wentworth, while I was left with Stephen Hunt, from Reading. I have to say, Shevchenko is one hell of a golfer. We were beaten by the 9th hole, but I blame Stephen. He was hopeless.”
Four months ago, Emile Heskey delivered a devastating blow to Chelsea's title hopes with an injury-time equaliser as relegation-threatened Wigan came away from Stamford Bridge with a 1-1 draw. It has been a summer of change at Chelsea, but Bruce believes his former club, Manchester United, will make a successful defence of the title.
“I knew when we came away from Stamford Bridge that we were safe,” Bruce said. “But last season has gone. We've got to go and do it again, and make sure we're ready for the challenge. As for the title race, United are going to be formidable again.”
FROM:TIMESONLINE

John Terry is ready to lead England from the back again

Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent
When England's players arrived at the team headquarters near Watford this week, Fabio Capello gave them a lecture on respect. He said that everybody in football would be watching their behaviour and their attitude towards referees extra closely this season and that it would be hard for him to select those that continued to attract bad headlines. John Terry did not take this as a positive sign in his quest to retain the England captaincy.
The next day, it was announced that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, would be leading a government initiative against teenage knife crime and several England footballers, those perceived as good role models, were required to be the public face of the campaign. Rio Ferdinand, captain of Manchester United's double-winning team in many matches last season, sat next to Smith as she faced the cameras and he later spoke with feeling as a community leader and a longstanding anti-knife campaigner, who had helped to establish the Damilola Taylor Trust after the fatal stabbing of the ten-year-old from Peckham nearly eight years ago. Again, Terry did not see this assured display of statesmanship as of great help to his cause.
Frankly, he had long given up hope of leading out England at Wembley against the Czech Republic tonight. Terry had heard the same rumours as the newspaper journalists, the same insider information that has been circulating in football for the best part of six months. It began with a rumble that certain figures within the FA did not see Terry as captaincy material. Always officially denied, of course, but resurfacing from time to time, nonetheless. Chelsea were fined £30,000 for their protests when John Obi Mikel was sent off in a match away to Manchester United on September 23; later they were charged with failing to control their players away to Derby County on November 24. Terry was captain in both games.
There were other issues, too. One too many lurid Sunday newspaper headline, it was said. Not the sort of thing that reflects well on the English game with all those Fifa dignitaries to impress in time for 2018. Then Terry's £150,000 Bentley turned up in a disabled parking space. Brendan Behan wrote that there was no such thing as bad publicity; but he did not spend much time trying to catch Terry a break towards the end of last season. By March 19, when Chelsea drew 4-4 away to Tottenham Hotspur, the whispers had grown to a roar of banner headlines. The lack of respect shown by Terry and his team-mates for Mike Riley, the referee, was the final straw. The next week, Terry was overlooked by Capello as Ferdinand was handed the captain's armband for a match in France, and whole sermons about standards of behaviour were read into the manager's pidgin English and translated answers.
The brusque manner in which Capello announced Ferdinand's elevation at a team meeting was also said to indicate his displeasure at Terry's conduct, rather than his rudimentary grasp of a foreign tongue, and from there the Ferdinand-for-captain rollercoaster went at speed down the rails. Even when Terry was made captain against the United States in May, and scored, it was perceived as a morale-building sop to get him over the agony of missing what would have been the winning penalty in the Champions League shoot-out. Unlike Ferdinand, he did not travel with the team to play Trinidad & Tobago in June. The lines of communication continued to buzz with predictions of a demotion.
Hear the same sentence enough times and you start to believe it, and Terry will have lost count of the number of times he has heard, or read, that Ferdinand was to be Capello's captain. According to his agent, Aaron Lincoln, he was resigned to listening as the manager read out Ferdinand's name at the team gathering after training yesterday when it was known the decision would be revealed.
He did hear the clipped pronunciation of Ferdinand, but as his understudy, not his replacement. Steven Gerrard was the biggest loser, usurped as vice-captain, Terry the biggest winner, reinstated to the position he held under Steve McClaren. What he won was something that was technically in his possession, but it must still have felt like locating a prized item of jewellery down the back of the sofa having long written it off as lost. And successfully claimed on the insurance.
“I was surprised, actually,” Terry said. “You hear little things and with the form Rio has been in and what Manchester United have achieved I thought he would get it.”
So what swung it? Capello has talked of a captain in the mould of Franco Baresi, his leader at AC Milan, and right down to his central defensive position in the team and his penalty miss at a final of a leading tournament, there are similarities. Capello admired Baresi's ability to command the players under pressure, to stay calm and give instructions, to execute the game plan. This is Terry's forte, too. It is no coincidence that he was missing from the two matches in which England fell apart at the back at crucial moments, in Russia and at home against Croatia.
As for Ferdinand, it has been argued that responsibility has brought the best out of him, that it has made him more focused during matches. Yet is that truly an attribute? Why should it need an armband to get a man's head straight? Surely, awarding the captaincy is not about what the job can do for you, but what affect your appointment has on the team. Yes, Ferdinand may appear the better role model, but where do the moralists draw the line? Ferdinand's behaviour after United played away to Chelsea last season was hardly exemplary and he did miss that drugs test. We all know what you get for that these days: a gold medal.
Captive audience
John Terry's second coming as England captain will be witnessed by the biggest football crowd in Europe this evening. The FA has sold more than 65,000 tickets for the first international of the season at Wembley and with ticket offices open throughout the day it hopes that the attendance could be in excess of 70,000. Tickets remain available priced between £30 and £60.
FROM:TIMESONLINE