Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has warned fans of the club not to expect all of their issues to be solved in January.
It’s widely believed that the Reds will be in the market for a number of players next month, with a striker and wide midfielder thought to be top targets to aid their Premier League campaign.
The Reds have been heavily linked with Daniel Sturridge in recent weeks and are also said to be closing in on a deal for Blackpool starlet Thomas Ince.
However, Rodgers has played down the significance of the winter window, hinting that the real work will be done next summer:
“All our problems were never going to be solved in this window because the January window is one of the least ¬productive, and the least ¬movement goes on there.” He is quoted by The Mirror.
“I see lots of names bandied about and, with all due respect, they’re names that are pie in the sky because there won’t be too many top players moving about in January, as clubs want top money.
“There is a bigger picture, for sure, and it goes back to ¬affordability. The reality is, for all the names bandied about, are they going to be ¬available?
“It will come down to two things: the availability and affordability of players, and in the January window you don’t get either.”
But, he did hint that money is in place to bring in some attacking reinforcements to ease the burden on Luis Suarez:
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
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 is no doubt we will get reinforcements in and we will get the backing and support from the owners,
“We want to bring in goals and we want to bring in players who can assist in scoring goals.”
Norwich City have had an ‘undisclosed bid’ turned down by Celtic for their main man Gary Hooper.
The Canaries are keen to land the striker after their bid for Swansea City forward Danny Graham was also snubbed yesterday.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon is desperate to hold on to his star player this month and was left frustrated that the offer became public knowledge.
Hooper has 18 months remaining on his current deal but the SPL champions have offered the former Scunthorpe forward an extension that he is yet to sign.
Many have pinpointed Hooper as a surprise selection in Roy Hodgson’s England squads for upcoming friendlies this year after notching double figures so far this season and he helped Celtic progress to the knock out stages of the Champions League.
Lennon has admitted a bid was rejected and that he is hopeful a positive meeting with the player could resolve the contract issues.
“The bid has been rejected,” Lennon told BBC Sport.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
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 had discussions with his representatives this morning and we are waiting to hear back from them.”
There’s a strange obsession in football whereby people want to see this Barcelona team—arguably the greatest any of us have ever seen—play in England to prove one thing or another. Barcelona performing a full league campaign in England will either legitimise the claim that Barcelona are indeed the best football side we’ve seen, or it will hammer home the idea that this team have been cuddled and comforted to glory through the lack of fight from La Liga teams.
Underneath it all, in waters that aren’t as muddy as people would like them to believe, Barcelona’s dominance is an indirect attack on English football. It’s a claim that the greatest team, the greatest player and the most breathtaking football didn’t come from English shores. Fans want to be proved right that the Premier League is king and that the kings of football would become mere peasants when thrown in against the heavy-hitters from the English game.
[cat_link cat=”premiership” type=”list”]
Well I’m not having any of it. I’m not saying Barcelona could win the Premier League, I’m saying they could do so in equally convincing fashion as they have done in the past when they lifted the Spanish crown. They won’t like it “up ‘em” when they go up north and the rain beats down a little harder? Quite the opposite: they’d thrive under it, they’d play faster and with greater ferocity. The stakes would be raised and so would their game. The idea that Barcelona have never played a difficult, tough or physical opponent is wrong. And more often than not they’ve won.
Who has been the greatest threat to Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona? Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese manager ruffled their feathers when he was in charge at Inter Milan and during that two-legged Champions League semi-final. Barcelona could have won, maybe they should have won. Julio Cesar was one of the world’s best goalkeepers that night in the Camp Nou. Bojan should have converted while at the same time not having his perfectly legitimate goal ruled out. The most important factor of that game is that Barcelona didn’t shy away, they didn’t hide when a physical team came to town and they still played their fantastic brand of football.
Would their style of play work in the Premier League? Why not? Many clubs have tried to emulate what they’ve done, either by adding players who they believe are good enough to recreate that level of football, appointing managers who follow that line of thinking to the Catalans and the Dutch, or going on to hire people who held significant roles in the conversion from theory to practice.
The idea that Barcelona wouldn’t like to travel to Stoke City or square-up to one of Sam Allardyce’s teams is nonsense. Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, and whoever else you want to name have gone to places like that and won. Manchester United is and will remain for a long time the highest standard of Premier League football – they’re the best England have to offer and have been so for the best part of two decades. Barcelona toyed with them, drew them in and delivered crippling blow after crippling blow. United, Chelsea and City are the standards Barca have to live up to in England, not Stoke. Barcelona have beaten the best England has to offer and will continue to do so in the future.
And lets look to another important factor in the current makeup of this Barcelona team. Tito Vilanova’s team are greatly different to Guardiola’s. Ok, the principles remain the same but this is Vilanova’s team now. They’ve played against the most lethal natural no 9 in the game and their closest rivals in the La Liga title race and annihilated them. They enjoyed the occasion, it was something different and it was an Atletico Madrid who weren’t afraid of the obvious gulf in class in various areas of the pitch.
Barcelona have to travel to Pamplona every season and face the always tricky and noticeably English style of Osasuna. Barcelona have to travel to Sam Mames and face the noisy crowds in Bilbao. They’ve had to face Mourinho’s “dirty” tactics and his decision to deploy Pepe as the destroyer in midfield. They came through each of those hurdles not unscathed, but with further evidence that they can do it against the rougher sides in the game.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Guardiola was far too meticulous, far too aware and far too good to allow his sides to fall at the hands of physicality. They have their enforcers in the team, but Barcelona’s group as a whole are far tougher than they may look.
It would be an interesting experiment to see the results of Barcelona in English football. But as I’ve said time and again in the past, it’s not needed. Would they win the Premier League? They’re the best team in Spain, the best team in Europe, former world champions. English football is not that special.
When the January transfer window closed three weeks ago a lot of Tottenham supporters were asking questions of Daniel Levy as to why he didn’t ensure at least one striker was brought in to maintain the Champions League push.
There was the feeling that a huge opportunity to strike a blow to their rivals, for the rest of the season, had been lost.
Levy softened the blow at least by making sure that Lewis Holtby arrived six months before schedule, coughing up the necessary £1.5million fee to attain his services.
This though was not enough to remove the nagging doubts amongst Lilywhites supporters. Their chairman had to have a reason for why he did not go for broke and sign the missing attacking piece to the jigsaw alongside Defoe and Adebayor.
An explanation that seemed to fit the bill would be that Tottenham simply had to spend within their means financially. A lot of fans had reluctantly accepted that Levy was a businessman who had done a great job over the years, so they had to understand his judgement.
There had to be a longer term view and most would have warranted Levy using the stadium as an excuse for not generating enough income to provide money for the transfer kitty. But would such an argument really hold any real steel?
White Hart Lane has been seen as one of the main contributors to Tottenham not quite being able to consistently hold their seat at the Champions League table in recent seasons. The 36,320 all seater stadium may sell out every week, but it does not provide anywhere near the income that their neighbours at Arsenal down the road enjoy.
It is a sore wound that while the Gunners netted around £5million for the last derby match at The Emirates when the reverse fixture is played at White Hart Lane in March the estimated return will be around half that figure.
This is no secret but is this any excuse for failure if Tottenham fail to finish amongst the top four and once again tussle with Europe’s elite clubs this season? No, certainly not.
I am sure nobody affiliated with Tottenham Hotspur will look down upon having a long term view, but isn’t using the stadium as a weapon to not spend just a smokescreen for the fact that Levy has left AVB with not enough tools to succeed?
In terms of net spending Mr Levy backed Harry Redknapp in his last two seasons at the club to the tune of over £50million. This season AVB has just £500,000 in net spend.
The performances on the pitch have not suffered as a result. The Portuguese manager has managed to bring the very best out of Gareth Bale, but he has also managed to bring on players such as Sandro this season too, much to his credit and not his chairman’s.
In the summer, Levy showed his capability to have foresight. He did this by sacking Harry Redknapp and seeing that a vibrant new manager would revitalise the club when a time desperately needed it. He gave Villas Boas a Premier League platform to flourish which he has gone on to thrive upon.
It is though possibly more interesting that Levy showed his ability to see into the future of the club in the transfer market too when he sanctioned the signing of Hugo Lloris.
At the time, signing the French international may not have been a pressing need but he was willing to take the gamble and sign a world class keeper for an £8million fee.
This January, Levy was required to make the same courageous move in ascertaining a striker. AVB may have said that signing a striker was unlikely but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t have wanted one.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
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 may turn out that Tottenham have enough quality in their squad to get over the line and into the Champions League places. If this is the case it will be down to the superb man management of Villas Boas. Levy would have to thank his lucky stars should this happen.
Whatever the outcome, the issue of White Hart Lane won’t go away and ensuring a solution so the club can bring in more money to be able to fund transfers is pivotal, but this is not the current underlying issue.
If Daniel Levy wants to support AVB for the long term he may want to seriously consider protecting his boss by ensuring the nucleus of the side stays put, as well as ensuring that he backs his manager to the hilt in the next transfer market.
Should Levy continue to take such unecessary gambles on transfer issues in years to come it won’t be White Hart Lane that scuppers their Champions League ambitions. It will be losing his star players who fail to see their future in North London and a young and talented manager in the form of Andre Villas Boas.
Arsenal are preparing to sell Gervinho in the summer, and use the funds to sign Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
Reports in the Daily Mail say that Arsenal are ready to accept a £12million bid from Galatasaray in the summer, and will use the money to bring Liverpool shot-stopper Jose Reina to London.
The Turkish giants are keen on the 25-year-old after seeing impressive performances in the African Nations Cup for Ivory Coast, and are looking to add to their star line-up including Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder.
Gervinho has struggled with the club’s fans over recent months, and has received criticism for some poor performances in Arsenal colours. The Ivorian will be looking to turn that around and help the Gunners into the Champions League spaces in the league table.
Arsenal have already lined-up their next transfer move as soon as Gervinho is sold, with the club ready to bid for Reina. The Gunners have been linked with the Spaniard for a few years, and are ready to turn that interest into a solid offer.
Reina had been one of the best ‘keepers in the league for many years, but this season mistakes by the Spaniard have cost Liverpool, most notably his error at the Etihad against Manchester City that stopped Liverpool earning a superb away win against the champions.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Aresnal’s best chance of signing Reina will be if they can offer Champions League football, and will need to take all 3 points at home to Reading on Saturday to keep chasing that 4th place in the league.
QPR chief Tony Fernandes has hit out at some of the players in his squad who do not show the same passion as he does.
Despite investing a fortune in the club, Fernandes neither former manager Mark Hughes nor current boss Harry Redknapp could find the right formula to get them playing and the results have continued to disappoint.
The draw at Reading on Sunday means that QPR will be playing in the Championship next season and Fernandes has had a go at his players.
“It’s heartbreaking for me when we lose. I don’t want to go out, I just want to stay at home,” he told the club’s website.
“And I am someone who has dealt with success and dealt with disappointment. But there is nothing I have gone through that is as disappointing as losing a football game.
“I haven’t said it throughout the season because it wasn’t right to be said, but it hurt me when I saw some of the players who didn’t feel the way I felt. And in fact, in their case, it should be worse because this is their job, it’s their life. It wasn’t a good feeling.”
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Paul Lambert says Richard Dunne won’t play for Aston Villa this season and admits he could leave when his contract expires this summer.
The Republic of Ireland international hasn’t featured for Villa during the current campaign due to a serious groin injury sustained while on international duty at Euro 2012.
Lambert had hoped he would have the 33-year-old back for the run-in to the season but Dunne has now been ruled out for the remaining five matches.
The Villa boss has hinted Dunne’s time at Villa Park could well be over as a result, with his current contract due to expire this summer.
“It’s unlikely because of the injury he’s had,” said Lambert, when asked if Dunne might play this season.
“He’s doing a lot better. It’s been an incredible injury, that. Something that I’ve never come across, and hopefully he feels better now within himself.
“We will just have to wait and see about his own career really.”
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
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 asked whether it was too early to make a decision over Dunne’s Villa future, Lambert said: “Yes, because he main thing for me and for Richard was for him to get himself back to playing the game of football. At the minute he’s doing fine with his rehab, really well.”
There’s an odd phenomena that occurs when a word is repeated too often in close proximity. After a while it loses all the values & meaning we’ve attributed to it and ceases to become anything but the bizarre collection of silly mouth noises the letters make when we verbalize these weird symbols together in the way we’ve been conditioned to. There’s a word for it. It’s called Semantic satiation. Try saying chimney 40 times. It’s ludicrous. What is a chim? What is a ney? Chim-ney. It’s bonkers.
This peculiar thing happened to me the day David Moyes was appointed manager of Manchester United. I encountered his name so ubiquitously that a simple word I knew well, and had happily associated automatically with a sinewy bug eyed football manager who worked in Liverpool, became a complete nonsense of a sound unable to be appropriated any value. Moize. Mwoys. Muoeze. What?
I tried to reprogram my brain to register it. I knew it belonged to a man, and I knew what that man looked like, but no, the word was now gibberish. Every time it was mentioned it refused to stick to him, and would only register as somewhere between “moist” and “noise”. By the end of the first day this had developed into an actual moist noise that I would subconsciously manifest in my own head whenever it came into my sphere of awareness. The name wasn’t even a silly word anymore, it was a silly sound. Like Prince, if he’d changed his name to a sound. A moist sound. Like very softly sucking your cheeks towards your tongue and then releasing them. “Sslukkd”. THAT, and only that, was Moyes to me. For weeks.
Then, thankfully, other news happened. The football season ended, other less important sports seized their chance in the graveyard atmosphere of Sky Sports News, and the noise himself went on a long holiday. The affliction subsided.
But now he’s back. Starting his first week proper as manager of Britain’s most famous football club. Guaranteed to be scrutinized in everything from his choice of first press conference tie to his inability to chew in a manner befitting of Sir Alex Ferguson.
[cat_link cat=”manchester-united” type=”list”]
One thing that’s absolutely certain about the first few months (and possibly even years) of Moyes’s tenure, is that he’ll be castigated in some corners for everything he does. Loses Rooney? Moyes is weak for letting him go. Keeps Rooney? Moyes is weak for not getting rid. Fails to sign a world class midfielder? Moyes has no pulling power. Signs people from Everton? Moyes has no pulling power. Fails to win all pre-season games against Japanese electricians by eight clear goals? Moyes isn’t up to this level. Wears ugly suit to Charity Shield? Moyes has no pulling power.
Even now, typing the word out I’m drifting dangerously back towards satiation-land.
United’s ominously tough opening fixtures combined with sslukkd-era Everton’s historically slow start to the season means they’re guaranteed to drop at least a couple of points in the early going. Byline writers will undoubtedly already have their headlines primed, pre-set and ready to go at the touch of a button. Like the Queen’s obituary. Or prospective Yewtree candidate puns. MOYESEND CHALICE. MOYES FROM THE CRAP STUFF. UNITED CAUGHT WITH THEIR PANTS DOWN MID-MOYTUS. It’s going to become unbearable.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
United fans and board need to be patient. This barely needs saying and has been repeated ad nauseam by anyone with a brain still able to register the meaning of words, but it’s much easier to trot out before the actual business commences (and by business, I don’t mean business as in business, I mean business as in football. The business of playing football. Not football business. That much should be evident, unless the word business has now become meaningless to you. Business. Look at it, it’s nonsense!) Because when the first on-pitch stumbles start to happen, and they will, that name is going to be everywhere, losing it’s meaning and value with every red top headline, sensationalist hit whoring editorial and over emotional forum post.
Get to grips with it while you can. The noise is coming, and it’s going to be deafening.
Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly one of the top managers around and arguably the best. Even though he finished this season without winning any trophies for Real Madrid, he has made an impact and triumphed with every team he has managed during his already illustrious career.
During his time at Porto, the ‘Special One’ won the Primeira Liga twice and the Portuguese Cup and Super Cup once. He also lifted the Europa League and the Champions League trophies with the Dragons.
With his current team Chelsea he has won the Premier League in two consecutive years, the League Cup twice and the FA Cup, as well as the Community Shield. In Italy he won the treble with Inter Milan (Serie A, Coppa Italia and the Champions League) as well as the 2008 Italian Super Cup. Even before this year’s dry spell he managed to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup with Los Merengues.
Mourinho has travelled the world and succeeded everywhere but what’s missing for the successful coach?
Three days ago Mourinho told the Independent that the FA asked him to coach the England national team six years ago and he declined because he felt that the long periods of inactivity would distract him. Now, if Mou joined England that year he would have never had the glory he experienced at Italy and Spain. But what if he became England’s manager now? Wouldn’t the European Championship and more importantly the World Cup act as a huge goal for the 50-year-old manager?
England are currently a team that has been experiencing a dry spell for a long period of time, and the last big trophy they won was way back in 1966. The fans seem disappointed with their players and the team looks to have taken a permanent back seat to the giants of Spain, Germany and Brazil. If there is one coach in the world we know has slayed giants everywhere he has been, it’s Jose Mourinho. From the 2004 Porto underdog story all the way to dethroning Barcelona, Mourinho has done it all and has beaten them all. Why would the international level be any different?
Mourinho has also expressed interest in England’s young talent. He told the Independent that he was very “open-minded” about young players and added that English teams should push the young footballers more. He added that he would like to help the English youth football with his experience, once he learned more about it, and what a better way to do that and promote talented young players as England’s manager?
During his career, the Portuguese managed to mould the skills of talented youngsters such as Mario Balotelli at Inter Milan as well as Raphael Varane and Karim Benzema at Real Madrid. Therefore, the ‘Special One’ could easily work with the young rising stars of England’s national team such as Phil Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Rodwell.
One thing that could also lure more fans into England games is Mourinho’s playing style. The Chelsea coach has always been a fan of attacking football and most of his tactics are based on that game plan. Football fans around the world are all admirers of this sort of football as they want to see goals and chances being created at the opposing net.
England’s last game at the Euro 2012 against Italy featured the Three Lions’ game plan being anything but attractive, as Italy dominated possession by 63 per cent. Furthermore, Italy had a minimum of 59 successful passes, 31 shots (18 on target) and seven corners. England only had a minimum of 18 passes, eight shots, four on target and three corners. That is something that the Three Lions fans would rarely see with Mourinho.
The former Real Madrid coach made a very good point as he would indeed be experiencing a long period of inactivity where he would have to be content to just visit other teams’ practice and assess the players through other coaches’ training methods and would also have to watch every single match per week to monitor the talent. That way he could possibly lose his edge.
But let’s take Vicente Del Bosque, Spain’s manager, for example. The Furia Roja are arguably the best team in the world, after winning two European Championships in a row and the 2010 World Cup, with players such as Andres Iniesta, Juan Mata and David Silva. There is no way Del Bosque couldn’t get any credit for that success (except Euro 2008) as he is the one calling the shots at the team and he is the one working the systems. The Spaniard didn’t lack any glory beforehand as he won La Liga and the Champions League twice as well as the 2001 Spanish Super Cup and the 2002 UEFA Super Cup with Real Madrid.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
The same goes for Marcello Lippi, who has won the Serie A five times with Juventus as well as one Coppa Italia, four Italian Super Cups, one European Super Cup and one Champions League with La Vecchia Signora. When the Italian manager took over at Italy’s national team he managed to bring the country on the top of the mountain at the 2006 World Cup. Therefore, he as well didn’t lose his edge after picking a completely different schedule, so why would Mourinho suffer this sort of fate?
As said above, if Mou succeeded Steve McClaren in 2007 he would probably not have the fame he has right now, unless he won trophies with England. Truth is though that the World Cup and the Euro would work as great targets for Mourinho to get his rightful place in greatness a lot earlier than he will get it. That doesn’t mean he has nothing to win in the Premier League as he is back to a team that saw great success under his leadership and could bring the Blues back on top after three years. From then on, who knows…?
The 6th best team in the world according to FIFA’s rankings, Uruguay have been matched at the same price as England by many bookmakers to win the World Cup. After finishing fourth in the 2010 tournament in South Africa, many pundits believe the Uruguayans could once again prove to be tough opponents.
They needed a play-off victory over Jordan to get there, but Uruguay will be at the World Cup in Brazil, and will face England in their second match of Group D.
Brazil automatically qualified for the tournament as hosts, but if they had to qualify with the rest of South America, Uruguay would likely have failed to reach the finals. However, Oscar Tabarez just about lead them to the tournament and now England must face the unpredictable La Celeste.
With many of their top players scattered around the World’s top leagues, not many England fans, or Roy Hodgson, would have had a chance to see the nation play. But what they will have seen are the individual talents the country boasts.
Here are three that could threaten England’s hopes of success in Brazil.
Luis Suarez
What can be said about this forward that isn’t obvious to Roy Hodgson already? One of the deadliest strikers in world football, let alone the Premier League, Luis Suarez was probably the first thing Hodgson thought about when he saw England called out during the draw. After missing the first five games of the season through suspension, some fans wondered how the striker would come back into his Liverpool side, pondering whether he would be at full match fitness and sharpness. They couldn’t have imagined what has happened since.
The 26-year-old is the Premier League top scorer with 17 goals from just 11 appearances, including two hat-tricks. In the sharpest form of his life, Suarez has terrorised defences this season, be it English defenders or some of the world’s best. He has scored headers from 18 yards out, volleys from 40 yards, and dribbled his way past multiple defenders on his way to make himself one of the most feared forwards in world football.
Suarez was looking to leave the Reds during the summer for a team playing in the Champions League, and is likely he will want to move again should Liverpool fail to qualify for the elite European competition. With the chance to highlight his talent in Rio, and raise more interest in him, if that’s even possible, we could see Luis Suarez at his hungriest (no pun intended!)
Edinson Cavani
After scoring 78 Serie A goals in just three seasons with Napoli, Edinson Cavani was one of the most wanted strikers over the summer transfer window. Despite interest from Manchester City and Chelsea, the Uruguayan moved to PSG for over £50million, where he’s continued to find the back of the net. 11 goals in 14 Ligue 1 matches, as well as four from five in the Champions League, has proved that Cavani can score against any defence in any league.
Strong in the air and deadly with the ball at his feet, defenders can’t help but back off in fear. The forward is a match winner, and a man who can change the game from just a half chance. But one of the most worrying things for Roy Hodgson is his relationship with Suarez. One of the most feared strike partnerships in International football, the pair seem to interchange seamlessly, and have a great knowledge of how the other plays. In one blink, Hodgson may just see the pair run rings around his English defence.
One slip up, one poor pass or one goalkeeper fumble, that’s all it can take to let Cavani pounce and punish you. There’s a reason he was wanted by Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, and it’s because he knows how to finish. With a goal against Chelsea and three against Manchester City in the 2011/12 Champions League, Gary Cahill, Joe Hart and Joleon Lescott all know just how good he is.
Diego Godin
Football isn’t always about tricks and skills. Sometimes it’s about strong, old fashioned defending. Diego Godin is one of those players. An experienced head at the back for Uruguay, the 27-year-old is currently playing in the joint best defence in La Liga. Only Barcelona have conceded the same amount of goals as Godin’s Atletico Madrid, with both teams allowing just nine shots to hit the back of the net from 15 matches.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
A rock for Atletico over the last four seasons, Godin has been a crucial player for the Spanish side. His ability to read the play and intercept attacking passes has saved both his club and nation from conceding, as well as leading to a counter attack of their own. Wayne Rooney may still be looking for his first World Cup Finals goal when these two teams face each other, and an in-form Godin could keep the United forward waiting.
In an ageing Uruguay defence, Godin is one of the fastest defenders likely to go to the World Cup with manager Oscar Tabarez. The 27-year-old played in five of Uruguay’s six 2010 World Cup fixtures, as they finished in fourth place, narrowly losing their semi-final to Holland 3-2 after beating Ghana on penalties the round before. The Atletico defender will surely be keen to go one further this time out, and deny England from reaching the knockout stage.
[divider]
Click on the banner below to join the boys in Brazil!