The Soccer Blog

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Pulis backs Begovic against Everton

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has given his under-fire goalkeeper Asmir Begovic a vote of confidence ahead of their New Year’s Day clash at home to Everton.

The 23-year-old Bosnian stopper was strongly criticised for allowing Chris Baird’s second goal to squeeze past him in Tuesday’s defeat by Fulham.

But Pulis confirmed Begovic would be his first choice ‘keeper against Everton on Saturday and there would be no recall for Danish international Thomas Sorensen.

“Asmir has done very well for us since coming into the side,” Pulis said.

“He has taken his chance after Thomas suffered an elbow injury and we’ve been more than pleased with him.”

“We’ve also been very pleased with Thomas’ attitude because he has been helping Asmir on the training field and they work very well together. Thomas has shown what an excellent professional he is.”

Winger Matthew Etherington and full-back Andy Wilkinson, who were both substituted against Fulham with slight knee injuries, are expected to be fit after two days of treatment and rest.

“They should be okay and we’ve gone very easy on all of the players after they played twice in three days,” Pulis said.

“We gave them Wednesday off and we will only be doing some light work between now and when we kick-off against Everton.”

“It’s going to be a tough game and the Fulham match confirmed there are no easy pickings in the Premier League.”

“I knew that all along and if our players needed reminding they know now.”

“We gave Fulham a two goal start and you can’t give that to anyone in what is a very unforgiving division.

“Everton have got some excellent players and a first-class manager in David Moyes.”

“I’m sure they will finish the season in a higher position than they are in now.”

Jermaine Pennant will start his first game as a fully-fledged Stoke player after his 2.8 million pounds transfer from Real Zaragoza and Pulis expects to be involved in further transfer activity in January.

“There is likely to be some movement and I’m always keen to freshen things up in January,” he said.

“We will see what is out there and examine every deal on its merits and within the budget of this football club.”

Thu 30 December, 2010

Premier League preview: West Ham v Wolves

The battle to avoid English Premier League’s relegation trapdoor heats up when Wolves visit West Ham on Saturday.

But while the duo is mired in the drop zone, both sides go into the game with a fresh injection of confidence after some positive results over the Christmas period.

West Ham briefly jumped off the bottom of the table after their 1-1 draw with Everton at Upton Park on Tuesday, only for Wolves to send them back to the basement courtesy of their 1-0 victory over Liverpool the next day.

Nonetheless, West Ham have earned five valuable points from their last three games after all seemed lost, and will back themselves to perform in front of their home crowd on Saturday.

Carlton Cole hit a double in the Hammers’ 3-1 win over London rivals Fulham on December 26 and will greatly improve his side’s chances of staying up this season if he can get on some sort of scoring run.

There are no new injury concerns for West Ham manager Avram Grant to contend with, with his side perhaps benefiting from having one extra day of rest on their opponents.

But Wolves will be brimming with confidence after the surprise triumph over Liverpool, and manager Mick McCarthy may resist making wholesale changes to the line-up even despite the three-day turnaround.

Midfielder David Jones and striker Steven Fletcher may be first in line if he does decide to tinker with the starting XI, while Kevin Doyle, Jody Craddock and Michael Mancienne could make returns from injury.

A win to either side could see them escape the bottom three, lending the encounter plenty of importance.

Thu 30 December, 2010

Premier League preview: Sunderland v Blackburn

An injury-depleted Sunderland host Blackburn on Saturday confident of pushing their way back into the Premier League’s top six.

The Black Cats limped from the Stadium of Light following a 2-0 loss to Blackpool on Tuesday with hamstring injuries to defender Nedum Onuoha and 13-million-pound club-record signing Asamoah Gyan adding to a frustrating afternoon.

Manager Steve Bruce blamed the hectic Christmas schedule for the injuries, with the team having played three games in eight days ahead of their New Year’s Day date with Rovers.

Fixturing aside, Sunderland is in desperate need of goals against a Blackburn outfit riding high after their 3-1 away win over West Brom.

Bruce has backed Darren Bent to rediscover his goal-scoring touch, having not found the back of the net in the past five games.

“He has missed a few chances, but the good thing for me is that he kept getting in there and he kept getting the chances,” Bruce said after the Blackpool match.

“Let’s hope he gets the same amount on Saturday because if he does, I know for a fact he will finish two or three of them.”

Standing in Bent’s way will be Blackburn keeper Mark Bunn, who made his Premier League debut after replacing the injured Paul Robinson at half-time against West Brom.

While Robinson’s injury is a blow, Rovers could be boosted by the returns of midfielders Vince Grella (groin), Steven Nzonzi (hamstring) and Keith Andrews (groin).

But they will be without the suspended Michel Salgado after his fifth booking of the season and Nikola Kalinic, who scored twice in Tuesday’s win – Steve Kean’s first as caretaker coach.

Thu 30 December, 2010

Kidd praises Blackpool boss

Manchester City assistant manager Brain Kidd believes Ian Holloway should be the manager of the season ahead of Blackpool’s visit to Eastlands on Saturday.

Holloway has led the Seasiders to eighth after be written off as relegation fodder at the start of the season following their promotion from the Championship.

“If Ollie keeps them in Premier League, he’s got to be manager of the season,” said Kidd.

“I think they only had nine players at the start of the season. The owner and the staff have been very good and the players have been brilliant.

They’ve been tremendous after everybody wrote them off.

“We had a severe examination at Bloomfield Road where we managed to win. It was a hard-fought victory that day and they’ve gone on from strength to strength.”

Kidd was speaking in the absence of manager Roberto Mancini, whom he said had “one or two business things to clear up,” adding to rumours a deal was being finalised for Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko.

And while Kidd played down the situation concerning Dzeko, he did not rule out that Mancini could bring in fresh faces in January.

“At the moment it’s just speculation. The window hasn’t opened. No buy, no sell. I don’t think it’s right to speak about players at other clubs.

“We’ll explore every option and every avenue. We need to look at the right players and the positions.”

“If he (Mancini) feels we can improve the squad and there’s a player available we’ll explore that. We know we’re not the finished article.”

Kidd also praised the way the squad have rallied around Italian forward Mario Balotelli, who has been suffering from home sickness.

“The players have been very good with Mario. There’s an empathy and they can understand that it’s not easy,” he added.

“Mario’s worked hard in training and the boss knows him very well. He got a hat-trick the other day and you can see the response of the lads – every man went up to him and was genuinely pleased for him.

“He’s certainly a talented lad. Technically, he’s a very talented boy.”

Thu 30 December, 2010

Pardew pleased Magpie pair can play

Alan Pardew has underlined the importance of central midfield duo Joey Barton and Cheik Tiote in Sunday’s clash with Wigan Athletic.

The pair narrowly avoided unwanted suspensions for the trip to the DW Stadium with Barton just one yellow card away from a one-match ban and Tiote clashing with Tottenham’s Younes Kaboul, who was red carded for head-butting him.

Fellow midfielder Kevin Nolan returns from suspension against Wigan.

Pardew could start with Barton wide on the right after Newcastle fans criticised a lack of supply to striker Andy Carroll from Wayne Routledge and Jonas Gutierrez.

“If Joey had picked up a booking, he’d have missed Wigan,” Pardew said.

“We got away with that one a little bit, because he was on a knife edge with the ref I think.”

“Cheik was on a knife edge too, and I had to make sure we had him for Wigan.”

“We had to protect ourselves a little bit towards the end, but the game wasn’t for us. It didn’t break for us – we never got a break in the game.”

Pardew clashed fiercely with Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and assistant Joe Jordan but shook hands with both after the game, with his goalkeeper coach Andy Woodman also coming under fire from the Spurs bench.

“There were a couple of incidents near the benches, but you’re going to get that. We’re fine – there’s no bad feelings,” he said.

The Newcastle manager has lost two of his first three games in charge.

But ahead of Sunday’s trip to Wigan, Pardew is hoping to rebuild Newcastle in the same way Harry Redknapp has transformed Tottenham.

“Let’s be honest, they are a very, very good side,” he said.

“They had people who could really influence the game on the bench, and for us, we need to add that sort of quality.

“That’s what we hope to aspire to.”

Pardew has also slammed defender Jose Enrique for using the social networking tool Twitter to reveal details of a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the clash with Spurs.

“I heard he tweeted that himself, and that’s something we can’t accept,” he said.

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again as best we can. The information network, as it is, in society today means there’s instant news, but it shouldn’t be from our own players.”

“That’s something I’ll be speaking to Jose about.”

Enrique and Nolan should return against Wigan.

Thu 30 December, 2010

Premier League preview: Tottenham v Fulham

Spurs will look to continue their fine festive-season form when they welcome Mark Hughes’ Fulham side to White Hart Lane on Saturday.

On Boxing Day, Harry Redknapp’s men scored a 2-1 win over Aston Villa and gained the three points again on Tuesday with a 2-0 triumph over Newcastle to stay in fifth spot in the English Premier League, five points behind leaders Manchester United.

Fulham, by contrast, have struggled this season and are in the relegation zone with just 19 points from their opening 19 matches seeing them third from the bottom.

In their last match, however, they scored a 2-0 away win over Stoke – although the fact that it was their first away win of the season will be worrying to Hughes.

Both managers have selection headaches ahead of the clash, with Redknapp likely to be without William Gallas, who is nursing a hamstring injury, and Tom Huddlestone (ankle).

He will also be without Jermain Defoe and defender Younes Kaboul, who were both handed three-match bans when they were sent off against Villa and Newcastle respectively.

Hughes has injury concerns of his own leading into the match, with long-term absentees Bobby Zamora and Philippe Senderos certain to miss, although striker Mousa Dembele may be ready to resume after an ankle injury.

In better news, striker Andy Johnson has emerged unscathed from his four first team starts this term after battling back from a broken leg.

But Hughes would dearly love the front man to rediscover the goalscoring form that made him such a valuable commodity at Crystal Palace, with the 29-year-old unable to find the back of the net in his last 25 games.

Thu 30 December, 2010

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