Rangers supporters would love to see John Terry at Ibrox next season after he parted company with Aston Villa on Wednesday afternoon.
The player spent a season at Villa Park and was an integral part of their promotion bid, which ultimately ended at Wembley with defeat to Fulham in the play-off final.
Now 37 years of age, he doesn’t exactly have a long-term upside for the Light Blues, but could be the short-term problem solver they are after as Steven Gerrard looks to rebuild what was a terrible defence in 2017/18.
Rangers conceded more goals than any other team in the Scottish Premiership top six, which is something that needs fixed if they are to compete for silverware next season.
Do they have a chance of signing Terry? Perhaps, if they can work out the financial details of his wages, which will likely be expensive by Rangers’ standards.
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After he announced his Villa departure, Rangers fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on a potential move to Scotland…
As an Ipswich fan there have been many results that have been hard to take and Ipswich’s 4-4 draw against Derby will be put right up there with the worst of them.
Seeing the Tractor Boys go 4-1 up was a great feeling, two goals for Daryl Murphy to boost his confidence, three assists and a goal for the club’s biggest asset Aaron Cresswell too.
Then out of nowhere Derby come out in and play like a completely different team, with Ipswich suffering from overconfidence at the same time. All of the positives that should have been taken from the game were then replaced with disbelief and despair as Derby clawed their way back to 4-4 with just two minutes to go.
However, to properly analyse the match and its consequences we need to take emotion out of the equation, although I do appreciate this is hard for anyone to do especially right after the game.
The first positive thing that can be taken from the match and most others this season is that the Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor combination has got the team scoring enough goals for a promotion push. Connor’s influence cannot be underestimated as McCarthy has never taken credit for the teams offensive prowess and always tells reporters that his right hand man is working wonders with the teams forwards.
This isn’t just wild claim I am plucking out of the air after watching the team either, the statistics show an incredible improvement in goal scoring. Ipswich were the lowest scoring team last season but the Suffolk side have been up there with the high scorers throughout the early stages of this season and there are only three teams that have scored more than them right now.
It defies belief that people still complain about how McCarthy plays ‘boring football’ or is ‘too defensive’. If anything the Blues boss has proven the opposite and the team now need to work on finding the right balance between attack and defence.
Another surprise is that large groups of supporters still believe Ipswich need to be scoring more goals and are expecting to see attacking players joining the club soon. If the club were to spend any money I would much rather see them sign a solid defender like Richard Stearman rather than a forward. The statistics certainly don’t lie, but some people choose to ignore them.
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Going back to the Derby game in particular, we all need to remember that the team is a work in progress and is currently not up there with the best sides in the division. Don’t get me wrong, I believe by the end of the season Ipswich could be one of the better sides, but they haven’t yet perfected their style and that is why we will get a lot of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ performances like on Tuesday night.
For now fans need to focus on the positives; taking a point away from home is a good result even though the way it happened was disappointing and additionally the team are playing entertaining football. McCarthy and Connor are taking the team in the right direction so just sit back, remain patient and eventually they will make Ipswich the finished product.
Reading captain Jobi McAnuff has stressed his opinion about players wages and that the money that is involved in football is getting out of hand, as reported by the Daily Mirror.
The former West Ham and Crystal Palace midfielder is enjoying Premier League life but is genuinely disheartened by the situation football has now found itself in.
“I can see why a Wayne Rooney should get a big bonus because of the amount of shirts he sells,” said McAnuff.
“But if you’re talking about £200,000-a-week, that’s ridiculous. Who needs that amount of money? Surely, someone will say ‘that’s enough’.
“We’re on the verge of getting out of control and we’re starting to lose a bit of reality.
“The most popular question I get from kids is ‘what car do you drive?’ What happened to them wanting to know what it was like to make your debut?
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“Football is getting too expensive for fans and fans make football. Tickets for our game at Chelsea were £50 each. I know lots of people who couldn’t afford that.”
Liverpool could make a surprise swoop for Barcelona star Luis Suarez this summer, according to Don Balon.
What’s the story?
Liverpool fans were heartbroken when Suarez left Anfield in the summer of 2014, but it was not a huge surprise.
Much like the January transfer of Philippe Coutinho, it became known early on that the Catalan giants were interested in swiping for the Reds’ star player.
Suarez’s two-and-a-half year stay on Merseyside did not pass by without its controversy as he was banned twice for biting and once for racial abuse.
With regards to his skill on the pitch, though, nothing came close as he scored 82 goals in 133 appearances.
Since moving to Barcelona, the Uruguayan has hit the back of the net 110 times in La Liga alone.
According to Don Balon, Barcelona are willing to sell Suarez in order to free up cash for Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann.
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The report adds that Liverpool are likely to be frontrunners for the 31-year-old’s signature, while Inter Milan are also interested.
How realistic is this deal?
There is no doubt that Suarez still holds a place in his heart for Liverpool, but he did have a fairly tumultuous relationship with the British press.
It is unclear whether the striker would be open to returning to Anfield, but if he did he would boost Jurgen Klopp’s already prolific attack even more.
Mohamed Salah is currently the star man at Liverpool and he surpassed Suarez’s best season of 31 goals by hitting 44 in all competitions.
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The Egyptian international can still add to his tally as he will compete in the Champions League final against Real Madrid on May 26 in Kiev.
Given how goal hungry the pair are, Liverpool would have a menacing attack, but Barcelona are not foolish and they will want a pretty penny for the hitman.
Transfermarkt value Suarez at around £76.5m, but the Catalan giants will require more than that to prise Griezmann away from Atletico.
Liverpool returned to the top four of the Premier League on Boxing Day after thrashing bottom club Swansea City 3-0 at Anfield.
Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring in just the sixth minute with a sweet finish from outside of the area, and it was his strike that set the tone for the rest of the game as Jurgen Klopp’s men ran riot to hand Reds fans the perfect Christmas present.
The Brazilian has been absolutely sensational this season and is currently proving why Barcelona are reportedly lining up a move for him in January, which is being reported by Spanish media (via TheExpress). The midfielder is valued at £58.5m by transfermarkt.com.
On Boxing Day Coutinho showed exactly why he’s a wanted man and the Liverpool faithful be desperate to ensure he stays at Anfield until the end of the season at the very least, although there is a danger that he could leave in the January transfer window.
With that in mind, Liverpool fans are enjoying him while they can and here is how they saw his performance v Swansea on Twitter…
Liverpool fans have taken their anger out on Twitter after Luis Suarez’s recent comments turned the Uruguayan striker into a very negative trend.
The 26-year-old made it clear that he wants to leave Anfield and join a team that will be playing at the Champions League next season. According to the BBC, the Uruguayan international might even have to hand in a transfer request by the end of the week.
According to the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, Suarez claims that Liverpool promised him that he could leave if the team did not qualify for the Champions League.
“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go,” said the striker.
The Reds’ fans though were not at all moved by his comments and took their frustrations on social media.
A displeased Liverpool fan wrote: “#Suarez is officially worse than Torres. He who betrays will always walk alone! #Judas #LFC.”
Meanwhile another fan included Suarez’s name with that of Fernando Torres and Michael Owen, who both moved to Chelsea and Manchester United respectively, and wrote that “no player is bigger than the club.”
According to The Telegraph, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill hopes that he can regain his place in England’s starting line-up against Moldova tomorrow night after missing Euro 2012 with a broken jaw.
The 26-year-old had to watch the Euro Championships in Poland and Ukraine at home after a freak collision with goalkeeper Joe Hart in England’s final training session before flying out to Eastern Europe.
As a consequence, Manchester City’s Joleon Lescott played alongside Cahill’s Chelsea team-mate John Terry at the back and but for a poor ten minutes in the second half against Sweden, the pairing were impressive throughout the whole campaign.
Cahill admits that this will make his chances of breaking back into the England first team harder, “We did really well defensively which obviously makes my job now harder. I certainly feel that I am fighting to get myself back in. But I don’t think there is a time when I can rest on my laurels and think, ‘I am in the side now’.”
One factor that Cahill admits will significantly boost his chances of playing for England is the good chemistry he has playing alongside John Terry at Chelsea, which subsequently led to European success last season. The former Bolton man said he enjoys playing alongside the Chelsea captain, “He prefers left and I prefer right. The experience he has got rubbed off on me as well as his composure and positioning.”
Cahill was speaking to the media yesterday ahead of England’s first World Cup Qualification group game ahead of Moldova tomorrow night. One of the major talking points leading up to the game is the quality of the pitch in the recently built Zimbru stadium in Chisinau.
This is not the first occasion when the Football Association have had fears over a Moldovan pitch. England were also critical of the pitch when they played in the old Moldovan national stadium in a World Cup Qualifier in a 3-0 victory for the Three Lions in 1996.
Cahill admitted that the state of the pitch in Chisinau is not ideal for the players, “It is going to be difficult. The conditions over there are meant to be really bad. We are going over there to train on the pitch because it is not great, somebody was telling me. We have been aware that conditions probably won’t be what we are used to but we will see that first hand when we train there.”
England manager Roy Hodgson may use the Moldova game as a chance to rest some key players in the team in preparation for the Ukraine game on Tuesday night which should be a much tougher test for his side.
Moldova are currently ranked 141st in the FIFA rankings and have only beaten Finland and San Marino (on two occasions) in their last two major tournament qualification attempts. Cahill said, “By the time we get to the game, we will be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. We will be having individual meetings about their players and their shape. We will be well drilled for the game.”
Gareth Bale reminded all his many potential summer suitors of his quality on Sunday by clinching a late equaliser in perhaps the most talent-demanding club fixture in the world, scoring Real Madrid’s second to prevent Barcelona a huge win in the latest El Clasico.
It’s not the first time the Welshman has scored a big goal for the club that look set to part with him this summer either – in fact, big goals have been a defining trait of much of his career in Spain and England.
And yet, sharing his lofty physique, his power, his greasy metrosexual haircut and his susceptibility to injuries, the former Tottenham star is for all intents and purposes the world’s most expensive Andy Carroll, one that Manchester United could end up paying £80million for, selling a promising young player in Anthony Martial in the process, to sign this summer according to April reports from Mirror Football.
Of course, injuries have been a huge factor in both of their careers. Since initially signing on loan in summer 2012, Carroll – who was made a club-record signing a year later – has missed more Premier League games, 115, than he’s featured in for West Ham, 113. Transfermarkt, meanwhile, provide one of the more conservative estimates of Bale’s injury history with Real Madrid – 14 serious injuries in total, amounting to 66 games missed. Tellingly, he’s made more than 30 league appearances during just one of his five campaigns in the Spanish capital.
Just as there’s no question how effective Carroll can be when he’s fit though – he’s actually averaged one goal or assist every 170 minutes he’s been on the pitch for the Hammers despite often lacking match sharpness – there’s no question Bale is one of the most talented attacking players in the world, one who has only improved his technique and deftness in tight spaces since moving to the Bernabeu, and one who would theoretically be the perfect final piece in United’s forward jigsaw by occupying the role on the right-hand side.
But Carroll’s lack of fitness has caused as many problems as its solved for West Ham down the years, because they’ve not been able to rely on him for extended periods. He clearly requires a direct brand of service to maximise his physicality, yet attempts to build the team around those demands only forced the Hammers to try and replicate the same effect with less talented front-men, the likes of Carlton Cole, Enner Valencia and Modibo Maiga.
“Andy is the type of player he has such a big impact on our game that I will never give up on Andy Especially now. I don’t know what it was like before, what were the reasons for his injuries and absence. On the other hand, it is definitely no good to have a player that you count on in the pre-season and you put his name first or second and then you can’t count on him.”
At the end of the 2016/17 season, Slaven Bilic begrudgingly told reporters that he could no longer rely on Carroll, a statement that highlighted how, at this point in his career, the England international is essentially a bonus player – someone you can’t plan for or build around, but hope will be available at certain points in the season just when he’s needed most. He’s like that 84-rated player you pick up in a gold pack on FIFA Ultimate Team, who doesn’t match your team’s chemistry or formation but stays in the squad because he’s fun to bring on from the bench every now and then.
And that’s what injury problems have turned Bale into as well, a top-class player who will only be available, at best, for around half the time – someone to take advantage of when fit, but not someone to plan around or base a game-plan on. You can’t build a team around someone who misses as many games as he starts and while the Wales international is a far less idiosyncratic forward than Carroll in terms of style, he leaves his managers facing essentially the same problems.
How can any gaffer in the world devise a game-plan around someone with a 50% chance of being unavailable, who’a season could end with one overcharged chase of a lost cause and subsequent calf strain? Such naivety only leads to disappointment and potential disaster.
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No doubt, Manchester United are one of the few clubs in the world who can afford that bonus player luxury. £80million wouldn’t even be a club-record transfer fee, so spending that sum on an entity as proven as Bale – even if they aren’t always fit – is hardly an improbable scenario. But that, in turn, would say a lot about the mentality at United; how much do they want to be a collective, compared to simply a collection of gifted players? Do they want to be a team like Manchester City, or the English manifestation of Real Madrid’s Galacticos?
Perhaps the overriding argument though, is that United can spend that money on someone else – someone younger, someone ever-present, someone truly reliable, someone who can become the heart of the team. Would you sign Bale this summer, Red Devils fans? Let us know by voting below…
Faster. Higher. Stronger. The Olympic motto, styled on the values of the Ancient Greeks thousands of years ago. Physical prowess coupled with discipline and technique. Not pensive and wishy-washy, like that tiki-taka tosh, but neither is it a brutal display of overwhelming force like a love-beast spawned from a drunken encounter between Kurt Zouma and Yaya Toure.
That’s the sort of trajectory I imagine the internal monologue of Louis Van Gaal takes. Kind of like how his team can string together 45 passes before lumping it somewhere in the direction of Marouane Fellaini’s sumptuous hair, as if mesmerised by its power and lured in by its gravitational pull.
You can imagine that Manuel Neuer is probably Louis Van Gaal’s perfect physical specimen. He’s 6ft. 3” and broad-shouldered with an aura of discipline, technical ability and masculinity. An all-round dreamboat, you might say – Louis would. The next best thing is Bastian Schweinsteiger. Tall, broad and handsome, he can pick a pass, find a forward runner, and keep the midfield ticking over with all the assurance of a South American General getting ready for a coup.
Then there’s Morgan Schneiderlin. A similar player, blessed with technique and bulk. He’s not huge, but then he’s no Philipp Lahm either. He’s classy, but not small, like a Bentley or a Rolls Royce. No showy Ferraris or Porsches for LVG. He wants style, but he wants miles to the gallon, too. This midfield collection is made up of substance as well as technique.
But how do you fit them all in? That’s the question now. You don’t get many miles to the gallon in a clown car.
Ander Herrera is a classy passer and a willing midfield runner. Angel Di Maria – though he might be on his way out – is another midfield scurrier these days, no longer at his best on the wing. And if he does stay, Depay will play in the wide role. That’ll take some of the pressure off the Argentinian and he can show us what he’s really made of – presumably some bizarre combination of Road Runner and Harlem Globetrotter.
Then there’s Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata. A myriad of midfielders all vying for a place in Louis Van Gaal’s masterplan.
If it were up to me (though much to the relief for everyone at Carrington, it isn’t) Carrick would be the first name on the teamsheet. He can do something that no other United midfielder can do: drop behind everyone else and start the game from there. Picking passes from between the central defenders like Ruud Krol, Pep Guardiola or Andrea Pirlo. Carrick can do something only an elite group of players can. If United are going to play a possession game, they need him or someone of his ilk.
And then it’s over to the others.
So let’s presume Van Gaal will continue with four at the back, just as he ended the 2014/15 season. That leaves a central midfield three, and if he’s feeling ‘midfieldy’ he can play two attacking midfielders in the wider roles. If not, then two wingers. Carrick takes one spot in the midfield – my executive decision – and so Schneiderlin, Mata, Fellaini (if he’s not considered an attacker these days), Schweinsteiger, Herrera, Blind and possibly even Rooney will be vying for three spots.
What a position to be in! It’s summer recruitment gone mad, but United fans must be jubilant. Actually, I’ve seen them on Twitter – I know they’re jubilant!
And I know what you’re thinking, United fans – leave Carrick out, we’ve got enough power and technique across the board to leave him out. Sure, his passing ability is second to none, but the rest of those guys you’ve mentioned have more than enough ability – and remember, Carrick is getting old.
But Carrick can tackle, he can intercept and he distributes intelligently. So long as he has the legs and the ability to concentrate for 90 minutes he’s tough to replace. It’s not Carrick as such who is irreplaceable, it’s the position. And there’s just no one else who does it. Or at least, no one who does it as well.
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And so will it be Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin who fill the final two berths? What about Ander Herrera? Maybe Daley Blind will be utilised at full-back. Maybe Rooney up front with Mata and Depay supporting from the left and right. There’s still Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young to think about, and surely another signing up front, too.
I’m not here to give Van Gaal ideas, nor am I here to offer a starting XI. I have no idea what Van Gaal is going to do with this team, but I know it’s going to be interesting to watch it. With so many quality players, how could it be anything other than interesting?
So where does Van Gaal’s internal monologue take him now? How many more players are going to be added to his burgeoning midfield? And who will get the nod in his strongest XI? We’ll have to wait and see, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Van Gaal favours a power and precision approach to next season, and he has the henchmen to do it.