Sunday, 10 November 2013

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

07:26

By: TBMU Admin On: 07:26   In:   No comments

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Moyes puts his trust in Van Persie

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 03:01 PM PST

Manchester United's manager believes his former Arsenal striker will have no regrets about having left a side on the rise again

Everyone was impressed when Sir Alex Ferguson reacted to Manchester City winning the 2012 title by signing Robin van Persie to make sure it did not happen again. Even David Moyes, watching from the sidelines as Everton manager, described it as "a master signing". Moyes had no inkling at the time that a little over 12 months later he would be in charge of Manchester United and Van Persie. But he might have been even more surprised by the news that Arsenal have recovered to the extent of opening a five-point gap at the top of the league and coming to Old Trafford with eight wins and a draw from their last nine games.

If it is not already being suggested that Van Persie jumped the gun in search of a trophy and might have been better waiting for Mesut Özil to raise Arsenal's game, it certainly will be should the Gunners keep up their winning streak on Sunday afternoon and open up a surely unbridgeable 11-point lead on United.

An unusually bullish Arsène Wenger has described the meeting of league leaders and defending champions as a benchmark fixture and claimed a win is a realistic target, bold words considering Arsenal have not enjoyed a league victory at Old Trafford since 2006. Moyes is not falling for the mind games though – he countered Wenger's assertion that he still sees Van Persie as an Arsenal player by claiming he still feels the same way about Mikel Arteta and Everton – and he insists the Holland striker has no regrets about his move north. "Robin was a great player at Arsenal, and he's come to Manchester United and been the same," Moyes said.

"I can understand Arsenal being a bit upset about that. Nobody wants to let their best players leave and Robin was undoubtedly one of Arsenal's best players. But his contract was running out, there was a situation where Arsenal had to act and Manchester United wanted him. Robin must have had strong views about wanting to join United at the time and I am sure he'd say he's made the right choice."

Moyes admits he was surprised when Sir Alex Ferguson spent £23m on Van Persie, mostly because the player had just turned 29. "It seemed a little bit unusual for United because they wouldn't normally sign a player in that age bracket." he said. "He was clearly one of the most talented centre-forwards in the Premier League and United went out to add a piece of the jigsaw they felt they needed. It proved to be a great signing almost immediately. It does happen in football that you sometimes lose your best players. This club lost Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and I'm sure they didn't want that at the time."

There was a time when Arsenal would have been daunted by a trip to Old Trafford, nine-match unbeaten run or not, but this is a Manchester United side adjusting to a new manager and not yet playing at its best. Moyes has seen West Bromwich Albion and Southampton enjoy success in Manchester this season, even Stoke City were in with a shout until late in the last home league game, and Arsenal have just posted one of the most impressive away results of the year in taking all three Champions League points from Borussia Dortmund. "That was a big test for them and they came through," Moyes said. "But Arsenal have always been a strong side to play against, I've never felt they were in decline. They have great stability and continuity. They haven't had too much disruption and I have great respect for the way Arsène Wenger has built his teams and how he's kept doing what he believes in. Over the years this has always been a big game between two sides with great players, and I don't see this being any different."

Over the years Wenger has occasionally complained about United's overly physical approach, but Moyes is relaxed on that score. "We used to get that at Everton as well," he said. "It wasn't a tactic as such, but at Everton we knew we had to be strong in standing up to Arsenal because they had such talented players. There were reasons why Everton played like that. At Manchester United, with the quality we have, we feel we can match what Arsenal have got."

Paul Wilson

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hodgson hopes Gerrard will continue after Brazil

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 03:01 PM PST

Manager will try to persuade his captain to stay on England duty if he is able to contribute effectively beyond the next World Cup

Joe Hart can relax. As long as he gets a few games for Manchester City between now and the World Cup he will remain in Roy Hodgson's plans. Jack Wilshere need not worry about rushing back for Sunday's game against Manchester United as, even if he cannot play, he will still be considered for the England friendlies against Chile and Germany. And though Steven Gerrard will be 34 at the next World Cup and appears to be hinting at international retirement afterwards, Hodgson will have a go at changing his mind if he thinks he can contribute something beyond Brazil.

"As a coach I will always be trying to keep what I think are the best players," Hodgson said on naming Southampton's Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez in a squad that once again aimed to strike a balance between experience and youthful promise. "I'm just going to bring a very pragmatic approach to the situation, choosing who I think are the best players, and I'm convinced that anyone who gets handed the shirt, whether they have played the last four games for their club or not, will go out and do the job."

Apart from nationality the main difference between Hodgson and predecessors such as Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson is that he came to the job with his eyes open. Capello was startled when he realised how small a pool of talent there was to work with in the mother country and, though he set out with a principled policy of only selecting players who were appearing regularly for their clubs, when the crunch came he was forced to adapt.

Eriksson was repeatedly frustrated by injuries to key players at crucial moments, either towards the end of a season or in the middle of a tournament, so much so that he made himself unpopular by demanding a winter break that the FA was in no position to sanction.

Hodgson knows the score. Not only does he have fewer players to select from than leading international rivals but, come the World Cup, they will be weary and quite possibly injured. "That's the way it is," he said. "We all know there aren't enough English players playing regularly at the top level, only four or five English players started in the Champions League this week, for example, but the first thing you need to accept as a national coach is that you are at the mercy of clubs and club managers.

"They make their decisions and you have to make yours to fit round them. I certainly don't intend to have a rule that, if you don't play for your club side, you don't play for England. I will never go that far. On the other hand I'm not prepared to say either that, if you never get a game for your club, don't worry because you will always be a part of the England set-up.

"Joe Hart, for instance, only lost his place a couple of games ago. If we get to February and March and he still isn't playing, or has been replaced, then that's a problem, but at the moment he is still the keeper I rate No1 and I'm still picking him. It is obvious we do not have as many goalkeepers to choose from as we once did but in that position it is more about quality than quantity. We also have Ben Foster, Fraser Forster, John Ruddy and Jack Butland, and we should be able to find a good goalkeeper out of those five."

Hart is likely to start against Germany, a bold choice of opponents considering the runaround England were given in Bloemfontein in the game that drew an emphatic line under their participation in the last World Cup. Hodgson is all too aware that the present feelgood factor might not survive a similar result, and also that the Germans have managed a continuity of selection that England have found elusive. "I was quite surprised to discover Germany can boast seven players who have played in 75% of their qualification games," he said. "We have only three. They seem to have been a bit luckier with injuries."

While Eriksson was of the opinion that something other than luck was at work, Hodgson sees little point in arguing for a rest period now. "I've been told not to continue talking about winter breaks," he said. "It is a subject for discussion but for me at the moment it doesn't serve any purpose. There won't be a winter break this year, that's for sure, so as far as Brazil is concerned it doesn't feature highly on my list of priorities. There are more pressing issues."

Trying not to lose 4-1 to Germany might be considered one of those but the Winner-esque message from Hodgson to the nation is "Keep calm, it's only a friendly". "It will be a massive test for us if Germany put their best team out," the England coach said. "But whatever happens at Wembley won't be the same as meeting a top nation in a tournament. Nothing can reproduce that. We have just taken four points off Brazil in two friendlies. Does that make us the better team? Will Brazil be shaking in their boots if we meet next summer? I don't think so."

Paul Wilson

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Manchester City's Alvaro Negredo: What I heard of Premier League is true

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST

The Spanish forward had to raise expectations when arriving at the Etihad from Sevilla but has really taken to the English game

The first thing Alvaro Negredo did when Manuel Pellegrini persuaded him to leave Seville for Manchester was buy an umbrella. Doubtless a wise investment, although in point of fact it has not seen much use yet. Not only has the weather in the north of England been unexpectedly clement, Manchester City's Spanish centre-forward has been such a success in his first Premier League season he has found little time for exploring his new surroundings.

"I like going for walks, going around the city with my family, but the truth is that there have been such a lot of games recently I haven't done much more than stay at home and rest," Negredo explains. "There hasn't been too much time to do a lot of wandering around but I have signed for four years, so I have a while yet to find out about Manchester."

The striker, who scored a hat-trick against CSKA Moscow in City's last Champions League outing, has certainly found the football in England to his liking. "Most of what I had heard about the Premier League turns out to be true," he says. "You look at it from outside and think: "OK, I've got my expectations" but then you actually come here and see what it means to people and to be playing in it and you suddenly realise: 'Wow, my expectations need to go up here!' That is what I am trying to do and I am enjoying it."

People said as soon as Negredo arrived that his direct, muscular style would be suited to English football. In fact, it turns out he even heard that said of him in Spain. "At Sevilla we had a similar kind of style. We had José Antonio Reyes and Jesús Navas on the wings and crossing and they needed a big centre-forward in the middle to knock it.

"At Sevilla I was always there in the middle, trying to make sure that when the ball came in, I knew what to do with it. That's why it is great to have Jesús here with me now. We have been together for four years now, so we understand how each other plays. I don't even have to look to see where he is going to put the ball. I just know instinctively whether he is going to cross to the far post, the near post or in the middle and that kind of simplicity makes it very easy for me."

Negredo scored 31 goals for Sevilla last season and believes if he can match that in England he will have a chance of making the Spanish World Cup squad. In 19 appearances for his country he has managed 10 goals, a more than decent strike rate, but he was nevertheless overlooked for the last World Cup in South Africa. There are good players ahead of him but the 28-year-old has faced competition throughout his career and generally prospered. "Competition is good," he says. "I like to set myself challenges. I am really happy with the time I am getting on the pitch and hopefully it will carry on like this but I don't have a problem with fighting for my place in the team."

Ironically, the only time Negredo has found his way blocked by quality team-mates ahead of him was at his first senior club, managed by one M Pellegrini, who quickly sold him. But Real Madrid at the end of the galáctico was something out of the ordinary. "The problem I had at Real was that I was very young and I was fighting for a place in the squad with a lot of world-class players," he says.

"There was Raúl, Ronaldo, Benzema, Van Nistelrooy and Higuaín, so I didn't really have much of a chance because of the age I was. At least when Pellegrini sold me, he spoke to me and explained his decision. He said to me: 'Listen, I want you to go to a club where you can keep growing by doing well.' He helped me look at my options, there were no hard feelings. If anything, I am grateful to him – and not just because he has brought me to Manchester.

"I know he has confidence in me because he also wanted me when he was in charge at Villarreal and Málaga but he was honest with me, very up front about what he felt I should do, and that's all you can ask from a manager."

Negredo is well on his way to cult hero status at the Etihad, helped by a nickname – The Beast – that has already been adapted into the old Feed the Goat song from Shaun Goater's time at the club. "I've never met Shaun Goater but I am aware that he was really well loved here and a few team-mates have explained the song," he says.

"I like it a lot but I have liked it here right from the first day. When you go out in the streets people say hello to you, wish you good morning, it's a really great feeling. People paint England a bit black but you know it is not too bad at all. It is one of the best decisions I have made on a personal level and a football level."

So would Negredo recommend a move to England to, say, Lionel Messi, who perhaps needs to get out of his one-club comfort zone in Barcelona? "I suppose so, it could happen," he says. "He is a player who can play really well in any league at all and maybe in a few years' time he will get bored with La Liga and want a change."

Paul Wilson

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Arsène Wenger returns for a walk on wild side against Manchester United

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST

Eleven years ago Arsenal's manager got an earful on a stroll in United territory. Old Trafford's welcome will be fierce this time too

It has been a while since Arsenal have journeyed up the M1 and M6 to Old Trafford emboldened by hopeful anticipation. The years have passed, some of them painfully, since they arrived in Manchester knowing that a result can be a powerful springboard towards a title tilt. In five league-winning seasons over a 15-year period between 1989 and 2004, they always travelled home armed with a positive result and a memorable experience that would resonate within the squad. Never was it more acutely felt than in 2002, with the opportunity to actually be crowned champions with an away win at Manchester United.

The night before the match, Arsenal stayed at the Lowry, where the imposing structure of Old Trafford's hulking stands was visible from the windows of the players' rooms. Arsène Wenger likes to take the squad for a walk when they stay away, to stretch their legs and move their minds out of the confines of the hotel. He proposed an afternoon stroll around Salford Quays. Lee Dixon, born not far from this neck of the woods, was not convinced this was the wisest move. "I told the boss: 'I'm from Manchester, and it's not really a great idea to walk around in our Arsenal tracksuits before playing the title decider'," he recalls. But Wenger shrugged it off, and out they went, only to be accosted by a window cleaner who told him in rich local vernacular what he thought of such brazenness.

"Arsène got threatened by this window cleaner," Dixon remembers, chuckling at the memory. "The guy couldn't believe we had the gall to walk around their patch. The atmosphere between the two teams was epitomised by that." The friction born out of regular head-to-head confrontation, made for knife-edge sharpness.

As it turned out, they were not intimidated by the best efforts of the window cleaner. Nor were they derailed by the combative spirit that United brought to the pitch the following night. It was understandable. Sir Alex Ferguson's team were obliged to do whatever they could to prevent something as unpalatable as effectively taking the trophy from their mantelpiece and grudgingly handing it over the threshold. If that meant a few hard kicks, so be it. Besides, Arsenal's players at the time knew all about what Dixon describes as "looking after itself". In that era both clubs had a few footballing angels with dirty faces.

They took turns to famously impose some considerable force on this fixture around that time. In the 2003-04 season, Arsenal were more aggressive during a spiteful 0-0 draw which provoked the enduring image of Martin Keown leaping at Ruud van Nistelrooy – who missed a stoppage-time penalty which turned out to be the closest the Invincible team came to losing. The following campaign it was United whose gameplan was based on shoving their opponents out of their unbeaten stride.

Much has changed since then. Not least that the title tussle no longer revolves around duelling between these two clubs – certainly not with Chelsea and Manchester City high on the list of contenders. The other major change is in temperature. Although the nature of some of Wenger's pointed pre-match comments about refereeing suggests he is half expecting another physical examination, the Arsenal manager generally believes these games have become less brutish than they once were.

"We went sometimes to Old Trafford where they had backs to the wall, they had the knife at their throat," he says. "When Roy Keane was there you expected a physical game. But at that period we had as well players who could respond to that. We were not short on that front. The game in the last 10 years has had maybe an evolution and it is a bit more controlled than it was before."

Does his current team have the attributes to cope in the way his old powerful side did? "The personality is there," reckons Wenger. "We have today a more mobile, technical team. Before we had more strong bodies. So naturally the game was a little different."

[NB possible cut for paper here?...] Despite some of the antipathy, over the years these clubs have respected elements in each other. The young British core that plays a big role in his current squad – last season Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson posed together as they signed new long-term deals – is a nod towards his admiration for United's class of 92.

"The sense of belonging is important," reflects Wenger. "It has been a bit neglected in the modern game, certainly. It's important for the players to feel the club means something to them. I really believe that in some difficult periods of the season, or difficult periods in the career of the player, that sense of belonging is very important. That can only be built with players growing up here.

"They had an exceptional group together. If you take Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Butt, the Nevilles... you have six or seven who can play at that level they are ready to fight for them. I would sign up today for this group to be as successful as Man United's players were. We have an opportunity to do that. Nobody can stop you if you have quality and attitude."Today is a chance to stake some pretty big credentials. Dixon recalls how it felt for a team to launch themselves in the past. In 1998, Marc Overmars gave Arsenal, who were thundering up the rails, a 1-0 win which wrestled control from United's hands to theirs. "There is nothing worse than looking over your shoulder and seeing your enemy getting closer and closer," says Dixon. "We knew if Manchester United could see us in their rear-view mirror, with the impetus we had, we could deliver a massive blow. Arsène was his usual pragmatic self in the dressing room afterwards but a few of us were giving the old wink around. That season it all clicked. That 98 team was the best I played in and arguably better than the Invincibles. I think the 98 team would have beaten the Invincibles. It had solidity, flair, guile, grit, and could look after itself."

That willingness to stick up for one another was very much in evidence when Ferguson came up against George Graham's Arsenal. In the 1990-91 season Arsenal's win at Old Trafford became infamous for the bad blood which boiled over into a 21-man brawl and would eventually be punished by deducted points (two for repeat offenders Arsenal and one for United). Graham made a point of insisting that his team put on their Arsenal blazers and go to the players lounge afterwards for a drink to boldly show their faces. "George made a point of saying: 'We're on the map. Show our solidarity,'" remembers Dixon. "I took great pride in travelling away in a blazer with a badge on your chest. You would get off the coach suited and booted and it made me feel bulletproof."

Coincidentally, Arsenal have recently reintroduced wearing suits to matches at the Emirates, something the players asked for as it makes them feel sharp, polished, and more of a connected group.

They take encouraging form into Sunday's challenge but do so on the back of the poorest run of league results at Old Trafford for a number of decades. Seven losses from the past nine attempts reflects their spell out of contention at the top.

Although Dixon believes there are too many contenders, and it is far too early for it to give any clues to the destination of the title, he does think this game packs a huge psychological punch. There is a big gain at stake for both these teams. "The biggest would be Arsenal's," he reckons. "If they win it is a bigger blow to everyone else than if United win. I don't mean just in terms of points. If United win people would say: 'OK, they are back in it' but would not be completely convinced. If Arsenal win there would be a double effect: They would be perceived as the real deal, but also the gain internally in the squad, coming after the Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund wins, would be huge."

Wenger and his players are hopeful. But they know better than to be over-confident. It was only two years ago that they were as hurt as they had ever been in this often fateful fixture, losing by a barely credible 8-2. "You push it to one side," says Wenger. "But you never forget it."

Amy Lawrence

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Ten-man Sydney FC hold on to claim important win over Melbourne Victory

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:24 PM PST

Sydney FC captain Alessandro Del Piero celebrated his 39th birthday with a 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory at Allianz Stadium

Newcastle Jets stun Adelaide to get their season up and running

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:20 PM PST

• Adelaide United 1-2 Newcastle Jets
• Deserved win for Jets at Hindmarsh
• No wins in four games for Reds

West Brom's Steve Clarke flabbergasted by penalty awarded to Chelsea

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:13 PM PST

• Ramires was already on his way down, says Clarke
• Jose Mourinho happy with Chelsea's late fightback

Steve Clarke was "flabbergasted" at Andre Marriner's decision to award Chelsea a stoppage-time penalty as West Bromwich Albion came within 19 seconds of becoming the first visiting team to beat José Mourinho's side in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge.

Marriner deemed Steven Reid's challenge on Ramires in the fourth minute of stoppage time to be worthy of a spot-kick, which was duly converted by Eden Hazard, restored to the side having been disciplined in midweek for missing a training session. Mourinho has now gone 66 home league matches in charge of Chelsea without experiencing defeat, with this the closest he has come to surrendering that record.

His former assistant, though, was incensed by the plot's late twist. "It's very hard to take, and I'm very disappointed and sad for my team because we deserved the three points," said Clarke . "I'm just disappointed a bad decision has cost us. That's three penalty decisions this year that have cost us five points, in my opinion. I just hope that doesn't come back to hurt us, because five points are hard to get in the Premier League.

"I haven't spoken to the referee, but what's the point? I can't change the decision. I'm flabbergasted at it. I can't believe he gave it. I saw it at the time. I've been in the game a long time and I knew [Ramires] was already on the way down before anyone was near him.

"The referee has to be 100% sure. How he can be 100% sure is beyond me. You can put a label on it if you want, but the onus is on the referee to make the right decision. He didn't make it. This should have been a fantastic result for us but, in the end, it's just a good result."

Mourinho, who confirmed the England full-back Ashley Cole had been dropped from the side after a sloppy display at Newcastle last week, disagreed having watched footage of the penalty incident. "It came at a moment when it's difficult for the team that were winning to accept, but this one was a penalty," he said. "From the bench I didn't know, no idea, but on the screen no doubts."

The Chelsea manager pointed instead to a perceived foul from Stéphane Sessègnon on Ivanovic in the buildup to the visitors' second goal. "It's a free-kick, just in front of the fourth official. That's where I think the fourth official's job, instead of looking to see if the manager is in his technical area or not, should be to influence the game."

The draw, while gratefully received in the end, left Chelsea four points adrift of Arsenal ahead of the leaders' game at Manchester United . Yet Mourinho took heart from his players' display. "I'm satisfied," he said. "The attitude in the first half was the correct one: be patient, wait because it's difficult to break a wall. Then their first goal was strange, and their second a referee's mistake. After that our reaction could be die or fight for life, and the team fought for life."

Dominic Fifield

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Sebastian Larsson says Sunderland are ready to startle Manchester City

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:01 PM PST

• Gus Poyet is making a difference, says midfielder
• City have poor record at Stadium of Light

The doubly bad news for Manuel Pellegrini and Manchester City is that, whereas they have developed a peculiar habit of losing on Wearside, Sunderland are finally remembering how to win again. "We have to be honest and say we lost that winning mentality," concedes Sebastian Larsson, Gus Poyet's Swedish midfielder. "But we're getting it back – and we're taking positives from our record against City."

The recent statistics are quite startling, Sunderland having won the pair's past three Premier League games at the Stadium of Light 1-0. "That record gives us the belief that, if we do put in a really good performance, we can beat them," says Larsson. "That's our aim. We're desperate for points but we've won our last two home games [against Newcastle in the league and Southampton in the Capital One Cup] and we want to make it three."

This mini sequence means that, despite his new side having only one Premier League win to their name all season, Poyet has a 100% home record. "He's come in and really lifted spirits about the place," says Larsson. "It's a good place to come to work now. He's instilled a lot of belief and he wants us to play a different type of football. It won't change overnight but especially against Southampton there were signs we were improving, keeping hold of the ball better. He's been very clear in what he wants us to do."

Poyet's desire for more of a patient possession game featuring significantly improved passing saw him experiment with a 4-1-4-1 system against Southampton. "It could be the way forward," says Larsson. "Hopefully we'll be able to play a few different systems but the middle of the park is so important, we have to be solid. Most teams do play three in the middle, sometimes it's been tough when there's only two in there."

Life has frequently been challenging for Sunderland without Wes Brown, their best defender, over the past couple of years but, finally recovered from a serious knee problem, the former Manchester United centre-half is back in the first team for the first time since January 2012.

In the interim Brown variously underwent a series of controversial sugar injections in the joint last season and persuaded Paolo Di Canio otherwise when Poyet's predecessor urged him to retire during the summer. "It's a massive boost to have Wes Brown back," says Larsson. "He's a leader on the pitch, he's very confident – and as a former Man Utd player he'll be looking forward to playing against City."

So, too, is the Swedish set-piece specialist. "I made my senior debut against Manchester City for Arsenal in the League Cup at 19," recalls Larsson, who has devoted much of this week to practising a free-kick technique once lauded by Arsène Wenger. "I played left back and we won. So I started off my career by beating them."

Louise Taylor

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

David Moyes tries to make his mark while spectre of Sir Alex looms large | Daniel Taylor

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST

Ferguson's presence still felt at Old Trafford as Manchester United manager struggles to lay foundations for a new empire

In the worst moments, a press release dropped from one of the more powerful bookmakers announcing a sudden shift on the betting-shop chalkboards, with the headline: "Ferguson 7-2 to replace David Moyes". That was the weekend West Brom won at Old Trafford. Manchester United were in the bottom half of the league, the Derby Evening Telegraph had "Clough Sacked" emblazoned across its front page and, briefly, it felt like everything had gone back to 1973 all over again. Nobody at Old Trafford particularly wants to remember that decade.

The week before, Moyes's team had come close to emulating what is known in Manchester simply as "the 5-1". "David Moyes is a football genius," City's supporters had sung. Sam Allardyce reckoned his mate had aged 10 years. Gary Lineker poked fun on Match of the Day. "All the betting suggests Sir Alex Ferguson is waiting in the wings," the press release announced. "The odds of him coming back to pick up the pieces are getting shorter with every bad result."

Then the northern dinner of the Football Writers' Association, with Sir Sean Connery narrating a video montage of Ferguson's triumphs, and the excruciating awkwardness when the compere asked all 400 guests to give Moyes a standing ovation, in recognition of his "courage". The previous day, United had conceded an 89th-minute equaliser at home to Southampton. There is no point dressing it up: it was a sympathy vote.

Nobody ever said it was going to be easy, and the man depicted on the Old Trafford banner as "The Chosen One" is certainly streetwise enough to understand that replacing someone of Ferguson's achievements was never going to be a seamless process.

Moyes had a copy of Ferguson's autobiography in his luggage for the midweek trip to Real Sociedad and all he has to do is turn to the story in the first chapter – about a letter that was sent to United's manager in January 2010 – to be reminded about the unforgiving nature of his business. "Can you please refund the £41 I paid for my ticket on Sunday?" it asked. "You promised me entertainment. I did not get entertainment. Can I have my £41 back?" United had just lost an FA Cup tie at home to Leeds. Ferguson wrote back saying: "Can you please debit the £41 from my profit over the last 24 years?"

The problem for Moyes is that he does not have that kind of background. With Ferguson, there was always that sense during the rough times that if you were going to dance on his grave be sure to check it was firmly sealed first. It is different with Moyes. The crowd is making up its mind whether or not it can trust him. The results have been erratic and the changeover, in the more harrowing moments, has taken on the form of a failed relay. The baton is on the track and everyone is looking Moyes's way for the explanation.

He probably realises now – thinking back to that harrowing finish against Southampton – that they tend not to like it at Old Trafford when the team are winning at home and the manager replaces a striker, Wayne Rooney, for a defender, Chris Smalling.

Perhaps, in hindsight, he will admit it was a mistake not trying to sever his ties with Everton before 1 July, denying himself another six weeks or so of possible transfer business; and maybe, if he was being really truthful, he would accept the size of the job has taken him aback, just as it did Ferguson when he came down from Aberdeen 27 years ago to the week.

Everton was hardly stress-free, but, with respect, that was a club of 250 full-time staff. United have more than 800 and, on match days, the number exceeds 2,000. A dozen or so journalists used to turn up for Everton's press conferences. At Carrington, it can be 60-odd. Number ones, columnists, bloggers, diarists, patch men, Tokyo correspondents. "Back page, front page, cartoon strip – the lot," as Ferguson used to say. One survey in 2012 wildly estimated United's worldwide fanbase at 659 million. It is enough to make anyone feel Lilliputian.

The bottom line is that Moyes has not won enough matches. His team have barely managed 45 minutes of cohesive football in their three benchmark Premier League fixtures against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City – taking a solitary point and scoring once – and Moyes has sounded a touch sorry for himself at times. Even after beating Liverpool in the Capital One Cup, he finished his press conference by announcing he half-expected to get City, away, in the next round, in the same conspiratorial tone he had used when suggesting the fixture list had been fixed to sabotage his chances of a decent start. Those rheumy, ice-blue eyes told his audience he was being serious. Then the draw took place a few minutes later. United got Norwich, at home.

Moyes certainly needs something to lift the club and no doubt a lot of the foreboding will quickly disperse if his team can halt Arsenal's renaissance. The alternative would not be pretty bearing in mind football is so wretchedly knee-jerk sometimes, but, whatever happens, it is worth taking into account there are mitigating circumstances when even United's chief executive, Ed Woodward, has admitted that the squad the new manager inherited is obviously short of stardust.

That is not to make excuses on Moyes's behalf when the feeling here has always been United could have shown greater ambition in their selection process and that discounting José Mourinho because of his past controversies was rich, to say the least, given the number of times Ferguson has gone to war with every rival, authority and newspaper in the land.

Moyes might eventually regret his decision to torpedo United's plans to sign Thiago Alcântara before Bayern Munich moved in to arrange a deal with Barcelona. Marouane Fellaini is not a player to bewitch Old Trafford in the way, say, Mesut Özil will with Arsenal – and Arsène Wenger was not intending to sound patronising when he made the point that Moyes has never experienced this pressure and expectation before. "Welcome to our world," he said.

Yet it is 43 days since United lost. Moyes probably deserves a lot more credit than he has had for smoothing things over with Rooney and he can hardly be blamed for the transfer-market failures that preceded him. There have been plenty, and just because United won the league last year does not make them unimportant.

One of the stranger passages in Ferguson's autobiography – in the sense that he actually allowed it into print – recounts the time his brother, Martin, reported back from scouting on Anderson when the Brazilian was at Porto. "Alex, he's better than Wayne Rooney," was the excitable message after five weeks on his trail. A £20m deal was cut and Anderson is now in his seventh season in Manchester. He has started, on average, half a dozen league games in each campaign.

Watching Paul Pogba orchestrating the Juventus midfield, it can feel like a trick of the mind that David Gill, Woodward's predecessor, risked offering the young Frenchman such a low salary to keep him at Old Trafford, particularly when there was an agent with Mino Raoila's contacts involved. Ravel Morrison is a more complex issue, admittedly, but there is something remarkably self-defeating about the way United, again on Gill's watch, identified Luka Modric as the best candidate to replace Paul Scholes then decided it was not worth the hassle. As Ferguson explains it, United simply did not like dealing with the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, and had effectively cut off all ties after the carry-on to bring in Dimitar Berbatov.

Fellaini is actually the first classic central midfielder United have recruited since 2007. And Scholes? He now restricts himself to the occasional dads-v-lads match at Stalybridge Celtic. Pretty well, too, judging by one account of him spotting his mates drinking in the stand, then pinging the ball 25 yards, inch-perfect, to spill their pints. "Beer everywhere."

The gap has never been filled and, until it is, it will be almost as much of a problem as the fact Ferguson now sits 20 yards over Moyes's left shoulder.

Daniel Taylor

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Defoe remains behind Soldado

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST

• André Villas-Boas sticks with Soldado for league games
• Breaking European record 'doesn't change perspective'

André Villas-Boas has warned Jermain Defoe that he is likely to remain on the fringes of Tottenham's first team for the rest of the season despite having just become the club's all-time record goalscorer in European competition.

Defoe went past Martin Chivers' landmark tally of 22 goals with a firmly hit penalty in Thursday's 2-1 Europa League victory over FC Sheriff, a result that confirmed Spurs's place in the knockout stage of the competition with two Group K matches to spare. It was a momentous achievement for the 31-year-old. Yet ahead of Newcastle's visit to White Hart Lane on Sunday he is likely to return to the bench, with Roberto Soldado coming back in as the lone striker in Villas-Boas's favoured 4-2-3-1 formation.

Indeed, Defoe has started just once in the Premier League this season with all of his other starts, and total of nine goals – three more than Soldado has secured – coming in the Europa League and the Capital One Cup. It would be natural, therefore, if he was feeling frustrated and decided that with the World Cup looming it would be wise to move in January. Villas-Boas has insisted, however, that he has no desire to sell Defoe and, equally, will not give the player more opportunities to shine just because of what he achieved against Sheriff.

"He has scored nine goals, which has been a great start for him, but it [breaking Chivers' record] doesn't change our perspective regarding his position in the team," said the Spurs manager. "We've been rotating and given opportunities to players playing in the Europa League to break into the Premier League team. Jermain played against West Ham, then we went back to Soldado playing in the Premier League. We're extremely happy with both and it's just a question of deciding what is better on a specific date regarding our strategy."

Asked if appreciated that Defoe's World Cup place – he was selected in England's 28-man squad for the upcoming friendlies against Chile and Germany – could be jeopardised by a lack of Premier League starts, Villas Boas added: "I'm not sure about Roy Hodgson's selection process. From what I've seen, he's been counting on Defoe and he has been included in all call-ups this season.

"Obviously, everyone wants to get matches in the Premier League, but we've found comfort playing in this system and three strikers [Soldado, Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor] are competing for one position. So it's not easy for any of them."

Meanwhile, Villas-Boas has confirmed that Hugo Lloris will start against Newcastle, exactly a week after the goalkeeper suffered a blow to the head in a challenge with Romelu Lukaku at Goodison Park. Controversy followed regarding Villas-Boas's decision to allow Lloris to finish the game, with the manager angrily defending his actions afterwards and insisting the Frenchman had suffered no adverse effects as a result of the collision. Lloris was, however, left out of the match with Sheriff, with Brad Friedel coming in as his replacement.

Sachin Nakrani

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hugo Lloris row means cool heads must prevail over injury risks | Tim Adams

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST

Fifa's intervention in Spurs controversy had echoes of recent landmark agreement over head injuries in the NFL

The reaction to Hugo Lloris's unconfirmed second or two of unconsciousness after his headfirst collision with Romelu Lukaku's knee last weekend was a curious – and possibly game-changing – chapter in the continuing phone-in of our sporting lives. Even by the standards of crowd-sourced controversy, the response to the Spurs goalkeeper's insistence on continuing to play despite feeling a bit groggy looked more exaggerated than an Ashley Young dive. After all, which footballer, or rugby player (not to mention boxer) has not come round from momentary disorientation and, after sorting out the days of the week and the name of the current prime minister, returned to the fray? How would AP McCoy have ever got his 4,000 winners had he not many times got knocked down, and got back up again? Weren't many of the legends of our sporting past – Brian Close heading away Michael Holding bouncers, Terry Butcher with his Halloween bandage – forged from minor concussion, heart ruling head …

At least that was the instinctive argument. But, as has been shown this week, it is one that ignores two distinct realities that are changing the way we watch and play contact sport. The first is the advance of medical science, which gives ever greater insight into the measurement of physical harm and related risks. Nowhere is this ability more marked than in the multi-coloured brain scans of neuroscience. Lloris's own brain was not available for public dissection, but images of others were produced in evidence to support the unarguable wisdom that any instance of concussion should be treated with great caution.

A second reality that the goalkeeper's courage or foolishness highlighted, however, mostly remained unspoken, though you could perhaps detect it in the unusually speedy response from Fifa in condemning the medical team at Spurs. That reality is the growing climate of litigation in professional sport. In Fifa's criticism of André Villas-Boas's "irresponsible" judgment that Lloris had shown "great character and personality" by playing on, you could hear echoes of a recent landmark American agreement concerning head injuries in the National Football League, one that has been seen to threaten the entire future of that sport.

In August, after years of denial, the NFL agreed to a $765m (£478) out-of-court settlement with a group of former players who had sued the league for its role in hiding or underplaying the effects of brain trauma in the game, while glorifying its violence, a cover-up which has been exposed in a series of recent books and documentaries. Individual former players suffering motor neurone disease, for example, will as a result be entitled to payouts of up to $5m. If a further test case judgment is approved by a federal judge in the coming months all former players with conditions ranging from depression to Alzheimer's may be eligible for compensation.

The story is rooted in a study of the brain of a former Philadelphia Eagles player, Andre Waters, who in December 2006 took his own life. The neurologists who looked at Waters' brain described its 44-year-old tissue as resembling that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient, and made the link to his career, a finding which prompted the New York Times to give space to the argument that parents should "not send their children back out on to the fields". Since then, many former NFL and college players have been tempted to the courts. There have been 3,500 cases brought by former professional gridiron players in California alone, a number which has led governor Jerry Brown to endorse legislation to prevent such litigation in the state.

If the financial implications of such cases are potentially enormous so the risks associated with playing sport are increasingly being interrogated. One positive outcome is a much greater emphasis on safe technique in the junior levels of all sports. Another, more contentious trend is the spread of legal claims to other injuries and other sports. In America "soccer" players are increasingly seeking compensation not only for the lasting effects of head injury but also for long-term damage to hips and knees and ankles. The former World Cup player Eric Wynalda, for example, recently won a $127,500 settlement from Chicago Fire of the MLS for a range of injuries sustained in his career. It is likely to be only a matter of time before many former players start to look at their replaced hips and the knees that won't get them upstairs and start making calls to their lawyers.

The overt concern of Fifa for Hugo Lloris might be viewed as a pre-emptive strike by the international governing body in this respect.

Definitive links between a career in professional football and later brain illness are not proven in this country though there is a good deal of anecdotal evidence to suggest that the centre-halves and centre-forwards of the 1950s and 1960s who headed thousands of sodden leather footballs for a living might be more prone to early onset Alzheimer's than most. The coroner's report into the death at 59 of Jeff Astle, the former West Brom and England forward, made the connection explicit, calling his fatal degenerative brain disease "death by industrial injury".

It is, obviously, crucial that such risks are minimised in all sports. But there is also a related danger that, with increased litigation, pitches and playing fields begin to be viewed by parents and players and governing bodies as arenas for physical harm rather than physical education. Every morning my own stiff right ankle, clicking left knee and rebuilt shoulder remind me that I used to love playing football – I can well remember the collisions, mostly mistimed on my part, that first caused all three. Was I aware of the risks at the time? Probably not.

Would I – along with any other 18-year-old – have played anyway had I known how I would feel on cold mornings aged 47? Of course.

Tim Adams

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Met chief: 'I will welcome inquiry into statements on Hillsborough'

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 01:57 PM PST

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says he was 'confused' when he claimed to have given evidence to the official Taylor inquiry into the 1989 football tragedy

Families of Hillsborough disaster victims have accused the head of Scotland Yard of making misleading statements about an inquiry into the tragedy and have called for an investigation. They say that Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner, failed to tell the truth last year when he claimed to have made a statement to Lord Justice Taylor's 1989 inquiry into how 96 football fans died.

The families want the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate his account and why he appears never to have made an official statement to the inquiry despite having been an inspector in South Yorkshire police at the time of the disaster. They want the IPCC to look into his actions on the day.

Their demands come amid a continuing IPCC investigation into alleged police misconduct during and in the aftermath of Britain's worst sporting disaster.

Hogan-Howe said he had been confused when he said he made a statement to the Taylor inquiry. In fact, the account he referred to is a brief, six-line note of a telephone conversation in May 1990, when Taylor's inquiry was over. He said he wants the IPCC to investigate the account he gave after Hillsborough as part of its current investigation.

The investigation has confirmed that it will examine Hogan-Howe's actions on the day. He was the officer in charge at a Sheffield boys' club in which friends and relatives waited for news. The investigation has confirmed that it will examine Hogan-Howe's actions on the day of the disaster. At 7.20pm a senior police officer, his identity still unknown, read out a list of people confirmed to be "safe and well". The list included Adam Spearritt – who was 14 when he died at Hillsborough. Friends who had gone to the match with Adam and his father, Eddie, telephoned Jan Spearritt, Adam's mother, to reassure her that her son was alive. She says that incorrect identification added to their anguish. The family never complained about that mistake, but have always been particularly unhappy that South Yorkshire police, despite repeated requests, refused to explain how it happened. Sir Norman Bettison, then a chief inspector in South Yorkshire police, was involved in organising the waiting area in the boys club and compiling the missing persons list. Both he and Hogan-Howe later became chief constables of Merseyside police, Bettison from 1998-2005; Hogan-Howe from 2005-2009.

Following last September's Hillsborough Independent Panel report into the disaster, Hogan-Howe was asked about his actions on the day. He replied that he "provided statements to the Taylor report about his role following the tragedy".

Those statements did not, however, appear in the archive of official documents published by the panel. One document, dated 18 May 1990, noted that an Inspector Sawers of West Midlands police (the force appointed to investigate the disaster) had contacted Hogan-Howe, to "ascertain whether Insp [sic] Hogan-Howe, who was at the boys' club, Hammerton Road, arranging the policing, has anything relevant to add to the inquiry".

Hogan-Howe said Sawers had telephoned him after he had given "investigators" his account. "When asked later [by Sawers] if I wanted to add to [my] account, I said I did not," he said.

The Metropolitan police then forwarded the document Hogan-Howe had been referring to as the account he gave to investigators of his role in the disaster. It is not, in fact, a statement provided to the Taylor inquiry; it is a very brief note of a telephone conversation with PC Kenneth Greenway, of the South Yorkshire police. Greenway's six-line account of his conversation with Hogan-Howe includes only this about the boys' club: "Going to the Hillsborough boys' club and had dealing with social services, relatives etc. I finished at 3.30am on Sun 16/04/89."

That is the note Hogan-Howe has described as his "account of my role" given to "investigators" and as "statements to the Taylor report".

It is dated 23 May 1990, long after Taylor had completed his report. It was also five days after Hogan-Howe was contacted by Sawers to see if he had "anything relevant to add to the inquiry". Sawers was not calling him "later," to "add to this account", as Hogan-Howe said. In fact when Sawers called him, Hogan-Howe had not made any statement, and he apparently declined then to make "a comprehensive statement".

Paul Spearritt, Adam's younger brother, said he was shocked by Hogan-Howe's apparently misleading statements about the accounts he had given of his role at Hillsborough, and called on the IPCC to conduct a full investigation.

"In all these years we have never had any explanation as to why Adam was in the list as 'alive and well,' no identification of which police officer read it out, no apology from that officer – no admission that it even happened," he said.

Hogan-Howe explained his incorrect statements about the accounts he gave of his actions at Hillsborough, saying his "confusion" was due to recollecting events of more than 20 years ago.

Of the incorrect naming of Adam Spearritt as "alive and well" in the boys club the night of the disaster, Hogan-Howe said: "I only became aware of the complaint or criticism regarding the reading out of a list by an officer earlier this year. If I had been aware, I would have been more than eager to provide what information I could."

Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, to which the Spearritt family is affiliated, said she is "furious" that Hogan-Howe has blamed "confusion" for his misleading statements about the accounts he gave of Hillsborough: "It is incredible that the top police officer in the country has not told the truth about the account he gave when 96 people lost their lives, and it is difficult to believe he was confused. It is also astonishing he has never made a detailed statement about what he did as the senior officer in charge of bereaved people at the boys' club. I am calling on the IPCC to fully investigate."

David Conn

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Houston Dynamo 0-0 Sporting KC – as it happened

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 01:54 PM PST

MLS playoffs: Stalemate in MLS Eastern Conference Final first leg

Steve Busfield

Ross County 1-4 Celtic | Scottish Premiership match report

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 01:23 PM PST

Virgil van Dijk helped Celtic shrug off their Amsterdam hangover by inspiring them to a convincing 4-1 Scottish Premiership win over Ross County at the Global Energy Arena.

Celtic lost 1-0 away to Ajax on Wednesday to slump to the bottom of their Champions League section and leave qualification hopes up in the air.

The Dutchman led the charge, heading in an Emilio Izaguirre cross past Mark Brown after threatening on three earlier occasions. It was the 22-year-old's first goal for Celtic, having signed from Groningen in the summer for around £2m, and he got his second when he headed in a Charlie Mulgrew corner.

Ivan Sproule reduced the deficit after replacing Mark Klok but the midfielder Joe Ledley helped himself to two headers to underline what was an impressive response from Celtic to their midweek disappointment.

As promised, Neil Lennon made five changes for the trip to the Highlands. The captain Scott Brown and midfielder Nir Biton returned from suspension and also into the team came the right-back Darnell Fisher, Ledley and the striker Teemu Pukki as Anthony Stokes and Kris Commons started on the bench with Mikael Lustig, Georgios Samaras and Beram Kayal out altogether.

Van Dijk was involved in the first three real goal threats as the champions started with pace and purpose. His header from a Mulgrew cross in the second minute was cleared away in a packed penalty area by Stuart Kettlewell and five minutes later a powerful drive from 25 yards tested Brown.

In the 19th minute, after the league leaders' early pressure had subsided, Van Dijk got on the end of a Mulgrew free-kick from the left but headed wide under pressure from the County defence.

Biton took a turn in reaching a Mulgrew free-kick in the 29th minute but he fared no better, heading wide of the target before James Forrest knocked a cross from Izaguirre over the bar from 12 yards.

County looked happy enough to have weather the storm but offered little in attack. Their first effort came eight minutes from the break when the defender Mihael Kovacevic headed a Graham Carey corner over the bar from 10 yards.

That shaft of optimism preceded Celtic's opener which came when Mulgrew's short corner arrived at Izaguirre and this time the Celtic left-back shifted the ball to his right foot and flighted it over for Van Dijk to head in off the post from eight yards.

There was still time before the interval for Brown to make a decent save from Biton's long-distance drive and even at that point there was a sense that the home side would take nothing from this game.

Van Dijk's second came all too easily after Brown won a corner with a deflected strike which struck the post and flew behind. When Mulgrew flighted the ball over the Dutchman rose at the near post to head it into the net.

County nearly got a lifeline when Sproule, on the pitch for only two minutes, followed up to slam the ball into the net after Fraser Forster had parried a Rocco Quinn drive.

Three minutes later Ledley got his head on to an Izaguirre cross to make it 3-1 before again scoring with a header, this time from a Fisher cross.

Brown made a good fingertip save from Biton's header as Celtic threatened to really turn the screw, before Ledley was only denied a hat-trick by a post.


theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Said & Done – the week in football: Wonga, Qatar and croissants

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 01:16 PM PST

The week in football: Awards season; Qatar's dong; Tubby Walter's empty threat; plus why this is the end of love

Awards season: best newcomers

Newcastle sponsors Wonga – accused on Tuesday of "grooming children" with cynical PR, but embraced on Thursday at the Football Business Awards. Judges praised the online lender's "various community programmes in the wider Tyneside area," including Wonga Codemakers – a computer skills course for 14-year-olds.

• Wonga's early return on their investment, according to their citation: "In research carried out in August before a ball had been kicked, Wonga was the most recognised financial shirt sponsor, and second highest associated football brand in the Premier League."

• Also making PR news: 1) Manchester United signing Unilever as Official Personal Care and Laundry Partner; 2) PSG appointing McDonald's to produce PSG-themed burgers - helping fans "experience strong emotions, and share moments of pleasure".

Quote of the week

Sepp: still uneasy with the liberal one-eyed press coverage of Qatar's slave problem. "My grandmother always said a clock rings ding and dong, not ding-ding-ding. You have to listen to ding and to dong, and for now I only hear ding." His plan to redress the balance: meeting the Emir. "I've heard the ding from lots of journalists, so now I will go there, and listen to the dong."

• Also not buying the ding: ex-Fifa executive Franz Beckenbauer: "I have not seen a single slave in Qatar. I don't know where these reports come from. I've been to Qatar and have a completely different picture of it. I think mine is more realistic."

Elsewhere

Last week's other football family news:

• Greece: FA offices raided over 22 allegations of fraud, forgery, tax crime, vote rigging and the embezzlement of €28m. Reports say officials have complained to Uefa over "yet more government interference".

• Thailand: Fifa's Worawi Makudi, who won re-election as Thai FA president after changing the list of voters, facing legal action from Buriram United over alleged electoral fraud. Makudi says his win was "transparent".

War on racism latest

Taking the lead: Bulgaria's FA, fining Levski Sofia €1,500 after fans who marked Hitler's birthday with a swastika display in April produced a new banner reading "death to refugees". Also fined €1,500 last week: Botev Plovdiv player Boban Grncarov, for "briefly showing his middle finger".

Also disciplined

Peru: Union Fuerza Minera's Martin Dall'Orso, stoned and beaten with the butt of a gun after he missed his kick in a penalty shootout. Dall'Orso says the attack was ordered by club officials: "I don't feel safe here." The club deny involvement.

Manager news

• Mexico: Guadalajara Chivas coach Juan Carlos Ortega, unmoved by banners reading "leave or you die". "I didn't look. I'm too busy to read threats on sheets." Owner Jorge Vergara: "They're vandals, monkeys, pseudo-fans."

• France, 30 Oct: Ajaccio president Alain Orsoni, playing down public pressure to sack coach Fabrizio Ravanelli: "First, the players trust him; Second, never act in haste. If I have to act, I will - but it's not on the agenda." 3 Nov: It is.

Best nostalgia

Gennaro Gattuso, reflecting on life under two of his former chairmen: a) Sion's Christian Constantin, who sacked him after three months. "He couldn't stop interfering … He once made me so angry I had to lead him away by the testicles." b) Palermo's Maurizio Zamparini, who sacked him after six games. "An idiot who knew nothing. Absolutely nothing."

Best rebuttal

Romania: Rapidului co-owner Nicolae Cristescu, attacking "malicious lies" from players who alleged the club was saving money by rationing slices of bread. Cristescu said players actually have "a full buffet" of options, including "croissants with Nutella".

Regret of the week

Germany: Werder Bremen PA announcer Christian Stoll, sorry for describing a goal by Japan's Hiroki Sakai as "a bit like Fukushima". "I wanted to express that the shot was a real thunderbolt. The comment slipped out."

Best warning

Brazil: "Out-sized" Goias striker "Tubby" Walter, warning Flamengo he would "lie down and roll over them" in the Brazilian Cup. The result: Walter missed the game injured, Flamengo won and celebrated by lying down and rolling around the pitch. Flamengo's Hernane: "Walter talks too much."

Setback of the week

Dubai: Greek model Vicky Xipolitakis – flying to Dubai in an attempt to reach Diego Maradona's 53rd birthday party, but stopped and fined at the airport for "inappropriate attire". "They say next time I'll be arrested."

Plus: saddest exit

Argentina: Model Wanda Nara, former partner of Maradona, denying links with Inter's Mauro Icardi after leaving Catania's Maxi López. "I've had enough. This is the end of my love."

David Hills

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Norwich 3-1 West Ham

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 11:43 AM PST

At half-time you would not have given tuppence for Chris Hughton's chances of remaining manager of Norwich City. It was not so much the Canaries were sliding towards a sixth defeat in eight matches as the manner in which they were doing so that prompted the boos which followed the players down the tunnel.

Put simply, Norwich were being both outplayed and tactically embarrassed. The extent to which Hughton effected the transformation which saw his side come back to win is arguable.

"He just told us to relax on the ball," said Robert Snodgrass, whose beautifully struck, curling free-kick, along with Gary Hooper's fortuitous penalty and Leroy Fer's late drive, saw them take the points that lifted them out of the bottom three and won the manager a reprieve.

Actually, said Hughton, it was also about being a bit more urgent, denying West Ham the time to pass the ball as effectively as they did throughout the opening period, during which they took a deserved lead through Ravel Morrison.

"We tweaked things a little bit, we just felt we needed to get closer to them than we did in the first period. We were more aggressive in our pressing, and once we got the goal I was confident we would go on and win," he said. "The run we've been on has been tough and it's been frustrating. We've played most of the top teams, and hopefully this will be the result that changes the season. Overall our form at home hasn't been too bad but you have to take your chances and we did that."

For West Ham manager Sam Allardyce, what changed the game was the penalty conceded by his goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen 10 minutes into the second half.

The Finn looked to have gathered a loose ball on the floor but saw it squeezed out of his hands by a Norwich foot. The amount of contact he then made with Hooper in desperately attempting to save the situation was slight, but the forward went down and the referee Jon Moss pointed to the spot.

"I've never seen such a transformation in fortunes from us sitting as comfortably as we were," said Allardyce, whose team now sits below Norwich in the table. "Jussi made three mistakes in one and we can't blame anybody but ourselves."

While he refused to single out individuals following the 7-0 debacle at Manchester City last week, Hughton did make three changes to his side.

Ryan Bennett replaced Sébastien Bassong, the fit-again Snodgrass came back into midfield, and Johan Elmander came in to support Hooper up front.

The presence of two strikers in the ranks is something West Ham fans can only dream of as once again Allardyce named a team without an out-and-out forward. For all their lack of a target man, it was the visitors who made all the early running, and Kevin Nolan and Guy Demel went close before Razvan Rat, not for the first time, played in behind exposed Norwich right-back Russell Martin, crossed low.

Nolan might have been offside when his attempt to turn the ball past City goalkeeper John Ruddy was blocked by Michael Turner, but the midfielder reacted smartly to recover possession and turn the ball back across goal for Morrison to sweep home.

Norwich desperately needed a break, and got one courtesy of Jaaskelainen. Even then they almost fell behind again immediately, when James Collins, up for a corner, volleyed a half-clearance just past Ruddy's right-hand post with the goalkeeper well beaten.

Whether they would have recovered from such a setback is doubtful but the momentum of the game had changed. First Noble gave away the ball to Jonny Howson, whose shot from 25 yards thumped against Jaaskelainen's bar.

Moments later, Snodgrass curled a free-kick from almost the same distance over the West Ham wall and into the net. In neither case did Jaaskelainen move.

The game was conclusively up. The remaining chances were all created by Norwich, and it was Fer who made the game safe with a left-foot drive in added time.

Richard Rae

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Wales v South Africa – as it happened

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 11:26 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: An injury-ravaged Wales were unable to resist South Africa in Cardiff

Dan Lucas

Norwich City v West Ham United – as it happened | Scott Murray

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 11:25 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: Norwich bounced back from an appalling first-half showing to swat West Ham aside brilliantly and bound out of the relegation zone. Scott Murray was watching.

Scott Murray

Virgil van Dijk's two goals lead Celtic to 4-1 win at Ross County

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 11:02 AM PST

• Dundee United dominant in away win at Motherwell
• Stevie May at the double as Saints beat Kilmarnock

Virgil van Dijk inspired Celtic to a convincing 4-1 Scottish Premiership victory against Ross County at Victoria Park. Van Dijk led the way against the Staggies by heading in an Emilio Izaguirre cross four minutes before half-time after threatening on three earlier occasions. The former Groningen defender scored his second goal in the 52nd minute when he headed in a Charlie Mulgrew corner.

The County substitute Ivan Sproule reduced the deficit in the 67th minute, after replacing Mark Klok, but Joe Ledley scored two headers to underline a ruthless response from Celtic to their Champions League disappointment.

Dundee United continued their fine run of form at Fir Park with a resounding 4-0 victory over Motherwell. Two goals from Ryan Gauld and one goal each for Paul Paton and Andy Robertson capped the win.

St Johnstone beat nine-man Kilmarnock 3-1 at McDiarmid Park. Nigel Hasselbaink opened the scoring before Stevie May scored two goals, one from a penalty.

A Sean Clohessy freak cross did reduce the deficit to 3-1 for the Ayrshire outfit who had Jackson Irvine and Darren Barr sent off in the second half.

Partick Thistle remain without a win at home in the Premiership this season after two goals by Stephen Thompson and one from Conor Newton took St Mirren to a 3-0 victory at Firhill. However, the scoreline did not reflect the match as Partick were left with nothing to show for their dominance and good football. Their misery was compounded with the dismissal of Stephen O'Donnell midway through the second half.

Hearts beat 10-man Aberdeen 3-1 at Pittodrie. The in-form home side were in charge of the match at half-time through Niall McGinn's goal. He subsequently missed a penalty before substitute Barry Robson was sent off in the 55th minute, and the game turned in favour of the visitors.

Hearts manager Gary Locke brought on David Smith and Callum Tapping and Jamie Walker's flick restored parity in the 66th minute before his surging run and cut back for Callum Paterson to score the second. Ryan Stevenson sealed the points in stoppage time with a ferocious strike from the edge of the area.

In the First Division, Rangers beat Airdrieonians 2-0 with second-half goals from Jon Daly and a Lee McCulloch penalty.

Nial Briggs

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hibernian 0-2 Inverness CT | Scottish Premiership match report

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 10:36 AM PST

Inverness handed Terry Butcher a reminder of what he will be leaving behind if he quits to take over as the Hibernian manager, as they claimed a 2-0 win at Easter Road.

First-half goals from Nick Ross and Billy McKay secured three points from the Scottish Premiership clash and moved Inverness up to second place, as Butcher looked on from the main stand.

The Englishman is tipped to be confirmed as Pat Fenlon's successor on Monday and opted not to take his place in the opposition dugout for the meeting with his potential new club.

Butcher will have his work cut out for him when he completes the move after watching an Inverness victory that should have been even more convincing.

The midfielder Liam Craig was suspended for the home side, while captain James McPake had to settle for a place on the bench after serving his own ban after being sent off against Hearts in the League Cup.

Inverness named an unchanged side from last week's win over Kilmarnock, as they sought to continue a decent start to the season despite the uncertainty surrounding their manager.

Hibs dominated possession in the opening spell of the match but failed to break down the Inverness defence, with defender Alan Maybury screwing an effort high and wide.

Instead, it was the Highlanders who surged into the lead after 14 minutes when Graeme Shinnie was fouled in the box by James Collins. Ross stepped up for the penalty kick, with goalkeeper Ben Williams getting a decent touch but unable to keep the ball out of the net.

Inverness doubled their advantage three minutes later when McKay ran on to a pass from Shinnie before rounding the goalkeeper and rifling home from a tight angle.

The goal prompted chants of "Butcher, Butcher, what's the score?" from the Inverness fans, as their manager sat impassively in the stand.

The visitors should have extended their lead further when Aaron Doran attempted to pick out McKay at the back post. Maybury intercepted and his clearance almost trundled over the line, eventually coming off the post to the relief of the Leith side.

There was proving to be little respite for Hibs as Shinnie then sent a ferocious drive flashing across goal and just wide of target.

Hibs tried to haul themselves back into the game and Paul Hanlon nodded wide from a corner, before Ryan McGivern tried his luck with a long-range shot that failed to test the Inverness goalkeeper Dean Brill.

It was no real surprise to see Hibs make a couple of changes at the break, with the Hibs caretaker Jimmy Nicholl bringing on Rowan Vine and Abdellah Zoubir for McGivern and Tom Taiwo.

The home side did start the second half more positively but it was Inverness who came close when a point-blank header from Marley Watkins was blocked by Williams.

At the other end, Shinnie was called into action to clear a Collins header off the line, before the off-form Hibs player made way for youngster Jason Cummings.

A downward header from McKay six yards out was also claimed by Williams, as Inverness tried to put the game beyond their hosts with 20 minutes remaining. Ross then went to ground under pressure from Maybury just inside the box but there was no penalty kick award from referee Bobby Madden on this occasion.

Inverness held on to their two-goal advantage to take the three points back to the Highlands but knowing they could soon be without a manager.


theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Arsenal 3-0 Glasgow City | Women's Champions League match report

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 10:28 AM PST

Arsenal Ladies 3-0 Glasgow City

Scotland's finest were no match for Arsenal in a Champions League tie that would have been over after this first leg had it not been for some wayward finishing and a series of fine saves by the Glasgow goalkeeper, Lee Alexander.

Following Steph Houghton's early goal, the striker Danielle Carter scored either side of half-time in a match which was so one-sided that, while Alexander was continually in action, her opposite number, Emma Byrne, did not have to make a save.

The Gunners also had the bonus of a return from injury for the England striker Kelly Smith, who made a short but lively substitute appearance in what was her first appearance for the club since sustaining a shin injury in March.

The Arsenal manager, Shelley Kerr, said: "We controlled the game from start to finish and we were unfortunate to not get another couple of goals at least. It was a great team performance and although the tie is not over yet, I'm delighted that we'll be taking a 3-0 lead into the second leg.

"It was also great to have Kelly back, she's such a fantastic player and she raises standards with her presence. She was first-class when she went on and it certainly gave the girls a lift to have her back on the pitch."

Wednesday's second leg at Petershill Park could be a formality if Arsenal play as well as they did here and if Glasgow, recently crowned Scottish Premier champions for a seventh successive season, are as ineffective in attack.

The City manager, Eddie Wolecki Black, said: "The aim in this first leg was to keep the tie alive but now it's hanging by a thread. For all Arsenal's possession though, it was three set pieces that have done us an that's very disappointing."

Wolecki's team were pressed back from the opening minutes and they went behind when the central defender Houghton headed in Rachel Yankey's 13th-minute corner.

Alexander had already denied the right winger Ellen White a goal and she then kept out a Carter effort before the striker doubled the home side's lead with a close range effort two minutes before the interval.

Carter headed home her second goal 18 minutes into the second half and then went desperately close to completing her hat-trick with a 12-yard shot that cannoned off the bar.

In the closing stages the excellent Alexander twice saved superbly from the midfielder Jordan Nobbs and then even more spectacularly kept out a fierce Smith drive two minutes from time.

A third British team, Birmingham City, were also in Champions League action and returned from Russia with a 2-0 advantage to take into their home leg on Wednesday. Isabel Christiansen and Jo Potter hit the Blues goals.

Tony Leighton

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Republic of Ireland's Martin O'Neill: I do not intend to change Roy Keane

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 10:23 AM PST

New manager knows there are polarised opinions on his choice of assistant but he wants him 'basically the way he is'

Martin O'Neill offered a Saturday afternoon charm offensive in a Dublin city centre hotel that was breached only with mention of a recent wound. When it was put to the new Republic of Ireland manager that he may now have regained the "energy and enthusiasm" lost at the time of his sacking by Sunderland, O'Neill bridled. He also offered a swipe towards Ellis Short and Paulo Di Canio over events towards the end of last season.

"I have never lost my energy and enthusiasm," O'Neill said. "That was someone else's prerogative. I thought my record in the game might have suggested we would have accrued the five points from seven games needed to stay in the league. The owner thought otherwise. He appointed a manager for 11 games, who criticised just about everything that went on beforehand. He is not actually in work at the moment."

The Irish hope is that O'Neill's resentment over the conclusion of his Sunderland tenure manifests itself in success during this, his first foray into international management. O'Neill was applauded on to the stage in Dublin. The virtually awestruck body language of the man sitting alongside him, the Football Association of Ireland's chief executive, John Delaney, illustrated that O'Neill should have little trouble getting his own way from now on. It is when O'Neill has held such power beyond the dugout, such as at Celtic, that he has profited.

O'Neill said all the right things. He labelled this chance as a "genuine privilege and pleasure". Dry humour was a constant, but there was also a nod towards instant targets. "My remit is to get this team to [the European Championship in] France," explained O'Neill. "That is my driving ambition."

Delaney confirmed that achievement would come with tangible reward. "We just hope that under Martin we are successful and that we are not looking for a manager for a long, long time," he said. "If we get to a major tournament, obviously we will renew his contract. We have spoken about that."

These core matters aside, the continuing fascination with O'Neill's appointment surrounds the identity of his assistant. Roy Keane was taking in Aston Villa's Premier League visit of Cardiff City but his ears could have been burnt to cinders, such was the level of debate here over the former Manchester United captain's surprise role. No manager, and especially not O'Neill, can ever have been subjected to anything like as much probing about his chosen No2.

Again, O'Neill offered effusive praise and humour. "Roy will be great for me but, more importantly, he will be brilliant for the Republic of Ireland," he said. "He is very energetic, very engaging. He has a thirst for knowledge, which is quite amazing. I have seen him at games he doesn't need to be at but he wants to be there.

"I know there are polarised opinions on Roy and I don't have a problem with that. I don't intend to change Roy, I want him basically the way he is. A bit of an adjustment, maybe, but a bit of volatility will do no one any harm."

Dermot Desmond, Celtic's largest shareholder and an influential Irish tycoon, is thought to be the conduit between O'Neill and Keane. What the duo have unquestionably brought is box office attraction to a cash-strapped football association. It seemed fitting that the cause of much of that fiscal woe, the Aviva Stadium, was in clear view as O'Neill outlined his plans.

O'Neill quipped that the late Brian Clough would have "some palpitations" at the concept of this alliance with Keane. "When I asked Roy about the job, it took him four and a half seconds to decide on it," O'Neill said. "He was absolutely delighted. When I told him our roles, he said he would reverse them in about 10 minutes."

The more serious business relates to whether or not this circus surrounding Keane will hinder O'Neill's ability to do his job and which of the two, who are hardly renowned as training ground coaches, will have the more hands-on duties with the Ireland team. Keane may have been the most celebrated Irish footballer of his and plenty other generations but his infamous departure from the 2002 World Cup squad enraged many of his compatriots. It also offered merely one snapshot of an erratic character.

"Roy will be brilliant," O'Neill said. "He is very excited. He wants to do well. That's good enough for me."

O'Neill swatted aside any notion that his previous, successful time as a player with Northern Ireland would serve as any kind of impediment to progress. This was the 61-year-old in relaxed yet excited form. After the woes of Sunderland, O'Neill has taken delight in being wanted again.

Ewan Murray

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Real Madrid 5-1 Real Sociedad | La Liga match report

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 10:12 AM PST

It is only a fortnight since el clàsico but this feels like a different age. Fourteen days, four matches, and – get ready for this – 17 goals later, Real Madrid have found themselves. And Gareth Bale is very much a part of the change. The news here was that he did not score, as he had against Juventus in Turin on Tuesday. He did, though, provide an assist.

Together with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale forms a €236m front three who are starting to look like they could come to define this club. They already have a nickname: Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, the BBC. If there is still a concern for Madrid it is at the other end where they have conceded eight in four games.

Madrid departed the Camp Nou having been defeated 2-1 on 26 October. They slipped six points behind their rivals Barcelona but the sensation was more worrying than the stats: they were yet to find an identity; doubts weighed heavily. Bale had started the match, his second since joining Madrid, as he sought full fitness. Many suggested that he should not have done. No one would say that now.

For the fourth game in a row Bale started alongside Ronaldo and Benzema. The name BBC will inevitably produce a million jokes; it is producing a lot of goals too.

This is a line up that suits Bale, who is finding space in which to run. He and Ronaldo, superb athletes, are racing inside or out from their wide positions, facilitated by Benzema's clever movement and passing from the middle.

The return of Xabi Alonso, releasing them from deep, is further good news while Luka Modric, who preceded Bale from Tottenham to Madrid, was also superb.

Madrid had scored 12 in their past three matches, all of them from Bale, Ronaldo or Benzema. The Welshman had scored three and provided four assists, three of them with his right foot.

And there was another significant statistic too: he had completed 90 minutes in the two league games and 75 minutes in Turin. He would do so again here. If the footballing doubts had gone, the physical ones had gone with them.

In the opening half, Bale had two chances. The first was a left-foot shot that went into the side netting, the second a header that went just wide. But there was no frustration, just warm applause for a player whom the Santiago Bernabéu is becoming increasingly fond. Not least because by the time the header flashed wide, Madrid had already scored four. They had the lead on 12 minutes. Alonso's 50-yard pass was killed instantly by Benzema, and he clipped a wonderful ball to Ronaldo at the far post. He controlled and thumped it home on the bounce from six yards. It was Ronaldo's 14th league goal and he had already hit a 25-yard shot against the bar.

He would get two more. Europe's top scorer is Spain's too. First, Ronaldo provided for Benzema to make it 2-0 with a neat side foot, then he scored the third from the penalty spot.

Then, in the 35th minute, Dani Carvajal sprinted up the right and rolled the ball to Bale near the edge of the box. He nudged a first-time pass into Sami Khedira to score the fourth. The pattern was finally broken: 15 goals later, it was not Bale (on three), Benzema (on four) or Cristiano (on eight) who had scored.

It soon would be. Ronaldo smashed in a free-kick in the second half for Madrid's fifth. It was his ninth goal in four games. He has 15 in the league and eight in the Champions League.

In the meantime, there had been just one more thing Madrid had to do to keep up the trend from recent games: concede.

They did that 16 minutes into the second half when a mistake from Pepe allowed Antoine Griezmann to lob a consolation goal over Diego López. He very nearly got a second soon afterwards while Carlos Vela drew a sharp save from López. It would have been the third consecutive game in which Madrid had conceded two but with the BBC at the other end, it may not matter.

Sid Lowe

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Southampton 4-1 Hull City | Premier League match report

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 09:57 AM PST

Southampton's dream start to the season shows no sign of letting up following an emphatic victory which will have left the watching Roy Hodgson delighted.

Earlier this week the England manager called up the Saints trio Jay Rodriguez, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana for the friendlies with Chile and Germany and took the opportunity to praise Mauricio Pochettino's side, and on this evidence both will prove to be insightful decisions. The victory was Southampton's fourth win in succession and their best ever start to a top-flight season, trumping the 1983-84 campaign when they finished runners-up.

Pochettino named six English players in the starting lineup and was in jubilant mood after his side's complete performance. "I am very happy," the Southampton manager said. "I want to congratulate all of my players. They put in an amazing performance. I am very pleased with all of them.

"I hope all the players that got called up to their national sides get the chance to play. It would be great for them. We just need to keep on for Southampton working with the same humility and the same work ethic."

It was the French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin who headed home the opener, but Lambert provided the assist and was soon on the scoresheet himself, continuing his 100% record from the spot for the club by rifling past Steve Harper. Lallana earned the penalty and then went on to score one of the best solo goals seen at St Mary's, jinking his way through the City defence and striking low past the City goalkeeper.

Steve Bruce's side improved after the break and pulled one back through Yannick Sagbo but Southampton held firm and grabbed another through the substitute Steven Davis to extend their unbeaten league run to seven matches.

In truth, City were lucky not to be further behind at half-time after a miserable opening period which began with a Lallana cross that just evaded Lambert.

Tom Huddlestone did well to stop a Rodriguez cutback finding James Ward-Prowse soon after, before Southampton found the opener in the 16th minute. Nathaniel Clyne, a player Hodgson revealed is also close to a call-up, sent in an excellent cross to the back post, where Lambert knocked back under pressure for Schneiderlin to head home.

The French midfielder's first goal of the season was no less than the hosts deserved, although Hull attempted to draw level immediately through Huddlestone's blocked free-kick and a Paul McShane header. It was a rare voyage forward for the Tigers, whose 5-4-1 formation meant they were struggling to support frontman Sagbo.

Saints were being allowed to dictate the play and it was no surprise when City went further behind on the half-hour mark when Lallana was sliced down by the onrushing Harper in the penalty box for Lambert to smash home the spot-kick.

Saints fans interchanged the names of Lambert, Rodriguez and Lallana as they sung "he's off to Brazil" – chants that grew for the latter after his stupendous solo effort. Picking up the ball midway through the opponent's half, Lallana drifted to the left, rode the challenge of Curtis Davies and ghosted past Ahmed Elmohamady, before slotting home right-footed past Harper from an acute angle.

Maynor Figueroa attempted to pull one back in first-half stoppage time, only to see his header cleared off the line. Robert Koren replaced Elmohamady as Steve Bruce went to four at the back for a second half in which they were much improved.

Perhaps overconfident, Saints looked to let their foot off the gas and Victor Wanyama was caught out 10 minutes after the restart. Collecting a simple Artur Boruc pass, the Kenyan was dispossessed and Sagbo struck home from the edge of the box – the first goal conceded by Saints on home turf since 24 August.

Boruc denied Huddlestone a quick-fire second as the hardy 1,434 travelling fans sensed an improbable comeback, before

Davis added extra gloss to the win with two minutes remaining, thrashing home the fourth after collecting yet another impressive Clyne cross.

After watching his side comprehensively beaten, Steve Bruce admitted Southampton are a growing force in the Premier League. "Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say we were well beaten," he said. "At least in the second half we showed some character and restored some pride.

"Southampton are the best side in the division outside the usual suspects challenging for the top four by a country distance. They have very good players. The better team on the day by a million miles won the game. Maybe Southampton are not a small club any more and maybe they do have enough to compete at the top end of the table."


theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Premier League clockwatch - as it happened!

Posted: 09 Nov 2013 09:35 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: All the action as it unfolded around the grounds with Barry Glendenning

Barry Glendenning

Written by TBMU Admin

We are Manchester United Fan located around the World which provides user friendly, effective and easy to browse info regarding our Team. Each support/info is free. Support us by clicking the ads located in this site. Thanks

0 comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )
Click Picture Below for More Info

Popular Posts

Share

 





© 2013 TBMU . All rights resevered. Published by The Best Manchester United Admin Blogger

Back To Top