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Valencia 2-3 Real Madrid | La Liga match report
Inter 1-0 Milan
Sunderland's poor touch and scary passing gives Gus Poyet the jitters
David Moyes: Wayne Rooney on verge of greatness for Manchester United
Sean Ingle on breaking a festive tradition
Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini unconcerned by criticism of defence
Celtic manager Neil Lennon sets sights on unbeaten Premiership season
Malky Mackay's Cardiff give Liverpool a reminder of the bad old days
Keith Downing calmly stops West Brom rot and vows to back new manager
Mark Hughes rebuilds career without demolishing Stoke's foundations
Alan Pardew plans transfer window raids to keep Newcastle motoring
Arsène Wenger senses now is the time to defeat José Mourinho's Chelsea
Sport picture of the day: laser quest
Paris Saint-Germain in three-point Ligue 1 lead after draw with Lille
Chelsea's José Mourinho targets 12-year stay at Stamford Bridge
Wind, wet and Watford add up to a dream come true for Giuseppe Sannino
Inter v Milan – as it happened | Daniel Harris
A-League: what we learned this weekend
Tan withdraws sack threat … for now
Tim Sherwood shows Tottenham the way to goal against depleted Saints | Michael Cox
Barcelona 5-2 Getafe | La Liga match report
Sherwood plans talks with Levy over Spurs' manager role
Swansea City 1-2 Everton | Premier League match report
Swansea City v Everton – as it happened | Daniel Harris
Alex Ferguson tops table for bestselling book in print for 2013

Valencia 2-3 Real Madrid | La Liga match report

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:06 PM PST

The substitute Jesé fired home a late winner to earn Real Madrid a 3-2 victory over battling Valencia that keeps them within five points of the Primera Division pacesetters.

Jesé found a gap between the Valencia goalkeeper, Vicente Guaita, and his near post with eight minutes left to give Madrid the spoils in a match which saw the managerless home side twice fight back from a goal down.

Angel Di María (28) and Cristiano Ronaldo (40) had put the visitors ahead but Valencia had levelled both times through headers from Pablo Piatti (34) and Jérémy Mathieu (62).

The hosts, who were being led by youth-team coach Nico Estévez after Monday's departure of Miroslav Djukic, could not find a third equaliser following Jesé's goal, though, as Madrid kept up the pressure on the top two, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.

Di María netted the opener with a superb effort just before the half-hour, the Argentina winger bringing down a crossfield pass from Marcelo before skipping in between two defenders and curling a shot just inside the far post.

Valencia were behind for just six minutes before Piatti drew them level when he got on the end of Juan Bernat's cross to glance home a header from six yards out.

Madrid refused to be deflated and Di María drew a fine save out of Guaita soon after, before Ronaldo restored the capital club's lead when he headed home the winger's free-kick unchallenged from near the penalty spot.

That left Madrid ahead at the break but once again Carlo Ancelotti's men failed to hold on to their lead as they were undone by another header when Valencia made it 2-2 just after the hour. Piatti swung over a corner from the left and Mathieu climbed above Sergio Ramos in the box to power a header above Lopez and into the net.

Valencia's defence was breached for a third time in the closing stages after an error in judgment from Guaita, and this time there was no way back for Los Che.

Luka Modric won the ball back on the edge of the Valencia box and fed the unmarked Jesé on the right side of the area. The angle looked too tight for the 20-year-old but he tried his luck and was rewarded when his shot sneaked past Guaita and into the net for the matchwinner.

Inter 1-0 Milan

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:03 PM PST

A brilliant back-heel finish from Rodrigo Palacio with five minutes left gave Internazionale a 1-0 victory over Milan in the derby on Sunday.

The Argentinian's 10th goal of the season, which came when he met a cross from the right with a delicate touch that left the Milan keeper, Christian Abbiati, standing, lifted Inter to fifth place on 31 points.

Milan have won only one league game in two months and are languishing in 13th place on 19 points, only five above the relegation zone, after a poor performance in which Sulley Muntari was sent off in stoppage-time following a late scuffle.

The defeat could have been worse had Inter been given a penalty five minutes before the break when Palacio was brought down by Cristian Zapata but struggling Milan still ended 2013 in miserable fashion.

Sunderland's poor touch and scary passing gives Gus Poyet the jitters

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST

• 'We were as bad as any team I've seen at the foot of the table'
• Norwich City's Chris Hughton praised by Robert Snodgrass

Gus Poyet summed up his team's performance succinctly. "Shocking," he said. "It was shocking." Sunderland's manager took no consolation from the kind words delivered by Chris Hughton, Norwich's manager and a long-standing friend who, rather generously, suggested that Poyet's bottom-placed side can still stay up.

"It's nice for him to say so but I was expecting more from us," Poyet said. "I was disappointed. I was expecting to win but technically we were as bad as any team I've seen at the foot of the table. In the first half we were awful. There were passes that scared me a lot. People were needing three touches. It was shocking. It could be nerves, it could be pressure, it could be quality. I don't know but I think it gave us a clear picture of why we are bottom. There were no excuses."

Sunderland's problem is that every triumph – the Premier League wins against Newcastle United and Manchester City, and last Tuesday's Capital One Cup quarter-final victory over Chelsea – seem invariably followed by bouts of serious regression. Here the £6.5m USA striker Jozy Altidore's appalling first touch and woeful decision-making not only simplified life for Sébastien Bassong and Michael Turner, Norwich's competent centre-halves, but appeared emblematic of his team's travails.

"Every time we do something nice the next game is worse," said Poyet, who could have done without Wes Brown's late, straight red card for a reckless challenge on Ricky van Wolfswinkel. "It's difficult, it's not nice and you don't enjoy it. If I'm the problem, I will accept the responsibility. I'm the manager and the one picking the team. If I'm not good enough I'll take it."

The last thing Ellis Short, Sunderland's owner, needs is a resignation. Sunderland have improved under Paolo Di Canio's successor but, with the squad low on quality and with too many imports still adapting to England's top division, progress is frustratingly slow.

"Gus Poyet is one of the best managers I've played under at any club," said Fabio Borini, the gifted Liverpool loanee forward and – the assured Vito Mannone apart – their best player against Norwich. "I'm angry because we can't win in the league. We need to show a little more character and control. Today felt like losing."

Borini wants Sunderland supporters to help the team through a difficult transition to the patient possession game preached by Poyet. "The fans need to understand how we play football," he said. "Sometimes they're pushing us forward when we don't need to go forward. We're not playing English football, just kicking forward, any more, we're trying to build something. We need to play our game not the game other people want."

Sunderland's gameplan was exactly what an improving, if slightly unambitious, Norwich, always content to secure a draw, desired. "An away point is not to be sniffed at," said Robert Snodgrass, their wide midfielder. "Earlier this season we would have lost but our togetherness showed."

Until a few weeks ago Hughton was tipped for the sack but, incrementally, Norwich have rallied, moving into mid-table. "It's quite a turnaround," Snodgrass said. "But you'll never see a manager who works harder than Chris. He's there until 7pm looking to do better for the boys. He never loses faith in us and he doesn't panic. I'd be delighted if he won December's manager of the month award."

Sunderland's players have already ensured that Hughton will definitely face no competition from his old pal Poyet.

Man of the match Michael Turner (Norwich City)

Louise Taylor

David Moyes: Wayne Rooney on verge of greatness for Manchester United

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST

• Striker has leadership qualities, says his manager
• Moyes praises Rooney after win over West Ham

Wayne Rooney is Manchester United's on-field force and is becoming a leader who now calls the shots in the dressing room, according to David Moyes. The manager offered the insight after another display of total football from the England forward, who drove United to this smoothly impressive victory over struggling West Ham.

With Robin van Persie out for another three weeks due to a thigh injury, there had been a nervy wait for the medical bulletin on Rooney, whose availability was in doubt due to a groin strain. When the team sheet arrived the Liverpudlian was in the XI and United and their opponents knew that if he prospered there would probably be only one winner. Ninety minutes later and Rooney had offered yet another of those all-action exhibitions that put him in a class alone.

"Wayne played great," said Moyes. "He dropped in and he took the ball. He passed the ball from a little bit deeper at times but also made a contribution in the goals. It was very good."

Rooney's judgment is among his key assets and the simple pass that created Danny Welbeck's opener was the latest illustration. That was on 26 minutes. As the contest entered its closing moments following further goals from Adnan Januzaj and Ashley Young, Manchester United were coasting.

While Carlton Cole's late consolation was a mere irritation for Moyes, who wanted a fourth consecutive clean sheet, he said of his main man: "Do you know what I see more than anything in Wayne? I see leadership. I see somebody who wants to take responsibility for the team. I see somebody who cares for how he plays and how the team plays. More than anything, that is what I see from Wayne.

"Maybe if he is not quite at the top of his form I will need him to drop in at times and he has no problem doing any of the jobs. He is getting to an age now where he realises he is not a boy any more. He is one of the senior men in the team. He is actually on the verge of being one of the great legends at this club.

"Because of that I think he is saying, 'I have got to take responsibility for results and for performances and make sure the players are doing it on the pitch.' The players are responding."

Beyond the creativity and consistent goal threat of Rooney – he has 10 this term – is the influence offered off the pitch. "In the dressing room now Wayne is one of those who is beginning to call the shots," Moyes said. With Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand not featuring in the squad, Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans again impressed, as they had in the League Cup win at Stoke City in their previous outing. As Moyes also has Phil Jones, who operated convincingly in midfield, as his fifth centre-back, the Ferdinand-Vidic axis faces serious competition.

Moyes said: "Chris and Jonah [Jones] and Jonny, they have stepped up.

"I have given them opportunities and they need to keep showing me what they can do. It is not a change yet [from seniors to the young players] because I have used Vida and Rio at times.

"But I just think we have good young centre-halves and young centre-halves tend to get better with age. We need to try and get them the games to develop them, because when it is the old ones' time to move on then we need to have players who are ready and committed to take their place.

"Jonny Evans has played well. I said to him I don't think he started the season well. But he has grown into it and is playing very well. We will keep changing them around because we have five good centre-halves. We will use them at different times. That is what has been done here before and I will continue to do it."

The sublime way Januzaj hesitated to place James Collins on the seat of his shorts before the forward slotted beyond Adrián was the latest reminder of the 18-year-old's precocious gifts.

"He is a special talent and we have to bring him on at the right time," said Moyes. "He has played quite a lot of games. But the reason he has played is that he has warranted it and merited it by his form. He has creativity and something that is different."

Januzaj is yet to decide which nation to represent – England or Belgium – which is fine by Moyes. "I think Januzaj has said he has picked Scotland," he joked. "For me, I am quite happy because it means we have him longer and he is not away. We can influence him while he is here. But I am sure he will make his own decision."

Man of the match: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Jamie Jackson

Sean Ingle on breaking a festive tradition

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST

Research suggests rest is good for players' form and prevents injury. So why not give them a break in the winters before Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup?

There are few things more agreeable than Christmas, that brandy-buttered entanglement of tradition and excess, of holly and folly, of diluted worship and super-concentrate refills of league football. At least in the eyes of football supporters. For them the festive season and the game are a timeless fit, like grannies and advocaat, and you can see why. In 1913-14, a full First Division programme took place on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and 27 December: a century on, while Europe draws breath over the holiday period, English football hyperventilates.

This season the Premier League promises a 12-day box of delights, including Arsenal v Chelsea, Chelsea v Liverpool and Manchester United v Spurs. We will revel in it – then, come next June, grimace when the physical hangover kicks in and England's World Cup ambitions become dust. There will be pained calls for a winter break. There always are on such occasions, even though it is one of those subjects, like bringing back national service, where the English prefer talk to action.

Much less discussed, but equally fascinating, is this: what effect does this football binge have on players and the Premier League table? One interesting fact is that, in nine of the past 10 seasons, teams who finished between first and sixth in May had a higher average points tally over Christmas compared with the rest of the season. Meanwhile, teams who ended up between seventh and 20th performed worse on average during Christmas in eight out of 10 seasons.

You have to be a little careful here: the whims of the fixture list and a smallish sample size should not be ignored. Even so, a reasonable explanation is that teams with larger squads can tinker during the busy period, while smaller teams are forced to trudge wearily on. And tired players are more easily picked off. This is backed up by research by the former Wales assistant manager Raymond Verheijen. Last year he analysed 27,000 matches – from seven top-flight European leagues, the Champions League and Europa League – and found teams playing after just two days' recovery against teams who had enjoyed at least a three-day gap were 42% less likely to win.

Meanwhile, Prozone's Omar Chaudhuri has investigated a related area – how much does physical performance drop when a player is faced with a number of games over a short period? He did this by comparing 163 outfield Premier League players who played 90 minutes after two days' rest last Christmas to the 106 players who had three days to recover. The differences were striking.

Those with two days rest needed an average of three seconds more recovery after high intensity activities of 5.5 metres per second or faster. They made an average of 56.9 sprints a game, compared to 62.6 for those who had three days' recovery. And they also took longer to get up to full speed, and sprinted nearly 10% less distance on average in the game.

Chaudhuri then concentrated on midfielders and strikers – who tend to run more than defenders – and looked at the differences between those who played two, three and four games over Christmas. Again the drop-off was stark. To pick one example, footballers who played in two matches sprinted 69.5 times on average. The figure for those who played three games was 63.7. Four games? 58.0.

As Chaudhuri points out: "Physical data can be noisy and affected by a wide range of factors – the scoreline, whether a team is playing home or away, position, level of possession and so on – but players who had more rest and played fewer games had a significantly higher physical output. And while the sample is not huge, most of these results are statistically significant."

Tiredness may also lead to a greater risk of injury. Dr Scott McLean, the director of the Injury Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Michigan, has found evidence that fatigue changes the way the body moves in a way that leaves athletes more susceptible to injuring ligaments.

Yet most fans come from the "ain't broke, don't fix it" school. They believe that if someone is earning £100,000-a-week, then four matches in 12 days should be a breeze. That if clubs are concerned about tiredness in December, they should chop foreign tours in May and July. Then there is that familiar chestnut, so old it could have been roasted on an open fire in a Dickens novel: you can't plan for bad weather in Britain, so a winter break in a placid December could be followed by frozen sod in January and a mammoth fixture backlog. Meanwhile, when fans hear Fabio Capello say that England are "the least fresh of any competing national side" at World Cups and European Championships because of the lack of a winter break, they shrug their shoulders. Either they don't believe there is a link, or they believe it is a price worth paying.

Here is a modest proposal. In the seasons before the 2018 World Cup, play matches until Boxing Day and then give Premier League teams a rest until the third round of the FA Cup. It would be more of a breather than a winter break. It might not have any impact. But by comparing this player performance data with the years where it was business as usual we would be better informed about the benefits of a break to clubs and England. And fans would still get their Boxing Day bonanza.

Sean Ingle

Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini unconcerned by criticism of defence

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

• Manager also hits back at questions about away form
• James Milner: 'We'd like more boring games, 1-0 or 2-0'

Attack from all angles, chances, goals. David Silva. Even the wacky defending. There is very little not to like about Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City. Their ability to out-sling rivals has seen them embraced by the neutral and the general consensus has them down as the best team to watch in England.

And that, by extension, makes them England's best team because nobody really likes defending, apart from Alan Hansen. Approaching the season's halfway point, they are the firm favourites for the title. José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, expressed his surprise last week that City had not already disappeared over the hills. Prominent among his reasons were their offensive players.

Yet there was a revealing comment from the club's midfielder James Milner, as he prepared to depart Craven Cottage as a goalscoring victor after another helter-skelter game. City had threatened to coast, only to flirt with disaster and then coast again. "We'd like to have games that are a bit more boring if we can … maybe a 1-0 or 2-0," Milner said.

Pellegrini did not accept the criticism of City's defending on Saturday. He argued that Fulham did not have "many chances to score", although this overlooked the two occasions in the first half when Joe Hart, back in goal after an eight-week Premier League absence, needed to save smartly from Adel Taarabt.

"They scored one goal on the counterattack and it is normal when you are attacking for 90 minutes that sometimes the other team can score one goal with a counterattack," Pellegrini said. "We had very bad luck on their second goal. If the other team has four, five, six chances every game then, of course, I would be concerned but that is not the reality."

Nobody was arguing with Pellegrini about the freakish nature of the Fulham equaliser, when Vincent Kompany looked like the kid with the fly-away ball on a windy day. His sliced own goal is guaranteed its place on the end-of-season blooper reel.

But Pellegrini could not so easily dismiss Fulham's first goal, when the home team broke with two men, City's players dawdled back and Taarabt crossed for Kieran Richardson to shoot past Hart. To repeat: City were caught by a two-man counter when 2-0 up. After the own goal, City suffered a wobble and it seemed appropriate to wonder whether a team that could look so open were really champions-in-waiting.

"When you are 2-0 up, you like to see out the job and we did that in the end," Milner said. "Hopefully, we can get a few more clean sheets, which will be more important as the season goes on. We need to work on the mistakes we are making throughout the team. When we are conceding goals, it's not the defence and the goalkeeper, it's the whole team. At the moment we are scoring enough to win games."

Fulham would love to have City's problems. They have enjoyed the upswing in performance that tends to come from replacing a manager but this was still a third defeat in four matches under Rene Meulensteen, to leave them mired in the relegation zone. Their next four league games – Norwich City, Hull City, West Ham and Sunderland – will have plenty to say about their survival prospects.

"They are very, very important games for us," Richardson said. "They're all bottom-half clubs, all winnable. Norwich is a must-win for us on Boxing Day. We're going in the right direction, we're playing some good football but, at the end of the day, we lost. We've got to pick ourselves up."

Pellegrini railed, too, at the perception that City are vulnerable on their travels, pointing out they had won three out of three away from home in the Champions League (including Bayern Munich); two out of two in the League Cup and had taken seven league points from nine. "It's not easy to change the way you are playing from last year to the way we are playing now," Pellegrini said. "Maybe the other teams have more space, so we have to be very careful when we attack not to lose easy balls."

Nobody wants City to change.

Man of the match David Silva (Man City)

David Hytner

Celtic manager Neil Lennon sets sights on unbeaten Premiership season

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

• Bhoys remain undefeated after 16 league matches
• Planning under way for next season's Champions League

With the successful defence of their title already all but secured, Celtic have set their minds towards an invincible Premiership campaign. Neil Lennon's side lie 10 points clear after this win over Hearts. In their 16 league matches, Celtic are yet to taste defeat.

"The motivation is to stay unbeaten for the rest of the season," said the full-back Darnell Fisher. "That's what the manager keeps drumming in to us. That's what we are trying to do – win games and keep clean sheets. Is it realistic? We have to try. That's what our target is and I think we are good enough to stay unbeaten. We just need to keep going."

Hearts offered them a noticeably more stern test than in early December, when Celtic won 7-0 in a Scottish Cup tie. Kris Commons and James Forrest proved to be the match-winners this time.

"It was always going to be hard after the performance at Tynecastle and winning 7-0," Fisher added. "We knew Hearts would camp in and that we would have to be patient. But thankfully we broke through.

"We wished we could win 7-0 again but that was never going to happen. They made it much harder for us. They didn't want to be embarrassed again and we had to dig in."

Intrigue already surrounds how busy Lennon will be during the January transfer window. Celtic are actively seeking reinforcements in most areas, with advanced planning for next season's Champions League qualifying phase already in mind.

There may well also be high-profile departures, with Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley unlikely to extend their Celtic contracts beyond the end of the current season. With that in mind, and the high salaries both players command, their sales would be beneficial to Lennon's transfer plans. Samaras alone is understood to earn £25,000 a week.

"For us it's going to be a hard situation, them not wanting to be here," admitted Lennon's assistant Johan Mjallby. "We can't just let them run down their contracts, even if they are terrific players and very important players. The longer it goes, the more active we need to be to look for replacements. Ideally, you want to start building right now.

"We are in a good position in the league and hopefully we have another qualification campaign for the Champions League next summer. We're going to sit down and see where we need to be, which positions we need to be a bit more active in, and try to find some bargains or jewels."

Hearts can only dream of such a scenario, with their latest defeat keeping the Edinburgh side 14 points adrift at the foot of the Premiership. As they are still in administration, an embargo will prevent them from adding ato their threadbare squad next month.

"It's definitely a tough place we are in but we have just got to try and get on a run," said the Hearts defender Dylan McGowan. "It's the simplest thing to say in football and one of the hardest to do. It would have been a bonus if we had taken anything from Celtic but we now have a run of fixtures that are winnable. We have Kilmarnock next at home, who are one of the closest teams to us."

Man of the match James Forrest (Celtic)

Ewan Murray

Malky Mackay's Cardiff give Liverpool a reminder of the bad old days

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

It was just like old times at Liverpool but painful or wonderful to reminisce, depending on the old time in question. The Kop rejoiced in being top of the league as a Liverpool team passed and moved its way to a victory orchestrated by a phenomenal No7. The sight of Cardiff City supporters in revolt, their manager undermined and their owner being driven away in a blacked-out van, however, evoked memories of more recent, darker days at Anfield. Sympathy for Malky Mackay was widespread, with the threat of termination at the time still very real.

The Cardiff manager was never in peril for football reasons and the latest blows to his successful reign were applied by someone who defies reason. Luis Suárez became the first player in Liverpool's history to score at least twice in five consecutive league games at Anfield and he laid on another for Raheem Sterling as Brendan Rodgers' team made their push for the Christmas No1.

Suárez is making anything possible, as his four-month transformation from pariah to recipient of a new £200,000-a-week contract demonstrates, but it is doubtful if even he could alert Vincent Tan to a good thing in football. Tan, the owner who tried to oust the manager who finally gave Cardiff Premier League football and its riches, before common sense broke out on Sunday, was barracked throughout while Mackay was applauded on all sides. "The fans' backing of myself and the team in the way they did, and to hear the Liverpool fans doing the same, is something that will live with me forever," the Scot said.

With slicked-back hair, sunglasses in December and leather gloves, Tan could not have looked any more like the archetypal villain had he sat in the stands stroking a white cat and sent Mackay plummeting from his technical area into a pool full of sharks. Regardless of the chairman, Mehmet Dalman, calling for diplomacy, the owner has drained the enjoyment from Cardiff's supporters in a manner similar to the Liverpool reign of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

"They are passionate people, the Welsh, they love their football, and I have enjoyed living in the area," said Mackay. "They have really embraced everything we have tried to achieve. I have been open and honest with them about what we have been doing, explaining sometimes difficult decisions that people maybe sometimes don't agree with.

"But in the main what I wanted to do was build something that was built on bricks, not sand, and I think we have taken small steps over two and a half years, while all the time climbing to get a group that I believe can stay in the Premier League."

Asked if he had refused to resign due to the repercussions for his pay-off, Mackay replied: "I have no reason to resign. I enjoy my job, my players enjoy the staff coming in to work with them every day and the fans enjoy the fact that this group of people represent them."

The contrast with the atmosphere and unity around Liverpool could not be more pronounced. Suárez was inevitably the instigator 24 hours after extending his contract at Anfield until 2018, volleying the first inside David Marshall's right-hand post, unselfishly squaring for Sterling to score the second and curling the superb third into the far corner from the edge of the Cardiff area in a 21-minute purple patch before half-time. An inch-perfect pass or touch from Jordan Henderson was involved in each one.

"It adds to that feelgood factor," said Rodgers on Suárez's new contract. "I think you felt on Friday afternoon on Merseyside – or certainly one half of it – there was a real uplifting piece of news. I think supporters now are coming here really looking forward to their football and to seeing their team perform. They know they are going to see a real, world-class operator and also a lot of young players who are developing to a really high level. The club as a whole is in a really good moment. We are on the right path and we have to make sure we keep on it."

Suárez's statistics are as remarkable as his finishing. His 19 goals in 12 games represents an average of 1.58 per game. Over the course of a 38-game season that would yield a return equal to "Dixie" Dean's record of 60 league goals in 1927-28 or 52 goals in 33 games for Suárez, given he missed the opening five league matches through suspension. Either way Alan Shearer and Andy Cole should enjoy their Premier League record of 34 goals in a single season while they can.

"He looks like he can score a hat-trick in every game, doesn't he?" Rodgers added. "He can break it [the Premier League record] because he has got that quality. He will certainly push it close."

Man of the match Luis Suárez (Liverpool)

Andy Hunter

Keith Downing calmly stops West Brom rot and vows to back new manager

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

• 'If someone comes in they will have my full support'
• Hull City's Steve Bruce disappointed with draw

If Keith Downing is to be believed, he is not Prince Hamlet, nor was ever meant to be. Or at least not yet and not at West Bromwich Albion.

Having been asked to take over temporarily from the sacked head coach, Steve Clarke, Downing – formerly Albion's joint assistant head coach – made some good calls against Hull City.

His decision to bring in Ben Foster, fit again after nearly four months on the sidelines with a foot injury, was rewarded when the former England goalkeeper made an outstanding double save to prevent Hull doubling their lead, before one substitute, Zoltan Gera, set up another, Matej Vydra, to score the late equaliser that prevented the Baggies losing a fifth consecutive match.

"Even when the game wasn't going very well, the calmness in myself, I wouldn't say it surprised me but I made the decisions with a clear head, which I'm pleased about," said Downing. "I'm planning to be in charge for the games at Spurs on Boxing Day and West Ham on the 28th but, if someone comes in [before then], they'll have my full support. I have ambitions but I don't think it will be here. I've always been here as support staff and I'd have to maintain that.

"After a difficult week this has been a big boost. We weren't jumping through hoops in the dressing room but we've stopped the rot and it was important to do that."

Downing and Hull's manager, Steve Bruce, were in agreement on one thing. Whoever does get the Albion job on a full-time basis will have plenty to work with.

"On my first day I had 23 outfield players all fit and raring to go, and trying to organise a coaching session was tough," said Downing. "Whoever comes inherits a good set of players, a squad that wants to do well and good spirit in the place."

For Bruce the size and strength of Albion's squad made the difference. Hull were in complete control during a first half in which Jake Livermore, played in by Danny Graham, gave them a deserved lead, and for all the pressure they came under in the second period, they rarely looked like conceding until Vydra coolly scored his first goal for Albion since being signed from Udinese during the close season.

"They took Scott Sinclair off and put on Saido Berahino and Gera and then Vydra, who was the best player in the Championship [where he was on loan at Watford] last year, striker-wise," said Bruce.

"We don't have that sort of depth, the aim for us is to stay up and hopefully start building our squad. It's disappointing because we were two minutes away from having 22 points and being 10th at Christmas, which is something we could only have dreamed of at the beginning of the season, but we're making a fist of it."

As to who will get the job of keeping the Baggies up, Malky Mackay and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continue to lead the betting market, although neither has spoken to the club.

The former Schalke coach, Ralf Rangnick, who impressed when previously interviewed by Albion when Hodgson became England manager last year, is also under consideration, although no immediate announcement is expected.

Livermore, who kicked a camera while celebrating his goal, subsequently agreed to pay the £6,000 cost of a replacement as well as a similar sum to his team-mate Tom Huddlestone's Cancer Research fund-raising appeal.

Man of the match Jake Livermore (Hull City)

Richard Rae

Mark Hughes rebuilds career without demolishing Stoke's foundations

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

• Stoke top Midlands mini-league table at Christmas
• Hughes claims best is yet to come after beating Aston Villa

Mark Hughes's fall from grace was swift and dramatic. The hubris helped make it headline news. His rehabilitation has been altogether quieter and more gradual but, in the sacking season, it is a revival to offer hope to out-of-work managers.

A year ago Hughes was among their number, dismissed by Queens Park Rangers after his expensive overhaul yielded four points from 12 winless games. Now, having guided Stoke into mid-table, he admitted he feared he was tarnished by his troubles at Loftus Road and was worried about his prospects of future employment.

"I was a little bit put out because I felt I was getting judged on 12 games rather than the 250-odd Premier League games I've been in charge of clubs for," Hughes said. "I felt it was a little bit unfair." Thankfully for him, Stoke saw the bigger picture and a restorative six months in Staffordshire culminated in a victory that means Stoke top the Midlands mini-league at Christmas.

A reputation is being rebuilt – "I think it has to be viewed as progress," Hughes said – but it is being accomplished without demolishing the foundations Tony Pulis laid at the Britannia Stadium.

If Hughes changed too much too soon at QPR, his has been an evolutionary, rather than a revolutionary, impact at Stoke. Their previous victory, against Chelsea, was earned by Hughes's recruits, Stephen Ireland and Oussama Assaidi.

Saturday's win came despite the efforts of two newcomers – the ineffective Marko Arnautovic was replaced at half-time while Erik Pieters gifted Aston Villa a goal – but was forged by his predecessor's players, the goalscorers Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch and the powerful Geoff Cameron. "The boss has got everyone on the same page," the American right-back said.

"They're a good group," Hughes said. "They put in a professional Premier League performance. They understood it wasn't the day for pretty football; it was about being resolute and determined to win challenges." They are age-old strengths of Stoke; Hughes's challenge is to add an incisive edge to a side who grew sterile under Pulis.

Given the comparative lack of goals from the strikers, the burgeoning understanding between Crouch and Adam is especially encouraging. "Charlie added a bit of quality," said the target man, who set up the substitute's opener. "He likes to make those runs off me." It means Adam is Stoke's unlikely top scorer in the league and a fitting figurehead for the Hughes era: after a difficult year at Liverpool, he, too, has adopted a lower profile and enjoyed a greater impact at the Britannia Stadium.

Perhaps scarred by his past, where QPR married outlandish ambitions with miserable displays, Hughes can now savour a life at a club with lesser rhetoric and better results. "We're as near as damn it where we hoped to be so we're pleased about that," he said. Indeed, while they are in familiar surroundings,

Stoke actually spent the last two Christmases in higher positions. If their campaigns have tailed off, Hughes takes heart from his record of steering sides into the top 10. "Teams of mine are usually stronger in the second half of the season so it was important to have a good base of points to enable us to really kick on."

Patterns are harder to discern at Villa, but a predictably unpredictable team have now suffered three straight defeats. "Obviously nobody is happy," said the goalkeeper Brad Guzan, although the manager, Paul Lambert, was strangely positive about the performance. Nor was he worried about the knee injury that ruled out Christian Benteke and could keep the striker out of the home games against Crystal Palace and Swansea. "It's not a major concern," he said. "It's not long-term." It has been an ongoing issue that has inhibited the Belgian during his 10-game, 719-minute goal drought. "At this level of football you have to be 100% right," Lambert said.

If Benteke is looking for inspiration, however, a rather older but similarly combative striker is illustrating how his fortunes can be transformed. "I do know how to win in the Premier League," Hughes said. "I've done it for a number of years now."

Man of the match Geoff Cameron (Stoke City)

Richard Jolly

Alan Pardew plans transfer window raids to keep Newcastle motoring

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

• 'We're making sure we don't miss what might be a key signing'
• Side takes 19 points from 24 by beating Crystal Palace

We are at that time of year where television schedules are crammed with review shows – and if there is one dedicated to the most lampooned football clubs of 2013 then Newcastle United are sure to feature.

However, the club's owner, Mike Ashley, could yet have the last laugh. These are curiously encouraging days at Newcastle. This emphatic win at in-form Crystal Palace took their points haul to 19 from the last 24 and Alan Pardew reckons that strong run is proof that, contrary to popular opinion, the club is functioning smoothly.

"We're in a good place as a club," the manager said. "I know we've had some strange opinions about us from outside but we're working well together. The owner is really pleased, I'm really pleased and, more importantly, the players are really pleased because if they are not you can't get those sort of performances."

How quickly things can change. Only a couple of months ago the outlook suggested Newcastle were set to remain the subject of rival fans' jokes and the ire of their own exasperated supporters. Following a season in which Newcastle flirted with relegation before lurching to a 16th-place finish, Ashley's decision in the summer to parachute in Joe Kinnear as the director of football above Pardew appalled fans, who doubted Kinnear's ability to improve recruitment and believed his appointment would destabilise rather than strengthen the club.

The impression was reinforced when Kinnear mispronounced the names of several Newcastle players in an infamous radio interview and the club went into this season without any significant additions to the squad. Fans protested and Ashley responded by ignoring them and banning the local press for reporting the dissent. On the pitch results were poor and by the end of October Newcastle were three points off the relegation zone. Pardew's job was said to be in jeopardy, again.

Since being beaten by Sunderland in the derby, Newcastle have won six and drawn one of their past eight matches, taking scalps such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur before comfortably disposing of Palace, with goals by Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa and an own goal by Danny Gabbidon. Suddenly there is talk of Newcastle challenging for Champions League qualification.

Pardew reckons making canny use of the transfer window could be critical to fulfilling their ambitions and he believes Newcastle are set up to do that. "The transfer window is open soon and that might be an opportunity for us to galvanise ourselves. I haven't really talked too much about the finance available but we've talked about players.

"We're making sure that we don't miss what might be a key signing. You look at the last two January windows, we've done good business. We brought in Papiss [Cissé] two years ago and that pushed us on and last year, in an emergency really, we had to take four or five, which we didn't really want to do but it still worked out well for us. So [the chief scout] Graham Carr, Joe, myself and the owner are very much on the ball for this January window. That is really the committee for transfers.

"We sit down and discuss and make sure we make the right decision for the club. The finance comes into that, of course, but so does selection of what I need. With Joe's knowledge of football he knows that the manager needs certain things and that has helped, in my opinion. I don't really want to say any more than that but I think that gives you a little bit of insight."

Newcastle have demonstrated their first XI can trouble any team but, unless they are spared injuries and suspensions, they will likely need a deeper squad if they are to sustain their push for the top four. A striker to relieve the burden on Loïc Rémy would be particularly welcome, as would cover for a defence that has kept four clean sheets in eight matches.

Perhaps most importantly, Newcastle will need to hang on to the players who are excelling, especially Cabaye, who was the subject of a bid from Arsenal in the summer and is likely to be courted by even more clubs next month.

Man of match Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle)

Paul Doyle

Arsène Wenger senses now is the time to defeat José Mourinho's Chelsea

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 03:00 PM PST

• Arsenal have never beaten Chelsea under Mourinho
• 'For a while, Chelsea were stronger' Wenger admits

Arsène Wenger was keeping his cards close to his chest. He had just been asked whether this Chelsea side is the most vulnerable in the Roman Abramovich era, giving him the perfect opportunity to indulge in a spot of mind games, but he refused to bite, choosing to put the poker face on instead. "I will answer that question on Tuesday," he said, by which time Arsenal hope to have secured the victory they need over Chelsea to return to the top of the league.

Yet that will be no mean feat given Chelsea's psychological hold over Arsenal in recent years, not to mention the fact that Wenger is yet to find a way of getting the better of José Mourinho, losing five and drawing four of their nine matches. Wenger says this match is not about him versus Mourinho, and believes there is no need for him to try to outwit the master schemer by altering his strategy in order to succeed at the 10th time of asking, at the Emirates on Monday night, but it is a statistic that is impossible to ignore.

"Sometimes they have equalised in the last minute at Chelsea and that's not down to a gameplan," Wenger said. "That just reflects the strengths of the teams. I must say for a while Chelsea were stronger than us. You do not have to accept it but it was the reality."

Reality did bite for Arsenal. Since Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge for his first spell in 2004, they have won three of their 22 matches in all competitions against Chelsea. Their rivalry has been based on a clash of philosophies, Arsenal's brilliant but doomed fragility at odds with Chelsea's win-at-all-costs attitude. More often than not, it has been a case of men against boys, Chelsea's giants towering over Arsenal and ruthlessly taking advantage of their lapses in concentration. Arsenal won plaudits, Chelsea won trophies.

Arsenal, though, sense that this is their time, not least because Didier Drogba, so often their tormentor in the past, is no longer around to batter a defence that is likely to be missing the injured Laurent Koscielny. Although they come into this match having lost 6-3 at Manchester City, they have felt like a different side this season, more mature and less likely to crumble at the first sign of trouble. Arsenal work harder as a unit and have developed a resilience that allows them to win without playing well.

In the past, Arsenal have been viewed as a soft touch but the addition of Mathieu Flamini has added steel to their midfield, providing the platform for Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Mesut Özil to shine. Where once they were easy to bully into submission, now Arsenal will be confident of imposing their passing game on a Chelsea midfield which appears ill-equipped to stop them from bending the game to their will.

This is not a classic Mourinho team. His options in midfield – Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Mikel John Obi and Ramires – are underwhelming, lacking the power to dominate teams and the creativity to control matches, and failing to protect a creaking defence. Chelsea, knocked out of the League Cup by Sunderland last week, seem to have lost the ability to grind. When Mourinho first won the title with Chelsea in 2005 they conceded 15 goals and recorded 11 victories of 1-0. They have already conceded 18 this season, including 10 in their past five matches.

The game has changed, though. The top sides are less defensive than they were eight years ago and there is a greater emphasis on attacking. "The offensive potential is very big and the structure of the teams is more offensive," Wenger said.

Perhaps Mourinho is still adapting, seemingly caught halfway between constructing a defensively responsible team and delivering the attractive style that Abramovich craves. The Portuguese has the players to pull off the latter but has rarely appeared comfortable with the idea of letting the likes of Eden Hazard and Juan Mata off the leash.

Yet it would be ridiculous to write off Chelsea. For all the noises they have made about this being a season of transition– and it is doubtful whether Mourinho knows the meaning of the word – they have won their past three matches against Arsenal and on each of their past two trips to the Emirates.

Victory on Monday night will lift them up to second, behind Liverpool on goal difference, and leave Arsenal in fourth place.

While Wenger might have kept his thoughts to himself, he will know his team cannot be so reluctant to express themselves.

Jacob Steinberg

Sport picture of the day: laser quest

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:48 PM PST

Franck Ribéry got a right eyeful as he tried to take a corner during the FIFA Club World Cup 2013 final between Bayern Munich and Raja Casablanca

Paris Saint-Germain in three-point Ligue 1 lead after draw with Lille

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:43 PM PST

Paris Saint-Germain avoided their first home defeat in over a year on Sunday when Marko Basa's own goal salvaged a 2-2 draw against Lille and gave them a three-point Ligue 1 lead heading into the winter break.

French champions PSG, unbeaten at the Parc des Princes in all competitions since November 2012, have 44 points from 19 matches while Lille stayed third four points off the pace, one behind second-placed Monaco.

Laurent Blanc's side looked on the way to a routine win after Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 18th league goal of the season but Rio Mavuba and Salomon Kalou gave the visitors a 2-1 lead before Basa beat his own goalkeeper with less than 20 minutes left.

PSG were without Edinson Cavani who earlier this week went back to Uruguay to deal with a personal matter, while the Lille defender Simon Kjaer was ruled out in the last minute because of a buttock muscle pain.

The home side took control of the match and came close in the 22nd minute when Vincent Enyeama spectacularly parried away Ezequiel Lavezzi's half volley after the Argentine had been set up by full-back Lucas Digne, who deputised for the injured Maxwell on the left flank.

Thiago Silva skied Ibrahimovic's cross over the bar from point-blank range in the 33rd minute as PSG upped the pace.

There was nothing Enyeama could do in the 36th minute when Ibrahimovic unleashed a cannonball 25-metre free-kick that went into the top corner after taking a slight deflection off a Lille defender.

One minute before halftime, Mavuba fired past Salvatore Sirigu after collecting Kalou's cross from the right, shortly after he and Ibrahimovic had received a yellow card for a brief scuffle on the pitch.

Lille took the lead eight minutes into the second half when Kalou beat Sirigu from the spot after Digne had brought down Franck Béria in the box.

With a first home defeat this season looming, Blanc substituted the centre-back Alex with attacking midfielder Javier Pastore, who has had more downs than ups since he joined from Palermo in 2011 for a €42m (£35m) fee.

It was Basa, however, who did the job for PSG when he deflected a corner kick into his own net in the 72nd minute.

Chelsea's José Mourinho targets 12-year stay at Stamford Bridge

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:29 PM PST

• Stability the key for Portuguese in second stint
• Mourinho does not regret Wenger 'voyeur' claim

José Mourinho has set himself the ambitious target of remaining Chelsea's manager for another 12 years despite returning to the club on his "worst contract" of the past six seasons.

The Portuguese will seek to extend his mastery over Arsène Wenger's Arsenal to 10 games at the Emirates Stadium on Monday as the visitors attempt to hoist themselves above the early pace-setters. Wenger is entering his 18th year in charge across the capital, longevity envied by Mourinho who has noticed a more long-term approach in Roman Abramovich since returning to English football in the summer.

Mourinho signed a four-year contract worth around £10m a season, considerably less than he was earning at Real Madrid, to oversee a Chelsea team in transition. "Realistically I hope at the end of those four years we sit, analyse the situation and that will be the point where we both – club and me – are happy to carry on or happy to separate," he said. "But I would like [to stay for], say, 12 years. I'm 51 next month. I'd say 12 years, and then two to go to a World Cup with a national team. I would prefer the Portuguese national team. England second [choice], yes.

"The best way to [run a club] is to do it with stability. For the players, if you want to help them grow up, you do that much better with stability: in ideas, philosophy, model of play, style of leadership. This all comes from stability at the highest level: with the owners and board and, after that, the manager. The second line of the hierarchy. That stability is very important. You look, for example, to Manchester United and everybody feels David [Moyes] will have his time to do his work in a calm way. I think that's fantastic."

Abramovich had been through five permanent managers and two interims since that divorce from Mourinho in 2007, a turnover that has not checked the flow of trophies into Stamford Bridge. He returned for Mourinho in June and found a manager eager to take on a very different kind of project, and on relatively reduced terms compared with those he had enjoyed with Internazionale and Real. "There were a lot of teams [offered to me] who could be successful immediately in my hands," Mourinho said.

"I had Real Madrid: I left them because I wanted to, not because they wanted me to. I had other clubs in other countries where it would be easier to go and find an 'easy' job immediately. If I was here for financial reasons, I wouldn't be here getting a lot less money than I had at Real Madrid, where I had three more years on my contract.

"I didn't come here because the job was easy, or because I had a team ready to attack the title, or because I was coming here for the best contract of my life. It's the worst of my last six years. I'm here because I love the club, I love the project. It's a different project."

The manager expects the team at his disposal next season to be "phenomenal" after their development this term and further additions next summer. Yet they remain in contention to win the league this time and can go joint top if they defeat Arsenal. Mourinho's once acrimonious relationship with Wenger has improved in the years since the pair last clashed in the Premier League, their verbal sniping having prompted the infamous accusation that the Arsenal manager was "a voyeur" in October 2005.

"He was speaking about Chelsea all the time, always making criticisms and jibes, about the money and this and that … it was too much," recalled Mourinho. "At this moment he's totally focused on his team and his club. He's not looking to us. Peacefully, we are living without any kind of problems. I don't regret [the comments]. These are football fallouts, not personal fall-outs. Football fallouts you have today and forget tomorrow. I'm not big friends with him because, to be friends, you need to be close and time to develop that relation, but we have a lot of respect for each other."

Asked whether a manager would have been permitted to go eight years without claiming a trophy at another club of Arsenal's stature, Mourinho added: "Maybe Arsène was also loyal to the club in many periods where he could leave to go to other teams, and for sure he had these moments in his career. And he always decided to stay. When a manager is loyal to his club, there is a natural reason for the club to be loyal with him. They deserve each other."

Dominic Fifield

Wind, wet and Watford add up to a dream come true for Giuseppe Sannino

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 02:02 PM PST

• Watford's new manager hails day 'I was always dreaming of'
• Sannino sees Watford earn point in 1-1 draw at Ipswich

Giuseppe Sannino is still waiting for his second win of the season but the new head coach of Watford was honest enough to admit that merely being on the touchline for this below-par draw with Ipswich was the realisation of an ambition.

The 56-year-old Neapolitan flew into England on Wednesday to take over from Gianfranco Zola, who led Watford to third place and the play-off final last season but after a run of four points from 27 and five home defeats in a row quit last Monday with an open letter of apology to the fans.

The perception is that Watford's owner is taking a calculated gamble by hiring Sannino, a former lower-league midfielder in Italy who after an unremarkable career with nine clubs spent two years working as a janitor in a psychiatric hospital before doing the rounds as a coach and finally getting a break with Siena, whom he kept in Serie A for a season, Palermo, where he was fired after three games and rehired in the same season, and Chievo, where he lasted 12 games but was dismissed last month.

His only win this season came in September against Udinese, one of the three clubs in the portfolio of the Pozzo family, who reportedly sounded him out two weeks ago, when the first cracks in the Zola follow-up season became apparent.

Four promotions in eight lower-league seasons probably tipped the balance for the Pozzos, who are 18 months into a 25-year plan at Vicarage Road and, despite the perception that it needs English "attributes" to get a Championship side into the Premier League, are happily doing it their way.

"It was a dream for me to land in England," Sannino said through Marco Cesarini, the club's chief medical officer. "This game was 90 minutes of my life that I was always dreaming of. I have always admired the characteristics of the English game from home in Italy. I think I can adapt to it easily.

"I hope to speak English as soon as I can. The decision [to come here] was made very quickly and I didn't have time to prepare like Ancelotti or Mancini," he added, referring to the former Chelsea and Manchester City managers respectively."

His preparation for this one comprised two days on the training ground, where much of the work was on shape and tactics, and after making seven changes to the side Zola fielded in the home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday and reverting to a more familiar 3-5-2, Watford set out in swirling rain with their coach standing pitchside in his smart suit and cardigan, and struggling to stay in his technical area.

An unlikely saviour appeared in the shape of Mick McCarthy, his opposite number, who got involved when the fourth official censured the Italian for overstepping the mark. "The official said stand in your box or I will send you to the stand," the Ipswich manager said. "I was telling him to shut up and leave him alone. The poor little fella has been in English football for four days and he stepped out of the box. Let's make him welcome, for God's sake."

After a sterile first half in which his Ipswich team had done just that, they looked the more likely to succeed in the second and took the lead after they were awarded their first penalty of the season for a Gabriele Angella handball and David McGoldrick converted it. A deflected pass from Cristian Battocchio eight minutes later saw Troy Deeney get ahead of his marker at the near post to grab the point Watford probably deserved, though Luke Hyam hit their bar with a free header after Manuel Almunia parried a McGoldrick shot into the air.

"Last year they came here, played 3-5-2 and murdered us," said McCarthy, whose team are now undefeated in five and three points off the play-offs. "It shows how far we've come. I'll take the point. I wasn't prepared to change it and lose it."

Sannino's side still might have won it, however, as the substitute Ikechi Anya shot wide when well placed in the last minute, but nevertheless the new head coach joined his players on the pitch in celebration before the thousand or so travelling fans after securing a significant point.

It was a decent start in difficult circumstances and, with Millwall and QPR the visitors over the festive period, a decent platform for the start of a new era. "There is a lot of work to do but in two days I couldn't do nothing. I am not a magician," Sannino added. "I like to play purposeful football with the ball on the floor and create chances. Our [league] position is not appropriate and there is a lot to do. It is important for us to start from this first step."

Mick McCarthy

Mark Tallentire

Inter v Milan – as it happened | Daniel Harris

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 01:42 PM PST

A late goal from Rodrigo Palacio gave Inter a narrow but deserved win, in a scrappy game that characterised the travails of both sides

Daniel Harris

A-League: what we learned this weekend

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:52 PM PST

Joe Gorman: The pull of nostalgia; the Jets win ugly; it's strange out west; Phoenix rise; and how is John Aloisi still in a job?

Joe Gorman

Tan withdraws sack threat … for now

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:44 PM PST

• Mackay to remain at Cardiff for 'foreseeable future'
• Tan's ultimatum is withdrawn but manager still vulnerable

Vincent Tan, the Cardiff City owner, has granted Malky Mackay a stay of execution after another bizarre chain of events at the club. After being told last week to resign as manager or face the sack, Mackay waved goodbye to the Cardiff supporters at Anfield on Saturday, assuming he would be relieved of his duties but he has now been given the opportunity to remain in charge temporarily.

Mehmet Dalman, the Cardiff chairman, held talks with Tan on Friday night and, on the back of the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, brokered a peace deal of sorts. Dalman said that Tan's ultimatum had been withdrawn and that the "crisis for the time being is over".

He did, however, leave the door open to the inevitable prospect of more problems further down the line. "As things stand Malky is in charge for the foreseeable future and will be until something else happens," Dalman said.

Dalman plans to meet with Mackay to discuss the situation, although no talks have been scheduled. After everything that has happened over the last couple of months, Mackay will take the latest development with a pinch of salt. The notorious email that Tan sent was so vitriolic that it is impossible to believe his relationship with the Malaysian tycoon can be repaired.

Dalman said: "The important thing is that we try to find a way through this predicament. There's goodwill on Vincent's side. I've not had a chance to talk to Malky just yet but I will obviously do that as well. We need to have further dialogue to see if we can get through this together for the good of the club, which is the most important thing. If we wish to work towards a reconciliation, Vincent Tan has offered us that opportunity to move towards that. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

"What I do have is Vincent's word that if we don't succeed with our dialogue with Malky, I and the board will be handed the responsibility of going out and getting the manager we think is best to take the club forward."

Cardiff are at home against Southampton on Boxing Day, when supporters are planning to protest against Tan's ownership. Dalman added: "If I had one wish for Boxing Day, it's that they don't hold up 'Tan Out' or 'Malky In' banners, but rather one that says 'Talk to each other'."

Stuart James

Tim Sherwood shows Tottenham the way to goal against depleted Saints | Michael Cox

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:04 PM PST

With Southampton missing key players in defence, Spurs packed their team with attacking talent and goals were inevitable

The team sheet suggested one thing: goals. Southampton had both first-choice full-backs and their best two goalkeepers unavailable, while Mauricio Pochettino surprisingly opted for the error-prone Jos Hooiveld rather than José Fonte or Maya Yoshida at centre-back.

Tim Sherwood's first Premier League selection was even more startling: two centre-forwards, two attack-minded wide midfielders likely to cut inside, plus the playmaker Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembélé, a mazy dribbler who has played as a forward, in the centre. "We're going to score one more than you," they suggested. Eventually they did.

Sherwood's selection had positive and negative consequences. Upfront, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado worked very effectively on their first start together. Against such a weakened backline putting continual pressure on Southampton was a logical approach, and both strikers worked the channels extremely well, drifting in behind the full-backs on the break, and pulling the centre-backs out of position. Soldado's movement was better than at any point under André Villas-Boas, and he had crossed dangerously for Adebayor even before the two combined excellently for the first goal.

Without the ball, Adebayor dropped off into deeper positions to keep Spurs compact, and at some points in the second half both strikers played disciplined roles and prevented Southampton playing through the centre. The midfield, meanwhile, narrowed to compensate for the lack of numbers in the centre, inviting Saints to play through their reserve full-backs.Whether or not this was a deliberate approach from Sherwood, it worked nicely as Southampton's passing was noticeably poor throughout.

The downside to Sherwood's selection was that Tottenham conceded too much space between the lines. This was apparent from the opening moments, when Adam Lallana took up clever positions, and he opened the scoring when collecting the ball in space, turning, and firing home from the edge of the box.

Few Premier League playmakers use space as inventively as Lallana. He drifted laterally to find room behind Spurs' midfield, and was capable of playing through-balls from central positions, or hitting crosses when moving wide. Almost all of Southampton's good chances came from Lallana's advanced positioning including the brilliantly-worked second goal, scored by Rickie Lambert after Lallana's selfless cut-back left Hugo Lloris in no man's land. Tottenham will not get away with such an open system every week – but if Soldado and Adebayor demonstrate similarly good movement and continue to combine nicely, the 4-4-2 is workable. A holding midfielder, however, would not go amiss.

Michael Cox

Barcelona 5-2 Getafe | La Liga match report

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 12:04 PM PST

• Winger helps Catalan side recover from 2-0 deficit
• Barcelona go top of La Liga on goal difference

An inspired Pedro fired a first-half hat-trick as an injury-plagued Barcelona came from two goals down to beat Getafe 5-2 and go top of La Liga on goal difference.

The signs looked ominous for the Catalan side as they went 2-0 down within the first 15 minutes after Sergio Escudero and Lisandro Lopez both found the net for Getafe.

With Lionel Messi and Neymar missing through injury and suspension, Pedro took it upon himself to rescue Barcelona. The Canary Islander chipped the keeper, Miguel Moya, and added two clinical finishes before the break. He also crossed for Cesc Fábregas to volley in the fourth midway through the second half and was then fouled in the box, with Fábregas scoring the penalty.

The battling spirit of Gerardo Martino's side, who were also missing Xavi Hernández, Victor Valdes and Carles Puyol, shone through as they refused to cave in despite trailing for much of the first half.

Barcelona top the table on 46 points, level with Atlético Madrid, who beat Levante on Saturday, but with a healthier goal record. Real Madrid, eight points behind, take on Valencia later on Sunday.

Sergio Roberto was preferred to Alex Song in the Barça midfield and Fábregas played through the middle in attack against an inconsistent Getafe side who were thrashed 7-0 by Atlético Madrid last month.

Getafe took the lead after 10 minutes when a flick from Angel Lafita sent Escudero scampering clear and he beat keeper Jose Manuel Pinto unchallenged. Minutes later Lopez was left unmarked at a corner and placed his header past Pinto.

Barcelona remained shaky at the back but began to show signs of improvement further forward which led to Pedro pulling a goal back as he clipped the ball over Moya from the edge of the area.

Pedro then came in from the left and cracked a right-foot shot into the top corner and completed his hat-trick, latching on to a pull-back by Jordi Alba.

The goals continued to flow in the second half as Fábregas connected sweetly with a Pedro cross to score with a left-foot volley from close range and later beat the keeper with a penalty after Pedro was brought down by Borja Fernández.

Sherwood plans talks with Levy over Spurs' manager role

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:04 AM PST

• I don't want this job for five minutes, says Spurs stand-in
• Adebayor thanks team-mates after win at Southampton

Tim Sherwood hopes to speak with the Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy before the Boxing Day visit of West Bromwich Albion to ascertain whether his interim management of the team will extend until the end of the season.

Sherwood, who replaced the sacked André Villas-Boas last week, oversaw his first victory in charge, at Southampton, to hoist the side to within four points of the Champions League places. Emmanuel Adebayor, restored to the team by Sherwood, scored twice on his first Premier League start of the season, the first league goals by a Spurs forward since October, with the caretaker's bold selection reaping immediate dividends.

The 44-year-old will definitely be in charge for the visits of West Brom and Stoke to White Hart Lane after Christmas but will seek clarification on his position from Levy as he aspires to longer-term involvement. "I will have a chat with the chairman and see what's best for the club," he said. "I need to know what they're thinking. I don't want this job for five minutes. That's of no interest to me. So are we going to move it forward or not? I need to talk to the chairman and see what he's got planned.

"There are some great candidates out there for this job. It's a massive club, with history and tradition, but whatever happens needs to be right for me, too. Whoever takes this job is in a good position.

"André has left the club in good state, there's nothing wrong with the job he's done. Hopefully whoever is put in charge can take it on to the next step."

Sherwood stressed he had no qualms at the prospect of working under the director of football, Franco Baldini. "I don't know any different, do I?" he said.

"He's not going to interfere, anyway, and I can adapt to anything." He added that "the last thing we need" were further additions to the squad in next month's transfer window, an admission that may endear him further to the hierarchy, given the panic-inflated nature of the market in January.

The reintegration of Adebayor, one of the club's highest-paid players, has started the interim manager on the right foot. The Togo forward's attitude had been doubted by Villas-Boas, the striker having failed to impress after starting the season late as he coped with the death of his brother, Peter, in the summer.

Yet Sherwood has selected him in both of his games to date and been rewarded with three goals. "I want to thank all my team-mates," Adebayor said.

"They have been there for me, they tell me to keep working hard and my chance will come. He [Sherwood] told me: 'Emmanuel, I've known you for a long time and I need you to get out there and play your football. I will not tell you anything new. You have been around the block, Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, so you know how to play'. For me, that was big confidence.

"It's been hard, not only for a few months but in 2010, 2012 … My brother passed away and it was emotionally difficult. He was my senior brother so, for me, it's for him. He left a son behind. I want to take care of him and his family. I went to the funeral and when I came back I lost my place in the team. I kept doing my job and as my father told me‚'keep working hard'. Today it paid off and I am very happy."

"We all know about Adebayor and we all know he's a top player," said Sherwood, who hopes Mousa Dembélé will recover from an ankle injury in time for the Boxing Day fixture. "He doesn't need any motivating to go and play now because he's not played for a long time. He's a top player. I've not had to gee him up. All I've done is say: 'There you go Ade, go and play and attack. I want the defenders to defend and the midfielders to play in midfield. Go and do what you do'. It's a simple game. That's how I've always viewed it: get the ball to your top players in the right areas of the field.

"That first half was horrible, not good – it was about mis-control and passing it to the wrong team, not tactics – but after getting level pegging we took it on. Attacking football is the only way I know. It could have gone pear-shaped at the death, they could have got a ricochet and it might have gone in. People might have said shore it up but you shore it up by keeping the ball and, in truth, we should have been out of sight long before the end. There shouldn't have been any nail-biting to endure."

Daniel Levy

Dominic Fifield

Swansea City 1-2 Everton | Premier League match report

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 10:22 AM PST

Roberto Martínez admitted that he is running out of superlatives with which to describe Ross Barkley. The Everton manager stood with one arm aloft and a wide grin on his face after the 20-year-old capped another hugely impressive performance with an exquisite free-kick, six minutes from time, to seal victory and lift the Merseyside club into the top four.

On a cold afternoon in South Wales it was a moment to warm the hearts of England fans as well as Everton supporters. Outstanding against Arsenal a fortnight earlier, Barkley enhanced his burgeoning reputation with another fine display that showcased his prodigious talent. Composed in possession, powerful running with the ball and comfortable shooting with either foot, he was a joy to watch, in the second half in particular.

The only blemish was when he struggled to get the ball out from under his feet in the 55th minute, after being put clean through by Steven Pienaar, but that will not have been the moment that Everton fans headed back to Merseyside talking about. After taking the lead through a superb shot from Seamus Coleman, Everton looked like they would have to settle for a point when Bryan Oviedo deflected Dwight Tiendalli's shot into his own net four minutes later, but Barkley had other ideas.

Having cracked a left-foot shot against the crossbar prior to Coleman's breakthrough Barkley, sporting a new military haircut, stepped forward using his right foot and swept a curling free-kick that seemed to beat Gerhard Tremmel for pace as much as anything as the ball crashed in off the underside of the bar.

"The winning goal is technically as good as it gets," Martínez, the Everton manager, said. "Ross Barkley, whatever you want to say about him, you will always end up with an understatement. He's an incredible listener, he is a young man with incredible potential, every game he comes up with something different, every game he shows you that he can develop. I'm extremely proud to see him grow and enjoy his football."

Martínez smiled when it was put to him that Barkley had revealed on television that he does not practise free-kicks. "He doesn't. You could see that Rom [Romelu Lukaku] and Ross were fighting, because Rom really practises. I think Ross is the sort of player that gets fed by feeling and he felt he had to take the free-kick. It's a real natural talent that he has – right, left, great balance. We didn't know he could take free-kicks – but it's good to know from now on."

Martínez was thrilled with a result that lifts Everton to within two points of Liverpool, the Premier League leaders, and stretches their unbeaten run to 10 matches. With two home games to come, against Sunderland on Boxing Day and Southampton three days later, optimism abounds. "We're gonna win the league," chanted the travelling supporters at the final whistle.

Michael Laudrup, in contrast, was unable to conceal his disappointment. The Swansea manager felt that his side were worthy of a point and believed that Everton had settled for one when Martínez withdrew Kevin Mirallas and Pienaar 12 minutes from time. There was admiration, though, for the goal that Barkley produced to win the game. "He's definitely a big talent and he already has a lot of things even if he is so young," Laudrup said.

It is difficult to see the festive period providing much cheer for Swansea. They travel to Chelsea on Boxing Day and face Manchester City and Manchester United in two of their next three league matches. To compound matters, Laudrup is facing the prospect of being without Michu for some time. Last season's leading scorer was absent here with an ankle injury and Laudrup expects to learn within the next 24 hours whether the Spaniard has a chance of playing at Chelsea or if he requires surgery.

Swansea badly missed Michu's presence on a day when Everton always looked more threatening. The game came to life in the second period, when Barkley's influence started to grow, although he will not want to review footage of the breakaway that should have led to him opening the scoring. Oviedo linked with Pienaar and the goal opened up only for Barkley to end up on his backside with the ball rolling harmlessly into the hands of Tremmel.

Barkley, though, showed his class moments later. After skipping away from Jonathan de Guzmán with a lovely piece of skill, Barkley drove at the heart of the Swansea defence, shifted the ball on to his left foot and drilled a shot from the edge of the area that Tremmel pushed on to the bar and over. It was a fine save by the Swansea goalkeeper but he was beaten in spectacular style two minutes later when Coleman, who was keen to get forward from right-back at every opportunity, thumped a swerving 30-yard shot inside the near post.

At that point Everton were in control but through a combination of poor defending and bad luck, the visitors conceded an equaliser in the 70th minute. Ben Davies's deep cross from the left seemed fairly harmless but Pienaar allowed Tiendalli to get in front of him and the full-back's volley, which was heading wide, took a deflection off Oviedo and beat Howard. That was the cue for Barkley to take centre stage once again.

Man of the match Ross Barkley (Everton)

Stuart James

Swansea City v Everton – as it happened | Daniel Harris

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 09:58 AM PST

Brilliant goals from Seamus Coleman and Ross Barkley gave Everton a deserved win, taking them above Chelsea and into the top four

Daniel Harris

Alex Ferguson tops table for bestselling book in print for 2013

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 09:24 AM PST

Ex-Manchester United manager's memoir My Autobiography has sold more than 647,000 copies since publication in October

His team may be languishing mid-table over the festive season, but the former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson will sit down to Christmas dinner in pole position once more, as his latest autobiography is declared 2013's bestselling print book.

Ferguson's memoir has dominated the charts since publication in October, when it became the fastest-selling work of non-fiction on record, going on to amass sales of more than 647,000 copies. According to Waterstones' Jon Howells, the scale of My Autobiography's success has been something of a surprise. "It looks like it's going to be one of the biggest-selling autobiographies since records began," Howells said, "and I don't think anybody would have predicted three months ago that would happen."

For Howells, Ferguson's literary success shows the winner of 13 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues and five FA Cups has managed to transcend sport.

"It's reaching a readership which is interested in management and leadership as a broader issue."

With just one week of sales data to add to the UK top 100 before Christmas, Dan Brown's latest Robert Langdon thriller, Inferno, is in second place on the Nielsen BookScan chart. With sales of 228,000 in its first week, this Dantean vision of Armageddon has gone on to shift more than 626,000 copies during 2013 – compared with the 1.2m copies notched up for the previous outing for his academic adventurer, The Lost Symbol.

But according to Howells, this dip doesn't mark a loss of form from one of popular fiction's biggest stars, but rather is an indication of wider shifts in the books industry.

"I'm not into Dan Brown snobbery," Howells said. "I've read Inferno and the others and they're great fun." Nobody was reading digitally when The Lost Symbol was published back in 2009, he said. "Now there's a massive ebook market for popular fiction. If you add in ebook sales, then the figure for Inferno would be much closer to 1m. But most of those sales will be on Kindle, and Amazon don't release those figures."

For Nielsen's Russell Bremner, Amazon's refusal to release figures for Kindle downloads is "the big issue for ebook sales". With electronic books accounting for 17% of UK sales by volume according to consumer research conducted by Kantar World Panel and the internet retailer accounting for 79% of those sales, ebook figures for popular fiction remain something of a mystery, Bremner said. "We have no idea, unfortunately. I wish we did."

Third on the list of print sales is Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl – proof that four years after the Richard and Judy show was axed from UKTV their book club still wields considerable commercial clout. After partnering with WHSmith and shifting online, the book club sees five of its 2013 selections in the top 100, alongside a debut novel from one of the presenters – Judy Finnigan's Cornish ghost story, Eloise, is in 55th place.

David Jason has won the battle of the showbiz memoir with almost 300,000 books sold, comfortably ahead of Morrissey, who sold more than 140,00 copies of his Penguin classic, and Miranda Hart whose 2012 memoir Is It Just Me? sold more than 137,000 copies during 2013 in paperback.

Just behind Jason in 11th place is JK Rowling, whose first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, sold almost 275,000 this year in paperback.

Rowling makes a second appearance a little further down the charts in her guise as Robert Galbraith. Her novel featuring the private investigator Cormoran Strike offers a chance to measure the power of a name in cold, hard cash. The Cuckoo's Calling sold 8,500 copies in hardback, ebook and audio edition before the identity of its author was revealed. It has since sold more than 112,000 copies: sales worth almost £1.2m.

This will come as a welcome fillip to publishers still struggling to cope as the slide in print sales continues. Early indications show the number of sales in 2013 will be down almost 9% on 2012, a year which was itself down 4% on 2011.

According the editor of the Bookseller, Philip Jones, publishers have still put out "event books", such as William Boyd's James Bond novel, Solo, and Helen Fielding's latest Bridget Jones, Mad About the Boy, which appears at 18th in the 2013 chart with 225,000 copies sold. The continuing fall in print sales is partly due to the recession and the shift to digital, Jones argues, but also pays tribute to the breakout success of 50 Shades of Grey. Take out EL James from figures from 2012 and the decline is only 4%.

EL James's influence on publishing can be still be seen in 2013 with two appearances for Sylvia Day's Crossfire erotic romances – Entwined with You is in 12th slot with almost 255,000 copies sold. But with a film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey due in early 2015, Howells is confident EL James will return to bestselling ways.

"When that happens – presuming the film is the faithful adaptation of the book all her fans expect – she'll be back in the top 100 again," he said, citing cinema versions of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. "You think everybody's read something the first time around, but if the film works, you see sales rocket again," he said.

Another author propelled on to the UK top 100 by cinematic success is Jeff Kinney, six of whose eight Diary of a Wimpy Kid novels appear on the chart, with the latest, Hard Luck, in fifth position with almost 350,000 copies sold. With the children's market due to contract by only 5% David Walliams is another writer who has translated screen success into a publishing gold, with five of his recent novels for eight to twelve year olds among this year's top sellers.

The influence of the silver screen extends to literary fiction as well, with Ang Lee's 2012 film adaptation of The Life of Pi enough to make Yann Martel's 2001 novel a star of 2013. Martel appears alongside fellow Booker winners Ian McEwan and Hilary Mantel on the top 100, but there was no space for this year's winner, Eleanor Catton, or for Donna Tartt, though according to Jones both titles should figure very strongly next year in paperback.

Despite the continuing fall in print sales, Jones remains bullish about prospects for 2014, suggesting that with almost 50% of the sales for big commercial titles shifting to digital editions and falling off the charts, a slide of 8% is "not bad".

"We saw a lot of optimism at the London Book Fair and Frankfurt in 2013," he added, "a lot of buying. Publishers have discovered that the more their business shifts to digital the more profitable it becomes, and they were spending some of that this year. Publishing is remarkably robust and incredibly positive, though with Amazon's domination extending over more and more of the industry, who knows what the future will bring."

Richard Lea

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Monday, 23 December 2013

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Monday, 23 December 2013

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

07:26

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Written by TBMU Admin

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