Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Smarting Arsenal find the way to revenge in the rough with the smooth | Barney Ronay
In praise of … saner football | Editorial
'You have to be cold blooded'
Mourinho: Wenger is Monsieur Polite
Jesús Navas says Manchester City are ready to topple mighty Barcelona
Pellegrini: City are ready for Barça
Kolo Touré's big game defence may be another own goal in the making | Barry Glendenning
Wigan's Ben Watson enjoying his FA Cup hero status after Cardiff are seen off
Sunderland's Craig Gardner sees off Southampton as cup form continues
Arsène Wenger dismisses José Mourinho as 'silly and disrespectful'
Meulensteen faces fight to secure pay-off from Fulham
Liverpool's Steven Gerrard shows holding role can prolong his career
QPR 1-3 Reading | Championship match report
FA Cup: Arsenal v Liverpool - in pictures
Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool
20th Century Fox contract is a boost for Base79's talent
Arsenal v Liverpool: five talking points | Paul Doyle
Getafe 0-3 Real Madrid | La Liga match report
Arsenal v Liverpool – as it happened | Jacob Steinberg
Sheffield Utd 3-1 Nottingham Forest | FA Cup fifth round
Manchester City draw FA Cup holders Wigan in repeat of 2013 final
Everton 3-1 Swansea City
Everton v Swansea City – as it happened | Daniel Harris
Rooney in talks over £300,000 deal
A-League: what we learned this weekend

Smarting Arsenal find the way to revenge in the rough with the smooth | Barney Ronay

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:57 PM PST

This could be the year Arsène Wenger's team win a trophy after a ragged display and victory against Liverpool in the FA Cup

Frantic, ragged, lucky, even at times rather desperate: oh yes, this was a hugely encouraging afternoon all round for Arsenal. If Arsène Wenger could have designed the perfect riposte to those familiar accusations of stylish underachievement – voiced last week by José Mourinho, a man who blurts out toxic barbs in much the same way some people feel compelled to make chit-chat about the weather – it would have been this, a raggedly full-blooded FA Cup victory against a Liverpool team who played the better football, created more chances, but still somehow always seemed likely to lose.

On a crisp, clear north London afternoon Arsenal looked like a team roused into a state of unaccustomed spikiness by the week-long hangover from that invertebrate 5-1 thrashing at Anfield. Abrasive for an hour, they were eventually hauled in as Liverpool's excellent three-man midfield began to dominate possession, but hung on not just to win but – even better – to win ugly, holding on to a 2-1 lead as Liverpool finished the stronger.

This was, above all, an excellent match, a reminder of the astringent qualities of a concussive February FA Cup tie, and an occasion from which both managers will take some encouragement. For an Arsenal team that had seemed to be drifting into battle-weary diffidence at exactly the wrong moment, there was a bracing sense of physicality about this performance, and above all a fine and decisive turn from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the best player on the pitch for the opening hour.

It has been a timely return to full fitness for Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is still only 20 and has provided recently that vital sense of textural variation in an Arsenal team which, without Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey, can seem intent on trying to persuade the opposition to death.

Not here though, as at times there was almost a sniff of a pre-modern Arsenal about this Cup team of convenience as Mathieu Flamini, a leaping, drop-kicking Cato to Steven Gerrard's inspector Clouseau, hurled himself into tackles, half-tackles and never-were-tackles, and Oxlade-Chamberlain gave Aly Cissokho a traumatic opening hour playing as an orthodox right-winger. Here Arsenal's No33 was a blur of speed and intelligent short-passing, scoring the first and setting up the second, always playing with his head up, and looking the model of a fluid creative attacking midfielder.

There was a hugely encouraging sense of composure about his assist for the decisive second goal just after half-time as he took the time to look up and place a perfectly measured pass into Lukas Podolski's path for a first-time finish low beyond Brad Jones. Raheem Sterling also had an excellent match on Liverpool's left flank, showing excellent touch and control under pressure. Roy Hodgson has spoken about his willingness to create an England team full of pace and youthful vim. It will mean little if he ducks the chance to take the two best wide players on the pitch here with him to Brazil.

If Oxlade-Chamberlain was the brain behind Arsenal's victory, Yaya Sanogo was the galloping brawn. A 21-year-old with 11 career goals and just 39 Arsenal first-team minutes to his name, Sanogo started here in place of Olivier Giroud, who was finally given a rest at the exact moment he might have been better off getting out of the house for a bit.

Sanogo is an encouragingly mobile 6ft 3in centre forward, albeit there is still a gaucheness to his touch and a puppyish quality to his unceasing movement across the front line. He was brilliantly willing here, bullocking about like a young John Fashanu, and playing his part in Arsenal's opening goal by tussling repeatedly with Martin Skrtel, then chesting down the ball and shooting as Skrtel came charging out in search of Mesut Özil's corner kick. From the rebound Oxlade-Chamberlain tucked the ball home neatly.

After which Sanogo sprinted and wrestled gamely, one piece of closing down on Skrtel drawing a furious leaping ovation. And with half-time looming there was further evidence of something odd in the air as Mesut Özil won the ball with a fierce challenge on the halfway line – while across north London the dogs miaowed and the clock struck 13 – to set Oxlade-Chamberlain off again down the right. As he was at Anfield, Özil was energetically double-hustled by Liverpool's midfield. His problem right now is not so much that teams have learnt to do this to him, but that he shows such an obvious displeasure in finding himself harried and chivvied. This, it would seem, wasn't in the brochure. His quality remains, though: the pass down the right flank to put Oxlade-Chamberlain in space for the second goal was superbly finessed.

For Liverpool this was a frustrating afternoon. They were the better team on balance, particularly in the second half, with Luis Suárez producing another dashed off masterpiece in ferrety and instinctive centre-forward play and Sterling and Daniel Sturridge both incisive on the ball. Gerrard deservedly pulled one back with a penalty and they should have had another as Suárez was barrelled over by Oxlade-Chamberlain.

This, though, was destined to be the Ox's afternoon, reward for a performance of both maturity and youthful zest. However breathlessly Arsenal are still in the running in three competitions, although realistically the Cup is their best chance of an actual, non-metaphorical trophy this season. Ragged, flukey, hot-blooded, hanging on for dear life: who knows, maybe it might just be their year after all.

Barney Ronay

In praise of … saner football | Editorial

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:55 PM PST

The mega-mouth, mega-money, mega-ego world of big British football is a far cry from what it was in Tom Finney's day

Chelsea's manager José Mourinho dubs Arsène Wenger of Arsenal "a specialist in failure", though claiming that's only retaliation for what Mr Wenger says about him. He has a parallel feud with Manuel Pellegrini of Manchester City. That, along with endless managerial complaints that referees are chronically biased against them, is standard managerial practice nowadays in the mega-mouth, mega-money, mega-ego world of big British football. Meanwhile, in the midst of this charmless cacophony, the news comes from Preston, where he'd lived all his life (playing for no other club) of the death of a mega-talented England footballer who, after he came back from the war, kept up the day job as a plumber even through his international days, never simulated injury, never badmouthed a referee and certainly never considered a Rooney-esque weekly wage of £300,000. Tom Finney embodied a saner age.

Editorial

'You have to be cold blooded'

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:31 PM PST

Champions League encounter will give one of Barcelona's less celebrated players a chance to meet some old friends

Nineteen, 20, 21 … Vicente del Bosque was nearing the end of the end of the list and the nerves were almost unbearable for the 22-year-old watching on television in Tenerife, mentally crossing off the places remaining in Spain's World Cup squad. One by one the coach read them out, slowly and seriously. At last, the release. At last, Del Bosque said it: "Pedro." Pedro Rodríguez Ledesma had never played for his country before. Now he was going to the World Cup. Two months later, he would start the final.

It is a measure of how tense those moments in May 2010 were that, as Pedro recalls it, his was the last name given, even though Fernando Torres and David Villa had to wait even longer. He genuinely had no idea: no tips-offs, no "is your passport up to date"? Maybe they tell the players who are not going? "Maybe," Pedro says. "I don't know how it works, except that I found out at the same time as everyone else. I ended up very happy but until I heard my name there was uncertainty."

He would hear it again and again, starting with the day of the final. The sports centre where he played as a kid is now called Pedro Rodríguez, he has been decorated by the Canary Islands, and at the zoo he used to visit there is a sea lion named after him. It was Pedrito's birthday recently and Pedro was there to celebrate, feeding his adopted friend the top of a cake. "He's doing well," the Barcelona winger grins. So is he. It has been some journey.

Pedro recalls running on to make his Barcelona debut and giving Thierry Henry instructions: "The mister says …" He recalls Henry barely responding, him shouting "Go to No9", and Henry looking at him as if to say, who's this midget? When Pep Guardiola took over the B team, the technical reports were not glowing about Pedro, who had learned to become a winger after he was told that at Barça the No10 position "didn't exist". But Guardiola ignored them, kept Pedro and together they won the third division.

That was just the start. Guardiola was promoted and took Pedro with him. "Pep was exactly the same," Pedro says. "The fact that it was the first team made no difference: it was the same analysis, the same philosophy, the same work. We had a long conversation after the Copa del Rey final [in 2012, Guardiola's last game] and I said 'thank you'.

"When a coach trusts you enough to take you from the youth team and put you into the first team, one of the best teams in the world, it's not easy. He had faith in me and supported me. Without that, a player can lose heart and look for a solution away from the club."

Now Pedro has won four league titles, two Copas, two world club championships and two European Cups. The second, at Wembley in 2011, was celebrated with dinner at the Natural History museum, surrounded by dinosaur skeletons; Pedro has a piece of the net from Wembley as a memento too, cut up and distributed by Gerard Piqué.

Pedro scored the opening goal in the 2011 final against Manchester United. In 2009 he remembers John Terry visiting Barcelona's dressing room after the controversial semi-final: "He was hurting, so it showed courage to come in, shake everyone's hand and congratulate us. It was very noble."

Pedro also has 13 goals in 37 appearances for Spain. Then there's a European Championship winners' medal and the World Cup. His success has been extraordinary. Yet, somehow he seems to go almost unnoticed; there is something of that moment in his debut that has persisted. Small and unremarkable, he's been far more effective than aesthetic, and he has been extraordinarily effective. He has had few cheerleaders and has done still less to sell himself. Txiki Begiristain, the former sporting director, praised him as easy to deal with because he made no demands, never complaining, always smiling.

Born in Tenerife, Pedro says he is the typical Canary Islander as a player – "quick, skilful, attacking" – and as a person – "relaxed, easy-going". Take his fellow canario David Silva: "He doesn't act like what he does is important, but he's one of the best players in the world. We try to live a normal life away from football, detached from everything that surrounds the game." But those are also characteristics that can appear to count against him, almost as if it is too easy to leave him out. Doesn't it get annoying to be the good guy, accepting others being chosen ahead of you?

"No," Pedro replies. "Of course, I want to play every game but you have to accept rotations and understand that other players are in good form. Football's a team game. Even when you think you should be playing more, you have to stay positive for when the opportunities arise." So far, so standard. But then Pedro adds something that hints at a greater awareness of his worth: "If not, then at the end of the season you analyse the situation and look for the best solution."

The apparently timid smile and laid-back character hides a competitive steel that defines him more than is usually appreciated. Perhaps tellingly, he admits that team-mates are "rivals" too and it is no coincidence that he tends to end up playing. When Barcelona signed Neymar, Pedro seemed set to lose his place. Instead, he has started 16 league games and played in all six Champions League matches. He has scored 13 league goals; only Alexis Sánchez has more.

"I try not to have nerves," he says. "You have to be cold-blooded. You have to think, to look at the goalkeeper: how is he positioned? You study them, you know about them, even if there isn't always time, even if it's sometimes intuition. You look to see where he is. And if he goes early, it makes your job easier.

"When I started we had Samu [Eto'o] and Titi and Zlatan too. Now we have Alexis, Messi, Neymar. Another new signing, another big name, will probably arrive in the summer but I'll keep going. You know it's always difficult to get minutes. I know the best games for me are the ones where there's space to run, to get away from defenders. That suits me and the team. Unfortunately, there're few games like that. But the mister is giving everyone a chance, rotating a lot, and I'm happy with the opportunities I've had and the way I've taken them."

Those rotations are especially significant after last year's Champions League experience; Martino is determined to avoid a repeat of the collapse against Bayern Munich in last season's semi-final, which the Germans won 7-0 on aggregate en route to claiming the trophy. "Tata [Martino] is doing very well, pacing us," Pedro says. "It's important that you're in the right shape at the end of the season. Last year against Bayern we were missing key players and we were a notch below our level physically."

For Barcelona, the difficulty may be even getting that far. They have made six successive semi-finals but if they are to do so this time must overcome Manchester City. It's a meeting of friends, but above all it's a meeting of two extremely strong sides.

It was Jesús Navas who came on for Pedro in the World Cup final and Silva was awarded the Canary Islands' gold medal with him. "David couldn't make the ceremony: I would have liked him to be there too," Pedro explains. "I have a good relationship with David and Jesús and [Álvaro] Negredo. They're all playing well and I'm sure I'll speak to them after what promises to be a great game.

"I watch City when I can. I enjoy watching them play and when there's a team you know you're going to face, it's good to see what form they're in and analyse them. Navas is more of a pure winger, going past people on the outside and then crossing; I'm a bit more about the diagonal run, then looking to shoot. But we have similarities too: we can play on both sides, we're very quick and we take people on. Jesús is having a great season. For a long time he was someone [who you thought] should be playing in a great side and I think now he is.

"You try to avoid the strongest teams [by winning the group] but we knew we could get them …" Pedro says. There are no easy games? Perhaps, but there are easier games. "There are some opponents you prefer, that's the truth. Maybe this way we will be even more focused than ever, though, because we know how difficult it is." Is this the toughest draw Barcelona could have got? Pedro smiles. That may just be the way he likes it. "Definitely," he says.

Sid Lowe

Mourinho: Wenger is Monsieur Polite

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST

• Chelsea manager claims he has 'bad guy' label
• Accuses Arsenal manager of unprovoked jibes

José Mourinho has branded Arsène Wenger "Monsieur Polite", suggesting that the Arsenal manager has an undeserved reputation for always being courteous, when he is the "bad guy". Mourinho remains unhappy at the Frenchman's claim last week that the Chelsea manager was playing down his side's championship hopes because he was scared to fail. While Wenger was careful to speak about Arsenal's general title rivals, Mourinho remains clear that he was being spoken about.

The Portuguese claims Wenger's comments were unprovoked. "The only thing I feel is that I was very quiet, in my place, and somebody spoke not in a nice way about us," he said. "After that I don't accept that one is always Monsieur Polite and the other one is always the bad guy. I don't accept, I'm sorry."

Chelsea were beaten 2-0 by Manchester City on Saturday to be knocked out of the FA Cup. Mourinho believes the referee, Phil Dowd, did not do his job correctly, with the manager claiming the official bowed to pressure from City players.

"We could speak about the referee's team that in the previous game they were perfect and [for City] Phil, when they put pressure on him, they couldn't cope and they change completely in the second half," Mourinho said. "We could speak about lots of things but let's be pragmatic and simple and say the best team won."

The Portuguese did point to City being more rested than his side. Manuel Pellegrini's team had not played in midweek due to their match with Sunderland being called off because of inclement weather.

Mourinho said: "We couldn't be at our maximum level. We could speak about how they didn't play in midweek, we could speak about how John Terry did not play, but I don't like to speak about injured players."

City's win means they continue to pursue an unprecedented quadruple. Yet Mourinho claimed that the extra games City have to play could actually be an advantage to them.

"That's not a problem. What affects the Premier League is the change of the fixtures. They have to play later when they play after the other teams fighting for the title, it is easier. They know somebody lost, somebody won, they lost two points, one point is enough for us. That is obviously an advantage. But it's not their fault. It's the weather, the fixtures, the FA, the Premier League, so it's not their fault," he said.

Pressed if Chelsea could use this to their advantage by winning thier games before City play, Mourinho said: "Leave us in peace. It's not for us. We have to try to win the next game."

Jamie Jackson

Jesús Navas says Manchester City are ready to topple mighty Barcelona

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST

Spaniard will draw on his experience of beating Barça when he was with Sevilla and says they are vulnerable

Jesús Navas is bullish about the arrival of Barcelona and the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Xavi for Tuesday's Champions League meeting with Manchester City. "I reckon they won't be happy having to come here," he says. "They will find we are a really difficult team to play against and to beat. We are playing very well, creating chances scoring a lot of goals.

"We are full of confidence. The one thing we must do is play with high pressure and high tempo because they have some top-quality players."

The standout tie of the last-16 stage pits Manuel Pellegrini's fluid 116-goal machine against the aristocrats of the continent, a Barcelona outfit that has won two European Cups since 2009, boasts the four-times world player of the year in Messi, and the game's new superstar, Neymar, who arrived in a €57m (£46.6m) transfer from Santos last summer.

Yet the sense that the Catalan club is not quite the force it was is not discounted by Navas, who before his £14.9m move from Sevilla to City in June spent a decade playing against Barcelona.

"Maybe they don't play as well as three or four years ago, but that is normal – the rivals study the way you play and find a tactic to counteract your strengths. The cycles in football don't last forever. It's hard to say because they set the standards so high in the past," says the 28-year-old.

"It is very, very difficult to keep playing with that kind of style year in and year out. But, that said, they are top of La Liga and they are in the final of the Copa del Rey. It is always difficult to face Barcelona, they always have top-quality players. I remember playing so many times when I was at Seville. We knocked them out of the Copa del Rey once, so that's my main memory. I scored a header against them at home when we drew 1-1.

"We have been training hard and hopefully by preparing for this match well we can go through to the next round."

City's high-tempo attack is not dissimilar to Barcelona's. Yet it came unstuck in the 3-1 defeat handed them by Bayern Munich on their home patch during the group stage.

Navas dismisses this. "That wasn't one of our best performances," he says. "They scored very early on and that made things very difficult for us, although you have to bear in mind that in Munich [in the return match] we played very well after going behind and won [3-2] playing our own style of football. So I am confident we can beat Barcelona at home.

"The reality is that type of game has served us really well this season. It is a style that we particularly enjoy but it will be difficult to impose it on Barcelona because they also want a lot of the ball and it will be very intense on our side. Even the best teams have their weaknesses, and Barcelona struggle in set pieces and counterattacks, when they lose the ball in attacking positions."

Reports of Messi's demise are being proved hasty. The 26-year-old scored twice in Saturday's 6-0 dismantling of Rayo Vallencano to take him to a single-club La Liga record of 336 goals.

Of the how-to-halt-Messi conundrum, Navas says: "He is very difficult to stop. You have to put pressure on him, make sure you are close to him when he gets the ball and not let him create space."

While the 26-goal Sergio Agüero should be ruled out due to a hamstring injury, City have another 26-goal man, Álvaro Negredo. The Spaniard's muscle and pace makes him in the mould of a classic English centre-forward, and so he should pose Barça a different kind of problem.

Navas is familiar with the strengths of the "Beast of Vallecas" from their time together as club-mates in Spain. "We have known each other for a while both here and in Seville," he says. "We are working together every day here in England and are enjoying our football."

Navas has gradually found his groove in the hurly-burly of English football. "No, I haven't struggled. I have scored goals, made some assists. I think I've found it easier because a lot of players are attacking, getting into the box and making it easier for me," he says before warning that the contest with Barcelona will not be straightforward.

"The tie will not be decided on Tuesday, but in Barcelona [in the second leg]," Navas says. "It is 180 minutes. We have to put pressure on them, maintain the concentration at all times and take the chances."

Jamie Jackson

Pellegrini: City are ready for Barça

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:29 PM PST

After beating Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup fifth round City are confident they can beat Barcelona in the Champions League

Revenge, excitement, love, fearlessness. Manuel Pellegrini's mask slips more and more as his passion for football shows. These were the emotions touched on by the Manchester City manager before his side meet Barcelona on Tuesday evening in a must-see Champions League encounter.

For Pellegrini, whose side knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup with ease, it will be a thrill to take on the Catalan club. "Yes, of course, because it's two good teams coming together. It's good for the fans, it's good for everyone. I love football, I love good matches," he said. "I don't have any fear about playing Barcelona, because this team has got to continue to develop the mentality to play against important, important teams, whether that's in the last 16, the quarter-final. I hope we see a very good match on Tuesday and I hope we can win at home.

"It's impossible to avoid Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich if you want to continue in the Champions League. So in one moment you must play against them. We play them in the last 16, so let's see what we can do."

Against José Mourinho's side, Pellegrini got the required response after the two previous results. "I felt the team wanted revenge, not just against Chelsea, but also because of the Norwich game," he said.

Victory over Chelsea was aided by James Milner helping Pablo Zabaleta shackle Eden Hazard, and Javi García providing a convincing midfield barrier alongside Yaya Touré, who was in imperious form.

In City's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea a fortnight ago at the Etihad Stadium neither Milner or García were present when Hazard routed an exposed Zabaleta and Martín Demichelis, a (one-paced) central defender, was pushed forward into an auxiliary role next to Touré.

This time Pellegrini deployed apt personnel to squeeze Chelsea and offer a clue as to how City can prosper against Barça by pressing high to kill the space and time Lionel Messi and company have to play their dizzying pass-and-move stuff.

For this approach Pellegrini would love to have Fernandinho back. The impressive Brazilian, whose partnership with Touré allows the Ivorian to rove forward, has a chance of being fit to face Gerardo Martino's side, having been out since the end of January due to a muscle injury.

Pellegrini said: "Maybe if he worked [on Sunday] in a normal way and Monday he is 100% fit and he does not have any scare about his injury, we will see if he can play."

The Chilean's 26-goal man, Sergio Agüero, has a slimmer hope of facing Barcelona as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury. Of the striker and Fernandinho, Pellegrini said: "If there is any risk, they will not play. They have to be 100%. We will talk to the doctor and see what happens. It's my opinion that [for] Agüero it is very difficult."

Samir Nasri is one A-list performer who is back, the Frenchman returning from a month lay-off due to a knee injury to score City's slick second goalagainst Chelsea, the one-two he worked with David Silva shredding the sluggish Chelsea.

This was in the second half, after Nasri entered as a replacement. It was the same story for the move that involved Touré and finished with Stevan Jovetic claiming a first FA Cup goal before the break, Mourinho's team again half a yard off the pace.

The Portuguese had no complaints about the result. "I don't think we defended the same way [as in Chelsea's league win]. We want to press, one thing we do is press really well in the opponent's half and we never did that," he said. The manager pointed to Chelsea having played in midweek and City having rested due to their game with Sunderland being postponed because of the storm. "The difference of freshness was clear. You could feel their players were stronger and faster than some of my players too. The team was feeling that it was difficult to do it and when you feel that, by the mental point of view you are going a little bit down."

On Saturday Barcelona thrashed Rayo Vallecano 6-0 with Messi scoring twice to set a single-club record of 336 goals. Yet Pellegrini's message is bring the little genius and team-mates on so that his players can shine. "Yes, it's a good chance to show how good we are," he said. "They have a lot of experience, they have a great team, they have the best player in the world, but I think also we are a good team with good players."

Man of the match Yaya Touré (Manchester City)

Jamie Jackson

Kolo Touré's big game defence may be another own goal in the making | Barry Glendenning

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:01 PM PST

Liverpool's Ivorian defender may be better advised to cut down on the conservation efforts and try to save the day job for another year

Who would be an elephant? Specifically, an African one. As if the very real threat of extinction within 10 years at the hands of unscrupulous, tusk-thieving, machine gun-toting poachers wasn't stressful enough, these iconic, big-eared members of the order Proboscidea will have been disheartened to learn in recent days, that of all the Premier League defenders who could have been asked to help fight their corner, the World Wildlife Fund UK and Born Free Foundation called on Kolo Touré.

Renowned for his many good works in the name of charity, the most philanthropic in recent weeks being those comical goals gifted to West Bromwich Albion and Fulham, the Liverpool defender will have alarmed the WWF with his recent attempts at conservation, specifically that of his team's title hopes. We can but pray his efforts in the field of defending big game are less disastrous than those he has recently showcased when it comes to big-game defending.

"They say that somewhere in Africa the elephants have a secret grave where they go to lie down, unburden their wrinkled grey bodies, and soar away," wrote Robert R McCammon in his best-selling novel Boy's Life. Following those extraordinary aberrations at The Hawthorns and Craven Cottage, one can't help but feel Kolo might gratefully have accepted the opportunity to join them.

A native of the Ivory Coast, Touré has been trumpeting on behalf of the continent's endangered population of elephants along with his brother Yaya, Southampton's Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama and the Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany. "When Premier League players speak out, the world listens," said Will Travers, president of the Born Free Foundation, whose wheeze to get players of African origin on board may or may not have been inspired by inevitable links between the success of the late Bobby Moore's famous 1960s exhortation for citizens everywhere to "look in at the local" and subsequent UK binge-drinking trends.

For all the negative headlines the often maligned body of professional footballers tend to generate, it's my experience that they tend to be largely good eggs who have long been happy to lend their names to worthy causes.

A radio show I help to present with Soccer AM's Max Rushden has a feature entitled Footballers Are Nice, in which assorted players are quizzed to see if they are better men than Linvoy Primus, the former Portsmouth and Charlton defender who has become the benchmark for absolute top-blokedom among his peers on the back of his involvement in more charitable works than a battalion of Bob Geldofs.

For those of a cynical bent, it has been an eye-opener. In recent months we've discovered that Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has set up and funded his own foundation in Jamaica. We've learned that the Burnley defender Michael Duff occasionally gives tramps his loose change. We exclusively revealed that the Wolves striker Noel Hunt recently made blueberry pancakes for his wife's breakfast, even though he hadn't done anything wrong.

Of course, while paved with good deeds and acts of selflessness, the road to football heaven is not without its pot-holes. Some years ago, the England footballer-turned-TV presenter Gary Lineker was one of many unfortunate household names gulled into adding his name to "Nonce Sense", a controversial and highly amusing spoof campaign against child sexual abuse dreamt up by the satirist Chris Morris for his TV show Brass Eye.

Understandably annoyed and embarrassed when it emerged he had been the victim of a stitch-up dreamt up to ridicule celebrities apparently prepared to say any old tosh that might get them on television, the gullible but obviously well-intentioned Lineker has since devoted much of his professional life to exacting brutal revenge, engaging in the wanton and extremely lucrative promotion of fat and salt-laden savoury snacks to innocent consumers.

David Beckham is another former England international who is invariably happy to lend his name to a worthy cause and has recently joined Kolo and chums on the animal preservation bandwagon. Taking time out from bringing football to the masses of Miami, the world's most iconic former footballer has thrown his fez into the ring on behalf of sharks and white rhinos, teaming up with Prince William to front a campaign both endangered species will be hoping is more successful than the pair's combined efforts to bring World Cup 2018 to England.

Unable to speak out for themselves, the world's dwindling population of elephants, sharks and rhinos will almost certainly be delighted to hear such high-profile folk watch their backs. One can't help but feel that at Anfield, however, Liverpool fans will be reminding a certain centre-half that charity begins at home. A little less conservation, a little more action please.

Barry Glendenning

Wigan's Ben Watson enjoying his FA Cup hero status after Cardiff are seen off

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:00 PM PST

• Watson's winner his third goal in four FA Cup games
• Solskjaer disappointed but Daehli debut a bright spot

It has become something of a standing joke among the Wigan Athletic players that Ben Watson is forever being cast as their FA Cup hero. The man who scored the winner against Manchester City at Wembley in last season's final was ambushed by team-mates mischievously mocking his status as he reflected on his latest memorable goal in the competition.

"Probably one of my better ones" was Watson's modest description of the glorious 30-yard goal that vanquished Cardiff City and propelled the holders into the last eight. It was the midfielder's third in his last four FA Cup games – he got the first in the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in the previous round – and means that Wigan are now within 90 minutes of an unlikely return to Wembley.

Success came at a price last year, when Wigan suffered relegation from the Premier League only three days after their triumph over City, but Watson has never wished he could turn back the clock. "To win the cup was a massive achievement," he said. "Getting relegated was disappointing but you can get back up. I have no regrets whatsoever."

It has also done his own reputation no harm. "I love it. It's great," said Watson, when asked about FA Cup fame. "But [Saturday] was about the whole team. People can call me a cup hero and all that, but the team was brilliant. We came with a game-plan and stuck to it. They put us under a lot of pressure with long balls and balls into the box but we dealt with them and got the result we deserved."

Wigan's performance was all the more impressive given that they had spent 10 hours on Friday travelling to south Wales for the 42nd match in a season that has included Europa League trips to Russia and Slovenia. "Our flight [to Cardiff] was cancelled, we had a bus trip, there was traffic – all of that on top of being the team with the busiest schedule in the country. That is a monumental effort," Uwe Rösler, the Wigan manager, said.

While promotion remains the priority for Wigan – they are ninth in the Championship, four points outside the play-offs and, in the words of Watson, "hitting form at the right time" – staying in the Premier League is imperative for Cardiff. One school of thought is that Cardiff will be better off without the distraction of the FA Cup although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer never gave the slightestd impression that he subscribed to that.

Cardiff's manager was bitterly disappointed with a defeat that highlighted familiar shortcomings. The defending in the lead-up to Chris McCann's opening goal, when Magnus Eikrem and Kévin Théophile-Catherine were both guilty of making half-hearted challenges, was poor while the lack of penetration at the opposite end of the pitch has been a problem all season. Fraizer Campbell's eighth goal of the campaign brought parity but the home team never did enough to open up Wigan once Watson had made it 2-1.

The silver lining for Cardiff was the performance of Mats Daehli, the 18-year-old Norwegian who made his full debut after joining from Molde last month. Slight of build but not short of ability, Daehlishowed some nice touches and left the stadium clutching the man-of-the-match champagne after a display that suggested he could have a significant part to play for City in the run-in. "I thought I did OK. I got to play in the hole which is my favourite position," he said. "I just want to show that I can be in the starting line-up."

Man of the match Mats Daehli (Cardiff City)

Stuart James

Sunderland's Craig Gardner sees off Southampton as cup form continues

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:00 PM PST

Gus Poyet says Sunderland's run in two cup competitions could result in a fixture pile-up for his relegation-threatened team

Gus Poyet is usually pretty good at second-guessing starting XIs picked by rival coaches but on Saturday he got Mauricio Pochettino's selection badly wrong.

"If you'd listened to my team talk you'd know I thought Southampton would be at full strength," said Sunderland's manager. Instead Pochettino made six changes to the side that had won at Hull in midweek. "I'm going to ask Mauricio 'why?'" said Poyet, who made nine alterations of his own.

No one else could raise the same question with Southampton's manager as he delegated post-match duties to his assistant Jesús Pérez but judging by a strangely lacklustre Saints performance, Pochettino was possibly not entirely heartbroken at this FA Cup exit.

The competition's diminishing allure was reflected not only by the amount of second-stringers on view but also a crowd of under 17,000 in a 49,000-capacity stadium. A week earlier, when Poyet's side lost to Hull in the Premier League, nearly 43,000 turned up.

With their team battling relegation and already in the Capital One Cup final many Sunderland fans felt it would have been a barely disguised blessing had their team bowed out. Yet if Craig Gardner's fabulous, 20-yard scoring shot prompted mixed feelings, the late sitter missed, from three yards, by Rickie Lambert at least ensured a replay was avoided.

Even so Poyet faces considerable fixture congestion with postponed league games against Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool requiring rescheduling. With Uefa rules prohibiting such matches taking place on Champions League or Europa League nights, there is limited room for manoeuvre.

It leaves Sunderland's manager on the brink of either "an amazing season" or "disaster." Poyet is suitably anxious, unable to concentrate on reading the novels he usually loves. "Staying in the Premier League is the most important thing," he said. "If we go down I'm going to hide somewhere in the middle of Asia but if we stay up you're going to see me in every single paper on the beach somewhere famous."

To achieve the latter he may need to hypnotise his players into thinking every game is a cup tie. "In the league I think there's a mentality that there's still time to get out of trouble, but there's not," said Poyet. "But in the cup we play to finish the tie that day. We have to play like that in the league otherwise we can go down.

"It's incredible in the cups. I can't explain it. It's scary why we win every game in the Cup and then, in the league, we don't. Is it because there's no pressure? I thought we were technically very good against Southampton which we don't see at home in league games. We're more tense. So maybe it's nerves. But it's up to the players. We have to wake up."

Not that knockout football is necessarily an entirely damaging distraction. Poyet's rare decision to reshape his 4-1-4-1 formation into a 4-1-3-2 featuring Ignacio Scocco and Fabio Borini in attack gave Sunderland both a pleasingly balanced shape and a cutting edge.

Similarly Lee Cattermole's excellence in the midfield holding role suggests Liam Bridcutt has real competition as first-choice anchor, while Emanuele Giaccherini's intelligently incisive performance suggested the recently overlooked £8.6m Italy international might yet play a key part in the run-in.

With Gardner's frequent advances from midfield succeeding in regularly carrying him behind Pochettino's defence and Santiago Vergini looking a capable central defensive understudy for Wes Brown, the afternoon may even have provided Poyet with more solutions than problems.

"Sometimes these games bring doubts and can kill you," he said. "But this one has given me options. Maybe we'll put two strikers up there and play different."

Man of the match Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)

Louise Taylor

Arsène Wenger dismisses José Mourinho as 'silly and disrespectful'

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 01:52 PM PST

• Arsenal manager hits back over 'specialist in failure' jibe
• 'I am embarrassed for him and disappointed for Chelsea'

Arsène Wenger has dismissed José Mourinho as "silly and disrespectful" after the Chelsea manager taunted him as a "specialist in failure" for not winning any trophies since 2005.

Mourinho seems intent on escalating a squabble between the pair in a bid to get under Wenger's skin as the Premier League title race reaches its climax but the Arsenal manager is adamant that such manoeuvres are beneath him.

He projected the weary disdain of the teacher of a troublesome pupil as he responded to the Portuguese's latest barbs by saying: "I am embarrassed for him. Honestly. I didn't speak about him at all in my press conference and I have no more to say. Let's focus on things that are worth it, on football. I am more disappointed for Chelsea than for me. I don't want to get into those silly disrespectful remarks."

Mourinho apparently believes that Wenger instigated the feud by saying that managers of top clubs who underplay their chances of winning the Premier League title, as Mourinho has done, suffer from a fear of failure.

But Wenger insists he is not too concerned about engaging in a war of words. When pressed further to react to his Chelsea counterpart's claims, he said: "I am not interested in the subject at all. If you are interested and you have nothing better to do in your life you are free to do it.

"Honestly, I cannot force my interest in things that are not interesting for me. I love football. I am sorry to disappoint you. What is interesting for me is what happens on the pitch."

Wenger does not expect Mourinho to abstain from making further comments. "There is no final word in that, unfortunately."

Paul Doyle

Meulensteen faces fight to secure pay-off from Fulham

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 12:50 PM PST

• Club explore whether they must compensate former manager
• Fulham also believed to be ready to dismiss Ray Wilkins

René Meulensteen faces a fight to secure a pay-off from Fulham as the club also prepare to dismiss Ray Wilkins from the coaching staff. The Dutchman was relieved of his duties as the manager last Friday, with Felix Magath recruited in his place to lead the battle against relegation from the Premier League.

Meulensteen, under contract until June 2015 at the club, has seen his position rendered untenable by the move for Magath, who took his first training session . The German has brought his trusted fitness coach, Werner Leuthard, with him to west London.

The Dutchman knows that he has been elbowed to one side and he did not report for duty on Sunday . He said last Friday night that he had been "released" but to all intents he has been sacked. He will not come back.

But Fulham, pushing a hard line in semantics, maintain that he has not been sacked, merely relieved of his first-team duties and they are exploring whether they have to give him a pay-off. It is unclear whether Fulham expected him to come in . Meulensteen would appear to have a case for constructive dismissal.

Wilkins, whose appointment as the assistant head coach Meulensteen had pushed for shortly after Christmas, is on his way out, although the club have yet to confirm this. His methods have failed to impress the players or the hierarchy.

The future for the first-team technical director, Alan Curbishley, is less clear, although the early indications are that he could be retained. He was brought in over Christmas by the chief executive, Alastair Mackintosh, who had long harboured doubts about Meulensteen's ability to lift the club out of relegation danger.

Curbishley was to provide Meulensteen with the benefit of his experience but, Mackintosh reasoned, he could also prove an option to take over if results continued to be poor. In the end, though, Mackintosh and the owner, Shahid Khan, turned to Magath.

The former Charlton manager is respected within the club for the highly detailed scouting dossiers that he compiles on opposing teams while he pushed, during January, for the recruitment of a defender and a holding midfielder, arguing that Meulensteen had to make the team more solid and harder to beat. Curbishley met Magath at the training ground on Sunday afternoon.

Magath worked with Fulham's full squad, with some of them having had to fly back to London on Saturday from short holidays – Meulensteen gave them four days off after last Wednesday's defeat by Liverpool. "If the players, staff and fans support us 100%, I am sure we have the potential to avoid relegation," the new manager said.

David Hytner

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard shows holding role can prolong his career

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 11:57 AM PST

His distribution from the base of the midfield trio was a potent weapon against Arsenal but he struggled against counter-attacks

Although Steven Gerrard's deployment at the base of Liverpool's midfield trio has been a necessity because of recent injuries to both Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen, who returned for this fixture, it was initially a deliberate tactical move from Brendan Rodgers. He first used Gerrard there in the 5-3 win at Stoke City last month, with Lucas used higher up. This role, it seems, is Gerrard's future.

Gerrard's performance in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Arsenal demonstrated both the benefits and drawbacks of deploying him there. His distribution throughout was wonderful, although he received an incredible amount of time on the ball because Arsenal's most advanced midfielder, Mesut Özil, showed little interest in closing down the Liverpool captain. More hard-working attacking midfielders – Chelsea's Oscar or Ross Barkley of Everton, for example – would not have allowed Gerrard such freedom, and for long periods he was the game's most free player.

He created two of Liverpool's finest opportunities from open play, bookending a succession of presentable goalscoring chances for Rodgers' side. His first major contribution came in the third minute, when he received possession in a deep, right-of-centre position, and immediately curled the ball in behind the Arsenal defence, around Laurent Koscielny, for Daniel Sturridge's intelligent run.

With no pressure on the ball, it was extremely difficult for Arsenal to stop, as Sturridge started his run from a position close to the Arsenal midfield, and was already up at full speed as he broke past the defence.

Much later, with 12 minutes remaining, Gerrard swept a wonderful diagonal pass out to Philippe Coutinho, who charged behind the Arsenal defence from the left, resulting in one of Liverpool's final opportunities. Again, the timing of the run was tremendous, as Coutinho was on his way before Gerrard had played the ball. In between the major chances he created, he was the game's most prolific passer – rare, for an away player at the Emirates – and continually impressed with his diagonal balls, which switched play between the flanks.

Without the ball, however, Gerrard was vulnerable. He appears uncomfortable defending against counter-attacks, especially when opposition wide players come inside, as demonstrated by his booking for cynically fouling Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain towards the end of the first half, when he made no attempt to win the ball.

That caution handicapped Gerrard for the rest of the game, and he was fortunate not to be dismissed for a subsequent foul on Oxlade-Chamberlain in the left-back position, almost identical to his foul on the same player at Anfield last week, conceding a penalty in Liverpool's 5-1 victory. Much like Juventus' use of Andrea Pirlo in front of the defence, Gerrard's lack of defensive ability must be tolerated to accommodate his fine distribution.

It's not common for creative midfielders to drop into deeper positions in their thirties – Paul Scholes, for example, did something similar at Manchester United. Gerrard's recent performances suggest he can prolong his career in the holding role, but if he continues to dominate matches like this, opponents will close him down significantly more diligently.

Michael Cox

QPR 1-3 Reading | Championship match report

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 11:55 AM PST

• QPR defence has suddenly started leaking goals
• Reading's Kaspars Gorkss harshly sent off

Seeking to cure the lack of goals that has dogged a promotion campaign sustained only by their tight defence, Harry Redknapp signed four strikers last month. Since the transfer window closed Queens Park Rangers have conceded seven goals in three games against their greatest rivals, earning just a single point, with a rampant Reading becoming the latest side to profit from their atypical defensive lapses.

"We've had a problem in terms of scoring goals, and in an effort to try to do something about that we've only succeeded in making ourselves more open," said Kevin Bond, QPR's assistant manager. "Where we had been dependable, we're no longer dependable. We're trying to score more goals, we haven't succeeded in doing that, but we have left ourselves more open."

Given their status as pre-season title favourites, QPR have become accustomed to teams arriving intent on defending in numbers and scoring from quick breaks or set-pieces, but Reading always had greater ambition than that. This, after all, is a team who arrived having scored three against Millwall, five against Blackpool and seven against Bolton, all within the last month.

As they threw men forward at every opportunity it was easy to see how they have overwhelmed lesser defences – a classification that suddenly must include Rangers – and there was a period early in the second half when they reduced the home side to a rabble.

Reading's three goals were each humiliating in their own way, showing a terror of tackling, markers going missing and a clear disregard for closing down.

It took just 10 minutes for the rot to set in. First Jobi McAnuff, Reading's right-footed, left-sided midfielder, found it far too easy to cut infield, then Adam Le Fondre found loads of space on the left, and finally Danny Williams was totally ignored as he ran on to the cross to score with a free header.

The second, in the 56th minute, was considerably simpler, McAnuff sending a corner to the far post where Alex Pearce headed in from close range. Two minutes later Garath McCleary collected the ball inside his own half and trotted forward, while in front of him the QPR left-back Benoît Assou-Ekotto backtracked wildly, before he spotted Niko Kranjcar making a belated attempt to close him down and shot brilliantly into the top corner from 30 yards.

Reading might have extended their lead, only for McCleary and Hope Akpan to misjudge straightforward final passes. "With us not looking as threatening as we want to, when we go two down the players probably think: 'Wow, we're going to find it hard to get back in,'" admitted Bond.

One of the January signings, Kevin Doyle, scored a scruffy goal after 20 minutes but QPR's repeatedly reshuffled forward line largely disappointed, even after the Reading centre-back Kaspars Gorkss was harshly sent off for fouling Junior Hoilett in the 71st minute. The Royals, meanwhile, selected the same side for the seventh successive game, and looked all the stronger for it.

"That's been a massive benefit," said Nigel Adkins. "We've got a good formation, we've got a great spirit among the players, we know we can score goals. We're just looking forward to the second half of the season." Rangers, meanwhile, await the arrival of Ravel Morrison, and another reshuffle.

Man of the match Alex Pearce (Reading)

Simon Burnton

FA Cup: Arsenal v Liverpool - in pictures

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 11:50 AM PST

The best images from Tom Jenkins at the Emirates where Arsenal faced Liverpool in a scintillating match, with memories of last weekend's 5-1 drubbing still fresh

Tom Jenkins

Jonny Weeks

Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 10:40 AM PST

• Pictures: Tom Jenkins's best images from the Emirates

Arsenal are not supposed to win like this. In fact, Arsenal are not supposed to win at all when the prospect of silverware flashes before their eyes. With plenty of big guns cast from the FA Cup, the winner here knew that the chances of glory would soar, particularly as a home tie awaited in the quarter-finals, albeit a tough one against Everton.

Liverpool will wonder how they lost. They were offensively dynamic, creating a host of chances, and though they were awarded one penalty for a foul on Luis Suárez, they could not believe that they were denied another one shortly afterwards.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, one of the Arsenal heroes, crashed into Suárez inside the area and it was a major surprise that the referee, Howard Webb, who had an extremely busy afternoon, ignored the Liverpool appeals. In the eyes of the club's supporters, it was further evidence that Webb has it in for them. Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, described it as a "blatant" penalty.

Arsenal got the job done. It was a performance that was characterised by grit and defiance, and it was epitomised by the stand-in goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who made a string of vital saves. At full-time, Fabianski ran from his goal to slide on his knees in front of one of the main stands.

Arsène Wenger had rotated his line-up before Wednesday's Champions League last-16 first-leg tie at home to Bayern Munich and it felt, especially after the 5-1 mauling at Liverpool in the Premier League the previous weekend, that Arsenal were somehow the underdogs.

But they punched their weight and they advanced on the back of two pieces of ruthless finishing, from the excellent Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski. Liverpool laid siege to the Arsenal goal for much of the second half and Rodgers was not exaggerating when he said that Liverpool might have scored five or six.

But, despite the menace of Suárez they suffered a jolt to the momentum that has built behind them in recent weeks. This one really hurt because Liverpool looked good, and Daniel Sturridge took it particularly hard having missed three decent chances. He was disconsolate at full-time. Arsenal could simply savour revenge for the Anfield humbling and a timely boost to morale.

Liverpool had threatened to reprise the blitz that they staged against Arsenal last weekend – when they led 4-0 after 20 minutes – and here Sturridge had two golden chances before the tie was five minutes old. They stemmed from lovely passes from Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho respectively but, on the first occasion, Sturridge's shot was blocked by Fabianski, and on the second he went around the goalkeeper only to shoot into the side netting.

It was Arsenal who forged ahead and the goal owed much to the physical presence of Yaya Sanogo, the full debutant, plus a misjudgment from Martin Skrtel, who leapt for and missed Mesut Özil's cross from the right. Sanogo got the ball down and shot; it struck Gerrard before breaking kindly to Oxlade-Chamberlain, who swept the ball past Brad Jones.

The pace and intensity of the tie was unrelenting and there was much to admire in the technique on show from the creative players. There was also old-fashioned niggle, with Arsenal, unusually, looking to leave a mark on their opponents.

Perhaps it was the return of Mathieu Flamini, the club's all talking, all snarling midfielder, or maybe it was Sanogo's presence. All that the France youth centre-forward missed was a pair of boxing gloves. The crowd loved it when he closed down Daniel Agger on 28 minutes to make a blocking challenge. A serious back problem has undermined his first season at Arsenal but he bristled with a determination to make up for lost time. When he was substituted late on, he departed to a great ovation.

Webb showed five yellow cards in the first half and he let a couple of other challenges go, including Podolski's lunge at Jon Flanagan. Podolski had been caught moments earlier by Gerrard, who was spared. The Liverpool captain, though, went into the book for a cynical foul on Oxlade-Chamberlain and he was fortunate to escape a second yellow for a late tackle on the same player in the 75th minute. Flamini, obviously, was booked, for fouling Gerrard, and Nacho Monreal's rake on Joe Allen looked painful.

Suárez showed yet again that it is impossible to keep him quiet. He simmered in the first half and he came to the boil in the second. He had just worked Fabianski when Arsenal sprang forward to extend their lead. After Carl Jenkinson had won the ball, Oxlade-Chamberlain swapped passes with Özil before cutting it back for Podolski and the German's shot beat Jones.

Suárez and Liverpool merely intensified their efforts and they came to dominate, although Özil did force Jones into one low save. Suárez and Sturridge had sightings before the tie swung again on the penalty. Podolski's hack at Suárez was needless and a clear penalty; Gerrard scored without fuss.

Arsenal were fortunate that Webb did not whistle for the second one. After Suárez's free-kick had been blocked, the Uruguayan sought to work another opening inside the area only for Oxlade-Chamberlain to barge into him. The visiting fans howled.

Moments earlier, Sturridge had gone through only for Fabianski to thrust out a hand to thwart him, and although Suárez kept going, Liverpool knew it would not be their day when Agger headed wide from a Gerrard free-kick.

Man of the match Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain (Arsenal)

David Hytner

20th Century Fox contract is a boost for Base79's talent

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 10:30 AM PST

UK firm reaches out beyond YouTube channels directly to brands and ad agencies

There may not appear to be much connection between Aston Villa FC, Muppet master Jim Henson, French comedian Remi Gaillard and the nightclub-cum-music-label Ministry of Sound. But all of them want to attract more subscribers to their videos on YouTube, and they have chosen UK-based company Base79 to help them do it.

Founded in 2007 by Ashley MacKenzie, son of former Sun editor Kelvin, Base79 has been at the forefront of what it calls "making YouTube simple" for its clients. It has successfully ridden the wave of YouTube's phemonenal growth, clocking up an impressive client list including sports agency IMG. MacKenzie, 41, says it is on course to become profitable for the first time later this year.

Recent layoffs at Base79's London HQ led to rumours the company was hitting a wall, but MacKenzie insists it is merely reconfiguring now that new technology has been built. Meanwhile, its newest client, Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox, is indicative of a fresh growth path. Fox is Base79's first major studio client and has signed a wide-ranging global contract that marks a simultaneous move by the UK company into marketing and promotion services as well as embracing the online video needs of advertisers and brands more directly.

Base79 belongs to a group of companies – Elisabeth Murdoch's Channel Flip is another – known as multi-channel networks (MCNs) because they manage and monetise multiple channels of video content on YouTube, where every month more than 1 billion viewers are watching over 6bn hours of video. It is one of the biggest MCNs outside the US and is YouTube's largest channel-management partner in Europe, generating 800m views a month across its 1,800 channels, including Simon Cowell's You Generation.

MCNs as a group are "refining their business models and focusing on sustainability," notes Eva Knoll, an analyst at Enders Analysis. "So far we have seen little consolidation, but I do expect a number of bigger players to evolve who will then be more dominant in the space."

For the past 12 months Base79 (79 is the atomic number for gold) has been in investment mode after raising $10m (£7.5m) in 2012, from the Chernin Group, founded by former senior Fox TV executive Peter Chernin and talent agency Creative Artists Agency. The deal reportedly valued the business at £37.5m and triggered a board restructure which resulted in Kelvin MacKenzie stepping down as chairman.

The MCN has used its latest funds for new technology developments and to open offices in France, Germany, Spain, Australia and Los Angeles. Last summer one of YouTube's most senior employees in Europe, Patrick Walker, jumped ship to join Base79 as its chief content officer.

The new money has also been put towards funding the 20 channels that Base79 owns outright, including a parcour and free-running channel called Flow that in less than a year has clocked up 177,000 subscribers around the videos uploaded by participants. "It's about leveraging insights about audience demand and then letting these people create a brand that they can call their own," explains Jason Bergsman, senior vice president of the Chernin Group and a Base79 board member. "We believe brands such as Flow have a very good opportunity to stretch onto other formats and platforms, be that Xbox or Sky Sports, for example," says MacKenzie. "We are still making measured bets in content creation, however, and working for third parties remains the core of the business. We don't see that changing, certainly not in 2014."

Some media owners have decided they want to keep closer control of how their rights are exploited online, the kind of move that is Base 79's biggest threat. Last month, Big Brother producer Endemol pulled back control of an animated Mr Bean channel on YouTube that Base79 had built to over a million subscribers. Endemol is launching its own MCN as part of a £25m digital video project announced last November.

"We were disappointed that Endemol decided to leave. But it's one of over 800 partners we have and we are signing up new ones all the time," says MacKenzie.

"Our core business is still building online audiences for content owners. But we are now taking the technology and the skills that we have been investing in really heavily over the last year and using it to the benefit of advertisers." Under a new sub-brand launched earlier this month called Brand79, MacKenzie is pitching to brands and advertising agencies eager to create their own online content. "It's clear to me that content marketing is set to grow and grow and we hope that the Brand79 products are the ones chosen. So one day perhaps, when a client signs off a media plan, instead of having YouTube written on it, it has Brand79 written on it."

Kate Bulkley

Arsenal v Liverpool: five talking points | Paul Doyle

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 10:27 AM PST

Yaya Sonogo adapted quickly, Liverpool failed to capitalise on another explosive start, and did Howard Webb bottle it?
• Match report: Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool

1) Arsenal survive first five minutes to earn redemption

If Daniel Sturridge had not been in that infuriatingly scatty mood into which he sometimes slips, then Liverpool would have been 2-0 up within five minutes, bettering the explosive start they made when demolishing Arsenal at Anfield eight days ago, yet this was still a much improved performance by Arsène Wenger's men. Above all, and unlike at Anfield, they displayed the combative character that befits a team of their ambitions, bursting with energy and aggression (and sometimes even viciousness). They truly earned the right to play their part in a thrilling tie.

2) Sanogo makes a bright first start

Yaya Sanogo suffered so many injuries as a teenager that at one particularly low point he contemplated abandoning his football dreams to become a postman – and that was before he endured the back injury that sidelined him for months just after joining Arsenal. So it was heartening to see the 21-year-old deliver on his long-delayed first start in English football. This was a much higher level than he has ever played before but he did not look out of his depth and instead caused regular discomfort to Liverpool's defenders thanks to his power and mobility. At times his touch was uncharacteristically rough – perhaps owing to nerves and the unfamiliar intensity of proceedings – but he never hid and showed a capacity to adapt quickly, notably through his contribution to Arsenal's first goal. After hesitating when Mesut Özil provided him with a prime opportunity to shoot in the 12th minute, he did not make the same mistake in the 17th, when he took Özil's cross nicely on his chest and immediately lashed the ball towards goal. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain adeptly converted the rebound off Steven Gerrard.

3) Should Özil have been rested ahead of Bayern on Wednesday?

If it was slightly surprising to see Özil start, bearing in mind that he has looked jaded in recent weeks and a showdown with Bayern Munich looms, then Wenger's decision may have been vindicated as the German produced an influential performance. He did nothing astounding but was involved in everything, knitting together Arsenal's moves with relentless deftness. Will the surge in confidence that this performance should give him prove more beneficial than a rest? We should find out on Wednesday.

4) Can Oxlade-Chamberlain seize Walcott's England spot?

Brendan Rodgers recently suggested that there is no better winger in England than Raheem Sterling. Here Oxlade-Chamberlain may just have alerted him to one. Both players are wonderful to watch, of course, and Sterling has a snazzier trove of tricks and even looks a little faster but for now Oxlade-Chamberlain trumps those assets with his superior decision-making. If Roy Hodgson reduces the dilemma over how to replace Theo Walcott at the World Cup down to a choice between this pair, then Oxlade-Chamberlain currently looks the safer bet even if his long-term future lies in central midfield. But England could do far worse than play both of them at the same time.

5) Did Howard Webb bottle it?

Oh Howard Webb! The man reputed to be England's wisest referee was five yards away from the action when Oxlade-Chamberlain clunked into Suárez to concede a seemingly obvious penalty. But Webb waved play on. Perish the thought that he lacked the bottle to award the away team a second spot kick in a matter of minutes, so instead we must assume he saw something that was not apparent from farther away – nor on TV replays. It would be fascinating to find out what. After that, not showing a second yellow card to Gerrard when the England captain mowed down Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 76th minute came as no surprise.

Paul Doyle

Getafe 0-3 Real Madrid | La Liga match report

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 10:20 AM PST

Real Madrid extended their unbeaten run to 25 matches and rejoined Barcelona and Atlético Madrid at the top of La Liga after Jesé, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric scored in a comfortable win at Getafe on Sunday.

Barça, chasing a fifth title in six years, and Atlético recorded easy home wins on Saturday. Barcelona lead from Real, with Atlético in third, when goal difference is taken into account but the trio, who all have 60 points from 24 games, will be separated by head-to-head records if they are still tied at the end of the campaign.

Real, who have not been beaten since a 2-1 loss at Barcelona in late October, were missing La Liga's top-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo for their trip to the capital's suburbs and it was the player brought in to replace the Portugal forward, Jesé, who opened the scoring at the Coliseum stadium in the sixth minute.

The France forward Benzema finished off a swift break with some neat control and a clinical shot in the 27th and the Croatia midfielder Modric scored a third from just outside the penalty area in the 66th.

The bottom side Real Betis look destined for the drop after they lost 1-0 in Sunday's midday kickoff at the home of their Andalusian rivals Granada.

Arsenal v Liverpool – as it happened | Jacob Steinberg

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:59 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: Goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski sent Arsenal into the FA Cup quarter-finals at Liverpool's expense

Jacob Steinberg

Sheffield Utd 3-1 Nottingham Forest | FA Cup fifth round

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:27 AM PST

Sheffield United were heading out of the FA Cup until their manager, Nigel Clough, gave them a little bit of half-time motivation. Trailing to Jamie Paterson's 28th-minute opener, the former Derby manager revealed to his players the winner of the tie would take on Sheffield Wednesday or Charlton in the quarter-finals, a rare potential derby if the former beat the latter in the rearranged fixture.

The message worked to bring delight to a stadium that has seen little success of late, as Conor Coady levelled and thentwo late goals from the substituteChris Porter sent the League One side through to the last eight for the first time since 2004.

"We told them about the draw," revealed a delighted Clough afterwards. "Just before we went out for the second half, it came through. We just thought: 'What the hell, we'll tell them.'

"It's a small incentive for the players. It might have had a small effect. We just told them that they had 45 minutes to have a go and, if they did, there could be a Sheffield derby at the end of it. The honesty of the players shone through. This was a brilliant day for everybody.

"It was special."

For Clough it was a slice of revenge over Nottingham Forest. Hours after Derby had lost 1-0 at the City Ground in September Derby sacked him. Clough and his counterpart, Billy Davies, have had many run-ins in the past but it was the Scot who appeared on course for a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in his managerial career.

United, who had already beaten Aston Villa and Fulham, had looked second best in the first half, with the in-form Paterson scoring midway through it. But they produced a performance of spirit and heart after Forest's poor defending and goalkeeping made them architects of their own downfall.

The attendance of more than 25,000 was Sheffield United's biggest of the season by around 6,000 and the atmosphere replicated that of past conflicts between these two famous old clubs. Forest had plenty of possession and they were in control of the game in the first half after Paterson rounded off a superb move, heading in at the near post from Andy Reid's cross from the left for his eighth goal in 10 matches.

United could have equalised on 33 minutes, when Stefan Scougall should have done better from Jose Baxter's impressive break, but had their goalkeeper, Mark Howard, to thank for keeping them in the game as he made brilliant saves to push away shots from Simon Cox and Paterson.

It proved crucial as Coady brought Bramall Lane to its feet with the equaliser and then both sides had chances in an entertaining finale. Reid's 20-yard free-kick was superbly saved by Howard and then Greg Halford and the substitute Jamie Mackie also had half-chances for the visitors.

Dorus de Vries, the Forest goalkeeper, was also in action, making a notable save from Ryan Flynn who had broken from his own half. However, United went on to win it as their former player Halford was adjudged to have handled in the area and Porter emphatically beat the keeper from the spot.

Clough's men made absolutely sure a minute later as Porter scored from another Jamie Murphy cross to bring more scenes of joy to United, who are struggling towards the bottom of the third tier after relegation from the Premier League in 2007.

One fan went too far after a pitch invasion as he confronted De Vries and Danny Fox and appeared to push the pair. Clough played down the incident claiming he would not give the supporter a clip round the ear like his famous father, Brian, as "he could not catch him". His opposite number, Davies, said he would not report United to the FA and was gracious in defeat despite it being his first in 16 matches.

"I have no issue with it at all," he said. "We like celebrating ourselves. I felt very comfortable. It was total domination from us in the first 45 minutes. But the second-half was complete and utter self-destruction. If you look at the goals we have lost, it's individual errors. We have given them a huge lift.

"It was a stonewall penalty. Absolutely stonewall. Halford's on the ground and he's stuck his arm out. I didn't think they were going to score for a long period. I didn't feel we were under any pressure. We gifted them the first and the second and gave it away cheaply for the third."

Davies and Clough endured strained relations when the latter managed Derby but the Scot confirmed they had shaken hands prior to the game.

Man of the match Jamie Murphy (Sheffield United)

Manchester City draw FA Cup holders Wigan in repeat of 2013 final

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 07:48 AM PST

• Championship club to face Manchester City in Cup again
• Arsenal face Everton after beating Liverpool

A rematch of last year's final between Manchester City and Wigan was just one of several fascinating ties set up by the FA Cup sixth-round draw.

Although Arsenal's 2-1 win over Liverpool meant there will be no Merseyside derby in the quarter-finals, Sheffield United's come-from-behind win over Nottingham Forest kept alive the possibility of a local affair if Wednesday can beat Charlton in their rearranged fixture. Meanwhile, Gus Poyet may yet take Sunderland to his former club Brighton, if the Seagulls can win at home to Hull.

Thanks to the controversial timing of the draw on Sunday afternoon, City against Wigan was the only fixture set in stone straight away – with one fifth-round tie still in progress, two others yet to kick-off and one still to be rearranged.

Wigan beat City 1-0 in last year's final thanks to a late header from Ben Watson in what proved to be Roberto Mancini's last match in charge of the Manchester club. Although City fans will be keen for revenge, Uwe Rösler can be sure of a rapturous reception at the Etihad, having established himself as a cult figure at Maine Road during a spell that saw him score 64 goals in 176 appearances.

Wigan followed up their FA Cup success by suffering relegation and City have already beaten them once this season – a 5-0 Capital One Cup victory before Rösler took charge at the DW Stadium.

Everton's trip to north London is the only guaranteed all-Premier League clash in a draw which will see at least one Football League club reach a Wembley semi-final. Everton saw off Swansea 3-1 at Goodison Park prior to the draw, but Roberto Martínez – the man who guided Wigan to their famous success last year – was slightly disappointed to be drawn away.

"Obviously when you reach the sixth round you're in a fantastic position to get a trip to Wembley and that's what makes it exciting," the Spaniard told ITV. "The draw has not been too kind in terms of playing away from home, but we will embrace it and look forward to it."

Hull can make it a second all-Premier League affair if they can win at Brighton to earn a match-up with Sunderland, and Poyet may even prefer that scenario than a return to the Amex, where his reign ended in a messy divorce last term.

United had trailed 1-0 at half-time but manager Nigel Clough told his players the draw during the interval and they came out rejuvenated.

"Yes, we told them just before they went back out," Clough said.

"We thought 'what the hell? - we'll just tell them'.

"I just said 'you've got 45 minutes, away you go. If we get the victory you might have a Sheffield derby yet'."

Substitute Chris Porter missed the announcement as he was out warming up, but it was his late brace that sealed the 3-1 triumph.

FA Cup sixth round draw

Arsenal v Everton, Brighton or Hull v Sunderland, Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday or Charlton Athletic, Manchester City v Wigan Athletic. Ties to be played on the weekend of 7-9 March

Tom Davies

Everton 3-1 Swansea City

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 07:43 AM PST

At 6ft 8in and recently acquired on loan from Monaco, the Ivory Coast international Lacina Traoré represents the exotic solution to Everton's striking shortage. The diminutive, Irvine-born Steven Naismith is proving the effective one.

Both forwards were on the scoresheet as Roberto Martínez maintained his hold on the FA Cup with victory over his former club Swansea City. The Everton manager was helped to the quarter-finals by careless Swansea defending and wholesale changes from the interim manager, Garry Monk, but the Scotland international's contribution was ultimately decisive.

Naismith was on the field for 30 minutes, during which time he scored for the fourth time in five appearances, won a penalty and departed with concussion after a blow from the defender Jordi Amat.

It encapsulates the 27-year-old's fluctuating career at Everton that he had no recollection of his latest impressive cameo but his importance has not been lost on Martínez.

"He was OK when he took the knock but then he couldn't remember what happened," said the Everton manager, who saw his Scottish substitute score in the "defining" Premier League win over Aston Villa recently.

"He didn't remember scoring a goal so we told him it was from 40 yards. We will have to keep him under observation for 24 hours but I'm really pleased for him. He's a gem of a boy and is really enjoying his football."

Naismith's energy, commitment and clinical touch were invaluable for Everton. Martínez's team had the luxury of an early goal from the debutant Traoré against weakened opposition but only in the second half did they find the urgency and concentration to capitalise.

Martínez forewarned about handling expectation, and Everton's must have risen when Monk announced eight changes to the Swansea side that started at Stoke City in midweek, but the home side laboured before their strong recovery.

"I gave the players two clear instructions at half-time," explained Martínez. "One was to enjoy the game a bit more. We were thinking more about the outcome rather than being on the ball and moving the ball properly.

"The other one was that we were getting ahead of the ball too quickly. We had to support the man on the ball more. Swansea's energy levels were terrific and they were closing us down.

"We dealt with that well in the second half, we were too cagey in the first, and it was very satisfying just to get the win and get into the next round."

Monk made no apologies for his team selection, with Napoli to come in the Europa League on Thursday and Premier League safety essential. Swansea's performance for 65 minutes vindicated the new manager's stance, with Álvaro Vázquez wasting an excellent chance to open the scoring after 30 seconds and the visitors unsettling a nervous Everton defence throughout, but defensive lapses proved costly for the Welsh side.

Sylvain Distin was instrumental in the breakthrough from a Kevin Mirallas free-kick. The Everton defender won the header at the back post, then had the presence of mind to pick out Traoré after Kyle Bartley failed to clear. At close range, and facing away from goal, the on-loan striker flicked out a telescopic leg to heel the ball past Ashley Richards on the line.

Any thoughts that Everton would cruise into the quarter-finals were dispelled as Swansea reacted better to Traoré's goal and they were back on level terms courtesy of a fine header from Jonathan de Guzmán. Everton were under pressure after Steven Pienaar carelessly conceded a corner. Though cleared, Swansea patiently retained possession and Roland Lamah floated an inviting cross over Everton's central defenders for De Guzmán to complement an intelligent run into the area with a powerful header beyond the goalkeeper, Joel Robles.

Pienaar almost atoned immediately with a superb touch to release Leighton Baines and a shot against the bar from the return pass, Traoré forcing Gerhard Tremmel into a decent save from the rebound.

It was only after the interval, however, that Martínez's team showed the energy to stretch and trouble Swansea and ultimately eased their way into the last eight.

There appeared more belief and less apprehension from Everton from the restart as Ross Barkley tested Tremmel from the edge of the area and Pienaar put a diving header just wide from Seamus Coleman's right-wing cross.

But it was the introduction of Naismith for the tiring Traoré that changed the course of the tie. Within five minutes of coming on, the Scotland international scored when he capitalised on a poor back pass from Neil Taylor and slotted the ball under Tremmel.

Naismith was then first to a loose ball inside the Swansea area after a good challenge from Baines and was scythed down by Richards for a clear penalty. Baines duly obliged with his 15th successful spot-kick in 16 attempts for Everton.

Man of the match Steven Naismith (Everton)

Andy Hunter

Everton v Swansea City – as it happened | Daniel Harris

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 07:39 AM PST

Goals from Lacina Traore, Gary Naismith and Leighton Baines gave Everton a comfortable enough win

Daniel Harris

Rooney in talks over £300,000 deal

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 03:59 AM PST

• Agreement still not reached between club and Rooney
• Manchester United want to fend off Chelsea interest

Manchester United are continuing discussions with Wayne Rooney over a new contract, with the club and striker confident an agreement will be reached that would make him the Premier League's highest earner.

Despite Sunday newspaper reports that Rooney has signed fresh terms, the striker has not yet done so. It would, though, be a major surprise if he was to fail to commit his long-term future to the club in a deal that could be worth at least £300,000-a-week.

Manchester United's manager, David Moyes, has made tying Rooney to a new deal a priority, and Chelsea remain an admirer of the 28-year-old, who came close to moving to the west London club last summer.

Rooney appeared to be leaving United after his stock fell last season under Sir Alex Ferguson. Yet since Moyes took over he has again made Rooney the side's pivotal player and has kept him informed of the club's general transfer policy in recognition of his restored status.

With Nemanja Vidic, the captain, leaving United in the summer alongside the potential exit of Rio Ferdinand, Rooney's commitment to the club would give Moyes a major boost as he seeks to rebuild the squad in the close season.

Juan Mata's arrival in the January transfer window for a club record £37.1m was the first step in this. And despite United currently standing in seventh position, with Champions League qualification in the balance, Rooney is enthused about how the Spaniard can help transform the club's fortunes.

"It's exciting. Juan has come in and it's another world-class player to have in the squad. It'll take time – it can always take a little bit of time for every player to gel and to bond but we really hope we can all start scoring goals and help the team be successful," Rooney said, before insisting that with United can still have a successful season. "We've got a lot of massive games in the Champions League and the league. We're all looking forward to them," he said.

United are currently in Dubai on a warm-weather break. On returning they visit Crystal Palace on Saturday, before travelling to Olympiakos for the Champions League last-16 opening leg.

Rooney added: "We have a bit of a break before our next game now and hopefully we can prepare well and kick on for the big matches coming up.

"It's nice to spend time together," added the striker. "When you're at home you go to training then you go home and see your families, but with trips like this you're training then spending time with the lads."

Jamie Jackson

A-League: what we learned this weekend

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:33 AM PST

Pete Smith: The virtues of planning; Asian adventures; Phoenix get a shock; and the A-League embraces the world

Pete Smith

Browse More Articles

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

Monday, 17 February 2014

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

07:09

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

1) Arsenal survive first five minutes to earn redemption

2) Sanogo makes a bright first start

3) Should Özil have been rested ahead of Bayern on Wednesday?

4) Can Oxlade-Chamberlain seize Walcott's England spot?

5) Did Howard Webb bottle it?

FA Cup sixth round draw

Written by TBMU Admin

0 comments :

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Follow TBMU FBook/Twitter

Popular on TBMU

About TBMU

Monday, 17 February 2014

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

07:09

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

1) Arsenal survive first five minutes to earn redemption

2) Sanogo makes a bright first start

3) Should Özil have been rested ahead of Bayern on Wednesday?

4) Can Oxlade-Chamberlain seize Walcott's England spot?

5) Did Howard Webb bottle it?

FA Cup sixth round draw

Written by TBMU Admin

0 comments :

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Follow TBMU FBook/Twitter

Popular on TBMU

About TBMU

Subscribe TBMU