Sunday, 2 March 2014

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Championship roundup: Derby still in race for top two says Steve McClaren

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 02:38 PM PST

• Derby lose 2-0 to promotion rivals Burnley
• Nottingham Forest crash at home to Wigan

Burnley 2-0 Derby County

Steve McClaren attacked the decision to send off the Derby striker Chris Martin for diving, but claims his side are still in the race for automatic promotion despite a 2-0 defeat to rivals Burnley. Goals from David Jones – against his former club – and Dean Marney pulled the Clarets five points clear in second place. "I've looked at it over and over and it's a penalty. There's slight contact and Chris Martin has slipped because of the contact, his leg has been taken away. It wasn't a dive. We feel hard done by – but that's football." Sean Dyche said: "It is fair to say that you'd be disappointed with the sending off but the boy Martin has been involved in five or six incidents before then and the ref has had to book him."

Nottingham Forest 1-4 Wigan

Uwe Rösler says his Wigan side must set their sights high after they climbed into the play-off places with an emphatic win over promotion rivals Forest at the City Ground. "These teams above us are now in our sights. We should not be happy just to stay in the top six, we want to catch the guys in front of us. Automatic promotion is a little optimistic, but I am talking about the teams who are third, fourth or fifth." Forest manager Billy Davies insisted that automatic promotion was not beyond his side, despite Burnley opening up an 11-point advantage. "That we are still in the top six with so many players out tells you how well the team has done so far this season. But there are still 13 games to go."

And the rest

Bolton ended Blackburn's five-match unbeaten run with an impressive 4-0 home win, moving nine points clear of the drop. ■ Bournemouth demolished Doncaster 5-0 thanks to a Yann Kermorgant hat-trick and two from Harry Arter. ■ Nahki Wells inspired Huddersfield to a 5-0 win over Barnsley, who drop to the bottom of the table. ■ Ipswich moved to within four points of the play-offs by beating Birmingham 1-0 via a Daryl Murphy goal. ■ Leicester remain on course for promotion after a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlton, with goals from Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater and David Nugent. ■ Millwall's troubles deepened with a 1-0 home defeat by Brighton via a controversial David López penalty. ■ A late Atdhe Nuhiu penalty gave Sheffield Wednesday a 1-0 win over 10-man Middlesbrough. ■ And Watford extended Blackpool's 16-game winless run with a 4-0 thumping at Vicarage Road.


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Manchester United have stopped working under David Moyes | Paul Wilson

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 02:32 PM PST

The club will kill the manager with kindness, right up until they decide the whole episode has been a mistake

This should be one of Manchester United's better weekends in a difficult season. They have no game. When hostilities resume on Saturday David Moyes and his beleaguered players will find themselves at the quenelle-free zone of West Bromwich Albion, which, by an unhappy coincidence, is where Sir Alex Ferguson took his bows at the end of last season, when a highly untypical 5-5 draw was put down to the champions being either demob happy or distracted by the emotions surrounding the great helmsman's departure.

Ferguson had made his decision on the succession by then. The chosen one was wrapping up the season with Everton at Stamford Bridge and preparing himself for his first public appearances in a Manchester United blazer. It seemed a sound enough plan. Bathed in May sunshine at The Hawthorns, Ferguson could have had no inkling of how suddenly and spectacularly it would start to go wrong. United were a winning machine, an institution at the top level of English football, a champion club with unimpeachable kudos that leading players wanted to join. All you had to do to keep up the steady run of success was appoint a competent manager – Moyes was certainly that – and make sure the club understood that he might not immediately replicate Ferguson but would get there if granted enough time.

Ostensibly the club are still sticking to that line, but what was not so easy to envisage in May was the extent to which good intentions would be undermined by rank performances. The players should take a proportion of the blame for events on the pitch, but the task of a manager is to get the best out of his players – an area in which Ferguson excelled to an extent only now being recognised – and if Moyes cannot supervise a more recognisable impression of a football team than the one that turned up in Athens in midweek it is legitimate to question the point of having him around. While all managers lose games, some games are lost in a way that reflects poorly on the manager, and to put it as kindly as possible Moyes is clearly not having the effect on his players that José Mourinho is at Chelsea or Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool.

United are backing him for now, of course they are, they will continue to kill him with kindness right up to the point where they unplug the support mechanism and decide that the whole episode has been a mistake. That, in turn, involves acceptance that Ferguson might have made an error of judgment, which is why Moyes is getting to play the dangling man for longer than most other managers would be permitted. But no matter how compassionate the club wants to be, no matter how much it reveres Ferguson and hopes to see his planned legacy come to fruition, a decision will have to be made soon because Manchester United has stopped working. Moyes is not just experiencing difficulty turning the ocean liner around, he has the vessel headed for the shore. While Wayne Rooney has been placated at extraordinary expense, Robin van Persie is now sounding mutinous. It may be a while before the inoffensive Juan Mata does the same, but the £37m signing's initial impact has been negligible and his move to Manchester has not resulted in a recall to the Spain squad. Marouane Fellaini, Moyes's other major signing, was not considered worth an outing against Olympiakos, while the talented Adnan Januzaj was inexplicably left out in favour of Ashley Young and Tom Cleverley.

None of this would matter too much were there any signs of improvement or progress, some hint that Moyes has a plan in mind or is working steadily towards an achievable goal, but he responds to each new humiliation with the same perplexed expression of pain and surprise that the supporters are beginning to adopt. The rather lofty suggestion from earlier in the season that United could afford to miss out on the Champions League once in a while has now been replaced by the stark realisation that if they carry on in this manner they might never get back in. They will certainly find it harder to attract the best players once out of that elite, and could even struggle to keep hold of the good ones already at the club. While it may be the case that United have accepted the need for a thorough overhaul and are prepared to buy big in summer, Moyes is not necessarily the man they would want spending their money and neither does he project the sort of magnetic personality that players are drawn towards.

The new United manager may never be able to replicate the old one, even with an infinite amount of time. The infinite number of monkeys with typewriters busy on the Hamlet script might get there first.

Not that unlimited time is ever available in football anyway, thoughts at a club of United's standing are bound to turn to damage limitation. For if Moyes is not the man to run United in the way Ferguson thought he could, time alone is not going to come to his rescue and could easily make things worse. The statisticians who keep claiming that Moyes has actually made a better start to his United career than Ferguson, winning 22 of his first 41 games against 17 by his predecessor, are missing a couple of important points. The first is that Ferguson took over a team of drinkers who were struggling at the wrong end of the table, whereas Moyes inherited a side that won the league by 11 points. The second is that Ferguson was given time because he appeared to know where he wanted to go and how to get there, even if results did not immediately improve, and having tried most alternatives the United directors were at their wits' end as to where to look for someone else. That is vastly different from the present situation, which has come about because with practically the whole of the coaching profession available for interview but disregarded, United plumped for a manager who seems to be at his own wits' end far too often.

Paul Wilson

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Roma 0-0 Internazionale | Serie A match report

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 02:19 PM PST

Roma missed the chance to put pressure on Serie A leaders Juventus after playing out a frustrating goalless draw with Internazionale in front of a half empty Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.

Rudi García's side stay second on 58 points after an underwhelming display in an eerily quiet stadium shorn of the boisterous support from the Curva Sud and Curva Nord sections of the stadium, which were closed following offensive chanting in previous home games.

The closest the hosts came to claiming the three points was a disallowed goal after half an hour – Mattia Destro was ruled offside as his close-range shot rebounded off the post and back to Inter keeper Samir Handanovic, who comically spilled the ball over the line.

Inter stay fifth on 41 points, six ahead of Milan, but should have had a penalty in the 15th minute when Mauro Icardi was tugged back in the area by Mehdi Benatia, just as the striker flashed a volley wide.

The away side are now unbeaten in four games but will drop down to sixth if surprise package Verona, who are two points behind Inter, beat Bologna at home on Sunday.

Juventus can move 11 points clear with a win at Milan on Sunday that would make their third straight league title almost a formality. Third-placed Napoli can close the gap between themselves and Roma to four points should they win at relegation-threatened Livorno.


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Managers of great import? Perhaps the Premier League tide is turning | Tim Adams

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 02:00 PM PST

Sam Allardyce's February miracle has been a victory for Alf Tupper lovers everywhere. But is there really hope in the Premier League for the homegrown manager?

A decade ago I discussed with Ron Atkinson, that least reconstructed of football managers, the arrival of suspect European habits in the top tier of the English game. At the time, much was being made of the virtues of Arsène Wenger's insistence on a scientific nutritious diet for his Arsenal players. Atkinson did not have too much truck with wholefoods: "What people forget," he said, "is that it's not just the good teams that do it in France and Spain. It's the crap teams as well. The pasta and broccoli doesn't help them. If it suited a player of mine to have a fry-up before he went out, then he'd have a bloody fry-up. When I see these dieticians I always think of Alf Tupper in the Rover comic, who used to win the Olympics on fish and chips out of the wrapper ..."

In the years since, that conversation has sometimes come to mind when first the national team and then club after club has "gone down the continental route" and appointed a manager or coach – a saviour – from across the water. One result has been that Atkinson's archetypal Alf Tuppers have long been in retreat from perceived sophisticates in slim-fit suits. While British – and particularly English – football managers have been caricatured as struggling in their native language, the advance of great communicators from abroad – even trailing interpreters – has come to seem inexorable. For the first time, this Premier League season began with half of the clubs run by coaches brought in from the rest of Europe and beyond. As desperation has begun to set in at certain clubs, five more have been added since then (two at Fulham alone), but for the first time in recent weeks it seems that the stereotype might perhaps have run its course.

Even José Mourinho, the singular cause of the universal desire for metrosexual messiahs among Premier League directors and fans, recently lamented the influx. "At this moment in the Premier League – and I know I'm speaking against myself – I disagree with so many foreign coaches in this country," he observed, with particular reference to the renaissance of Steve McClaren, who had to take his brolly to the Netherlands to restore his reputation. "I don't see a reason for that because I don't feel the English managers are in any point behind the foreign ones ... I just feel sorry that in a football country like England managers are not getting enough jobs in this country. The main culture has to be always British."

If there are signs, with the recent (albeit precarious) appointments of Tim Sherwood at Spurs and Garry Monk as an interim at Swansea, that owners are more alive to the idea that imports might not always be the answer, then you can probably trace the shift to the realisation that for every Special One there is also an AVB. The appointment of André Villas-Boas, Mourinho's mini-me, first at Chelsea and then again at Spurs was a classic example of the shameless attraction of recruiters everywhere for the candidate who looks the part.

Critically, AVB had known only success in his brief career in Portugal; given that the long Premier League winter requires above all an ability to cope with discontent, that CV proved dramatically and almost instantaneously insufficient– twice. Something of the same seems to have done for the mercurial Michael Laudrup at Swansea (when Monk was appointed there were strange mutterings from the boardroom about the manager's affection for Paris and of "our club being returned to us") and, though it is very early days, you fear for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Cardiff, another who has known almost exclusively golden times both at Manchester United and in his Norwegian career – no preparation at all, you imagine, for employment with Vincent Tan.

It is notable that among clubs in the lower half of the Premier League – which is to say, this season, those involved in a 38-game relegation scrap – the three most inspired managerial performances have all come from old-school British gaffers, men who have crucially known as much of disaster as triumph, and lived to tell the tale.

Tony Pulis has provided an immediate sense of discipline and order at Crystal Palace that has offered a real sniff at avoiding what looked inevitable relegation (a fate that the former Stoke man, famously, has never suffered). Likewise, Steve Bruce at Hull has married pragmatism with a sense of adventure, in a manner that you suspect would have had commentators melting had he done it with a Spanish or South American inflection, rather than in his affable Geordie. Big Sam's February miracle at West Ham, meanwhile, has been a victory for Alf Tupper lovers everywhere.

As past England managers Sven‑Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello knew only too well, in what, despite the pseudo‑scientific analysis, is essentially a cultish environment of blind faith and desperate hope, one of the greatest assets a football manager can bring is a sense of the unknown. As with witch doctors or homeopaths, the less the new man says of his methods the more chance he has of preserving belief in them.

In this respect homegrown managers have a disadvantage: they can rarely appear gnomic, only garrulous or glum. For though as everyone is aware the league tables each year can be pretty accurately plotted in advance by revenue and spend, miracles are universally expected. (It is an irony that the man who deviated most significantly from his predicted position in the money league last season, Steve Clarke at West Brom, was among the first to be sacrificed this time, for a little-known Pepe Mel, as soon as his club hovered near its expected level.)

Predictably, Sherwood and Monk have been praised for their "openness" and "honesty" in the weeks that they have transformed the spirit of their respective clubs. It remains to be seen whether there is enough mystery in that approach to keep them employed.

Tim Adams

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Said & Done – the week in football: Brazil, Bruno and gun-pulling

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 01:46 PM PST

The week in football – Embracing fair play; Bruno's second chance; chaotic streaks in Romania; plus music news

Big week for …

Financial Fair Play – 76 clubs linked to potential breaches; annual transfer spending up 41% to $3.72bn; and clubs taking legal action against the loss-limiting rules – two years after Uefa hailed the "whole football family" for signing up to the FFP spirit: a "unanimous" movement to end "greed, recklessness and financial insanity".

Meanwhile: best fresh starts

• Rangers – still rebuilding after 2012's collapse over unpaid tax – moving on from last year's £14.4m loss by borrowing £1m for six months at 30% APR from their majority shareholder, an Isle-of-Man-based hedge fund.

• Plymouth owner James Brent, selling part of his stake to ex-director Tony Wrathall – part of the board that led Plymouth to debts of £17.7m owed to 240 creditors in 2011. Brent: "I'm fully aware Tony's appointment will raise questions among the fanbase. It's one I am comfortable with."

Fifa's week: PR news

Brazil: Police in São Paulo managing press coverage of an anti-Fifa, anti-World Cup spending protest by "arresting or assaulting" 14 journalists among a total 262 arrests, according to local media. Police: "All such claims will be studied."

• Jérôme Valcke's view on the current mood, and on cities' increasing reluctance to commit more public money – a new line of attack: "No one forced Brazil to host the World Cup."

Plus - one to watch

Lawyers for top Uruguayan clubs suing South American confederation Conmebol over alleged "money laundering, fraud and misappropriation", eyeing a celebrity witness. Victor Della Valle: "That's my interest, calling Blatter. As a campaigner to clean football of its corrupt elements, what does he make of this?" Conmebol deny wrongdoing.

Other news: second chance

Brazil: Ex-Flamengo keeper Bruno, 29 – serving 22 years for ordering the murder of model Eliza Samudio in 2010 to avoid paying child support, with Samudio's body fed to dogs – signing a five-year deal to join Campeonato Mineiro club Montes Claros. Club president Ville Mocellin says the deal, pending court approval as part of a day release "resocialisation" scheme, will involve Bruno "training and playing under police escort". "We want to give an opportunity to this man Bruno. He lost his head – but people make mistakes. He deserves this chance."

Also rallying round

France: Montpellier president Louis Nicollin, directing the blame after striker M'Baye Niang's prosecution for crashing his Ferrari into several cars and a tree then making off. "Who sold him this Ferrari? Even though I'm old, if I find out, I will beat them."

Gesture of the week

Italy: Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi on why he marked the club's centenary by having his players give robot vacuum cleaners made by the club's sponsor to opponents during a pre-match handshake. "It's beautiful technology, tied to the story of our team."

Calling it a day

Greece: Panachaiki president Alexis Kougias, ready to pull his side out of the league over "criminal refereeing" – with a recent 4-0 defeat featuring "acts of terrorism by the referee and other henchmen". "I've just had enough now. I'm mentally tired."

Rebuttal of the week

Ghana: Aduana Stars chief executive Albert Commey denying reports that coach Milisav Bogdanovic reacted to a training ground row by pulling a gun on one of his players. "The coach has a gun … but there was no gun-pulling." Commey says striker James Abban started it by "insulting the coach's mother… We will tackle this with no kid gloves."

Manager news

Brazil: Mogi Mirim president Rivaldo denying he "caused humiliation" to coach Ailton Silva by announcing his sacking on Instagram. "He already knew. I actually let him go in the dressing room, in front of the whole team."

Best motivator

Romania: Astra owner Ioan Niculae, who last year called his squad "incapable, impotent morons … shaking in their panties", weighing up their latest defeat. "We've actually gone backwards. Many times in my life I've felt I was stupid to invest in football, but this is real humiliation. Measures will be taken."

Celebration of the week

Azerbaijan: Ravan Baku keeper Lukasz Sapela on why he reacted to saving a penalty by making repeated "up yours" gestures, earning a red card. "I'm not a machine. It was euphoria combined with anger, and it all just had to come out."

Groundsman of the week

Romania: Sport.ro revealing the results after a "relaxed" groundsman laid out pitch markings for a lower league game in Timis just after returning from a local village festival: "Such chaotic streaks as would bedevil any goalline technology."

Love news

Spain: Brazilian model Cristini Couto, Miss Transsexual 2007, ready to settle down with one special player. "I've been with many famous players, names beginning with G, P, B, C … I could have a player a day if I wanted. But now I'm just looking for my Cristiano."

Plus: music news

Greece: Model Vicky Xipolitakis, previously linked with Maradona and Kayserispor's Pablo Mouche, celebrating a new dance track in her honour, titled The Blonde Explodes – chorus: "The blonde explodes, Vicky Xipolitakis is everywhere." "I'm the subject. I love it."

David Hills

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Central Coast Mariners 2-1 Sydney FC | A-League match report

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 01:46 PM PST

Mariners coach Phil Moss praised his players' toughness after they ended a run of four defeats

Melbourne Heart 4-0 Melbourne Victory | A-League match report

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 01:28 PM PST

Melbourne Heart continued their remarkable resurgence with a commanding win over their cross-city rivals

Alan Pardew headbutts David Meyler - in pictures

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 01:19 PM PST

Astonishing scenes at the KC stadium where Alan Pardew lost control on the touchline and headbutted Hull City's David Meyler

Steven Bloor

Bayern Munich 5-1 Schalke

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 12:48 PM PST

Arjen Robben scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich beat Schalke 5-1 to extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to 20 points. The result compounded a miserable week for Schalke, who lost 6-1 at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

David Alaba opened the scoring with a deflected free-kick in the third minute before Robben chipped in a second for the home side. By the 24th minute, Bayern were three up through a Mario Mandzukic header and four minutes later Robben grabbed his second, curling a shot inside the far post.

A charitable Rafinha own-goal gave Schalke some consolation but Robben completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Kyriakos Papadopoulos was shown a red card on a day – and a week – to forget for Schalke.

"It was embarrassing what we delivered in the first half," Schalke captain Benedikt Höwedes said. "We had much too much respect." Schalke's coach, Jens Keller, called his side's opening 45 minutes "the worst I have ever seen from us".

Indeed, it was utter dominance from Bayern in the first half, who completed 409 passes to Schalke's 65, at a pass-completion rate of over 90%.

The win stretched Bayern's unbeaten league record to 48 games after their 15th consecutive win – a Bundesliga record.


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Six of the best: Europe's best young football managers working today

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 12:17 PM PST

From Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers to Mainz's Thomas Tuchel, here are half-a-dozen of the finest young European managers

THOMAS TUCHEL Mainz

The new Jürgen Klopp – in so many ways. He is young (40), he is charismatic and he is doing a great job at the club Klopp left for Dortmund: Mainz. Became the first manager ever to win the first seven games in the Bundesliga in 2010-11. Not bad for a "small" club.

BRENDAN RODGERS Liverpool

Crafting the renaissance at Liverpool at 41 but it has not been straightforward, having left Reading by mutual consent after six months in 2009. An unqualified success at Swansea, however, and he may take Liverpool to the Champions League for the first time since 2009-10.

VINCENZO MONTELLA Fiorentina

Only 39 but he has been caretaker at Roma, where he played for 10 years, and full-time manager of Catania and Fiorentina. At La Viola he forged an attacking side with such talents as Alberto Aquilani, David Pizarro and Borja Valero, and formerly Adem Ljajic and Stevan Jovetic.

FRANK DE BOER Ajax

Rescued the club after Martin Jol's disastrous spell and is on his way to securing Ajax's fourth consecutive title, a feat no other manager has done. Arguably the best Ajax manager since Louis van Gaal and has hinted that he may be interested in managing in the Premier League.

ROBERTO MARTíNEZ Everton

The Spaniard is enjoying a successful first season at Everton after two years at Swansea and four at Wigan, where he won the FA Cup but was also relegated. Said recently that he would fine any player that did not sleep at least eight hours a night (if he could find the evidence).

VíTOR PEREIRA Al-Ahli

Everton were reported to have cast admiring eyes at the former assistant of André Villas-Boas and gifted tactician who took Porto to the league title in his first year in charge, and followed that up with another Primeira Liga in 2011-12. Hired by the Saudi club on a lucrative deal.


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Valcke worried World Cup deadlines will not be met

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 12:13 PM PST

• 100 days to go but 90 needed to install IT systems
• 'It is last-minute work, but it will work in the end"

Fifa has been left with a huge challenge following Brazilian delays in building stadiums for the 2014 World Cup, the world body's secretary general, Jérôme Valcke said on Saturday.

"We are working in conditions where the cement is not even dry," Valcke said as Tuesday's 100-days-to-kickoff milestone approaches.

"We still have to install all the IT solutions for the media. Without IT and without the telecommunications in place in the stadium you will say we are the worst organisers and it was the worst event. But to install the IT in a stadium, it needs at least 90 days and we have to work for all the people who have an interest, our commercial partners, our media partners, hospitality ...

"The ball starts rolling on June 12 until July 13 and I think things will work well then but it is also true that whenever you receive something late, it becomes a challenge to make it ready in time," Valcke added.

"I am not a World Cup specialist but I will say this has not been easy for sure," he told reporters gathered after a meeting of the annual International Football Association Board, the game's law-making meeting.

"We are almost at 100 days before the first game starts in a stadium in São Paulo which is still not ready and won't be ready until 15 May. And as you know another two stadiums [in Curitiba and Manaus] are quite late."

Two years ago this weekend Valcke delivered his famous "Brazil needs a kick up the backside" line which incensed the local organising committee, but certainly had something of the desired impact.

Asked if the Brazilians now needed another kick up the backside, Valcke deflected the question.

"Ask me that when the World Cup is over," he replied.

"We have already had to put things in place and it is very last minute work, but it will work at the end. It will work, and you will have what you expect and the teams will have the best.

"For sure, the stadiums are beautiful but now it is a challenge for the organisers. And that is not a criticism. It is just a challenge. We have to find the solutions."


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Sunderland's Gus Poyet studying hard for Capital One Cup final

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PST

A lover of mathematics, Poyet is eager his season concludes with the positive result of Cup glory and Premier League survival

Until Gus Poyet was 18 years old and realised a career in professional football beckoned, he intended to read engineering at university in Montevideo. Excellent at maths, the young Uruguayan imagined that becoming an engineer would be the best way of putting his obsession with geometry and abstract equations to practical use.

Football pitches have suited his analytical yet highly creative mind even better. For almost three decades now Poyet's job – whether as an elegant goal-scoring midfielder or technical area choreographer – has been all about geometrical passing angles, correctly calibrated deliveries and tactical equations spiced by the human factor.

"I like maths and trying to work out crazy problems," says the 46-year-old Sunderland manager who has experienced plenty of the latter since arriving on Wearside last October. With his team facing Manchester City in Sunday's Capital One Cup final at Wembley and having reached the FA Cup quarter-finals while embroiled in an enduring relegation battle, Poyet's season is perched precariously on the margins of glory and disaster.

He reiterates that survival is infinitely more important than cup success and yet the runs towards Wembley have proved an invaluable means of instilling his patient, possession-based, passing game and its constantly varying angles of attack into a squad that initially struggled to comprehend his purist philosophy. "The ball is priceless," says the man who holds several principles in common with his one-time fellow Real Zaragoza midfielder, Everton's Roberto Martínez. "I like to say I want the ball to be happy with us. If the ball talks, I want it to want to be on our side."

Despite his late father Washington's status as a basketball star in Uruguay, Poyet always preferred football, eventually accepting an offer from Nice to turn professional. No sooner had he arrived in Europe, however, than Nice discovered they had already used up their allocation of foreign players, leaving Poyet to head for an unhappy stint at Grenoble.

In some ways the slow beginning to his playing career – a brief return to South America was followed by high-profile stints with Zaragoza, Chelsea and Tottenham – has been reprised during a lengthy managerial induction.

On hanging up his boots, Poyet, his wife Madelon and sons Matias – now reading economics at Leeds University – and Diego – currently playing for Charlton – returned to Uruguay. But, much as they loved the climate, the pace of life was too slow and it was not long before the family were back in England with Poyet in a new role as Dennis Wise's assistant at first Swindon, then Leeds.

The pair had become firm friends as Chelsea midfielders, a rather unlikely bond emerging when the newly arrived Poyet defended Wise's initially unpopular dressing-room edict that everyone must speak English, all the time.

Dubbed "The Radio" by team-mates because of his constant chatter, Poyet's willingness to play the barrack-room lawyer when required appealed to Wise and the pair made a convincing double act in Wiltshire and West Yorkshire. "Gus was top drawer," says a senior Leeds source. "If he'd become manager I'm convinced we'd be doing well in the Premier League now."

Instead the Uruguayan returned to Spurs for an ill-fated stint as Juande Ramos's No2, even if their joint sacking in 2008 changed his life. "It was the right decision but it hurt," says Poyet. "I was devastated. I decided I didn't want to be an assistant any more. I wanted to be in charge, making the decisions."

Not that there was exactly a stampede for his services. "I started to worry when the summer of 2009 went by and I still couldn't find a team," he acknowledges. "I thought, 'I'm going to have to take a risk and accept a challenge.'"

Lying 20th in League One in November 2009, Brighton met both criteria. By the time Poyet left them, amid considerable acrimony, nearly four years later, the south coast side had narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League. The former Tottenham manager turned pundit David Pleat was not surprised. "I watched Brighton in League One and I was so impressed," recalls Poyet's old Spurs boss. "Gus was one of the first coaches to use the style so many English teams use now: patient football, build from the back. A goalkeeper who plays the ball out short, full-backs pushing on outside three midfielders. It was courageous because managers at that level are under pressure to get the ball forward quickly."

The shame is that things ended so badly with Poyet sacked for gross misconduct before taking legal action – subsequently withdrawn – against Brighton. If the flashpoint was a scathing but hardly controversial email he sent to club staff demanding that those responsible for leaving excrement in the Amex Stadium's away dressing room before Crystal Palace's visit for last year's play-off semi-final be dismissed, relationships with Brighton's board had already become strained over what some perceived as his vaulting ambition.

After completing extensive due diligence before appointing him as Paolo Di Canio's successor, Sunderland were left satisfied he had done nothing wrong.

Not that he lacks a certain edge. After all, Roberto De Fanti did not survive long after Poyet hinted that he might quit were Sunderland's former director of football to have the final say on transfers. Otherwise few ripples have been created by a character whose skill in re-integrating Lee Cattermole and Phil Bardsley while restraining their powerful locker-room influence has contrasted markedly with Di Canio's self-destructively volatile man-management.

Poyet swiftly assembled Sunderland's scouts and gave them a PowerPoint presentation explaining his preferred 4-1-4-1 system and precisely the type of players he needed to make it work. Backroom staff who had become accustomed to managers taking much more of a broad brush approach were impressed by such meticulous devotion to detail.

On a human level club employees tend to warm to Poyet, with one describing him as "a very kind person". Such sentiments are echoed by the midfielder Ki Sung-yueng. "Tactically Gus is very organised and smart," says Ki. "But personally he's very kind and honest. If there's a problem he talks to you as a person and does not cheat or lie. I like that."

Poyet's decision to make his home in the heart of an unglamorous city shunned by predecessors who preferred to live in Newcastle, North Yorkshire or Durham has also gone down well. "Gus is a pretty normal guy," says a club source. "He's easy to deal with and you can have a normal conversation with him."

Even so, the lack of "normality" and weight of responsibility occasioned by a Premier League predicament inherited from Di Canio sporadically depresses a manager who laments a new-found inability to relax and lose himself in the novels he once adored. "The words don't go in any more," he says. "I won't be able to switch off until we're safe."

Wembley represents a welcome respite from the daily grind but cup glory plus impending Championship football would not satisfy Poyet's definition of a balanced equation. "My mission is Premier League survival," he says. "Staying up is the most important thing."

Louise Taylor

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Southampton 0-3 Liverpool

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 11:43 AM PST

For so long accused of wallowing in their glorious past, Liverpool are now looking to a triumphant future that edges ever nearer. Three points from a dicey assignment at Southampton means a first title in 24 years is a fantasy with an increasing chance of becoming reality. Only Chelsea are above Brendan Rodgers' swashbuckling side in the Premier League table now.

In the season straight after the abdication of Sir Alex Ferguson, Liverpool could return to the perch that was once their preserve.

The pressure was on Rodgers' men here. Arsenal's defeat at Stoke and Manchester City's engagement in the Capital One Cup final meant victory would propel them into second place, a challenge to which teams of less mettle would not have risen. Southampton had beaten Liverpool in their two previous meetings and posed them plenty of problems here but the visitors took the best blows that their hosts could throw and struck back with three powerful strikes. Another goal spree plus a rare clean sheet made Rodgers a happy man.

"This was an outstanding and really significant performance," said the Liverpool manager, who tempered talk of the title with the inevitable one-game-at-a-time mantra. His Southampton counterpart, Mauricio Pochettino, was less coy, concluding: "Liverpool are definitely a candidate for the title, they have the right players to mount a serious challenge."

Southampton forced Liverpool to prove their credentials and that made for a gripping game.

From the outset both sides fizzed with endeavour and enterprise. Liverpool, who tweaked their formation to play with a midfield diamond and Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suárez as a front two, came within inches of taking the lead in the sixth minute. Sturridge raced down the right and attempted to lay the ball across to the unmarked Suárez but José Fonte stretched to poke the ball behind just as the Uruguayan prepared to pounce.

Both sides began with four players named in the England squad to face Denmark on Wednesday, including the Southampton left-back Luke Shaw, who turns 19 the day before the World Cup final and played as if intent on showing the watching Roy Hodgson that he deserves to go to Brazil. With England's usual right-back, Glen Johnson, deployed on Liverpool's left, Shaw regularly galloped forward to torment Jon Flanagan, though it was Adam Lallana who went down in the box under a challenge from Flanagan in the 13th minute.

The referee, Lee Probert, rejected the pleas for a penalty.

Two minutes later Liverpool's scoring machine clicked into gear. Suárez had not netted for five matches prior to this but, after initiating an attack, he benefited from ricochets off two Southampton defenders before firing low into the net from 16 yards to plunder his 24th goal of the campaign.

That was one demonstration that Hodgson might not have appreciated given that he has to figure out a way of stopping the Uruguayan in June.

Southampton pushed Liverpool on to the back foot for most of the remainder of the first half and could have been level by half-time. Just past the half-hour Rickie Lambert knocked down a cross to Lallana, whose scuffed close-range shot rolled past Simon Mignolet but bounced out off the post.

The hosts were foiled superbly by the Belgian goalkeeper just before the break, when, after a cross by Lallana and a dummy by Lambert, Jay Rodriguez let fly from eight yards, only for Mignolet to twist his body and turn the low shot away with one hand.

Southampton's forward momentum continued after the resumption. Steven Gerrard, stationed in his now-familiar berth in front of the Liverpool defence, was struggling to keep track of Lallana, who tested Mignolet again in the 49th minute.

Rodgers introduced Raheem Sterling in place of Philippe Coutinho in the 58th minute in a bid to reassert Liverpool's offensive power but hardly imagined that the youngster would score with his first touch. Yet after nimble interplay on the right, Suárez delivered a low ball into the box and Sterling, who was not even born when Liverpool were last champions of England, sidefooted into the net from 10 yards.

Liverpool finished in jubilant form. Sturridge and Suárez could have scored again before stoppage time, when Suárez darted into the box and duped Fonte, who brought him down to concede a penalty. Gerrard scored with style.

Paul Doyle

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Arsène Wenger admits Arsenal defeat a 'massive setback' to title hopes

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 11:28 AM PST

• Manager says 1-0 loss to Stoke City 'a big worry'
• Arsenal now in third four points behind leaders Chelsea

Arsène Wenger admitted Arsenal's title chances are receding after a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City that he described as worrying.

"It is not a slight worry, it is a big worry for us to lose a game like that," the Arsenal manager said. "I was not happy with the performance and the result was a massive setback for us."

A Jon Walters penalty settled the contest in Stoke's favour, and Chelsea's win at Fulham means José Mourinho's side have opened up a four-point gap at the top of the Premier League table. Liverpool's 3-0 victory at Southampton, meanwhile, lifted the Reds above Arsenal into second place on goal difference.

Wenger confirmed Mesut Özil was fit, even though he kept the German on the bench for most of the game, and said he was disappointed how little his side created going forward. "We did not create enough chances and we were punished," he said. "When you are going for the title and you are expected to perform, you have to perform. It is as simple as that."

Wenger accepted a slightly harsh penalty decision with good grace – even though he had a point when claiming Laurent Koscielny did not have time to take his hand out of the way – and diplomatically chose not to discuss a deliberate stamp by Charlie Adam on Olivier Giroud that went unpunished because the referee did not see it. Adam may be hearing from the FA once the incident is televised, but Wenger evidently feels it is not something he needs to highlight.

"I have nothing to say about other aspects of the referee's performance," he said. "I prefer to concentrate on our own performance, which by our standards was poor."

Paul Wilson

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Scottish roundup: James McFadden inspires Motherwell to Hearts win

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 11:26 AM PST

• Gregg Wylde inspires St Mirren in vital win over Kilmarnock
• Ross Jack returns from long-term injury to score for Aberdeen

Motherwell beat Hearts with James McFadden inspiring a 4-1 win in the Scottish Premiership.

McFadden had a part to play in goals for Iain Vigurs, Lionel Ainsworth and John Sutton before scoring himself, as the Steelmen bounced back from defeats by Dundee United and St Johnstone. A Callum Paterson goal – when his side were already 3-0 down – was the only consolation for Hearts.

Ryan Jack's eighth-minute strike was enough to give Aberdeen the three points as they beat 10-man St Johnstone at Pittodrie. The Aberdeen manager, Derek McInnes, made one change from the side that beat Celtic in midweek, with Barry Robson dropping to the bench in place of Jack, who returned from his long-term injury and it was the Scotland Under-21 midfielder who fired the Dons into the lead with an effort from 25 yards out that somehow managed to find the net.

Jack received the ball from Peter Pawlett on the edge of the penalty area and then beat defender Steven Anderson, before seeing his weak shot trickle under the St Johnstone goalkeeper, Alan Mannus. It proved to be a match to forget for the Saints strikers, as Michael O'Halloran missed a gilt-edged chance and substitute Steven MacLean was sent off for two petulant challenges.

Substitute Gregg Wylde created one goal and scored another as St Mirren moved out of the relegation play-off place with a 2-0 home win over Kilmarnock. The former Rangers and Aberdeen winger set up Conor Newton for a first-time effort in the 78th minute and then struck an impressive goal with three minutes remaining. The victory moved Saints level on 27 points with Kilmarnock and ended a run of five consecutive defeats for the Paisley side.

Ross County and Partick Thistle slipped into the bottom three of the table after battling out a 1-1 draw at Victoria Park. Kallum Higginbotham put the visitors in front from a free-kick in the ninth minute, only for Richard Brittain to restore parity from another set-piece five minutes later. With St Mirren winning at home to Kilmarnock, the result meant both teams dropped a place in the table – with just Hearts below them.

In League One, Rangers needed a late  penalty from their captain, Lee McCulloch, to win 1-0 at East Fife. Rangers now require two wins to secure the league title.


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Southampton v Liverpool – as it happened | Scott Murray

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 11:26 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: Liverpool can move up to third in the table with a win at Saints. See how they fare with Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Football League: Your thoughts | Gregg Bakowski

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 10:23 AM PST

Yeovil produced the performance of the day, earning a point despite going down to eight men in a madcap match at Reading

Championship

• There were fun and games at Reading v Yeovil, where the league's bottom-placed team somehow held on for a magnificent draw despite suffering three red cards in the second half with Byron Webster, Joe Ralls and Kieffer Moore all sent off. Reading even needed a 69th-minute Tom Lawrence own goal to earn that point, with an absurd match staying level largely thanks to the heroics of Marek Stech, who saved an Adam le Fondre penalty and then made superb stops from Danny Guthrie, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Royston Drenthe as the Royals threw everything at the visitors to no avail.

• Leicester continued their march towards the promised land with a 3-0 victory over struggling Charlton. David Nugent scored again – Leicester's third of the afternoon and his 19th goal of the season – with a 20-yard strike to cap a move that wouldn't be out of place in the top flight. They're now unbeaten in nine and remain eight points clear of second-placed Burnley, who leapfrogged Derby County with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Turf Moor against Steve McClaren's side that was made that bit easier by Chris Martin's first-half sending off for a second bookable offence.

• At the Reebok Stadium, Bolton produced their best performance in a long time to romp into a 3-0 lead inside 47 minutes to exact some revenge against Blackburn for their 4-1 defeat in the reverse fixture last August. Dougie Freedman's side are now four points clear of the relegation zone.

• Yann Kermorgant scored his first-ever professional hat-trick in Bournemouth's 5-0 win over Doncaster, which boosted their survival hopes while leaving Doncaster perilously close to the bottom three.

• Elsewhere, Huddersfield hammered Barnsley 5-0 to leave the Tykes second-bottom, Wigan beat Nottingham Forest 4-1 to damage Billy Davies's side's promotion challenge and boost their own chances of making the play-offs. Watford walloped Blackpool 4-0 and Sheffield Wednesday nicked three points against Middlesbrough with a narrow 1-0 win at Hillsborough, Ipswich beat Birmingham 1-0 and Brighton won 1-0 at Millwall.

• In the day's early kick-off a point shared in the 1-1 draw between QPR and Leeds at Loftus Road did nothing for either side's hopes of promotion.

League One

• Wolves went top of the league on goal difference thanks to three second-half goals that snuffed out the challenge of visitors Port Vale. It could have been 4-0, with Nouha Dicko missing the chance to claim a hat-trick with a failed penalty attempt in the closing stages.

• Second-placed Leyton Orient showed character as they beat Colchester United 2-1, with Moses Odubajo drilling home Shaun Batt's pass to win it in the 82nd minute.

• Rotherham look good for a play-off spot after hammering bottom-placed Notts County 6-0. Four goals inside the first half an hour left Shaun Derry's side shellshocked and moved Rotherham nine points clear of sixth-placed Peterborough, who lost 1-0 at Crawley.

• Elsewhere, Preston beat Walsall 2-1 to stay fourth with the winner coming from an unlikely source in the shape of the Australian centre-back Bailey Wright.

• Down at the bottom, Stevenage gave their slim survival hopes another boost with a second win in succession. They twice came from behind twice at Bradford to win in the 87th-minute with Luke Freeman scoring his second of the afternoon.

League Two

• Plymouth enjoy playing teams from north-west seaside towns. Having dismantled Fleetwood 4-0 last week, they went one better against Morecambe, hammering them 5-0 to keep the door to the play-offs in sight and ajar. That's 11 goals an nine points in a week for John Sheridan's resurgent side.

• At the top, Rochdale moved level on points with second-placed Scunthorpe, who could only draw 2-2 with Newport. Rochdale hammered fifth-placed Oxford United 3-0 at Spotland with Scott Hogan grabbing all three goals.

• At the bottom, Northampton, Wycombe and Mansfield all drew, missing the opportunity to take advantage of defeats for Bury and Accrington Stanley.

Gregg Bakowski

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Reading 1-1 Yeovil Town

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 10:20 AM PST

Yeovil had three players sent off in their gritty draw with Reading but their manager, Gary Johnson, refused to criticise the trio for anything more than naivety. Byron Webster, Joe Ralls and Kieffer Moore were all dismissed in a stormy second half at the Madejski Stadium.

"I've no complaints on the day. The sendings off were not for viciousness," Johnson said. "The first [Webster] was just misjudgment and the second and third were two young lads who were a bit overzealous in the tackle. If you do that, you're going to get a red card.

"It's a lesson learnt for all three of them. They put their team in trouble but they didn't mean to. It was more a question of mistiming. With only eight players, I was very proud the way we defended. There is a passion among all the players and they want to do all they can to keep Yeovil Town in the Championship. We'd like to stay there as long as we can and if we survive, it will be the club's biggest ever achievement."

The first half contained little suggestion of the disciplinary madness to follow after the break.

Yeovil dominated a poor Reading side and deservedly went ahead in the 20th minute. Luke Ayling slung over a free-kick and, with the Reading goalkeeper, Alex McCarthy, racing from his line but not reaching the ball, Shane Duffy had an easy task to nod into the unguarded net.

Reading gradually improved, Pavel Pogrebnyak having a close-range header disallowed because of offside, and they went on to batter Yeovil in the opening stages of the second half. But their leading scorer, Adam Le Fondre, twice wasted good opportunities – first with a weak header, then with wayward shot high over the crossbar.

Yeovil's red mist descended in the 66th minute, when Webster was sent off for pulling back the Reading substitute Royston Drenthe.

Le Fondre took the resultant spot kick but the Yeovil keeper, Marek Stech, saved well. However, just seconds later Stech appeared to score an inadvertent own goal as Tom Lawrence's attempted clearance bounced off the Czech's back and over the line.

Ralls received Yeovil's second red, for an ugly tackle on Garath McCleary, and Moore the third, in the 88th minute, after he had picked up two yellows in as many minutes – first for kicking the ball away, then for fouling Chris Gunter. But battling Yeovil held on, even after more than seven minutes of stoppage time, with Stech the hero time and again, making spectacular stops to deny Danny Guthrie and Pogrebnyak as Reading piled on the pressure against their depleted opponents, who moved off the bottom of the Championship with their gallant draw and have now gone four games unbeaten.

The Reading manager Nigel Adkins, whose side dropped out of the play-off places and into seventh, said: "We started the game very well but yet again conceded a poor goal and gave our opponents something to cling on to.

"Then we just started lumping the ball forward. When they were down to eight, we got in a lot of crosses and created a lot of chances. We only got one point, when we should have had three, but credit to Yeovil. We've got to pick ourselves up and go again. We're still in the mix."


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Both goalkeepers score own goals in Braunschweig v Mönchengladbach

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 10:14 AM PST

• Marc-André ter Stegen and Daniel Davari embarrassed
• Bundesliga match finishes 1-1 after the two own goals

Two goalkeepers got on the scoresheet on Saturday, when Marc-André ter Stegen scored a bizarre own goal to gift Eintracht Braunschweig a draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach, following on from an own goal from his opposite number in the 1-1 draw.

Braunschweig goalkeeper Daniel Davari inadvertently gave Gladbach a first-half lead and Ter Stegen returned the compliment when he failed to control a back pass and instead knocked the ball into the net shortly after the break.

Ter Stegen's misfortune was almost a replica of the goal he conceded in Germany's 4-3 friendly defeat to the United States last year when he completely missed a backpass and the ball rolled into the net.

There was not the slightest danger when Filip Daems rolled the ball back to Ter Stegen, who was not even in front of his goal. However, the goalkeeper miskicked the ball completely and it rolled into the net amid general disbelief in the 52nd minute.

The goal spared Davari's blushes after he attempted to block a corner at the near post, only for the ball to bounce into the net off his knee.


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Burnley 2-0 Derby County | Championship match report

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 10:11 AM PST

Goals from David Jones and Dean Marney helped Burnley to move a step closer to the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over automatic-promotion rivals Derby County at Turf Moor.

Former Rams midfielder Jones struck in the first half, before Marney doubled the home side's lead in the second, while Derby – who are now five points behind Burnley, in third place – had Chris Martin sent off just before half-time. He received a second yellow card for a dive in the penalty area, much to the anger of Steve McClaren and the Derby dugout.

Burnley's Danny Ings almost sparked the game into life in the sixth minute, but, after carrying the ball from just inside the Derby half, he dragged his shot wide. Ings then turned provider on 13 minutes, jinking inside and feeding strike partner Sam Vokes, but his shot was well blocked by Jake Buxton.

Buxton was Derby's saviour again just before the half-hour mark, sliding in to thwart Vokes after a pinpoint cross from Michael Kightly. But Burnley did take the lead a minute later, Jones giving Lee Grant no chance with a superb half-volley after controlling a chipped pass from Ings.

Derby were reduced to 10 men just before the break, Martin picking up his second yellow card for a perceived dive, having earlier been booked for a clash with Jason Shackell. It looked harsh on the striker, who appeared to lose his footing rather than actively look for the spot-kick, and Rams boss, Steve McClaren, made his feelings clear to the referee, Robert Madley, at the break.

To their credit, the visitors came out strongly in the second half and a relieved Tom Heaton gathered substitute Conor Sammon's low shot at the second attempt just three minutes in. The on-loan Chelsea youngster Patrick Bamford also made an impact after coming on, twice going close with long-range efforts. But, after being under pressure for large spells of the second half, Burnley doubled their lead after 68 minutes, Marney prodding home from close range after Derby failed to clear a corner.

Bamford continued to be the main threat for the third-placed Rams and he felt he should have had a penalty on 78 minutes after going down under pressure from Shackell but those appeals were waved away by the referee, much to the youngster's annoyance. But he dusted himself down to feed Craig Forsyth, whose shot to the near post was well-saved by Heaton.

Marney lashed a wild effort well over the bar late on as the Clarets looked to increase their advantage, while Vokes fired in much the same direction from close range after a neat cutback from Ross Wallace.

Derby continued to press, but were thwarted by a stubborn Burnley defence , who collected another clean sheet.


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Celtic 5-0 Inverness | Scottish Premiership match report

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 10:08 AM PST

Leigh Griffiths scored a hat-trick as Celtic got back to winning ways with a comfortable 5-0 Scottish Premiership victory over Inverness.

Neil Lennon's side had lost their 26-match unbeaten league record at Aberdeen in midweek with a 2-1 defeat, but when the 23-year-old striker opened the scoring in the 11th minute – his first goal at Celtic Park since signing from Wolves in January – the threat of a repeat was diminished.

The lively Griffiths then set up Charlie Mulgrew for his goal with a corner in the 22nd minute before thundering a drive past Dean Brill in the 56th minute to end the game as a contest.

Kris Commons, on for Anthony Stokes, made it 4-0 in the 77th minute with a long-distance drive which squirmed through the fingers of Caley's over-worked goalkeeper, before Griffiths slipped in number five with five minutes remaining on a day when the margin of victory could have been much greater.

It was a good day's work for the champions, who marked the 20th anniversary of Fergus McCann's takeover of the club, the Canada-based businessman rescued Celtic from the brink of bankruptcy before restructuring the finances and redeveloping the stadium. McCann's stewardship was based on prudence, a virtue not appreciated by many Hoops fans of that era who had to endure the dominance of rivals Rangers, although time has proved to be a great healer. Former chairman Brian Quinn came on to the park to say a few words in tribute before the game, earning a laugh from the Hoops fans when he stopped to put on a 'bunnet' – the headwear so closely associated with McCann.

There was more for the Celtic supporters to be pleased about when Griffiths pounced five yards from goal to knock in a fine delivery from left-back Emilio Izaguirre despite the best efforts of Brill. Inverness had only themselves to blame for Celtic's second. The Highlanders were caught sleeping when Griffiths swept in a rather ordinary looking corner to the front post from the right, allowing Mulgrew to flick the ball in from six yards.

In the 28th minute Caley skipper Richie Foran was presented with a good chance when left-back Graeme Shinnie put the ball on a plate for him 12 yards from goal, only for the Irishman to scoop his effort high over the bar. The home side, though, remained dominant and had a couple more chances before the break to increase their lead. In the 35th minute Mulgrew set up Stokes but his carefully-placed shot from 14 yards was blocked by Shinnie. And moments later Mulgrew himself had a chance but failed to catch his drive well enough to cause Brill too much trouble.

Four minutes into the second half Griffiths was left with only Brill to beat from 12 yards after good work from midfielder Nir Biton, but the former Hibernian forward was far too casual with his finish and curled the ball past the far post.

However, he more than made up for that when he nipped in front of the hesitating Caley defenders David Raven and Gary Warren before arrowing a powerful shot high past Brill and in off the post. In the 63rd minute, with most of the Inverness defence missing, Griffiths missed a great opportunity for his hat-trick after he ended a series of one-twos with Stokes by flashing his drive just over the bar.

It had become a matter of how many Celtic would score. James Forrest's cross from the right clipped the bar before Brill pushed his goal-bound shot past the post for a corner, with the spell of pressure ending when Griffiths fired wide from 16 yards. Brill was at fault for Celtic's fourth goal when he allowed Commons' long-distance drive to slip through his fingers, before the Celtic midfielder played in Griffiths to slip the ball past the Caley keeper to claim the match ball.


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Premier League football clockwatch – live! | Barry Glendenning

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 09:50 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: Arsenal head to Stoke, while there's a west London derby at the Cottage. Follow the latest with Barry Glendenning

Barry Glendenning

Hull City 1-4 Newcastle United | Premier League match report

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 09:25 AM PST

Alan Pardew denied head-butting Hull's David Meyler in a touchline altercation but conceded he would be "stupid" not to expect the Football Association to come down hard on him in the coming days.

Pardew was sent off in the 72nd minute of a contest his team went on to win comfortably, the referee, Kevin Friend, adjudging that the Newcastle manager to be the main aggressor in a tussle sparked when Meyler barged into the 52-year-old while attempting to retrieve the ball for a Hull throw-in.

Pardew, no stranger to touchline altercations in the past year with his confrontation with Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini the highest profile, appeared to move his head towards Meyler, who was later commended by the Hull manager, Steve Bruce, for not making more of the contact. While the actions of the Republic of Ireland midfielder perhaps warded off an even more explosive melee, Pardew admitted he had crossed a line.

"He was right on top of me and I wanted to just ease him away from me but I put my head in a forward motion. I want to apologise to him, everyone at Hull and obviously my own fans as well," he said.

"I don't think it was a head-butt. It wasn't a motion that was quick. Sometimes when you're on the sideline like that you can get involved in a moment like that. It was an incident that just flared up all around me. I just wanted to get him away, but with the forward motion. You can't do that.

"Of course, I'm not stupid enough to accept there's going to be no punishment. I'll have to accept whatever comes my way. I believe my behaviour over the years has not resulted in too many fines and sitting in the stands, but this one probably will."

The incident took the gloss off a superb display by Newcastle who had been struggling in front of goal in recent weeks but exploded into life thanks to two goals from Moussa Sissoko and one each for Loïc Rémy and Vurnon Anita.

Pardew's antics will generate yet more negative headlines for a club never far from controversy for one reason or another, and the manager admits that the episode may well be a personal watershed.

"Definitely from now on I'm going to sit down and stay out of the way. I'll have to sit in the dug-out – hopefully I'll be in the dug-out, we'll have to wait and see," he said, alluding to the likelihood that the FA penalise him with a ban for his actions.

"I want to win games. Perhaps I get too involved in it by standing so close to the action. The thing today has told me to go and sit down, watch the game and keep out of the way. Sir Alex Ferguson once said to me, 'go and sit down'. I think he was probably right."

The incident prompted Ladbrokes to announce it has suspended betting on the next Premier League manager to lose his job, with a spokesman saying: "We wait to see how Pardew's actions are dealt with. Keeping the market open during games often keeps us on our toes but we've never come across circumstances like this."

Bruce said: "He's apologised to us as a club and as far as I'm concerned the matter's over."

Bruce, whose side pulled back to 2-1 early in the second half through a Curtis Davies header but failed to make any further inroads after that, said: "I've never seen or witnessed anything like that.

"There's no question that Alan's led with his head and he's obviously lost it. I'm sure Alan will regret it and he'll look at himself later on and think 'what the hell have I done?'

"I don't think I've ever seen a manager do anything like that. We're all in a state of shock. It's for Alan to live with and deal with the consequences. I'm sure he'll regret his actions for a long time. I would imagine Alan would be in serious trouble, serious trouble."

Bruce was at least able to joke that Pardew was fortunate Meyler did not respond in kind. "He's lucky that he didn't get one back. Then he would have been in serious trouble," he said. "A 25-year-old against a 50-year-old is a mismatch, isn't it?"


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Fulham 1-3 Chelsea

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 09:16 AM PST

They had been craving an instant impact from a German in these parts, though Fulham might now suggest the scriptwriters rather muddled their thinking. André Schürrle, a peripheral figure at Chelsea, on his third start since New Year's Day, emerged from the visitors' initial lethargy to settle this derby and propel his side four points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

His hat-trick, scored in 17 second-half minutes, was devastating, a lesson in ruthless finishing to remind Felix Magath that the crushing weight of this division is heaped upon Fulham.

Chelsea had previously seen only flashes of this quality from the man prised from Bayer Leverkusen for £18.7m last summer, but displays such as this illustrate the true strength in depth to their attacking options, even with the lack of strikers in the ranks. They are imposing when those creative spirits behind the frontman ally bite with invention, the interplay between Schürrle and Eden Hazard too much for Fulham.

The German's movement has always been clever but it was his finishing that truly caught the breath. In slamming home his third goal in that madcap period just after half-time, when the hosts utterly disintegrated as a defensive force, Schürrle doubled his tally for the season.

"It's something I expect from him," said José Mourinho. "He's in a learning process in relation to the Premier League, up against teams who fight. It's difficult for him to play 90 minutes for us, doing things he's never done in his life, but what I expect from him is cold blood. In front of goal, he's not the kind of guy where the goal becomes very small. He normally scores. He sees the keeper's reaction, he can score with right or left, and is a good finisher. This is what I expect from him."

Schürrle performed here, albeit only after that dismal opening period, when Fulham had the bustling energy and the visitors had been dreadful, all over-hit passes, slack tracking and laboured movement. That midweek trip to Istanbul clearly had an effect, even with tweaks made to the starting lineup. Mourinho had been so disgusted he had refused to speak to his team at the break, apparently for the first time in his career, ensuring the onus was on his players to mount their own revival. Hazard and Schürrle stepped up thereafter, with Nemanja Matic more influential in the centre, and quality duly told.

Their opening goal exposed Fulham's frailties. Schürrle, having collected a throw-in from Branislav Ivanovic and found Hazard, was allowed to dash, unchecked, into the home half to collect the Belgian's return pass. The home substitute Dan Burn was flummoxed by a clever header across field, which bought the forward space in which to charge, and he finished calmly through Maarten Stekelenburg's legs.

"I've seldom seen a goal like that first one, where Schürrle runs the whole field and nobody tackles him," Magath said. "He can run 90 metres without contact? I have never seen this before." The absence of Brede Hangeland, who had departed after a clash of heads with Kieran Richardson, was keenly felt.

The goal settled Chelsea. Hazard bamboozled Fulham with those trademark outrageous flashes of skill, and Fernando Torres went close to converting a staggering rabona – a cross sent over with his right foot wrapped around the back of his standing left leg – and the home side were suddenly exposed. They could not quell Hazard's threat and when he was allowed to advance into enemy territory his pass was perfect for Schürrle, having eased off Burn, to score a second across the exposed Stekelenburg.

The hat-trick was secured while Fulham still quaked at the brutality of it all, Torres beating the beleaguered Burn in the air and then spinning a pass into space. Schürrle, played onside by Johnny Heitinga, eased on to the ball and dispatched it gloriously with his right foot. Displays like this remind Chelsea that they secured a gem from Bayer Leverkusen last summer. He will have more to offer in the run-in.

Fulham must find some inspiration of their own in their final 10 matches to avoid the drop and – even with nothing more than Heitinga's consolation upon which to cling, after the visitors dithered at a corner – they can be mildly encouraged by their initial industry.

There had been balance to their opening period, even if glimpses of goal were fleeting. Burn failed to make contact from point-blank range and Steve Sidwell blazed high when well placed. Clint Dempsey nodded wide in the opening three minutes. "But today nothing happened," said Magath. "Nobody expected us to win, but we did not play like a relegated team in the opening 45 minutes."

There are more winnable contests than this in the weeks to come, not least at Cardiff on Saturday. The German can still have his impact. Fulham must hope it is as memorable as that made by his compatriot.

Dominic Fifield

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Stoke City 1-0 Arsenal

Posted: 01 Mar 2014 09:08 AM PST

Arsenal lost ground at the top of the Premier League when they were beaten by a late penalty at the Britannia Stadium, an unhappy hunting ground over the years. Stoke City were just about worth their win and will be extremely grateful for the three points, though Arsenal gave a poor account of themselves as title contenders. Even presented with an opportunity to salvage a point at the end, in a game of very few chances, Yaya Sanogo put his shot wildly over the bar and promptly covered his head with his shirt.

Arsène Wenger must have felt like doing the same. "By our standards that was poor," the Arsenal manager said. "It was a good defensive performance but offensively we didn't produce enough. We were not creative enough going forward and that's why we were punished."

Arsenal at Stoke has become one of the set pieces of Premier League football, a fixture almost certain to leave Wenger with pursed lips even if Tony Pulis and his rugby tactics have been replaced by Mark "over-physical, moi?" Hughes. After winning only once here in his past six visits, Wenger left Mesut Özil on the bench for this one and the effect was surprising. Arsenal did not look like themselves. They did not look like Stoke, exactly, they kept the ball on the floor a bit more than their opponents and did not go backwards quite so much, but in the first half at least there were two sides short of attacking ideas and genuine penetration and for either to score a goal it seemed likely a dead-ball routine or a defensive calamity would have to be involved.

The only high points of a drab opening period came right on the stroke of the interval, when Glenn Whelan forced a diving save from Wojciech Szczesny at one end, then Santi Cazorla took a pass from Mikel Arteta to test Asmir Begovic at the other. Apart from that, nothing much to write home about, except that Whelan was lucky to escape a booking when he trod on Olivier Giroud's ankle and Erik Pieters possibly took the rap a few minutes later, picking up a caution for a less obvious foul on the same player.

The match, in short, was a disappointment, with Stoke even failing in their duty to whack as many crosses as possible in the direction of Peter Crouch. When Charlie Adam did find the tall striker free in front of goal at the start of the second half, predictably from a free-kick, Crouch seemed in two minds whether to attack the ball with foot or head and ended up with an inconclusive touch.

Crouch did better with a cross from Marko Arnautovic after an hour, producing a glancing header that Szczesny did well to beat away, with Geoff Cameron wasting a decent shooting chance from the resultant corner.

Özil made his appearance shortly afterwards, just in time to see Adam stamp on an understandably incensed Giroud when the latter was on the ground. It was a deliberate foul, slyly executed in the hope the referee would not see it, and Hughes was probably wise to remove his player a couple of minutes later, especially as Adam's final act was one of those ludicrous attempts from halfway when the opportunity was never on and the shot was wayward in any case.

Özil did not get much of a chance to influence matters before Arsenal went behind, Jon Walters tucking his penalty beyond Szczesny after Laurent Koscielny had been penalised for handball. It was one of those decisions that could have gone either way as the defender jostled for a loose ball with Walters; there did not appear much intent but Koscielny had his hand raised and the ball definitely hit it. "He had no time to take his hand away, he was so close to the ball," Wenger complained. "But it is the referee's decision and we accept that."

Özil came close to an equaliser in the final minutes, sliding a shot inches wide after playing a one-two with Giroud. It is possible his delicate skills could have been of more benefit to Arsenal with longer on the pitch, though listening to the Stoke fans serenading their side at the end with Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and "One nil to the rugby team", one could understand why Wenger exercised caution, even if the rugby motif is a joke the home supporters enjoy.

Stoke have committed more fouls than anyone else this season, as Wenger pointed out, but they have also beaten Chelsea and Manchester United. To give Hughes his due, you don't do that by simply launching up-and-unders. "We seem to be able to raise our intensity and determination against the big teams," Hughes said. "Why we struggle against the so-called lesser sides is something I've been trying to work out myself."

Paul Wilson

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