Chelsea Football Update: August 2013

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Rooney doubtful for Liverpool clash with head injury - report

(Reuters) - Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has suffered a head injury during training and is doubtful for Sunday's Premier League clash with bitter rivals Liverpool, according to British media reports. Rooney suffered a deep gash in his forehead during a collision with a team mate at the club's Carrington base on Saturday and needed stitches, the Sunday Mirror reported. The injury could also see the 27-year-old striker miss England's upcoming crucial World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine, the paper said. ...

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Manchester United's Wayne Rooney a doubt for Liverpool match

• Wayne Rooney has 10 stitches after accidental clash of heads

• Injury could keep him out of England's World Cup qualifiers

Wayne Rooney is a doubt for Sunday's match against Liverpool after sustaining a head injury in training – which could also keep him out of England's crucial World Cup qualifiers.

Rooney was hurt in an accidental clash of heads with Phil Jones at United's Carrington training ground. He left with a bandage around his head after receiving 10 stitches in the wound, according to the Sunday Mirror.

The 27-year-old, who performed well for United in the goalless draw against Chelsea on Monday despite a summer of relentless transfer speculation, had been expected to play a major role both on Sunday and a few days later for his country. England face Moldova at Wembley on Friday night before flying to Kiev to take on Ukraine, needing to win both matches as they attempt to secure qualification for Brazil 2014.

Speaking before the injury, David Moyes, his club manager, said that he felt Rooney was in a good position mentally and physically to make an impact at Anfield.

"He played well the other night [against Chelsea], he's looking in good condition, and he's mentally in good shape too. We'll do everything we possibly can to keep that going."

Jones is expected to feature today, despite hurting his back against Chelsea.

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Bale pantomime pushes English football into the wings | Tim Lewis

The Spanish and German leagues have replaced the Premier League in football's hierarchy

The prospective transfer of Gareth Bale between Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid – now entering, by rough calculation, its 427th week – has been called a "soap opera". Elsewhere, the word used was "saga". It is neither of these things. Soap operas are dramatic and unpredictable. Saga is closer: it conveys the impression of an epic, attritional duration but again it implies twists and turns that the Bale sale has never had.

Despite the frenzied attempts of media outlets – Bale spotted at Málaga airport! Madrid builds a special presentation platform at the Bernabéu! – it has been hard for anyone to summon up much excitement. Spurs, by tradition now, bring through and promptly sell their best players; Real Madrid is often the destination for the world's most eye-catching talent. There is a frisson of interest in the fee – which could be a world record €100m (£86m) – but that figure is so whopping, so ludicrous in a time of austerity and genuine need that you would go insane if you thought too hard about it.

Throughout the grind, it has been hard to blame Bale himself. I met the 24-year-old "boyo wonder" in April, just as the speculation about a transfer to Spain was starting in earnest. Bale is modest and assiduously well-mannered, but he was clearly relishing the attention: only a couple of years before, he had not been guaranteed a place in the Spurs starting 11; now he was being praised by Zinedine Zidane and Luís Figo, and the world's most famous football club was coming on all hot and heavy.

Pundits – his former manager Harry Redknapp and the one-time Madrid galáctico Michael Owen among them – have advised Bale to wait. He clearly disagrees. His performances last season were essentially unimprovable: a serious injury or even a minor dip in form could see his value plummet. Evidently he has decided that now is the time. "I'd say that Spanish football is probably the best I've seen," he told me. "Every player would like to get as high as they can and try different things."

So, good for Bale, who is now set to earn upwards of £300,000 a week, but why should the rest of us care? Even the most devoted Spurs fans are probably so beleaguered now that they just want to get on with the season and their inevitable destiny of finishing fifth in the eventual Premier League standings.

Bale's transfer is significant though, and not just because of the potentially record-breaking figures involved. For most of the past 20 years, the Premier League could justifiably claim to be the foremost football competition in the world. The standard of play on the pitch could be unsophisticated, even primitive, but the fanaticism of the crowds and the astronomical wages on offer ensured an unrivalled flow, year after year, of marquee names.

The departure of Bale is further proof of how far English football has fallen. In previous summers we might have expected to see the arrival of the brilliant Brazilian Neymar (he signed instead for Barcelona) or the young playmaker Thiago Alcântara (he preferred Bayern Munich to Manchester United). Gonzalo Higuaín chose Napoli over Arsenal, while Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao turned down Chelsea for Paris Saint-Germain and AC Monaco respectively. Oligarchs are everywhere these days.

As the transfer window creaks shut, the greatest excitements in the Premier League have concerned the destinies of Luis Suárez and Wayne Rooney. Putting aside Suárez's behavioural issues – extreme even in the regressive world of professional football – he has made it abundantly clear that he would prefer to play anywhere in the world other than England. Rooney's powers, meanwhile, have appeared to be on the wane for a while now. To borrow Jorge Luis Borges's well-worn dismissal of the Falklands war, this summer for English football fans has felt like bald men scrapping over a comb.

Bale is going and with him goes our right to claim that the world's most gifted footballers play in the Premier League. To watch them now, you will need a paid TV subscription for Germany's Bundesliga (BT Sport) or Spain's La Liga (Sky Sports). But perhaps that doesn't bother you: this season's Premier League is sure to be tight, competitive and compelling anyway – just lacking a special something.

Tim Lewis

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Summer proved the biggest stars still snub the Premier League

Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao chose to play in France while Robert Lewandowski believes German football is the future

For all the trademark summer excess in English football, there is still one trend the Premier League cannot buck. While Samuel Eto'o opted to swap Dagestan for Chelsea on a free transfer, the wider pattern of the game's most glamorous galácticos choosing to move anywhere but England remains intact.

While Premier League clubs have continued to spend huge sums – £430m already in this window, with the £500m mark set to be passed by tomorrow's deadline – the biggest box office names have again been lured by Europe's other top leagues, whose clubs remain more willing to commit lavish sums to single deals – none bigger than that taking Gareth Bale to Spain.

Among the names to reject England this summer, Napoli's Edinson Cavani drew interest from Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United before joining Paris Saint‑Germain, whose Qatari backers were willing to fund both a £54m fee and lavish wages. Radamel Falcao, also linked with Chelsea and both Manchester clubs, chose a similar financial package in France with Monaco, bankrolled by the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Elsewhere, £50m Neymar chose the glamour of Barcelona, plus an enormous contract, while João Moutinho and James Rodríguez ignored English interest to join Falcao at Monaco. Napoli's Gonzalo Higuaín heads the list of stars who opted to snub Arsenal, while Spain's David Villa, available for just £4m, joined Atlético Madrid after his wage demands deterred Spurs and Arsenal.

Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski, meanwhile, weighed up his English options and chose not to move at all, instead signing an extended deal ahead of an expected future move to Bayern Munich – the European champions who also lured Thiago Alcântara, a target for Manchester United, and the game's most sought‑after manager, Pep Guardiola.

Lewandowski later admitted having spoken to José Mourinho and, a year earlier, to Sir Alex Ferguson, but said he saw a brighter future in Germany.

"The Premier League is huge of course, as is La Liga. But the Bundesliga has all the conditions – the stadiums, fans and atmosphere – to dominate for the next five years."

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Manchester United's David Moyes looks to end winless run at Anfield

• Moyes expects heated reception from Liverpool fans

• Man United manager says Anfield record doesn't bother him

David Moyes has never won a game at Anfield but he has never turned up in charge of the champions of England either. He may be hoping for a change of fortune on Sunday afternoon, though he knows better than to hope that Manchester United's visit will be any less intense than all the Merseyside derbies he has witnessed.

"I understand the rivalry, and though I did once get a round of applause at Anfield, that was during a ceremony for Hillsborough," he says. "All the other times I've been I've had stick from the home fans, and it will be back to that when I go with United."

Moyes does not have an exceptional record against any of the leading clubs but does not mind his five draws and seven defeats at Liverpool being mentioned, as they certainly have been in the past few days, as long as people can put what was achieved at Everton into perspective. "I'd love to have a much better record at Anfield than I do, but I think most people appreciate I was up against some pretty good Liverpool sides over the years," he says. "There was a gulf in terms of budget and quality that we had to try our best to bridge. We did beat Liverpool at Goodison, there were some terrific draws at Anfield and we finished above them in the league on occasions, so I don't think the record is anything to be ashamed of, but you have to remember that Liverpool won the Champions League while I was at Everton, and they too are a proud club that doesn't like to lose at home. Especially not in a Merseyside derby. For Everton to beat Liverpool at all was a great thing, because it wasn't really a level playing field but we had to try and make it so. We were hanging on to their shirt tails a lot of the time, but though it was a long process we gradually got above them in the table."

Though Moyes initially complained about the difficulty over United's opening fixtures, at least he is playing Liverpool at a time when Luis Suárez is still suspended, even though the striker is likely to be back for the next meeting in the Capital One Cup. "I think Luis Suárez is an exceptional player, I really do," the manager who had to endure the Uruguayan's comedy dive at his feet last season says. "He'll be a miss for Liverpool, just as having a fully focused Wayne Rooney back is a big bonus for us. I only planned to play Wayne for 60 or 70 minutes against Chelsea, but he looked sharp and fit and we needed a goal, so he stayed on for the whole 90. He was blowing at the end but I thought he did a good job. He's still the same boy I knew at Everton, we were laughing about it the other day. He's matured a lot, and he's got a lot more to his game now, but he's still solid and reliable. I told him I would need him to be top notch if he played against Chelsea, and I thought he was."

Taking a team of champions to Anfield will be a novel experience for Moyes, who is still getting used to the fact that in his new job there are hardly any run of the mill matches. "What I've realised since I came to Man United is that almost every game we play is a big occasion," he explains.

"We've just had a big game against Chelsea. Now it's Liverpool away. Then in a couple of weeks we have Manchester City. It feels like I've had a lot of big games and big occasions in a short space of time, a lot of big events happening very quickly. So much so that I've stuck to basically the same group of players. We still have Shinji Kagawa, Wilfried Zaha and Javier Hernández to have a good look at yet. They will all be used. Kagawa needed a week off when he came back from Japan, and Hernández could be fit this weekend. He's not feeling his hamstring anymore but he still lacks games and match sharpness."

Paul Wilson

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Roy Hodgson fears for England's young players in the Premier League

• England coach believes that young players do not play enough

• 'We must hope that a lack of games does not destroy careers'

Roy Hodgson is everyone's idea of a congenial, polite and mild-mannered chap, though it turns out there are certain things that annoy him, even before international football starts up again in earnest this week with England games against Moldova and Ukraine.

One is the idea that England have forgotten how to play football, and he was particularly incensed by the suggestion that the lack of tournament success over the summer was due to national teams reverting to a primitive style. "When I read that the Under-21s went out because they played kick-and-rush football, I wondered what the hell people were being fed," he says. "That's nothing like the truth, and as England manager I have an interest in the truth. I am fully aware of how the world works but I don't know where those headlines came from. One of these days one of these articles will have some relevance to football, instead of just saying: 'We're no good, we can't produce players,' all the time."

The number of English players being produced is another sore point. Hodgson believes there are enough, even if too many of them are being held in reserve by leading clubs and not getting enough games to thrust them into international contention, but remains mystified by Richard Scudamore's recent claim that there are a couple of hundred eligible players performing "week in, week out" in the Premier League.

"I saw a television programme the other day talking about there being 240 English players in the Premier League," Hodgson says. "They must be including a lot of players I have never heard of, because I can't name that many. If we are talking about players who could play for England then they need to be starting regularly for their club's first team, or young players like Ross Barkley or Raheem Sterling who are already so good that their coaches are pretty keen to get them on to the pitch. I would defy anyone to come up with 240 names. I don't think, frankly, you would be able to manage more than 30 or 40."

The particular frustration for Hodgson is that there are more than 30 or 40 players with England potential, though no one sees them because they hardly play. These are not the "week in, week out" players Scudamore mentioned, although they would feature more regularly with smaller clubs. "There are a number of players at top clubs who are rated extremely highly by their coaches, who would be first-team starters anywhere else but find their paths blocked by talented or more expensive players at the highest level.

"Look at Tom Carroll at Tottenham. I've worked at Fulham and West Brom and Tom would probably have played in both of those sides, but he doesn't play for Tottenham. Is that their fault? Not really. Maybe he's not quite as good as Dembélé, Paulinho or Sandro.

"Through the Under-21s I come into contact with Jesse Lingard, Nick Powell, Tom Thorpe and Michael Keane. These are all talented English footballers who I think will become very good players, but they are not at the moment in the 30% of English players in the Premier League. I'm not criticising the judgment of the coaches. These players are too good to let go but they are finding it hard to get games. As a nation we must hope that a lack of games will not destroy their careers, because it could happen. If you spend a couple of years being too good to let go but not good enough to play every week, you might not be a good player at the end of it. That's the danger. That's where the debate should lie."

English football has arrived at this situation due to the success of the Premier League, with its regular quartet of Champions League entrants, and the competition that now exists between the biggest, richest clubs to secure one of those four places as a guarantee to continued income. "The top coaches are all under enormous pressure, the opportunities for them to give a chance to young players are reduced," Hodgson says. "I had Ryan Bertrand with me a year ago and he looked like a good player. But he has Ashley Cole in front of him at Chelsea. And I don't blame José Mourinho or Rafa Benítez for going with Cole because I think I would do the same.

"Chelsea, like me, rate Bertrand highly and want to keep him, and I can't argue with that either. But it is tough for his international career, because I can't pick him when he is only featuring in the odd Capital One Cup game and it's basically Chelsea reserves."

This is not solely an English problem; countries as strong as Spain and Brazil could soon become concerned if Chelsea continue to accumulate more international midfielders than they can conveniently play, though the situation is more acute in this country due to the small number of homegrown players in the Premier League and the almost complete absence of any playing abroad. Hodgson admits he does not have a ready solution, though he would happily turn back the clock if it were possible. Not to the days when hardly any foreigners played in England and the national manager could take his choice from as far down the league as Leicester City, Fulham or Sheffield Wednesday, but just a couple of decades back, before the revamped Champions League began its insidious takeover of the priorities of English football.

"You wonder what are the chances of a Premier League manager now giving a chance to young players, as Sir Alex Ferguson did with Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt and the Nevilles," he says. "Managers then didn't go rushing out and buying a foreigner every time. They gave their youngsters a break. Scholes might only have been 19 but it was clear he was going to be a hell of a player, so they gave him a go."

Paul Wilson

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Manchester City 2-0 Hull City

Don't be fooled by the scoreline: Manchester City were nothing like as convincing. It took a goal from a set piece from Yaya Touré right at the end to make this second home victory of the season look respectable. Before that, City only just had their noses in front and could have been embarrassed for the second time in a week had Hull shown a little more composure in front of goal. It was hardly the statement of intent Manuel Pellegrini was looking for after the defeat in Cardiff last week, and while Hull showed more than enough organisation and enterprise to suggest predictions of a swift return to the Championship might be premature, on this basis there is no evidence either that Manchester City will justify the faith of all those who tipped them for the title.

The way they demolished Newcastle suggested otherwise, but now even Pellegrini accepts that might have been a false result. "I knew the Premier League would be harder than that, and so it is proving," the Manchester City manager said. "It was good to start off with a win and a clean sheet, and today we did the same, but I knew at the time that the way we beat Newcastle was not the reality of the English league."

Steve Bruce did not need telling where Hull need to improve. He is trying to bring in another striker and is interested in working with Nicklas Bendtner again, though aware that Hull is a hard sell to players on Arsenal's books. "Even in the Championship people were saying we were not scoring enough goals, and it's beginning to look like our achilles heel," the Hull manager said. "We've got really good players here, and I was immensely pleased with the way we took Manchester City on, but we need to take our chances."

At least Manchester City defended Hull's corners competently enough, after the catalogue of errors in Wales, though the centre-back pairing of Joleon Lescott and Matija Nastasic still managed to look ponderous in open play.

Lescott was lucky to get away with a misjudgment that let in Sone Aluko after just seven minutes, and Hull would have taken an early lead had not the forward rolled his shot the wrong side of a post. While Joe Hart was off his line early and could take some credit for narrowing Aluko's options, the goalkeeper was badly exposed and Hull really should have taken advantage.

Danny Graham had a goal disallowed for a narrow offside from Robbie Brady's cross before the home side got their act together. Allan McGregor made two sharp reaction saves in quick succession to keep out goal-bound headers from Aleksandar Kolarov and Lescott, though significantly the first was from a corner and the second from a second-phase cross swung in after a corner had been cleared. At no point in the first half were Hull opened up by their opponents' passing.

As the interval approached there were signs of the locals becoming restless with the lack of attempts on goal, not to mention the lack of excitement, and they were far from reassured when Touré climbed to reach a Jesús Navas corner and sent in a header that would not have hit a target twice as tall.

There were grumbles, rather than boos, when the first half ended scoreless.

"All teams lose sometimes, it is how they respond that is the important thing," Pellegrini had told home supporters before the game. Facing their second newly promoted side in a week, Manchester City were not exactly responding with alacrity. Considering Robert Koren had also flashed a shot just inches wide of Hart's left-hand post, Hull had looked far more capable of opening the scoring.

Pellegrini reacted by sending on Alvaro Negredo to replace Edin Dzeko for the second half, a switch that immediately looked more promising when the substitute found space to reach a David Silva cross but failed to keep his header on target. Negredo then played in Silva to set up a half chance that Navas could not convert and the Etihad crowd at last began to make some noise. The breakthrough, when it came, took everyone by surprise on account of its sheer simplicity. Pablo Zabaleta galloped down the right on the overlap and hit a first-time cross, Negredo met it on the six-yard line to head downwards past McGregor for his second Premier League goal.

It was so straightforward you wondered what Manchester City had been doing for the previous hour. Not much in midfield would be the short answer. Touré was almost inconspicuous until he crashed a free-kick past McGregor to allow his side to breathe more easily a minute from the end, and it is not every week you can say that.

The scoreline might have been convincing enough at the final whistle, but Pellegrini's City are evidently still a work in progress. While the new manager has yet to hit on the right formation or combination of players to bring the best out of Touré, Fernandinho and Navas, his opposite number could only envy his range of options. "Look at the quality of the subs they brought on," Bruce said. "That's what you are up against. We haven't got the biggest of squads, but at Chelsea, here, and against Norwich with 10 men, we've shown we can compete."

Paul Wilson

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Soccer-English premier league top scorers (Reuters)

Aug 31 (Infostrada Sports) - Top scorers of the English premier league on Saturday 3 Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) 2 Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) Lukas Podolski (Arsenal) Fraizer Campbell (Cardiff City) Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool) Alvaro Negredo (Manchester City) Yaya Toure (Manchester City) Robin van Persie (Manchester United) Danny Welbeck (Manchester United) Roberto Soldado (Tottenham Hotspur) 1 Antonio Luna (Aston Villa) Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff City) Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) Frank Lampard (Chelsea) Oscar (Chelsea) Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace) Ross Barkley (Everton) Seamus Coleman ...

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Soccer-English premier league results and standings (Reuters)

Aug 31 (Infostrada Sports) - Results and standings from the English premier league matches on Saturday Saturday, August 31Manchester City 2 Hull City 0 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Chelsea 3 2 1 0 4 1 7 2 Manchester City 3 2 0 1 8 3 6 3 Liverpool 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 3 Tottenham Hotspur 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 -------------------------5 Manchester United 2 1 1 0 4 1 4 -------------------------6 West Ham United 2 1 1 0 2 0 4 7 Southampton 2 1 1 0 2 1 4 -------------------------8 Arsenal 2 1 0 1 4 4 3 8 Aston Villa 3 1 0 2 4 4 3 10 Stoke City 2 1 0 1 2 2 3 11 Cardiff City 2 1 0 1 3 4 3 12 Fulham 2 1 0 1 2 3 3 13 ...

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VIDEO: Eto'o scores at World Cup 2010

Watch new Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o score for Cameroon against Denmark at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

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Mourinho: Rooney Pursuit Is Over

Jose Mourinho declared that Chelsea's transfer business was finished for the summer after their UEFA Super Cup defeat by Bayern Munich.

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Penalty Agony For Chelsea

Bayern Munich won the UEFA Super Cup 5-4 on penalties following a pulsating 2-2 draw with Chelsea after extra time.

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Friday, August 30, 2013

'The best team clearly lost': Mourinho (Goal.com)

The Chelsea manager was pleased with his team and felt it deserved to go home with the UEFA Super Cup title.

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Chelsea pursuit of Rooney is 'finished,' says Mourinho (Goal.com)

The Stamford Bridge boss said his attempts to lure the Manchester United striker to London are over, but believes new forward Samuel Eto'o will bring experience to the side.

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Chelsea's José Mourinho: my teams are victims of Uefa conspiracy

• Mourinho furious with officials after Ramires red card

• Romelu Lukaku's penalty miss costs Chelsea Super Cup

José Mourinho has suggested he and his sides are victims of a conspiracy in Uefa competition after reacting furiously to Ramires' dismissal in the Super Cup final, claiming the Swedish official had "killed" the contest and that the red card tallied with his personal "history" with European football's governing body.

Chelsea lost Ramires to a second yellow card for a foul on Mario Götze four minutes from time and, despite forcing themselves ahead in extra-time through Eden Hazard, conceded an equaliser to Javi Martínez with the last kick of the game. Manuel Neuer's save from Romelu Lukaku's fifth spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out duly confirmed the European champions' victory, though Mourinho was insistent the better side had lost.

The Portuguese had berated the officials at the end of normal time, approaching Jonas Eriksson – who booked six other Chelsea players – and his assistants near the touchline with his players, Ashley Cole and John Terry, also voicing their frustration. Mourinho reacted with resignation at the end, telling broadcasters that "this is my history with Uefa for a long, long time" and maintaining that theme in his subsequent media duties.

"I have a fantastic experience of playing with 10 men in Uefa matches," he said. "I have a great experience. So I could react. I could coach my players in a way where, even with 10 men, even very, very tired, they could compete and find an opportunity to score a goal. In the end of the game, with everybody absolutely tired, they gave absolutely everything. I think my experience of playing with 10 men gave us a hand."

Asked whether he thought Ramires's dismissal was justified – the Brazilian will miss the Champions League group game against Basel on 18 September – the manager added: "People who earn their living in football always feel there's a very important rule: the passion for football.

"If you are in love with football, you don't kill a final with a second yellow card like this. You don't kill the final. There were many other yellow cards that the referee didn't give. There was a situation with Dante in front of me, with his first yellow card, and it was not given.

"A good English referee would have stopped the game and told Ramires: 'Look, you've not hurt anyone but you mustn't do that again.' Or tell the Bayern players: 'Don't dive. Don't try and provoke. Play a fair game.' If you ask me in pure terms, rule by rule, yes it was a second yellow card. But you don't do this every action in that way. But it's nothing new for me.

"I played two or three times with 10 men against Barça. I went to Inter and played a Champions League semi-final, one hour, with 10 men against Barcelona. I go to Real Madrid, I played again a Champions League semi-final with 10 men.

"Now I come back to Chelsea and played a Super Cup final with 10 men again, and go to analyse the actions and make your conclusions. I'm unlucky. Just that."

This fixture had carried extra significance given the fierce personal rivalry between Mourinho and his opposite number, Pep Guardiola. That much had not been lost on the players and Bayern's first goalscorer, Franck Ribéry, celebrated his first equaliser manically with Guardiola on the touchline, apparently claiming the goal was for the Spaniard and "against Mourinho".

The Bayern manager became the third coach to claim this trophy with more than one team having previously won it with Barcelona in 2011. "The best team won today," said Guardiola. "We had so many opportunities to score and played so well whether with or without the ball."

That much was refuted by his opposite number. The loss on penalties denied Mourinho the first silverware of his second spell in charge of Chelsea, though the Portuguese – who confirmed Samuel Eto'o will be his last signing of the summer – took heart from his team's commitment and resilience.

"I'm disappointed because, in my opinion – and I can't be punished for having an opinion – the best team lost," he added. "The team that deserved to win more lost. But that happens in football. Not always the best team, the team that deserves more, won the game. So it's acceptable because that's football."

Dominic Fifield

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