Walter Mazzarri is eager to rest and relax after Napoli’s ‘stratospheric’ Serie A campaign culminated with a 2-2 draw at Juventus on Sunday.Goals from Christian Maggio and Cristiano Lucarelli twice put the visitors ahead, but Juventus pegged them back with second-half goals from Giorgio Chiellini and Alessandro Matri to take a share of the honours on the final day of the season.
The result was a moot point for Mazzarri and his squad, who had already secured third place on the Italian table and a Champions League berth next season.
But the manager was still delighted with the final-day showing, praising his troops for finishing off the season in the right fashion after securing their first trip to Europe’s top-tier competition in 17 years.
Asked to describe the game and Napoli’s season in general, Mazzari said: “I cannot find the right adjective. I would say stratospheric.”
“A champion such as (Juve goalkeeper) Gianluigi Buffon didn’t allow Ezequiel Lavezzi to score. We broke so many records, we played an historical season, and we missed the record number of victories due to a great save by a great goalkeeper.”
“What do you want me to say? I’m happy. Now I’ll enjoy my holidays because it has been a stressful season, a very long one.”
“If I’m not wrong, we played 50 games and we aren’t used to that, not having that much international experience. We were in two competitions until February.”
On-loan Parma striker Lucarelli, who picked up his first goal for the Old Lady in the 70th minute, was thrilled to have played a hand in the draw with Juventus and said he hoped to squeeze one more campaign out of his aging body.
“It’s very satisfying because it’s always pleasing to score a goal against such a great goalkeeper,” said the veteran, whose stint at Napoli is his tenth at an Italian club.
“It’s always pleasing to score against Juventus because they are a great team, even if gaining points wasn’t so important in this game.”
“I think it was a great match. We were calm and enjoyed playing a lot. It’s a pity that we drew 2-2 in the end – it would have been good to leave Turin with three points, but that’s okay.”
“With the (knee) injury at the beginning of the season I haven’t played that much this year, so I definitely want to play another year to close out my career.”
“I’m satisfied with my career; it’s a pity I came to play for a great team only when I was 35 years old.”
Goalkeeping in modern English football should surely be the greatest gig in the world. Astronomical wages, your own personal one-on-one coach and no big ugly centre-forward legally able to dig you in the ribs, barge you into the back of the net and generally bully you about. Yet Fabio Capello still struggled to find three keepers to fill his England squad to face Switzerland in a Euro 2012 qualifier last Saturday.
With Ben Foster and Paul Robinson refusing to play for their country, Rob Green considering his own future and even the Fulham reserve goalkeeper David Stockdale pulling out of the England squad because he is getting married next week, Capello was struggling for manpower. He’ll need a job-lot of cotton wool at Manchester City next season because if Joe Hart gets injured, the options are severely limited.
And to think that Britain always used to rule the world in goalkeeping. I played with two of the genuine all-time world greats in Gordon Banks and Pat Jennings – and after my playing days, you could add Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence, David Seaman and Neville Southall in that category too. Now the cupboard is looking pretty bare and it is as if the changes in the interpretation of the laws have turned our keepers soft. They seem over-protected as a species and most of them are clearly too tired to turn up for international duty.
It was always said that you had to start worrying about your goalkeeper when you found him looking at himself in the mirror too much, because then he’d no longer be willing to dive at a forward’s feet. You could never accuse Jennings of that, even though he was a good-looking man. By approximately the width of a fag paper, Big Pat was the best keeper I ever played with – he was simply the complete package.
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As well as being a fine shot-stopper, he even scored in the Charity Shield once – I was the man his huge goal-kick flew over on its way into the net. And when it came to dealing with crosses, you didn’t want to mess with him. A huge man with hands the size of buckets, he would always charge out of goal with both fists flying, one for the ball and another to cuff an opponent around the ear.
The first great foreign keeper in English football was Manchester City’s Bert Trautmann, whose bravery was famously proved in the 1956 FA Cup Final when he played on despite the most horrific of injuries, in those days before subs. Apparently the physio treating Bert told him: “There’s good news and bad news – the bad news is you’ve broken your neck, the good news is there’s only 75 minutes left to play.” Goalkeeping is a very different game now, of course – modern balls swerve about, especially the old World Cup Jabulani – while the back-pass rule means modern keepers need to be able to kick with both feet as well as any defender.
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That particular rule change would not have pleased our old Chelsea keeper Reg Matthews, a fine shot-stopper but a man who could barely kick beyond his own 18-yard box and was also a chain-smoking nervous wreck! But you simply don’t win major trophies without a great goalkeeper – the likes of Jennings, Banks, Seaman, Shilton, Peter Schmeichel, Edwin van der Sar and Petr Cech. Name me an iffy keeper who has won the English title or the European Cup?
And as sorry as we felt for Rob Green when he slipped up against the USA at last summer’s World Cup, that sort of thing simply doesn’t seem to happen to the best keepers on the biggest occasions. So send a lorry load of the white fluffy stuff up to Eastlands, for the attention of young Mr Hart – because without him, we’re surely doomed
Chelsea fullback Ashley Cole has backed new manager Andre Villas-Boas and said he never thought about leaving the London club.Villas-Boas was awarded the top job at Stamford Bridge after former boss Carlo Ancelotti was sacked following the Blues failure to win a trophy last season.
Some have criticised the appointment of 33-year-old Villas-Boas, claiming he is too young for the pressures of managing one of the top clubs in the English Premier League.
But Cole said the players were fully behind the man who led Porto to a treble of titles last season.
“Age is just a number, he has experience of being at Porto, a big club,” Cole told Sky Sports.
“And hopefully he can bring that glory to Chelsea but I don’t think the age thing is anything to worry about, I don’t think the players think about that. He is our manager now and we have to go out and fight for him.”
“Whatever manager comes in we respect him, we are not kids, everyone thinks there are egos at Chelsea, but there aren’t and we have to make Chelsea the squad of a few years ago and win trophies.”
Villas-Boas spent a season at Chelsea as an assistant under Jose Mourinho, and Cole said he had been impressed with the Portuguese’s hard work.
“Honestly, it was amazing how thorough he was,” Cole told The Sun. “He would brief Jose on all the players we were facing to the point where we knew which foot they favoured, whether they liked to go inside or outside, preferred to cross deep or short, their stamina levels, the lot.
“If we’d wanted to know what they had for breakfast I’m sure he could have found out for us.”
Former manager Mourinho, now in charge of Real Madrid, is reportedly interested in luring 30-year-old Cole to the Spanish capital.
But Cole insisted he was more than happy to remain at Chelsea and said his desire for success was still strong.
“Never even thought about it (leaving Chelsea),” Cole said.
“I had issues before where I thought about it, but this season I have been fine, I have been on holiday so I have not read anything.”
“There’s plenty of life left in me. I started out with Lee Dixon and Tony Adams and used to think ‘my God, these lot are old’. Now I’m sitting at training next to youngsters like Josh McEachran and Ryan Bertrand and they might be looking at me the same way.”
“But it makes you want to win even more, you get hungrier, and work harder to stop youngsters taking your place. I feel fine.”
So far, it’s been a pretty underwhelming summer from an Arsenal point of view. After their failures last season the Gunners are in desperate need of adding to their squad if they are to seriously challenge for honours next term, a football bet bwin will give you long odds for. Yet, we’re into July now and most of the rumours concerning Arsenal involve players leaving the club, rather than joining it. Given that their longest serving player Gael Clichy has already left the club for Manchester City, it’s understandable that some fans are growing agitated. So is there genuinely this much discontent inside the Arsenal camp or has this negative energy mostly been cooked up by the media?
There’s been a fair amount of frustration amongst Arsenal fans concerning a recent story in the Press that suggested their winger Theo Walcott had become a major transfer target for Chelsea . That added him to a large list of players who were linked with a move elsewhere, or were agitating for a transfer. Amongst these players include Cesc Fabregas , Samir Nasri , Andrey Arshavin , Denilson and Nicklas Bendtner . It’s fair to say that these players make up the spine of this Arsenal side. If the Gunners can’t hold onto the majority of them, they will struggle in a big way next season.
Let’s face it: there’s not too much happening in the football world so it doesn’t surprise me that the Press are rummaging around for various things to talk about and conjuring up stories that have little precedent or factual basis. The same is even more true when it comes to Arsenal; fans are desperate to hear of their teams progress in the transfer market and latch onto any details available to them.
Arsene Wenger is not without his faults; this is something that has been made clear over the course of the past few seasons, but he is without doubt one of the most intelligent men plying their trade in the Premier League. He knows exactly how important particular players are for this Arsenal side and will have a back-up plan for each should they decide to move on. But who is likely to move on this summer? It’s fairly certain that Theo Walcott will remain an Arsenal player. He gets decent game time and has earned Arsene Wenger’s trust. Cesc Fabregas has courted Barcelona for quite some time but they appear to be unwilling to put up a fair amount of cash for his services and he’s under contract until 2015. Andrey Arshavin looks likely to remain an Arsenal player. Samir Nasri may well leave this summer, but given that he has already burnt plenty of bridges with the Arsenal faithful I’m not sure too many will mourn his absence. As for Nicklas Bendtner and Denilson: who cares? As I see it, rumours of a mass exodus at Arsenal are somewhat misleading. Wenger will be keen to keep hold of his best players and won’t let them slip through his fingers. The Gunners remain in a position of power over most of their stars and will be keen to build upon last season in the hope of success next year. For the time being I’d try to avoid too pessimistic an outlook and simply wait to see how Arsenal’s dealings balance out when the transfer window slams shut.
Read more of Harry’s articles at This is Futbol
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Corinthians’ inability to make an immediate payment has stalled Carlos Tevez’s transfer from Manchester City.The clubs appeared to have come to an agreement for the transfer of the Argentine striker, reportedly for a fee in the region of 40 million pounds.
But City’s request that Corinthians make their first payment before the transfer is completed, rather than in early 2012 as proposed by the Brazilian Serie A side, appears to be a deal-breaker.
Corinthians’ director of football, Duilio Monteiro Alves, confirmed the negotiations have stalled, saying: “I’m pessimistic. City want us to start the payments now, and we cannot do that.”
The transfer window in Brazil closes on Wednesday, meaning a resolution will need to be made swiftly if the deal is to go ahead.
However, Tevez’s attorney Adrian Ruocco did not seem confident a deal would be done in time.
“Regrettably, judging from the pace of negotiations right now, it is improbable that we will come to any agreement with Corinthians,” Ruocco told Lancenet.
“The only thing that stands in the way of a deal is this matter about the first instalment. But we will wait until Wednesday, that is the only thing we can do.”
One suggested solution is that Corinthians provide bank guarantees in order for a new payment structure to be worked out.
City boss Roberto Mancini will be hoping to resolve the matter quickly as the club prepares to put in a bid for unsettled Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero.
Tottenham are set to make a shock swoop for West Brom hitman Peter Odemwingie, according to the Mirror.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is in the market for a new striker and has now turned his attentions to Odemwingie.
He rates the Nigerian highly although any move will hinge on whether Peter Crouch leaves White Hart Lane.
The England striker is surplus to requirements in North London and Redknapp is trying to sell him to raise funds and get him off the wage bill.
Odemwingie would certainly guarantee goals after scoring 15 in his debut season at the Hawthorns.
His contributions went a long way to securing The Baggies status as a Premier League side and it’s uncertain as to whether they’d let him leave.
It’s been reported that they are trying to tie him down to a new three-year deal and it’s thought he is keen to remain at the club.
However the lure of a top-six club could change the 30-year-old’s mind whilst West Brom would expect to make a sizeable profit on the £1.5 million they paid for him last summer.
Redknapps hunt for a new striker comes after the trio of Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Crouch managed only 17 league goals between the in the last campaign.
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Porto duo Radamel Falcao and Hulk along with Villareal’s Giuseppe Rossi have also been linked but Odemwingie now seems to be Redknapp’s prime target.
New Manchester City signing Samir Nasri has stated that his side’s 5-1 win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday has set the gauntlet down to their Premier League title rivals.
The 24-year-old joined the Eastlands outfit from Arsenal last week in the search for silverware, and is over the moon with his debut for his new team.
“It was a wonderful debut because we won 5-1 at Tottenham which is a tough place to win and we did great,” the France international told ESPN.
“Personally I had a good game but what is most important is that we won 5-1 and we have sent a signal to the other challengers.”
Roberto Mancini’s side have had a perfect start to the 2011-12 campaign, winning all three games and scoring 12 goals in the process; Nasri feels his new employers can challenge for honours this term.
“It is just the start of the season. It is important to keep our confidence but I am convinced we have a great squad with quality players and here and we can win things,” he concluded.
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City host Wigan in their next league match next Saturday, before making their Champions League bow against Napoli four days later.
Liverpool will be out for revenge this weekend. Last season the Reds lost 1-0 at Anfield to Wolves, a defeat that was effectively the final nail in Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson’s coffin. Kenny Dalglish will be looking to put that right this season and he might just have talisman Steven Gerrard to call on. He’ll also be looking for your support, which you can give from the Anfield Legends Lounge!
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Once again this summer there was a noticeable trend whereby certain players were content to move clubs to gain astronomical wages, despite the fact that they may have little impact or fail to improve their career in any way. Whether it’s Cesc Fabregas leaving Arsenal for Barcelona, Asamoah Gyan leaving Sunderland or Samuel Eto’o going east to Anzhi Makhachkala, it is becoming more and more obvious that players are driven less by ambition and more by greed.
Sunderland’s Gyan is the latest in a long list of players whose behaviour raises questions over the mindset of the modern day footballer. The Ghanaian’s lucrative move to the UAE is a loan one, but it seems to offer him little in the way of a challenge on the field and perhaps nothing more than an enormous pay packet. Gyan could play in any of the top four leagues in Europe and be a success, yet he is content to draw a huge amount of money by plying his trade in the UAE.
It could be argued that a player’s career is short, they are only in the limelight for a limited time period, and they need to do all they can to maximise their gains from this time in their career. Many would have found it hard to turn down the reported £200,000 a week offered to Gyan, and it is this sort of greed at the expense of ambition that now sadly characterises the game. Gyan has described the move as exciting. Well, in terms of his bank balance it may well be, but he can’t seriously be comparing the standard of football in the UAE to the Premier League?
It seems astonishing that greed has taken over in the absense of any sort of ambition from players. Surely at one point they simply played because they loved the game, and there was little they wanted to do other than play football professionally. Clearly when they are offered obscene amounts of cash, they tend to lose all sense of perspective.
Cesc Fabregas was another to move this summer. His move is slightly different in that he said he wanted to go back to his boyhood club, and was more likely to win trophy’s at Barcelona than Arsenal. Valid enough reasons, but if Andres Iniesta wasn’t injured, would he really be playing more than a bench-warming role at the club? Is that enough for the modern player? To content themselves with a minor role, watching on as their teammates bring them success and trophies?
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Alexis Sanchez left Udinese – a successful club in their own right – to also join Barcelona this summer and play little more than a bit-part role, at least for this season. Of course everyone wants to play for the world’s best club, and improve themselves by plying their trade there, but the willingness of players to go somewhere where they will do little more than warm the bench while drawing a huge wage seems at conflict with the reasons they will have got into football for. The same applies to a lot of Manchester City stars who have been blinded by the huge amounts of money thrown their way. Several notable talents – James Milner, Adam Johnson – have believed money to be the be-all and end-all and subsequently been forced into little more than minor supporting roles as victims of their own greed. They could have advanced their on-field careers substantially had they made better choices and gone somewhere they could actually hope to make a difference.
Samuel Eto’o also moved on this summer. The experienced Cameroonian could play in any of the top leagues in Europe, and have a devastating effect both domestically and continentally – yet he has accepted the chance to become the highest paid footballer ever by moving to Russia in the twilight of his career. This is a place with a terrible record for racism and racist violence – but apparently that doesn’t matter so much when you are earning obscene amounts of money.
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Increasingly nowadays players who turn down the money are rare; players also inevitably hold their clubs to financial ransom to ensure a better wage for themselves. Greed seems to engulf the modern day footballer, and surely football agents must take some of the blame for some of the excessive player demands and the negative influence on young players thoughts. Fame, money and glamour has clouded most players perspectives at the expense of their ambition within the game. The days of the likes of Scholes, Giggs and Carragher are becoming less and less likely, as players put themselves first before the people who have shown loyalty and faith in them. Players now seem to care little about the clubs they represent, as ridiculous salaries and decadent lifestyles have taken over that see them willing to sacrifice any sort of ambitions they originally held within the game as a result of greed.
Do you think the modern day player lacks ambition? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below or following me on Twitter @LaurenRutter
Gareth Bale has been named as Wales Footballer of the Year for the second year running, as the winger shone throughout 2010-11 for club and country.
The left footed speedster caught the world media’s attention with a stunning hat-trick for Spurs against Inter Milan at the San Siro in the Champions League last campaign, and has been one of the brightest lights in the Premier League over the last year.
Bale received the PFA Player of the Year award last term also, and has delighted Spurs supporters with tricky runs, goals and attacking play.
He has also been a key member of the Wales set-up in a transitional phase for the nation, playing a large role in the side’s 2-1 win over Montenegro last month.
The Young Player of The Year award, which has been won by Aaron Ramsey for the last two seasons, has been awarded to Swansea midfielder Joe Allen.
Both players received their awards at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff on Tuesday night.
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