Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Wayne Rooney is unlikely to play again until early December.
The 25-year-old, who recently signed a new five-year deal, is struggling with an ankle injury that is proving to be more serious than was initially thought when he sustained it during training on 19 October.
"I think Wayne will be out for another five weeks," Ferguson told the Sunday Express. "He will have to pick up his fitness again. I would think five weeks should be about right."
It had been thought that Rooney would be able to play in the Manchester derby on 10 November, but veteran boss Ferguson said of that prospect: "No chance. Any player who has been out for a few weeks – you want them 100 per cent and not breaking down."
Rooney looks set to miss the Champions League matches in November against Bursaspor and Rangers as well as the Premier League encounters with Wolves, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers.
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He could return to action in the game at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road ground on December 4.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Another day, another lack-lustre Spurs performance. Dropping points has become somewhat of a habit at Tottenham – two points from a possible 12, so something clearly isn’t working. Over recent games a point of view has emerged among Spurs fans that Bale is being misused and that he could make more of an impact at left-back.
On the face of it, this idea seems absurd. How could one of the world’s most exciting players be more of a threat if he is further away from the opposition goal? Yes, his performances against Inter Milan were outstanding but any Tottenham fan will know that, minus his two goals at Stoke, Gareth Bale has been fairly ineffectual in Premier League games.
Tuesday night’s game against Sunderland served only to reinforce this theory – Premier League teams have realised that Gareth Bale struggles to make an impact if he is marked tightly and not allowed room to build up speed. Much like Everton’s Phil Neville and Bolton’s Gretar Steinsson, Sunderland’s Nedum Onouha was able to mark the young Welshman out of the game for long periods, with Michael Turner helping out whenever required. As long as Bale keeps the left midfield role he will continue to be tightly marked or double teamed, meaning that one of Tottenham’s best assets is going to waste. At the business end of last season Bale was still relatively unknown and was left alone to terrorise defences, but a lot has happened since April and now Bale is fixed firmly on the radar of every team in England.
It is arguable that Bale’s attacking threat would increase if he were to move back into defence. You can’t double team a defender and it would be more difficult for opposition to pick up and track Bale’s runs if he were coming from left-back. His biggest assets are his pace and his engine, and if overlapping from a less advanced role he could pick up the ball already running at a speed that few could match– and with his energy you’d fancy he could do this for 90 minutes. Benoit Assou-Ekotto is arguably the better defender, but left-back is Bale’s natural position and his tackling and positional awareness have improved since he last had a run in the side as part of a back four.
Moving Bale back could benefit Spurs beyond simply adding more of an attacking threat on the left side; it could also make the team more balanced, especially when Jermain Defoe comes back into the side. Defoe would struggle to play as the lone front-man in Harry Redknapp’s current 4-5-1 system so he would need either Peter Crouch or Roman Pavlyuchenko to partner him, which then begs the question where Rafael Van der Vaart would fit into the team. By moving Bale to left-back, Luka Modric could move to left-midfield where he played well for much of last season, and Van der Vaart and Tom Huddlestone could occupy the middle.
Tottenham were, despite lots of possession, disappointing against Sunderland. Anticipation around White Hart Lane rose every time Bale got the ball, but this quickly turned to disappointment. Once Bale’s dynamic runs had been cut out, Tottenham offered little else. Sunderland gave Spurs a lot of time to keep possession in the middle, so it is a concern that Huddlestone and Modric were unable to unlock their defence. Moving Bale could add a freshness to the team that gives opposing teams more to think about because, let’s face it, Blackburn won’t be shaking in their boots.
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This is not a personal attack on any particular Tottenham fan, but there is a tendency for us as a collective to be too fickle and expect too much right away from players, managers and the club in general. It’s not really helpful for very obvious and vocal nerves to be echoing around White Hart Lane only forty minutes into a game against lesser opposition that we should beat, but the score is still 0-0. Also a lot of Spurs fans have too high expectations, last season’s 4th placed finish was a fantastic achievement but I far from expect it to be the norm. Obviously there is nothing wrong with aiming high, and as fans it is our duty to aspire for our club to be at the top, but to start demanding more than what is realistic is detrimental to the club’s stability.
A leaky defence
It is beyond infuriating how incapable we are of closing out games we should have won. Having not kept a clean sheet since the opening day of the season, just the sheer nerves that the team can concede a goal out of anything is a source of tremendous frustration.
I suppose on the flip side it ensures that no games are dull as we never know when a game’s safe and won, and I’d much rather we participated in exciting games where we score and concede than dull 0-0 or 1-0’s, but there is a time when it just becomes too much and all I want is one measly clean sheet.
Every youngster we buy tipped to be the next big thing is always rubbish
Countless times, Tottenham have unveiled the next Zinedine Zidane or Diego Maradona only to discover that they share none of the qualities of the previous two except occasionally the arrogance of the latter. Taarabt and Dos Santos are the first names that spring to mind but you can add Kevin-Prince Boateng and others to that list. I remember hearing that apparently at 17 Dos Santos was better than Lionel Messi. Well he certainly hasn’t kept up with the Argentinean! And Taarabt’s only link with Zidane is he’s a Frenchman of North African descent.
Having Man Utd take our better players and stop us kicking on to the next level
I think we will be able to tell a lot about how far Tottenham have come if by this time next year Luka Modric, Rafael Van der Vaart and Gareth Bale are all still at the club. Over previous years our standout player has been tempted to a big money move up the M1. Both Dimitar Berbatov and more importantly Michael Carrick were our best players when they left and their departure had a huge impact on the team. After Carrick’s transfer the team that was lasagne-gate away from reaching the Champions League, suddenly lost all cohesion. They managed to finish 5th again the next season but it was far from convincing and built around a late charge up the table after slowly coming to terms with the loss of Carrick. Berbatov’s departure was not much less dramatic, leaving a gaping hole in a previously potent strike force.
No getting away from the fact that our north London neighbours are more successful than us
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Finally the ultimate irritant to all Tottenham fans is that the Gooners have, particularly over the last 20 years, experienced far more actual success. What really rubs salt into the wounds is that lately it has been done by stealing our brand of football! And as much as we can argue that the gap is closing and the like there is simply no getting away from the fact that they have dominated us competitively for a while now. It’s depressing!
World football’s most widely known name could be on his way to White Hart Lane, is this the marquee signing Tottenham have been after to show they have the credentials to be right up there at the top? Well no. This is not a signing that is going to revolutionise the team and thrust them well into the title fight or galvanise their efforts in Europe. It would be the temporary arrival, for a couple of months on loan, of a 35 year-old player who has not played at this level for a year and at this pace for even longer, his loan spell at Serie A side Milan last year being in a much slower team and generally slower league.
Tactically I’m not sure how Beckham would fit into the team. At the moment Tottenham are, at least on the flanks, all about pace with two superb counter-attacking goals coming in recent games due to the pace on the wings of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon. Pace has never been what Beckham’s game is about and at this late stage in his career his legs would have gone.
Yet I don’t feel like this hinders it being a great opportunity to attain the services of a good, but not great, player who has tremendous European experience along with a great record and knowledge of winning trophies. His experience could prove invaluable to the relatively young Tottenham squad, especially outside of central defence.
Indeed Beckham does offer a completely different option to Lennon on the right flank and a different option could be extremely beneficial if pace isn’t working and pinpoint delivery from the right flank into the box to say the head of Peter Crouch is required. Although I can’t see him coming straight into the team as it is due to the effectiveness of Spurs’ pace, he could greatly benefit the squad as Tottenham enter a busy period of the season if they are to remain involved in all three competitions. But his importance on the pitch cannot be completely overlooked, as at his first stint at Milan he ended up playing a far greater role than anyone expected. Far from being just a squad player there he was instrumental to a side that really turned their season around at that time, domestically at least, if not in Europe.
Added to this it is only a loan deal, and provided Galaxy allow him to actually play matches as there are rumours abound that they’ll only allow him to train with another club, then there really is nothing to lose in signing Beckham. They gain the services of a mature player who would be a fantastic influence to have around the dressing room and would be a very different option to have on the right flank.
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Valenciennes caused a major boilover in Ligue 1 on Saturday with a 2-1 home victory over fourth-placed Lyon.
Despite being separated by 12 spots on the league table, the hosts at Stade Nungesser took the lead six minutes after half-time through a Milan Bisevac penalty after a foul on Gael Danic inside the area.
Gregory Pujol then doubled the lead for Philippe Montanier’s men in the 58th minute to give the home side more belief that an upset was on the cards.
Michel Bastos pulled a goal back for Lyon with 20 minutes remaining, but Valenciennes held on to secure three points that could be vital to their hopes of survival in the league.
Sochaux tore apart Stade Rennes 5-1 at the Stade Auguste Bonal in another stunning upset.
A Modibo Maiga brace, complemented by goals to Marvin Martin, Ideye Brown and Ryad Boudebouz saw off mid-table Sochaux, with Razak Boukari scoring the only goal for the visitors in the second half, prior to the sending off of Rennes goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez.
A Mevlut Erdinc brace helped Paris Saint-Germain to a 2-1 away win over Arles Avignon at Parc des Sports.
Saint-Etienne climbed above Toulouse in the standings with a 2-1 win over their mid-table rivals, courtesy of a first-half brace to Bakary Sako.
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Caen moved level on points with Auxerre after they beat them 2-0 on Saturday in their relegation six-pointer, with Benjamin Rivet and Kandia Traore scoring for the promoted side.
A double in the space of eight second-half minutes to Kevin Gameiro handed Lorient a 2-0 triumph over Brest.
Fabio Capello will hope to begin a new chapter of his international managerial career next month, when England face Denmark in Copenhagen in their first campaign of 2011, on 9 February.
The Italian has been subjected to a pile of criticism following England dramatic summer exit from the World Cup in South Africa, and has been looking to mix up the squad and replace those old long-lasting batteries with a fresh pack of Duracells.
Capello’s much awaited return to the helm at Wembley since the summer shambles began with both fans and players looking for the 64-year-old to shake up the starting line up and introduce the much needed injection of talented youth.
However as we all learnt, this was not the case.
All in all, Whilsere and teammate Gibbs were the only two players to feature on the bench who could be considered the new prospect of English football against Hungary back in August. But after a long 90 minutes, England had fallen to a 1-0 demise against Hungary and needed a double brace from Steven Gerrard to rescue them.
It must be bought to attention that Capello’s tactics have not exactly been popular amongst the public or even successful. Walcott’s axing from the squad probably came more of a surprise to the lad than his call-up from good ‘old Sven back in 2006.
As England fans, we realise that Gerrard doesn’t complement Lampard in midfield, and that Gareth Barry is far beyond his sell-by-date. But with England’s newly promised era of 2011 approaching, is Capello really going to take Jack Wilshere, one of England’s most emerging talents, and play him in Barry’s place, or even (dare I say) alongside the former-Brighton boy?
Many people seem to have dubbed Wilshere as Barry’s successor, however he does not have the physical build that holding midfielders need to control the centre of the pitch and force playmakers off the ball.
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The youngster was a breath of fresh air to the Arsenal squad this season, notably in Cesc Fabregas’ absence. The way he has been getting forward for Arsenal this season not only shows his movement capabilities both on and off the ball, but in due time, will help him partner up nicely with teammate Walcott.
Spain are World Cup champions because the vast majority of the starting line-up have grown up playing alongside each other since first arriving at La Masia, and play together at club level. England need to get a team together that knows how each likes to receive the ball, right or left, overhead or on the ground.
The same cannot be said for England, which perhaps explains how badly Gerrard and Lampard are together, but if Arsene manages to convert Walcott into a striker like he did with Thierry Henry, then Wilshere will undoubtedly be shifting latch-ons left, right and centre.
Therefore it is important for Capello not to play him as a defensive midfielder but as the constructive, attacking midfielder he is already promising to become, instead of the Makalele-esque role he is planning on auditioning Wilshere for against Denmark next month.
Barry has failed to replace Owen Hargreaves since Man Utd labelled a treatment room in his name a few years back, and Capello is finally suiting-up and realising he has just not produced worthy enough performances on the pitch.
With Wenger describing his current squad as the best team he’s ever had, he is keen to see Wilshere do well for his country and produce the goods on the pitch, especially at a time when England desperately need them (no, Steven Gerrard, not you – you rescue us too much), and has claimed that the youngster can “play anywhere”, but surely it is better to play him in his strongest position. Surely?
There is no questioning the youngsters defending, but from what he has produced on the field so far this season, he looks for the one-two’s and the typical Arsenal-styled continuous passing when pushing up-field.
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Wilshere will be eager to build on the 7-minute cameo that he got against Hungary back in August, but will more hopeful to release some of his youthful energy and land his name onto the score-sheet rather than the referee’s (could be male or female, no Andy Gray here) book.
I firmly believe that Wilshere should operate a more attacking role – Xavi and Lothar Matthaus style.
What do YOU think? Post your comments below.
Ask me your questions on Twitter, best questions will get a mention in the response article.
Porto continued their march to the Liga Sagres title with a 2-0 win over Braga on Sunday, while Benfica beat Vitoria Guimaraes.
Braga finished second last season to qualify for the Champions League and were one of the few teams who may have been expected to trouble Porto.
But the runaway leaders made it eight wins from their last eight matches to stay 11 points clear at the top of the table.
The hosts kept Porto out in the opening 45 minutes at the Estadio municipal de Baga, but a second-half brace from Argentine Nicolas Otamendi helped Porto to a straightforward victory.
The defeat leaves Braga sixth and in danger of going from the Champions League group stages to missing out on European football altogether next season.
Benfica continued their seemingly doomed title defence with a 3-0 win at home to fourth-placed Vitoria Guimaraes.
Brazilian Sidnei struck first in the 24th minute at the Estadio da Luz, before former Valencia man Pablo Aimar and Carlos Martins completed the scoring.
Naval beat Academica 3-1 at Estadio Municipal Jose Bento Pessoa to climb off the foot of the table with just their third win of the season.
Visitors Academica got off to a disastrous start when Pape Habib Sow was sent off after giving away a penalty in the 21st minute.
Kevin Gomis converted from the spot to give Naval the lead.
Michel Simplicio struck to double the hosts’ advantage five minutes before the break.
A second-half comeback appeared to be on the cards when Gomis fouled inside the box and followed Sow in making an early exit.
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Moudou Sougou dispatched the penalty to make it 2-1 six minutes into the second half.
But Academica were unable to find another breakthrough and Giuliano struck to ease the nerves for Naval with three minutes remaining.
Portimonense slid to last place after losing 2-0 away to Rio Ave, with Joeo Tomas and Yazalde Pinto finding the net for the hosts.
A last-minute goal from Venezuelan Mario Rondon helped Pacos de Ferreira beat Maritimo 1-0.
Bolton midfielder Mark Davies has signed a new deal with the team that will keep him at Reebok Stadium until the end of the 2014/15 season.
Davies joined Bolton from Wolves in 2009 and has established himself as a key part of Owen Coyle’s first team this term, making 25 appearances.
Coyle spoke of his delight at Davies’ contract extension as he looks to build a squad capable of challenging for European football.
“Mark was already under contract but what this shows is that we are trying to build a football club for years to come,” Coyle said.
“The nucleus is centred around young, exciting players and Mark certainly comes into that category.”
“He is enjoying an extended run in the team at the moment and he is showing his qualities. To have a player of his ilk commit his long-term future to the football club is a tremendous boost.”
Bolton have already tied up some important players on long-term deals this season, including Fabrice Muamba, Lee Chung-yong, Stuart Holden and striker Danny Ward, and Davies said he felt his new contract was a vote of confidence from Coyle.
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“I’m really pleased to have signed a new contract,” Davies said.
“The football club has been good to me since I moved here two years ago and I’m really settled in the area. The manager believes in me and I feel like I’m part of his plans.”
Cerezo Osaka kicked off their AFC Champions League campaign in style with a 2-1 victory over Arema in Japan on Wednesday.The hosts took the lead in the 14th minute at Kincho Stadium when Cerezo debutant and Brazilian import Rodrigo Pimpao found the back of the net in the Group G affair.Singaporean striker Noh Alam Shah equalised for the Indonesian club five minutes after the break from the penalty spot, but Pimpao capped a dream start in his first competitive club game off Brazilian soil with a winning goal in the 76th minute.The other clash in Group G saw South Korean club Jeonbuk Motors defeat Shandong Luneng 1-0 after Won-Jae Park netted the winner in the 59th minute for the hosts at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.Ten-man Sydney FC and Suwon Bluewings played out a hard-fought scoreless draw in their opening Group H match at the Sydney Football Stadium.The Australian side were forced to play a man short for nearly an hour after captain Terry McFlynn was dismissed for stomping on Lee Sangho.Suwon fielded their quartet of new signings in defender Hwang Jae-Won, midfielder Lee Yong-Rae, striker Yeom Ki-Hoon and South Korea South Africa 2010 goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong.Chinese Super League outfit Shanghai Shenhua were held to a scoreless draw by J-League club Kashima Antlers at Hongkou Stadium in Group H.Iranian Premier League leaders Zob Ahan came from behind to topple Emirates 2-1 in their Group D match.K-League club Seoul’s trip to United Arab Emirates side Al Ain proved a fruitful one, with Dejan Damjanovic’s strike enough for the Koreans to secure a 1-0 victory in Group F.Fifth-placed Qatar Stars League side Al Rayyan were held to a 1-1 draw by Saudi Arabian club Al Shabab in their Group D encounter, with Nasser Al Shamrani cancelling out a 34th-minute penalty from Brazilian Itamar to ensure a share of the points.UAE outfit Al Wahda exchanged late goals with their Uzbekistani opponents Bunyodkor in their 1-1 stalemate at Al-Nahyan Stadium, while a double from Algerian striker Abdelmalek Ziaya spearheaded Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad’s 3-1 win over Iranian club Persopolis in the other Group C clash.
Getting booked for taking off your shirt – Or any kind of booking for over-celebrating. Surely that’s what we want in football for the players to care a bit when they score and so mean it when they celebrate. I agree that deliberately celebrating in front of the opposition fans is not how players should behave, but getting booked for leaving the playing arena to celebrate with the fans or removing their shirt is ridiculous. It seems to me a rule bought in by the power of the sponsors and makes no football sense. As obviously when a player scores, he will be shown on camera and the sponsors want their company name to be shown too.
Insistence to leave out goal line technology – Although not strictly a rule I feel it belongs in this list. As recently as last month UEFA President Michel Platini ruled out the possibility of introducing any kind of technology based on the hawk eye system used in cricket and tennis to assist referees in goal line incidents. Citing what he describes as an introduction of PlayStation football. Certainly we wouldn’t want technology on every aspect of the game as that would be too disruptive. Surely though being able to see if the ball has crossed the line or not would aid the referees.
Pointless fifth and sixth officials – Following on from the lack of goal line technology, these extra officials are UEFA’s alternative in order to help the referee around the penalty area, in the belief that more eyes mean better decisions. However I have failed to see them greatly add to the game and more eyes on the pitch will not always result in correct decisions as you are also increasing the potential for disagreement amongst the officials and people still getting decisions wrong.
Unclear offside ruling – No-one seems to be entirely sure or in agreement about what being in ‘an active position’ entails when deciding if a player is offside. The rule states that a player is not offside until they become active in the play. For some this means that a player is not offside until they touch the ball. But players can gain advantages from being offside and not touching the ball by being in the goalkeepers line of sight or causing an unfair distraction and this is not always called up for being offside.
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The Bosman Case – Has transferred too much power in contract negotiations to the players, who are effectively now able to hold their club to ransom for the wages they desire, leaving to clubs that offer better wages when they feel like it. Previously this only affected smaller clubs who were forced to tie players down on longer contracts to ensure they wouldn’t leave on a free when their contract ended. But as the Rooney saga demonstrated not even clubs of Manchester United’s stature are free from this.
The lack of a salary cap – Following on from the implications of the Bosman case having no salary cap for players’ wages ensures that simply the richest clubs are allowed to pay over the odds for players. Manchester City is the most recent and obvious example of a club being able to pull in players from other clubs simply by offering that player a much bigger pay check than his current club could. Also surely it is simply morally wrong for footballers to be earning five or six times the national average wage in a week.
Acceptance of ‘Professional fouls’ – When say a team are counter-attacking and a player on the defending team deliberately fouls a player so a free kick is given in a relatively harmless position and they are able to get numbers back to defend. This is often glazed over by commentators as the defender ‘using their experience’. But I feel it gives an unfair advantage to the defending team through cheating, and more should be done to ensure the attacking team kept the advantage of numbers that they had.
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If a player’s been punished on the pitch he cannot be suspended retroactively by the governing body – Even if a player is seen afterwards to have severely broken the rule to the extent that everyone is agreement they should have been sent off, if the referee gave say a yellow card for the incident. The governing body is subsequently powerless to reassess the incident and decide if a more severe punishment is required.
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The January Transfer window – Has been an odd addition to the game since it was introduced in the 2002-03 season. It encourages panic buying, leads to an inflation of transfer fees therefore hindering smaller clubs and allows big clubs that had perhaps faltered an unfair advantage to add to their squads. Its main appeal is not for football reasons but from media who love to sell rumours and feed of the excitement of transfers, along with fans who are encouraged to be excited by who their club could bring in during the window.
Having to leave the field of play before returning if you pick up an injury – The thinking behind this law was to ensure the game could flow as an injured player wasn’t being treated on the field. Yet how it is carried out in today’s game ensures an advantage to the team who have usually been in the wrong by injuring an opposition player. There are countless examples when this man advantage, however brief, has led to goals.