Monday's B*ll*x (updated)

[Chinners]

Newcastle, Bolton and Fulham in the chase for Manchester City's Shaun-Wright-Phillips
Newcastle and Bolton have joined Fulham in the chase for Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips.
The two clubs are hoping to sign the 29-year-old on loan and pay his £70,000 a week wages.
Last week, Cottagers boss Mark Hughes was tight-lipped about the winger's prospects of appearing at Craven Cottage.
Asked if Fulham had contacted City about Wright-Phillips, Hughes added: 'I think those conversations happen all the time in terms of what's available and who you're releasing.
'Those conversations have been had not only with Man City but almost every club in the Premier League.
'Certainly, we've enquired at a number of clubs in terms of what they're likely to be allowing out.'

Bleacher Report: Will Manchester City Open Their Wallets If They Qualify For Champions League?
Tied for the lead in Premier League, Manchester City is looking like they are finally going to make the Champions League.
Manchester City has a reputation for spending and spending massive amounts of money on players since their new ownership group took over, so you don’t have to be a genius to guess that they will spend and then spend some more to prepare for the Champions League.
The question is not whether they will spend money on players, but what will they spend their money on. Defenders, midfielders, strikers? What do they need?
After the signings of strikers Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli, and Jo in addition to Argentinian Carlos Tevez, their frontline is solid.
In the midfield, David Silva and the Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure have joined the already bolstered City midfield that features the Netherlands’s Nigel De Jong, England’s James Milner, Gareth Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Adam Johnson, who is arguably one of the best players in England right now.
So clearly their midfield lacks virtually nothing.
In the back, City is also very strong, but in my opinion, it's City’s weakest link. The defense includes Belgium’s Vincent Kompany, Germany’s Jerome Boeteng, England’s Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, and Wayne Bridge.
This is often the weak point for City and potentially a target area for improvement in the upcoming transfer periods.
Roberto Mancini must spend wisely like he did last summer. He bought several players who are fitting in nicely.
They don’t seem to need much, but everyone knows that they will make some kind of move. They always do.

I don't usually post up match reports but this one seemed apt for the bollox from today's Indy ...
Tevez happy with proving himself the daddy at City
Manchester City 4 Wolves 3
The big screens that two hours later were to show Manchester City top of the Premier League began with pictures of Carlos Tevez holding his baby daughter, Katie. More than money – which nobody at Eastlands on Saturday would begrudge him – family is what matters to the man who grew up in the vast impersonal tower blocks, known with too much romanticism as the Army of the Andes.
The frustration that their families were in Buenos Aires while they were playing their football across the Atlantic is what drove both Javier Mascherano and Tevez to demand transfers. However, while Mascherano forced through his move to Barcelona from Liverpool, Tevez remained, ending the spat with a statement declaring his "absolute commitment" to Manchester City. In other hands, this might have been taken as a paper promise to be ignored while his agent, Kia Joorabchian, glided the streets of Madrid and Barcelona looking for an opening. Instead, six days after issuing it, Tevez scored twice at Newcastle and then again here against Wolverhampton on Saturday. The first, a fluid, balletic run at three Wolves defenders, he thought might be his best since he exchanged Old Trafford for Eastlands.
"I'm very happy at Manchester City now," he said. "We've had some disagreements in the past but everything has been sorted."
He was taken off eight minutes before the end – or 13 if you count the five frantic minutes of stoppage time in which Wolves might have snatched a draw from a game they were once losing 4-1. The stadium stood to him and Tevez applauded back. "It was important to thank the fans for their support," he said.
"I don't 'owe' the fans for what happened. All I have to do is score goals and win games and then we can think about winning the title. The feeling is there that we can do it but sometimes we can lose against a weak team and then win against a strong one. But, if we continue to play well, the results will come. This club hasn't won anything for many years and my dream is to win something for the club and something for myself."
At first glance, you would have regarded Wolves as a "weak team" but Mick McCarthy's side has been punching hard and playing with considerably more imagination than the stereotype would suggest. McCarthy, who is not thought to be among the contestants for Celebrity Come Dine With Me, used a baking analogy to describe the performance: Wolves had begun and finished well "but our cake's gone soft in the middle".
His counterpart, Roberto Mancini, admitted he was "angry" at some of the defending "because before this game we had the best defensive record in the Premier League".
Here, though, City showed just how well they can attack.

Man of the match Tevez.
Referee L Mason (Lancashire).
Attendance 46,672.

WAG OF THE DAY - Anara Atanes
This lovely brunette was dating former Gunner (and current MLS player) Freddie Ljungberg, but apparently she cheated on him with fellow player Keiran Richardson (Sunderland).
Who knows who she's with now, but chances are excellent he wears cleats for a living.


OTHER BOLLOX
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wants to bolster his defence by signing Roma centre-back Philippe Mexes. caughtoffside.com

Southampton teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has edged closer to a £10m move to Arsenal after Saints manager Nigel Adkins said they would prefer him to go to a club that would nurture him properly. Daily Mirror

South Africa's Siphiwe Tshabalala - the midfielder who hit the World Cup's opening goal - is having a week-long trial with Nottingham Forest as he bids to seal a £1.5m move from the Kaizer Chiefs. the Sun

Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven and Ajax are targeting Stoke forward Eidur Gudjohnsen. Daily Mirror

Leicester manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has failed with a bid for Manchester United's Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak. the Sun

Blackburn Rovers are ready to let striker El-Hadji Diouf leave, with manager Steve Kean conceding the club is finding it difficult to handle the controversial Senegalese striker. Daily Mail

Birmingham have been rocked by Robbie Keane's wage demands after the striker asked for a pay rise to move to Blues from Tottenham. Daily Mirror

Everton's Steven Pienaar is to meet Chelsea again after Tottenham failed to improve their offer of £2m, plus £1m based on performances. Talks broke down with Chelsea on Friday after they had a £3m bid accepted by Everton last week. Daily Mail

Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman has put in a £850,000 bid for ­Everton's unsettled striker James Vaughan, who has already played for the Eagles during a loan spell. Daily Mail

West Ham United are desperately trying to persuade Martin O'Neill to become their manager after the Northern Irishman was angered by reports on Saturday morning claiming he would be named as Avram Grant's successor later that evening. the Guardian

And former Chelsea and Portsmouth manager Grant has told friends that he will never quit as West Ham boss. the Sun

The Football Association will launch an investigation after a Sunderland fan confronted Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper during the closing stages of the 1-1 derby draw on Sunday. the Guardian

Labour leader Ed Miliband believes brother David could make a "real difference" to Sunderland if he accepts club chairman Niall Quinn's offer to become a non-executive director at the Stadium of Light. Daily Telegraph

[Mikhail Chigorin]

With all the speculation and uncertainty now surrounding Avram Grant and the less than open way West Ham's owners seem to be conducting themselves, if it does come about that Grant is finally sacked, will the media :-

(A) Make a big song and dance about the way that West Ham have handled things (just like they did with us and Spews)

(B) Be still going on about it twelve months down the line (as they still do with us and Spews)

Somehow, I very much doubt it.

[ashton287]

I was wondering about tevez on saturday at the match when i seen him and his 2 girls on the screen.

Its the second game since he backed down that they have been to.Makes me wonder if the club managed to iron out some visiting stuff for him and thats why he stayed.

[Chinners]

The irony being that it's the media the initially cause these situations in the first play. Roy Hodgson was hounded by them after 3 games (yes 3 GAMES) after they helped hound Rafá out*, and clamber for Roy's appointment.

* granted the fella didn't help himself with his 'keeganesque' rant at the senile old drunk either

[Chinners]

EVENING BOLLOX
Balotelli blasts Mou and English media
Mario Balotelli claims Jose Mourinho is “rude and as a man Roberto Mancini is 10km in front of him,” then blasted the “trash” English media.
The former Inter star had numerous run-ins with Mourinho and it seems there is still a great deal of antipathy between them.
“Mourinho may be the best Coach in the world, but he still needs to learn respect and how not to be so rude,” SuperMario told the Gazzetta dello Sport’s new side project Extra Time.
“Mancini is the most important tactician I’ve ever had. He will soon become the best in the world. As a man he is already 10km in front of Mourinho.”
Balotelli also commented on his teammates at Manchester City.
“Adam Johnson has great technique and Emmanuel Adebayor is the funniest. Patrick Vieira and Aleksandr Kolarov really helped me out when I first arrived.
“However, England is far ahead of the rest in terms of stadia and far behind in terms of its media. The newspapers are just trash,” he blasted.
“All I can say about Sophie is that I saw her once and she started bombarding me with messages, while one of her friends was far more interesting to me.”
Turning his attention back to Serie A and world football, the former Inter forward cast his eye over the soccer scene.
“Who will win the Scudetto? Instinctively I’d say Milan, but if I think about it a bit more, then I’ll say Inter, who gave me so much. If I think it over again, then I want Napoli to win! I’d love to play alongside Edinson Cavani.
“The best player in Serie A is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as he is basically from another planet. I’d pick Sebastian Giovinco as the best young Italian.
“I don’t believe Leo Messi deserved the Ballon d’Or, as it should’ve gone to Wesley Sneijder.”

REAL BOLLOX (see what I did there)
Real Madrid may try to sign Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez if they fail to lure Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, sports daily Marca said on Monday.
Tevez made a shock transfer request in December, blaming bad relations with the City management, but withdrew the demand later in the month after clear-the-air talks with the Premier League club.
Real Madrid had already contacted City, Marca said.
There were two big hurdles, the paper said: firstly, that City would insist on a transfer rather than a loan, and secondly that a transfer would cost €40 million and the Argentine's annual salary was €8 million.
Hamburg has rebuffed Real Madrid's efforts to bring over 34-year-old Van Nistelrooy, saying he will not be allowed to leave and must complete his contract.
Real Madrid are trying to fill the gap left by Gonzalo Higuain, who could be out of action for another four months following surgery on January 12 for a slipped disc and may not return to full fitness for a year.
Real are four points behind Spanish first division leaders Barcelona after a shock 1-1 draw at bottom side Almeria on Sunday.
(Caughtoffside have the same story but have the headline of "Real Madrid Make £33m Bid for Manchester City Striker Carlos Tevez")

Manchester City have scouted Bordeaux’s Alou Diarra, and could sign him before the end of the January transfer window, according to the French club’s president, Jean-Louis Triaud.
Although Roberto Mancini has yet to make a formal approach for the France midfielder, the 29-year-old has been linked with a move to many top European sides following several impressive seasons in Ligue 1.
Triaud admitted that “we have not had any approach from them till now… But this does not mean they are not close to the player”.
This does seem to smack of wishful thinking on Triaud’s part; at 29-years-old and valued at £6m, Diarra is hardly the type of grandiose star that City are linked with these days. Never mind the fact that the last thing needed at Eastlands is another defensive midfielder.
Nevertheless, Diarra’s club bosses appear convinced he will soon be on his way, and that City is his most likely destination.

Mancini defends Given stance
Blues boss wary of switching goalkeepers too often
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has defended his decision to leave Shay Given on the bench for most of the season.
The Italian boss has rotated his star-studded squad this season to keep his regulars fresh and keep some fringe players happy by giving them enough game-time.
But Given has been handed just four appearances all season, with Joe Hart preferred in goal for City's other 28 games.
Given was City's first-choice keeper when Mancini took charge a year ago, with Hart having been sent on loan to Birmingham, but the 23-year-old England keeper has been preferred since his return to Eastlands.
Given is set to be handed a rare start in Tuesday night's FA Cup third-round replay against Leicester and at 34, the Republic of Ireland international is keen to leave City and reignite his career, potentially going initially on loan.
But Mancini is against tinkering with players in such an important role and is wary of leaving himself short having been forced to sign Marton Fulop on an emergency loan last season, so warned Given it is not certain a move will be granted.
"It is not a simple position," he said.
"You can change the other players every game but the goalkeeper is different.
Fantastic keeper
"That is the only reason why Shay has not played so often because he is a fantastic goalkeeper."
Veteran midfielder Patrick Vieira is in a similar situation having started just two Premier League games this term, although he has made eight appearances in cup competitions.
The Frenchman, also 34, is one of a several fringe players that could come in at Eastlands as City look to secure a fourth-round trip to Notts County.
"Patrick Vieira is an important member of our squad," said Mancini. "He is a good player, who has lots of experience.
"He will probably play, along with Jerome Boateng, James Milner, David Silva, Jo and Joleon Lescott. We have other players that we can win this game.
"I don't like this replay because we have a lot of matches to play until the end of the season already," he added.
"But we want to win because we want to get to Wembley. For me, that is very important."
City are firmly in the Premier League title race and have reached the Europa League knock-out stage and although they made a tame exit from the Carling Cup, this year's FA Cup represents a great opportunity for the Blues to win their first major trophy since 1976.

Ayegbeni Yakubu is ineligible for Leicester`s FA Cup third-round replay against Manchester City.
The loan signing from Everton, who marked his debut with a goal at Preston on Saturday, was not with the Foxes for the initial tie eight days ago and therefore cannot feature at Eastlands.
With Darius Vassell carrying a knock, Steve Howard could lead Leicester`s attack against the joint-leaders of the Premier League.
Vassell`s possible absence aside, Sven-Goran Eriksson could name the same side that drew 2-2 with big-spending City at the Walkers Stadium. Eriksson will be making his first return to Eastlands since he was sacked as manager of Manchester City in the summer of 2008. With Notts County awaiting the winner in round four, the Swede will be looking to set up another return to a former club. Eriksson was director of football at Notts last season.

Tottenham are in pole position to land Steven Pienaar - even though Everton agreed a £3m fee to sell him to Chelsea. The South African has so far failed to agree personal terms with Chelsea and wants to push through a move to Spurs. goal.com

Newcastle United have turned down a transfer bid from Tottenham, in the region of £15m, for star striker Andy Carroll. metro.co.uk

Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku has revealed that he rejected moves to Arsenal and Chelsea in his early teens - but he would love to play for any of the big clubs in the Premier League and is ready to move this summer. goal.com

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri has played down links with him taking the job of next permanent Liverpool manager. insidefutbol.com

Liverpool's Ryan Babel fined £10,000 for Twitter post
Babel apologised on Twitter for his post about referee Webb
Liverpool striker Ryan Babel has been fined £10,000 over a Twitter post and warned about his future conduct.
The Dutch forward linked to a mocked-up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt after Liverpool lost 1-0 at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
Babel admitted a charge of improper conduct at a Football Association Regulatory Commission hearing.
"Social network sites like Twitter must be regarded as being in the public domain," said chairman Roger Burden.
Babel later apologised for the post but it was not enough for the 24-year-old to escape punishment on Monday.
Whereas a year ago Babel might have let off steam to his girlfriend, now he has this very convenient - and very tempting - tool at his fingertips that allows him to sound off to the world
"All participants need to be aware, in the same way as if making a public statement in other forms of media, that any comments would be transmitted to a wider audience," added Burden.
"It is their responsibility to ensure only appropriate comments are used."
In the FA Cup match on 9 January, Ryan Giggs scored the game's only goal from a second-minute penalty awarded by Webb for Daniel Agger's challenge on Dimitar Berbatov.
Webb later sent off Steven Gerrard in the 32nd minute for a challenge on Michael Carrick. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish labelled the penalty decision "a joke" and also disagreed with the red card for his captain.
In addition to posting a link to the doctored picture of Webb, Babel wrote: "And they call him one of the best referees. That's a joke." He subsequently removed the link and wrote an apology on Twitter.
The former Ajax player has more than 180,000 Twitter users - 20,000 of which were gained in the last week - following his updates and his messages and the offending image was subsequently reproduced by some media outlets.
Babel later wrote on Twitter: "My apology if they take my posted picture seriously. This is just an emotional reaction after losing an important game. Sorry Howard Webb."
He then joked about spending a spell in "Twitter jail" and his previously prolific posts stopped on 9 January.
Babel's use of the site has also been questioned before. In a tweet in January 2010 the player made public his displeasure at being dropped by then Reds boss Rafael Benitez in a tweet in January 2010

SWAG BONUS
MCF.NET Thread viewtopic.php?f=119&t=36807

£18M? YOU'RE 'AVING A LARF
There was astonishment today when a quite good club offered to spend quite a lot of money on a quite good player. Consensus was that the mooted £18m they are waving in the direction of Sunderland's bankers in the hope of luring Darren Bent Midlandswards represents "a lot of money for Aston Villa", as if money takes on a different value depending on the identity of the spender. By that logic, it would take Manchester City, say, about £50m to outbid Villa, but both clubs would be emphatically outspent if, say, the Dog & Duck in Wellingborough offered a couple of grand.

As it happens, 18 is an important number for Darren Bent, because it is also - when viewed in a mirror - exactly the number of league goals he has scored since the summer of 2005. Those 81 strikes amount to more Premier League goals than any human on earth except Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba, who both play for much better teams and are only a single goal better off anyway. Frankly, the statistics are fairly promising - but even if 128 league goals in 261 career starts suggests Villa shouldn't worry too much either way, is Bent really worth £18m? The Fiver investigates.

• James Milner cost Manchester City £24m. Darren Bent is a more effective player than Milner. Bent is cheap.

• Lionel Messi cost Barcelona nothing but a few doctors' bills. Messi is a more effective player than Bent, who will probably cost Aston Villa some doctors' bills too at some point. Bent is expensive.

• You're only as good as the players around you. Bent is more expensive than any other Villa players, yet is only as good as them. Bent is expensive.

• Denilson cost Real Betis £21.5m, and that was in 1998, 13 years of rampant inflation ago. And he was rubbish. Bent is cheap.

• Bent is worth extra money because not only does he score a goal every other game but he is also English, and would therefore qualify as a home-grown player under Uefa regulations. This would be important in the extremely unlikely event of Aston Villa qualifying for European competition (and also signing lots of foreign players, because frankly they've got loads of home-grown talent at the moment). Bent is cheap.

• Kevin Phillips also scores a goal every other game and he is also English, yet in his entire career he has been the subject of a cumulative total of just over £5m in transfer fees. Bent is expensive.

• Bent may very well be good at his job, but will only be asked to perform a maximum of twice a week. A decent toaster is good at its job and may well be used every single day, and you can get one from Argos for about a tenner. Bent is expensive.

The Fiver regrets to inform readers that its in-depth investigation has been inconclusive.

[craigmcfc]

Top bombing with the WAG Chinners

[bluej]

The irony being that it's the media the initially cause these situations in the first play. Roy Hodgson was hounded by them after 3 games (yes 3 GAMES) after they helped hound Rafá out*, and clamber for Roy's appointment.

* granted the fella didn't help himself with his 'keeganesque' rant at the senile old drunk either

I thought the media were fairly lenient with Hodgson, it was the fans who were set against him from day one.

[Chinners]

Indeed the fans were, so to sell papers the media changed their stance, not as viciously as they have with others, granted

[BobKowalski]

Indeed the fans were, so to sell papers the media changed their stance, not as viciously as they have with others, granted

I'm with Bluej on this one. Media were pushing Hodgson for the job and delighted when he got it - English manager (at last) in charge of venerable institution to guide them back to glory playing 442 and none of that zonal marking nonsense. Aside from the last few weeks when the writing was on the wall the media handled him with kid gloves. It was quite funny to see them twisting in the wind on this one.

And on zonal marking which was so beloved of Benitez and belittled by many a pundit, Reina won 3 golden glove awards on the bounce for the most clean sheets in a season. And that with a squad that was shite filled as it was with players brought in by Benitez and who are not fit to wear the dippers shirt according to the many pundits...who belittled zonal marking under Benitez.

[Martinez]

So Real Madrids top tranfer priority is to re-sign the horseface but if they are unsuccessful they will buy Tevez? Surely must be a Barca wind-up