Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo has confirmed that the club is looking to loan out Michael Essien
following the midfielder's exclusion from the UEFA Super Cup squad but insists that Arsenal isn't a
possible destination.
Speculation has been rife in the last 24 hours that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger favors a
season-long loan for the 29-year old Ghana international but Di Matteo has made it clear that the
Blues won't let him move to North London.
Last Saturday, in the game against Norwich, Vermaelen won possession around the halfway line in
the 26th minute and proceeded on a run towards the opposition box. Arsenal did manage to get enough
bodies forward but Sagna's cross was easily cleared leading to a counter-attack that resulted in
the visitors' second goal.
Last Saturday, in the game against Norwich, Vermaelen won possession around the halfway line in
the 26th minute and proceeded on a run towards the opposition box. Arsenal did manage to get enough
bodies forward but Sagna's cross was easily cleared leading to a counter-attack that resulted in
the visitors' second goal.
There was a cracking read to be had in the Sports section of Easter Sunday's Times.... Jonathon
Northcroft got an exclusive interview with our midfield maestro, Mikel Arteta, and I thought I
would give you people some of the more juicy quotes from said interview... as it would be behind a
paywall online.
First of 2 trips to Wearside, starting with the league match tonight and the FA Cup the
following week. Beginning of a very important 7 days for Arsenal Football Club according to Arsene
Wenger. 3 matches that will decide our season. An European cup tie against AC Milan sandwiched in
between 2 meetings with Martin O'Neill's Sunderland.
Arsène Wenger has vowed not to hurry into starting young star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain too soon.
The 18 year-old Englishman – who bagged a terrific hattrick for the Under-21s last time out –
has been seen as a replacement for Walcott, with others wanting to see him play in the central
position up front for the [.
An excerpt from Steven Goff's super-fine piece on D.C. 14 year-old Gedion Zelalem, who recently
spent 10 days training with Arsenal's prospects.
"Zelalem is not the first high school soccer player from the area to seek a pro career. Most
famously, Freddy Adu, a native of Ghana and a naturalized U.
Last night was a totally inept display, no passion yet again, no leadership on or off the field,
no confidence and quite frankly before half time I lost interest watching the team I support.
Undoubtedly we should have had a penalty, but I doubt it would have changed the game that much,
or the performance.
Article by William Schulz The Major League Soccer drought is finally over, and the monsoon is about
to begin. Most clubs will be playing three matches in the first week back, Sporting Kansas City
among them. In fact Sporting will play five matches to close out the month of June, and they'll
have to play those matches without some of their marquee players.
After the Saturday three-nil loss the game is merely at halftime. Leg two involves odds stacked
against Seattle, but there are a few reasons for hope. While the Seattle Sounders will have to
change things up tactically, changes are being forced on Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis by
injuries to the best center defensive pairing in MLS.
It is going to be a long year. The rebuild of Toronto FC, the Coach Winter era may have better days
ahead, but things look mighty shaky at the start. Today Vancouver Whitecaps opened their first MLS
season with a home victory over TFC, 4-2. Dero and Maicon Santos scored the Toronto goals, each a
fine effort, but only the Dero goal arrived when the result was still in doubt.
There was a moment in Tuesday's US Open Cup match that crystallized just how brilliant
Philadelphia Union midfielder Michael Farfan can be and why we don't constantly see it.
In the 75th minute, he took the ball from a deep-lying central position, dribbled through three
defenders, and sent a low through ball long to his brother, Gabriel, who was cutting down the left
wing.
A former trialist, a former Uruguay World Cup national team player and a Generation Adidas #1
pick headline the strongest positional set of Seattle Sounder FC. Sigi uses these men to be the
playmakers on the outside, each in their own way. Two are used to chase long balls, only one is a
traditional crosser and all tuck into take shots.
Larry Bird Organizes His DefenseMaybe it's the yellow shorts. Maybe it's the shocking orange
goalkeeper's kit. Maybe it's just players realizing that they needed to buckle down and keep things
tight with Thierry Henry missing through injury. Whatever the case, the New York Red Bulls did hard
work on Saturday night in Los Angeles, making a first half Joel Lindpere goal stand up for 90+
minutes and handing the preseason consensus favorite Galaxy their fifth (yes you read that
correctly) loss of the young season.
Keller Serves Up Beers and Stories to Seattle Fans at the Atlantic Crossing
It was a beautiful night in Seattle last Wednesday and the beers were flowing at Atlantic
Crossing for the Kasey Keller-Arlo White meet and greet. Â Arlo and Kasey make a great pair on the
microphone with a lot of interesting banter covering the Sounders games, EPL and Kaseys' stories
from his successful career overseas and of course the topic all of Seattle is interested in his
retirement and what will happen next for Keller.
Chelsea: Daniel Sturridge, the lion who divides opinion is a post from: Just Football
by Amit Singh
Daniel Sturridge has enjoyed an impressive breakthrough season for
Chelsea this season scoring 9 league goals as well as 2 assists, a solid record
considering he has played wide on the right in the majority of games this season.
Yes, it's just pre-season. Yes, it's still early days, there's much to be done. Nevertheless,
the positive signs continue. The green shoots of recovery are quite possibly poking their heads
through the soil.
Darren Bent (who else?) got the only goal of the game in typically oppressive conditions in Hong
Kong, but there were encouraging performances all around the pitch.
Liverpool's director of football strategy Damien Comolli will travel to France before the New Year
to watch Sochaux star Ryad Boudebouz, Goal.com UK can reveal.
The 20-year-old has emerged as the latest France-based target for the Reds as they look to
rejuvenate their squad in January by signing potential stars.
When Joe Mason slotted Cardiff's first goal of the night through Pepe Reina's legs, putting the
underdog Championship side up 1-0, it may have in fact been the worst goal conceded by Liverpool
this season. Past contenders for worst of the year have come when a series of individual mistakes
over a fairly short period of time have conspired to hand an opponent a goal, and as bad as the
markers given up against the likes of Stoke and Norwich may have seemed at the time, as with most
any side will concede they came from a series of minor mistakes that slowly added up to the ball
hitting the back of the net.
Martin Kelly has all the attributes to play at centre-back in the future, according to first-team
coach Steve Clarke.
The Reds have no plans to move the 21-year-old from the right side of defence, where his
performances have helped him become an England U21 regular.
However, Clarke would not be surprised if Kelly one day returned to the central position he
regularly played during his years at the Academy.
Liverpool will hope to continue their dominant record over Queens Park Rangers at Anfield, as Kenny
Dalglish aims to get their season back on track.
A painful defeat at Fulham on Monday night ended the Merseysiders' recent unbeaten run, with Jay
Spearing seeing red in his club's first defeat in 12 matches.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has tried to lessen the significance of the loss of midfielder
Lucas Leiva by insisting all his players have crucial roles to play.
The Scot has to contend with being without his defensive midfielder for the rest of the season. And
while the Brazil international has been key to most of what has been good about the side this
season - and last - Dalglish is confident the quality of the team will absorb the loss.
Former Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Robbie Savage has been sticking the knife
into Liverpool again, this time claiming that Kenny Dalglish overspent on Andy Carroll, Stewart
Downing, and Jordan Henderson, players he feels are not good enough for a title-challenging
team
Savage, who recently suggested that Liverpool were '200m off the pace' argued:
"If Liverpool don't finish in the Champions League places this season - and after draws to Norwich
and Swansea, there's no guarantee they will - they won't even be in the market for the very best
players.
Liverpool is the latest club to join the race for Romanian defender Florin Gardos.
The Steaua Bucharest centre back, who can also play in a defensive midfield role, has been tracked
by a number of clubs across Europe, with Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich all
thought to be monitoring the 22-year-old.
Say what you will about the way the Seattle Sounders remade their team on the final day of the
of the MLS transfer window, but don't accuse them of being boring.
In the manner of a few hours, they shipped Alvaro Fernandez to the Chicago Fire, announced the
signing of Christian Tiffert and all but announced the signing of 22-year-old Mario Martinez, who's
currently with the Honduras Olympic team.
Amid the controversy surrounding the Jose Moreno fiasco, an interesting piece of news came to
light on Thursday. After he was waived - rather surprisingly - by DC United on February 3rd,
second-year forward Blake Brettschneider tweeted today that he would be joining the New England
Revolution for a trial on Sunday.
Gary Gardner stepped onto the Colchester pitch in place of Blackburn's Jason Lowe in the 62nd
minute with England leading 2-0 against Iceland in their Euro 2013 qualifier tonight. Barely more
than half an hour later, the referee blew the final whistle and scoreboard read 5-0; Gardner adding
two sublime late goals and a lot more to his growing reputation.
Editor's note: PSP is running season reviews for each Philadelphia Union player one per weekday
for the next few weeks. You can read all the reviews here.
"ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Photo: Paul Rudderow)
When the Union secured a loan deal for Michael Orozco Fiscal to bring the US international to
Philadelphia, the move seemed a wise attempt to solidify a center back pairing that could grow and
mature along with the franchise.
It was hardly a proper test of being able to cope without Steven Gerrard but Liverpool did more
than enough to dispose of a woeful West Ham at Anfield.
With the captain out for a month with a hamstring tear manager Roy Hodgson called for his players
to step up to fill the void and the Barclays Premier League's bottom side provide the perfect
opposition.
Much celebrated, yet much scrutinised, Park ji-Sung has never really had it his own way and has
long found himself in a battle to become an established member of the squad. His PSV days were
one of success and, although not lasting long because the Red Devils came calling right away, he
was the catalyst in that side, forming the backbone of the Dutch outfit and flourished under the
know-how of Guus Hiddink in a central position.
