Next on our list of potential England stars in the making is Manchester United and England U-20 international midfielder Matthew James.
James is a product of the famous Manchester United academy at Carrington. He joined the club at a tender age and has been progressing rapidly through the ranks at United. James made his first academy appearance as a fourteen year old back in 2005 when a young James played for the U-18 side. The next season saw James gradually work his way into regular contention, appearing eight times for academy manager Paul McGuinness’ U-18 side before establishing himself as a regular in 2007. The 2007-2008 season also saw James make his first appearance for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reserve team where the talented youngster was to become an integral part of the team’s future success.
During his time in the reserves, James established himself as one of the premier midfield talents in the country in the 2008-2009 season where his combination of passing, vision, technique and long-range shooting helped to fire United to second place in the Premier Reserve League North.
[youtube 3iUaxL1T2lI]
One of James’ main strengths is his versatility, as he is able to play in defence as well as in his preferred position in midfield. James’ style of play has seen him being compared favourably to Paul Scholes due to his devastating long-shots and a keen eye for a pass. These attributes can be seen in a number of performances James turned in for the United reserves with James scoring a searing long-range drive against Preston along with an exquisitely measured through ball for Federico Macheda to score against Newcastle (starting 0:29 in the second video).
These qualities were not to go unnoticed by Sir Alex Ferguson who called James up to the senior side, naming the young midfielder to the substitutes bench for United’s final day victory against Hull City in May 2009. His impressive performances in the reserves earned James a professional contract and he was given the number 43 shirt for the 2009-2010 campaign.
Last season saw James join Championship club Preston North End on loan in February 2010 along with fellow United teammate Danny Wellbeck until the end of the season. James excelled in the Championship, scoring a debut goal against Sheffield United and going on to make eighteen appearances for the Lillywhites. This season sees James rejoin Preston on a season long loan where he has featured in three of Preston’s games so far, scoring once in the League Cup in Preston’s 5-0 win against Stockport.
[youtube 84MxNIXZoSU]
In addition to his club career, James has also had an illustrious international youth career becoming a regular fixture in the England youth team at various different levels. James was a perennial inclusion in the U-16 and then U-17 side which he captained, before progressing to the U-19 set up in 2009 being part of the team which reached the European U-19 Championship Finals that year. James was given the honour of captaining the U-19 side against Russia in September 2009, an honour he held during this summer’s European U-19 Championship held in France.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Matthew James is a player that has an exciting future in the game. His second loan spell at Preston North End is an opportunity for James to gain some valuable first team experience to help aid his development into a possible Manchester United and England starter in the coming years.
Like my article? Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS feed.
In recent years, there has been nothing more compelling than sitting down on transfer deadline day in anticipation of your club bagging a late bargain – but this term most fans will be contemplating a lack of activity with most clubs refusal to be drawn into panic buying prevalent when compared to previous windows.
Aside from the lavish activity at Eastlands throughout this summer, the financial climate dictated that other clubs were more withdrawn when the clock neared 6 o’clock on Tuesday.
Whilst some have succeeded in the window, ask fans of Arsenal or Everton and they will tell you it has been a hindrance, forcing many to question whether it would be best to shut the transfer window at the start of August so that players can settle in before the season commences. The pros for having the window are obvious: when the window shuts there is little distraction throughout the season and players cannot try to engineer a move away or unsettle the ranks.
But more and more we see clubs playing hard ball with prices of players, inflating them in the hope a club will bow to their demands in a desperate bid to bolster their squad before they are stripped of the chance – until January at least. A failure to conclude business on the final day has become the norm due to toing and froing as agents try to get the best deal for their clients and manager’s frustrations continue to grow.
Roberto Martinez was highly critical of the window saying: “Nobody knows – it’s the nature of the transfer window. I think it’s ridiculous to be in the start of the campaign playing competitive games and the window isn’t even closed. We are allowing the players to be distracted and we’re not helping them in a business that’s really high pressure.
Before adding: “The players are not well looked after because of the rules of the transfer window.”
With this notion comes the flip side, Ian Holloway was desperate to add to his Blackpool side before the window closes and called it slams shut on him “a restriction of trade” and should Arsene Wenger have to wait until January to secure the services of a goalkeeper?
The likelihood of the calls for it to be scrapped will fall on deaf ears and without the window; it would be a tame affair and would not generate anywhere near as much excitement as it still does and although I have sympathy will Holloway’s need to add, the transfer window means that clubs can instead focus on football rather than whether their star striker is going to leave should it remain open. If clubs do not want to do business on the last day because they feel it is not right for the club then it is their choice. It does encourage panic buying but again if managers are lured by this it is nobody’s fault but their own if the players move does not work out.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
It is my belief that the current system works and although it is not favourable for some clubs and it will continue to excite when clubs are less wary of the current financial predicament which has affected everyone: including football.
Chelsea 2-0 Marseille – As respected pundit and famous dancing leather robot Bruce Forsyth used to say; Points make prizes. What do point’s make? – Prizes! And Chelsea are inclined to agree, as they eased themselves closer to the round of 16 with a competent if not exhilarating performance against a decent Marseille side. The away team actually had the better of it in the second half, and with a heavy smattering of former Premiership players (oh, *cough* sorry, I meant “Barclays Premier League” players) never looked intimidated or second best, except when it came to doing something effective in that little boxy thingy with the net in. As Ruud Gullit mentioned post match, inbetween the fawning man-crush attentions of Jamie Redknapp (Literally!), this is likely the last chance for the house that Jose built to win this coveted trophy. The creaking legs of Lamps, Big Man, Cashley et all will soon need to give way to the re-building process if Chelsea want to stay on their perch in future seasons. So it was fitting in a way (and for the purposes of making randomly pretentious allusions for editorial continuity) that the two players who’s penalty misses defined their closest assault on the prize, were the ones who ensured them the points.
Big Men on Campus – Any fears of Chelsea collapsing again when faced with a team of any substance were eased within seven minutes when they took the lead courtesy of Englands Brave Lion (TM), who flicked a short (and possibly bad) corner with the outside of his boot into the near post past the commendable efforts of the player on the line, who was valiantly trying to remember if he’d locked the patio doors or not. This was Big Man’s first goal of the season, and his first in the Champions League since everyone found out what a terrible and despicable person he was. Once the catalyst of France’s massive World Cup brain fart, Nicolas Anelka, had endeared himself further to his compatriots with a cheeky penalty, the game was all but over competitively. Yet despite all Marseille’s offensive enthusiasm, the home side still really should’ve won by three or four, with both Alex and Essien striking the woodwork. But they didn’t. And 2-0 was about fair in the end.
Le Freak, C’est Chic – Marseille is cool. The birthplace of both Zinedine Zidane and Eric Cantona can’t not be cool. It couldn’t not be cool even if wore corduroy trousers with rainbow braces and stuck two pieces of blu-tac up it’s nose. So if you’re going to start fighting in an English football stadium – something which hasn’t been cool since the mid 80s, no matter how many hobbits get into it – you might as well do it shirtless with your cap on backwards and a Gauloises hanging from your mouth. I say fighting, but of couse being French it looked far more like seriously profound gesticulating, but whatever the manner of troubles that seemed to erupt pre-match, it didn’t stop the Marseillais raucously out-singing the Bridge at kick off and mostly throughout, fittingly for the city that spawned La Marseillaise.
Continued on Page TWO
The Future’s Bright, The Future’s…erm..Blue? – Despite all the talk of Manchester City ruining the English game with their money splashing mercenary ways, it can’t have escaped notice that an awful lot of promising young players have somehow wound up in the England team via way of Eastlands. Now it seems the original money splashing mercenaries (Well, after Blackburn) are in on the act too. Not only has Ancelotti given a reassuring amount of playing time to former City boy Daniel Sturridge (who missed practically an open goal last night incidentally) but he also gave his third run out in a week to the most talked about player I’d never heard of and apparent future of club and country, Josh McEachran. I failed to ascertain from his three touches whether or not he was the new Fabregas, but it’s interesting, if not downright startling that as United nurture their Italian prodigy and Liverpool’s children lose to Northampton, the future of the English National team seems to lie in the hands of the blues. Shirted and blooded. Ruining the game indeed.
FK Partizan 1-3 Arsenal – In a game that nearly didn’t happen due to faulty electrics and insufficient floodlighting, Arsenal rolled out their usual routine of looking both inspiring and underwhelming at the same time before eventually winning comfortably in a hostile but at least flatteringly lit atmosphere in Belgrade. The Gunners rode their luck a bit early on, showing the same kind of galic nonchalance in defence that let West Brom boing them at the weekend, but once Andrei Arshavin had given them the lead, they settled into their more natural passing game, with only a slight hint of dodgy decision making and unnecessary over elaboration. Amazingly, they also seemed to have someone vaguely competent between the sticks for once, and even more amazingly, it was Łukasz Fabiański.
Where there’s a Wilshere, there’s a way – Little Jack Wilshere seems to have returned from Bolton a boy anew, like a small child sent away to fat camp who comes back 6ft 2 and built like a boxer, providing that boxer isn’t Ricky Hatton. Except not 6ft 2 obviously, or particularly built, and not alarmingly fat to begin with of course, but you get my point, hopefully, which is basically just that he’s really something special now. Young Jack seems to have been involved in almost everything good Arsenal have done this season, and he was the lynch pin for the breakthrough again here, jinxing his way into the box before side rolling and pulling the ball back in one motion to set up Arshavin for a simple finish. Lovely stuff. An England call up can’t be far away. But it probably will be knowing England.
Continued on Page THREE
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword – From then on the Gunners upped the tempo and could have grabbed three or four but for wasteful finishing and acrobatic clearances. That was until Denilson handled the ball in his own box, giving Partizan striker Cleo the chance to level from the spot, which he duly accepted. Soon after the interval Arsenal were awarded a penalty themselves after Chamakh was very really brought down by last man Jovanovic about half a millimeter inside the area, but still decided that a comical exaggerated dive 2 seconds after the infringement was the way to go. The Partizan man was sent on his way and justice for the Moroccan Amateur Dramatics society, if not football, was done when Arshavin blasted the kick straight at Stojkovic’s legs. After Arsenal had eventually restored their lead through Chamakh (who I still seem to be the only person in football punditry/journalism/blogging to have realised is s**t) and extended it though Squillaci, Partizan were awarded another penalty, this time after Kieran Gibbs had clumsily fouled and then fallen on someone, which apparently wasn’t a cast iron nailed on penalty in the impartial eyes of hugely unbiased co-commentator Alan Smith. Cleo missed this one, and Arsenal go marching on with six points from six.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Absolutely Fabulous – The decision of who to field in goal for the big Super Sunday 3D HD Armageddon showdown with Chelsea just got a little harder for Arsene after a great penalty saving performance from stand in keeper Łukasz “Well I didn’t realise they’d taken it!” Fabiański. His heroics also included a couple of smart one on ones late in the game and with Manuel Almunia doing his best to remind everyone he’s still available and worthy of playing for England at the weekend by making several calamitous errors, Wenger could do worse than going on form.
In Other News – Jose and The Decepticons continued their unwavering march to rule the world by boring them into submission by beating Auxerre with a late Angel Di Maria goal. Things are so dire down Galactico way that Jose even seems to have lost his style, sitting glumly in the dugout in a shiny pimp suit whilst Serio Ramos – who’s looking more like Val Kilmer than the fat Val Kilmer lookalike that passes for the actual Val Kilmer these days – handled the ball in the build up. Speaking of handling, elsewhere the most evil man that ever lived ever, Luis Suarez, showed a delightful bit of skill to set up the opener in the clash of the not quite Titans anymore between Ajax and Milan, before Zlatan made sure the spoils were shared by executing a bicycle kick half a yard from goal. Also Cluj should be a rude word, but isn’t. Unless we make it one use it enough. This is something I feel almost forcibly compelled to do.
….And Finally – The gimpy pointless flagless officials behind the goal line finally had something to do in the Spartak -Zilina game as Ari’s header was cleared away from inside the netting. Thankfully, due to the brilliant human eyesight of these much needed and hardworking bastions of the game, they were able to clearly see that the ball was a good 3 yards behind the line and allow the ref to award the goal. Thank God we have them.
You can follow Oscar on Twitter here; http://twitter.com/oscarpyejeary Where you can join his campaign to make sure every reference to anything that ever happens in football is prefixed by the word “Barclays” just in case anyone ever forgets.
Surreal may be the most suitable word to describe the feelings of Birmingham City fans after an eventful transfer deadline day. An improbable top half finish last season had been strikingly augmented by the signing of Alexander Hleb, Jean Beausejour and Martin Jiranek. Earlier in the summer their manager Alex Mcleish had pulled off a coup by swooping for Serbian international Nikola Zigic and England stopper Ben Foster. Of the previously mentioned trio Hleb has experience in the Premier League with Arsenal but left for Barcelona in 2008. He is on a season’s long loan from that storied club and has already criticised the qualities of his new colleagues. Should Birmingham fans be shocked at the brevity of his comments or admiring of his openness?
Having had a month to acclimatise from life in Barcelona to Brum, the Belarus international said, “I’m not quite happy with the level of the team, but such things do happen. Naturally I miss the combinational and creative football of Arsenal and Barca.” Yet in making this surprising switch he knew that the team would embody a battling spirit based on a combativeness and team spirit. His manager Mcleish has appealed to the midfielder to effectively recalibrate his expectations but has described Hleb as “world class” and similar in style to Michael Laudrup. “He’s one of these Willo’ the Wisp characters. He tends to float over tackles.”
Palpably nostalgic for his time in London, Hleb’s comments may strike a chord with the crowd rather than infuriate. The sound of boos rang around St Andrews earlier this month as Everton ended Birmingham’s club-record equalling run of 18 league games unbeaten at home. For many observers the crowd’s reaction was objectionable, a symbol of the modern era’s pampered football supporter. Yet the fans’ frustrations were centred on the continual use of Cameron Jerome as a lone centre forward. Zigic entered the fray after 70 minutes and Matt Derbyshire only had ten minutes to make an impact. The lack of goals and therefore a corresponding attacking plan was highlighted by the outspoken Hleb. “In the recent Birmingham games there was a lot of struggle – they were constantly hoofing the long ball forward.”
While a dearth of goals may be lamented, the Blues’ extraordinary ninth place finish last term was built on the foundations of a solid, unyielding defence. The droll Mcleish conceded that his team will have to deviate from a predictable formula to guard against the ever-looming second season syndrome. The spine of the team has remained intact but recent signings portray a desire to bolster the creativity and flair of the midfield. Hleb’s comments may be interpreted as provocative but the player is sincerely grateful of the chance to play regularly, restoring his flagging confidence. His opening goal in the League Cup match against the MK Dons would have had that medicinal effect. Two goals followed in the next four minutes from Zigic and Craig Gardener. Beausejour on the wing was instrumental in supplying these goal-scoring opportunities.
Although against League One opposition there was evidence of the combinational style that Hleb craves. Despite being no Barcelona, Birmingham have some excellent players, especially Gardener who was been one of the outstanding performers of this season. The former Stuttgart man and his new club may require a period of readjustment but ambition should not be a dirty word in football. An expectant crowd may have found an ally in Hleb.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Arsene Wenger believes captain Cesc Fabregas will remain with Arsenal for "many, many years" despite his summer flirtation with Barcelona.
The Spain midfielder was persuaded to stay at the Emirates Stadium by Wenger despite a series of bids from his former club.
Fabregas joined the Gunners from the Catalan club's youth system in 2003 and he has gone on to make almost 300 first-team appearances.
He remains under contract until summer 2014 and Wenger expects the north London club to receive many more years of service from the 23-year-old midfielder.
Speaking at the club's AGM, he said:"He is from Barcelona and has an attraction to where he grew up.
"At the end of the day, I believe he wants to win with this club. For how long I don't know but hopefully for many, many years.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
"I'm not pessimistic. I'm confident we will keep him for a few more years.
"He deeply loves this club, believe me. If he did not love the club, he would have gone."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Newcastle United midfielder Kevin Nolan has leapt to the defence of under-pressure manager Chris Hughton.
Speculation surrounding his future has been rife in recent days and, following the midweek 4-0 Carling Cup loss to Arsenal at St James' Park, the voices grew stronger ahead of Sunday's massive Tyne-Wear derby clash with Sunderland.
Despite the ongoing murmurs, Nolan wants Hughton to remain at the helm regardless of the weekend result.
"No matter what happens on Sunday we are going to still be 110 per cent behind Chris Hughton," Nolan told Sky Sports News.
"For the statements, for anything else we don't care what anyone else says outside. As a group of players, as a squad, as a staff and I believe as fans too we believe we are going in the right direction and the main focal point and the main leader in that is Chris Hughton.
"I think the talk is absolutely ridiculous on him having to win a game to stay in his job, it is absolutely ridiculous.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
"No matter what we want to see Chris Hughton in charge of us and we believe we are going in the right way with him in charge of us."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Tottenham secured an historic passage into the Champions League knock-out stages last night by easing past Werder Bremen by three goals to nil. The whole night went to plan (well, almost) and the goals were all scored at perfect times to confirm Tottenham’s dominance. After two dream results in the space of five days, what did we learn from Spurs after last nights showing?1. Keeping a clean sheet is easier when the opposition isn’t trying very hardIt’s been the main concern for Spurs fans for quite a while now, but finally we’ve stopped a team scoring a goal. Quite what kind of an achievement this is is debatable, Bremen managed only a single shot on target, but to keep a clean sheet of any kind will do confidence a power of good. William Gallas and Younes Kaboul’s partnership was good yet again and importantly they kept switched on for the entire 90 minutes, but in truth it’s hard to analyze the back-four too deeply when they were barely tested. Still, let’s dwell on this for a few days and hope and hope the feat can be repeated on Sunday.2. The Aaron Lennon and Alan Hutton debate continues
I’d like to start by saying that Aaron Lennon was fantastic. After a few weeks of taking flak that he’s lost his touch and that he disappears in games he looked back to his best, setting up two goals and generally making an nuisance of himself. But I felt that last night raised the question once more as to whether Lennon and Hutton should be on the same team. On too many occasions they seemed to be trying to occupy the same space and make similar runs, both are good attacking options but they don’t appear to compliment each other. Potentially they could make a good partnership, but some hard work needs to go on on the training ground for it to work properly.
3. Gareth Bale can miss a penalty and still come off to a standing ovation
We all know how good Mr Bale is – but last night he showed that he is at least human. His penalty last night was pretty tame, but that fact that his performance over 80 minutes meant that nobody cared about his miss, or even seemed to remember it showed just how well he played. He hit the crossbar twice and gave his full-back a good work out before being replaced by Niko Kranjcar with minutes to go. Job done.
4. Luka Modric’s game has come on leaps and bounds
Much like the Inter game, Luka Modric quietly went about his role as Tottenham’s midfield engine. We all know about his strengths as a good passer in the final third, but last night Luka was all over the pitch making tackles and winning the ball. Back in his first season we were told that he was too light weight to play in the Premier League, and in truth it looked like he was. But this season he has truly become the workhorse of the Tottenham team and his goal was a classy end to a good move.
5. Peter Crouch’s Champions League form is pretty handy
Say what you like about the failings of the man, but the stats show us that Peter Crouch has scored six goals in six Champions League games this season including a hat-trick against Young boys, arguably Spurs’ most important game of recent memory. It’s interesting to see that Crouch’s England and Champions League records are fantastic but his league form is pretty dire, does he have problems motivating himself for lesser games? That’s a question for another day, but in the meantime it seems as though Peter Crouch is becoming vital in Tottenham’s Champions League adventure.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
***Click HERE for a FREE £20 Bet when you bet £10 for New Customers***
Despite the result and most of the individual performances, that was still a very winnable game at St James’ and if Roy Hodgson doesn’t figure out how to get his team playing with confidence away from home, then he may find a p45 waiting in his stocking come Christmas morning. What could keep his neck clear of the chopping block is playing four of the next five games at Anfield.
What the manager has promised is that he’ll be playing a more senior side than would generally be expected, in front of what should be a packed out, if slightly higher pitched Anfield. The reasoning, we can only presume, is that he wants to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible, regardless of the significance of the game. Especially with his former club Fulham visiting Merseyside on Saturday afternoon.
The Europa League has proven more forgiving for Hodgson so far this season and with top spot in the table secured and FC Utrecht already out of the competition, there are no excuses for not going for this game from the start. The Dutch side are having a so-so league season, managing just one draw from their last four away games in the Eredivisie. In the Europa League they haven’t exactly been pushovers, drawing four from five, but with nothing to play for here, an early Liverpool goal should see heads start to drop.
Paddy’s Picks: Liverpool to win – 8/15 Fernando Torres to score first – 5/2 Ryan Babel to score anytime – evens Raul Meireles to score first – 9/1 Raul Meireles to score anytime – 3/1 Dirk Kuyt to score first – 9/2 Liverpool -1 goal – 11/10 Liverpool to win 3-1 – 10/1
–
Let’s hope the The Reds can give their fans a real treat tonight and try and get back to winning ways.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
***Click HERE for a FREE £20 Bet when you bet £10 for New Customers***
It’s being reported today that Wayne Routledge’s time at Newcastle is set to come to an end. The winger looks set to return to Queens Park Rangers, the club he signed for Newcastle from a year ago, but whether that’s to join Neil Warnock on a permanent deal or on a six-month loan until the end of the season is yet to become clear. The exit of Routledge could well pave the way for a new addition to Alan Pardew’s Newcastle squad, and that could well come in the form of Shaun Wright-Phillips.
I might be getting ahead of myself a little bit here, but that would seem to make sense. It’s been well documented that Newcastle have been after SWP for a long period of time and made a firm bid for the England winger a couple of years back. Wright-Phillips is currently frozen out at Manchester City and seemingly desperate for a move away from Eastlands to resurrect both his club and international career.
I wrote an article a few weeks back saying that if Newcastle could sign one player in the January Transfer Window, I would want it to be Shaun-Wright Phillips (you can read that in full here). SWP is an exciting talent and exactly the sort of player that the St James’ Park faithful love, a winger that’s willing to take players on. The 29-year old would bring pace to the Newcastle starting eleven and has plenty of experience of playing at the top level, and in many ways could be described as a BETA version of Wayne Routledge. Even if SWP did only sign for Newcaslte on loan, it would still be a good move for the club, and if he impressed they could snap him up on something more permanent like they’ve done recently with Hatem Ben Arfa.
There is of course the possibility that Newcastle let Routledge leave and don’t bring anyone in to replace him. While this would be extremely disappointing, it would not be the end of the world. Joey Barton has been on fire this season and seems to be fairly comfortable on the right hand side, and the returning Dan Gosling and Ben Arfa could both be deployed in that position. In regards to Routledge, he hasn’t really cut it in the Premier League and probably never will, but credit has to be given to him for helping Newcastle get promoted from the Championship last season.
So will the impending exit of Wayne Routledge from Newcastle lead to an exciting arrival in the form of Shaun-Wright Phillips? This could purely be wishful thinking on my part, but I’d love to see SWP at SJP! Whether it will happen we’ll have to wait and see, but Wright-Phillips would definitely be an asset for Newcastle and strengthen Alan Pardew’s squad as the Magpies look to kick on in 2011. SWP to Newcastle? Watch this space…
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
[divider]
Love fantasy football? Love live footy? You’ll love live fantasy football! Take part in the Man City v Leicester match and play Picklive for FREE Go on, give it a go!
New signing Steven Pienaar could make his Tottenham debut when Spurs travel to face Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday.The 28-year-old South Africa international, whose three million-pound move from Everton was completed on Wednesday, will inject even more guile into a Spurs midfield that already features the likes of Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart and Aaron Lennon.
The north Londoners are in fifth place in the league table, eight points behind leaders Manchester United, who they held to a goalless draw in their most recent Premier League outing.
Newcastle are in ninth place in the league, eight points behind Spurs. In their last league fixture they held sixth-place Sunderland to a 1-1 draw in the Tyne-Wear derby at the Stadium of Light, and have claimed seven points from their past three games.
Alan Pardew’s men will, however, be keen to reverse the 2-0 loss they suffered at White Hart Lane last month.
Pardew is still waiting on the fitness of star striker Andy Carroll, who missed the Sunderland game with a thigh strain, meaning Irishman Leon Best could again partner Shola Ameobi up front, with Dane Peter Lovenkrands another option.
Defender Ryan Taylor and winger Hatem Ben Arfa are long-term casualties and are certain to miss out, while Cheik Tiote is out through suspension.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Redknapp has little news from the treatment room to concern him ahead of the clash, with only long-term absentees Jamie O’Hara, Ledley King and Tom Huddlestone unavailable.
In further positive news for Redknapp, defender Jonathan Woodgate emerged unscathed after making his long-awaited comeback from a groin injury when he played for a Spurs XI in a 9-2 win over Queens Park Rangers in a training-ground friendly on Tuesday.