West Ham manager Sam Allardyce remains confident of staying at the Boleyn Ground despite the team’s bad form in the Premier League.
And according to Big Sam, who finishes his contract at the end of the season and is yet to sign a new deal, there is no rush in tying up his future at the club.
“There’s no problem. We’ll talk once our Prem status is secure,” he told The Sun.
West Ham are currently going through a bad streak with only two wins in the last 12 games, but the man who brought the club promotion from the Championship last season trusts in the Hammers’ chiefs’ patience.
“Some owners pull the trigger early but it is not like that here,” he added.
Co-chairman David Gold has said the club and the manager will not sit down together to assess the situation before the season is over.
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The Hammers lie in 11th position in the Premier League table only 7 points clear from the bottom-three. Statistics suggest that an improvement in their away form is key to the club’s aspirations, as they’re currently on a run of 5 losses away from the Boleyn Ground.
Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam says that the club are feeling the pressure of the Premier League relegation dogfight.
The Potters have spent most of the season in a safe midtable position, but a drop in form has seen the dragged into the battle for safety.
Just six points from their last 13 games leave Tony Pulis’ side in 15th position, and only three points clear of the bottom three.
This weekend’s loss to Aston Villa did little to help Stoke’s chances of maintaining top-flight status, and Adam admitted that the pressure is now on:
“We’re in the relegation scrap now,” he is quoted by The Mirror.
“It’s about characters and we will see how good the character of the group is. That’s got to be the question now and we have to step up to the mark.
“You need hard work. If you don’t have that, we are going to be sucked into it.”
To make matters worse, Stoke’s next league encounter sees them take on table-topping Manchester United, a side they have never beaten in the Premier League.
Adam thinks it will be a tough match, but is not ruling out his side’s chances of earning a shock result:
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“Man United will be going for the title, but we’re at home and if we can get our -confidence up for the game, who knows?”
Stoke are currently the league’s lowest scorers, with a meagre tally of just 28 goals.
Sunderland face a fight to keep hold of keeper Simon Mignolet in the summer with Arsenal preparing an official bid for the player, according to the Independent.
The Gunners have been watching the 25-year-old on a regular basis for the past season and his consistent performances have apparently led Arsene Wenger to believe he is the man to become the new number one at the Emirates.
New Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio will not want to lose the Belgium international who has proved himself time and time again for the Black Cats since signing for just £2m from Sint-Truiden three years ago.
Wenger is set to offer in the region of £10m for the player, whose agent said recently that he would have to move to a bigger club if he wanted to get back to becoming first choice for his country – although those claims were later denied, they will not have gone unnoticed elsewhere.
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With Brendan Rodgers’ first season nearing its close, all eyes will be on what Liverpool do in the transfer window. With the Reds planning to be reaching the top four places in the Northern Irishman’s second year in charge, managing director Ian Ayre will need to be busy in the summer, in order to build a squad capable of qualifying for the Champions League.
With a new style of play, Liverpool haven’t kept their aims for next season a secret. With the possibility of playing Champions League football in 2014-15, players from across Europe will be interested in seeing who the Reds target in the summer, and may hope they can be a part of Rodgers’ long term plan. Here are 10 players that are always going to be linked with the club over the summer.
Click on Xabi Alonso to see the full list of transfer targets
Aston Villa striker, Christian Benteke, has been linked to a possible transfer to Tottenham Hotspur that is dividing opinion among Spurs fans.
The Belgium international has filed a transfer request, but Aston Villa insist that he will be sold for no less than £25 million.
Some Spurs fans are afraid that Benteke might be one season wonder, following his £7m move from Genk, while others are very keen on taking that chance and signing last season’s fourth top scorer last season in the Premier League.
Everton are set to make a move for Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry before the close of the transfer window, according to the Daily Telegraph.
However the Toffees face a problem with regards to the midfielder’s substantial wage packet.
Barry has been told he is free to leave the Etihad this summer having fallen further down the pecking order following the arrival of £35million midfielder Fernandinho.
Barry was left out of City’s opening match day squad of the season, and is desperate for a move that will guarantee him first team football ahead of the next summer’s World Cup.
Everton are keen to agree a loan deal for the 32-year-old, but are well aware they are unable to match the midfielder’s current £100,000 a week wages.
Arsenal have also been linked with a move for the midfielder, with Arsene Wenger looking for experienced cover for his midfield.
Arsenal would more likely look towards completing a permanent deal for the England midfielder, who has just one year remaining on his current contract, although it is thought Everton remain in the driving seat.
Meanwhile City captain Vincent Kompany is set to miss the opening month of the new season, after limping off with a groin injury in the second half of his side’s 4-0 win over Newcastle on Monday night.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini initially said the injury would keep his captain out of action for two weeks, although there are now fears the Belgian will be ruled out until after the international break next month.
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The burden of expectation has eased somewhat for Jack Wilshere at Arsenal. No longer is he relied upon to act as the team’s talisman on the pitch, the driving force and influence that was previously entrusted to Cesc Fabregas. Such as the talent in Arsene Wenger’s midfield that Wilshere can afford to shy away from the limelight and continue his development at his own pace.
This season has been a mixed bag from the England international. He’s been fantastic – Marseille – horrendous – West Brom, despite a goal, and Manchester City – and everything in between. But his latest non-football-related incident away at Manchester City has provided further evidence that Wilshere still has some maturing do to.
It’s not a controversy, and it shouldn’t be labelled as such. In fact, I’m struggling to see what is so frightfully heinous about a player giving the opposing fans the single-fingered salute. We’ve seen much, much worse in football in recent times, and banning Wilshere for two games – one short of the three given to a player who breaks another’s leg – seems like the governing bodies are further indulging in this climate of pick-and-choose what they want to throw the book at.
Of course, Wilshere should have known better. There’s nothing hugely wrong with what he did, but nevertheless he should have been aware that there would have been retrospective action taken. It’s heat-of-the-moment stuff, and this whole thing of footballers needing to be role models shouldn’t always come up as an excuse. Let’s not pretend that a football ground is a haven of purity. Wilshere was clearly frustrated with his own performance and became the target of the opposition support.
Wilshere’s actions will put Arsenal at a disadvantage over the coming games, but in that time he will have an opportunity to reflect on himself and his performances this season. It may even be worth looking at one of his teammates who has seen similar hurdles thrown his way during his career.
Aaron Ramsey’s path has been strikingly similar to that of Wilshere, but the difference is the manner in which the Welshman conducts himself. He’s never in the spotlight – at least for negative reasons – and has shown, not only through his interviews but also with his captaining of Wales as a teenager, just how mature he is for his age.
Wilshere, on the other hand, is equally as talented but has taken plenty of flak for his actions or behaviour away from the pitch. Fortunately, in a way, Wilshere isn’t the only Premier League star who gets dragged down by off-pitch incidents.
Wenger has surely done his part. As he has with the majority of young players at Arsenal, he’s been patient with Wilshere. The manager is unlikely to take this latest incident as a personal slight, but he will be right to feel disappointed. Again, it’s not that Wilshere did anything terrible, it’s just that players at Arsenal, and other clubs, are responsible for the image of the team they represent and upholding certain standards.
Wilshere’s Man City salute will be forgotten soon enough. The important factor is that he starts to address his own game. Wenger and the Arsenal coaching staff will be on hand to continue to guide him, but Wilshere’s issue is that he needs to take some of that responsibility himself, much in the way Ramsey has done. Despite Wenger’s faith and patience in the Welshman, it can’t be said that Ramsey has put little in to his current run of form.
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Wilshere, for all his talent and ability to be a match-winner, hasn’t reached the top of the mountain yet.
Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has no intention of selling winger Shaun Wright-Phillips this winter, he told the club’s official site.
The former England winger has failed to make much of an impact at Loftus Road this season in the Championship, making only nine appearances most of which from the bench.
Sunderland have been linked with a move for the 32 year old who would jump the chance at another shot at the Premier League.
Others such as West Ham, Cardiff and Newcastle are rumoured to be interested in Wright Phillips but Redknapp wants to keep the experienced winger to aid Rangers’ push for promotion back to the Premier League.
“I have no problems with Shaun Wright-Phillips,” Redknapp said.
“He still has an important part to play with us. He is not a player I am looking to move on.”
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Redknapp is trying to fund his own spending this January with a striker the main target, so if offers came in for SWP they would be considered
Manchester United defender Patrice Evra is considering a return to Serie A, reports the Mirror.
The Frenchman is out of contract in the summer, and could leave the Premier League after more than 8 years at Old Trafford. Evra joined United from Monaco in 2006 for under £6million, but played for Marsala and Monza in the lower Italian leagues before then.
But now the vice-captain looks set to end his stay at United, with the club not extending his contract past this season. Evra will join captain Nemanja Vidic out of the club on a free transfer, and could even follow the Serbian to Serie A. Federico Pastorello, Evra’s agent, claimed it’s a possibility: “Even though he turns 33 in May, he still has another three to four seasons at the highest level in his legs.
“Inter and Roma? Speaking with him, I have understood that technically Serie A is a possibility. He is very attached to Manchester United even if recently things have changed a bit. But Evra still has not taken a final decision.”
Evra has rarely been rivalled for his position at left-back during his time at United. But with suggestions that the Red Devils will bid for Southampton defender Luke Shaw this summer, the Frenchman could find himself on the Old Trafford bench next season if he was offered a new deal.
For your chance to WIN two tickets to Everton vs Manchester United on Sunday April 20 AND a copy of FIFA14, simply comment below with your score prediction for the game…
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[ffccomp link=”https://www.footballfancast.com/football-blogs/win-tickets-to-everton-vs-manchester-united-a-copy-of-fifa-14″oneliner=”For your chance to WIN two tickets to Everton vs Manchester United on Sunday April 20 AND a copy of FIFA14, simply comment below with your score prediction for the game…” step=”PREDICT THE SCORE
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It’s not the first time an inspiring youngster has left my beloved Charlton Athletic for bigger and better things and it will unlikely be the last. The latest case of Addicks escapism being Diego Poyet, son of Sunderland boss Gus, deciding against renewing his Valley contract and instead agreeing terms with Premier League side West Ham.
The move – in no small part due to Charlton receiving nothing more than a compensation package, most likely around the £500k mark, for the seven years’ worth of investment of time and resources into the midfielder – has prized open sore wounds in South East London. Echoing the same controversial switch Jermain Defoe made back in 1999, many have labelled Poyet as the Addicks’ latest Judas.
I however hold a more realistic and rounded opinion. Before I beat you with a series of superlatives detailing the 19 year-old’s abilities, I will say this; it took just a matter of moments on the pitch for the Valley faithful to realise they were witnessing a special player.
Dubbing youngsters as future stars is done only too willingly nowadays, especially in the lower tiers of English football. Yet there is something so telling about Poyet’s manner, his tranquillity and confidence, his ability to play with his head up at all times, his manipulation of the ball, that suggests the Spanish-born playmaker isn’t your typical overhyped Championship hotshot.
Despite only making his league debut in February, the teenager was voted the Player of the Year at the Valley. And the kind of orchestrating influence that can only truly excel with quality surrounding him, in my opinion, a move to the top flight this summer was inevitable.
But one lingering concern still persists; is West Ham, a club drenched in an attritional philosophy masterminded by footballing revolutionary Sam Allardici, the right home for the Charlton prodigy? Especially considering he’s reportedly rejected offers from Chelsea and Arsenal to name a few to secure a switch to Upton Park.
If you haven’t seen Diego Poyet in action before – of which I cannot blame you, as the Valley has hardly been a vanguard of tica-taca over the last twelve months – the best fitting, instantaneous description that I can give is a comparison with Premier League cult favourite Tugay, of Blackburn Rovers fame. Or failing that, a Pirlo-esque, quarterback playmaker, albeit still rather raw around the edges.
In other words, the 19 year-old’s footballing path, in my opinion, is already set in stone. Whilst Poyet senior was a ferociously energetic, free-scoring midfielder, Poyet junior’s influence is better felt over the course of 90 minutes. His average of 49 passes per match and completion rate of 83% last season were the highest of any Charlton regular, typifying his greatest assets of quality in possession and the ability to conduct play.
Not that technical mastery is all that West Ham’s latest signing has to offer. His 4.2 tackles and 2.5 interceptions per match were also the best returns of any player on the Addicks roster last term; as well as his quality on the ball, Poyet is aggressive, physical and determined off it.
But you can probably already see where my scepticism is heading – ‘possession football’ is not a term included in the Allardyce vocabulary. Players are capable of change – just look at the sensational transformation at Everton last season – but attempting to turn Poyet into a different kind of footballer would be an enormous disservice to the player himself, and the beautiful game as a whole.
Although the likes of Kevin Nolan, Mark Noble, Matt Jarvis, Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing are all proven Premier League talents, it’s hard to envisage any particularly benefitting from Poyet’s majestic, foreign-influenced style. It’s equally tough to imagine the West Ham manager particularly emphasising it over a brand of direct football that has not only secured him two safe Premier League finishes with the Hammers, but furthermore at former clubs Blackburn, Newcastle and Bolton.
Furthermore, for a club that has such a prestigious history of investing faith in young players, Allardyce has disturbingly bucked the trend in recent years. Last season, barring 21 year-old Ravel Morrison, who was eventually sent packing on loan to QPR in January and a two minute substitute appearance from Elliot Lee, aged 19, the youngest player to feature for the Hammers in the Premier League was Jack Collison at 25 years of age. Even Allardyce’s own youthful acquisition Danny Whitehead, sourced from Stockport last summer, is yet to make his league debut for the East Londoners.
Rather, the current Irons gaffer’s approach to promoting youth is throwing them in at the deep end – I’m sure we all remember West Ham’s 5-0 drubbing to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, a match which featured eight members of the Hammers’ development squad.
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Perhaps my doubts are unwarranted. After all, Allardyce appears keen to readdress the age balance of his squad this summer, having already signed Ipswich’s Aaron Cresswell and Anderlecht’s Cheikou Kouyate, both aged 24. Likewise, after falling afoul of the Upton Park faithful last season, club Chairman David Gold has charged big Sam with the task of evolving the Hammers’ attritional style into something more commendable next season. Poyet, the Pirlo of Greenwich, could become a major part of that process.
But it would be a tremendous shame – and from my biased point of view, an unforgivable sin – if a youngster so naturally talented as Poyet went to waste, engulfed by a 19th century brand of football and Allardyce’s insistence upon results over performance.
Should the Hammers embrace the 19 year-old and his aesthetic style, they will have an incredible player on their hands. Should they shy away, should they turn Poyet into an unimaginative midfield bruiser or failing that, leave him to rot in the reserves, they will have committed a footballing atrocity.