Arsenal v Everton : Wenger questions ``no risk'' society

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger feels the fear factor plays a big part in football matches being postponed when "there is no real need for it".
The Gunners were denied the chance to close the gap on Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea down to just one point when their midweek fixture against struggling Bolton was called off just hours before kick-off due to the extreme weather conditions around the Emirates Stadium.
While the pitch itself, which like most top-flight clubs has under soil heating, may have been playable, the area around the state-of-the-art 60,000-seater venue had become treacherous.
The police also expressed concerns for supporters travelling to and from the stadium.
Wenger can understand the reasons behind such decisions, and is hoping tomorrow's clash with Everton goes ahead.
"Personally I know only the inside of the stadiums - I don't know the surroundings well enough, but I must say it is the price we pay for living in a society where everybody wants 100% security,'' he said.
"Nobody accepts any risk any more and everybody is always guided by fear.
"If one of 60,000 people has an accident, you feel very guilty and nobody accepts anymore that the slightest insecurity could exist in our society and that is why the games are postponed when there is no real need for it.''
Wenger believes should more fixtures fall to the weather, then perhaps the authorities may consider cancelling all the other matches, so as to keep a sense of fair play.
He said: "The question you can ask is, for the fairness of the Premier League, if there are two or three games postponed, should the whole day be re-scheduled?
"Because if you play one team now who fights not to go down, and you play them again in May when they are already safe or already down, it is not the same game.''
Arsenal have recovered from slipping 11 points behind Chelsea following their 3-0 home defeat by the Blues at the end of November to be right back in the title race.
Arsenal will again be without captain Cesc Fabregas because of a hamstring strain, but the Spain international is expected to return for next weekend's trip to Bolton.
Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner has resumed training following a groin problem, and could be back in action by the end of the month.
Everton manager David Moyes has thanked midfielder Tim Cahill - whom he rates as one of his best signings - for leading the club's recent resurgence.
The Australia international scored his 50th goal for the Toffees in last weekend's FA Cup victory over Carlisle but it is his influence in the Premier League campaign which has impressed Moyes.
Everton are unbeaten in the league since defeat to near-neighbours Liverpool at the end of November and, after a shaky start, they are now up to 12th in the table.
Injuries have decimated Moyes' squad this season but in the absence of many established players Cahill has led by example, captaining the side while Phil Neville was injured.
And although his four-goal tally for this season is on the low side for such a prolific midfielder, Moyes could not be happier with the 30-year-old.
"He came from Millwall, who were in the Championship at the time, and we paid £1.5million for him,'' said the Everton boss.
"He has been really good value for money, not because of the price but because of what he has given us on the field.
"A lot of our resurgence over this period has a lot to do with Tim Cahill so we have a lot to thank him for.
"And he is very good off the field, he has been a great ambassador for us.''
Moyes is also hoping loan signing Landon Donovan, who has joined for a 10-week spell from Los Angeles Galaxy, can also give the side a lift.
The 27-year-old United States international only started training with his new club this week, but because of the on-going injury situation Moyes is considering whether he should feature against Arsenal tomorrow.
"He has had a month's holiday off the back-end of their season and to put him back in after five days' training is not really the right thing to do, but the needs are at this present time that we might need to do that,'' said the Scot.
"When you take players from anywhere you just never quite know but he has been really keen.
"I hope the players see we have tried to bring in a proven international, who can play in several roles for us, who we hope can help us.
"We won't be able to tell that until he has featured in some of the games.''
Copyright ©2009 ESPN Internet Ventures.

Premier League: Birmingham v Manchester United Preview

McLeish expects a dangerous United

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has warned his players to "beware of the wounded animal'' when they face Manchester United in Saturday tomorrow evening's Premier League clash at St Andrew's.

McLeish knows the Red Devils will be "hurting'' after suffering a shock FA Cup third round defeat against Leeds at Old Trafford last weekend.
But he is still confident his in-form players can give United - and his former Aberdeen boss Sir Alex Ferguson - the "fright of their lives.''
City will go into the game defending an 11 game unbeaten league run which has catapulted them into the top half of the table and already virtually guaranteed their top flight status for another campaign.
McLeish said: "Manchester United, you can't judge them on the last couple of results, because they don't normally go a few games without winning.
"You know there will be a bit of a wounded animal this weekend and extremely dangerous - and if we were to get something off them then we would still be punching above our weight.
"But the players are relishing matches like this. Players who haven't played before in the Premier League relished coming up against Chelsea on Boxing Day, really loved it, and it will be the same against Manchester United.
"Some of them played against United this season at Old Trafford but, at St Andrews, we feel we can be a match for anybody and we will try to give Manchester United the fright of their lives.''
McLeish is continually stressing the need for his players not to rest on their laurels after accumulating 32 points going into the New Year means they are only a handful away from safety.
He said: "The points we have amassed so far are way ahead of where we thought we would be and maybe we have got a few points in the bank for a rainy day.
"At some stage we will lose a game, and that's a fact, but we believe that we can continue the run but they don't come any bigger than Manchester United.''
Birmingham defender Stephen Carr will return after suspension after missing the goalless draw at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup while serving a one-game ban for incurring five bookings.
McLeish will have to reorganise his bench as fringe players Lee Carsley, Stuart Parnaby and Gregory Vignal are all ruled out through injury.
But number two goalkeeper Maik Taylor has recovered from a back problem after having an injection.
Sir Alex Ferguson has absolved his young players of blame for Manchester United's shock FA Cup defeat to Leeds last weekend.
The icy conditions around the north-west mean United have been forced to wait to get that dire performance out of their system.
But while Ferguson is still at a loss to explain why his team ended up getting outplayed on home soil by the League One promotion contenders, the United chief is adamant the younger men in his squad were not the ones responsible.
"You can't blame young players,'' he said.
"The young players were looking for a bit of help in that game and didn't get it.
"It was a bad team performance and I was shocked by it.
"I couldn't believe that after all the preparation we had done for the game and explaining to the players how difficult it was going to be, we turned in a performance like that.
"It was a bad day but I am beyond that now.''
Instead, Ferguson will look for instant improvement at Birmingham.
Not that it will be easy. Ferguson himself was snowed in on Tuesday, when the heavy falls took hold of the north-west.
United's players were given two days off, then spent two days training inside, which is hardly ideal preparation, even though the Red Devils do have a significant advantage with undersoil heating on one of their outside surfaces making one decent pre-match practice possible.
Ironically, the bad weather has come at a time when Owen Hargreaves was finally starting to do some normal training with the reserve team, meaning an end to an 18-month injury nightmare is coming closer.
Rio Ferdinand is two weeks away from a return due to his long-standing back injury, which is roughly the amount of time Nemanja Vidic will be out of action after suffering a nerve problem in his leg prior to last weekend's game.
Ferguson does have Senegal-born front-man Mame Biram Diouf available for the first time after finally linking up from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's old club Molde.

 Copyright ©2009 ESPN Internet Ventures.

 

Ivory Coast struggle to beat Rwanda 2-0

Skipper Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast side needed the last five minutes to beat Rwanda 2-0 in an International build-up game played on Thursday evening at the National stadium in Dar es Saalam. 

On Monday, the Ivory Coast team who leave for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations tournament today beat hosts Tanzania 1-0, courtesy of a Drogba goal.
Although Rwanda’s Amavubi were always on the back foot dealing with relentless pressure, they defended well in numbers. The most serious was when they survived a Salomon Kalou shot that was kept off by the upright in the 20th minute.
Rwanda cracked in the 85th minute when Souleyman Bamba converted with a header, the first of two goals scored in similar manner from corners.
Brou Angova got the second in the 90th minute beating Rwanda’s second choice goalkeeper Jean Luc Ndayishimiye alias Bakame.
The score line could have been a lot worse had it not been for a top notch performance from Amavubi’s first choice goalkeeper Jean Claude Ndoli in the first half. The APR shot stopper twice denied Ivory Coast’s skipper Didier Drogba and Bakary Kone.

 

Unlike in last Monday's game when Cote d’Ivoire pulled out virtually all the starters, including skipper Drogba, at the beginning of the second half, the tourists maintained almost the entire starting XI throughout the game. Apparently because of going scoreless for so long, they kept on Drogba -- a man they had indicated that he needed pretty of rest -- until the 75th minute apparently after it seemed goals would never come anyway.
Amavubi, the 2009 Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup runners-up however had chances of their own but couldn’t convert them with Abbas Rassou failing to hit the target with only the keeper to beat. 
http://www.cafonline.com/

Nigeria, Zambia play 0-0

There was no victor no vanquished in In a pré Orange Africa Cup of Nations C friendly match between the national teams of Zâmbia and Nigéria played under closed doors at ABSA Stadium in Durban.

Post match echoes gathered after the match ,confirm that the two teams who confronted each other in the 1994 final in Tunisia, played a match that had all the qualities of a great encounter.

The starting line up was also an indication of the formation that will prosecute the nations cup for both countries.

On Zambias part, coach Herve Renard put together a highly attacking formation, with three attackers, James Chamanga, Jacob Mulenga and Chris Katongo.

Shuaib Amodu, on his part surprised many by lining out a 4-2-4 formation, a system he modified in the second half when he brought in Nwankwo Kanu.

The inclusion of Kanu changed things around positively and coach Amodu was all praise for the ageless star. “ he is incredible. He just came in and changed the game around” he said. This view was shared by Kalusha Bwalya, president of the Zambian Football Federation. “ Nigeria took control in the second half” he said.

This match marks the end of preparations for Nigeria while next Saturday,Zambia will play a South Korea that has come to have a feel of South African turf before the World Cup in June.

Beautiful goal: Top 5 beautiful goals premier league

05. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa, 27/12/2009)
04. Didier Drogba (Chelsea 3-3 Everton, 12/12/2009)
03. Denilson (Arsenal 3-0 Hull City, 20/12/2009)
02. James Milner (Sunderland 0-2 Aston Villa, 16/12/2009)
01. Maynor Figueroa (Stoke City 2-2 Wigan Athletic, 12/12/2009)