Everton striker Kevin Mirallas has revealed he wants to score at least 10 goals in his first season in English football.
The Belgian striker arrived at Goodison Park in a £5 million switch from Olympiakos in the summer and has become an instant hit, scoring three goals in 11 appearances in all competitions so far.
But only one of those has come in the Premier League, with the other two coming against Leyton Orient in the Capital One Cup, and he is eager to add to his single top-flight goal sooner rather than later.
He told the Liverpool Echo: “I think at the moment I have more assists than I have goals.
“I have provided one or two decent passes for my colleagues to score, but at the same time I am hoping to continue to improve in front of goal and i think 10 goals is a reasonable target for my first season.
“If I manage 10 goals that would be decent.”
The striker went on to admit his natural instinct to assist goals is helped by the fact he is playing with quality players at Everton.
“It is a part of the game I am not bad at and my delivery is quite good,” he continued.
“Sometimes it is easier to supply the pass for a goal than to add that finishing touch, especially when you have lads in the middle with the quality of Nikica Jelavic and Marouane [Fellaini].
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“It encourages you to put crosses in when you players like that in the middle.”
Rangers confirmed on Thursday that they had completed the signing of Jon Flanagan on a free transfer, arriving at Ibrox after leaving Liverpool earlier this month.
The full-back joins on a two-year deal and is Steven Gerrard’s seventh signing of the summer. The club are wasting no time in strengthening their squad massively ahead of the new season and crucial European qualifiers next month.
The 25-year-old made 51 appearances for the Reds before departing, with spells on loan at Burnley and Bolton in recent seasons. His only appearance under Jurgen Klopp last term was a League Cup showing in September.
He arguably has the kind of quality that Rangers are looking for to add competition and depth to their defence, but not every supporter is happy with the decision to sign him.
Controversy has surrounded the player in recent months after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend and was sentenced to 40 hours of unpaid community service, as reported by the BBC.
Fans have taken to Twitter to discuss his arrival in Glasgow.
Some are in favour of the move, believing he deserves a chance to show he can learn from his mistakes…
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Others though would prefer him not to be associated with Rangers…
For Arsenal to take all three points from Saturday’s North London Derby, they’ll have to do something they’ve managed just three times in the Premier League this season – win an away game.
It’s incredible to think the Premier League’s sixth-placed side with ambitions of returning to Europe’s pinnacle tournament have claimed less points on the road than Leicester, Burnley and Watford this season, and just one more than 16th-placed Newcastle United, but at this stage in the campaign it can’t be a mere coincidence or statistical anomaly.
Rather, Arsenal’s modest away form has been perhaps the only real constant of their turbulent season – one that Arsene Wenger has shown no real willingness to address and only given token explanations for in the media.
After losing three of their first four away games of the campaign, Wenger told reporters that his side simply didn’t score enough goals on the road; but after a scoreless draw with West Ham, he blamed a hectic fixture list instead. Back in September, meanwhile, when quizzed on Arsenal’s equally disturbing away record against the Big Six across several seasons, he said he couldn’t ‘accept or understand’ why playing away from home should make any difference to his players.
“The pitch is 105 metres long and 68 metres wide, everywhere, and never in my life I could accept or understand that it’s different away from home. It’s just a question of how much you want it, it’s about football, it’s a good opportunity to show that and that we have that quality.”
That’s a mind-boggling declaration for a modern manager to make, and one that simply doesn’t stack up against the statistics. Even Manchester United, the most dominant club in Premier League history, have averaged ten less away than home points per season over the last 25 years, while that gap expands to eleven for Arsenal. In fact, from the six clubs to feature in all 26 Premier League seasons to date, none have won more points on the road than at home.
Not that anyone would be surprised by that – after all, home advantage is a common, constantly justified adage in practically every sport, whether it’s Rafa Nadal on clay courts or Team GB excelling at the London Olympics.
But Wenger’s bizarre take on the fallacy of home advantage also explains why Arsenal haven’t made any obvious changes to their game-plan for away games this season in the face of damning returns on the road. From 13 away games in the Premier League, the Gunners have won just 23%, kept only three clean sheets, conceded 21 times, scored just 16, fallen behind eight times and thrown away eleven points from winning positions.
It’s not been a problem exclusive to the Premier League either – Arsenal’s most humiliating performance of the season was a 4-2 defeat to Championship side Nottingham Forest at the City Ground – and even their away victories in the top flight have come with caveats.
The 5-2 win over Everton was tellingly followed by Ronald Koeman’s dismissal, the 1-0 victory at Turf Moor owed to a last-second Alexis Sanchez penalty of huge controversy and a win at Selhurst Park was almost thrown away when Crystal Palace staged a late onslaught. In a nutshell, their only comfortable away win of the season came against a side that had previously picked up just eight points from their first eight games and immediately sacked their manager afterwards.
When contrasted with claiming the second-most home points and second-most home goals of any Premier League side this season though, Wenger’s dismissal of the differences between home and away suddenly have real relevance. After all, during this season more than any other, we’ve seen the rest of the league grind out results against the Big Six by any pragmatic means possible, regardless of the venue.
Although playing defensively at home would traditionally irk supporters, it has become something for them to champion in an increasingly polarised Premier League. And while Arsenal averaging 61% possession at the Emirates Stadium would inevitably feel like something of a besiegement for visiting opposition, the Gunners averaging almost exactly the same away – 58.4% – without actually breaking through the defence feels more like an active defiance for fans to rally behind.
Clearances and blocks are celebrated with similar jubilance as goals, and players inevitably feel more confident of picking off Arsenal on the counter-attack when backed by their own partisan crowd. Once upon a time, perhaps Arsenal could play in exactly the same manner home and away, but as the dynamics of the Premier League have steadily changed in recent seasons, the counter-attack becoming an increasingly potent weapon, retaining possession only plays to the hosts’ advantage.
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But that doesn’t tell the full story, and the fact is Arsenal’s players have picked up some disturbing habits – the most detrimental being conceding early goals. Arsenal have conceded six first half goals in away games this season, while only scoring four, and conceded the first goal on five of eleven occasions – the remaining two being scoreless draws.
While that only further plays into the hands of sides counter-attacking at home as Arsenal look to level the scores, it also suggests a lack of focus amongst the players; it’s not as if the opposition are pushing them to the final few minutes and scoring when they’re physically and psychologically exhausted – they’re getting the better of Arsenal in the early stages. In some senses, the right motivation – especially for games like the 3-1 defeat to Swansea – harks back to Wenger, however it’s also a question of effort and professionalism.
Whether the manager or the players are to blame though, it’s Wenger who has ultimately failed to address a problem that traces back further than this season – at the end of last term, Arsenal lost four of their final eight away games in the Premier League. More pertinently, it’s Wenger who must find a solution if Arsenal are to beat Tottenham this weekend and gain some much-needed ground in the race for a top four finish.
In what many expected to be a classic World Cup match between Italy and Uruguay, it turned out to be a rather drab affair as the South Americans – although needing a win – sat back and put most of their team behind a possession based Italian outfit.
Although the Azzurri were still unimpressive on the ball, the game completely turned on its head when Claudio Marchisio was sent off for a rather harsh red card, before the incident hogging the headlines occurred.
Luis Suarez, already twice banned previously for the same episode, decided to bite Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder.
Uruguay did grab the winning goal via a Diego Godin header shortly afterwards, but the game will be remembered for Suarez’s crazy appetite.
And the world has reacted to this insane event.
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As Manchester City and PSG have shown in recent years that a big money takeover can prove to be an enormous windfall in terms of financial and on the field success, however some takeovers can prove to be a nightmare.
We take a look at five of the worst buyouts in football.
Malaga
Whilst PSG and Manchester City have been living the high life, Spanish side Malaga are left to rue what might have been.
The Andalucian side were bought for around 35 million euros in 2010 by Sheik Abdullah Al-Thani, who invested millions in building a side that would qualify for European football.
However two years later after Champions League football was achieved, the Qatari removed his investment in the Spanish side, forcing them to sell some of their star players and leaving some players with unpaid wages.
Reports that the Sheik is looking to sell the club after growing frustrated with the lack of progress with his other business ventures in the area, have turned Malaga’s dream owner into the sugar daddy from hell.
Peter Ridsdale – Leeds United
Peter Ridsdale’s tenure as Leeds United chairman was one of the biggest rollercoaster rides in English football over the last decade and a half. Success followed in the early days of his ownership as Leeds reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and the Champions League, but financial mismanagement saw the club slide down the Premier League table.
Ridsdale quit as chairman in 2003, leaving the club with debts of over £100m. Leeds were then relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2003-04 season. The turmoil that Ridsdale left behind saw the Yorkshiremen relegated from the Championship in 2007, and began the 2007-08 in League One with a 30-point penalty due to insolvency.
The Venkys – Blackburn Rovers
The Venkys ownership of Blackburn so far has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. A seemingly lack of knowledge about the English game, or football in general, has seen the chickenmen ridiculed by the press and fans alike.
Having replaced Sam Allardyce with Steve Kean in December 2010, Rovers went on narrowly avoid relegation at the end of the 2010-11 season. Despite Kean originally being hired on a temporary basis, the Venkys eventually gave the Scot the manager’s job full time.
With the club looking like certain favourites for relegation under the stewardship of Kean in January 2012, the Venkys failed to inject more transfer funds into the club, or sack the hapless Kean in order to help save the club from the drop.
To rub salt in the wounds the club made a pre tax loss of £18.6m during the Venkys first year at the helm.
The Glazers – Manchester United
When it comes to the question of sugar daddies any Manchester United fan will happily tell you that the Glazer family has pumped more debt into the club than they have invested.
After an unprecedented £800m buyout of United in 2005, the Glazers have left the club paying around £70m a year in interest – the equivalent of one Cristiano Ronaldo every season.
The Florida based owners have been a figurehead of contempt at Old Trafford, and whilst much of the management of the club has remained constant, the animosity towards the American owners has not lifted in the last seven years.
In many ways United are lucky that their extensive commercial arm has helped to finance the club in recent years, although there have been rumours that Alex Ferguson has had to curb his spending to help the club clear its debts.
Portsmouth
With the sheer number of disastrous takeovers at Portsmouth in the last six years, it would be unfair to pin the club’s current financial problems on just one man.
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Perhaps the biggest villain of the piece must be the Franco-Israeli businessman Alexandre Gaydamak, who started the rot after taking soul ownership of the club in 2006. Gaydamak had allegedly stripped the club of £32m before selling it to Sulaiman Al-Fahim for £60m in 2009.
Al-Fahim’s tenure at the club lasted less than three months, before he sold the club to Ali al-Faraj in October 2009. The sale provoked much controversy with one report claiming that Al-Fahim had sold the club for ‘zero pounds’.
Al-Faraj’s reign was met with similar financial mismanagement. The club was transferred into the hands of Balram Chainrai in February 2010, after Al-Faraj defaulted on a £17m loan. Chainrai’s first major action was to take the club into administration, becoming the first Premier League club to earn the dishonour.
Relegation swiftly followed and the club was sold yet again in July 2011 to the Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) consortium headed by Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov. “In CSI, I believe we have found owners who will take the long-term view,” said chief executive David Lampitt at the time.
By November Antonov had resigned as chairman of Portsmouth after being arrested for asset stripping. His Convers Sports Initiatives was placed into administration and subsequently so were Portsmouth.
In many ways perhaps Pompey are best off in the hands of the administrators.
Newcastle United have been put on high alert after transfer target Adama Traore has been up for sale by Middlesbrough, according to TeamTalk.
What’s the story?
Traore joined Middlesbrough from Aston Villa in 2016 and the lightning winger has since shone for Boro, scoring five and assisting ten in the Championship this season.
The 22-year-old Spaniard’s form has brought him to the attention of top clubs, including Chelsea, Monaco and Newcastle.
The previous asking price set by Middlesbrough of £30million might have put off Newcastle, but now it appears their north-east rivals are prepared to lower the fee in order to fund their purchase of Albert Adomah and Matt Phillips according to TeamTalk.
Is he worth it?
TeamTalk do not propose an alternative figure to the £30million already suggested, but if Newcastle could agree a fee south of £20million then that would represent real value.
At only 22, Traore has already shown great promise and his incredible pace will frighten Premier League defenders.
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He still has work to do on his end product but is surely ready for a move to the top-flight, and Newcastle will do very well to see off interest from the heavyweights.
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On-loan Newcastle United striker Adam Armstrong scored a brace for League One high-flyers Blackburn Rovers in their 2-1 win against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Tuesday night, and Magpies fans were quick to have their say on his display.
The 21-year-old joined Championship outfit Bolton Wanderers on loan until January back in the summer, but he was recalled by the Magpies last month despite making 23 appearances in all competitions for the Trotters, with many of those coming from out wide rather than as a centre-forward.
Armstrong joined Wanderers’ Lancashire rivals on a similar temporary deal just days after he returned from the Macron Stadium, and he has now netted three goals in seven matches.
Newcastle supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the Toon starlet, and while one said he’s “not good enough for the Prem”, another said “patience needed with the lad”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
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It’s always a hard thing to make sense of: how a team can be better without one their best players. But the clue is in the word itself.
Teams are not just the sum of their individuals talents; the collective has the potential to be both much greater, and much worse, than this. And unfortunately for Manchester United, they find themselves a lot closer to the latter.
Teamwork aside, the idea that Man United could be better without Van Persie in their side would have been ludicrous this time last year. Then it seemed the striker could not help but score. He was being widely credited as the main factor in United winning their 20th Premier League title, and Arsene Wenger similarly castigated for gifting a rival with such riches.
But a year is a long time in football. And this last year will have felt a lot longer at Manchester United than elsewhere.
Man United are not the same team as they were last season. Well, in truth, they actually are much the same team, but a different man is picking them. The club that won the title by 11 points last year now find themselves 15 points off the lead with seven games left to play. Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, United are guaranteed to finish with their lowest ever points tally in the Premier League era.
The main problem for the team is one of balance. For the first half of the season, Man United’s sole focus of attack was down the channels. Moyes deployed traditional wingers and encouraged the full-backs to overlap.
Their play was predictable, but more importantly it was ineffective. The United strikers’ chances of goalscoring were mainly restricted to converting crosses, and they spent most of their time either with their arms aloft or fouling the opposition out of frustration.
Since signing Juan Mata, Moyes has experimented with playing three No. 10’s with similarly sterile results. Man United’s play now appeared to have the opposite problem of being too narrow. Rooney, Januzaj and Mata all looked to operate in the same space. They all wanted to be the one to thread balls through. But no one was making the runs to necessitate such passing.
The Man United of 2014 have been a team of square pegs. David Moyes’ attempts to fit Van Persie, Rooney and Mata into one team have so far been met with failure. But then there is nothing surprising about this. The only surprising thing is how long Moyes has persisted with a combination that is so clearly not working.
Mata was the first big buy of the Moyes rebuilding project. Well, actually, he was the second. Fellaini was the first big buy of the Moyes rebuilding project. But the problem with the Fellaini purchase was that it didn’t do a lot of rebuilding. United needed a central midfielder and Fellaini was available. It was a purchase made in desperation, not an insight into the shape of things to come for Man United.
The Mata transfer felt more like that. Here was a player who could be an integral part of the United team for years to come. The problem was, Man United already had an integral part who played in the same position.
Given the flirtations with Chelsea in the summer and the fact that Rooney was entering the last 18 months of his contract, many speculated that Mata’s arrival would see Rooney depart in the summer. Van Persie was United’s best striker, Mata the new No. 10, there no longer appeared to be any room for Wayne Rooney.
As it transpired, Manchester United offered Rooney a contract worth £85million to play for them until he’s 34. Unsurprisingly, the Englishman accepted.
When you’ve spent so much money on two players as United have, you have to see them as being part of your first-team. Anything else is madness. However, given that the team has yet to perform with any combination of Rooney, Mata and Van Persie, the long-term future of the club would appear to be one without the Dutchman.
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This may be an uncomfortable conclusion, but it’s the only logical one given the decisions that have already been made. While Moyes will likely have deduced as much already, dropping Robin Van Persie may not have felt like an option that was available to the manager due to how disastrous his short tenure in charge has been thus far.
In this way, the news of the Dutchman’s month-long injury feels like a blessing in disguise for the Scot. David Moyes can now restore balance to the team without having to worry about the backlash if it doesn’t immediately work.
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QPR have agreed a transfer fee of up to £4 million as compensation for Junior Hoilett’s move from Blackburn, The Daily Mail claim.
The Canadian attacker impressed over a number of seasons at Ewood Park, but left the Lancashire club following their relegation from the Premier League last term.
Hoilett’s contract was up and joined the Loftus Road club on a free transfer, but due to his age Rovers were due a compensation fee.
An initial amount of £3 million will be paid to the Championship side, with an extra £1 million in the offing dependant on the number of appearances the North American makes for the London club.
It is believed that Blackburn are also entitled to a portion of Hoilett’s sell-on fee should it be more than the figure they have just received from QPR.
The agreement between the clubs means that the matter does not have to be determined by the Professional Football Compensation Committee.
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Nottingham Forest have plenty of work to do if they want to push for Premier League promotion this season.
For manager Aitor Karanka, the first task at hand is to recruit new players to kickstart the campaign.
It seems that the Reds will be replacing one right-back with another as Alan Hutton is believed to be a target, while Eric Lichaj could be heading out the exit door towards Hull City.
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As reported on Twitter by John Percy of The Telegraph, the Championship outfit have held talks with Hutton and are prepared to offer him a two-year contract.
The experienced defender will be out of contract next month, which means that he is eligible to join another club for free.
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Lichaj, who has been at the City Ground for five years, has been heavily linked with a switch to fellow Championship club Hull City.
With reports of Hutton’s transfer rumbling around, Forest fans have been tweeting their thoughts, and they have been fairly mixed.