EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

37 year old Keane resigned as Sudnerland’s manager after 27 months in charge. Sunderland has fallen to 18th place following 5 defeats out of six matches. Sunderland’s first team coach Ricky Sbragia is temporarily in charge assisted by coaches Neil Bailey and Dwight Yorke.

Chairman Niall Quinn described Keanes departure: “Roy’s decision sums up his desire to always do what is best for the club, despite the club’s efforts to keep him. Roy deserves huge respect for his contribution and the manner in which he guided the club from the depths of the Championship back to the Premier League. His winning mentality and singled mindedness were just what this club needed. Even in his departure he has been more concerned for the welfare of the players and his staff than himself. The board has reluctantly accepted his decision and wish him and his family well for the future.”

Quinn held talks with Keane over 3 days in an attempt to persuade him to stay. “He lifted this place off its knees, he is a tremendous influence. Five weeks ago (after beating Newcastle) people were dancing in the streets of Sunderland. It’s a funny world football and I hoped I’d never have to do this day. I spoke many times about Roy and I being in a partnership and it feels like the partnership has dissolved now. I wish him real well in the future. He’ll get a bit of time to himself now to re-charge but I think we all know the Premiership hasn’t seen the last of him. He’s got great things to come.”

Prior to Sunderland’s 4-1 loss against Bolton Keane questioned his role with the club, “I ask myself every day if I’m the right man for Sunderland. I asked myself this morning and I said I was. Sunday morning, if the answer’s no, we’ll have to look at it.”

Following Keanes arrival the Black Cats spent €70 million signing 33 players. Upon their return to the Premiership the Black Cats finished in 15th place avoiding relegation by only 3 points. Roy Keane “I would like to thank my staff, players, Niall Quinn and, in particular, the fans for their support during my time at Sunderland, and I would like to wish the club every success in the future.”

Quinn commented again on Keane’s departure saying “Roy felt he had completed his journey here, and he just felt he didn’t want to get it unstuck any further and find ourselves in deeper, darker territory. That’s the measure of the guy. In situations like this, I am sure nine times out of 10 the chairman is saying how the manager was trying to keep his job. It was the other way round.”

Keane was a Republic of Ireland international who played with Manchester United. During his stay with the Red Devils he won 7 Premier League Titles, 4 FA Cup titles, and the Champions League in 1999. Keane is the 5th manager to be sacked this year.

Ronaldo described the win as “One of the most beautiful days of my life.” Ronaldo fended off 2007 winner Kaka, as other competitors such as Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi. Out of 96 journalists interviewed by Frances Football Magazine, 77 voted Ronaldo as the #1 player, and every journalist voted him in the top 5. Ronaldo scored 42 goals and led United to Premier League and Champions League trophies. He obtained 446 points out of a possible 480; Messi obtained 2nd with 281 points, Torres fell in 3rd with 179 points. Ronaldo is the 3rd Portugese player to land the trophy with previous Portugese winners including Figo and Eusebio.The last EPL player to win the trophy was Michael Owen in 2001.He is the 4th United player to win the award with Dennis Law, Bobby Charlton, and George Best all having won during the 1960’s.

Ronaldo commented on his award:

“It is one of the most beautiful days of my life. To gain this trophy is something I dreamed of as a child. Great emotion fills me but I cannot really describe it. I want to thank those who voted for me, those who know me and those who live with me. I was not worried, because I was aware of what I did in the course of the season. But to the people who mentioned my name, I say thank you. Thank you also to my team-mates. This (trophy) is one that I want to win again because it is so good. Therefore, I will wake and I will say to myself ‘I want to be even better’. I am only 23 years old and it is splendid, incredible,” he continued. There were other great names this year. I see that Lionel Messi finished second and Fernando Torres third, but also (fifth-placed) Xavi … all these people could have taken the trophy and I won it.”

Ferguson commended Ronaldo on his determination and the award. “We are very proud. Manchester United had been waiting for this for 40 years. Cristiano is in the tradition of our three other Ballons d’Or. His award is beyond all possible dispute. He is only 23 years old. His best years are ahead of him. In life, you have two categories of people. Those who reach their goal and go to bed saying to themselves ‘I made it’ and the other ones, who are driven by will, desire. These ones, when they win the trophy, they say to themselves ‘I go on’… Ronaldo has that sparkle in himself.”

After having recovering from an ankle injury during the beginning of this season Ronaldo scored 8 goals in 11 games.

Jordan Spencer, a teenager who was attacked by Joey Barton in Liverpool city center December 27th of 2007, has filed suit against Barton for the scars which are left on his face and mouth after the attack. 26 year old Barton was convicted last May of the attack which also left Spencer’s jaw broken. Barton admitted to the attack and spent 4 months in jail in May.

Spencers surgeon commented on the injury:
“The scar on Mr Spencer’s lip can be seen from six foot away. There is a (second) scar on his lip which may indicate the presence of a foreign body and damage to one of his upper left teeth which dentists have said is now dead.”

For more information about Joey Barton and his assaults:
Joey Barton: life of a true asshole

Arsene Wenger is extremely frustrated by the string of injuries that his squad has received by Stoke to the point that he suggested they intentionally injured his players. “The only intention is to hurt you and I can show some tackles where I can prove what I say. Do you think (Rory) Delap tried to play the ball when he tackled Walcott? Or that [Ryan] Shawcross tried to play the ball when he tackled Adebayor off the pitch. All the players have been injured deliberately. Adebayor will be three weeks. Walcott could be days or weeks. It is the shoulder he had the surgery on.” This just before Arsenal’s Champions League game against Fenerbahce (tied 0-0). Not only that but Robin van Persie is serving a three match ban after earning a red card against Stoke. Luckily, Gallas and Sagna may be coming back to help bolster the squad.

Tony Pullis commented on Wengers insult:
“In Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday evening Mr Wenger talked openly about Arsenal’s encounter with Stoke, as being a ‘typical English encounter’. He commended my team’s organisation, my team’s commitment and confessed that on the day Stoke City thoroughly deserved to win the game. Very open and very honest. In London 48 hours later and 150 miles away from Stoke-on-Trent, Mr Wenger changed tack and has tried to rewrite history. His comments about my team are there for everybody to read and certainly made me smile, along with I’m sure 27,000 supporters at the game, millions of TV viewers and the massed press who interviewed him after the game. Remember there was only one red card on Saturday and the last time I watched the game it certainly was not a Stoke City player who received it. I and my Football Club have tremendous respect for Mr Wenger and Arsenal football club, but as Mr Wenger is such a learned professional and on a great day in American electoral history, I would like to remind him of Abraham Lincoln’s great quotation, ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time’.”

Arsenal will be playing Manchester United on Saturday.

Chelsea suffered a humbling defeat to Roma in a night where little worked for Chelsea. Deco obtained two yellow cards and was sent off in the 80th minute. He obtained his 2nd after taking a free-kick before the referee had signalled he was ready. The loss is puzzling and unexpected partially because Serie A competitors Roma are struggling to remain out of the relegation zone having only obtained 7 points out of 9 games played. Its even more puzzling because Chelsea had 65% possession; they were completely unable to produce serious efforts on goal however.

Scolari commented on the loss,
“We gave too many opportunities to Roma. We made too many mistakes, made wrong passes and had bad positions. [The] first goal there was not any player covering him [Panucci] when they crossed. After this, we were anxious and gave more opportunities. It’s okay, all of the groups are difficult. We lost one game here and there are other team arriving behind us. If we draw today we are in good condition but we did not play very well and it was impossible to draw or win. We now have two chances to win against Bordeaux and Cluj. We’ll try.”

Liverpool played Atletico Madrid and somehow managed to scour a point in the 1-1 tie. Atletico deserved to win and had victory within view only 2 minutes away when Gerrard jumped high to head a ball for possession. He was in the penalty box but far from goal when he jumped for the ball, Pernia umped late to compete and only managed to bump into Gerrard’s back. Gerrard went down and was awarded a penalty; the call was a bad one which gave Liverpool a goal in the 92nd minute.

Gerrard commented on the penalty and game:

“I think we controlled the game but first half we weren’t good enough. We raised it at half-time and it finally came in injury time. I’m not sure it was a penalty. I got their first and I think if that is outside the area you get a free-kick. If it happened at the other end we would be livid. That’s football. It’s a point and we move on. It is important because we have got a point. Good teams don’t usually lose two in a row and we showed a lot of character.  I think so, watching the replay. I think it was the linesman who has given the penalty but it is better not to talk too much about the referee.”

Chairman Daniel Levy has accused Dimitar Berbatov of malevolence against Tottenham which led to the Spurs having a horrible start to the season.
“We had a player who had refused to play two games for us, having a detrimental affect on the dressing-room. We’d known for a year that the player had wanted out of this club. We were very disappointed. Dimitar Berbatov was a player who we brought to this club at a time when Man Utd were interested in him. He made a conscious decision to come to this club, we invested a lot of money, nobody had ever heard of Dimitar Berbatov when we bought him.”
Its pathetic that Levy is attempting to accuse Berbatov of having ruined Spurs next season. He told them he wanted to leave a year ahead of time and Spurs got paid a fair amount of money from Manchester United for him, only €30.5 million. And they had the entire summer transfer window to pick up some strikers (they also sold Robbie Keane to Liverpool for €20.3 million) with the combined €50.8 million euros they obtained. Unfortunately Spurs Sporting Director Damien Comolli did not pick up decent replacements. They got their moneys worth in those deals and it makes no sense to criticize Berbatov for going to one of the moss popular and successful clubs ever.

“A year later with 10 days to go to the end of the window he tells us he wants to leave to go to Manchester United.  I don’t think he treated this club with the respect that we honestly deserved. We put him on the map, I think he’s an outstanding player, but he signed a long-term contract with this club and I think he should have stayed. I had so many conversations with him. He kept saying it was about his ambition to play for Manchester United. It wasn’t a money issue. We offered him a new contract and he wasn’t even interested in discussing it.”

In an extremely exciting game Tottenham tied Arsenal in their 2nd game with Redknapp in charge. “I feel like superman, I could fly home” said David Bentley. “Arsenal knocked the the ball about and they are a hard team to play against but we showed character and spirit. We showed we are a top team willing to fight for every point. I’m buzzing. You’re going to get criticized when you’re not performing and certain things have gone on but we have sorted them out and we’re going in the right direction now.”

“It was probably the best night of my career, but I felt like an emotional wreck at the end of it. We had a team meeting before the game and Clive Allen pointed out that the keeper comes off his line and sometimes right out to the edge of his box. That was still in my head early in the game. The ball sat up and I caught it perfectly. When I saw it go in, I went mad. I get so emotional and that’s why we all play football. We’ve all been criticized this season and we accept that. Against Arsenal we conceded too many easy goals. We know that and we’ll address that. But it’s nights like that, goals like that, performances like that, that make it all worthwhile. We were 4-2 down but showed character, determination, fight and kept going until the final whistle. We’ll get things right, keep progressing and keep getting better.”

Harry Redknapp also commented on the great outcome for Sours. “It’s going to be a long season, but there was a great atmosphere in that dressing room now. I thought I was David Pleat running up the touchline when we scored. I don’t usually do that. I don’t have a suit or shoes that colour, mind you. I’ve tried to make them believe in themselves. There’s ability in the squad. Bring on Liverpool. We’ll give them a good go on Saturday.”

Wenger however, was about as pissed off as he can get. And for a good reason: the young Gunner were far to lax in their end game defense. “I am angry. We have to look at ourselves and improve. The players are very down. We were two levels above Tottenham and they were there for the taking. It was damaging. On the positive side, we were really superior to Tottenham, produced the game we wanted, lots of energy in the game. The only down side is we didn’t win. That was down a little bit to a lack of maturity. I would like to keep the positives tonight because I believe we were really outstanding. We were too cautious rather than scoring number five or six. The right pass would have seen us score. The maturity problem will improve with intelligence. They will learn from their mistakes. With two minutes to go, there was no Harry Redknapp factor.”

Heinze criticized a theory from Alex Ferguson which theorized that Real Madrid was still attempting to lure Crisitiano Ronaldo. Fergusons theory stipulated that Heinze was signed by Real Madrid because he was a good friend of Ronaldo and that he might convince Ronaldo to join Real Madrid.

“This theory of Ferguson about me going to Real in order to persuade Cristiano to come the following summer is a work of absolute fiction. I am a very good friend of Cristiano Ronaldo. This is true, but he always decides his own future. Cristiano is a clever person and he decides himself what is best for his own life. If he asks me a question about Real then, of course, I will answer, but I’m not a bad influence on him. Ferguson has spoken about me in the last months and I don’t understand this.

“I thought he had forgotten me. He’s the boss at United and any person who protests about anything is marginalised. This was my problem at times when I was there. Ferguson cannot stop my quotes because I’m not now at United. I’m actually convinced Cristiano would offer Madrid even bigger performances than he has at United. That is my opinion and it is normal that I have wanted him to come and play with us here in La Liga.”

I can certainly agree that Fergusons theory is fairly remote in likelyhood, impossible to substantiate, and therefore silly.

Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate has suggested that Tottenham has a strong chance of being relegated unless they take strong, immediate action. He even stated that Leeds, the team he had played with in 2004, was a better team than the current Spurs squad. Leeds was relegated from the EPL that same season. “People say we are too good to go down but we aren’t. I’ve seen it happen at Leeds and they had a better team than we do here.” He also said that Spurs were currently facing relegation. “One million per cent we are at the moment.”

Tottenham recently played Udinese in the UEFA Cup and lost 2-0. Woodgate said that the players needed to “take responsibility” for their form. Spurs committed multiple blunders with their keeper Heurelho Gomes conceding a penalty (their 3rd in 2 matches) and with Jamie O’Hara obtaining 2 yellow cards in the span of 1 minute. O’Hara was sent off, the 3rd player to be dismissed in the past 2 games. When asked if he could take anything positive from the game he responded: “No, none at all. What went wrong was the same as has been happening in every single game we have played in this season - a lack of concentration. We have got to start learning quickly.”

“A goal goes in and you think ‘here we go again’. When you have a losing mentality like we’ve got at the moment you have got to get really stuck in and start winning games or you just get used to losing and losing and losing. We have really got to roll our sleeves up here and start grafting because, I am telling you now, it is going to be hard. We are bottom of the Premier League with two points and it doesn’t really get much worse than that. Without a doubt I will take responsibility - I have got to stand up like everyone else. It is the players who shoulder the blame because we are not pulling our weight on the pitch.

“If we are not producing the goods and getting the wins then pressure is going to be put on the manager, the chairman and Damien Comolli [sporting director]. The way we have been playing, we deserve to be down at the bottom of the table - we deserve to be where we are, end of story.”

Ramos commented on the sultry situation again, “I’m very angry because I don’t like to lose. We lost this match in this competition and now we have to win matches to qualify for the next stage.” Bentley commented about the situation at White Heart Lane before the game and when Ramos was asked why he did not play in the game in Italy Ramos said, “I chose these 18 players out of the 20 in the squad. I don’t know what happened before the match. His [Bentley’s] reaction was normal, the same as the other players who are not playing. The situation is not very comfortable. At this moment [morale] in the dressing room is not in a normal situation but they know it’s possible to win in football and it’s possible to lose.”

Spurs will be playing Bolton October 26th.

View Spurs break club record for worst start

and…

Ramos struggles to produce results at Tottenham to view Bentley’s comments

Manager Juande Ramos has been under considerable pressure recently with Tottenham suffering the worst start to a season for the club since 1912. They currently stand at the very bottom of the Premier League with 2 points; 7 games have been played so far this season and Tottenham has still not won a game. Their record now stands at 5 games lost and two ties. The news comes hard to fans and players who were hoping that Spurs could make it to the Top Four this season. However, they should have realized that this was unlikely when Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov were transferred away. Now Spurs are left without a competent attacking force.

“Any decision on my future is not up to me but I am determined to put it right. It is my job, my work. The main problem for us is scoring goals. You have to score to win games and we are finding that difficult. But if we continue to play similar to how we did against Hull we can change the situation. The effort was there and the players did their job very well. Their attitude was positive and when I speak to them they say they want to finish this situation quickly.” Reportedly, if Ramos was sacked he would be due between €15-20 million in compensation which may be why he is being given a better chance than most. It was also difficult for Tottenham to obtain Ramos who recently led Sevilla to 2 UEFA Cup wins.

However, Ramos met with club chairman Daniel Levy Thursday and said the meeting had been productive. “It was very nice, very happy. He’s very happy. We know the problem and we are speaking about looking for the solution but the meeting was nice. The problem has to stop on Sunday, not January. To win matches you need to play football. Fighting is difficult because they are a very strong team. I think we need to play. We have to show that we are worthy to stay up, but if we are not winning games it doesn’t count for anything. We need to win matches. We are very good in defense, in midfield very good but we need to improve and score goals. To win or to lose, all the team have the responsibility. Football is like the markets. It’s possible that then the markets change and go up, and so do we.”

Bent commented on the teams dismal form:
“One win won’t get us out of it, we need to start winning games so that there isn’t a gap where you need to win two or three games just to have a chance. We’ve got a difficult game against Stoke but if we prepare like we know we can do, and play like we did against Hull in periods, we know we can beat anyone. Everyone is still upbeat. There are things going around that there is unrest in the dressing room but everyone is behind the manager, and we are all behind each other. I’ve said on numerous occasions, I’m sure we’ll be okay and we’ll put it right sooner or later. It’s disappointing, obviously, but we have to take positives and in some games we’ve been playing well enough to get something from games. When you lose to Hull with goals like Geovanni’s, there’s nothing much you can do about that. It just seems to happen to us but I’m sure we’ll put it right eventually. We know what we have to do.”

Its apparent that Spurs spirits are at an all time low with David Bentley suggesting people Tottenham has become a laughing stock.

“I know people are having a laugh at the fact we are bottom of the league at the moment but it’s up to everyone at the club to stop the jokes. We’re not happy with what has been happening. You cannot hide from the situation but what we need are a team of leaders who take responsibility. We have to grow as people. We have more than enough good players at Tottenham to get us out of this situation and I give my word that we will. I’m fully behind him [Ramos], 100%. I still love being at Spurs and I don’t regret joining the club for one second. I know I haven’t been at my best but I haven’t become a bad player in a fortnight. The manager believes in me.” Bentley joined WHite Hart Lane from Blackburn for €15million this past summer.

Many are questioning whether Spurs sports director Damien Comolli is doing his job correctly in managing transfers. Last seasons starting forwards Robbie Keane and Berbatov both transferred to different teams and many question whether he found suitable replacements.

Spurs will be playing Stoke at the Britannia Stadium Sunday, October 19th.