EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

I’m not sure why anybody would think for a moment that Cristiano Ronaldo would leave Manchester United; nor do I understand why anyone would think why United would let Ronaldo go. But, I might as well address the idiotic rumors that have been circulating.

“He’s got four more years (on his contract) until 2012, he’s been with us for five years and we’re sure he’ll be with us for many years to come. He’s clearly one of the best players in the world and he’s at a great club, winning trophies. He enjoys it immensely here, you can tell that when you speak to him privately. Why would he want to leave? We have no intention of letting him go, we will make sure that he’s very happy here, as we do with all our top players. Manchester United is not a club that sells its main assets. In order to service our debts we need a very successful team on the pitch, and you don’t achieve that by selling Cristiano Ronaldo.” said Manchester United Chief Executive David Gill.

United currently has a debt of €764 million to various banks. There are provisions in Uefa licences that deal with clubs being able to meet their obligations, you have to give forward-looking accounts for coming years to show you can meet them, which is quite right,” he said. “Look at the debt in isolation and, yes, it’s a concern, but look at our income generation. Our revenue is well over £200m. Banks wouldn’t loan those sums unless they were fairly confident they’d get their money back and if we didn’t have a business plan which showed they’d get it back. In Manchester United, we have one of the best clubs in the world and we have a significant amount of income which can service those debts, so let’s not just look at one side (of the equation).” It’s truly astounding to think what many people consider to be ‘the most successful’ club teams in the world could have such an astounding debt.

United was taken over by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer in 2005 when he bought up 75% of Uniteds stock.

By the end of the 2007/2008 season Bolton barely avoided relegation by only one point. After Bolton’s miserable season, it seems like several players feel like they no longer belong with Bolton and have decided to leave. Three of the clubs midfielders including Andranik Teymourian, Stelios Giannakopoulos, and Ivan Campo have left. “Ivan, Stelios and Andranik have all done well for Bolton Wanderers and I’d like to express my gratitude to them. It’s time for them to move on and I wish them all the best.” said the Bolton manager Gary Megson.

Not only that but Jussi Jaaskalanen and Ricardo Gardner’s contracts will be expiring at the end of June; Megson, of course will be trying to stem the tide of fleeing players who sense the danger of relegation. “Jussi and Ricardo have both been excellent servants and are still very much part of my future plans for this football club. Hopefully, we can get them secured on new deals as soon as possible.” said Megson.

Wayne Rooney is determined to show fans that Manchester United is the best club team in the world by winning the Champions League Final against Liverpool. Liverpool won the Champions League during the 2004/2005 season against AC Milan; the score was 3-3 with Liverpool winning in penalties 3-2. Any Manchester United fan would hate to see Liverpool take the Champions League from them especially if they could earn a “double” by winning the Champions League and Premier League. Rooney could think of nothing better than downing Liverpool in the Champions League. “It is difficult when you see one of your rivals winning things. When Liverpool took the trophy, it was hard to take. Because they haven’t really been challenging for the league in the last few years, they’ve had chances to rest players before big Champions League games and that helped them. By Liverpool winning the Champions League, it’s made us want to win it even more.”

“We just need to go out there and try and enjoy ourselves. If we enjoy playing, I’m sure we will do well. If we go out there thinking a bit negative then it becomes harder. The players are well educated in the history of the club. When you walk around the training ground, you see the players from 1958, 1968 all the way through to today.” He insists that there’s always room for improvement in his game, despite having scored 18 goals this season. “I can score a few more goals, possibly with my left foot and a some more headers. I keep working on all different things, my passing, my fitness and scoring. I’ve changed my game a little bit. Instead of playing in the hole or off one forward, I’ve mainly been the striker looking to get in behind. I’ve enjoyed doing it this year - to be honest a lot more than I thought I would. It has brought me a few goals in different games.”

Wayne Rooney seems to be ready for the game, in shape but dreading the anticipation. “It’s a horrible feeling waiting for the final. I’d like to go to bed tonight and wake up on Wednesday. It’s a bit like Christmas when you’re a kid, so I just can’t wait. I’ve been playing FIFA on X-Box with my mates. My girlfriend’s not too happy with me, but it keeps me occupied. I’ve played in three cup finals, winning one and losing two, so hopefully I can even that out.”

After the great season they had it would be ridiculous for the young duo to separate. “I hope the partnership will continue for years. Ronaldo is a great player and it will be brilliant if we can keep him at the club for as long as possible. He’s an unbelievable player” said Rooney. “What he’s done for United in the last few years is brilliant and it makes you work hard. For Ronaldo to score those goals is helping the team. I’ve got no problem if he scores 60 goals in a season and I don’t get anywhere near that” he said.

Chelsea has agreed to sign Portugese International Jose Bosingwa from FC Porto; however, he still has to agree with the personal terms of the contract. Bosingwa joined FC Porto in 2003 and played under Jose Morinho and has been considered by Chelsea for signing for the past few seasons. “Chelsea can confirm it has reached agreement with FC Porto for the transfer of Jose Bosingwa. The player is now in England to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical.” Bosingwa can play either as a right fullback or less frequently as a winger. He will likely sign a 5 year contract for about €16 million. Chelsea already has several competing defenders for the position including Julian Belletti, Michael Essien, and Paula Ferreira (who recently signed a 5 year deal). United have stated their interest in Bosingwa who would replace Gary Neville as an attack minded defender. 25 year old Bosingwa is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa; however, he moved to central Portugal (Seia) when young and played for Boavista in midfield and later played for FC Porto, he will be playing for Portugal in Euro 2008.

The last few games of the season ended with Manchester United obtaining their 10th League Title. United played Wigan who were at home; some wondered if Heskey could once again cause an upset as e did against Chelsea. Ronaldo scored a penalty kick in the 33rd minute (his 31st EPL goal) and Giggs scored in the 80th minute (his 758th appearance for United). United enjoyed 67% of possession. Chelsea needed to win their own game and have United to lose or tie their game; in the end Chelsea was unable to get the win against Bolton, who they tied 1-1. United obtained the League Title by 2 points with 87, Chelsea had 85, Arsenal 83.

Other struggles were underway on the last day of games in the EPL; Tottenham had the opportunity to reach 10th place in the upper half of the League Table. Tottenham had 46 points in 11th place and West Ham had 48 points in 10th place. Both teams were fighting to earn an extra €720,000 in extra merit payment from the League. Tottenham were unable to secure the coveted upper tier table position because they lost to Liverpool 2-1 with Torres scoring his 33rd goal in all competitions. Benitez was proud of Fernando and exclaimed how his prolific scoring justified his approximately €20 million cost. “Always when you sign a player you do not know if he will settle down and how he will do in the Premier League, but Torres is a young player who is hungry and wanted to do well. Sometimes you sign a player for a free transfer and people say he is bad signing. Then other times you can sign a player for a lot of money and he does well and everyone is happy, so lucky for us he is a good signing. He is one of the best strikers in the Premier League and is the best for us. We had spoken about the record. After the last game he said he wanted to play in this one and score here.” West Ham managed to tie Aston Villa (who were fighting for a position in the UEFA Cup, they needed Everton to lose against Newcastle, however Newcastle lost 3-1) 2-2 in an exciting game with multiple great goals by Nolberto Solano, Dean Ashton, and Ashley Young. The extra money will certainly bolster West Ham for the coming season and transfer season.

For Liverpool this season has been a disappointment, despite all of Torres’ goals they were unable to produce any Trophies. “Torres, he was terrific at scoring and 76 points is a good total for us. There are a lot of positive things from this season, but the most important thing is we did not win a trophy. Our idea is to finish as high up as possible and to win trophies was a priority, but we know this season has been very difficult for us. We are working hard to improve the squad. Throughout the whole season we are watching players and trying to sign the players we need. We want to sign the best players as soon as possible and I think we will get investment from the owners, so we can go forward. Some of the players here are under contract and they are our players and we are waiting now to see if clubs are interested in them.” In the meantime we can certainly expect Peter Crouch to leave Liverpool, he wasn’t even on the bench and hasn’t played very many games this season. At least they finished with a win beating the Spurs 2-0.

In the meantime Fulham was fighting to stay in the Premier League. Reading and Fulham were both tied at 33 points (Fulham had them beat with on goal differential by 3). Fulham played Portsmouth, and Reading played Derby. Reading managed to destroy Derby (probably the worst team to ever play in the EPL) 4-0, and they would have stayed in the EPL if Fulham had lost or tied their game. Unfortunately for Reading, Fulham managed to win the game 1-0 with a season winning header by Danny Murphy.

Birmingham succeeded in winning against Blackburn 4-1 while at home; it mattered little because both Fulham and Reading won their games forcing Birmingham into relegation. However, if either Fulham or Reading had lost their games Birmingham could have stayed in the Premier League.

Sven-Goran Eriksson ended his season in humiliation as Manchester City lost a stunning 8-1 against Middlesbrough. “You can use whatever word you want and I would probably agree.” said Eriksson. “It started badly when Benjani was injured after just a couple of minutes. A little bit later penalty and a red card for our captain. I don’t think he (Dunne) tried to foul him. I think they crossed but it is difficult to be the ref in this case. It was a collision and it was the wrong place. I don’t think the ball has gone to the striker, it has gone straight to Isaksson but I think the referee maybe must send him off in a place like that.” Alfonso Alves scored 3 goals, Stewart Downing scored 2 (one off a penalty where Richard Dunne received a red card for a foul in the box in the 15th minute).

Emmanuel Adebayor
Arsenal

Age: 24

Birthday: February 26th, 1984

Birthplace: Lome, Togo (Africa)

Position: Striker

2007/08 Goals: EPL- 24; total- 30

Biography:

Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor was born in the city of Lome in Togo or the Togloese Republic (located in North West Africa, a small French speaking country though many other languages are spoken). Football is the most popular sport in Togo. During the last World Cup Emmanuel Adebayor and two other players were dismissed from the national team over a dispute concerning financial pay for the players. He helped Togo qualify for the World Cup by scoring 11 goals in the qualifiers.

Adebayor began playing at a football training camp in Loume; he made it to the U-15 level and was soon signed on by French FC Metz in 1999. For two years he developed on the U-17 team until he advanced to the starting lineup. During the first season he scored 2 goals out of 9 games that he played. However, in his 2^nd year (2002/03) he scored 17 goals out of 35 games. As a result AS Monaco signed him in 2003; he reportedly had strained relationship with Monaco’s manager Francesco Guidolin. He continued to score goals and helped Monaco reach the Champions League finals.

In 2006 Arsenal signed Adebayor for an unknown fee (supposedly about 7€ million).When he started to play he had little style and was scrappy. Towards the end of the 2007/2008 season it was rumored that he could leave Arsenal. However he said, “I am very happy here. Reports which suggest I have threatened to quit are rubbish. I love the club and the fans. We have a great set of players here with a fantastic team spirit. We have had a good season, but next year we want to go one better by winning a trophy.” Adebayor scored a total of 30 goals for Arsenal in all competitions (with 26 in the EPL) suring the 07/08 season and refined his technical abilities. Wenger described Emmanuel as a great acquisition: “Adebayor is a great addition to our squad. He has shown in his performances with Monaco and Togo that he will add great quality to our offensive game. He is tall, good in the air and makes good runs.”

Upon arrival to Arsenal Adebayor said “This is a great day for me, I am looking forward to working very hard for the team and I hope I can give the Arsenal fans a lot of enjoyment in the future.”

English International Peter Crouch has been unsatisfied with the minute role he’s been allowed to play at Liverpool. “When all is said and done, I don’t think I can have another season like this year where I’ve started nine Premier League games. Out of a 38-game league season, nine games is not the amount you want to be playing.”

In the most recent game against Fulham Benitez didn’t even play Crouch though he made 5 changes on the starting lineup making one think that he’s trying to discourage Crouch from staying. “I’ll have to speak to the manager and see what his plans are. I need to see him and sort things out. I have to find out what he wants from me next season and whether or not I can continue with that. In some ways, I want to feel wanted. So I’d like to speak to the manager and the club before I commit to anything and know whether or not I’ll be here next year. It’s always nice to know that if things did go completely wrong for me at Liverpool, I’d have options to go somewhere else and it’s not the end of the world if things don’t work out for me there.”

French International Mathieu Flamini has agreed to sign a contract to stay at AC Milan until 2012. For over 3 seasons Flamini has been drifting in and out of the starting lineup until this season where he started consistently over Gilberto Silva. Arsene Wenger will be disappointed with the loss but isn’t the first manager to be disappointed with Flamini leaving abruptly. Marseille coach Jose Anigo described Flamini as “He’s a traitor - this is a beautiful treason” when Flamini left Marseille for Arsenal despite agreeing to initial terms at Marseille for a contract renewal.

The 24 year old had been playing at Arsenal in midfield with 39 starts this season and 3 goals. The switch is somewhat intriguing since Flamini will have to battle with Kaka, Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini, and Andrea Pirlo for a midfield position. In the meantime Wenger will have to look for a replacement who can work well with Hleb. Why Flamini would leave now that he has finally beat Gilberto out as a starting player is interesting. If Hleb leaves, which is a possibility, since Inter Milan has reportedly been interested in him then Wenger will really be scrambling. Arsenal is really turning into a new team with the old timers disappearing; Jens Lehman made his last appearance at Arsenal against Everton. “I had one or two tears in my eyes at the end. The club and the supporters will always stay in my heart.”

Fernando Torres has once again demonstrated his ability as a striker as Liverpool played Manchester City. Torres had obtained a goal in 15 of the past 17 games with 32 goals in all competitions combined. He has also scored in the 8 consecutive home games equaling a home record. He ran past 2 City defenders and sprinted on diagonally across the box to score with a hard drive.

Benitez made 5 starting lineup changes with Xabi Alonso, Martin Skrtel, Yossi Benayoun, Alvaro Arbeloa and John Arne Riise coming out from the Champions League came game Wednesday and Steve Finnan, Lucas, Sami Hyypia, Ryan Babel and youngster Emiliano coming in. Despite the starting variability between the games Peter Crouch was not played, nor did he make the bench. It makes one wonder if Benitez is almost encouraging him to leave. While Liverpool had little to win from the game except pride, Manchester City fans and players have (from all accounts) been behind their Swedish manager Sven-Goran Eriksson (who has recently been informed by City owner Thaksin Shinawatra that he will be sacked at the end of the season). While Manchester City was in 3rd place in November, they have now fallen to 9th place.

“The support for me was fantastic, of course it is. It makes me stand up from the bench a lot but I can do that, no problem. It was fantastic, of course I am thankful. They have been fantastic all season, incredible. Maybe it will not affect things, I don’t know. But we have one week to go until the season is finished. But I would appreciate it if people would accept that we will start talking after that. We will not be talking tomorrow, more so next month.” said Eriksson.

Before the game Tevez described what he thought would be the biggest danger to Manchester United, fellow Argentinian: Lionel Messi. “Barcelona are one team with Messi but completely different without him. He is from another planet. He is very quick out of the blocks, he is a fantastic player. He is the main point of reference and the key man in the whole Barca team.” His prediction proved to be true throughout the entire game as Messi created a plethora of opportunities for Barcelona stringing 1-2’s around the United defense.

Massimo Busacca regulated this game at Camp Nou in Barcelona; which was full of fans and noise in this historic game. United started the game without Vidic who had a stomach flu. Wes Brown was a center defender with Ferdinand, Hargreaves played right fullback. Ronaldinho was still out with an injury.

It started off really exciting with a cross coming into the Barcelona box. Ronaldo jumped in to head the ball but missed slightly, Barcelona defender Milito jumped in awkwardly to head it out but the ball hit his upraised hands. A penalty kick was awarded in the 1st minute; Ronaldo took the PK but incredibly missed the goal by a foot to the right.

Lionel Messi continued to evade the United defenders darting quickly around and past them distributing the ball into and around the United Penalty area with multiple passes going a couple yards in front of the United goal. Milito consistently fouled people including Wes Brown on a corner and Cristiano Ronaldo in the midfield though the Referee didn’t call them. Barcelona dominated the first half of the game with the most possession and opportunities; United were unable to control in the midfield.

In the 28th minute Iniesta played the ball back, but Ronaldo intercepted it with a stretching touch of his foot. He raced towards it as it rolled into the penalty box, Marquez, the Barcelona defender who was on the receiving end of the pass tried to make up for Iniesta’s bad pass and got away with it. He ran towards the ball and cut off Ronaldo obstructing him and pushing him over in the box; it should have been a penalty kick especially since Marquez was the last defender but their was no call.

Ronaldo got a long pass from JS Park and ran on the Barcelona goal and was fouled by Marquez who got a yellow card in the 44th minute resulting in his temporary suspension for next game. At the end of the 1st half Barcelona had 66% possession; by the end of the game possession remained the same. With the high possession that Barcelona enjoyed they should have scored. Some speculate that it was actually Ferguson’s plan to lay back and defend against Barcelona in this game. Barcelona’s lack of goals was largely due to their inability to complete the last pass leading up to a shot. The final score was a tie at 0-0 with both teams wishing they had played better.