Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini has dismissed talk that he was set to become the Monaco boss at the end of last season, reacting angrily to questioning at his most recent press conference.
The Italian was keen to focus on the present rather than focusing on events that may have happened in the past.
Mancini had not previously denied reports linking him with the Ligue 2 club saying he was “close to seven or eight teams”.
That remark had been interpreted in a various amount of ways following the strange admission from the 47 year old.
He gave no indication as to whether the comment was serious, or made in jest, and he was asked to further clarify in Monday’s press conference.
However, the former Inter Milan boss did not welcome the questioning seeing it as highly unnecessary.
Mancini told Sky Sports “I don’t understand why you continue to ask me (about) last year, last month. This is finished.
“Why? Why, for which reason? Why do you continue to ask me, ‘Last year you had a chance to go’?
“I stay here because my work is here. I worked for two years. I built with the chairman and the owner, this team. We won three trophies in two years. For 50 years we didn’t win. Never.”
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City are looking to resurrect their Champions League campaign tomorrow, when they take on Ajax at the Etihad stadium, knowing that only 3 points will ensure that they survive in the competition for the next round of games.
Steve Harper admits he feared his career at Newcastle United was over; such was the form of the younger Tim Krul last season.
The 37-year-old’s Premier League appearance in Newcastle’s 2-2 draw with Everton on Monday was his first in over a year. Harper conceded it had been tough and that his motivation was faltering.
Speaking ahead of the Toon Army’s Thursday night Europa League clash with Maritimo, Harper said: “I didn’t think a night like this would come again. It looked a long way away.
“It was probably a little bit my fault as well. When Tim started last season, I admit I got the hump and let standards slip. That’s probably the reason I wasn’t involved.
“But the first morning of pre-season the manager came to see me. He said, ‘have you still got it?’ I said, ‘yes’. He told me if I showed him I still wanted it, there would be an opportunity, so credit to him.”
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Dutch international Krul, is currently missing with an elbow injury suffered playing for his country, giving Harper a chance to prove his worth to Alan Pardew.
Tottenham Hotspur duo Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey both moved to White Hart Lane in the summer when it looked all but assured at various points in the transfer window that switches to Anfield under new boss Brendan Rodgers were a mere formality – but given their respective struggles of late, have Liverpool FC dodged a bullet?
Make no bones about it, the summer transfer window was a disastrous one for the Merseyside club, with Rodgers repeatedly bemoaning his ‘thin’ squad and talking of ‘operational issues’ getting in the way of him completing deals. Having let the likes of Maxi Rodriguez, Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt leave, it was the move which allowed Andy Carroll to move on deadline day without a guaranteed replacement lined up which exposed the truly fragility and worrying lack of depth in the team’s forward ranks, with Luis Suarez carrying them at the moment.
However, the two situations were themselves very different involving the players concerned here – Sigurdsson chose Tottenham in a straight fight between the two clubs, while the money men at Liverpool refused to pay more than the pitiful amount of £3.5m for Dempsey due to concerns over his age, paving the way for an 11th hour move from Villas-Boas, even if you suspect the American would have preferred the move to Anfield given the choice.
It has to be said that Rodgers appears to have gone back in a serious way on his ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Swansea on more than one occasion. Not only did he go back in for Joe Allen later on in the summer, but admitting his interest while simultaneously stating that the Welsh club had first dibs on Sigurdsson was tantamount to torpedoing the move on purpose, and that the Icelandic international eventually turned him down must have pleased chairman Huw Jenkins no end.
Rodgers spoke to the press in the wake of the Sigurdsson snub, hinting that money may have been a motivating factor.
“We agreed a deal for him to go to Swansea and that was wrapped up. I then became the Liverpool manager and that then wasn’t something that was going to happen at Swansea so he then had a choice of where he wanted to go,” Rodgers said.
“I knew what the market was and I wasn’t prepared to pay anything over what I had known was agreed before. Liverpool would have provided Gylfi with a wonderful opportunity to perform with a manager that he knows and at a club which is a real footballing institution.
“But he’s decided to go to Tottenham, for whatever reason.”
It became clear that in his preferred 4-3-3 system, Rodgers had doubts about Gerrard’s role at the tip of the triumvirate, which has since been temporarily solved by Lucas’ injury absence. But the club’s pursuit of both Dempsey and Sigurdsson hints that he had reservations about the England captain having the legs that the position requires – to both join in with the midfield on the back foot and help link up with the lone striker when the side does have the ball.
I argued at the time that the move was a questionable one on Sigurdsson’s part, simply because with a new manager, and it being somewhat unclear whether he was bought by Daniel Levy or Villas-Boas, probably the former, that he had a long-term future at White Hart Lane. The need for reinvesting in that area was made even more of a top priority in the aftermath of the departures of both Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart.
My main worry was that given that they’ve already brought in Moussa Dembele to great success and tried to sign Joao Moutinho as well, does Sigurdsson really fit into the team’s starting XI? Factor in the fact that Sandro is almost undroppable at the moment and you simply can’t imagine the attacking midfielder commanding a regular spot by the end of the season, let alone in two or three years time, which you certainly could at Liverpool. On the player’s part, it was an astoundingly short-sighted decision.
There’s a feeling that unless he’s scoring goals, Sigurdsson doesn’t really contribute all that much to the team’s overall standard of play; he’s not especially involved in build-up play, nor does he possess a wide range of passing and there are signs already that he’s regarded as little more than a squad player to be rotated in Europe – even though he’s been involved in all 10 of the team’s league games so far this season, he’s started just five of them.
Moving on to Dempsey and Fenway Sports Group’s reluctance to part ways with more than £3.5m for him only helps to highlight the financial constraints placed on Rodgers, particularly when you consider the free-spending days of Kenny Dalglish just a year before and the fact that they had already sold Charlie Adam to Stoke earlier in the day for £4m. It has been estimated that Rodgers removed approximately £8m from Liverpool’s wage bill in the final 24 hours of the transfer window, which when you factor in that the club must have received a healthy loan fee for Andy Carroll too and it makes the value placed on Dempsey even more stark.
It had already been reported that Dempsey had turned down a move to Aston Villa earlier in the day and he seemed extremely keen to move to Liverpool. Nevertheless, with Emmanuel Adebayor lacking any sort of pre-season and with predecessor Harry Redknapp having left the balance of the squad in quite frankly appalling state with only one senior forward to select in Jermain Defoe, a move for a utility forward was essential for Tottenham’s strength in depth.
After an anonymous performance against Premier League champions Manchester City at the weekend, though, and a somewhat steady but hardly spectacular start to life in north London, Dempsey has come in for some criticism of late. When you factor in his own lack of pre-season, the slow start is understandable and he’s certainly got a role to play in the coming months, but I have to say that I’m not too sure he’d have been any better off at Liverpool, even though they could certainly do with the extra body up top.
At Fulham, Dempsey lacked a clearly defined role and in a 4-3-3, he lacks the pace or guile to play either wide on the left or right and behind the lone front-man is about 10-15 yards deeper than the position he occupied at Craven Cottage last season when he struck 17 league goals.
The demands of playing for a club like Fulham and one like Tottenham or Liverpool are completely different – teams set up to play with men behind the ball, away from home at least, against the aforementioned two teams, but are more likely to go toe-to-toe with Martin Jol’s side, meaning there’s more space in behind the opposition’s midfield for Dempsey to exploit and there’s a distinct lack of expectation playing for the west London outfit.
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This all points towards an influential role for the forward in one environment and a reduced one in another, but with the side competing in Europe still, and with Adebayor still finding his feet, he’s likely to be a key role in the coming months, much more so than Sigurdsson.
It may be considered churlish to state that Liverpool enjoyed a lucky escape on both transfers for I feel that Sigurdsson could have made a real impact at Anfield in a side short on goals, while Dempsey, considering Rodgers’ system, always looked to be a square peg in a round hole.
The American certainly has more to contribute at White Hart Lane in the short, medium and long term in my eyes and the supporters should be patient, but should Sigurdsson continue to be marginalised, which will only continue with the increased investment in that area of the pitch, he has only himself to blame for a questionable decision which could harm his career.
Gareth Bale has become the talking point of English football. Any bout of awkward silence in a social situation between two or more males that are both aware the other has a reasonable interest in the beautiful game is filled with the words “How about that Gareth Bale then?”
So how about that Gareth Bale then? He’s been ripping the Premier League apart, with 16 goals and 2 assists in 25 domestic appearances, and since December the Welshman has been turning draws and even potential defeats into victories single-handed for Tottenham.
Bale has found that much needed consistency which he’s lacked in previous years, and furthermore has not been found wanting or gone absent in the big games, including the North London Derbies in which he scored in both this season.
The 23 year old has adopted the responsibility that has come with his flurry of form, understanding the rest of the team are now dependent on him to produce results. Andre Villas-Boas now deploys him at the tip of the Spurs midfield, almost playing as a second striker – a position where you must make a considerable impact in every match or the rest of the team is likely to suffer.
It’s sparked the debate over whether the Welshman can be considered to be “world class”. Of course, the term is always up for interpretation. Some would view only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as world class, whereas others would include the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Falcao and Bastien Schweinsteiger to name a few. I was unconvinced Bale yet belonged in either categorisation, until I witnessed his second goal against West Ham last month that may be looked back upon in the years to come as big a career defining moment as his hatrick against Inter Milan when he was just 18 years old.
And with the “World Class” debate has come the auxiliary discussion that Tottenham fans have no doubt feared for some time; where will Gareth Bale be playing his football next season? Although remaining at White Hart Lane is certainly not out of the question, especially if AVB’s men finish up the season having qualified for the Champions League, but the word on the street is indicating a move to Spain, most likely for Real Madrid.
As a football fan, I can only lick my lips at the prospect of witnessing Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale playing on opposite flanks – their sheer athleticism and technique would surely make them impossible to defend against. But as an Englishman, a Match of the Day viewer and a fan of the Premier League, a growing concern washes over me every time the potential Madrid deal is discussed in the papers, with prices varying from £40million to £70million and a bumper contract to boot.
Of course, comparisons can be made with the story of Cristiano Ronaldo, whom after growing into a true world-beater at Manchester United, left for Real Madrid at the age of 24. Ronaldo has gone on to turn a rather impressive goal ratio of one goal every two games for the Red Devils into an unbelievable feat at the Bernabeu of scoring more goals than appearances made. I have little doubt that Bale could go on to make similar achievements, but for the sake of the English game I hope he shows some loyalty to his roots in the summer, as I’m not sure the Premier League can handle losing another “world class” player.
In many ways, the decline started with the loss of the former United winger. Although there is still plenty of top draw talent in the Premier League, we’ve spent the last four years without a standout marquee individual. Similarly, in that time, Luka Modric has departed to none other than Real Madrid, and furthermore, the failed golden generation of English players has aged considerably, with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole struggling to secure contract extensions, whilst Steven Gerrard has had to adapt his game to losing a vital yard of pace.
The rise of Manchester City has allowed for considerable talent to come in, namely Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero, and Manchester United currently have one of the top strike partnerships in Europe in Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie, but do any of these come close to the same category as Messi and Ronaldo – that interpretation of “world class” that separates the elite players from those with something truly special?
They all have their drawbacks and disadvantages, and it is interesting that amid last week’s RooneyGate scandal, only PSG were linked with having shown any interest or intent to sign the Englishman. Furthermore, a number of our stars, such as Juan Mata, Yaya Toure, and David Silva, are players who failed to make it to the absolute top level in La Liga and have therefore decided to make a name for themselves abroad.
Of course, the sheer money in the English game will always bring some of the world’s best to our clubs and television screens. But the difference between the Premier League and La Liga is not the money; it’s the pride of playing for either Barcelona or Real Madrid. Only footballers of true quality can get through their doors, and to even be linked with a move to either Spanish giant is a feat which the majority of Europe’s elite players can only dream of.
The same cannot be said for the English clubs. Whereas the Madrid and Barca player rosters are filled with the best of the best, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all faced periods of highs and lows, with the quality of the latter three diminishing over the past few years, and none being strangers to bit-part players, the likes of Gareth Barry, Yossi Benayoun or Ashley Young, who perform a role in the side but are miles away from being considered Europe’s best.
Similarly, the Champions League performances of England’s top clubs have showed up the lack of top level quality in the Premier League, or at least their inability to perform consistently and when the pressure is on, as has this season’s one-team title race, and the inability to defend all round throughout the division.
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I do not wish to suggest Gareth Bale has the weight of the future of the Premier League upon his shoulders when making a decision that will severely affect the rest of his career. Of course, the English top flight will survive without him, and it is still a long way off of losing its reputation for being the most exciting league in the world, with a thick spread of talent from the top to the bottom of the table.
But the loss of another “World Class” winger, before reaching the pinacle of his abilities would be a huge loss to the English game, and a sign that La Liga has become the epicentre of European football.
Whereas Ronaldo’s move was understandable, I would find Bale’s departure somewhat more hurting. He’s only had one season of true brilliance, although he has been performing at a level beyond his years for some time. But unlike the Portuguese forward, Bale has been brought up through the English system; he’s one of our own, a Southampton academy product, who’s risen through the ranks and benefited from the English game. Of course, loyalty is nothing in football anymore; careerism comes first. But losing a star so young, before even becoming truly “world class”, can quite simply be no good for the Premier League. I just hope the Welshman takes into consideration just how he got to where he is today, before signing on the dotted line.
midfielder Darren Fletcher has admitted that he cannot wait to step out for Scotland again, and that he is fit to feature in both of their World Cup qualifiers over the next five days.
The Red Devils battler has returned to health and fitness after being diagnosed with a bowel condition that threatened his career.
After making a return to action for the Old Trafford outfit, Fletcher is now relishing the opportunity to represent his country once more.
“I feel ready to play both matches. I feel fit, I feel strong and I feel ready for the games. It’s great to be back,” he confessed to reporters, published in The Daily Mail.
“It’s been a while and I’m just desperate for the game to start. Hopefully I’m playing and I can do my part in getting a good result for Scotland.
“I always believed I would be back and fortunately I’m here today.
“It proves that I always had the belief that one day I would be back and helping the lads qualify for a major competition,” he continued.
In-form striker Steven Fletcher has also returned to Craig Levein’s squad to add quality, but the United man feels that a team effort will be needed for the side to beat Wales on Friday.
“If we beat Wales on Friday it won’t just be because me and Steven are named in the team.
“It will need a good team effort. If it can be a boost to the rest of the players that’s great. You look for any small margin you can.
“But knowing the players, they will be ready for this game irrespective of whether me and Steven are in the team.
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“We’ll be looking to win the match and whoever is playing will give their all and hopefully we can get a positive result for Scotland,” he concluded.
Swansea defender Neil Taylor believes that next term will be the biggest test of his Swansea career as they prepare for Europe.
Michael Laudrup’s side have become one of the more attractive sides in British football, showing that dominance in the Capital One Cup final when they dispatched giant-killers Bradford 5-0.
The Welsh club will now prepare for a gruelling season ahead as they look to put up a fight both in the Premier League and the Europa League, but the former Wrexham trainee believes that the squad can handle it.
The 24-year-old has spent the majority of the campaign on the sidelines after sustaining a horrendous ankle injury, but he could be in line to return against Chelsea this weekend.
Taylor said: “The demands it’s going to put on the team, whatever squad we have next season, everybody’s going to play a part.
“It’s going to be a really long season. I think we’re going to have a heavy pre-season because we have to get ready for Europe which comes early.”
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Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has called on the club and its supporters to not be too downbeat after losing the momentum in the title race to Manchester City.
The Reds surrendered a 3-0 lead in the last 15 minutes to draw with Crystal Palace on Monday night, leaving them just a point ahead of their Premier League trophy rivals who have a game in hand.
Although not mathematically out of the equation, the Merseysiders need City to slip to one defeat in their remaining two fixtures or draw both to have any chance of claiming their first league championship in 24 years.
Liverpool had been favourites up until defeat at home to Chelsea ended their 11-match winning streak and turned the tide in favour of City.
Although there is a feeling of disappointment at Anfield, Aldridge says that this season – where finishing in the top four was the aim – has been a successful one:
“We’ve scored 99 goals this season, which is incredible. We seem to have been celebrating weekend after weekend. We’ve taken apart top teams and the feel-good factor has been put back into the city, into the club and into the fans.” He is quoted by the club’s official website.
“Let’s not forget that when we have beaten all these top sides, we’ve been able to come away and think, ‘how good was that?’ We won 11 games on the bounce – it’s been fantastic. It’s just a pity that it seems to have deteriorated a little over the last 10 days or so.”
Aldridge also believes that his old club’s title hopes are not quite gone:
“Anything can happen in football,
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“We saw against Palace what can happen and I’ve seen it many times over my career – things happen when you least expect them to. So we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Nottingham Forest’s trip to Huddersfield Town this past weekend left the Reds going back home with their tails between their legs as they were outclassed with a 3-0 scoreline fair reflection. Forest conceded from a header from former player Joel Lynch inside the first minute of the game. The defence went into meltdown mode, making a comeback impossible as they conceded another two soft goals, with the third scored by another former Red, Grant Holt.
Forest manager Stuart Pearce reflected on this defeat, and he believes the reason behind this result and Forest’s recent run of form is down to the defence and the lack of confidence from his players. He said: “We created plenty of chances but I think the starting point is making sure we’re hard to score against.
“With the line-up we have we will create chances in matches, we have done all season. But at the start of the season we were keeping clean sheets and were very tight to play against. At this moment in time we’re not, so we have to solve that.”
Pearce also believes it’s down to him to help the players with their confidence issues and help them find their first win in eight Championship games. “We’re the only ones who can turn results around for Nottingham Forest, nobody else,” he stated.
“It’s down to me to install confidence in the players and make us hard to beat. The good thing is we have a home game in front of our own fans on Wednesday evening.”
It will be good for Forest to rekindle their form at the City Ground against Brentford on Wednesday evening, as they have only played three home games in their last eight league outings.
However, they haven’t been lacking fan support, as the fans at the Huddersfield game last weekend were in strong vocal form right up until the final whistle despite the team losing the game.
The absence of strong Forest leaders such as Chris Cohen and Andy Reid doesn’t help the confidence issue either, as Cohen isn’t expected to return till June 2015, and Reid isn’t expected to be back till January at the earliest.
The good form of Michail Antonio, Britt Assombalonga, and Michael Mancienne is a distant memory, as neither Antonio nor Mancienne have put a string of good performances together since Forest drew with Watford in mid-October.
Assombalonga on the other hand, has only scored once during Forest’s eight game winless streak, and needs to start finding the back of the net soon to revitalise his side’s promotion push. Forest would be over the moon if he could find the form that helped him score eight goals in the first seven league games of the season.
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A good start for Forest to find their confidence would be in their next game at home against Brentford. If they don’t win, the fans and Forest owner Fawaz Al Hasawi need to back Pearce in his decisions, otherwise the club will not move forward.
Al Hasawi has a history of having a trigger finger with managers, not quite to the same level as Massimo Cellino at Elland Road, but not dissimilar. He has stated he would like his club to be in the Premier League within the next two seasons or so but we all know he wants it now. Hopefully he has time and patience with Pearce during this bad run of form.
A surge of confidence will bring back to life Nottingham Forest’s promotion push in a very competitive Championship, but this would have to start with a win against Brentford, and a strong run of form will be needed for promotion to happen. Results will turn around, but as Brian Clough famously once said, “tactics don’t lose you games, players do.” It is down to the players to heave themselves out of this situation they have got themselves into.
It doesn’t matter at what level of football you play, being a goalkeeper can be a really unpleasant job.
Even on the school playing field, it has always been the position that nobody wants to play. You pick sides one player at a time. You slowly pick off the best players until eventually your team is left with the weakest, least competent member of the group. So what do you do with them? Well, it’s obvious. You stick them in goal in a vain attempt to keep them out of harm’s way. Then when your team wins, the focus is on the goalscorer and the goalkeeper’s efforts go unnoticed. When your team ends up losing, there is only one person to blame, isn’t there?
But in the professional game, is it any different? When people think of the greatest goals of all time, they think of Diego Maradona vs England (not the first goal, obviously!), Marco Van Basten vs USSR, Cantona vs Sunderland, Bergkamp vs Newcastle, Henry vs Manchester United, Zidane vs Bayer Leverkusen, Di Canio vs Wimbledon… the list goes on.
On the other hand, when people think of the greatest saves of all time… well, you’ve got Gordon Banks vs Brazil… and that’s about it. Take nothing away from goalkeepers such as Schmeichel, Zoff, Yashin, Khan, Van Der Sar, Buffon and Casillas. They have all produced mind-blowing saves during their careers, but it’s only ever Banks’ physics-defying save from Pele’s header that truly sticks out in the minds of the footballing public.
Sadly goalkeepers are rarely remembered for their heroics in front of goal. If anything, they are remembered for the exact opposite. If you type ‘great goalkeeping saves’ into YouTube, you will receive over 18,000 videos in response. But type ‘goalkeeping errors’, and the number of responses is almost trebled!
Yes, we all enjoy watching the old blooper every now and again (as long as it doesn’t happen to your team!), but it’s of little wonder or surprise that being a goalkeeper is one of the most stressful jobs in any sport. There is simply no margin for error. If a team has an off day and fails to score, the best they can hope for is a draw. But if the keeper has a bad day, his team could end up with nothing at all.
And the pressure just doesn’t go away. The new Premier League season is only just over a week old, and yet we have already witnessed no fewer than seven goalkeeping howlers. Even the League’s most reliable goalies, most notably, Petr Cech, David De Gea and Shay Given are amongst those to have fumbled already this season.
In the modern era, when every single match that is played is scrutinised right down to the finest details, goalkeepers always remain subject to criticism, scepticism and mockery.
The cynics amongst us might say that ‘they’re only job is to stop shots from going in to the back of the net. How hard can that possibly be?’ But being a goalkeeper is about so much more than that. It is about being a master of your own state of mind. It is about conquering your own self-doubt. It is about not letting your mistakes affect your ability as a player.
The question is how does a goalkeeper deal with all of these issues? Well, nowadays the biggest clubs have all kinds of facilities to help players psychologically, however most players are apparently too reluctant to commit themselves to dealing with their own self-doubt, for fear of what their manager and team-mates would think of them.
One of the biggest fears for a footballer is rejection. One week, you think you are playing well, but the next week you find yourself on the bench. This can have a massive psychological effect on any player, but for this to happen to a goalkeeper, where there is only one place in the team up for grabs, the thought that your manager favours another player over yourself can be very damaging to the psyche.
Back in March, former England goalkeeper David James wrote an article in the Observer about the lack of psychological support in football:
‘There’s a misconception that all footballers are very confident, but it is the opposite for most.
‘It is a great irony that in a game where we routinely talk of confidence on the pitch, psychological support off it is so appallingly neglected. When I was going through a bad time at Liverpool I approached the club for some support. Back then, I was told, “Shut up and deal with it”. Sadly, I don’t think football has moved on from that position.’
Every goalkeeper suffers from self-doubt, even if they won’t admit it. Even Edwin Van Der Sar, one of the greatest keepers of all time, has admitted to being prone to this. But the best thing they can do is simply try to brush it off, learn from that mistake and try not to let it happen again. Some are able to brush off their mistakes and move on even if their reputation takes a hit as a result.
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Robert Green’s reputation has been completely tarnished by his error during England’s match vs USA at the 2010 World Cup. Massimo Taibi seemed to completely disappear off the radar following his howler for Manchester United against Southampton in 1999. Even David James has suffered a similar fate, inheriting the nickname ‘Calamity James’ during a torrid spell at Liverpool. But the truth is all of these players did not let their mistakes get to them. Despite another error recently, Robert Green is still a top flight goalkeeper at QPR, Massimo Taibi went on to have a successful career in Italy, and David James, despite not currently being attached to a club, is still playing in his 40s.
Sadly, some goalkeepers are never able to fathom the amount of responsibility that they have to deal with. The most prominent and tragic example being that of German goalkeeper Robert Enke, who committed suicide in November 2009. In Ronald Reng’s book, A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke, we examine the life of a man struggling to battle with his own personal demons and are given an insight into the pressures and fears of playing sport at the highest level. Enke’s story is a shining example of how it could all go wrong for today’s professional goalkeeper.
It’s easy to say that clubs could do more to support their players psychologically, and there is no doubt in my mind that they should. But players need to take it upon themselves not to let their self-doubt get the better of them. Thankfully, the example of Robert Enke is one of a kind. But all goalkeepers, regardless of how good they are, should learn from him.
Goalkeepers simply need to learn one thing: they are only human. The chances are extremely high that a goalkeeper will make more than one mistake in his career. But this doesn’t mean that his reputation has to suffer. One mistake or one bad performance doesn’t define a goalkeeper. It’s how they bounce back from this mistake that defines them.
New Liverpool loan midfielder Nuri Sahin believes he can help the Merseyside club get back into the Champions League places this season, according to the BBC.
In a press conference held yesterday, Sahin told the media: “I am looking forward to playing this season and we will do everything to get into top four.”
Sahin, 23, joined Liverpool on a season-long loan to secure regular first team football after a difficult season plagued by injuries at Real Madrid. The midfielder added: “I didn’t play so many games last season so it was important for me to come to a club where I have the chance to play at a high level, and Liverpool is the best club for me right now.”
Sahin decided on a move to Merseyside over Arsenal, and he admitted his decision to join the Anfield club was heavily influenced by what the former Liverpool and now Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso had to say about it. “Xabi said good things,” Sahin explained. “He played a long time for Liverpool and is still in love with the club.”
The German-born Turk added that after watching Liverpool’s performance against Manchester City on Sunday, he is confident that he has made the right decision: “You can see the style of the team is very good. What people told me about Liverpool is what I see now. They are a very big club with a huge history and I think I have made the right choice.”
When asked whether he could envisage a permanent move to Liverpool if he were to have a successful season with the club, Sahin responded by saying “you never know”.
The Turkish midfielder was key to the success of a championship winning Borussia Dortmund side in the 2010-11 season. As a result, he earned a £7 million move to the Bernabeu last summer. However, because of his injury turmoils in the previous campaign, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has told Sahin that his options will be limited at the club following the signing of Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric.
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Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that Sahin’s unselfish and dogged style of play in the centre of midfield will allow Steven Gerrard the freedom to press on in attack. Incidentally, Sahin could make his Liverpool debut on Sunday when Liverpool host the team he snubbed to join Merseyside, Arsenal.