Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘bolton wanderers’

Dirk Kuyt’s on the wane while Danny Guthrie’s star is rising. Old habits die hard for Spurs, and for James McClean…

Every dog has his day – and Kuyt may have had his

Liverpool fans had to put up with another poor performance from a one-paced forward bereft of confidence and heavy of touch at Anfield on Saturday. But this was before Andy Carroll had even stumbled on to the pitch in the 0-0 draw with Stoke. Dirk Kuyt’s display as a lone striker was not pretty. Throughout his six years at Liverpool there has always been a nagging acceptance of his limitations. But his lack of pace, awkward movement and tendency to scuff shots were often obliterated by his lung-busting desire to chase down every lost cause, allied with a big-match mentality.

He was the player who popped up time after time to score important goals in huge games. Porto, Marseille, Inter, Chelsea, Arsenal in the Champions League – and Everton in the league. He headed Liverpool back into contention against Milan in the 2007 Champions League final, too. His hat-trick against Manchester United only last March kept fans onside when his ageing legs were showing signs of creaking. He is 32 this summer and he has hardly had a break in 14 years. He joined Liverpool on the back of playing 179 consecutive matches in Holland. In the past six seasons at Liverpool he has been involved in a similarly vast amount of games. He has got more miles on the clock than Charlie Boorman’s motorbike.

He is the club’s hard-working sheepdog; loyal, obedient and always willing to listen. But every dog has his day. And Kuyt looks as if he has had his. It was sad to watch the tired old thing making a mess in his Anfield home on Saturday – such as the header he missed from six yards – when the younger Kuyt was at least lethal from that range, if not further away. He was not helped by a confusing formation and a disjointed midfield but, with no league goals to his name this season in a team crying out for them, it may be time to find this faithful old dog a new home in May. GR

Guthrie growing in stature

With Cheik Tioté away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Newcastle United fans were right to be concerned that January and February could be bleak months for the club. The Ivory Coast international has been an irrepressible force – every bit as important as Demba Ba. His phenomenal work-rate and ability to keep possession in tight spaces have been key to Newcastle maintaining their position in the upper reaches of the Premier League. His domination of Manchester United’s midfield in the recent 3-0 win was as strong a central midfield performance as by any player this season.

So it was a tough ask for Danny Guthrie to replace him. Injury and inconsistency have curtailed Guthrie’s progress at Newcastle after he was sold by Liverpool for a bargain £1.5m in 2008 but, with Tioté’s absence, Guthrie again has the chance to shine in midfield. He was the outstanding performer in the 1-0 win over QPR. He kept possession, was physical when he had to be and created the scoring chance for Leon Best by not giving up on Shola Ameobi’s loose knockdown and stretching every sinew to play the final pass.

He was assured even after Yohan Cabaye was taken off injured and he had to hold the fort while Hatem Ben Arfa and Jonás Gutiérrez went walkabout. At 24 he perhaps expected to have made a bigger impact in the game than he has to date. Scott Parker probably thought something similar after he left Charlton and got lost in the wilderness of Chelsea’s expensively assembled substitutes’ bench. Guthrie is reminiscent of Parker at times – and while he may never reach those heights, the Spurs midfielder is not a bad player to try to emulate. GR

Bolton cashed in on Cahill but may pay a bigger price

In a season of flux it is good that some things never change: Sir Alex Ferguson moaning about referees; Phil Dowd getting important decisions wrong; and Zat Knight being culpable. At 6ft 6in and with more than 250 games of Premier League experience Knight should be an imposing, commanding defender but, as his performance against Manchester United testified, he tends to be the opposite.

He was lucky to stay on the pitch for the full 90 minutes – he should have been sent off after giving away a penalty for a challenge on Danny Welbeck, who was through on goal – and even though he did stay on, he attempted only two tackles, both of which failed. His partner in the heart of the Bolton defence, David Wheater, made eight and failed with only two. Bolton have conceded more goals than any team this season and continuing to play Knight, in this form, is not going to solve that problem.

With these problems in mind, why have Bolton agreed to sell their best defender to Chelsea? Even though Gary Cahill is not at his peak this season, he is clearly better than Knight and perhaps could have formed a decent partnership with Wheater, who has been on a winning side in the league more times than Knight this season despite playing only half as many games. The club would argue that selling Cahill now means they get a transfer fee that would not be available in the summer but surely retaining Cahill would have given Bolton a better chance of avoiding relegation and the financial loss that would entail, which would amount to a lot more than £7m. Cahill was under contract at Bolton and they did not have to let him go. Come May they may pay for their short-termism. IMC

A reality check for Spurs but the Cockerel can still crow

After all the talk this week about Tottenham Hotspur’s chances of winning the Premier League for the first time – “If we keep playing like this we will be one of the favourites,” said Rafael van der Vaart; “Spurs are genuine title contenders,” said the Manchester City assistant manager, David Platt – Harry Redknapp’s side were expected to dispose of a struggling Wolves with ease and aplomb. Thanks to some hard work and good organisation on Wolves’ part – as well as an awful decision by an assistant referee to rule an Emmanuel Adebayor goal offside – they failed to do so.

Afterwards headline writers were not able to keep their jerking knees under control and Spurs were ruled out of the title race. But with the London club only two points behind Manchester United and City that is not the case and a hard-fought draw may have been just what Spurs needed. First of all, it will calm some of that title talk around White Hart Lane, relieving the players of some pressure. It also means any complacency or conceit that might have crept into the squad after the win over Everton, which drew them temporarily level with Manchester United, has been dissipated. Clearly Spurs can still do it and this cooling of expectations will only help. IMC

James McClean – he’d Die Hard to hear his name said properly

Be. Me. See. Flee. Sheep. What do all these words have in common? Go on, you have 10 seconds to figure it out. Start the clock, now. Tick-tock; tick-tock; tick-tock; tick-tock; tick-tock. Brrrrrr. There goes the buzzer, time’s up. Well, did you get the answer? Yes, that’s right, they all have a long e sound in them (also known as /i:/ in the phonetic alphabet). That same sound is one of the most common vowel sounds in the English language and it appears in thousands of words, not least the adjective clean. Now words such as be, me, clean and see are used by commentators all the time and are always pronounced correctly. So why then are the BBC this weekend and ITV last weekend insisting on pronouncing James McClean’s surname as if he is the hero of a Die Hard movie? It is C-l-e-a-n, not C-l-a-n-e. Thank you for taking the time to read this and we hope you will have rectified the situation by next week. Yours sincerely. IMC

Premier League 2011-12LiverpoolNewcastle UnitedBolton WanderersTottenham HotspurPremier LeagueGregg RoughleyIan McCourt
guardian.co.uk

Pictures from around the grounds on a weekend when Martin O’Neill took charge of his first game at Sunderland

Jonny Weeks

Today’s Mill can see the wood for the poppies

The Mill is no fan of international breaks, never has been, never will. Out goes this country’s love of all things domestic, most notably transfer tittle-tattle, and in comes a whole load of patriotic piffle and posturing, three lions this, three lions that. Where, for Anelka’s sake, are the rumours?

This week things seem to have taken a turn for the worst. Alongside the usual worries and woe regarding the national team there is now a row raging over the wearing of poppies. Yes, poppies. It’s enough to make the heart sink to a new depth.

“POPPYCOCK” is how one newspaper is reporting the story this morning, while others speak of Fifa “banning” England from wearing the Remembrance Day symbols on their shirts during Saturday’s friendly with Spain. Just to make clear, Fifa is not “banning” anything. Rather, it is upholding a long-standing regulation which prevents international kits carrying “political, religious or commercial messages”. So can we all just calm down for a second and focus on more important matters, like the news that Didier Drogba is wanted by Milan.

Yes, thankfully there is space in today’s papers for some transfer juice and none more refreshing than the news that the Ivory Coast veteran could be leaving London for Italy in the new year. Milan, the Serie A champions, are short of a goalscorer following Antonio Cassano’s recent illness and feel Drogba could be the answer to their short-term prayers.

Should the 33-year-old depart from Stamford Bridge, then he may well miss out on the opportunity to play with Gary Cahill, who is wanted by Chelsea. Having seen a move to Spurs fall through during the summer, the defender is now desperate to leave Bolton in January and is supposedly enthused by the prospect of a switch to the deposed Premier League champions, who are willing to spend £8m on the 25-year-old.

What’s this, Jermain Defoe is wanted by Queens Park Rangers? Not a new tale but one worth repeating given such a transfer would see the striker join his 700th different club. Apparently the 29th-year-old has become frustrated with his lack of opportunities at Tottenham and is now willing to join Neil Warnock’s band of misfits in January. And to fill the gap left by the former Charlton, West Ham, Bournemouth, Portsmouth … striker, Spurs are apparently ready to sign Juventus’s Brazilian-born Italy forward Amauri.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have made an enquiry about the Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita, according to reports. The 31-year-old is out of contract in the summer and could be tempted by a move to Anfield. Also on their way out of Camp Nou could be the less heralded Martin Montoya and Marc Barta, who are on Spurs’s radar. The pair are both just 20-year-old.

Across north London, Arsenal want to sign the Borussia Dortmund midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz. The 23-year-old has been watched by Arsène Wenger’s scouts and they seemingly like what they saw.

In the Championship, meanwhile, Nottingham Forest are keen to “raid” Portsmouth for Liam Lawrence. Forest’s new manager, Steve Cotterill, knows Lawrence from his time at Fratton Park and is happy to spend £1.5m on the Republic of Ireland winger.

And just to prove there is no news like old news, Manchester United are back in the hunt for Wesley Sneijder and have been told by Internazionale that they can have the Dutchman for £40m. A tedious affair in what is proving to be a truly tedious week.

ChelseaBolton WanderersTottenham HotspurQPRLiverpoolBarcelonaArsenalNottingham ForestPortsmouthManchester UnitedSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk