This morning’s Scribbles sees Sir Alex Ferguson confirm Wayne Rooney as a starter for this evening’s Champions League match in Romania. Neil Warnock stands up for Adel Taarabt in the face of Joey Barton’s flak, while Peter Odemwingie vows to up his game after a slow start to the domestic campaign:
Yesterday saw Joey Barton lambast Adel Taarabt for his attitude and the winger’s walk out at Fulham a couple of Gameweeks back. Today, Neil Warnock has stepped into the fray and defended the Moroccan after a series of inept performances, suggesting he’ll be having a word or two in Joey’s ear after his skipper’s latest outburst:
What he is saying about Adel I think is a little bit out of order. I think there is one or two lads in the team at the moment that could do better so sometimes you look elsewhere. If he wants Adel to chase about and tackle and run, he is never going to be able to do that. If you looked at what Adel is not good at, you wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. You’ve got to look at what he is good at and we would not be where we are now without him, without me looking at what he is good at.
With Carlos Tevez reportedly expected to find out his Man City future tomorrow, Boca Juniors are the latest of his old clubs to register an interest in acquiring his services. The controversy continues to overshadow City’s season so far but the recent form of Mario Balotelli, with a goal in each of his last four games, suggests the Argentine is a lot more expendable than he perhaps previously imagined.
Nemanja Vidic and Wayne Rooney are both set to feature in Man United’s starting lineup for this evening’s Champions League match against Otelul Galati. Having initially started Rooney as a sub on Saturday at Anfield due to his “devastation” over the three-match ban for England, Sir Alex Ferguson –speaking yesterday- admitted he has no qualms about his forward’s state of mind for the match in Romania:
When he came on he was quite bubbly. He was full of energy and enthusiasm. He was desperate to get on, which is good. When he was sat watching the game he probably said, ‘Christ I could be out there’. He’ll be playing tomorrow.
David Moyes has added to the Everton ranks by re-signing James McFadden on a free transfer. The former Birmingham player had been linked with both Wolves and Sunderland but chose to return to Goodison three years after the club sold him for £5.5m. Moyes, however, admitted he has worries over securing the future of young Ross Barkley. The midfielder turns eighteen in December and will be offered a new contract by the club but his manager feels others may be scheming to swoop for his signature:
Every club will want Ross as he is going to be an outstanding player. I’m worried it will be a difficulty for us in the future. If someone comes for Ross I’ve always said it it’s expensive to buy off Everton. If you’re going to come and try to take our better players we don’t sell cheap, that’s for sure. I’m sure the bigger clubs will be looking at him, but we’ve no intention of selling.
On the back of Arsenal’s poor start to the season, Arsene Wenger has admitted that half his side wanted to leave in the summer transfer window. Speaking on French Radio last night, the Gunners boss also went on to slam some of the players who swapped the Emirates for the Etihad this summer, alluding that the motives of Sami Nasri and Gael Clichy were nothing more than money motivated:
You’re preparing for a season where you don’t know who’s going to come in, the players who are staying are asking themselves what’s going on at the club. It was extraordinarily difficult. What saved us is that we’re a club that are extremely solid and united…Frankly, if you compare what Manchester City have won in the past and what Arsenal have won, then you don’t go to Manchester City to win titles. Players go to Manchester City because they pay much better than Arsenal.
With three goals in his last three league games, Ramires is starting to make a case for himself as a viable Fantasy option. The Chelsea midfielder injured his knee while scoring against Everton on Saturday and reports suggest he was unable to train ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League match against Genk and is said to be a doubt for the weekend trip to QPR, though nothing has been officially confirmed by Chelsea on the matter.
A five game losing streak was compounded by the fact Wolves’ latest defeat was at the hands of arch-rivals West Brom. Kevin Doyle admitted yesterday that morale is low in the Molineux camp, with a showdown against Swansea key to stopping the rot:
It gets to you after one game, two games, three games, four games. Then when it gets to five it’s a nightmare. We probably deserved to get beat to be honest on Sunday. We now play Swansea at home this week and we have to look to win that one. That’s the only way we can look at it.
Peter Odemwingie’s goal in the 2-0 win over Wolves fired West Brom out the bottom three but the Nigerian has been a shadow of the player who took the Premier League by storm last season. Odemwingie bagged fifteen last time round but has so far found the net just twice- he was also subject to criticism from his country’s fans after they failed to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations. After a slow start to the campaign, he’s determined to kick on, admitting much of his recent problems have been more in the mind than anything else:
I worry about the team a lot and he (Hodgson) has noticed that I am a sensitive person. I do worry about the team and my performance. I had to take in stuff that I didn’t really like to hear this week from here and there. But this situation has also taught me that sometimes you have to let things pass, just concentrate on your work and keep going. With the goal I didn’t have time to think. It was like a training situation. I saw the goal and just relied on my instincts. I’m glad it went in and we climbed up the table and I scored my goal, so everything is good.
A central midfield role at Anfield on Saturday came as something of a shock to Phil Jones. The nineteen year-old has already played at centre-half and right-back for Man United this season and his versatility continues to afford him greater game time than many of his fellow defenders. Speaking to MUTV, he admitted:
Yes, it was a surprise. But, if the gaffer says I’m playing there, there’s no arguments. I’m happy to be playing. It’s hard as I’ve not played there in a while. The last time I played there, was for Blackburn quite a while ago but I had to adapt and I think it was about breaking the play up and making it difficult for Liverpool to play in there because it was quite congested.
