Posts for 'Players' Category

England goalkeeper Joe Hart insists it is too early to start tagging his generation as the players to breathe new life into Fabio Capello's team. Hart marked his first competitive start for England with a superb display in Friday's 4-0 win over Bulgaria at Wembley, while the international novices Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill and Adam Johnson also impressed in the Euro 2012 qualifer.

After England's dismal displays at the World Cup, the so-called golden generation of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard were widely written off and there is a growing appetitie for Capello to overhaul his squad. The England coach has yet to make sweeping changes but the performances of Hart and company in the absence of the injured Terry, Lampard and Ferdinand suggests there is hope for the future.

Manchester City star Hart made a string of fine saves at crucial moments to preserve England's advantage before they eventually killed off the Bulgarians. But Hart, who has just five England caps, is wary of being burdened with too much expectation at this early stage of his career. The 23-year-old said: "There are some experienced players who have done really well down the years and they have earned their place so it's a big shout to say the next generation is ready to take over. "It was nice to do my little bit but I thought all the defenders did brilliantly. Jagielka was great from the off and Gary Cahill did really well when he came on and made a great block before the fourth goal."Hart's impressive performances on loan at Birmingham last season pushed him him into England's squad for the World Cup, but Capello opted to select David James and Robert Green ahead of him in South Africa.

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Jermain Defoe believes his partnership with Wayne Rooney has put England back on track after the strike duo tormented Bulgaria in Friday's 4-0 victory at Wembley.

Defoe gave a masterclass in the art of lethal finishing as the Tottenham striker became the first England player to score a hat-trick since Theo Walcott's treble against Croatia two years.

But Defoe was happy to give most of the credit for his goal-spree to Rooney, who finally cast off the lethargy that dogged him at the World Cup to play a decisive role in all four England goals in their opening Euro 2012 qualifier.

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Robinho, Santa Cruz Could Leave City, Says Mancini: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini admitted after his side's 1-0 defeat at Sunderland that unhappy forwards Robinho and Roque Santa Cruz could be on the move before the transfer window closes on Tuesday.

Mancini hopes to hang on to Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given who is wanted by Fulham manager Mark Hughes. But Brazil's Robinho, loaned to Santos in his native country last season, is seeking an escape route and has been linked with Barcelona and clubs in Turkey, while Santa Cruz is another Fulham target. Mancini confirmed: "I would prefer Shay to stay, but I spoke with Roque and he has two or three situations, and Robinho is the same.

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Free-Scoring Chelsea Happy To Win Ugly, Says Mikel: Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel insists the free-scoring Premier League champions will be happy to win ugly against Stoke on Saturday.

Carlo Ancelotti's side have made an astonishing start to their title defence after following their 6-0 rout of West Brom on the opening day with another 6-0 victory at Wigan last weekend.

The Blues, who scored a Premier League record 103 goals last season, have picked up where they left off in May, when an 8-0 win against Wigan clinched the title.

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Late Schweinsteiger Goal Sees Bayern Slay Wolves: Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger scored an injury-time winner on Friday night as the German champions beat Wolfsburg 2-1 in the opening match of the new Bundesliga season. Ex-England manager Steve McClaren and his Wolves side were denied a point as Germany's vice-captain latched onto Franck Ribery's cross for the winner with seconds remaining. "It is not my main task to score goals in games and I don't manage it very often, but it was nice to get the winner," beamed Schweinsteiger.

Bayern made the perfect start as Germany's Thomas Mueller -- the top-scorer at last month's World Cup -- scored the opening goal after just nine minutes, only for Edin Dzeko to equalise after the break. "It is a big relief to get the win," said Mueller. "If you play as badly as we did in the first ten minutes of the second half, you don't really deserve to win. We had to fix a few things. We tried everything again and again, and it worked.

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Babel Earns Liverpool Slender Advantage: Liverpool will take a slender 1-0 lead to Turkey after a Ryan Babel goal earned Roy Hodgson's  side a narrow victory over Trabzonspor in the Europa League play-off first leg at Anfield on Thursday. But it could have been so much better for the hosts as Joe Cole suffered another moment to forget for his new club. Former Chelsea midfielder Cole followed up his red card against Arsenal last Sunday with a glaring second half miss from the penalty spot.

With Liverpool leading 1-0, Cole was presented with a golden chance to open his goal account for his new club after Brazilian Lucas had been fouled by Serkan Balci.

But the England international looked on in horror after blasting his 52nd minute spot kick straight at keeper Onur Kivrak.

Fortunately, Babel, starting ahead of Fernando Torres and David Ngog, had already given the hosts the lead on the stroke of half time.

Hodgson rested Steven Gerrard and Christian Poulsen started ahead of want-away midfielder Javier Mascherano.

It was defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos who almost broke the deadlock in the fifth minute. Only a flying save by Kivrak prevented the Greek international from marking his first anniversary at Anfield with his second goal for the club after he rose to meet Maxi Rodriguez's corner.

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Chris Smalling (Fulham, £10m), Bebe (Vitoria Guimaraes, £7.4m), Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (Chivas de Guadalajara, £6m), Marnick Vermijl (Standard Liege, U). Out: Ben Foster (Birmingham, £6m), Craig Cathcart (Blackpool, £500,000), Zoran Tosic (CSKA Moscow, U), David Gray (Preston), Tom Heaton (Cardiff), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover)

Mame Biram Diouf (Blackburn, SL), Danny Drinkwater (Cardiff, SL), Matthew James (Preston, SL), Danny Wellbeck (Sunderland, SL), James Chester (Carlisle, 6ML), Josh King (Preston, 6ML), Cameron Stewart (Yeovil, 6ML). Released: Febian Brandy, Sam Hewson, Scott Moffatt.

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Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has admitted that a somewhat disrupted pre-season has left some of the club's star players a little short of match fitness ahead of the new Premier League  season.

United won the Community Shield on Sunday at Wembley, beating Chelsea 3-1, but the veteran keeper acknowledged that there was still some work to do before Monday's opening fixture against Newcastle United.

"We've been away for three weeks and most of the international players they stayed at home or started a little bit later with the preparation," the Dutchman.

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Michael Owen, the fit-again Manchester United striker, has expressed concerns that his recovery could be jeopardised on the notorious Wembley pitch in Sunday's Community Shield game against Chelsea.Owen ruptured a hamstring in the Carling Cup final last February, an injury he attributed to the poor state of the playing surface, compared by Sir Alex Ferguson to a "ploughed field".

The United manager questioned whether "a horse show had been on it" and said it had "killed" Wayne Rooney, while other players reported injuries. The pitch has since been relaid twice, at a cost of £250,000 to the Football Association, but United are sufficiently concerned that it is thought Ferguson will wait until he has inspected the new Desso playing surface before finalising his team plans and, specifically, deciding whether Owen should be risked.

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The centre-back, who recently verbally agreed a new contract, was a part of the Old Trafford squad that missed out on the league silverware by one point in 2009/10.

Chelsea pipped their rivals to the trophy on the final day and, ahead of Sunday's Community Shield, Vidic wants to set the record straight after United previously won.

Three successive titles. "It hurt to lose the title last year, especially as it was very close," he said. "We finished just one point behind Chelsea and were very disappointed we didn't make it. Targets

"But this is a new season, we have to forget what happened last year, and the three before that, if I am truthful. "Our targets do not change. We have to win the league again.

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