Newcastle fans were left astonished after Magpies striker Nile Ranger handed them a Twitter scolding after they booed the team off St James’ Park on Saturday, Sky Sports report.
Frustrations boiled over on Tyneside at the weekend as the Toon Army turned against Alan Pardew following the 2-1 defeat against fellow Premier League strugglers Reading.
Ranger, who was left on the bench by Pardew, leapt to the defence of his manager in the aftermath advising supporters to stay away if they are intent on booing.
“Certain fans need to not come and support this team… Coming out to BOOO us.. Stay at home.. Don’t need ur BOO’s…. SAY NO MORE !!!!
“To all the fans. U are not forced to buy season tickets.. Or pay our wages.. Please remember that.
“If u are loyal fans.. Be with us.. When we are out there on the field.. Be the 12th man.. Don’t come and BOO.. That aint going to help any1.
“Team is going through rough patch.. Last thing we need is fans against us.
“We are a TEAM u BOO 1 player… Ur booing all of us !!!”
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The 21-year-old misfit’s assertions sparked outrage on the social networking site, which could lead to Newcastle disciplining a player who has been on the wrong side of the law on more than one occasion in his short career.
With all the takeover talk bounding around Elland Road these days it may well have gone unnoticed that Neil Warnock’s Leeds have steadily been building momentum over the last few weeks.
After a reasonable, though not explosive, start, most of us stood staring blankly at the squad list with more than just a twinge of pessimism. Nobody doubted that the players Warnock had brought in would be more than up for the fight, but we appeared to have an alarming lack of depth, and quality, in almost every area on the pitch.
With that in mind, nobody expected much. Mid table by Christmas, at best.
What we weren’t expecting, even if we knew it was a possibility, was the way in which Warnock would galvanize the threadbare squad that he did have into becoming a serious threat in the division. Over the last three games Leeds have seriously got into gear, with impressive individual and team performances throughout.
After the win against Bristol City I thought to myself – this is it, we’re finally watching real Neil Warnock performances. The kind of performance where you see players throwing themselves at every ball, playing for their team mates, for their manager, and perhaps more importantly, playing with the personal pride and passion that is expected by anyone pulling on the white shirt.
Prior to our win over Nottingham Forest we hadn’t really got going, but over the last few weeks something has clicked. Before it, I couldn’t see us making a go of the season without the investment from the proposed takeover arriving quickly, but now I see the bigger picture. Warnock has repeated all along that until anything is announced he will carry on as if it isn’t happening, and you can see that he truly believes that he can get his current side promoted with or without new owners.
That has to be good news for Leeds. Neil Warnock is no rookie, he’s experienced enough now to know whether he’s chasing a lost cause or not and you can see the energy he’s got for the job, he practically burst with pride after every goal. The man knows what it takes to get promotion and he can see it happening with Leeds. In his mind, he’s focused on the roar at full time when he finally seals our return to the Premier League.
The players confidence is growing day by day, they’ve had a battle mentality installed and you can see that they fear nobody. Against Everton, a team full of Premier League players, they didn’t sit back and look to counter, they took the game straight to them from the word go and never looked back. Every ball got chased down and scrapped for, by players that seemed almost possessed.
So here we are now, with games coming thick and fast and a team that are proving themselves to be more than up for the fight. The squad does still need additions, but you try telling the current team that they aren’t good enough for promotion.
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This team really do have what it takes, because Warnock has made them so. For the first time in a long time we’re supporting a team that wants this as much as we do and a manager that will stop at nothing to make sure we get back to where we want to be.
Leeds are finally on their way back, marching on again, together.
Liverpool and Arsenal are on red alert following news that Newcastle are ready to sell Demba Ba, report The Mirror.
The Magpies are believed to be growing more and more frustrated by the Senegalese international’s reluctance to commit to a new deal and are prepared to let him leave in January.
They are said to be looking to move the 27-year-old on as early as possible, to give themselves a chance to bring in a replacement, with Marseille hit-man Loic Remy top of a list of targets.
Ba is reportedly seeking a bumper contract of £80,000-per-week, a figure that Toon owner Mike Ashley is unwilling to match.
Due to a much reported clause in the striker’s contract, Newcastle will be forced to accept a rock bottom fee, in the region of £7m, which will tempt a whole host of Premier League clubs.
Liverpool are thought to be leading the race, with their desire to bring in attacking reinforcements well known.
The club’s owners are reportedly willing to back Brendan Rodgers in the transfer market, as the Reds look to step up their pursuit of Champions League football.
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Arsenal are also in the hunt, with summer signing Olivier Giroud struggling to lead the line for the Gunners.
Ba was in fine for the St James’ Park team last term, notching an impressive 16 goals.
Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel has admitted that he will fight to retain his place in the side’s starting line-up.
The White Hart Lane club signed Hugo Lloris from Lyon on transfer deadline day, who is viewed as a long-term replacement for the United States international.
However, the ageing veteran has revealed that he is not ready to hand over the no.1 jersey just yet.
“Right now I believe the shirt is mine to lose, I believe the manager came out and said that. If that’s the case then great,” Friedel is quoted as saying in The Daily Mail.
“I will turn up every day and work as hard as I can. I will keep as fit as I possibly can, hopefully get selected to play and hopefully do as well as I can.
“It’s great to have competition. Hugo Lloris is France’s No.1, he’s gonna want to play, I’m gonna want to play, and so are Carlo and Heurelho.
“When I signed for Tottenham, I signed as a stop-gap while Tottenham looked for a long-term goalkeeper. Tottenham deserve a long-term goalkeeper.
“I want to play, I’ve always wanted to play, I don’t sign contracts not to play. However, I would never demean the manager by spitting my dummy out if I wasn’t playing.
“We are all contracted to Tottenham Hotspur and if they ask me to be a No.1 [or a No.2], I’d do that to the best of my ability.
“Hugo Lloris is going to be a team-mate, not an enemy.
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“It is a difficult position to have four goalkeepers of our quality at the club. Saying that, hopefully there’ll be 50-odd games to play this season, which is a lot of games to go around,” the American commented.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is adamant that his team are not trying to mimic the style of his former club Swansea.
The Reds played out a goalless draw with the South Wales-based outfit during Sunday’s Premier League clash, in a game full of technical accuracy but few clear-cut chances.
Rodgers was offered the position at Anfield on the back of two successful seasons with the Swans, during which time they transferred their short passing game from the Championship to the Premier League.
However, the Northern Irishman insists that he does not want Liverpool to be a carbon copy of his former team:
“Swansea play the Swansea way of playing. It is not that we want to play the way Swansea play.” He is quoted by The Independent.
“Liverpool have played good football for many, many years and we are just looking at a different way of working and the players have been terrific in their response.
“You see as each game goes by the method in our game is improving, but we are not looking to play like Swansea.”
Liverpool had a goal ruled out for offside at the Liberty Stadium as well as seeing a Raheem Sterling effort cannon off of the crossbar.
Rodgers was happy with the result and the signs of progress he saw on the pitch:
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“It is a difficult place to come but when you play well and have a couple of chances and a goal ruled out you are obviously disappointed if you don’t take the three points.
“But our performance level is improving and we are chipping way at climbing up the league and we will do that.”
When the BBC interviewed the ‘secret footballer’ last week, he was asked the question as to whether John Terry was popular within the football fraternity. Like with most loaded questions, the bullet was cleverly dodged, although you did sense by the pause and hesitancy that he perhaps wasn’t the most loved by his peers. To be honest I doubt JT really cares, or Chelsea fans for that matter as football is about winning matches, not a popularity contest. I’m sure Luis Suarez and Liverpool fans feel the same, but as neutral fans we are always looking to target those rival players that we have an inner hatred for.
Throughout the Premier League there have been plenty of players that have got our goat and this article is a celebration of those footballers we love to hate.
Click on Dennis Wise below to get the ball rolling
David Moyes has dismissed comments made by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard about Everton’s style of play this week and publicly praised how his team go about their game.
Moyes has stated that any non-Liverpool or Everton fan would claim to be impressed by his teams style of play this season and if the Toffee’s faithful are happy with it, then he is happy with it.
“I think any neutral who watches Everton would say they’ve actually been impressed by us.
“More importantly, if you ask any Evertonians what they think about how Everton have done, I think they would all say we have played very well.
“And even more importantly, if you ask the manager how they think it’s gone, I’ll tell you Everton have played really, really well and passed it well.
“I think we’re one of the teams that made the most chances in the Premier League. I think we’ve had a lot of goals so I think we’ve been good value and we’re very good to watch.
“I don’t really bother what Liverpool think, to tell you the truth. I only bother what I think.”
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Newcastle welcome Norwich to the Sports Direct Arena on Sunday, hopefully well rested after Alan Pardew left seven first team players at home for Thursday nights Europa League draw against Maritimo.
The likes of Yohan Cabaye, Papiss Cisse and Hartem Ben Arfa did not travel to Portugal, and are all expected to start on Sunday.
Norwich arrive still searching for their first victory of the season, and are the lowest scorers in the division with just two goals in four games this season. Last seasons top scorer is still yet to get off the mark.
Chris Hughton makes his first return to the Sports Direct Arena since his harsh dismissal in December 2010. He will be without Simon Lappin and Steven Whittaker to inury, whilst Elliot Bennett is unlikely to feature despite returning to training following a knee injury.
Pardew is set to welcome back defensive midfielder Cheick Tiote, who has been missing since the opening day victory over Tottenham. That game remains Newcastle’s only Premier League three points of the season.
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Defender Danny Simpson and goalkeeper Tim Krul are both unavailable through injury.
Following the outstanding breakthrough season that Kyle Walker enjoyed at Tottenham Hotspur last term, it’s fair to say even the man himself would be the first to admit that things haven’t gone quite so well for him this time around.
Indeed, in a refreshingly honest interview, Walker recently confessed to Ham & High that while he feels he’s beginning to rediscover the form that helped propel Spurs into the top four again last season, he wasn’t quite “firing on all cylinders.”
While for the neutral that may or may not come as something of a slight surprise given his recent involvement with Roy Hodgson’s England squad this term, for those frequenting White Hart Lane, it’s been something of an open secret for quite some time now.
But while his form has undeniably floundered somewhat since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, it’s often all too easy to take a player such as Walker, who’s still only a mere 22 years of age, for granted.
Given his remarkable consistency in terms of both fitness as well as performance last season, the expressions of surprise that etched fans’ faces as Walker trudged off injured against Fulham during the last game of the season said it all. He’d only sat out one league game all season.
A PFA Young Player of the Year award brought recognition to the ex-Sheffield United, but it also galvanized the level of expectation that supporters came to expect. Increasing involvement with the senior national team has only added prominence and his growing maturity within the Tottenham squad has seen him become something of a mouthpiece for the side in recent months. Indeed, Walker was one of the most vocal in the defense of manager Andre Villas-Boas following criticism earlier on in the season.
Of course, a meteoric rise within the game brings with it the glaring and often unrelenting spotlight of attention. And as the young defender’s struggled to find his best form, there’s been no hiding place from either media or supporters alike.
Where as the paying White Hart Lane support had every right to demand more from Walker, a small section of the overzealous perhaps went too far in their critique; the nadir coming in the wake of the 4-2 home defeat to Chelsea, in which the flack received pre-empted him to even suspend his Twitter account.
And although the minority of idiots who took to personally abuse Walker should be wholly condemned, some of the criticism aimed at the young right-back wasn’t necessarily all unjustified.
At several times this term we’ve seen Walker caught out all too often by his man, either beaten in the air, beaten in a one-or-one or having the ball stolen away from him in possession. As opposed to exposing serious flaws in his game, his problems have more often than not been the cheap and simple sort of mistakes. If nothing else, fans have been frustrated because they know he’s capable of so much more.
In his own words, Walker’s suggested that it’s been a combination of all of the above, that has hindered his progress this term.
“I’ve come across it this season where I’ll have two players to take on, whereas before, I usually just had one,” he said this week.
“I take that as compliment, that people think I’m a threat going down that right side, but it’s something I need to change in my game to try to overcome it.”
Poignantly however, even Walker himself was surprised to learn just how much football he’s played in recent times, confirming some people’s suspicions that he’s not always been at 100% fitness-wise.
“I found out the other night [after the game against Liverpool] that it was the 50th consecutive game I had played in the Premier League – at the age of 22 – which kind of shocked me a bit,” he continued.
“I keep getting a few little niggles here and there, but they’re not going to stop me playing – you do have to be careful, though, because you have to think whether it’s a warning sign and whether your body’s telling you to slow down a little bit.”
And it’s within these last sentiments that you simply can’t help but feel the writing could be on the wall for Walker. He undoubtedly has the talent, the drive and the ability to be a permanent fixture in the berth for many years to come. But considering the form struggles he’s been enduring, Walker has already played 23 times for Spurs this season and we’ve not even hit the beginning of the hectic festive fixture list.
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Villas-Boas seems to have taken the approach of letting Walker try and play out his difficulties and if he hasn’t, then the Portuguese must hold very little faith in Kyle Naughton, Walker’s de facto understudy at the club. But even though Walker has shown glimpses of a return to form in recent games, he still doesn’t feel quite there.
Naughton shown during a rare start against Fulham – one that coincidentally produced a seldom clean sheet for the Lilywhites – that he’s an astute deputy when played on the right hand side, as opposed to a make shift left-back.
There’s an awful lot of football still to be played this season and Walker will undoubtedly be a part of that. But after trying to see Walker through his poor spell through game time, it could be time for Andre Villas-Boas to try something different.
Maybe now it’s time to take Kyle Walker out the firing line, give him a few games to regroup, refocus and then push on for the New Year. The Spurs backline are struggling, but right-back is one of the few positions in which AVB does have a viable deputy. Now could be just the time to use him.
Carlos Cuellar is hopeful that he and John O’Shea could form an excellent partnership for Sunderland.
In a crucial position for the team both men bring a great depth of experience at centre-back, both men are 31 and have started promisingly in decent away draws at Swansea and Arsenal.
With the two likely to get a run playing together with last year’s outstanding centre back Wes Brown side-lined. Cuellar told the Sunderland Echo his delight at playing with O’Shea, “As for the partnership I have played with John a few times in pre-season and we have started pretty well in the league.
“We feel confident, we have good communication with each other and I think we feel comfortable to play with each other. I think a lot of that is because we are experienced players and so we know what it needs for things to work.”
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The Spaniard also expressed his approval of the balance at Sunderland where young talents such as Jack Colback and James McClean are developing around more experienced campaigners such as himself and O’Shea. He said, “I believe we have a good blend of players in the squad – we have experienced players, we have young players, we have players who like to attack, players who like to defend.”