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In the wake of Martin O’Neill’s departure, Avram Grant may have thought there was no better time for his side to be playing Aston Villa. The reality was starkly different as West Ham slumped to lacklustre 3-0 defeat. The Hammers were out-paced, out-manoeuvred and out-thought by their claret and blue rivals. Are there any positives to discern from Saturday’s encounter or is it likely to be another long season for the Irons?

1) Green’s World Cup hangover continues

Robert Green found himself in excellent company this weekend as fellow goalkeepers, Chris Kirkland, Pepe Reina, Tim Howard and Scott Carson all made high profile gaffs. After his howler at the World Cup the fear for Hammers fans is that Green’s shaky form may be set to continue. Booed by the Villa fans, Green came under immense pressure from the off. Bombarded by crosses and corners the keeper was anything but commanding as he missed an attempted punch clearance, handing a gilt-edged chance to John Carew. Shortly after, Green parried Ashley Young’s cross to Marc Albrighton whose volleyed shot he could only divert to the grateful Stuart Downing who slotted home. Green should have caught the cross but recovered well to tip over Young’s goal-bound lob. It may take time before the England goalkeeper’s confidence is restored but he and others will be wondering if it is too soon to blame the new Nike Tracer ball.

2) Right-back remains a problem position

The well remunerated Lucas Neill had his critics at Upton Park but since his departure the right-back position has been the club’s Achilles heel. Having played in that role last season Grant had decided to push Julien Faubert forward and put new recruit Winston Reid in his place on Saturday. Having inexplicably refused to buy a right-back it will now be incumbent on Reid, James Tomkins or Tal Ben Haim, all centre-backs, to fulfil that role. Reid was exposed on his PL debut by Young whose pace and skill on the ball confused the Kiwi defender. He was additionally unable to augment the attack on the right flank. With strong but lumbering centre-backs likely to fill that position many managers will be telling their left-wingers to unsettle the Hammers’ right-back.

3) Tomkins needs help and guidance

In a move eerily reminiscent of his failed back pass at home to Wolves last season, Tomkins narrowly avoided a defensive disaster against Villa. Under no pressure Tomkins decided to play a back pass with his weaker foot, making a feeble connection and allowing John Carew a free run at goal. As the striker tried to round Green, the keeper got a touch which bounced off Tomkins and hit the post. Despite the defensive strengths of the Basildon born youngster, this bore all the hallmarks of an unease and nervousness at the back. The player will require reassurance and training from the coaching staff but has scant support from experienced colleagues like Green and Matthew Upson. A dearth of communication in West Ham’s defence has not been rectified.

4) Cole remains isolated

Carlton Cole is occasionally accused of laziness but patently does not receive adequate service from his team-mates. This was abundantly clear in the first-half where he played the lone striker role to no avail. The midfield sat especially deep, meaning when Cole received the ball there was no one to bring into possession and build an attack. Clearly frustrated Cole created one of West Ham’s only chances in the first period by beating Richard Dunne for pace on the left before cutting into the box and firing a low cross across the face of goal. Unsurprisingly after all that work there was not a team-mate in sight. This was partially remedied by the introduction of Frederic Piquionne and Pablo Barrera for the second half. Few chances were created though and the ability of West Ham to use the width of the pitch and employ some more creative passing from the centre will be integral to Cole’s goal-scoring form this year. Fans will be hoping Thomas Hitzlsperger can make a swift recovery from a thigh injury sustained on international duty.

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5) Pre-season counts for nothing

The Hammers were unbeaten in pre-season and recorded impressive victories over Borussia Monchengladbach and Panathinaikos. It was a broadly successful pre-season but their preparations did not resemble the weak performance against Villa. West Ham were sluggish, laboured and failed to find any passing rhythm. Neat one touch passing in their own half descended into directionless long balls forward. Much work will be required at Chadwell Heath if they are to give the home fans something to cheer when they face bogey side Bolton Wanderers next Saturday.

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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has admitted that Gareth Bale will need to get used to tough tackling from opponents, as the flying winger is targeted by opposing defenders.

The Wales international has impressed with stunning performances over the last 18 months, and sides facing Spurs are wary of the attacker’s threat.

Similar to leading dribblers in the game, Redknapp feels that Bale will continue to be targeted for rough treatment.

“The last tackle (from Simon Cox) at the end of the West Brom game, that was bad and from behind when he was running away, that was cynical,” the tactician told The Daily Mail.

“But he is so quick and can just move the ball away, people lunge in and suddenly the ball is not there and they catch him. I suppose when you are that good a player you are going that.

“The top players in the world – [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi – who can run at people with the ball and beat people all get that.

“He has got quick feet and is maybe a little bit too quick for the people he is playing against,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Former Chile captain Elias Figueroa will not stand against Sepp Blatter and Mohamed Bin Hammam in the FIFA presidential elections.Figueroa, 64, was the preferred candidate of a group called Change FIFA, which advocates reform in the governing body.

The group wished to provide an alternative to incumbent Blatter and Asian Football Confederation chief Bin Hammam.

Figueroa had said last week that he was considering the proposal and had the backing of at least one national football association.

But the Chilean, who appeared in three World Cups and was also voted South American footballer of the year on three occasions in the 1970s, eventually decided not to run.

“I have decided not to accept (the presidential nomination)… for the sole reason that I’m sure with such a short time in which to state a case I could not prepare one worthy of the magnitude and importance of such a distinguished job,” Figueroa said in a statement Wednesday.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has not given up hope of landing Liverpool's Spain international striker Fernando Torres before the end of next month.

Mancini has already signed Jerome Boateng, Aleksandar Kolarov, Yaya Toure and David Silva this summer but is pursuing the Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 winner as he looks to push his spending since the end of last season past the £100million mark.

Although Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has bought Joe Cole this month and persuaded Steven Gerrard to stay at Anfield, Torres has not commented on his future.

Mancini said:"Torres is one of the best strikers in Europe and is already playing in the Premier League for three years and knows it very well. But it depends on his situation – his price and whether he wants to come.

"There are two or three strikers that we could go for, but it is the same situation as it is with James Milner. First there is the price and then it depends if the players want to change team. Until today, Liverpool haven't bought many players."

Of Aston Villa midfielder Milner, Mancini added:"When Manchester City enquire about a £10million player, the club asks for £20million. That is not good for us.

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Dig deeper into the world of football and you will discover a lot. Many international footballers aren’t native to the country they represent, some of which have extremely loose ties and choose their national side only to be in with a higher chance of playing international football. FIFA rules were altered in 2008 in order to help secure Sepp Blatter’s plan to reduce the number of foreign footballers playing abroad. Under these laws, uncapped footballers are allowed to switch allegiances after 5 years of being native to a country. You are also eligible to represent a country if a parent or grandparent was a native.

All very well it seems, I’m of the belief that your nationality lies with your place of birth. However, I can understand this clause. There is a major problem though; this rule is being exploited for the advantages of larger countries on the international stage. Leaving the smaller countries without what could be a historic player for them or that could bring them closer to the dream of playing in a international competition such as the World Cup or European Championships.

It doesn’t take long to find an example of this, Germany’s second all time goalscorer Miroslav Klose was born in Poland and was 7 when his family moved to Germany. He himself has said it’s better for him not to be called German or Polish, but European. Another example is his old Bayern Munich strike partner Lukas Podolski , although this is more understandable as he moved to Germany when he was 2.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh here, they might both claim themselves to be German Nationals and yes, technically they are. The real issue is when a player is able to represent a country when he himself would not class himself as being of that nationality. Two examples of this are Manuel Almunia and Mikel Arteta, both Spanish footballers and both uncapped, due to how long they have lived in England for they are both eligible to represent the three lions. However, they themselves will never claim to be English.

This is not a new issue, Alfredo Di Stefano is classed as a legend of the game but did you know he represented 3 countries at the top level? He scored 6 goals in 6 games for his native Argentina between 1947 and 1949, following this came 4 appearances for Columbia, where he scored 0 goals. He gained Spanish citizenship while playing for Real Madrid and went on to score 23 goals in 31 games for Spain. Ridiculous isn’t it? Ok, the law has been cleared up since then meaning you can only represent 1 country at full level but this should never have been allowed to happen.

Owen Hargreaves was born in Canada and went on, as we know, to represent England. However, he also gained German citizenship while playing for Bayern Munich and was close to playing for Wales at U-21 level before pulling out at the last minute. Paulo Di Canio was also eligible to play for England. Ryan Giggs represented England at schoolboy level under the name Ryan Wilson, before opting for his country of birth. As he should.

Many, many footballers fall under this issue and there will be alot more in the future, unless the rules are altered. Zinedine Zidane, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eduardo, Giuseppe Rossi. Have a look into the background of football and you will learn alot and begin to question the work of FIFA.

It needs a simple law to clear up and it won’t cause FIFA much hassle to organise. It begs the question, are FIFA ignoring the issue or are they under the influence of the bigger nations who benefit from these players?

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Article courtesy of Josh Challies from This is Futbol

Birmingham City’s accidental Carling Cup hero Obafemi Martins said he is unsure of his future at St Andrew’s.The Nigerian striker – on-loan from Russian club Rubin Kazan – scored one of the easiest winners of a Cup final when Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny spilt the ball into his path, with Martins obligingly tapping home to send Blues fans at Wembley into frenzy on Sunday.But with the winners’ medal in pocket, Martins said talk of a permanent deal to keep his place in Alex McLeish’s squad was premature.”I don’t know anything,” Martins told The Birmingham Mail. “I’m still on loan and I just want to be with the team, scoring goals, and we will see what is going to happen.”Martins said his decision to join Birmingham was vindicated by their last-gasp victory over Arsenal on Sunday, with City winning their first trophy since their League Cup triumph in 1963.”When Birmingham called me, I decided to come. They have the players that can play. I’m lucky to be here, and we have won at Wembley,” he said.

Sir Alex has ruled out big changes this summer at Old Trafford as he intends to put his faith in youth this coming season. United supporters certainly have mixed views over Fergie’s stance, with many feeling that the Scot is missing a trick as their rivals continue to strengthen their respective squads.

This week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag of Man United blogs which has included…One contract the Glazers can ill afford to baulk on; Fergie’s faith masks the bigger picture and Neville highlights a major flaw in the armoury.

Plus we have taken a look at the best Man United stories on the Web this week.

THREE ways that Fergie can look to fill the Hargreaves hole

Do Sir Alex’s claims really add up?

Is Sir Alex’s faith simply masking the bigger picture?

From United reject to arguably one of the best in his field

One contract the Glazers and co can ill afford to baulk at

Gary Neville highlights a major flaw in the armoury

Why Sir Alex must take a dip into the transfer market

A blow for United and Spurs, but equally for Capello

The FIVE Premier League flops (past and present) who shone in SA

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Best of Web

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Will this season be this starlet’s coming out party? – The Busby Way

You’ve Made Your Decision On Renewal… Now The Shirt – RoM

We all want Glazer out but is there anyone better? – Truly Reds

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Genius Scholes need not fight the fight one time too many – United Rant

Can this much maligned midfielder pull out of his current nose dive? – The Busby Way

Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer

Football fans’ willingness to show their dedication comes in all shapes and sizes. One such way is to splay their dedication over their body in the form of a tattoo. I can understand why somebody might choose to tattoo their footballing allegiance onto their body. Whilst women come and go, a football team is for life. It’s the manly man’s equivalent of getting “I love mom’ yet a tattoo is a big commitment, so it’s important to get it right. As you can imagine, this process isn’t always a success.

Below are the top 10 Liverpool tattoo’s to be found on the net – the good, the bad and the plain ugly – click on image below to unveil gallery:

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Have you got a better Liverpool tattoo? Football FanCast would like to invite the readers to submit their own entry via our Facebook Page. The winning entries will go forward to our grand competition to find the best tattoo in the Premier League.

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Win tickets to Legends Lounge to see the titanic clash at Anfield

Real Madrid defeated Racing Santander 3-1 on Sunday to remain in touch with Barcelona, while Sevilla suffered a setback at Atletico Bilbao.Real, playing for the second time in three days after thumping lowly Malaga 7-0 on Thursday, kept within seven points of the La Liga leaders with a comfortable victory highlighted by a brace to Karim Benzema.On-loan Manchester City man Emmanuel Adebayor, starting in place of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, got himself onto the scoresheet with the opener on 24 minutes.The goal was a thing of beauty, set up by Xabi Alonso’s defence-splitting through ball from the centre circle.Alonso’s pass released Mesut Oezil, who played a one-two with Adebayor before skipping into the area past two defenders, drawing Racing goalkeeper Tono wide and playing across goal for the Togolese striker to casually side-foot into an empty net.Oezil had a hand in Benzema’s first goal three minutes later, the Germany international again linking up with Alonso before threading an inch-perfect pass to his French team-mate, who went one out with Tono and proved up to the task.Racing started to find their confidence in the second half and had a glorious chance to draw within a goal of Real when Giovani dos Santos was tripped in the area by Alonso, but defender Pablo Pinillos’ weak shot was easily cut off by Iker Casillas.Bakircioglu eventually put Racing on the scoresheet in the 70th minute, shooting wide of Casillas after being played in by Mehdi Lacen, but Real had restored their lead five minutes later when Angel di Maria drove forward and again isolated Benzema and Tono.Adebayor had a late chance to extend Real’s lead from the penalty spot, but he too failed to beat the keeper after a weak attempt.Elsewhere, European hopefuls Sevilla slumped to eighth on the table as Bilbao snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-0 win at home.Sevilla defender Federico Fazio put the hosts ahead with an own goal in the 66th minute, deflecting into his own net in a scramble to clear a whipped-in cross, while Julien Escude was at fault in Bilbao’s second, fouling in the area and handing an 88th-minute penalty to Andoni Iraola.In other results, Espanyol’s European hopes took a blow as they fell 1-0 at Levante, their fourth loss in five league matches, while 10-man Sporting Gijon trumped Getafe 2-0.Almeria defeated Hercules 2-1 in a battle of the cellar dwellers, and bottom-placed Malaga fell 1-0 at home to Osasuna.

Walking off the pitch at the end of England’s game against Algeria- a disappointingly drawn game in which he played particularly poorly- Wayne Rooney took the time to deliver a video message to the fans. You’ve probably heard about it; I imagine a few of the newspapers mentioned it.

“Nice to see your home fans boo you. That’s what loyal support is” he said and, yeah, good shout, Wayne. I mean that literally, too. In a tournament where it had been previously assumed impossible to even hear oneself about the drone of the Vuvuzeleas, even his toughest critics would be forced to concede that getting your words heard by the 21.3 million people ITV report were watching on Friday night is some achievement, even taking into account how many of those 21.3 million would have already switched channels by the time of Wayne’s to camera piece so as to avoid bumping into James Corden.

Rooney has evidently put a lot of thought in to getting his message heard, which is to his credit. Would, though, that he put similar thought in to the crafting of the message itself. For one thing, ‘home fans’? Wayne, you’re playing in South Africa- it’s going on 6000 miles from ‘home’. Even when they talked of you being miles off the pace afterwards, I don’t think they meant that many miles. Secondly, it seems disappointing to be resorting to that horary old crutch that peculiarly English comedy device, sarcasm, so early in the competition. It’s hard to imagine a Kaka or a Messi using such base wit when finding a camera at the end of a World Cup fixture- those lads seem more comfortable on the camera, more adroit and cavalier, always have a trick up the same sleeve Rooney probably keeps his written speech just in case he forgets anything- and even the French, not a team without their own problems at this tournament, have demonstrated a certain imagination in their insults that seemed beyond England’s brightest hope. Is this a problem with coaching? Should our lads be being taught to just get out there and enjoy their spittle leaden monologues from an early age, with less pressure on hitting marks and not treading on the feet of any ball boys in the vicinity handing out the energy drinks?

Further, to whom was the message addressed? His anger was visible and clearly meant for those in the stadium. But they couldn’t hear him. So presumably we were expected to relay his thoughts to them somehow, via, one can only conclude, people we know who’ve travelled out there. That’s going to put a strain on the old phone bill isn’t it? I suppose Wayne can be forgiven this oversight, given that he thought the game was being played at Wembley. But, even so, next time it would surely be easier for everybody were he to nip out during the second half and ask the people operating the P.A system if they wouldn’t mind squeezing his message in between the safety guidelines and the happy birthdays. It’s not like anybody would have missed him on the pitch and, as a bonus, he would have been able to extend his best wishes- and those of the rest of the squad- to the gaffer on his sixty fourth. But I suppose that way we’re back again to concerns regarding sarcasm and additional concerns, in this instance, of how well it translates.

And can I just make the suggestion that if our role in this exchange was the vital cog that transferred it from the speaker to its audience that he may want to consider his tone? Not shooting the messenger is a phrase usually only employed upon delivery of said message, something for the recipient to consider; the sender of the message usually needs no such advice with most realising that such an action would demonstrate, if nothing else, gross inefficiency.

He’s apologised for the statement, through the more stuffy method of a press release, which disappointed those among us who wanted the entire saga to play out, serial style, through a series of similarly shot post match reflections. He probably reasoned that the air time couldn’t take the strain of the narrative, which seems sensible given England’s performances thus far and how decent Slovenia look- one more thirty second slot was hardly likely to incorporate a proper storyline and character development. And such non development from Rooney would have felt, for the viewer, dramatically unsatisfying, no matter how symbolically apt.

Read more of Chris Mackin’s musings at his excellent site ‘Partially Deflated’

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