Transfers - Gossip Shop: A bird's eye view

Eurosport - Sun, 12 Oct 20:01:00 2008

Gossip Shop is a firm believer in the power of cliché, none more so than the oft-trotted 'there are no easy games in international football'.

FOOTBALL Rooney Wright-Phillips Ferdinand England - 0

GS would also like to distance itself from the quite hysterical reaction in some quarters to England's 5-1 win over Kazakhstan.

Quite how an individual error in a comfortable World Cup qualifying win can constitute "humiliation" is news to GS.

Kazakhstan beat Andorra 3-0 in their first qualifier, and lost in Croatia by only one more goal than England did two years ago. Not dissimilar to the kind of results England achieved under the 'guidance' of, for example, Steve McClaren.

Football is a game played over 90 minutes, not the 45 of England's indifferent first-half performance, and not the split-second when Ashley Cole decided to play the ball across the face of his own area with a Kazakh striker goal-side of Rio Ferdinand.

The whole point of lengthy qualifying campaigns is that you grind out comfortable wins over lesser teams and turn it on for big matches.

Would you prefer a slick, attractive win over Kazakhstan but a mediocre showing against Croatia, who will punish you? Or a four-goal victory and a defensive error against the former and a slick, attractive win... you get the picture.

The latter is how Italy won the World Cup, and how Spain won the European Championships: the former is how England ended up watching the Euros in mock-Tudor pubs in Esher and Alderley Edge.

GS is also amused at certain sections of the crowd booing 'Cashley' Cole after his error. Given the hate that exists between fans of rival English clubs, pretty much anyone bar man-of-the-people Wayne Rooney is subject to irrational, regionalised bile, regardless of shared nationality.

But pantomime villain Cole got it worse than most, seemingly because a. the match was in North London, home of his former club Arsenal and b. he is a mouthy cockney that cheated on his missus who'll do anything for a fiver. Hmmm. More representative of England's support (GS included) than a one-in-a-lifetime talent like Rooney, no?

Back to GS's bread-and-butter, the usual nonsense about Real Madrid wanting to make out with Cristiano Ronaldo has again been dragged up.

"It is possible. He's very keen. I think it will be a little harder for his club to hang on to him next year. The hope remains that that next year he could be with us," coach Bernd Schuster told Marca. Get a room.

The News of the World have a shopping list for Manchester City boss Mark Hughes to spend £100m on in January. Juventus's Gianluigi Buffon, Milan's Kaka and Liverpool's Fernando Torres are all set for crunch talks with their clubs, apparently.

NOTW also casts a chip-pan sized shadow of doubt over Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez's future. In another case of 2+2=13, United's interest in teenage Argentine Douglas Costa means they are unlikely to take up the £30m option on Tevez.

Spain striker Daniel Guiza is ruing his decision to spurn the Premier League to join former national team coach Luis Aragones at Turkish side Fenerbahce.

"Things aren't going well, the team isn't giving what it has to give and it is bad. It's bad. I don't think I will last long here," Guiza told Marca. Tottenham Hotspur prepare to pounce.

General chat across the papers hints at moves for Fulham's Jimmy Bullard to Bolton, Reading's Kevin Doyle to Aston Villa and Liverpool youngster Nathan Ecclestone to Blackburn Rovers.

The Daily Star Sunday is in particularly good form, claiming that Juventus are set to swoop for Spurs man Luka Modric only months after he joined the club, with a similar in-and-out move tipped for Aston Villa's Wayne Routledge (Wolverhampton Wanderers), while West Brom are lining up a £5m swoop for Cardiff defender Roger Johnson.

One player could be returning to Denmark from the North East (Sunderland's Rade Prica, Copenhagen) while another could be going the other way (Viborg teen Kevin Mensah, to Newcastle United).

But the least logical rumour has to be the one linking Torino's Alessandro Rosina to Tottenham Hotspur. Rosina is great, but is he right for a side over-loaded with nifty playmakers but lacking a top striker, full-backs that can defend and any kind of bite in midfield? No.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 10 - 29 of 29

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  1. Any England side that has chelsea or pompey players in­ it is always doomed to failure

    From Braveheart, on Mon 13 Oct 10:43AM

  2. sappercommando - you're in 59 then?

    From Mike H, on Mon 13 Oct 10:38AM

  3. I can't wait to see the English qualify and then­ crash out just like the last time. I was in a packed­ pub with a mate and the display of tears and then the­ scrapping with the Police was highly amusing. They went­ around Peterborough's Northern disticts looking for­ foreign people to beat up and pronto run into the Law.­ God was that funny.

    From sappercommando25, on Mon 13 Oct 4:13AM

  4. English = @#$%...case closed

    From sappercommando25, on Mon 13 Oct 4:08AM

  5. People who are truly English care. We have pride in our­ country and are bemused by some of the comments by­ their so-called countrymen. If you hate England and all­ things English so much, leave and make a life in a­ country you can feel proud of. I feel so sorry for many­ of you, you must feel and lead such sad lives. I'm­ also ashamed of some of the vile language and rhetoric­ you use, why are you so abusive.

    From Ronsenglish, on Mon 13 Oct 3:25AM

  6. Who cares about hyped up England anyway?

    From davie sherriffs, on Mon 13 Oct 2:59AM

  7. who are they

    From nicholasbnjmn, on Sun 12 Oct 10:53PM

  8. I meant the comeback of Turkey against Bosnia and­ Herzegovina Turkey beat 2:1. Sabri is defence players­ but very very fast so sets up many many goals for­ Turkey. Sabri is a very good looking guy, smart, fast,­ intelligent, good footballer. ANyways he will be an­ asset to your club as a footballer and a good image as­ he is handsome winsome and charismatic. Now Arda is­ also another good looking fabulous midlfield but he is­ as charismatic as Sabri but still he is the praised­ jewel of Turkey now. Semih is another story. He does­ not run here and there like some race horses but­ he's go a killer instinct he is a goalscoring­ maschine. He is also very good looking guy. I know some­ will laugh at me and say what is this a beauty contest­ or football. But like I said these three are one of the­ best footballers on the planet right now. But like when­ you buy a fast, economic car don't you want it to­ be nice looking too. Or you don't care if you drive­ a very fast truck vs a nice Porsche?

    From azerican, on Sun 12 Oct 9:31PM

  9. Transfer gossip? get the three Turkish Jewels:
    Yet­ another come back for Turkiye. I love it. Sabri set up­ both goals for Turkiye. I often times watch the second­ goal Semih scored against Germany in Euro 2008. It was­ geniously set up by Sabri. World footbal managers where­ are you looking at, don't you see Sabri and Arda?­ Too bad Semih could not be there this time. But­ honestly, Semih, Arda and Sabri are players for Juve,­ Arsenal, Madrid and other big clubs. Man, listen up,­ and get these players before some upper midtable teams­ from Europe grab them. Then you will have missed your­ chances.

    From azerican, on Sun 12 Oct 9:19PM

  10. How mony dafferent skin tones are an thon pacture up­ thar.

    From dannysbac, on Sun 12 Oct 9:06PM

  11. i get fed up with hearing about rooney he is not world­ class, 2 goals in 4 years up until recently. and has­ only scored against nobodys sunday league players would­ have done the same and also gerrad he is a great club­ player and again a waste of space when it comes to­ international standard way way overrated if he or­ rooney played for spurs or westham and most of the­ other team they would not get a look in.

    From mick, on Sun 12 Oct 7:15PM

  12. 35 - the respective articles were written by DIFFERENT­ JOURNALISTS WITH DIFFERENT OPINIONS.

    You're an­ idiot for not realising this.

    These comments should­ really have an IQ test as standard before you can add­ what some laughingly call their 'opinion.

    Get back­ in your taxis and let the people with intelligence­ speak.

    From Jonathan H, on Sun 12 Oct 7:13PM

  13. If player's want the ridiculous salaries they earn­ and respect that comes with their positions in society,­ then players can rely on fans having ridiculous­ expectations which include error free games against pub­ clubs and fans will have ridiculous expectations of­ behaviour of the pitch. Ashley Cole is not alone in­ failing in both these expectations but as long as he­ puts himself forward in the public arena he can expect­ an unfair degree of negative support.

    From art_tidesco, on Sun 12 Oct 6:09PM

  14. you need to tell people who is at the top of the leage­ and go through to the bottom!!!

    From georgiadancingmad, on Sun 12 Oct 5:51PM

  15. MR ROONEY PLEASE DONT DO THE SAME TO WEST BROM ON­ SATURDAY....BE GENTLE

    From CHRISTOPHER, on Sun 12 Oct 5:16PM

  16. Comment 36 (Charlie G): The articles were written by­ different authors, who have different opinions, one you­ disagreed with, and one which you seem to share. I­ don't see how that can be some to be ashamed of.

    From Reda, on Sun 12 Oct 5:10PM

  17. englang are a better team now they have not got owen­ upfront and carrick in midfield times are looking­ bright ahead GO ENGLAND

    From johnallan965, on Sun 12 Oct 5:02PM

  18. WTF? Eurosport were amongst the first to jump on the­ England - hating bandwagon yesterday. In the article­ 'Shaky England see off Kazakhstan', you said­ that England 'produced a poor performance' and­ were 'humiliated when the visitors scored'.­ WTF?
    This is double standards if I've ever seen­ them. The Eurosport writers should be ashamed of­ themselves. We scored five goals, have won every match­ so far, got three points last night, are top of the­ group and there was only one small mistake made. What­ more do you want? Every player has their off - moments,­ and England still managed to demolish Kazakhstan in­ less than 45 minutes. Some people are just never happy.­ Why don't you write something useful and / or­ productive for a change?

    From Charlie G, on Sun 12 Oct 4:28PM

  19. Spot on with regards the England game and their­ pathetic London-based fans; i wager none of the fans­ who travelled down from the North took part in the­ booing of one of their own players.

    From cameron w, on Sun 12 Oct 4:00PM

  20. JammyD....You mad MoFu! What in chuffs name have you­ been smokin'?

    From Cannaid Draig, on Sun 12 Oct 2:55PM
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