Rate it!

17 votes

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'.

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