Paper Talk: Hazard to Real Madrid, Toure to MLS
Eden Hazard wants to leave Chelsea for Real Madrid, while Yaya Toure could play under Patrick Vieira at Manchester City’s club New York City.
HAZARD WANTS REAL MADRID MOVE
Eden Hazard’s Belgium coach, Marc Wilmots, would welcome a move to Real Madrid for his star player amid fears he could suffer burnout at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.
That is the claim in both the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror, with Wilmots apparently concerned that Hazard could be worn out by Mourinho’s demands by the time Belgium kick off in the European Championship finals next summer.
‘Sources close to Wilmots believe that, privately, he feels a move to Real would be good for Hazard and would allow the player more freedom and a lighter work schedule’, the Daily Telegraph says.
French newspaper L’Equipe, meanwhile, claims Hazard perceives Chelsea as lacking ambition and also has a poor relationship with Mourinho, leading him to set his heart on a move to the Bernabeu.
TOURE AND VIEIRA COULD JOIN NEW YORK CITY
Manchester City are convinced that Yaya Toure remains committed to the club and have considered giving him a job within their Elite Development set-up once he hangs up his boots, it is reported in the Daily Star.
Before then, however, Toure, who is under contract at the Etihad Stadium until the end of next season, is expected to be offered the chance to end his playing career in Major League Soccer with City’s sister club New York City.
That comes amid a report in the Daily Telegraph which claims Patrick Vieira, City’s current Elite Development squad manager, could be offered the manager’s job at NYC if current boss Jason Kreis, as is expected in the States, is sacked at the end of a disappointing campaign.
Man Utd player ratings v CKSA: Rooney fails to impress
Wayne Rooney again failed to impress the media at CSKA Moscow on Wednesday, with Ander Herrera rated as Manchester United’s best outfielder.
Anthony Martial gave away a penalty but later scored a diving header to earn United a 1-1 draw in the Russian capital which moved them to four points after three games of their Champions League Group B campaign.
David de Gea was rated as United’s best performer overall, earning an average rating of 7.5 from the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and ESPN FC having made a crucial save to prevent CSKA from going 2-0 ahead having already saved Roman Eremenko’s spot-kick only to be beaten by the rebound.
Herrera was the only other player to gain an average rating in excess of 7/10, with Rooney one of three players, along with Marcos Rojo and Bastian Schweinsteiger, that failed to even break the 6/10 mark.
| Player | Mirror | Telegraph | ESPN FC | Total | Average | |
| De Gea | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 30 | 7.5 |
| Valencia | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 27 | 6.75 |
| Jones | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 6 | 25.5 | 6.375 |
| Smalling | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7 | 26.5 | 6.625 |
| Rojo | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 5.75 |
| Schweinsteiger | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 5.75 |
| Schneiderlin | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 6.5 |
| Lingard | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 6.5 |
| Rooney | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 23 | 5.75 |
| Herrera | 7 | 6.5 | 7 | 8 | 28.5 | 7.125 |
| Martial | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 25 | 6.25 |
Who did you think were the best and worst performers on the night? Discuss this in the new-look Manchester United Your Say forum.
Mourinho accused of meltdown as FA crusade continues
Jose Mourinho has been accused of being close to a ‘John Carver-esque meltdown’ as the Chelsea boss continues his crusade against the Football Association.
According to several of Thursday’s newspapers, Mourinho plans to refer to officials as “weak and naive” whenever frustrated by their displays, having seen Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger escape punishment for using the phrase.
Mourinho used it for the first time following Chelsea’s Champions League draw at Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday night, with UEFA yet to decide whether his comments constitute a breach of their rules.
Irrespective of the outcome of that probe, Mourinho believes he is on safe ground using the phrase after Premier League games, with Wenger escaping punishment for describing Mike Dean’s performance as “weak and naive” following Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge last month.
Mourinho, meanwhile, is appealing against the £50,000 fine and suspended one-match stadium ban given to him after he described referees as being “afraid” to award decisions in Chelsea’s favour.
He said last week: “I know I’m not English. I know my English is just good enough to work in this country, but it is not perfect. But the difference between ‘afraid’ and ‘weak and naive’, the difference is £50,000 and one-match stadium ban.
“We can push people in the technical area. We can, no problem. So anything in the technical area, we can push. The word ‘afraid’ is a punishment and a hard punishment. But to say the referee was ‘weak and naive’, referring to one of the top referees in this country and in Europe, we can do.”
Mourinho on verge of meltdown?
Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann says Mourinho’s behaviour makes it appear as though he is “begging for the sack”.
“Some of the stuff he (Mourinho) is coming out with at the moment and over recent weeks is not far from a meltdown,” Hamann told talkSPORT. “It’s John Carver-esque.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the owner and what the circumstances are, but to me at times it looks like he’s begging for the sack.
“The thing that worries me about Chelsea is that he seems to be falling out with all the players. If you want to get a reaction from a player and you put him on the bench like he did with [Eden] Hazard the other day, it’s not a problem. But you don’t bring him on in the 89th minute to humiliate him and embarrass him even further.
“And he’s done it with most of the players. [Branislav] Ivanovic has been labelled as a player who hasn’t performed this season, which may be true, but if you do it with one or two players to get a reaction that’s fair enough, but I think he has done it to most of them now.
“If you want to be successful, come Saturday, Mourinho can’t score the goals. You need your players, your main players, on board.
“If he wants to keep his job until the end of the season you’ve got to see a different Chelsea over the next few months. Can I see it? I’m not too sure, I don’t think they can. I’ll be stunned if he’s there by the end of the season.”
Van Gaal ‘very happy’ with Man Utd showing at CSKA
Louis van Gaal rued a “stupid” moment from Anthony Martial but was happy with Manchester United’s overall performance at CSKA Moscow.
Martial scored a fine diving header to earn United a 1-1 draw in their third Champions League game at the Khimki Arena, but the Frenchman was to blame for gifting the Russians the lead.
Martial raised his right arm going into a challenge with Mario Fernandes in the 15th minute and the ball struck it, leaving the referee with no option but to point to the spot.
David de Gea saved Roman Eremenko’s penalty, but Seydou Doumbia scored the rebound to put CSKA ahead.
Martial’s second-half header saved United’s blushes, but their manager was disappointed with his star striker for the error that led to the hosts’ goal.
Van Gaal said: “They had the present of an Anthony Martial penalty.
“Martial is a human being, he reacts and it is a stupid reaction, but sometimes these things happen.
“He said it is the first time it happens to him, if it always happens with me it’s a pity.”
Draw deserved, says Van Gaal
Although Van Gaal was unhappy with the French teenager for effectively handing the hosts the lead, he was pleased to escape from his trip east with a point.
United froze in the first half on a sub-zero night in Russia, but improved after the break following the introduction of Marouane Fellaini and could have snatched all three points in the second half.
The draw leaves the Red Devils in second place in Group B at the halfway point of the group stages, with home matches against PSV and CSKA, as well as a trip to Wolfsburg, to come.
“I was very happy with the performance,” Van Gaal said.
“I knew in advance that it would be a very difficult game because CSKA are very well organised and compact.
“The tempo was too slow in my opinion, I said that at half-time, and improve our tempo and switching the game from side to side.
“We did that better in the second half than the first half. We created more chances and could have won, but I think it is a deserved draw.
“I will be happy with a draw better than a win, we now have two home matches and you can say we are very strong at home and I hope we can win these games so we are nearly qualified or qualified, but we also have a game away to Wolfsburg.
“We are on schedule (to qualify) after the PSV Eindhoven defeat, which was a very strange defeat for us.”
De Bruyne sinks Sevilla as Man City end home woes
Kevin De Bruyne’s stoppage-time goal earned Manchester City a crucial 2-1 win over Sevilla at the Etihad Stadium in Champions League Group D.
City had looked to be labouring to another unconvincing result in the competition, with only an Adil Rami own goal after Yevhen Konoplyanka’s earlier strike saving them from another possible home defeat.
But as the game moved into four minutes of added time, De Bruyne raced on to a Yaya Toure through-ball and guided a shot into the bottom corner.
The goal transformed the mood at a hitherto subdued ground, with the even later introduction of Vincent Kompany off the bench further lifting fans.
Manuel Pellegrini’s decision to leave Kompany on the bench for a second successive game was one of the night’s major talking points.
Pellegrini has not started his captain since expressing frustration at his recent appearance for Belgium after a spell out injured.
It was a decision that looked likely to backfire as City continued to look vulnerable in his absence and were regularly cut open by the Spaniards on a drizzly evening.
City did create numerous chances but lacked the composure of the visitors, who also hit the woodwork through Konoplyanka.
Some of City’s better moments came early on and Jesus Navas, hoping to his mark against his home-town club, had the first opportunity of the night with a well-struck shot from distance.
De Bruyne then teed up Toure with a good ball into the box, but the midfielder missed the ball and Bony’s consequent effort lacked power. De Bruyne also shot across goal but, despite these chances, City spent most of the first half on the back foot.
Konoplyanka was the obvious dangerman and smashed a free-kick against the post before Joe Hart saved Grzegorz Krychowiak’s follow-up strike.
Konoplyanka saw another chance deflected wide and Krychowiak missed the target with a free header from one of several Sevilla corners.
City had to rely on counter-attacks and Navas might have done better with one opportunity in front of goal before Yaya Toure saw a shot deflected over.
The home defence was cut open time after time and it eventually caught up with them as Vitolo squared for Konoplyanka to fire home the opening goal after 30 minutes.
City did produce a good response and they levelled within six minutes. Toure drove to the byline and pulled the ball back across goal. Raheem Sterling’s shot was saved but Bony reacted quickly to the rebound and the ball was deflected in off Rami.
But despite the leveller, City continued to look vulnerable with Vicente Iborra heading over a good chance before the break, and Kevin Gameiro similarly wasting an even better chance after the restart.
The second half was more subdued than the first, but Iborra sliced a volley wide and substitute Michael Krohn-Delhi also missed the target as Sevilla continued to carry the greater threat.
City’s supporters were clearly anxious and it was Sevilla’s who were the more vocal, but the hosts roused themselves in the closing moments.
Toure forced a good save from Sergio Rico with 89 minutes on the clock and De Bruyne then had the final say.
FA treating players like horses, says angry Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has said the FA are ‘treating players like horses’ after Jordan Rossiter was injured while duty for England Under-19s.
New Liverpool boss Klopp displayed his dismay at the club’s press conference on Wednesday, saying: “If you handle players like horses, then they will become horses,” after youngster Rossiter returned to Melwood last week with a hamstring problem after playing three times in five days for England’s Under-19s.
Klopp confirmed he will seek an explanation from the Football Association, but did not want to cause a fuss on his first day in the job, however he has made it clear he is unhappy about the situation.
“[Jordan] Rossiter is a special story, I’ve never heard a player at 19 years having to play three games in five days. Now we have to wait for him,” said Klopp, whose men face Rubin Kazan on Thursday at Anfield.
How will Liverpool do under Jurgen Klopp this season?
“It’s too much. What can we say? Three days in five days, football is ninety minutes. If you are young maybe you’re more resistant but that is not normal.
“I have to talk to somebody. We are in contact, I didn’t want to call somebody at the FA on my first day but this is not okay.
“He has a hamstring injury and it was because of the match. These young players are our future, if we handle them like horses than they will be horses.
“It’s normal in England three games in five days? At Christmas I know, two games in two days!”
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