Sport

Brown Faces Fine after Cesc Denies Spit Incident

Hull City manager, Phil Brown has been handed a fine of £2,500 by the FA and further warned about his conduct.

The fine comes following a clash between Brown and Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear during an FA cup game back in January which saw both Brown and Kinnear sent to the stands by referee Phil Dowd as Hull won the match 1-0 at St James Park.

The fine comes at a bad time for the Hull boss as latest allegations see him at the heart of an on going drama involving Arsenal skipper Csec Fabregras following a hot and heated FA cup quarter final, which saw Hull lose 2-1 at the Emirates to a very controversial William Gallas goal.

The Hull City boss accused Fabregras of spitting at City's assistant manager Brian Horton once the heated and fiery encounter had come to an end. Fabregras, who was not named in the Arsenal squad was quick to enter the pitch after the game, and according to City boss, he then spat at the feet of Horton. But the Arsenal skipper, who has before denied claims of spitting at Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack back in 2005, says he is happy to go in front of the FA about the spitting incident.

The Hull boss was then further angered by the childish and unsporting way Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger walked straight down the tunnel once the game was finished without shacking hands with Brown.

The FA are looking in to and starting an investigation in to the alleged spiting incident surrounding Fabregras.

Sam Francis

What a Week for Rafa

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has ended all speculation over his future at the club by putting pen to paper and signing a new contract keeping him at the club until 2014. This all comes after two fantastic and impressive wins for Rafa's reds making this a week to remember for the Spaniards Liverpool career.

Much speculation has been surrounding Benitez's future after contract negotiations turned sour, but Benitez has put to bed all rumors of his future by signing a new 5 year deal with the Anfield faithful.

Benitez said: "My heart is with liverpool, so I'm delighted to sign this new deal.

"I love the club, the fans and the city and with a club and supporters like this, I could never say no to staying."

Benitez has signed a new five-year contract after a week of leading his team to two of the most impressive wins since taking the hot seat in 2004. Rafa's Red's hosted Real Madrid at Anfield last tuesday in the Champions League, and sent out a strong message to the rest of the European contenders by thumping the Spanish Giants 4-0 in the second leg of the mouth watering tie after already going to the Bernabeu and getting a crucial away win.

They then made the small trip to Manchester where they came back from a goal down against the World Champions; Manchester United to trash their arch-rivals 4-1 in the Premier league to revitalise any hopes of a first league title since 1990.

Rafa's future speculation reached its pinnacle before the first leg against Real Madrid but even Rafa was suprised by the rumors. It is believed that Benitez turned down a number of draft contracts before reaching an agreement. One main issue is believed to be the club's transfer policy.

Since Benitez joined the Reds in 2004 he has already guided them to victory in the FA cup against West Ham and the Champions league title against AC Milan, two of the most memorable finals in the history of both competitions, and with Rafa in charge for another five years it seems that Liverpool are more accessible to success.

Sam Francis


Pearce's Managment Outclasses Spanish Threat

England verses Spain Under 21's

After a far from convincing performance in the England under 21’s opening game of the Euro Championship campaign against Finland, much modification had to be done if England wanted to overcome the threat of one of the strongest footballing nations, and secure a place in the semi-finals.

There were many question marks over England’s starting 11 with, Arsenal striker, Theo Walcott failing to impress in the game against Finland resulting in him being substituted at half time. A last minute injury forced, Manchester City defender and previous game winner, Micah Richards to not complete 90 minutes and face a late fitness test whether he would start against the Spanish and with fellow defender Michael Mancienne of Chelsea facing a suspension after a sending off against Finland for clumsily bringing down Finland striker Berat Sadik to enable the Fin’s to equalise, the England team could have looked a bit weak against a strong Spanish outfit.

After all the controversy surrounding Theo Walcott he found himself sitting on the bench once again whilst the rest of the England team, which did include defender Micah Richards playing centre back alongside Man City team mate Nedum Onuoha. And it was Onuoha who gave the games first real sight at goal. A shaky opening fifteen minutes for Pearce’s boys enabled Spain to have the better of the early chances, and when Onuoha on his first start of the campaign failed to look up before passing back to team mate and goalie Joe Hart on the 15 minute mark it looked destined to be a catastrophic start that no English fan would have wanted. However, Hart’s quick feet and a fantastic slide clearance kept the scores level.

This seemed to be a wakeup call for Stuart Pearce’s young guns as England then started to get the ball on the floor and pass it around, manly instigated by Captain Mark Nobel of West Ham and Aston Villa gem James Milner, keeping the Spanish at bay. However, any clear cut chances were few and far between with the best effort coming when the Aston Villa duo Agbonlahor and Milner rekindled their team spirit which saw Milner send a cross in to the box for Agbonlahor who headed towards goal before seeing his effort get deflected over. The resulting corner saw a scramble in the 6-yard box with defenders; Onuoha and Craine hack away at the ball but failing to threaten the goal.

It was then time for the Spanish to become victims of some sloppy defending; after losing the ball in their own half allowing Johnson to feed the ball through to Milner, who at this point seemed to be covering every blade of grass on the pitch, Milner picked up the ball on the edge of the area, twisting and turning his way around Javi Garcia who eventually brought down the influential winger, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty. Milner picked himself up to take the penalty himself, but a weak spot kick allowed keeper Sergio Asenjo, who seemed un-beatable, catching everything in the air that came in threat of his goal, to make a good save down to his right.

It seemed to go from bad to worse from England as Striker Agbonlahor had to be taken off 6 minutes from time and to the surprise of many England fans, it was Frazier Campbell who was brought on to replace him, not Walcott. But after going in at half time it seemed that the pacey Arsenal Striker’s inclusion was imminent.

As the second half got under way, it was again Milner who got the attention of the camera’s; it seemed that wherever Milner was, so was the ball, however, some good movement by the young winger seemed to always finish with a poor end product.

In the 62^nd minute the substitution that all the fans were expecting; on came Walcott, off went Johnson, much to the fans pleasure, nothing against Johnson, who had a very good game, but to the delight of seeing one of the biggest names in the tournament finally arrive to the field. And then after some good work from England the break came on the 67^th minute, fantastic pressure in the middle of the park by man of the moment James Milner, forcing the Spanish defender to do a Onuoha and play the ball back without looking, which found substitute Frazier Campbell to pick the ball up just on the top right of the area, who worked it on to his left foot wonderfully leaving defender Garcia before hammering home quite wonderfully, across goal giving the impressive Sergio Asenio no chance.

Walcott took under ten minutes to make his mark on the game, after yet another Spanish attack was stopped by some a truly wonderful defending that stood firm all evening, some quick pass and movement saw one of the best counteracting goals your likely to see. Walcott picked the ball up on the half way line slowly teasing the Spanish right back before completely rinsing him for pace leaving him for dead, he then cut in, took the ball to the by line and cut it back for a deserved and thankful Milner who blasted the ball in from 10 yards all but securing England’s place in the semi-final, silencing any earlier demons from the penalty spot. It was a quality, text book football that epitomised Stuart Pearce’s management in every way. His substitutions acted spot on and played a huge part in England’s semi-final position./a>

Indeed, it was a truly fantastic attacking performance by both players and manager to get the victory but in reality they were coming up against a Spanish team who were poor. Whether the pressure got to them or England just out classed them, either way they are a team who deserve to be sent packing, with big names such a Barcelona’s young Striker Bojan rarely threatening and England’s great closing down it resulted in long range efforts that did not push the boundaries of Hart’s keeping ability.

One factor of England’s performance that Pearce may want to keep an eye on is there lack of discipline; a number of silly fouls were given away in dangerous areas putting Joe Hart’s goal under much unnecessary danger and if the same was to happen against a team like Germany, who coincidently, are England’s next game, who are much more threatening from set pieces, England could give themselves unneeded trouble.

Newly appointed Wigan manager, Recently appointed Wigan manager, Roberto Martinez, told Sky Sports that the Spanish performances in the tournament has been disappointing. Meanwhile ex-England player Trevor Francis paid tribute to manager Stuart Pearce. After the game Pearce himself singled out performances from Walcott and Muamba, calling the latter’s performance “one of the best free role performance he has seen in an England shirt”.

So despite England’s more than unsatisfactory victory against Finland their fantastic performance against the Spanish see Pearce’s boy’s Qualify from the so called “group of death” and leave their victims all but packing for home.

Sam Francis