WorldTeam FC

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has hailed the mental toughness shown by midfielder John Obi Mikel in the wake of his father's kidnapping.

For the second week running, Mikel has volunteered to continue playing, despite the trauma of knowing Michael Obi is being held captive in his family's native Nigeria.

Mikel's representatives confirmed on Thursday a "sizeable" ransom had been demanded for the release of the midfielder's father, who was abducted last week.

Villas-Boas broke the news of the kidnapping to Mikel on Saturday, 24 hours before Chelsea's opening Barclays Premier League game of the season at Stoke.

The 24-year-old insisted he wanted to play and almost capped a fine display with his first goal in English football.

Villas-Boas acknowledged the response of Mikel, who has also put his hand up for Saturday's clash with West Brom, had demonstrated "amazing mental toughness".

He added: "I just have to go with the word my player gives to me and for the game against Stoke, Mikel felt well to play.

"People go through big disappointments and personal things in their lives and they can still be able to play because they feel well on the pitch, to avoid the things that are running in their personal lives and they can focus on on different things.

"Mikel made himself available for training and selection so I will just judge it like that.

"Players react in different ways.

"Some players want straight away to go back to their families, others prefer to be like this and live on day by day, not because they think they are distanced from where it is happening, but it's their choice."

Villas-Boas admitted it had been "difficult" breaking the news to Mikel but would not be drawn on further discussions between the pair.

"I wouldn't like to go into it - it's a pretty sensitive situation and pretty traumatic," he said.

"Hopefully, he can get this thing solved as soon as possible that's what we hope for."

Mikel's desire to play has avoided a possible midfield headache for Villas-Boas, who has acknowledged Chelsea are light in that area.

The club have already seen two bids rejected for Tottenham's Luka Modric, while reports in Spain claim Valencia have accepted an offer in the region of £27million for Juan Mata.

Villas-Boas already faces several selection dilemmas ahead of his first home game in charge.

The Portuguese must choose between Hilario and Ross Turnbull in goal, with Petr Cech out injured, and also decide whether to stick with Fernando Torres in attack.

The Spaniard looked a £50million man reborn at Stoke, despite failing to score.

Villas-Boas has been at Stamford Bridge for less than two months but he is already beginning to tire of questions about the striker.

"He has continually shown his qualities in the Premier League," he said.

"I think I have responded enough to questions about him sufficiently, in my opinion. Let's move on.

"In terms of collective, team performance and team results, I am happy. We can discuss individuals but let's try to expand it a bit more."

Last week's 0-0 draw at the Britannia Stadium meant Chelsea go into Saturday 's game already trailing Manchester United and Manchester City in the table after their title rivals both won last weekend.

"We have two games at home that we must do everything in our power to get three points out of," said Villas-Boas, whose side also host promoted Norwich a week tomorrow [Saturday].

"Because it's seven points and can get us into a good position.

"It's two games at home and you have to win them."

He added: "My perspective on winning the league doesn't change because it's our commitment to win the league.

"I think in the beginning, for all the top teams, you can have average performances."

Villas-Boas' first big test as Chelsea boss is also on the horizon - next month's trip to Old Trafford.

Asked what he made of their game against Saturday's opponents last Sunday, he replied: "They suffered a few injuries unfortunately for them but they are a strong team, one of the favourites for the title, why not? Champions League finalists.

"All of the good signs for Manchester United are there - just the result, whatever the performance, although it's not up to me to judge the performance.

"I have my own opinions, which I wouldn't like to share but it's three points at the start of the Premier League."

Espnstar.com

Despite suffering a hamstring injury during Manchester United's 2-1 win over West Brom, Rio Ferdinand is set to return against Tottenham on Monday.

According to reports in the Sun, the 32-year-old has made an astonishing recovery, to the delight of managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello.

Initially Ferdinand was expected to be out for ten weeks as a result of the injury, but his rapid recovery means that he can continue holding the fort for United, as well as play for England's crucial Euro 2012 qualifiers in Bulgaria, and against Wales in September.

However, it is not all good news for Ferguson, as the Scot will have to decide who will partner Ferdinand in the heart of the United defence.

This is because club captain Nemanja Vidic's medical report on his groin injury picked up during the start of the season has indicated that the Serbian defender will not be able to play for six whole weeks, which is a month longer than initially indicated.

However, it's not all doom and gloom at Old Trafford, as the Manchester club are still basking in adoration of their latest recruit, Ashley Young, who excited both fans and Ferguson by his impressive debut against West Brom, scoring the winner to seal the deal for the reigning Premier League champions.

The England star is well-known for his versatility, being able to play both on the wing as well as centrally, but Ferguson revealed to United's official website that he plans to plan Young on the left-wing in the long run.

"Ashley can play in different positions but I'm not saying it's going to happen at the moment," said the Scot. "He's filling the left-hand side very well but there's options to play him right or off the front.

"The option to play him centrally is not looking great for him, though, with Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Dimitar Berbatov plus even Ryan Giggs can play there. So we're looking more at the wide positions for him.

"But it can help a player in terms of the consistency of playing. John O'Shea, for instance, wasn't in a starting position all the time but, because of his versatility, he made nearly 400 appearances for us in his career here."

espnstar.com

When Ivan Gazidis promised fans a busy summer transfer window I was stoked (is ’stoked’ just an Australian term or do you lot in England use it too? Just in case you don’t it means very excited). He mentioned elements of our squad departing the club, and I assumed he meant players like Almunia, Squillaci, Denilson et al.

Almunia missed all of the pre-season searching for a new club. Surely that’s a good thing? Well, with around a fortnight until the window slams shut he remains a Gunner. How hard can it be to dispatch him? Apparently very hard, since there have been barely any whispers of a deal let alone any interested clubs.

Denilson is a similar case. Rumours of a swap and cash deal for Shakhtar’s Willian were followed by amusing tales of Shakhtar only wanting the cash. Funny, unless you’re an Arsenal fan. The best we could manage is to farm him out to Sao Paulo, his boyhood club. The Tricolor Morumbi must regret that after his two red cards so far. As for Squillaci, well, I doubt we could sell him even if Wenger wanted to. He’ll be a drain on the Arsenal payroll for a year or two yet sadly.

Alarmingly, it does appear that Gazidis was actually referring to players such as Nicklas Bendtner, Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Eboue. Gael’s gone to City to ‘win’ things and earn a hefty wage for the privilege of doing so, whilst Eboue was offloaded to Galatasaray without much fanfare at all.

In the case of Nicklas Bendtner (The Mysterious Case of Nicklas Bendtner by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has a pleasant ring to it) the Dane has been reduced to being linked with Stoke, Newcastle or Sunderland in his search for regular game time since being pushed down the pecking order by the woeful (and lazyish) Marouane Chamakh. As things stand no deal has been made and some clubs such as Sporting Club of Portugal have even strenuously denied any links to him. Ouch.

Now compare the players mentioned in the last few paragraphs. If you could pick either trio, which would you have? Yes, me too.

Even more alarmingly, Gazidis may have been subtly referring to players most gunners considered crucial to the club six months ago. Cesc left for Barca at the start of the week, but we all knew that would happen one day, and we did make a lot of money from it (even though Wenger says an open market would have generated more – thanks for that Cesc).

The departure of Cesc would be softened by the ability of Nasri, if only Nasri actually played for us and wasn’t public enemy number one in Islington. It’s hard to decipher which statements (inflammatory or conciliatory) are his since so many keep getting reported, but the one obvious problem for all Arsenal fans is Samir’s refusal to sign a new contract.

Whilst his sale would be devastating for Arsenal who will need a playmaker in the post-Cesc era, to let him leave for free in one year when he has so many cashed-up suitors right now is equally problematic. If I ran the show (oh, how we all want to live that dream for a day) I would let him leave now for a hefty sum and reinvest it. Instead I predict that Wenger will let him leave for a hefty sum but not reinvest it. Well, at least not on experienced and proven players anyway.

The start of the summer transfer window was also exciting for the prospect of new, quality players. Gervinho was the name on everybody’s lips and it was practically a done deal from day one. However, since then we have replaced the aforementioned players (well, the ones we have successfully offloaded at least) with some more Wenger-style children. Carl Jenkinson is a 19 year-old full-back, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a 17 year-old winger/forward, and Joel Campbell is a 19 year-old forward. Players for the future certainly, but not the kinds of signings that stir up fans and strike fear into opponents. Especially given the departures.

At the start of the transfer window Gunners worldwide licked their lips over the prospect of Christopher Samba or Gary Cahill partnering Thomas Vermaelen in the heart of Arsenal’s defence. Neither has even had a concrete offer made for them. To a lesser extent many fans would probably even settle for Scott Dann, Phil Jagielka or Per Mertesacker. Anybody must be better than Squillaci.

With Cesc gone and Nasri seemingly set to follow, a creative presence must be purchased for the central midfield berth. So far Wenger has baulked at Juan Mata’s price tag and played down links with Jadson, despite the player tweeting about the prospect of good news and his manager acknowledging Arsenal’s interest. Mmmmm, frustrating.

With Clichy now located at Northern moneybags Manchester City, Gibbs and Traore will share the responsibility at left-back. However, Gibbs is injury prone and Wenger has never given Traore an extended run in the senior squad let alone the starting eleven. When Jose Enrique was angling for a move away from Newcastle it was Liverpool who made the move to snap him up, not Arsenal. Let’s hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us.

Furthermore, if Bendtner leaves, our goal dependency will ride almost entirely on Walcott, Gervinho and Van Persie since it is almost guaranteed Chamakh won’t score. Even if Bendtner stays many fans want Wenger to buy a proven goal-scorer. How come some Russian club I’ve never heard of can afford Samuel Eto’o but a Premier League club that regularly reports record profits can’t?

Ivan Gazidis was brought to the club to help build our brand and image. I have no doubt he is doing a pretty good job, and will probably continue to do so. But the best signing Arsenal could make in my (ultimately superfluous) opinion would be none other than David Dein. Let that sink in for a while. I don’t have a major in business or economics, or pretend to know the ins and outs of how Arsenal FC functions, but I do think that Arsenal’s real problems only started after David Dein was ousted.

Even iconic figures like Thierry Henry bemoaned his departure, and surely that should have signaled concern? In some quarters Arsene Wenger is criticised for wielding too much power, and some doubt that Gazidis is the man to rein him in. They don’t doubt that Dein was capable though, and somebody really needs to prompt Wenger into making the odd high profile (by that I mean quality and proven winner) signing.

Why shouldn’t Dein and Gazidis be able to work alongside one another? Dein could balance Wenger in the power stakes, especially when it comes to transfers and budgets, whilst Gazidis could continue his good work on enhancing Arsenal’s image and marketability.

For me it ultimately comes down to this situation: At the start of the transfer window the club confirmed that Wenger would have a substantial budget to buy players. Selling the likes of Clichy, Eboue, Cesc and (probably) Nasri can only have inflated that budget to ‘dizzying’ heights (Wenger’s words, not mine). There should be no excuse for missing out on a Samba or Cahill, Mata or Jadson, due to a little haggling over price.

Somebody (David Dein) needs to remind Wenger that despite his mostly impressive transfer history, there is an old adage – ‘if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’. At the moment our squad is becoming littered with talented, young chimps. Whilst they will develop under Wenger’s tutelage, right now we need to dangle a few bananas and attract some alpha-male gorillas.

thegunninghawk.com

New signing Jose Enrique dreams of making his debut in the Champions League with Liverpool but admits the battle for the top four will be closer than ever this season.

The 25-year-old made his debut for the Reds in last weekend's opening match of the Barclays Premier League against Sunderland, just over 24 hours after completing his £6million transfer from Newcastle.

He enjoyed a solid debut at left-back in which the team dominated the Black Cats in the first half but faded after the break and had to settle for a draw.

Enrique said part of the reason of moving to a big club like Liverpool was the lure of the Champions League, in which he is yet to play.

"Everyone wants to be there. I've never played in the Champions League and it's a dream for me," he said.

"You have to be realistic, it's really difficult this year because the Premier League is the best league in the world and six or seven or eight teams here are really good.

"It's very difficult to be there but if we play like we played in the first half against Sunderland I think we can be there."

Enrique is seen as the solution to what seems to have been an almost perennial problem at left-back for Liverpool.

But despite being thrust into the side after just one training session - as a result of a late injury to Fabio Aurelio - he is taking nothing for granted, although he is expected to start at Arsenal on Saturday.

"We have an amazing squad. There are two or three left-backs here, maybe more," he added.

"Fabio Aurelio is a really good player. He's been unlucky with injuries but he's really good. I saw him playing for Valencia.

"It's good for the players to have competition because you know your work is never done.

"I still need more time. I hope in the game [against Arsenal] I can play like I did for Newcastle but I think I need more matches to know the players and of course they need to know me more too."

Manager Kenny Dalglish was more than happy with the way the likeable Spaniard fitted in almost seamlessly against Sunderland.

And the Scot said it had been the same off the pitch.

Dalglish put that down to the fact the player already had plenty of experience of English football, having joined Newcastle from Villarreal in 2008.

"Jose has settled in very well. He is a good player, has experience in the Premier League and has settled into the way of life in England and that is helpful to us as well," said the Reds boss.

"It is always helpful when you know the environment you are in and for us that was an important factor when we were looking for a full-back.

"We wanted someone who had a knowledge of the game in the Premier League and certainly he had that last season and also the season when they got relegated."

And Dalglish joked: "He's been here three years; his English is better than mine and his football is better than mine - we are quite happy with the signing of Jose."

When it was pointed out it was a bold statement to say the Spaniard played better football than the Liverpool icon Dalglish quipped: "You've not seen me play recently."

The Scot said Enrique's arrival did not signal the end of reserve team defender Jack Robinson's first-team chances but pointed out it would have been unfair on the 17-year-old to expect him to withstand a gruelling league campaign while he is still developing.

"It is a position we had to strengthen," he explained.

"Young Jack Robinson has fantastic potential but we have to be responsible to Jack because he is 17 and to throw him in and expect him to play a full season would have been wrong.

"But he will be there or thereabouts."

espnstar.com

Andre Villas-Boas has spoken for the first time this week about this Saturday's home game...

Squad news

He has yet to decide who will replace injured Petr Cech in goal for the visit of West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Cech is out for three to four weeks having injured his knee during training on Wednesday morning.

'He fell awkwardly with weight on top of him, and he stretched a little bit a medial knee ligament,' reported Villas-Boas.

'We expected much worse when we saw the incident. The good news is that it is just for three to four weeks.

'We have two goalkeepers, Hilario and Ross Turnbull, and tomorrow we will make a decision which one will start and which one will be on the bench,' he continued.

'Tomorrow we prepare more strategically for the game and then I will let the players know first.'

Apart from long-term casualty Michael Essien, David Luiz is the other player out injured due to the thigh problem he has carried since returning from the Copa America.

'David Luiz can't make a return yet but it is nothing too dramatic,' said Villas-Boas.

'Next week he will be joining us because he already had a light session today and he will come back next week to full training, so it will be a step-by-step recovery for him.'

John Mikel Obi has again declared himself available for selection despite his father's abduction in Nigeria. New signing Romelu Lukaku is also available while Oriol Romeu returned from the Under 20 World Cup yesterday and trained for the first time at Cobham today (Thursday).

Facing West Brom

Villas-Boas wasn't present for Chelsea's 6-0 demolition of The Baggies at the Bridge in the opening game of last season, but one of his coaching team was.Roberto Di Matteo was at the time the manager of this weekend's opponents.

'I think Robbie is too depressed about the result last season to talk about it,' smiled Villas-Boas. 'We just had some banter about it but he is now on this side and he just wants to win, like we all do.

'Of course it will be emotional for him seeing people he is close to. For sure he will salute those people.

'Last year was an excellent result and we have two games at home now and we must do everything in our power to get three points from each of them,' the manager insisted.

'A total of seven points can get us into a good position but West Brom as we saw last week presents a very difficult challenge because they held Man United, the Champions League finalists, up to the 80th minute.

'They had a couple of good chances and they favour good football, they play short and quick in between them which is something important for the spectacle, so it is a difficult game for us.'

Villas-Boas revealed himself as a fan of how Roy Hodgson asks his teams to play.

'They showed last week against Man United that Roy's values of football are being taken into account. That is why he took Fulham to the Europa League Final.'

In other news

Villas-Boas has confirmed that the signing of one more midfielder is possible in the wake of Essien's cruciate injury, although he hopes the Ghanaian will be back sooner than the original six-month prediction as early treatment is going well.

He also predicts that contract negotiations with Didier Drogba, who has a year left on his current deal, will be completed satisfactory, and stated that reportsNicolas Anelka wants a transfer are untrue.

'Drogba is one of the most important and representative players of the club and his willingness to continue is 100 per cent,' he explained. 'It will be because of that that we will reach an agreement.'

The manager returned to the subject of last Sunday's game at Stoke and his post-match comments about the amount of pushing and grabbing that went on in the two penalty areas during the game.

'The reporting of my words was extremely unfair to what I said,' he pointed out.

'I had a stance of saying the pushing and the shoving was in both boxes and that the referee needed help, and I was not complaining.

'Fortunately enough the Stoke manager is a sensible person and admitted what I said is completely different to how it was written.

'It is a physical game and it will happen in any box in the Premier League so we just have to deal with it.'

Chelseafc.com

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