Arsenal Transfers: 5 Alternatives To Luis Suarez Now He’s Unavailable

Media Image Ltd

Luis Suarez has signed a new contract at Liverpool.

The controversial Uruguayan striker put pen to paper on a four-and-a-half-year deal with the Anfield club this afternoon, thereby quashing any rumours of a January exit.

Arsenal were heavily linked with the 26-year-old forward over the summer, making two offers – one of 30 million and another, a club-record bid, of 40 million and 1.

Both were rejected and, despite Suarez threatening to take his club to arbitration in an effort to force through a move, now looks set to see out the twilight years of his career on Merseyside.

The South American has been in menacing form this season since returning from a 10-match biting ban, scoring 17 Premier League goals in 11 appearances.

And his decision to stay at Liverpool will come as a hammer blow to the Gunners, who have until recently had to rely on Oliver Giroud as their only fit senior striker due to an injury pile-up.

Manager Arsene Wenger was hoping to bring in a new forward in January to take some of the burden off the overworked Giroud, but will now have to look elsewhere following Suarez’ snub.

And here, we take a look at 5 Alternatives To Luis Suarez Now He’s Unavailable.

The post Arsenal Transfers: 5 Alternatives To Luis Suarez Now He’s Unavailable appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Chelsea vs West Brom – 5 Changes Mourinho Must Make After Newcastle Defeat

Media Image Ltd

After the Magpies came away with a 2-0 at St. James’ Park against Chelsea last weekend, Mourinho claimed in his post match interview that he had made 11 mistakes, in reference to the starting 11 that he selected for the game, a declaration that he is unlikely to act upon in full against West Brom on Saturday afternoon.

The Blues followed up their trip to the North East with a convincing 3-0 home win against German side Schalke, with a team that looked almost unrecognisable from the defeat to Alan Pardew’s Newcastle. The Portuguese coach made six changes to the side that beat the Bundesliga club in midweek, with the only enforced alteration being Samuel Eto’o in for Fernando Torres, who was missing through injury.

The Blues desperately need to pick up their Premier League form, with last week’s defeat meaning they lost even more ground on league leaders Arsenal, who sit pretty at the top of the table five points clear of their London rivals.

As a result, we’ve compiled a list of five things the former Real Madrid coach can change to avoid a repeat of last week’s performance.

The post Chelsea vs West Brom – 5 Changes Mourinho Must Make After Newcastle Defeat appeared first on WhatCulture!.

UEFA Order Partial Stadium Closure For Racist Fan Behaviour

Part of CSKA Moscow’s stadium will be closed for their next Champions League game following complaints that fans had used racist chanting in a game against Manchester City on 23 October, UEFA charged the club.

UEFA’s disciplinary panel announced the partial closing following a hearing in Switzerland earlier today. They also released a statement saying:

“The fight against racism is a high priority for UEFA. The European governing body has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination on the pitch and in the stands. All forms of racist behaviour are considered serious offences against the disciplinary regulations and are punished with the most severe sanctions.”

Disciplinary proceedings were brought against the club after their 2 – 1 defeat to Manchester City. Yaya Toure complained to the referee during the game after hearing racist chants from the crowd. UEFA then charged the club a day later as well as announcing that an internal investigation was to take place to establish why the match referee had not followed proper protocol.

Once aware of racist chanting the referee is able to stop the game and ask for announcements to be made over stadium speakers asking for the chants to stop. They can then delay the game for a period of time and finally are able to abandon the game as a last resort. However during the match the referee decided against taking any action.

The quick decision to punish CSKA Moscow will please anti-racism organization who asked the governing body to take decisive action if the claims were proved.

The club denied any wrongdoing by their fans in the aftermath of the accusations. Telling the BBC on Radio 5 Live:

“Having carefully studied the video of the game, we found no racist insults from fans of CSKA. We have nothing to hide, of course, and we have confirmation from the match delegate and the venue director that they themselves didn’t hear anything special.”

As part of the sanctions for racist behaviour of fans, UEFA have the power to order partial stadium closures for future matches for first offences. They can then fine clubs and order full stadium closures if racism continues in the future.

CSKA Moscow’s next Champions League fixture is against the current holders, FC Bayern M nchen, on 27 November.

The post UEFA Order Partial Stadium Closure For Racist Fan Behaviour appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Newcastle vs Chelsea – 5 Key Tactical Battles That Could Decide The Game

Media Image Ltd

Newcastle United will try for their first win in four matches in all competitions against second place Chelsea in Saturday’s lunchtime offering from the Premier League.

Alan Pardew and the Magpies lost another Tyne-Wear derby to neighbours and bitter rivals Sunderland last weekend and then crashed out of the Capital One Cup in extra time with a fourth round home defeat by Manchester City.

Jose Mourinho’s Blues meanwhile put City to the sword in a meeting of title contenders on Sunday and their second string proved too strong for Arsenal in the cup midweek.

Omens are not exactly encouraging for Newcastle coming into this latest test – they have only beaten Chelsea once in their last seven meetings at St James’ Park.

The Blues also rested ten of the XI that started the win over City. Yet the Toon gave a good account of themselves against the same opposition, forcing Manuel Pellegrini’s team to an additional half hour in cup action.

For a full preview of Newcastle’s match with Chelsea, complete with team news, stats and likely line-ups, read another piece from Joe Dempsey.

Here we look to five key tactical battles that may result in Mourinho’s men going to the Premier League summit – for a few hours at least – or help to move the Magpies up into the top half.

The post Newcastle vs Chelsea – 5 Key Tactical Battles That Could Decide The Game appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Fantasy Football Tips: 5 Expensive Misfits You Must Sell Immediately

Media Image Ltd

We are on to Week 7 already and all the leagues are taking shape as gaps start to appear between teams fighting to top their respective leagues.

It is no different in our very own league with a cluster of teams led by Michael O’Sullivan currently are in contention of winning the WhatCulture league for the 2013/14 season.

Further down the League in say around 247th place, teams haven’t quite got off to the flying start that they’d dreamt of when choosing their teams in anticipation of the new season.

Part of the problem that a player may have encountered are certain players have let your team down massively and are holding you back from accruing a bigger total and shooting up their leagues in a flash.

But, there is no need to panic as you just need to carefully analyse the big hitters and see whether they have lived up to their billing and repaid the faith you had in them.

As for those who have flopped massively, we name and shame some of the bigger culprits as we count down 5 Expensive Misfits You Must Sell Immediately

5. Juan Mata- 9.6million

Media Image Ltd

From the orchestrator of most of what was good about Chelsea last season, he has somewhat become a peripheral figure in this.

Undoubtedly, with the change of manager, would come new ideas and fresh thinking with regards to personnel, tactics and training.

So, with that in mind, it has appeared as if Mata, strangely in many people’s eyes, isn’t needed with such regularity (only playing 167 out of a possible 540) by Mourinho as he was by previous incumbents.

The Spaniard contributed his first assist to the cause, setting up John Terry from his free kick

Overall, Chelsea sit in 4th place with 11 points and ahead of the midweek clash with Steaua Bucharest, he walked out of a press conference after being incessantly questioned over squad selection.

In this instance, Kevin De Bruyne was the player in question, but that could’ve easily been Mata.

All this points to is uncertainty over who can become permanent fixtures in the Blues’ midfield.

Maybe Mata can’t hold this place down and 9.6million spent by 4.6% of the playing population is better spent elsewhere

The post Fantasy Football Tips: 5 Expensive Misfits You Must Sell Immediately appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Man City vs Man Utd: Wayne Rooney Hitting Form At The Perfect Time

copyright Andrew Orchard

Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney has enjoyed an upturn of form of late. After a summer to forget for the 27-year old, he now appears back doing what he does best for the Premier League side – scoring and making goals.

Rooney has three goals and three assists from his first five games this season in all competitions.

Former manager Sir Alex Ferguson previously admitted the England international’s performances were nowhere near to the level expected of him for the title holders during the 2012/13 campaign, but has recently broken his silence on Wayne Rooney to admit he’s finally showing signs that his best form could be returning.

In Manchester United’s recent 4-2 victory against Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, Wayne Rooney grabbed a brace, and a place in United history after becoming the fourth player to hit 200 goals for the side.

He put in a performance worthy of note, and manager David Moyes was pleased with the 27-year old’s contribution. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the side as they travel to face fierce rivals Manchester City on the weekend.

Striker Robin Van Persie has been the side’s most pivotal player in recent weeks, but Rooney has now forced his way back into the first-team, which will greatly benefit United for the early title clash.

City will still be slim favourites, but Moyes now has a better chance of victory with a two-pronged attack featuring an in-form Rooney and Van Persie playing upfront together. The question is, will he deliver?

The post Man City vs Man Utd: Wayne Rooney Hitting Form At The Perfect Time appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Ukraine 0-0 England – 5 Reasons Three Lions Aren’t The Superpower Some Think They Are

Media Image Ltd

It’s Tuesday night. I’m sat at my laptop scrolling through enraged tweets and furious Facebook updates when it occurred to me that England really aren’t the massive superpower that we are dubbed to be by some. On the face of it, England have lost just 8 times in just over 60 games since 2008- but delve deeper into that stat and it’s grimmer reading than was first thought- especially when you consider this worrying stat from Opta.

“@OptaJoe: 2 – England have only beaten two teams in World Cup 2014 qualifying so far; Moldova and San Marino. Timid.”

In fact the best team England have beaten in a competitive game since 2008 is Croatia, a team who’s only player of any real note is Luka Modric- the man who managed just 4 goals for Real Madrid in the whole of the 2012/13 season. Granted, Croatia are 8th in the world rankings but they aren’t exactly the big name that England should be looking to beat on a regular basis.

It’s all well and good being able to beat the likes of Italy, Brazil and even Spain in friendlies, but when it comes to it, England don’t have the bottle to see it out, even in the 2010 World Cup against Germany, England were drubbed 4-1, a side they had beaten 2-1 less than two years previous. So why is it that England just can’t perform to the same level as these national teams?

The post Ukraine 0-0 England – 5 Reasons Three Lions Aren’t The Superpower Some Think They Are appeared first on WhatCulture!.