England captain John Terry has voiced his full support for dropped midfielder Frank Lampard. An injury-free Lampard was left out of a competitive England starting XI for the first time since 2007 with a midfield trio of Scott Parker, Gareth Barry and Ashley Young preferred for the 3-0 Euro 2012 qualifier win over Bulgaria last Friday. There have been suggestions that Lampard’s exclusion could be the beginning of the end…
Roberto Mancini expects Manchester City to bid for the Atlético Madrid striker Sergio Agüero in the next few days and despite Carlos Tevez’s likely departure dragging on. After City’s 2-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps it was not long before the discussion turned to Tevez’s on-off move to Corinthians, who earlier denied having a £40m bid accepted for the 27-year-old. “I slept last night and I had a game to prepare…
Fabio Capello has brushed off claims by José Mourinho that the Portuguese was the Football Association’s preferred choice to become England manager three years ago, pointedly saying he would never comment publicly on another job out of “respect” for the incumbent. The build-up to Tuesday evening’s friendly against Ghana saw Capello forced to justify his decision to field an experimental side at a sold-out Wembley and to defend his command…
Manchester United defender Ferdinand, who has spent almost six weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury that was initially expected to keep him out of action for just a fortnight, was due to meet Capello to discuss the England captaincy prior to United’s Champions League clash with Marseille at Old Trafford on Tuesday night. And while Capello has claimed to be “really upset when I saw the armband being…
Arsène Wenger has approved Fabio Capello’s plan to give Jack Wilshere the anchorman role in England’s midfield, starting with the friendly in Denmark on 9 February. Capello has been criticised for seemingly ignoring Wilshere’s encouraging form for Arsenal this season by restricting his senior international experience to seven minutes in a friendly against Hungary in August. However, the Italian indicated this week that he has finally been convinced of the…
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor believes there is nothing wrong with his team-mates squabbling if it helps the club win every week, and insists his row with Vincent Kompany was driven by both players’ burning desire to succeed. Adebayor and Kompany were embroiled in a very public on-field row during City’s 2-1 defeat at Wolves on Saturday, while there have been rumblings of discontent and suggestions of a dressing-room divide…