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Gibson sprang a major surprise
Gareth Southgate patrols the sidelines as Boro recorded a 2-0 victory against Derby County, his last game in charge of the club he captained between 2002-06. Photograph: Paul Thomas/Action Images
Middlesbrough last night sacked Gareth Southgate in a shock move that the club chairman, Steve Gibson, admitted was "the hardest decision I've had to make in football". It came straight after Southgate oversaw Boro's 2-0 home victory against Derby County that left them fourth in the Coca-Cola Championship, a point behind the leaders.
The timing of Middlesbrough's move was especially curious given that Gibson had stood by Southgate as Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premier League last season. The club hit another low point in September when they lost 5-0 at home to West Bromwich Albion. But Gibson added: "The time is pearl jewelry right for change and that change has had to be made."
"Gareth has given Middlesbrough Football Club magnificent service as a skipper and, in very difficult circumstances, as manager," said Gibson. "I appointed Gareth in a situation that was greatly unfavourable to him. He deserves another opportunity once he has had the chance to rest and refresh himself."
The former Boro captain, who led the team to a Carling Cup victory in 2004, played his last game in the 2006 Uefa Cup final and was appointed manager shortly afterwards, replacing Steve McClaren.
The former Crystal Palace manager Alan Smith, described as a "football consultant" and who had only been hired in July, has also been sacked.
There had been speculation that Southgate's time at the Riverside could be up after the drubbing by West Brom was followed by home defeats to Leicester and Watford.
Boro ended that sequence last night when Adam Johnson's double secured a 2-0 victory over Derby County which had appeared to biwa pearl have given the manager breathing space.
Asked after the game about the consequences of another home defeat, Southgate said: "There would obviously been more speculation and we would have been probably four or five places lower, which would have made life very difficult, I am sure, for all of us.
"I have had lots of games like that since I have been manager here where you wonder about the consequences of defeat, but we were very positive in the way we approached everything.
"We thought about how we could win the game. We didn't really consider the possibility of defeat, but you know all the while a fourth home defeat on the bounce would have been very difficult for people to accept.
"None of us wanted to go through that and we didn't want to put our supporters through that more than anything. We want them to see us winning at home and as the season goes on, we have got to make sure we do it regularly if we want to go up."
The victory was played out in front of just 17,459 spectators, less than half of the Riverside's official capacity and reportedly the lowest-ever attendance for a league game at the stadium.
Gibson sprang a major surprise when he appointed his then club captain as manager in the wake of McClaren's departure for the England job during the summer of 2006.
Having fought for special dispensation from the Premier League to give Southgate the job without him holding the required Uefa Pro Licence, the chairman handed him a five-year contract and charged him with the >http://www.wholesale-pearls.com]akoya pearl task of revitalising the squad in challenging financial conditions on Teesside.
The new manager guided his side to a 12th-place finish in his first season at the helm and 13th a year later. But last season proved far more challenging and ultimately unsuccessful as Boro slipped out of the top flight having won just seven of their 38 league games and scored just 28 goals.
The Manchester United manager
The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson leaves a news conference at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium after refusing to >http://www.wholesale-pearls.com]akoya pearl answer questions about his FA misconduct charge. Photograph: Grigory Dukor/Reuters
Sir Alex Ferguson tonight revealed the depth of his anger at being charged by the Football Association for comments about the referee Alan Wiley when he stomped out of a Uefa press conference in Moscow after the issue was raised.
The Manchester United manager was this week charged by the FA with improper conduct for questioning Wiley's fitness and took offence to a polite question on the subject ahead of tomorrow evening's Champions League game at CSKA Moscow.
Asked how he felt about having to explain himself to English football's governing body, Ferguson replied: "Silly question, gets no answer." When another reporter interjected with "It's not a silly question", the biwa pearl United manager bristled visibly. "I'm not answering that," he said, rising from his chair, turning on his heel and heading briskly for the exit, pausing only to issue a curt "Good night".
Although Ferguson had spent the previous 20 minutes fielding questions from English and Russian journalists, he had been terse throughout.
At one stage he said that even returning to the Luzhniki Stadium – scene of United's Champions League final triumph against Chelsea 17 months ago – did not particularly "excite" him. "It's in the past, you have to move on," said Ferguson, glaring at his questioner.
United's manager has just under two weeks to respond to the charge issued by the FA following his reflections on Wiley's physical condition after United's 2-2 draw against Sunderland. He claimed the official was "not fit".
Ferguson has made various apologies and there appears to be no precedent for a touchline ban, on the evidence of pearl jewelry similar cases which involved comments made to the media, but referees have been widely outraged by the affair and the ruling body is under pressure to be seen not letting United's manager off lightly. Last night's walkout may just serve to emboldenthem a little. |
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CSKA Moscow's coach must
United's Jonny Evans, who is putting pressure on Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, says there is a 'lot more to come from me'. Photograph: Jon Super/AP
CSKA Moscow's coach must hope Sir Alex Ferguson has recovered a degree of good humour when he presents his Manchester United counterpart with a signed copy of a business tome entitled Renewing Organisations tomorow night. At a time when the first-team order at Old Trafford appears to pearl jewelry be changing again, Ferguson, piqued last night by questions about his views on Alan Wiley's fitness and the Football Association charge, should nonetheless be intrigued by the conclusions reached by the book's author, Juande Ramos.
The Spaniard will spend this evening directing CSKA's latest Champions League game from the technical area adjacent to Ferguson's at the Luzhniki Stadium. Unlike many peers, Ramos's world is not entirely consumed by football, and the former Tottenham Hotspur manager has combined starting a new job in Russia with polishing off a non-fiction work aimed at business executives in all spheres.
As United continue to adapt to life after Cristiano Ronaldo, while seemingly preparing for a future that looks increasingly likely to feature Jonny Evans plus either the hitherto undroppable Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic at centre-half, Renewing Organisations may keep Ferguson surprisingly occupied during the four-hour flight home from Moscow. As David Beckham and Roy Keane, among others, will testify, United's manager does not do sentimentality and likes to keep Old Trafford in a state of almost permanent revolution.
Right now he seems fixated upon a potential central defensive rearrangement. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Evans could start Sunday's Premier League encounter at Liverpool. Not for nothing has the Manchester Evening News asked readers to vote on United's "best central defensive pairing".
Although the injury-prone Ferdinand and Vidic both flew to Russia, their 21-year-old Northern Ireland rival is expected to biwa pearl feature against CSKA tomorrow night after Ferguson admitted it was becoming "increasingly hard to justify leaving Jonny Evans out". During Evans's two separate loan spells with Sunderland, Roy Keane said the defender would establish himself as a United first-team regular "sooner rather than later". That time could be nigh.
With United – who should be inspired by memories of beating Chelsea in the 2008 final at the Luzhniki – boasting a 100% Champions League group stage record, Ferguson has decided this is a game he can take slightly less seriously than some others. Accordingly, he has left Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra and Park Ji-sung behind.
Even so, CSKA, aka "the Army Men", have won their last six European home games, and the way in which not just Evans but Michael Owen and, if fit, Dimitar Berbatov – who played for Ramos at Spurs but has failed to start United's past five Champions League fixtures – cope with them could inform Ferguson's selection at Anfield.
Evans, whose younger brother and co‑defender, Corry, may make the bench, knows better than to start treading water. "It's nice the manager is saying these things about me, but Nemanja and Rio are unbelievable players," he said. "I feel there's a lot more to come from me, though. Last season I felt I was playing within myself because I was concentrating on defending, I was playing safe and making sure I wasn't at fault for any goals. I'm not saying I'm going to start dribbling through teams but this year I need to get on the ball and express myself more."
Although Russians insist Moscow is a city where life should be lived "Bespredel" – without limits – Ferguson is becoming irked by the number of soft goals United are leaking and an excess of self-expression on Evans's part could prove risky on the Luzhniki's artificial surface.
Although United's manager argued that the ball's bounce is "true" on the plastic, it travels faster. Moreover, in Milos Krasic, a coveted young Serb – "a very good young player", said the Scot – CSKA boast a threatening striker. Ramos's teenage play‑maker Alan Dzagoev is also being monitored by Europe's leading lights.
Ferguson, though, is likely to >http://www.wholesale-pearls.com]akoya pearl concentrate closely on CSKA's goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev. In the light of Ben Foster's travails, the 23-year-old is tipped as a potential successor to Edwin van der Sar, and United's manager smiled broadly while bodyswerving a question about Akinfeev. "I can't deal in rumour," he said.
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We all speak with each other
James Collins celebrates putting Aston Villa 2-1 up against Chelsea
James Collins scored the winner from a set-piece in Aston Villa's 2-1 victory – Chelsea's second successive away league defeat. Photograph: Lee Sanders/EPA
Carlo Ancelotti and his Chelsea players have held a frank training-ground inquest in an attempt to pinpoint the causes of their recent frailty defending set-pieces, exposed so ruthlessly by Aston Villa as the Londoners slipped to their second successive away league defeat on Saturday.
The squad watched a re-run of the defeat at their Cobham training base on Monday with Ancelotti exposing lapses by a quartet of pearl jewelry senior players – Frank Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech – at the two Villa goals. Michael Ballack, who has not featured in either of the team's recent Premier League losses, revealed the players had not shied away from criticising each other and had then "shaken hands" and returned to the training pitch, with special attention subsequently paid to defending set‑pieces.
"We watched the game again at Cobham, we saw who made the mistakes – everyone knows that – and we've spoken about the game," said Ballack, who will return to the side after an ankle injury for tonight's Champions League tie against Atlético Madrid. "We lost that game [at Villa] on set-pieces. Everyone has to improve his movement, his defensive organisation in the box, and it comes down to personal attitude: 'Don't concede a goal'. We can train and practise things but, if someone falls asleep at a set‑piece, we will still concede."
John Terry's furious reaction to the concession of biwa pearl Villa's winner, a free header converted by James Collins at a corner, was matched by Ancelotti's disappointment in the away dugout. "I felt the same way," said the Italian. "We were all disappointed, not only John Terry but also the other players. At set-pieces we have two players, one on each post. One player is in front of the near-post – Lampard – and five mark man for man. Everybody has his own responsibility: to mark, to stay in his zone or go for the ball. Everybody has a job. Every player must take responsibility for what happens in our box."
Stoke City and Wigan Athletic have also exploited Chelsea's weaknesses at set-plays this season, with Villa maintaining a trend that first flared during Luiz Felipe Scolari's brief reign last season. Lampard had inadvertently flicked on Ashley Young's corner for Richard Dunne, muscling himself free of Carvalho, to score Villa's opener before Collins escaped Drogba's attentions to plunder the winner, prompting Terry to scream his frustration at his team-mates. "His reaction showed he takes a big responsibility, not just for himself but for the team," added Ballack. "That's what you need, emotions like that, to make sure it doesn't happen again.
"We all speak with each other. We have no problem criticising each other in the dressing room. A good team with strong players has to do this. We've done that, then we shake hands and get back on to the >http://www.wholesale-pearls.com]akoya pearl training pitch and try to do better. I wasn't involved [on Saturday], but I know the problem. I was there afterwards and we spoke about it. Everybody has to make an impact on the situation, me too. I have a few years behind me and I'm experienced, so I have to speak to help the team. Everybody has to take responsibility, otherwise we will concede more goals."
Atlético Madrid were supposed
The Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, left, and Michael Ballack keep an eye on the time during preparations for the visit of Atlético Madrid. Photograph: Steven Paston/Action Images
Atlético Madrid were supposed to be the side to challenge Chelsea's supremacy in this Champions League qualification group, though it says much about these teams' recent toils that the Spaniards' visit to Stamford Bridge actually offers Carlo Ancelotti's side some relief. Defeat by Aston Villa at the weekend exposed familiar frailties at the heart of Chelsea's line-up and fatigue has already seeped into this team's preparations. "It's not easy," said the Italian. "But I think it's even more difficult for Atlético at the moment."
Any sense of trauma is relative. Chelsea, not for the >http://www.wholesale-pearls.com]akoya pearl first time this season, were muscled into defeat at set plays at Villa Park but remain within a point of the Premier League's summit and, having conducted their own inquest, will presumably be steeled for future encounters. In contrast Atlético, who were never likely to boast the same threat from set pieces as English opposition, arrive saddled by their worst start to a domestic season in 15 years and without a win, or even a goal, in Group D.
The air has been cleared on the training ground after Saturday's setback, unpalatable truths acknowledged by all concerned at the defensive lapses that cost Chelsea, with Ancelotti's only lingering frustration the reality that he would, more normally, have sought to rest players either against Villa or Atlético. "It's important that the players speak about these situations and talk together about things that might go wrong," he said. "By doing that we can improve. We did the same at Milan. I have always believed the players have to take responsibility and we have the same way here.
"But for the last game against Aston Villa I had to biwa pearl use eight players who had played 90 minutes for their countries in the midweek internationals. If there was the possibility to change some players, I would have liked to have done this. For the game against Madrid I would like to make some changes, to use some rotation. But the problem is, against Villa, there was no Michael Ballack or Mikel John Obi, so it was difficult to make changes. Mikel is not fit [to start], nor Yuri Zhirkov, Joe Cole, Alex or José Bosingwa, while Didier Drogba is suspended."
Those might be considered critical absentees were Atlético's recent form not so wretched. Ancelotti has spoken of the need to move eight points clear of the Spaniards, a concession that the visitors retain a potent threat with the likes of Diego Forlan and Sergio Agüero – a long-standing Chelsea target – in their ranks, but the efforts of that strikeforce have been undermined by vulnerability at the back. Abel Resino's side are slumped in 15th place in their league, a point clear of relegation, having shipped 17 goals in seven games.
"The danger is that everyone expects us to win this game because Atlético haven't started the season well," said Michael Ballack, who returns this evening as Bosingwa, his European suspension served, succumbs to a knee injury. Win tonight and progress can be secured at the Vicente Calderón stadium in a fortnight, and Chelsea will be relieved that Atlético's principal threat will be from slick inter-changes on the floor rather than an aerial bombardment at set pieces, tactics that have yielded rewards for Stoke, Wigan and Villa.
"Of course, that's how the weaker teams in the pearl jewelry Premier League try to score against us," added Ballack. "Most of the time we'll have more possession of the ball but on set pieces – even on a throw-in at Stoke – those are their strengths. We're not the only team who have conceded from a throw-in against Stoke, mind you. They have a lot of big guys and it's not always easy to defend, especially in England. But we are in a good position in this group – we are top and have won both our games, remember – and we have a home game now. We are an experienced team and everyone knows what he has to do against Atlético. We believe in ourselves."
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