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Casillas issues Mourinho warning

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Spain captain Iker Casillas has told Portugal that his Real Madrid boss, Jose Mourinho, is too busy to resurrect their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign (Real Madrid 11/10 – La Liga Outright).

Reports this week have claimed the Portuguese Football Federation want the former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager to take over on a temporary basis after the sacking of Carlos Queiroz.

Queiroz was dismissed last week after being handed a six-month suspension for insulting anti-doping officials ahead of the World Cup.

Prior to that, he had presided over a home draw with Cyprus and a defeat in Norway in Group H to dent Portugal’s hopes of making it to Ukraine and Poland.

Portugal face Denmark at home and Iceland away next month and speculation had suggested the FPF would turn to the self-proclaimed ?Special One? on a two-game basis.

However, Casillas, who led all-conquering Spain at the World Cup in the summer, says Mourinho does not have the time to devote to his country?s cause.

He said: “I think it would give him too much. I am sure he would like to coach Portugal but his head only thinks of Madrid.

“I don’t think he will go. I have talked to him and his mind is set on Madrid.”

Mourinho himself admits the idea could be a non-starter although he has not completely ruled the proposition out completely.

Speaking ahead of Real Madrid’s trip to Real Sociedad this weekend (Sociedad 6/1, draw  16/5, Madrid 4/11), he told a press conference:  “If it were not for Real Madrid I would do it for free.

“But if you ask me right now if I can go, I think not. I have a contract with Real Madrid. I do not say no, but in the natural way of things, I do not think this is the time.”

Mourinho added: “Real Madrid have every right in the world to put an obstacle in the way.

“And if you put the slightest obstacle there, I can’t go.

“To say no to Portugal is impossible because of my personal pride and my passion for Portugal, but at the moment I cannot say yes.”

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Hughton firm over strike ace

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Newcastle manager Chris Hughton says he wants to keep hold of young striker Andy Carroll who is now a 28/1 shot to win this season’s Premier League Golden Boot.

The Gateshead-born hitman has rifled in four league goals so far this season – including a hat-trick against Aston Villa – to jointly lead the scoring charts alongside Chelsea duo Didier Drogba (2/1f) and Florent Malouda (28/1) plus Arsenal speedster Theo Walcott (40/1).

Carroll’s form is understood to have put Hughton’s former club Tottenham, who the 51-year-old served as a coach and player for over 25 years, on alert as they look to strengthen their forward options in the mid-season transfer window.

But the Magpies’ relative weakness in attacking options means Hughton is determined to hang on to his star man.

“Amused is probably the right word – I thought the window had closed,” Hughton told reporters when quizzed over Spurs’ reported interest in the 21-year-old.

“Of course, I have heard the speculation and it is probably testament to him and the season he has had so far, albeit we are only four games in.

“He has started the season very well and with any player who is doing well, you expect some speculation.

“But from our point of view, there is absolutely nothing in it – and we don’t want there to be either.”

Newcastle’s season continues on Saturday with a trip to slow-starting Everton who will be hoping to build on last weekend’s last-gasp 3-3 draw against Manchester United at Goodison (Everton 4/7, draw 13/5, Newcastle 5/1 – 90 minutes).

Carroll’s build-up to the game has been hampered by an ankle knock but he looks set to take his place in the side while there could be a first start for veteran defender Sol Campbell following three reserve-team appearances.

However, the Magpies are still without summer signings Dan Gosling (knee) and Leon Best (ankle).

Everton captain Phil Neville is available for selection after a foot injury accounted for the former England international during the opening four games of the Premier League season.

Following an appearance for the reserves against West Ham, he told the Blues’ website: “I think it was important that I played.

“I’m glad to get 90 minutes under my belt and I’m ready to play against Newcastle on Saturday.

“It’s so important (to play) as you can train as hard as you want but 90 minutes against West Ham, who played a strong team, is like money in the bank.”

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Anelka ‘key’ for Blues – Carlo

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Carlo Ancelotti singled striker Nicolas Anelka (10/1 Champions League Top Goalscorer) out for special praise after his two goals and overall impressive performance helped Chelsea to a comfortable 4-1 win at MSK Zilina in their opening Champions League clash.

The Blues boss watched his side stroll to victory in Slovakia on Wednesday as Anelka set up Michael Essien to open the scoring on 13 minutes, before adding two more before the half-hour mark.

Daniel Sturridge made it 4-0 two minutes into the second half, before an error by Petr Cech allowed Tomas Oravec to grab a consolation goal in the 55th minute.

However Ancelotti saw enough evidence from his side, and Anelka in particular, to be heartened that it could be the Londoners’ time to end their long wait to lift the biggest prize in European football (9/2 Chelsea Champions League Outright).

“Every game in the Champions League is hard to play,” said Ancelotti. “We started very well in the first half, we played fantastic football, the second half was different.

“Zilina put more pressure on our defence. The back four did a good match. When you are 3-0 up it’s normal to have more difficulty.

“The key was Anelka, he played a fantastic game. He created space, he had opportunities, he was the key for this game.”

The comprehensive victory, in which Chelsea made it 21 goals already for the season, has placed them firmly at the top of the Group F table (Chelsea 1/6 Group F Winner) on goal difference ahead of Spartak Moscow, who won 1-0 at Marseille.

However, Ancelotti insists they are not trying to break any goal records – they scored 142 last season – as the main aim for the Blues is to simply ‘play good football, to win the game’.

He added. “We are not interested in beating the score from last year because it’s our record, maybe we are not able to improve on our record.”

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Roy defends Reds’ start

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Roy Hodgson has defended Liverpool’s start to the season as he prepares to rotate his squad for the Europa League tie at home to Steaua Bucharest on Thursday (Liverpool – correct score 3-0 – 7/1).

Hodgson has come in for some criticism for the Reds’ slow start to the Premier League season – his side have won just one of their first four games – but the former Fulham chief is satisfied with the way his tenure has begun overall.

Liverpool have successfully negotiated two qualifying rounds of the Europa League to make it into the group stage and a record of five wins from eight competitive games in total means the boss is upbeat ahead of the Anfield clash against the Romanian side.

“We’ve played eight, won five, drawn two and lost one so far in all competitions – I don’t think that’s a bad start to the season by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.

“It’s a new team and a tough start to the season in terms of the programme. Like lots of teams at the moment, we’ve got less points than we would like and we’re firmly stuck in a group of teams between four and six points, which basically takes into account 90 per cent of the league at the moment.”

On this evening’s game, where Hodgson could bring back Joe Cole (9/2 first goalscorer), Ryan Babel, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and hand Raul Merieles his first start, the Liverpool chief admits he will make several changes.

“I shall make changes to the team for the game against Steaua. There’s no question of that – it’s something I’ve planned all along.

“I don’t think there is any point of having a squad of 25 players, many of whom are internationals, and then just trying to play the same 11 every game.

“It’s going to be important to keep everybody on board and it’s also important for me to get to know players better. I learn a lot from games and I learn a lot about the players because I’ve not had an awful lot of time working with some of them who were at the World Cup.”

Next up for Liverpool is one of the games of the season with a Premier League trip to take on bitter rivals Manchester United on Sunday.

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Houllier preparing Owen bid

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New Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier has paved the way for a January bid for Manchester United striker Michael Owen by admitting he is a big fan of the former England ace (Aston Villa 13/5 – Top 6 finish).

The pair enjoyed a fruitful relationship at Liverpool when Houllier was in charge at Anfield between 1998 and 2004, with the vast majority of Owen’s 118 league goals for the Reds coming between those years.

Houllier, who will officially begin work at Villa Park next week following the home clash with Bolton, appears keen on luring Owen, 31 in December, to the west midlands.

The Frenchman believes he can still do a job in the top flight, despite his well-documented injury problems over the years and his lack of action for United since his shock move there last summer.

“He has always been in my thoughts,” Houllier told reporters in France. “I like him, as a player and a man.”

He added: “I went to Liverpool on September 4 for Jamie Carragher’s testimonial, and I saw Michael play.

“He still has the legs for it.”

Owen’s possible move to Villa comes as the former Real Madrid and Newcastle forward hinted he may have to look at where his future lies if he is not getting enough games for United.

“You can only do your best and prepare and train well, so that you are ready when the manager calls on you,” said Owen.

“After that, it’s up to the manager who he chooses.

“It sounds easy, but probably the most difficult thing is not playing for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden getting called up and being mentally and physically right to perform well.”

He added: “At the end of the season, I’ll look and think, ‘Was I happy with the amount of games I was available for?’, ‘Did I score enough goals in the games when I played?’ and ‘Did I play well enough in those games?’”

Owen may get the chance to put one over his former side, Liverpool, on Sunday when the Merseysiders make the short journey east to Old Trafford (Liverpool 19/5 – 90 minutes).

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Harry Happy with Euro start

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Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was pleased with his side’s start to their first-ever Champions League campaign despite seeing a 2-0 lead slip away (Spurs 33/1 to win the Champions League).

The Londoners started brightly and were ahead after just 12 minutes when Werder Bremen’s Petri Pasanen scored an own goal under pressure from Peter Crouch.

The England international then doubled Spurs’ lead just six minutes later with a headed goal and Redknapp’s men dominated the opening exchanges.

However, Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida managed to reduce the deficit with two minutes of the first half remaining as he headed past Carlo Cudicini after the Spurs defence had switched off.

The German outfit were level moments after the restart when Marko Marin launched a fantastic effort past Cudicini from 20 yards as Spurs relinquished their lead.

Both sides had chances to win the game, with Werder Bremen perhaps enjoying the better opportunities, but neither could find the breakthrough to take all three points.

Redknapp was pleased with his side’s display, despite seeing a two-goal lead slip away, and praised the first-half performance.

“I think that first 42 minutes was as good as you could ever see us play, we were fantastic,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.

“We came out, passed the ball as I’d asked them to do. We kept the ball and opened them up time and time again.

“The second goal – what a great header,” Redknapp added. “It was great play and a fantastic finish by Crouchy, and overall I was delighted with how we played.

“We’d have taken a point before we came but being 2-0 up and in complete control, as we were, obviously it’s disappointing not to have won.”

Inter Milan and Dutch side FC Twente are the other two teams in Spurs’ Group A and the reigning champions could only manage a 2-2 draw with FC Twente in Holland.

FC Twente had managed to take a 2-1 lead over Rafael Benitez’s men – thanks to a 31st minute own goal from Inter’s Diego Milito – but Samuel Eto’o came to the Nerrazurri’s rescue with an equaliser just before half time.

Elsewhere, Spanish duo Barcelona and Valenica were both in fine form.

Barca secured a 3-1 win at the Nou Camp over Panathinaikos and Valenica ran riot with a 4-0 win over Bursaspor in Turkey, while Portuguese side Benfica secured a 2-0 victory over Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Arsenal take on Portuguese outfit Braga at the Emirates tonight (Arsenal 1/4, draw 9/2, Braga 11/1), while Chelsea travel to Slovakia to face minnows MSK Zilina (Zilina 12/1, draw 5/1, Chelsea 2/9).

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Petrov wants Houllier situation resolved

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Stiliyan Petrov has called for the Aston Villa (12/1 to finish in the Premier League top four) board to resolve the complications surrounding the appointment of new manager Gerard Houllier – but he is confident the Frenchman can bring success to the club.

The Bulgarian star was brought to Villa Park by former manager Martin O’Neill, but was as shocked as anyone when the former boss walked out only five days before the start of the Premier League campaign.

Kevin MacDonald acted as caretaker manager for the opening weeks of the season, but the Villa board have now announced Houllier as the new permanent manager.

Despite Houllier being given the job last week, MacDonald had to take charge for Villa’s defeat to Stoke City on Monday as the Frenchman’s move has been held up due to prior commitments from his role as technical director with the French Football Federation.

Petrov is hoping the new manager can bring some stability back to the club, although it is unlikely that Houllier will be sat on the bench when Villa take on Bolton at home on Saturday as he is still unable to state a definite starting date at the club (Villa 4/5 to win, Bolton 10/3, draw 12/5 Match Betting).

That means MacDonald is set to take charge again, and Petrov has told the Birmingham Mail he thinks the caretaker boss has done a “tremendous job” at the start of this season and the entire Villa side will try to win “for him”.

“It is complicated. Complicated for the new manager, complicated for Kev as well, but there is a solution and we will see the new manager soon,” said Petrov.

“He has been at the top level for a long time. He managed Liverpool, had success and has been manager of Lyon. He has knowledge of football. He knows what he needs to do. We wait to see how we can improve.

“We try to do our best for Kev because he has been at this club for a long time and we don’t want to see him putting his head down,” he added.

MacDonald is reported to have turned down an offer from Houllier to take the role of his assistant at Villa Park when he finally starts his new role.

The Frenchman is now expected to offer the position to Gary McAllister, who he signed when in charge at Liverpool (13/8 for a Premier League top four finish) over a decade ago.

The former Leeds boss is currently holding a similar position under Gordon Strachan at Middlesbrough and the Riverside boss has admitted to Sky Sports there has “been contact” between the two clubs.

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Torres targets United scalp

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Liverpool star Fernando Torres has admitted he is desperate to secure a victory over Manchester United this weekend to kick start the Anfield side’s season (Match Betting – United 7/10, draw 5/2, Liverpool 19/5).

The Spanish striker has admitted he would love to come away from Old Trafford with all three points as he knows how much the fixture means to the fans (Torres 7/1 to score the first goal).

“It means everything to them [the fans],” explained Torres.

“We are the two most successful teams in England but it has not been nice  for the Liverpool fans to watch Manchester United  have so much success over the recent years.”

Liverpool have managed to pick up just five points from their opening four games but Torres is confident the Reds can win on Sunday.

The Spanish international was quick to praise new boss Roy Hodgson and the Liverpool squad, and Torres remains hopeful the club can pick up some silverware this season.

He added: “We have a great squad and a great manager, and we really hope to give the fans a trophy this season, as well as beating Manchester United for them.

“The Liverpool fans are great, when you play well they are behind you and when you are not playing the best they are still behind you.

“I walk my dogs round the city, and before matches like Manchester United the fans will tell you good luck and things like that. It’s clear how much the Manchester United games means to them.”

Torres’ new strike partner, Milan Jovanovic, is also confident his side can climb the table after a slow start.

The Serbian international, a summer signing from Standard Liege, admits he is yet to find his best form since his move to Anfield but hopes he will adapt to the Premier League soon and believes Liverpool can mount a title challenge.

“It is going to take time because there are a lot of new players,” said Jovanovic. “But if we keep getting the ball to Stevie (Gerrard), we will be much better.

“I have no doubts that we will climb the table.

“The Premier League is tough but we are Liverpool. That is what matters.”

Torres may have his sights set on United but Liverpool are in Europa League action tomorrow night as they welcome Romanian side Steaua Bucharest to Anfield, although Hodgson may chose to rest Torres or hand him a place on the bench due to Sunday’s showdown at Old Trafford (Liverpool 1/4, draw 9/2, Steaua Bucuresti 11/1).

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Ferguson on future spending

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Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted Manchester United may well have to dig deep to replace the players who are coming to the end of their careers at Old Trafford (United 1/6 – 90 minutes v Rangers).

United have never been shy to spend big and land quality players, with £29m spent on the acquisition of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds back in 2002, but they have also brought a number of quality players up through the ranks over the past 15 years.

The likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers, were all nurtured by Ferguson, who was blessed with an incredible pool of home-grown talent developing at pretty much the same time.

Gary Neville, Giggs and Scholes are still playing their trade at the Theatre of Dreams in the mid-30s, but Ferguson is aware that they will not go on forever, and it may be that transfer fees will have to be paid to replace the legends of United’s golden era.

“There may be a time in the next couple of years where we have to stretch ourselves, particularly when Ryan, Paul and Gary retire,” he said. “Then, it is a possibility we would need to get really top players in to galvanise the younger ones coming through.

“But at the moment we have the experience. We have players who have been through the whole gamut of emotions at this club and know how to deal with it.”

Whether or not funds will be available to buy the best players in the world is open to question as doubts surround the long-term involvement of the Glazer family amid rumours of huge debts at the club.

But the 68-year-old tactician was quick to point out that he had money to spend in the transfer window but preferred, by and large, to keep his power dry and trust the current crop of players at his disposal.

“We have no financial restrictions,” he added. “If I hadn’t been confident maybe we would have done something. But there was only one player I would have brought here and that move was sealed off quite early by the club he went to.”

United begin their Champions League campaign with the visit of Rangers on Tuesday evening and are strong favourites to take all three points (Rangers 18/1 – 90 minutes v Man United).

Star striker Wayne Rooney looks set to play some part in the match after missing United’s weekend trip to Goodison Park as the manager opted to protect him from the spotlight due to his current off-field problems.

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Crouch reveals final ambition

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Peter Crouch says there is no doubt in his mind that Tottenham have what it takes to reach the Champions League final at Wembley this year ahead of their first group game against Werder Bremen (11/10 Werder Bremen – 90 minutes).

The north London outfit are entering their first-ever Champions League campaign having defied the odds to secure fourth place last season ahead of mega-rich Manchester City.

Their finish in the Premier League table made sure of a spot in the last round of qualifying for the tournament and after a slight hiccup in the first leg they eventually turned over Youngs Boys of Berne, thanks in part to a Crouch hat-trick.

Spurs have now headed out to Germany for their first European Cup game since they were dumped out at the semi-final stage in 1962 by Benfica.

Just less than half a century later and Tottenham have returned to Europe’s top club competition with confidence high they can go on a decent run.

They have been drawn in Group A alongside last season’s winners Inter Milan (1/6 to qualify from Group A), Werder Bremen (20/21) and FC Twente (9/2).

Despite having been paired with Inter Spurs certainly fancy their chances of progressing to the knockouts stages ahead of Werder and Twente.

Tuesday’s game against Werder will be good test of Tottenham’s European credentials as they take on the four-time Bundesliga champions.

Despite the nature of the occasion Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has seemingly headed out to Germany with other things on his mind having been heavily linked with the England manager’s post after current boss Fabio Capello announced he would leave in 2012.

Redknapp has said he isn’t looking that far ahead and claims he is totally focused on the job in hand.

The former West Ham, Portsmouth and Southampton boss will certainly have injuries on his mind having lost Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe to ligament damage before the game.

However, some good news came on Monday after it was revealed Luka Modric could be fit after badly bruising his leg in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom.

Despite potentially missing three key players Crouch has backed the Tottenham (40/1 – Champions League outright) squad to come good and get off to a winning start in their Champions League campaign as he aims for an appearances in the final at Wembley in May.

“I was a part of Liverpool side that got to the 2007 Champions League final and the quality in the Tottenham dressing room right now is a match for the team we had at Anfield three years ago,” said Crouch.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves by saying we can get to the final or anything like that because we have only just qualified for the group stages for the first time, but I firmly believe we are good enough to enjoy a good run in this competition. We just have to believe in ourselves if we are to make the most of this opportunity.

“With the final being held at Wembley this season, it would be great for an English team to get there and there’s no reason why Spurs cannot have a good go at making it happen. We have plenty of players in our squad who are capable of doing some damage in this competition.”

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