Football News: Inernational Hit With 2 Year Doping Ban As Man Utd Are Shocked By Exciting Match And More News

1. Bamford told to prove himself
Guus Hiddink has told returning striker Patrick Bamford that he has to prove himself with Chelsea's U21 side to earn a chance in the first team. The 22 year old had been on loan with fellow London side Crystal Palace, but, after being unable to hold down a regular (or even semi-regular) place with the Eagles, Bamford returned to Chelsea after a social media tantrum. With Chelsea struggling for goals, and first team forward Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy ruled out through injury, Bamford has been expected to get his chance. Now interim manager Hiddink has warned Bamford that it will not be easy to get in the team, and that the youngster has to prove himself worthy at a lower level first. "Bamford hardly played for Palace, so first he has to prove himself with the under-21s and make a step. Then we'll see what can happen." Hiddink said of the youngster Chelsea bought from Nottingham Forest in the January transfer window of 2012. Bamford has yet to make a senior bow for Chelsea, spending most of his time, with mixed success, out on loan. A decent spell with MK Dons was followed by one with Derby County where he failed to set the heather alight before returning to the Championship to play for Middlesbrough last season. The Boro spell was the best of his career and led to him picking up an award for Championship Player of the Year, so he had high hopes for his step up to the Premier League with Palace. Sadly it was, as Bamford said himself, "terrible".

2. Man Utd in exciting match shocker
Well it had to happen, with even manager Louis van Gaal admitting to being bored at times watching Manchester United play this season, they went out and took part in an exciting match with Newcastle United. Two teams that have mostly been involved in low scoring games went out and thrilled with a 3-3 draw. It was exciting in the way that English football is exciting, fast, furious and littered with errors, but still it was a good watch, unlike most of the games since van Gaal arrived. I even managed to keep my eyes open throughout the whole 90 minutes! It does seem that LvG was not as pleased as the rest of the onlookers with this new development, judging by his reaction:

 

3. Espanyol coach hits out at his player after stamp on Messi
Young Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez escaped punishment on the field after appearing to deliberately stamp on Lionel Messi during a stormy derby match with Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. The match was fraught with incident and accusations, as Espanyol attempted to rough house Barca out of the game, and it has already led to one retrospective ban as Luis Suarez was hit with a ban after a post match incident in the tunnel. So far Lopez has not faced punishment, but the club's goalkeeping coach, Thomas N'Kono, has said Lopez was wrong to stamp on Messi. "He was wrong and made a mistake and I have spoken to him about it privately," N'Kono told Radio 4G. "He is calm. But people can't undervalue him because of his game. We are all professionals and we deserve the same respect from everyone, whether you're the best in the world or not. He is in the phase of learning, and people have to understand that." The two sides are set to face each other in the second leg of the Copa del Rey match tonight.

4. Remi Garde gives Lescott his backing
Aston Villa's under fire boss Remi Garde has given his backing to another person who is struggling at the club. Centre back Joleon Lescott faced the wrath of the club's fans after some distasteful moments in the 1-1 draw with lower league side Wycombe Wanderers. Lescott and goalkeeper Brad Guzan caused issues with fans at the game, as the pair were left on the bench for the FA Cup 3rd round clash. They were seen by fans playing a game to see who could spit chewing gum further, rather than watching the match, then accused of telling fans to f*** off, after the fans asked them to support their team mates. Club captain Micah Richards had to placate the fans after the match, but it still led to unsavoury scenes as the players were abused leaving the ground. The pair started the win over Crystal Palace last night, with Lescott scoring the only goal of the game, and now Garde has publicly backed his player. Garde said: "I didn't speak with Joleon about this stuff. I am pleased the way he gave an answer but not an answer regarding this fact. He is an experienced player and should be very important for the team. Joleon is a very experience player, he spreads serenity and calm. He knows the game and is a player I can rely on. He is not as young as he used to be, I try to manage him and others as best I can."

 

5. Toure says Emirates move cost Arsenal titles
Kolo Toure, who was a part of Arsenal's 'Invincibles' team, has said that moving the club from their old Highbury Stadium base to the newly completed Emirates Stadium in 2006 is the reason the Gunners stopped winning league titles. While the move to the new 60,000 seater capacity stadium is intended to allow Arsenal to compete for titles in the long term, Toure believes that it cost Arsenal in the short term. "I am not inside any more but there has been a lot of change. A lot of players left the club, guys like Patrick Vieira, leaders left the club and it was quite difficult, but this policy started when they started the new stadium," the Liverpool defender said. "Everything changed. They needed to sell some players, cut the wage bill and that is all about it. I think they lost so many experienced players. Patrick Vieira was a leader, Robert Pires was a top player, Thierry Henry left and sometimes you need experience at the club and then a young player can learn, that is one of the things." He added: "Wenger is a top manager, he has shown that unbelievably. The thing I like is this manager can make an average player one of the best players in the world. He did that with so many players - [George] Weah... Vieira was in Milan not playing a lot... Thierry Henry was at Juventus and he made him one of the best ever. He did that with me because I started from nowhere. He took me to the next level and I always respect him for that." Toure has also made it plain that he wants to stay with Liverpool, hence the head first 'salmon tackle' he made recently.

Toure: "I would love to stay. That is why I made the salmon tackle." (vs Stoke) #lfc

— Anfield HQ (@AnfieldHQ) January 12, 2016

6. Dunn sacked by Oldham
Following just three wins form his twenty games in charge of League One side Oldham Athletic, it can come as no surprise that David Dunn has lost his job as manager. His assistants, Dean Holden and Keith Brown have both also been sacked. The Latics are currently five points adrift of survival in the league and performances had been dour and depressing for the fans. Dunn had failed to win a single league game in his time in charge of the Latics.

 

7. International footballer gets two year doping ban
Venezualan international midfielder Edgar Jimenez has been hit with a two year ban following a positive test for a banned substance. The 31 year old's club, Carabobo FC have revealed that Jimenez tested positive for the stimulant octopamine after Carabobo faced Deporte Tolima in the Copa Sudamericana last year. Jimenez's agent has said that they will appeal the ban placed on him by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).

8. Draw feels like defeat
Following Manchester United's thrilling 3-3 draw with Newcastle United last night, Louis van Gaal was downbeat about the result after claiming it felt like a defeat. The Red Devils led the Tyneside club by 2 goals to nil before allowing the Toon back level, taking the lead once more only to be hit by a last minute Paul Dummett goal. "Of course it feels like a defeat," van Gaal told Sky Sports after United slipped to sixth place, overtaken by West Ham United. "We have given it away, I have told that to my players. When the referee gives a penalty for nothing, it is a duel I think and you cannot decide who is worse, but we gave it away. We could have scored six goals easily here and we did not," bemoaned Van Gaal. "If we had, it would have been three successive wins at the start of the year going into Liverpool. It is not so interesting to create chances. In every press conference I say you have to score one more goal than the opponent. It does feel like a defeat. After scoring three good goals, it was maybe a lack of concentration, not staying with runners for the third, and that is disappointing," he said. "If you take a two-goal lead, we should be taking all three points and killing the game off. We didn't take all our chances and we have been punished for it. We always want to try and play entertaining attacking football that is what we work on and try and do, and hopefully we can come up with more solutions."

 

9. ISL attendances beat La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1
According to figures released by KPMG's Football Benchmark team, the Indian Super League's average attendances of 26,376 places it above the average attendances of three of the major European leagues. While the Bundesliga and English Premier League, with averages of 42,700 and 36,000 respectively, are top of the tree in average attendances, the Spanish, French and Italian leagues are now trailing the ISL. There was also reported a significant rise in attendances in the MLS (Major League Soccer) of nearly 13% to an average of 21,536 and 16.7% in the Chinese Super League to over 21,800.

10. Vidic looking for Inter release
Inter Milan's former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic is trying to negotiate an early release from his contract. The centre back has been struggling with a back injury, but has been unable to get a game since his return to fitness. "At the moment I don't know much about what will happen in future," Vidic's agent Silvano Martina told FCInter1908.it. "Is termination of the contract by mutual consent possible in January? We're talking about it, so we'll see what happens. Nothing has been done yet. The lad is fine, for the moment he is focused only on training."

Written by Tris Burke January 13 2016 11:45:32