Owen Hargreaves feels great at Manchester City

The Carling cup fixtures were a goal scoring story for Owens, who have struggled for a while in their careers in their own ways yet, while Micheal continues to prove his instincts are sharp as ever and his support for the current club and passion for the game, Hargreaves chose to spit in the the face of his remaining supporters at Manchester United with his thinly veiled remarks about the handling of his medical condition. There are cases of botched headlines largely sabotaging what was being conveyed, but it was definitely not the case this time.

This leaves United fans seething, especially because it comes after him joining a few, if not elite, group of players who have crossed the United-City divide. It'd be a delight to watch Berbatov and Micheal Owen combine again up front, and much like Owen, Berbatov has had more than his fair share of sitting on the sidelines, and in both cases deservedly or undeservedly benched continues to be a raging debate, yet the grandmaster of Berbatov and Micheal Owen would and should remain unquestioned. So there's a Micheal Owen, ex Liverpool ex Real-Madrid, who has a rate of 0.33 goals per match like Charlton, and who's not happy with picking up his money for nothing, and then there's a Owen Hargreaves, no less a player or professional, and especially someone who had been supported by Manchester United despite rare appearances for over a period of three years *, with medical support, contract extensions, pay checks, opportunities to return to action; but when gets respectfully released, posts fitness videos online, gets a pay-as-you-play deal, scores a great goal in Carling cup, he forgets the meaning of the words Humbleness and Gratitude. Is it something in the Manchester City water supply?

How Manchester times has Roo come back from injury ,and who can forget the Valencia injury? and all have come back ahead of schedule ,without a recurrence. So to say he was a guinea pig is a bad choice of words IMO. We all would have loved to see Hargo back in the famous Red and White,but when it happened it lasted for 6 minutes. And no one was happy about it, and who would be .SAF was determined to get him and did not give up till he got him. The fans looked forward to his signing. United have got by far the best team in the premiership. It is a fashion now to complain about something at your old team to make your new fans happy,and since he had very little to complain about his previous team ,he chose the medical team. I think Manchester of the United fans are being far too sensitive here and the situation isn't helped by headlines such as the one above this article. I don't think Hargreaves is aiming an accusation at those who treated him during his time at OT and, in fact, there are He is, however, clearly very frustrated by the three years lost to injury. Is more of an acceptance that an injured player is in the hands of experts and often has no idea of what is going on. Manchester players are "guinea pigs" these days because we live in an age in which the state of knowledge in medical science makes it possible to try new procedures to treat injuries which were hitherto untreatable. Tendinitis is one of those conditions which can still defy treatment and injections may be the only course available, though hardly to be undertaken lightly. I think anyone who has read Paul Lake's book sympathises with any footballer who faces career threatening injury, and with any club that has a player in such straits, especially when the medics simply don't know what to do for the least bad, never mind for the best. That is all true. But I think that Owen should be a bit more sensitive to his own situation. Who would not want the best for Owen Hargreaves? United? The Doctors? The supporters? Have United not given all their support to Owen during this time? Has he not, by large, run his own rehab work in across the globe, with United picking up the bill? Has he not consulted the very elite doctors? The root of the problem is coming back way early from this broken leg while at Bayern Munich. There is no "one solution" to his problem, since the problem has changed during the course of these 3-4 years. To come out and say what he's saying here on the back of a 59 minutes long appearance in the Carling Cup, to those who have helped and supported him during his years at United is disgusting. I am also quite sure that if a foreign player would have done the same there would be a rampage beyond belief. But I guess being English should at least give you some perks. Nearly 30 years ago I remember having a myelogram for a spinal problem which defied diagnosis. This procedure is now discredited and abandoned! This was a statement of fact but it did suggest that the doctor had been wrong ordering it at the time, which he wasn't. My point is that if anyone knows that a club has every interest in getting a player fit and not ruining his career it's Owen. But I think there are three factors at work here: one is the rapid pace of change in the state of medical knowledge, the second is the press which seems to sell papers by I think, however, that trying to come back from such a long term injury necessarily involves a lot of time spent in rehab on your own, "picking up the pieces" after treatments which are either "innovative" or "desperate", depending on your viewpoint. In the end, I think the treatment given to Owen while at United actually appears to have remedied his condition, though it may be a little early to say,and I'm sure he's the first to recognise this.

So what, is he claiming that Dr Stead - the specialist under whom he received most of his treatment - is no good? Or that the club who sent him to Dr Stead, paid the fees and Hargreaves wages, just ignored the Doctor's treatment schedule and decided to "experiment" on him? And how old is Hargreaves; is he a little kid who cannot speak for himself if he feels the treatment is wrong? And on what (medical) basis is he making these allegations? Is he qualified? It was suggested that his problems at OT may have been not completely physical, so he may fare better with less pressure at a smaller club. In any event, it seems a rather snide thing to do, and somewhat premature. If he gets injured again, whose fault will it be next time? Manchester United spent a fortune on treatment and wages, gave him so much time; does he really think the club would be so negligent of the health of such a valuable asset in which they had invested so much time and money? If he feels so badly now he has obviously felt that way for a large part of the three years, during which time United apparently paid him £70k per week, which equates to £10.9m over the period. Did he stay there mute so that he got his money while he was sick? Did United pay anything else in the way of treatment for him? Why did he not speak out earlier? Obviously because he liked the money he was getting for doing nothing. Which seems to be a criticism that could be labelled at other players . Like Wayne Rooney last year, when he had to be sent to America to get his head in order, but also to return to a huge increase in his salary. But Rooney has repaid that handsomely. I find Hargreaves' outburst sad in the extreme, and if he never plays for England again that would not bother me at all. But in the end the only criticism of United would be to try to understand why Hargreaves can appear to be so fit now that he can play for City, a team with excesses of players who can fill that role, while United let him go on a free transfer. A loan would have been understandable, when they could have controlled to whom he was loaned, but to give City a player with aspirations to play again for England looks decidedly stupid now. He has played one game in the City reserve XI against a bunch of nobodies in the League Cup. And on that basis you think it was a mistake to sell him? United didn't need to keep paying his wages just so he could play in a few Carling Cup games before breaking down again. I would be amazed if he were to make it to the end of the season. I would have agreed with your last part but for the fact that it was City that picked him up. Not to annoy United, surely, but because their doctors thought that he was finally over his longer term problems. As far as I know United didn't sell him as you said but gave him away. And if you are wrong and he plays a part in City winning something that will look like a stupid move to have gifted him to City in what will be then seen to be a premature move. Since I don't support either club I find myself hoping for Hargreaves sake that he does succeed, even if I wish he had remained silent over the past three years. Or spoken up then when he was being paid so handsomely for doing nothing. Hargreaves proved to be a huge liability for United. The job he was purchased to undertake had to be done by other equally expensive signings. He was a flop. It was acutely embarrassing and revealing that he continued to draw his not inconsiderable wages during this lengthy unproductive period. We already have the fragile old crock Carling Cup fill in player role filled at Old Trafford by Michael Owen, so it was time for Hargreaves to cease being a drain on resources. If he thinks he will get regular first team games a City he is deluded. I will enjoy watching him at Ewen Fields though. A tyrant operates by building a climate and culture of fear at every layer of the structure. A Nazi tyrant (and other sundry similar types) much prefers that IN DUE COURSE everyone's behaviour becomes miraculously automatic and voluntary as they imagine is expected of them, which does NOT exclude medic staff and football players, rather than embarrassingly coerced.

By contrast, Manchester City's Cook doesn't make for a competent tyrant saying that Onuhu's mum was making out about her cancer illness. That incompetence makes him nicer than Ferguson. Most players including Hargreaves love to play for United under Ferguson. That is the reason for the clubs success. Players are treated fairly, but a lot is expected of them. Was Hargreaves treated badly I don't think he says that. He is just saying that he should have taken more ownership of his own recovery. Ferguson would never make any player play a game if they are not fit. Say what you want, your comments come from a place of jealousy of United's success. The 26 football games is less than half of his PL club's games in a season, and includes non-club games (playing for England - he seemed to make remarkable recoveries just in time for major International tournaments!), and the average would have been lower at Spurs because he played lots for Portsmouth before moving, which will push the average figure up. Only 26 games per season as a first choice player in a top PL team is a very poor record. He's not bad-mouthing United at all, just saying that he might have done things differently and taken more responsibility for decisions over his healthcare, in hindsight. Fact is, his upbringing means he is one of the few English players who does not panic on the ball and can even fake to go one direction and move the other instead. A basic skill that most overseas players possess but which escapes British players for some reason. He's also a damn fine midfielder too. Real shame it never worked out for him in a red shirt but good luck to the lad, at least he didn't move to Liverpool, we would never have forgiven him for that! Great to hear from the intelligent United fans. Hargreaves and other sporting celebrities should realise that our press will create a storm in a tea cup given half a chance. To sum up - United's staff did their best and it didn't work out. They were great people and he also mentioned in an earlier interview that the one positive about the injury was meeting some of the people who helped him on the way - which one would assume would include the medical staff at Old Trafford. He was naive to play against Wolves, but I should imagine that both he and The press (sadly including the Telegraph) will always try and create some sort of confrontation. Players never consider an offer from a club and then turn it down for professional reasons - it is a 'snub'. Hargreaves wasn't stating that some of the medical practises that the OT staff tried unfortunately didn't work - he's taking a 'swipe' at United. You have to wonder what Hargreaves hopes to achieve in coming out with his criticism of United. Bad mouthing his previous employer may give him some personal satisfaction however he risks alienating his previous colleagues, employers and in this case United fans, and labelling himself as a winger His comments could be a little premature after just one first team game, I hope not for his sake.

Since I haven't seen or heard the interview I can't really tell the tone he took - whether it was accusatory, or just factual and dispassionate. Having said that, on the face of it he seems to be suggesting his treatment was mishandled, or his injuries misdiagnosed or mistreated. If he was flown around the world to receive treatment from all kinds of experts, including the guy who eventually helped him recover, and received the best treatment available, then it's a bit rich to turn around and complain. Especially since he was getting paid a tidy sum for the whole period. Most people would be embarrassed picking up a fat pay check for 3 years while not contributing. I just hope he doesn't turn on Manchester U to try to ingratiate himself to the City fans. That is a rather strange and uninformative way of looking at things. Clearly as an expense Hargreaves medical bills just like his wages will be off settable against tax as an expense, but this is tax that Manchester United itself would otherwise have paid, so in this case the taxpayer who has footed the bill is Manchester United itself. The fact is that Manchester United has for several years Hargreaves medical bills and his not inconsiderable wages, without in this case being fortunate enough to generate income from his anticipated services. It was bad business in his particular case, but of course this sort of expense is carried across all of the players. However the fact is that the relative wealth of Manchester United and the ethos maintained by Sir Alex there mean that there is perhaps a more understanding attitude to illness there than may be the case at other clubs less fortunately circumstanced or with different attitudes. Manchester United simply look after their injured players very well, and Hargreaves has in fact been fortunate in his treatment.

Crystal Palace vs Blackpool score 1-1

Blackpool went into the first international break of the season on the back of a good performance at Selhurst Park, but had to settle to take only a point from it. Whereas Blackpool dominated the first half of their home game against Derby without actually creating any notable opportunities, the first 45 live minutes at Selhurst Park was a much more convincing display of their football superiority. Ian Holloway football player commented post match that it was probably the best BP had played so far this season, and it's hard to disagree with him.

Blackpool looked a cut above their opponents in the first period and had a whole host of chances. Alex Baptiste football player did give the Seasiders a half-time score lead just before the break, but in reality the damage inflicted could have been a lot heavier.A cutting edge was all that was missing from a 45 live minutes that had a lot of positives to be taken. Chance after chance went begging, with Palace also having to clear a few shots off the line in a desperate, but successful, bid to stay in the game. Brett Ormerod will have been disappointed not to make more of the chances that fell his way, but by far the best opportunity came to player Billy Clarke. Through one-on-one, Clarke failed to score the onrushing Julian Speroni and never really looked confident of doing so. Palace did have one golden chance in the half football match during which they were overrun, but Matt Gilks did well to save a close-range header.

Ian Holloway has changed his defence in each of the last four football league games, be it through injury or choice, but the back four at Selhurst Park is not far off Blackpool's best available. Stephen Crainey football player is seemingly indisposable at left-back, but Alex Baptiste submitted evidence he can be an effective full-back, despite arguments he is a more able central defender. Both Crainey and Baptiste put in excellent live performances which means Holloway may retain the same score defence after the international break for the first time since the opening week of the season. It was a particularly strong performance from Stephen Crainey who provided a serious attacking threat during 'Pool's strong spell. Ian Holloway spoke of wanting his side to live cross the ball more often and the Seasiders' left-back was able to do exactly that. The below stills show examples of when the player Crainey was able to whip dangerous balls into the Palace box. In both of the above cases, despite good work from Crainey down the left, 'Pool forwards were unable to get ahead of their marker and get on the end of the crosses. Still, it's what Holloway will want to see from 'Pool's number 3 and potential incoming signings may be more successful in converting these score chances. One man who did convert his football chance on Saturday was Alex Baptiste, who collected a neat pass from Gary Taylor-Fletcher to fire past Speroni, aided by a clever dummy from Kevin Phillips. Like Crainey, Baptiste offered a good offensive threat and showed that it is not just Neal Eardley who can attack from the right-back position.

It was a frustrating first season at Bloomfield Road for Ludovic Sylvestre. Reportedly tracked by Ian Holloway for a good year before his eventual signing, much was expected of the former Barcelona and Sparta Prague player. Syvlestre was never really given a decent run of first team football however, and had to settle for just seven Premier League appearances. Keen to stress the importance of the frenchman player, Holloway had indicated that the side could be built around him this season, but so far this has not been the case, despite an impressive pre-season. The live Football League Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday excepted, Sylvestre had yet to feature for Blackpool this campaign. The signing of Barry Ferguson has instead provided Holloway with his anchor to build the team around and long-time servant Keith Southern is difficult to leave out too. With only one place in the midfield three left, the manager has opted for someone a little more attacking with Elliot Grandin starting the season at the tip of the midfield three, and Taylor-Fletcher filling in there since Grandin's injury. As if Sylvestre had not been unfortunate enough, the rule change that meant only five substitutes can be named has also hampered his inclusion in the squad, with Holloway typically favouring a bench comprising a goalkeeper, a utility player and three attackers. Introduced on the hour mark at Selhurst Park, Syvlestre turned in a solid enough performance, rarely wasting a scoring pass. He seems happy to receive a pass at any time, has the confidence to turn on the ball and normally finds his own player with a simple pass. The question is whether he does enough to justify a regular selection alongside Ferguson and Southern, and that is yet to be seen. Sylvestre's effectiveness in the final third is unproven and is therefore perhaps a little too similar to the two mainstays of the Blackpool live football midfield. Sylvestre maybe lacks the flair of his countryman Grandin, and once fit, one suspects Holloway will bring Grandin back into the team, assuming no new attacking midfielders are brought in on deadline day, or the loan market shortly afterwards. Sylvestre may have to wait for an injury or suspension for Ferguson or Southern before finally getting a run of score games in the side.

For all the superiority of Blackpool's first half score performance, when taking the whole game into account some Crystal Palace football fans may believe they could have won the game, a claim that would not be that wide of the mark. Some positive substitutions from Dougie Freedman allowed Palace to begin to put on the pressure as the second half wore on. Matt Gilks was called upon more often in the Blackpool goal, and with 10 minutes to go, the home team did level the scores, influential substitute the Glenn Murray football player with the equaliser. After that, Palace had several chances to take the live lead with one real heart in mouth moment for 'Pool fans coming when Murray again got the better of the Blackpool defence. The below stills show once again that a high defensive line could be Blackpool's undoing.

In the end, a point each wasn't too far off being a fair score result. Palace proved that it is possible to turn a game around even after few would have given them much hope based on the first half alone. Blackpool themselves ran out of steam a little, and this added weight to the theory that reinforcements are required before the Seasiders welcome live the Ipswich to Bloomfield Road on September. At the moment it doesn't seem like Blackpool have enough about them to brush sides away completely, and in a competitive Football Championship season, teams such as Palace will not roll over even when behind. The Ian Holloway player now has two week break before his team's next game to add that killer instinct, be it through permanent or loan signings.

Scandinavian football goals

Football Group H was supposed to be pretty straightforward. Portugal would win the group comfortably while Denmark and Norway scrapped for second place and Iceland and Cyprus made up the numbers. But as the end of the qualifying phase draws near Norway and Portugal are joint top with 13 livescore points and are Denmark third with ten, having one game in hand. Tonight's Scandinavian showdown in Copenhagen will be the pivotal game of the group.

Like the last time (and all the other times in recent years) Denmark faced Norway, the war of words preceding the encounter has been drawn from a familiar script: Norway simple, Denmark arrogant. The Norwegians have a way of keeping luck on their side. They do this by taking no prisoners in any of the game's phases and by running constantly and this is a very simple way of playing football. The full derogatory extent of the word "simple" is somewhat lost in the translation here, as rather than denoting a kind of simplistic brilliance it falls more in line with a Danish stereotype of Norway, a perception best summed up by the fact that some Danes refer to the Norwegians as "mountain monkeys". Stupid, ignorant and simple score kind of match.Norway's technical director, former national team coach Nils Johan Semb, hit back by stating that the worst thing about Denmark is their footballing arrogance. They think they're much better than they are, they like to think they're the Nordic Brazil, but they have no reason to think so. Indeed, with unemployed right-back Lars Jacobsen (recently released by West Ham) set to start for Denmark, this particular Danish side is perhaps not in a position to term themselves the Brazil of anything. The group is finely poised. A win for Denmark would put them on 13 points, tied with Norway and Portugal in live score ahead of their final two fixtures against Cyprus and Portugal. Assuming they'll dispose of Cyprus and that Portugal win their penultimate match against Iceland, it would set up the final game against Portugal in Copenhagen as a straight group decider. And even if they lose there and Norway win their last game against Cyprus, tying the two on 16 points, Denmark would take second place on head-to-head. A draw, however, would leave Denmark needing to win both their last football games, again providing Norway beat Cyprus at home. This outcome would also tie the two, leaving it to goal difference and head-to-head to decide. But of course this scenario also depends on Denmark beating Portugal, which would leave both Denmark and Norway with more points than the Portuguese, and there would be no Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2012.

An unlikely victory for Norway tonight would put the mountain monkeys very much in the front seat, needing only to beat Cyprus to secure either a group victory or likely passage to the Euros as the best runner-up. In short, a Danish win leaves Denmark with one foot at Euro Football 2012, a Norwegian win puts them half-way there, while a draw makes everything really rather complicated. With the outcome of Group H riding score on this Scandinavian clash of footballing cultures the match should be a fascinating contest.

FIFA World Cup qualifying Canada vs St. Lucia

Ranked at the bottom of the FIFA World rankings, just a handful of St. Lucia compete in non-domestic professional livescores football leagues. The few who have managed professional contracts away from St. Lucia play in Trinidad and Tobago, a small step up from the St. Lucian top division. This is a big opportunity for their team. In the opening games there’s going to be a lot of enthusiasm and this is where it’s going to be dangerous with a lot of livescores.

And with expectations high, Canada’s second-year manager reiterated that his side is focusing on consistency rather than being overwhelming favourites. He insisted Canada’s preparation this week has been all business. St. Lucia is expected to be nothing more than a local island squad consisting of players that compete regularly within the country. Although Canada is expected to run away with its second-round group, the coaches and players fully expect the visitors to compete with passion tonight at the field. They’re in no position to overlook any team right now. Sitting among a cluster of Caribbean countries just north of Venezuela, the island nation of roughly 200,000 people is in the second stage of CONCACAF qualifying for the second time in its football livescores history. After dispatching Aruba on penalties in the first round, they enter Group D alongside St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico and Canada.

For Canada football team the most important thing right now is winning at home and really dominating. It’s something about creating a winning environment like a fortress. But aside from a few decent showings in Europe, the results haven’t come as of late. For the first time since 2005, Canada failed to advance from its group at the 2011 Gold Cup. Seemingly disjointed and disorganized throughout the tournament, after being held scoreless by the U.S. and settling for a draw against Panama, Canada needed a De Rosario penalty to manage its only Gold Cup win, a narrow 1-0 victory over Guadeloupe. Most troubling is the fact the team failed to score during the run of play in three matches. As goal differential is the first tie-breaker should the team stumble, so it’s important Canada gets on track offensively while registering big wins in the process. “Hopefully these games create an environment where we can start getting familiar with each other in front of goal and building our confidence going forward,” De Rosario said. Coming off an injury he sustained at the Gold Cup in June with no livescores attempt, Atiba Hutchinson said Canada’s second-round qualifiers will serve as an opportunity to continue improving ahead the more difficult rounds. They’ve been going in the right direction and we’re developing. They’re getting more and more used to each other and finding the way we should play. They have to move on. Canada heads to the Caribbean following tonight’s qualifier for a crucial Group D away match in Puerto Rico Tuesday.

Billed as Canada’s sternest test of the current round, the Puerto Ricans are by far the strongest of the three island nations, Canada will face over the next three months. Canada wraps up CONCACAF’s six-game second stage with a pair of matches in both October and November when many livescores are wating to be watched. The top finisher in Group D advances to the region’s semifinal stage next summer.

Liverpool football club troubles

The Football Premiere League season has begun and with two games under our belts and we have picked up a rather decent point tally. I mean considering that we beat Arsenal (score 2-0) and rather unfairly drew with Sunderland. Its a better start than most critics were willing to concede to us.

However there is one glaring problem that seems to bother me every time I review the games we have played and score more goals. The one thing that jumps out at anyone watching our game is that we are constantly squandering chances – I mean consider the Arsenal game, we constantly gave the ball away in the final third and the attempts by Carroll to break into the defense was feeble at most. Then we had Kuyt footing the ball wrongly in the box (who by the way is reaching his 50th score goal mark , a good achievement but rather behind for a striker in the EPL, considering the amount of years he has played) .

This inability to seize the game by the throat and finish was the reason why we drew with Sunderland , off-course as a Liverpool fan: I am going to curse the referee that disallowed Carroll’s beautiful goal and bemoan the fact that a few more inches on either Downing or Adam’s shot would have lead to a contender for goal of a season. And I’m going to try to forget that our 2 goal in 2 game hero (Suarez) missed a penalty.
But the problem here is that other teams are not going to forget these mistakes and they are not going to be as strained as the weakened Arsenal side we faced or as lacklustre as the Sunderland side we faced – they are going to be full of world class talent and names. If we keep squandering chances like these with big shots and scoring, it can be said without a shadow of doubt we’d be dismantled by the other top teams.

The only thing we can count on is Kenny’s playing experience and history to ensure our team doesn’t become the club that keeps going on about what ifs no enough score. We have to learn to apply the coup de grace efficiently and brilliantly, and fast or else we will straddle behind.