Posts Tagged ‘Carling Cup’

Dalglish facing nervous wait

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish could find out in the next 24 hours whether he will be allowed to continue his re-building job at Anfield.

The season may have only just finished but already thoughts are drifting to next season, especially for those who feel they have underperformed this year – with Liverpool firmly in that category.

Dalglish is set to travel to Boston to speak with Reds owners FSG, who may decide to sack him or allow him another year to turn things around.

The American group have already shown their ruthlessness by sacking Director of Football Damian Comollii and Director of Communications Ian Cotton in an attempt to repair the damage from a bruising season.

Those dismissals initially suggested Dalglish may be safe, with others taking the hit for Liverpool’s failings.

But his post-season jaunt across the Atlantic suggests otherwise, with the football betting suggesting the axe may fall on the former Celtic striker, with Wigan’s Roberto Martinez touted as a possible successor.

If that does happen he can’t have too many complaints. They may have added the Carling Cup to their lengthy trophy list but a defeat in the FA Cup final failed to mask a dreadful post-Christmas run in league form that saw them finish in eighth place.

It was their joint lowest league finish since they were promoted back to the top flight in 1964 and was below arch rivals Everton for the first time since 2005.

Dalglish has been staunchly defensive of his influence at Anfield over the past 18 months, retaining the belief that he can continue the re-building job than began with more than £100million spent in the transfer market.

Many of those signings, such as Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing, have not really worked and a failure to even compete for the Champions League positions have got the owners worried about their investment.

They had hoped a busy summer last year would pave the way for a return to the Champions League football and all the riches that may bring. But if anything their premier league odds have lengthened.

The Anfield purse strings may not now be so easily prised open after recent excesses and Dalglish – widely heralded as the messiah when he breezed into Anfield 18 months ago – may be the latest casualty of a disappointing season.

Manchester City’s 2009/10 Premier League campaign

Manchester City has risen to the cream of the crop in the Barclay’s Premier League this season thanks to an infusion of cash from their new Arab owners. The club spent millions of pounds in the offseason in a bid to attempt to break up the Big Four and earn the club a coveted Champions League position. For those who are new to football betting, here are some of the football betting tips. With just two matches left in the league campaign, City finds themselves in the thick of the race for fourth place.

City’s big spending during the summer lead to immediate expectations by its fans of trophies and a place in Europe next season. The Manchester club began their season under the guidance of Mark Hughes. After a bright start to the season with five wins from six matches, City hit a rough patch that many thought would doom their European aspirations. The club drew seven consecutive matches, many against overmatched clubs such as Hull City and Burnley.

Despite the club’s Carling Cup successes, where they reached the semi-finals against city rival Manchester United, Mark Hughes was sacked in November just one day after defeating Sunderland in a 4-3 thriller at home. Italian Roberto Mancini was brought in to replace Hughes and immediately turned things around for City. The club won five of Mancini’s first six matches in charge including the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

City continued to sway back and forth between success and failure, but the club remains just one point behind Tottenham for the final Champions League position from the Barclay’s Premier League. The overall success of the club’s campaign is likely to be determined during the next five days as they face Tottenham during the midweek and finish the season against West Ham United.

Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League team profile

In 2009-2010, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. are having a much better season than the previous year. Tottenham finished eighth in the Barclay’s Premier League, as they compiled a total of 51 points with a record of 14-9-15 in 2008-2009. This season, Tottenham already walks into May with 64 points.

Tottenham is in the race for finishing the year in the top four of the English Premier League table, as this season comes to an end. For next year the team has already secured a spot in European cup football, but it’s still to be determined which cup they’ll compete in. If Tottenham finishes the season third or fourth, they’ll play in the UEFA Champions League. They’ll compete in the less prestigious Europa League cup, if the team finishes fifth, sixth, or seventh. With only three matches remaining on schedule in May, Tottenham still needs a few points to guarantee a trip to the UEFA Champions league.

Tottenham had solid performances in English cups as they came close to bringing home some trophies, this season. They lost to Manchester United 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup in December 2009. Tottenham’s hopes for a domestic title also ended when they lost to Portsmouth 2-0 in the semifinals of the FA Cup in April 2010.

For the 2009-2010, Tottenham’s success can be attributed to the arrival of several new players such as Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko, and Robbie Keane. As they combined to score dozens of goals, these strikers added some real firepower at the front of the pitch. At the defensive end, young defender Sébastien Bassong and veteran Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes played a crucial role. This season the bet on football will be much higher than usual.