Wednesday, August 30, 2000

No signings imminent

Don't expect any major signings before Friday, the deadline for players eligible to play in the Champions League! That's the message from O'Leary, after being knocked back in his attempts to signe Riise from Monaco.

"I don't think we will have much before the deadline," he says,"I am trying to bring in players who will be in place for years to come, so I am not going to have a gun put to my head and act by Friday. I'm not going to buy players to please other people or to beat a deadline, only to look at them in six months and think 'I don't want this player'. I've got to look beyond Friday and forward to the next four or five years."

As always, worthy comments from the Leeds Boss....but we'd like to do quite well in this year's competition too, David!

Injury latest

According to the United Physio team, Jon Woodgate and Eirik Bakke both have less than a 50-50 chance of being fit for next Tuesday's game against Manchester City at Elland Road.

Both picked up ankle injuries in the 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside on Saturday and have been told to take a complete rest for the next few days, in order to attempt to step up the rate of recovery.

There is brighter news concerning two other long term United injury victims. Jason Wilcox is improving day by day and shoulsd be ready for the Manchester City game, fingers crossed, whilst Stephen McPhail has set a personal target of being ready for United's opening European fixture against Barcelona.

Tuesday, August 29, 2000

O'Leary: Don't go to Istanbul!

Speaking on Radio 5 Live this afternoon, David O'leary told Ian Payne that he would prefer United supporters not to travel back to Istanbul for the Champions League group stage match with Besiktas.

He talked of the "bad experience" of last season's trip, adding "you just don't want to go through that experience again." Expanding upon his reasons for preferring United supporters to stay at home, he said:

"I am sure we will get good hospitality, but I don't like tempting fate by going back so soon afterwards. I just hope nothing happens. I would urge supporters not to go to back because it leaves nothing to chance."

Smithy gets England call

Following his excellent early season form, Alan Smith has been rewarded with a surprise call up to the full England squad for the forthcoming friendly against France.

Smithy had been picked for the U21 squad but has been drafted into Keegan's squad as a replacement for Emile Heskey, who has been forced to withdraw due to injury.

It represents an amazing turnaround in fortunes for the Rothwell born striker. Last season, his form dipped to such an extent that some Leeds supporters began to question his ability and Howard Wilkinson left him out of the U21 Euro 2000 squad.

Now, with five goals to his credit already, he is answering his critics in style - and, as O'Leary pointed out on a Radio 5 Live interview today, "he won't let Kevin Keegan down."

Riise deal finally dead!

Our hopes of bringing Monaco's John Aarne Riise to Elland Road appear to be finally dead.

It was hoped that we might be able to resurrect the deal and persuade Monaco to part with their brightest young star. However, despite the player's insistence that he would like to leave the club and play for Leeds in the Premiership, Monaco have now decided that Riise is not for sale at any price.

Speaking on the club's official website, Peter Risdale commented: "John Aarne Riise is not coming to Leeds. I spoke to the club yesterday and they reiterated he is not for sale at any price. I don't want to say how much we bid, because the price is not an issue."

Viduka: Stop Press

According to sportinglife.com, Soccer Australia Chief Executive David Woolley has announced that they will turn down Leeds request for Mark Viduka to be allowed to play for us over the next month. He said any move to restrict over-age players would be contrary to the Games statute and regulations.

"We are just complying with FIFA rules and will continue to do so," he said.

Why doesn't this come as any surprise?

Riise still up for Leeds move

Most United supporters feel we need to strengthen our squad if we are to continue to challenge on both domestic and european fronts. However, to do so we need to act sharpish - with the Champions League transfer deadline set for Friday.

John Arne Riise continues to send out a "Come and get me!" plea to O'Leary and the United board. He was due to sign last month but the move fell through when his club Monaco upped their original asking price to £6 million.

He is quoted as saying, "The move could help me to develop as a player too. They are on the verge of winning big things. They are in the Champions League already, as are Monaco. It would take a special club to make me leave, but Leeds is such a club."

How much clearer can he be? Watch this space!

Viduka: Olympic bound?

Leeds are still hoping to persuade the Australian Olympic committee to allow Mark Viduka to stay with United rather than travel to Sydney.

If he does leave, Manchester City next Tuesday will be the last game he'll play for us for over a month. He could miss as amany as seven games, including the Champions League games against AC Milan and Besiktas. Not an ideal situation but one which we were fully aware of when we signed the player.

Apparently, FIFA have contacted Australia and the other nations taking part, suggesting they don't pick over-age players. However, bearing in mind our somewhat rocky relationship with the authorities down under and the fact that harry has already withdrawn through injury, it might be that they are far from leniant to our cause. We'll have to wait and see!

Monday, August 28, 2000

More injury worries

United's superb victory at the weeked, 2-1 against Middlesbrough, has come at a price - with yet more injuries to worry David O'Leary.

We already have Batts out until the New Year, at the earliest, and Harry looks like having an operation on his troublesome achilles, to keep him out until the Christmas. Add to that, we also have injuries to Stephen McPhail and Jason Wilcox.

At the Riverside, Woodgate and Bakke both picked up ankle injuries, which forced them to be substituted, and neither are likely to be fit for next weeks's home game against Manchester City. Matthew Jones picked up a head injury but should recover over the next seven days.

Another defender link

United have been linked to another defender: Cameroon international, Lucien Mettemo.

The player, who plays for French side, Saint Etienne, fits the bill in some ways but not others. He is 23 years old, which is just the job, but not so good is the fact that he is non-European and therefore likely to be away for long spells of International duty during important stages of the Premiership campaign. A case in point is that he will be representing Cameroon in the forthcoming Olympic games in Sydney.

He is likely to cost around £4 million. Blackburn Rovers are also said to be interested.

Sunday, August 27, 2000

Risdale facing impossible decision

The Champions League draw, which once again has pitted us against Turkish opposition, has left Leeds chairman Peter Risdale with the most difficult of decisions.

Does he allow United fans to travel and attempt to use the whole exercise as a way of building bridges between the two nations - or does he place a ban on travelling supporters in order to help prevent the kind of trouble we saw last time round?

Risdale is attempting to look on the positive side. "We have a chance to show the world that sport will be the winner." However he understands that it will only be after the two ties have been played that we will be able to judge whether the right decision has been made.

His counterpart, Besiktas Chairman, Serdar Biligi, has said, "We will welcome Leeds fans as our guests. I really hope that they can stand side by side watching the game in a spirit of togetherness."

What do you think should be done? Have your say by clicking here.

Saturday, August 26, 2000

Euro dates announced

Get out your diaries! United have announced the dates for the group stages of the Champions League. They are as follows:

Sept 13 Barcelona (a)

Sept 19 AC Milan (h)

Sept 26 Besitkas (a)

Oct 18 Besitkas (h)

Oct 24 Barcelona (h)

Nov 8 AC Milan (a)

It's difficult to assess which will be the crunch games: they're all so mouthwatering. However, if we can manage to pick up six points from the middle two games against Besitkas (not an easy task, I admit!) it will give us a chance. The other four games look daunting but extremely exciting. I can hardly wait!

Riverside win takes us second!

Two first half goals, from Lee Bowyer and Alan Smith, were enough for us to claim the full three points at the Riverside Stadium this afternoon, against Middlesbrough.

Having dominated the opening 45 minutes, when we could have scored even more goals, we had to withstand Middlesbrough pressure in the second half, with Phil Stamp's late strike leaving us sweating.

The win takes us second in the Premiership table, having played a game more than our rivals. It is only early days of course - but this has been one hell of a week!

For a match report, click here later.

We don't want McManaman!

According to news reports circulating during today, it appears that Leeds have been offered the opportunity to take Steve McManaman - but have turned him down.

The player, who helped Real Madrid to the Champions League crown last season, with a man of the match performance in the Final, is now out of favour and needs to decide quickly where is long term future lies.

Most United supporters would welcome McManaman with open arms, especially considering our age old need for quality in depth on the right hand side of midfield. However, his wages - a reported £65,000 a week - would undoubtedly be a major stumbling block.

Today's opponents Middlesbrough would appear to be the only Premiership club still interested in the player. Allegedly, they table a £8 million bid several weeks ago, which Real Madrid accepted. However, McManaman is still weighing up his possibilities.

Viduka denies stories

Mark Viduka has rubbished stories that appeared earlier in the week, claiming that he only put in 70% effort when he played last season for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.

He is angry that Celtic supporters will think badly of him if they believe what they read - and is at pains to stress to them that the alleged dialogue between himself and the United manager never took place. Speking in the scottish Daily Record, he says:

"I never had a conversation remotely like this with David O'Leary, not at all.

"And it's not the way I felt. I gave 150 per cent in every game I played for Celtic. If I hadn't then I don't think I would have been top scorer and Player of the Year."

Viduka, a big money signing over the close season, has yet to open his goalscoring account for Leeds and will be hoping to do so later today when we take on the Boro at the Riverside Stadium.

Friday, August 25, 2000

Champions League Draw

What a draw!

United have been drawn in Group H against Barcelona, AC Milan and Besiktas.

There are two ways of looking at this: (a) the draw couldn't have been much tougher; (b) the draw couldn't have been much more exciting/ romantic in footballing terms.

Nobody will be giving us much of a chance of progressing, which will take the pressure off us a little. The only real concern is that we will be returning to Istanbul to face Besiktas.

Peter Risdale had already made it clear that, should we have been drawn against Galatasaray, he would not have taken up Leeds allocation of tickets for the away leg. He is now in discussion with besiktas officials to decide whether this will apply to this season's fixture.

Champions League Draw

The Champions League draw is due to take place in Monte Carlo at 12.00 CET (11.00 GMT).

For the very latest on who we've been drawn against, click back here at lunchtime. We'll be the first unofficial site to have details and comment!

Kewell to face op

This morning's news, concerning Harry Kewell, couldn't be much worse. The achilles problem, that has forced him to miss the first three games of the season, is showing no signs of improvement.

As a result, Harry has contacted the Australian Olympic Committee to explain regretfully that he will be unable to take part in the tournament. He is said to be devastated, especially since the Olympics will take place in his home city: Sydney.

With Harry still coming to terms with the bad news, United will now act quickly to suggest he undergoes an operation to sort out the problem once and for all.

This will mean him missing the first half of the season: the only possible benefit being that a fully fit and rejuvenated Kewell will be a massive boost for the new year!

Riise deal back on?

With Peter Risdale in Monaco ahead of today's Champions League draw, speculation was mounting this morning that he would recommence negotiations to sign Monaco's Norwegian star John Arne Riise.

The highly rated star, who has stressed on several occasions that he would like to come to Elland Road, was due to sign earlier this month for £4 million. However, Monaco then upped the price to £6 million, forcing Leeds to pull out of the deal.

It is now hoped a compromise can be reached.

Thursday, August 24, 2000

Champions League Draw for Dummies

After the euphoria of last night, the United squad flew back to Leeds today in preparation for Saturday's trip to the Riverside stadium, where we take on Middlesbrough.

However, before that, we have to get our heads round Friday's draw for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. As you might expect, the process of who plays who is about as complex as it possibly could be. However, below I've tried to make it as simple as possible:

The 32 teams still involved will be drawn into eight groups of four. Each of these four teams will thus be involved in six games - three at home and three away.

In order for the teams to be split into groups, the 32 clubs have been divided into four 'seeding' groups: the top seeds of Pot 1 through to the fourth seeds of Pot 4. With me so far? Easy eh?

Each group will comprise a team from each of the four 'seeding' groups. These groups are as follows. Pot One: Real Madrid (holders), Juventus, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Lazio, Manchester United, Monaco, Valencia.

Pot Two: Spartak Moscow, Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, AC Milan, Deportivo la Coruna, Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray.

Pot Three: Dynamo Kiev, Rosenborg, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos Piraeus, Panathinaikos, Leeds, Sparta Prague, Rangers.

Pot Four: Sporting Lisbon, SV Hamburg, Anderlecht, Besiktas, Sturm Graz, Heerenveen, Helsingborgs, Shakhtar Donetsk.

The only other point to bear in mind is that UEFA have said that the three English teams will be kept apart at these initial stages. As Rangers are in the same 'Pot' as Leeds, then we should avoid the Scottish champions too.

Unfortunately,with Galatasaray in Pot Two, we have a one in six chance of meeting them and a one in seven chance of meeting the other Turkish team in the competition, Besiktas. Leeds officials will be hoping this does not happen so soon after last year's tragedies in Istanbul.

Wednesday, August 23, 2000

Glory night as Leeds go through

It was another night of glory in Europe as United defied the odds to pull off a memorable victory in the Olympic Stadium against TSV 1860 Munich.

Despite being ravaged by injuries and having no recognisable midfield, we managed to win 1-0 on the night, thanks to a 46th minute goal by Alan Smith, and 3-1 on aggregate.

Our name now goes into Friday's draw, in Monte Carlo, for the Champions League proper.

Leeds supporters arrested

After the tragedies in Isanbul last season, surely the last thing we need this year is to have anyone calling themselves Leeds supporters getting themselves in trouble during our European trips.

However, unfortunately, this is exactly what has happened today in Munich where 13 United fans have been arrested for giving Nazi salutes and shouting "Sieg Heil".

The supporters will now either be kept in detention until after tonight's match or sent home straight away. Either way, they will have had a wasted trip.

Upon their return, they will presumably be dealt with severely by the club too.

Dacourt on Vieira

Olivier Dacourt, interviewed in today's Daily Telegraph claims that Arsenal's Patrick Vieira may be close to quitting English football.

Dacourt, who is a frind of the Arsenal midfielder said:

"As Pat walked off he was speaking in French and I could see what he was saying. Pat said he did not want to play in English football any more and even that he would stop playing altogether." .

"Maybe the Premiership will lose a big player. It's very difficult for him after two red cards in two games. It puts pressure on him."

Refereeing shambles!

Those of you who witnessed the shambolic refereeing of Costas Kapitanis in the first leg of United's Champions League qualifier could be excused for thinking it was the worst refereeing display you'd ever seen.

However, John Gregory wasn't too happy about Villa's ref in their recent Euro tie - neither were Messrs Houllier and Wenger following Graham Poll's rather erratic performance in last night's Arsenal v Liverpool match.

Something clearly needs to be done - and quick! As Gary Kelly points out on the official Leeds site "Players and referees must come together and try to find a way to stop so many international players getting suspended so early on in the season."

Tuesday, August 22, 2000

Jones in the deep end?

Matthew Jones looks set to be thrown into the heat of European action on Wednesday night, despite the fact that he has not kicked a football for the last eight weeks.

He underwent a hernia operation at the end of last season and is still recovering. Ideally, O'Leary would prefer to give him more time. However, given the natuire of his team's injuries, it could be that the talented Welsh midfielder will be thrown in at the deep end against TSV 1860 Munich.

Bakke injury latest

When Paul Gascoigne's first touch on Saturday was to crunch into Eirik Bakke and get him stretchered off the pitch, most of us wondered whether the talented Norwegian might become another of United's long term casualties.

However, the initial gloomy prognosis was thankfully a little wide of the mark. Although Bakke has his ankle back in splints, he is hoping to be back in action against the Boro on saturday, at the Riverside.

United on another Aussie hunt

Leeds have made a £250,000 bid for Australian Jacob Burns. Burns, who plays for his hometown club Parramatta, in Sydney, can play in a variety of positions and is predominantly left footed.

He played, as a trialist, in the pre-season friendly against Oldham Athletic and impressed the United management enough for a bid to be tabled. It is now up to the Australians to decide whether or not to accept the bid. If they do, he will become the sixth Aussie at Elland Road.

O'Leary's Euro Dilemna

As Leeds set off for Munich on Tuesday morning, David O'Leary faces a massive dilemna in terms of team selection for the Champions League qualifier against TSV 1860 Munich. With his team crippled through injuries and suspensions to key players, he has to decide whether to go for all out defending or take risks in order to get that all important away goal.

Knowing the Leeds Manager's philosophy, he will probably go for the latter, playing three up front, Viduka, Smith and Bridges, as he did in the Elland Road leg.

Of course, midfield is the real problem area, with Lee Bowyer the only first team regular available for the game. O'Leary could play Danny Mills in right midfield or even bring Lucas into midfield with Duberry slotting in at centre half. Left midfield is an even bigger problem. Huckerby could be an answer but surely too risky with three strikers already on the pitch. Matthew Jones could be available following shin splints problems but is only 50-50.