Liverpool striker Fernando Torres

Liverpool striker, Fernando Torres, has said that the club are paying the price for not replacing some of the best players the club have had.

Liverpool sold a couple of key players to Real Madrid last summer and Torres says the reason the side is struggling is because they have not been adequately replaced with consistent and quality players.

Torres is the biggest asset still at the club and there are rumours circulating daily that he could be tempted to move away from Liverpool this summer if the club don’t get back into the Champions League.

The Spaniard said: “There have been various important factors, like being so far behind the top teams so quickly. That killed us psychologically. After that, injuries hit us hard and we have suffered a lot because of them.”

“But after a good season last year, we needed certain reinforcements and we needed to keep the squad we had together. But circumstances dictated that we had to sell players and so everything got messed up. The sales of (Alvaro) Arbeloa, (Sami) Hyypia and (Xabi) Alonso were important losses.”

“Alvaro always did a vital job for us, always played to a high level, and his flexibility was a huge bonus. Sami did not play every week but he was a 10 out of 10 on and off the pitch. And Xabi? Players like him are very rare. He was the team’s engine, and you know that when you change an engine, it takes time to work again.”

“The biggest clubs in Europe always go through difficult spells where there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel. But because they are big clubs, they always come back and they do so with a vengeance. It is just a matter of time. Rafa signed a five-year contract last summer. He did that because he wants to help the club grow. Rafa’s new era is just starting.”

Liverpool will have to play consistently well for the rest if the season if they want any hope of being able to attract the best players to the club. This is something they have not done all season and there are no signs that this will change soon.

The side need to have faith in the manager and hope that he knows what he’s doing. The club are short in one or two areas of the team and this will have to be sorted out in the very near future.

If Torres goes or if Liverpool lose one more influential player then the club will quickly run into difficulties. They cannot afford this if they want to get back to the high Level they have just been at.

If the club was pitted against a Barcelona at the moment then they would get ripped apart and it is this gulf in quality that Rafa Benitez has got to get rid of as quickly as he can.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has said that his team are ready to dry and do the unthinkable by beating Barcelona in the quarter final of the Champions League.

The teams are tied after the first leg ended up 2-2. However, the manner of the display from Barcelona has led many to say that Arsenal stand no chance of winning as they prepare to meet for the second clash.

Barcelona have been praised by all sections of the football community after their display in the first game at the Emirates. Arsenal managed to hang on by their fingernails and they seem up for a huge task.

Wenger said: “At 2-0 down, I felt we needed a miracle but always had hope,” Wenger said. “The players have come back from the dead once and can do it again. They know they escaped being out of the competition and we have a chance we have to take tomorrow. It’s Easter you know, a time of resurrection. That’s what we want to do.”

“The late comebacks this season show that this team has character. We’ve shown that consistently throughout the season. We were written off before the season started, but there are five games to go in the Premier League and we are still in there. In the Champions League, it’s the same. People have written us off, but we’re halfway through and will give a good game to Barcelona.”

“This team has character and when you have character you always have hope. What gives me belief is the quality of players I still have on the pitch. I still have some good players to leave out. They can turn up with a massive performance. With character and quality, you can fight anywhere in the world.”

“This Barcelona team are the best I’ve ever faced because they play at a higher pace collectively. And I don’t think we have ever been dominated so much at home. At the moment, Barcelona are the best team in Europe and we have to show that we can beat them. We have won away almost everywhere in Europe, but Barcelona is a place where we have not done it. I am confident despite the injuries we have that we can do it. This team has such a great mental strength and I believe they can fight against the odds.”

Arsenal will be missing some key players for the match, who would have ultimately given them a better chance of winning in Spain. Captain, Cesc Fabregas, will not play due to a broken leg, which will come as a bitter disappointment to him and fans of the club he is tipped to join this summer.

Arsenal will have to work very hard to keep all areas of this Barcelona side very quiet. How they get on remains to be seen but they are expected to give the match a good go in front of a very expectant and excited crowd.

West Ham United joint-owner, David Sullivan, has virtually signalled the end of Franco Zola’s first management job in football.

The owner has come out in the media during recent days and blasted the performance of the side and of the manager. It leaves Zola in a virtually impossible situation as he is clearly losing the faith of those who control the club.

Sullivan has called many of the team’s recent performances pathetic, which was capped off by the heavy home defeat at the hands of Wolves, who are also struggling.

Relegation for West Ham would have a tremendous blow on the side and could be one, which they struggle to recover from. Sullivan has already said the side should not be close to any of the relegation slots.

He said: “We will see what he is made of in the next few games. If he wins the next seven games [which begin with Stoke City at home tomorrow] he looks like the best manager of all time. If he loses them he’s the worst manager of all time.”

“We need this team to show us their talent, their desire, their passion, their dare. When I first started supporting West Ham, we had a tradition for playing the game ‘the right way’. I will settle for any way right now, as long as it is the winning way!”

“Nobody at the club should delude themselves that we are a good team. The table at this stage of the season does not lie. I accept that the club is in deep relegation trouble. However, we are a long way from being relegated. With some of the outstanding players we have, we can and must do better as a team.”

Key player, Matthew Upson, added: “If David Sullivan wants to air his views in public then he’s entitled to, he’s the chairman. I wouldn’t say, from a player’s point of view, that it helps, but we only concentrate on what the coaches and manager want us to do. They’re the people we want to listen to. Everything else is pretty irrelevant.”

West Ham have now reached the stage where they will have to scrap and fight for every single point they can get their hands on. How they react in the days to come will determine where the club ends up by the end of the season.

Any manager will say that when a high ranking official at a club comes out and starts virtually having a go at the gaffer, it puts the boss of the team in a difficult situation. This is because it undermines the manager’s authroity over the side.

If the players start to listen more and more to what Sullivan says, they will start to think that Zola is no good and therefore they will not be as willing to bust a gut for the manager in order to save the club.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger

Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, has confirmed what all Arsenal fans were probably afraid to hear.

The Frenchman has said that his side must not drop another point in the current Premier League campaign if they want to have any chance of getting their Premier League crown back.

Arsenal have been well in the spotlight and many have said that is about time they are taken more seriously. The club have surprised many this year with the way they have hung onto the coat tails of Manchester United and Chelsea.

Wenger said: “There are three teams in the race and it is down to the team who are the most consistent. We can only focus on our own performances. We know our route has to be perfect. To be perfect it is important we focus on our performances.”

“We need some help from the other teams, but we know that will only work if we are consistent and keep our momentum. We have created a fantastic momentum and we have created a great belief within our squad. The consistency of our run is the most important.”

“We want to keep the spirit, the hunger, the desire and the intelligence we have shown until now. For a long time we have fixed ourselves targets. We play every game like our life depends on it and it has been like that for a long time now.”

“We need to bring consistency to our attitude. We have a remarkable attitude, a remarkable spirit in the team, and must just continue like we do.”

Arsenal’s chances of not losing a single point will have been helped by the fact they have the easiest run in on paper. However, no game is easy when the business end of the season arrives.

Wenger will know better than anyone that his side have to prepare for each game in exactly the right way. Teams will want to take points from Arsenal in order to improve their own situations.

This means the club may have to rely on one or two results going their way if they are to win the league. If they keep things tight at their own end, then they will be giving themselves the best possible chance of success.

The club haven’t been helped by the fact that injuries to key players have kept them out of the Arsenal side for long periods of time. On the other hand this has meant chances for fringe players in the Arsenal squad, who have clearly proved they are good enough to compete at the very highest level.

Will Arsenal fail to drop a single point? It’s highly unlikely. Then again it is equally unlikely that the other title contenders won’t drop a single point. End of season football has a strange way of working and no one will know that better than the managers of England’s best sides.

Peter Storrie, Chief Executive of Portsmouth Football Club, has said that he will step down from his role with the Premier League side.

Storrie has made the decision in the light of the fact Portsmouth have gone into administration. It does not come as a surprise as it is extremely difficult to see how he could have stayed in his role at the club.

Many Portsmouth fans blame Storrie for allowing the financial disaster to happen on his watch. Storrie says he has had enough of the personal abuse and now the worst has happened, it was the right time for him to go.

He said: “Portsmouth Football Club has formally announced that it has gone into administration today and this is an extremely sad day for everyone connected with the club.”

“However, by this course of action Balram Chainrai has kept the club alive and given someone an exceptional opportunity to take this great club on with fresh investment to steer Portsmouth in a positive direction.”

“Whilst accepting as Chief Executive of Portsmouth Football Club that it was inevitable that criticism would come my way, the overall funding of the business was the responsibility of the owner.”

“What I am not prepared to accept is the very personal level of abuse on websites, emails and local radio which I have received over the last couple of days.”

“Once the sale is complete, I will tender my notice to the new owners as set out under the terms of my contract. I find it somewhat ironic that a couple of months ago my name was being chanted by the fans at a time when I seriously considered my position at the club. Yet now, because I appear to be the last one left, they are calling for my head.”

Storrie makes a very good point in relation to the fact that he has stuck through the club through thick and thin. He probably doesn’t even want to step down from the role but once the fans want you to go, there is very little you can do.

Storrie would be an asset to the next club he decides to work with and financial matters are something that he never had sole control over so for Portsmouth fans to blame him would be very ignorant.

However, they will want answers and at the moment there are few other people in place who can provide those answers as easily as Storrie can.

He added: “My decision to stand down has not been taken lightly, but I have had to take into account the views of my family who have witnessed first-hand the effect that the last 15 months has had on our lives.”

“I have really enjoyed my eight years at the club and the success we have enjoyed on the pitch: winning promotion to the Premier League and seven years in top-flight football, culminating in winning the FA Cup in 2008.”

Wigan Athletic manager, Roberto Martinez, says that the Premier League is spoiled by idiotic and laughable refereeing decisions on a weekly basis.

Martinez is speaking after his Wigan side have not had the run of the green in many Premier League games over recent weeks.

He does make a good point that every single week there seems to be something major happening in a game that everyone but the referee can focus on and see while the match is still unfolding.

This stops many teams from reaching their full potential as many rely on the referee for added protection and help when they come to face the bigger sides in the league.

He said: “We all know how difficult it is to be a referee and to get the decisions right. When you get a close call I am the first one to understand that.”

“But for me it is hard to explain how you can get that decision wrong. I think it was a big call. Until then it was nothing of a game, nobody had any real chances. I think it devalues the Premier League when you get actions like that. It is not even a close call and it makes you wonder. You have got a player that is two yards offside.”

“I cannot explain how the best league in the world has got people that can get those decisions wrong. When you are looking at it from abroad, I think it is laughable stock. It is the best league in the world, you cannot get decisions like that wrong.”

“There is nothing we can do, we just hope we can change and have a little more luck. You hope you are going to get these sort of bad decisions going your way throughout the campaign, but at the moment I can’t remember having these sort of decisions.”

Martinez’s comments will add weight to many people in the game who have said that it is way past the point where technology should be introduced into the game in order to get more decisions right.

However, referee blunders are and always have been a talking point of the game. Humans are prone to making mistakes and if a referee or linesman takes his eye away from an area for a second then he will miss what has gone on and potentially make the wrong call.

It is easy for managers to criticise the authority structure in football when things are not going in favour of their club. The point is that everyone comes out now and then to make comments that echo the sort of things that Martinez stresses.

If you tallied up the number of times that Sir Alex Ferguson blasted referees for making poor decisions then you would quickly run out of space on the page because it just happens so often and will not change any time soon. Referees are trusted and most of the time they do get it right.

Former England captain, John Terry, has said that he wants to put the recent past behind him and insists he is focused on success for this season.

The Chelsea captain was stripped of the top England job when it emerged that he had an affair with the girlfriend of a former teammate. The news exploded and there were even calls from many for Terry to be dropped from the side completely.

However, the centre back is still a very good player and the circus that has surrounded him seems to have made him more determined to funnel his energy into something else and in this instance it is football success.

Chelsea are still fighting on more than one front and Terry also is still going to the World Cup to play for his country. This is the most anticipated World Cup in recent memory and one of England’s best chances to win an international event.

He said: “I’m on a mission and nothing is going to distract me. I’m responding by doing what I’ve always done – by looking straight ahead. I’ve got broad shoulders and nobody’s going to knock me out of my stride.”

“I want to win the Champions League and Premier League for Chelsea and help win the World Cup for England. I’m not ashamed to say it, I wouldn’t be John Terry if I felt any differently.”

“Jose was an inspiration to us all at Stamford Bridge and I truly value his friendship. It’s going to be a sensational tie between two great teams but when I stick on the shirt tonight I’ll be focused on one thing only – playing and winning for Chelsea. It’s the way I play the game and the way I always will.”

“There’s a shirt on my wall at home – the shirt I wore when I missed that penalty against Manchester United in the Champions League final. It’s there as a daily reminder to me of what I’m striving for. I won’t rest until it’s replaced by a winner’s shirt – that’s my pledge to every Chelsea fan who has stood by me and still believes in me as a player and as their club’s captain.”

“If I’m fortunate to play for England in the World Cup – and playing for your country is the ultimate honour – I will take the same determination, drive and passion out on to the pitch in South Africa as I’ve always done. Absolutely nothing will change. I’ve already admitted that losing the captaincy hurt but that’s in the past and all I want to do now is move forward and carry on giving my best for England.”

Hopefully this brand new energy and enthusiasm from Terry will be healthy and will spread to the rest of his teammates and colleagues. It is a very big time for English football and if the people committing the mistakes can make up for it then it could also turn out to be very successful.

Manchester United striker, Michael Owen, has admitted that he will be happy to sit on the bench for as long as Wayne Rooney keeps up his good performances.

Rooney has been arguably in the best form of his left so far in the Premier League. He has a healthy return of goals and has taken up the role of being the most important player at the club since the departure of some Portuguese bloke to Real Madrid in the summer.

Owen insists that he is not getting cold feet at his prospects of making a last bid to get into the England World Cup squad for the summer. He says that for as long as Rooney keeps playing well then he cannot complain about not getting into the team.

Owen said: “Unfortunately for me, yes, because it means I get less time, but he’s fantastic. He is as he comes across — a local scally really that’s come good. He’s a cracking lad and a cracking player. A lot of people relate to him, the way he plays. That’s why he’s so popular — the England fans sing his name, the United fans sing his name.”

“He’s been absolutely fantastic, his finishing is unbelievable, and his general play — if he continues this, he will be one of the world’s best.”

“It’s been a long time since I was in the England squad. You never give up but it’s probably a long shot in racing terms. It’s been great, whenever I’m called upon, I’m fit and ready. Of course you want to play a bit more but I’ve had some cracking times already at United.”

Many criticised Owen when he decided to make the move to United, saying that he was taking the easy way out as opposed to trying to break into the starting line up of a smaller team and nail down his place.

However, you cannot really blame him for snapping the hand off of Sir Alex Ferguson when the Scot enquired about his services. One thing Owen does have is plenty of experience, which at times is something United have not had.

Owen is still a very good goal scorer as well and warrants a place in the team. United team members have said that the former Liverpool man looks deadly when they play in training and that when he is asked to do a job he is straining to get off of the leash.

How long Rooney can keep his current run of form going is unknown. Owen will be ready to step in and take his chance when it is given to him. His reaction when he scored the winner against Manchester City at Old Trafford proves he is still playing with the energy and enthusiasm of a little boy.

Rooney and Owen have not played that much together so far at United but there could be a point in the near future when they do. Owen will have to learn to adapt to Rooney’s game if he wants to play football more regularly.

Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, hopes that his star striker, Fernando Torres, will be treated with care if he is called into action for Spain.

Spain are due to play France in the not too distant future and the Liverpool boss does not want his prize asset to be unnecessarily hurt in a meaningless game. It has been all too apparent just how important Torres is to Liverpool and an injury to him could see their top four push slide.

Torres has continued pledging his allegiance and support to the Liverpool cause but player around very good players at big clubs in the Spanish team could give him a flavour of something he may end up wanting on a more regular occurrence.

Benitez said: “Fernando is our player, working with our physios, but we have a good relationship with Fernando Hierro  [Spain's technical director], Del Bosque and Javier Minano [the fitness coach].”

“When people try to create a mess between Spain and us, remember that Del Bosque was the academy director at Real when I was an academy coach and I was his assistant for the first team. We have a really good relationship.”

“His fitness coach was my fitness coach in the Under 18s and the second team. He is my friend. Hierro was in the first team when I was assistant at Real and we had a very good relationship.”

“If I defend my players, it is because I have to, but we have very good communication with Spain.”

Torres gives Liverpool something that only he can do. The problem is if he does get hurt then they do not have someone with the same impact who can just step into the team and carry on where the Spaniard left off.

Only Steven Gerrard holds a similar sort of influence in the Liverpool team. Both of these players have been hit on and off with small injuries that have hampered them in playing terms and stopped Liverpool playing the football they became known for.

So far Dirk Kuyt has been leading the front line or either playing on the wing and neutrals all over the country will say what poor football the team has played, despite the fact they have managed to grind out a few results.

If Torres goes then Liverpool will not make the top four of the Premier League and will be stuck with a Europa League spot for next season. This means irregular games and more European nights, which will clog up an already busy fixture list.

They need to keep him fit and if that means the boss has to have a sly word with a couple of old friends then that is the only way that Liverpool can look. If he plays for Spain and scores great, if he plays for Spain and gets hurt, disaster.

Stories like this always appear near to international fixtures but in Liverpool’s case the consequences would just be too big to think about.

Burnley manager, Brian Laws, has blasted talk of Portsmouth being allowed to sell their players outside of the transfer window.

Pompey have asked to sell players early in order to cure their mounting debts but Laws says that allowing them to do so would be a move backwards in football.

He does have a point because it has been Portsmouth’s own reckless handling through third parties that has led to them being in the current situation. Effectively letting them break the rules would set a standard and offer a ray of hope to many other clubs who have been spending money they do not have.

Laws said: “We all work within rules and regulations. That is the way the Football League or Premier League has worked for hundreds of years. Why should we have to change that for one particular club who are finding it very difficult with their finances?”

“Whilst we have every sympathy with a football club that has difficulties, the only ones they should be looking at are themselves. They should be looking in a mirror to find the answer. They got themselves into it, (they should) get themselves out of it.”

“I would hate to think the Premier League would allow them such a ridiculous thing beyond the transfer window. Allowing them to get a player out of the door, get some money and finances in, and then he goes and scores a goal against us that could be the goal that takes us down – that’s ridiculous.”

“I would think 100 per cent of the Premier League would be saying the same, so I don’t think they would get much support from the Premier League clubs.”

The problem for Portsmouth is being able to pay the interest on their spiralling debts to keep the club afloat. They constantly need money in order to stop the club being dissolved but as Laws has said, they got themselves into the situation.

There are many clubs in the Premier League who have to operate on a shoestring budget and scrap and save to make sure they can get by and not crank up any huge debts.

This is a very simple black and white way to look at this situation. If the matter is put out on the table and input is asked for from different clubs, the matter will be rejected out of hand.

If Pompey are granted an exception to normal rules then it would create a gap through which other financially troubled clubs would look to escape in the future.

It is for this reason that the matter will almost certainly not go any further than mere speculation. If Pompey were hoping for a bit of charity and a chance to be let off the hook then they will almost certainly have to go and find it elsewhere.

Laws has made the point that many smaller clubs in the Premier League are thinking. If the bandwagon starts to roll then it will be swamped immediately.