Mancini ready to wield the axe

Roberto Mancini is ready to wield the axe on his misfiring Manchester City stars for this weekend's FA Cup fifth round tie with Leeds.

The City boss was furious with his team after their 3-1 defeat at Southampton as they fell 12 points behind Manchester United in the Premier League title race.

And Mancini insist he will only select players he believes are ready to roll their sleeves up for the cause.

"I am sure we will change that, because I will change players next week. I only want players who are ready for the fight in the last 12 games," he told the Manchester Evening News.

"I am very angry with a lot of my players, and very disappointed at the performance, because it is impossible to play the way we did.

"We didn't fight for every ball. We can't always win by playing well - that is normal. Sometimes we play well and win, but you also need to be able to win because you fight for every ball, and fight against an opponent who also wants to win the game.

"Every team that plays against us treats it like a Champions League final, but we should know this, it is normal.

"We now have 12 games left, (we) need to do well in the Premier League, and we have the FA Cup - there are games left and we can do better. We need to finish the season the way we did last year."

Carlos Tevez should be available against Leeds after missing the St Mary's defeat because of a family issue.

Defenders Matija Nastasic and Kolo Toure also missed the trip to the south coast after late returns from international duty.

Mancini branded the fixture demands caused by the internationals "ridiculous" but he spared his defence - which included midfielder Javi Garcia playing as a makeshift centre-back - from criticism.

"The fixtures are ridiculous sometimes, as we played on Saturday and then had six players who came back on Friday, and five who came back Thursday night. Sometimes it is impossible," he said.



"Nastasic came back Friday and Kolo came back three or four days ago - plus the last time Javi Garcia played there, he played really, really well.

"On Saturday we played well in defence, but the problem was that we didn't give the defenders any help. They were left to play alone, and we conceded two goals the like of which I have never seen in my life."

Clarke hails Kenny's signings

West Brom head coach Steve Clarke says the players brought to Anfield by former manager Kenny Dalglish are starting to shine, making Liverpool one of the most improved teams in the Premier League.

Clarke was Dalglish's right-hand man during their 18-month spell together on Merseyside.

And Clarke is well aware of the difficult task facing his Baggies' side when he returns to Liverpool on Monday.

He said: "I'm looking forward to it. I made a lot of friends and I've got a lot of good memories from my time there.

"I liked the passion of the people. They are very fair-minded and honest supporters who wanted their team to be entertaining and do well.

"There was some success. There were two cup final appearances. One was victorious and one was a defeat.

"I'm not surprised now at all some of the younger players are starting to flourish, or some of the more experienced ones that Kenny signed.

"For Stewart Downing to be in the team and Jordan Henderson, as well as Jose Enrique, and doing really well, is good.



"Luis Suarez has really settled into the club now and, if you look at it at this stage, Liverpool are probably playing the best football in the Premier League."

Gordon set to hang up boots

Former Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon may be forced into an early retirement by a persistent knee injury.



The 30-year-old became the most expensive goalkeeper in the history of British football in 2007 when the Black Cats paid Hearts £9m for his services - but his career has since been hampered by several serious injuries.

Two broken arms and the knee problem plagued the latter years of his stay at the Stadium of Light, and he has been without a club this season - seen most recently in a coaching capacity at Dumbarton.

The Scotland international said: "It's very unlikely I will be playing again this season. In fact I'm not sure if I'll play again, so I'm looking to get into coaching as I want to remain in the game.

"I'm not ruling out playing again, but I need to get things in place if the news is not good in that respect. I've had a couple of surgeries on it, but it's definitely not back to 100 per cent yet.

"Hopefully I can get back to playing with a bit of pain. It's about getting to a stage where I can get what I need to out of the knee.



"That's part of the reason I wanted to go into coaching, you don't know when the end might come for playing. I'm certainly not ready to throw in the towel just yet but it's been a long time and I don't know where I'll be going in the future."

Mourinho relishing huge tie

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is relishing the chance to face Manchester United again as the sides prepare for their Champions League showdown.



The Spanish champions welcome the Red Devils to the Bernabeu on Wednesday for the first leg - and Mourinho hopes the teams rise to the occasion.

The Portuguese, who was at Old Trafford to see United beat Everton 2-0 on Sunday, told MUTV: "It is the match the world is waiting for. People think we are under pressure because a big team will be out.

"But it is the kind of match we want and the people are not waiting for any other game. I hope we give them what they want."

On pitting his wits against old foe Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Chelsea boss added: "I feel privileged about that because he is such an important person in the world of football and, more importantly, he is good person.

"I have always had a fantastic relationship with him and I am proud of it. We have had so many matches between us which started with Porto. We had some with Chelsea, Inter and now Real. Some I had won, some I have lost, others I have drawn.



"Of course, I want to win and he wants to win, but I believe the loser will have a little bit of space to feel a little bit happy because of the friendship. But make no mistake, I want to win."

Enrique warns Odemwingie

Liverpool left-back Jose Enrique has warned Peter Odemwingie to expect some stick from the players and fans at Anfield if he makes his West Brom return on Monday night.



The Baggies confirmed on Friday they have taken disciplinary action against Odemwingie following his attempts to push through a move to QPR on transfer deadline day.

The club also said the Nigerian striker is available for first-team selection again after issuing an apology over the incident.

Enrique believes Odemwingie could be given a hard time by both the home fans and players on Merseyside should he make his comeback.

He said: "I'm not the type of player who would wind him up. But there will be songs and he will get it from other players.

"They will try to make him angry.

"I'm not this type of player. But a lot of players will do it."

The top stories from papers and websites - 05 February 2013

• Liverpool played a Champions League game unaware the opposing keeper was caught up in a match-fixing plot.


• Neymar is in no rush to leave Santos despite interest from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea.


• AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani believes Mario Balotelli is as good as Lionel Messi.


• Peter Odemwingie can expect a frosty reception from his West Brom team-mates when they return to training this week.

• QPR striker Loic Remy is out for two months - leaving Harry Redknapp fuming at the club's failure to sign Peter Odemwingie.


• Arsenal misfit Andre Santos turned down a move to Galatasaray - but the Turkish club are likely to try again in the summer.


• Leeds will launch a fresh attempt to land Chris Burke when the loan window opens this week.


• Steve Cotterill is in line for a return to Nottingham to take charge of Notts County.


• Steven Reid says Peter Odemwingie's West Brom team-mates will only accept him back if the club order them to.

• Peter Odemwingie was back training at West Brom yesterday.


• England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce expects talks over a new contract to be held over until the summer.

• QPR are still locked in a pay-off dispute with former manager Mark Hughes, who is chasing the £4.5million left on his contract.


• Stuart Pearce's future as England Under-21 coach has been cast in doubt.

Europol probing 380 matches

The European police agency has revealed that a wide-ranging investigation into match fixing has uncovered more than 380 suspicious matches.

These games include Word Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two UEFA Champions League games.

Europol's chief Rob Wainwright said the investigation uncovered "match fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before."

Wainwright revealed the probe uncovered around £7million in betting profits and £1.27m in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions.

The investigation identified about 425 corrupt officials, players and serious criminals in 15 countries.

Wainwright also stated that the involvement of organised crime "highlights a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe".

It was not immediately clear how many of the matches mentioned have been revealed in previous match fixing investigations at a national level in countries including Germany and Italy.




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