Everton v Liverpool Live Streaming

Everton defender Sylvain Distin has rejected the club’s offer of a new one-year contract as he is holding out for a two-year deal.

The 33-year-old is in the final year of his current contract and could leave for free in the summer.

The Frenchman is free to speak to clubs in January under the Bosman ruling but he does not want to leave Goodison Park, according to the Daily Express.

“We have started talks and I am encouraged by that,” he said. “It’s going well, quite positive. This club has one of the best atmospheres in the dressing room.”

Meanwhile, team-mate Phil Jagielka insists Everton will adopt a more attacking approach when the club face local rivals Liverpool on Saturday.

The Toffees were unlucky to lose to Manchester City after a fine organisational display, but the England international hopes the shackles will be loosened.

“At home we have been doing okay,” Jagielka told the Liverpool Echo.

“We changed things around a little bit for the City game, so hopefully we can go back for the Liverpool game and put up a performance and try to get a win.

“It’ll be nice to get back to that. It’s still going to be hard against Liverpool, they’ve had a decent start so we’re not pretending we’ll be up against a struggling team.

“They have brought in a lot of players and a lot of good quality. As much as we say we are looking forward to the derby, we aren’t expecting to automatically win it.

“But we will be trying our best to get three points, whereas against City it was more us looking for a draw and maybe nicking a goal.”

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25. Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City)

24. Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers)

23. Tim Howard (Everton)

22.Jussi Jääskeläinen (Bolton)

21. Patrick Vieira (Man City)

20. Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)

19. Sylvain Distin (Everton)

18.Stephen Carr (Birmingham City)

17. Craig Bellamy (Cardiff City/Man City)

16. Shay Given (Man City)

15. Michael Owen.(Man United)

14. Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa)

13. Phil Neville (Everton)

12. Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)

11. Tim Cahill (Everton)

10. Rio Ferdinand (Man United)

9. Brad Friedel (Aston Villa)

8. Paul Scholes (Man United)

7. Edwin van der Sar (Man United)

6. Danny Murphy (Fulham)

5. Kevin Davies (Bolton)

4. Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)

3. Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

2. Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

1. Ryan Giggs (Man United)

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With eight league games left of the 2010/11 season, Everton at the time of writing find themselves in 8th position in the Premier League and unless a miraculous run of form occurs will finish outside the European qualification places. David Moyes men have endured an up and down season, mostly down, with injuries, unavailability and some bad luck hindering the team’s efforts and resulting in a poor league position, that was much worse until an upturn in form in March. David Moyes has been at Goodison Park since 2002, and if everyone is fit has assembled a team that can go toe to toe with anyone in the division, but despite the recognition that The Toffees are a good side, his team have slipped down the rankings and not had the venom of previous campaigns this season.

On paper Everton have a strong side, with quality throughout. Tim Howard is an international goalkeeper with a wealth of Premier League experience and a pair of safe hands. In Sylvain Distin and Phil Jagielka they have two excellent centre halves with a mix of power, pace and defensive steel. Leighton Baines is an England international left back, whilst club captain Phil Neville is a top professional and adds experience and leadership to the team from right back. In Holland International defender Johnny Heitinga, who can play at right back or centre half, they have a player with Champions League and World Cup experience. In midfield they have quality throughout, and despite losing Steven Pienaar to Tottenham, David Moyes still has excellent options in the centre of the park. Mikel Arteta is a player with the guile and creativity to break down any defence, Jack Rodwell is a up and coming and much applauded midfield dynamo, Leon Osman a seasoned and tricky winger, and Seamus Coleman an exciting right winger with the ability to create and score goals. Add to this the versatile Marouane Fellaini, who can play in front of the back four as a stopper or further forward as an attacking support man, and the combative, goal threat of Tim Cahill and you have a midfield who can cause problems to opposition. Up front Jermaine Beckford is turning an impressive Championship goal scoring record into solid performances in the top tier, with performances and returns improving as he builds experience. Yakubu has had an injury prone season but is a handful with pace, power and an enviable ability to find the back of the net, and ex-Manchester United forward Louis Saha has the quality to score goals week in, week out.

There have been some positives this season, namely the emergence and improvement of Baines, Coleman and Rodwell. Baines has had international recognition and has excellent delivery from the left, which forwards, mainly Cahill, have benefited from. Coleman is an old school winger, who looks to get to the byline and cross, and has also popped up in the right place to convert chances also, whilst Rodwell has matured from an exciting prospect into an accomplished midfielder with all the attributes to be a top player . Everton have recorded good wins in the league when they perform to their potential, namely their 2-1 win over Man City at Eastlands, a 2-0 home win in the Merseyside derby and 2-1 victory over Tottenham at Goodison. They beat Chelsea, at Stamford Bridge, in the FA Cup, showing steel and composure in the process to go through on penalties.

However the negatives outweigh the positives. The excellent FA Cup win against Chelsea was followed up by elimination by Championship side Reading at home in a massively disappointing performance and result. The team has missed key players due to injury, with Arteta and Jagielka sidelined for long periods. Tim Cahill was an absentee for the duration of the Asia Cup at the start of the year, and without him The Toffees looked toothless and devoid of inspiration in attack. The teams home form has been inconsistent, which will be a massive disappointment for the fans, as Goodison Park of seasons past was a ground where the home side could, and at times did, beat all comers. At the back they have let in soft goals at times, and don’t have the composure and assurance of previous seasons.

So what now for Everton? Injuries to key players have played a major part in the teams demise, and any team would struggle without their best players, but this shows that the club need more strength in depth. An over-reliance on Tim Cahill should have Moyes looking for a quality striker to share the goalscoring burden, and I am sure that ‘bigger’ Premier League teams will look to pry Everton’s main man away from Goodison; the club must not let this happen. Similarly, Baines, Rodwell and Arteta may be subject to transfer speculation and enquiries, but if David Moyes is to get his team back into European contention then he must retain his prize assets. Moyes needs to bring in a replacement for Pienaar who has similar energy, creativity and enterprise to make Everton more of an attacking threat, and additional strength in depth is needed at the back, as when Jagielka is unavailable, they lack organisation and structure.

All this boils down to resources. David Moyes has done a great job in his time as Everton manager with the relatively limited resources at his disposal, and although his team have grown and got better, so have all the teams around them due to investment in their playing staff. For Everton to feature as a top six club again they must invest in new players and add to their squad, as they need three or four new top notch players to realistically compete with the league’s leading teams. If this investment does not occur, the current players may become restless at the lack of new faces, and The Toffees could be in for another frustrating campaign in 2011/12.

To read more from Gareth visit www.ninetyminutesonline.com

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Jack Rodwell and Sylvain Distin ‘eyed by Arsenal for double Everton switch’
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is considering a double bid for Everton stars Jack Rodwell and Sylvain Distin in the summer transfer window as he looks to address two principle areas of concern for the title-chasing Gunners.

The move would plug two significant gaps in the north Londoners’ line-up, where concerns persist about the reliability of their centre-backs and the form of their holding midfielders.
As a young and developing English talent, Rodwell, 19, certainly fits the bill for Wenger – although a price-tag in the region of £15million may prove a stumbling block.
Nevertheless, Everton’s mounting debts may see them forced into selling their starlet, who is also rumoured to be Manchester United’s wanted list.
Meanwhile Wenger has been searching for a dependable centre-back with Premier League experience for some time.
And although he continues to be linked with a bid for Bolton’s Gary Cahill, it is thought the French tactician would instead be keen to add countryman Distin, 33, because he offers a different option to his current squad.

SOURCE: Metro

So basically The Metro is linking Arsenal with two players that Arsenal could well have done with this season. Last night’s defeat had a lot to do with the absence of Alex Song and the lack of a good replacement for the battling defensive midfielder and perhaps a move for Jack Rodwell is seen as helping in that regard.

Defensively the Gunners have found themselves stretched due to the poor form shown by Sebastien Squillaci and the long term injury to Thomas Vermaelen, leaving Arsene Wenger to have to use Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou week in, week out and the French part of that pairing has been very inconsistent.

Clearly signing Sylvain Distin would only be a short term solution and the 33 year old would only be offered a one year contract as is the way with the Arsenal boss when he signs players of 30 and over. The former Manchester City captain is a very experienced campaigner and again could add strength in depth and help balance out the youth of the side.

Everton will of course fight to prevent these exits but then David Moyes has tried and failed to prevent similar departures in recent seasons with Wayne Rooney and Joleon Lescott being prime examples of this. Manchester United have also been tracking England Under 21 international Rodwell for some time so they may well end up sparking a bidding war for the talented midfielder and we all know how Wenger doesn’t like to spend too much on a player so that could be something of a stumbling block.

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Everton centre-back Sylvain Distin has revealed that he made the decision to join the Toffees when he left Portsmouth in the summer because he felt that he was more likely to play regular football under David Moyes at Goodison Park.

There was apparently a possibility that the Frenchman could have moved to Everton’s Merseyside rivals Liverpool or down the other end of the East Lancs Road to Manchester City, but he thought that the likelihood of being back-up to other players in the first-team was far too high.

With Mark Hughes’ City side having also signed Kolo Toure to boot, Distin clearly feels that a switch to the Toffees represented a better chance of playing regularly at the top level.

“I read about some interest from City. But when I saw the kind of names they were signing, if I went back I’d be on the bench,” the 31-year-old told skysports.com.

“It was not what you might call in England ‘my cup of tea’.

“It’s the same with Liverpool who were interested. I didn’t want to be a squad player.” (Goal)

Well I think this makes sense, Distin, a player in the autumn of his career wanted to be playing week in, week out. Clearly that wasn’t going to happen at Anfield and we have since gone on to secure another cover option in the form of Sotirios Kyrgiakos, who clearly has no qualms about waiting for his chance at the club.

I rate the former Man City & Portsmouth centre back and I would predict he does well at Goodison Park and he is a fit lad who probably has a few seasons in the tank.

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Everton have secured the signing of Sylvain Distin for an undisclosed fee, subject to the French central defender passing a medical.

Both the Toffees and Aston Villa had been in the race to sign Distin, but after Villa agreed a fee with Manchester City for fellow centre-back Richard Dunne earlier on Thursday, Everton took the box seat.

The 31-year-old continues the summer exodus of players from Portsmouth as confusion reigns over their financial situation.

Distin is set to complete his medical with Everton later on Thursday evening and is due to sign a three-year contract straight afterwards. (Sky Sports)

So David Moyes plans for life without Judas Joleon and does well to capture Portsmouth veteran centre back Sylvain Distin for a fee believed to be in the region of £4m. The 31 year old is super fit and has barely missed a game in the past three seasons.

The Toffees also have a great chunk of the Lescott fee to spend so this will surely not be the end of their defensive spending spree.

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Aston Villa have agreed a £6 million fee with Manchester City for Republic of Ireland centre-back Richard Dunne, according to reports in The Daily Mail.

The City skipper would appear to be on the fringes of the team following the arrival of Joleon Lescott and is seeking a move away from Eastlands in search of first team football. (Goal.com)

It appears that Martin O’Neill has been in bargain hunting mood today and according to many sources has secured the services of two vastly experienced centre backs.

With the spectre of the retirement of Martin Laursen not suitably extinguished the captures of Richard Dunne and according to other reports Portsmouth‘s Sylvain Distin. Both players are the wrong side of 29 but appear to have a few years in the tank. Distin is super fit and has barely missed a game in the last few years.

Man City centre back Dunne was always going to be heading for the exit as the likes of Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott arrived. He is pretty dependable but prone to the occasional lapse in concentration. The fee for the pair is supposedly around £9m which would represent real value.

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Veteran defender Sol Campbell has emerged as the surprise front-runner to ease the crisis at the heart of Liverpool’s defence.

Campbell has the proven pedigree of 17 years of top-flight football and would lend an experienced hand, should Liverpool have to turn to youngsters Danny Ayala and Mikel San Jose Dominguez, who played in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid.

Benitez said: “Jamie’s injury is not serious, just a twisted ankle. But with our injury problems which include Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, we felt we needed to take him off as a precaution, just in case.
“We will keep an eye on him for two or three days to see how he reacts, but I feel he will be OK. Hopefully, Agger or Skrtel will be fit too.

“Agger has a back problem, and that should be OK in a couple of days. Skrtel is nearly over his hamstring injury, he’s nearly there.

“He is training again and I believe that at the end of this week both of them will be fit to play.

But with three games in eight days during a hectic opening schedule, a surprise move for free agent Campbell is seen by Benitez as an ideal cover option that would not impinge on his already limited transfer resources. (Fantasy Stakes.com)

Now, not sure if this source simply jumped on my bandwagon from last week where I considered a move for the Portsmouth veteran as potentially a good bit of business or whether its some gimmick to promote their own site, either way I still stand by the idea being a sound short term solution.

It should be noted that many red tops and broadsheets are claiming that Sol Campbell may be tempted by a move to League Two Notts County to team up with Sven Goran Ericsson, but I am confident that such a move has little to no chance of happening.

We are a bit thin in the central defensive area and our deficincies were there for all to see against Atletico Madrid, so bringing in one more centre back for cover is something Rafa should seriously consider whether that be a fresh faced youngster like Ryan Shawcross or a hugely experienced option in the shape of the likes of Campbell or his Pompey teammate Syvlain Distin.

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Liverpool will use £17 million of the £30m they have raised from the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid to sign Alberto Aquilani, the Roma midfielder. Officials at Anfield also plan to meet with Valencia this week to discuss a deal for David Silva, while a second offer for Sylvain Distin also remains a possibility. (The Independent)

Bring it on, I like the sound of this, but hang on, is it likely? Well according to some in the know Aquilani is a well likely signing and I have mixed feelings about the Italian. Good on his day but by no means an incredible replacement for Xabi but perhaps he could get better and also try to avoid long term injury.

David Silva is obviously the player of choice if you discuss the matter with any Liverpool fan but again that story has rattled around for so long now I keep waiting for it to progress and have a nagging doubt that one of these mornings I will read he has moved to Old Trafford!

Sylvain Distin is a good player who even in his advancing years has the ability, leadership and speed to still work out as very good cover for our centre backs, good news also that Portsmouth will take any money they can get at the moment so he wouldn’t cost much.

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City To Make Move For 2 Highly Rated Defenders After Terry Snubs Them.
John Terry has snubbed a move to City even though it would have seen the defender earn £250,000 a week. Instead he will put pen to paper on a new deal that will see him get a mere £150,000 per week at Chelsea. City will now make a £12M move for Arsenals Toure although i doubt Arsenal will let the player leave.

Toure is a major part of Arsenal’s defence and would be a huge loss for the Gunners should he leave. I think that the lure of joining Ade could tempt him into a move to Eastland’s. However, money talks… and for £12M its laughing more than talking. Arsenal don’t have as much spending money as the other clubs, but aren’t so desperate for cash that they will let their best players go for such low prices.

City are also after the services of Lescott and are looking to bid around £20M for the Everton Player. It is reported that Lescott is keen on a move to Eastland’s and has asked permission to speak to the club.

The Blues seem to be building an empire, and even though Rome wasn’t built in a day, they seem to be targeting the right sort of players. Maybe Hughes does know what he’s doing after all.

Likelihood Rating:. Toure to City? At £12M its a total disrespect and you can expect the Gunners to be showing City the door – 4/10. Lescott to City? He seems to want to join, so it could well be a matter of time – 7/10

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Zamora Rejects Hull..
Michael Owen, Frazier Campbell, Marc-Antoine Fortune and now Bobby Zamora. Phil Brown must be wondering what on earth he has to do to sign a striker. No doubt he is watching Spurs and City closely wishing he had a gun. Hull had a good run at the beginning of the season, but soon found out the hard way that life isn’t a fairy tale. I’m sure they will do fine this season, although I cant see them winning anything.

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Sunderland Having It LARGE!.
Steve Bruce is negotiating with Bordeaux over the transfer of Marouane Chamakh as it is believed he is set to give up in his chase of Darren Bent. Spurs are trying to recoup the money that they wasted on Bent, while Bruce is reluctant to make that same mistake. Bent moved to Tottenham halfway through 2007 in a deal that cost the London outfit £16.5M. At the time he cost more than Thierry Henry… Utter Nonsense!

I Cana believe it – Lorik Cana has signed for them and will now become Sunderland’s new captain. They are also leading the chase for Standard Liege’s Milan Jovanovic.

Watch out for Sunderland next season, although they probably wont win anything, I believe they will have a big role to play.

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United Hope To Wreck Liverpool‘s Bid For Silva..
Manchester united are said to have entered the race for David Silva. As a Liverpool fan I’m going to try my best to give an un bias opinion on this. Its no lie that we cannot compete with United financially and we would undoubtedly lose any bidding war. However I retain optimism that after so many years of courting Silva, he will chose the correct colour Red.

Behind Arsene, Rafa has to be the slowest mover in the world when it comes to the transfer market. How long do you declare interest in a player for until you sign them? I remain hopeful that Silva would chose Liverpool over United, but its a funny thing is football.

I will say this though, if we lose out on Silva to United it would be our own fault. Its like falling in love with a girl, but never actually telling her. You see her everyday and you think about her 24/7, yet you still don’t make a move. One day you finally go to declare your eternal love for her when… she has a boyfriend and all is lost.

Likelihood Rating:. They may have the money, but I don’t think they will get the girl. – 3/10

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Villa Set To Up Distin Bid..
O’Neill is set to step up his move for Distin with Portsmouth holding out for an improved £4M bid. Sources suggest that Villa will be looking to bulk up their team after such players as Laursen, Knight, Barry and Taylor all jumped ship. Villa have always lacked strength in depth even prior to these departures. What’s worse is that they have only signed an injured Stewart Downing as replacement. Distin is a good player and one that would definitely improve Villa’s weakened squad, but at 31 is he really worth £4M? I dont think so.

Likelihood Rating:. Not for £4M – 4/10

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Liverpool Target Set for £17M Roma Departure As Real Look To Reignite Alonso Bid..
“Spanish publication Marca are suggesting Real Madrid are to reignite their bid to land Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso this week.” (Sky Sports)

I told you we would hear something. Remember… This comes after they said that they will not be signing any more players until the old ones are sold. Perhaps Real where testing the waters a bit, hoping that Alonso would force Rafa’s hand. Seeing as this hasn’t happened, it looks like the two clubs are set to go to war again, with Real looking to wear Rafa down into submission.

Seeing as we cant hack into Reals bank account to steal their money, I would want Rafa to make sure that he got the most from the the deal. Personally I would settle for nothing less than Cash + Sneijder + Negredo, but then again I don’t manage the club.

In other news Roma have conceded defeat in the fact that they may well lose Aquilani to Liverpool. The Roma Coach admits that he would sell the player should the right offer be made.

Likelihood Rating:. Alonso better go, I’m gettin tired of reading and writing about this.

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Finally – We All Love A Goal Fest.
Pre Season Friendlies always bring some sort of tonking for some poor team. Liverpool won 5nil. Manchester United won 8 – 2. But below are 2 links to the most outrageous pre season friendly games.

Bayern Munich win 13 nil and even manage to miss a few as they go. It seemed that after 5 the opposition just gave up. Be sure to watch for the substitute goal keeper at the end. Bless him, he’s trying so hard. CLICK HERE to see this embarrassing thrashing!

In the next video be prepared to see the most ridiculers game of football ever. Jonathan Pereira scored 9, Pires grabbed 2 while Joseba Llorente and Ruben Marcos each scored four goals… I know what your thinking. They lost 21nil? If only it was that respectable. I’m not sure if Villarreal where playing a Sunday league team full of random people, or whether there is actually a professional team out there capable of losing 27nil. If so… Pay me and ill play. I don’t mind losing badly as long as you pay me well.

(By the way, i did say 27nil) – CLICK HERE for glorious rout!