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Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Japan; Premier League clubs are touring the Far East with an increasing regularity. Arsenal are currently in the middle of a tour that has seen them play against a Malaysia 11, and will pit them against Kitchee FC in Hong Kong and Manchester City in an exhibition match in Beijing. Both Manchester clubs are also on tours to the surrounding area.

The benefits of these tours are obvious, but they’re also obviously financial. Every club recognises that if they want to compete on the field they also need to compete off it. Basically, that means doing whatever your competitors do. So, if Man Utd build up a following in the Far East then Arsenal, City and the rest have to do so too.

In terms of merchandise, the markets in the UK are already saturated. Every football fan in this country is already spending vast sums of money on their club through shirt sales and ever-increasing ticket prices, but we only make up a fraction of the fan base of our clubs.

The potential for the growth of supporters abroad is almost limitless. It is an opportunity that cannot be missed. But is it actually beneficial at all in footballing terms?

Teams currently on tours to the US face a similar problem in terms of the quality of opposition their facing, although it could be possible to play another European team out there like Chelsea and PSG did. Can mangers really claim that these matches are preparing their team well for the current season? Is facing a Malaysia 11 or a Hong Kong 11or a Shanghai Shenhua side with no Drogba or Anelka really productive preparation for a season of football in the Premier and Champions League?

At least the teams in America have the luxury of being largely anonymous. They might receive a small amount of attention but they won’t be hounded everywhere they go as they would in parts of Asia.

Chelsea’s team were photographed training in Central Park, it would be near enough impossible to do that in Beijing or Kuala Lumpur. That too is an issue. A pre-season tour should be a relaxing affair where the players are free from the press and the distractions in England, free to focus on the season ahead and how they will perform as a team. How are these teams supposed to focus when they are constantly being paraded in public, singing shirts and photos from the moment they step off the plane to the moment they leave.

Rather than being a relaxing but concentrated training programme for the season ahead it seems like an exhausting PR exercise with some matches thrown in as an afterthought. Yes, these tours do not make up the entirety of the clubs’ pre-seasons but it is an unwelcome distraction nonetheless.

The players say they enjoy it, and I’m sure they do. Who wouldn’t want a holiday abroad with your friends? But that’s not the point. Pre season shouldn’t be enjoyable. It should be a gruelling physical challenge as players force themselves back in to fitness and the mentality needed for 10 months of solid competition.

Until last year teams like Arsenal had never ever been on such tours. The furthest Wenger ever took them was Austria, he always slated the prospect of travelling so far. There must have been a reason for that.

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Like I said, once one English team starts to go on these tours, everyone has to. It is not just the Champions League clubs that do these tours either; as well as Chelsea teams like Spurs, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Stoke are also on tours in America too. As productive as it was for Stoke getting beaten 2-1 by Columbus Crew on their tour you can’t help but wonder what they’re hoping to get out of all this?

Building these relationships abroad is important, but fans aren’t going to decide to support your club just because you came on a tour. It might sound shallow but by-and-large foreign fans will support the teams that are successful. Therefore, wouldn’t everyone be far better off by ensuring that a meticulous, strenuous pre-season was carried out elsewhere – free from media hassle and against good opposition.

Follow me on Twitter @H_Mackay

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After watching Rob Earnshaw squander an absolute sitter for Wales against England, I want to discuss the psychology of missing an open goal. I don’t want to pile any more misery on Earnshaw. You can only feel a horrible gut-wrenching sympathy with the Cardiff City lad. Whatever has occupied him since that miss – shopping, driving or trying to drown his sorrows in a bar – he’ll have been reliving that moment approximately once every 10 seconds.

I missed a couple of shockers myself, all forwards do, so I know it’s the worst feeling in the world. But to understand what it is that makes a professional striker miss one of the most high-profile and glaring opportunities of his career, you have to know what it is that makes a goal-scorer tick. Goal-scoring is a gift given by whichever God you believe in. It cannot be taught, which is what tends to make managers so distrustful of my breed. They know there is nothing they can do to influence us. No, it is all about instinct and nerve.

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Personally, I spent every moment of my football career riddled with self-doubt – except for the 90 minutes a week when I was out on the pitch. I know plenty of footballers who have been exactly the opposite. Cocky as hell when they’re not playing, always talking a good game and never playing one. Off the pitch, I was a typical young bloke who didn’t want to take any responsibility for anything. On the field of play, I was a different person entirely.

I knew it was my responsibility to score goals and I made damned sure I scored them. When they talk about a sportsman being ‘in the zone’ I understand what they mean. It’s not quite as extreme as being a sniper, who’s able to get his target into a viewfinder and pull the trigger in the knowledge that he’ll be taking his victim out. But you need the same sort of mindset, the same coldness. You must have no feeling, you must pick your spot and, more often than not, pass the ball into the net.

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There are many strikers who have all the talent in the world, who are outstanding in training, but could not hit a barn door in front of 100,000 people. Missing an open goal is usually caused by a moment of fear or panic. It’s about flinching under pressure, rather than holding your nerve. I can watch certain players go clear on goal, one-on-one with the keeper as the crowd rise to their feet, and I just know they are going to miss. There are a few, such as Wayne Rooney, who have simply ‘got it’ – that coldness, that nervelessness that I remember in myself and you know more often than not, they’ll snap up a chance.

Missing an open goal is not the worst offence a striker can be guilty of. Every time you arrive in the box and sniff out those chances you are taking a risk – you are gambling on being a hero or looking an absolute prat. There are a hell of a lot of so-called goalscorers who simply aren’t brave enough to take those gambles often enough. And while he’ll never be the greatest striker in the world, Earnshaw cannot be accused of being one of those.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish blamed a draining week of international friendlies for the Reds’ 1-1 draw against Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles put the hosts ahead in the 24th minute with his fifth goal from the past six league games, but the Reds tired at Anfield and conceded an equaliser to Wigan defender Steve Gohouri after the hour.

Dalglish said his side were robbed of their finishing touch by the residual effects of the midweek friendlies, which saw Liverpool’s four-match winning streak come to an end.

“We started well enough, we pushed forward and scored a goal,” Dalglish said.

“(But) you could tell that Wednesday night took a lot out of them. There was just that little bit of an edge missing.”

“If that edge had been there I think the final pass would have been there, and there were three or four occasions in the first half when we would have been in.”

“The sharpness was just missing a wee bit, which is understandable.”

“We are disappointed not to have taken three points, and with a bit of luck we might have done. I think Wigan, though, might have felt a wee bit aggrieved if they had left here without a point.”

“Luis (Suarez) hit the post twice, their goal is offside, but these things happen. We have to dust ourselves down and get on with it. It’s not been that damaging.”

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez praised his side for responding so emphatically following Meireles’ opener, and said the Latics left Merseyside with a deserved point.

“You come to Anfield and you go 1-0 down after playing well, that’s difficult,” Martinez said.

“The performance was really pleasing first half and the goal probably came against the run of play, and it’s a fantastic strike.”

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“But I felt we had long spells of possession in the first half and grew into the game.”

“We didn’t show that belief that you need to show to hurt a team like Liverpool. I just felt that at half-time with that score-line and that feeling, I felt we could have done a little bit better, but we didn’t play badly.”

“I thought the reaction (in the second half) was great. We had good composure, we are a young group.”

“I felt we deserved a point. Coming to Anfield at this time, if you’re not at your best you’re not going to get anything, so the players deserve huge credit.”

Everton fans can’t quite believe how highly Sam Allardyce rates himself, as the ex-England manager compared himself to Diego Simeone in his Friday press conference.

If there’s one thing that has annoyed Everton fans more than Sam Allardyce’s tactics this season, it’s his attitude.

At a club like Everton, an essential part of the manager’s job is to “get” the club, to connect with the fans, and to understand their frustrations when things go wrong.

Big Sam hasn’t ticked any of these boxes, and fans are in sheer disbelief at his latest comments ahead of Saturday’s trip to Huddersfield.

“What is entertainment? Is Diego Simeone entertainment?” the manager asked.

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“He’s the master of the defensive trade. Atletico Madrid have conceded four goals at home all season, but I’m seen as too negative. We’ve achieved some extremely entertaining games.”

Allardyce is referring to the praise being heaped on Simeone after his ten-man Atletico Madrid side grabbed a 1-1 draw at the Emirates on Thursday night, but it doesn’t seem like fans appreciate the sentiment.

“I think we’re more entertaining now than when I arrived here,” Allardyce continued.

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Fans were delighted with a report today that claimed owner Farhad Moshiri has refused to publicly back Allardyce, and they’re absolutely crucifying him for his press conference comments.

Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…

1.The only way is up for LVG’s Red Devils

What a difference a month makes in the Premier League. After an FA Cup loss at home to Arsenal saw people questioning whether Louis van Gaal was truly the right man for the job at Old Trafford, three hugely impressive victories against Tottenham, Liverpool and now Manchester City has seen the Dutchman’s side climb to third in the table, with a second-placed finish an easy target. United are playing their best football at the most crucial moment of the campaign, and with a number of big-money signings being touted in the summer, surely the aim will be the title next season rather than another top-four finish.

2. Pellegrini’s days are numbered.

The parallels between Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini’s sophomore season and that of his predecessor Roberto Mancini are worrying. An excellent debut campaign has been followed up by a hugely disappointing second year, and after this crushing derby loss – City’s fifth away defeat in a row in all competitions – the club’s oil-rich owners may have decided that enough is enough. Pellegrini can have no excuses for how poorly his players have performed given how much money he spent in the summer, and it seems increasingly likely that he will pay for it with his job.

3. Kompany continues descent from hero to zero.

Touted as one of the best centre-halves in the game last season, City skipper Vincent Kompany’s fall from grace has been alarming and has come to embody his side’s underwhelming campaign. The Belgian was withdrawn at half-time against United having performed poorly in the opening 45 minutes, and was lucky to remain on the pitch after a desperate, ill-disciplined challenge on Daley Blind. Kompany has the air of a man completely devoid of confidence and belief in his own abilities. Much like his manager, is his time at Eastlands also up?

The last week for Coventry City was supposed to be a defining week in the clubs history and whilst in many ways it has been, there are still so many questions that have been left unanswered.

The confusion which now surrounds the club began late on Thursday evening when out of nowhere owners Sisu chose to put Coventry City FC Limited (CCFC Ltd) into administration. The statement released detailed that CCFC Ltd a ‘non-operating subsidiary’ had been put into administration but CCFC (Holdings) Ltd was not suggesting the club itself had been spared administration.

Confusion was the overriding emotion following this statement and the scheduled court case which would have seen the club as a whole go into administration was postponed to allow for further investigation into the club.

The other important aspect which was the only thing that we seemed to be a hundred per cent certain on was that Sisu’s actions had voided the contract between them and ACL meaning Coventry City FC now had no home, with there now being no rental contract between the two parties.

Rumours and possible scenarios began to circulate around the social media sites as City fans tried to understand the implications of Sisu’s actions. Rumours of new owners looking to invest as well as potential grounds to play our remaining home fixtures, and whether or not the club will get a points deduction.

Then on Friday it emerged that the club was clearing out stock from the club shop at the Ricoh arena. It was later confirmed that staff and stock had been moved to a different location which was later confirmed as city’s Ryton training ground. This seemed to signal the end of City’s time at the Ricoh but now where does the club go.

Saturday arrived with pretty much all of the questions still left unanswered and attentions turned to the match against Portsmouth. Does this match even matter was the question on a lot of fans minds but being football fans we got on with it and got behind the boys in Skyblue.

It was a game where the players could be excused from being distracted by what’s been going on at the club but the players seemed to respond relatively positively. An early penalty looked to give the Skyblue fans something to cheer but McSheffery stepped up and had is penalty saved by an impressive Eastwood. Things kind of went downhill from there and despite a number of good chances for City it wasn’t to be their day. 2-0 to Portsmouth was the final result and it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse for City.

How wrong I was as new continued to break over the next few days. News emerged that ACL and others believed the club had made a mistake and was actually in administration as a whole. For this reason ACL went into court on Tuesday with the intention of withdrawing their application for CCFC to be put into administration.

This has all come down to where a so called ‘golden share’ lies. This ’golden share’ refers to the clubs membership of the football league and it is now understood to lie with CCFC Ltd and not as Sisu suggested with CCFC (Holdings) Ltd.  This should have meant the club were going to be confirmed as being in administration but continued discrepancies mean we are still left wondering although a point’s deduction looks more and more likely as time goes on.

One thing that is very interesting as well as worrying is that the court was informed that the club is actually £60million in debt. Now Sisu have consistently stated that the club has no debt so once again it would suggest that we have all been lied too on an even bigger scale then we could have imagined.

The club has taken some positive steps in that a short term deal is now being talked of too enable the club to play its last three home matches at the Ricoh Arena. No matter what happens I think everyone can agree that this is a favourable scenario for all involved.

Our club is in crisis and we are undoubtedly looking for a saviour. Former life president Joe Elliot this week has stoked the fans hopes by publicly talking about an American millionaire who is apparently interested in the club.

His name is Preston Haskell and has in the past shown strong interest in another UK based football club, Leeds United. On the face of it he seems like the real deal. He has a fortune worth an estimated $250 million (£157 million), is a genuine sports fan, great business knowledge and so far have only heard good things about this millionaire from Texas.

We have heard all this before though and had our hopes raised only to be left with the likes of our current owners. At this moment in time though anyone other than Sisu seems like a good option and for that reason I welcome administration and I never thought I would say that.

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It is a huge shame that it has come to this for our beloved club but administration does offer he club a potential fresh start. We have been going downhill as a club for as long as I can remember and just maybe this could finally be the beginning of revival for the club. My only concern is how far we are going to have to fall before we begin to rise again.

Sisu’s dealings with this club are far from over and there is plenty of drama still to come that I am sure of. It does have to end at some point though and one way or another I cannot wait for a resolution to this so once again we can concentrate on the football side of things.

PUSB!!

Follow @benleach2

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Leeds fans are once again bashing Paul Heckingbottom, after the manager said the players must prove themselves to him ahead of next season.

Friday night’s loss at Aston Villa was a pretty typical Paul Heckingbottom’s Leeds performance, and fans are getting fed up of the ex-Barnsley man.

While a few would argue he deserves a chance in the summer transfer window, most fans want the manager out, and they’ve now been angered by his comments on the squad.

Not many fans would disagree that the current squad simply is not very good, but Heckingbottom’s comments on judging the squad do seem very brave coming from a man who has only won two games since taking over in February.

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“Everyone’s had an opportunity and I’ve been fair with everyone, The type of team that ends up on the pitch next season has to reflect me. I want to see people fighting, trying to overachieve. They’ll go on and do good things if they do that,” the manager said.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s clash with Barnsley, he said: “It’s probably bigger for them than us but we want the points for our own reasons and I’m making decisions for next season all the time.”

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Of course, Leeds fans are all saying the same thing about the manager’s latest comments – that he doesn’t need to judge the players for next season because he won’t be there.

Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…

There’s still plenty of speculation in the gossip columns surrounding the future of Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, who continues to be linked with a summer move to Real Madrid.

It’s common knowledge that the Spanish giants could be looking to replace their long-term goalkeeper Iker Casillas who over the last couple of seasons has seen his performance levels dip beyond the standard required at the Bernabeu.

And having lit up the Premier League over the past couple of campaigns, De Gea has emerged as the prime candidate to replace the Madrid great. Yet to commit his future to the Red Devils with talk of a new contract still to be agreed, United fans are bracing themselves for the possibility of losing their star man who could make a big money move as early as this summer.

Although it would be seen as a disaster for United were they to lose the Spanish shot-stopper, there’s one man that could go a long way to filling the void he would leave; and that’s Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris.

Like De Gea, Lloris is considered one of the top keepers in the Premier League and certainly has the sufficient quality required to succeed at Old Trafford.

The French international arrived at Spurs in 2012, a late signing in the summer transfer window in a deal woth around £12million. Having already established himself one of the world’s best keepers, it was seen as quite a coup for Tottenham as they looked to build a squad capable of reaching the Champions League once more.

However, despite his heroics at White Hart Lane, Spurs look set to miss out on qualification for Europe’s Premier competition once more, and so the 28-year-old may well be looking for a move away from north London in order to fulfil this ambition.

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Should De Gea return to his homeland, Lloris has all the qualities and attributes that would help to quash the disappointment at losing their number one. Numerous top quality saves this season have highlighted his shot-stopping ability, while his leadership qualities would bring a great deal to United’s defence. His confidence and calmness on the ball means he distributes the ball effectively, which also would prove beneficial to their style of play under Louis van Gaal.

Though should United make a move for the Frenchman, he wouldn’t come cheap. Yet with United no doubt demanding a large fee for any potential deal for De Gea, this would more than cover the asking price from Spurs.

Although Spurs won’t be rushing to offer Lloris to any potential buyers, the fact they could make a healthy profit on their goalkeeper is something they will certainly consider, and with Michel Vorm waiting in the wings on the Spurs bench, they too already have an adequate replacement in place with proven Premier League experience.

Whether or not De Gea stays at United for the foreseeable future remains to be seen, however there remains an air of inevitability that he will eventually end up at Real Madrid at some point.

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And although it would a huge loss for the Red Devils, if they can convince Spurs to sell Lloris in order to bring the French star to Manchester, you have to say their starting XI wouldn’t exactly be any weaker as a result.

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Tottenham’s embarrassing Europa League defeat away at Inter Milan last week, where somehow they contrived to win, draw and lose all at the same time across the two legs, saw manager Andre Villas-Boas criticised heavily for getting both his team selection and formation very wrong, but it could also mark a watershed moment in his tenure, namely being that the contributions of both Brad Friedel and William Gallas simply weren’t good enough for a club of their ambition, and it’s high time they were both ushered out of the exit door at the end of the season.

It’s been a sight all too familiar for Tottenham fans over the past two decades; promising seasons torn apart by moments of madness and routine collapses of confidence just when the pressure is on them to perform. The debacle that was the Inter game seemed to be cruising to an inevitable outcome that would see safe passage through to the quarter-final stage minus the presence of Gareth Bale right up until half-time, but the way they fell apart shortly after the break spoke volumes of how far the two men in question have fallen.

What was needed against Inter was an old-fashioned European performance; to many, if not most, that will mean just being boring, tough to beat and preferably with five players across midfield so as to stop any flow through the spine of the side. Instead, what the Portuguese lined up with was a hotchpotch 4-4-2 system that he’s rarely used all campaign, let alone in a difficult away game, with Moussa Dembele on the right of midfield, Gylfi Sigurdsson on the left and Scott Parker as the ball-player in front of the back four. Even when looking at that written down on paper, it’s astounding such an astute young coach thought that was the way to go about grinding out a result.

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Of course, while the performances of the vast majority of the side were abysmal, none more so than ‘hero’ Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored the goal that sent them through to the next round despite a truly dreadful showing, it was the relationship between Gallas and Friedel at the back that proved a real cause for concern. They simply can’t be used again in Europe now after how they performances here, where they both more than contributed to the chaos around them.

The 41-year-old goalkeeper has enjoyed a long and productive career, but now is the time to slowly but surely nudge him out to the retirement home. After a decent start to the season, and please note that it was decent, not the spectacular showing we were all told it was because of a match-saving display against Norwich shortly after Lloris signed, Friedel has come to represent a style that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the side. They have evolved and moved on without him and his failure to adapt nearly proved to be costly.

Sure, he’s good in and around his six-yard box, but the reactions are slowing due to the inevitable and unavoidable onset of time, while he couldn’t be more different from what Lloris brings to the team. It’s strange to talk about goalkeeping styles, because in a predominantly reactive position, stopping what’s in front of them is the main job for every goalkeeper, but the France international has also come to sweep behind Villas-Boas’ high line to great success, one error against Liverpool aside, in recent months. Like a comfort blanket, he provides security to the ball played in behind, which Friedel’s ageing legs simply can’t.

When Villas-Boas persisted with the high line after the break even when it became clear it was not working, especially with Gallas present (more on him shortly), they simply didn’t have the right man between the sticks to help plug a gap and exploitable weakness in a ropey back four.

Moving on to Gallas and it’s truly astonishing that he’s still at the club and wasn’t moved on last summer. Perhaps in all the upheaval at the end of last season they simply forget he was there, but that Villas-Boas once considered Gallas a superior player to Michael Dawson and more capable of fitting his system is one of the greatest managerial errors of judgement this season in the entire top flight. Thankfully it has since been corrected, but the Frenchman is still nonetheless in the loop and has made 20 starts across all competitions this term, more than Dawson and the same as Steven Caulker.

It wasn’t just that he showed an embarrassing lack of technical ability for the goal which saw Antonio Cassano’s free kick zip into the bottom corner via his shin leaving Friedel rooted to the spot, or that he’s now so slow that he completely negates playing with a high line, or that he even allowed Cassano so much space at the back post for the opener, it’s that he just doesn’t seem to care at all anymore.

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His performance in the FA Cup semi-final 5-1 defeat to Chelsea last season was as poor a piece of professionalism as I’ve ever seen from a player, where during the build-up to one goal, he actually just stopped running after his marker and gave up. He’s completely lost any pace he once may have had and has come to resemble a penguin trying to sort out his feet whenever the ball comes near him and he’s played a large part in why the side has just seven clean sheets this season in the league.

Villas-Boas will be forgiven for underestimating Inter in the second leg and getting his plans all wrong because by and large he has done great work at the club this season and most fans will recognise that, but when it comes to Friedel and Gallas, who by the start of next season will have a combined age of 78, they simply don’t offer anything that they couldn’t already get elsewhere in terms of squad depth, and they are hindering the team more than they’re helping at the moment. Whenever it comes to that point with a player, it’s time for them to move on.

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Kurt Zouma’s performances at Stoke City have been appreciated abroad with Spanish clubs Atletico Madrid and Sevilla interested to get hold of the French centre back, according to The Mirror, via the Stoke Sentinel.

The France international has been playing for Stoke City this season on a loan from Chelsea and the defending champions don’t seem too keen on bringing him back to Stamford Bridge.

Zouma is expected to return to London at the end of the season but with his parent club not willing to give him a regular start, a move away is highly likely.

While some Chelsea fans would like to see him regularly in their starting line-up next season, there are others who might think he has not reached the level to be in the top ranks.

With the defending champions looking to miss out on Champions League football next season, maybe selling a player to make room for some new ones in the transfer market is not a very bad idea after all.

Valued at £13.5m on Transfermarkt, here’s a look at what the fans think about the 23-year-old’s potential move to Spain…

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