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THE SUN:
Wayne Rooney is out of England's friendly with Holland.
Fabio Capello insists he will return on the dugout - not the boardroom.
Alex McLeish may firm up his interest in Blackburn defender Scott Dann in the summer.
Barcelona are ready to fight Manchester City for Javi Martinez.
Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie has quashed fears over him signing a new contract.
Neil Warnock hopes to sign Bolton left-back Paul Robinson to bolster his late play-off bid.
DAILY MIRROR:
Manchester City's Spanish starlet Juan Roman is set to move to Crystal Palace on loan for the rest of the season.
West Brom's Keith Andrews is ready to sign a long-term deal at the Hawthorns.
DAILY MAIL:
Carlos Tevez will make his first comeback in earnest tomorrow when he makes his first competitive appearance for the club since his fal-out with Roberto Mancini five months ago.
Italy coach Cesar Prandelli has dropped Mario Balotelli for Wednesday's friendly against the United States.
DAILY EXPRESS:
Stuart Pearce experienced the first frustrations of being England manager after Wayne Rooney headed a trio of high-profile withdrawals for the friendly with Holland.
DAILY RECORD:
Ally McCoist thanked his players yesterday for putting a smile back on the face of the stricken football club - as they brace themselves for possible job losses this week.
THE GUARDIAN:
An emotional Kenny Dalglish described Liverpool's Carling Cup final victory as the start of a new era of success for the Anfield club after they overcame a late scare and dramatic penalty shootout against Cardiff City to collect their first trophy in six years.
Wayne Rooney and Tom Cleverley have joined Darren Bent in pulling out of Stuart Pearce's England squad for the friendly against Holland on Wednesday.
DAILY MIRROR:
Steven Gerrard lifted the Carling Cup aloft, and then admitted: "I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
Arsene Wenger revealed he nearly substituted two-goal Theo Walcott to protect him from Arsenal's angry fans.
DAILY MAIL:
Steven Gerrard lifted Liverpool's first trophy for six years after a dramatic Carling Cup penalty shootout at Wembley yesterday.
Martin Jol believes he has taken a significant step towards securing Fulham's Barclays Premier League future after signing former Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra for the rest of the season.
THE TIMES: Kenny Dalglish celebrated Liverpool's dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Cardiff City in the Carling Cup final by declaring his hope that the club's first silverware for six years will be the platform for a new era of success.
DAILY STAR:
Steven Gerrard lifted Liverpool's first trophy in six years then declared: We want more!
Wayne Rooney has been ruled out of England's friendly against Holland to leave Stuart Pearce with a huge injury headache.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY
THE SUN: Steven Gerrard raised Liverpool's first trophy in six years - with an apology to heartbroken cousin Anthony. Also: Theo Walcott fired Arsenal to derby glory and roared: We brought Tottenham crashing down to earth.
THE GUARDIAN: An emotional Kenny Dalglish described Liverpool's Carling Cup final victory as the start of a new era of success for the Anfield club after they overcame a late scare and dramatic penalty shootout against Cardiff City to collect their first trophy in six years. Also: Wayne Rooney and Tom Cleverley have joined Darren Bent in pulling out of Stuart Pearce's England squad for the friendly against Holland on Wednesday.
DAILY MIRROR: Steven Gerrard lifted the Carling Cup aloft, and then admitted: "I don't know whether to laugh or cry." Also: Arsene Wenger revealed he nearly substituted two-goal Theo Walcott to protect him from Arsenal's angry fans.
DAILY MAIL: Steven Gerrard lifted Liverpool's first trophy for six years after a dramatic Carling Cup penalty shootout at Wembley yesterday. Also: Martin Jol believes he has taken a significant step towards securing Fulham's Barclays Premier League future after signing former Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra for the rest of the season.
THE INDEPENDENT: It is not the European Cup, it is not the FA Cup, and it is a long way from the Premier League, but after almost six years without the kind of trophy-winning moment that used to be a regular event at their club, this will do for now for Liverpool. Also: Rory McIlroy won the battle but lost the war.
DAILY TELEGRAPH: What drama, what a finish, what a final, what contrasting family fortunes. Also: Despite the feel-good vibe that hummed round Twickenham long after the final whistle had sounded, Stuart Lancaster is already aware that the one thing he needs to guard against is self-delusion.
DAILY EXPRESS: Steven Gerrard lifted Liverpool's first trophy for six years after his inconsolable cousin Anthony missed the vital penalty for Cardiff at Wembley. Also: Stuart Pearce encountered the first frustrations of being England manager after Wayne Rooney headed a trio of high-profile withdrawals for the friendly with Holland.
THE TIMES: Kenny Dalglish celebrated Liverpool's dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Cardiff City in the Carling Cup final by declaring his hope that the club's first silverware for six years will be the platform for a new era of success. Also...England will regroup at Loughborough University today aching less from the pain of defeat than from the level of commitment the team showed in the narrow loss to Wales.
DAILY STAR: Steven Gerrard lifted Liverpool's first trophy in six years then declared: We want more! Also...Wayne Rooney has been ruled out of England's friendly against Holland to leave Stuart Pearce with a huge injury headache.
BBC
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Aston Villa want to bring in Blackburn defender Scott Dann, 24, at the end of the season to shore up their back-line.
Full story: Daily Mirror
In-form French striker Olivier Giroud, 25, wants a move to the Premier League and specifically Arsenal, having scored 16 goals already this campaign for current club Montpellier.
Full story: the Sun
Arsenal and Tottenham are both in the hunt for Sunderland midfield sensation Stephane Sessegnon, 27, who has been resurgent since Martin O'Neill took over at the Stadium of Light.
Full story: the Sun
Fulham are set to sign former Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, 30, for the rest of the season.
Full story: Daily Mail
Manchester City's Spanish 18-year-old midfielder Juan Roman is set to move to Dougie Freedman's Crystal Palace on loan for the rest of the season.
Full story: Daily Mirror
OTHER GOSSIP
Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez will play his first game for the club since September when he appears in a reserve team cup match against Preston. The game will be played behind closed doors to allow Roberto Mancini to assess the Argentine's fitness.
Full story: Daily Mail
Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has been warned by Belgium assistant manager Marc Wilmots that his place in the national team will be under threat if he does not play more games at Stamford Bridge.
Full story: Inside Futbol
Former England manager Fabio Capello insists he will return to the dugout and not the boardroom.
Full story: the Sun
Steven Gerrard has admitted he will have to make a decision about whether to retire from the England team and focus on Liverpool after Euro 2012.
Full story: Metro
David Beckham remains a transfer target of Paris Saint-Germain, the club's sporting director Leonardo has revealed.
Full story: Daily Mail
Manager Tony Pulis says he could not ask Stoke City to play the Swansea way because Potters fans would not put up with it.
Full story: South Wales Echo
AND FINALLY
Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique has revealed that away from the beautiful game he chooses to spend time playing Scrabble with his glamorous pop star girlfriend Shakira.
Full story: Metro
Guardian Rumour Mill
As the Mill awoke this morning to discover that a silent, black and white movie whose biggest star is a dog forced to turn tricks on command has been crowned king at the Oscars – the Oscars of the film industry – we were transported back to a simpler time when the transfer game was a more straightforward operation.
Having signed on the dotted line at a new club a player would immediately be treated like the four-legged star of The Artist and put to work at his real trade: a spot of plumbing or perhaps fixing some rickety shelves in the players' lounge. It was the close season, after all, and the wily chairman would know that the new signing would be eager to make an impression and was unlikely to charge a fee.
But time, sadly, keeps moving on and these days the Oscars of the transfer tittle-tattle industry is the winter and summer transfer windows but, just like the movie business, the wheel never stops turning. There are power lunches to be had and deals to be done.
And today is no different. Arsenal and Tottenham are set to duke it out for Sunderland's stocky goal getter Stéphane Sessègnon. Both north London clubs are big fans of the Benin international's work, loved him in that thing with Martin O'Neill and want to get him on board as soon as possible.
Liverpool's head of waffle, Damien Comolli, claims that several "big players" want to join the club in the summer. It's unclear if he means "big" as in tall and cumbersome, like Andy Carroll, or "big" as in rotund and not very good at taking penalties, like Charlie Adam. Or he may just mean "big" and good at football, but that doesn't sound like the kind of signing Liverpool would make.
Barcelona are ready to fight it out with Manchester City for Athletic Bilbao's rangy midfielder Javi Martínez. Quite how this fight will manifest itself remains to be seen but given the Spain international has a £34m release clause in his contract it is likely that it will involve money in some way.
In just the kind of move that will excite Aston Villa fans and help convince them that Alex Mcleish is indeed the man to revitalise the club, it seems that Scott Dann is being lined up for a switch from Ewood Park to Villas Park. That could spell bad news for James Collins or Richard Dunne who could be shown the door at Villa and may even be asked to leave through it, but not close it on the way out because McLeish wants to leave it open in case Robbie Keane gets tired of the LA lifestyle and fancies a return to Brum. "Hopefully, he will think of us first if he does it again." McLeish said of the Ireland's international's short-term loan from MLS.
The former Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra is set to sign for Fulham until the end of the season but hopes to impress enough to be given a longer deal.
Neil Warnock wants Paul Robinson as his first signing as Leeds manager and hopes to finalise a deal before the emergency loan market closes. In fairness to Warnock it does sound desperate.
Manchester City have too many players so Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman plans to temporarily lighten their load by taking 18-year-old "Spanish starlet" Juan Roman on loan for the rest of the season. And there was the Mill thinking Penelope Cruz was the only Spanish starlet that mattered.
London24
West Ham’s Jack aims to make Gary Speed proud
Dave Evans, West Ham Correspondent
Wales international midfielder Jack Collison is hoping his team can pay tribute to the late Gary Speed at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday night
West Ham’s Wales international Jack Collison insists that they should do all they can to make former boss Gary Speed proud of them, starting with a match in his honour on Wednesday night.
The Wales manager was found dead at his home back in November, aged just 42 and the news hit Collison as hard as anyone who knew him.
“We were all at the training ground when we heard the news,” said the 23-year-old midfielder who will be hoping to play a part in Wednesday’s international friendly with Costa Rica at the Millennium Stadium.
“Obviously Kevin Nolan and the West Ham manager (Sam Allardyce) were very close to him and they received the news first, but the way it echoed around our training ground, I can imagine it was like that throughout football.
“Wednesday is going to be a massive night. Losing Gary Speed was a massive loss, not just as a manager, but he was a great man.
“There was an aura around him. When he spoke, people listened,” said Collison. “He didn’t need to shout or scream at you, but you listened and you can see the way the Welsh boys had been playing for him.”
Chris Coleman takes the managerial reins at Wales for the first time against Costa Rica, but Collison believes that the team will still be playing for Speed.
“The way Gary turned round the Welsh team, the boys had been on fire and now it is up to us to take it forward and make him proud because at the end of the day he would have wanted us to qualify for the World Cup,” said the West Ham man.
“He is a massive loss, not just for us, but for the whole of football and it is up to us now to carry that on in his name and do our bit.
“I haven’t spoken to Chris Coleman yet. I know the gaffer spoke to him the other night, but I want to be part of his plans.
“His first game in charge is on Wednesday, but it is going to be more of an occasion that worrying about the game to be honest.
“It is going to be very emotional and everyone is going to be looking to play their part and give Gary Speed a proper send off.”
OS
Manager on Monday
Sam Allardyce is looking to test the strength of his Hammers squad over a busy few weeks for the club
Sam Allardyce is planning to make the most of a midweek free of fixtures to fine tune his West Ham United squad during a warm weather training break.
Big Sam and his squad flew out to warmer shores straight after Saturday lunchtime's 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace looking to recharge the batteries ahead of Sunday's trip to Cardiff. After the energy-sapping 4-1 win at Blackpool on Tuesday night, Allardyce felt that his team showed signs of weariness during the Palace draw.
"The fatigue is down to two things, certainly playing so many games a man light is going to cause problems eventually, but also we played on Tuesday night against Blackpool and Crystal Palace hadn't played for seven days," Big Sam said.
"The energy levels were bound to be better from Crystal Palace and it showed. Dougie Freedman set out his side very well, they were very difficult to break down and that made our tiredness even worse."
The West Ham squad is likely to be tested to the full during a busy March and Big Sam is hoping to mix up his starting XI for each fixture. The Hammers will face seven further npower Championship games after the trip to the Carling Cup finalists as the season edges towards the home straight.
"One thing that I've learnt is to get back to rotation. I felt very loyal to the lads that won at Blackpool and in the beginning it was my mistake for doing that.
"We tried to rectify that which got us better but on reflection I think two or three changes should have been made and I should have disappointed two or three players that didn't deserve to be left out.
"But having said that we got another point and another clean sheet and we're another point closer to our total as another game tick by."
Key to West Ham maintaining their six-match unbeaten home run was the first-half form of goalkeeper Robert Green, who capped off a fine 48 hours with a clean sheet. Green made a series of crucial first-half stops, which more than justified his inclusion in the England squad for Wednesday night's game with the Netherlands.
"When a player's playing in a successful team and confidence is good, the selection process becomes easier. The difficulty is when you know there's a good player but he's not playing so well and then it's difficult to leave him out.
"Robert Green has been playing on top of this game all season and again showed that he's worthy of his call-up. He's very solid and his basics are very good and when we need something more than that he's always there for us.
"His form in the early part of the game was the reason why we've kept a clean sheet as we weren't at our best in front of him. That then gave us a chance in the second half to go on and then try to win the game, which we did but couldn't quite achieve."
One selection dilemma Big Sam will have to face for the Bluebirds match is how to incorporate the return of captain Kevin Nolan from his three match suspension. It will not be an easy task for the Hammers manager though, with his team having turned in some impressive performances while their No4 has been sidelined.
"With what we've got coming, whether he's in the team for the next game or shortly after it won't be long.
"You can't have maximum points when you play with only ten men for three games. The fourth game was with 11 men, but to remain undefeated is miraculous."
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