Manchester City’s Yaya Toure hits back at Wayne Rooney: Hopefully he won’t be laughing at the end of the season

Rooney used the social networking site to poke fun at the two Ivory Coast internationals after they lost the Africa Cup of Nations final to Zambia last week.

Toure told the Sunday Mirror: “If Rooney thought Ivory Coast losing was funny then that’s up to him. I like Rooney. He is a great player.

“He will know a lot of the Ivory Coast players like me, Kolo, [Cheick] Tiote and [Didier] Drogba so he’ll have an opinion.

“I think many people believed Ivory Coast would win. Even my friends said to me that they thought it was impossible that we would lose. All I can say is that losing in the African Nations has made my determination to win the Premier League even bigger.

“Hopefully at the end of the season it will be me laughing and not Rooney. That would be good.”

Zambia emerged victorious on penalties after the Africa Cup of Nations final remained goalless after 90 minutes and extra time, with Didier Drogba missing from the spot in normal time.

← Wenger looking for a reaction

Wenger vows to fight on

Posted on February 19, 2012 by www.soccer - facebook.com

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal will pull together and fight after they were sent crashing out of the FA Cup at Sunderland.

The 2-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light wrapped up a miserable week for the Gunners, who look certain to go another season without winning a trophy, but Wenger insists they will fight on.

Arsenal will have to fight hard to make sure they finish in the top four to qualify for the Champions League, while Wenger is also calling on his players to battle against AC Milan in the hope they can overturn a 4-0 first leg deficit.

There are also calls from some quarters for Wenger to step aside as manager but the Frenchman says everyone should be united and look to finish the season strongly.

“We have to take the criticism on board, stay together and face the critics,” he said after the defeat. “The only response in our job is to stay united and fight and focus on the next game. ”

It’s very difficult tonight to say where it leaves us and what we will do, let’s focus to finish well in the championship and fight as well, even if it’s a small possibility, in the Champions League.”

Wenger looking for a reaction

Having given his players quite the dressing down at the training ground on Thursday, Arsene Wenger is looking for his squad to react to the defeat in Milan by beating Sunderland in the FA Cup today.

The famous old trophy now represents Arsenal’s only chance of silverware this season and today’s game takes on even greater signficance in the wake of the midweek mauling.

Speaking to the official site ahead of the game, having apparently cancelled a pre-Sunderland press conference earlier in the week (pre-Milan it must be pointed out), Wenger said, “It is more important now. It was always important but, because we had a big disappointment in the last game, it becomes more important.

“We are in fourth position and we have an opportunity to qualify for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. It is important that we are up for it and do not feel sorry for ourselves because of that [one] performance.

“It can still be a positive week and we will see how we deal with the Milan game in the second leg later. What is important now, first of all, is not only the FA Cup but as well the response and the mental attitude of our team. They are at stake as well. That is something that is very important for us.”

The manager also admitted that while there’d be a measure of rotation, due to some players who have played a lot in recent weeks, he’d be putting out as strong a team as possible, to try and win the game today and avoid either defeat or a tiring midweek replay ahead of the North London derby next Saturday.

“I will refresh a bit because some players have played many games recently. But we will be full-strength.

“Of course we will try to win the game, as we always do. If we have to go through a replay we will do it but ideally we would like to win the game in the first instance.”

Wednesday was hugely disappointing but we know this team is capable of better. Let’s hope they show it today to add a shine to what has been a pretty miserable week.

Chelsea to swap Torres in deal with Atletico

Fernando Torres maybe the first casualty of Chelsea’s slump in form – even before manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Torres, who joined Chelsea from Liverpool on a record British transfer fee of 50 million pounds, has been a total failure at Stamford Bridge and according to news reports, is being offered as a swap to Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea will offer Torres in exchange for Atletico Madrid’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.

IANS quoted The Daily Star as reporting that the Stamford Bridge club sent representatives to every Atletico game for the past three months to keep an eye on the Colombian striker.

Torres is a reputed figure in Madrid as he captained Atletico for a number of years before his move to Liverpool.

Falcao too would be keen to reuniting with his former FC Porto boss Andre Villas Boas, currently managing Chelsea.

The Madrid striker has scored 62 goals in 72 games, including 33 in 36 outings under Villas-Boas last season.

Torres, however, has only scored five goals in 31 appearances for Chelsea.