Chelsea believe they remain in pole position to sign American prodigy Freddy Adu. However, a deal is far from being concluded for the 16-year-old who has been the target for clubs across Europe but who has yet to live up to his billing as the world’s most sought-after teenager. Abou Diaby has made a big impression on Ars? Wenger, but the young Arsenal midfielder maintains he has “lots of work” ahead before he can aim to fill Patrick Vieira’s boots. The 19-year-old French youth international joined the Gunners from Auxerre during the January transfer window, and has adapted quickly to English football, producing an impressive display during the 2-0 Premiership win at Birmingham City on Saturday, which left his manager full of praise.. In the end you are going against the team.”This has been an unusually outspoken week for Benitez, who led the criticism of Arjen Robben after he fell dramatically at Stamford Bridge after a push by Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina on Sunday.

Benitez’s comments diverted attention from his team’s third successive League game without a win and they travel to Charlton without the suspended Reina and also Steven Gerrard, who suffered a knee injury in the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea.Gerrard was sent for a scan on Monday and, though it revealed no serious damage, the Liverpool captain will miss tonight’s game and possibly Saturday’s trip to Wigan.. A player should only be thinking about staying fit and winning the World Cup, but if a manager says he wants five in attack and you know he’s not going to be around in another two weeks and you want to play in defence, then you play in defence. His successes in La Liga, the Uefa Cup and the Champions’ League have all been built on a fierce team ethic – he resigned at Valencia over a long-running dispute with the club’s technical director and has resisted advances to return to Real Madrid because of the firm support he receives in the Anfield boardroom. Now that Eriksson’s relationship with the FA has fractured, Benitez believes he cannot expect the same level of commitment from his players.The Spaniard added: “If players know the manager is going and someone else is coming in then they start to think about other things. “What do you want? To have a new manager in place or to win the World Cup with the manager you have now? If you support your manager you can win the World Cup, then afterwards there is time to change, but to be successful you must have the support of everyone.”Benitez’s concerns for Eriksson are based on past experience. It is a big surprise for me and it shows no respect for the current manager,” insisted the Liverpool manager.

Yet the man who landed the job and spent almost 20 years working within the media circus that is Real Madrid is astonished at the Football Association’s decision to announce Eriksson’s departure and commence the search for his successor so close to the World Cup, and at the jockeying for position among his Premiership rivals to become the Swede’s replacement.
It is a situation that Benitez claimed, would not occur even in his spirited homeland and he warned that it will weaken players’ focus and discipline during the most important tournament of their lives.”So many people are talking about different managers. The Spaniard became the latest high-profile Premiership figure to join the debate on Sven Goran Eriksson’s succession as England manager yesterday but, in stark contrast to his peers, spoke only to voice concern at a campaign he believes has undermined the nation’s prospects of success at this summer’s World Cup. Alan Curbishley’s credentials as the next England manager will be inevitably enhanced if Charlton overcome the reigning European champions in tonight’s rearranged Premiership fixture and Benitez was generous in his praise for Liverpool’s second choice to replace G?rd Houllier as manager in 2004. Rafael Benitez will be aghast if Liverpool are defeated at The Valley tonight, and not merely as a consequence of his failure to record only a second Premiership win of 2006. I haven’t read the comments, but obviously I’ve heard, and it disappoints me.”McClaren also dismissed reports that the Dutch midfielder Boateng has signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal worth £10.5m and that there had been unrest in the dressing-room as a result.Although McClaren admitted that talks were close to a conclusion, he insisted that the contract would be worth nowhere near that amount, and that whatever the figures involved, the rest of the squad would be delighted to see him put pen to paper.. “We brought him in from Manchester United reserves and gave him an opportunity in the Premier League. He did very well and was always a great lad around the place, a great pro to work with, a delight, a nice lad.

We have got players coming back, but while they are, the rest of us have to stand up and take responsibility, be big enough to accept that we are in a professional game and we have to act like professionals and get on with it.”McClaren has not been aided by reported comments from the former Boro midfielder Jonathan Greening, suggesting widespread unrest in the dressing-room.”It disappoints me because Jonathan Greening was, I thought, a very good football player for this club,” he said. “We are doing the same things we have always done for the last four and a half years, that I have always done in my coaching career.”We are working on the basics and working damn hard on that training field to put things right, and we will keep doing that until we turn it around We have to. I have to take responsibility, but I have to be positive, I have to be optimistic, and I see the likes of [George] Boateng and [James] Morrison and [Chris] Riggott and [Franck] Queudrue and [Fabio] Rochemback, five players we didn’t have last week, and I see them training this week.”It lifts the gloom and it gives you hope. However, he insists he will not allow the criticism to get to him.”I don’t read a newspaper at these times and I try not to let it affect me, because you can’t,” he said. “They were my first four games in management and I lost them all, and I was wondering myself whether I was pointless and clueless. But since then, I’ve had many more experiences, good and bad.

I know that eventually, as they say, the sun will shine again and there will be better days.”Everybody goes through this, it’s how you come through it,” he insisted. “I’m determined to come through it, I’m determined to fight my way through it, I’m determined to bring the players with me and fight anybody until we do.”It is only a matter of weeks since McClaren was being regarded as one of the favourites to succeed Sven Goran Eriksson as England coach after this summer’s World Cup finals.But ironic chants of “McClaren for England” from his own club’s fans during the Villa game are a measure of how far his stock has fallen since. “What we have achieved is a great success,” said Cudicini, who cancelled a flying lesson to attend the launch of Chelsea’s Centenary DVD this week.”We are in a very good position but we are not finished yet. Retaining the title is not easy but this season we have been very focused on repeating last season’s success The FA Cup is very important for us.