FA Cup: Manchester United vs Portsmouth

Fergies not going yet as he refuses to give a retirement date

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has refused to put a date on his retirement. Speaking ahead of Manchester United's sixth round FA Cup clash with Portsmouth, he was suitably vague about when he would finally be retiring after 22 years in charge of Manchester United.

Speaking on UK Sky News he said: "It's something I've said for quite a bit - If your health is good and you're enjoying your job it could be two, three years, who knows? It could be four years who knows? It could be tomorrow if I read some bad press from your mob [journalists] - trying to get rid of me," Ferguson joked. "I've not put a time limit on it - that's for sure."

We think Sir Alex is acutely aware of what happened last time he set a date for retirement - Manchester United's season petered out as the media, fans and players all became obsessed with his imminent departure. As it was, he just couldn't bring himself to leave anyway, and he's still there with Manchester United as strong as ever, and Premier League title holders.

United entertain Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter finals on Saturday, and few would bet against them reaching the last four by Saturday evening. Ferguson has a near full-strength squad to choose from, and with the Premier League and UEFA Champions League rigours to come he may choose to rest some of his more senior stars.

Ferguson also revealed that he is happy with the progress of long-term injury victims Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre and is confident the England international will shortly be returning to first-team action.

We at Footy Focus can't see past a Manchester United Saturday stroll in this one!

Benjani completes deal to Manchester City

Benjani finally completes his move to Manchester City in a restructured deal

Nearly a week after the transfer window closed, Benjani will complete his move to Manchester City from Porsmouth today. Both clubs have resolved the issues surrounding the transfer and reached agreement over a restructured deal and £7.6 million fee.

Benjani is the third highest scorer in the Premier League this season, and had been left in a state of flux, as the transfer deadline passed on Thursday. Manchester City had been trying to pull out of the original deal after a previously unknown knee injury came to light during his medical examination. However with the Premier league's encouragement, they moved to renegotiate the agreement with Portsmouth and will finalise the signing today. It is understood they will make a smaller down-payment and a larger proportion of the fee will depend on the number of appearances he makes for Manchester City.

Benjani deal to Manchester City in limbo

Benjani deal stalls as Manchester City pull out at the last minute

There were bizarre events in Manchester last night, as the Manchester City board tried to abort the transfer of Benjani from Portsmouth at the last minute. Benjani himself not only arrived late, after missing two planes, but also failed to properly sign the required paperwork. It is understood however, that the Premier League is prepared to overlook this, with Portsmouth and City manager Eriksson, keen for the transfer to still go through. The mystery is why the Manchester City board does not want to proceed, and they are not telling why.

Sources close to the club are indicating the board are unhappy with the way particular issues have been handled by Benjani's agents, however the whole transfer is now in a state of limbo.

Premier League News - Benjani move falters and Defoe signs in

Portsmouth - Benjani too late for City, while Defoe signs in

Things didn't go quite to plan for Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth yesterday. A deal was agreed for Benjani to go to Manchester City for a fee of 9 million. However the player bizarrely arrived too late in Manchester to complete the deal.

Meanwhile, a prompt Jermain Defoe arrived at Pompey to sign a four year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Footy Focus thinks Harry Redknapp will be delighted at being able to keep Benjani, and acquire a striker of Defoe's quality. However the Portsmouth money men may well be a tad upset at missing out on the Benjani fee.

We don't know what the fee was for Defoe, but we are sure he will prove to be an excellent buy for Harry Redknapp.

Redknapp turns down Newcastle

Redknapp turns down Newcastle as the counter-swipes begin

Harry Redknapp has turned down the chance to manage Newcastle, largely because of family and geographical reasons. Newcastle maintain, faintly ludicrously, that it was because they wouldn't give him a private jet to commute to and from Teeside, accusing Redknapp through club sources of wanting to manager the club from the South coast.

Redknapp will not pleased at being portrayed in this light, especially since he had let it be known he was prepared to move North. Seems Newcastle's comments are aimed for it's own supporters more than anything else.

For Newcastle the search goes on, with reports that they are now turning their sights to Europe. They are also apparently resigned to this season being one of transition, with Newcastle comfortably in midtable their view is that they have no need to rush the appointment. The latest names in the frame are Gerard Houllier, Louis van Gaal and Ottmar Hitzfeld. Of those, it is believed van Gaal has strong support from the Newcastle board.

Newcastle close in on Redknapp

Events gather pace as bets are off on Harry's move

Newcastle close in as Redknapp remains silent. Harry Redknapps move to Newcastle appeared to be gathering pace last night, with events all pointing to an imminent departure for the 60 year old Redknapp.

The usual pre-game press conference was cancelled and Redknapp was driven away from the ground by Portsmouth Chief Executive Peter Storrie as a media scrum gathered.

Speculation was further fuelled by the unavailability of the Newcastle charman Chris Mort, and it is understood Newcastle are preparing to formalise thier approach. Some reports have Portsmouth bowing to the inevitable already, with a compensation package being discussed. However Portsmouth maintained the 'he's happy here' line, but this had a distinctly hollow ring to it.

Newcastle hope to have Redknapp installed in time for him to act during the January transfer window.

Redknapp will become the ninth manager in the eleven years since Kevin Keegan left, which clearly indicates the perils of the job. In that time Arsenal have had two managers, Manchester United one, and Liverpool three which roughly equates to the league positions of the clubs over that time! Newcastle fans can only hope Redknapps arrival heralds a period of stability for a club who make a habit of turmoil and change in a relentess and fruitless pursuit of success.

Liverpool 4-1 Portsmouth

Liverpool romped away with this one in a game that a brief second half rally apart, was all over within the first fifteen minutes.

Liverpool, looking to get their Premier League form back on track, were straight out the traps, intent on killing the game off early doors and that is what they achieved. Benayoun volleyed home after a pinpoint cross from Harry Kewell after Portsmouth had again struggled to cope with Fernando Torres. Worse was to come a few minutes later when Distin got in the way of Sol Campbell's tackle on Torres and the ball cannoned off his shin into the net. Liverpool at this stage were all over Portsmouth with Kewell and Torres particularly dangerous. Portsmouth simply couldn't cope with Kewell's passing and Torres pace and invention. Harry Redknapp was scathing afterwards of his teams defending, however it has to be said Liverpool were playing some superb football and the best in the Europe would struggle with Torres in this form.

In the second half Portsmouth rallied briefly. Substitute Kanu showed a moment of brilliance with a superb pass to Benjani who turned inside the defender to shoot home with his right foot. However ten minutes later a Mascherano pass into the box had James and Distin all over the place and Torres stepped in to drill the ball right-footed into the corner. It really was game over now. Torres than added a fourth volleying home from a great Steven Gerrard flick.

Overall it was a good, verging on a great Liverpool performance. The feeling persists however that they are solidly a top three or four team, but not potential Premier League winners. Their last two home games really tell the tale. Manchester United relatively comfortably holding off the same team that blew away Portsmouth. They simply don't have quite enough to take points off the top teams, which is really the missing link in their Premier League quest.

Rafael Benitez will be feeling a happier man this morning but know the rumblings around Anfield mean he will be under pressure for a while yet. Jurgen Klinsmann seems to be lurking as an ever increasing shadow over Benitez and his comments about knee-jerk sackings appear to show he knows it.

Liverpool vs Portsmouth Saturday 22nd Dec, 3.00pm

They all seem must win games for increasingly embattled Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez. What with two Premier League defeats in a row, one of which was to a major rival, adverse stories about refinancing for the new stadium and the ongoing speculation about his relationship with his American bosses, these are testing times for Benitez.

However if Liverpool have any pretensions about winning the Premier League they simply do have to win these type of games, despite Portsmouth's great form this season. Liverpool have midfielder Xabi Alonso available after he came through his comeback game against Chelsea in midweek. Peter Crouch is now banned for three matches after the red-mist saw him sent off in that game, while Steve Finnan is again absent with a calf problem. Worryingly Daniel Agger is still out with his metatarsal injury. I really do think this will become a real problem for Liverpool if he's not back soon. As good as Sami Hyppia has been, it has to catch up with Liverpool soon. Otherwise the big-guns will be back for Liverpool with the likes of Reina, Gerrard, Mascherano, and Torres all back.

Portsmouth have a few problems with defender Noe Pamarot absent and Sean Davis also out. Hermann Hreidarsson definitely back while Pedro Mendes is also likely to start.

Footy Focus prediction - home win for the Reds!

Crouch, Sissoko & Carson out, Garay in?

All the media reports seem to be pointing to these two on the way out. The usual pattern of unquoted reports are appearing in more than one source. They'll follow the usual trend of it being reported, denied, reported, 'oh maybe' etc until it becomes an open secret. Newcatle, Juventus and err Portsmouth are reportedly after Crouch with Eveton supposedly leading the chase for Sissoko.

One thing to note though is that it is not yet being mentioned on the Liverpool Echo website. They are widely known in Liverpool as being the voice of the club. If it goes on there you know its going to happen so its not cut & dried just yet. I think one or both will go in the summer but I would be surprised if both would be allow to go now unless Liverpool have a major deal lined up - not easy in the January window.

A more definite exit is Scott Carson for $8m with the funds being used to launch a bid for Racing Santander’s Argentinian defender Ezequiel Garay. Benitez is looking to bolster his backline and his happy with his goalkeeping cover of Itandje and Martin.