Liverpool, after a disappointing last season is looking to make it up this season. In order to strengthen its midfield Liverpool is all set to rope in Portuguese international, Raul Meireles. Liverpool is lucky to have him in his ranks as Barcelona was considering signing him had it failed to get Mascherano.

Meireles, who played for Porto last season, was expected to leave Porto and it became even more obvious when he wasn’t included in the Europa league side recently. Andre Villas-Boas, the manager of Porto had resigned to the fact that Raul would move and even Manchester United was interested in having him in its ranks. The signing of Raul will boost the hopes of Liverpool greatly as he has done very well to establish himself one of the better midfielders in the continent. In fact, Raul was all set to join Internazionale, but somehow the deal couldn’t be taken forward.

Meireles has been a revelation and many top European clubs have been vying to have in. Raul was proved his mettle during the European under 16 championships in 2000 and he made his way to the Portuguese national side. Since then he has represented Portugal 38 times and has been an integral part of the Portugal team.

With this signing, the struggling Liverpool side will look to reinforce itself as one of the leading sides in England. It remains to be seen if this signing will be able to change Liverpool’s fortune this season. Liverpool really needs to pull its socks if it wants to do well this season.

Emmanuel Adebayor of Manchester City has been charged for improper conduct by the Football association for running the length of the pitch as he celebrated after scoring in front of the Arsenal fans. The striker faces a three match suspension for violent conduct in the match which Manchester City won 4-2. Adebayor stamped on Robin van Persie who happens to be his former teammate and the Duthchman had to get a treatment for the cut to his face. Adebayor did apologize for his actions later on.

Mark Hughes, the Manchester City boss though backed Adebayor saying that the star should not be reprimanded for celebrating his goal and confirmed that the club is going to fight the improper conduct charge. The club however has decided against fighting the striker’s violent conduct charge which is certain to make Adebayor miss the games with Man U and Fulham. Hughes pointed out the huge amount of abuse that his £25m summer signing from Arsenal had to endure and is resolute to take a stance against it. Hughes opines that Adebayor’s action was a result of emotion which cannot be taken out of the game. He pointed that the strikers celebration was an outcome of the anger and the amount of criticism that he was forced to endure during the game.

After the match, Adebayor confirmed that he allowed his emotions to get the better of him and expressed regret for his action. He was being insulted by the Arsenal fan even in the warm up matches. Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe hinted at possible point penalties for clubs to ensure that there is no further behavioral breach.

Fabio Capello, the England manager, made it very clear that he is open to speak to any player who feels unhappy at being left out from the team. England has already qualified for the World Cup next year by achieving an emphatic victory over Croatia last Wednesday. They beat Croatia 5-1 at Wembley. The England manager has enjoyed 100% success so far in the qualifying Group 6 having already made it to South Africa with another couple of games to spare.

The manager owes the success to the mutual understanding that he has been able to build with his players. The best thing about him is that he is very approachable and players do not hesitate to walk up to him to clear any doubts. He confirmed that he had to enlighten as many as three players as to why they could not make it to the team. Capello played for the World Cup qualifiers back in 1978 but unfortunately could not make it to the squad. So he is not taking any chances to his 23- man squad either. However, he confirms that his decision would be based on the current form of the player.

According to Frank Lampard, Fabio is an exceptional manager who has been able to unite the team and make them perform to the best of their abilities. He has maintained a degree of discipline with the players and has taught them to maintain a level head irrespective of the result. Fabio Capello has shown that a little detail and change can bring about a lot of changes to the fortune of the team.