Changing room chat

Weighty challenge on Hansen

ALAN Hansen has some defending to do after his comments on Euro 2008 came under fire from coaching expert Terry Daly.

The Scot is not alone in being blamed for inaccurate analysis. Commentators such as Jonathan Pearce are also being challenged.

Following the English FA's publication of his exposure of a fundamental flaw in coaching, Daly claims they, like coaches, are wrongly defining "weight" in the movement of the ball. Weight is the ball's vertical drop due to gravity, he points out, and not, as the football pundits maintain, its horizontal pace.

Daly argues the reason much of the shooting in Euro 2008 sees the ball rocketing into the stands is because players are not coached to counteract the horizontal pace of their shot with vertical weight. If they were, he says, they would be able to manipulate the trajectory of the ball so that it dips underneath the bar at the last moment. "You can't analyse and explain this common failing in Euro 2008," he concludes, "if you think weight is the horizontal pace of the ball. Commentators and analysts need to change their game."

East Fife under Gretna roof

GRETNA may have been wiped off the Scottish football map, but a part of Raydale Park will live on at East Fife next season. The Third Division champions have nipped in ahead of Second Division rivals Alloa to buy a temporary stand on sale from Gretna's administrators.

The New Bayview side had been in discussion about building a new stand when it became known that the Recreation Park bid had hit a snag, and the Fifers moved in to conclude a deal that includes the seats, structure and the roof cover.

Kaunas praise for amateurs

EDINBURGH amateur side Duddingston Athletic travelled to Lithuania last week and took on professional side FBK Kaunas in a friendly. Kaunas, who have Hearts chairman Vladimir Romanov on their board and supply a steady stream of loan signings to the Tynecastle club, played five of their first-team regulars against the Scots in the S Darius and S Girenas Stadium.

Although Duddingston went down 8-1, with Michael Sidi netting their goal, they gave a very good account of themselves and won praise from the FBK coaching staff.

TALES FROM THE TABS: KAKA SNUBS SCOLARI

PORTUGAL manager Luiz Felipe Scolari's mind might have been elsewhere last night as his team took on Germany in Basel, after the Daily Mirror reported that another one of his apparent transfer targets has snubbed a big-money move to Chelsea.

Scolari, who takes the reins at Stamford Bridge next month, has already had moves for Spanish strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa knocked back, and now Brazilian superstar Kaka, pictured, has turned down a switch to the English Premier League. "Thanks, but no thanks" is what the AC Milan forward is said to have told Scolari.

Kaka added: "I appreciate Chelsea's reported interest, but I have not got the slightest desire to leave Milan."

It's not just Chelsea who are ready to splash the cash this summer. The Mirror also said that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is planning to bid 10 million for Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin, while Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish is looking to sign Portsmouth and England striker David Nugent.