Former Tottenham Hotspur and France defender William Gallas stated that he has a lot of respect for the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. He said that Lloris has a winning mentality and that he always look to inspire the whole team not only the defence.
For Gallas, he is currently one of the best goalkeepers in the world and believes that he will stay with Spurs side for a long time. read more
Manchester City and French midfielder Samir Nasri stated that he does not understand why Karim Benzema has been left out of the French team that is taking part at the Euro 2016. He believes that Benzema would have been an incredible addition to the team, especially with the good season that he has had with Real Madrid. He said that it was a surprise for him not to see Karim Benzema in the team.
Officially, Benzema is suspended from the French national team because of an alleged blackmail affair with his teammate Mathieu Valbuena. On the other hand, French and Manchester United legend Eric Cantona stated that Karim Benzema has been omitted from the team because of racial reason. Either way, Samir Nasri believes that France will miss a player of his quality at the Euros. read more
English Premier League side, Manchester United may miss out from UEFA Champions League again, for the second straight time in three years. Manchester United fans have had a lot to grumble about recently.
The style of football has been painfully boring for most of this season, too, all while its fiercest rivals, Manchester City, plan to hand the best manager on the planet an empty checkbook this summer. Manchester United’s defensive line for most of this season has been comprised of Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind, Chris Smalling, and the injury-laden Matteo Darmian. These defenders are mostly seen as average players. Even though Sir Alex Ferguson achieved a lot with even average players, there were always top stars in great form that did the necessary. With the Red Devils’ team struggling in almost all departments, there is only so much they can achieve
Though the average players, with one game to go Manchester United have conceded just 34 goals, the second-fewest in the entire Premier League, behind Tottenham. Man United might not have the most attractive style in the world, but it’s effective: United’s 55.7 percent average possession is just 0.2 percent off the league leaders, Arsenal — and the team’s speed of attack is the slowest in the Premier League. The way they ruthlessly starve their opponents of the ball means they literally can’t be attacked and, therefore, scored against. It’s why of only two teams (Leicester City and Tottenham, who will finish first and second, respectively) have spent less time trailing matches this season than Manchester United.
The issue many have highlighted is the poor attacking football upfront. The strike force have achieved less than required to push the team to desired levels. Wayne Rooney’s return hasn’t brought much hope as they continue to struggle. The club has to do a lot of work during this summer ahead of next season; else they might miss the third UCL.
Italian giant, Napoli are hoping to reduce the points’ difference with fierce rival Juventus. Napoli started the season well but Juventus are current league leaders with 73 points from 31 matches played this season.
Napoli fell to a stunning defeat in the hands of Udinese. Udinese embarrassed Partenopei Gli Azzurri in a home win on the 3rd of April.
In the last five games, the well motivated team has won three, drawn one aside the heavy loss to Udinese. Napoli defeated Chievo by 3-1, defeated Genoa by the same margin and lost to Udinese by the same margin. Before the victory of Chievo, they played a draw with fifth-placed Fiorentina. After playing Chievo, it was another victory over Palermo.
The squad is currently hoping to close the gap with Juventus while praying the serie A champion drop points along the way. Six points separate both sides. With tricky games against Milan and Fiorentina, Napoli is hoping to close the gap with wins from their end. read more
There is news that Juventus striker Alvaro Morata might be returning to the side that sold him in 2014. Despite interests from Premier League sides such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United Alvaro Morata might opt to return to Real Madrid instead.
His Spanish teammate Vasquez said that it would be a good thing for Real Madrid that they sign him back. He believes that the player has improved a lot while in Italy and has had an outstanding two seasons with Juventus. For Vasquez, it will be beneficial for both Real Madrid and Morata to be back in La Liga.
Alvaro Morata left Real Madrid in 2014 for Juventus, but the Spanish team has the option of buying back the player if they want. The price is expected to be around £23million. read more
Manuel Pellegrini is eyeing a few more players despite having already signed: Patrick Roberts, Raheem Sterling, Ernes Unal and Fabian Delph as the latest high profile summer signings of Manchester United.
The summer budget of Pellegrini has already reached €70 million but rumors continue on emerging involving some of the potential signings that can still be made by the Premier League club as the Chilean manager is still interested in adding more players to his squad and get them into the Etihad Stadium.
Sergio Ramos is one of the players who has been involved with a possible move to Manchester City but it’s a move that just doesn’t seem like its going to happen due to all of the recent changes that the Spanish defender has been going through in Real Madrid. The dismissal of IkerCasillas from the Santiago Bernabeu ended with Ramos turning into the new captain of Real Madrid.
Kevin de Bruyne on the other hand is a priority target and the German player of Wolfsburg is attracting the attention of many top clubs and not just Manchester City. De Bruyne was named as the Bundesliga Player of the Year for the 2014-15 season as well as the Footballer of the Year in Germany of 2015 as he was considered to have better performances than other notable players such as: ArjenRobben and Wesley Sneijder. read more
Andrei Arshavin’s time at Zenit St Petersburg is over as he has parted ways with the club at the expiration of his contract.
It was his second tenure for Zenit which was rather disappointing for him performance wise as he could not score as many goals as expected.
His first tenure at Petrovsky Stadium was a lot longer and was more fruitful.
He was actually Zenit’s goal machine before he attracted the attention of Arsene Wenger who signed him for the Gunners in 2009.
The demands of Premier League, however, proved too much for Arshavin as he was not able to do the same kind of damage to the opponents in England as he was doing in Russia.
As far as Arshavin’s new destination is concerned, it’s Kuban Krasnodar.
Arshavin had found himself out of the starting XI in most of the games since Andre Villas Boas took charge at Zenit.
He was one of the biggest names in the squad, but, still, Villas Boas did not put that much of faith in him.
Quite clearly, the striker was nowhere in the plans of the new boss and people had already talking about his departure.
However, there were words that he might opt to go to a club outside Russia. But, that did not happen. read more
Korea Republic managed a third consecutive victory after the convincing 2-0 win over Myanmar in a World Cup qualifying match.
This was the opening World Cup 2018 qualifying game for the national team. It was a proper test for newly appointed Uli Stielike. A 2-0 win might mean a poor performance from Korea given that they were overwhelming favourites to get a convincing win against the lowly ranked the team. Just as with the draw between Japan and Singapore, Myanmar managed to come up with an impressive defensive performance. However, they were opened up time and time again by Korea, who were unlucky to not score more goals.
Myanmar are ranked 143rd in the world and are expected to finish bottom of the group. For Korea, it is about different priorities since the team are expected to finish as the group winners without fail. After having given the fans a poor World Cup 2014, Stielike will be hoping to win some of them back under his regime. Stielike came close to lifting the trophy after just few months in charge of the national team. Korea were defeated by Australia in the recent Asian cup final tournament. Stielike has backed his team to score more goals when they come up against a minnow in the next match.
“If you look at the scoreline then you may think there was not a big difference between the teams.However, we dominated possession and had few problems at the back. We only had difficulties in attack, as we missed lots of chances and our passing was not what it should have been,” saidStielike. Goal difference is unlikely to be of major importance given that Korea are the strongest team in the group, but they will hope to score more goals in their next qualifying game against Laos.
Former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs has admitted that it feels a bit strange to be celebrating only finishing in the top four.
The Welsh winger is used to winning numerous titles with United, but the club were extremely overjoyed at finishing back in the top four once again. From a commercial point of view, it is extremely important that United return to the Champions League. Further, it would also help them attract top players who would then be the basis behind winning league titles. After having secured such an important proposition, United have breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet, Giggs feels that United should be more focused on winning titles in the future rather than just finishing in the top four. Giggs won an incredible 34 titles during his time at United in addition to numerous individual accolades. The club are expected to be challenging for the title from next season, but it will be very difficult with rivals like Manchester City and Arsenal also strengthening. Chelsea have one of the best squads in the league and they will be tough to catch as ever. Speaking at the end of the season awards, Giggs says that he wants United to be challenging for titles sooner rather than later. read more
