Football – Page 2

Gary McAllister Backs Jurgen Klopp to Turn around Liverpool’s Poor Form

March 4, 2017 by ClownTown

Liverpool ambassador Gary McAllister says that manager Jurgen Klopp will find a way to turn around the results at the club.

He also says that the club have no doubts about the manager, as he is proven at the top level. Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers midway through last season and immediately lead the club to 2 finals. Even though they lost in the EFL Cup and Europa League finals to Manchester City and Sevilla respectively, it was seen as a positive into the season. They picked up where they left off in the 2016-17 campaign after remaining in contention for the title with Chelsea up until January.

Since the turn of the year, though, results have dropped drastically with the club still waiting for their first league win in 2017. More importantly, a string of losses including defeats against relegation threatened Hull City and Swansea have left the club an incredible 14 points behind Chelsea.

KLINSMANN PROUD OF US ACHIEVEMENTS

February 7, 2017 by ClownTown

German coach Jurgen Klinsmann has revealed that he remains very proud of his achievements in American soccer.

The German coach spoke at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in Los Angeles recently despite agreeing to it before he was sacked from his job as manager of the men’s senior team.

Klinsmann supervised the losses in the first two World Cup qualifiers hence his sack but insists that he is happy to have developed American football.

“The results will tell in the future if it helped Bruce [current US team coach] to achieve the goals that are set. But I think whenever you have the chance to put your stamp on a programme, you do it with everything you have, and that’s what I tried to do,” he said.

He claimed that he and his team “achieved a lot within the system of US soccer, connecting a lot of dots – even though there are so many out there that are disconnected.”

Tony Pulis Confirms West Brom’s Offer for Morgan Schneiderlin

January 21, 2017 by ClownTown

West Brom manager Tony Pulis has confirmed that the club has made an offer for Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, who has featured in only 11 minutes of league football this season.

Schneiderlin was a £ 25 million acquisition for United in the summer of 2015. He was seen as one of the players who would be able to transform Louis van Gaal’s tactics. After featuring in most of the games under Van Gaal, Schneiderlin was suddenly relegated to the fringes of first-team upon the arrival of Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese did not see Schneiderlin as an integral part of the team.

From the first week after Mourinho’s arrival, Schneiderlin has been linked with a move away from the club. Of late, there has been tremendous interest from Premier League clubs, as they would be getting a player who has a lot of knowledge about English football.

MAN UNITED SET TO END THE YEAR WELL

January 14, 2017 by ClownTown

Manchester United admittedly has not been as impressive but they have a reason to cheer up as the year ends.

Of recent, Jose Mourinho’s men have started playing attacking football that is interesting to watch. Watching game at Old Trafford is a delight after a few bumps on the way.

With expensive additions like former Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria flopping at Old Trafford and ex La Liga and Ligue 1 star Radamel Falcao not getting the goals, additions by the Portuguese manager have been decent. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been getting the goals, Paul Pogba has been decent, Armenian forward Henrikl Mkhitaryan seem to be finding his rhythm and Eric Baily has been trying for the team.

Marounane Felliani was the top choice over veteran Michael Carrick but Carrick seem to combine well now with Pogba. Ander Herrara has been impressive thus far. The Spain international started the first game but had to wait six games before getting called into action again. His display have been satisfying by many standards under Mourinho.

Wenger happy with his team

November 20, 2016 by ClownTown

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that he is happy with the way his team is playing at the moment.

He stated that he always believed in the team even when they were facing severe critics. He believes that his players have enough qualities to challenge for the title and that they need to believe in themselves.

The Arsenal manager said that he still have players such as Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck to come back in the team and that this will make the team become even better. He said that there is a good team spirit in the club at the moment and that each player is focused on the club’s objective.

He stated that the club aim this season is to win the Premier League and that he will make everything he can in order to achieve it. He admitted that it would be difficult as the league is quite competitive this season and that all the big clubs have strengthened during the transfer window.

Gao Hong Bo says his players have had so much of workload

October 22, 2016 by ClownTown

Gao Hong Bo says his players have had so much of workload in domestic Football in the on-going season that everyone is tired.

As per Hong Bo, in China , to go from one city to the other, long distances have to covered because China is huge not only from the population point of view, but, also in terms of land and spending long time flying after playing matches is really tiresome for the players.

The former striker of Team Dragon said, “In other countries, the cities are nearby and the journey time for the players is not much, but, those playing here have to travel a lot. So, apart from the no. of matches, that’s another factor because you lose a lot of energy when you are on the plane for long durations.”

“Whenever the players come in the middle of the season, I always find them worn out and it’s no different on this occasion. I can’t see anyone in good shape to be honest and that’s why this match and the match next month, both are tough.”

Is Eddie Howe the next Arsenal manager?

September 27, 2016 by ClownTown

It’s been over 19 years since Arsene Wenger was officially appointed as the head coach of Arsenal and even though fans have developed a love-hate relationship with the French tactician, it’s hard to deny that he has become kind of an icon with the Premier League club.

There will be a point in time when Arsenal will have to search for a manager that can replace Arsene Wenger and rumors have been linking Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe with the managerial position in Arsenal.

Eddie Howe is not such a well-known manager as Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho but Howe has certainly been attracting the attention of the media as he has been accomplishing very impressive tasks in the past few years.

Back in 2015, Eddie Howe was named as the manager of the decade in the English League Championship and this shows the impact that the English tactician has been having in recent times.

The first club that Eddie took charge of was Bournemouth back on January of 2009 and in his debut season, he managed to rescue the club out of the bottom relegation zone even though they had a 17 point deficit. In the next season, he managed to push Bournemouth to promotion into the League One.

Bournemouth are very intent on stopping Zlatan Ibrahimovic

September 5, 2016 by ClownTown

It appears that Premier League outfit Bournemouth are very intent on stopping Zlatan Ibrahimovic more than world record signing Paul Pogba.

Ibrahimovic has come to Manchester United on a free transfer from Paris St Germain, whilePogba has just been the most sensational news of 2016 after joining the Red Devils for a world record fee of £ 89 million. However, Ibrahimovic has been grabbing equal attention in recent weeks following his debut goal against Leicester City in the Community Shield. Known as a fierce goalscorer wherever he has been, Ibrahimovic is looking to win a league title in his fifth major country.

Eddie Howe received a lot of praise for the way he managed to keep Bournemouth in the Premier League against all the odds. Even though the club had very little transfer money, they managed to remain without any relegation fears throughout the 2015-16 campaign. The second season in the Premier league is always tough for newly promoted teams. If this holds true, Bournemouth need to start picking up points from the first weekend in order to avoid relegation. Howe has challenged his players to keep Ibrahimovic quiet since he sees this as a first step towards success against Manchester United this weekend.

Gotze may return to Dortmund

August 14, 2016 by ClownTown

German club Borussia Dortmund is currently working on a bid to bring Mario Gotze back from Bayern Munich.

The player who joined Bayern Munich in 2013 has failed to make an impact at his current club and might be favorable to a return to Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund will be leaving for China for their pre-season preparation but are still active on the transfer market. The manager is keen to strengthen the team so as to be able to compete in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has admitted that there are talks in progress between the two clubs, but they have yet to finalize a deal. The player currently has one year contract remaining with Bayern Munich, but he may be available for the right fee.

Hans-Joachim Watzke said that no agreement has been achieved so far and that they still have to talk with Bayern Munich’s representative as well as the player himself. He stated that it would be a great thing for Mario Gotze to return to Borussia Dortmund but at the moment there is nothing concrete.