Tag Archives: Football

WEST BROM DEFEAT BOURNEMOUTH AS HEGAZI SHINES

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Fresh from an underwhelming pre-season West Brom manager Tony Pulis would’ve been desperate for a positive start to the new Premier League season.


The Baggies faced last season’s revelation Bournemouth in the opening fixture on Saturday and thanks to an Ahmed Hegazi 31st minute powerful header, the West Londoners came away with the full three points in the bag although staying above relegation this season remains their primary benchmark.

Still they will be happy to have lessened the tide of unsatisfaction emanating from the stands, aggravating the removal of the squad coach.

Pulis, especially from his days at Stoke City has built a reputation of favouring substance over style, preferring instead his players stick with the unconventional ugly job of sacrificing entertaining football for the primary safety from the relegation zone; The chief reason why his teams rarely aspire finishing above the mid-table.

Another new signing from Southampton Jay Rodriguez showed a lot of promise on Saturday as he proved that his pace will most certainly add a new and perhaps effective dimension to the Baggies’ attack.

Still it was Hegazi’s powerful drive beyond Asmir Begovic’s line that proved crucial throughout the afternoon encounter. The Egypt international is on loan from Al Ahly and will hope to do enough to convince West Brom to sign him on permanent terms even if that means ditching Jonny Evans. Continue reading →

CELTIC FANS MAD AT KING

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Celtic fans are going crazy over recent comments made by Rangers chair Dave King about their title victories.


King made a controversial statement when he rubbished the victories of four out of six that Celtic have won. The South African based chief claimed Celtic are two in a row and would not get the rest eight to make up to the ten they want.

Even Rangers fans’ asked that the chief keep quiet and focus on the forthcoming term. They ask that the club chief not make statements like this that could backfire on the club.

The club chief said the four titles Celtic won without Rangers in the top flight were crap. His comments are already igniting the heat for the next season as many would be keen to see if Rangers can cause an upset to the title winning Brendan Rodgers led side.

While the arguments prolong, Hoops manager Rodgers has said that he is looking at adding just a player during the Champions League qualifying period. Praises of the historic treble are still being sung, with many daring to ask for a repeat next season. With Patrick Roberts returning to his parent club Manchester City, Jonny Hayes has joined Parkhead. Continue reading →

WENGER NOT INFLUENCED BY PLANE BANNER

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he is not influenced by the banner flown above the Bet365 stadium when they played Stoke City in the Premier League.


Arsenal eventually won the game 4-1 on Saturday to move a point behind fourth-placed Liverpool.

A section of the fans are protesting the Frenchman’s continued stay as the head coach despite years of stagnation. Wenger is out of contract at the end of the year and the fans want him to leave after 21 years in charge.

Wenger was successful in his first six years as he led teams to win two League and Cup doubles. The club has failed to win the Champions League even though they regularly qualify for it. Heck, Wenger has reached just one final. In the past 12 years, Wenger has won just two trophies which were the back to back FA Cup in 2014 and 2015.Of recent a cycle has been happening. Top players would play, win and lose some games then exit the side due to different levels of ambition. And it seems that cycle is not ending soon. Continue reading →

Antonio Conte works more on Player Mindset

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Generally you expect a coach to try and ease the nerves of his boys in the locker room, but, Antonio Conte, at times, himself tries to make some hype around certain matches.


Conte reckons that because of him being a former player himself, he doesn’t have to try too hard to understand how a player’s mind-set tends to be like at different stages. There are moments when the guard of a player just drops down a little bit.

In the opinion of Conte, it generally happens when the opposition is of a small stature and you feel unthreatened by it.

If the big boys are there to battle against, then there is enough hype around the encounter itself and at that time, you actually have to look to ensure that the team doesn’t get too anxious.

But, against a minnow, it’s completely different. There is no such hype and that’s where there is the danger that the sense of complacency may creep in and the players may not approach the game with the right kind of mind-set. Continue reading →

Bruma Unaware of Interest from Arsenal and Tottenham

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Galatasaray winger Bruma has been linked with a move to Tottenham in the last few days.


It has been reported that the winger is unhappy with life in Turkish football. Bruma been a major factor in the club managing to stay afloat in the Turkish league table. Galatasaray are undoubtedly one of the strongest teams in the division, but they have not been at their best for the last couple of seasons. After managing to score 3 goals and three assists in just seven league outings, Bruma is undoubtedly one of the biggest assets within Galatasaray’s squad.

Unfortunately, his goals have not been able to lift the team any higher than third place. It is only in the last couple of weeks that they have managed to hit the right note and find some form. Just one draw in the last five games has seen the club progress to 3rd place in the table. Even though they remain only level on points with leaders Besiktas and Istanbul Basaksehir, it is not seen as a good enough start to the league campaign. In this instance, sudden rumours linking Bruma with a move to either has taken the club by storm.
Continue reading →

Joe Garner expresses his delight in joining Rangers FC

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Joe Garner is one of the few attackers that Rangers FC has secured during the summer transfer window.


The Scottish club has mainly been signing midfielders in the current transfer window but one of the forwards that Mark Warbuton did add to his squad in Rangers was the 28 year old English striker Joe Garner who made his way from Preston North End to Rangers FC for a fee of £1.8 million.

The 28 year old attacker announced his excitement in having joined Rangers as Joe Garner said: “I’ve played at massive clubs before like Nottingham Forest but Rangers is the biggest I’ve played for .It would be fair to say that, at 28, I had to grasp this opportunity because I wasn’t sure if I’d get another like it.’’

“When I heard about the club’s interest, it was something my family and I couldn’t turn down. The club has sold 45,000 season tickets, so that says everything about the size of things here and I’m really looking forward to it.”

£1.8 million was the fee that Rangers FC had to offload in order to bring Joe Garner from Preston North End over to the Ibrox Stadium and this is the highest fee that Mark Warbuton has signed for any player during his time in charge of the Scottish club. Continue reading →

LEIGHTON BAINES: EVERTON PLAYERS WANTED KOEMAN

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Veteran Everton defender Leighton Baines says the Everton players all wanted Ronald Koeman to lead them.


Baines himself was in and out of the team in the last campaign as he had ankle injuries but is already back in training at Finch Farm. Baines, who rarely commented on issues at the club, said Koeman was the right deal to move the club forward.

Baines who has been with the club for almost a decade, sharing highs and lows, said he hopes the new boss would ensure the club moved forward. He revealed that the whole team received the appointement well as Koeman was the one “everyone was hoping for.”

He further revealed that the players had given up on the tactics of former coach Roberto Martinez. At half time during the FA Cup semi-final, Baines was heard on the tunnel camera talking about Everton making an already big Wembley pitch, even bigger. There were a lot of reports that when Martinez was sacked, a lot of senior team players and even Martinez’s staff were all up on each other, with players leaving the training. Baines opines that the whole situation would be different with Koeman. Continue reading →

Newcastle loss has put a bit of a doubt in the head of Francesco Guidolin

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The Newcastle loss has put a bit of a doubt in the head of Francesco Guidolin as he now reckons his team’s current tally of points doesn’t ensure safety.

The victory against the Blues at the Liberty Stadium eight days back had made Guidolin declare his side safe.


With an extremely confident tone that evening, the 60-year old man from Italy had said that the Swans had reached the point where they could believe they were virtually safe.

That was probably not the right statement to make for Guidolin especially at that stage because a manager’s statement always influences the players.

When you, as the team’s boss, come out saying we are safe, it might go down in the change room as the signal that the job is done even if that is not what you are suggesting with your statement.

And, it showed at Newcastle. It was a pretty feeble going from the Swans and one could feel that that they were not playing the game with any real meaning.

The manager probably himself felt the same too and that’s why, he sounded shaken when he talked to media.

Guidolin emphasized how things could change unexpectedly in soccer if a team doesn’t have its foot on the gas all the time. Continue reading →

Changes in players at Paris Saint-Germain next season

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Paris Saint Germain is preparing themselves for massive changes next season with new players coming in and others going. With Zlatan Ibrahimovic announcing that he will not be staying in Paris, PSG is trying to find a suitable replacement for the Swedish forward.

It is believed that Edison Cavani will be deployed as the central striker and that there will be changes on the wings. It has been suggested that Paris Saint-Germain might be making a bid for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez. Despite having made a good start to the season with Arsenal, Alexis Sanchez form has declined over the season especially after his injury. PSG will be hoping that Arsenal will be tempted to sell their forward with the right amount of money.

With Arsenal failing to win any silverware this season, it might be tempting for Alexis Sanchez to make the switch to a team that is almost certain of winning the league each season and who is pushing now to win the Premier League. Continue reading →