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1
May 14

GET BEHIND VILLA

Aston Villa Chief Executive Paul Faulkner has come out with a statement asking the club supporters to get behind their manager Paul Lambert in a bid to avoid relegation trouble for the second consecutive season. Lambert was brought in as the replacement for Alex McLeish at the start of last season. Since his time at the club, he has come under a lot of criticism for taking Villa backwards. After being a team that competed for European places during the time of Martin O’Neill, Villa are now in a position of fighting against relegation at the end of each campaign.

They narrowly avoided relegation last season and it looks to be the case this time around as well after they are just four points above the drop zone with four matches left. The 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park is the latest in a line of poor form, which is threatening to put the fans against manager Lambert. There have already been voices against the manager, but Faulkner says that this is the time to support the team and the staff. Villa are on a run of four consecutive defeats, which have come after the incredible 1-0 win over Chelsea at Villa Park.

“We have suffered four consecutive defeats and that is hard to take. We are hurting. Fans are hurting, players and the manager are hurting. The frustration is shared by everyone who loves Aston Villa. Now more than ever it’s time for us all to pull together – fans, players, the manager, everyone at the club. Our immediate focus and combined efforts need to be concentrated on our game against Southampton this weekend,” said the chief executive. Villa will next be taking on Southampton, who have little to play for in the remainder of the campaign.

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7
Mar 14

OZIL STRUGGLES

Mesut Ozil’s campaign with Arsenal is not one that the German midfielder would like to remember as he has recently been dropped out from a few matches of the Premier League club and his penalty miss against Bayern Munich is still taking a toll on him.

Some days ago, Joachim Loew announced to all the German players that the clock is ticking and he will only take into consideration bringing into Brazil, the performers that are actually playing well with their respective clubs which means that Ozil’s chance to play for Germany for the 2014 World Cup could be in jeopardy.

Loew said: “We need the best players currently available at the World Cup, and not theoretically the best. I’ve told the players: The clock is ticking. And only ones who hear it will have a fighting chance. This is an appeal to all and a wakeup call to many to work on their training, their routine, and their professionalism as now is the optimal time [to work on those things] before the tournament.”

Germany played a friendly match against Chile at the Mercedez-Benz Arena and a lonely goal from Mario Gotze gave the team of Joachim Loew, the edge they needed in order to claim the victory and even though it was a fairly mediocre match for the Germans, Ozil still managed to stand out in some way or another as he provided the assist for Goetze who scored the only goal of the entire match.

Mesut Ozil stated that his lack of a pre-season with Arsenal is one of the main reasons on why his performances have been under-par.

“Nearly every player who is new to Premier League needs time to settle in. Here, you meet other challenges. It was clear that I would endure a difficult spell because I missed all of Arsenal’s pre-season preparation’’. Ozil admitted.

Joachim Loew might take this into consideration and allow Ozil enough time for him to play with the German team and see if his performances do improve and whether or not decide on letting the Arsenal player represent Germany for the upcoming 2014 World Cup.

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14
Jan 14

JUVE TOP AGAIN

Juventus are once more at the top of the Serie A with a comfortable lead of 8 points over their nearest rivals As.Roma. Even though they have a competitive squad and have not shown much weaknesses in this season there still are rumors and reports involving a number of players that on the radar of Antonio Conte while some others might be seeing their way out of the club.

The head chiefs of Juventus are believed to be having talks with Tottenham concerning Erik Lamela and Conte is willing to use some of his own players in exchange of Lamela as it could tempt the Premier League side Tottenham on letting him go.

Erik Lamela has not enjoyed the best of times since making his switch to Tottenham and a move could be the best decision he makes for his career.

Andrea Pirlo’s passing abilities have always been the absolute best that the Serie A has to offer which has attracted the interest of many top European clubs and even at his fairly elevated years of age, Pirlo is wanted by some of the best clubs in the world.

Kwadwo Asamoah spoke about his current situation in Juventus and even though some reports and rumors have been linking him with a move to another club, the Ghanaian player stated that he has never even thought about leaving Juventus.

“It has never occurred to me to leave for another club.” Asamoah said.

Frederik Sorensen of Juventus is a big target of Bologna who will now have to pay at least €10 million if they want to have full ownership of the player as Sorensen currently is playing for Bologna but is co-owned by Juventus.

Manchester United’s Luis Nani has fallen out of the pecking order of David Moyes and Juventus seemed to be the more likely destination of the Portuguese winger but his injury might be an obstacle for the transfer as the Italian club is now taking their time before launching an official bid.

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22
Nov 13

GOOD NEWS

Tottenham received good news after hearing from the medical results of Christian Eriksen as his injury was initially thought that it would leave him out from the playing grounds for 3 months after his ankle ligaments were ruptured but now it is believed that he should be back in action after 1 month.

The 21 years old midfielder of Tottenham picked up the injury during Demark’s 2-1 triumph over Norway. The injury was confirmed by the team as they talked about the injury with their twitter account and confirmed that the recovery will not take as long as expected.

Tottenham Hotspurs tweeted: “After an MRI scan it’s been determined that @ChrisEriksen8 suffered a sprain of the lateral ankle ligaments playing for Denmark on Friday.

“Christian’s scan showed no sign of ruptured ligaments which will result in a shorter period of recovery for the attacking midfielder.”

He will however still miss out from Tottenham’s important matches against Manchester City, Manchester United and Fulham.

Since Gareth Bale moved to Real Madrid back in September, the attacking duty has been rested on Jermain Defoe and Roberto Soldado but the former player of Valencia said that he is not going through the best of times in his career.

Tottenham splashed out £26 million to secure the services of Soldado in August and now with the absence of Gareth Bale, the pressure of scoring goals is being felt by the Spanish striker who says that he has not lived up to his price tag and expectations.

“I’ve scored six but I’d like to score many more,” said Soldado, speaking to Spurs’ in-house TV channel.

“I am a realist and I know that on the pitch I am not happy with everything.

“I am not combining with my team mates how I would like but I know I am very close.

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24
Sep 13

DEFOE WINS PRAISE

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has praised striker Jermain Defoe after the 3-0 win over Dinamo Tbilisi in the Europa league, which helped the club seal progression into the group stages 8-0 on aggregate. Getting into the group stages of the Europa league was extremely important for Tottenham given the profile it would give to the club on the international market. Further, the club has also spent a lot of money on several players in this transfer window. They have made their purchases with the Europa league group stages in mind. Without the games of the Europa league, it would be difficult to satisfy such a large group of players.

Defoe has not been a first-team regular season, as he has largely been referred to Roberto Soldado in the league. However, he has played in the Europa league and he demonstrated his quality by scoring two goals in the second leg. After the match, the manager praised the 29-year-old, who has been linked with a move away from Tottenham. The Premier league outfit came into the match on the back of a 5-0 win in the first leg, which almost put them in the group stages. Defoe has been a goalscorer throughout his career and the manager rightly praised this ability.

“We couldn’t be complacent. All the boys did extremely well. After a 5-0 win you can come into the game with a laid back attitude. They didn’t. They kept their professionalism and got some chances and got some good moments of football with some good combinations. Jermain has the goalscoring ability and once again he proved it tonight. What we are trying to do is build a strong team with strong players and everyone has to compete for a place,” said Villas-Boas.

The team will be preparing for a weekend’s match against archrivals Arsenal.

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6
Aug 13

MICHU THE REVELATION

Swansea striker Michu was a revelation in the Premier league last season. Even though he cost the club only around £ 2 million, he managed to score almost 20 goals in an incredible season that helped Swansea achieve their first victory in a major trophy. The club also finished ninth in the Premier league. Michu was so prominent in Swansea’s excellent season that there was even talk of him being called up for the Spanish national team. The former Malaga forward, though, was not eventually picked for the Confederations cup despite his impressive form.

Michu will also have to face competition from Ivory Coast international Wilfried Bony, who has arrived at the club for a record £ 12 million. In comparison with Michu, Bony will have pressure straightaway in order to deliver goals. The Spaniard, though, is confident that this increased competition for places will help the club benefit over the course of the campaign. Michu has said that he does not think his position is that danger because he has the ability to play as a second striker as well.

He has recalled to he scored a majority of his goals from playing just behind the main striker. He expects the physical presence of Wilfried Bony to play to his advantage.

“I scored more goals when I played behind a striker last season. It was important for Swansea to bring in a top striker and Bony is a super player. We are stronger and no-one is guaranteed a place to start the season,” said the striker. Swansea will also have to take into consideration the effects of playing in the Europa league. Their entry into the competition starts with the qualifying matches from Thursday. This is likely to see them playing a huge number of matches if they make it into the group stages.

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