Tag: Football

Monaco trouble continues

French club Monaco have been going through a troubled spell over the last few months. After selling a number of important players like James Rodriguez, they have also allowed the likes of Radamel Falcao to leave on a temporary basis.

French club Monaco have been going through a troubled spell over the last few months. After selling a number of important players like James Rodriguez, they have also allowed the likes of Radamel Falcao to leave on a temporary basis.

Even though they came close to winning the title last season under Claudio Ranieri, severe budget cuts are taking place at the club. This has seen them perform poorly in the last few weeks. Manager Leonardo Jardim is struggling to motivate his players to perform well. He has said that the squad must work a lot harder if they are to come close to challenge for the league title.

The prospect of winning the French league looks already out of hands, as they are an incredible 10 points behind table leaders Marseille. Despite this, Jardim is feeling confident that the club can at least reach the top three in the table, which would be enough to see them continue in the Champions League. Monaco recently went through four matches without a defeat but that spell came to an end after a 1-0 defeat against Portuguese outfit Benfica. Ahead of the weekend’s match with Saint Etienne,Jardim has tried to motivate his players by saying that the Champions League qualification places still remain within the grasp but only if the players work harder.

“It was a tough match against Benfica.The difference was on efficiency, this is our current problem.The team needs to work to be more effective. Saint-Etienne are a very strong team that plays with a great atmosphere at home.

My attackers have different qualities that offer me several solutions in every game. Our goal is to make a good game and win,” said Jardim. Monaco have managed only 5 wins in the league out of the 12 matches they have played.

Slovakia come with surprise victory v Spain

Slovakia handed the European Champion Spain a shocking defeat in the qualifier last night.
It’s the first defeat that Spain has suffered versus Slovakia in 5 competitive encounters. Out of the last 4, La Roja had won 3 and the other one was a draw.
Now, Slovakia has overtaken Spain in the Group C points table. They have 6 points from 2 games with a goal differential of plus 2.

Slovakia handed the European Champion Spain a shocking defeat in the qualifier last night.
It’s the first defeat that Spain has suffered versus Slovakia in 5 competitive encounters. Out of the last 4, La Roja had won 3 and the other one was a draw.
Now, Slovakia has overtaken Spain in the Group C points table. They have 6 points from 2 games with a goal differential of plus 2.
Nobody had ever thought that Spain, despite playing in front of a huge Slovakian crowd, would walk out as losers at the end of the game. They had been unbeaten in both World Cup as well as Euro qualifiers for the last 8 years and they were expected to extend this run, but, the home team pulled off the unthinkable.
Iker Casillas will have to take a bit of blame again for Spain’s defeat. If it had not been for his misjudgement in the first half of the game, the free kick taken by Kucka, perhaps, would not have shaken the net.
That advantage was, however, nullified by Spain with Paco Alcacer getting one through to the net from close distance, but, Stoch made the hosts get the lead again as he nailed a header just minutes prior to the end of the game.
As the referee blew the end whistle, the arena erupted. The people out there seemed to be enjoying each and every second of that special night and they deserved every bit of it. The way they were behind their team through those 90 minutes, it was mind-blowing.
Spain would think that their main boys did not do enough. Apart from that Casillas’ error, Diego Costa, the man who is flourishing in English top tier this club season, remained scoreless for the 6th successive time at the international level.

Wenger Signing High Profile Players

Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger has already signing a high profile player after securing the services of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona as he arrived to the Emirates Stadium with a transfer fee in the region of €35 million. Arsenal is not known or characterized by having an enormous budget to sign their respective targets or at least not so much compared to other top clubs in Europe and the Premier League.

Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger has already signing a high profile player after securing the services of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona as he arrived to the Emirates Stadium with a transfer fee in the region of €35 million. Arsenal is not known or characterized by having an enormous budget to sign their respective targets or at least not so much compared to other top clubs in Europe and the Premier League.

The Chilean attacker Alexis Sanchez is one of the latest signings of Wenger but the Frenchman has also hinted out that another well-known player could be signed before the end of the summer transfer window.

Mario Balotelli of Ac.Milan was one of the priority players in the watch-list of not only Arsene Wenger but also Brendan Rodgers as the Italian forward has displayed flashes of brilliance and at his young age, Balotelli could be developed into one of the best forwards in the world according to many managers and players.

Brendan Rodgers is known to be an admirer of Balotelli but the manager of Liverpool has made it clear to the media that the Italian forward will not join his squad.

Rodgers said: “I was asked the question about Balotelli and spoke about what a talent he is and excellent player he is,” Rodgers explained to reporters on Sunday. I can categorically tell you that he will not be at Liverpool. He is a wonderful player but an AC Milan player. I just gave my opinion of him but that doesn’t mean I will be signing him.”

The future of Mario Balotelli could be lying in the Premier League or in the Italian League, Serie A as he is still being chased around by Arsenal but if the English club is not able to sign him Balotelli is expected to remain performing with Ac.Milan.

Marek Hamsek Does Not Plan To Move Out Of His League

Marek Hamsek does not have any intention to move out in the summer. For him leaving Serie A giants does not arise. There is no tussle with Rafa Benitez the manager as he stated. His future is in Naples according to him.

Marek Hamsek does not have any intention to move out in the summer. For him leaving Serie A giants does not arise. There is no tussle with Rafa Benitez the manager as he stated. His future is in Naples according to him.

Last season brought mixed reactions for him. He played for 1974 minutes. In the previous to previous season 38 games in all were played by him and for 3271 minutes. His key tactics are not as flawless as it supposed to be. In the term 2012-2013 saw 11 goals scored by him as compared to last season’s 7. What is more striking is that he was able to create 100chances with assist of 14 in 2012-2013 but last year his performance dwindled.

The new boss Benitez is responsible for his form according to some. He himself knows that he could have given a better performance in the last season. His injury has been the cause of concern. So he has rubbished all the reports that he is moving to Manchester United. He is solely committed with the giants of Italy. Since his entry in 2007 he has been a star performer.

He still has a lot to offer to his club and he enjoys working with Benitez and hopes to cooperate with him in the distant future. Form is temporary and that might be the case in the last season for him and a first kind of a serious injury which might also be responsible for his struggling form. However he does not believe in giving excuses. His league needs him and with more practise he aims to be back again with a bang and there is no denying his credibility as star players retain their performance with one bad season which he wishes to forget and move ahead with confidence.