Wednesday 24 October 2012

Mancini - Ajax defeat was my fault



Roberto Mancini shouldered the blame after watching his Manchester City side slump to a 3-1 defeat to Ajax, insisting it was his fault that they lost.

 City's Champions League campaign is in major trouble after defeat in Amsterdam left them with one point from three matches.

 Goals from Siem de Jong, Nicklas Moisander and Christian Eriksen overturned Samir Nasri's opener.

 Mancini, either through honesty or an attempt to protect his players, turned all the blame on himself, claiming he did not prepare properly for the match.

 When pressed on the issue, the Italian explained that he sent his men out with the wrong tactics to beat Ajax. "They played better than us," Mancini told us.

 "It's my fault, I didn't prepare the players properly for this game. It's my fault. I prepared them one way but it was different. When you prepare them one way and think it will be like this, instead it is a different game."

 Mancini attempted to change his side's fortunes in the second half by switching from a back four to a back three, but he insists that alteration did not cost City the match.

 "We changed for five minutes but there were always 11 players [on the pitch]," he said. "Before [the change], we conceded two goals, so if someone wants to take this as an excuse, okay, but this is not the problem.

 "We have to be strong. It is very difficult [to qualify now]. One team (Dortmund) has seven points, one (Real Madrid) has six. We need a miracle like last year."

Africa Cup of Nations Draw - Super Eagles to face champion's


 Group A - South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Angola
 Group B - Ghana, Mali, Niger, DR Congo
 Group C - Zambia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia
 Group D - Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Algeria, Togo

     more to follow......

Saturday 22 September 2012

Premier League: Chelsea 1 Stoke 0


Chelsea maintained their place at the top of the Premier League with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Stoke City at Stamford Bridge.

 The visitors looked to have held on for a deserved point until the 85th minute, when Ashley Cole coolly finished from close range to notch his first top-flight strike for two years and keep the Blues on top of the pile.

 Brazil starlet Oscar made his first Premier League start for the Blues after his stunning goal-scoring debut in the Champions League in midweek, while Petr Cech took the captain's armband as John Terry and Frank Lampard were consigned to the substitutes' bench.

 The hosts began to dictate play from the off, with Stoke seemingly content to get as many men behind the ball as possible while allowing the likes of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar to keep possession so long as they didn't encroach on the penalty area.

 Despite their early monopoly of the ball, Chelsea struggled to find a way to break down Tony Pulis' side and were fortunate not go a goal behind on the 20-minute mark.

 Glen Whelan whipped in a dangerous delivery from a free-kick to the right-hand side, where John Walters ghosted in completely unmarked at the near post and flicked a header goalwards only to see the ball clip the top of the crossbar, with Cech motionless in the middle of his goal.

 Chelsea responded with some sustained pressure and Branislav Ivanovic had a shout for a penalty waved away after he turned past Robert Huth in the box, with replays showing he went to ground a little too readily for referee Michael Oliver's liking although there was some contact between the players.

 The Blues continued to dictate without finding a way through to Asmir Begovic's goal, until Fernando Torres missed the best chance of the half for the hosts.

 Juan Mata clipped a simple ball over the top of the back four from the edge of the area, but the Spain striker couldn't quite bring it down on his chest and Begovic was off his line smartly to smother the danger.

 Stoke's resilience began to frustrate Roberto Di Matteo's side. David Luiz tried his luck with an ambitious free-kick and Hazard scuffed a cross-come-shot wide of the far post, which only added to the tension around Stamford Bridge.

 Indeed, the hosts had Cech to thank for preventing their frustration from growing as the Czech keeper was twice called into action as the half drew to a close.

 First he denied Marc Wilson from long-range as Chelsea failed to close him down, before diving smartly to save from Michael Kightly's header after good interplay between Peter Crouch and Geoff Cameron.

 Chelsea started the second half brightly and were denied another appeal for a penalty when Oscar burst through the middle before going down under a challenge from Huth.

 The Blues continued their assault, though, with first Oscar and then Torres being denied by the Begovic, before Crouch attempted a spectacular volley at the other end which sailed over the bar as Stoke tried to regain a foothold in the match.

 Mata thought he had finally found a way through after some brilliant interplay between Oscar and Moses, but a terrific last-ditch tackle from Ryan Shawcross denied him at the near post.

 Both sides continued to look lively going forward going into the final period of the game.

 First John Obi Mikel wasted a great chance as he dragged his shot wide of Begovic's left-hand post following Torres' pass, before substitutes Michael Owen and Kenwyne Jones combined to tee up Matthew Etherington inside the area, who likewise fluffed his lines.

 It was a miss which Etherington and Stoke would ultimately rue, however, as Chelsea finally broke the deadlock with just five minutes remaining.

 Cole burst forward with the ball from the edge of his own area and continued into the box after laying off to substitute Lampard. He found a team mate, whose cross went beyond Mata and Cole was left to dink the ball over Begovic from just six yards out to the relief of the home fans inside the Bridge.

 Stoke tried to rally in the closing minutes but Chelsea held on for all three points, keeping them top of the Premier League pile and putting pressure on the Manchester clubs ahead of their huge respective clashes against Liverpool and Arsenal on Sunday.

Manchester United enquired about our stars, claims Galatasaray vice-president


Galatasaray vice-president Ali Durust has claimed Manchester United enquired about the availability of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and defender Semih Kaya in the aftermath of the club's 1-0 Champions League defeat at Old Trafford.

 Sir Alex Ferguson's charges narrowly won their European opener thanks to an early Michael Carrick goal and despite keeping a clean sheet, the Scot has been rumoured to be searching for a centre-back, having been recently linked to Torino's Angelo Ogbonna.

 However, after seeing the 21-year-old Kaya – a product of the Turkish club's academy - perform against his team and making his interest known, Durust ruled out a potential move.

 He told reporters: "Semih came from our youth academy. He is a valuable member of our squad. "We didn't set an asking price for him.

 He is indispensable at that moment. "Muslera has the same value too. Both of them are in our future plans. We never want to sell them."

 The Uruguayan shot-stopper foiled Nani from the penalty spot and put in an assured display against the Red Devils, later admitting he held the English top-flight in high esteem.

 "The Premier League is my childhood dream," Muslera said. "I would like to make this dream come true in the future. But right now I'm totally focused on Galatasaray's success."

 The 26-year-old goalkeeper was part of Uruguay's memorable run to the World Cup 2010 semi-finals and is entering his second year at Galatasaray after moving from Lazio in 2011.

Premier League preview: Manchester City v Arsenal


Lukas Podolski will hope he can continue his bright start with Arsenal when they travel to reigning champions Manchester City on Sunday.

 The English Premier League clash pits one of the best attacking sides in the competition (Manchester City) against the best defensive outfit (Arsenal) but it is up the other end where the game could be decided.

 Podolski, who has scored three goals in as many games, could be key for the visitors.

 The 27-year-old German forward scored Arsenal's first league goal of the season in their 2-0 triumph over Liverpool before getting involved in the 6-1 thrashing of Southampton and starting the London club's comeback in their 2-1 Champions League victory against Montpellier on Tuesday.

 Podolski has arguably been Arsenal's buy of the European transfer window and will hope to take advantage of Manchester City's porous defence at Etihad Stadium.

 The reigning champions have already let in six goals in four league games this season and conceded three times in 17 minutes to lose 3-2 to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.

 Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini reportedly chased central defenders Daniel Agger (Liverpool) and Victor Ruiz (Espanyol) during the latest transfer window in a quest to find a decent partner for captain Vincent Kompany and that failure looks to have cost the club so far.

 Neither Joleon Lescott nor Matija Nastasic seem consistent enough, while Mancini does not appear interested in playing Kolo Toure again.

 With Arsenal having scored 10 goals in their past three games, Arsene Wenger's side are surely excited at the prospect of taking on Manchester City's misfiring defence.

 Wenger must still do without Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski, Marouane Chamakh, Bakari Sagna, Thomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshire and Emmanuel Frimpong against City, as all seven are injured, but Arsenal's manager must be thrilled with how his team is playing.

 Arsenal's new assistant coach Steve Bould has done a great job as defensive coordinator, while Abou Diaby, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla have quickly come together as a formidable midfield trio.

 Mancini will be sweating on the fitness of French midfielder Samir Nasri, who injured his hamstring in Madrid, while full-back Micah Richards remains on City's injury list.

Di Matteo calm over Abramovich visit


Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo says Roman Abramovich visited Blues training after his side's disappointing draw with Juventus.

 Chelsea, who are preparing to face Stoke in the Premier League on Saturday, let a two goal lead slip against Juventus as they began their UEFA Champions League title defence with a 2-2 draw.

 Owner Abramovich spoke to the players at the club's training ground at Cobham on Thursday but it is nothing new to the Italian coach.

 "Yeah he (Abramovich) actually comes quite often to be honest," Di Matteo said.

 "He likes to be involved and he comes down whenever he can. He's followed us a lot this season on the pre-season tour in the States as well. So he's always around when he can be.

 "At a big club you are always under pressure and have to win games and in the right manner as well.

 That's part of being at a big club and the same applies to us." Teenage sensation Oscar marked his Champions League debut with two goals against Juventus, but Di Matteo says the Brazilian is still acclimatising to the Premier League and will face another test against Stoke on Saturday.

 "It's going to be a more physical game because the Premier League in general is more like that," said the former Chelsea midfielder. "But I'm pretty sure he's ready for that, he's an intelligent man and player and will find a way to get around it."

 The Italian also condemned the behaviour of the Twitter users who aimed racist remarks at Nigerian international midfielder John Obi Mikel.

 Mikel was at fault for Juventus' second goal and has subsequently closed his Twitter account. "Well his (John Obi Mikel) intention was to close the account anyway so it was a good reason to close it," he said.

 "I think in general you know social media Twitter because it's anonymous; it's a dangerous vehicle to express yourself. "So if someone has to express an opinion he should put his face to it."

Mancini denies Balotelli bust-up


Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has rebuffed reports he has had a falling out with striker Mario Balotelli.

 The 21-year-old was omitted for the dramatic 3-2 Champions League defeat against Real Madrid at Bernabeu on Tuesday night, sparking rumours of another bust-up with the manager.

 But Mancini denied those suggestions, claiming it was simply a case of rotation and that the Italy international will be fit to play against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.

 "This story is totally false," Mancini told reporters on Friday.

 "Mario went in the stand only because we started to play with Carlos Tevez in attack and we couldn't have three strikers on the bench. "There has been no argument, and no row. Absolutely not."

 Meanwhile, the 47-year-old confirmed that Samir Nasri is a major doubt to face his former club, after the France midfielder was taken off during Tuesday's game with a hamstring problem.

 The France international's injury isn't as serious as first feared, but the Blues' boss admits a comeback on Sunday is very unlikely.

 "I do not think he will be ready for Sunday," Mancini said. "We will try but it is difficult. "I hope he will be OK for next week."

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Hot Sonakshi Sinha, Car Price in India