..::Football IV::..

[Wolverine GTR]

Conte: Chelsea risk another mid-table finish

Antonio Conte has stressed Chelsea must improve after their 3-0 defeat the hands of Arsenal or risk ending up in mid-table once more.

Chelsea had to settle for 10th place in the Premier League in 2015-16 after a hugely underwhelming season and brought in Conte in order to guide them back to the Champions League places.Nevertheless, the former Italy boss has admitted they still have plenty of work to do.

"We must improve a lot of if we want to stay up [at the top] and not in the middle of the table," said the Italian."But my message is not important. The most important message is the one that arrives on the pitch. We must all understand this message, and find very soon the right solution to improve.

"I don't sleep [after a loss like against Arsenal], I don't sleep for two nights. When I don't sleep, I reflect. And it's important to reflect. "I got angry at half-time but I prefer to keep my words. There are rules in the dressing room. Sure I was angry but my players were also angry. We were not satisfied with our game, with our performance.

"I have to find the solution very, very soon because against Arsenal we played a very bad game."The reverse at Emirates Stadium made it three winless top-flight matches for Chelsea, who sit eighth.

 

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Ivanovic: Chelsea let Conte down

Branislav Ivanovic feels Chelsea let manager Antonio Conte down with their first-half performance in Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Arsenal.

The visitors were two goals down within 14 minutes following strikes from Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott, while Mesut Ozil added a third shortly before the break to put the match to bed, and Ivanovic acknowledged they did not stick to Conte's game plan."We did not believe in what we were doing at the beginning and we were punished," the Serbian told Chelsea's official website.

"As a team we did not answer anything the manager asked of us. We have to be honest with ourselves and put more attention on the small details. We have to be more focused and concentrated on the game.

"I know it is very disappointing and it hurts all of us, but the opinion of everyone in the dressing room was in the same direction. We have to build on that, stay together, work hard, and believe in what we are doing. I am sure we can come out of it stronger. We have to stick together.

"Nothing in life or in football comes easy, you always go up and down, but we know when you are in a difficult position you have to work hard and prepare for the next game. I hope we are mentally ready for the challenge."The result made it three league games without a win for Chelsea, leaving them eighth.

 

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Guardiola: Top-four finish very tough for Man City

Pep Guardiola thinks Manchester City face a difficult task to qualify for the Champions League and insists he is not thinking about a possible title win.

City have won 10 consecutive matches in all competitions to start the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss' reign at the Etihad Stadium in style.

Six of those victories have come in the Premier League – the most recent being Saturday's 3-1 win at Swansea City – but Guardiola is refusing to get carried away, with even a top-four finish something he will not take for granted.

"I didn't think about what might happen at the start of the season," he told the club's website."We just focused on pre-season and then we took a lot of confidence from our Champions League qualifying games and then it's been game-by-game."I honestly just think qualifying for the Champions League will be very tough.

"United played really well [against Leicester City], Liverpool are especially playing very well, as are Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal. Everton may have lost, but they are all so, so strong.

"Now we are thinking of Celtic and then it will be Tottenham and that's how we'll go forward. At the end of the season, we'll see how our levels were and whether we were better than our rivals or not."

Guardiola felt City's creative play was far from perfect in the triumph over Swansea, with the match level at 1-1 until his side struck twice in the final 25 minutes.He added: "We didn't create a lot of clear chances – we created a lot of 'almost' chances, but our final pass was not good enough."We arrived many, many times with Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan.

"It was amazing that we were in that situation so often, but didn't make the final pass, but then we got the penalty and then a third goal so we were able to win."
City sit four points clear at the summit, with next top-flight opponents Tottenham their nearest challengers.

 

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Liverpool have unbelievable quality - Milner

James Milner says the pressure is on Liverpool's stars to maintain their recent form due to the strength in depth in the Reds' squad.

Jurgen Klopp's men have taken 13 points from six games and have scored 11 goals in their past three Premier League matches in impressive wins over Leicester City, Chelsea and Hull City.

Milner scored two penalties in Saturday's 5-1 thrashing of the Tigers and says the whole squad is determined to perform as the quality in Liverpool's ranks means there is little room for error.

"You look down the squad list and the quality is unbelievable," Milner told the official Liverpool website."You see the bench and some boys have been injured, some players are not in the squad, and the young boys who are knocking around the squad with such quality. It is pleasing.

"And you know if you do not perform, the shirt is going to be taken off you and someone else is going to get the chance. And you do not know how long they are going to have that shirt for.

"You need that competition for places to drive each other on. Hopefully we can keep improving as a team."

 

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Totti reaches 250 Serie A goals in Roma defeat

Francesco Totti has become the second player to reach 250 Serie A goals, but the occasion was bittersweet as Roma fell to a 3-1 defeat against Torino.

The Roma icon turns 40 on Tuesday and sent Joe Hart the wrong way from the penalty spot 10 minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.

That was the 250th strike of Totti's top-flight career, over 23 years after making his league debut as a 16-year-old against Brescia in March 1993.

Only legendary striker Silvio Piola, who retired in 1954, has more goals in Italy's top division with 274.

Roma were already two goals down by the time the milestone was reached, Andrea Belotti heading hosts Torino in front after eight minutes and Iago Falque scoring a penalty of his own three minutes before Totti's strike.

The veteran's spot-kick gave the visitors hope of launching a comeback, but a second strike for Falque - on loan in Turin from Roma - restored Torino's two-goal cushion to end a three-game winless run.Roma have now lost two of their last three Serie A matches, leaving them five points behind early leaders Juventus.

 

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Angry Spalletti slams Roma players' attitude

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti was unimpressed with his players' mentality after they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Torino.Iago Falque, the winger on loan from Roma, did the damage against his parent club by scoring a decisive second-half double.

His goals came either side of Francesco Totti's 250th Serie A strike, with Spalletti's team never able to get back on level terms following Andrea Belotti's early header.

Roma have now lost two of their last three Serie A matches to leave them five points behind early leaders Juventus and Spalletti is fed up of seeing his side expect to simply turn up and win.

He told Sky Italia: "For a long time this team has shown too many highs and lows, both under myself and other coaches. "When they are able to feed off the enthusiasm from our fans, they are able to produce more than they usually can.

"On the other hand, as soon as they encounter difficulties, the heads drop and confusion sets in because they mistakenly think that the potential quality of the players is enough to pull something out of the bag, without rolling up their sleeves and searching for more effort and hard work.

"Consequently, this is when the opponents demonstrate precisely these qualities and therefore what Roma have to offer is not enough.

"A disconnect emerges between the technical aspect and what happens on the pitch. There's always this presumption that things will happen by themselves purely because of the prestige of the club, the quality in the squad and the importance of the shirt.

"We were probably missing a bit of determination. We messed up a few chances at the beginning and had these chances been better exploited, we definitely could have directed the match in a different direction.

"When we let them in for their first chance of the game, Torino scored."Spalletti knows Roma cannot continue to produce such performances, as issues over effort will always be blamed on the coach.

He added: "Unfortunately, our history suggests that we don't always maintain the level of hard work and effort needed for 90 minutes, put in the hard yards or try to help our team-mates. We have peaks and troughs and we definitely have to address this during the week.

"If this tendency exists, the coach is the first to take the blame because he needs to keep up a more measured attitude in the squad, without any of these jolts."

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Poor costa

https://twitter.com/TerryAFCx/status/779801067496300544​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Poor costa



https://twitter.com/TerryAFCx/status/779801067496300544
​

Chance 1kak dennema naha neda & Tackles....Tackles.....Tackles​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Guardiola has already done an 'amazing' job at Man City - Alonso

Bayern Munich midfielder Xabi Alonso has hailed Pep Guardiola's understanding of football and feels he has already done a great job at Manchester City during his brief spell in charge.

Guardiola has won his first 10 games in charge of City to lead them to the top of the Premier League table.Alonso has first-hand experience of working with Guardiola, having played under the Catalan at Bayern, and he believes City are reaping the rewards of the former Barcelona coach's tutelage.

"Pep has a natural talent to understand football and to then transform that understanding on to his players," Alonso told Marca."He likes to have the ball and for his players to show courage and you can just feel this.

"What he has done at Manchester City over the past two months is amazing. The desire his players have to prove themselves to the fans and the coach is the result of Pep's work. He is very demanding and methodical."

Guardiola left Bayern for City after three years at the Allianz Arena and Alonso was quick to stress they have nothing but fond memories of the 45-year-old."His farewell at Bayern was very emotional for all the fans, players and all staff," Alonso added.

"That just went to show what he meant for Bayern and achieved here. His time at Bayern was a success and everybody is very grateful."

 

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'Liverpool are good enough to win the Premier League' - Houllierague

Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier believes the Reds can only get better under Jurgen Klopp and feels they have what it takes to win the Premier League title this season.

Houllier, who managed the Anfield outfit to six trophies in as many years in charge on Merseyside, has hailed the entertaining football that Klopp’s side have showcased this term.

And he believes the current squad are at a level where they could yet challenge for their first league title since 1990

“They are entertaining and also extremely efficient,” he told reporters at Soccerex. “You just have to see the number of goals they score.

“They have a new philosophy and I like the coach. The best is yet to come
When asked whether Liverpool could win the league, he added: “They are good enough for that.”

 

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Hazard: No excuse for Arsenal defeat

Eden Hazard admits Chelsea can have no excuses for their 3-0 loss to London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The Blues had been undefeated in their first four Premier League games under Antonio Conte, but were beaten 2-1 by Liverpool before this weekend's setback at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal scored three times in the opening 40 minutes, leaving Chelsea with no way back, and Hazard acknowledges his side must improve."There are no excuses," he told the club's official website. "It was not good. We lost too many duels.

"We came to win the match but we made mistakes - for the first goal, another for the second and then before we knew it we were already 3-0 down.

"Every weekend at the moment we having to come back and score. We did it at Leicester but against Arsenal, who were playing at home, it was not possible."They played well. We need to be better. In the last three games in the league there have been nine points available and we have got one. It is disappointing.

"We need to go away and work on what we are doing wrong ahead of the big matches that are coming up."With no European football this season, Chelsea's next test comes away to Hull City on Saturday.

 

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Madrid form draws no concern for Zidane

Zinedine Zidane has no worries over Real Madrid's form despite heading into the mouthwatering Champions League Group F clash against Borussia Dortmund on the back of consecutive LaLiga draws.

Madrid's lead at the summit of Spain's top division is down to a solitary point after Villarreal held them 1-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu last week and Las Palmas hit back to a retrieve a 2-2 scoreline on Saturday.

Nevertheless, Zidane was in a relaxed mood as he faced a pre-match news conference ahead of Tuesday's match at Signal Iduna Park.Asked whether Madrid's dropped points were a concern for him, he said: "No, absolutely not and not because we are changing competitions, either. This can happen and it may happen again.

"We know what we want to do, we know what we need to be working on to achieve things."The team is in good shape. Nobody likes to lose four points in two games but football is like that."Sometimes it's good to give you a warning and then you continue on your way with your work."

On whether the reasons for the recent stumble were rooted in defence or attack, he added: "It's a bit of everything but I'm not worried specifically about anything. We can do things better."When you have chances to score goals I would like to obviously score more goals.

"When [Las Palmas] score two goals against us, of course you have to think about the defence. There are things that we can identify but it's a combination of everything together."

Zidane, who announced fit-again duo Keylor Navas and Fabio Coentrao are ready to play 90 minutes if called upon, substituted Cristiano Ronaldo with Madrid 2-1 to the good at the weekend but he insists he will continue to rotate his squad as they bid for honours at home, along with the retention of their European crown.

"They [the players] know that anything can happen. Squad rotation is an idea that I have," he explained. "Everything is normal. I'm not silly and he [Ronaldo] is clever. We all want the same thing.

"When there's a game that one player doesn’t play in… you can't always ask players to be 100 per cent "If you change the side around and spread the minute around the squad there is more chance of a player being 100 per cent and that is important."

 

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Klopp: Liverpool gave me my greatest half hour in football

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool's dramatic comeback win over Borussia Dortmund last season was the "best half hour I've had in football".

Dejan Lovren's injury-time header saw Liverpool seal a 4-3 win on the night, 5-4 on aggregate over the German's former club in the Europa League quarter-final as the Reds twice faced a three-goal deficit to overcome.

Discussing Liverpool's new stand while on Sky Sports' 'Monday Night Football', Klopp said: "We have a new stand in Liverpool, which is 22,000 people sitting, which I have never seen.

"But the Kop created the best half hour that I've had in football."I don't have to say it was the last half hour against Dortmund, the atmosphere in the stadium was the best I've ever had - hopefully not the best I will ever have but it was outstanding.

He added: "I don't want to compare. I'm a lucky guy who has had two wonderful clubs and now I can work here. The Kop is an impressive place and I love to play in front of them."

 

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UEFA Champions League Group Stages Fixtures 2016.09.27

UEFA Champions League Group Stages Fixtures 2016.09.27

Monaco Vs Leverkusen

CSKA Vs Tottenham

Dortmund Vs Real Madrid

Sporting CP Vs Legia

Kobenhavn Vs Club Brugge

Leicester City Vs Porto

Sevilla Vs LYON

Dinamo Zagreb Vs Juventus

​

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid


Ok. Now to get to the point. It's true that we haven't lost a single game in this season. There were a lot of times that it felt like we were gonna loose. Like the match against Seviila where Ramos again saved us from a header. Or the match against Sporting CP where again Ronaldo's free kick & morata's header saved us. We are madrid & yes we always somehow manage to find a way to win. But this has been far from impressive. And the matches that felt like winning were given away because of poor defending.
We do not dominate the game right now. Fitness of the top players have been very poor. Specially the ones who competed in the EUROS. BBC do not "click" like they used to do. They do not sync. All I have seen so far are individual performances mostly. And injuries seem to hit us pretty hard. Specially the players we definitely need.

In the middle we lost Casemiro for a month. The only player who doesn't have a proper back up. And we are conceding more & more goals because of him. Opponents seem to get create chances much much easier now. The other was Pepe. TBH our defence was never the best. Ramos is a fine defender. He's good in set pieces but tend to do many mistakes in the back. That's his nature. It'ds never gonna stop. But Pepe is a totally different person now. Had an outstanding season. If I were to be given the ballon D'or to a defender this season, it'll definitely be him He has cleaned up his act. Rarely makes mistakes. Was a wall with portugal in all of the matches. Was a wall with Real at the end of the season. Varane is fine but still he's another person who makes silly mistakes. His tracking is not the best. Both goals in Villareal & Las Palmas matches were given away because of his poor thinking. I don't feel like marcelo as vital as those two players at this moment because he is more attack minded.

To speak of Dortmund, they have really turned the tables this season. I have followed them closely since the beginning of the season and I'm sure they'll give a hard time for Bayern. Worthy title contenders & fully motivated. Reus is still injured but they have a good versatile team with great players who work as a team. Sure, they don't have bale, ronaldo, modric or kroos but they are motivated, synced in playmaking & much more attack minded.
They lost 1-0 against promoted leipzig. It was far from impressive. But tbh Leipzig are giving everybody a hard time this season. But after that they won 6-0 against legia, 6-0 against Darmstadt, 5-1 against Wolfsburg and 3-1 against freiburg. A pretty much "Madrid" performance I must say. The vesitality is one of dortmunds stronger suits I must say. Specially with the new players - Gurriero, Dembele & Mor. Gurriero is the one I'm most impressed about. He played Full back with portugal but tuchel says that he can play in many places & I've seen him feature even in the wing also. And He has been creating many chanced and also scoring goals. And then there is dembele. A pretty good player but with disciplinary problems. I see him as the player for us to target. If we are to frustrate him there is a good chance of him being sent off. Maybe Carvajal is up for that. But he is quick & dangerous and will give a pretty hard time. But I'm not sure Gurriero wil play though. Dembele is to play more likely. Gotze is back to his old self. Schurrle will pplay. & Castro too maybe. The thing with Dortmund is they've got so many back ups. As I said, a pretty good versatile team.

On paper, we have been seen as the underdogs. And with the way we have been playing it can be easily justified. I just hope that we will be back to our old selves. We have been a team that depends on the individual performances more than the team effort but we did have good chemistry. That's what we lack at the moment. Chemisty & intensity. But we do perform well under pressure. That's when we are the strongest as history would prove.

I love many german football clubs. I love the atmosphere in germany. Most of all I love both Bayern & Dortmund. But my heart is always with madrid. We are Real, and we must find a way to outperform them!!!

Hala Madrid!!!! ​

 

[Alucard_SxE]

wtf navas?

 

[Alucard_SxE]

OK then. 2-2 I guess it was a good result. Specially since I was worried that we'll get thrashed here.

Speaking of the performances of Real, Kroos & Modric Those two are irreplacable Totally ruled the mid when needed.
Ramos is ofcourse ramos and does make silly mistakes almost all the time & somehow get booked. Varane did a fine job of keeping Auba on hold with his phase. Carvajal did a fine performance. Bale did his job when it was need. And an amazing back heel assist to ronaldo James was silent for the most period but he kept the balance.
Ronaldo was back to his fitness finally, got a goal and assisted benzema for another with ricocheted and was scored by varane. But wasn't the most impressive. Danilo's defending wasn't all that good but he did an ok job that he was used to.
Obviously the worst performers were Keylor & Benzema. Both are out of confidence & Form. Benzema has become so poor in front of goal
Missing total sitters...... Had three clear very easy chances to convert as I remember and couldn't even shoot the ball.
Keylor was definitely out of match practice & confidence & kept hitting the ball instead of catching them. Poor poor unexplainable performance at this level...

Anyway I was surprised by the way dortmund played. They were open for counterattacks many times were we should've scored another one or two..But as I said before I expected dortmund dominating the match but didn't happen that way. They did dominate the ball but we were more intelligent except for idiotic ramos mistakes

A good result nevertheless for the way we were playing before

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Wenger has done an 'amazing' job at Arsenal - Gilberto

Former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva has hailed the achievements of Gunners boss Arsene Wenger as the veteran coach celebrates 20 years in charge of the club.

Brazil international Gilberto was part of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ squad in 2003-04 and also won two FA Cups under Wenger during his six years in north London.

And the former midfielder - who now acts as technical director at Panathinaikos – believes the Premier League outfit must act now in planning for a replacement given the huge job Wenger has undertaken in two decades with the club.“As a football manager, to stay in a club for 20 years you have to congratulate the guy for achieving such an important thing in his life,” he told reporters.

“The way he changed the club by bringing new ideas and helping bring in good players for the club, meant that they got the results everyone expected. This is not so easy.

“Sometimes he will make mistakes and when you fail, sometimes people don’t forgive you. Arsene at this time is facing a lot of criticism for the way the team play and they haven’t got the trophies. But if people see the entire job he has done for the club, it has been amazing.

“I hope people do realise that, because when he leaves the club at some point it
won’t be so easy to replace him. You can see, for example, at Manchester United where it’s not been so easy to replace Sir Alex Ferguson.

“It’s important for Arsene and for the club to start to prepare somebody for when he leaves. I don’t know if it will be this season as his contract is expiring. He loves the game, he loves what he does and he loves the club.”

 

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Allardyce: Gary Neville should have been told to shut up

Sam Allardyce says Gary Neville was a bad influence on Roy Hodgson during his time with England.

Allardyce replaced Hodgson at the helm of the Three Lions in the wake of their Euro 2016 campaign, from which they were eliminated at the second round with a 2-1 defeat to Iceland.

Former United player Neville assisted Hodgson throughout his tenure and Allardyce believes he was a disruptive force, citing the uncertainty around bringing Marcus Rashford on against Iceland as an example.

“They were arguing for 10 minutes about bringing him on, Hodgson and Gary Neville. So Gary was the wrong influence for him," Allardyce said in a controversial video with undercover reporters for The Daily Telegraph, in which he suggested there is a way around rules banning third-party ownership, putting his job in jeopardy.

"F***ing tell Gary to sit down and shut up, so you can do what you want. You’re the manager, you do what you want, not what they anyone else."Allardyce also pointed out that the players were responsible for England's failure in France in the summer, but said Hodgson 'collapsed'.

"Players let him down in the end. I think maybe he was too indecisive," he said. "Cast a bit of an anxiety over to the players maybe. I mean prior to the Iceland game, he won all 10 qualifiers.

"We'd drawn with Russia, we should have won. We beat Wales, and that was our worst performance. We drew with Slovakia, and we only had to draw with Iceland to get through ... he just collapsed."

Asked if he thought his predecessor would be a good public speaker, he said: “He’d send them all to sleep, Roy. Woy. He hasn’t got the personality for it.”

 

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No Barcelona experiment: Ter Stegen will NOT be used in midfield

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen will not be used in a midfield role against Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday.

Reports in Spain suggested that Luis Enrique was considering using the German in the holding role after Sergio Busquets picked up an injury, with Ter Stegen well known for his ability with his feet.However, it appears that the move was never a serious option and instead stemmed from an opinion piece published by Sport.

The article in question praised Ter Stegen's technical prowess, first touch and range of passing, as well as claiming that he has the quality to replace Busquets in the engine room.

There is no indication that Luis Enrique even thought about such an audacious tactical switch, though, and it seems Ter Stegen will assume his usual role between the sticks this midweek.