..::Football IV::..

[Wolverine GTR]

Rooney will not lose Manchester United captaincy, insists Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has insisted Wayne Rooney will remain Manchester United captain despite losing his place in the first team at Old Trafford.

Rooney was dropped from the starting XI for last week's Premier League win over Leicester City and also started from the bench in the Europa League game against Zorya Luhansk.

Nevertheless, Mourinho is adamant Rooney has no reason to worry about potentially losing the armband, regardless of his changed status."Wayne is the captain, no matter what," the manager told reporters.

"It doesn't matter whether he is on or off the pitch. He is my captain and the captain of the club and the captain of the players.

"And that is difficult, to be the captain of everyone. So he has all the respect and all the support. He is a Manchester United man, he is a great professional and wants to win and of course he was happy when we scored.

"He is speaking to the players and motivates people. He does exactly in the dressing room the same as he did a couple of weeks ago when he was starting matches. He is our man. He will score goals for us and he will work hard for us, I have no doubts about it."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Gerrard could return to England after MLS season

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has admitted he could make a spectacular return to English football when his LA Galaxy contract comes to an end.

Gerrard's deal with the MLS club finishes in November, with talks expected to begin once the American club's fate in the play-offs is determined.

And should he decide to leave California, he has revealed he will consider playing on elsewhere.

"I’m wondering whether I should play on for a little bit longer or whether I should call it a day," he told the Sunday Mirror. "I haven’t 100 per cent decided on that yet.

"I still enjoy playing. I still love coming into training, I still love competing, so if I can carry on and there are opportunities to stay here or go somewhere else for another six months or 12 months then I’ll consider it.

"But if nothing comes up I’ll try and fly through the coaching badges and see what happens down that road.

"Maybe it’s an obsession but I still love playing. I’m going to be a long time retired and so I still want to enjoy things while I’m still feeling good."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Barclays Premier League Fixtures 2016.10.02

Barclays Premier League Fixtures 2016.10.02

Manchester United Vs Stoke City

Leicester City Vs Southampton

Tottenham Vs Manchester City

Burnley Vs Arsenal

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[Wolverine GTR]

Good Luck Manchester United!​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

LA Liga Fixtures 2016.10.02

LA Liga Fixtures 2016.10.02

Valencia Vs Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid Vs Eibar

Espanyol Vs Villareal

Malaga Vs Athletic Bilbao

Celta Vigo Vs Barcelona​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Serie A Fixtures 2016.10.02

Serie A Fixtures 2016.10.02

Empoli Vs Juventus

Atalanta Vs Napoli

Bologna Vs Genoa

Cagliari Vs Crotone

Sampdoria Vs Palermo

AC Milan Vs Sassuolo

Torino Vs Fiorentina

Roma Vs Inter​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Full Time

Manchester United 1 Vs 1 Stoke City

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[Alucard_SxE]

United suck terribly now. Pogba was a super duper waste. Missed two easy chances where he should've obviously scored

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Win karannama ona matches meh Draw wenne

Win karanna Dunnu effort 1ka gana nam sathutu wenna puluwan but not good enough

Ohomanam ithin baha Top4 finish 1katanam
​

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Murinho after another couple of dissapointed performances xD

 

[Alucard_SxE]

Four consecutive Draws

Dropping down in the league... Most important players injured.. thought september was bad but it's becoming worse in october ​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Valencia 0-2 Atletico Madrid: Griezmann bounces back from penalty miss to fire Los Rojiblancos to win

Antoine Griezmann netted to help Atletico Madrid battle to a 2-0 La Liga victory at Valencia, despite earlier seeing his penalty saved.Eager to impress new coach Cesare Prandelli, who was sitting in the stands at Mestalla, Valencia nevertheless risked defeat when Nani brought down Angel Correa in the area.

Griezmann stepped up to take the spot-kick only to miss his second of the week and the third in a row for Atleti, with penalty-saving specialist Diego Alves saving his shot.

The Frenchman would eventually beat Alves in the second half after he turned home a rebound, but there was still time for the Brazilian to remarkably save another penalty from Gabi.

His heroics – which saw him take his tally of penalty saves to a record 18 – were in vain, however, as Kevin Gameiro netted in stoppage time to send Los Rojiblancos away with all three points.Griezmann was unsurprisingly Atleti's most lively attacking outlet early on and the forward stung the palms of Alves with a fierce 25-yard drive.

Valencia, who had offered little going forward, then enjoyed a spell of pressure and former Atleti midfielder Suarez bent a left-foot shot wide from the edge of the box.Atleti were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 43rd minute when Nani bundled into the back of Correa in the penalty area, but Alves made a brilliant save high to his right from Griezmann's spot-kick with the Frenchman now having missed his past three Atleti penalties.

Valencia introduced Santi Mina at the break and the pacy winger almost made a swift impact when he bore down on Jan Oblak's goal, only to be denied by Lucas Hernandez's superb last-gasp challenge.

But Atleti took the lead in the 63rd minute when their two substitutes combined well, with Torres racing onto Yannick Carrasco's through-ball.Although his shot across goal was saved by Alves, Gameiro recycled the ball to Griezmann, who thumped high into the Valencia net.

More drama was to follow when Gameiro raced through one-on-one only to be foiled by Alves, but from the follow-up Suarez was penalised for a crude trip on Griezmann.Alves once again came to Valencia's rescue, this time diving low to his left to palm away Gabi's poor effort.

The veteran then hit the post with a low drive from distance, before Valencia should have restored parity when the unmarked Eliaquim Mangala headed Zakaria Bakkali's pin-point cross straight at Oblak.

And Atleti made sure of the points in additional time when Gameiro raced into the area before cutting inside Aderlan Santos and drilling low past Alves.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Empoli 0-3 Juventus: Dybala, Higuain on target in comfortable victory

Gonzalo Higuain was at the double as three goals in the space of five second-half minutes sealed a 3-0 victory for Serie A leaders Juventus against struggling Empoli on Sunday.Massimiliano Allegri's side dominated proceedings throughout at Stadio Carlo Castellani but were not rewarded for their efforts until after the hour-mark, Paulo Dybala drilling in his first Serie A goal of the season.

That strike was swiftly followed up by Dybala's compatriot Higuain, the former Real Madrid forward slotting in from the edge of the area before capitalising on Marco Zambelli's error to add a third.It had been a frustrating performance for the champions up until their opener, though – Sami Khedira and Juan Cuadrado both failed to convert golden opportunities in the first-half.

But once Juve opened the scoring there was little hope of an Empoli comeback, as Allegri's side cruised to their sixth victory of the campaign.

Fresh from their 4-1 thumping of Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, Juve started sharply, with Khedira squandering a gilt-edged chance when he hammered a close-range volley against the crossbar after getting on the end of Miralem Pjanic's sublime pass.Dybala, who netted his maiden 2016-17 goal in the win over Dinamo, was next to go close, curling a free-kick into the gloves of Lukasz Skorupski.

Allegri's men continued to dominate, and Cuadrado should have given Juve the lead when he raced onto Pjanic's throughball, but Skorupski stood firm to make a superb stop.

Empoli looked to end the first-half on the front foot, Rade Krunic's dipping effort tipped over by Gianlugi Buffon, while at the other end, Higuain's looping attempt was cleared off the line.

Juve maintained the pressure after the restart, Khedira threading a neat pass into the feet of Higuain, but the Argentine's hesitation allowed Empoli's defence to recover.

Higuain did have the ball in the net just before the hour-mark, Dybala slipping it through to Cuadrado, who in turn set-up Higuain for a tap-in, but the Chelsea loanee had already been flagged offside.

However, Juve finally had their lead in the 65th minute when, after Higuain had seen a point-blank shot stopped by Skorupski, Dybala broke the deadlock.
The Argentina international did brilliantly to get on the end of Alex Sandro's low cross, duly proceeding to prod a venomous finish into the roof of the net.

Empoli quickly crumbled, and Juve had their second two minutes later, Higuain making no mistake on this occasion as he slid a neat left-footed finish into the bottom-left corner.And the ex-Napoli striker added gloss to Juve's win moments after, tucking home from close range following poor play from Zambelli.

Unquestionably 19th-placed Empoli's best performer, Skorupski was on form late on to deny both Cuadrado and Mario Lemina, but the misses mattered little as Juve moved four points clear at the top of Serie A.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Manchester United 1-1 Stoke City: Late Allen strike denies Man Utd

A rare error from Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea allowed Stoke City to snatch a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday.

Wales international midfielder Joe Allen, who was earlier on the receiving end of a dreadful high tackle from Ander Herrera, was the beneficiary from De Gea's blunder eight minutes from time.

Stoke edge up to second bottom ahead of Sunderland with their share of the spoils, for which they are largely indebted to their own keeper Lee Grant.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jesse Lingard were improbably denied by Grant during a first half when United played with far greater fluency than in Thursday's laboured 1-0 Europa League win over Zorya. Captain Wayne Rooney was a second-half substitute once more.

France international Paul Pogba was guilty of missed chances in a game where Jose Mourinho's side were regularly in the ascendancy and he was unable to add to compatriot Anthony Martial's 67th minute opener in the final minute when he thudded a Marcus Rashford cross against the bar.

United lie sixth in the Premier League, five points behind Manchester City ahead of the leaders' clash with second-place Tottenham later on Sunday.

Grant saved magnificently, low down to his right, in the second minute after Pogba danced past Xherdan Shaqiri to cutely play in Ibrahimovic.

Eric Bailly made a vital clearance from Marko Arnautovic's cross and there was further encouragement for the visitors in the ninth minute when Geoff Cameron shot too close to De Gea.

Pogba should have opened the scoring in the 16th minute after an Ibrahimovic backheel and a pass from Rashford gave the France international space in the Stoke box, but he steered wide.

Grant remained by far the more occupied of the two goalkeepers however, tipping a Juan Mata chip behind before watching on helplessly as a scandalously unmarked Pogba planted his header wide from the resulting corner.

United's dominance of possession yielded further chances around the half hour, as Grant produced his best work so far to thwart Lingard at close quarters before Ibrahimovic got on the end of Lingard's cross and found Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross in his way with a vital block.

Allen shrugged off his clash with Herrera in the 55th minute to link smoothly with Arnautovic and call De Gea into action, while Grant grasped a skidding Mata drive at the second attempt before Mourinho called on Rooney in the 65th minute.

But it was the England skipper's fellow replacement Martial who would stylishly strike 163 second on from his introduction, ending a 10-game drought in all competitions.Not for the first time, Shaqiri was careless in possession and, as United drove forward, Martial found possession on the left and collected the loose ball when Cameron challenged Rooney to delightfully pick out the top corner.

United looked to press home their advantage, with Bruno Martins Indi blocking from fellow Dutchman Daley Blind before Grant thwarted Ibrahimovic once more.
And there would be conflicting goalkeeping emotions at the other end as De Gea fumbled Glen Johnson's speculative strike, sub Jon Walters scrambled against the bar and Allen thumped into an unguarded net.

The goal prompted boisterous celebrations from the under-fire Hughes, whose side moved off the bottom after Pogba's near miss.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Mourinho's Man Utd WORSE off than Van Gaal's

Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Stoke City on Sunday means they have collected only 13 points from their first seven Premier League games – three less than Louis van Gaal's side last season.

Consecutive losses to first Manchester City and then Watford in September had seen them fall off the pace, though Jose Mourinho's men responded in style by trashing Leciester City 4-1.

However, it appears the Portuguese has not come up with an answer to their see-saw form just yet, as Stoke fought back to secure a 1-1 result at Old Trafford, with Joe Allen cancelling out Anthony Martial's stunning opener.

United's current points tally places them three behind the much-maligned Van Gaal side last term – a disappointing return given the world-record arrival of Paul Pogba in the summer.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Simeone: Diego Alves did 90% of Valencia's good

Diego Simeone was effusive in his praise of Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves, who saved two penalties against his Atletico Madrid side in Sunday's La Liga contest.

Alves last week broke the record for the most saved spot-kicks in Spanish top flight history and his tally now stands at 19 after he kept out efforts from Antoine Griezmann and Gabi in each half at Mestalla.

Ultimately, the goalkeeper's spot-kick heroics proved in vain as Griezmann made amends for his missed penalty to put Atleti ahead with his 50th Primera Division goal for the club before Kevin Gameiro wrapped up the 2-0 win in stoppage time.

But Atleti head coach Simeone made a point of sounding out Alves for recognition after the match."I think the first penalty stop [from Griezmann] was wonderful by the goalkeeper," he said in quotes reported by Marca.

"I congratulate the goalkeeper because if Valencia earned the draw it would have been 90 per cent down to him."

The victory was Atleti's third in the space of eight days with the capital club, having followed up a 1-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna by beating Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich by the same scoreline in the Champions League.

"I gathered the players and told them that our strength is [playing] as a group," he added. "If the players take the place of men the answers are what you see.

"Except for the first few minutes I think we always dominated the game."Valencia's new coach Cesare Prandelli took a watching brief from the Mestalla stands for the game and Simeone had a friendly welcome for his new LaLiga rival."I talked to him once in Turkey. I've seen him as a coach and his ideas are good," he said. "I wish the best to Prandelli and Valencia."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

United could have won 6-0 - Mourinho

Jose Mourinho hailed Manchester United's best performance of the season against Stoke City and felt a dispiriting 1-1 draw at Old Trafford might have been a 6-0 victory.

An error from David de Gea allowed Joe Allen to cancel out Anthony Martial's 69th-minute opener, while Stoke's own goalkeeper Lee Grant made a string of magnificent saves to keep his side within touching distance.

But after a laboured 1-0 Europa League win over Zorya Luhansk in midweek, Mourinho praised his side's fluency and was baffled by their failure to pick up three points.

"Best United performance all season," he said. "It could have been 3-0 or 4-0 at half-time, 6-0 at the end of the game, but the result was 1-1. But that's football."
Mourinho felt United's performance outstripped last weekend 4-1 win over champions Leicester City, where three of their four goals came from set pieces.

"It was a much better performance than against Leicester. It was the best performance by far, six, seven, eight great chances to win the game. This United team is one that wants to score more goals and be completely in control."In the first [second] minute their goalkeeper made an unbelievable save and he kept doing that until the end of the game.

"He started with an amazing save to Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] and ended with an amazing save from Zlatan. You can say what you want, but that's my opinion. "For me, a great performance. With a bad result, the reaction of the fans at the end of the game says absolutely everything.

"Stoke fought like they do every game. They came for a draw. They were lucky but luck is part of football and my tribute to them is that they're not guilty of our bad luck." United midfielder Ander Herrera concurred with his manager's assessment.

"We did a fantastic game," he said. "It was one of our best performances this season, maybe the best. We created 10 or 11 clear chances."The goalkeeper was the best player for them, it should be maybe six or seven nil.

"That is why we cannot be happy but we played fantastic and controlled the game from the kick-off."We were not lucky, we have to keep going. Hopefully next time we play another game like this we can win maybe five or six nil but this is football and we have to accept that."

Herrera inflicted a high studs-up challenge on Stoke goalscorer Joe Allen early in the second half but he insisted there was no malice involved.

"I didn't want to hurt him, I told him," the Spain international added. "When I put my foot in his quad I did not want to cause him pain, I just wanted to stop him.
"He knows that, he accepted my apology and that's it."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Real Madrid suffer James Rodriguez injury blow

Real Madrid were forced to change their starting XI before tackling Eibar in La Liga at the last moment as James Rodriguez suffered an injury in the warm-up.

The Colombia international, 25, was slated to start the fixture at Santiago Bernabeu until minutes before kick-off after he sustained an injury as he prepared for the game.

Goal has learned it is a leg problem the former Monaco player has sustained, though there is no indication yet as to its severity.

As a result of this blow, head coach Zinedine Zidane had to make a rapid shuffle of his plans and introduced Mateo Kovacic, despite the midfielder suffering from flu over the course of the week.

Madrid have endured a difficult spell, as they have drawn fixtures against Villarreal, Las Palmas and Dortmund, though they remained top of the Primera Division heading into the weekend’s clash.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Tottenham 2-0 Manchester City: Alli consigns Guardiola to first defeat

Tottenham turned on the style to end Pep Guardiola's unbeaten start as Manchester City manager in a superb 2-0 victory at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

City had won 10 and drawn one of their opening 11 competitive matches under Guardiola and another win would have seen the Catalan stand alone with the best start to a managerial career in the Premier League.

But Tottenham, who now stand as the only unbeaten side in the league, were rewarded for a sublime display in front of their home supporters, with Mauricio Pochettino's men fully deserving of the three points for a slick and vibrant attacking display.

There were signs of City's defensive frailties in the midweek 3-3 Champions League draw against Celtic and Aleksandar Kolarov - at fault for the Bhoys' third on Wednesday - gifted Tottenham the opener with a woeful own goal.

It was 2-0 before the break when impressive duo Dele Alli and Son Heung-min combined brilliantly for the former to leave City facing an uphill task with a calm finish.Tottenham had chances to make it three after the break and Erik Lamela missed a 65th-minute penalty, with regular taker Harry Kane still absent through injury.

Luckily for Spurs that did not prove costly and on this evidence Pochettino's men, who are now just one point adrift of the league leaders, are very much contenders for the title.

David Silva could have put City into a fourth-minute lead had he made any contact at the near post from Jesus Navas' low right-wing centre.However, Spurs' fluent attacking play was causing problems for the City defence with Son a particular threat.

Tottenham broke the deadlock in comical circumstances, though. Kolarov - under no pressure - inexplicably miskicked his clearance from Danny Rose's deep left-wing cross past a helpless Claudio Bravo.Spurs continued in the ascendancy and Son tested Bravo with a near-post drive, before Christian Eriksen flashed a 20-yard free-kick past the left-hand post.

The visitors were perhaps fortunate not to have Nicolas Otamendi sent off for a second bookable offence for a trip on Alli, but it was deservedly 2-0 before the interval.

Alli got a lucky break when his pass deflected off Pablo Zabaleta into Son's path and the England midfielder continued his run to take Son's throughball before coolly slotting past Bravo.

There was no let-up after the break and Son curled a left-foot effort wide, before Bravo parried a low 25-yard drive from Victor Wanyama to safety.The home side survived a scare when Sergio Aguero sprung the offside trap to hit a left-foot shot at Hugo Lloris that eventually bounced to safety off the post.

From there, City showed signs of improvement going forward, but a couple of shaky moments in defence twice led to chances for Eriksen.Tottenham then had a great chance to put the match beyond doubt when Fernandinho was penalised for a clumsy trip on Alli in the penalty area, but Bravo dived to his left to keep out Lamela's spot-kick.

Lloris had to be alert to make smart stops from Kelechi Iheanacho and Aguero as City applied the pressure in the closing stages, but the visitors were unable to preserve their unbeaten status under Guardiola.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Tottenham meh sareth pattacool:hoda fight 1kak dei Title 1kata​