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Thứ Bảy, 2 tháng 5, 2015

Obada goal lifts Swallows off bottom

01 May 2015, 20:58

Nigerian Felix Obada scored as Moroka Swallows defeated Maritzburg United 1-0 Friday and moved off the bottom of the South African Premiership table.

The winger struck after six minutes at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, punishing sluggish defending with a close-range header past goalkeeper Shu-Aib Walters.

In a match that produced few clearcut scoring chances, Walters and opposite number Nigerian Greg Etafia were rarely tested.

Swallows striker Siyabonga Nomvethe, among the fittest Premiership footballers at the age of 37, was foiled by the outstretched leg of Walters in a one-on-one midway through the first half.

And recalled Etafia dived swiftly to push away a goal-bound Kurt Lentjies shot that flew through a crowded goalmouth.

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Mid-table Maritzburg had two ball-to-hand penalty appeals rejected by the referee before halftime.

Victory lifted Swallows to 27 points, three more than AmaZulu, who host SuperSport United in Durban Saturday.

Swallows and AmaZulu complete their league seasons with away and home fixtures next Wednesday and Saturday.

Port Elizabeth-based Chippa United are the other club in immediate danger, two points above Swallows with three difficult games ahead.

The bottom club are relegated and the second-last finishers enter a double round mini-league with two second division sides for one place in the 2016 Premiership.

Source : supersport[dot]com

Thứ Sáu, 1 tháng 5, 2015

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino will fight to keep Manchester United target Hugo Lloris

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino admits there are no guarantees in keeping his squad together amid speculation linking Hugo Lloris with a move to Manchester United.

Lloris, 28 has been identified as a possible replacement for David de Gea at Old Trafford, who is expected to be chased by Real Madrid in the summer transfer window.

While the Tottenham goalkeeper signed a new five-year deal at White Hart Lane in 2014, the temptation of Champions League football could prove difficult resist.

Lloris is likely to have the desire to play in Europe's premier competition again and with Spurs looking increasingly unlikely to finish in the top four of the Premier League, the club could face the difficult prospect of convincing him to stay.

Speaking to the press on 1 May ahead of the game against Manchester City, Pochettino was dismissive of United's reported interest but did admit no club can make promises when it comes to holding on to their prized assets.

"In football it is difficult," Pochettino said. "Also if you sign the contract you never have the guarantee. I have a contract or a lot of managers have a contract and there is never [a] guarantee. But in football you never know. But if it is true I want some player to stay with us."

When asked of United's interest in Lloris, he added: "I think it is a rumour. I do not have any comment. I do not want to speak about rumours, about Hugo or other players. We are focused and we try to finish the season as best as possible. That rumour is impossible to stop."

Lloris's contract extension is likely to leave Tottenham in a strong position in holding on to the player or commanding a sizeable fee for the Frenchman, should United make an offer.

Source : ibtimes[dot]co[dot]uk

Andy Goldstein's Sports Bar Best Bits - May 1

Join Andy Goldstein, Jason Cundy and chums as they round up the best bits from the Sports Bar week.

audio_title:

Listen again to the Andy Goldstein Sports Bar Best Bits podcast

Source : talksport[dot]com

Chelsea striker Diego Costa could miss the rest of the season says Jose Mourinho

Chelsea could be without top scorer Diego Costa for the remainder of the season if the club clinch the Premier League title against Crystal Palace on 3 May.

Costa has missed the Blues' last four games, including the 3-1 win over Leicester City, with a recurrence of a long-standing hamstring injury.

The Spain international has resumed training but with Chelsea just a win away from claiming the championship, Mourinho is unwilling to risk the fitness of Costa.

"We don't need to rush so we are giving him the maximum stability to be stronger," Mourinho said. "There's a chance [he may not play again this season]. If we win on Sunday he won't play against Liverpool. If we don't win Sunday, he plays against Liverpool. In this moment, we are on result after result, needs after need.

"It isn't worth the risk. In the process of the last month, if we lose a game and we don't want to lose the second, he would be back for the second. We are trying to give him the maximum stability to be stronger. Remy is back.

"We are preparing a good working situation for him during the holiday period. I think three strikers is a fine number. The three strikers would always have time, always matches, rotation, form, performance, cards, injuries."

Costa is set to miss the visits of Palace, Liverpool and Sunderland on the final day, games that sandwich the club's final away game of the campaign against West Bromwich Albion.

The weekend clash with Palace represents Chelsea's first chance to win the title this season after leading from the start of the campaign and Mourinho is eager to put the league to bed.

"We need two or three points to be champions," the Chelsea boss added. "We need a victory, three points, if we can do at home that's better. If we can do it on Sunday then even better, that's what we have in our mind. We are calm.

"We are top of the league since day one. It's not a record but in modern day football it's very difficult to do. There are countries where domination is common for years and years.

"I don't think this country is a good example of that except in the last 20 or years ago when it was shared between a few clubs. When the season starts, if you want to be champion you also have the risk to finish fifth."

Source : ibtimes[dot]co[dot]uk

Gareth Bale to Manchester United is a move made in heaven

If you were to scan world football and suggest who might fit best into a Manchester United team, who would most comfortably conform to its traditions and expectations, one name springs to mind.

Not Lionel Messi or James Rodriguez, not Bastien Schweinsteiger or Andrea Pirlo, not Neymar or Andres Iniesta, good as they all might be. The player who seems to have been destined all his career to wear a red United shirt, but has yet to do so, is Gareth Bale.

^{Gareth Bale's dashing style is a perfect fit for Manchester United}

Were you to compile an identikit of the ideal United player, one who perfectly suits the club's sense of itself and what it should be, one who slips seamlessly into the tradition forged around the style of George Best and Ryan Giggs, he would be look like Gareth Bale.

• 11 reasons why the Bale transfer could happen

Quick, hungry, determined, brave, a Celt with an eye for goal and ability to win matches on his own, there are not many that fit the template. Bale, though, has long demonstrated he has all the necessary qualifications to join the United pantheon.

Like they did with Edwin Van Der Sar, the club has missed several opportunities to fulfil such a destiny. Bale should have been recruited when he was at Southampton, when it was obvious to anyone with two eyes that he had the capacity to electrify, when his speed and athleticism were available at a throwaway cost.

True, after his stellar, Maicon-eviscerating days at Tottenham, when he carried his team into Europe and then demonstrated in that night in the San Siro how much he belonged in such elevated company, a bid was tabled for him. But that was in the uncertain times of the summer of 2013, when dithering characterised the recruitment operation and Madrid's sure-footed negotiators ran merry rings around United's tentative approach.

^{Bale scores against United while playing for Tottenham}

• United's top summer transfer targets

But this time, there should be no mistake. The recruitment of Bale by Louis Van Gaal would signal not just the manager's ambition, not just his confidence, but also his understanding of what a United team should be. Build a side around Bale and Old Trafford traditions would inevitably be reinforced.

The Bale who scorched through the Barcelona defence in last season's Copa Del Rey final, taking a detour into the stand and still out-pacing a floundering back line, would be the most persuasive expression around of United tactical principals.

Hit and run at full pelt: that is the Mancunian Way. That is what Bale can deliver.

True, when he signed for Madrid, the lad from Cardiff made much of his childhood attachment to the club. A picture of him as a small boy, proudly wearing a white shirt was blown up to huge scale and stood behind him on the stage at the Bernabeu when he was first introduced to the crowd. Fate was much invoked. It was said he was going where he had always dreamed of playing. Being in Madrid was claimed to be his very footballing purpose.

But his subsequent time in Spain has suggested his hosts did not buy into such an effusive introduction. Frankly, the Madrid fans were less enthusiastic about his arrival than he was. For sure, he has been by no means a failure. No player who scores the crucial goal in the Champions League final can ever be described as faltering.

Yet, there has lingered a largely unwarranted suspicion of him among both the Madrid public and some of his colleagues, a mistrust caused by an assumption that a Welshman could not have the technical and tactical mastery to flourish at a place with such an elevated sense of its own prominence.

^{Bale makes his point to Real Madrid fans who booed him}

At Old Trafford there would be no such prejudice. Especially not given the identity of the current assistant manager, who would be working most closely with him on the training ground. Like Giggs before him, Bale would be immediately revered, immediately recognised as someone who belongs, immediately welcomed home.

And if Van Gaal recruits that other United player in waiting, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to play alongside his new winger, the fans will be approaching ecstasy.

Did you know Telegraph Sport has a Manchester United Facebook page?

Source : telegraph[dot]co[dot]uk

Chelsea in line for Palace coronation

01 May 2015, 05:39

The stage is set for a Premier League coronation this weekend as champions-elect Chelsea host Crystal Palace on Sunday needing three points to claim a first league title since 2010.

Chelsea's 3-1 win at Leicester City on Wednesday left them 13 points clear of nearest rivals Manchester City and Arsenal, who have a game in hand, and brought the league trophy to within touching distance.

The title seems destined for Stamford Bridge regardless of what happens this weekend, but Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is eager to cross the line in front of the club's fans.

"It's amazing when you win a title, but if you win it at home it puts the icing on the cake," said the 32-year-old Czech, who deputised for Thibaut Courtois at Leicester.

With Palace 12 points clear of the bottom three and safe from relegation, they would appear to represent perfect dupes for Chelsea's title party.

But while Alan Pardew's side have lost their last two home games, going down 2-0 to West Bromwich Albion and Hull City, they have been beaten only once in eight matches on the road.

"Stamford Bridge is ready to celebrate, but if I can ask something from them it is to not celebrate," warned Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

"We all want to win on Sunday, but it will be a difficult game. Stamford Bridge must be ready to push us. I hope they want to play the game with us. We need them to help us win the title on Sunday."

As well as the title race, the battle for Champions League qualification also appears to be sewn up, with Liverpool now seven points adrift of the top four following their lacklustre 1-0 loss at Hull on Tuesday.

But while City, Arsenal and Manchester United look assured of a top-four berth, it is only by finishing in the top three that automatic passage to Europe's elite club competition can be secured.

City currently lead the way, heading Arsenal on goal difference, but they have played a game more than Arsene Wenger's men and face an awkward trip to sixth-place Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

'A DIFFERENT MANCHESTER UNITED'

With Arsenal not in action until Monday, when they visit Hull, United will look to steal a march on both their rivals by winning at home to West Brom, who pulled off a famous victory at Old Trafford last season.

United lost 3-0 at Everton last time out – their second defeat in a row – and defender Chris Smalling has urged his teammates to make amends.

"We've got four big games now in which we've got to make sure we were better than on Sunday," he told the United website.

"We'll be eager to put this right. I think we'll see a different Manchester United against West Brom."

The relative stability at the top of the standings has lent greater prominence to the battle to avoid relegation.

Bottom club Burnley, five points adrift of safety, could be left on the brink of an immediate return to the Championship if they do not win at West Ham United.

Queens Park Rangers, a point better off, are similarly desperate for points ahead of their trip to Liverpool, while third-bottom Sunderland, who have a game in hand on all the teams around them, host Southampton.

Leicester's loss to Chelsea ended a run of four straight wins that had lifted them out of the bottom three, but on Saturday they host a flatlining Newcastle United team who have lost their last seven matches.

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson, who has issued an apology for lampooning a journalist after the Chelsea game, has told his players that despite their improved recent form, there is still a long way to go.

"It's important for us to go into the last few games with our destiny in our own hands," said Pearson, whose side are a point clear of danger.

"There's still a lot of hard work to be done. At the moment there's a strange perception that there's not. There is."

Fixtures:

Saturday:

Aston Villa v Everton
Leicester City v Newcastle United
Liverpool v Queens Park Rangers
Manchester United v West Bromwich Albion
Sunderland v Southampton
Swansea City v Stoke City
West Ham United v Burnley

Sunday:

Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

Monday:

Hull City v Arsenal

Source : supersport[dot]com

'Jack Wilshere is Arsenal through and through' - Liam Brady urges club against allowing Man City move

'Jack Wilshere is Arsenal through and through' - Liam Brady urges club against allowing Manchester City move

Liam Brady claims Jack Wilshere is "Arsenal through and through" and admits he would "hate" to see the midfielder wearing a Manchester City shirt.

Wilshere has failed to win back a spot in Arsene Wenger’s starting XI since returning from his latest injury absence, and City are reportedly planning a £30million move to tempt the 23-year-old away from the Emirates in the summer.

But former Gunners star Brady, who also served as the club’s academy director for 18 years, says it would be a huge blow see the homegrown star depart.

Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, he said: “I don’t know what is going through Arsene Wenger’s mind, I don’t know what is going through Jack Wilshere’s mind, but I think I know what is going through the people at Man City’s minds - they need English players and it is no surprise to see they might target Jack Wilshere.

“But I would hate to see him leave the club because I have known the kid since he was ten years of age and he is Arsenal through and through.”

After bursting on to the scene as a teenager, Wilshere has seen his career stall due to a succession of ankle injuries and has been restricted to just a handful of games this season.

Brady believes his problems are of his own making, however, and claims, if he can become more clever in the tackle, he can go on to fulfil his vast potential.

“I think Jack is too brave for his own good,” said Brady.

“He goes into challenges where he isn’t favourite and he is dangling his leg out. He is too brave for his own good and has paid the price for that.

“But it is early days yet for Jack. You just have to think of how he played for England against Brazil at Wembley that day that England beat Brazil. He was absolutely fantastic. He ran the show in the middle of the park.

“And how he played against Barcelona when Arsenal beat Barcelona in the Champions League - let’s hope we can get Jack back to that level.”