New Manchester City signing Gael Clichy cannot wait to get started at his new club, declaring there is ‘no limit’ to what they can achieve.The former Arsenal full-back became Roberto Mancini’s first signing in the off-season after signing a four-year deal on Monday.
On the back of a season that saw them finish third in the English Premier League, securing Champions League qualification, and winning their first major trophy in 35 years in the FA Cup, Clichy believes City is a club on the up.
“There is no limit at Manchester City,” France international Clichy said.
“Of course, you have to be realistic but there is no limit. Where they have come from in three years is phenomenal. And I want to win things.”
Clichy will be competing with the likes of Aleksandar Kolarov, Joleon Lescot and – provided he stays at Eastlands – Wayne Bridge for a left-back slot in Mancini’s side.
But the Toulouse native is looking forward to the challenge.
“Sometimes it is difficult to have a lot of players because you have to leave some out. But you need to have a big squad to go all the way. That is why I joined City.”
“It’s a new life for me, a new chapter but I’m really looking forward to it because it’s an amazing challenge for me.”
Clichy, 26, spent eight years with Arsenal, and was part of the north London club’s last championship winning side in 2004.
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Using the phrase ‘two horse race’ is lamer than Sergio Ramos’s attempts at time-wasting, but after just 12 games of the La Liga season, there’s a clear trend that suggests the two pedigree animals are about to leave their rivals trailing in their wake. Some of the closer pursuers are by no means useless nags, but such has been the relentless class of Liga’s top 2 that already a sizeable gap has emerged. We’d be as hesitant as Xabi Alonso taking a free-kick to declare any game held in November is a title decider, but there’s no doubt that whichever of Spain’s fiercest rivals prevails in this version of el Clasico will feel confident about going all the way.
If the likelihood of a tremendously exciting Barca v Real clash wasn’t enough to get you interested, then the fantastic Money-Back Special Paddy Power are offering on the match will help. If there are more than 4 goals in this match, Paddy Power will refund all losing 1st Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast single bets on the match. It seem like a lot of goals, but bearing in mind the option of 4 or more goals is just a 13/8 shot, it’s not as unlikely as you’d would normally think.
With the corporate messages out of the way, now we can look at the likely outcome of this game. Whilst Real Madrid haven’t quite engaged in the ritual slaughtering of rivals in the same manner as Barcelona, they have already assimilated those typically Jose Mourinho traits of efficiency, pouncing on weakness and overwhelming smugness. Strangely for a team managed by the Special One, they’re also combining success with huge dollops of style.
Both sides do struggle from defensive weakness. Real have done marginally better in this respect, but the stats hide the fact it’s thanks in large part to the supreme efforts of Iker Casillas. He may get little to do, but when he does, he almost always does it well. He’s made some crucial saves at crucial times that have facilitated easy wins for his team that otherwise would have been more hard fought. Monday evening promises to be his busiest evening of the season to date and the success of his efforts at keeping the waves of Barcelona attacks at bay are going to go a long way to deciding who emerges with the upper hand in the race for the Spanish title.
If Barcelona hit top gear, no team can live with them and the 11/10 for a home win looks good. One major note of caution would be the Special One’s ability to stifle his former employers. He did it with Inter Milan en route to Champions League glory earlier this year and there’ll be plenty of people taking up the option to back Real Madrid @ 5/2. Such a result would give los Blancos a four point lead at the top of the table and no doubt see the Camp Nou sprinklers once again whir into action moments after the final whistle.
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It takes more than physical skill to be a winner at the highest level of professional sports. It needs grit, determination, focus and confidence. Chelsea have shown that in spades in their last three Champions’ League games. In both legs against Barcelona in the semi finals, the Blues were pinned to the proverbial wall from start to finish; tonight, in the main, was more of the same.
Home-town favourites Bayern Munich had more of the ball, four times as many opportunities on goal, and a plethora of chances to kill the 2012 Champions’ League Final both in regular time and extra time. Arjen Robben’s missed penalty, chances squandered by Mario Gomes and Thomas Muller, the botched pass from Ivica Olic which rolled past Daniel van Buyten before an open goal…
And yet Chelsea were the victors, courtesy of defying all the odds over 270 minutes. Even after John Terry’s moment of insanity in the Nou Camp, Roberto Di Matteo’s ten men clung grimly on, finding the mental strength to recover from 2-0 down and advance with an astonishing display of bloody-mindedness and sheer willpower.
Several of Chelsea’s staff embody this mental capacity. Di Matteo’s composure, level-headedness and humility in the face of all the pressures and plaudits he has encountered of late have been incredibly eye-catching. He refuses to let the incessant speculation over his future cloud the importance of the present, and has cajoled a squad which was at breaking point into an impenetrable, cohesive unit.
Didier Drogba’s selfless energy and work ethic have shone out over Chelsea’s run to the Champions’ League trophy. The Ivorian’s commitment to covering his teammates is outstanding. Chelsea fans will have noticed it long ago, I’m sure, but it’s only really dawned on me watching the semi-finals and tonight’s game that whenever Ashley Cole or Jose Bosingwa is caught out of position, it’s almost invariably Drogba who busts a gut to get back there and plug the gap. Yes, he conceded a penalty in extra time – but doesn’t that tell you something? How many strikers would have been in the position to concede it?
Veteran striker Drogba may have just played his final game for Chelsea – but between his effort defensively, the bullet header to equalise in the dying moments and the title-clinching penalty conversion, surely he has done enough to extend his eight-year stay in London. And even in the jubilant scenes which followed the shoot-out, the Ivorian found time to console not only Bastien Schweinstaiger, but his former Chelsea teammate Robben, with whom he talked and hugged for some time while his teammates celebrated.
Depleted in midfield, Di Matteo leaned heavily on Frank Lampard to anchor his team, and the Chelsea stalwart did not disappoint. This was not a night for Lampard to showcase his attacking talents, but he covered as much ground as he could in shadowing Muller and Toni Kroos and harrassing Bayern’s creative talents when they came within shooting range.
Ashley Cole rolled back the years to produce one of the finest defensive displays of his Chelsea career (Image | Sky Sports)
And then there was the back four. Many – me, for a start – believed that the absence of John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic would be decisive. Although Bosingwa and David Luiz weren’t perfect in their performance – Luiz committed so many fouls it wouldn’t have been surprising to see him sent to an early bath – their work rate was outstanding. Gary Cahill played through the pain barrier in extra time.
Cole, meanwhile, personifies the siege-defence mentality Chelsea have been forced to adopt in the latter stages of this tournament, the England left-back producing one of the most memorable displays of his career in timing every tackle to perfection and getting in block after block as Munich threatened to overcome their ‘visitors’.
Many in red showed that they had what it takes to win tonight, too. Manuel Neuer, barely tested in two hours of football, stood up to save Juan Mata’s penalty and then convert his own in the shoot-out. Philipp Lahm exorcised his shoot-out demons of the semi-final; Muller recovered from a couple of poor misses to score the opening goal seven minutes from the end of normal time.
In the end, however, Bayern didn’t get enough from their front three tonight. Robben, Gomes and Frank Ribery combined to blaze shot after shot over the bar or round the post, and on several occasions missed the target when it should have been easier to hit it. And after Robben’s penalty miss in extra time seemed to herald a shoot-out, it was Schweinstaiger, the archetypal Munich hero, whose stuttering run-up backfired so spectacularly in the final moment of the competition.
There will, naturally, be endless questions over the next couple of months about the futures of Di Matteo, Drogba and others in the Chelsea squad. For now, at least, they have proven their worth – mentally, as well as in terms of results – to Roman Abramovich and Chelsea.
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Article courtesy of Rob Schatten from his excellent blog ‘The Armchair Pundits’
Chelsea have re-signed veteran goalkeeper Hilario for another year, the English Premier League runners-up announced on Monday.The shot-stopper has made 37 appearances for the west London club since joining from Portuguese outfit Nacional in June 2006.
The one-cap Portugal international will spend at least one more season at Stamford Bridge, where he has provided back up to first-choice keeper Petr Cech.
“Hilario has signed a one-year extension to his current Chelsea contract,” a statement on the club’s website read.
“The 35-year-old goalkeeper’s contract would have run out this summer but he will now spend a sixth season at Stamford Bridge, having so far made 33 starts and four substitute appearances in his role as one of the keepers supporting Petr Cech.”
“Last season, Hilario played one game, the Community Shield match against Manchester United at Wembley. In March 2010, he made his one appearance for the Portugal national side.”
The extension puts an end to speculation Hilario was on his way out of the club, who remain without a manager since the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti on May 22.
The only pass that Edwin van der Sar seems to making these days is with the Manchester United supporters.
It has never been a secret that Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial achilles’ heel has always been with the goalkeeper position, and it seems to be rearing it’s ugly head again.
van der Sar, who has just turned 40-years old, is unavoidably on the verge of retirement, and it comes as a relief that Sir Alex is already making an honest effort to bring in a suitable, accomplished goalkeeper to fill the void when he does call it a day.
There have been a handful of top-class goalkeepers linked with a move to Old Trafford, but Ferguson must pay for the best of the best rather than trying to develop another one, because it is one position that can either make or break a team’s aspirations.
That goalkeeper must possess not only the ability to play for one of the world’s biggest clubs, but also the mindset to handle the stresses of playing on football biggest stage at Old Trafford.
As he has discovered the hard way, Sir Alex has seen many ‘keepers with the ability try to make it, but unfortunately he has only had two in his 24 years to make it more than four years.
Merry-Go-Round
Before Peter Schmeichel arrived in 1991, Ferguson was faced with a goalkeeping dilemma having four different shot-stoppers – Chris Turner, Gary Walsh, Jim Leighton and Les Sealey – all making at least 30 appearances in his first four-and-a-half seasons with United.
Following Big Pete’s retirement in 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson went through another 11 different goalkeepers before signing van der Sar from Fulham for £2 million in 2005.
Edwin is revered as the man that helped organize United and lead them out of the dark days during the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons to the most successful three years in the club’s history.
Conversely though, he has not reach the heights he did in previous seasons, and his age may just finally be catching up to him.
The most disappointing part of Edwin’s game this year has been his distribution, because it has been very poor to say the least.
Five
However, the only time he has been remotely criticized for one of his five nearly costly lapses in judgment has been his hollower against West Bromwich Albion, which cost United two points, and ultimately subjected United to massive amounts of pressure from the media.
Thankfully, his other FOUR mistakes were not as costly, but they also cannot be forgotten or passed off as they have been.
Chris Brunt’s lofted ball into the United six-yard box was not the only time that van der Sar fumbled a very tame cross, either.
Prior to that, his first blunder which went unpunished was against Valencia.
Juan Mata floated in a cross from his right, which VDS completely misjudged it, but thankfully for United, so did Roberto Soldado, and the Valencia hitman was unable to direct his header under the bar.
THREE times in the last four starts, van der Sar has put his teammates under the cosh by clearing the ball directly to an opposing player, and if they were more accomplished finishers, then United would have been severely punished and forced to come from behind.
His next shocking mistake came against Stoke City when he wanted to prevent putting United under the strain of facing a long throw-in from Rory Delap, so he tried booting the ball down field, but it went to straight to the man who he wanted to prevent taking the throw-in.
With the United goalkeeper scrambling to get back, Delap had time to settle the ball down and have a shot from 40-yards out, but the goal gaping, the Stoke City midfielder screwed his attempt horribly wide and VDS was let off.
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His next mistake came against Bursaspor in the UEFA Champions League match.
With the match tied at nil-nil, and just on the stroke half-time, Edwin’s weak kick fell to Gustav Svensson 20-yards from goal, but the Green Crocodiles midfielder blasted well over the the United bar when he should have done much, much better.
Most recently, he hurried his clearance and it went straight to Karl Henry, but the Wolverhampton captain did not have the accuracy, or the awareness to really test the out-of-position United goalkeeper.
While he was not at fault for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s equalizer, VDS needs to accept responsibility for failing to reach his intended targets throughout the match.
Sir Alex Ferguson has to be aware of the deterioration of first-choice his goalkeeper, so the supporters, whether they agree with this observation or not, must believe that the Gaffer will buy a ready-made goalkeeper to fill Edwin van der Sar’s gloves rather than another tailor-made one.
Read more excellent blogs at ‘The United Religion’ website below
The FA have charged Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic with violent conduct, after he was caught punching Wigan forward Shaun Maloney in Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge.
Television footage captured the Serbian full back striking out at the Scottish attacker, which was not picked up by the match officials.
The governing body has confirmed that Ivanovic is set to be punished, and has set the date for appeal.
“Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has today [Tuesday 10 April 2012] been charged by the FA with violent conduct following an incident in his side’s game against Wigan Athletic,” an official statement reads.
“Ivanovic was involved in an incident with Wigan’s Shaun Maloney, which was not seen by the match officials, but caught on video, during his side’s 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 7 April 2012.
“Ivanovic has until 6pm on 11 April 2012 to respond to the charge,” it concludes.
Typical punishments for offences such as this generally carry a three-match ban, and if this was upheld Ivanovic would miss this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham and London derby fixtures with QPR and Arsenal.
Also, Mirror Football have indicated that Ivanovic has emerged as a transfer target for Real Madrid.
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The Serb’s versatility is reportedly an asset that would be appreciated at the Santiago Bernabeu, and Jose Mourinho is a fan of the Chelsea man.
Rangers striker David Healy has been left out of the Northern Ireland squad ahead of next week’s Carling Nations Cup.As his club side wrapped up the Scottish Premier League title on Saturday, Healy continued to struggle to find game time since moving from Sunderland in January.
Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington did not pick the 31-year-old for the squad to face the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday and Wales three days later.
Teenager midfielder Josh Carson has received a call-up with Stuart Dallas and Jordan Owens also new faces in the squad.
Alan Blayney, Robert Garrett and Colin Coates were also included in the young squad.
Northern Ireland are without Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor, Fulham defender Aaron Hughes, West Brom midfielder Chris Brunt and Celtic winger Patrick McCourt, with all four being rested.
Squad: Jonathan Tuffey (Inverness), Alan Blayney (Linfield), Lee Hodson (Watford), Craig Cathcart (Blackpool), Colin Coates (Crusaders), Gareth McAuley (Ipswich), Ryan McGivern (Man City), Adam Thompson (Watford), Josh Carson (Ipswich), Sammy Clingan (Coventry), Niall McGinn (Celtic), Stuart Dallas (Crusaders), Steven Davis (Rangers), Robert Garrett (Linfield), Johnny Gorman (Wolves), Oliver Norwood (Man Utd), Liam Boyce (Werder Bremen), Warren Feeney (Oldham), Josh McQuoid (Millwall), Jordan Owens (Crusaders)
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes that striker Wayne Rooney may be fit to feature in England's upcoming European Championship qualifier against Montenegro.
The 24-year-old is currently struggling with an ankle injury and will miss his club's clash with Sunderland this weekend, but Ferguson thinks that Rooney could ready to play some part in the Euro2012 qualifier a week on Tuesday.
He told the local radio station Key103:"Wayne trained yesterday and he wants to play tomorrow.
"But I have to take the view that this injury has been niggling away for a while and he kept on playing.
"I have to be dead sure that I am doing the right thing, because Wayne has not been doing himself justice.
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"I think in a week he will be fine. Obviously we don't play in a week, so it is up to Fabio Capello whether he wants him to."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Something I thought would never happen again occurred on Wednesday – Carlos Tevez pulled on a Manchester City shirt.
The Argentina striker was exiled by Man City manager Roberto Mancini after refusing to come off the bench in a Champions League match earlier in the season and it was thought he would never play for City again, especially after some of the comments he made in regards to the way the Italian treated him.
However, Tevez did come off the bench at The Eithad Stadium on Wednesday in the Premier League match against Chelsea and even set up Samir Nasri’s winning goal for City, which keeps them hot on the heels of Manchester United in the title race.
Here is Mancini giving instructions to Tevez, but what is the Italian saying?
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This week you can win a copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13
Blockbuster continues its assault on rivals with announcement of exclusive downloadable content for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (R) 13, available to all Blockbuster customers who pre-order the classic title, out 30th March.
Fans who pre-order their copy of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (R) 13 will receive two bonus golfer foursome downloads.
The first will allow gamers to take to the tee with legends of the Premier League – Wayne Rooney, James Milner, Theo Walcott and Petr Cech – in the Football Fourball.
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Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has blamed dropping so many points early in the season for their poor showing this campaign.The former Serie A champions have been unbeaten in their last seven matches and remain in contention for a place in next season’s Champions League.
But their current position in seventh does not even earn a Europa League spot, which means they must continue their winning ways when they face Chieva Verona on Monday.
“Yes, we certainly hope that happens. Our last win is making us regret the fact we lost some important points, but our aim is finishing the season with three more victories and then we’ll see what happens,” the 26-year-old said.
“Unfortunately we need some good luck too and hope for some mistakes by the other teams.”
Chiellini was speaking at a function for cancer prevention and said other things were more important than football.
“Yes, definitely something more important: cancer prevention,” he said.
“In particular we are talking about 15, 16-year-old teenagers who are going through a very delicate age, an age you think you are indestructible, while it’s a good thing to begin thinking of your future at that age, avoiding things that can be dangerous for your own health.”