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Ledley King Dismisses Tottenham’s chances in Top 4

Erstwhile Tottenham star King (Ledley) has dismissed his old club’s chance of being at the top 4 of 2014 Premier League. However, the football ace has expressed deep faith in Mauricio Pochettino and believes that he is the rightmost person to head the team forward- commanding success in White Hart.

The Argentine international is the new manager for Tottenham since 2014 summer& has been really quick in inculcating his very style into his new team. Post a powerful beginning this season, the Spurs had dropped back tad bit & are still on the struggle for getting hold of the games.

However, King’s former are till vying hard to reach up to the top 4 level at the esteemed League.

Ledley has admitted that it would be time consuming for the new manager to channelize his thoughts amidst the footballers yet has also revealed that his former team is presently under the very right man who could actually march them forward.

“It’s going to be time consuming for him (Pochettino) to have his plans & methods across players, yet we are pretty confident about his élan- he is actually the rightmost man for this job”, stressed the Tottenham legend.

The erstwhile English defender has this feeling that it would be something really mammoth for the Spurs to reach up to top 4 this season & believes that it would mean huge luck for the club to qualify in the heightened status. However, he has repeatedly stressed about his deep faith in Pochettino and believes that under his guidance the team would be able to march forward & might be able to secure a position in the top 4 in coming seasons.

“I feel that it might be hard for us to come up in top 4 this time.”

City Seasons Begins Well

Manchester City’s season of defending the Premier League title began with a 2-0 triumph over Newcastle United as they collected all 3 points and currently are at the top of the English League along with: Tottenham, Hull City, Aston Villa, Swansea City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea as they all picked up victories in their opening matches of the season.

The summer spending spree of Manchester City has not been so active compared to other clubs in the Premier League but Manuel Pellegrini is confident that his current squad is better than the one it was one year ago and the Chilean manager displayed his joy about starting the league with a triumph.

Pellegrini said: ‘I am very happy because I think it’s always important to start the season winning, especially when you have to play away at so difficult a stadium as St James. It’s always a difficult stadium for every team that comes here’’

‘’Maybe in the second half we couldn’t have so much possession of the ball because seven of our 10 outfield players were not able to play 90 minutes at the same pace. But we were very concentrated, very well organized and we kept a clean sheet, and finally we decided the game with a second goal’’

Goals from David Silva and Sergio Aguero secured the first victory of the season for the team of Manchester City. The next Premier League match of Manchester City will see them battling it out against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium in an encounter that could set the tone for what’s to come for both clubs.

Liverpool has signed over 7 players during this transfer window but after selling Luis Suarez to Barcelona, the team of Brendan Rodgers is still considered to be a significantly weaker squad than the one of the previous season.

LIVERPOOL TAKE CHARGE

Liverpool’s 3-2 victory against Manchester City has proved that Brendan Rodgers and his men are genuine title contenders in this season. Even with this loss that the club of the Etihad Stadium suffered from, the Bosnian Edin Dzeko stated that you cannot count out Manchester City just yet.

Dzeko said: “It’s too early to say if Sunday’s result will decide where the title ends up because we still have six games to play and Liverpool and Chelsea both have four left. Continue reading LIVERPOOL TAKE CHARGE

Injury may affect Man City’s balance

Before the high voltage match between Manchester United and Barcelona, the hamstring injury of Man city striker Auguero is keeping his team management worried.

The 32 year old striker fell down and received injury in his hamstring during his previous match. While Sergio’s body needs some rest, his team management is considering his fast recovery before the match against Barcelona where Lionel Messi will take on the Manchester City men. According to the injury survey by the Elite Club UEFA, hamstring injury is the most common type of injury among the soccer players across the globe. Experts say that these days, instead of waiting for the time required, the clubs put more pressure on the players and make them bring back on the fields too early after they recover from their injury.

Against Sunderland match in the Capital Cup Sergio received injury at th 57 minutes of the match, now with this injury of an important player, the club has reportedly started worrying and considering taking some effective initiatives to reduce the injury of their players.

If this continues and the player does not become fully match fit to take on Barcelona, then the Manchester City club management will have serious worry over Sergio’s health and thus the striker’s chances to play the world cup matches will also get uncertain.

However, sources close the 28 year old striker said that his will try his best to recover and will give a power pack performance in the 2014 world cup. Auguero’s fans and followers have also wished his fast recovery in different social networking sites. If in form, Sergio Auguero has scored regular goals, be it for his club Manchester City or his team Brazil.

ALL ON JOVETIC

The manager of Manchester City, Manuel Pellegrini, has said that Stevan Jovetic needs to prove his worth at Etihad Stadium in the latter half of the ongoing season.

City had signed Jovetic at the start of the season after paying a big transfer fee of 22 million Pounds to his former club Fiorentina, but, he hasn’t been able to repay that so far and his fitness has a lot to do with that. He has been continuously struggling with his hamstring problem since making his way to City and has featured for his new club in just 5 matches so far.

The last time that Jovetic had played for City was two and half months back in October. That was a Capital One Cup match against Newcastle United and the Montenegro forward had lasted just a few minutes in that game.

Talking to the reporters about Jovetic the other day, Pellegrini said, “No player can be fit for each and every match. I hope that Stevan’s fitness improves this year and we will be able to play him regularly.”

“I am one of those managers who believe their players. If the player is saying that he has got an issue with his muscles, then, he must have that issue.”

“I have got 100% faith in him. My mind might change after a few months, but, at this point of time, I believe that Stevan will be back and he will play a key role for us later in the season.”

The Sky Blues are currently at the second position in the Barclays Premier League points table with 44 points in 20 matches. They are just one point behind the Gunners who have been leading the table right from the start of the season.

BACK ON SONG

Manchester City returned to form in the best possible manner after a 7-0 win in the Premier league. They thrashed relegation threatened opponents Norwich at the Etihad stadium to move within six points of table leaders Arsenal, who went on to enjoy a 2-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday. The away from of City has been susceptible, but they have been quite brilliant at home. It was once again demonstrated with a high-intensity performance against Norwich. There were seven different positives for Pellegrini in terms of goal scorers. He said after the match that the intensity of the team was giving him a lot of joy.

City’s recent loss against Chelsea had put them in a distant seventh place, which increased the pressure on Pellegrini. City have not finished outside the top two in the last two seasons. Johnson’s own goal after just 16 minutes put City on their way, as they raced to a 4-0 lead within half-time. David Silva, Nastasic and Negredo were the scorers. This great scoreline did not prevent City from relaxing in the second half. They continued their domination with goals from Yaya Touré, Sergio Aguero, and Edin Dzeko.

Pellegrini said that it was normal for the team to relax after such a brilliant first half, but he is happy that his team did not relax.

“It was a really good performance. The team played really well during the 90 minutes, not only the first half. Normally when winning 4-0 at half-time, in the second half a team finish or stop. But the team continued playing exactly the same and that’s very important for me. It is the way we work every day. It is so important for me to see the way I want them to play. They are very good technical players,” said Pellegrini.

SOUNESS BACKS CITY

Sky sports pundit Graeme Souness is of the opinion that Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini will be able to lead Manchester City to title success this campaign. City watched archrivals Manchester United lift their 20th league title last season. Even more than that disappointment, City were thought to be extremely concerned about the failure to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions league in consecutive seasons. This led to the arrival of Pellegrini, whose will be experiencing English football for the first time. He has managed clubs only in Spain and South America.

His biggest job till date was at Real Madrid, but he did not last more than 12 months. He also did not win any major trophies during his time at Real Madrid, which has led to many believing that Pellegrini will take some time adapting to English football. Souness, though, thinks that the manager has enough quality to have led to teams into the semifinals of the Champions league. This will certainly hold him in good stead. The absence of Sir Alex Ferguson makes it a little bit easier for Pellegrini, who will win the league title in his first season according to Souness.

City have already spent close to £ 100 million on improving their squad.

“If you look at what Roberto Mancini did last year. He won the league the year before scoring the most goals and conceding the fewest. So what does he decide to do? He changes the system. Why? Why would you do that? Because I believe a year ago City had the strongest group and I believe now they have the strongest group. But that does not mean they are going to win it. But I do like the manager they have got. I think he’s a manager who keeps it simple,” said the former Liverpool manager.

HAPPY WITH SIGNINGS

New Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini took time to praise the club’s new signings – Fernandinho and Jesus Navas – when he was unveiled by the club. City have been in discussions with the South American for the last few weeks since the sacking of Mancini. However, they have been able to unveil the former Malaga manager only now. He is expected to achieve success at the European level, which is something that the former manager failed to do despite winning two domestic trophies. Pellegrini will also be responsible for getting the Premier league trophy back to the Etihad stadium.

He will be meeting a Manchester United club that will be without Sir Alex Ferguson as its manager for the first time in 26 years. Some see this as a great signing for Pellegrini to win the league in his first season at the club. However, the South American has not managed league clubs to league titles in Europe. In his only major job at a big club, Pellegrini was rather disappointing as he failed to win any major trophies with Real Madrid. However, he said that he has an extremely strong squad at his disposal.

He also praised Fernandinho and Jesus Navas by saying that they could be crucial to the club this season. Both players were brought into the club for close to £50 million.

“He has impressed me on a number of occasions over the past few years and is another player I’ve taken a keen interest in. He is an experienced international who will further strengthen our midfield and I think he will be well suited to the Premier League. I’m very happy that he was one of my first signings as Manchester City manager and I think he will excite our supporters,” said the South American about Navas and Fernandinho.

NASRI SLAMMED

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri was recently heavily criticised by manager Roberto Mancini after the 4-0 win over Newcastle during the weekend. Nasri was one of the high-profile signings under the management of Mancini. He was signed from Arsenal for £ 24 million despite having one season left on his contract. Even though he started his City career in a bright fashion, performances have dipped recently. This led to the 24-year-old being dropped from the first team on a consistent basis.

Recently, Roberto Mancini revealed that there are some players in his squad who need to step up and deliver the performances that they are capable of achieving. This was thought to be an indirect criticism at the Frenchman. Nasri responded to this criticism by putting in one of his best performances of recent times in the 4-0 win over Newcastle United. After the match, Mancini questioned the character of the Frenchman by saying that he should be delivering such performances in every match.

This has resulted in the midfielder responding to the criticism by saying that he is certainly not performing at a lower level than he is capable of. However, he is aware of the fact that this season has not been good for him.

“Mancini has shown a little proof of bad faith when he said he wanted to punch me. I’ve not had a good season, I know it, I’m aware of that. I am the first to be self-critical. But it’s not true that I’m playing at 50%. I think the coach still doesn’t handle English very well and sometimes uses expressions that aren’t really suitable. Arsene Wenger is the greatest coach I’ve worked with,” said Nasri while responding to the criticism and also taking a dig at the City manager by comparing him with Arsene Wenger.