Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has told reporters that his players have to win the Premier League clash against West Ham United at the weekend. . The Red Devils will return to league action on Sunday when they take on West Ham away from home in London. . United will head into the game at the Boleyn Ground on the back of a 3-0 home win against Cambridge United in an FA Cup fourth-round replay on Tuesday. . “I said that at the beginning of the week before the game against Leicester City, that this is an important week…
Author: David F.
Manchester United defender Paddy McNair has suggested that he enjoyed the right-back role that he played in his side’s FA Cup clash with Cambridge United. . The young defender has often featured at centre-back this season, but coach Louis van Gaal deployed the 19-year-old in a full-back position during United’s recent 3-0 victory at Old Trafford. . “I enjoyed getting down the right flank. I actually enjoy getting forward. It was a bit different,” McNair told MUTV. . “I played there for the Under-21s and I played there for the first time [in the senior team] against Yeovil in the…
Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj believes he is learning a lot from Louis van Gaal and that the club will finish in the top four of the Premier League this season. . Januzaj has struggled to get into the Man United team so far this season and has had to play in an unusual wing back role when he has been called upon by Van Gaal. . Despite this, the 20-year-old has remained positive and produced a fine performance in last weekend’s win over Leicester City. . Speaking about his role in the team, Januzaj said: “The different formation means a…
Former Heartland FC captain, Ike Thankgod says he has no regrets joining Omani club, Fanja Sports Club. . The defender joined from Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) club, Warri Wolves and has hit the ground running at his new surroundings. . He has exclusively told supersport.com that he has no regrets joining the Oman Professional League outfit. . “Some persons have called me to express their reservations about the move but I don’t listen to that kind of talk. . “The standard of football is good here and the money is even better,” he said with a smile. . Thankgod…
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti admits that Atletico Madrid’s aerial strength against his side’s inexperienced defence is cause for concern ahead of Saturday’s La Liga derby. . Real’s regular centre-backs Sergio Ramos and Pepe are injured while left-back Marcelo is also suspended for the game, when victory for leaders Real would give them a 10-point cushion over third-placed Atletico. . Frenchman Raphael Varane has been playing alongside Ramos recently, and has been involved in some important games for the club, but the homegrown Nacho Fernandez has been given little playing time since he made his debut under Jose Mourinho in…
Athletic Bilbao’s Spanish international defensive midfielder Ander Iturraspe could be out for up to six weeks with a knee injury picked up in the La Liga match against Levante last weekend. . The defensive lynchpin, 25, who has played twice for Spain and has been at Bilbao since 2008, is now set to miss Barcelona’s visit in top flight action on Sunday. . “The estimated period of absence will be between four and six weeks,” read a club statement. . Bilbao are currently 11th in La Liga and a distant 31 points behind leaders Real Madrid as they also get…
Tunisia football chief Wadie Jary was banned from all Confederation of African Football (CAF) activities on Friday following claims his side were unfairly treated during their controversial Africa Cup of Nations defeat against Equatorial Guinea. . CAF ordered Jary and the Tunisian federation to apologise or provide evidence to back up their complaints before midnight on Thursday. . However when no apology was forthcoming, CAF suspended Jary until an apology materialised. . “The Afcon Organising Committee decided to suspend the President of the Tunisian Football Federation, Mr Wadie Jary, from all activities related to CAF until he submitted a letter…
Chelsea should be more than five points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, according to a morose Jose Mourinho who reluctantly returned to speak to the media on Friday after refusing to talk last week. . Mourinho, asked why he looked so glum, told reporters: “You know why I am here, so you cannot expect me to be super-happy to be here. I am here because I have to be here.” . Asked whether he refused to talk to the media last week because the FA sanctioned striker Diego Costa for stamping on Emre Can…
Winless in four games, it is unsurprising that Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is clinging to the hope that last week’s draw with Chelsea might help cure the January blues that threatened to derail their title bid. . The City manager has seen his side slip five points behind last week’s opponents at the top of the table with a solitary league victory since the turn of the year and none since midfielder Yaya Toure packed his bags for the African Nations Cup. . On the brink of their worst run in the Premier League since 2009, a statistic that…
West Bromwich Albion’s Saido Berahino is on the “naughty chair” according to manager Tony Pulis, after the striker said he wanted to move to a bigger club. . Berahino, who has scored nine league goals this season, gave an interview in which he claimed he would seek a move at the end of the season, once he had helped to secure West Brom’s survival. . “He’s been in the naughty chair – but he’s okay, it’s not too far from my desk,” Pulis told reporters on Friday. . “Again, I do feel he’s gone and done an interview for something…
Asamoah Gyan could be fit for Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final after suffering a pelvic injury and missing Thursday’s semifinal win over hosts Equatorial Guinea. . Ghana’s captain was poleaxed by a kung-fu-style kick from Guinea goalkeeper Naby Yattara in the closing stages of Ghana’s 3-0 win in Sunday’s quarterfinal in Malabo. . “He was hardly able to walk directly after that but the medical staff have done intensive work with him and he was sprinting again in training on Wednesday,” Ghana Football Association spokesman Ibrahim Sannie told Reuters on Friday. . “But the advice to the coach was…
Jose Mourinho insisted on Friday that new signing Juan Cuadrado was not a “panic buy” as the Chelsea manager resumed relations with the media during a tetchy press conference. . Mourinho refused to speak to the media before or after Premier League leaders Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City last week because of the Football Association’s decision to ban Diego Costa for stamping in the League Cup semifinal win over Liverpool. . Costa was banned for three games for a challenge on Liverpool’s Emre Can, with Mourinho saying excessive media scrutiny was behind the suspension. . The Chelsea manager, who…
Giwa FC coach, Aminu Musa has been named the best team sports coach in Plateau state for 2014. . The award by Hillsaint Sport is meant to appreciate and reward coaches who excelled in their various sports. . Musa commended the organisers to have noticed his brief stint as head coach Giwa FC in the past season. . He thanked the owner of the club, Ambassador Chris Giwa for giving him this great platform to showcase himself as well as rub shoulders with some of the best coaches in the land. . “I sometime pinched myself to be certain that…
Former Nigeria international, Sunday Oliseh has advised Football Players and sports men especially in Africa to take their education seriously because it will prove useful at their end of their short career. . Oliseh who was a guest speaker at a recent TEDx event in London, highlighted his early days in Lagos and progress into professional football in Europe as well as the highs and lows of a truly successful career.
Pep Guardiola is showing signs of feeling the pressure as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich hunt their first win of the year at strugglers VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. . Bayern have failed to impress so far in 2015 in their two matches since returning from the Bundesliga’s winter break with an 11-point lead. . Their shock 4-1 thrashing at second-placed Wolfsburg last Friday was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Schalke on Tuesday after playing for 70 minutes with ten men. . The usually calm and composed Bayern coach sprinted 45 metres to remonstrate with the assistant referee after…
World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo returns for a Real Madrid side otherwise stricken by injuries and suspensions as they look to beat Atletico Madrid for the first time in six meetings this season on Saturday. . Ronaldo completed his two-game ban for kicking out at Cordoba defender Edimar as the European champions sneaked past Sevilla to open up a four-point lead over Barcelona at the top of the table on Wednesday. . However, victory came at a cost as World Cup star James Rodriguez broke a bone in his right foot that will keep him out for two…
Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos will be out of action for five weeks, coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed on Friday. . Spain international Ramos, 28, suffered a torn hamstring in Wednesday’s 2-1 La Liga win over Sevilla and limped off after just nine minutes before being replaced by Nacho. . “Sergio’s injury is a serious one. He’ll be out for five weeks,” Ancelotti explained. . Ramos, who had already been ruled out of Saturday’s derby against Atletico, could also miss both legs of Champions League round of 16 against Schalke, on 18th February and 10th March. . The centre-back’s absence is…
Zinedine Zidane is shaping up as a future coach of Real Madrid coach, present incumbent Carlo Ancelotti said on Friday. . Zidane, who is currently coaching the Real reserve side Castilla, “has all the qualities” required to take the the helm of the club, Ancelotti told a news conference. . “I enjoy Zidane’s work, he’s doing very well,” Ancelotti said. . After a difficult start of the season, Castilla are top of Spain’s third tier league. . “He’s doing very well in his first year in charge. He’s taken Castilla to first place and he needs to keep up the…
One of West African powerhouses Ivory Coast and Ghana will end their lengthy wait for another Africa Cup of Nations title when they meet in the championship match on Sunday. . The tournament final will be played on Sunday night at Estadio de Bata in Equatorial Guinea. Kick-off is at 9pm CAT. . The Elephants defeated DR Congo 3-1 in their semifinal on Wednesday night to secure a place in the final for the third time in the last nine years and will hope to add to the one continental trophy they claimed back in 1992. . Ivory Coast were…
Christian Atsu says the Ghana team is focused and not carried away by their Afcon 2015 finale feat. . The Chelsea winger reveals the target of doing the main business in Sunday’s finals over Ivory Coast before thinking of celebration. . The Black Stars took a cautious approach to the tournament and diligently eased past hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 in a gruelling semifinal which was later marred by crowd troubles in Malabo. . The crowd incidents began after Gabonese referee whistled and pointed to the spot following a clip by Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Felipe Ovono on attacker Kwesi Appiah. .…