Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

Danny Simpson: Delighted with Newcastle’s recent form

Danny Simpson has challenged Newcastle to record their fifth Premier League win in a row when Bolton visit St James’ Park on Monday.

The full-back has been delighted with the way the Magpies have remained in contention for a Champions League spot with the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham.

And Simpson believes the Easter weekend could play a decisive outcome in the season with just six games remaining.

He said: “With 10 games to go, the manager (Alan Pardew) said the season starts now.

“We’ve got four wins on the bounce and we’re keeping clean sheets so it couldn’t have gone any better.

“We’ve looked solid at the back and dangerous going forward.

“We’ve been good through the season but this is the best spell and the best we’ve looked as a whole.

“We feel strong and as if we’re going to win.

“This is a massive week for everyone in the Premier League and if you can get maximum points, you give yourself a good chance with five games to go.

“We’ve given ourselves a good chance to get five wins on the bounce.”

Mario Balotelli: sent off in Arsenal defeat

Manchester City have denied rumours of a post-match punch-up in their dressing room after the Barclays Premier League defeat at Arsenal.

The aftermath of City’s loss, which could spell the end of their title hopes, saw suggestions emerge of a physical confrontation between members of their squad at the Emirates Stadium.

But a club spokesman dismissed that, saying: “It is rubbish.”

The result left City eight points behind Manchester United, prompting manager Roberto Mancini to admit their title hopes were “probably” over.

The match also witnessed another meltdown from Mario Balotelli, who was sent off in the dying moments for a second yellow card after getting away with what looked a certain sending-off offence in the first half when he caught Alex Song with a knee-high challenge.

Nikica Jelavic: Praise from his new manager

David Moyes says Everton new boy Nikica Jelavic reminds him of Croatia’s all-time record goalscorer Davor Suker.

Jelavic has been nothing short of a revelation since he swapped Rangers for Everton in a £5.5million January transfer.

The Croatian has scored five goals for the Toffees, the latest two coming in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Norwich at Carrow Road.

The 26-year-old opened the scoring with the cleverest of deft flicks in the first half and showed predatory instinct by turning home Steven Pienaar’s cross to score the Toffees’ second after the break.

Everton have longed for a regular goalscorer ever since Louis Saha went off the boil after a succession of injuries, and Moyes is so delighted with his new hitman that he admits he sees shades of France ’98 top scorer Suker in the former Rangers striker.

“He does (remind me of Suker),” Moyes said.

“He sees getting goals as part of his job, his role in the team, but he has helped link us up as well.

“He is a presence as a centre forward so he has been good for us.

“He wants to get a goal and he showed that against Norwich.”

No coincidence

Since Jelavic arrived at Goodison Park, the Merseysiders have leapfrogged bitter rivals Liverpool to reach seventh in the Premier League – an achievement which Moyes thinks is no coincidence.

“We couldn’t score at all in the first half of the season and he makes us look like we are going to do it more often,” Moyes added.

“He has adapted really well. At Rangers he probably had more of the ball than he has had here in the Premier League so he has to do a little bit more on the other side of the game, but overall he has done well.”

Everton would have registered their third straight league win for the first time in over two years had Jonny Howson and Grant Holt not taken advantage of some slack defending to equalise for the Canaries in an entertaining game at Carrow Road.

Moyes was disappointed to draw after taking the lead twice, but he must quickly eradicate thoughts of the stalemate and instead concentrate on tomorrow’s game against Sunderland at Goodison Park.

After that the Toffees face a huge FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Saturday and Moyes admits he may have to shuffle his pack given the importance of next weekend’s game against their neighbours.

“This is a difficult time of the year,” he added.

“I will have a look and try to see what I can do. I have a few ideas up my sleeve.”

Ola Toivonen: On the scoresheet for PSV as they enjoy Dutch Cup success

PSV Eindhoven won the KNVB Beker by ending Heracles Almelo’s fairytale run in the competition with a comfortable 3-0 victory on Sunday evening.

Ola Toivonen opened the scoring in the 31st minute and Dries Mertens and Jeremain Lens added further goals after the break for the overwhelming favourites, who never looked like succumbing to an upset.

Eredivisie strugglers Heracles had stunned title hopefuls AZ Alkmaar in the semi-finals, but they were second best from start to finish at De Kuip as a first ever cup success eluded them.

On paper this was a mis-match, PSV former European and 21-times league champions against opponents whose last top-flight title came in 1941.

And so it proved as PSV dominated from the first whistle.

Lens fired wide of the left post from inside the area early on as PSV peppered the Heracles goal with shots, goalkeeper Remko Pasveer having to be alert.

Toivonen put them in front just after the half-hour mark as Zakaria Labyad picked him out unmarked in the area and, as defenders tried to close him down, the Sweden striker slide the ball into the net.

Georginio Wijnaldum should have doubled the lead early in the second half, but shot over from close range after good build-up play involving Lens and Toivonen.

The miss did not prove costly, though, as the second goal arrived in the 56th minute.

Mertens raced on to a long ball over the top from Erik Pieters as Pasveer charged off his line to try and get there first.

The two players went for the ball with their heads on the edge of the area, Mertens getting to it first and, as the pair clashed heads, the ball dropped into the goal.

Pasveer required stitches following the collision, but was able to continue and he saved to prevent Mertens getting another three minutes later.

But Lens sewed up victory in the 63rd minute, racing down the right before cutting inside and chipping Pasveer as he came out to close him down.

Everton almost pulled one back for Heracles with an acrobatic effort, but it was excellently saved by Przemyslaw Tyton as PSV won the cup with plenty to spare.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has revealed that he is ready to sell star striker Mario Balotelli in the summer.

The City striker again found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons after his red card at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Balotelli escaped a red card after 10 minutes for a knee-high tackle on Bacary Sagna, but was dismissed in stoppage time after receiving a second booking by referee Martin Atkinson for another lunge on the same player, and could now face a lengthy ban.

But Mancini looks to have had enough of the troubled player and admitted after the game that he would not play for the club again this season.

Asked for how long he could put up with Balotelli’s antics, Mancini said: “I am finished. We have six games and he will not play in the next six games.”

“I am finished. We have six games and he will not play in the next six games.”Roberto Mancini on Mario Balotelli Quotes of the week

Pushed further on whether he would try to sell Balotelli at the end of the season, Mancini replied: “Probably – but I don’t know. It depends, because Balotelli is a fantastic player.

“I can continue to play with Mario on the pitch. Every time, we risk one sent off, like today.

“But he can score also in the last minute.”

Bad tackle

Balotelli has been no stranger to controversy since joining the club in 2010.

And Mancini said of the first-half tackle on Sagna: “From the bench I didn’t see the first tackle but it was a bad tackle.”

When asked if the authorities should take a look retrospectively, he said: “I hope (so),” and admitted the striker deserved a lengthy ban.

“I defend him always because Mario is a good guy, but if he doesn’t change in the future he can lose all his talent.

“If he doesn’t understand this, after two years I can’t do anything. I hope for him that he can improve, that he can understand that he can’t continue like this, for his future, for his talent. I’m very sorry for him for this.”

Mikel Arteta: Scored spectacular winner for Arsenal

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal’s victory against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium was the club’s most important win of the season.

The Spanish midfielder stuck a dagger into the heart of City’s Premier League title hopes with a stunning 25 yard strike three minutes from time to secure all three points.

Arteta’s spectacular winner sends Arsene Wenger’s men two points clear of Tottenham in third place with just six games of the season remaining.

“Well, (the result) was so important,” the former Rangers and Everton man told Sky Sports 1.

“Chelsea won yesterday (against Wigan) while Newcastle have been very consistent over the last few games as well and Tottenham are still there, so it’s going to be a big fight from now until the end of the season.

“But we knew that today was going to be one of the most difficult games we have until the end of the season.

“There was a lot to play for both teams today. It’s going to be really tough for them (City) because of Manchester United winning and for us because if we lose today we would be two points behind them (Tottenham) and there’s six games to go.”

With regards the game, the 30-year-old said: “It’s always difficult when you play a team like Manchester City. When you get ten chances, you have to take three or four of them because they’ve got the quality up front to create trouble for you, but we did it at the end.

“As soon as I saw the space and I saw the centre-back coming towards me, I just said I have to strike it and it went into the back of the net.”

Mark Hughes: Queens Park Rangers manager will appeal Shaun Derry’s red card

Queens Park Rangers will appeal Shaun Derry’s red card against Manchester United after Mark Hughes accused referee Lee Mason of being too quick to make a decision.

Derry was dismissed inside the opening quarter of an hour at Old Trafford after being penalised for a foul on Ashley Young, who had been in an offside position from Wayne Rooney’s initial pass.

Rooney scored the subsequent penalty and Paul Scholes netted a second goal on 68 minutes to leave QPR outside the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference.

Hughes felt his team’s chances of securing a result at his former club were ruined by Derry’s dismissal and he was also critical of Young’s role in the red card shown to his captain.

Aggrieved

“I think everybody understood that, having seen it on numerous occasions, the boy is clearly offside initially,” Hughes told Sky Sports.

“He has gone through and there is very minimal contact from Shaun Derry. The boy has gone over too readily and the ref has gone for that.

“He was very quick to blow for a penalty. In fairness, I think the kid was still rolling around and the penalty has already been given. He didn’t really give his assistant time to put the flag up.”Mark Hughes Quotes of the week

“He was very quick to blow for a penalty. In fairness, I think the kid was still rolling around and the penalty has already been given. He didn’t really give his assistant time to put the flag up.

“Once he has pointed to the spot it’s very difficult for the assistant to keep his flag up and try to over-rule him, so from that point on we’re very aggrieved.”

Veteran midfielder Derry is set to miss Wednesday’s encounter with Swansea at Loftus Road, but Hughes will challenge the dismissal.

“Yes. We will appeal the red card,” said Hughes.

“We need all hands on deck on Wednesday, plus Shaun has had a rest. He only played for 15 minutes.”

Fantastic

The QPR boss added: “I have to say that I thought my players were fantastic today. I have seen many teams come here and absolutely capitulate under similar circumstances, but we weren’t prepared to do that.

“My guys showed real discipline and real determination to make sure we didn’t go under an avalanche of goals, which is vitally important.

“We’ve started the weekend in a position where we wanted to go into this game and try to be positive, but that opportunity has been taken away from us by the referee’s decision.

“As the events of the weekend have unfolded, we’ve actually found ourselves better off, although bitterly disappointed with the events of today. From that point of view, it’s a positive and surely the only one we can take.”

Kenny Dalglish: Hoping his side will win more games than they lose

Manager Kenny Dalglish admits paranoia could start to set in at Anfield following Liverpool’s recent poor run of form.

The Reds ended a run of three successive defeats as they were held to a surprise 1-1 draw at home by Aston Villa on Saturday.

They have won just five times at home in the Premier League this season, drawing nine matches and dropping 24 points in their 11 other games.

And, although the Scot insisted the result against Alex McLeish’s side was down to the performance of referee Michael Oliver, he also claimed some people may think ‘there is an agenda against the club’.

“It is important to get as much as you possibly can from every game and in most of the games we have played here we haven’t got that and yesterday was another example,” he said

“Most of the things we did do which were in our control we tried our best to do.

“Some of the decisions we have not had recently have been a bit confusing.

“If we keep trying it will turn but sometimes there will be some people whose paranoia sets in and they will think there is an agenda against the club from people in importance.

“We don’t immediately see it that way but other people may do.”

Pleased

Chris Herd put the visitors ahead in the 10th minute and it took until eight minutes from time for Liverpool to equalise through Luis Suarez’s close-range header.

But Dalglish felt his side should have been awarded two penalties by Oliver and was also upset about the official’s decision to later book Suarez for diving.

“We were pleased with most of the things we did,” he insisted.

“Their attitude and commitment from 20 minutes from the end of the first half was the difference.

“Villa got a goal and it gave them something to hold on to but the longer the game went the stronger we got and the more determined we were to get a goal.

“We got a goal but I think we deserved more than that. They kept plugging away. If we keep doing that we will win more than we will lose.”