Tag: Manager

Watford boss Marco Silva eases pressure off Andre Gray

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Watford manager Marco Silva admits that the pressure is off English striker Andre Gray, who arrived from Burnley on a club-record £18m fee.


The 26-year-old inked a five-year deal with the Hornets earlier this month, and he is expected to provide competition to the likes of Stefano Okaka and Troy Deeney in the forward department.

Gray, who scored nine league goals for Sean Dyche’s Burnley last term, is the Hornets’ seventh signing of the transfer window, and Silva is adamant that there is no added pressure on the striker due to his price tag.

He said: “It’s not the most important for me and it’s not the most important for the player. I want him to play here with normal pressures and not because of the price but because he’s come to Watford to work hard and win his position. I know he’s a player who wanted to come to Watford, which is important as well. He wants to improve in his career and fight for his position in the team and to improve our squad.” (more…)

FRANCE DEFEAT ENGLAND 3-2 IN FRIENDLY

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France hosted and then defeated England in an international friendly game on Tuesday.


The game played at Stade de France, Paris saw Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane sent off in an entertaining match. Before the game kicked off, the crowd paid respect to those who died in the Manchester and London attacks.

Skipper Harry Kane started the night on a brilliant note when he scored a Ryan Bertrand cross in the first ten minutes. The goal forced the French team to go into attack mode. England national team boss Gareth Southgate had experimented with rave of the moment three man defence which suffered in the hands of the quick French attack.

Tom Heaton and Jack Butland played 45 minutes each. The Burnley keeper denied Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele but Samuel Umtiti and DjibrilSidibe got the rebounds that sent France into the lead before the break. The Barcelona defender scored in the 22nd minute while Sidibe added his 21 minutes later.

The video assistant referee was employed in the game when minutes after the break Varane fouled Dele Alli. The referee awarded a penalty which Kane converted for his second of the night.

France kept on with the attacks as the trio of Manchester United star Paul Pogba, Monaco teenage sensation KylianMbappe and Barcelona interest Dembele made England sweat. Twelve minutes from the end of regular play Mbappe and Dembele combined to get the third goal for France. (more…)

Sam Allardyce cracked down by England Team

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The England internationals of the past and the present, have come down hard on Sam Allardyce for making himself and the country a subject to jokes everywhere by falling in the trap of a media house.


According to a Three Lions’ forward of the nineties, Alan Shearer, those who are laughing and making fun of England at the moment can’t be silenced because when your national coach shows such immaturity and is removed under these circumstances, laughing on it is normal.

In shearer’s words, “How can a man, who by his own admission had had his dream come true when he was placed at the helm of the national team, be so absent minded while holding that position? He should never have agreed for any such meeting.”

“You can’t help losing your temper because you feel, as an Englishman, that he has let you down. There was such a lot of hope with him coming to the job and he lasted like that, disgraceful on his part and gutting for us.”
“I would have struggled to imagine anything worse than Euros, but, now I would say this is the worst thing to have ever happened in the Three Lions history and we will be reflecting on it first whenever we talk about the lows of our Football.” (more…)

DANIEL STURRIDGE MAKES RETURN TO ENGLAND TRAINING CAMP

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Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge makes his return to the training camp of England ahead of their Euro 2016 campaign, where they are seen among the favourites aside France, Germany and Spain.


The player didn’t join the warm up matches ahead of the continental tournament. He even missed the second successive warm up game of Three Lions when they defeated Australia on Friday by 2-1, having earlier defeated Turkey by the same margin.

The 26-year-old England international missed the games due to his calf injury concerns he sustained during the loss to Spanish opposition, Sevilla in the Europa League final. The head coach Roy Hodgson named the forward in his 26-man provisional team list that will prosecute the tournament much earlier this month after the final round of the Premier League matches. The tactician hoped to name his final pick on the 12th of May but eventually postponed it.

The list was eventually cut by one when Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph was moved to the standby list after picking up an injury. Two players are also due to be removed to meet the final 23-man squad to play the tournament. The two players would likely be any of Jack Wilshere – mostly due to fitness concerns though he has done well in the warm up games, Marcus Rashford – despite his goal against Australia as there are enough options up front, Ross Barkley – due to a little drop in form, Andros Townsend and Danny Drinkwater – as there are options, aside Sturridge himself.  (more…)

ENGLAND MAY DELAY APPOINTMENT

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England Football Association director Trevor Brooking has said that England could wait until a few days before the European championships kick off before appointing a replacement for Fabio Capello.

Fabio Capello resigned from his post as the England manager a few weeks ago, but a replacement is yet to be found.

The England Football Association initially announced that it intends to announce a replacement for Fabio Capello as quickly as possible.

However, the manager to appoint only England under 21 manager Stuart Pearce as the caretaker manager for now. Harry Redknapp has been the favourite to take over as the next England manager, but the current Tottenham manager has refused to commit himself to the job.

As a result, Sir Trevor Brooking has said that England are not under compulsion to announce a new manager as soon as possible. Hence, they will be taking their time before making the appointment, as it needs to be perfect this time around. The appointment of Fabio Capello was expected to bring major success to England, but it has not happened that way.

Further, Fabio Capello’s huge £ 6 million salary demands made it look extremely a null return on the investment. Sir Trevor Brooking has said that the football Association is not prepared to make the same mistake this time around and are willing to take their time before making the appointment.

“Everything will be in place. The backroom staff is very good. Whoever comes in will be really happy with that. The issue is the timing that is why we don’t think we are in any rush. I think you could get somebody parachuted in a few days before it, though I’m sure there are some people in our group who don’t want that,” said Trevor Brooking ahead of the England’s match with Netherlands.