Tag: World

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…)

Sam Allardyce Does Not Want a Fallout with José Mourinho

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Sam Allardyce says that it would have been difficult confrontation with Manchester United manager José Mourinho since he has international duties to take care.


Allardyce was recently named as the England manager and he has been waiting for this job throughout his career. In the past, national team managers have frequently clashed with Mourinho over the availability of players for meaningless friendly matches. Mourinho has tried to avoid sending his players to international duty so as to give them more rest and the recovery time. This has also been down to avoiding injuries from meaningless friendly matches.

Allardyce, though, says that he will only work towards the improvement of the England national team and may be prepared to fall out with other managers if they attempt to prevent his objectives. In the past, Allardyce and Mourinho have fell out with each other only once. Mourinho was the Chelsea boss while Allardyce was at West Ham. Both teams were involved in a 0-0 draw and Mourinho criticised the tactics of Allardyce by saying that they were primitive. Allardyce wanted by claiming that he did not care about Mourinho’s comments. Apart from such an incident, they both have got along well but now their priorities clash and hence there is a potential for new rivalry.
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Roy Hodgson says that he has not closed the door on a return to international football

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Roy Hodgson says that he has not closed the door on a return to international football for striker Andy Carroll, who has been suffering for form and fitness ever since completing a permanent move to West Ham United.

The national team is currently rich with a long list of top strikers. The likes of Charlie Austin have also been knocking the door, which makes it extremely difficult for Carroll to return to the national team. The 26-year-old has managed only seven goals in the last two seasons. This form is not sufficient for him to be selected for the England team.

The national team is at a crucial stage whereby Hodgson has to come up with a strong team capable of winning the Euro 2016 or even reaching the latter stages. Doing well in this competition is extremely important for the national team due to their disappointing World Cup. England have had a strong set of results since the qualification campaign started. This, again, makes it difficult for Hodgson to bring the changes in the team. The former Liverpool striker has managed to appear in nine internationals for England, but he has managed only two goals in these matches. His last goal for England was in 2012. (more…)

England boss Roy Hodgson confident on his Team for Euro 2016

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After managing to win the last six matches without exception, England boss Roy Hodgson reckons that the Three Lions will be heading to the Euro 2016 as one of the favourites to win the trophy.

England are still searching for their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup. They suffered yet another embarrassment at a major tournament after being knocked out of the World Cup 2014 at the group stages. Since then, England have undergone several changes with Hodgson bringing in fresh blood in the form of players like Raheem Sterling.

They have been a major reason behind the wins in both Euro 2016 qualifying matches and friendlies in the last few months. More importantly, England have also been playing much better football compared to recent years. (more…)