Browse Month: March 2016

Pochettino focussing on the Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur were knocked from the UEFA Europa League on March 17 after suffering an aggregate defeat of 5-1 against Borussia Dortmund.

Despite being eliminated from the European competition, Mauricio Pochettino did not appear to be flustered in any way as the Argentinean manager even stated that this result is good news for his squad as they can now solely focus on catching up to the Premier League table toppers Leicester City.

Mauricio Pochettino and his squad have less than 10 league matches where they have to make something happen and give it their all in order to have any kind of realistic chance to snatch the top spot of the English league. Making it into the top 4 is key for next season – if the transfer rumours are to be believed then they have some stellar signings lined up to help take them to the next level.

It’s been over 50 years since Tottenham Hotspur has been able to lift the Premier League and in this season, the only thing that is standing in their way is Leicester City and Pochettino will do everything in his power to try and take the 1rst place away from the team of Claudio Ranieri.

“I think now we are focused on the Premier League and all our energies will go into trying to win games and win the league. It’s true that there are no distractions now, until now we had the Europa League to play, but now we only have the Premier League. We need to realize that our target was to try to reduce the gap to the top four but we are second in the table now, and we have played one tie more than last season in the Europa League.’’ Mauricio Pochettino said.

Now that the Premier League is reaching it’s final stages, every single point, every win or defeat can be the difference between becoming the new champions of England and just falling short.

Roberto Martinez’ position at Everton went from bad to worse

  • By Kicker
  • on Mar 08, 2016
  • in Uncategorized

Roberto Martinez’ position at Everton went from bad to worse after his team were beaten 1-0 by West Brom at Goodison Park.

This was the second league loss in five matches for a team that has top four ambitions. Martinez spent a lot of money recruiting players like Romelu Lukaku on a permanent basis, but inconsistency is starting to hurt in the team’s ability to make a major impact in the Premier league. The recent defeat saw them slip into the bottom half of the league while there is a real danger of the club being sucked into the relegation zone if things do not improve soon.

Martinez used the terms like unlucky and criticised the opponents for time wasting tactics, but he will be aware that it is his job that will be on the line. The club are in advanced talks over a potential ownership change, which will put further pressure on the Spaniard. If the potential £ 200 million change in ownership goes through, the new American owners will want to have their own man in charge of the club. Martinez has had an up-and-down time at Everton. Despite managing to successfully go beyond the David Moyes era, he has struggled in terms of consistency and this is not good for a team with European ambitions.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong. I don’t care about budgets at other places. You need to know how to get there and have the strategy. I want to push the football club into more than what people would expect. The squad we have is a squad to dream of. Until you get 40 points and beyond, every club will be looking over their shoulders. I don’t care what anyone says,” said Martinez about the probability of relegation threat in the coming weeks.

Aston Villa are now becoming certainties for relegation

  • By Kicker
  • on Mar 03, 2016
  • in Uncategorized

Aston Villa are now becoming certainties for relegation after being cut adrift at the bottom of the table.

This is making life extremely difficult for Frenchman Remi Garde, who was appointed as the replacement for Tim Sherwood a few months ago.Garde has been looking to strengthen the team in the January transfer window, but Villa have been unable to make much inroads so far.Garde has opened up on the situation by claiming that several players have already turned down to the club since they are not confident about Villa retaining the league status.

Aston Villa are one of the top clubs to have avoided relegation, but they have been in a dogfight over the last couple of years. This finally appears to be the season where they go down into the Championship. The team have secured only eight points from the 20 league games so far. They already need to make up more than 10 points just to stay in touch with the likes of Newcastle United and Sunderland. Villa did make a lot of signings in the summer under Sherwood, but most of the names have failed to shine at Villa Park. The club’s recent disappointment came in the FA Cup when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Wycombe.

“Attracting players in the situation we are in is not an easy task because players are not only attracted by money, as many people think.They also care about the project that we present to them. I have to say that if we had been in a better position, I would probably already have signed at least two players. It is very frustrating but I came into a situation that I knew could be uncomfortable to me for signing players,” said Garde, who has been linked with Loic Remy and Mathieu Debuchy.