Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Guillem Balague: Pep Guardiola's future still shrouded in mystery

Guillem Balague says Pep Guardiola's next move remains a "mystery" but Manchester City could be the best fit in the Premier League.
The Spaniard is out of contract with Bayern Munich next summer and said on Wednesday that he will reveal his future plans shortly.
He has been linked with Man City, Manchester United and Chelsea while he could also stay at the Allianz Arena.

"Nobody really knows anything for sure," said Spanish football expert Balague on Sky Sports News HQ. "In the last week I have heard the Manchester City story, that he is going to take a sabbatical, I've heard a Premier League manager say he is definitely staying at Bayern Munich and I have spoken to Bayern and they just don't know.

"The inclination is that he is going to tell Bayern in a meeting on Sunday that he is leaving, that's the expectation, but they don't know. There is a lot of mystery."
Guardiola joined Bayern in 2013 after taking a year out from management following his time with Barcelona.
And Balague said he has set a precedent for leaving everyone in the dark until the last minute.
"About an hour before he went into the press conference to say he was leaving Barca, nobody knew what decision he had made, so we are in the same position now," he said.

While Guardiola's next move remains unclear, Balague thinks a move to City could make sense and is sure that he has aspirations to manage in the Premier League.
"He has said that publicly and privately," said Balague. "It's clearly an ambition and it's obvious he wants to come to the Premier League at some point.
"It seems to make a lot of sense to go to City if the job was available. Man City is one of the biggest projects and football clubs in the world so he could have the effect that Alfredo Di Stefano did at Real Madrid or Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United or Arrigo Sacchi at Milan if he was given the opportunity at City.
"But it's a big if because the position is not available. We are going to have to see, it is going to be a fascinating process to see what his decision is."



Roma suffer shootout defeat to Serie B Spezia in Coppa Italia

Roma were dumped out of the Coppa Italia in the last 32 after losing on penalties to Serie B Spezia.
Neither side could break the deadlock after 120 minutes but Roma's Bosnian duo of Miralem Pjanic and Edin Dzeko fired over the crossbar as the visitors took a 2-0 lead in the shootout.
Daniele De Rossi then Lucas Digne made amends by slotting their spot-kicks past Leandro Chichizola in the Spezia goal.
But it was too little too late as the second division side advanced 4-2 to set up a quarter-final tie with Lega Pro side Alessandria.
A fortnight after ending Palermo's interest in the competition with a shock 3-2 win in Sicily, Alessandria stopped Genoa's progress on Tuesday thanks to a 113th-minute winner that gave the third division club a 2-1 victory over the Serie A strugglers.
Also on Wednesday, Fiorentina suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Carpi as both sides finished with 10 men.
Simone Zaza scored twice as Juventus thrashed 10-man Torino 4-0.
Zaza scored either side of Cristian Molinaro's dismissal, before Paulo Dybala and Paul Pogba added two more late on.
And Napoli cruised through with a 3-0 victory at home to Hellas Verona. Omar El Kaddouri and Dries Mertens struck in the first-half before Jose Callejon added a third after the interval.
Carpi took the lead after 76 minutes through Antonio Di Gaudio before Fiorentina's Gonzalo Rodriguez and the away side's Jerry Uche Mbakogu were both dismissed in the 90th minute for a second bookable offence.
Inter Milan progressed to the quarters on Tuesday with a 3-0 home win over Cagliari and will now meet the winner of Napoli against Verona, played on Wednesday when defending champions Juventus host city rivals Torino.
Thursday sees Lazio, last season's beaten finalists, host Udinese and AC Milan visit Sampdoria.


Sunderland consider move for Lorient defender Lamine Kone

Sunderland are considering a move for Lorient defender Lamine Kone although a bid is yet to be made to the Ligue 1 club.
Kone, 26, has impressed at the heart of Lorient's defence having played more than 100 games for the club after four years at Chateauroux.
Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce is keen to bolster his defence in January with the club sitting 19th in the Premier League and two points from safety ahead of the festive period.

A report in French newspaper L'Equipe claimed the two clubs had agreed a deal for the Ivory Coast international and while he is a player Sunderland are interested in, Sky sources report no bid has been made as yet.
Kone switched to the Ivory Coast in 2014 after representing France at all levels from from U17 to U20.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Papers: Chelsea's fresh Stones bid?

Chelsea will once again rekindle attempts to sign John Stones although they face an Everton side determined to hang onto the defender.

Copa del Rey round-up: Sevilla ease into last 16 after Logrones victory

Sevilla eased through to the last-16 of the Copa del Rey by beating Logrones 2-0 at home in the second leg of their tie on Tuesday night.
Ciro Immobile and Jose Antonio Reyes struck in the first-half as they secured a 5-0 victory on aggregate over the lower league side, although they finished with 10 men after Vicente Iborra saw a straight red card late on.
Deportivo La Coruna also booked their place in the next round with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Llagostera after drawing 1-1 at home on Tuesday.

Deportivo took the lead after 69 minutes through Juan Dominguez Lamas but Jordi Lopez Felpeto struck with 11 minutes to go for Llagostera to ensure a nervy finish for the La Liga side.
Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored twice as Real Betis progressed with an entertaining 3-3 draw away at Sporting Gijon, to win 5-3 on aggregate.
Bernardo and Van Wolfswinkel exchanged early strikes before an Alen Halilovic double, the second from the penalty spot, gave Sporting a 3-1 lead with 18 minutes to go.
But Van Wolfswinkel and Alvaro Cejudo netted in the last ten minutes for Betis to ensure the draw on the night and progress to the next round.
And Espanyol also made it through after their 2-1 victory over Levante ensured a 3-2 aggregate win.
Verza put Levante ahead after eight minutes but Espanyol turned it around with goals from Burgui and Felipe Caicedo.


Charlie Austin intends to finish season with QPR

Charlie Austin has confirmed that he will not be leaving QPR in January, and intends to stay at the club until the end of the season.
Austin, whose current deal expires at the end of the season, had been heavily linked with a January move after admitting that a run of goalscoring form could help attract the "right opportunity" to leave, although new boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said the forward would not be allowed to go on a cut-price deal upon taking charge at Loftus Road.
The striker scored a second-half double to rescue a draw for QPR against Brighton on Tuesday evening, and speaking to Sky Sports after the game, said he is planning to remain a QPR player through the January transfer window.
"I set out at the start [of the season] and I said to Les [Ferdinand] that I'm going to be here for the rest of the season," Austin said. "So I'm not going anywhere."
Hasselbaink reiterated his desire to keep Austin at the club following the draw against Albion, but said the final decision will rest with the club's owners.
"I think in football you can't guarantee anything," Hasselbaink said. "Everyone wants to make profit and at the end of the day it's a business. We have to understand that, as a manager and as a club.
"Do we want to put him up for sale? No. The club does not want to sell him. But, on the other hand, it's up to the owners. I can only advise. I can only say, 'No, I don't want him to leave, I need him'. I think they will respect that."
After a run of five home clean sheets, QPR conceded twice in quick succession against unbeaten Brighton, as Dale Stephens and Rajiv Van La Parra put the away side in control after 55 minutes.
"We went 2-0 down with two sloppy goals really," Austin continued. "[But] I think we had the momentum and got the goal back and the crowd got behind us, you could say the red card helped, but we would have got the goal anyway.
"The lads deserved the point and worked so hard throughout the 90 [minutes], but I think we'll be disappointed with the goals we conceded."


Austin played his first full 90 minutes in the league since early November, and said he felt fine upon his return from a niggling calf injury.
"I felt alright, the international break probably hindered me a little bit and then Middlesbrough i missed out, I felt fit and fresh coming in and now it's all about getting minutes under my belt," Austin continued.

Liverpool's Simon Mignolet: Premier League's most error-prone goalkeeper since 2013/14

After Simon Mignolet made another costly mistake in Liverpool's 2-2 draw at home to West Brom, we look at the stats behind his performances for the club. And it doesn't make good reading for the Belgium No 1.
Mignolet joined Liverpool from Sunderland after an impressive 2012/13 season on Wearside. However, despite making over 100 appearances for the Anfield club his form this term has come in for criticism.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp even had to defend his goalkeeper earlier this month, amid rumours he would bring in a replacement in January. "I've had a lot of goalkeepers over the last few years and Simon Mignolet is one of the smartest I have had," said the German.

Here, with the help of WhoScored.com, we compare Mignolet's performances over the past three seasons with 30 other Premier League goalkeepers who have made over 20 appearances since the Belgian joined Liverpool…
No goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals than Mignolet, since he joined Liverpool. It's a damning statistic for a 'keeper but Mignolet's flap at the cross which led to West Brom's opener on Sunday was the eighth time he's been directly accountable for an opposition goal in the Premier League.

Clean sheets
When it comes to clean sheets, Mignolet is up there with the best in the league. Only Joe Hart has kept more clean sheets in the Premier League since the start of the 2013/14 season. In fact, Mignolet's figure of 28 shutouts is enough to equal David de Gea's record for Manchester United in that time.
Goals conceded
When he's not keeping clean sheets Mignolet is letting in a lot of goals. Since he moved to Liverpool, only Aston Villa's Brad Guzan and Newcastle's Tim Krul - both fighting at the opposite end of the table - have conceded more goals. Of course, Mignolet can't be blamed for every one of the 112 strikes that have hit his net but he ranks some way behind the top 'keepers in the division in this statistic. Mignolet has conceded 23 goals more than De Gea and 36 more than Hart.
Save success
Mignolet's save-to-shot success rate is middling at best. On average, over the past three seasons, the Liverpool goalkeeper has saved 67.6 per cent of the shots fired at him. That puts him 18th out of 31 goalkeepers who have made more than 20 Premier League appearances since his Liverpool move.
Crosses
Mignolet's authority in dealing with crosses appears to be a major problem. Mignolet has opted to punch the ball 80 times since signing for Liverpool - that's more than any other 'keeper in the league. Of course, there's nothing wrong with punching the ball but in this instance it could reflect the Belgian's reluctance to catch crosses.
Mignolet is the only 'keeper who has opted to punch the ball clear more times than he has successfully caught it from a cross (79), since the start of the 2013/14 season. To put that into perspective, the vast majority of 'keepers have caught crosses more than twice as many times as they've punched the ball.
Overall performance
WhoScored give each Premier League player a mark out of 10 for each performance, based on a wide range of statistical parameters. Of the 31 keepers to make 20 or more appearances in the past three seasons only nine have a lower WhoScored.com rating than the Liverpool man's 6.66.