Sergio Aguero is still in Race for Golden Boot

Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero continues to be in the race for the Premier league Golden Boot award at the end of the campaign, but he will be helped out by the arrival of Wilfried Bony from Swansea City.

The Ivory Coast international arrives at Etihad stadium for a transfer fee of £ 28 million. After having established himself as one of the top goal scorers in the Premier league, Bony will be a valuable addition to the squad according to Aguero.

The Argentine has suffered a couple of niggling injuries this season. It has prevented him from scoring goals on a consistent basis.

He is level with Diego Costa while Bony is close to getting into double figures. The former Vitesse Arnhem player has not yet scored for City, but he has also not been playing for them since making the move due to his involvement at the Africa Cup of Nations. After having just returned from Africa as the champion with Ivory Coast, Bony will be looking to carry over his form to his new club as well.

Aguero recently returned to form by scoring two goals against Stoke. This ended his five-game run without a goal.

It appears that Aguero takes a few games before getting up to full speed after being out with an injury.

“We were very unfortunate to have so many injured strikers simultaneously.The boys handled it very well, though. It’s not easy to play in someone else’s position, but that said, I thought they were quite effective and we initially continued our winning run.Now we are back to full strength and we have also added to our squad.I think Wilfried Bony is a valuable addition to bolster our ranks for the final months of the season,” said Aguero, who also has Edin Dzeko to partner.

Sergio Aguero returns from Knee Injury

Sergio Aguero returned from his knee injury and played for 25 minutes during Manchester City’s Premier League match against Everton but his inclusion in the match made no difference as the match ended with a 1-1 draw.

The Argentine player didn’t make a significantly big impact in a game that Manchester City wanted and needed to win in order to keep their pressure on Chelsea who are currently leading the way in the Premier League.

Manuel Pellegrini wasn’t particularly to see his team draw when playing off with Everton as it was Manchester City who enjoyed having more shots launched against the net of their opponents with a total of 18 shots being fired but only 2 of them were actually on target.

The Chilean manager is well aware of the problems that his team has been facing especially during the absence of Sergio Aguero who has been recovering from a knee injury and has been out of action for a month and played for 25 minutes during this match which wasn’t enough for him to make a substantial impact in the pitch.

“Look, we finished very bad. That is why he has signed Wilfried Bony for £28million, even though he may not return from Africa Cup of Nations duty until mid-February if Ivory Coast reach the final’’ Manuel Pellegrini said.

When the Argentine entered the pitch in the 2nd half, he looked a bit rusty but he is expected to be back in full force within a few days as Manchester City will be facing off with Arsenal on January 18 in a match that the team of Manuel Pellegrini cannot afford to lose if they want to stay toe to toe with the table-toppers Chelsea.

Carlo Ancelotti cant replace Angel Di Maria

The Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti does not think that James Rodriguez is a like-for-like replacement for Angel Di Maria.

According to the Italian, Di Maria was extremely energetic and he had the ability to make things happen.

However, at the same time, Ancelotti also admitted that the Argentina international used to fail to control his aggression.

When asked if he thinks Rodriguez is the perfect player to fill in the shoes of Di Maria, Ancelotti said, “No, I don’t think so. They don’t play in the similar fashion. So, they can never be ideal replacements for each other.”

“As far as Di Maria is concerned, I think he had tremendous amount of energy, but, yes, he did have the tendency to get wayward at times.”

When asked how it feels to get to the top of the La Liga table despite not having the best start possible to the summer, the 55-year old said, “I am glad with the comeback. We had not started the ideal way as you said, but, this set of players that I am presently working with here at Madrid; they are very, very professional. They know what the team needs from them. They are never shy of taking responsibility and it makes my job easier.”

“There has not been a single instance of me having a clash with anybody in the squad. I just don’t need to be harsh. They all do their job with full dedication and that is what a manager asks for.”

Los Blancos are 2 points clear at the top of the Liga table after 11 games. They have a much higher goal differential as well in comparison to the second positioned Barcelona.
The defending champion Atletico Madrid is at no. 4.

DOUBTS OVER 2018

The upcoming 2018 World Cup is being filled with doubts and questions concerning if Russia is the appropriate nation to host one of the most viewed sporting events in the world but there are also concerns in relation to the 2022 World Cup which was selected as the nation to host the event.

There has been however, a number of controversies surrounding Qatar and if the nation is appropriately suitable of hosting the event. There are allegations of corruption which state that Qatar was allowed to ‘’buy’’ the World Cup and not only that but there can also be a potential climatic problem with Qatar and the president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter even saying later on that awarding the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake due to the extreme heat which may cause the date to be switched from summer to winter.

During the usual summer of Qatar, temperatures are scaling around 40 degrees Celsius between June and July and there are concerns that these climatic conditions can harm players as well as fans and now the possibility of the date being changed to winter is being taken into consideration.
Greg Dyke is the chairman of the Football Association (FA) and he revealed details concerning Sepp Blatter and a trip that the president of FIFA made to Qatar in July.

“Mr Blatter had flown to Qatar straight after the World Cup in Brazil so he was there in July and I think he just realized how unbelievably hot it is. His view is that we can’t possibly hold it in the summer. There seems to be some going back on that now, that we could hold it in the summer after all’’ Greg Dyke said.

There are a number of alternatives which are being taken into consideration in order to avoid the extreme heat of Qatar in the June and July and one of the alternatives that is being favored or likened by Sepp Blatter is switching the event to November and December when there will be a much more cooler climate and favorable for football but this can create issues with a number of domestic leagues around the world as there would be a clash between the schedule of leagues and matches of the 2022 World Cup

Eto’o Thanks Mourinho Despite Bad Relationship

Samuel Eto’o and Jose Mourinho appeared to have a rather unhealthy player-manager relationship when they both worked together in Stamford Bridge. In the last season of the Premier League, Mourinho released a series of statements concerning some of his players and one of them was the Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto’o.

During the previous campaign Mourinho stated that his forwards just weren’t good enough for Chelsea to make a genuine charge at the top of the Premier League and he was making reference to the disastrous seasons that Demba Ba, Samuel Eto’o and Fernando Torres were going through.

Demba Ba scored league 7 goals in 33 appearances for Chelsea while Eto’o scored 9 goals in 21 matches and these stats aren’t that impressive for a club that was competing against Manchester City and Liverpool for the top spots of the Premier League. This is why Diego Costa was signed from Athletic Madrid as he is the player that can solve their striker crisis.

Even with the bad relationship that Samuel Eto’o had with Mourinho, the Cameroonian attacker has thanked his former coach as the Portuguese manager helped Eto’o in signing with his new club, Everton.
He said: “The only thing I have to say about Jose Mourinho is to thank him. It’s down to him that I had the opportunity to be accepted and integrated into the Premier League and I want to thank him for that. I’m not particularly concerned that it’s against my next team on Saturday. The important thing is to integrate into my new team-mates’ way of playing and get ready for that match. If I don’t feature it’s just important to get ready’’
Eto’o signed a 2 year deal with Everton as the Premier League club wants to partner up Eto’o with Romelu Lukaku and turn them into the main attacking figures of the squad

Aguero Suffers Another Injury

After spending a large part of the recently finished Barclays Premier League season on bench due to injury, Sergio Aguero suffered another fitness problem while featuring for his national side Argentina in a World Cup group game against Nigeria yesterday. He pulled his hamstring muscles just a few minutes before the half time break and had to be taken off the ground by the physiotherapist.

Later on, Aguero was seen beside his manager Alejandro Sabella in the Argentina dugout. There was heavy strapping on one of his thighs at that time which is not encouraging news at all for his fans.

At the end of the match, when Sabella was asked about Aguero’s fitness, he said, “There is a problem in his muscles. We would assess that in a day or two and then, would make a final call.”

The hamstring problems generally take a few weeks to heal and the way Aguero walked off the pitch, his problem didn’t seem to be minor. He was looking in a lot of discomfort and then he was seen being strapped on the thigh and that too quite heavily. So, one should not be that surprised if the Manchester City player doesn’t take any further part in the ongoing World Cup at all.

It’s the same hamstring problem which had kept Aguero out of a lot of Premier League matches last season. He couldn’t take part in 15 of the Manchester City league matches.
But, in the matches that he played, he created big impact. He found the net 17 times in 23 appearances for City and played a key role in guiding them to the crown for the second time in three seasons.

The kind of form Aguero was in, if he had played all the league matches for City last season, he could well have ended as the leading goal scorer in the tournament.

Aguero Proves Again How Strong He Is

Sergio Aguero has proven time over time why he is considered to be one of the best forwards in Europe as he helped Manchester City on securing the league title as the Argentinean attacker scored over 20 goals.

Lionel Messi has even been reported to tell his countryman Sergio Aguero to join him at Barcelona at Camp Nou as Messi wants to further improve the Catalan club by adding some of the best players around the world.

The Manchester City attacker made considerably less appearances for the Premier League club after going through a season which was filled with a number of injuries that forced him to be out of action for a significant period of time.
When Aguero was asked about his condition, the 25 years old player replied by stating that he is fit and waiting for the 2014 World Cup.

“Yes, I am fully fit now. I played the last match for my club since I was eager to help the team win the Premier League title again and now I am waiting for the World Cup. It will be a great occasion to play the biggest tournament in Brazil.” Aguero said.

Aguero continued on by expressing his thoughts concerning the upcoming World Cup as the Argentinean forward praised Lionel Messi who he still considers to be the player around the globe.

“We have Lionel Messi, the best footballer on earth, in our side. He led us to the top of the list in qualifiers from the most difficult zone in the Conmebol with matches to spare. We have an excellent forward line with Ezequiel Lavezzi and I will try to score more and we have wonderful midfielders to support us. We have the talent and ability to beat any side on a given day.” Aguero added on.

ANOTHER PREM TWIST

The Premier League has taken another twist as Chelsea claimed a crucial victory against Liverpool. This result will allow Manchester City on taking the top spot of the English league if they are able on securing triumphs on all of their remaining matches.

The match was played in the home-turf of Liverpool at Anfield Road and the team of Brendan Rodgers was favorites on winning but Jose Mourinho’s defensive minded squad denied the opposition their chances on scoring a single goal.

Jose Mourinho has been implanting a playing style that many are calling to be boring and its even being labeled as: ‘Parking the bus’ as most of the players are placed in their own half with the only chance of getting upfront is through counter-attacks or mistakes from the opposition.

This is the same strategy that Mourinho utilized during the first leg of the Champions League when facing off against Athletic Madrid and the match concluded with a scoreless draw – though that leftAtletico as favourites to go through according to the guys at australia holland odds.

Despite claiming such a season changing victory, Jose Mourinho is certain that his team will not be crowned as the champions of the Premier League and instead it will be either Manchester City or Liverpool.

“The champions will be City or Liverpool so we have nothing to celebrate. Obviously many people would be expecting us to come here and lose 3-0 or 5-0, like others. Many people thought it was impossible to get this result’’.

“But the boys had an amazing performance so I’m so happy for them and for the fans. This is the spirit we always want at Chelsea.” Mourinho revealed.

A few days ago, the Portuguese coach stated that he is only focusing on the Champions League and it may be one of the reasons of why he does not believe that Chelsea will win the English league.

Soccer News

Rooney: It hurts

Talking about the battle for the Premier League, Rooney commented that it hurts more than ever to see Liverpool, their bitter rival fight out in the title race, where as Manchester United are considered as an afterthought for Premier League. Brendan Rodgers’s side, currently second placed after the champions Chelsea by seven points, are travelling to Old Trafford on Sunday to face the Red Devils for a match off.

Manchester United is a distant eighteen points away from the champions and are at the moment coping with the major disappointment of actually failing to qualify for the upcoming Champion’s League Season. The lowest position the Red Devils were ready to accept was the fourth spot, at the moment occupied by Manchester City and 9 points in front of their neighbors. Right now, team United has 2 games in their hand, however Rooney confesses that seeing their rivals fight out for the title and bag the Premier League such is anything but pleasurable.

Rooney added that seeing Manchester City perform well, and especially Liverpool, is extremely difficult for him, while United is not making the mark. It becomes more unfortunate when the team is definitely capable of performing better, but somehow they are not showcasing what is expected from them. However this is the time when they have to step their game up and get right back out there, as the feeling of faltering in the season one after another is definitely not a good feeling to have. They have to keep on progressing, improving their game and end this season on a much stronger note.

Old Trafford boss Moyes, has sure taken a lot of criticism for the poor season of Manchester United, which also adds to the tough challenge of progressing steadily to the Champions League.

AGUERO HITS BACK

Manchester city recently welcome Sergio Aguero back to first-team after the striker has been missing the last few weeks due to injury. The Argentine is regarded one of the finest strikers in the world, but he has finally realised the potential this campaign by playing a key role in Manchester city’s title challenge.

He is the club’s top scorer this campaign with 21 goals, while he has formed a formidable partnership with Alvaro Negredo. City feared that their title challenge may suffer due to the lack of Aguero, but they have been able to cope due to their incredible squad strength.

His international compatriot Pablo Zabaleta has said that Aguero is the best striker in the world right now. He also states that city are very lucky to have him at the club. The Premier league outfit managed to overcome the competition from the likes of Barcelona and Chelsea in order to secure his signature. He was brought to the club for £ 38 million, which was a record back then. He helped the club win the Premier league title in his first season by scoring the crucial goal just minutes from the final whistle against QPR.

He has been a major force behind city’s scoring spree this campaign, as the club already have 63 goals to their name.
“I’m really happy to see him back. He needs to get back to his best in a physical way because he’s been out for a month, but he took 50 seconds to score a goal when he came back against Blackburn and, on Saturday, 20 minutes. It’s so easy for him. Every time we talk about good strikers, Sergio is one of the best in the world. Sergio is one of the best and we are very lucky to have him in the team,” said Zabaleta.