isport – Gael Clichy Fan

CLICHY MAKES ARTETA & WENGER COMPARISONS

Former Arsenal defender Gael Clichy has insisted that the Gunners’ current manager Mikel Arteta can be like the club’s former and greatest manager Arsene Wenger but raised the question of whether the Gunners will be willing to stick with him and give him enough time.

Arteta is currently enduring a mixed season coaching Arsenal and has suffered more than he has enjoyed this season on the hot seat. His Arsenal side are currently struggling and remain in mid-table after their stalemate against London rivals Crystal Palace at the Emirates stadium.

However, Clichy believes that if Arteta could be given enough time, he will turn things around entirely and will be ready to compete for titles in the nearest future as long as he is given the backing.

Arteta has not been Arsenal manager for that long, but he has already won the club the FA Cup and the Community Shield in the first few months of his Arsenal career, something Clichy believes is progress. The fact that the Spanish coach worked under his compatriot Pep Guardiola at Manchester City made people place expectations on him as they expected him to play the Manchester City pattern and challenge the big teams in the league for the top 4 positions.

However, that has not been the case, and Clichy has weighed in on the matter. According to Clichy, Arteta is still very young when compared to his fellow managers at other big clubs. He added that the pressure that comes with being a number 2 (referring to Arteta’s time as Guardiola’s assistant) is an entirely different one from the one that comes with being number 1.

He concluded by saying that the Arsenal board should also support the manager by releasing funds for him to sign his choice of players with.

Clichy: City will be champions

Former Manchester City defender Gael Clichy believes that his former team will win the title this season. He believes that Pep Guardiola has assembled a good team to challenge for the Premier League title and he feels that this is the season where the Spanish manager will win his first title in England.

He said that the team is balanced in all departments and that they have good strength in depth. Gael Clichy said that this is important when you know that the Premier League is a tough competition and that they will also have to deal with the Champions League as well.

Whilst Clichy moved away from the club last season (with fans hoping he makes it to the French World Cup squad on the back of his current performances so that they can head to www.1st4footballtickets.com to buy tickets to see him in action next summer), he still has very close ties to the area – and many friends still at the club.

Gael Clichy said that last season Manchester City were undermined by a poor defence and that this time around Pep Guardiola has brought in some top defenders. At the same time, he feels that Stone has found his form back and has established himself as a rock at the back.

He said that in Aguero and Jesus, Manchester City has two of the best strikers in Europe and they will be hard to stop for opposing team.

Clichy said that Pep Guardiola is a good manager and you just need to see his record at Barcelona and Bayern Munich to find out how good he is. He said that he has inculcated his playing style into the team and that it will be hard for opposing team to stop them.

Gael Clichy said that the closest challenger for Manchester City would be Manchester United. He said that Mourinho has improved the team massively and that with players such as Lukaku, Pogba, and Matic in the team they will also be a strong contender for the title.

However, he believes that Manchester City has the strongest team not only on the pitch but also on the bench.

CLICHY LIKELY TO STAY

Gael Clichy is reported to be likely to remain at the club despite the flurry of planned changes to the first team. Pep Guardiola has not yet made any official comments on who would remain at the club going into next season.

He recently signed Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund and there are other deals going on in the background. Guardiola would need to do a lot of work in the defence which is believed to be their weakest link last season.

The team’s skipper Vincent Kompany had a lot of injuries last season. His partner in Otamendi made lots of errors. Other defenders in Demichelis, Zabaleta and Kolarov are speculated to be set to leave as their performances where below par last season.

There are also reports that the Catalan tactician will be brining in a new centre back in Aymeric Laporte to take over the defence. There are even links to Daniel Carvajal, Aaron Cresswell and Sime Vrsaljko to partner with him.

However, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna are likely to remain at the club to provide cover for the incoming full-backs. Both will likely not get regular playing time, with their age de-marketing them as well.

Similar changes are being made in Chelsea and Manchester United as they also have new managers with ambitious targets for next season. Pep who is 45 years old is expected to return the club to its winning ways, being one with a well-established reputation as one of football’s most celebrated managers. With Guardiola on board, Manchester City have become favourites to win the Champions League according to the StanJames odds – they are just 3/1.

The coach also has strong interest in John Stones in the defence.

However, he is not due to make official comments until his first press conference as manager at the beginning of July. Guardiola is known to work with 14 or 15 players that have complete confidence in him. That’s why he always ends up with a very stable playing style and a changing room that doesn’t harbour much conflict.

DID ROONEY SPEECH WIN IT FOR UNITED?

With Manchester United scoring the victory over their rival team City, it’s reported that their team was inspired by a heroic speech given by the currently injured captain Wayne Rooney.

While Rooney has been out of the game for quite a while now, he still seeks to inspire his team and lead them to victory through words.

With Manchester United scoring the victory over their rival team City, it’s reported that their team was inspired by a heroic speech given by the currently injured captain Wayne Rooney.

While Rooney has been out of the game for quite a while now, he still seeks to inspire his team and lead them to victory through words.

Before the big game, Rooney gave an encouraging speech to the team in the dressing room. This comes as a surprise because Louis Van Gaal doesn’t usually allow anyone who’s not in the match squad into the dressing rooms right before a game but for the injured captain Rooney, an exception was made. The speech came at a heartfelt time because 10 days prior, they lost against Liverpool.

At half time, United were already 1-0 up, and the clear favourites to win the Derby on StanJames, but they still had a fraught 45 miuntes to go.

Last year, another speech very similar was also given to his team. What is Rooney saying to these guys to inspire them to such great lengths? Last year was yet another tough spot for Manchester United and after the poetic and inspiring speech by Rooney, they were able to turn the season around. So how do you inspire people to such a degree that it helps secure a victory? When you play for Manchester United, there’s a certain expectation of you and your team.

Rooney stated “Our main aim was to finish as high up in the table and then we had Liverpool coming up, Man City coming up, so I knew we had some tough games and as a reminder to the players, I told them the football club we’re playing at, the standards you need to set at this club and what we have to do to reach our goal.”

Members of the team are cited as saying that he’s one of those people that you listen to when he speaks. No one is fiddling around, everyone has their 100% focus and attention on Rooney when he’s giving these motivational speeches. It helps secure victories and lifts up an entire team. This win comes at a much needed time too, Manchester United is now back in the race for the Champion’s League.

CITY SPLASH CASH

Manchester City is ready to splash out €45 million in order to sign Eliaqium Mangala and Fernando from FC Porto even though they have already received notifications from UEFA’s club financial board stating that the team of Manuel Pellegrini is one of the clubs which is being investigated for having breached the Financial Fair Play rules.

Manuel Pellegrini is going to have to cope without Joleon Lescott as he is expected to leave the club when his contract expires in the end of the current campaign while the Argentinean defender Martin Demichelis will not be available to play any of the remaining matches of the season.

The Chilean tactician is searching for player who can play an active role in Manchester City for the years to come, which is why Eliaqium Mangala and Fernando are potential arrivals to join the Premier League club during the summer transfer window.

Aaron Kuhl is an 18 years old star of Reading who has captained the Under-18 and Under- 21’s sides and his consistent impressive performance in his youth squad has attracted the attention of Manchester City.

Reading will try to keep the young star for a few more seasons as Aaron has already signed his first professional contract with the club in December.

After signing his contract with Reading Aaron Kuhl said: “It’s amazing, to come through the Academy system and then sign as a pro, it’s the best thing ever. I’ve really enjoyed leading the lads as captain. They’re a great bunch.”

Manchester City is currently fighting for the Premier League title and Pellegrini wants to reinforce the squad even further during the upcoming transfer window as it will help them not only fight and compete against the best teams in England but in Europe if they want to get into the Champions League.

CITY ARE STRONGEST

After Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, now Eden Hazard has also declared Manchester City the strongest contender to win the Premier League title.

Although it’s not the Citizens who are at the top of the Premier League table at the moment but, Hazard believes they are the most likely to be there at the end of the season.

After Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, now Eden Hazard has also declared Manchester City the strongest contender to win the Premier League title.

Although it’s not the Citizens who are at the top of the Premier League table at the moment but, Hazard believes they are the most likely to be there at the end of the season.

As far as the top position in the league table is concerned, it’s owned by Chelsea itself right now. They got there yesterday by smashing Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge and Hazard was the man who was responsible for that. The young winger scored a superb hat trick and made sure that his team secured the second win on the bounce.

The Blues had beaten City in their previous outing, so, they were very confident taking on the Magpies.
They went into the game with a slightly different strategy. In that City game, they were focussing more on their defence, but, against Newcastle, they attacked flat out knowing that the opposition was a bit weaker and they managed to get on top pretty quickly.

Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, Hazard said, “It’s proving to be a fantastic phase for us. We have been winning points in every game and are now at the top position. Hopefully, we don’t come down from there, but, I believe that City is a more equipped unit than us and Arsenal is a fine team as well. So, it’s going to be very tight.”

Chelsea is a couple of points ahead of City presently and on Tuesday; they would have the chance to enhance their lead when they face West Bromwich Albion. That’s an away match for them and will take place at the Hawthorns.

CITY GETTING BETTER

The French defender Gael Clichy played with Arsenal for 8 years until he completed a switch to Manchester City where he is now allocated and is confident that they will only get better with the new managers and new players that might be arriving in January.

He told the club’s official website: “We know what we have to do, to do our own thing and try not to lose points at home. Taking game after game will be a key point for us and hopefully we can now improve our away record’’.

“I don’t see why we won’t be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. Now we need to go away from home and make sure we start to pick up points. You have to look at the positive side and even though we lost against Cardiff, Aston Villa and Sunderland away, we still managed to play better than the opposition.

“But this is a new team with a new manager and new players and we are only going to get better. We are confident it will get better, hopefully starting on Wednesday at West Brom.”

Gael Clichy also went on praising his countryman Samir Nasri who was going through a rough time in Manchester City during the initial stages of the season as he being kept mostly on the sidelines than on the pitch but in these last few weeks and with the arrival of a new coach, Nasri is having his fair share of time on the main team.
The defender continued: “I have known Samir for a few years now and I’m not surprised that he is doing well not just yesterday but from the start of the season’’.

Manchester City still remain undefeated when playing at home as they overcame Liverpool with a controversial 2-1 final scoreboard that saw the team of Brendan Rodgers getting a goal disallowed from an offside goal that really wasn’t.

FRANCE MAKE IT

France made up from their 1st leg match against Ukraine that saw the French team losing 2-0 but weeks later they secured their place into the 2014 World Cup in a dramatic 2nd leg in which France won 3-0.

Unfortunately for Gael Clichy he is nothing more than a substitute player for Didier Deschamps who prefers choosing Eric Abidal and Mamadou Sakho ahead of the Manchester City player and even with his club he has not made any significant impact that can permanently secure his position in the Premier League club as he plays in 1 match and the next week is he is being sidelined.

His latest appearance with Manchester City was on November 24 as he played against Tottenham but missed out on the club’s latest Champions League encounter against Viktoria Plzen.

With Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy both failing to impress Manuel Pellegrini rumors have been beginning to emerge claiming that Manchester City are taking a interest in the left-back of Everton Leighton Baines – something that might sell a few more Man Utd tshirts!

This source quotes a Man City ‘insider’ as stating;
“The manager doesn’t fancy Clichy or Kolarov. He has been extremely disappointed by them, especially Clichy of whom a lot more was expected this season.

“Left-back is the priority in January, although it probably won’t be the only acquisition. A move for Baines is not out of the question. It would elevate his profile in a World Cup year and we can offer Champions League football.

“You can expect a few changes when the transfer window opens because the away form is unacceptable. It is one of the worst records in the top flight.”

Leighton Baines has also been linked with a move to Manchester United so it seems as if both Premier League clubs will be racing during the winter transfer window with each of them hoping to sign the 28 years old defender.

Manchester City skipper Kompany to miss more action

Premier League giants Manchester City hasn’t been having the best of seasons so far, sitting at seventh in the table with sixteen from their opening nine games, just ahead of fierce neighbors and rivals Manchester United. And their woes have been compounded with news coming in that star defender and influential skipper Vincent Kompany set to miss the 2012 champions’ next three games due to an injury.

Kompany was out of action for quite some time already with a groin injury but he was scheduled to return at the end of this month to lend some steel to City’s faltering and leaking backline. But a setback in his recovery process has pushed back his return to the game by another month and that definitely is not good news for manager Manuel Pellegrini, who has seen his side concede very poor goals, costing those wins.

The Belgium international skipper has not played for Manchester City since he limped off during his side’s win over Everton at home on the 5th of October and it seems that he will not return to action any sooner after he felt pain in his groin region while an independent training session with the club doctors and medical staff.

It is almost certain that Kompany will miss the club’s Premier League fixture against Norwich City on the weekend as well as the home encounter against CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League at home. City has been leaking goals left and right in his absence and the club’s Chilean manager had been counting on the return of his skipper to get them through this bad phase.

But it seems that Manchester City will have to make do without the services of their influential skipper for another few matches before they can expect him to make a return.

Barcelona chasing Manchester City starlet

Reports emerging from the Spanish media have suggest Catalan giants Barcelona are readying a move for Manchester City’s young midfield starlet Denis Suarez after the youngster caught the eyes of the club’s management during the recently concluded FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Turkey.

The reports have also stated that the club is willing to offer the player a contract that will see him compete in the Barcelona B team for one season before making the move up to the senior squad of Gerardo Martino. The midfielder is being seen as one of the brightest prospects in Spanish football and played in four matches for Spain during the team’s run in the tournament, and also made an assist in one of his starts against Ghana.

The rumored move for the player bears striking resemblance to that of Joan Angel Roman, who Barcelona signed from Manchester City last season and after having a relatively quiet first season for the Catalan club, has broken into the first eleven of the side led by Eusebio.

If, however, Suarez indeed makes the move from England to Spain, he will be guaranteed a first team place in the B squad of Barcelona. Suarez was voted as the English club’s young player of the year in 2012 and the former Premier League champions will also want to hold onto a future superstar.

Given that the B side of Barcelona have been depleted of star names in recent times, the fans of the club have slammed their failing scouting network but if the club does manage to secure the services of the young player from a European giants, especially from the Premier League like Manchester City, it will prove that the club is still adept at picking out the best and most talented players from around the world.