Gael Clichy Fan

Manuel Pellegrini’s future at Manchester City has been thrown into major speculation after several rumours that another club had agreed a deal with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who will be leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

Guardiola is one of the sought-after managers in world football after having achieved numerous trophies in the last eight years.

Manuel Pellegrini’s future at Manchester City has been thrown into major speculation after several rumours that another club had agreed a deal with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who will be leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

Guardiola is one of the sought-after managers in world football after having achieved numerous trophies in the last eight years.

Pellegrini was given a vote of confidence in the summer after his failure to win any major title with the blues last season. Nothing much appears to have improved at City despite spending vast sums of money on players like Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.

The latest 2-1 loss against Arsenal has put the team several points behind table leaders Leicester City. Even though they remain in contention for all four trophies, it will now be difficult for City to concentrate on every one of them. The club has frequently maintained that their target is to win the <a href="http://www.didierandnicholas.com".quadruple this year. One of the biggest tasks now for Pellegrini will be to keep his authority at the club even as speculation about Guardiola increases. The manager says that the players will have no trouble dealing with such speculation since they play for him.

Pellegrini may struggle to motivate the players in the coming matches. Manchester City are at home to Sunderland on Boxing Day.”I don’t think players (only) work for the manager – they work for the group, themselves, because they want to win.You have a good connection (with the players) and that is the most important thing to be a good manager.But I don’t think that a professional player will have any problems if he is listening or reading about things that may happen next year. If they do they are not professional players, they are not top players,” said Pellegrini.

The Sky Blues’ fans are absolutely furious with the fact that Yaya Toure gave his jersey to one of the Juventus players when the game was still on at the Juventus Stadium last week.

Manchester City ended up getting beaten there to be displaced from the top position in Group A, but, more than that defeat, the burning topic at the end of the day was Toure handing his jersey to somebody from the opposition camp.

And, it’s not only the fans, some of the television pundits also did not like Toure’s act.

The Sky Blues’ fans are absolutely furious with the fact that Yaya Toure gave his jersey to one of the Juventus players when the game was still on at the Juventus Stadium last week.

Manchester City ended up getting beaten there to be displaced from the top position in Group A, but, more than that defeat, the burning topic at the end of the day was Toure handing his jersey to somebody from the opposition camp.

And, it’s not only the fans, some of the television pundits also did not like Toure’s act.

Harry Redknapp, the former Queens Park Rangers boss, was quoted as saying on a television channel, “It’s something I would not like to appreciate. You can do it when the match is over, that’s understandable. But, to do it in the middle is very inappropriate in my view.”

Toure is a pretty modest man and he was requested by that particular young player, who must have been his fan growing up, for the jersey. All he did was he obliged that, but, was it really as big a crime as it has been made to look?

After what the Ivorian has done for City over the years, does he deserve to be blasted in such a manner for that?
Swapping the jerseys is nothing new in the game of Football. Yes, as Redknapp said, it is more appropriate doing that when the match comes to an end.

You don’t expect it to be done during the half time break, but, it’s certainly not something for which a player should be handed as much flak as been done especially if he is of the stature of Toure.

He commands a bit of respect, Toure. He is a City legend after all.

Manchester City almost dropped two more points in the Premier League after an error from goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Manchester City almost dropped two more points in the Premier League after an error from goalkeeper Joe Hart.

The England international has already lost his place previously under Manuel Pellegrini’s regime, but the Chilean reaffirmed his faith in the goalkeeper despite his latest clanger. City were leading through Otamendi’s goal in the 67th minute, but it looked like the home team would be dropping two more points when Hart’s error led to Cameroon Jerome coming up with the equaliser. Since there were only seven minutes of normal time remaining, it looked like too little too late for City.

Yaya Touré proved to be the saviour with a late penalty goal, while defender Aleksandar Kolarov also had the chance to extend the advantage through yet another penalty late in the match. His failure to convert, though, did not matter too much since City kept their position as the table leaders. Russell Martin was sent off for Norwich after his handball, which also led to the penalty. After the game, Pellegrini refused to criticise his number one goalkeeper. It has been problematic position for City in the last couple of years and Hart’s replacement Caballero has not been the best around.

“It was unfortunate. Sometimes these things happen. Joe is human and he can make mistakes.Apart from that error, there were only two shots at him in the game and he saved those because he is a very good goalkeeper.We played against a difficult team that played very well.I think we deserved to win the game. We started from the beginning to try and score.Norwich played very well because they defended very well with 11 players near their box.It was very difficult for us to create space but we created three or four chances that we missed,” said Pellegrini.

Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to the 5th Premier League title of their history in what was a pretty convincing season as Chelsea secured the English title with 87 points meanwhile Manchester City was far behind with 79 points.

The previous season of the Premier League was a fairly disappointing one for Manchester City as they failed on winning any trophy after being knocked out from the Champions League and the FA Cup and losing the Premier League race against Chelsea which became the champions of England and now have the task of defending their title.

Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to the 5th Premier League title of their history in what was a pretty convincing season as Chelsea secured the English title with 87 points meanwhile Manchester City was far behind with 79 points.

The previous season of the Premier League was a fairly disappointing one for Manchester City as they failed on winning any trophy after being knocked out from the Champions League and the FA Cup and losing the Premier League race against Chelsea which became the champions of England and now have the task of defending their title.

Despite having won the Premier League in a stellar form, Chelsea is being known for their playing style which is labeled as: ‘’boring’’ and Jose Mourinho has implemented a method which is known as: ‘’Parking the Bus’’

This boring playing style was especially evident a few years ago when Chelsea was playing the semi- finals of the 2011-12 Champions League against Barcelona and during the majority of the game Chelsea was playing defensively with almost all of the players of the English club holding their grown inside their own half and still managed to claim the victory and eventually went on winning the Champions League.

Manchester City’s Gael Clichy believes that if his teammates learn to play like that, they will be able to win more matches.

“Sometimes in football you just need to be able to win games, even when you are not playing well. People always seem to be talking about how certain teams are playing. With Chelsea they are saying Mourinho plays defensive football and his team doesn’t like to attack. They’ve won a lot of games by one goal but at the end of the day you just look at the trophies,”

“Our philosophy is to play attractive football and score lots of goals, but the bottom line is if you play for a club like City and have had the season we’ve had, it’s not good enough.” The French defender of Manchester City said.

Manuel Pellegrini only cares about winning titles and it doesn’t matter for him if the price of it is playing less attractively, it’s a price that the Chilean manager is willing to pay as he is under a lot of pressure as the owner and the head executives of Manchester City want to see him start winning major titles and if he doesn’t do it, he will probably be sacked by next season or maybe even sooner.

Gael Clichy doesn’t believe that there has been that much of improvement made by Manchester City in the last 12 months.

It’s something that the City fans would obviously not be pleased to hear, but, the experienced left back seems to be quite correct in his assessment there.

There have been millions and millions of money being invested by the City board in order to make sure that the team becomes strong enough to challenge for the title in Europe, but, it seems to be far from happening at this point of time.

Gael Clichy doesn’t believe that there has been that much of improvement made by Manchester City in the last 12 months.

It’s something that the City fans would obviously not be pleased to hear, but, the experienced left back seems to be quite correct in his assessment there.

There have been millions and millions of money being invested by the City board in order to make sure that the team becomes strong enough to challenge for the title in Europe, but, it seems to be far from happening at this point of time.

The Sky Blues are standing on the verge of being knocked out of Europe by the same team again and that is Barcelona.
The Catalan Giants had done that to City the previous season too, beating them 2-0 and 2-1 in the two legs respectively.

And, this time around, they have started with a 2-1 win over the Premier League Champions.

Now, for City to beat Barca by a margin of more than one goal and that too playing at Camp Nou in a couple of weeks, that is going to be one heck of a task.

If they manage to do so, that would be a bit of an upset actually considering the form that they have shown lately.
Clichy, however, has urged his team not to give up just yet and to go into the return leg all guns firing.

Clichy was quoted as speaking, “Today, as the game went ahead, we started to do a little bit better. But, that’s not going to do. We have to be at it right from the outset.”

“It’s hard to say whether we’ve improved from where we were the previous season, but, whatever is the case, we have to believe that we can turn it around in the return leg.”

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has targeted only a victory when his team take on Roma in a crucial Champions League group match.

This match is likely to decide the second placed team in the group, as it is widely expected that CSKA Moscow will suffer a defeat in their group match against Bayern Munich. Three teams can realistically expect to reach the last 16 of the competition, but it is far more important for Pellegrini given the amount of money he has spent. City have underachieved in the Champions League ever since they came into the competition a few years ago.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has targeted only a victory when his team take on Roma in a crucial Champions League group match.

This match is likely to decide the second placed team in the group, as it is widely expected that CSKA Moscow will suffer a defeat in their group match against Bayern Munich. Three teams can realistically expect to reach the last 16 of the competition, but it is far more important for Pellegrini given the amount of money he has spent. City have underachieved in the Champions League ever since they came into the competition a few years ago.

The 3-2 win over Bayern Munich in the previous round has given them a great opportunity to think about reaching the last 16. The club has not when asked the last 16 stage in its relatively short Champions League history. Roma will welcome City for this crucial match in the Italian capital. They managed a 1-1 draw when they travelled to the Etihad stadium in the reverse fixture. City come on the high reducing the deficit at the top of the Premier League to just three points. Since the win against Bayern Munich, the team has been playing with a lot of confidence. However, Pellegrini will be without star striker Sergio Aguero.

“We will not change, we will always be an offensive team. We always try to go for the game from the beginning and we will do the same against Roma. The thing is that Roma are in a similar position. They know if they draw 1-1 and Bayern beat CSKA then the result favours us. We would go through in that situation, so Roma really need a win too. If it is 0-0 [and Bayern win] that puts Roma in a better position than us,” said Pellegrini.

Keylor Navas, the Costa Rica international, stood between the sticks for Real Madrid in place of Iker Casillas in the Liga game versus Elche earlier today.
This had to happen at some point with Casillas. He had clearly not been producing the kind of shows that he is known for. The Blancos team management as well as the hierarchy backed him fully, preferring him ahead of the other keepers in the starting matches of the season, but, he was just not able to live up to that.

Keylor Navas, the Costa Rica international, stood between the sticks for Real Madrid in place of Iker Casillas in the Liga game versus Elche earlier today.
This had to happen at some point with Casillas. He had clearly not been producing the kind of shows that he is known for. The Blancos team management as well as the hierarchy backed him fully, preferring him ahead of the other keepers in the starting matches of the season, but, he was just not able to live up to that.
As per the sources close to Real Madrid, the team boss Carlo Ancelotti said to his players in the evening yesterday that because of the hectic schedule, each and every player in the squad including the skipper had to be rotated.
It would be hard for Casillas now to get back to the top of the pecking order again at Bernabeu, at least this season.
Navas looked confident against Elche. He couldn’t keep the clean sheet, but, he was certainly better than Casillas who had put up one of his worst performances ever against Atletico Madrid.
Florentino Perez, the chairman of the club, had however come out supporting the veteran keeper saying that people should show respect towards him for what he had done for the Whites previously.
This is what Perez had to say after that derby defeat of Real, “I don’t think any goalie has served Real Madrid better than Iker. He should not get humiliated. We all should respect him as he has given us a lot to cheer for in the past.”
Casillas, who can be considered a legend both for Spain as well as for Real Madrid, has as many as 482 Liga appearances to his name so far.

Gael Clichy is very happy with Manchester City’s decision of buying Bacary Sagna.

City has recently secured the services of Sagna without paying any transfer fee. The veteran right back from France was released by his previous club Arsenal and thus, he was available on free.

Clichy and Sagna have played with each other a lot in club and in international football and they are believed to be very good mates.

Gael Clichy is very happy with Manchester City’s decision of buying Bacary Sagna.

City has recently secured the services of Sagna without paying any transfer fee. The veteran right back from France was released by his previous club Arsenal and thus, he was available on free.

Clichy and Sagna have played with each other a lot in club and in international football and they are believed to be very good mates.

Talking to the reporters yesterday about Sagna’s arrival at the Etihad Stadium, Clichy said, “It’s fantastic for me because I am very close to him. The two of us have played a number of matches alongside each other in the past and I do rate him very highly as a footballer. And the most important thing is that City has got him at zero money. It’s a huge deal for the club I must say.”

“I don’t think there are too many right backs that’ve been better than Bacary in the last few years. He offers a lot and he is also a team man. You can be rest assured as a manager that you would get 100% from him all the time. And, he has got experienced now too with the amount of football that he has played. So, the club has done a great job getting him signed. The fans would also be looking forward to his performances; that’s for sure.”

Clichy himself is also a defender, but, unlike Sagna, he plays at the left back position most of the times and thus, he would not be involved in any competition with his countryman for a place in the starting XI.

In the 7 years that Sagna spent playing at the Emirates Stadium, he featured in more than 200 league games scoring 4 times. He had only missed three league games for the Gunners last season.

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.

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.

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.