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Football News: Review Of The Day 24th February 2018

Review Of The Day 24th February 2018
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Review of the Day

 

Salah Dreaming Of Premier League Title

Liverpool's top scorer Mohamed Salah has told the BBC that he joined Liverpool to 'win titles'. "I can tell the fans we work 100% to try and win something for the club," he said. "It's a long time since the club won the league. It's my dream to win the Premier League - but I want to win it with this club. It's easy to play with this kind of quality," he said. "If you look at me now and five years ago, everything has changed both mentally and physically. I'm trying to improve myself every day. I always like to put myself under pressure to improve more. I give all my life to football, I only think about football. This is what is on my mind all the time. I gave a lot for football because I wanted to be as professional as possible. I was travelling nine hours a day," said Salah. "I want all Egyptian people to follow my way to improve themselves. We are a huge country. We have many children. I want everyone to dream and feel they can do something."

 

Bale Always Important To Madrid Says Zidane

Despite leaving the Welshman out of three of their last four matches, Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane has said that Gareth Bale will always be important to Madrid. Zidane said: "A player always misses out, I am not thinking of one or two but all the players. I know that some players are not of interest to you, but there are those that train each day, hardly ever play and I am interested in them. I see Bale like all of them and I count on all of them. I want him to be 100% and I do not want to lose him again", he said, adding he is sure Bale will "go on to play an important role" at Real.

 

Police Warn Of Rising Violence And Disorder At English Grounds

The man in charge of football's policing has warned that incidents at football grounds are increasing and likely to increase further if football clubs continue to cut police presence in favour of the cheaper option of more stewards. "Sadly, unless something changes, we're likely to see more incidents," Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts said. "We have fewer police officers in football grounds; clubs are cutting costs for policing and backfilling with stewards who don't have the same authority as the police," added Roberts. "Just when football is about to secure another multi-billion-pound TV deal, there is a bad combination of clubs getting richer but cutting costs and police forces cannot subsidise football."

 

Grimsby Invite 'One Of The Greatest Minds In Football' To Apply

League Two side Grimsby Town have said they would be interested in interviewing Sol Campbell for their vacant manager's position, following the former England defender's rant about not getting a chance in management. "I'm surprised we haven't heard from Sol. He said that clubs aren't taking a punt on young managers. We'd have a chat with him," majority shareholder John Fenty told BBC Radio Humberside. "There is a lack of players and ex-pros wanting to be managers. We've had no applications from people who have just left the game and that's rather surprising. We'd like to get it out there that we are looking for younger managers to apply. We gave an opportunity to Brian Laws and he went on to manage nearly 1,000 games. We gave Paul Hurst a chance and he is now one of the most highly rated managers in the Football League, doing a great job at Shrewsbury."

 

Fonte Set For China Move

West Ham United have agreed a deal to sell Portugese defender Jose Fonte to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang. The 34 year old centre back has struggled with injuries and loss of form since joining from Southampton in January 2017. After being unable to break into the side since October, Fonte is looking for a move to revive his chances of making Portugal's World Cup squad in the summer.

 

Pochettino: Contract Discussions Are Nothing To Do With Me

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has said that the ongoing contract negotiations with star defender Toby Alderweireld do not involve him. "It is not my job and I cannot say anything about that," Pochettino said when asked about Alderweireld's future on Friday. "I am not involved in negotiations. I never talk about rumours, what the media say or what happens around the club." With the Belgian's contract set to end in 2019, Spurs want to sort out Alderweireld's future before the World Cup begins.

 

Semedo Suspended After Murder Charge

Villareal have suspended Ruben Semedo without pay after the Portugese defender was charged with attempted murder. In what is probably the least of his worries right now, considering he is being held in custody without bail, Villareal have acted presumptously in treating the player as guilty before anything has been proven. Semedo has denied all charges against him. A club statement read: "While always respecting the notion that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, the club has decided to suspend the player from duties without pay until the ongoing case has been settled. Villarreal would like to show its horror at the grave crimes the player Ruben Semedo was charged with."

 

Pep Charged For Yellow Ribbon

After Pep Guardiola knowingly and wilfully ignored FA regulations over wearing political messages with his yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned politicians in Catalonia, it has taken the FA months to finally act against the Man City manager. While it is understandable that Guardiola feels strongly about this issue and wants to show his support, he also knew the rules and chose to flout them, when the only ban is on wearing it pitchside. There was never anything to stop him wearing it for press conferences or for Champions League games. After first wearing it in November, it took the FA a month to even speak to him and since then he has been issued with two formal warnings. It has taken them nearly four months to charge him, when others have been charged immediately, so he can have no complaint that he is being unfairly treated (unlike those Catalonian politicians he is supporting). While it is probably time the FA looked to change their laws to come inline with UEFA's ruling, which just forbids political messages that are deemed offensive, until they do so, is it really that difficult to abide by them?

 

Bobby Moore Time Capsule To Be Relocated

West Ham United are set to relocate the time capsule of club legend Bobby Moore from its current position under the former Bobby Moore stand at the club's former home, Upton Park. To mark the 25th anniversary of his death the club are to move the capsule to a point underneath the old centre circle of the ground. The spot where he spent so many years greeting opponents in his role as Hammers' captain. The capsule was recovered during the demolition of Upton Park, which is being turned into a housing development called 'Upton Gardens' with the centre circle playing a focal point of the 'Legacy Walk'. His wife Stephanie said: "It seems like only yesterday I placed items in Bobby's time capsule and by adding more mementos from the last 25 years, his memory can continue to live on. I'd like to thank everyone at West Ham for remembering Bobby on this particularly poignant anniversary and his achievements for his club and country."

 

Rodgers Warns It Will Only Get Harder For Celtic In Europe

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes finances are making it harder for Celtic to compete in Europe, as opponents have increasingly bigger budgets than the Scottish champions. Despite the Glasgow giants being one of the most cash-rich clubs in world football, the club have operated with a frugality that has led to jibes about biscuit tin mentalities and now Rodgers believes it is hampering their chances of progression. Rodgers, after being asked if it would become harder to compete against the bigger budgets, said: "It will do. I think we have to keep fighting. That is important for us. We've had a lot of great memories this season, both in Europe in the Champions League and in the league but that's because we have had great opportunities and in the main we take those opportunities. On Thursday night, I felt it was an opportunity on the back of how well we played last week. But we have to keep creating the opportunities. We go away, we look at games, we ask how we can improve, and each year it gets more difficult. Next year's qualification for a Scottish team to get to the Champions League becomes even more difficult. But that's the level we are at, so we just have to keep working. If any Scottish team qualifies for the Champions League, that's a big achievement. Then you are going to then go in and you look at Bayern Munich winning 5-0 against Besiktas. And we're normally in with two teams at least of real, real quality. So, I think Champions League qualification is a big achievement for a Scottish team. If you can then either get into European football after that, in the Champions League ideally or into the Europa League, you would hope you could make the steps."

 

Pele Claims Neymar Is World's Best

The man who once claimed Nicky Butt was amongst the best midfielders in the world has now said Neymar Jr is better than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Since moving to an easier league with a ridiculously dominant team in the summer, Neymar Jr's stats have been excellent, 28 goals in 29 matches for the 26 year old Brazilian superstar. "Neymar has changed the way he plays with the national team," Pele told FIFA's website. "He has had to. At his club side, he normally plays as a left-sided attacker, whereas for Brazil, he plays more centrally, as a more traditional No. 10. He' s ready to lead this team, yes. He might find that the tactical switch from his club to the national team isn't straightforward, but Neymar is Brazil's key player. He has to prepare himself for that. And I would go further: for me, technically, he is already the best player in the world. I'm absolutely sure of that. If you look around the world, the ones who stand out are Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. There are no other superstars," the 77-year-old added.

 

FIFA Trusts Russia To Deliver Safe World Cup

Despite ongoing issues in club football with hooliganism, racism and homophobia, FIFA has said that it has 'complete trust' in Russia's ability to grease their palms, erm I mean to ensure a safe World Cup. Ignoring the fan violence of this week, which saw clashes between fans of Spartak Moscow and Athletic Bilbao supporters in Spain that resulted indirectly in the death of a Basque police officer, and the scores of Russian hooligans that have blighted European football in recent years as they rampage through the streets attacking any opposing fan hidden under black hoodies, FIFA has refused to assign blame for those incidents, instead backing Russia to deliver a secure World Cup. "As far as security for the 2018 FIFA World Cup is concerned, FIFA has complete trust in the security arrangements and comprehensive security concept developed by the Russian authorities and the Local Organising Committee," a FIFA spokesperson told AFP. "As demonstrated during the FIFA Confederations Cup last year, Russia's already high security standards have been adapted to meet the specific needs of such major sporting events."

 

Pjanic Hits Back At Juve Criticisms

After Juventus surrendered a two goal lead to end up drawing with Spurs in the Champions League, at home in Turin, Juve have faced a barrage of criticism in Italy. Midfielder Miralem Pjanic believes the criticism is unfair and that critics in Italy just do not realise how good Tottenham are. "It was too much [criticism] because we faced Tottenham, who are a very good team from the midfield up," he told Premium Sport. "They're a quality team, so maybe those who criticised didn't know Tottenham. We should have managed the game better at 2-0 but it's not over. We believe in ourselves and obviously we want to go through."

 

Roma President Claims Radio Stations Just Make S*** Up All Day

Jim Pallotta, the president of Serie A side AS Roma has been speaking at the Sloan Sports Conference in Boston as part of a panel called 'The Beautiful Game's Global Reach'. Pallotta has hit out at fan-based radio stations in Rome, which he says led to the introduction of their own, official, radio station back in 2014. "Roma need their own radio station to fight the nine others that make up **** all day long," said Pallotta. He sounds like he has been stuck listening to TalkSport in the car all day!

 

Zarate Wants Lazio Return

Argentine striker Mauro Zarate, currently on loan back in Argentina with Velez Sarsfield from parent club Watford, has admitted he wants to return to Lazio. "I spoke to Simone Inzaghi and told him to call me back. I would love to return to Lazio, even if it'd be difficult at the moment," Zarate said. "I often speak to Simone Inzaghi, because we played together, and we did talk about this hypothesis. I always tell him to call me back to Rome. However, it's difficult because of the way we left things with President Claudio Lotito. If there's the possibility, I will make the move."

Written by Tris Burke February 24 2018 05:47:59