Why results of pre-season tours are not to be worried for?

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea - The champion clubs of their respective leagues did not fare well in the pre-season tour.

The squad they boast doesn't comply with the results that they have produced in these games, they have spent money to bring in new players, some established players have left the team but overall the team's balance is maintained.

Despite having quality players, the teams have not been able to perform that well as expected by their fan bases. This resulted in frustration for some of them who did not think twice before bashing their players, managers and their decisions. They forgot that it's the same players, same manager who guided his team to glory in the previous season.

FC Bayern posing for the shutterbugs before the match

Several fan pages on social media posted their opinions, some were easy on the teams while some went all out in criticising the players, managers and even board.

But do these results really matter ?

We should not forget the fact that teams who lost these friendlies are the ones who go all the way in their domestic competitions and also in the UEFA Champions League.

For example - Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea are the champions of their respective leagues. They are champions because of the belief they had in themselves, the support they had from their fans and the performance their players gave on the pitch.

Chelsea FC posing for the cameras before the match

These teams won just a single game in their pre-season friendlies, but it should not blemish their achievements from the last season. 

Pre-season tour is just an opportunity to try new things, a manager experiments by taking some out of the box decisions, some work in favor, some do not. 

It's a game which someone has to lose and another has to win. These results does not show any reality or it does not say the teams will be performing at the same level in the regular season like they did in friendlies.

Some people may argue that other teams which won also experimented, so why didn't they lose. It's not about winning or losing in friendlies, it's about experimenting things so that when in regular season if something wrong happens unfortunately, like any injury, the managers will be able to implement one of these ideas they tried in friendlies, so that the team and it's season doesn't suffer.

Mateo Kovacic in action against FC Barcelona in Miami

So a fan must understand the fact and always be a support to their team. There's nothing wrong in voicing your opinion regarding the team and it's performance but that does not mean they should believe, the performance should be of same level in the regular season as well.

This is my personal opinion regarding the pre-season tour. If you have any different ideas do post in comments.

Read some more of my blogs and comment if you like them.

Picture credits - Official Facebook pages of the teams 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Rumored Real Madrid transfer target insists his kids are settled in London

Rumored Real Madrid transfer target this summer Eden Hazard insists that he is happy in London.

Hazard has had a brilliant 2016/17 season with Chelsea under Antonio Conte as the blues are the current table toppers in Premier League and are in the semifinals of the FA Cup.

Eden Hazard regained his excellent form back this season after a disappointing last season under Jose Mourinho and has therefore attracted the attention of Los Blancos.

Hazard is reportedly valued at £100m and even Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has echoed his praise for the Belgian International at times.

Despite all the link-up rumours Hazard has told in an interview to Chelsea website that he is happy in London.

Excerpts here -

"Maybe I will in Belgium, to be close to the family or else I could go somewhere with nice weather," he told the Chelsea website when asked where he will be after retirement.

"My kids are very settled in London so it could be here - that's a long way off yet, so we will see."

Eden Hazard has been in sublime form this season as he has netted 11 times in 26 league appearances.

Chelsea are currently 10 points clear of second placed Tottenham Hotspur.

FA Cup 3rd round draws are out- Defending champions to host Reading

The Emirates FA Cup 3rd Round draws are out and Manchester United will host Reading, Manchester City will travel to East London to face West Ham and Chelsea will face Notts County.

A total of 64 teams, inclusive of the 20 top flight teams and 24 Championship sides will compete for the prestigious trophy.

The draw will add more stress to the schedule of Premier League sides.

Holders Manchester United will face Reading at home, while Manchester City will travel to London to another Premier League side West Ham.
Chelsea will face Notts County and Arsenal will travel to Preston.

Everton will challenge Leicester in an all Premier League clash. While other club from Merseyside, Liverpool will play hosts to Newport County of Plymouth.

See the full draw below.

Ipswich v Lincoln or Oldham

Barrow v Rochdale

Manchester United v Reading

Hull v Swansea

Sunderland v Burnley

QPR v Blackburn

Millwall v Bournemouth

West Ham v Manchester City

Brighton v Charlton or MK Dons

Blackpool v Barnsley

Wigan v Nottingham Forest

Birmingham v Newcastle

Chelsea v Notts County of Peterborough

Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday

West Brom v Derby

Everton v Leicester

Liverpool v Newport County of Plymouth

Wycombe v Stourbridge or Northampton

Watford v Burton

Preston v Arsenal

Cardiff v Fulham

Stoke v Wolves

Cambridge v Leeds

Bristol City v Shrewsbury or Fleetwood

Huddersfield v Port Vale

Tottenham v Aston Villa

Brentford v Halifax or Eastleigh

Bolton v Crystal Palace

Norwich v Southampton

Sutton United v AFC Wimbledon

Accrington Stanley v Luton

Rotherham v Oxford or Macclesfield​

All ties to be played between 6-9th of January 2017.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Fabregas avoids punishment

Chelsea and Manchester City are charged by FA for failing to control their players as a consequence of what happened at the Etihad on Saturday.  Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas escapes punishment over his part in the incident. 

The FA have charged both clubs under Rule E20 and given them until 6pm on Thursday to respond. An independent regulatory commission will then decide what action to take, and previous behaviour will be taken into account with Chelsea now facing a sixth charge for this offence.

A brawl which was followed up as a result of cynical challenge from Sergio Aguero on David Luiz saw more than 30 people involved including players, coaching staff and stewards on the pitch towards the end of Chelsea's 3-1 win. 

Fabregas was seen not reacting to Fernandinho's actions as he dragged him into the crowd. 

Taylor confirmed that Fabregas was only booked for 'adopting an aggressive attitude' so the incident was referred to a panel of three former referees to view it independently and judge whether it was a red card offence. However, they did not reach a unanimous decision.

Fernandinho was sent off for shoving Fabregas over an advertising hoarding in retaliation and City teammate Sergio Aguero also saw red for the ugly challenge on David Luiz that sparked the trouble.

The FA statement read: 'Both Manchester City and Chelsea have been charged for failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour.

'It follows an incident in the 95th minute of the game on Saturday [December 3 2016]. Both clubs have until 6pm on 8 December 2016 to respond to the charge.

'Meanwhile, Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas will not face any further action in relation to an incident involving City's Fernandinho.

'Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees. Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.'

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

5 star Arsenal rout West Ham as Alexis stole the show, and other Premier league results

Saturday saw a lot of goals in the premier league, it all started with Chelsea as they came from behind to beat Manchester City and extend their run to 8 straight premier league wins.

Manchester City took the lead right at the end of first half through a Gary Cahill own goal. In the 2nd half City could have been 2-3 goals up, had they have taken their chances as Kevin De Bruyne came closest to double the lead but his effort came off the crossbar from 2-3 yards out.

Chelsea didn't look back after this as Diego Costa(60'),  substitute Willian(70') and genius Eden Hazard(90') scored goals to punish City at the Etihad.

City finished the game with 9 men as Sergio Aguero was shown red for a horrendous challenge on David Luiz and in the aftermath of the incident, Fernandinho was also sent off for grabbing Cesc Fabregas' neck. It was completely lack of discipline from City players who had a frustrating evening due to some questionable refereeing and the punishment by league leaders Chelsea.

Chelsea stay top of the Premier league while Manchester City lost their first game at home since March. 

Alexis Sanchez stole the show as Arsenal put 5 past the Hammers.

West Ham's miserable season continues as the North London club ran riot.

Arsenal completely dismantled the West Ham defense at Alexis Sanchez was at the heart of it. He grabbed a 14 minute hat-trick un the second half to take the match ball home.

The gunners dominated the game and left no loopholes. With this win Arsenal move above Manchester City to 2nd place, but Liverpool is only a point behind with a match in hand.

Sanchez and Ozil combined to give Arsenal the lead following an error from West Ham defense. Ozil scored his 8th goal of the season.

In the 2nd half Arsenal punished West Ham defense by scoring 4 goals, 3 of them by Sanchez and one brilliant strike from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Andy Carroll scored the goal for West Ham which was nothing but a mere consolation.

Alexis Sanchez, with his treble is now joint top scorer in Premier league this season, with 11 goals. Chelsea's Diego Costa also has 11 goals.

In other results,

Crystal Palace scored 3 against Southampton at Selhurst Park. Christian Benteke scored a brace. It was a much needed win for Palace as they are fighting a relegation battle.

Sunderland defeated defending champions Leicester City at the Stadium of Light. Black Cats won the game 2-1.

Tottenham rout Swanse City 5-0. With braces from Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane. Tottenham, who suffered their first defeat of the season last week at Stamford Bridge at the hands of Chelsea hit back in style.

With this win they keep in touch of top 4.

Stoke City beat Burnley 2-0 at home.

West Bromwich Albion beat Watford 3-1 at home. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Transfer Round Up

Get the latest news and rumours about the transfer market

Harry Kane puts Tottenham contract talks on hold, Manchester United on alert 

England and Tottenham striker Harry Kane has yet to sign a new contract with the North London side. He is reportedly asking £120 a week salary, which Spurs are not prepared to pay at this time. 

Manchester United have kept tab on Harry Kane for last 18 months and according to reports from Daily Star, Red Devils could make a bid in region around £50m to bring the striker to Old Trafford ahead of next season. 

Tottenham still in hunt to sign Bruma

According to reports from Turkish journal, Taksam, Spurs have not given up on dynamic Galatasaray winger Bruma. 

They earlier had an offer rejected by Galatasaray in summer. 

Daily Mirror claims that Spurs are not happy with Mamadou Sissoko's start to life at White Hart Lane and want to bring the winger to boost their chances of winning a Premier League title. 

Joe Allen to stay at Stoke 

According to reports from Daily Express, Stole City chairman Peter Coates said that Stoke need not to sell their best players in January transfer window. 

Joe Allen has been in an exceptional form and he hopes that he will stay with The Potteries for a long time to come. 

Elseid Hysaj to replace Matteo Darmian in January? 

The 22 year old Napoli defender has been one of the best defenders in Serie A last season starting 37 of 38 games. José Mourinho is eyeing the Albanian as a replacement of Matteo Darmian with an offer of £26m. 

Darmian has failed to gain a spot for himself in the starting line-up under Mourinho. 

Manchester United to bring Andrea Belotti to solve goal crisis? 

The Torino striker has been in an impeccable form, gaining attention from worldwide. While he has a contract until 2020 with the club and reports are there Torino want him to sign an extension and also will insert a buy-out clause in his contract. 

According to reports from an Italian journal, Manchester United will try signing him to solve their goal crisis.

Although United have Ibrahimovic in the side, they have the least goals scored in the Premier League this season among the top 6 sides. 

A fee around €50m will be ideal to lure him away from Torino. 

Manchester clubs in a battle to sign Serge Aurier? 

Reports from Daily Star claim that, City will try to hijack Manchester United's bid for PSG right back Serge Aurier. 

There were reports that United scouts were present in France's friendly against Ivory Coast last Tuesday to watch Serge Aurier. 

But according to latest rumours, Pep Guardiola wants to sign him as a first right back choice for the team. 

It will be interesting to see who wins this battle between both Manchester clubs. 

Chelsea to loan out Loftus-Cheek in January

Chelsea manager has prepared to send out youngster Loftus-Cheek on loan in January in order to give him more playing time. Loftus-Cheek has struggled to find a place in Conte's starting line-up. He needs regular football to develop as a player and Chelsea are reportedly ready to accept offers from rival clubs too. 

So these were some latest rumours in the transfer market. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Know the most expensive and least expensive ticket prices of clubs in Europe

Though we are happy to watch the leagues on our TV. As a die-hard supporter one must have always wondered how much it would cost to cheer for your favourite teams in the stadium.

Courtesy of BBC SPORT PRICE OF FOOTBALL STUDY we may get to know how much it will burn a fans pocket.

Tickets are sold in two forms :-

1. Season Tickets
2. Single Tickets

Season Tickets

Most Expensive

North London dominates the category in Premier League, with both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur charging hefty amount. 

Arsenal's season ticket price is £2013 while Tottenham charges £1895. 

The 'cheap' season ticket is also priced at £1014, expensive than most of the London clubs except Chelsea and West Ham. 

When you move outside England, they also charge some heavy amount like PSG asking a staggering £2588.75 for their annual pass while Real Madrid offer season ticket at £1587.84. 

Cheapest 

Hull City leads the chart of offering cheapest season tickets in Premier League. Their prices are cheaper than 88℅ of Championship sides. Other clubs who offer low prices are Stoke, West Ham and surprisingly Man City, all three offer season tickets  under £300. 

Outside England, Bayern Munich have one of the standout low prices, they offer season ticket at just £120.89 - £17 per game. FC Porto charges just £86.31 for their cheapest pass while Barcelona offer season ticket at £113.93. 

Single Tickets

Most Expensive

Arsenal again heads the list in Premier League, charging £97. £10 more than closest rival. 

Chelsea charge £87 and Tottenham £81. 

West Ham is also not far behind with £80. 

Overseas, picture is different, with PSG charging £233.12 for their most expensive single ticket. Another Ligue1 club Marseille, charges £129.49 for their highest single ticket. 

Both Milan clubs, AC and Inter are also very costly with the most expensive single ticket costing their loyals £215 and £241, respectively. 

Cheapest

Liverpool offers cheapest ticket at £9. Hull City matches the Merseyside club in offering the cheapest single ticket.

Crystal Palace offer ticket at £23 while Stoke, West Ham, West Brom and Sunderland all offer tickets for £25. 

Chelsea have the most expensive 'cheap' ticket priced at £52. 

Valencia and Marseille, offer cheapest single ticket in the continent at just £8.53 each. 

PSG, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke and Porto all offer the tickets at under £20.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Thibaut Courtois picks his favorite manager

Current Chelsea FC goalkeeper names the manager whom he feels works most tactically of the three.

Courtois has played under 2 different managers, Diego Simeone and José Mourinho, winning League titles in Spain and England respectively. This season he is playing under Antonio Conte and has been in a fine touch lately.
Conte's Chelsea team has been in an excellent run of form. Players like Eden Hazard, Diego Costa have regained their momentum and goal scoring instinct which was missing under José Mourinho last season.

When he was asked to rate his managers, he said, " Conte is the one that works most tactically. Then there is Diego Simeone, then Mourinho and finally Marc Wilmots."

He also explains why he feels Antonio Conte is a master tactician.

After poor last season, Chelsea football club, under Antonio Conte started the season positively winning their first 3 matches, but he reveals what and how Conte changed as a tactician.

He says the loss against Arsenal sparked a change, "We started the season 4-3-3. We started well with three wins but then we drew 2-2 against Swansea and lost against Liverpool playing a bad game. That was also the case against Arsenal. Then Conte said 'we will change'. At Hull things were rather mixed at first and then against Leicester, Manchester United, Southampton and especially against Everton, we really saw the quality of the team."

"In pre-season he tried 4-2-4 but he saw that it was not working very well, so he went to 4-3-3 because he knew Eden Hazard and Willian were strong in one against ones. But he found that too many avoidable goals were scored and decided to play safely by moving three at the back."

Chelsea are yet to concede a goal since they switched from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3.
Against Everton they were simply scintillating. So it proves out to be that Antonio Conte is one smart tactician.


©sportskafun.blogspot.com

War of Words between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho

Rivalry between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho is there on both on and off the field. 

Although Jose Mourinho has a better record against Arsene Wenger on the pitch over the years, the two have had equally stern words against each other in the press room. 

Some of the quotes from this famous rivalry :-

Arsene Wenger, when questioned on Arsenal's all foreign line-up in 2005, "I don't see especially Chelsea play more English players than we do. Who have they produced, homegrown? Just one, John Terry."

Arsene Wenger again questioned the tactics of Chelsea F.C. at the start of following season in 2005, "I know we live in a world where we have only winners and losers, but once a sport encourages teams who refuse to take the initiative, the sport is in danger."

Mourinho responded, "Wenger has a real problem with us and I think he is what you call in England a voyeur. He is someone who likes to watch other people. There are some people who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to watch what happens in other families. Wenger must be one of them - it is a sickness. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea."

Wenger replied, "He's out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful.  When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid and not more intelligent."

Now Mourinho's turn, "At Stamford Bridge, we have a file of quotes from Mr. Wenger about Chelsea Football Club in the last 12 months- it is not a file of five pages. It is a file of 120 pages."

The rivalry was put on hold when Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007. But that didn't stop them from pouring comments on each other. 

"The English like statistics a lot. Do they know that Arsene Wenger has only 50% of wins in the English League?" said Mourinho in 2008.

When Mourinho was managing Real Madrid and in a match against Galatasaray Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos got booked tactically to serve suspensions in comfortable second leg and not to miss other important games of the season, Wenger had plenty to say, "When you see how it looks on television, it is the best demonstration to think : 'Never do that again.' It looks, frankly, horrible. It's a pity to see that from a big club."

Wenger's comments didn't go down well with Mourinho and he responded fiercely, "Instead of speaking about Real Madrid, Mr Wenger should speak about Arsenal and explain how he lost 2-0 against a team in the Champions League for the first time. The history about the young kids is getting old now. Sagna, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Song, Nasri, Van Persie, Arshavin are not kids. They are all top players."

After a cordial start upon Mourinho's second spell at Chelsea, the transfer of Juan Mata from Chelsea to Manchester United was questioned by Arsene Wenger as it could tweak the table given the fact that Chelsea played their final game against Red Devils a week ago while Gunners were to face them later. 

"Chelsea have already played twice against Manchester United, they could have sold him last week. I think if you want to respect the fairness for everybody, this should not happen."

..And the response "Wenger complaining is normal because he always does. Normally he should be happy that Chelsea sold a player like Juan Mata, but this is little bit his nature. I think what is not fair is that his team always has the best days to play."

After a decade of verbal insults, the rivalry got physical in October 2014 when Arsene Wenger shoved Mourinho during an argument on the touchline at Stamford Bridge. 

Wenger said, "In hindsight, I think I should not have reacted at all. It's not a way to behave on a football field. Did Mourinho provoke me? That is how I felt. I did not enter Chelsea's technical area."

and when it was suggested to Mourinho that his Arsenal counterpart could be charged, "Charged? If it was me, it would have been a stadium ban."

Several more war of words took place between the two.

Latest when Jose Mourinho was appointed as Manchester United coach he did not miss an opportunity to take a jibe at Wenger. Questioned about his poor 2015/16 season at Chelsea and what that had done to his reputation, he said, "There are some managers, the last time they won a title was 10 years ago, the last time I won was a year ago. If I have something to prove imagine the others! to finish 4th is not the aim."

 Also when Arsene Wenger criticized the big money move of Paul Pogba calling it 'completely crazy', Mourinho hit back, "When i heard some of the comments and heard some of the managers criticizing that, I don't think they ever have this problem because to have this problem, you need to be at one of the clubs in the world. At Manchester United it can happen."

Recently report came out that in the biography of Jose Mourinho, he has said, "I'll break his face" in reference to the comments which Arsene Wenger made after the Juan Mata transfer from Chelsea to Manchester United.

The two teams are up against each other at Old Trafford coming Saturday. And it is sure the comments will not going to stop soon.

Source: Sky Sports

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