The Blog Columnist

Blackburn Rovers have been one of the inform teams in the Championship over the last few weeks.

This has propelled them to within one point off the final play-off spot. They have been undefeated in the last five league matches, while teams above them like Watford and Ipswich Town have not been able to maintain the same form. One of the reasons for this much improved form has been the second half performance of the team. They have been rather poor in the first half, but Gary Bowyer has been able to inspire his team very well for a rousing second-half performance. Continue reading »

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This year has been a rollercoaster ride for Yaya Toure as the African midfielder has had to deal with issues not only inside the pitch and in the club but also outside of the playing grounds as well.

Yaya Toure was believed to be on verge of leaving Manchester City due to problems involving his teammates or his club not congratulating him for his birthday and also other more serious issues popped up when his brother died and even with this incident according to rumors, Manchester City did not allow him on making a visit to his family.

All of these are rumors as nothing can be officially confirmed or analyzed but Yaya Toure has recently stated that he wants to leave all of those problems in the past and just focus on what lies ahead in the season with the Premier League and the Champions League being some of the main objective of Manchester City in this season and Toure wants to help his teammates and club in their journey of obtaining those major pieces of silverware.

“For me the most important thing is I try to do my best for the team. Sometimes people are not thinking we are human beings; people are always trying to criticize you even though you are a human being. So I never think about those things, I always try to focus on my team. The Premier League is important, and whenever we lose we will get criticized. But we’ve just got to fight until the end: our squad is fantastic and we know exactly how to fight all the way in this league’’ Yaya Toure told the media.

Toure made an outstanding performance in Manchester City’s victory over Southampton as the African midfielder scored a goal and was one of the best players on the pitch.

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Manchester United’s summer signing Luke Shaw says that he is starting to see the potential for a scary team with the way United have been improving over the last few months. The club started poorly under new manager Louis Van Gaal and it took them several matches just to get the first win out of the way. Since then, they have had some good results including the victory over Everton. Shaw, who faced public criticism from the manager about his poor fitness upon his arrival to United, has been featuring more regularly in recent weeks.

The use of a proper left back has aided United in improving the attack and defence. One of the best matches that they have played this season came in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday. It needed a late equaliser from star striker Robin van Persie to secure a point against the table leaders, but it is a point that keeps them in the hunt for the top four. Returning to the Champions League is vital for a club like United partly because of the finances involved but largely because of the prestige. Shaw expressed his confidence that United can still catch Chelsea, who worked in points ahead of them, since there is a long time left in the season.

“It has been a fight, but we talk in the dressing room and at training and we know we’ve still got the best to come. I don’t think we are playing our best at the moment, although you saw bits against Chelsea. It will take time, but when we are all on form, I think we are going to be a scary team to face. Yeah, of course [we can catch Chelsea]. It’s a long season and we’re at the start of it so you don’t know what will happen during the middle of season,” said Shaw.

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Swansea manager Gary Monk says that he cannot wait to start winning games once again. The club enjoyed a great start to the season, but difficult matches against the likes of Chelsea have brought their season to grounding halt. They now have been unable to win in the last three matches going into the weekend. However, this run finally came to an end after Swansea managed a 2-0 win over newly promoted Leicester City. This much-needed victory kept them in the hunt for a European spot at the end of the campaign. Swansea are sixth in the table with the same number of points as Arsenal and Liverpool.

After the victory, Monk says that winning is a special feeling that he is delighted to get once again. The Swansea manager came in for criticism during the week after he criticised Victor Moses of foul play when his team lost 2-1 against Stoke last week. Star striker Wilfried Bony, who has been unable to get much game time in the opening few matches of the season, finally showed that he is starting to get back to his best form. He scored twice – on either side of the break – to get his Swansea team their first win in four.

“The five games that we haven’t won, we have played very, very well and deserved a lot more than we have actually got. But, at the end of the day, the points are what they are, whether you deserve them or not. So it’s important today. There was a little bit of pressure on us, not too much but a little bit and I think the players handled that very well and in the end got a deserved win. Very pleased with the first-half, I thought we did very well and were moving the ball well enough,” said Monk.

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