Author: isport

Former Tottenham defender William Gallas time in Australian football with Perth Glory may have come to an abrupt end after he suffered a hamstring injury, which is likely to make him miss the last two matches of the season. Since he is out of contract at the end of the campaign, Gallas may have played his last for the Australian outfit.

He has so far been silent on his future plans as there are also been suggestions that he may retire at the end of the campaign. Gallas is on a contract worth around $ 1 million a year and he has proven over the years that he remains one of the top defenders in the world.

Calf injuries have troubled the former French international for the last few months, but it now seems that this injury is likely to rule him for the next four weeks. This may have effectively ended his career. Perth Glory’s interim manager Kenny Lowe says that Gallas has been a significant player for the club on and off the field. Kenny Lowe is trying to become a full-time manager at the club and he expressed his relief at being able to get a win over Newcastle Jets. The win gives them a lot of confidence ahead of the next match with Central Coast.

“Maybe the uninitiated and not football-savvy people think he’s going to pull it down, go past 12, do an overhead kick and stick it in the seven every game. But that’s not how it works. He’s an out-and-out defender. If you watch him, he smells danger. He’s a top guy. He mentors people at the club,” Lowe said. The 36-year-old defender will be having scans on Monday in order to assess the damage because of this injury. The club will be hoping that he stays beyond this season.

Perth Glory is fighting just to stay alive in the A- League. The team of Kenny Lowe suffered their 2nd consecutive defeat when playing against Western Sydney FC which demonstrates how they have been performing in this season.

The last time Pert Glory managed on claiming a victory was back in January when they received Melbourne Heart at their home stadium at the Member Equity Stadium.

The former Tottenham player, William Gallas was involved with a bust-up with the assistant of Kenny Lowe, Andy Ord which started rumors to be spread around concerning the importance that the 36 years old defender has in the club but the CEO of the club, Jason Brewer revealed that he indeed does add value to Perth Glory and is an important member for Perth Glory.

“The signing of William Gallas was something that the former coach Alistair Edwards drove and at one level it’s seen as contradictory to our strategy, but the role he plays in developing players among the environment is crucial,” Brewer said.

“Ask the players how much they’ve learned from his professionalism. That’s justified given the massive void between the young teenage players or 18-21 age bracket and then there’s the 30-plus group.”

William Gallas has played in some of the major Premier League clubs including Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur which was the last English club which he performed in before signing with the Australian side Perth Glory. During his stay with Arsenal, he suffered a few inconsistent seasons before making his move to Tottenham where his chances of playing was limited to only 59 appearances despite spending 3 seasons in White Hart Lane.

At his 36 years of age, it does not seem like he will be making a move back to the Premier League but instead he is hoping that Perth Glory can jump out of their recent series of negative results and leap out of the bottom spots of the A-League.

After not being able to secure points when Perth Glory played against Western Sydney FC, Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne Victory, the club where William Gallas currently plays for, Perth Glory is located at the last few spots of their league but the former Arsenal player believes that they can still win the title.

“Everything can go so quick. If you win four or five games you can be on top. I came here to win a trophy. To get something at the end of the season; that’s my mentality. I’m a winner.”

The forward of Perth Glory, Shane Smeltz completed his recovery from the injury he sustained not too long ago and William Gallas spoke about his teammate.

“At training, players try to know him better, to know about his movement. That’s very important for the combination between midfield and striker. He likes to score goals, we have to assist him.”

William Gallas has also been struggling with some injuries of his own but his recovery has allowed him to be featured on some of Perth Glory’s latest matches.

“Yeah, I played almost 80 minutes last Sunday; it was good. So, slowly I start to get fit and for the next game I will be ready to play 90 minutes. Yeah, I have to build my fitness, because I was injured for one month and because I am 36 years old I have to do a bit more to come back .It was not easy, but it was very important for me to patient.”

When Gallas completed his move from Tottenham to Perth Glory, he stated that Alistair Edwards played an important role in his decision to making a move to his new club but the defender could only manage to make 2 appearances for Edwards as the coach was later sacked.

Despite having Edwards sacked, Gallas said that it does not change his commitment to the club.

The departure of Andre Villas-Boas from Tottenham allowed Tim Sherwood to step up to the plate and sign a contract as the new head coach which extends until the end of the 2014-15 season.

“Following the departure of Andre Villas-Boas, the Club can announce that Tim Sherwood has been appointed Head Coach with a contract to the end of the 2014/15 season,” said a club statement.

“What would be ideal for me would be to have a chat with the chairman and see what’s best for the football club moving forward,” I need to know what they’re thinking. I don’t want this job for five minutes. That’s no interest to me. Are we going to move it forward or not?

The introduction of Sherwood to the club has given a spark of hope for Emmanuel Adebayor to prove himself as the Togolese striker was almost never featured in the matches of Tottenham when Villas-Boas was in charge but now Sherwood has been giving him plenty of time on the pitch.

Adebayor made a stunning performance during Tottenham’s Premier League match against Southampton as he scored twice and helped his side overcome Southampton claiming all 3 points.

The problem with Adebayor is his inconsistency as he can play outstanding in a match but in the next one, be almost invisible which is something that has already happened before and the other forward that Tottenham have at their disposal aren’t doing much better.

Roberto Soldado has been underperforming and Jermain Defoe’s time on the starting lineup of the team is almost nonexistent. This is the main reason why Tottenham are so desesperately on the search of a striker that can fill their needs.

Marco Borriello is a big target for the Premier League club as he is only being used as a substitute player in As.Roma and already said that if any other club is interested in signing him then a move might be possible as he does not enjoy his current situation in Serie A.

The manager of the French national football team, Didier Deschamps, is glad that his side will not have to face the mighty Portugal in the World Cup qualifying play offs.

FIFA announced the playoffs draw earlier today. According to the draw, France will be facing Ukraine, while, it’s Sweden which will be taking on Portugal.

The first leg of the France-Ukraine clash will be played in Ukraine, while, the second one will take place in France. That’s a bit of an advantage for the French team as it’s always good to play return leg in front of the home crowd.

Although, France is currently ranked lower than Ukraine in the FIFA rankings, still they will be the top favourites going into this contest. However, Deschamps has made it clear that his side will not be taking their opponents lightly at all.

Talking to the reporters a few hours back, the France boss said, “They are not going to make it easy for us. They are a fantastic side and they haven’t been defeated in the last 7 matches.”

“Their defense is pretty strong. The opposing teams don’t manage to score too many goals against them.”

“We can’t take them lightly. We have confidence in our abilities and that’s good, but, I believe that you should respect the other side as well. They will also be trying their best on the pitch.”

“It’s great that we have to play the return leg on our home ground.”

The last time that these two sides had faced each other was in the Euro Championship last year. That match was played at Shakhtar and was interrupted by lightning for a short period of time, but, Les Bleus had eventually won it by 2-0 with the goals of Cabaye and Menez.

Gareth Bale could finally end up with his dream move to Real Madrid with Tottenham Hotspur ready to sell their prized asset to the Spanish giants for a whopping £ 85 million and young Spanish striker Alvaro Morata as a makeweight.

Real have already had a bid worth a reported € 100 million in straight cash rejected by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy who is holing out for a player to included in the deal that will potentially take the price beyond the € 120 million mark and have already told Real that a player included in the deal as a makeweight would make their chances of landing the Welsh winger brighter.

Real have already inductaed their willingness to add sweeteners to the deal in order to push through a move for the PFA Player of the Season and have offered the likes of Portuguese left back Fabio Coentrao and Argentine winger Angel di Maria whose values they have factored into the deal. However, it seems that Daniel Levy and Tottenham Hotspur have made it clear that any deal would have to be conducted on their own terms and have asked for Morata to be included in the deal.

Given the fact that the 20 year old striker is seen is the most valuable player in the Real Madrid youth team and his exploits at the recently concluded Under-21 European Championships where he won the Golden Boot, Spurs see the total package well over £ 100 million if they have to part with Gareth Bale. And Real are also losing patience with Levy stalling on the deal and Manchester United also sniffing around for the player.

After selling Gonzalo Higuain to Napoli last week, Real would prefer holding on to Morata but with Tottenham Hotspur playing hardball, they have to take the chance with the player and let him go.

Tottenham have been dealt a major blow with the news that key defender Jan Vertonghen will be missing for the next three weeks after suffering an injury in the recent Barclays Asia trophy.

Tottenham were recently knocked out of the competition by Sunderland, but more worryingly, the absence of defender Vertonghen will be a major problem for Villas-Boas. The former Ajax defender arrived at the club only last summer and he has been a major revelation. His versatility means that Villas-Boas used in a number of positions like central defender and left back.

Vertonghen damaged his ankle ligaments in the match against Sunderland, which was played on a very poor pitch during heavy rains. Tottenham will be playing against Premier league newcomers Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season. Even though the fifth place team from last season will be facing a promoted team, Villas-Boas has said that this will be one of the toughest matches for the club. Newly promoted clubs often have a lot of enthusiasm in the first few weeks of the campaign.
Villas-Boas was also understandably displeased with the way officials handled the match. Due to heavy rain, the match kicked off 40 min later than scheduled.

“The conditions are extremely poor but there is nothing we can do about it. We’ve lost one player through injury – and if I can be sincere I would prefer not to go ahead (with Saturday’s game) but that’s the reality. It’s our responsibility and if the authorities decide to go ahead, we will play the game,” said Villas-Boas, whose Tottenham is one of the several Premier league teams currently in Asia as part of their pre-season tour.

Manchester city went on to win the Barclays Asia trophy with a 1-0 win over Sunderland, while Tottenham faced South China in the other match.

The winger of Tottenham Hotspur, Gareth Bale, has said that he wants to thank his manager Andre Villas Boas for using him in different roles in the ongoing season.

Villas Boas has used Bale on both left and right wings and has also given him the opportunity to play as a central striker. The Welshman hasn’t let his manager down at all. He has performed superbly in all the positions and has found the net 20 times in the ongoing Premier League.

He is at no. 3 in the list of leading goal scorers in this Premier League season. The two men who have scored more goals than him are Luis Suarez of Liverpool and Robin Van Persie of Manchester United. Suarez has scored 23, while, Persie has scored 25.

Talking to the reporters about his performance in the ongoing season, Bale said, “This season has been terrific for me and I need to thank the manager for his support. He used me in different positions and that allowed me to show my versatility.”

“Not only from personal point of view, as a team also, we have played quite well I think. We are still in contention for the Champions League qualification and we are up for it. Hopefully, we will end the season on a high and will manage to get to that 4th spot in the table.”

When asked if he thinks that he still needs to improve, Bale said, “Yes off course. You always need to be improving. I have scored 20 this season; I will try to score more next season. You need to set big targets for yourself. That’s the only way you can keep developing as a player.”

Bale’s contract is supposed to be extended by Tottenham for the next 4 years at the end of this season.

The assistant manager of Tottenham Hotspur, Steffen Freund, has said that William Gallas has recovered from his calf injury now and he has started training. Freund also said that Gallas is not too far away from a return to the first team.

Gallas had got injured in the Premier League match against Aston Villa which was played on 26th of December. He has been out of action since one month and he has missed quite a few matches.

When asked about the fitness of Gallas, Freund said, “Gallas is now back to 100% fitness and he attended the training session yesterday. He is pretty close to making a comeback.”

When asked whether Gallas would get a playing opportunity in the FA Cup match against Leeds United which is going to be played on Sunday, Freund said, “He might not be playing on Sunday as we want him to train for a few days before returning to action. But, one thing is for sure that he is not too far away from returning to action. You might see him playing in the match against Norwich City.”

“In the training session, William was running well and his movement didn’t seem to be hindered at all. It suggests that his fitness is good now. A few more days of training and he will be back in action.”

The other good news for the Spurs team management is that Jan Vertonghen has also recovered from illness and he has also started full training.

The comeback of these two players will definitely give a big relief to Andre Villas Boas, the manager of Tottenham.
Quite a few Tottenham players have suffered injuries of late. Last week, Sandro Raniere injured his knee while playing in the match against QPR and was ruled out for the remaining of the season due to that injury.