Month: August 2016

New England manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed that he would be open to holding talks with Chelsea captain John Terry about a shock recall to the England team, despite the ‘political issues’ that surround the ageing centre-back.

Terry hasn’t played for England since 2012 when he retired from international duty. His retirement in September of that year came just four days before he was due to be suspended for four matches by the Football Association for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. Terry was found guilty of calling Ferdinand a ‘f*cking black c*nt’ during a match between Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers in July of 2012; an act that was ‘contrary to FA Rule E3[2]’.

Terry captained England for a time under Italian Fabio Capello and won 78 caps for the national side. His final cap came in England’s 5-0 win over international minnows Moldova as he was never considered by former boss Roy Hodgson for a recall.

Allardyce is preparing to name the first England squad of his tenure on Sunday, with the Three Lions preparing for their qualification campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The opening match of the qualification process is on September 4th when Allardyce’s men have a game away to Slovakia.

Allardyce admitted that Joe Hart’s situation at Manchester City is a concern for him, but that Terry could be in line for a return to the England squad as numbers are important. He said, “We want as many players as possible in their club’s first team that join up with the squad, then go on to play for England and be successful”.

The former Sunderland manager, who took over from Roy Hodgson after he oversaw England’s embarrassing exit from the European Championships in France this summer with a loss to Iceland, admitted that it might not be up to him whether Terry gets to return to the starting line-up. He said, “I don’t know what the political side of that might mean, if there is a political side. I’ll have to have that conversation if I feel that John Terry may be a possibility”.

The 61-year-old made clear that Terry could yet return to the fold, but that he’d first need to find out what the 35-year-old said when he announced to the Football Association that he was no longer willing to play for England. Allardyce: “I think it depends on what John said. Maybe if I get the opportunity, I might have to give him a ring. But until I come to that selection or that process, we’ll wait and see”.

Meanwhile Chelsea’s new head coach Antonio Conte believes that Terry’s England future is a matter for the player and his international manager to discuss between themselves and that he will not try to influence his club captain on his decision one way or the other. The Chelsea boss said, “John Terry has a great attitude during training and is working very hard. I’m very happy with his commitment. But for the international team, it is very important for it to be solved between Sam Allardyce and John Terry”.

Conte was in France himself this summer as the manager of his national side Italy. He admitted that he understands the difficulty in trying to pick the best players for the country whilst balancing the needs of their clubs. He confirmed that, as far as he’s concerned, it’s a matter for the player and manager to discuss alone. “I’m a former international team coach so I know this situation and prefer it to be solved between Sam Allardyce and John Terry. That’s the right way”, he said.

Eden Hazard has declared that the Chelsea players are enjoying playing under the club’s new head coach Antonio Conte and that the players have re-discovered their desire for success.

Hazard was one of the players who under-performed last season under the club’s former manager José Mourinho. Some Chelsea fans turned on the Belgian winger, believing that he was deliberately under-performing in order to get the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ sacked; something that did indeed happen in December of last year. He has since gone on to become Manchester United manager and Conte has taken over at Stamford Bridge.

The Belgian forward re-discovered his form towards the end of the season and continued it into this summer’s European Championships in France, though he couldn’t help the Red Devils avoid a quarter-final defeat to Wales. He seems to have picked up where he left off with his national team, seeing his shot saved by Heurelho Gomes on Saturday before Michy Batshuayi tucked in the rebound to equalise against Watford. That game after he opened the scoring for the Blues from the penalty spot in their first match of the new season against West Ham last Monday.

Chelsea are preparing for their first EFL Cup match of the new campaign, with Hazard convinced that the club is back where it wants to be in terms of the attitude of the players. He told the club’s official website, “The attitude is fantastic, even in training everyone wants to win games. That’s why now we are winning”.

With both Manchester clubs favourites to battle it out for the title and some bookmakers believing that Conte is more likely to get the sack than win the Premier League, Hazard believes that it’s important that Chelsea keep up with United and City. He said, “It’s just the start of the season but if we want to stay at the top we have to win. Both Manchester teams won, we had to win and we did”.

The Belgian is confident that the Blues have what it takes to get back towards the top end of the table and that the new man in the dugout, who took Juventus back to the top of Serie A after successive seventh place finishes, is the man to help them progress. He said, “He’s a good manager, he believes in his team and we try to give everything for him. We want to win for the fans too. It’s early. We have a good team, there are a lot of good teams in the Premier League and we will see at the end, but of course we want to be the champions”.

Chelsea go up against Sky Bet League One side Bristol Rovers in the EFL Cup tomorrow night, having exited the same competition in the fourth round stage last season. They were knocked out by Stoke City on penalties in a game that heaped pressure on Mourinho. The former Italy national manager, who was also in France for the Euros this summer and saw similar disappointment to Hazard, will be hoping that he can avoid a similar fate against lower league opposition this time around.

Chelsea’s new head coach Antonio Conte has confirmed that he intends to take tomorrow night’s English Football League Cup match against Bristol Rovers every bit as seriously as if it were a Premier League game.

Chelsea have won their opening two league fixtures by two goals to one, with Diego Costa scoring the winning goal on both occasions. Each time many pundits believed that the Spaniard was lucky to still be on the pitch after infringements that could easily have seen the fiery forward shown two yellow cards by the match referee.

The Blues finished tenth in the Premier League last time out and were knocked out of this competition, which was known as the League Cup then, in the fourth round by Stoke City. the former Juventus player and manager has already got them off to a better start than his predecessor José Mourinho, however. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ only won of his first five games in charge during the last campaign and was sacked by December.

Tasked with seeing the Blues return to the top end of the table, Conte has won his first two fixtures in the English top-flight. Chelsea beat West Ham at Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the new season before seeing off Watford at Vicarage Road at the weekend. Now he’s preparing for his first taste of cup football in his new adopted country.

It’s believed that the Italian is planning to make a few changes to his starting line-up for the visit of Bristol Rovers. Michy Batshuayi, who was signed from Marseille for £33 million in July, is set to make his first competitive start for the club after he scored the equaliser against the Hornets on Saturday.

The former Italy national team manager does not expect the changes he makes to weaken his side, however, and is determined to ensure they do not lose their winning mentality. He said, “Losing always leaves sad things in you. You can lose your confidence and, for this reason, it was important to win these two games because you can continue to trust in the work and raise the confidence of the players. For these reasons it was important to start in the right way for all of us. Now we must continue and we have a great chance to continue in the next game at home”.

Batshuayi joined Cesc Fabregas on the bench for both of Chelsea’s opening fixtures and the pair of them played significant parts in the Blues’ wins in each game. That’s why Conte is considering giving them a start, with Victor Moses also keen to show his new manager what he can do having not been given much of an opportunity under Mourinho.

Chelsea’s new head coach has promised that he’ll draw on the experience he gained during his time in Italy as Juventus manager in order to help the Blues return to the top of the Premier League table.

Conte took over at Stamford Bridge in July, having spent the summer leading the Italy national side during the European Championships in France. He saw his Chelsea side take the lead during Monday night’s London derby with West Ham before being pegged back through a James Collins goal. They won the match in the 89th minute when Diego Costa scored, with the Spaniard lucky to still be on the pitch following an earlier horror tackle on West Ham’s goalkeeper Adrian.

The Blues suffered an abysmal season last time out, as José Mourinho was sacked in December and Guus Hiddink came in to replace him on a temporary basis. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ is now the Manchester United manager and Conte is hoping that the time he spent in Italy will see Chelsea challenging for titles once more.

Juventus had finished seventh for two successive years when their former player was installed as manager in 2011. He then went on to win three consecutive Serie A titles with La Vecchia Signora and he’s determined to do the same thing with Chelsea, knowing that the Stamford Bridge club finished in a disappointing tenth position last time out.

Speaking after his side’s 2-1 home win on Monday the Italian said, “Juventus hadn’t won the title for many, many years and at the start it did not appear easy. I remember that because confidence was low and the players didn’t trust themselves. It’s important to work in that situation and I remember we worked very hard”.

It is work that Conte believes is crucial to any chance of success in what will be a very competitive Premier League this season. He continued, “We can see a bit of the same situation now, no? After a bad season, 10th place was no good for the players, confidence was low and the fans weren’t happy with this situation. But I know only one word that we must follow and that is to work, and to work very hard. If we stay together, in bad and in good situations, very, very soon we will try to go back to playing for the title. It’s not easy, but we must try and we must find the right motivation, the right spirit to fight”.

One of Chelsea’s new signings, N’Golo Kante, believes that the manager’s work ethic and spirit will be crucial to the club’s forthcoming season and confirmed it’s why he decided to leave the defending Premier League champions in order to head to West London. He said, “I chose Chelsea because I spoke with the manager here and when I did that, I realised the capacity of the manager and that is why I made my decision. Now I have discovered him, and discovered how he is training, how he is, and what I can say is he is passionate and a hard worker. He likes to communicate, to make me understand his idea of football here”.

Kante also shares his manager’s desire to see Chelsea return to the top end of the Premier League and is convinced that Conte knows how to get the most out of him. Kante: “He said he knows how I play and he thinks I can be a good player for his team and that’s why I’ve come here. And, of course, I like Premier League football and that is why I decided to stay in this league. My ambition is to achieve good things with the club, to get success in the Premier League and, I hope, return to the Champions League. To the supporters, the only thing I would like to say now is that I will always give my best for the club, for the team”.

Chelsea’s new head coach has defended the referee from last night’s Premier League match against West Ham and said that he was right not to send off Diego Costa for a late challenge on Adrian.

Chelsea took the lead against the Hammers following a 47th minute penalty which was converted by Eden Hazard. Costa was then booked by the match referee, Anthony Taylor, following an introduction this year of a new rule that encourages referees to punish players who argue with decisions. The Spaniard had confronted Taylor when he failed to award the Blues another penalty.

The fiery forward later caught West Ham’s ‘keeper Adrian with a late tackle, getting nowhere near the ball but leaving a mark on the shot-stopper’s leg. Taylor decided against showing the forward a second yellow card that would have seen him sent off.

James Collins equalised for the Hammers in the 77th minute before Costa, somewhat ironically, scored the winning goal for the home side in the 89th minute of play. Slaven Bilic, West Ham’s manager, believes he could just as easily not have been on the pitch, “It was not reckless or deliberate, but it was quite late. He could have been booked again and so a red card. I am not frustrated because of that, I am frustrated because of the late goal”.

The new man in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat believes that the referee made the right call however. Conte, who was brought in in the summer as Chelsea’s first permanent manager since the sacking of José Mourinho, said to Sky Sports after the match, “Diego is a good player and a passionate man – sometimes it happens that he can receive a yellow card. I think in the situation with Adriano the referee took the right decision”.

Costa is known to be a destructive player, with many commentators believing that his combustible play might have seen him leave Stamford Bridge after the arrival of the notoriously strict former Italy national manager. In the past Costa has been given retrospective bans for stamping on players, kicking out and more.

During Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final match against Everton at Goodison Park last season the Spaniard appeared to bite Gareth Barry during an exchange between the two players, though the Football Association decided against taking any action. He has also been caught on camera attempting to gouge the eye of Liverpool player Martin Skrtel during a League Cup match between the two teams.

However on this occasion Anthony Taylor saw nothing wrong with Costa’s challenge and chose to allow him to remain on the pitch. It was all part of the excitement of Conte’s first Premier League match in charge of the Blues and he admitted after the game that his adrenalin was higher than he expected it to be. The former Juventus player and manager has a reputation from his time in Italy as being a passionate manager on the touchline and he demonstrated as much when he celebrated with Chelsea fans following Costa’s winner.

In his post-match interview he said, “I knew the Premier League only through television. I played against English teams in the Champions League and Europa League, but playing this league is very difficult. There is a great intensity in the Premier League and it’s very physical. I don’t know if I’ll sleep tonight because the adrenaline is high”.

Chelsea joined the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City with three points from their opening game of the season. They travel to Watford for their next match on Saturday and goal scorer Hazard believes it’s time to forget about their nightmare season last year. They had their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s and it led to the December sacking of self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ José Mourinho, who is now United’s manager.

The Belgian forward, who came in for some criticism during the last campaign, said, “It was good to be back on the pitch in front of our own supporters. We did very well and we played 90 minutes like tigers. It’s not every year I score in my first game. Last season is finished – we are looking forward to the future. We want to bring a lot of emotion to the fans”.