Guardiola hits back over lack of Manchester City clean sheets

As the Manchester City coach had said before, his concern is based more on how he is going to limit the opposition to just a handful of chances or just simply outscoring them.

Manchester City's Coach Pep Guardiola has bristled once again that his team is really suffering from bad defence.

Pep Guardiola has once again bristled at the suggestion that his Manchester City side are defending badly.

City beat Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor on Saturday lunchtime, but failed to keep a clean sheet for the 13th time in 14 Premier League games.

Guardiola, though, has already said this season that he is not overly concerned about clean sheets, insisting that he would rather limit the opposition to just a handful of chances, or to simply out-score them.

And when he was asked about his defence in Saturday’s post-match press conference, he replied simply: "I think we defend quite well.”

When challenged that City have conceded at least one goal in the majority of their games this season, Guardiola added:  "Ok, well maybe one day we are going to change."

Guardiola was keen to strengthen his back-line during the summer but, despite only being able to sign John Stones during the transfer window, he has been quick to stand up for his defenders when their performances have been questioned.

The Catalan also wanted to sign young centre-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic, and it was claimed by Marti Perarnau, his biographer, that he highlighted the need for new full-backs in a meeting with City’s most senior officials in Abu Dhabi in June.

But speaking on Friday, following an often chaotic defensive performance against Borussia Monchengladbach, Guardiola insisted he has no problems with the state of his squad.

“I am so happy about all my players,” he contested. “Normally the full-backs always play out and sometimes they try to play inside. It is new for them and new for us. Sometimes they need more time.

“Some of them have the specific qualities to do that, for some of them it is more difficult. All of them, Gael Clichy, Aleksandar Kolarov, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Pablo [Maffeo], I am satisfied by their performance.”

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Rumours: Bayern Munich Defender To Pick Arsenal Over Manchester United

According to certain reports, Esker Sports has gathered that Bayern Munich's multi-talented defender will prefer moving to Arsenal FC than to move to Manchester United if he eventually happens to be transferred to the English Premier League.

Also, according to the Manchester Evening News, the Austrian International defender the defender will certainly choose London over Manchester if He is to eventually move to English Premier League.

David Alaba, 24, the very much versatile defender who has a number of positions attributed to his name including the centre back, left back and defensive midfield has been on the Bayern Munich team since year 2010 and has since been quite on a good form since then been on a very good form even after his loan out to 1899 Hoffenheim back in the year 2011. Recen news came up that some Premier League teams are making moves for the Bayern Munich's player but we do not know just yet which team is going to be the lucky one to get the talented defender. What we do know for now is that there are higher chances that he is going to move to London's Arsenal FC but until then we have our fingers crossed.

The Premier League clubs would have to pay around £34 million to secure the services of Alaba, who signed a new contract at Bayern in March, which would keep him at the Allianz Arena until 2021.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic Describes Rooney as Perfect and Says He Does Not Get The Respect He Deserves

Manchester United Striker demanded that his team-mate Wayne Rooney be given more respect.

Wayne Rooney (left) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (right)

In an interview, the Swede striker said 'Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney is "the perfect player" and deserves more respect from the media'

Rooney produced a very stunning display which coul also be called his best display of the season so far in a Europa League match against Feyenoord in which they came out victorious with a 4-0 win. Rooney scored the first goal of the match and later providing an assist for Juan Mata to score the second goal of the match. The performance came in the wake of a difficult spell in the 31-year-old's career, with uncertainty around his place in the United and England starting line-ups exacerbated when pictures emerged showing him looking worse for wear at a wedding reception following the 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Scotland.

Rooney himself hit out at the media coverage of that incident, and Ibrahimovic has some sympathy for the way in which his captain has been under scrutiny.

"First of all, as a person, he's fantastic," he said of Rooney, who became United's leading goalscorer in European competition with his Feyenoord strike. "I had the luck to get to know the person. As a player, there are no words. He's the perfect player: everybody knows what he can do and what he has done.

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Celtic could win Barcelona if we had Messi on our Side - Brendan Rodgers

The Barcelona Striker earned a brace in a Champions League match against Celtic at Parkhead on Wednesday, and according to Hoops boss, Messi is 'arguably the best player ever

Brendan Rodgers also also praised Barcelona forward Leo Messi and his football skills saying that Celtic would have a way better chance of winning against Barcelona if they had the Argentine striker on their side.

Messi scored all goals in Barcelona's 2-0 win against Celtic on Wednesday at the Celtic Park stadium after scoring a hat trick in their clash at Camp Nou back in September.

Leo Messi's absence was highly felt in Barcelona's clash with Malaga at Camp Nou which ended in a goalless draw in a match he missed due to illness

And former Liverpool manager Rodgers, speaking after the loss in Glasgow, was asked if Celtic would have a chance of upsetting Luis Enrique's heavyweights should Messi temporarily swap sides. 

"We'd have had a big chance," he said.

"It shows the difference he makes – you look at the game at the weekend [against Malaga]. Messi is arguably the greatest player ever, so when he plays in your team, he makes everyone else better. 

"He's a phenomenal player, an incredible player, and he always is hungry to score. His first goal was that run that he makes, and a wonderful finish. Our players will learn you can't give a player of that quality that space."

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Messi now has 18 goals in domestic and European competition this season, with that return generated in just 15 appearances.

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Neymar Jr's Family Claims Innocence Over Alleged Corruption

NN Consultoria, the company owned and operated by the father of Barcelona's striker Neymar Jr has finally released a statement concerning the player's transfer to Barcelona.

Neymar Jr

The company has responded to the latest developments on Neymar Jr's transfer to Camp Nou which involves an attempt by some Spanish prosecutors requesting that the player spends a jail term and also insisting that the parties suspected will be cleared of any offence at all.

A proposal which includes a two-year prison sentence for the footballer and a fine of €10 million is what is being requested by the prosecutors for the Brazilian player as well as other fines and jail terms for his father and mother for alleged corruption over his transfer to Barcelona back in 2013.

The case all started from a complaint which was made by an investment group named DIS, which owned forty percent of the Barcelona forward's economic rights and which also claims that it got less money from the striker than it was supposed to after the move was made.

On Wednesday 23rd November, 2016, NN Consultoria, the company owned by Neymar's father released a statement stating that the reports given are not a new development since the case had been reopened back in September and also trying to prove the innocence of the Barcelona's forward and his family too.

The statement read: 

"In relation to the news published on Wednesday of the accusations against Neymar Jr. and his father, Neymar da Silva Santos, we reiterate it is the same process reopened in September 2016, which had been filed by Judge Jose de la Mata."The parties have not been notified of the opening of the indictment of the Public Ministry or of the period in which the defence may be filed. We remain calm because all contracts were signed with respect to legal, ethical and moral procedures and with the knowledge of Santos … and Barcelona.
"We are sure that time will offer all positive responses."

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