Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is eyeing up Southampton trio Morgan Schneiderlin, Toby Alderweireld and Jay Rodriguez as well as Burnley’s Danny Ings as he looks to build a young squad at White Hart Lane.
Source: Daily Mail
Thursday, March 19, 2015 23:14
The midfielder was desperately disappointed with the way the Dutch side crashed out of Europe at the hands of Dnipro, with Frank de Boer regretting their lack of an away goal
Davy Klaassen was ruthless in his assessment of Ajax after they were eliminated from the Europa League on away goals on Thursday.
Frank de Boer’s men trailed Dnipro 1-0 after the opening leg and, though they took the tie to extra-time, the Dutch hosts then conceded in the first 15 minutes to ensure a late goal from Mike van der Hoorn was not enough to send them through to the last eight of the tournament.
Ajax midfielder Klaassen pulled no punches in his evaluation of their season, having been eliminated from the cup, sitting way adrift of leaders PSV in the Eredivisie and now suffering a European exit at the Amsterdam ArenA.
“This is very bad,” he told RTL7. “In the league we’re not doing well and we are out of the cup. It’s not great at all.
“We have to win as much as possible now. If PSV don’t make any mistakes, then I guess second place is our highest possible finish this year. We can do better than what we showed today. This defeat wasn’t what was called for.”
De Boer was left to rue Ajax’s failure to grab an away goal when they played the first leg at Dnipro last week, revealing that his fears came true over 120 minutes of action.
“In the extra-time you can see how precious an away goal is,” the coach said. “Last week, I suggested it was a bad result because we didn’t get one. If they scored one then we had to make three goals, and that is exactly what happened.”
The north Londoners were hammered at Old Trafford but the Spurs boss says that the anomalous nature of the performance has contributed to “one of the easier weeks” at the club
Tottenham are ready to put right the wrongs from their defeat by Manchester United when they host Leicester City on Saturday, says Mauricio Pochettino.
A heavy 3-0 loss at Old Trafford dealt a blow to Spurs’ top-four ambitions in the Premier League, leaving Pochettino baffled at their abject display.
“This week you don’t need to speak too much; it’s an easy week,” the Tottenham boss told reporters. “We are all agreed about what happened at Old Trafford so it’s easy to fix that.
“We are all disappointed after that game. We know how we need to change or to fix that and, for me, after nine months here, it has been one of the easier weeks.
“We need to show that it hasn’t damaged us too much and to try to give our best and get the three points. It’s important to fix many problems and try to show on Saturday against Leicester that it was only a temporary problem [against United].”
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson, meanwhile, urged his players not to give up on their survival bid but admits that they face a “big task” with only 10 games remaining of the season.
Pearson’s side are seven points adrift of Sunderland, who are directly above the relegation zone, with a game in hand, having won just four times in the top flight following promotion from the Championship, but the Foxes boss takes hope from their six remaining home matches.
“There will be results that surprise people and we have to make sure some of those go our way rather than our other competitors,” he remarked.
“We’ve got 10 games left, six at home. Our home form has not been what we would like but, if we get into the latter stages in contact, then we can be relatively positive.
“What’s important going into the last 10 is the clarity within our ranks as to what we need to achieve. The priority for us is to improve home form.
“It’s a big task for us and, with the points we have and the shift in form we have to achieve, I wouldn’t be in any doubt that not many people will share my belief but it’s important the players remain upbeat because 10 games left is a sizeable chunk of the season.
“We’re in a difficult situation but we’ve still got games left and, ultimately, our results have to substantially improve.
“We’ve been competitive. If you saw us play every week, you wouldn’t necessarily recognise us as a side propping up the table but that’s the reality, that’s life, there’s no point sticking your head in the sand. We’ve 10 games left and we’ve got to do something about it.”
Zenit lost 1-0 to Torino in the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie but still made it to the quarter-finals with 2-1 aggregate victory
Andre Villas-Boas has apologised for a touchline row with the Torino bench after Zenit edged past the Serie A side to reach the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday.
The Russians reached the last eight of a European competition for the first time since 2008 – the year they won the old Uefa Cup – despite losing 1-0 to Torino in the second leg of their last-16 tie.
The 2-0 victory in the home leg proved decisive as Villas-Boas’ men moved through 2-1 on aggregate, although there was a nervous moment when Fabio Quagliarella had an effort cleared off the line in stoppage time after Kamil Glik’s 90th-minute opener.
Despite his side’s progress, the former Chelsea and Tottenham boss was involved in an angry argument with the Torino bench at full-time, for which he moved to apologise after the game.
“I lost my head,” Villas-Boas admitted to Sport Mediaset.
“I got it completely wrong and I apologise for my behaviour. I was angry with the Torino team manager, but it was not the behaviour of a coach and I am sorry.”
On the match itself, the Portuguese tactician said it was not his intention to see his side play so defensively to hold on to their first-leg lead.
“It is not that we wanted to sit back that much, but we made mistakes when attacking and didn’t make the most of the spaces,” said Villas-Boas.
“We didn’t play the way we intended to. Torino’s pressing was more effective than in Russia and we were forced to play long balls from the goalkeeper.
“Defensively we did well and the goal we conceded at the end was a move out of desperation. Other than the final minutes, Zenit were pretty much in control throughout and our performance required character.”
Torino coach Giampiero Ventura said the red card received by Marco Benassi early in the first leg in Russia had proven decisive to the tie’s outcome.
“We pushed for 90 minutes, scored at the end, forced two goal-line clearances and had a goal disallowed,” he said.
“If we had drawn the first leg 0-0 it would have been entirely understandable, but that red card ultimately proved decisive.
“I had already feared that the dismissal in the first leg would change the tie and in this game my theory was confirmed because Torino were entirely on a par with Zenit.
“I am sorry for the fans, as we saw the stadium packed and wanted to give them another great emotional night. We came close.”
The Spanish side still have a chance of replicating their back-to-back Uefa Cup victories in 2005-06 and 2006-07, which delights their head coach
Sevilla coach Unai Emery has lauded his team for continuing to thrive in the Europa League after they knocked out Villarreal on Thursday.
The reigning champions held the upper hand heading into the last-16 second leg on home turf having won the opening fixture 3-1 at El Madrigal, and Vicente Iborra made any comeback from Marcelino’s men all the more unlikely by scoring in the 69th minute.
Giovani dos Santos triggered the possibility of a shock fightback with an equaliser on the night shortly afterwards, but Denis Suarez finished off the tie with seven minutes remaining to ensure their place in Friday’s quarter-final draw.
Emery, who guided Sevilla to unlikely Europa League glory last year, is delighted his team are continuing their dream of replicating their back-to-back Uefa Cup triumphs in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
“We wanted to push the match in a way that we would become stronger as it wound onwards,” he told Gol TV. “We lacked a bit of control – and the late absence of Ever Banega hurt us – but we stayed focused and waited for our chances to come.
“We hope to continue growing within Sevilla, continuing our evolution. The players are eager to grow as footballers and take the next step. These are the sort of games that we go into with great enthusiasm.
“We thrive in it and we’re very happy right now. We don’t care who we draw in the last eight in particular, we’ll prepare for whoever we get and let the hype lift us.”
Villarreal have an immediate opportunity to get revenge on their continental vanquishers as they host Sevilla on Sunday in La Liga.