Ranieri: Monaco must be more aggressive

7 November 2013 01:37

Monaco head coach Claudio Ranieri has urged his side to become more aggressive to be successful in Ligue 1.

The Italian’s men slipped to third on the table after a 2-0 loss to Lille on Sunday, which came after a surprise loss to Reims in the Coupe de la Ligue.

Ranieri said his team needed to avoid concentrate lapses and wants them to develop a mentality which will make them more aggressive.

“I think what we need to change is our mentality. Reims and Lille played in a more aggressive approach than us,” he said.

“Football in France is all about being aggressive. We have to understand that is very important to be aggressive, to play with an aggressive mentality.”

Monaco face Evian TG on Friday with Pascal Dupraz’s men in decent form having won consecutive league games to move clear of the relegation zone.

Ranieri is wary of an Evian side who can hurt his team on the counter-attack and pinpointed Modou Sougou as the main threat.

“Evian have reacted well. They have won their last three games. It’s going to be a tough match. Like many games,” Ranieri said.

“They defend well and they counter-attack with pace. Sougou for instance is very fast.”

Ranieri expects Evian to test his side but believes Monaco will be good enough to deal with the threat if they are at their best and most determined.

“I want pressure because for me, it’s important to play at 100 per cent level,” he said.

“Like I said last year, every team will play at 120 per cent against us. I have a lot of good and technical players.

“But the most important thing is to focus on the league and to play with high determination.”

Ronaldo backs protests, insists World Cup will help Brazil

7 November 2013 01:01

World Cup winner Ronaldo insists the 2014 FIFA World Cup will benefit Brazil but supports the public’s right to protest.

Soccerex, a major football convention scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro in late November, was cancelled, reportedly because of safety fears.

It comes after the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in June was marred by protests, with fears there will be a repeat at the World Cup next year.

Ronaldo, 37, is a member of the organising committee and said he understood why the country’s people were protesting.

“I’m fighting for something that we are building. It is very easy for someone to be the opposition, trying to destroy from your house without believing in a project, not believing in anything and just trying to destroy it,” Ronaldo said.

“I am not doing it for myself. I am a volunteer for the World Cup, I am not earning any cents from the committee or FIFA. I am doing it because I believe in my country and in my people.

“And I believe this is a great thing for our country, a great growth opportunity for our country. So I’ll keep acting the same way, believing in my country, believing in the Brazilian people and I really hope to have an improvement in living conditions.

“I agree with all types of protest without violence, the Brazilians are so tired of the neglect that had for many years and now we are waiting for answer by government. I am doing my part, which is to have a Brazil better even if it is through sports.”

Former English sports minister Richard Caborn said the protests seen at the Confederations Cup were a worry for the World Cup.

“It must be a concern. It must be a concern clearly for those in the organisation down in Brazil,” he said.

“I don’t know what happened with Soccerex, like you, I just read the press notices which came out this morning.

“Clearly if it is in that same vein that you saw around the Confederations Cup then there is real concern about the unrest there, then obviously that doesn’t bode well.

“I’m sure that they will be putting things in place hopefully that will start at least mitigating against those circumstances.”

Bjelica confident of improvement despite defeat

7 November 2013 00:40

Coach Nenad Bjelica hopes Austria Vienna can still restore pride in their UEFA Champions League campaign after defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Bjelica watched on as his team were beaten 4-0 by a rampant Atletico side at Vicente Calderon, leaving them bottom of Group G with only one point and their qualification hopes all but over.

Having been thoroughly outplayed by their hosts, the Croat was forced to admit that his side, who are yet to find the net in this year’s group stages, were second best for long periods of the game.

However, despite enduring a tough campaign so far, Bjelica also maintained that there are signs of improvement from his side.

He said: “Atletico were simply too good for us. They are a quality side.

“(But) I am convinced that we will not only score a goal in the upcoming matches, but we will also collect some points.”

Arguably the one bright spot for Vienna was the performance of 23-year old goalkeeper Heinz Lindner, who despite being beaten four times produced a number of superb saves, including one to deny striker Diego Costa from the penalty spot.

Lindner, though, was under no illusions about the standard of his team’s performance.

He said: “In the end we have to come to terms with the fact that we collected zero points from both games against Atletico.

“We wanted to play out of a compact defence and prevent conceding the opener for as long as possible.

“It was noticeable that Atletico play at a higher level than we do.”

Jones rues Hildebrand gaffe

7 November 2013 00:40

Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones has rued Timo Hildebrand’s ‘silly mistake’ that put Chelsea on course for a 3-0 UEFA Champions League win.

A gaffe from goalkeeper Hildebrand gifted Samuel Eto’o a bizarre opening goal in London after the Bundesliga side had made a lively start at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Eto’o added a second goal after the break and Demba Ba got in on the act with a third as Chelsea moved three points clear of Schalke at the top of Group E.

Jones insisted Jens Keller’s Schalke side only have themselves to blame for a defeat that still leaves them in second place with two games remaining.

The 32-year-old midfielder said: “We continue to make silly mistakes and invited the opposition to score the opener.

“That is what they were waiting for. After conceding the opener it becomes very difficult to play against Chelsea.

“We had decent chances to take the lead ourselves. Timo knows that life will go on.”

Defender Benedikt Howedes admitted Schalke never recovered from an opening goal that came totally out of the blue.

“I am extremely upset about suffering another 3-0 defeat. Our second-half performance was poor but our start to the game was fantastic,” Howedes said.

“We had everything under control and then conceded an unfortunate lead. We then had to play catch-up against a side that has superb counter-attacking qualities.”

Southampton defend rotation policy after League Cup exit

7 November 2013 00:35

Southampton assistant manager Jesus Perez has stood by the club’s rotation policy following a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland in the English League Cup.

The St Mary’s Stadium outfit were bundled out of the competition in the fourth round at The Stadium of Light, as second-half goals from Phil Bardsley and Sebastian Larsson proved enough for the hosts on Wednesday.

Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino made 10 changes from the side that drew 1-1 at Stoke City on Saturday, with 18-year-old midfielder Harrison Reed winning his first senior start.

But their much-changed team failed to gel and, after a desperate first half, Premier League strugglers Sunderland took control.

Defender Maya Yoshida pulled back a late consolation for Southampton but it mattered little, as they missed out on a last-eight home tie against Chelsea next month.

Perez said afterwards: “We have a squad and we need to use all players and give minutes in these type of games.

“The season is so long and (in) the next couple of months there comes a very tough period of games and we need everyone in the best form because it will be important for the rest of the season.

“We are a little bit disappointed to miss important games like this but this is football and we have to look forward.”

Perez insisted that the club’s younger players, such as teenaged trio Reed, Calum Chambers and substitute Sam Gallagher, would gain from the first-team experience.

“They are learning a lot on every single training session but obviously it’s very important for players who are 17, 18, 19-years-old to play in a stadium like this and in front of an opponent like Sunderland,” he added.

“Sunderland at the moment is on the bottom of the Premier League but they have a very good squad and very good players and it was a tough game for the young players.

“They learned a lot from professional games and it will be good for the future.”