Football Top.com - International football rating

Patrice Evra completes a move to Juventus

Leon Smolski — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 15:54:47 +0000

The French defender Patrice Evra completes a move to Juventus, ending his eight and a half year-spell with Manchester United

The 33-year old full-back was brought in to Old Trafford from Monaco in January 2006 and made 379 appearances for The Red Devils. Since then he won five Premier League titles, three League Cups and the UEFA Champions League.

‘Joining and playing for Manchester United has been a privilege, a dream come true and my time here has been so memorable. Through the good times and the bad times we have all stuck together and remained loyal. I have always said you don’t just join Manchester United, you join the family and long may that tradition continue.’

Atletico, Real, Chelsea and Bayern Munich will compete in the semifinals of 2013/2014 Champions League

Leon Smolski — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 08:22:01 +0000

Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich joined Chelsea and Real Madrid in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League.

Atletico Madrid knocked La Liga rivals Barcelona out of the tournament with a 2-1 win on aggregate. Barcelona needed to score after a draw at Camp Nou last week, but it was Koke who opened the scoring after just five minutes. The Colchoneros were close to beating Jose Pinto again as David Villa struck the post twice. Lionel Messi was a modest presence in the Catalan side as they failed to deliver anything worthy of an equalizer. Barcelona can now concentrate on Copa del Rey final and the title race in La Liga. Gerardo Martino gave credit to solid opposition:
“In reality, the moments when we couldn’t do what we had planned, what Barcelona normally does, are to do with the virtues of our opponent.”
“Their intensity, the way they defend, the number of players closing ranks near their penalty area.”

Bayern Munich proved too strong for Manchester United despite conceding a stunner from Patrice Evra on 57 minutes. It did not take the Germans long to equalize through Mario Mandzukic, while Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben put the hosts ahead as Bayern won 4-2 on aggregate. United manager David Moyes rued lack of concentration after Evra’s goal:
“It’s the sort of thing you learn as a schoolboy once you score a goal, make sure you don’t concede”.
“You get into position and do your job. We had concentrated so fabulously well throughout the game.
“The players had done tactically well. Their positioning was good and they did their jobs.
“For us just to give it up on that moment, the goal up, was really disappointing.”

The draw will be held on Friday.

UEFA Champions League preview: Manchester United vs Bayern Munich and Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

Leon Smolski — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:34:14 +0000

Manchester United vs Bayern Munich

The classic clash between European giants Manchester United and Bayern Munich has an unusual savour this time round - the visitors and Cup holders are strong favourites, while the hosts have been struggling under the new manager David Moyes and would be praised for virtually any result but the thrashing, provided they show fighting spirit and ambition to hold the team who seem unstoppable.

The Red Devils will miss Patrice Evra through suspension and injured Robin van Persie. Defenders Chris Smalling, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans all took part in pre-match training. Brazilian full-back Rafael is doubtful. Bayern midfielder Thiago Alcantara suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the last round of Bundesliga and will miss the rest of the season. Dante is suspended.

Pep Guardiola refused to rule out United chances and said:
“Manchester United are one of the world’s best teams. It doesn’t matter what situation they’re in right now. United have good players. These two games could be the best two performances of their season. They can beat us.”

David Moyes believes his side have a chance against defending champions: “We are going into the game knowing that on our day we are as good a side as any. We have to show it more often than we have done, but I have great belief in the players”.

The last time the clubs met was in 2009/2010 season quarter-finals, when Bayern Munich made it past United on away goals with 4-4 on aggregate.

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

Another clash between the leaders of La Liga, this time on European stage. Barcelona get back to their best form and Victor Valdes, who had been ruled out for the rest of the season with knee injury, and Carles Puyol are the only missing players. Atletico Madrid will be without suspended Raul Garcia. Key striker Diego Costa is also doubtful after suffering a knock. The teams met in January at Vicente Calderon and shared a goalless draw. They will also have a last-day Primera clash at Camp Nou that could decide the title.

Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino believes his players will need to show their own game to make it past La Liga rivals in Europe: “The secret of the game will be to match Atletico in intensity so that they don’t overcome us, and our biggest strength will be to play like Barca always do”.

The Argentine specialist Diego Simeone admitted it would be difficult to beat the Catalan side: “Barcelona are in top shape. They are used to these kind of matches. What is certain is that we are going to compete and that it will be a beautiful tie.”

Premier League: Who pulls Manchester United down?

Leon Smolski — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 07:08:00 +0000

Have you ever thought why the manager of your club keeps starting a player who had fallen out of favor with the fans? Or doesn’t give a chance to someone, who you think is a game changer? Here is something that might be the reason.

Despite hot times in Premier League and the return of Champions League, I decided to have a look at Sochi Olympic Games and shift attention to ice hockey for a change. Oh, Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres or Ashley Young would definitely not be able to compete in that sport with their theatrics and physique. But I’m not going to become a one thousand three hundred and fifty-second press person chewing over diving, spitting, biting and racist issues of modern football game. What I was impressed with was the amount of statistics available to managers and fans in ice hockey. You can evaluate players’ contribution to the game simply looking at the numbers on your computer. That said, if this system was applied in football, no one would have paid 30 million for Erik Lamela or Marouane Fellaini. They are different sports, football and ice hockey, and we can’t be guided by the same logic and statistics. But I couldn’t help trying to put some of the players in the shoes of their winter sport colleagues and put them under the scrutiny of impartial numbers in an attempt to measure their contribution to their squads’ performances. As long as possession, distance covered and other television stuff does not bring you victories, but goals and final score are the only things that matter at the end of the day, I took the plus/minus stats to see what players have positive impact on the game. Obviously, there is no fairness in those stats, because some players are picked for serious clashes, others have cameo roles, some miss games through injuries and so on. But if you look at those stats, you see that that some of the players are meant for being part of selections that bring positive results, while others pull the team down. The stats could be really surprising.

It would takes ages to count the stats of all Premier League teams and I picked Manchester United as arguably the least stable and predictable team of the season.

David Moyes has used 27 players in current Premier League season, more than any other of the managers. Obviously he is trying to find better options and the best combinations, but who are the players contributing to positive results and who are the odd ones?

A player who was on the pitch when a goal was scored gets one point. If a goal was conceded - he has one point off. Number of matches played and other patterns are not taken into consideration.

So here is the efficiency list of Manchester United players:

1. Antonio Valencia +14
2. Adnan Januzaj +12
3. Patrice Evra +11
4. David De Gea +10
4. Tom Cleverley +10
6. Phil Jones +9
6. Jonny Evans +9
8. Wayne Rooney +8
9. Robin van Persie +6
9. Javier Hernandez +6
9. Rafael +6
12. Shinji Kagawa +4
13. Nemanja Vidic +3
13. Ryan Giggs +3
13. Danny Welbeck +3
16. Michael Carrick +2
16. Fabio +2
18. Anderson +1
18. Chris Smalling +1
18. Darren Fletcher +1
19. Juan Mata +1
22. Rio Ferdinand 0
22. Wilfried Zaha 0
24. Nani -2
24. Alex Buttner -2
26.Marouane Fellaini -3
27. Ashley Young -4

Quite curious, isn’t it? So Antonio Valencia, Adnan Januzaj and Patrice Evra seem to be the ones who really have the famous United spirit. And is Tom Cleverley that useless as everybody thinks? But if you look at the bottom of the list, it’s hard to disagree with the results. Few United fans have enjoyed performances of Young, Fellaini and Nani so far.

And you can make a natural squad of the eleven most efficient players with Evra, Jones, Evans and Rafael at the back, Cleverley, Januzaj and Valencia in midfield, Rooney behind the strikers in van Persie and Chicharito. What do you say, David Moyes?

Capital One Cup draw. Manchester City and Manchester United could meet in the final

Leon Smolski — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:43:42 +0000

Manchester United and Manchester City could meet at Wembley in the Capital One Cup final should they make it past Sunderland and West Ham in the semis.

David Moyes tuned his players for a vigorous performance at Britannia Stadium amid extremely difficult weather conditions that saw Mark Clattenburg suspend the game for a while in the first half. Ashley Young was given a chance to impress as Wayne Rooney was absent through groin injury and hit the back of the net with a powerful strike on 62 minutes. Patrice Evra killed the game off twelve minutes from time with spectacular curling effort. United will now face Sunderland who had beaten Chelsea on Tuesday.

Tottenham Hotspur suffered another home defeat from West Ham United in the season and Tim Sherwood did mot manage to impress despite fielding the two jettisoned strikers, Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor. The latter did score in the middle of the second half but Sam Allardyce’s team responded with two late goals from Matt Jarvis and Modibo Maiga. The Hammers are now set for a tough clash with Manchester City.

The two-legged semi-finals will be played in the second and the fourth weeks of the new year.

Manchester City demolish Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal beat Southampton and other Premier League results

Leon Smolski — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:02:14 +0000

Another howler from Artur Boruc early in the match secured a win for Arsenal against Southampton as the Gunners expand the gap at the top of the table to four points.

Olivier Giroud capitalized on the Polish goalkeeper’s ludicrous mistake on 22 minutes and converted a penalty kick four minutes before time to give Arsene Wenger a huge boost before a crucial Champions League clash with Olympique Marseille. Theo Walcott returned to action after a two-month absence.

Manchester City exploited the reckless defending display from Tottenham Hotspur to hit six goals past Hugo Lloris at Etihad Stadium. Jesus Navas scored seconds after the whistle to give Citizens the lead. Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero both netted braces and Navas scored his second goal in the dying time. The Spurs conceded as much as they did in the previous eleven games of the season and have now not scored a single goal since 27 October, when Soldado converted a penalty against The Tigers.

40000 visitors witnessed a thriller at Goodison Park as Everton and Liverpool shared a 3-3 draw in the Merseyside derby. Philippe Coutinho and Kevin Mirallas struck early in the game before Luis Suarez gave the lead to Brendan Rodgers’ side. Romelu Lukaku netted twice on 72 and 82 minutes to put The Toffees ahead but Daniel Sturridge rescued a draw for The Reds minutes before time. Kevin Mirallas escaped a clear red card for a horrendous foul on Luis Suarez in the first half.

No “Fergie time” for United any more as The Red Devils let the victory slip out yet another time in Cardiff. Wayne Rooney opened the scoring on 15 minutes to see Fraizer Campbell equalize on 33 minutes. Patrice Evra gave the lead to United just before the break and the visitors looked set to take three points in the game. However, Rio Ferdinand failed to cover Bo-Kyung Kim in injury time allowing the Korean international to head home and bring Cardiff deserved draw.

Everton 3-3 Liverpool
Fulham 1-2 Swansea City
Hull City 0-1 Crystal Palace
Newcastle United 2-1 Norwich City
Stoke City 2-0 Sunderland
Arsenal 2-0 Southampton
West Ham United 0-3 Chelsea
Manchester City 6-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Cardiff City 2-2 Manchester United

Monaco target United’s Evra

Basil Naumov — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:33:25 +0000

French moneybags Monaco are seriously considering the possibility of resigning their former player Patrice Evra.

The 32-year-old France international left Monaco for United seven years ago for £5.5million. Despite still being considered as a first-choice player at the Old Trafford, Moyes may be eager to offload the ageing defender to Monaco with a view to fund the swoop for his favourite Leighton Baines to the Old Trafford. Evra, in turn, could weigh up a move as his wife is keen on returning to their homeland.

Monaco have already spent £115 million on new players, having landed Porto duo James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho and Atletico Madrid goal-machine Radamel Falcao and are determined to continue their spending spree. They are prepared to table £10 million bid for Evra.

Man Utd set to offer Evra a new deal

Basil Naumov — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:06:45 +0000

Manchester United are looking to extend Evra contract for another 12 months.

The current deal of the 31-year-old Frenchman is set to expire in 2004 however the Premier League leaders are keen to hold onto services of their experienced left-back.

Patrice Evra has cemented the spot of the left-back since joining the club from Monaco for £5.5 million in 2006. He has made in excess of 228 appearances, scoring 6 goals. Despite the interest from PSG, Evra himself is believed to welcome an opportunity of staying at the club for another year.

Evra has made 26 first-team starts this season, scoring 4 goals and setting up another 6.

Patrice Evra: you’d have to kill Ferguson before I could come to Paris

Basil Naumov — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:58:57 +0000

Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has dismissed rumors linking him with a move to Paris Saint-Germain.

The 31 year-old France international said that despite Paris Saint-Germain is one of his favorite clubs he enjoys his life at Man Utd and does not intend to leave the English side in the near future. “It is always a pleasure to be coveted, especially since I’m Parisian,” Evra said. “But you’d have to kill Ferguson before I could come to Paris. There is nothing done and I’m happy in Manchester.”