Author: isport

Leeds United manager Brian McDermott has said that the change of tactics for the match against Blackpool has paid dividends after his team arrested a run of several consecutive defeats on the bounce to get a win. Leeds came into the match on the back of run, which had seen them suffer by consecutive losses.

This has pushed them closer to the relegation zone with only a couple of mentions left in the campaign. Even though they had a sizeable advantage over the teams in the drop zone, there was nervousness from the Leeds United camp ahead of this match.

McDermott, whose own future at the club has come under increasing doubt in the last few weeks after the takeover from a new Italian owner is set to happen, decided to go with the new tactics after working on it in the training ground. This along with great performance from players like Stephen Warnock helped them get a victory according to the manager. The win has taken them to 50 points with four matches remaining. Due to the 10 point advantage over teams in the drop zone, they are almost certain to avoid relegation this season.

McDermott will be hoping that a good run in the final few matches will help them challenge for promotion next season.

“We went a different way and the players did what they had to do. Ross’ set-up for the first goal was a lovely pass. We worked in training on the way we played on Thursday. At Watford we never looked like scoring and that was really disappointing so we went back to basics and said ‘how do we score?’ I thought (Michael) Brown in midfield was excellent, Stephen Warnock too. The experienced players have come up for us,” said the manager after the match.

Leeds United is located in the middle section of the Football League Championship; they are not expected to make a title charge at this point in time but are safely above the bottom relegation zone.

What has been placing the club in the headlines of newspapers and websites around the world is not about how well or bad they are performing in the league but instead about the recent rumors about an Italian businessman taking over the club.

Massimo Cellino is the chairman of the Italian club Cagliari and in February a deal was agreed involving the club owners of Leeds United, Gulf Finance House with Cellino as the Italian businessman launched a bid to buy 75% stake of the club but some days later it was rejected by the Football League.

The Football League said: “The board considered detailed legal advice with regard to the application of its regulations within the context of a decision made under Italian law.

“Having fully considered the matter, the board agreed unanimously that the decision of the Italian Court does constitute a disqualifying condition under its owners’ and directors’ test. The relevant disqualifying condition being that Massimo Cellino has been convicted of an offence involving acts that would reasonably be considered to be dishonest.”

Cellino failed the League’s Owners and Directors Test because of a recent conviction in an Italian court which involved unpaid tax and ultimately forcing The Football League on having to reject the businessman on taking ownership of the Championship club.

The staff board of Leeds United has already released a number of statements expressing their disappointment after having already agreed to an amount of money for the club but they have also announced their intention of finding a solution that would benefit all of the parties involved.

It was as if strong breeze and Stephen Warnock (Leeds United Footballer) conspired together in order to make sure that Leeds United win the match against Yeovil Town FC that was held on the 8th of February, 2014. The match was a part of the Sky Bet Championship 2014 and it took place at Huish Park.

Leeds United was able to score two goals because of which it could defeat Yeovil Town. The first goal was scored by Ross McCormack who curled in an amazing 22 yard kick. Before McCormack’s goal, Ishmael Miller (Yeovil’s footballer) had already scored a goal. So the game had been tied.

Surprisingly the weather had started changing at Huish Park even before Leeds United had scored their first goal during the match. Due to the weather change, Stephen Warnock was able to kick a forty yard free kick and the wind assisted the ball in flowing over the head of Marek Stech (goalkeeper of Yeovil Town).

Marek Stech was absolutely bemused when the ball bent away and instead of reaching its expected target, flew over his head and into the net. Maybe the most humorous sight on the football field during the match was that after the goal Warnock had the sheer audacity to celebrate his goal.

Warnock scored his goal in the second half of the football match when every player of Leeds United was trying to make sure that there is now draw and Leeds United can win the game.

Usually, experts are of the opinion that the winds help keep things even at any football match. However, this opinion turned out to be wrong in the match between Yeovil Town and Leeds United because winds played a very important role in helping Warnock to score the winning goal. It seems Warnock just turned out to be lucky this time.

Leeds United could be searching for a new manager after their conventional rumours that they are about to sack their manager Brian McDermott following a run of poor results, but the former Reading manager has stated that he would not walk away from the club.

The club’s last victory in all competitions came back in the middle of December when they won 3-0 at Doncaster Rovers. Since then, they have picked up only a few draws, which has seen them slip several points below the play-offs positions. Leeds have brought in experienced players like Stephen Warnock from Aston Villa, but it has had little effect on the team’s results.

This could lead to McDermott being sacked according to reports. The ownership of the club has also led to reports that McDermott may not last long. Leeds are on the verge of a takeover from two bidders, who are trying to take control of the club. Italian businessman Massimo Cellino has been very controversial during his time at the club and he has been contemplating sacking the manager and also his assistant ahead of the match with Ipswich Town. McDermott, however, was in charge of the team for this match, which finished as a 1-1 draw.
It has helped to the club bring an end to the four consecutive defeats in the league.

“This has been one of the most difficult periods I’ve had as a manager, especially the last few days. Some of the stuff that’s gone on has not been pleasant and it doesn’t belong in football in my opinion. The bigger picture for me has always been the stability of this club. At the moment the most important thing at this football club is the ownership and where it goes in the future,” said McDermott after the match against Ipswich.

Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs has revealed that he needs to score more goals in order to improve his game and battle for the England left-back spot. The defender has taken over from Ashley Cole as the first choice left back for the club.

The departure of Gael Clichy also allowed him to get more game time, which has seen him on the cusp of internationals. It is highly expected that Gibbs will be a first choice for the England national team in a few years, but before that, he is targeting at scoring more goals.

He is known for his attacking ability to do his pace, but he has been unable to score goals on a regular basis. He has scored just one goal for Arsenal during his career. It is remarkable considering that he made his debut back in 2007.

The latest sports betting makes him the third favourite for the England left-back spot, behind Baines and Cole.

This is something that he is keen to address over the coming years. Arsenal fullbacks are known for their attacking strengths, but Gibbs needs to score more goals. The defender was speaking in the Arsenal programme notes ahead of the match with Marseille. They will be taking on this French club in the Champions league group stages looking to seal progression to the knockout round.

“I think this year I’ve moved up a level. I’ve stayed fit and finally shown what I can do. There’s still a lot more I want to do though, especially offensively. I want to add more assists and even goals too. We play a certain way which enables me to get involved in the attack,” said the 24-year-old.

A win and other results going their way would take them into the last 16 stage. Despite being relatively young, he has already made three appearances for the England national team. His form has helped Arsenal move to the top of the table with Christmas fast approaching.

The manager of Leeds United, Brian McDermott, has said that Stephen Warnock should not be blamed for the defeat that his team suffered in an away game against Reading FC yesterday.

Warnock fouled on one of the Reading players towards the end of the match and was shown red card. Just seconds after that, Reading found the net on a free kick and walked away with 3 points.

The Leeds players were inconsolable after that defeat. After fighting so hard for 95 minutes, they deserved to get at least one point from the game, but, they got absolutely nothing.

Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, McDermott said, “I don’t think Stephen should be blamed for what happened. Yes, it could have been avoided and he knows that.”

McDermott was the manager of Reading FC for most parts of the last season. He was sacked in March and this was the first time after his sacking that he turned up to the Madejski Stadium. The way he got cheered suggests that he is still very popular among Reading fans.

When asked about that, McDermott said, “We reached here pretty late because of the traffic. When we arrived, we were just looking to warm up a bit and my focus was completely on the match.”

“It’s nice to be cheered by the Reading fans. I am thankful to them for that.”

“Our supporters were brilliant as well. A lot of them turned up here and I am feeling bad for them.”

“After battling hard for so long, we didn’t deserve to lose. But, that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

With this defeat, Leeds has moved down to no. 11 in the Championship points table. Their next game is against Burnley on Saturday.

Former Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock has said that fans will be extremely crucial in the race for promotion the Championship this season. After failing to secure promotion to the top flight, Leeds United have been spending big money on players this season.

The presence of players like Warnock is expected to make them extremely strong in the coming season. Leeds United have been averaging one of the highest gate attendances in the Championship, but it is still significantly lower than the crowd they used to bring in when they were playing on the top levels of football.

Their recent attendance of just over 20,000 is a testament to the bad times that the club has fallen in, but Warnock reckons that they can recover soon. Leeds United were able to break the 25,000 attendance mark last season only on two occasions. On both occasions, they were helped by a large visiting group. The club will be opening the new season with a home match against Brighton and Hove Albion, who managed to make it into the play-offs last season. However, the arrival of new manager Garcia is expected to lower the expectations amongst the Brighton fans.

This game has been categorised as a category C game.
“That is what everyone wants and why the club is so big. If we can get that (30,000 crowd) for the first game of the season, it will give the lads a lift and hopefully the fans can keep coming. You want to go into the first game of the season and start well and we need to. Hopefully, we will start as brightly as we can, so we can go and climb the league as quickly as we can. You have got to get the momentum going as quickly as possible,” said Warnock.

The manager of Leeds United, Brian McDermott, has said that the Senegalese striker El Hadji Diouf must know how to behave on the ground.

After scoring the equalizer for Leeds in the match against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, Diouf had used abusive language for the Brighton supporters and because of that; the referee showed him the red card. After that, Leeds got reduced to 9 players as Rudolph Austin was also sent off earlier in the match.

Brighton took the advantage of that and took the lead again just a couple of minutes before the end of the match. Jose Ulloa was the man who scored the second goal for Brighton.

Leeds couldn’t equalize the scores this time around and ended up on the losing side. With the help of this win, Brighton & Hove Albion has now qualified for the play offs.

Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, McDermott said, “It was really a disappointing loss. To play with only 9 men in the last 15 minutes or so is not easy. The boys tried hard, but, it was Brighton’s day and they got those three points.”
“I was really gutted to see what Diouf did after scoring that magnificent goal. It was totally wrong. You can’t make such gestures towards opposition fans. The referee was correct to show him the red card at that point of time.”

“He is very upset about what happened on the ground, but, he himself is responsible for that. He let the team down today.”

However, the Leeds manager made it quite clear that he is not happy with referee’s decision of sending off Rudolph Austin and the club will appeal against that.

McDermott said, “We are certainly going to appeal against Austin’s red card. I don’t think he deserved that. That was a very harsh decision by the referee.”

While betting on sports is not a particularly new activity – indeed many of the most famous bookmakers in the UK have been around for decades – there is no question that it has grown considerably in popularity over the last ten years or so.

When looking for reasons as to why this is the case it is impossible to ignore the fact that sport itself – especially football – has also grown hugely in popularity during that period. As the internet and live television coverage have made sports events from all countries accessible to people everywhere, so online sport betting has made it possible for people to gamble on the outcomes of them wherever they are.

This has taken sports betting well beyond its origins, when people had to visit land-based bookmakers in their local high street if they wanted to place a bet – and in those days the choice of things to bet on would have probably been more restricted. The greater availability of different sports has meant that online sports betting sites can offer a far greater variety of sports and betting markets. There is also the convenience issue, as people nowadays want to be able to access their leisure activities through computers and mobile devices – which is a big part of the reason why the online casino has also been such a big hit.

Both of these areas of the gambling industry have simply adapted very successfully to the global, digital era, in a way that the likes of the music industry have not. It is also likely that there is a degree of crossover in the customer bases for both, something which will only have been increased by the availability of sports themed games at online casino sites.

Fulham have reportedly told the defender Jon Arne Riise that he is free to leave the club after falling out of favour under the manager Martin Jol. The 32-year-old defender is regarded as one of the best in the Premier league due to his wealth of experience.

However, he has not been at his best in recent months for the club, which has led to the manager looking at other alternatives. He has reportedly identified the Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock as a replacement for the Norwegian. Warnock is currently out of favour at Aston Villa and spent the first half of the season on loan at a championship club.

The Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert recently revealed that the club had received no offers for the former Blackburn Rovers defender, who came extremely close to making an international appearance. His experience and quality will certainly appeal to Jol, who has come under pressure of late due to a poor run of results. After starting the season extremely well following the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov, the club have struggled to get results on a consistent basis. As a result, they are close to the relegation zone and are just six points above it.

Along with Stephen Warnock, the defender Alan Hutton has also been deemed unwanted and surplus to the squad by the manager Paul Lambert, who has come under intense criticism recent weeks. Following a poor run of results, Aston Villa recently slipped into the relegation zone.

Lambert has been criticised for his stance on the two players, who have a lot of experience of playing in the Premier league. The lack of experience within the Villa squad has been one of the main reasons for their low league positions. Meanwhile, Fulham have also been linked with the 18-year-old Barnsley defender Stones.