Author: cimi

?Watford manager Javi Gracia has said he was pleased with his side’s performance despite the result, after they lost 2-1 to Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.

The Hornets were beaten by goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, as they fell to their third away defeat in a row. Although Abdoulaye Doucoure scored a late consolation, it wasn’t enough for the visitors as they were beaten at Old Trafford.

Speaking after the game, Gracia gave his thoughts on his side’s performance. As quoted on the club’s official website, he said: “We had a good performance. It’s true, it wasn’t enough to get the points but I’m happy with the performance.

“We need to finish better, we need to improve in the [final third]. We tried until the end. We believed but it wasn’t enough.”

?Watford were very unlucky not to get anything from the game, especially after their 90th minute goal. Despite dominating the majority of the game and having a lot of huge chances, they couldn’t capitalise and were defeated in a bitter pill to swallow.

Gracia added: “We created chances, we had more shots, more shots on target and more corners. We dominated and played a lot of time in the opposition half. When you don’t kill the game against these teams with high quality, you know you can lose in any moment.”

The result sees Watford drop down to tenth in the ??Premier League? table, as ?Leicester and ?Everton moved above them following wins on Saturday. The Hornets will be eager to climb back up the table, having been seventh in January.

Watford have now lost three of their last four league games, with their last away win coming back in February. However, Gracia still believes in his players, and showed his delight at his side’s performance despite the result.

Gracia said: “We took control again in the second half and I’m very happy and proud of my players. It’s just some little details that mean you don’t get the points. We took risks, we tried to play offensive and we created chances.”

Watford have just a few days before their next game, when they host ?Fulham at Vicarage Road next Tuesday. The Hornets then have a well-deserved trip to Wembley to look forward to, when they meet ?Wolves in the FA Cup semi-final on 7 April.

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?Ernesto Valverde has insisted Lionel Messi could succeed anywhere in world football after his double earned Barcelona a 2-0 win over local rivals Espanyol at the Nou Camp.

The home side had dominated proceedings although they lacked a cutting edge, until Messi stepped up. His delicate close-range freekick found the back of the net which gave Barca the lead after 70 minutes, then on the verge of injury time he made sure of all three points by grabbing his and Barca’s second goal of the game.

His double ensured a ?2-0 win for the Blaugrana and temporarily extended their lead at the top of the ?La Liga table to 13 points. The goals also ensured ?Messi has now scored 40 goals in each of his last 10 seasons with ?Barcelona.

Speaking in his press conference after the game, via ?AOL.co.uk, Valverde was full of praise for his star man and claimed Messi would be the same even if he played in Australia. He said: “Messi would be the same playing in Australia. I do not enter into things with his country.

“I can only say that, for me, it’s a luxury to coach him. We try to make him happy and content, because that makes him much better.”

Barca will be hoping to close out their La Liga campaign in style with the league title, but with nine games left to play there is still plenty of work to do for Messi and company to fight off the resistance of Atletico Madrid and take home their fifth successive league title.

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Atletico Madrid ended their two-match losing run with an emphatic 4-0 win over Deportivo Alaves at the Estadio de Mendizorroza.?

Diego Simeone’s men got off to the perfect start with Saul Niguez firing them ahead after just four minutes, before Diego Costa unleashed a fine effort from 20 yards out which sailed into the top corner to double the visitors’ lead after just 12 minutes of action. 

The visitors looked as though they were really enjoying their football and looked threatening every time they went forward, with ?Alvaro Morata then joining in on the fun in the second half by getting his name on the scoresheet on the hour mark with a clinical finish. Thomas Partey wrapped up the scoring in sublime fashion as ?Atletico ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.

Here’s a breakdown of the night’s events: 

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DEPORTIVO ALAVES

Player Ratings

Starting XI: Pacheco (5); Navarro (5), Laguardia (5), Ely (6), Duarte (6); Brasanac (5), Pina (5), Garcia (6), Jony (7); Guidetti (6), Calleri (6). 

Substitutes: Inui (6), Wakaso (6), Twumasi (5). 

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ATLETICO MADRID

Key Talking Point

Heading into the game Atletico had suffered back-to-back defeats having been dumped out of the Champions League by Juventus before being beaten comfortably by Athletic Bilbao in their following game.

Coming back from the international break Diego Simeone was looking for a response, and boy did he get one. His side were dominant from the first whistle to the last and put together some great passages of play throughout the game.

They looked a lot more like the Atletico Madrid we’ve become accustomed to seeing in recent seasons, and Los Colchoneros will be hoping to continue this form in the weeks to come and finish the season strongly, with the gap between themselves and league leaders ?Barcelona back down to 10 points.

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Player Ratings

Starting XI: Oblak (7); Juanfran (6), Gimenez (8), Godin (7), Luis (6); Griezmann (8), Thomas (8), Koke (7), Niguez (9); Costa (8), Morata (8). 

Substitutes: Lemar (7), Kalinic (6), Correa (6).

STAR MAN – There were a number of impressive performances on the night, but Saul proved to be effective at both ends of the pitch.

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Prophet Saúl Ñiguez back to his very best.
That clearance is actually another goal if you look at it. Miraculous.

— A.U. (@parteyismo) March 30, 2019

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Not only did he put his side ahead with a very clinical finish, he then saved a goal thanks to a fantastic goal line clearance. He has been criticised at times this season, but he is now showing the kind of form which has earned him so many plaudits across Europe in recent seasons. 

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Looking Ahead

Alaves’ six match unbeaten run may have come to an end, but they’ll be hoping to get back to winning ways when they travel to face Sevilla on Thursday night. As for Atletico, they keep the pressure up on ?La Liga leaders Barcelona with the win, and will be hoping to make it back-to-back victories when they host Girona on Tuesday night. 

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A sloppy Milan side saw their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League dented sightly as Sampdoria charged to a slender victory at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday night.

?Milan got off to the worst start possible when Gianluigi Donnarumma’s poor pass cannoned against Gregoire Defrel’s foot and into the back of the net inside the first minute.

I Rossoneri were poor throughout and struggled to deal with Sampdoria’s quick, incisive passing, with Tiemoue Bakayoko’s disallowed header the closest the visiting side came to equalising inside the first 70 minutes.

Sampdoria were bright throughout and were denied a second when Fabio Quagliarella’s deflected effort cannoned off the bar past the beaten Donnarumma.

The loss means Inter have the chance to pull clear of Milan on Sunday when they face Lazio, while both Roma and Atalanta also have the opportunity to close the gap between themselves and Gennaro Gattuso’s side.

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SAMPDORIA

Player Ratings 

Starting XI: Audero (7); Sala (7), Andersen (6), Colley (6), Murru (7); Praet (8), Vieira (7), Linetty (7); Ramirez (6); Quagliarella (6), Defrel (8).

Substitutes: Saponara (6), Jankto (6), Gabbiadini (5)

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MILAN

Key Talking Point

Gennaro Gattuso opted to alter his midfield, with Franck Kessie dropping to the bench after his altercation with Lucas Biglia during the Milan derby and Hakan Calhanoglu featuring centrally with Lucas Paqueta sitting alongside Kessie.

And for the majority of the game, the patched up midfield didn’t work. Without Paqueta’s flair and Kessie’s industry, Milan looked cumbersome and neither Suso or Samu Castillejo saw enough of the ball to trouble Sampdoria’s backline or link up with Krzysztof Pi?tek.

The visitors huffed and puffed in the closing stages, with Patrick Cutrone and Paqueta brought on to try and affect the game, but Sampdoria held firm to secure a big win for their own European qualification challenge.

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Player Ratings

Starting XI: ?Donnarumma (4); Calabria (6), Musacchio (5), Romagnoli (5), Rodriguez (6); Bakayoko (6), Biglia (5), Calhanoglu (5); Suso (5), Piatek (5), Castillejo (5).

Substitutes: Conti (6), Cutrone (5), Paqueta (5)

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STAR MAN – Given that it was a pretty poor performance from Milan all round, it’s tricky to single out one player in particular for praise. 

Davide Calabria and Ricardo Rodriguez were reasonably industrious in their respective full back positions, but neither man will be boasting about their performance on the journey back to Lombardy.

Calabria has been quite good as usual tbh, Suso has been garbage, can’t dribble past someone, slows down every single counter and doesn’t even help in defense

— Carmelo (@Carmelo_RN) March 30, 2019

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Ricardo Rodriguez, best LB in Serie A

— Milanista (@ThatMilanista) March 30, 2019

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??Looking Ahead

Sampdoria will continue their push for European qualification when they face Torino on Wednesday, before a home clash with Roma.

?Milan host struggling Udinese on Tuesday, before a visit to league leaders ?Juventus and a San Siro fixture with Lazio.

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?Mauricio Pochettino has given his verdict on why he thinks Tottenham’s Premier League title challenge ended earlier than anticipated.

Heading into an away trip to Burnley towards the end of February Tottenham were piling the pressure on both Liverpool and Manchester City in the race for the title, but things have since spiralled out of control for Spurs.

They lost 2-1 to the Clarets and have now picked up just one point from their last four ?Premier League games, going from title challengers to potentially dropping out of the top four just four games later.

It’s been a difficult month for ?Tottenham, and speaking in a press conference ahead of Spurs’ contest against Liverpool on Sunday (as reported by ?Football.London) Pochettino has revealed that he feels his side’s poor form has come from his players taking their foot off the gas when their fixtures came less frequently. He said: “It is so important to see the reality. 

“If you see the squads in the top six, top eight, top ten, maybe it wasn’t reality, it was because we were very good, very focused and tried to win games. In the last few games, I think before the Burnley game we were playing every two or three days and it was a week where we didn’t play and it was like we disconnected.

“Everyone believed we needed to breathe and rest but I think it affected us a lot in our brain, something that we disconnect. It is not about the energy, the legs, it is about the mental connection in the team and maybe we were affected by that disconnection. And now it makes it more difficult to connect again and perform in the way we want to perform.”

Despite leaving their title hopes in pieces Tottenham still have a lot to play for. They face ?Manchester City in the quarter finals of the Champions League and are still clinging onto their spot in their place in the Premier League.

With the club also set to move into their new stadium for their next home game against ?Crystal Palace, it could be just the lift the team need heading into a crucial run into the end of the season. 

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