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WIGAN SIGN MCLEAN

Wigan Athletic have announced the signing of Sunderland winger James McLean, who has been brought to the club for around £ 1 million. Manager Owen Coyle has revealed that the player took a wage cut in order to complete the move, which is something that does not happen often in football. He has said that players are often motivated by money, but McLean wanted to play football more than anything else. Sunderland could not guarantee McLean a regular first-team place, and the 24-year-old Republic of Ireland winger has decided to move south.

McLean has been signed in time to be included in the squad as they prepare to take on Manchester United in the community shield. Wigan managed to win the opening game of the season 4-0 against Barnsley. The club was relegated from the Premier league after eight years in the top flight. They have sold some key players already, but signings like McLean promises to help the club be a promotion challenger this season. Coyle has revealed that the history of the player, which has been littered with several outbursts and incidents, did not bother him because he thinks that the player is now mature.

He thinks that McLean can be a real difference to Wigan’s play this season.

“He took a drop in salary to come here, such was his desire to play football. That was fantastic. All too often in football, finance is the motivation for some players. We have all done silly things as young men. The bottom line is, having had a chat with him I know he is focused and just wants to concentrate on his football. If we get James McClean doing that, there is no doubt he is a huge talent,” said the manager, who was appointed as the replacement for Roberto Martinez.

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NEGREDO UNSURE

Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo has said that he is not sure about his future with the Spanish club. The striker has been linked with a move to Premier league outfit Manchester City in the last few weeks. Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini tried his best to get Napoli striker Edinson Cavani, but the high valuations of the Uruguay striker has put them off. Cavani is valued at around £ 53 million by his club, which has seen City end their interest in the player. They are instead targeting Negredo as the summer signing to replace Carlos Tevez.

The departure of Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez in subsequent transfer windows to Italy has left City extremely vulnerable in a striking options. Only Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero are the fit strikers capable of being named in the starting line-up on a consistent basis. Negredo has emerged as a great target for City, who are prepared to pay around £ 20 million for his services. His future has also been thrown into doubt after Sevilla recently signed Colombian striker Carlos Bacca. Negredo, who has been on the fringes of the Spanish national team, has said that he is at the dark when it comes to his future right now.

“Right now I’m at Sevilla and I like it very much. If I stay then that will be fine, but if I leave then it will be because it benefits both the club and myself. I’m happy on a personal level but collectively we have not achieved the goals we wanted. Now perhaps I am at a decisive moment for my future,” said the striker. New City manager Manuel Pellegrini has seen extensively of the 27-year-old striker, who could be joining the likes of David Silva and Jesus Navas at the Etihad stadium.

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LAST MINUTE WINNER

Manchester United has defeated Swansea City in a Premier League match played at Old Trafford on Sunday. United won the match by 2-1. This was the 28th victory for the Red Devils in the competition.

This was the last home game for Sir Alex Ferguson as the manager of United and the environment in the stadium was absolutely brilliant. It was a full house at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney was not included in the starting XI of United for this match. The three strikers who started for United were Robin Van Persie, Danny Welbeck and Chicharito.

On the other hand, for Swansea City, Michu and Neil Taylor came back into the starting XI.

Manchester United started the game in an aggressive fashion. Chicharito had the opportunity to give his side the lead in the 4th minute of the match, but, his angular shot bounced back after hitting the crossbar.

The game got a bit slow after that. Neither of the two teams was looking impressive and it seemed that the first half would go goalless. However, that wasn’t the case to be.

The Red Devils got a free kick in the 39th minute and Robin Van Persie took the shot. His low shot hit the shin of Ashley Williams and then, fell in the path of Chicharito who was not going to miss out this time around. He deflected it past the Swansea goalie to take United ahead by 1-0.

However, just after the half time break, United lost its lead. Michu found the net in the 49th minute by capitalizing on the cross of Nathan Dyer to make the score 1-1.

There were no goals scored in the next 35 minutes or so and the game was heading towards a draw. All of a sudden, in the 87th minute, Rio Ferdinand produced a beauty. Robin Van Persie’s cross reached Nemanja Vidic who flicked it towards Ferdinand. The centre back beat the Swansea goalkeeper with a powerful volley and gave his side the match winning lead of 2-1.

The Red Devils now have to play only one game in this season. That will be against West Bromwich Albion on 19th of May at the Hawthorns.

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DI CANIO CAN BE TOP BOSS

The former manager Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio has said that he feels he can be a Premier league manager now. The 44-year-old recently resigned from his post as the Swindon Town manager. He has said that he has been League One and League Two manager over the last few seasons, and he has demonstrated his ability to overachieve with his teams. Now, he is ready to take the next step by becoming a manager of a Premier league team. Paolo Di Canio has been widely viewed as the favourite to replace Brian McDermott, who was recently sacked as the Reading manager.

Brian McDermott managed to win the manager of the month award only a three weeks ago, but for defeats on the bounce has left Reading struggling to get out of the relegation zone. The club are currently 19th in the Premier league just ahead of the bottom club QPR only on goal difference. There are less than 10 matches remaining in the Premier league season, and the club has decided to act in order to give themselves a chance of survival. Di Canio is widely known for his playing career with West Ham. However, he has managed to get Swindon into the play-off positions before leaving the club a few weeks ago.

“I proved in League One and Two that I was the best manager, and I now feel that I am ready for the next level. I believe I am at a stage now where I am a Premier League or Championship manager. My plan for now is only to watch the top level of football – Premier League and Championship – because the next step for me is important. I have already proven my ability in League Two and League One, where there are many arrogant and average players,” said Di Canio.

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LERNER BACKS LAMBERT

The Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner has come out in support of the manager Paul Lambert by saying that the former Norwich city man has his full support. This vote of confidence comes at a very difficult time for the club after the recently suffered back-to-back defeats in cup competitions against lower league opposition. Villa had the opportunity to play in the final of the League Cup, but they lost in the semi-final to lower league opposition Bradford city. This was followed by the defeat at the hands of Millwall during the weekend in the FA Cup fourth round.

In addition to these troubles, Villa are also struggling in the league campaign as well, and they are just a few places above the rock bottom position in the table. Despite such poor results, the manager has been given the backing by the owner Randy Lerner. Lerner has said that he shares an excellent relationship with the manager, and speaks to him almost on a daily basis regarding the running of the football club. Lambert has tried to change the style of play and the running of the club since taking over in the summer. He has brought in several young players, who was struggling at the moment without experience.

“We have an excellent relationship and talk all the time. No. I can only do, or try to do my best. There’s no chance I’d walk away from it. You have to fight like anything to get up. You pick yourself up – there’s no point in lying down and accepting it. I’ve never had a run like this as a manager or been hit from pillar to post like this. It’s an experience you take on board and you use it,” said the owner, who has put in close to £ 250 million since taking over the club.

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NOT GIVING UP

The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said that he is extremely confident that his team will not give up the chance to retain the Premier league title without fighting all the way. City have fallen seven points behind leaders Manchester United after the recent 1-0 defeat against Sunderland. Even though there is still 19 games be played in the remainder of the season, there have been suggestions that United already have one hand on the title. The next competitor for United comes in the form of third placed Chelsea, who are a massive 11 point behind him in the table.

City recently managed a hard fought 4-3 win over Norwich City, which was even more impressive considering that City played with 10 men for the second half after the dismissal of Samir Nasri. The Frenchman was given a straight red card just before the half-time break, which could have proved to be extremely vital in the match had City dropped points. However, they managed to provide a stunning display of resilience and quality in the second half to win the match 4-3. Mancini has asked his players not to concentrate on the league table right now, but only to win matches. He has said that February is the right time to look again at the table.

“I think that we showed we are there for the title. We won’t leave this title easily and will fight every game. With 10 players the guys were fantastic. For us, now it is not important to look at the table. We only need to work, to win as many games in a row as we can, and maybe in February we will look again at the table. If he was not dismissed, we would have won without a problem,” said Roberto Mancini.

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HAPPY HARRY

The new QPR manager Harry Redknapp has said that he is extremely satisfied with the performance of his players in the recent 0-0 draw with Sunderland on Tuesday night. This was the first match in the touchline as a QPR manager for Harry Redknapp. He was appointed by the club last week as a replacement for Mark Hughes. It has been a very poor start to the new season for QPR, as they find themselves bottom of the Premier league without a win in the first 13 matches. That run extended to 14 matches on Tuesday night, as QPR struggled to finish off the chances against struggling Sunderland team.

Sunderland came into the match on the back of the 4-2 defeat against West Brom. They have also made a very poor start to the new season, with the team struggling to create a lot of chances. They did create a few against QPR, but the top scorer Stephen Fletcher was unable to convert them. However, he was not guilty of missing as many chances as QPR. The London teams squandered a lot of opportunities with the striker Cisse responsible for many, but the manager Harry Redknapp has said that he was pleased with the efforts by the players on the pitch.

“We need to play as a team and be a team. If we can put them [the players] together and get them to work together, we have got a chance. We looked at the stats before this game and I think we’ve been outworked by just about every team we’ve played and you cant win if that is the case. But everyone worked hard tonight. That is encouraging for the future,” said Harry Redknapp after the match. Redknapp was in the stands to watch the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United during the weekend.

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BRISTOL WIN

Paul Anderson’s club, Bristol City, has defeated Peterborough United in a Championship match at London Road. Bristol won the match by 2-1 and registered its third victory in the ongoing Championship season. On the other hand, Peterborough’s poor run in the current season continued and the team lost the sixth consecutive match. The Peterborough players are not looking confident at all and they are making school boy mistakes. There were some ridiculous mistakes made by the Peterborough team in the match against Bristol.

The Peterborough team showed a bit of resistance in the first half, but, in the second half, Bristol was on top. Sam Baldock opened the scoring for Bristol in the 11th minute of the second half by capitalizing on the mistake of Mark Little. Little tried to pass the ball to one of the Peterborough players, but, unfortunately his pass was not well placed and it went straight to Baldock who smashed the ball past Bobby Olejnik to take Bristol ahead in the match. It was Baldock again who gave Peterborough the second blow just after a few minutes. It was a result of the poor defense of Peterborough.

Peterborough earned a penalty towards the end of the match and Lee Tomlin made full use of that opportunity to reduce the lead of Bristol, but, that goal was not enough to save Peterborough from sixth defeat in a row. The manager of Peterborough, Darren Ferguson, looked disappointed with another poor outing of the team. As per Ferguson, it’s disappointing that the boys missed out again. The defense of the team again looked fragile which is a huge matter of concern for the team management. The defenders certainly need to work hard on their game. Peterborough will take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in its next match on 22nd of September.