Showing posts with label high-flying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high-flying. Show all posts

Friday, 11 February 2011

Kean wary of high-flying Magpies

Steve Kean is worried Newcastle United’s incredible comeback against Arsenal last weekend will have them flying high heading into Saturday’s game with Blackburn.

Newcastle came back from the brink of a heavy defeat when trailing 4-0 to the Gunners before pulling off a remarkable 4-4 draw.

And Blackburn manager Kean knows his side’s excellent home record will be under threat.

“Newcastle’s comeback last week was like a victory for them. They’ll be confident and looking to try and end a run of results where we do better than them in the league.”

“It will be a tough game but our work in the training ground this week has made us sharper and both teams know the team that wins goes into the top half of the table. There is a lot to play for because we are playing well but not getting points on the board.”

“We know it will be tough but we are confident at home. We’ve got lots of players to choose from and our injuries are clearing up.”

“Our camp is good – the results have been disappointing but the manner in which we’ve played and the amount of shots we have got on target has been good. We’ve had limited time due to international duty but we’ve been working hard on our finishing.”

“We need to be a little more aggressive through the middle of the pitch. We’re creating a lot of opportunities and playing a lot of good stuff with two strikers backed up by offensive midfield players.”

“We’ve got to be careful we don’t overextend ourselves. We just have little slips in concentration and we’re not being ruthless enough.”

Gael Givet (groin) and Phil Jones (knee) are the only injury concerns for Blackburn.

Fri 11 February, 2011

Tuesday, 21 December 2010

No complacency for high-flying Napoli

Napoli goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis has warned his team-mates against complacency after they jumped to second on the Serie A table.

Walter Mazzarri’s side moved to within three points of league leaders AC Milan with a 1-0 victory over Lecce on Sunday, courtesy of Edison Cavani’s injury-time winner.

The win signed off on a stellar start to the term for the Naples side, but de Sanctis has warned his team-mates they must return from the mid-season break hungry for success if they are to continue their push for a Champions League berth.

“We should keep the tension high and be able to keep our feet on the ground,” the veteran stopper said.

“We’re conscious that all these results have been achieved thanks to humility, hard work and organisation. All these prerogatives should characterise Napoli’s work until the end of the season.”

“The main objective is to improve on last year’s campaign in the championship. On top of that, the team has secured a great result in Europe as well because we are the only Italian team in the Europa League.”

“All this means that we’re doing a great job. Last year we have finished sixth. An improvement could mean finishing fifth but that would only get us the same things as finishing sixth.”

“Since we want to be one of the teams competing for next year’s Champions League, considering that Inter Milan and Roma are quite late and they will surely battle for the ranking, we’ll do our best to achieve the highest possible position on May 22 (when the Serie A season concludes).”

Mon 20 December, 2010

Monday, 20 December 2010

No complacency for high-flying Napoli

Napoli goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis has warned his team-mates against complacency after they jumped to second on the Serie A table.

Walter Mazzarri’s side moved to within three points of league leaders AC Milan with a 1-0 victory over Lecce on Sunday, courtesy of Edison Cavani’s injury-time winner.

The win signed off on a stellar start to the term for the Naples side, but de Sanctis has warned his team-mates they must return from the mid-season break hungry for success if they are to continue their push for a Champions League berth.

“We should keep the tension high and be able to keep our feet on the ground,” the veteran stopper said.

“We’re conscious that all these results have been achieved thanks to humility, hard work and organisation. All these prerogatives should characterise Napoli’s work until the end of the season.”

“The main objective is to improve on last year’s campaign in the championship. On top of that, the team has secured a great result in Europe as well because we are the only Italian team in the Europa League.”

“All this means that we’re doing a great job. Last year we have finished sixth. An improvement could mean finishing fifth but that would only get us the same things as finishing sixth.”

“Since we want to be one of the teams competing for next year’s Champions League, considering that Inter Milan and Roma are quite late and they will surely battle for the ranking, we’ll do our best to achieve the highest possible position on May 22 (when the Serie A season concludes).”

Mon 20 December, 2010