Chelsea play “ugly” football under Jose Mourinho and the Premier League’s newly-crowned cham-pions deserve to be branded as boring because of their refusal to attack teams, their former manager Ruud Gullit has said.
“His team is boring when, in my opinion, the players he has deserve much better. Mourinho deserves his negative label because of the calculated way he makes Chelsea play,” Gullit said in the Mirror newspaper.
“I find it astonishing, because his players are capable of brilliant football, as we saw on Wednesday for a brief moment when they were losing 1-0 at Leicester and were suddenly forced to put their foot on the accelerator.”
Polish fan killed by rubber bullet
A Polish fan died on Saturday after he was hit by a rubber bullet fired by police, leading to violent clashes in a provincial town hours later in which 14 officers were wounded.
Police in Knurow faced a crowd of fans who bombarded them with petrol bombs and other missiles after gathering late on Saturday outside the hospital where the 27-year-old was pronounced dead.
The man died after being hit in the neck by the rubber bullet, fired as police tried to quell violence during a match on Saturday afternoon between two lower-league Silesian teams.
Howe rules out squad overhaul
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe will keep faith with his Championship-winning squad rather than investing in big-money signings when they play in the English top flight for the first time in their 116-year history next season.
“You can see from my track record with these guys that the guys that have performed so well will get an opportunity to perform,” Howe said.
“I don’t believe in wholesale changes in the close season. I don’t believe in not giving the players a chance to show whether they are good enough.”
Lawwell: Deila decision was a risk
Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell admits they took a risk in appointing Ronny Deila as manager – but he feels the Norwegian’s first title win can be a launchpad to lasting success.
Lawwell told Celtic’s website: “Clearly, as part of my job, you need to be aware of what’s going on in the football world and we knew about Ronny and what he had and what he achieved.
“We met him, he was very, very impressive and although some would think we took a risk – which we probably did – we felt that he was an ideal candidate for Celtic and he fitted really well with our strategy, which is to create a winning, entertaining football team, to create football players and he’s been fantastic.”
Gerrard penalty clouded by emotion
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is not one for sentimentality but even he admits his penalty miss on Saturday may have been in part to the emotion surrounding his impending departure from his boyhood club.
The 34-year-old, playing his penultimate match at Anfield before leaving for Los Angeles Galaxy, saw his spot-kick saved by Robert Green but he did eventually redeem himself with an 87th-minute header to secure a 2-1 win against QPR.
“It was a poor penalty from myself and I am very disappointed with it,” he told liverpoolfc.com.
“I changed my mind on my run up, which is something you can’t do when you’re a penalty taker. Maybe it was the game, the emotion, being desperate to score... I don’t know.
Van Gaal refuses to criticise Pulis
Louis van Gaal refused to criticise West Brom manager Tony Pulis for “parking the bus” at Old Trafford and driving off with three crucial points.
Albion recorded successive wins at Manchester United’s home for the first time since 1959 after Chris Brunt’s free-kick flew past David de Gea following a deflection off Jonas Olsson.
United enjoyed 80 per cent possession, but they could not break down a rigid Albion team.
“Every club has the right and also the obligation to beat your opponent in your way and also the best way and the best way to do that is how he did it,” the United manager said.
Williamson: Red card not deliberate
Mike Williamson is reported to have apologised for his sending-off for Newcastle during the 3-0 defeat at Leicester but denied his manager John Carver’s claim that his dismissal was deliberate.
Dutch full-back Daryl Janmaat was also dismissed to leave interim boss Carver fuming.
The statement attributed to Williamson by the BBC read: “I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the Newcastle United supporters and my fellow team-mates for getting sent off during yesterday’s game.
“There was absolutely no intent to hurt (Leicester’s) Jamie (Vardy) or get sent off, but I recognise I should have been more composed and measured in my determination to win the ball.”