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text-decoration:none; } img {border:none;} The Sport Review: “Former
Southampton coach hails PFA winner Gareth Bale” plus 5 more- Former Southampton coach hails PFA winner Gareth Bale - Aaron McLean admits early season slump may cost Hull - ‘Gus Poyet’s high standards the key to Brighton’s success’ - Bale and Wilshere win PFA Player of the Year awards - Monte Carlo Masters: Seventh heaven for Rafael Nadal - Chinese Grand Prix: Hamilton storms to thrilling victory Former Southampton coach hails PFA winner Gareth Bale Posted: 17 Apr 2011 05:46 PM PDT Lawrie McMenemy, the former Southampton manager who worked with Gareth Bale as a youngster, insists he always knew the Welshman would be special. Bale picked up the PFA of the Year award in London on Sunday after a thrilling season in which he has fulfilled the promise shown as a 17-year-old at Southampton, where McMenemy was director of football. Speaking at the event, the former Northern Ireland manager said: "I saw him early days at Southampton and, as well as being a very good player, he was a very nice lad. "He had pace to kill and you could see he was an attacking full-back and him and Wayne Bridge together, it was perfect because if one went forward the other one sat in. "Of course Harry has developed him, probably given him more confidence and ability and he's made him into one of the best attacking left sided players. That's always been a hard one to fill. "Not only can he cross a ball but he can score goals. And also Harry's got him working on his right foot – he's just about got everything.” Bale won the award, which was voted by his fellow professionals, ahead of Carlos Tévez, Samir Nasri, Rafael van der Vaart, Scott Parker, Nemanja Vidic and Charlie Adam. In doing so, he became the first Tottenham Hotspur player to win the award since David Ginola in 1999 and the fourth since it began in 1973, after Clive Allen and Pat Jennings. Aaron McLean admits early season slump may cost Hull Posted: 17 Apr 2011 05:01 PM PDT Hull City striker Aaron McLean insists the Tigers are desperate to make the Championship play-offs – but admits the club’s poor start to their campaign may cost them come the end of the season. Nigel Pearson's side won just six of their 21 matches before Christmas. But a run of 11 points from the last six games have catapulted Hull into contention and they currently lie eighth, just two points off the play-offs. Speaking at the PFA awards in London on Sunday, McLean said: "We're within touching distance. We're a couple of points off it at the moment so we'll just keep on going. "If we finish in the top half it's a good season for us because of how the team started the season but obviously our aim is obviously to get into the play-offs." The striker, who signed from Peterborough for £1m in January, added that he was enjoying the challenge of playing in the Championship. "Obviously it's a step up for me so to be playing with the quality of player, people like Robert Koren, it's brilliant for me,” he said. McLean, who has scored three goals since making the step up from League One, also said paid tribute to fellow striker Matt Fryatt, who also joined the club in January. "Matt's an easy player to play with. We both work hard and the partnership is going well so far,” he added. ‘Gus Poyet’s high standards the key to Brighton’s success’ Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:39 PM PDT Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper Casper Ankergren believes manager Gus Poyet's high standards have been the secret behind their League One success this season. The Seagulls secured promotion last Tuesday after a dramatic 4-3 victory over Dagenham and Redbridge and guaranteed the title with a hard-fought win at Walsall on Saturday. Ankergren, speaking at the PFA awards in London on Sunday, said: "He [Gus] was asking us to be perfect and although there's no such thing in football, we were close, the way we did it, the way we played – he's very, very pleased. He couldn't ask for much more I think. "At the beginning of the season I had a chat with him and he said he thought a top six finish would be possible. But no, we finished first – an amazing season. "My head is a bit sore and I'm a bit tired today but it's worth it – we got promoted and went up as champions. You can't ask for more, we had a great season. For the whole team, the squad and for the fans, I'm just very, very pleased." Ankergren, who made his Seagulls debut in the opening day victory against Swindon, also said each member of the squad played a vital role in Brighton's first silverware since 2004. "For me, there's no-one above the team – it's a team effort, it's the whole squad so Glenn Murray stands out with his 21 goals, but without the rest of the players, he would be nothing,” continued the 31-year-old. "I don't see him as being the stand-out player because without Elliot Bennet and Craig Noone, without the whole team, he wouldn't have scored his goals so it's a simple as that." The Dane, who twice won the nPower League One Player of the Month award this season, added that success with Brighton went one better than promotion from League One with Leeds last year. "I played a lot of games for Leeds last season when we went up but I didn't play the last eight or nine games and that was a big blow for me,” he said. "I've played every game in the league this season and obviously it's great, that's what you want to do as a footballer you want to play every game and win and achieve something." Bale and Wilshere win PFA Player of the Year awards Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:59 PM PDT Tottenham winger Gareth Bale has been named as the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year, while Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has scooped the Young Player award. Bale, 21, is the fourth Welshman to win the prize after Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs. “I am more than delighted, really,” he said. “It is a massive award and it is a great honour to receive, especially from other fellow professionals. “It is an honour, really, when you look at the names that have won it before and it just makes you go ‘wow’. “There haven’t been too many Welshman to have won the trophy but it is great and it is great for me personally. “And it is not just for me, it is for all my team-mates that have helped me through the season and it is kind of for everyone, really.” The former Southampton youngster has won admirers across Europe this season with a number of eye-catching performances in Spurs’ run to the Champions League quarter-finals. Bale, who has netted seven Premier League goals this season as well as four in Europe, beat off competition from Carlos Tévez, Samir Nasri, Rafael van der Vaart, Scott Parker, Charlie Adam and Nemanja Vidic to win the award. And his manager Harry Redknapp was delighted at the news. “It is a great award for him to win and I could not be more pleased,” said Redknapp. “There were plenty of people that could have won it. You look at the people that have won it for Gareth to have won it at such a young age it must be the proudest moment of his life. It is incredible. “He has been brilliant, I am really pleased for him and he is a nice lad, which is the most important thing.” Meanwhile, Gunners midfielder Wilshere was thrilled to win the Young Player of the Year award. The 19-year-old England international has sparkled for Arsene Wenger’s side this season and is the fifth young Gunner to scoop the prize. “It is my first full season and it is a massive award, especially from my fellow players,” said Wilshere. “It is amazing. I am very proud to be the fifth recipient from Arsenal, it is good to keep this history going. “Arsenal is a good club for bringing youngsters through and they keep proving it so I would like to thank the manager as well.” Premier League Team of the Year Van der Sar (Man Utd), Sagna (Arsenal), Cole (Chelsea), Vidic (Man Utd), Kompany (Man City), Nani (Man Utd), Nasri (Arsenal), Wilshere (Arsenal), Bale (Tottenham), Tevez (Man City), Berbatov (Man Utd). Championship Team of the Year Kenny (QPR), Naughton (Leicester), Harte (Reading), Williams (Swansea), Morgan (Nottm Forest), Taarabt (QPR), Sinclair (Swansea), King (Leicester), Hoolahan (Norwich), Graham (Watford), Holt (Norwich). League One Team of the Year Davis (Southampton), Calderon (Brighton), Harding (Southampton), Greer (Brighton), Fonte (Southampton), Pilkington (Huddersfield), Bennett (Brighton), Lallana (Southampton), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Southampton), Mackail-Smith (Peterborough), Wright-Phillips (Charlton). League Two Team of the Year Lee (Chesterfield), Batt (Oxford), Skarz (Bury), Sharps (Shrewsbury), Branston (Torquay), Whitaker (Chesterfield), Ainsworth (Wycombe), Ryan (Accrington), Lowe (Bury), Law (Rotherham), Davies (Chesterfield). Monte Carlo Masters: Seventh heaven for Rafael Nadal Posted: 17 Apr 2011 01:56 PM PDT It was an all-Spanish final for the second year in a row at 2011's first clay court Masters, but that fact paled into insignificance alongside the records embodied by one of the finalists. Rafael Nadal was playing in his 40th match in his seventh consecutive Monte Carlo final, and he had lost only one of those matches before—in the third round of first appearance in 2003, aged just 16. Since then, Nadal had faced an illustrious string of opponents in an unbroken sequence of title matches—Guillermo Coria, Roger Federer (three times), Novak Djokovic and, last year, Fernando Verdasco—and had beaten them all. In what was Nadal's 27th Masters final—playing for his 19th title—he once again faced a Spanish No2, an honour held on this occasion by David Ferrer. The No4 seed Ferrer was appearing in only his second Masters final, and in the first, last year in Rome, he was beaten by this same opponent. Only a superhuman effort from the 29-year-old would have any impact on the towering master of clay that is Nadal. But if there was one player who could deliver such a superhuman effort, it was Ferrer, one of the fittest, most tenacious, committed and hard-working players on the tour. He also happened to be enjoying some of the best form of his career, and recently climbed to a 30-month high of No6 in the rankings. With titles in Auckland and Acapulco, Ferrer came to the Monte Carlo final on a 9-0 match-winning streak on clay and had lost just 17 games and no sets on his way through the draw. So could he find his very best? And, more to the point, would Nadal be affected by the three hours he battled against Andy Murray the day before? Ferrer opened nervously, rather as he had against Melzer in his semi, but he managed to hold from deuce with two good volleys. Then he quickly brought his flat angled backhand into play to win two break chances on Nadal's opening serve. Nadal, too, managed to hold and Ferrer, pushing a bit too hard on his own serve, was the first to be broken. Game after game went to deuce, just as the Murray-Nadal semi had done. In the sixth game, Nadal went 0-40 down but fought for 10 minutes to eventually hold his advantage: 4-2. There was little between the two men: both served erratically but both found moments of brilliance in their use of drop shots and occasional forays to the net. It was engrossing stuff. Ferrer, again pushed to deuce, kept himself in rallies with Nadal-like cross-court ground strokes to hold serve. Nadal in turn needed 10-minutes to hold at 5-3: eight games, and over an hour played. Then the tension burst over into an edgy exchange as Ferrer stepped up to serve to stay in the set. Nadal went to change his racket and was reprimanded—not for the first time—by the umpire. He nevertheless towelled himself down, scuffed the dust from the lines and looked up to see Ferrer already hitting his serve. Nadal looked decidedly non-plussed—the two friends had, after all, shared pizza and sushi while watching Real Madrid and Barcelona the night before—but this was a timely reminder that all is fair in love and war. The Ferrer hold only delayed the set's conclusion, though. Nadal, finding a little extra venom on his serve after a warning for time violation from the umpire, served out 6-4. The stats reminded Ferrer—if he needed any reminding—that his serve percentage, at just 35, was simply not up to the level needed to take advantage of a below-par Nadal. Had it been higher, Ferrer stood a real chance of pushing Nadal to a tie-break: He had equalled Nadal in winners and played significantly fewer unforced errors. To the second set, and Nadal again pressured the Ferrer opening serve, running to a 40-0 advantage, but Ferrer held with some wonderful drop volleys and cross court drives. However, on Ferrer's second serve, Nadal stepped inside the base line to take a more aggressive stance than he had adopted in the first set, and injected some extra pace. Ferrer was forced into a couple of long forehands to concede the break. Suddenly the energy on Nadal's side seemed more potent, and he held serve to love: 3-1. But Ferrer responded with a love game of his own and he too found a bit of inspiration. He stepped into the Nadal serve, attacked the net and seized his single break point chance. It was all square, 4-4. Ferrer continued to attack and was rewarded with a 5-4 lead after exactly two hours. In a match of many contrasting chapters, the 11th game marked another change. Ferrer seemed suddenly overcome with nerves and, at deuce, hit a couple of shockers, one of them a forehand a metre wide, to hand the momentum to Nadal once more. The champion's experience and superior serving ensured little further drama, and he served out to a 7-5 win. Ferrer, a gracious loser, smiled his congratulations to his friend, and should be buoyed up by a performance that, with better serving and fewer unforced errors, may have run Nadal even closer. The winner looked relieved. With two runners-up trophies from his last two tournaments, this was the perfect response. It may not have produced Nadal's cleanest tennis, but it provided a confidence-boosting first step on what is likely to be the illustrious red-dirt road to Roland Garros. Chinese Grand Prix: Hamilton storms to thrilling victory Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:27 AM PDT Lewis Hamilton ended Sebastian Vettel's 100 per cent record in 2011 with victory at a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. The McLaren driver made better use of his fresher Pirelli tyres from a three-stop strateg to pass the defending champion in the closing laps. Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber produced the drive of the day to take the final podium place as he passed Jenson Button on the penultimate lap, despite starting 18th on the grid. "I am absolutely overwhelmed," said Hamilton afterwards. "It feels like a long time since I was sitting here. I am proud and grateful for all the hard work I have put in. I will continue to push and looking forward to many more like this. "I think today the strategy that we came up with going in to qualifying definitely helped. Our new option tyres seemed to last a bit longer than the guys in front. "It was quite a few things that came together. The pit stops were fantastic, the guys were pushing to improve, the car felt great. “I was trying to nurse my tyres and trying to pick up the pace. The guys in front of me had to do a lot of overtaking. Thumbs up to the guys back at factory, who put their heart into making the car what it is on the GP weekend. It feels amazing." Nico Rosberg was fifth for Mercedes ahead of the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, who finished 30 seconds behind Hamilton. Michael Schumacher, who started 14th on the grid, achieved his pre-race target of finishing in the points with eighth, ahead of Renault's Vitaly Petrov and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi. Hamilton very nearly failed to make the start after the team discovered a fuel leak problem on his car as they tried to fire it up in the garage. After a frantic few minutes, mechanics sent Hamilton to the grid without the rear damper attached with less than 30 seconds before the pit lane closed. A poor start from Vettel allowed Button and Hamilton through into the first corner, while Rosberg also closed up and Massa jumped Alonso. The race never settled into a procession as in previous seasons, with plenty of overtaking up and down the order as a result of different strategies and tyre selections. Once the final pit stops had been made, Vettel led from Massa, Rosberg, Hamilton and Button all within eight seconds of the lead. Rosberg's chance of a podium ended when he was warned that his fuel level was critical and had to ease off, allowing the McLaren pair to get past easily. Hamilton then set about chasing down Massa and got ahead of the Ferrari driver on the exit of the last corner before setting his sights on a struggling Vettel. With superior tyres, and DRS available once he got within a second, Hamilton was able to ease past Vettel up the inside into Turn 7 to take the lead. Button was unable to get close enough to Vettel to make a difference, and his podium dreams looked slim as Webber, over two seconds quicker than anyone else, had superior drag to cruise past on his way to finish just 7.5s behind Hamilton. Vettel retains his lead in the drivers' championship with 68 points, with Hamilton now in second with 47, while Button has 38, one point ahead of Webber. Webber's podium also maintains Red Bull's position at the top of the constructors' championship with 105 points to McLaren's 85. Ferrari are in third with 50 points ahead of Renault with 32, and Mercedes with 16. You are subscribed to email updates from The Sport Review To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery powered by Google Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 -- Posted By Mas Item Arekjowo to The Sport Review at 4/18/2011 12:03:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gugukluhayat" group. 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