Wayne Bridge Fan

Ex-Chelsea left-back Wayne Bridge has had his say on the club’s troublesome season during Jose Mourinho’s second visit.

Mourinho’s Chelsea brilliantly dominated the English Premier League during 14/15 season but the same squad mysteriously turned their performance to the opposite in the season that followed.

Chelsea sat 14th in the Premier League table, 14 points behind fourth place Manchester United after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on 5th of December, 2015.

Mourinho encountered heavy flak for Chelsea’s awful 15/16 season, with a number of supporters calling for a change in the Stamford Bridge managerial seat. Despite all, Bridge, who played under the Portuguese manager during his first spell in Stanford Bridge, believed Mourinho was the right man to get Chelsea out of the unexplainable mess they found themselves in.

“You just don’t know when their bad spell is going to end. I think at some point it will but it’s a question of when,” Bridge told Express Sport. I still think Jose is the right man for the job even though a lot of people are asking when he is going to get the sack.
“Even though the team are struggling he should be given until the end of the season because of who he is and given time, he will definitely turn it around.”

After working under him, albeit when Chelsea were winning steadily, Bridge insists the 52-year-old would be doing everything he could do to turn things around as he is not lazy in that aspect.

The retired left-back, who ended his playing career in the Championship with Reading, admitted he feels Chelsea were struggling because they lack real leaders.

Antonio Conte’s blue soldiers who are currently 7th on the league table with 5 points behind the leader, Man City ended the struggling 15/16 season in tenth position after Jose Mourinho was sacked by mutual consent and was temporarily replaced by one of their ex-coaches, Guus Hindik.

Arsenal have been moving steady in the UEFA Champions League played so far this term.

Sources at the Emirates say after the 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich in 2013, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confined himself to a room for minutes to think or mourn. Bayern Munich were having a sensational moment in Europe, so it wasn’t a surprise that Arsenal were caught in-between but Wenger took it so much to heart as it represented another year of failure in Europe.

Arsenal have failed to move past the Round of 16 for years. Many say Wenger is obsessed with winning the Champions League – a title that has eluded him all his career, despite his numerous successes in England. The defeat by Barcelona in the Champions League final is his “biggest regret,” said Wenger. In his 20 year reign in Arsenal, the eluding of the title is the most glaring gap.

Aside the 2006 loss, Wenger crashed put in the quarter finals stage in 2003/04. The campaign remains Wenger’s best in the league, yet Chelsea defeated them. Chelsea hadn’t defeated them in six years, but a late goal from Wayne Bridge at Highbury ended Wenger’s dreams that year.

In the year before – 02/03 – Arsenal entered the campaign with a double, Arsenal lost the second group stage of the competition despite their impressive 3-1 win over Roma at the beginning. They played four draws and lost one game. In 1998/1999, Arsenal qualified for the Champions League for the first time after winning the Premier League in 1997/98.

Arsenal had high hopes, but they were knocked out in the first round. They chose to play their home games at Wembley, but their only victory there was against Panathinaikos. Lens and Dynamo Kyiv were group members, but Arsenal couldn’t get past them. This season Wenger is having another go at the title but there are already great odds in lifting the title.

Chelsea veteran defender John Terry retired from international football in 2012, even before the last World Cup in Brazil, but new coach of the Three Lions Sam Allardyce has refused to rule out the player from a potential return to the team as preparations for the next World Cup in Russia are underway.

John Terry didn’t leave the English squad on a high note, particularly after his huge contributions to the national team after many years. The 35-year old player exited the English national team set-up in the midst of wild allegations that he racially abused Queens Park Rangers (QPR) player Anton Ferdinand in 2012.

Being a role model to many – and a captain for that matter – people, the allegations was received worst. The video of Ferdinand snubbing Terry’s handshake during a game went viral, attracting comments from all angles.

The English Football Association tried him and found him guilty of the allegations. He was fined £220,000 and banned for four games, despite many people wanting more punishment. Terry also reminds fans of the time he disappointed them with his brawl with Wayne Bridge. He was arrested after a fight in a London nightclub. He left out with Bridge as he was alleged to have had an affair with his wife.

“Maybe so, I think it depends on what John said. Maybe if I get the opportunity I might have to give him a ring but until I come to that selection or that process, we’ll wait and see. I don’t know what the political side of that might mean, if there is a political side. I’ll have to have that conversation if I feel that John Terry may be a possibility,” Allardyce declared. England is set to play their qualifiers during the international break, but we’d truly know what Allardyce has up his sleeves when he releases the list of invitees.

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has apologized to Ragnar Klavan after his hard challenge in a friendly game.

The Spanish midfielder was the culprit of a dangerous tackle in the match opposing Chelsea to Liverpool. Cesc Fabregas was sent off in the game. After the game, the midfielder went to the dressing room and apologized to the player for his behavior on the pitch.

Ragnar Klavan will certainly remember his first game for Liverpool. The player has just joined the Anfield side in the summer for a sum of £5million from Augsburg. He was at the end of a bad tackle from the Spanish international and ended up hurt from the challenge. The referee awarded Cesc Fabregas with a straight red card.

After the match, however, Cesc Fabregas ran to the Liverpool dressing room and apologized for his tackle. He also went and apologized to the Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp as he did not want this incident to become a major issue especially at the start of a new season.

Antonio Conte also apologized to the Liverpool team as he did not want to create any animosity between both clubs. He said that the player was sorry, and he was sorry as well. The Chelsea manager said that there was no malicious intention involved in the tackle and that it happened in the heat of the moment. He stated that he knows Cesc Fabregas well and that he is not a bad character on the pitch.

Antonio Conte said that this is normal when two big teams meet even if it is in a friendly match. He said that both sets of players did not want to lose the game, and it was natural that there was some aggressiveness in the game.

Jurgen Klopp has said that he has accepted Fabregas excuses as he knows that he did not intend any harm to the player.

The loss to Iceland in the Round of 16 at the Euro 2016 in France is the first ever defeat of the Three Lions to Iceland, according to history.

The draw which many thought was a lucky one, as England could have met a stronger team on paper, didn’t go exactly as planned as England crashed out of the tournament they were among the favourites to win.

The first meeting between both team was far back in 1982. The game ended in a 1-1 draw though Iceland scored first. The Icelandic football association pushed for the game to be placed as a full international, despite it initially seen as a B team match. The manager then was Ron Greenwood and the English team were behind when Arnor Gudjohnsen, father of former Chelsea striker Eidur, scored in the 23rd minute. England were saved by Paul Goddard when he equalized in the 69th minute.

The second was a 6-1 thrashing of Iceland in 2004. The game was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, ahead of the Euro 2004 campaign. Sven-Goran Eriksson managed the team then as his first choice team put three goals at the back of the net in the first half of the game. Wayne Rooney had a brace and he was supported by Frank Lampard. Just before the referee called for the break, Heidar Helguson pulled one back. England came back relentless to add another three. Darius Vassell grabbed a brace as well while former Chelsea and Manchester City left back, Wayne Bridge used the opportunity to grab his only international goal till he retired.

This third was disastrous for England as it was a major tournament where they had the chance to lift a trophy. After finishing second in the group, they were handed the chance to join the last eight but fell to a 2-1 defeat to a well coordinated side. Roy Hodgson has resigned, leaving the team to shop for a new coach to continue with their World Cup preparation plans.

A very talented eight-year-old midfielder from Downend, Callum Macey, has decided to go the path of Wayne Bridge, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Theo Walcott by joining the Southampton FC Academy very early in his career.

It takes a long journey for about just any talented player to transition from playing in the park into becoming a professional footballer.

Macey is the only player his age that have been offered a contract by the club this year in Bristol. Other Premier League stars that followed also broke from through from the academy side to the Saints first team before big-money moves include Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale and England internationals Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Theo Walcott and Wayne Bridge. Callum Macey’s raw talent was first noticed by the academy over two years ago and he was invited to its development centre in Bath for further assessment.

He will now be given three years by the academy for closer watch before the club decides whether to invite him to join its main academy on the South Coast.

The youngster has visited the club’s Staplewood training ground where the academy players join the first team in training. Callum has even met forward Jay Rodriguez and manager Ronald Koeman. Callum is said to be very good with both feet and favours picking up the ball from the backline, taking on other players one-on-one, and is also good at reading the game. The very young talent would be required to join the pre-season training in July. He also looks up to Southampton is midfielder and Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis. When asked why he liked Steven Davis and his favourite position, he said:

“He’s good on the ball and he plays well when he’s attacking.

“I would love to play right midfield, or midfield somewhere.”

Former Chelsea player, Wayne Bridge says he is ready to take on the new exciting phase of coaching.

He recently ignited his interest to earn a coaching badge after living off the eyes of the media for a while. The former English international retired in the summer of 2014 from English league outfit Reading FC.

Wayne Bridge played more than a decade at the top level for premier league clubs from the Under 18 squad in Southampton, where he was born, to the first team, then he moved to EPL giant, Chelsea for a reported sum of 10.5 million Euros. After a short spell with The Blues, he was sent on loan to another English side, Fulham. He played the loan deal to the end before returning to Stamford Bridge. The left back played for Chelsea till 2009 before his agreeing a transfer fee of 13 million Euros.

Wayne enjoyed his spell with The Sky blues before being sent on loan again to West Ham in January 2011. He returned to city after his loan spell at West Ham but was sent on another loan to Sunderland then on loan to Brighton. His injury spell became more rampant and this kept forcing his transfer around various clubs. After his loan spell at Brighton, he left City on a free transfer to Reading FC where he eventually retired.

He retired due to a recurring knee injury as it kept him out of favor at his clubs. The retired English international, who had a feud with Chelsea’s captain john terry which eventually led to his departure from Chelsea, said he has definitely moved on from that fracas. He said he has been busy enjoying life after a long exciting career, spending quality time with his family and travelling around Europe doing promotional work amongst other things.

Paul Ince and Wayne Bridge are two legends among the England football community. So it came to a surprise for many fans when they found out that they were doing a promotion for #HEADSUP.

This is a brand new series for video promotion that’s being done by a poker site, a gambling site that’s self-acclaimed to the second largest poker site on the internet.

The news came as an announcement on December 9 of 2015 by #HEADSUP. This will be a brand new monthly magazine in digital form that’s going to be advertised by 888poker.

Why are they doing this? Why Paul Ince and Wayne Bridge? What significance do they have to the gambling scene or the promotional material themselves? During the games, they’re also going to be announcing the latest sports news, and detailing the latest football betting odds at StanJames and other bookmakers, according to the online gambling giant.

They’ll mainly focus on playing games of Texas Hold’em while discussing the latest sports news and their favorite teams. It’s also important to note that this wouldn’t be the first time that 888poker has tried to have the brand commentated by some professional football players – as recently as May of 2014 they tried to sign a deal with the striker from Uruguay Luis Suarez. They were asking for the player to participate in some live gambling events and to have the player partake in some football promotions as well but the deal didn’t last very long…

The striker for Uruguay bit another player, the defender from Italy Giorgio Chiellini. His contract was immediately terminated with 888poker exclaiming that following the actions that have taken place, there was no way that they could hold or keep a contract with the player as they hold a professional image and they want to keep up the professional image that they currently had. They couldn’t have a player running around biting people on the field!?

The new link up will be an interesting take on how the football and poker worlds collide.

This Premier League season is not a memorable one for Vincent Kompany as he is struggling just to stay fit.

The Belgium captain of Manchester City has made less than 15 league appearances for his club in this season and things have a turn for the worst after the 29 year old defender picked up a calf injury which will be keeping him out of the pitch for around 8 weeks.

Vincent Kompany had to be removed from the pitch during Manchester City’s Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev which saw the game resulting in a goal-less scoreboard. The Belgian defender was substituted as early as the 7th minute.

This is the 3rd time in this season that Vincent Kompany has picked up a calf injury and it’s the main reason of why he has not been able to make consistent performances for Manchester City and it’s a huge problem for the Premier League club as Kompany is arguably one of the more influential figures of the entire squad.

Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini revealed details concerning the recent injury of Vincent Kompany as the Chilean manager said: “It is a new injury in the other calf, a little bit higher behind the knee. It is similar to AleksandarKolarov injury a month ago. Kolarov took around three weeks to one month to come back.It’s very important the way he improves in the first two weeks that he starts working it’s difficult now to say, but the first thing we think is that he can return in a month.”

Pellegrini is hoping that Vincent Kompany will be able to make a full recovery from his injury before the season reaches it’s end

The season of Vincent Kompany and of Manchester City kicked off brilliantly as they did not concede a single goal from their opening 5 matches but the season of the Belgian started to go downhill after his injuries began to hit him which has forced him to stay out of the field for the majority of the season with only a limited amount of performances.

Wayne Bridge is a retired footballer who spent his entire playing career performing in England who has managed to perform in some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League including: Chelsea and Manchester City.

Bridge spent 7 years of his playing career performing for Chelsea as he joined the Premier League club in 2003 and departed in 2009 in this period of time, Bridge managed to lift the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the Football League Cup.

One of his former clubs, Chelsea has undergone an extraordinary transformation as they were claimed as the champions of the Premier League during the previous season but are now struggling just to stay in the middle section of the top tier English League.

Bridge believes that one of the main reasons of why things have been going so wrong for Chelsea is because they lack any real leaders.

“When I was there we had quite a few leaders in the changing room. We had John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, but I don’t really see as many leaders in this side compared to when I was there.’’ Former Chelsea player, Wayne Bridge said.

Bridge was confident that Jose Mourinho was going to be able to turn things around with Chelsea but it just never happened as he was sacked after a string of successive underwhelming results.

Jose Mourinho was replaced by Guus Hiddink and the Dutch manager has been able to pull Chelsea away from the bottom relegation and safe into the middle area of the English League standings and Guus Hiddink has been praised by his own players who have said that Hiddink is a better authority figure than Mourinho and overall just a better leader, so it might be true what Wayne Bridge said that the team just needed a conductor who can lead the team to consistently positive results.