Sanchez Happy With Fulham Revival

Although drubbed by Arsenal in the Barclaycard Premier League opener, Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez has hardly any doubts about the strength of his defense. He is the person who has been credited with the revival of the side. Fulham was not in the best of form when he had taken over the mantle of leading the side towards the end of last season.

Chris Coleman, the predecessor to Sanchez, was under a cloud of suspicion for his inability to motivate the side. Fulham’s defense had appeared ineffective as they had been crushed by Manchester United 4-0, with over 20 minutes left in the game.

However, the 2-1 victory against Bolton on Wednesday, the 15th of August, will certainly motivate the side. With a late aggression, Fulham had managed to compensate for the early Helguson goal. Appearing supremely content with his team’s performance, Sanchez had said,

"You couldn't ask for a bigger bounce back than from the goal we conceded, so hopefully that is an indication of what we can do this season and where we are.”

"We are a resilient team. We conceded 60 goals last year and often we were very much in the game until the second goal went against us and it ended in a three or four-goal collapse.”

"We were under a lot of pressure at the end and you would have hated to concede late on and end up with one point out of the game. So our ability to hold out will stand us in good stead when we are in similar situations throughout the season.”

Well, we certainly hope that his conviction in his side is no pretence. From what we have seen so far, Fulham is shaping-up quite well.

Sanchez is very pleased with David Healy's excellent run after scoring his second in the tournament. His first goal came against Arsenal on Sunday. Sanchez backs this talented youngster to the hilt after observing him perform brilliantly against England and Spain. Moreover, he was the only person who had complete faith in Healy, and his league performance would certainly gladden Sanchez’ heart.

Sanchez had said,

"Perhaps people had an idea that David was a prima donna but anyone who saw him in the two games can see his work-rate for the team is top notch as well, and always has been."

On the other hand, Bolton’s boss Sammy Lee is yet to contribute significantly to the side. Bolton has lost both its games and Lee will certainly be having sleepless nights.
Well, we believe fortune favors the brave and right now, Sanchez seems to be The Man.

Rafa’s excited over new signings

Liverpool is all set to get bolstered with new signings. Manager Rafael Benitez is gung-ho about the possible move of major players like Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso into his Liverpool squad. To add to the excitement is the speculated buy-out of ‘The Kid’ Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid. Although played down by the Madrid officials, this move is definitely in the offing.

Evidently elated that his top target is within his grasp, Benitez expressed his delight about these signings.

“You must always be excited at the start of a new season. You must also have confidence in your team and hopefully we will soon bring in the new players that we want to make the squad better.”

Benitez made no bones about the club’s intentions and said,

“We are working on new signings all the time. As I've already said, the spine of the team is in place and now we just need to add to that.”

Reliable sources have revealed that only the personal terms need to be sorted out with the Spanish Club. Anfield officials, however, are quite sure that the deal is almost through and they are apparently paying close to the £27m buy-out clause, included in the player's contract.

It is also expected that Liverpool would sell Luis Garcia to Atletico for £4m. He has been in the sidelines due to the knee injury that he has been recovering from. He was missing for most part of the last season. Although Benitez would love to retain him, the stiff competition between Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard for the midfield slot has virtually ruled out the possibility of Luis Garcia regaining his place.

The deal with Mohammed Sissoko is also a great pleasure for Benitez.

“It's good that we will be able to see the energy of Momo all around the pitch for a few more years. It's a major positive for us.”

The signings are also making the midfield a tightly contested slot after the capture of young Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva for £5m. The induction of Leiva and Ukrainian striker Andriy Voronin will mean that Craig Bellamy and Cisse would also be sold.

The record-breaking Torres deal will certainly hit Benitez’s finances. The sale of Leiva, Cisse and Garcia will help in easing it out a bit, though. The sell-out of these players is predicted to raise around £16m.

Benitez seems to be balancing his European talent buy-out with some young recruits like Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose, Bulgarian U21 goalkeeper Nikolay Mikhailov, Hungarian youngsters Krisztian Nemeth, and Andras Simon from MTK Budapest.

Additionally, the club has announced that they have signed two more 16-year-olds for the academy. They are striker Marvin Pourie from Borussia Dortmund and Alex Kacaniklic from Swedish club Helsingborgs. Liverpool seems to have its top priority sorted out for now.

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