Browse Month: April 2016

Roberto Martinez confident on John Stones

  • By Kicker
  • on Apr 27, 2016
  • in Uncategorized

Roberto Martinez is hopeful that defender John Stones will be able to climb out from his poor run and start to inspire the team in the rest of the campaign.

Stones was one of the talked about names in the summer after he was subjected to transfer interest from Chelsea. The Premier League champions were ready to play in excess of £ 30 million for the 21-year-old. This would have represented a massive profit on a £ 4 million investment for Everton, but they chose to retain him. This proved to be the right decision in the first half of the campaign whenStones was almost impenetrable.

This situation, however, changed dramatically in the second half whenStones’ was seen as a culprit for the club’s poor defensive record this season. The England star missed the entire month of February action. Now, he has been recalled back to the starting line-up and Martinez says that the timeout on the sidelines has helped Stones recover his energy. He expects much better performances from the youngster in the coming weeks. Everton still have a chance to qualify for the Europa League, but it has been moved to an outside chance. The club are just below the likes of Chelsea and West Brom in the league table.

“I thought when he came out he looked refreshed, he looked full of energy, like the player he looked like at the start of the season. I think he has come back with a real focus and a real intent of performing well and I think the second half performance, the back three had to do everything, defend, get on the ball and try to play forward and I thought it was an all-action performance. He reacted well and anticipated things very well,” said Martinez after the 2-0 loss against Arsenal.

Bilic expects contract extension

Slaven Bilic is the head coach of West Ham United, having taken charge of the Premier League club on June 9 of 2015, and he already wants a contract extension!

The Croatian manager has done a superb job as he has guided West Ham United to 19 victories, 16 draws and 10 defeats which has positioned the club to the top 8 spots of the English League and they even have a realistic chance of securing a Europa League spot which can allow the team to compete in the Europa League competition for the next season.

West Ham United also managed to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup which is also fairly impressive, although they were eliminated from the English competition after losing against Crystal Palace but nonetheless, it still has been a fairly memorable opening campaign for Slaven Bilic who has a contract with the Premier League club until 2018 but is already being rumored on extending his deal even further.

The 47 year old coach is rumoured to be rewarded for his impressive debut season with a new deal and according to the Club join-chairman David Sullivan stated that Slaven Billic will indeed have a contract renewal on January of 2017.

The new contract will apparently feature a new clause that will stop Slaven Bilic from having any involvement with the various commercal websites he currently manages, including the Pokies Palace guide to finding the best pokies, with Sullivan wanting him to give West Ham his full concentration.

David Sullivan said: “I will give Slaven a new deal in January. I just want to see that he is not a one-season wonder. I’m sure he is not, but we will talk next January or at the end of next season. I have to tell you that he is interested in the project, not money. He stayed at Croatia on £2,000 a week for five years when he would have had bundles of offers. He is not really into money. He is more interested in getting the best players for the club than the best money for himself.”

With less than 7 league matches remaining, Slaven Bilic is now focusing on adding as many points as possible and try to secure a Europa League spot but even if West Ham United is not able to do it, it seems like Bilic has already earned the trust from the head officials of the club who have already confirmed their intentions to extend the contract of the Croatian manager.