Tag: Arsenal

Thomas Vermaelen did not take long to open his account for Barcelona

Thomas Vermaelen did not take long to open his account for Barcelona.

The defender scored his fourth appearance for the Catalan club, who managed a 1-0 win over Malaga as a result. The former Arsenal defender failed to make any sort of an impact last season as he was injured throughout the campaign. Now, though, he has spoken in length about how he wants to repay the faith of the Barcelona supporters. Vermaelen was a £ 16 million signing from Arsenal last summer. He was brought to the club as the replacement for Carlos Puyol.

His return to the first-team could not have come at a better time since Barcelona are short on numbers especially at the back. Sky Sports pundit Terry Gibson claims that the Belgian international feels like a new signing for the reigning while the champions. At 29 years of age, he still has the ability to deliver for a few number of years at the top level. Barcelona needed a quality centre back in order to avoid overreliance upon Gerard Pique or Javier Mascherano. Gibson says that Vermaelen has always remained a quality player and he is surprised with how Arsenal fans still doubt him. Continue reading Thomas Vermaelen did not take long to open his account for Barcelona

Michael Platini plays a cruel joke on Barcelona’s Thomas Vermaelen

Even though Thomas Vermaelen did not play a single match or a single minute of European football in the previous season, the Belgium defender was still awarded with a Champions League medal.

Vermaelen was signed by Barcelona for a transfer fee of €15 million on August of 2014 but the defender still hasn’t proved his worth to the Spanish club as Vermaelen has been plagued with a number of injuries that have forced him to stay out of action for the majority of the season.

It doesn’t look like Barcelona has needed Vermaelen to be in form as the Spanish club has still managed to win all the major trophies that they competed on including: La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.

Vermaelen did not an important role in Barcelona’s treble but the Belgium player was still given a taste of success as he received medals of the Copa del Rey, La Liga and Champions League and after searching around football websites, Vermaelen is recognized as a holder of these pieces of silverware despite being absent from almost all of them. Continue reading Michael Platini plays a cruel joke on Barcelona’s Thomas Vermaelen

Vermaelen’s career at Barcelona is getting demolished due to injuries

Thomas Vermalen signed a 5 year long contract with Barcelona on August of 2014 but the Belgium defender has not managed to make a single league appearance for his new club due to a recurring hamstring injury.

A few weeks ago, Vermaelen was seen in the training grounds with the rest of his teammates of Barcelona and it was rumored that the player was going to be featured for the remaining matches of the season but the 29 year old defender still has not made a league appearance for the team of Luis Enrique.

This isn’t the first time that Vermalen has had to sit on the sidelines of a club for a significantly long period of time as this has occurred in the past when he was a player of Arsenal and was not able to play for a large amount of matches due to consistent injuries.

€15 million is the price that Barcelona had to pay in order to sign Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal and this is a very high amount of money for a player who still has not performed in a competitive match since having been signed. Continue reading Vermaelen’s career at Barcelona is getting demolished due to injuries

ARSENAL HAVE A CHANCE

You would have laughed if somebody had told you at the start of the New Year that in three months’ time, Arsenal would be in a position to give Chelsea a run for their money for the Premier League title, but, that’s what has happened.

The Gunners have been unpredictable in the Premier League in the recent times. They always tend to play differently in the two halves of the season. Continue reading ARSENAL HAVE A CHANCE

Barcelona not concerned about Thomas Signing

Barcelona have stated that they are not worried about the fact that summer signing Thomas Vermaelen has not been able to feature in a single match for the club so far. The Belgian international was seen as the popular replacement for Carlos Puyol, who retired at the end of last season.

Vermaelen may not have been an Arsenal first-team regular for the last 12 months, but he has undeniable quality that propelled him to the position of being one of the top defenders in the Premier League upon his £ 10 million arrival from Ajax.

The 29-year-old has not been able to make a start for his new club, Barcelona. However, this does not put him in a difficult mental state. This is largely because Barcelona appear to have convinced Vermaelen that he remains an integral part of the team despite his continued absence. The club’s sporting director Andoni Zubizaretta has revealed that Barcelona were aware that the player had a fair bit of injury problems even before signing for the club. Hence, he is confident that the Belgian international will be ready to play top-level football sooner rather than later. Continue reading Barcelona not concerned about Thomas Signing

Luis Enrique wont criticize for his Players

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique says that he cannot criticise the performance put in by his players in the recent 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid. This was a must win match for his team given that they needed to recover from the 1-0 defeat against Real Sociedad in the previous league match.

The victory was an essential in order to keep in touch with Real Madrid. Barcelona failed to take advantage of Madrid losing their last league match, but there were no repeats this time around. Despite playing against a very confident Atletico Madrid team who are defending the title, Barcelona dominated the match from start to finish.

The mouth-watering combination of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar were once again paired up front. Continue reading Luis Enrique wont criticize for his Players

BE CAREFUL WITH FREEBIES

Freebets offered by online bookmakers are a very valuable resource and a great way to increase your winnings, and although they say that you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, here we will look at the kind of small print that is often included in the bookmakers’ freebet terms and conditions.

Note that these vary from bookmaker to bookmaker, so our comments are general rather than applying to any specific bookmakers.

You will always find that when it comes to freebets, some bookmakers are much more generous than others, so it pays to shop around or use a comparison site such as freebets.com.

In order to qualify for a freebet you will need to open an account with the bookmaker and deposit some money into it. You will then need to make a bet of up to a stated maximum amount and you will receive a free bet of that amount.

That is the headline, but there will always be a note that ‘terms and conditions apply’; although small print is always boring to read, with freebets it pays to read them carefully or you might find that you will lose out.

Often they include a time limit: for instance, you might need to make your first cash bet within 10 or perhaps 30 days of opening your account otherwise you will forfeit your freebet. Also there is very often a clause that states that the bet must be made on a selection with minimum odds, often 2/1 or evens.

If the bet is a multiple bet such as an accumulator, then the minimum odds will apply to at least one of your selections. Sometimes with a multiple bet if the first selection is at odds of greater than a specified number, say 4/1, then all the other selections are permitted to be below 2/1. Also if for any reason your original bet is voided, it does not qualify for a freebet.

When you make your freebet, if it is successful you will receive your winnings on that bet but you will not receive your stake. Also you should note how long you are allowed to use your freebet as they are generally time limited.

VERMALEN PROUD OF STYLE

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen has said that he is extremely happy that Arsenal did not deviate from their passing style of football when they played Stoke city last weekend.

Thomas Vermaelen is regarded as one of the best players at Arsenal. He was instrumental in helping Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at the hands of Stoke last weekend. It has almost saved the season for Arsenal, as they now have surely wrapped up the Champions League spots. Only two matches remain in the Premier league season, with Arsenal set to face Norwich and West Brom. These are matches where Arsenal are expected to get all three points without too much of a trouble.

Despite facing a physical team in the form of Stoke, Arsenal never pumped the ball long up to Robin van Persie. The striker has scored a remarkable 35 goals in all competitions for Arsenal this season, but it is even more impressive considering the fact that Arsenal have been playing the ball along the ground throughout the season. It is very much similar to the way Barcelona play their football and Thomas Vermaelen has praised Arsenal for this reason. He says that it is very important for a club to have a philosophy and stick by it.

“The whole team showed a good spirit and we fought hard – we deserved a point. Defensively the shape was good, with [Alex] Song in front of us and he helped us a lot. If you [play] their game you would be second best. The main thing is to keep focused on your own game, with quick passing, and that is how we scored our goal. We didn’t give away too many chances in the whole game and that is a good thing,” said Thomas Vermaelen after the 1-1 draw with Stoke city.

FAVOURITES FOR THIRD SPOT

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen has said that his club are the favourites now to finish in the top three this season. Vermaelen was speaking on the occasion when Arsenal had just overtaken Tottenham in the Premier league table following the midweek round of fixtures. Tottenham could only draw against Stoke city, while Arsenal managed a 1-0 win over Everton away from home. Further, Tottenham will be having a tough round of fixtures in the remaining matches like Arsenal, who have an easier run-in. These are the reasons for Vermaelen to believe that Arsenal are now the favourite for the top three.

Vermaelen has said that one of the major changes in the race for the top three positions came when Arsenal faced Tottenham in the North London Derby a few weeks ago. Tottenham could have gone 13 points clear of Arsenal if they had won the match, but they lost the match 5-2 after a quite impressive second half comeback from Arsenal. Since then, Tottenham have been on the decline, while it has been the opposite with Arsenal. Arsenal have since managed to close a 10 point advantage and secure a one-point advantage over Tottenham. Vermaelen was a key figure in Arsenal doing so because his injury time header gave the club all three points against Newcastle recently.

“We are always confident [of staying third], especially if we keep winning games as we are. Yes [Arsenal are favourites to finish third], we just have to keep the focus on our own performance. At the moment we have had some good results against some difficult teams. We have shown good mentality,” Vermaelen said after the 2-1 win over Newcastle. Finishing above Tottenham extremely important for Arsenal given that they have not allowed their neighbours to finish above them since 1995.

NOT ENJOYING BEING LEFT BACK

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen has admitted that he is not enjoying playing in the left back position for Arsenal. The Belgian defender has had to fill in for Kieran Gibbs at the left back position for Arsenal this season due to the incredible number of injuries the club has suffered in this department.

Kieran Gibbs is expected to return back from injury soon, which will finally push Thomas Vermaelen back into his favourite position – central defence. Arsenal have had a stranger injury situation in which a number of fullbacks have either been injured or been sold in the transfer window.

As a result, central defender Djourou has been filling in that right back for the injured Bacary Sagna, while Thomas Vermaelen has had to move to the left back position. It is a position Thomas Vermaelen has revealed that he is not comfortable with, but is prepared to carry on if the situation and injury situation of Arsenal demands. The Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen is regarded as one of the best players at the club. However, he has not particularly excelled in the left back position, where he has played numerous times this season.

Continue reading NOT ENJOYING BEING LEFT BACK