Milan coach insists that Pato will regain his form

ROME: AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri insisted on Saturday that young striker Pato will come good despite struggling for form recently.

Pato lost his place in the Milan side to new signing Antonio Cassano last week before regaining his place in midweek, only to be substituted for Cassano in the second half.

Some in the Italian press claim he’s lost his way and can’t play with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but Allegri puts his troubles down to injuries.

“If it wasn’t for an injury to (centre-back Daniele) Bonera I wouldn’t have taken Pato off,” he said.

“Recently one or two substitutions have been forced by injuries. He’s well, there’s no Pato issue.

“He’s young and has amazing talent. He has a lot to learn as everyone does but he should stay calm because he’s scored eight league goals and two in the cup despite not playing much.

“He needs to concentrate and focus. The more they play together the more Pato and Ibra will click.

“They’ve not played much together so far and last year Pato played in a different position.

“I’m happy to have Pato and I want to keep him and I believe like the others who have been injured, he will prove a great signing for Milan.”

League leaders Milan saw their lead over champions Inter Milan cut to just seven points in midweek while the nerazzurri also have a game in hand.

It increased the feeling across much of Italy that Leonardo’s team are most likely to be Milan’s closest challengers but Allegri insists he is not worried about Inter.

“We don’t need to think about Inter, we’re in the lead, our destiny is in our own hands,” he said. 

 

Bayern’s defeat to Cologne difficult to swallow, says Lahm

BERLIN: Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm admitted Cologne’s shock 3-2 win over the defending champions was a bitter defeat to swallow as the hosts came from 2-0 down to floor the Bavarian giants.

“It hurts,” said Lahm after Saturday’s defeat in Cologne left Bayern fifth in the league and 15 points behind leaders Dortmund.

“We’re making life difficult for ourselves. We’re making too many mistakes in our build-up play, and our tackling wasn’t aggressive enough.

“We made it much too easy for Cologne. Yet again, we’ve failed to perform at the start of the second half, failed to carry on where we’ve left off in the first half.

“Yet again, we’ve fallen asleep for the first 20 minutes of the second half and carelessly thrown away vital points.

“We wanted to set off on a long winning run, but it’s evaded us again.”

Bayern were cruising after striker Mario Gomez and midfielder Hamit Altintop scored first-half goals to leave Munich 2-0 up at the break.

But the champions’ recent run of seven wins in eight games came to a shuddering halt as Cologne fought back.

A capacity 50,000-strong crowd saw midfielder Christian Clemens and striker Milivoje Novakovic haul the home side back into the game with two goals in the first 15 minutes after the restart.

Novakovic then scored the winning goal with a superb effort with a quarter of an hour remaining.

Incredibly, this was Cologne’s fifth consecutive game against Bayern without defeat and Munich coach Louis van Gaal was left fuming as he accused his side of throwing the game away.

“It’s unbelievable,” said the Dutchman. “It’s the fourth or fifth time we’ve thrown a match away.

“We’ve missed a huge chance today, because all our rivals have lost, with the exception of Hanover. It was another commanding first half from us, so it’s unbelievable.”

Leaders PSV suffer shock home defeat

ROTTERDAM: Leaders PSV Eindhoven suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat by ADO Den Haag in the Dutch league on Saturday after Wesley Verhoek struck in added time.

Verhoek scored from a tight angle to hand PSV their third league defeat of the season after 22 matches, and they could be knocked off the top of the table.

PSV, who struck a late winner themselves last week against Willem II Tilburg, have 47 points with Twente just one point behind ahead of their trip to Utrecht later yesterday.

Ajax Amsterdam, 2-0 winners over Graafschap Doetinchem on Friday, are in third place with 44 points ahead of Groningen, who hosted Tilburg yesterday, on 40 and ADO on 38.

Sixth-placed AZ Alkmaar, on 37 points, dropped off the pace after losing 2-1 at lowly Excelsior Rotterdam having led 1-0 at halftime through Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s 10th minute goal.

Tim Vincken equalised with a penalty in the 65th and Jordy Clasie won the match 10 minutes from time when his freekick from 40m was misjudged by Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Heerenveen and NEC Nijmegen played out a 0-0 draw. 

 

Napoli take advantage of AC Milan’s stumble

MILAN: Serie A leaders AC Milan slipped up for the second straight game in a 1-1 draw at Genoa yesterday which opened the door for Napoli to cut the gap at the top to three points.

Napoli failed to take advantage when Milan drew 0-0 with Lazio in midweek when they lost at Chievo but red-hot striker Edinson Cavani helped make sure they did this time in a 2-0 home victory over lowly Cesena.

The Uruguayan, Serie A’s top scorer with 18 goals, converted Christian Maggio’s cross in the first half against second from bottom Cesena before Jose Sosa netted in stoppage time.

Champions Inter Milan, in fourth, hosted last term’s runners-up AS Roma later yesterday and can move within five points of Milan if they win while also having another game in hand.

Milan’s Alexandre Pato, preferred to Antonio Cassano upfront, latched on to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s pass to give the visitors a 29th-minute lead but Genoa forward Antonio Floro Flores struck home a loose ball just before the break.

Milan’s midfield was almost back to full strength after injuries and suspension but the hosts defended stoutly and deserved their point, with Rossoneri fans now fretting that a first scudetto since 2004 does not look as clear–cut as before.

Tensions were high at the Marassi given the game was the first time since the death of a supporter 16 years ago in crowd trouble that Milan fans had been allowed to the encounter.

Scuffles between fans were reported but nothing major.

Third-placed Lazio missed the chance to pressure Milan themselves with a 1-1 home draw with Chievo.

Hernanes put the Romans in front with a ferocious freekick deep into first-half stoppage time but Cesar equalised midway through the second period.

Palermo lie just two points behind Lazio in fifth following a thrilling 4-2 win at struggling Lecce.

Previously struggling on-loan Juventus forward Amauri superbly netted his first Parma goal in a 1-1 draw with Fiorentina, who had Adrian Mutu back for the first time since being banished for quitting training last month.

Third-from-bottom Brescia won the relegation battle with basement side Bari, Alessandro Diamanti netting a penalty and Andrea Caracciolo with an injury-time strike in a 2-0 victory which puts eight points between the two sides.

Bologna beat Catania 1-0 in an early game to send the Sicilians closer to the drop zone with new coach Diego Simeone failing to stop the slide.

Juventus ended their bad run with a 3-1 victory at Cagliari on Saturday when Alessandro Matri scored twice against his former club while Udinese continued their ascent with a 2-0 win over toothless Sampdoria. 

 

West Bromwich Albion fires manager Di Matteo

WEST BROMWICH, England (AP): West Bromwich Albion fired manager Roberto Di Matteo on Sunday as the team battles against relegation from the Premier League.

A 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Saturday was West Brom's 13th loss in 18 games in all competitions, leaving the team only two points above the drop zone.

The 40-year-old Di Matteo had been in charge for less than 20 months before West Brom announced Sunday that he was being "relieved ... of his duties and placed ... on gardening leave."

"This has been a tough decision but we, as a board, believe it is the right one to give the club the best possible chance of remaining in the Premier League," West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace said in a statement. "Our poor sequence of results stretches back more than three months and there has been little sign of it coming to an end.

"If this run continues much longer, achieving our goal of retaining our Premier League status will become increasingly difficult. That is why we felt compelled to act now."

Di Matteo, a former Italy midfielder who was hired by West Brom in June 2009, secured the team's instant return to the Premier League last May.

After losing two of its first nine league games, West Brom was a contender for Europa League qualification. But the team has won only three times since then and taken one point from its past three games.

"This club's track record proves we do not take such decisions lightly, with Roberto being only our fourth manager or head coach in almost 11 years," Pearce said. "We are in a results-driven industry and felt we had no choice but to act now."

Assistant coach Michael Appleton will take over on an interim basis.

Di Matteo retired from playing due to injury in 2002 after struggling to recover from a triple leg fracture two years earlier.

The former Chelsea player impressed in his first managerial job at MK Dons, guiding the team to the 2009 League One playoffs in his only season in charge before moving to West Brom.

  

Brisbane Roar clinches first place in Australia's A-League

SYDNEY (AP): The Brisbane Roar, on a 23-match unbeaten streak, clinched first place in Australia's A-League and an Asian Champions League berth despite having the weekend off after the remnants of a cyclone in North Queensland postponed their match.

On Friday, the Central Coast Mariners played to a 1-1 draw with the Melbourne Heart. The second-place Mariners are eight points behind the Roar and can't catch the Brisbane side with only two matches remaining.

The Roar's Saturday match against North Queensland in Townsville, in the area that Cyclone Yasi hit, was postponed until Tuesday on the Gold Coast.

Wellington beat Adelaide 1-0 on English striker Chris Greenacre's goal. On Sunday, Newcastle hosts Sydney and Gold Coast United plays at Perth.

  

Dynamo breaks ground on new stadium

HOUSTON (AP): Houston Dynamo minority owner and boxing great Oscar De La Hoya joined city and county officials Saturday at the groundbreaking for the team's $95 million, purpose-built football stadium.

The 22,000-seat venue will sit near downtown, within walking distance of Minute Maid Park, the Toyota Center and the city's massive convention center. Besides being home to the Dynamo, it also will host international football matches, Texas Southern University football games, concerts and boxing matches.

The Dynamo have been sharing Robertson Stadium, home of the University of Houston Cougars football team, since moving to Houston from San Jose in 2005.