Guardiola Expects Man City to be Pitch Perfect Against Fulham

Football - Friendly - Manchester City v Girona - Etihad Campus, Manchester, Britain - December 17, 2022 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)
Football - Friendly - Manchester City v Girona - Etihad Campus, Manchester, Britain - December 17, 2022 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)
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Guardiola Expects Man City to be Pitch Perfect Against Fulham

Football - Friendly - Manchester City v Girona - Etihad Campus, Manchester, Britain - December 17, 2022 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)
Football - Friendly - Manchester City v Girona - Etihad Campus, Manchester, Britain - December 17, 2022 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts. (Reuters)

Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City will be prepared for whatever conditions come their way at Fulham on Saturday after training on long grass.

City, bidding for an unprecedented fourth successive English title, are renowned for a possession-based passing game suited to the slick, watered surfaces they are guaranteed at their Etihad Stadium home.

City manager Guardiola said his side benefited from a slower pitch when they won at Nottingham Forest last month because it led to the home team missing several excellent chances, AFP reported.

But many observers interpreted the Spaniard's words as a slight dig at Forest for not preparing a pitch conducive to free-flowing football and Guardiola expects more of the same when City, bidding to move two points clear of leaders Arsenal, kick off at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

"Here we are, one week left to give all we have," said Guardiola, whose side will be guaranteed the title if they win all three of their remaining league games.

"I don't know about the grass, last season it was so, so high and dry. We have to adapt like with Nottingham, try to fight back with three points.

"Yesterday (Thursday) we trained part of the session with a dry, high (grass) to feel it, to adapt, and after we went to another normal pitch.

"It's a massive difference, massive. It's another game, another game. You have to adapt."

The Spaniard, comparing the situation to tennis, added: "I saw the forecast, it's a sunny day in London so you have to adapt in that situation, play in another rhythm and way. The passes must be stronger, faster, quicker. The control must attack the ball more.

"It's completely different, it's not basketball. It's like Wimbledon (grass) or Roland Garros (where the French Open is played on clay) -- ask a tennis player, the speed of the ball is different."

City head to London trailing Arsenal by a point but with a game in hand.

The Gunners then face Manchester United on Sunday before wrapping up their campaign against Everton.

City play their game in hand at Tottenham in midweek and then face West Ham in their final match of the league season.



Paris to Deploy 4,000 Police Officers for France-Israel Soccer Match Following Violence in Amsterdam

Police officers stand guard on Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 09 November 2024. (EPA)
Police officers stand guard on Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 09 November 2024. (EPA)
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Paris to Deploy 4,000 Police Officers for France-Israel Soccer Match Following Violence in Amsterdam

Police officers stand guard on Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 09 November 2024. (EPA)
Police officers stand guard on Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 09 November 2024. (EPA)

Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.

France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match on Thursday.

“There's a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding authorities “won't tolerate” any violence.

Nuñez said that 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transportation.

“There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nuñez said. Security checks will be “reinforced,” he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.

Nuñez said that French organizers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces in order to prepare for the match.

Israeli fans were assaulted last week after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, according to Dutch authorities. Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.

Before the match, the Israeli fans tore a Palestinian flag off a building in Amsterdam and chanted anti-Arab slogans on their way to the stadium. There were also reports of Israeli fans starting fights.

On Sunday, Dutch police detained several people for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following the violence targeting Israeli fans, a local broadcaster reported.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed Friday that the France-Israel match would go ahead as planned.

“I think that for a symbolic reason we must not yield, we must not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world came together for the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sports.