Football
Jose Mourinho slams VAR influence for Liverpool derby, Manchester City win
Jose Mourinho has slammed VAR after incidents in the Merseyside derby and Manchester City’s win over Porto in the Champions League. Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was not sent off after a horrible tackle on Virgil van Dijk, while Ilkay Gundogan escaped punishment after fouling Porto goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin. Tottenham boss Mourinho thinks both players should have been sent off and wants changes made to the VAR system. “I think the attention [the incidents have received] is based on the fact that there is a VAR. Without VAR, the situations on the pitch happen and the human being, the referee, makes mistakes,” Mourinho said. “And you know me for quite a few years – it was difficult for me to accept the human mistakes but I learned and in this moment, I always accept the referee’s mis...
William Troost-Ekong relishes perfect start to Watford career
William Troost-Ekong is happy with the progress has made since linking up with Sky Bet Championship club Watford. The centre-back joined the Hornets from Serie A club Udinese on a five-year contract earlier this month. He impressed on his debut against Derby County even though he was replaced after 70 minutes due to hamstring problem. The Nigeria international was named man-of-the match in Watford’s 1-1 home draw against Bournemouth last weekend. “I managed to hang on,” Troost-Ekong told Hive Live Extra. “I felt my hamstring a bit. I’m still adjusting to the speed of the game as my last game with my [former] club was the third of August. I’m still working on my match fitness so I’m happy to get 90 minutes in my legs. “The Championship is a different type of football. It’s more direct and y...
Juventus in talks with Dybala over contract renewal – director
Juventus are in talks to renew Paulo Dybala’s contract, but managing director Fabio Paratici revealed the club’s coronavirus scare made negotiations difficult. Dybala has two years remaining on his existing deal in Turin but an extension has long been mooted, with the Bianconeri said to be discussing an agreement until 2025. But no clarity has been forthcoming in the opening weeks of the 2020-21 season. Paratici is not overly concerned, though, explaining the reason for the delay. “We’re in talks to extend Paulo’s contract,” he told Sky Sport Italia . “He wants to stay and we want to keep him – he’s part of our future. “It has been a tricky period because we were locked in the hotel for two weeks due to the Covid scare and not allowed to meet anyone. “But we’ll continue the negotiations to...
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits to Paul Pogba error
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has surprisingly hinted that he mismanaged Paul Pogba, particularly at the start of this season. The French midfielder was a shadow of himself when the league began but was handed minutes nonetheless and so he continued to struggle. In fairness, United were performing poorly overall so Pogba wasn’t the only one who looked out of sorts. However, Solskjaer would soon exclude him from the starting XI and use him as an impact substitute, which he did remarkably well. Pogba’s lack of form was put down to a lack of a pre-season but perhaps fans have been a little dismissive that he also had to recover from Covid-19. According to the club’s official website, Solskjaer said: “You see, when you have got good players, it is a nice challenge and a nice deci...
Super Eagles star helps Villarreal extend unbeaten run vs Cadiz
Samuel Chukwueze was in action as Villarreal played out a 0-0 draw against Cadiz in Sunday’s La Liga game. The 21-year-old has featured consistently for Unai Emery’s men in the 2020-21 campaign and against Alvaro Cervera’s charges, the winger was handed his seventh league appearance. The Nigeria international gave a good account of himself during the time he spent on the pitch to help the Yellow Submarine extend their unbeaten run to five games across all competitions. The game started with both sides aiming to outwit each other but despite their efforts, they failed to find the back of the net. The best chance of the game fell to Alvaro Negredo in the seventh minute of the encounter and he hit the back of the net, but the strike was ruled out for offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VA...
Fenerbahce monitoring Mesut Ozil situation at Arsenal
Fenerbahce are monitoring Mesut Ozil’s situation at Arsenal. Frozen out of both the Premier League and Europa League squads by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, Ozil won’t play any first team football until January – at the earliest. A move to the USA with DC United has been floated for the former Germany international. However, it’s understood Ozil would prefer to remain in Europe and with his contract inside the final 12 months, he would be willing to negotiate an affordable agreement with long time suitors Fenerbahce. For their part, Arsenal would be willing to grant Ozil a free transfer in January if Fener can settle personal terms. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins...
England Women cancel Germany friendly after positive test
England Women have cancelled Tuesday’s friendly in Germany following a positive coronavirus test. The fixture, which was due to take place behind closed doors at the Brita-Arena in Wiesbaden, was to be England’s first competitive fixture since the SheBelieves Cup in March. Phil Neville and the squad met up for a training camp at St George’s Park this week are were set to fly to Germany on Sunday but those plans have been shelved at the last minute. As hosts of the delayed 2021 European Championships, which will now take place in July 2022, England have not had any qualifying games to play. England have been set a target of winning the World Cup or European Championship by 2024 and have been keen to return to competitive action. Neville’s side disappointed at the SheBelieves Cup earlier thi...
Ronald Koeman slams VAR after El Clasico defeat to Real Madrid
Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman was left frustrated at full time as his side slipped to a 3-1 El Clasico defeat at home to Real Madrid. Ansu Fati cancelled out Federico Valderde’s early goal at the Camp Nou but referee Juan Martinez Munuero’s decision to award a second half penalty turned the game on its head. The experienced official agreed with VAR and awarded a penalty in favour of Sergio Ramos after the Spanish international was pulled down by Clement Lenglet. However the home side were angered by the decision, as Ramos converted to make it 2-1, before substitute Luka Modric added a third goal late on. “We played well and created chances in the game. We did not deserve to lose and some of the referee’s decisions, I did not understand,” he told a post match interview with Marca. “The de...
Marcus Rashford launches petition calling on UK government to take more action on child hunger
Reuters Marcus Rashford has launched an online petition calling on the United Kingdom government to provide free school meals for more children. In June, the Manchester United striker successfully lobbied the government to extend its policy of providing free school meals for underprivileged children into the summer months through the school holidays. The 22-year-old also partnered with FareShare and helped to raise £20million to help provide free meals to those in need amid the coronavirus pandemic, while he has since worked with supermarkets and food brands to create a taskforce with the aim of tackling child food poverty. Rashford’s work in helping to tackle child hunger led to the England international being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, after which he vowed to continu...
Manchester City rally back to hold West Ham United
Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham United in their Premier League clash at the London Stadium on Saturday. Michail Antonio put the home team ahead with a sublime overhead kick in the 18th minute. The goal was given after a check for handball against Tomas Soucek. Phil Foden replaced Sergio Aguero at half-time and restored parity for the visitors. The midfielder equalised with a well-taken strike six minutes into the second half. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of ...
Manchester City flight redirected ahead of West Ham clash
Manchester City’s flight to London had to be rerouted after a technical issue on the plane meant that they could not land at their scheduled destination. The first-team squad flew to the capital on Friday ahead of City’s lunchtime Premier League clash with West Ham United. But their flight had to redirected from City Airport to London Stansted more than 30 miles away. Goal reports that there was a problem with the plane’s anti-skid system which meant that it could not land at an airport with a short runway. The team suffered a slight delay ahead of travelling to the hotel before Saturday’s clash. It is understood that there was no fault on the part of the airport but the flight would not have needed to be rerouted had it been scheduled to land at a major airport. In 2016, a City team fligh...
Frank Lampard: Kepa Arrizabalaga out for Chelsea vs Manchester United
Kepa Arrizabalaga has been ruled out of Chelsea’s trip to Manchester United but Frank Lampard has said Petr Cech will not be drafted in as the Blues eye a long-awaited Premier League win at Old Trafford. Spain goalkeeper Kepa made yet another mistake in a 3-3 draw with Southampton last weekend after stepping in to replace Edouard Mendy, who missed out with a thigh injury. Mendy returned for a goalless Champions League draw with Sevilla in midweek instead of Kepa, who will not travel north to face United on Saturday due to a shoulder injury. Chelsea surprisingly added club legend Cech, who retired last year, to their Premier League squad but the 38-year-old keeper is not in the squad to take on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. Lampard was asked about the status of Thiago Silva and Christian Pul...
