Football Blog (Page 203)

[ad_1] Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has called on his players to stick together and fight their way through their troubles this season. The Reds fell to their first Premier League defeat in front of an Anfield crowd in almost five years on Saturday as they were bested 2-1 by Leeds United, with an 89th-minute strike from Crysencio Summerville bringing Virgil van Dijk’s home league record to an end at 70 games. The defeat leaves Liverpool ninth in the league table, closer to the relegation zone than the top four after 12 games, and Klopp conceded his side are far from their best right now. “ItRead More →

[ad_1] A 93rd-minute strike from Robert Lewandowski saw Barcelona return to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Valencia on Saturday evening. A dominant but unconvincing performance, in which both Eric Garcia and Jules Kounde went off injured, looked like being another one of those days before the talismanic Pole put on his cape and saved the day. Both sides had their moments in the opening stages, with Lino causing plenty of problems on the Valencia left. Ansu Fati tried to chip Barcelona ahead 13 minutes in but the danger was well sniffed out by Giorgi Mamardashvili. Fati had the ball in the back ofRead More →

[ad_1] Fulham had the better of things but were unable to find a way through the Everton defence as they were held to a 0-0 draw on Saturday evening. A hot start saw both sides manage half-chances in the opening few minutes, with Demarai Gray’s fierce strike drawing a nice save from Bernd Leno in the Fulham goal as the game’s first major action. Jordan Pickford went one better down the other end as he pulled out an excellent stop to deny Willian’s snapshot, before the Everton stopper was again called on to deny both Aleksandar Mitrovic and Harrison Reed. Fulham began to take controlRead More →

[ad_1] Juventus had to work hard to break down newly promoted Lecce on Saturday as they eventually secured a 1-0 victory. Massimiliano Allegri’s side were looking for an emphatic response to their Champions League elimination and, at times, it looked like they weren’t going to get one. The opening stages were predictably turgid aside from a surprising number of fouls from the away side, who were racking up the yellow cards and preventing things from getting into a flow with their overzealous challenges. Juve didn’t really work the Lecce goalkeeper until the 44th minute, when Adrien Rabiot’s header was palmed away by Wladimiro Falcone. We’dRead More →

[ad_1] After putting on the best show of the Graham Potter era to see off Red Bull Salzburg in midweek, Chelsea swiftly followed it up with the worst as they were absolutely trounced by his former employers, Brighton. Chelsea have taken the Seagulls’ manager, assistant, goalkeeper coach, recruitment analyst, first-team coach and left centre-back, and they’re soon to add Brighton’s head of recruitment to their ranks as well, but they still looked light years behind here as they fell to a 4-1 defeat. With Potter’s nine-game unbeaten run now over, questions will be asked of just what went wrong, and the manager must look atRead More →

[ad_1] Bayern Munich moved to the top of the Bundesliga with an emphatic win over Mainz on Saturday afternoon. Julian Nagelsmann’s side have been steadily improving after a shaky start to the season and made easy work of their opponents today, finding themselves a goal up after just five minutes when Serge Gnabry controlled Sadio Mane’s cross and fired home. And the hosts well and truly took control of the game after 28 minutes, with Jamal Musiala playing a neat one-two with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and slotting the ball in to make it 2-0. Mainz had chances of their own in the first half, andRead More →

[ad_1] Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall is well aware of the threats that West Ham pose to his side when the two clubs meet in the WSL on Sunday, highlighting pace and aerial ability as particular sources of danger to his table-topping side. West Ham have started the season well, winning three of their opening five games and sitting in a cluster of clubs just three points below joint early leaders Arsenal and Manchester United. The Hammers have actually lost all seven previous WSL games they have played against the Gunners, which is their worst record against any side in the division. But they have wonRead More →

[ad_1] Chelsea travel to Brighton on Saturday, as Graham Potter faces his old employers in the Premier League. The Chelsea boss has a number of injury concerns for the trip to the south coast, with titanic wing-back Reece James still sidelined. “He’s in a brace for probably four weeks,” reported Potter. The Chelsea and England star is still optimistic about recovering in time for the World Cup, however, and has confirmed that the rehabilitation process is going steadily. “I will try and not rule myself out,” James has said. “It is still slow and in the early stages. I have been in rehab for twoRead More →

[ad_1] Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has suggested he may have to rest players for Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth, with the club’s Champions League showdown with Marseille looming on the immediate horizon. Spurs’ Champions League group remains finely poised, after a controversial VAR call saw Harry Kane’s last-gasp winner against Sporting CP disallowed for offside in midweek. The result leaves Group D well and truly in the balance, with any of its four sides still mathematically able to win the group. Spurs currently lead the group, but will be wary of complacency ahead of what is sure to be a challenging away trip to Marseille.Read More →

[ad_1] Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has a few injury concerns to contend with ahead of his side’s trip to Leicester on Saturday – including a rather large one in attack. Erling Haaland came off at half-time during City’s 0-0 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, with the Norwegian striker suffering from an injury to his foot. In his press conference on Friday, Guardiola admitted he was unsure if Haaland would be able to take part against Leicester, claiming the club still needed to run some tests on their star man but also didn’t rule his top scorer out of the game. “HeRead More →