Petr Cech has taken the blame for Bournemouth’s equaliser in Arsenal’s 2-1 loss on Sunday, saying he “should have done better.” “Obviously, the first one I’m disappointed with because I thought I was going to cut the cross on time,” Cech told the Arsenal website. “Wilson arrived faster in front of me. It’s a matter of split seconds, but I think I should have done better on that.” “The second one had an element of luck,” Cech said. “It was a good long ball behind but it was everybody’s ball and it fell right in front of the player and…
Author: David Folami
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has said that he is benefiting from increased responsibility at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. “I just think I needed to be one of the players in the team that was one of the ones demanding to go and change the game — get assists and get goals,” he said. “I’ve really been encouraged and pushed to do that.” “I’ve been trying to push myself,” he continued. “I came here to do that and I knew it was time for me to change things and improve myself. I’ve just been focused on doing that. “The manager has been really…
Arsene Wenger has admitted that Arsenal were “lacklustre” in attack in Sunday’s 2-1 loss at Bournemouth, and lamented “very surprising mistakes” on the goals conceded. “We looked a bit lacklustre in the final third, not sharp enough to create chances,” Wenger told a news conference. “When you are 1-0 up normally you should create more to be dangerous and we paid for that.” “We made two very surprising mistakes that were not even forced errors, it was just a lack of decision-making, and overall you come out of the game thinking: how did we lose the game?” Wenger said. “When…
Christian Pulisic has droped his two cent on the Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo debate, arguing that the Barcelona star would make any team in the world better. “Nothing against Ronaldo because I’ve seen it first hand, he’s an unbelievable player,” Pulisic said. “It’s not an easy one [who is better], but I would say Messi because growing up he was always my favourite.” Pulisic is a rising star of the game, but the U.S international picked out Kylian Mbappe and former Dortmund teammate Ousmane Dembele as fellow stars of the future. “We’ve played against certain players, Mbappe, even when…
Mauricio Pochettino has said he is placing all his focus on the present and not paying attention to speculation that he may be offered a chance to coach Real Madrid next season. “Football will take me where football wants to,” Pochettino said. “[Former Argentina international] Jorge Grifa, who was like a second father to me, would tell me, ‘Don’t think too much, enjoy the present, be professional and responsible and let football take you where it wants to.'” Pochettino also said Real’s ups and downs this season are a part of football. “That’s football everywhere, not just in Spain but…
Ousmane Dembele will be absent for the next four weeks with a left hamstring problem, with Barcelona saying the injury has nothing to do with the surgery he underwent earlier in the season. The France international resumed training in December and then returned earlier this month as a second-half substitute in the Copa del Rey game at Celta Vigo. He then started Barca’s league win over Levante and came on as a substitute in the return leg against Celta and against Real Sociedad on Sunday, when he sustained his latest injury. “After the game against Real Sociedad, Dembele had a…
Jupp Heynckes has called Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne “the best player in Europe” and questioned the money paid by Manchester United for Paul Pogba in 2016. “De Bruyne didn’t play that well last year but I would give the shirt off my back for him,” Heynckes told kicker in an in-depth interview. “You must have a player like him in his position. He is far and away the best player in Europe at the moment.” Pogba won the Europa League and League Cup in his first season at Old Trafford and has scored three goals and set up seven…
Louis van Gaal has said he made Manchester United continue paying up his contract by turning down the Belgium job as an act of “revenge” and says he still blames former players for his Old Trafford exit. Van Gaal was sacked two years into his three-year deal and would have had to give up a portion of his pay-off to take another job. “It would have been really great if I had become Belgium national coach, but I was so resentful and vindictive that I let that job go by,” Van Gaal told De Volkskrant. “It was stupid, really, because…
Arsene Wenger has said the future of Alexis Sanchez will most likely be settled within the next couple of days. Asked about his future at the postmatch news conference, he said: “Look, if Alexis goes we need to replace him. “When you look today we missed many players in our squad, and if players like Alexis go, we have of course to respond to it. “Will he go or not? I do not know, but at the moment it’s the transfer period and in this kind of period you try to use the players that are completely focused at being…
Ryan Giggs has been unveiled as the new Wales boss on a four-year deal that takes in Euro 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The role is Giggs’s first role in management after three years as assistant manager at Manchester United — including four matches in caretaker charge after David Moyes’s sacking towards the end of the 2014 season. Craig Bellamy, Osian Roberts and Mark Bowen were also interviewed for the role by the FAW last week, but Giggs was given the job, with the terms of his deal to take over tied up over the weekend. In a…
Samuel Ortom, and respected Benue leaders have rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to create cattle colonies in the state during a stakeholders meeting on Monday, January 15, 2018. The governor, who’s always opposed the plan, said that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, who is proposing the idea, explained that the cattle colonies are a combination of several ranches. He said, “Like I told you the last time I came here, I did not understand what colonies meant. Today, I was privileged to meet him (Ogbeh) and he did explain to me that a colony is many…
Sen. Walid Jibrin, the Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees has said that the party was working to present the best presidential candidate from the North in 2019. “All of us as a party have agreed that the President of Nigeria should come from the North in 2019. “I enjoin you to support the North to bring and give us capable presidential candidate. “We are all doing what we can in the North with all the leaders to identify who is the best candidate to rule this country. “The best person that will take power from the ruling…
Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said that the Federal Government has very clear plans to end herders/farmers clashes in the country. “We met with the Minister of Interior, there are very clear plans to curtail these issues, I don’t want to speak about security programmes on radio and television, but I want to assure everyone, the President and other security agencies are doing their best.’’ He stressed that the recent donation of $1 billion from Excess Crude Account by state governors were for the purchase military equipment to support the armed forces in securing the country. “The Nigerian armed…
Aisha Alhassan has debunked reports that she’s planning to dump the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) to join former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who has decamped to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). She said, “Politics is all about interest, and nobody forced me to leave PDP to join APC, so no want will force me out of it. I will continue to work for APC and that’s why I travelled out to Taraba, to campaign for our party’s candidate Sanusi Jambawaile. “I know many may wish to see me leaving APC, but let me assure them I will remain in APC!…
Three Nigerian billionaires have been ranked among the 23 richest persons in Africa by U.S based business magazine Forbes. Cement king, Alhaji Aliko Dangote occupies the first position with a net worth of $12.2 billion. This is his seventh year in a row. The 60-year old billionaire owns nearly 88 percent of Dangote Cement through a holding company. Telecom don, Mike Adenuga came in 5th on the ranking with a net worth of $5.3 billion. The Globacom CEO is currently in a bid for embattled 9Mobile and has been tipped as winner by unconfirmed reports. If this does happen, Globacom…
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama has asked the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, to clarify issues regarding the alleged racist remarks credited to U.S. President, Mr Donald Trump. The ministry’s Spokesperson, Dr Tope Elias-Fatile, in a statement, said that the Ambassador was represented by the Embassy’s Charge d’Affairs, Mr David Young. He said “the minister sought clarification on the veracity or otherwise of the substance of the remarks, stressing that if they were true, they were deeply hurtful, offensive and unacceptable, especially given the cordial relations that exist between Nigerian and the U.S.” “Young stressed that Trump’s…
Oyo State Government in Ibadan recently received 11 natives of the state rescued from Libya by the Federal Government. The Deputy Governor, Chief Moses Adeyemo revealed this today. He stated that the state government has taken it upon itself to make sure that all indigenes of the state are brought to the government secretariat and later reunited with their families. “The most important thing for all of us nowadays, particularly parents is to make sure that our children learn something apart from their academic qualifications. “This is why entrepreneurship has been introduced in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). “Our…
Dr Kayode Fayemi has challenged the 10-year ban slammed on him from holding political office by an Ekiti State Government White Paper. Fayemi, in a statement issued on his behalf by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Yinka Oyebode shed more light on the matter. He described the action as “a big joke’’. “While we believe it is part of the responsibilities of the state administration to look into the finances of the state at any point in time, we are also of the belief that such must be done in a very responsible manner devoid of prejudice, witch…
Muhammadu Buhari has asked the government and people of Benue State to exercise restraint following the recent attacks on some communities, assuring that all the perpetrators of violence in the state will be made to face the wrath of the law. He said relevant agencies had been directed to start catering for the humanitarian needs. “Your Excellency, the governor, and all the leaders here, I am appealing to you to try to restrain your people. I assure you that the Police, the Department of State Security and other security agencies had been directed to ensure that all those behind the…
Yemi Osinbajo has denied receiving any letter from Governor Samuel Ortom, warning him of the planned attacks or threats by herdsmen. He expressed shock over the governor’s claims, which he described as a “terrible falsehood”. “It will be a terrible falsehood to suggest that the VP was ever informed by the governor or anyone else of the imminence of the killing of citizens of our country in those or any other local governments in Benue state,” Osinbajo said. “The Miyetti Allah had written to the Vice President on the 5th of June 2017 on the same law protesting several sections…