Liverpool cannot match Arsenal’s brand of possession football and they will not try that either in Wednesday’s Premier League clash, manager Jurgen Klopp has said. Liverpool have lost three of their last six league matches and are currently eighth going into the match against the table-topping Gunners. “Arsenal and Arsene (Wenger) have their own style, it’s possession football, so it’s clear that if we want to play the same way we will be without a chance because they’ve been doing it for longer,” Klopp told British media. The job is not easy for a Liverpool team smarting from Friday’s disappointing…
Author: David F.
Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink believes Eden Hazard can respond to his disappointing season and win the Ballon D’Or in the future. The Belgian playmaker was last year’s PFA Player of the Year but has failed to even score in club football so far this current campaign. Hazard will miss Wednesday’s home Premier League match with West Bromwich Albion as he recovers from a groin injury but he has returned to training and Hiddink believes he will come good again when he resumes action. “It’s for me about freshness,” he said. “If the mind is fresh, if players are eager…
Nigerian striker, Brown Ideye scored his second league goal in as many weeks when he inspired Olympiacos to their 17th consecutive win in the Greek Super League. The striker netted on the half hour to take his season’s haul in all competitions for the Piraeus club to eight. He has scored seven times in the league this season following an unhappy spell at English club, West Bromwich Albion. Ideye was the stand out performer in a quiet weekend for Nigerians. Brown Ideye netted his seventh league goal of the season as Olympiacos cruised to victory.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has ruled out adding more firepower in the January transfer window to bolster his side’s Premier League title challenge, saying Nigerian teenager Kelechi Iheanacho was adequate back-up. Iheanacho is third choice behind Sergio Aguero and Wilfried Bony but has still scored five goals in all competitions despite being limited to a number of substitute and cup appearances this season. The 19-year-old scored City’s second goal in the 3-0 FA Cup third round victory at Norwich City on Saturday. “Kelechi has been involved from the first game of this season,” Pellegrini told a news conference on…
Newcastle United have reached an agreement for the transfer of Swansea City midfielder Jonjo Shelvey for a fee of £12 million, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The 23-year-old is expected to undergo a medical later on Tuesday. Shelvey joined Swansea from Liverpool in 2013 for a reported £5 million. He has made 79 Premier League appearances and scored 10 goals for the Welsh club, who are fourth-bottom in the table, two points clear of the relegation zone. He was named in England manager Roy Hodgson’s squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against San Marino and Switzerland in September and has…
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is facing a selection headache in midfield ahead of his side’s Barclays Premier League trip to Newcastle United. Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger was a casualty of Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup third-round win over Sheffield United at Old Trafford, jarring his knee in a challenge with Chris Basham. Van Gaal does not expect the 31-year-old to be fit for the match at St James’ Park and the manager will also monitor Morgan Schneiderlin, who was rested over the weekend following a heavy festive workload. “Schneiderlin is not injured but he’s in the red zone and…
Spain’s Luis Enrique won the coach of the year award at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich on Monday. Enrique led Barcelona to a treble of Champions League, La Liga and Spanish Cup trophies last season. English-born Jill Ellis, coach of the American team that won last year’s World Cup in Canada, took the women’s award.
Barcelona are looking to reinforce their formidable attack in the January transfer window, the Spanish and European champions’ coach Luis Enrique said on Tuesday. Barca have one of the most potent forward lines in world soccer in Fifa Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez but lack a reliable replacement if any of the prolific South Americans are sidelined. Academy graduates Munir el Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez are the only other recognised forwards in the squad but have failed to impress since their promotion from the B team. “Right now our greatest need is to strengthen the attacking…
Lionel Messi said on Monday he would swap all his individual awards including four Ballon d’Or trophies for a single World Cup win. Barcelona and Argentina star Messi is the overwhelming favourite to add a fifth world player of the year crown to his collection at the Fifa Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich later on Monday. He is up against current holder and three-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as his Barca teammate Neymar. Asked what he would choose between his plethora of Ballon d’Or awards and a World Cup, the 28-year-old said: The World Cup, of course.” He added:…
Lionel Messi deposed eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo to take back his crown as the undisputed king of world football by lifting a record fifth Ballon d’Or on Monday. Much has changed since, just 12 months ago, a disgruntled Messi, fresh from losing a World Cup final and disillusioned with coach Luis Enrique’s regime at Barcelona, sat in stony silence as Ronaldo announced his intention to hunt down the Argentine’s then-record four Ballon d’Or haul. A year on, the roles were reversed, Messi’s record now even further beyond Ronaldo’s reach in the personal duel between the two men who have taken…
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany could be sidelined with a calf injury until “the last part of the season”, manager Manuel Pellegrini revealed on Tuesday. Kompany, 29, has made just 12 appearances this season due to a succession of calf problems. The Belgium centre-back’s latest injury, sustained during City’s 4-1 win over Sunderland on December 26, was initially expected to keep him out of action for four weeks, but Pellegrini has revised that prognosis. “Vincent maybe not so soon,” Pellegrini told a press conference when asked when his skipper was likely to return. “But for the last part of the…
Lionel Messi deposed eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo to take back his crown as the undisputed king of world football by lifting a record fifth Ballon d’Or on Monday. Much has changed since, just 12 months ago, a disgruntled Messi, fresh from losing a World Cup final and disillusioned with coach Luis Enrique’s regime at Barcelona, sat in stony silence as Ronaldo announced his intention to hunt down the Argentine’s then-record four Ballon d’Or haul. A year on, the roles were reversed, Messi’s record now even further beyond Ronaldo’s reach in the personal duel between the two men who have taken…
Louis van Gaal admits there have been times this season when even he has been left feeling bored and angry by Manchester United’s lacklustre displays. United ended an eight-match winless run by defeating Swansea nine days ago and then followed that victory up with a narrow success in the FA Cup against third tier Sheffield United. But neither result was enough to ease the pressure on United boss Van Gaal because of the dull and uninspiring performances of his team. Paul Scholes branded United’s style of play boring earlier this season and following Saturday’s 1-0 victory in the FA Cup,…
Francis Garriba of the United Nations Refugee Agency has disclosed that the Nigerian government is putting the lives of 2.2m displaced persons at risk following plans to return them to their communities. In a recent report by NBC News, Garriba stressed that though most of the territory once held by Boko Haram has been recaptured, the insurgents’ renewed guerrilla campaign is deadlier than ever. “The concern from humanitarian actors is that some of these areas are still very risky for people to live in. To return the IDPs [internally displaced people] to their home communities is premature in many cases,”…
Pastor Tunde Bakare, the overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, has called for a spiritual solution to the nation’s problems, adding that the Federal Government is helpless. He said this at a prayer session held in his church for the nation. Bakare said “I need to call your attention to the comments made by my brother and governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, who said Nigeria had sunk deeper than any human being can redeem. If the people in government, who promised us change can say this, where does our hope lie? “So, you can begin to wonder where the…
The Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare has called for the sack of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele. He said the CBN Governor should also be held responsible for the mismanagement of the funds meant for the purchase of arms, because he approved the release of the funds to the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Bakare also said it would not be fair to try the former National Security Adviser alone. According to Punch Newspapers, he said “The CBN currently contributes negatively to the Nigerian state in more ways than one. Firstly, the…
The Federal Fire Service has said that it will sanction any person who failed to comply to the National Fire Safety Code in putting up public structures in the country. The Controller-General of the service, Mr Joseph Anebi, made the disclosure at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja on Sunday. He urged Nigerians to always seek the advice of the service by sending their building plans for vetting and review before embarking on the project. ADVERTISING Anebi, who decried the incessant fire outbreaks in the country, attributed most of the incidents to carelessness of some Nigerians. He said that…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has released Jafaru Isa, a political associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, after he returned N100 million out of N170 million which he collected from former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki. Isa, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also reportedly promised to refund the remaining N70 million soon. “We let him go after returning the sum of N100million. We are expecting him to return the rest soon,” a source said. ADVERTISING Isa was said to have collected the money from Dasuki to acquire a property for him. The APC chieftain was…
Alhaji Musa Yaketi, Kwara Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, says the state government has applied for N1.5 billion loan for payment of teachers’ salary. Yaketi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Monday that as soon as the loan was secured, government would commence payment. He said the state government has earlier secured a loan of N4.8 billion from Sterling Bank, part of which was used to pay the first tranche of the salary, remaining three months arrears. The commissioner appealed to teachers across the state to suspend the strike, in the interest of their…
Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai has said the Nigerian Army has defeated terrorist sect, Boko Haram. Buratai made the comment over the weekend while laying the foundation stone for the new Brigade headquarters complex at the 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Daily Trust reports. “The North East operation is critical at this stage. The terrorists have been defeated; these criminals may rear their ugly heads through other means. We will continue to maintain vigilance,” Buratai said. ADVERTISING He also commended the troops for crushing the insurgency in the North East. President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier also…