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Showing posts from October 31, 2021

PL: Southampton 1 - 0 Aston Villa

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 Adam Armstrong's early goal helped Southampton continue their revival in the Premier League Aston Villa are clearly short on confidence. They got off to a disastrous start with Matt Cash failing to clear a long ball and Armstrong smashing in a sensational first-time effort from 20 yards. Watch the highlights in the video below. You'd have to wonder if Aston Villa boss Dean Smith is starting to feel the pressure. He told BBC Sport: "We started [well] the first couple of minutes, then a cross hits Matty Cash on the bum and drops down for their lad who hits a superb half-volley to score. That knocked the stuffing out of us. "When you're on a bad run, something like that is hard to take. They were the better team in the first half." More Aston Villa news can be found by clicking here The Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl one the other hand was clearly delighted with his side's performance. They are now up to 12th in the Premier League table. Hasenhuttl tol

UEL news: West Ham through after draw

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West Ham United reached the Europa League knockout stage despite a late own goal from Tomas Soucek  The Hammers have 10 points from four games. They are six clear of Genk with two games left and look set to go through as Group H winners. Finishing top of the group would guarantee them a last-16 spot. The group runners up to go into a play-off with a third-placed team from the Champions League. Dinamo Zagreb's 3-1 win over Rapid Vienna left the Croatian side second, four points behind West Ham.  KRC Genk 2 - 2 West Ham United These highlights are from the BT Sport YouTube channel. One fan told us: "Not the best performance but we'll be playing European football Christmas. That doesn't happen very often!" Dinamo Zagreb 3 - 1 Rapid Vienna These Dinamo players were clearly delighted with their performance. They have given themselves a great chance of joining West Ham in the next round. Three points and three goals for Dinamo Zagreb against Rapid Wien 👏💙 #UEL pi

UEL reaction: Ferencvárosi TC 2 - 3 Celtic

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Celtic picked up a crucial Europa League victory against Ferencvaros in Budapest. The Glasgow side moved a point behind Real Betis, who were thrashed 4-0 at Bayer Leverkusen, with two games to play in the group. The Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou told BT Sport: "Full credit to the boys. It was three great goals, I thought we could have had a couple more. I'm disappointed at conceding the second goal as I don't think it was a true reflection of how we played tonight. "The fact we can get three goals away from home is because we just go at teams. I still think that is the way forward. It's the kind of team we want to be and I think it's the team our supporters want us to be." One Celtic fan told us: "After some of the appalling performances last season, this campaign has been a breath of fresh air. We are looking superb at times and we could easily progress to the next stage of this competition." Another spoke with great passion about their man

UCL reaction: Manchester City 4 - 1 Club Bruges

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Raheem Sterling ended his goal drought to wrap up a comfortable Champions League win for Manchester City  The only negative on a routine victory was a bizarre own goal by John Stones only two minutes after City originally had taken the lead. Bernardo Silva sliced a clearance into the defender's face and then the net. FULL TIME | A good night's work! 🤝 🔵 4-1 ⚫️ #ManCity pic.twitter.com/RAXEgQiF5I — Manchester City (@ManCity) November 3, 2021 Manchester City have now replaced PSG at the top of the group after the French side drew 2-2 at RB Leipzig. They now require a single point from their remaining two group games to seal a spot in the last 16 for the ninth successive season. After the match, the Manchester City manager said: "Every game my focus is the next one and I never think about the second one. I know the game against United is the most important thing, we are going to create a good environment but you cannot imagine how important today was." City's Ph

UCL reaction: Malmö FF 0 - 1 Chelsea

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Let's have a look at the best reaction from around the continent as Chelsea moved a step closer to the last 16 of the Champions League with a hard-fought win over Malmo. The reigning European champions ahead when Hakim Ziyech converted at the back post following a superb pass from Callum Hudson-Odoi. Post match reaction Click play on the video below to hear what Ziyech had to say about his and the team's performance in Sweden.  One Chelsea fan who commented on the above YouTube video was very positive about the win: "I absolutely love this man. True Chelsea fans will support our wizard until the very end." Another spoke to us offline and said: "It was a good win even if it wasn't the best performance. We are almost through to the next stage of the competition which is obviously the main at this stage of the season. Picking up three points in the next game would mean we can rest players for the final group game. That could be crucial." This is how the C

UCL: Atalanta 2 - 2 Manchester United

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Cristiano Ronaldo rescued Manchester United with a sensational late goal to earn his side a point against Atalanta in Champions League Group F. The 36-year-old, who also levelled in first-half added time, volleyed in from outside the box in added time for his second of the night. Watch the highlights of the match in the video below. Did United get lucky? Throughout the match, United had struggled to impose themselves but they also produced the move of the match for Ronaldo to grab his first, pouncing on Fernandes touch to level after a first half in which United had battled to keep the hosts at bay. Reaction from those involved Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke with the media after the match: “Nobody can question the character of these players. They just don’t give up, don’t give in and keep going. We had to make a few changes and they worked." Solskjaer and United left back Luke Shaw were full of praise for the performance of Eric Bailly. Shaw said: "He

Icons: Gianfranco Zola

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Gianfranco Zola is another football icon that a wonderful career He is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played predominantly as a forward. He was most recently the assistant manager of Chelsea. Quick summary of his career He spent the first decade of his playing career playing in Italy, most notably with Napoli, alongside Diego Maradona and Careca, where he was able to win the Serie A title, and at Parma, where he won the Italian Super Cup and the UEFA Cup.  He later moved to Chelsea, where he was voted the Football Writers' Player of the Year in the 1996–97 season. During his time at the club, he won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, two FA Cups, the League Cup, and the Community Shield.  Who remembers this wonderful goal against Manchester United? In 2003, he was voted Chelsea's greatest player ever. You could even argue that he played a crucial part of Chelsea's rise to become a force across England and then the continent. With

Premier League reaction: Antonio Conte appointed as Tottenham manager

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Let's have a look at the reaction as Antonio Conte was appointed by Tottenham as their new manager until summer 2023. The Premier League club sacked Nuno Espirito Santo on Monday after just 17 games. The recent defeat by Manchester United was the final straw for the hierarchy at the club. The former Inter Milan manager said: "I am extremely happy to return to coaching, and to do so at a Premier League club that has the ambition to be a protagonist again." Social media reaction Let's have a look at the best tweets since Conte's appointment. This is how the Tottenham official account responded. ✍️ We are delighted to announce the appointment of Antonio Conte as our Head Coach on a contract until the summer of 2023, with an option to extend. — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 2, 2021 One fan replied: "What an appointment! However, you would have to ask why he wasn't brought in after Mourinho was sacked? It could be a very interesting few

Premier League: Aston Villa 1 - 4 West Ham United

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West Ham United continued to impress as they beat Aston Villa 4-1. The result leaves the Hammers level on points with third-placed Manchester City. Things are looking less promising for Villa. They remain in 15th place and only three points above the relegation zone. The highlights Watch the embedded YouTube video below to see some of the best action Villa Park. One fan commented on the video simply saying: "Superb". Post match reaction Most of the post match reaction focused on West Ham's great run of form and where they could potentially finish the season. In an interesting article for the BBC, former Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder was full of praise for the job David Moyes is doing: David is someone I have got a huge admiration for, going back to when he started out at Preston and then shaking a big club from top to bottom like he did at Everton. He gave his Everton team an identity that matched the club's own - they are known as the people's club - and

Icons: Franz Beckenbauer

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Franz Beckenbauer is a German former professional footballer and manager.  Quick summary of his career During an illustrious career, he was nicknamed "The Emperor" because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the field, The first name "Franz" is reminiscent of the Austrian emperors. He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He was a versatile player who started as a midfielder, Beckenbauer made his name as a central defender. He is often credited with having invented the role of the modern sweeper. Very few players have had that level of impact on the sport.  Club career At club level with Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1967 and three consecutive European Cups from 1974 to 1976. The latter feat made him the first player to win three European Cups as captain of his club. He became team manager and later president of Bayern Munich. After two spells with the New York Cosmos, he

Scottish Premiership: Aberdeen 2 - 1 Heart of Midlothian

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Aberdeen came from behind to end Hearts' unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership season and revive their own campaign. Having previously gone 10 games without a win, Stephen Glass was under severe pressure. Aberdeen have since responded brilliantly with seven points from nine against Hibs, Rangers, and Hearts. Given the opposition and injuries, it has been a superb showing from the Aberdeen boss and his players. You can hear what the Aberdeen manager had to say by watching the video below.  The result means that Hearts have dropped to third place in the table and Aberdeen are now 6th.  More reaction The Hearts manager Robbie Neilson spoke with the media after the match: "I don't think we played to the levels we have consistently this season. We were going to lose at one point and today was that day. "There's going to be days where you don't pick up the points, that's football. We just need to get back to it now and make sure we get the points next wee

Premier League: Manchester City 0 - 2 Crystal Palace

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Pep Guardiola said many things went wrong for Manchester City after Crystal Palace ruined his 200th Premier League game at the club. Wilfried Zaha pounced on an Aymeric Laporte error to put Palace ahead and the France defender was later sent off for a professional foul on the Eagles forward. Conor Gallagher's late second goal sealed the visitors' victory after Gabriel Jesus had seen an equaliser chalked off by the video assistant referee. Guardiola spoke about the red card after the match: "It could be a yellow card, could be a red, it depends on the decision of the referee. The disallowed goal, I didn’t see it but we didn’t lose because of that." The Manchester City manager added: "We conceded an early goal, played a good first half but at the same time there was the sending off and the interpretation from the referee. "Unfortunately it went wrong with many, many things. We didn’t have many chances in the first half but we had enough to score. Even wit

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 3 Manchester United

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Cristiano Ronaldo was the inspiration behind an excellent Manchester United display against Tottenham Hotspur This provided the perfect response to last week's 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool at Old Trafford that raised questions over Solskjaer's future. Ronaldo made life more comfortable for his boss with a sublime far-post volley from Bruno Fernandes' cross. This was followed by a slide-rule pass to set up Edinson Cavani for a second. Marcus Rashford wrapped things up with a cool finish just four minutes from time as Spurs fans erupted in fury against Nuno and their chairman Daniel Levy. Towards the ground, Spurs fans started chanting"we want Levy out." Tottenham manager Nuno has been struggling to win over supporters but the atmosphere inside this vast arena turned very angry as they slipped tamely to defeat here. They were already in a grim mood before their boss made the highly-contentious decision to replace Moura with Bergwijn nine minutes after the break. Ch