Football News: Review Of The Day 18th January 2018

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Review of the Day

Flanagan Condemned By Club

Liverpool have condemned Jon Flanagan following the defender's sentencing after being found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend in a drunken argument. Flanagan was seen to slam her against the wall and kick her while she was lying on the ground. Flanagan had pleaded guilty and was lucky to escape a jail sentence for the crime he committed. It is now to be seen whether he will have a future at his boyhood club.

Burnley Boosted By Heaton Return

Deputy Nick Pope has filled in excellently while Tom Heaton has been out with a dislocated shoulder, even making a save against Manchester City that saw Pope save from Jesus, but the return of club captain Heaton will be a huge boost to the Clarets. Recently their form has dipped massively, despite Pope's good form, and Heaton will want to be back in the team to pursue his World Cup dream for the summer. The competition can only be good for a team trying to hold onto a top 7 place.

Malcom In The Middle

Bordeaux's young Brazilian forward Malcom was seen laughing and joking with team-mates Cafu (not that one) and Otavio on a social media video following the defeat against Caen on Tuesday. Now the three face disciplinary action from the club for showing a 'lack of maturity, solidarity and respect towards the institution'. Perhaps it should be sackcloth and ashes next time following a defeat?

Transfer Roundabout Under Way

Everton have completed the signing of England international Theo Walcott from Arsenal as manager Sam Allardyce searches for more pace to chase the long balls from the back.

Celtic midfielder Liam Henderson has headed off to Italy to sign for Bari. The 21 year old had come through Celtic's youth system but found himself on the fringes at Celtic Park. He secured himself a permanent move to the Italian Serie B club after a successful trial.

US Owners Increase Swansea Stake

The majority ownership group Swansea Football LLC has increased its shareholding in the South Wales club after buying the stake of former director Leigh Dineen, to take their holding in Swansea City over 69%. The group has 27 investors and has been attempting to buy the shares held by Swansea City Supporters Trust, who hold 21.1% of the club's stock. With talks failing to produce a result, the group moved to purchase Dineen's 1% stake.

VAR Produces Controversy

The 'video assistant referee' system being trialled in English football has gone from hero to zero over night. After being lauded in the previous night's FA Cup Replay, after correctly overturning an offside decision, it is now being castigated after not overturning a decision by the referee to not give a penalty, and to book Willian for diving, following an incident in the box. I am not so sure why there is so much fuss when this was never meant to be what VAR was for anyway. It is meant for matters of fact, such as whether or not a player is offside or if the card had been shown to the wrong player, not a matter of opinion, such as if it was a penalty or a dive.

Brown Sent On Gardening Leave

After almost 5 years in charge of Southend United, and with a contract due to expire in the summer anyway, manager Phil Brown has been sent on gardening leave until the two parties can agree a settlement. Southend sit 18th in the table, 2 points above the relegation zone, after losing 7 of their last 8 League 1 matches. The club stated that, as well as the poor performances, the lack of discipline within the club has made Brown's position untenable. With ex-Newcastle United striker Nile Ranger having had his contract terminated this month over 'reoccurring disciplinary issues', the board probably have a point that there is a problem within the club. Brown's period with Southend has not been entirely without success, he was the manager to lead them up to League One via the play-offs in 2015, though he will be most widely remembered for his half time team talk on the pitch while in charge of Hull City a number of years ago.

Neymar Reignites Cavani Spat

With PSG winning 7-0 and Neymar already having a hat-trick, Edison Cavani won a penalty late in the game. With Cavani having scored once to draw level as the club's record goalscorer of all time on 156 goals, tied with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the crowd began to chant for Cavani to take the penalty. However Neymar stepped up to score amongst whistles from the crowd. For all his great play, after all 4 goals and 2 assists is an excellent performance, that moment showed what Neymar Jr. is all about - Neymar Jr. Oh and the big fat bonus that wends its way to his bank account each time he scores a goal.

Walcott Wants Trophies

In an attempt to prove that the stereotype of footballers not being the brightest bulb in the box is correct, Theo Walcott has said he left Arsenal to join Everton to win trophies. This despite Arsenal winning 3 of the last 4 FA Cups and Everton not having won anything since 1995 and being managed by a manager who has never won a major trophy. Walcott also said: "I'm dead excited and I just want to do what I do best which is playing football." However anyone who has ever seen the England winger play will know that what he does best is run very fast in a straight line.

Barca Beaten

In a huge surprise in the Catalan derby, the other Barcelona-based club, Espanyol, have recorded a 1-0 win over Barcelona as Lionel Messi once again failed to score from the spot. After 29 matches in all competitions unbeaten, this will be a huge setback to the Nou Camp side, though they do not take the Copa del Rey as seriously as the league and there is a second leg at home to come. However it is not all good for Espanyol, who are likely to face sanction following Barcelona's keeper, Jasper Cillesen, being hit by an object, believe to be a bottle cap, thrown by their supporters.

Juventus Confirm Can Interest

In news that is not really news and will surprise no one, Juventus director Giuseppe Marotta has confirmed that they are trying to sign Liverpool midfielder Emre Can. Can himself has said that he is "talking with everyone".

Celtic Hit By Injuries

With the Scottish season set to resume following their Winter break, Celtic have been hit by a series of injuries. On loan wideman Patrick Roberts has a hamstring problem, Stuart Armstrong has had a hernia operation and the new centre back signed from RB Leipzig Marvin Compper is out for a month with a calf strain. Now Australian Tom Rogic has added to the spate of injuries with a knee problem ruling him out for about 2 months. The frustration showed as manager Brendan Rodgers responded to comments from former player Kris Commons: "No, there is not," he shrugged. "By whom? Scrutiny by whom? Ok, move on." Under his breath and with a contemptuous wave of the hand, he murmured: "Kris Commons...." Rodgers then continued, "I'm about deeds, not words. I've heard some s**t since I've been up here. I'm worried about deeds. That's the part of your industry that I don't like. I don't want to stand here and waste my time. I have a mountain of things to do rather than talk about speculation, or what Kris Commons or other guys think. Everyone has an opinion but the opinions are not always the reality."

Aubameyang Baffling Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund's head coach Peter Stoger has admitted that he cannot comprehend Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's conduct as the Gabonese international is dropped for the second time this season for disciplinary reasons. Aubameyang had skipped a key team meeting ahead of the match with VfL Wolfsburg, which resulted in a second ban for the player as the club feels fines have no effect. Whether bans have any effect or not also must be in question considering this is the forward's second ban of the season already!

Otamendi Signs New City Deal

Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi, who is currently being feted by the media for having the best passing percentage in the Premier League despite only passing the ball 5 yards sideways and backwards, has signed a new contract with the league leaders, tying him to the club until 2022. Otamendi said in a statement, "I am learning every day under Pep and enjoying my football and I feel I can still improve as a player." As anyone who has watched him trying to actually defend would agree, he can certainly still improve a lot.

Football Has Changed

In one of those cases that show how football was different in the 'old days' Liam Brady tells a story about his time in Italian football, after he left Sampdoria to be replaced by Graeme Souness. Facing his former club Brady was scythed down by a Souness challenge with real intent as the Scottish midfielder snarled at him angrily. Brady asked Trevor Francis what was up with Souness, only it seemed like he really was trying to hurt him (more than usual with Souness!) and was angry with him. Francis advised him to steer clear of Souness as he had taken Brady's apartment after he left, arriving late at night to find Brady had taken all the lights with him and he was still wound up about having to move in to a dark apartment. Brady recollects spending the rest of the game running away from the Scotsman intent on revenge. The modern day footballer would never have to worry about not having lights, as they would have a team of people to make sure everything is in order before they moved in. Modern day midfielders are far too busy filming their latest haircut for InstaSnapTwitFace to have time to do their own removal.

Written by Tris Burke January 18 2018 06:31:37