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Football News: Review Of The Day 25th February 2018

Review Of The Day 25th February 2018
Image from: myjoyonline.com

Review of the Day

 

West Brom Dismissed As Potter Option

Ostersunds chairman Daniel Kindberg has dismissed the chances of Graham Potter returning to West Bromwich Albion, where he once played, because he will go to 'big club where they have class'. With Potter performing what amounts to a minor miracle to achieve European football with a club that he took over in Sweden's 4th tier, many clubs are watching him with an eye to employing him. The Baggies sit bottom of the Premier League and even manager Alan Pardew has admitted yesterday that he has 'one and a half bags packed' as he nears the sack with yet another defeat. But Kindberg has told the Swedish press: "He's not going anywhere." When asked about West Brom Kindberg said: "They can not afford him. Should he go to a club then he will go to one of Europe's big clubs. Why go to a small club in the first or second league, that's useless. They kick the managers out every other week there. It does not work. He goes to a big club where they have class."

 

Boro Hit By Striker Injury Blow

Middlesbrough have lost their Benin international striker Rudy Gestede for the rest of the season after he suffered a fractured ankle during the win over Hull City on Tuesday night.

 

Hodgson Defends Alli Against Diving Accusations

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has dismissed the claims that Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli is a diver, saying Alli is 'no cheat'. "We do our team talk about Tottenham and discuss their players, but we certainly don't discuss Dele Alli and diving because I don't think he does - simple as that," he said. "He runs with the ball and gets knocked over. In the time I was working with him [during his time as England coach], I saw no aspects to his play or to his character that suggested cheating in any way whatsoever. Yes, he will get knocked over in the penalty area, and he'll get fouled. Some will be given as penalties and some won't be, and when the penalty isn't given people will say he dived. That's the nature of football today, but he's no cheat and he doesn't dive, that's for sure."

 


Shaqiri Is World Class Says Lambert

Paul Lambert believes Xherdan Shaqiri is 'world class'. "I think as I've said before he's a real world class footballer, and he was unlucky with his vision in the second half," he told Sky Sports. "He makes things happen. Thankfully he's playing ever so well, which is great for us, but I couldn't fault the team in every department. I thought we were outstanding, we played ever so well. We had to weather the storm early on, and I thought we defended really strong as a team. We looked a threat on the counter, and performance-wise it was outstanding, and we maybe deserved to win the game, with some great chances."

 

Hargreaves Says Man Utd Are The Second Best Squad In The Prem

Former Man Utd and Man City midfielder Owen Hargreaves has backed United to get second this season. Hargeaves told Radio 5 Live: "I think Manchester United have the second best squad in the Premier League, just in terms of individual talent. City have got the best one. Chelsea don't have a stronger squad than United. They've got the best goalkeeper [David de Gea] in the country have United. They've got Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford - two of the most dynamic young players in Europe. Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba are brilliant players in their position. That is an incredibly gifted group of players."

 

Germain Calls Neymar Annoying As A Player

Marseille striker Valere Germain has had a few things to say about Neymar Jr: "He's a spectacular player, but in my opinion he exaggerates a bit. When I watch him on television he annoys me, he irritates me. You get the impression he isn't happy at Paris Saint-Germain. I don't like the attitude of laughing at others, it's normal that they kick him. It's like in life, if someone laughs at you, pow! In the game earlier in the season, at the Velodrome, he was sent off because he went crazy."

 

Lambert Calls Butland Best Keeper In Britain

Not content with one ludicrous statement in a day, as he lauds his Swiss midfielder Shaqiri as 'world class', Stoke City manager Paul Lambert ramped up the ridiculousness of his comments by calling his keeper Jack Butland the "best goalkeeper in Britain" after he conceded a terrible own goal. Obviously he is a bit out of touch with reality or has just never seen David de Gea play!

 

Ronaldo Shows Team Spirit

Zinedine Zidane has been effusive in his praise for Cristiano Ronaldo after he gave up his chance of a hat-trick to let Karim Benzema take a late penalty. The French striker has been struggling for goals this season and Ronaldo did something Neymar Jr would certainly never do, he did what was right for the team over what would was best for himself. "I'm very happy with Ronaldo's gesture," Zidane said. "This is a team game and it was a wonderful gesture."

 

FIFA In New Concerns Over World Cup Bid Process

After it was revealed that FIFA insisted in clauses in broadcasting rights for the 2026 World Cup, which will net them well in excess of £200million from American broadcasters, if the World Cup is awarded to the joint-bid from USA, Canada and Mexico, concerns have been raised once more about the bidding process.

 

Payet In Biggest Club Jibe Aimed At PSG

Ahead of the Ligue 1 clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille today, Marseille's Dmitri Payet has aimed a jibe at Qatari-owned PSG by claiming he plays for France's 'biggest club'. "I do not envy Paris. I play in France's biggest club," France international Payet said. "And I have a team. We saw it recently, it's always better to play as a team rather than to pile up individuals."

 

Birmingham Manager Needs Police Escort For Protection From Birmingham Fans

Steve Cotterill's struggles with Birmingham City have seen the Blues slip into the bottom three in the Championship following a run of four league defeats in a row. However the abuse from the terraces has gone beyond chants telling Cotterill to leave as a supporter confronted him following the first goal from Barnsley on Saturday. The supporter appeared to throw their season ticket in his direction and Cotterill needed a police escort to leave the pitch at both half and full time, though it did not stop him telling reporters that another Brum supporter had thrown a Coke bottle at him.

 

Neil Lennon Slams Scottish Referees

After being sent to the stands for sarcastically applauding in referee Kevin Clancy's face, Hibernian manager Neil Lennon has hit out at Scotland's amateur system and claimed Clancy made it personal. "I'm probably looking at a ban and that is down to incompetence and guesswork," he said. "It's impossible for him to give that. I think he's guessed. It's hit Ryan here (gestures to chest). The ball is going a mile wide as well. We've seen it again and he can't see it from the angle he's at. This is the same referee who didn't given us a clear handball against Rangers at Easter Road. As for me being sent off without really being over-critical of the decision at the time, he's made it personal because I criticised him after the Easter Road game. I am not happy with him at all. To send me off, I'm far from happy. And then I can't do my job for the last half hour. Why can't we send referees off when they are so blatantly ruining the game? I don't want him refereeing us again this season. But I probably won't get my way on that. Huge decisions have gone against us this season. I'm at my wit's end with referees at the minute. You ring John Fleming on a Monday and you get the same 'Yeah, yeah...'," said Lennon. "You go round in circles and I've lost a lot of faith in it to tell you the truth. That's why I've not really got on the wrong side of the law this season. It's amateur. Mickey Mouse stuff. The standard needs to get better. They (the referees) are not good enough. The standard is declining as the game in Scotland is improving."

 

Mbappe Hits Back At Assou-Ekotto

A developing feud between PSG's young superstar Kylian Mbappe and Metz's never-has-been Benoit Assou-Ekotto has ramped up. In the first half of the season Assou-Ekotto smashed into Mbappe with a tackle that could easily have left the young French international with a broken leg and the two have not seen eye to eye since. Then Mbappe was quoted saying that he would like to help African teams develop, which saw Cameroon international Assou-Ekotto tweet: "Those European players from African descent that claim to have Africa in their heart and want to help sports develop and blah blah blah, but they rush to play for a European National Team. They make me laugh, but I guess we should consider it as a 'good cause'". Mbappe quickly hit back with his own tweet: "Those African players who have Africa in their heart and want to help African sports develop and blah blah blah...but they go out in the international stage to fight their own team-mates in 2014...you make me laugh, but I guess those are your values". Mbappe was referencing the moment in the 2014 World Cup when an on-pitch, mid-game fight between Assou-Ekotto and Cameroon team-mate Moukandjo saw Assou-Ekotto head-butt Moukandjo in one of the most embarrassing moments in Cameroon's football history. I think we can call that one-nil to Mbappe so far!

 

Keeper Chooses Wrong Moment To Have A Drink

In Bundesliga 2, promotion chasing Duisburg conceded an equaliser as they led 1-0 at home to Ingolstadt when their goalkeeper wandered off into the back of his net for a drink just at the wrong time. Duisburg had just had a goal disallowed and keeper Mark Flekken decided to turn his back on the play and walk to the back of the goal net to pick up his drinks bottle. Ingolstadt's keeper launched the ball forward and home defender Gerrit Nauber headed the ball back towards Flekken, not realising he was still stood having a drink with his back to the play. Opposing forward Stefan Kutschke was able to nip in unchallended to slot home as the embarrassed Flekken turned in time to witness the ball cross the line. Luckily for the red-faced keeper, Duisburg managed to go on to win 2-1 in the end.

 

Suarez Foiled In Blatant Attempt To Get Booking

With Luis Suarez just one booking away from a one game suspension and a relatively easy game with Las Palmas next up, the Uruguayan spent the final few minutes of the game against Girona trying his hardest to get booked. Despite scoring a hat-trick, most people who saw the game will probably most remember it for Suarez's antics at the end, when he tried everything to get that yellow card with repeated fouls on Girona defender Pablo Maffeo. Right at the death, after first shoving Maffeo and then rugby tackling him right in front of the referee, Suarez even mimicked being shown a card to the referee, but still the ref refused to act. It does make you wonder why he was not shown a red card instead for 'unsportsmanlike conduct', a polite way of saying cheating.

Written by Tris Burke February 25 2018 06:02:40