Football News: Review Of The Day 9th October 2019

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Review of the Day

Transfers

Free agent Italian midfielder Andrea Bertolacci has signed for Sampdoria.

Sunderland Sack Ross

With just 7 league defeats since Jack Ross took over at Sunderland, only Liverpool and Manchester City losing less games in that time, it might be seen as something of a surprise that he has been sacked by the Mackems. Ross lost both the EFL Trophy final and the League One play-off final last season and they are currently in 6th place in League One this season after 11 games following a 2-0 defeat away to Lincoln City, which left them 8 points behind leaders Ipswich Town. Sunderland chairman Stewart Donald said on the club's official website: "This is a decision that has been made with a heavy heart. When we arrived at the club 18 months ago, we appointed Jack because we felt that he was the right man to take Sunderland forward over a number of years. Jack has worked extremely hard, and has helped us achieve stability at the club, and I sincerely thank him for his efforts. I hope and believe that he will go on to have a successful career in management."

Zaha Admits His Head Was Turned

Crystal Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha has admitted that he struggled to focus on his game at the start of the season due to the transfer speculation surrounding him. Both Arsenal and Everton made bids for the forward but neither club came near the ridiculous valuation placed on him by the Eagles. Zaha told the BBC: "I had to put my head down and play my football. I would have been hindering my own progress by moaning and not wanting to perform properly. I have too much respect for my manager, the fans and my team-mates to treat them that way. It was a thing where 'OK, this hasn't happened but I've got to get on with it'. I've got to prove every time that I'm the top player I claim to be so I had to get over that quickly. Obviously my head was a bit all over the place at the beginning of the season but I had to nail down and just get on with it because the team deserved that. I'm seeing how it goes. I'm a Crystal Palace player and I'm just trying to perform to the best of my ability for my club. I'm not thinking about anything else and just taking each day as it comes. The season's gone well so far. We've got a lot more in us and I'm happy with the squad and everyone's happy with where we are right now. All I can do is perform on the pitch. I'm trying to be a consistent performer on the pitch week in, week out. Last season I set myself a target of 10 goals and managed to get 10, so I was happy. Hopefully I can reach my goals again - that's all that's on my mind." Zaha was given an award in the Best of Africa Awards for his charity work in Cote D'Ivoire, where he gives 10% of his wages to charitable causes, including the orphanage his sister runs, called Tamara's Hope.

Schweiny Retires

Former German international and World Cup winning midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has retiured after finishing his season with MLS side Chicago Fire. The 35 year old joined Chicago on a free transfer, following an unsuccessful spell at Manchester United. As well as the World Cup, Schweinsteiger won 8 Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, where he made over 500 appearances and picked up his 121 Germany caps. Schweinsteiger said, when announcing his retirement: "The time has now come. To the fans, you made this unbelievable time possible for me."

Red Card Overturned

The red card shown to Leeds United defender Gaetano Berardi for what the referee adjudged to be a foul in the penalty area on Millwall forward Tom Bradshaw, has been overturned. The Swiss defender was sent off in the 14th minute (a club record) and his team went on to lose the match, after spending the main portion of the game having to play with just ten men after the penalty was converted. Berardi's pending suspension has also been lifted and he will now be available when the Championship returns to action after the international break.

Stendel Joins Unemployment Queue

Jack Ross is not the only manager sacked this week as Daniel Stendel joins him in the dole queue, despite leading Barnsley to promotion to the Championship last season. The popular German manager had failed to pick up a win in 10 games in the Championship, after beating Fulham (in style) on the opening day of the season. They are currently second from bottom of the table and Stendel admitted the team were struggling with confidence and "played like a youth team" in his final match, a 5-1 defeat to Preston North End. Though their back four did have an average ago of 20, so they pretty much were a youth team. A club statement simply read: "Barnsley Football Club confirms that it has separated from Daniel Stendel with immediate effect. Adam Murray has been appointed caretaker manager."

Brighton Fans Investigated By Police

Three Brighton & Hove Albion fans are facing trouble with the police after matches against Tottenham Hotspur. Two separate incidents of racism ocurred, the first involved two Brighton fans during an Under-23 match against Spurs, the second was during Saturday's victory over Spurs when one person was arrested by police at the stadium. Brighton's CEO Paul Barber said: "It is very encouraging that in both incidents our stewards were alerted to this totally unacceptable behaviour by other Albion fans and, working with Sussex Police, our staff were able to take swift action, which hopefully will increase the chances of a conviction. It's very hard to comprehend why some individuals think it's acceptable to behave in this way, but we are very clear that neither Brighton & Hove Albion, nor the wider football community, will tolerate racism or discrimination at any time, in any form. We would urge any fans confronted with similar discriminatory behaviour to report it immediately, either directly to a steward or via our anonymous hotline, and we will take strong action."

Tomori Commits To England

Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori was recently revealed to be the target of Nigeria, who were attempting to convince the centre back to commit his international future to the African nation over Canada and England. The 21 year old was born in Canada and played for their under-20s team, but has decided to pledge his international future to England after receiving a surprise call-up for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria this month. Tomori said: "Depending on how you look at it, being eligible for three countries is a good thing and a bad thing. I wasn't expecting to be in the England squad at the beginning of the season, and once I got the call-up there was no doubt I would commit. It's a bit cliched but it is a dream. Growing up in England and seeing the players playing at Wembley, it was such a good feeling. It's indescribable. I tried to take it in as much as possible, but it was a very proud moment."

UEFA Charges

UEFA have announced their latest set of charges from the last round of European games. They also announced that they closed disciplinary proceedings against Olympiakos which had begun over the displaying of a banner deemed to be racist. No action is to be taken now. Celtic are facing charges of setting off of fireworks in the Europa League group stage game versus CFR Cluj 1907. The Europa League clash between Vitoria SC and Eintracht Frankfurt has lef to a number of charges, with Vitoria facing setting off of fireworks, throwing of objects and late kick-off charges. Eintracht Frankfurt are charged with throwing of objects, crowd disturbances, act of damages and late kick-off. Lazio are facing a racist behaviour charge after their match with Stade Rennais. The game between Malmo FF and FC Copenhagen has left Malmo facing setting off of fireworks, throwing of objects and stairways blocked charges. Copenhagen are charged with setting off of fireworks and an illicit banner. There was also a decision made with regard to a Euro 2020 qualifying match between Hungary and Slovakia last month, with Hungary's appeal against their racist behaviour charge rejected. Hungary will now have to host their next home game in UEFA competition behind closed doors, which will be against Azerbaijan on the 13th October. Hungary's football federation has also been fined 67,125 euros.

Lyon Sack Coach

Olympique Lyonnais have also joined the rush to sack their coach during the international break as they sack head coach Sylvinho. Gerald Baticle has been appointed as caretaker. Lyon are currently 14th in the Ligue 1 table with nine points from 9 matches. Sylvinho was formerly a left-back with Arsenal, Barcelona and Manchester City, before retiring from playing in 2011 and working as an assistant to Roberto Mancini and Tite.

Lazio To Ban Fans

Lazio have announced that they are going to try and find and punish the fans who were guilty of making racist chants against Stade Rennais in the Europa League last week. The announcement reads: "S.S. Lazio informs that it has received from UEFA a complaint concerning the behaviour of some fans responsible for having carried out acts defined as racist. Confirming that it will defend its reputation and tradition, the club announces that it has immediately taken steps to identify those responsible and will rigorously apply the code of ethics to remove the perpetrators from the stadium. It should also be noted that the Team, in order to protect its financial interests, will become a civil party in the process that should be celebrated against those who, as a result of PG investigations carried out by the police, should prove responsible."

Yet Another Manager Is Shown The Door

This time it is Marco Giampaolo who has been sacked by AC Milan after just 7 games in charge of the Serie A giants. The official announcement was: "AC Milan announces it has relieved Mr. Marco Giampaolo from his position as coach of the First Team. The Club is grateful to Marco for the work carried out and wishes him all the best to come in his professional career." The reported replacement of Stefano Pioli has not gone down well with fans, with a Pioli Out hashtag trending on social media and one fan even went to the club's HQ, Casa Milan, to protest. The Milan ultra group Curva Sud have released a statement expressing their displeasure with the club's leadership: "Time is up, now prove yourself! This was the banner that we displayed in the away end at Genoa, Milanisti exhausted by the foolishness of this leadership. Whenever we think we have hit bottom, the situation gets even worse. We supported the new project of a team made up of young players, reluctantly accepting the fact that no top-players were coming, at least for the moment. We have witnessed the failed management of Giampaolo, a choice strongly desired by the current management and thrown to the winds, just after three months of work (rightly so). We have seen a summer transfer market characterized by many fuzzy goals, replaced at last by other players never mentioned before for the new Milan project. Today, after all this, we are faced with a change of course, yet another in recent years. We do not want to express ourselves from a technical point of view on the choice of the new manager, this will show on the pitch. The thing that leaves us baffled is that the club had decided on another manager for our bench, although without announcing the sacking of the old manager. Once again, they fell back on another name, highlighting all of their weaknesses, not getting what they really wanted (most likely referring to Spalletti, editor's note). The Rossoneri fans are tired of being taken for a ride, WE do not deserve and we will never accept this unworthy show again!" In the match against Fiorentina, the Curva Sud left the game early while chanting "this club doesn't deserve us", so the unhappiness in the stands is an ongoing problem which needs to be fixed if the club is to progress.

Atalanta Punished For Racist Chanting

Serie A's sporting judge has punished Atalanta with a 10,000 euro fine for the racist chanting towards Brazilian full-back Dalbert in their match against Fiorentina last month. The official statement explains: "Regarding the documents transmitted by the Federal Prosecutor's Office on 3 October 2019, in relation to the discriminatory chants perceived by the footballer Chagas Estevao Dalbert Henrique (Fiorentina) in the 28th minute of the first half; I read the evidence provided by the player at the hearing testimony in relation to the discriminatory chants of a part of the fans, and not indeed of individual fans, although not of such importance as to be clearly perceived by the federal bodies and bodies responsible for public order, but still such as to justify the interruption of the match, promptly ordered by the referee; Considering therefore that, since there is no reasonable doubt about the occurrence of the discriminatory conduct, for these chants Atalanta must answer under art. 28, paragraph 4, CGS but that the sanction, given the size and the lack of real perception by the federal bodies and public order, must be, in application of srtt. 12, paragraph 1, and 29 SGC, determined in the following measure; Atalanta have been sanctioned with a fine of €10,000." I suppose at least they are taking action at last, but there was no need to downplay it by claiming it was not clearly perceived by federal bodies who consistently turn a blind eye to these incidents.

Dybala Unhappy At Links To Spurs And Man Utd

Juventus's Argentine forward Paulo Dybala has told the Corriere Della Sera that he never wanted to leave Juventus in the summer and that he was unhappy about being linked with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. The 25 year old said in an interview: "It wasn't an easy summer. Hearing your name linked to every team and every place, where you don't want to go, isn't a nice thing. But this is football, even before the transfer window opened I said: 'I want to stay here.' I think it was more important to let the pitch do the talking, even if until the last day no-one knew what would happen. I wanted to stay, I wanted to play here and continue my career at Juve. I think I can still give a lot and I showed a glimpse of that against Inter."

Written by Tris Burke October 08 2019 21:36:25