Football News: Review Of The Day 7th November 2022

Review of the Day

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Contracts

Hamburg SV midfielder Ludovit Reis has signed a new contract which will expire in 2026.

Juventus' young striker Nicolo Cudrig has also agreed a deal running until 2026.

Transfers

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has hung up his boots following their match against Almeria. The 35-year-old former Manchester United player had been in danger of losing his hero status at the club as it tried to force him out to save money.

Ipswich Town have signed free agent goalkeeper Joel Coleman on a short-term deal which will end in January.

Bradford City have terminated the loan deal of Huddersfield Town striker Kian Harratt. The Bantams made the move after the 20-year-old was fined £830 for hare coursing. Harratt was due to spend the season on loan with Bradford, but has not featured in their league team since early September.

The Sporting Director of PSV Eindhoven, Marcel Brands, has revealed that a move to Manchester United for their forward Cody Gakpo fell through in the summer because United refused to pay the asking price. Brands said: "Leeds United offered €30 million with €11m as a bonus. Six of them were to be paid if Leeds reached the Champions League. People said and wrote a lot about this, but no one within the organisation of PSV wanted to accept this. If United offered the money that we wanted to have for Cody, then we would've sold him. You can not stop him then. With bonuses we wanted to go up until €50m."

Petr Cech has signed a 1-year deal with ice hockey side Chelmsford Chieftains as the former Chelsea goalkeeper steps up a tier from his previous ice hockey side Guildford Phoenix. Cech recently quit as technical advisor at his former team. The Chieftains went on to win their first game with Cech minding the net and the Czech legend won man of the match.

Injury Round Up

Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell has confirmed that he will miss out on England's World Cup campaign after scans showed that he has a "significant" hamstring injury. Chilwell wrote on social media: "Following my ACL injury I worked so hard to make sure I was ready for the World Cup. It has always been a dream of mine. Unfortunately, this won't be possible following my scan results. I'll do all I can to get back playing for Chelsea ASAP."

Fulham's DR Congo winger Neeskens Kebano is sidelined for "several months" after he ruptured his Achilles tendon in training.

Japan will have to make do without Huddersfield Town defender Yuta Nakayama at the World Cup after the 25-year-old picked up an Achilles injury which will rule him out for the rest of the season. He had been included in his country's 26-man squad.

Plymouth Argyle's Finn Azaz has been ruled out for 10 weeks. The Irish midfielder, on loan from Aston Villa, will be in a protective boot for the next 6 weeks to allow his fractured ankle to heal.

South Korean talisman Son Heung-min is expected to be fit for the World Cup according to club boss Antonio Conte. The Tottenham Hotspur forward suffered a fracture around his left eye last week in the Champions League, but Conte expects him to go to Qatar: "I sent him a message yesterday after the surgery and Sonny was really, really disappointed for this situation but I hope for him he will recover very well and play in the World Cup. I was a player and I know the importance of playing in the World Cup. Tonight he was the first person to play this game, for sure he missed us. I am confident, confident that he can come back quickly and play the World Cup for South Korea."

Aston Villa's Brazil playmaker Philippe Coutinho is very doubtful for the World Cup after he picked up a thigh injury which kept him out of the win over Manchester United at the weekend. New Villa head coach Unai Emery has recealed that Coutinho's quadriceps problem is likely to see him miss the World Cup.

A surgeon nicknamed "the Herniator" for his treatment of sporting hernias, has claimed that one Premier League star suffered a serious groin injury during "hard and vociferous sex" with his partner, though Professor Aali Sheen refused to name the player. Sheen is promoting his new book with stories like that and one about another footballer who picked up an injury during a coughing and sneezing fit.

Italian international Stefano Sensi is the latest to be ruled out of the World Cup after the Inter Milan midfielder, currently on loan at Monza, suffered a fractured ankle.

There is better news for Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies. The Canada star went off at the weekend clutching his hamstring but Bayern say he will be fit to play in the World Cup.

Job Changes

Wolverhampton Wanderers have finally appointed Julen Lopetegui as their new manager at the third time of asking. The Spaniard had rejected Wolves approaches on two previous occasions, but this time he decided to take up their offer. He will officially take over on 14th November when the Premier League stops for the World Cup in Qatar.

Hull City have appointed Leroy Rosenior as their new head coach. Rosenior spent five years as a player at the club between 2010 and 2015.

Crewe Alexandra manager Alex Morris has stood down from the role to become assistant manager at the Railwaymen at his own request. The club say they agreed "for compassionate reasons" and appointed his former assistant Lee Bell as interim manager.

Manchester United have hired data science recruitment specialists Data Idols to find staff for their new data science department.

Unai Emery has brought six members to fill out his coaching staff at Aston Villa. The former assistant to Rafael Benitez, Pako Ayesteran has arrived as Emery's assistant. It was the loss of Ayesteran at Liverpool which caused Benitez's fall from grace and is something he never seemed to truly recover from. Also arriving is Pablo Villanueva as first-team coach. Francisco Javier Garcia as goalkeeping coach and Victor Manas as data/video analyst. The trio have all been long-term collaborators with Emery since at least his Sevilla days, Manas since Emery was in charge at Almeria. Antonio Rodriguez Saravia has been appointed as Individual Performance Coach and Moises de Hoyo as Strength and Conditioning Coach.

Oliver Mintzlaff, the current CEO of RB Leipzig has reportedly been promoted to overseer of the entire Red Bull sporting group, following the death of the founder Dietrich Mateschitz.

Disciplinary Charges

Brentford striker Ivan Toney has revealed that he is "assisting the Football Association with their enquiries" after a national newspaper alleged he was being investigated for gambling on football. Players are prohibited from betting on football by the FA and it has been claimed that the investigation is over bets Toney made in the past, before he signed for Brentford.

Manchester City have been quick to condemn Sevilla fans for racially abusing Rico Lewis during their Champions League match on Wednesday, something they notably have still failed to do regarding their own fans actions at Anfield during the defeat to Liverpool. Two arrests were made at the Etihad Stadium after Lewis became the youngest player to score on his full debut in the Champions League.

After a couple of incidents with home fans abusing away managers and throwing coins, Carlisle United are to close the area behind the dugouts at Brunton Park. Chief executive Nigel Clibbens wrote in a statement: "The actions of a tiny minority are damaging the club. This has consequences for everyone. The football authorities require that we take action and, as a community club, we therefore must address this."

Ten European FAs have hit back at FIFA's letter telling them to shut up about Qatar's human rights record and concentrate on the football. FIFA had written to all 32 teams about to compete in the Qatari World Cup and told them to "focus on the football" after concerns were raised about the Gulf nation's appalling human rights record. A joint statement by ten has now hit back saying that they will "continue to press" FIFA for answers on issues. The statement read: "We acknowledge, and welcome, as we have done in the past, that significant progress has been made by Qatar, particularly with regards to the rights of migrant workers, with the impact of legislative changes demonstrated in the International Labour Organisation's recent reports. We welcome the assurances given by the Qatari Government and by Fifa regarding the safety, security, and inclusion of all fans who travel to the World Cup, including LGBTQ+ fans. We also recognise that every country has issues and challenges and we agree with Fifa that diversity is a strength. However, embracing diversity and tolerance also means supporting human rights. Human rights are universal and they apply everywhere." The World Cup has been controversial from the start and there are a number of players planning peaceful 'protests' by wearing armbands intended to promote diversity and inclusion. Though how an armband does that I have no idea, seems a totally empty gesture to me. Denmark's kit manufacturers Hummel have gone a step further and has provided the northern Europeans with a "toned-down" shirt, saying that "it does not wish to be visible" in a tournament which "has cost thousands of lives". Australia's squad has released a video asking Qatar to abolish its laws against same-sex relationships. Bundesliga fans protested at the weekend with banners visible in the crowd against the tournament. Qatar's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani has called the criticism "hypocrisy" and claims that most of the world have no problems with them hosting the tournament. He also claimed that the calls for a boycott "are being peddled by a very small number of people, in 10 countries at most, who are not at all representative of the rest of the world".

Nottingham Forest's summer signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Morgan Gibbs-White will no doubt be facing disciplinary action after he stated that his team were "cheated out of three points" after an extremely controversial penalty was awarded to Brentford in the two sides' 2-2 draw at the weekend. Gibbs-White said: "I looked at the penalty back and don't have a clue what the referee has seen. We came in at half-time angry but we had to use that emotion to get back into the game." The bizarrre decision to award the penalty by VAR left the crowd incensed, as they were also able to see replays on the big screen of the incident.

Ahead of that same game in Nottingham there was more controversy, with Brentford head coach Thomas Frank claiming that his goalkeeper coach was injured by a member of Forest's groundstaff during an altercation ahead of the match. The Bees players were doing warm-up drills in the penalty box ahead of the match when Forest's groundsman attempted to move Bees staff and players out of the area. According to Forest, Brentford have exceeded the period of time allotted under the Premier League's rules for players to use for a warm-up and an altercation ensued, with goalkeeping coach Manu Sotelo at one point falling to the ground. Frank said of the incident: "In all my time in football - and especially all the time in the Premier League - I have never, ever, seen groundsmen walking around in the middle of our warm-up doing things. I don't know if that is a coincidence. I don't know, but it surprised me very very much. I have a bit of a temper so I am not an angel all of the time and I try to be the best version but my goalkeeping coach is the most down to earth guy, there must be something really pissed him off. I just hope like everyone is looking into it. There must be cameras." Frank says that he has a picture of Sotelo's injuries to show to the FA.

Leeds United have been ordered to pay the full agreed fee for the transfer of Jean-Kevin Augustin, after a legal battle which went on for over 2 years. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered Leeds to pay almost 21m euros (around £18m) to RB Leipzig, despite Leeds claims that promotion, which triggered an obligation to buy clause in the French forward's loan deal, took place after the 30th June cut-off due to the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown in 2020. CAS decided that the clause referred to the season that the player was on loan, regardless of the end date of that season. Leeds have stated an intention to appeal the verdict.

Leeds United's Director of Football Victor Orta has apologised to Leeds fans after his finger to the lips gesture towards them and sarcastic shout of "Sack the board!" following their 4-3 comeback victory over fellow strugglers Bournemouth. Orta, whose phone number had been circulated amongst angry fans earlier in the season, has been accused of being disrespectful due to his actions but he said: "The past few months have been very difficult for everyone at the club. I have been subjected to a lot of abuse in person, in writing and via phone calls, after my number was deliberately given out last month. I love and respect Leeds United fans. The atmosphere at Elland Road and across the country at every game is incomparable and has helped us to get over the line on many occasions, I thank the fan base for that. I will be sure to try to keep my emotions in check in future."

Inter Milan striker Edin Dzeko was subjected to racial abuse from Juventus fans as Juve beat Inter 2-0 on Sunday. Dzeko was subjected to jeers and anti-Gypsy chants throughout the match. Italian media claim it was a retaliation for Juventus's Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic suffering similar treatment prior to the game kicking-off.

AC Milan striker Junior Messias has been fined 2,000 euros for simulation after being booked for diving against Spezia in an attempt to cheat his way to a penalty.

Pointless List Of The Day

Japan Squad for the World Cup:
Goalkeepers: Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden), Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg).
Defenders: Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Reds), Maya Yoshida (Schalke), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo).
Midfielders: Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Junya Ito (Reims), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus).
Forwards: Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Takuma Asano (Bochum), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Bruges).
They have yet to name a replacement for the injured Huddersfield defender Yuta Nakayama.

Fans Split in Madrid

Splits in the fanbase at Atletico Madrid have become clear this weekend after their limp exit from the Champions League. Atleti faced Espanyol, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw, but one section of fans, the Frente Atletico group, refused to enter until half-time in protest at a perceived lack of effort from the players. When they did enter, they refused to take up their usual role as the singing section and remained quiet. However most of the stadium registered their disagreement by whistling the group as they entered the Wanda Metroplitano.

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Written by Tris Burke November 07 2022 10:15:53