List of All Articles with Tag 'eppersons'

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and 2022 US Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick each reeled off three consecutive back-nine birdies to share the lead after Saturday's third round...

New arrival Jude Bellingham struck twice for Real Madrid to help them come from behind to beat Almeria 3-1 in La Liga on Saturday and said he was...

Mauricio Pochettino said both sides must take their share of the blame for the long-running standoff between Chelsea and Romelu Lukaku with the striker’s future seemingly no closer to being resolved. The Belgium international, who cost £97.5million when he signed from Inter just over two years ago but has not played for the club since May 2022 and has not been given a squad number this season, has made clear his desire to leave. But despite interest from the Serie A side in taking him on a loan deal as they did last season, Chelsea have been unwilling to consider a temporary move and would rather he was sold, though they are keen to recoup as much as possible of the hefty transfer fee they paid. Pochettino has only one recognised striker available for Sunday’s visit to West Ham, summer signing Nicolas Jackson, though the manager said he expects academy product Armando Broja to play a role this season once he has recovered from the ACL injury that has kept him out since December. On Lukaku’s prospects of being reintegrated into the team, he said that nothing has changed since pre-season, despite the injury to summer signing Christopher Nkunku and the club’s failure to lure Michael Olise from Crystal Palace this week. “The situation (with Lukaku) was clear before we arrived between the club and the player,” he said. “For us, there’s nothing to do. “It’s not only one side. It’s two sides. It’s two sides to try to find the best solution. You cannot put it only on the club, the situation. It’s both sides. The situation is where it is because of two sides. It’s like when you have a player in or a player out. It’s because both sides arrive to an agreement. “The situation is how it is, we cannot change. We were informed before we signed, the situation on every single player, and after we signed we had the squad we had. I think it is so clear, nothing changed. “If there’s something to inform, the club will inform.” My mind is to come back to Europe in the Champions League next season. We cannot accept another idea. Mauricio Pochettino Chelsea’s difficulty with strikers predates Pochettino’s arrival at Stamford Bridge. The team struggled for goals last season, while ex-Arsenal and Barcelona forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was largely sidelined having been signed under former boss Thomas Tuchel but considered surplus to requirements by subsequent managers Graham Potter and Frank Lampard. He left to join Marseille in July but Pochettino has inherited the uncertainty surrounding Lukaku from his predecessors. “For me I need to be focussed on the team,” he added. “To try to perform. We cannot spend energy on a situation that was clear before we started here.” The manager also reiterated his objectives for the season that nothing short of qualification for the Champions League will be deemed acceptable. Chelsea finished 12th last season and missed out on Europe for only the second time since 1996, but with £350m spent so far on summer recruits there is expectation from Pochettino that the gap to the top four must be closed quickly, with winning the Premier League title his next aim. “My mind is to come back to Europe in the Champions League next season,” he said. “We cannot accept another idea (other than) to put the club in the position they deserve to be. “If someone is thinking in this way, I would be very worried, in this training ground or in Stamford Bridge. “Today it’s so early to think too much on this situation. The idea is to win the Premier League. If someone has a different idea, it’s better to tell us, and we’ll say maybe we’ll find some solution. “If we can create and perform in the way that we expect from day one, that is a process that we need to build. The mentality needs to be to win and to expect to play in the Champions League and to win the Premier League. If not, we will fail. “The challenge is to create the mentality that all is possible.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Julian Alvarez gives Premier League champions a hard-fought win over Newcastle Reece Prescod accuses UK Athletics of ’emotional blackmail’ after withdrawal ‘It is obvious why we signed a striker’ says United boss after loss at Tottenham

Julian Alvarez fired Manchester City to a hard-fought victory over Newcastle as the treble winners maintained their perfect start to the new Premier League season. The World Cup-winner curled a shot into the top corner after 31 minutes of a tight encounter at the Etihad Stadium to secure a 1-0 win and three more points. Eddie Howe’s men had travelled in hope after last weekend’s opening 5-1 drubbing of Aston Villa, but left empty-handed after the hosts summoned up commendable stamina in the wake of their midweek UEFA Super Cup triumph in Athens on Wednesday. Ange Postecoglou oversaw a thrilling first win as Tottenham manager as Pape Sarr’s strike and a Lisandro Martinez own goal settled a pulsating clash with Manchester United. Spurs, whose struggles in the second half of last season have been compounded by home-grown star Harry Kane’s recent switch to Bayern Munich, proved too good for a sub-par United on the day. Former Celtic boss Postecoglou’s influence has borne early fruit and his new-look side sealed a fine 2-0 win thanks to Sarr’s effort and a late Martinez own goal. Liverpool survived Mo Salah’s penalty miss and Alexis Mac Allister’s red card to surge to a 3-1 Premier League victory over Bournemouth. The Cherries took a third-minute lead through Antoine Semenyo, but Luis Diaz levelled before Salah converted the rebound after Neto had repelled his spot-kick. Summer signing Mac Allister’s untimely departure had little impact as Diogo Jota secured the points. Solly March’s double helped Brighton climb to the top of the table after the 3pm kick-offs following a fine 4-1 win at Wolves. Goals from Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan put the Seagulls in charge, and March struck twice before substitute Hwang Hee-chan pulled one back for the home side, who had Matheus Nunes sent off for a second bookable offence at the death. Bryan Mbeumo also scored twice to help Brentford to an impressive 3-0 victory at Brentford. Yoane Wissa opened the scoring and after defender Tim Ream had been dismissed for two yellow card offences, Mbeumo converted the resulting penalty before adding a second in stoppage time. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Mauricio Pochettino says Chelsea and Romelu Lukaku must share blame for standoff Reece Prescod accuses UK Athletics of ’emotional blackmail’ after withdrawal ‘It is obvious why we signed a striker’ says United boss after loss at Tottenham

With an eye toward improving their catching in the future, the Detroit Tigers designated veteran Eric Haase for assignment and signed free agent catcher Carson Kelly

Kylian Mbappe won and converted a penalty on his Paris Saint-Germain return on Saturday in a 1-1 draw at Toulouse after being reinstated to the first team following a...

Julian Alvarez’s first-half goal handed Manchester City a hard-fought 1-0 win over Newcastle in the defending English Premier League champion’s first home match since winning the treble last season

Take three talismanic attacking midfielders out of a treble-winning team and even Manchester City might struggle. Or so the theory went, anyway. Even as they paraded the trio of trophies they secured last season, it was in the absence of a triumvirate with rare and complementary gifts, in the departed Ilkay Gundogan, the injured Kevin de Bruyne and the ill Bernardo Silva. And yet as they overcame the opening weekend’s most impressive side, the rising force, perhaps the pretenders to their crown, it was their replacements who proved decisive. Mateo Kovacic to Phil Foden to Julian Alvarez. Goal. Newcastle were defeated and, even at this early stage, it could be a six-pointer of a strike. Kovacic was the first summer signing, Foden and Alvarez the world-class talent and World Cup winner who started finals on the bench last season, the deluxe deputies waiting for an opportunity, and then seizing it. It is a fallacy to say City have the biggest squad – their bench against Newcastle included Oscar Bobb, James McAtee, Sergio Gomez and Maximo Perrone – but they have a core with quality. Even when short of players, they had just enough. Three days after overcoming Sevilla to win the European Super Cup, when Pep Guardiola made a solitary substitution in Greece’s 30-degree heat, Eddie Howe made all five changes while his City counterpart made none. If it was fatigue against freshness, City had the resilience and resolve to restrict Newcastle to one, 70th-minute shot on target. There was a winning mentality in their refusal to cede ground. Even as Newcastle applied pressure, they encountered an immovable force. Nine of the players who completed the Sevilla game got the full shift against Newcastle 72 hours later. It was a triumph of willpower and of 11 starters. The goal, admittedly, came from a man confined to the bench for 84 minutes in Athens. But Alvarez has started City’s other three matches this season. The reinvention of the Argentinian as an attacking midfielder can seem an attempt to crowbar him into the team, to give Erling Haaland’s deputy enough outings to satisfy him. As an auxiliary midfielder, he is more runner than passer, but he scored from the inside-right position, his 13th goal in as many starts at the Etihad Stadium, and what is already something of a trademark finish, a rising drive towards the top corner. With De Bruyne out for much of the rest of 2023, Alvarez has scope for a longer run in midfield. After Cole Palmer staked his case for a place with goals in both the Community Shield and the European Super Cup, there is a recurring theme of the stand-ins stepping up. With Palmer demoted to the bench – Nathan Ake was the only other player to drop out – the Mancunian to catch the eye was Foden. He got an assist for finding Alvarez; arguably he deserved one more for picking out Haaland time and again. Three times the Englishman sent the Norwegian through on goal. That used to be De Bruyne’s job, picking him out, and a combination of uncharacteristically erratic finishing and a save from Nick Pope meant the usual scorer drew a blank, their burgeoning connection bodes well; indeed Foden almost doubled the lead from a pass by Haaland. If the striker was both relentless and, with a couple of stray touches, showed hints of tiredness, Foden was the man of the match. Then there was Kovacic. His capacity to take the ball in close quarters and find teammates makes him more of a quintessential Guardiola midfielder than either Alvarez or Foden. But he is scarcely a like-for-like replacement for Gundogan, lacking the German’s goals and assists, his was the sharp, line-breaking pass to Foden that brought the breakthrough. It caught Newcastle out. The most obvious culprit for the goal was Nick Pope, who got a hand to Alvarez’s shot but perhaps should have kept it out. Yet their workaholic midfield were trapped ahead of the ball, affording the Argentinian too much space. Sandro Tonali, spectacularly good in the 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa, was taken off after failing to exert the same impact. The winger Anthony Gordon, meanwhile, was brought off before he could be sent off: booked for raking his studs down Ruben Dias’ calf, a further foul on the Portuguese led to his swift substitution. Harvey Barnes, who took his spot and followed his teammate into the book mere moments after coming on, had that shot on target, but Ederson held it and Newcastle were beaten. Which may not surprise students of footballing history. There are barren runs and then there is Newcastle’s record at the Etihad Stadium, with no point since 2005. If there were reasons to believe this offered their best chance for quite some time, they ended up with a 15th consecutive league defeat at this ground. For Guardiola, it was a 12th win in 13 meetings with Howe. And from City, it was a message to their challengers. Read More Kevin De Bruyne facing up to four months out and may require surgery Manchester City’s Super Cup victory shows that Cole Palmer is a gem to be treasured Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola sets sights on Club World Cup

England coach Steve Borthwick was left hoping for a rapid finish to rugby's often lengthy disciplinary procedures after Billy Vunipola joined Owen Farrell as a Rugby World Cup doubt by being sent off during a 29-10...

NBA Rumors: Chris Paul warns teams about "vocal" WarriorsThe Golden State Warriors made a firm commitment to the present this summer, trading away 24-year-old Jordan Poole for 38-year-old Chris Paul. Paul has a long history of animosity with the current Warriors core, but he will have to...

Manchester City laid down an early-season marker in the Premier League title race as Julian Alvarez's stunning strike earned a 1-0 win over Newcastle...

Victor Osimhen and Lautaro Martinez both struck opening day doubles on Saturday as Napoli got their Serie A title defence off to a winning start at Frosinone...