List of All Articles with Tag 'eppersons'

Key talkings points from Arsenal's 2023 Community Shield victory over Manchester City at Wembley.

Three-time NHL top defenseman Erik Karlsson was traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday in a major three-team deal...

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou insists only one transfer deadline counts as he aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Bayern Munich’s public pursuit of Harry Kane after the forward scored four goals against Shakhtar Donetsk. Kane put the uncertainty over his future to one side to produce a classic display of predatory finishing in what could prove to be his final appearance in Spurs’ colours. Bayern are reported to have lodged their latest offer for Kane on Friday and an apparent self-imposed deadline of midnight was set by the German club, but there has been no further news on the outcome of that bid and Kane grabbed a hat-trick in 55 minutes of a 5-1 friendly win over Shakhtar. Kane added another goal in the 79th-minute before he left the pitch a minute later to a standing ovation following more chants of ‘he’s one of our own’ and at the conclusion of the clash the club’s record goal-scorer walked around the pitch to clap all four corners of the ground in what felt a significant moment. “We know there’s one deadline and that’s the end of the transfer window,” Postecoglou pointed out. “Beyond that, I’m in open dialogue with Harry and with the club on a regular basis. I’ve said to them that if the status quo changes then inform me. “I don’t need to know about the comings and goings in between. I just want to deal with what’s in front of me because, irrespective of the outcome of that, I’m building a team here. I can’t wait (around) for a decision either way to get going. “We don’t have the time or the luxury to do that. I’m working with what’s in front of me. You saw today that Harry certainly is invested in what we’re doing and we’ll keep on doing that unless something changes.” Bayern have been public about their desire to sign Kane all summer, with their honorary president Uli Hoeness and president Herbert Hainer talking openly in the media last month about trying to sign the England captain. We know there's one deadline and that's the end of the transfer window Ange Postecoglou Postecoglou added: “That’s up to Bayern to decide. If that’s the way they want to conduct things, it’s not up to me to judge that. “It doesn’t affect me. I don’t sit there on a daily basis and worry about what other clubs are doing. “I think what is factual right now is that he is a contracted player of our football club. “I certainly wouldn’t talk about contracted players at other football clubs but I’m not at Bayern mate so they can go the way they want.” While a lot of the focus on Sunday was on Kane, amongst the spectators at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was Wolfsburg centre-back Micky van de Ven. Netherlands defender Van de Ven is scheduled to have a medical at Spurs’ training ground on Monday. But asked about Van de Ven, Postecoglou replied: “It hasn’t been done yet, so it’s not right for me to talk about but there’s no doubt we need some bolstering in that central defensive area. “Hopefully we’ll get one or two done in the next couple of days to bolster us in that area.” While Van de Ven’s future looks certain to be at Tottenham, Kane’s club for this campaign remains up in the air. Postecoglou refused to be drawn into the significance of Kane walking alone to applaud all four corners of the stadium at full-time. “You are reading something into it, aren’t you,” he added. “I don’t even know what’s in Harry’s mind, let alone anyone else’s. I think all these things will obviously play out over the next period, we’ll deal with what happens from there. “From my perspective, I’ve got a team to build here. Today showed me that we’ve made some progress but there’s still a lot of work to do. “There were areas today I wasn’t delighted with, so we need to make sure we focus on getting this team right. We’ll see what happens after that. “He’s a fantastic striker, one of the world’s best. I think the way the team plays will help him as well. He loves scoring goals and you saw today we created a load of chances and he was the beneficiary of that.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live 5 things we learned from the opening round of Scottish Premiership action Harry Kane puts speculation to one side with four goals in Tottenham friendly Leicestershire-born Ashleigh Plumptre out to beat England at Women’s World Cup

The Dallas Cowboys appear to have some palpable interest in bringing back Ezekiel Elliott.New developments suggest that Ezekiel Elliott could be returning to the Dallas Cowboys after all.The former No. 4 overall pick out of Ohio State was released by the only professional team he has ever pl...

Rangers suffered a shock defeat away to Kilmarnock on the opening weekend of the cinch Premiership season, while Hibernian and Aberdeen also started the campaign with frustrating results. Brendan Rodgers kicked off his second spell in charge of Celtic with a victory, while there were winning starts for Hearts and St Mirren. Here, the PA news agency looks at five things we learned from the weekend’s fixtures. David Turnbull stakes his Celtic claim The former Motherwell midfielder was handed his first league start in almost nine months when Rodgers picked his first team for a competitive Celtic match since returning as manager. Turnbull seized his opportunity with two goals and would have had another if it had not been for a double stop from Ross Laidlaw. Rodgers challenged the 24-year-old to continue working hard off the ball and make the most of his chance. It never rains but it pours The Scottish football season closed in farcical fashion last term as torrential rain led to a major delay in Scotland’s win over Georgia. And the wet weather also delayed the start of the Premiership campaign in Perth as water got into the electrics and led to the VAR technology failing initially before Hearts’ win against St Johnstone. Dens Park was also affected as Dundee’s draw with Motherwell was briefly held up to clear a massive puddle from near the corner flag. Rangers still looking to find their groove Michael Beale deployed an all-new front trio of Sam Lammers, Abdallah Sima and Cyriel Dessers at Rugby Park and Brazilian striker Danilo would come on later for his debut. But Rangers only managed four shots on target in their 1-0 defeat by Kilmarnock. Rangers only failed to score on two occasions in the Premiership last season and already find themselves chasing Celtic. Killie signal their intent One of Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes’ pre-season ambitions was to take something off the Old Firm and that was achieved on the opening day against Rangers. Midfielder Brad Lyons scored only his second goal for Killie after 65 minutes and the hard-working home side held out at Rugby Park with a degree of comfort. It was an early confidence-booster for the revamped Ayrshire outfit who battled at the wrong end of the table for most of last season. Hearts steal an early march on Dons and Hibs Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen have all enjoyed third-placed finishes over the past three seasons and the trio of big city clubs are widely expected to battle it out for the ‘best of the rest’ tag behind Celtic and Rangers this time round. All three kicked off the campaign with fixtures against teams that finished beneath them last term, but Hearts were the only side to emerge victorious after a 2-0 triumph at St Johnstone. Aberdeen and their huge away support were left frustrated by a 0-0 draw at Livingston, while Hibs suffered a demoralising 3-2 home defeat by St Mirren. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Harry Kane puts speculation to one side with four goals in Tottenham friendly Leicestershire-born Ashleigh Plumptre out to beat England at Women’s World Cup Dozens of triathletes stuck down with diarrhoea and vomiting after ‘swimming in s**t’

Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo has returned to the starting lineup a day after he was benched by manager Alex Cora

World number one Carlos Alcaraz is aiming to make amends as he plays an ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada for only the...

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Erik Karlsson in a blockbuster trade with the San Jose Sharks

Harry Kane scored four goals in Tottenham Hotspur's 5-1 pre-season friendly win at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday as speculation over...

Tilak Varma struck his first international half-century as India struggled to 152-7 after winning the toss and batting first in the second T20I against West...

Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel won the men's road race world championship in Glasgow on Sunday with a late solo escape after a 271km...

Ex-England youth international Ashleigh Plumptre insists it was a simple choice to switch allegiances to Nigeria, who on Monday night could knock her native country out of the World Cup. Leicestershire born and raised Plumptre, 25, has represented England from under-15 to under-23 level, but in January 2022 received FIFA’s approval to join the Super Falcons. Plumptre, who three weeks ago left Leicester after making 79 appearances for the Women’s Super League side, grew up with a half-Nigerian dad whose own father was born in Lagos. The defender said: “For me, it wasn’t difficult because I knew exactly what I wanted from football and I think that just came down from understanding who I am. On my journey, I’ve learned more about myself and I know what I want from football. “And I always say, ‘for me, it’s more than just playing.’ It sounds really weird but I always say I’m not obsessed with football, specifically, I’m obsessed with what I can learn about myself from playing. “And that’s why playing for Nigeria would probably be the most fulfilling thing I could do. “Not to say that my experiences were ever bad with England, they never were, but it was just more that my life went on a different course. “And I’m like, hmm, this is important for me, for my sister, for my family and for the young people who identify as being mixed heritage.” In an interview for the Nigerian Football Federation, Plumptre describes her younger half-sister Bayleigh Bisi as having a darker skin tone and different hair texture, which initially led to her more strongly resonating with their Nigerian heritage. Plumptre feels her own journey is entwined with her sibling’s – going so far as to say that the road to this World Cup, which saw world number 40 Nigeria oust Olympic champions Canada en route to the knockouts, is one shared by them both. She added: “I feel like people have different reasons for wanting to play for a different country. “For me, obviously, I grew up playing for England and I enjoyed my time with them but I always say it was always more of a life decision than a football decision. “I felt like I had a responsibility to try and play for Nigeria, if I could. “And that just came from experiences within family. I’ve got my younger sister, I used to coach an under-12s team with girls with mixed heritage girls, and I feel like I have a responsibility to learn about my heritage and I have the privilege of being able to play football and use that to be able to learn, so it came about like that for me.” Nigeria have contested all nine World Cups, reaching the quarter-finals in 1999. Should they wish to equal or better that feat they will have to find their way past European champions England. Plumptre is prepared to face the Lionesses, a side which includes several former team-mates. She said: “I was like, ‘it’s gonna end up that way’. I know a lot of the players, I grew up playing with a lot of them, play against them. So I would completely relish that opportunity. I would love to play them.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Harry Kane puts speculation to one side with four goals in Tottenham friendly Dozens of triathletes stuck down with diarrhoea and vomiting after ‘swimming in s**t’ Finn Russell expects different challenge from full-strength France next week