List of All Articles with Tag 'f'

Marc-Andre ter Stegen admits Barcelona were lucky to beat Sevilla.

Saturday's football transfer rumours, with updates on Matthijs de Ligt, Victor Osimhen, Jadon Sancho, Ivan Toney & more.

Fulham boss Marco Silva talked up “quality” Chelsea midfield pair Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez ahead of the west London derby at Craven Cottage. Chelsea broke the British transfer record twice this year, signing Fernandez from Benfica for a reported £106.8million in January before beating Liverpool to confirm the transfer of Caicedo from Brighton for £115m in August. Silva spoke on how the pair’s price-tags reflect their ability and expects them to bring the fight to Harrison Reed and Joao Palhinha on Monday. “Enzo joined in January and Caicedo in the summer as well,” Silva said. “They’re quality. We are talking about two players they almost spent £250 million on. “This speaks about the quality and about how much they wanted them in their squad. “Plus (Conor) Gallagher in the midfield, they have the quality, the energy, they have the organisation to create a very good fight with our midfield line and I think it will be a very good fight because they have that quality.” Alex Iwobi’s second-half strike during Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third round 2-1 victory over Norwich was his first Fulham goal since his reported £22million move from Everton on deadline day. They have the quality, the energy, they have the organisation to create a very good fight with our midfield line Marco Silva on Chelsea's midfield Silva, who also signed Iwobi as Everton manager in 2019, spoke on the Nigeria international’s versatility and what he offers to his squad. “It was very good (Iwobi’s performance against Norwich),” Silva added. “He’s a player I know really well, he knows the Premier League so well and he’s mature. He has the quality, can play in many different positions and is a player that will give us the quality that we need in certain parts of the game. “He provides that extra energy as well. It was good for him to score on his first game in a Fulham shirt and I want to see more of him. “He’s going to be a really important player for us and I am pleased for him for starting his first game.” From Chelsea’s starting XI during their 2-1 loss at Fulham in January, Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah are the only remaining players at the club. Silva said: “They are different and we are different as well. I think the game is going to be completely different. We can have a look for some things, but it will be different. They have a different manager.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka add to USA woes with horror start to day two Europe look to extend Ryder Cup lead after keeping faith with foursomes pairs Ryder Cup day two: Europe aim to build on record-equalling start

Jurgen Klopp said he has been given a new lease of life by his revamped Liverpool side as he waits to see where their destiny will take them. Liverpool have won their last seven games in all competitions and are unbeaten this season with a different midfield and their manager believes they have provided him with new energy. Klopp admitted he has been surprised by the speed of their progress after losing the experienced group of Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. But after bringing in Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, Liverpool visit in-form Tottenham on Saturday in second place in the Premier League. And Klopp said: “It gives me completely new energy. It’s great, this team has a completely new set-up. I loved everything about the seven years before but obviously we all need energy sources and looking at these faces every day to see how much they enjoy the new challenge gives me energy as well. “I know it is words, but it feels like that. We don’t want to compare or think, ‘how did they do that?’ or whatever: we try to give this team a chance to create their own destiny. That is what we decided, that is what we live now and that is how it works so far, I don’t know where it will lead to but it is good fun anyway.” Klopp has previous experience of trying to build a second great side at the same club but struggled with the transition to a new side at Borussia Dortmund. He added: “I had seven years at Dortmund and when I left there it was a moment where change was needed and we would have had to change players in different roles or the manager. “Dortmund in the end did both. So I left and they changed a lot anyway. It was a moment for that. It is not the first time I was allowed to do something like that.” Liverpool face a potentially defining week with a Europa League tie against Union St Gilloise and a trip to another early-season pacesetter, in Brighton. Klopp added: “The signs are really positive but we have to make sure we leave ourselves space for real improvement towards stability and consistency because this race only started recently. “The Premier League, with all the other competitions in, is a long-distance run and you never know how you get through all of this. A good start is much better than a bad one though, definitely, and we see that we are happy about it, but we have to make sure we don’t stand here in 10 days’ time and speaking about three super difficult games when we couldn’t deliver. “As I’ve said, I love this team and there are so many reasons for it.” Read More Why new-look midfields will decide Liverpool’s clash with Tottenham

A winger is returning to training with Manchester United. He will be available for selection: not against Crystal Palace on Saturday but soon. It is not Jadon Sancho but Antony, who has been on a leave of absence after three women accused him of assault. If Erik ten Hag was confronted with the question of whether he is guilty of double standards, in bringing back his own biggest buy but not a player who criticised him on social media, he emphasised the differences in his answer. “Those issues are nothing to do with each other,” he said. “One is internal, the other one is external.” Which is correct up until a point. There could also seem a simpler solution to the internal affair: should Sancho apologise to Ten Hag, perhaps he would be welcomed back into the fold. Instead, his exile seems indefinite. Meanwhile, Antony has sat out four games, will miss a fifth but could be back in contention soon afterwards, opening up the possibility of a return against either Galatasaray on Tuesday or Brentford next weekend. Ten Hag expects the Brazilian to be physically fit. The issue instead is if he is mentally ready to play. “I can’t tell at the moment; first he has to be back,” the Dutchman said. “I have spoken to him but that doesn’t give the impression how he is; how his mental status is.” Others may argue that such concerns should also be expressed for Gabriella Cavallin, his former girlfriend, and Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana, who also made serious accusations against him. In each of their club statements, United have stressed that they condemn abuse of and violence towards women. Meanwhile, Antony has repeatedly insisted he is innocent. He returned to the UK from his native Sao Paulo this week and was voluntarily interviewed by Greater Manchester Police on Thursday, just as he had spoken to their Brazilian counterparts in June. So far, he has not been arrested, bailed or charged. United have said they will review developments, meaning his situation could change. Brazil opted to withdraw Antony from their squad earlier this month in light of an interview Cavallin gave; later that week, United, who had initially merely “acknowledged” the accusations then put him on a leave of absence a few days afterwards. Now their decision would seem to be that, without him being charged and barring new revelations, their timescale will not be determined by two police forces. Neither has yet officially said that they will not bring charges; if there is the prospect that no such announcement might come from Brazil for months or years, Antony might have lingered in limbo and United been deprived of an £86m signing. There is the principle of innocent until proven guilty. It matters and would render Antony available to do many another job. But there is also the reality that playing for United is not just another job, the context of Mason Greenwood’s situation and the fact that the club explored the possibility of bringing back another forward who was not convicted of a crime but whose behaviour many felt was unpleasant in the extreme. Antony, meanwhile, was accused of trying to throw a pregnant Cavallin out of a car, of punching and headbutting her. Earlier this month, the Female Fans Against Greenwood’s Return group described the allegations against Antony as “horrific” while the television presenter and United supporter Rachel Riley criticised the club for a lack of due diligence in signing the winger after a report had been lodged with police about him. It remains to be seen what kind of reception Antony receives when he takes the field: within Old Trafford and from the wider United fanbase, inside and outside grounds. Picking him again could be a divisive move. Ten Hag has not entered the moral argument but from a footballing perspective, he seems to want to call upon Antony. Rewind a couple of months and it may have seemed that United’s three best options on the right wing would be Antony, Greenwood and Sancho. In the last four games, with none available for reasons unrelated to injury or illness, United first played without a right winger – when their lack of width was exploited by Brighton, whose left-back Tariq Lamptey got two assists – and have used the rookie Facundo Pellestri there twice, including away at Bayern Munich, and the captain Bruno Fernandes there at Burnley, where he got the winner. The assumption now must be that Antony will soon reclaim his position. Not for the first time at Old Trafford of late, United are trying to navigate their way through a moral maze. It is far from certain they have taken the right turn. Read More Man United allow Antony to resume training despite assault investigations Jadon Sancho ‘not important’ and ‘cannot contribute’ for Manchester United says manager Erik ten Hag Man Utd star Antony arrives back in UK to ‘face police over abuse allegations’

Louisiana Tech's Brevin Randle stomped on Steven Hubbard's neck.

Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros and the NBA’s Houston Rockets announced on Friday that they’ve acquired AT&T SportsNet Southwest from Warner Bros

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is hopeful captain Son Heung-min and James Maddison will be fit for Saturday’s “great test” against Liverpool. Son and Maddison were forced off late on during last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal after not being “100 per cent” for the derby, according to the Spurs boss. The influential duo both trained on Friday and Postecoglou remains confident they will feature against Jurgen Klopp’s team, but Brennan Johnson will be absent. He said: “From last week, Brennan will miss out. It’s nothing too serious but he won’t be right for this week. “Madders and Sonny trained today, just finished the session and seemed to get through it not too bad. “We’ll just have to see how they pull up as it’s fair to say they were a bit sore after last week and had a bit of an interrupted week training, so just a matter of seeing how they pull up.” Maddison and Son combined twice at the Emirates to earn Tottenham a 2-2 draw and maintain their unbeaten start to life under Postecoglou in the Premier League. Summer recruit Maddison suggested post-match the club were beginning to shed their ‘Spursy’ tag after they showed plenty of grit to peg back Arsenal on two occasions last Sunday. “I haven’t heard exactly what Madders said but he is obviously new to the club and is going on what he is feeling at the moment,” Postecoglou reflected. “It is fair to say the lads have shown a fair bit of resilience this year and we’ve had to adjust to the nature of the way the games have gone. We have had a lot of things in the context of a football game that haven’t gone our way. “Sometimes these things can become a little bit overblown because opposition supporters are obviously looking for any kind of sore point that a football club may have. “This club has been up at the top of the table for quite a while now and got close to having the ultimate success in the Champions League, so it is far from being a club that has fallen on bad times for a long time. “Obviously there is a crucial bit missing there and every group of players, myself included, have the opportunity to change that.” Liverpool boss Klopp had been full of praise for Postecoglou during his press conference earlier on Friday and the Australian returned the favour. Postecoglou added: “They probably bring something different from any other team in the league in the way they play and the manner they go about things. “It’ll be a really good test for us to try to impose our football on a team that’s fairly unique in the way they play the game. “Jurgen is an outstanding manager, he’s one of the managers I think it’s fair to say who has made an impact on the competition, not just his club. “Because when he came in, with the way Liverpool went about things, he challenged quite a few of the conventions about the Premier League and introduced a new style of play that others have followed. It’s a great test for where we are at the moment in terms of our development.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Mark Selby edges out Jack Lisowski to reach Cazoo British Open semi-finals Captain Ardie Savea proud of New Zealand’s 14-try drubbing of Italy Ange Postecoglou had a love of Liverpool as a youngster but says ‘things change’

The No. 17 Duke Blue Devils will be hosting the No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Wallace Wade in primetime on Saturday night. Has the traditional basketball power ever beaten the Golden Domers on the hardwood before?

Skip Bayless and FS1 went to Boulder to cover the USC vs. Colorado game and dropped some scorching hot takes about Shedeur Sanders and Caleb Williams.

Former Dallas Cowboys right tackle La'el Collins is healthy and available to sign as a free agent. These teams should be lining up on his front doorstep.

Three teams should consider pursuing Gabe Kapler in free agency following his firing from the SF Giants. All three of these teams have talented players and could benefit from a good coach to turn them into contenders.