List of All Articles with Tag 'football'

Lucy Staniforth says her recall to the England squad after being a standby player ahead of the World Cup is something she feels she earned. The 30-year-old, who had been set to go on holiday with her mother to Ibiza, changed that plan when she was called up by Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman in late June to replace Jess Park on a standby list also featuring Maya Le Tissier. Staniforth was subsequently involved in preparations at home and then in Australia before parting ways with the squad as the tournament – in which Wiegman’s European champions went on to finish runners-up – got under way. The Aston Villa midfielder, capped 17 times, most recently in October 2021, is back in the fold at the first opportunity since the World Cup, for the upcoming Nations League matches against Scotland and Netherlands. She said: “I think from January, moving to Villa (after leaving Manchester United), it sort of put me back in the frame of England. “It was always on my radar, something I wanted to get back into, and it felt like there was sort of unfinished business with the team. “I really want to contribute and not just be here for the ride. So it was really pleasing to hear from Sarina and know I was called up to this camp. “I felt like I’d earned it, and it’s a really satisfying feeling to know you’ve put in that hard work and obviously made an impact in the pre camps before the World Cup. And it just feels like I’m in the right place, this is where I should be.” Staniforth says the standby stint left her with “fire in my belly”. “I wouldn’t call it bittersweet,” she said. “It was such a wonderful camp. It was a real privilege to be part of that whole experience. I think me and Maya certainly enjoyed ourselves and we brought lots of good stuff to the camp too. “But when we had to say goodbye, it was a bit like ‘the dream’s over now’. You always kind of had in the back of your head ‘maybe, maybe there’s a chance’. “It’s probably my favourite camp I’ve ever been on, strange as that is because obviously it was stopped shorter than I would have liked. “I came away and had such good feelings and no regrets. It left me in a really good mental place to go ‘OK, there’s still so much I want to achieve, there’s so much I want to do with England, and with Aston Villa.’ I just had so much hunger and fire in my belly.” Asked if the experience had given her an extra push in pre-season, Staniforth said: “Oh yeah – I’ve been trying so hard! I felt like I'd earned it, and it's a really satisfying feeling to know you've put in that hard work and obviously made an impact in the pre camps before the World Cup Lucy Staniforth “I have felt every rep, every run we’ve done. It’s been a really hard pre-season, probably the hardest I’ve done. I’ve really enjoyed the pain and the struggle! “I kind of just had a little word with myself in the gym and was like ‘right – you’ve got time now, let’s go for it, let’s really push.’ “I just thought to myself ‘come on, let’s get down and work really hard’, and I’m really glad I’ve done that because now I’m here, I feel really good, really fit and I’m really looking forward to the England games.” England face Scotland at the Stadium of Light on Friday, and ex-Sunderland player Staniforth feels it would be “pretty cool” to be involved again at a ground where she played in an FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea in 2009. She added: “I have really fond memories of living and playing in the north east. I’m so excited to get back up there and whatever happens on Friday is just a bonus.” Staniforth was “really proud” of her team-mates for their efforts at the World Cup – and regarding her mother, she said: “She went on holiday on her own and had an amazing time, so I was really happy for her. It’s the first holiday, first flight, everything, that she’d done on her own, so I was like ‘well done Mum!'” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Steve McNamara enjoying ‘excitement’ of three-way battle to top Super League David Raya backed himself to be number one at Arsenal Jason Roy rejects England call as Tom Kohler-Cadmore added to squad

David Raya insists he always backed himself to become Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper – but admits he does not know if he will start Sunday’s north London derby. The Spain international joined the Gunners on loan from Brentford this summer in a switch which, in all likelihood, will be made permanent for £27million next year. Raya was signed to compete with Aaron Ramsdale for the gloves and made his Arsenal debut in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Everton, retaining his place in the team for Wednesday’s 4-0 Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven. Arsenal’s decision to recruit the 28-year-old to battle it out with Ramsdale drew criticism and caution from some pundits but manager Mikel Arteta believes he can keep both happy. Asked if he had to believe he could oust Ramsdale after the England goalkeeper’s strong showings last season, Raya replied: “Of course, it is something every player has to do – to back yourself to get in the team and that is why I moved to Arsenal and try to do my best for the team when I’m selected. “You never know when you’re going to play and that is the hardest thing to do. Making your debut for a club like Arsenal, and obviously having Aaron as a team-mate makes it a bit harder for you, but it came quick but you never know when it is going to be and you have to be ready. “It is a dream come true to play at the highest level so I’m very pleased to make my debut, but the main thing was the result and we got the three points in the end, so that is the main thing.” Raya will be widely expected to keep his place between the posts for Sunday’s Premier League clash at home to Tottenham, even with Arteta claiming he has considered swapping his goalkeepers during matches let alone rotating between fixtures. Making your debut for a club like Arsenal, and obviously having Aaron as a team-mate makes it a bit harder for you, but it came quick but you never know when it is going to be and you have to be ready David Raya “I understand that and I think it is the first time that two top goalkeepers are in the same team,” Raya said of the possibility of the goalkeepers being switched. “That is just part of football now and the gaffer wants two top players for each position and that is what we have to work with. I have played the last two games and now we see what happens on Sunday. “I’ve just been selected the last two games, that is just the choice of the gaffer – that is his choice, not my choice and when Aaron comes in he will need to also fight for the team and to win games. “He (Ramsdale) has been great, he is a great team-mate, a leader as well. He is a great lad and a great keeper as well, we are team-mates and that is the main thing. We are team-mates at the end of the day.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jason Roy rejects England call as Tom Kohler-Cadmore added to squad Bruno Fernandes tells Andre Onana to stop blaming himself for Man Utd defeat Son Heung-min believes Arsenal should fear in-form Tottenham

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Tottenham captain Son Heung-min is eager to right the wrongs of last season’s north London derby results and knows Arsenal will not want to face them. Spurs lost 3-1 and 2-0 to their closest rivals during the 2022-23 campaign, which allowed Arsenal to complete a first double in this fixture since 2014. Last season proved to be a nadir for Tottenham with a number of managerial changes followed by an eighth-placed finish, but the appointment of Ange Postecoglou has transformed the mood in N17. Postecoglou claimed the Premier League manager of the month award for August and Spurs will travel to the Emirates Stadium on a four-match winning streak in the division. “Any away game is tough in the Premier League, it’s not easy. We had a tough year at Arsenal last season,” Son acknowledged. “I know what it means for the club, the fans and players as well. We should understand what kind of game it is. It’s going to be a really difficult game but they won’t want to face us at this time. “We just have to give it everything we have and it will be a difficult game for both sides, but we’re looking forward to this game because it’s the right time to play against them. We’ll have a good game.” While Tottenham have enjoyed a flying start to life under Postecoglou, Arsenal warmed up for Sunday’s clash with a 4-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven on their Champions League return. Spurs were also rocked this week by the news Ivan Perisic has suffered a complex anterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee. I know what it means for the club and the fans and players as well. We should understand what kind of game it is. It’s going to be a really difficult game but they won’t want to face us at this time Tottenham captain Son Heung-min on Arsenal It will reduce Postecoglou’s options from the bench and Bryan Gil, who had surgery on his groin in August, is still working his way back to full fitness and not training with the first-team group yet. Nevertheless, Son will remind the squad and any new arrivals in the coming days of the importance of this weekend’s fixture. He added: “It is a special game, for them as well. The result is probably the most important of the season. Look, we had a tough year of away games, it was tough to take. Winning is never free. “You go there and you won’t get three points for free. We wish we could get them for free. Go there, get three points and come back. It sounds easy but it’s never like that. “We have to work hard, we’re working hard in the week. The players are ready and looking forward to it. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to face us at this moment. I guarantee we’re going to give everything. The result I can’t promise you, but one thing I can guarantee is we’re going to give everything for this club on Sunday.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Bruno Fernandes tells Andre Onana to stop blaming himself for Man Utd defeat Ryder Cup by the numbers On This Day in 2008 – United States end European dominance with Ryder Cup win

Bruno Fernandes threw his support behind Andre Onana and told the devastated Manchester United goalkeeper to stop blaming himself for the Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich. Having been beaten in three of their first five matches for the first time in the Premier League era, the Red Devils’ return to European football’s top table ended in a 4-3 loss on Wednesday night. Erik ten Hag’s men started the Group A opener surprisingly well at the Allianz Arena, only for summer signing Onana to somehow let a low Leroy Sane shot squirm home. The 27-year-old buried his head in the turf and was consoled by team-mates, later saying he “let the team down” and that United “didn’t win today, it’s because of me”. “It’s not about Andre,” United skipper Fernandes said. “Andre is a great goalkeeper. “He will keep giving us a lot of points, a lot of saves. He hasn’t to take any blame for nothing. “We have to take the blame as a team, that we’re going to go through this moment together because we are strong as a team.” Onana’s gaffe was swiftly followed by a Serge Gnabry strike, with Harry Kane then scoring a penalty straight after Rasmus Hojlund had pulled one back early in the second half. The match came to a hectic conclusion, with Casemiro scoring either side of Mathys Tel’s stoppage-time strike as United showed spirit but ultimately lost for a fourth time in five matches. “I think what everyone has to do is to do their own job and look at themselves first,” Fernandes said in the bowels of the Allianz Arena. “That’s what I do as a player, not as a captain – as a person and first point. “I think everyone does that and I think today it wasn’t the case that not everyone was doing the best for the team or trying to fight for getting the result. I think everyone did that. “It’s just the momentum and against big teams, as I said, when you give a lot of chances to them, they’re going to hurt you. “Even then they give us some chances and we scored three goals, so I think no-one would expect us to come into Bayern and score three goals. “I don’t think anyone outside of us would expect us to fight for the result in trying to get something from the game. “But I think the team did. Obviously it wasn’t enough but we’re not playing against some bad team. “We were playing one of the best teams in the world, with great players, with great qualities. “Obviously it’s not the best moment for us but we will get through this and we will get the results back.” United stayed in Germany following the Group A opener and are training before flying back as preparations step up for Saturday evening’s key trip to Burnley. Ten Hag will be hoping to have more options to choose from at Turf Moor, having headed to Bayern without nine injured players. “Obviously, we want to have everyone back because we know that as many players we have available, the team will be stronger,” Fernandes said. “And obviously more options for the manager to do his choices and whatever his tactics, the first 11 or whatever he picks. “But obviously, still, we have the players and we have enough experience and enough talent in the team to get through this moment even with all the players. “Obviously now I think some of them probably will come back earlier and will lift the team because we have quality players injured. “But it’s about the ones that are now playing, giving something to get the result and that’s it. “We can’t rely now on the injuries and everything. “We know it’s tough and you need to get through that because you can’t control (it). “But I think the team has players (good) enough to get a response.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Son Heung-min believes Arsenal should fear in-form Tottenham Ryder Cup by the numbers On This Day in 2008 – United States end European dominance with Ryder Cup win

Football, bloody hell, as Sir Alex Ferguson famously exclaimed after an action-packed finale against Bayern Munich. Manchester United had the final say again, Casemiro’s second goal meaning they got three in the Allianz Arena. Yet on a night of some surreal developments, there was a certain predictability, too. Of course Harry Kane scored. Bayern Munich bought him to be reassuringly reliable. Of course United lost, too, because that felt like a guarantee for a team with an acute self-destructive streak and even as they can savour the fact that the striker they did get instead of Kane, Rasmus Hojlund, opened his account. But as United’s third successive defeat was a tale of three summer signings, the notion it would come down to Kane against Hojlund, the master and the apprentice of goalscoring, overlooked United’s increasingly acute goalkeeping issue. While United named three goalkeepers on their bench, the problem was the one they had on the Allianz Arena pitch. Andre Onana was a Champions League finalist last season and arguably the outstanding shot-stopper in the competition. If Erik ten Hag thought he was buying a guarantee of their own, a Kane of goalkeeping, the Cameroonian marred his United bow in the competition with a horrible error, gifting Leroy Sane the opener and Bayern a path to a victory that, despite United’s three goals, rarely felt in doubt thereafter. While Jamal Musiala was outstanding, Thomas Tuchel’s team did not justify their billing among the favourites to win the competition. Nor did they need to. After 27 minutes of mediocrity from Bayern, Onana blundered, Sane scored and his torrid start to the season moved into the realms of the terrible. Short of players and confidence, United desperately require solidity, something to give them a platform they can build upon. Instead, for the first time since 2001, they have conceded at least two goals in five successive matches. Onana has been culpable for several of the 14, to varying degrees, but none as much as Sane’s limp shot. While Kane ended his Champions League debut for Bayern with an assist and a goal, the first came courtesy of Onana. As Bayern made an undistinguished start, the best pass Kane received in the first 27 minutes came from Hojlund, United transfer targets in various summers inadvertently combining. But then Sane cut infield, used Kane to play a one-two and shot. Gently. Towards Onana. But the ball squirmed under him, somehow. In a sense, it was a mistake that cost United two goals. They are a side with a capacity to struggle immediately after a setback and, for the third time already this season, they conceded twice in five minutes. The magnificent Musiala was the instigator of the second, a driving run drawing in three United defenders. In the process, they left Gnabry unmarked for him to steer in a shot. Onana neglected to dive this time, perhaps wary of what happened the previous time he did. But it meant there were unwanted similarities with Saturday. As they had against Brighton, United started well. As they did then, they unravelled before the interval. Ten Hag had ditched his midfield diamond and United had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring. After Alphonso Davies made a terrific recovery challenge on Facundo Pellestri, the ball fell obligingly for Christian Eriksen. Perhaps unable to believe how good a chance it was, he shot tamely at Sven Ulreich. Another Dane struck instead for United; it is a goal that may have a long-term significance. It was a first repayment of Hojlund’s £72m fee not, after his cameo at Arsenal, a first indication the young Dane is not intimidated by his price or the pressure it confers. After Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford combined, he span and shot; perhaps a better goalkeeper than Ulreich would have stopped it and United’s three goals suggested the goalkeeper may yet be Bayern’s undoing. But not here. Bayern responded, with a penalty awarded after the incident was reviewed on a monitor. Dayot Upamecano’s header struck the raised arm of Eriksen. Kane composed himself and beat Onana. And then Bayern, so mediocre at the start, were rampant. Sane rolled a shot against the post, Onana again motionless. The goalkeeper belatedly started making saves, launching a damage-limitation exercise when he had been responsible for the initial damage. Bayern, in a show of strength, were able to send on Kingsley Coman, the scorer of a Champions League final winner. Then came a further exchange of goals, Casemiro first finished while grounded before applying a finishing touch to Fernandes’ free kick. Sandwiched by his pair, Bayern added an ultimately decisive fourth: after Thomas Muller struck the post, another substitute, Mathys Tel, finished emphatically. Shorn of 12 players for various reasons – again, some self-inflicted – United had no such enviable options. Their replacements included three goalkeepers, four rookies and a 35-year-old Jonny Evans. United once beat Bayern because they had Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as substitutes. In a rematch, they had two late goals, both from Casemiro, but fewer reasons to party like it was 1999. Read More Bayern Munich vs Manchester United player ratings: Kane scores and Musiala shines after Onana howler Arsenal are back in the Champions League — and they look like contenders too Harry Kane on target as Bayern Munich pile misery on Manchester United How Harry Kane unshackled Bayern Munich with a classic move from his Tottenham days Andre Onana owns up to mistake against Bayern: ‘One of my worst games’ Bayern Munich vs Manchester United player ratings: Kane scores after Onana howler

What the papers say Harry Kane continues to feature strongly in transfer talk – just weeks after his move to Bayern Munich. The Daily Mail says a buy-back clause gives Tottenham first refusal on the England captain, 30, if he returns to the Premier League, but the Daily Telegraph reports any return would depend on whether Kane feels he can work with chairman Daniel Levy. Manchester City are keen to keep hold of their young forward Oscar Bobb. The treble winners turned down loan offers from Ajax and Porto for the 20-year-old Norway Under-21 international, according to the Daily Telegraph. Across the city, Manchester United are also keen to keep hold of a young striking talent. The Manchester Evening News reports United are lining up a new contract for Joe Hugill, 19, after he impressed in pre-season. Off the pitch, former Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore, 49, is tipped to take over at Huddersfield Town, according to The Sun. The Terriers have parted ways with veteran boss Neil Warnock. Social media round-up Players to watch Jadon Sancho: Reports in Germany suggest Borussia Dortmund are not interested in re-signing the winger, 23, to end his troubled stay at Manchester United.Hugo Ekitike: Crystal Palace, Brentford, Everton, West Ham and Wolves are all keen on Paris St-Germain’s 21-year-old striker. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Mikel Arteta admitted to becoming emotional on a “beautiful night” as Arsenal marked their long-awaited Champions League return with a stylish 4-0 win against PSV Eindhoven at the Emirates Stadium. In their first outing in this competition for six years, Arteta’s side put PSV to the sword in the first half, going in at the break 3-0 up after a ruthless show of attacking intent. First Bukayo Saka reacted fastest to score on the rebound after Martin Odegaard’s long-range effort was parried by Walter Benitez in the PSV goal, before the England winger turned provider with a smart pull-back that was guided into the bottom corner by Leandro Trossard. After 38 minutes the game was all but over as Gabriel Jesus took a touch inside the box and drilled an unstoppable drive into the far corner. Odegaard added his team’s fourth when he shot low with his left foot past the goalkeeper with 20 minutes to play, as last season’s Eredivisie runners-up were outrun and outclassed by Arteta’s side, who were at their electric best in wet and difficult conditions in north London. “It was a beautiful night after such a long time,” said Arteta. “We wanted to produce the right performance to win the game. It was great to see the atmosphere and the Champions League music. “Everyone was getting a bit emotional before it. We showed in both boxes today I think we were exceptional. That was the difference today, I think. “I was (emotional), yeah. I was really excited about it. I wanted to control and not show that too much, but I was really excited. “The journey started last year when we earned the right to be in this competition which is where we have to be as a club. Now we have to produce what we have to produce to stay at this level.” After watching his side struggle at times to break down opponents who have set up defensively against them in the Premier League this season, Arteta was particularly pleased with the way his attack effectively killed the contest off before the break, taking advantage of a more open game than they have been used to domestically. “(It was) very good,” he said. “That’s what we have to do. That’s why I mentioned that in the box we were exceptional today, we were ruthless, we took our chances. (It) was top. And as well we could have done more. Probably as managers we are looking a bit more on that than any part.” Amongst an array of standout performances for Arteta’s team, Kai Havertz enjoyed possibly the best display of his early Arsenal career. There had been signs of frustration from home supporters towards the £65million summer signing during recent games at the Emirates, but he was instrumental in the team’s fluent attacking rhythm as he finally looked at home in an Arsenal shirt. “Yeah, he was really connected today in the game,” said Arteta. “It’s true I asked him to play two different roles in regards to the behaviours of the opponents and he’s so intelligent that he does it. It’s just finishing one or two actions that we had but it’s coming and he’s so willing to do it.”