List of All Articles with Tag 'per'

Roberto De Zerbi hopes to help goalkeeper Jason Steele gain England recognition after claiming Lewis Dunk’s international recall is a comparable achievement to Brighton qualifying for the Europa League. Seagulls skipper Dunk has been included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, having been in international exile since his debut in November 2018. The 31-year-old has been rewarded for his key role in Albion’s sixth-placed Premier League finish. Former Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Sunderland keeper Steele has also been instrumental during a remarkable season at the Amex Stadium after dislodging Robert Sanchez as first choice in early March. Brighton head coach De Zerbi believes the 32-year-old is capable of joining Dunk in the national team set-up to compete with the likes of Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope and Sam Johnstone. “It’s great news,” the Italian said of Dunk’s call-up. “I think it’s maybe the same big news like Europa League because to help one of our players to achieve a target so important, so prestigious is a proud (moment). “We have to be proud – not only the coaches but the players – for one player. “We will work in the next season to help Jason Steele to achieve the same target of Lewis Dunk because he has the quality to achieve one target so important. “In my vision, in my idea, Jason Steele is a top keeper. It’s difficult to find another keeper of this level. “I study football 24 hours per day but it’s very hard to find another keeper with this quality.” Steele, a former England Under-21 international who represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics, had never played in the top flight until last term. He has registered six clean sheets and one assist during the past three months, having been preferred to Sanchez due to his ability to play out from the back. Steele joined the Seagulls in June 2018 – on the back of suffering successive relegations to League One with Blackburn and Sunderland – and had to wait more than three years for his league debut. “Football is nice because the past is not important,” said De Zerbi. “I have to analyse the present and sometimes the potential in the future but the past is not important. “You can change your life in one day, if you believe in yourself and you believe in work. “And I told him the same: ‘Jason, you have to think you can change. I give you the possibility to change your life, to change your career and you have to believe in yourself because I help you and you help me and you help the team’.” Brighton complete an unforgettable campaign at Aston Villa on Sunday after cementing their Europa League spot with Wednesday evening’s 1-1 draw at home to champions Manchester City. De Zerbi, who succeeded Graham Potter in September, feels Albion can progress significantly next term. “I am looking forward to working in pre-season because I think we can improve in a lot of things,” he said. “We have played not more than 70 per cent and we have another 30 per cent of improvement.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rob Edwards relieved to hear skipper Tom Lockyer is doing okay after Luton win Pep Guardiola has no concerns about ‘scoring machine’ Erling Haaland I am on my phone all the time – David Moyes finds it difficult to switch off

David Moyes admits he finds it impossible to switch off during the close-season. The West Ham boss is resigned to losing captain Declan Rice this summer and will be inundated with calls from agents suggesting replacements. “I am the exact opposite of switching off, I am on my phone all the time, there’s recruitment and things going on,” said Moyes. “When you talk about the job as a manager, it is so full on. I am sure there are some managers who say ‘no problem and I’ll put my phone away’. I have never been like that, I am always on my phone and available. “I am getting 400 different names put to me every day, a lot of them you don’t know, some of them you do know and some of them you go, ‘I quite like him’. “When you are doing nothing, the agents start to get busy and that’s when it becomes a difficult time as a manager to switch off.” Moyes can at least relax in the knowledge West Ham are safe from relegation ahead of Sunday’s trip to Leicester, who are still in the drop zone. The Hammers also have a Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague to look forward to next month. “I hope to be playing plenty of golf, just trying to recover as it’s been a real difficult year for the club and myself,” added Moyes. “I think we’ve been a good side, but we’ve maybe not shown that we are a good side that often this year. “But I just see it as a huge achievement for the whole of West Ham as a football club, to be in a European final. “I don’t know if I would have said this when I came back to the club three years ago, you wouldn’t have believed me at all. The supporters were probably thinking that as well. If I wasn’t at West Ham, I would have said ‘you’re off your head’. “Maybe the draw in Europe has been a bit kinder to us – but that’s part of being in the cup competitions.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rob Edwards relieved to hear skipper Tom Lockyer is doing okay after Luton win Roberto De Zerbi wants to help Jason Steele follow Lewis Dunk into England squad Pep Guardiola has no concerns about ‘scoring machine’ Erling Haaland

Leicester boss Dean Smith knows he will have fulfilled a “big ask” if he can guide his side to Premier League survival on Sunday. The Foxes must beat West Ham at the King Power Stadium and hope Everton do not win against Bournemouth if they are to avoid relegation to the Championship. Smith was parachuted into an eight-game SOS mission following Brendan Rodgers’ sacking at the beginning of April but has recorded just one victory from his first seven games and accepts that his side have not done as well as he thought they would. The 52-year-old has experience of producing the great escape as he led Aston Villa to seven points from their final four games of the 2019/20 season to beat the drop and says something similar would be required. Smith said: “When you first come in you look at games and I looked at Man City, Liverpool and Newcastle and knew they were going to be tough to get points out of. I expected us probably to win our home games and nick points away from home, with probably the exception of Liverpool. “We are a few points short of where I expected to be and that’s why it has come down to the last one. “This would be a very proud day if we do it, but we have to win our game and rely on other results. Each escape will have its own merits, the one at Villa with four games to go was seven points. That in itself was a big ask, this has been a big ask and hopefully we can do it.” It is only two years ago since Leicester were winning the FA Cup and fighting for Champions League qualification, but they have dropped quickly after having to balance the books in the league. And Smith says that shows just how tough the league can be for those outside the traditional ‘big six’. “This league is precarious. You’ve got to have really good models now to stay in the league,” he said. “You look at Brighton and Brentford, two really good models of clubs, one I know very well because I worked there. “It is hard. You need the finance behind it but it’s not just about finance as you can see in Brentford’s case. “There are many different ways to stay in the league but it’s a real tough league. Very quickly you can go and lose two or three games on the spin. All of a sudden that just drains the confidence of players.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rob Edwards relieved to hear skipper Tom Lockyer is doing okay after Luton win Roberto De Zerbi wants to help Jason Steele follow Lewis Dunk into England squad Pep Guardiola has no concerns about ‘scoring machine’ Erling Haaland

Paris Saint-Germain clinched a French record 11th league title on Saturday as Lionel Messi scored in a 1-1...

Paris Saint-Germain clinched a French record 11th league title on Saturday as Lionel Messi scored in a 1-1...

Paris Saint-Germain clinched a record 11th French league title after drawing 1-1 at Strasbourg to move four points of second-place Lens with one game left

WWE Night of Champions 2023 saw new champions crowned and titles retained. We'll now grade each match on the premium live event.WWE presented yet another premium live event in May. On Saturday, May 27, Night of Champions 2023 took place at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.T...

Champions League finalist Inter Milan has secured a spot in next season’s competition by beating Atalanta 3-2 in Serie A

The Marlins and Angels continue a weekend series out west after Miami scored a 6-2 win to start the three game set on Friday.However, Miami will face a stiff test on Saturday night with Shohei Ohtani working double duty as a dangerous hitter and Cy Young caliber pitcher. The Marlins will counter...

Zach McKinstry homered in a three-run seventh as the Detroit Tigers rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 7-3

The Denver Nuggets knew they had all the ingredients for this run to the NBA Finals last summer when Jamal Murry and Michael Porter Jr. were regaining their health, Nikola Jokic was coming off another MVP season and Aaron Gordon was stepping up his game

Switzerland's Albane Valenzuela held on to beat three-time major winner Anna Nordqvist of Sweden 1-up on Saturday and reach the quarter-finals of the LPGA...