Preseason ranking gives Kenny Pickett, Steelers bulletin-board material
Kenny Pickett will use his low Quarterback Tiers ranking as motivation to propel the Pittsburgh Steelers to plenty of victories this fall.Apparently, not many NFL head coaches, coordinators and team executives believe in Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Kenny Pickett.Pickett ranked 2...
2023-08-07 01:54
Arsenal beat treble-winners Manchester City on penalties to win Community Shield
Arsenal took home the first piece of silverware of the new season as they beat treble-winners Manchester City on penalties to lift the Community Shield. Substitute Cole Palmer appeared to have won it for City in normal time after a fine curling finish, only for an unfortunate last-gasp deflected Leandro Trossard goal to earn Arsenal a 1-1 draw and take the game to a shoot-out. The Gunners scored all of their spot-kicks while Kevin De Bruyne fired against the bar and Champions League final match-winner Rodri’s poor effort was saved by Aaron Ramsdale. Just as 12 months ago, Erling Haaland had a quiet afternoon in this fixture but his replacement, Palmer, had appeared set to add another trophy to the brimming cabinet at the Etihad Stadium. Arsenal had their moments and arguably got the goal their play had deserved when a late Trossard effort took a deflection off Manuel Akanji. Fabio Vieira then converted the winning penalty in the shoot-out, handing the Gunners a 4-1 win. Arsenal showcased their big three summer additions with Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber all starting, while Havertz’s former Chelsea team-mate Mateo Kovacic was the only new name in City’s line-up. New refereeing guidelines saw both Thomas Partey and Julian Alvarez booked for kicking the ball away, while the former showed ring rust in passing straight to Haaland on the edge of his own box, with the forward teeing up Rodri – whose shot deflected inches wide. Mikel Arteta fell foul to the same tightening of the rules as he was furious that Rodri was not cautioned for a pull of Havertz’s shirt, his gesticulating of a card instead earning the Arsenal boss a booking. Despite City dominating play it was Arsenal who came closest to breaking the deadlock at the midway point of the half, Stefan Ortega managing to keep out a Havertz shot before Gabriel Martinelli’s follow up was blocked by John Stones. It was Havertz again who almost opened the scoring as half-time approached, the Germany forward seeing another effort saved by Ortega after Martin Oedgaard and Bukayo Saka had combined. At the other end, goalkeeper Ramsdale would have been relieved to see Rodri’s speculative effort from the halfway line land of the roof of his net as he scrambled back towards goal. With just over an hour gone, City boss Pep Guardiola opted to take off Haaland, last season’s 52-goal man restricted to just 13 touches in a similarly-peripheral performance to that in defeat to Liverpool in the fixture a year ago. Palmer came on in his place and the England Under-21 European Championship winner was soon in the thick of things. His first chance at goal saw his shot glance off the thigh of Timber for a corner as City looked to regain their earlier dominance. He went one better soon after, once again receiving the ball on the right-hand side of the Arsenal penalty area but this time bending a fine strike past Ramsdale. Fellow substitute Phil Foden should have doubled the lead only for Ramsdale to make a fine last-ditch save, repeating the feat from the resulting corner to keep out Rodri’s near-post header. Arsenal would level in fortuitous circumstances as, deep into stoppage time, Trossard’s shot took a deflection off Akanji, wrong-footing Ortega and sending the Arsenal fans behind the goal into raptures. Skipper Martin Odegaard put Arteta’s men ahead in the shoot-out before substitute De Bruyne rattled the frame of the goal with his own effort. His Belgium team-mate Trossard put Arsenal in control of the shootout with Bernardo Silva scoring City’s only penalty as Bukayo Saka – who missed at the same Wembley end during the Euro 2020 final – also stroked home. The writing was on the wall when Rodri’s poor effort was saved by Ramsdale and Fabio Vieira fired the ball home from 12 yards to seal victory.
2023-08-07 01:53
Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal: Player ratings as Gunners win Community Shield on penalties
Player ratings from the 2023 Community Shield between Manchester City and Arsenal at Wembley.
2023-08-07 01:50
Man City 1-1 Arsenal (1-4 on pens): Pictures and key talkings points from Community Shield
Key talkings points from Arsenal's 2023 Community Shield victory over Manchester City at Wembley.
2023-08-07 01:45
Top NHL defenseman Karlsson goes from Sharks to Penguins
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...
2023-08-07 01:26
Ange Postecoglou aims dig at Bayern Munich over Harry Kane pursuit
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
2023-08-07 01:20
NFL rumors: Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott interest just got real
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...
2023-08-07 00:55
5 things we learned from the opening round of Scottish Premiership action
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’
2023-08-07 00:55
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora puts OF Alex Verdugo back in lineup day after benching
Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo has returned to the starting lineup a day after he was benched by manager Alex Cora
2023-08-07 00:28
Improved Alcaraz hopes for Canadian breakthrough
World number one Carlos Alcaraz is aiming to make amends as he plays an ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada for only the...
2023-08-07 00:28
Penguins acquire 3-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson in a trade with the Sharks
The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Erik Karlsson in a blockbuster trade with the San Jose Sharks
2023-08-07 00:27
Kane scores four goals in Spurs' friendly win amid Bayern talk
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...
2023-08-07 00:26