Tag Futebol

Patrick Bamford missed Leeds United’s FA Cup defeat to West Ham with a fresh hip problem, according to reliable journalist Phil Hay.

The Lowdown: Leeds dumped out of FA Cup

The Whites were beaten 2-0 away to the Hammers on Sunday afternoon, exiting the cup at the third round stage.

A weakened Leeds team never really got going at the London Stadium and their focus turns solely to Premier League commitments between now and May.

Bamford was one of numerous key players not present in east London, but it turns out that he was due to feature until a late setback emerged.

[freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

The Latest: Fresh Bamford injury

Taking to Twitter after the game, Hay confirmed that the striker was in line to face West Ham after another injury absence, only to be ruled out with a hip problem. The severity of the injury remains unknown, so Bamford could be set for yet more time on the sidelines.

The journalist revealed: “Bamford was due to start today but had a problem around his hip. Bielsa still waiting to find out the full extent of it.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-30/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Potential big blow

Bamford has been an enormous loss for Leeds for much of this season, with the entire attack blunted without him leading the line and proving to be a reliable source of goals and assists, like he was last term.

The 28-year-old has been limited to just five starts in the current Premier League campaign and Marcelo Bielsa desperately needs him back as his side look to pull clear of the relegation zone.

Aside from Raphinha, the Whites have been rather short on reliable scorers this season, so if Bamford’s latest injury is a long-term one, Leeds must look to bring in a striker in the January transfer window. Otherwise, they risk getting themselves into real trouble in the league.

In other news, Leeds are reportedly eyeing up a move for a young British player. Find out who it is here.

Napoli could move for Everton centre-back Yerry Mina in January, according to Il Mattino (via Sport Witness). 

The lowdown

It was confirmed last week that centre-back Kostas Manolas was leaving the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona to return to Olympiacos. That leaves Napoli, who are four points off the top of Serie A, with only Kalidou Koulibaly, Amir Rrahmani and Juan Jesus available at centre-back.

Everton could already be set to lose one defensive mainstay in January in the form of Lucas Digne. According to a report from The Sunday People (via Metro), three Premier League clubs are interested in the left-back after his falling out with Rafael Benitez.

The latest

As per Il Mattino (via Sport Witness), Napoli have drawn up a list of potential replacements for Manolas, and Mina’s name is included.

Luciano Spaletti’s side are in a position to do a loan deal, having cleared the Greek defender’s €100,000-per-week salary off the books.

The verdict

Losing Mina would be a big blow to Everton. The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has said that the Colombian has become ‘increasingly important to the side’s hopes’ of success, while ex-Toffees player Michael Ball dubbed him ‘fantastic’.

Indeed, the 27-year-old is arguably the best centre-back at the club, boasting an overall duel success of 79% this season compared to 67% for Michael Keane and 56% for Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate.

However, even if they can ward off Napoli’s interest in January, the defender’s future at Goodison Park remains uncertain, with the end of his contract in June 2023 ticking nearer.

In other news, many Everton fans erupted over this transfer update

Newcastle suffered their eighth defeat of the Premier League season on Sunday as they lost 4-0 to Leicester away from home.

The Magpies are 19th in the table and have only won one of their 16 matches so far, scoring 17 goals and conceding a whopping 34.

Scoring and conceding goals has been an issue for Newcastle and Eddie Howe could look to the January transfer window to rectify some of his problems.

Better than Joelinton

Mais Futebol, via Sport Witness, reported earlier this month that the Magpies have held talks over a possible deal for Benfica attacker Darwin Nunez. The report claims that the Portuguese side would like a fee in the region of £42.7m (€50m) for the striker. That price tag would break Newcastle’s transfer record but it would surely be worth it.

Whilst Newcastle were being hammered by the Foxes at the King Power, Nunez was putting on a sensational showing for Benfica in a league clash with Famalicao on Sunday.

As per SofaScore, he won five of his ten ground duels and completed an impressive four dribbles in 90 minutes on the pitch. He also scored a stunning three goals from just three shots as Benfica won 4-1, scoring his hat-trick and managing four dribbles in just 33 touches of the ball – proving that he can work effectively without needing a constant supply of service.

The forward showed Howe exactly why he should sign him in January, as they are badly lacking a player of his quality at the top end of the pitch to support Callum Wilson, with this performance taking him to 14 goals in 18 games for Benfica across the Liga Bwin and Champions League. At the end of the day, goals win games and Newcastle do not have enough goalscorers in their side.

Wilson (six) and Allan Saint-Maximin (three) are the only players with more than one league goal this season. Joelinton has been supporting the former in a front two of late, but he has only managed one strike and the signing of Nunez could prove to be a major upgrade in that position, given that he scored three times as many goals on Sunday as the Brazilian has managed all campaign.

The 22-year-old played off Haris Seferovic in the match, which shows that he is capable of being deployed in a wider, or deeper, role rather than purely as a centre-forward. This means that he could come in and offer help to Wilson with his clinical edge in the final third, having shown that he has more of an eye for goal than Joelinton.

His manager Jorge Jesus previously stated that he has all the qualities to become world-class in his position, saying: “All this decision-making ability, finishing and speed… He was Benfica’s most expensive purchase, and when there is no pandemic, he will be the most expensive sale. He will be a world-class player. Unfortunately for me, maybe I will lose him in a short time.”

Based on that, they simply have to sign him.

AND in other news, NUFC heading for disaster on “embarrassing” 30 y/o dud, Howe once locked him in a room…D

As it stands now, Karnataka appear to be heading towards booking a spot in the final four

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera in Mysore26-Dec-2009
Scorecard
The game started to drift after Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar helped Karnataka gain a 78-run lead and it began to meander further nowhere as Punjab curiously preferred to jog along at a comfortable pace rather than push for a big score and look at declaring tomorrow. As it stands now, Karnataka appear to be heading towards booking a spot in the final four.That cricketing cliché of this being “a glorious game of uncertainties” will be invoked in some quarters no doubt but Punjab could have taken out some uncertainties if they had shown more intent in the afternoon. Karnataka certainly could have helped their own cause had their fielding been better. They had dropped five catches on the first day, which helped Punjab to recover from 215 for 8, and today they reprieved Sunny Sohal twice – on 51 and 62 – and missed a stumping chance of Mayank Sidhana, who was on 29 then.The contest might have appeared to be heading downhill in the evening but there was no shortage of excitement during the morning. Sunil Joshi ran himself out early, failing to ground his bat in time, but Pandey unfurled several peachy shots to push Karnataka past the tipping point. To say that he oozed intent would be an understatement; he cover-drove the first ball of the day, from Manpreet Gony, to the boundary and off-drove Gony to distraction but the highlight was a curious little bottom-hand-powered swat pull over mid-on against the same bowler. It only went for two runs but Pandey’s reaction was revealing.Where one might have expected self-admonishment, there was a suggestion to himself that he could have played the shot better and collected a boundary. There was more impishness in store, for when Love Ablish dragged out an appeal for lbw, Pandey responded by lifting the next delivery to long-on. Further boundaries were collected in the over with drives either side of the pitch.”They were there to be hit,” said Pandey matter-of-factly. “I am not going to let any boundary-scoring opportunity go.” Oh well.Pandey fell just after Karnataka crossed Punjab’s first-innings total but Vinay Kumar chose to hit his maiden first-class fifty in style. Vinay is your representative domestic cricketer – a man full of heart, and one who gives his best in whatever he does. Yet somehow, it seems, he is resigned to anonymity. Today he played a fine hand to give Karnataka full control of the game.Vinay played several proper cricketing shots that would make a top-order batsman proud, the highlight being a crunchy pull shot against Taruwar Kohli. He cut and drove well but what caught the eye was his deft handling of the inevitable short-ball barrage hurled at him. Vinay had served up quite a few in Punjab’s first innings and got his fair share in return, but he showed good attacking and defensive skill in handling the bouncers. He remained unbeaten on 51.It was at this point that the Punjab started to dawdle. They needed an outright victory to prevent their campaign from derailing but they chose, rather inexplicably, to crawl post lunch. They scored only 73 runs in 31 overs in the second session. It said much about their lack of purpose, and though Sohal tried to make amends in the final session, he was forced to take more risks.Punjab now have to take a high-risk approach tomorrow morning if they are to stop this game from becoming a one-way street for Karnataka. Pandey summed up best when he said: “Initially the first three overs [before lunch] Sohal played a few shots and we were wondering whether they were going to test us but later they just started to defend and the game just went …”Karnataka won’t be complaining, because it it Punjab who have to do all the running from here on.

Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier is attracting interest from FC Barcelona.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Spanish journalist Gerard Romero (via Sport Witness), who stated that the 21-year-old goalkeeper is one of four options Xavi Hernandez is considering a move for in the event that Marc-Andre ter Stegen were to leave the Camp Nou at the end of the current campaign.

Romero goes on to claim that Ajax’s Andre Onana, Wolfsburg’s Koen Casteels and Fiorentina’s Bartlomiej Dragowski are the other three candidates who Barcelona believe could potentially replace their current 29-year-old number one.

Leeds must avoid Meslier disaster

Considering just how important a part of Marcelo Bielsa’s side Meslier has become since his £5.85m permanent switch to Elland Road in the summer of 2020, were Leeds to lose the services of the France U21 international at the end of the season, it would undoubtedly be an outcome that would leave the 66-year-old manager furious.

Indeed, over his 35 Premier League appearances last season, the £18m-rated shot-stopper kept 11 clean sheets and made an average of four saves per game – the second-most of any ‘keeper in the league.

These returns saw the player who Bielsa himself claimed “transmits security” earn a highly impressive seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.13, ranking him as the Whites’ fourth-best player in the top flight last time out.

And, after putting pen to paper on a new £22k-per-week contract which runs until 2026 back in August, the goalkeeper has once again been in impressive form over his 16 Premier League appearances in the current campaign, keeping three clean sheets and making an average of 3.1 saves per fixture – the joint seventh-most in the division.

These metrics have seen the 21-year-old average a SofaScore match rating of 6.94, ranking him as Bielsa’s sixth-best performer so far this term.

As such, with it appearing as if Victor Orta and Bielsa believe that Meslier will be Leeds’ number one shot-stopper for many a year to come, the ‘keeper being pinched by one of the biggest clubs in the world – a move that would surely tempt the Frenchman – next summer would come as a gutting blow to both the director of football and manager, who simply must do all they can to ensure there is no way for Barcelona to get a deal over the line for the former FC Lorient man.

In other news: LUFC handed huge Jan boost on “unbelievable” £34m-rated “storm”, Bielsa surely buzzing

West Brom have now gone three games without a win, which will be extremely frustrating for manager, Valerien Ismael, who has been tasked with the job to get the side promoted this season back into the Premier League.

The Baggies went to the Seasiders with the need for three points to try to close the gap on both Fulham and Bournemouth who are out ahead by a stretch in the automatic promotion places, with Fulham now eight points ahead at the top of the table and a game in hand to play.

Ismael’s side have now not won away from home for two months, and there will need to be questions raised as to what issues need ironing out, or where quality needs to be added to give the Baggies the confidence they clearly need to inject to start winning on away days.

Despite dominating in the early stages of the game, where it looked like West Brom could pressure enough to put a goal past Blackpool, after a string of chances over the course of the game, the side couldn’t break down Blackpool enough to finish them.

The Tangerines had an outstanding defensive performance as they struggled to find a lot of attacking opportunities, which held West Brom to a 0-0 draw in the end.

Speaking after the game Ismael reflected on the performance;

“We need to take what we can get at the minute and getting a clean sheet is a positive. We created a lot of chances, but compared to last Saturday, this time there were more real chances to score. At the minute it’s the final ball, and we need to work on that.”

One player who struggled to offer the presence and confidence needed to get a three-pointer over the line away from home for Ismael’s side, was Cedric Kipre, with the defender having fewer touches (39) than Baggies goalkeeper, Sam Johnstone (40).

The 6 foot 3 defender lacked positional discipline on many occasions, losing the ball a whopping 13 times which led to an awful pass success rate of 59%. The centre-back also gave away a number of fouls (3) throughout the game, which really disrupted the rhythm and flow of the game to get West Brom in a position to build attacking play. This is reflected in a dismal SofaScore rating of just 6.5.

This clear lack of discipline could’ve cost the side goals against a team offering more clinical finishing than Blackpool did last night. Thus, Ismael has work to do to make sure that these kinds of sloppy mistakes don’t cost them later in the week.

West Brom have another challenging game on Friday at home against Nottingham Forest and will be hoping to pick up maximum points by finishing their chances to climb their way back into a title challenge.

In other news: Lawrence could replace struggling Jordan Hugill

Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have been no strangers to controversy over the last few months, from team selection to score lines, every detail of the ongoing drama at Old Trafford continues to be the hottest topic in Premier League football.

It seems Ole could be setting up for his next Man United disaster with speculation mounting on the future of young goalkeeper, Dean Henderson.

Henderson hasn’t been getting game time this season, with only one appearance for the Red Devils so far in the EFL Cup, which appears to be unsettling for the youngster who is keen to get first-team football under his belt.

The lack of minutes is quite obviously down to the spectacular return of form from David De Gea, who made his mark on the Manchester United team early in the season, seemingly re-establishing himself as the number one keeper in the side, despite conceding nine goals in three out of his four last games.

The young keeper has been branded ‘insane’ by former teammate, Sander Berge, with the Sheffield United midfielder saying; “He’s insane. I’ve never been with such a good goalkeeper. One thing in matches, he is almost a defence alone at times, and you feel so secure with him.”

With that in mind, surely he should be the stopper to take Man United through their next era?

Sadly, however, the £19.8m-rated gem has been reportedly linked with a move to newly taken over, Newcastle United.

Former Chelsea and Manchester United goalkeeper, Mark Bosnich, had his say about a potential move to the North East for the 24-year-old;

“I think he should go. He’s at the stage of his career where he needs to be playing regular football,” Bosnich told talkSPORT.

“But I think from Dean Henderson’s point of view, he needs to start looking after Dean Henderson.

“Newcastle are a club who are on the go and on the move but they are also in a perilous position right now.

“New manager. It’s important to get your spin right and the goalkeeper is the integral part of that. He should go and should go as soon as he possibly can.”

Norwegian manager, Solskjaer, is already on the ropes at Manchester United with pressure rising to find results after a terrible display so far this season, with just four wins from eleven in the Premier League so far.

Losing young players to other Premier League clubs could be one of the biggest mistakes Ole makes in his tenure, strengthening those around him and surrendering homegrown talent who the squad could be built around in the years to come.

Thus, if the manager is still in charge of the Manchester club come January, it will be important for him to identify the right direction for players desperate for first-team football, with the likes of Henderson, Jesse Lingard and Donny van de Beek all linked with moves away from the club in the winter transfer window.

At the moment, Solskjaer is staring down the barrel of another disaster and yet more unrest. On the weekend a protest against the Glazers took place, none of this is ideal.

In other news: Everton must make a move on Man United misfit in January…

The SuperSport series match between Titans and Warriors at Willowmore Park in Benoni was abandoned after just seven overs as a result of an unfit pitch

Keith Lane08-Oct-2009
Scorecard
The Supersport series match between Titans and Warriors at Willowmore Park in Benoni was abandoned after just seven overs as a result of an unfit pitch – the crease at the southern end of the ground was moist, affecting the bowler’s delivery stride.The situation led to Peter Muzzell, an expert on pitches in South Africa, being flown in from East London to inspect the conditions, and he will submit a report as a part of Cricket South Africa’s effort to investigate this matter. Titans, the home team, are likely to be fined for the embarrassing result.The problem was evident from the first ball of the second over of the day. Titans bowler Ethi Mbhalati found that his front foot dug several centimetres into a soft crease. During subsequent overs, the ground staff tried, unsuccessfully, to tackle the problem with sawdust and other equipment.With no improvement in conditions, the players had to leave the field after 5.5 overs in the hope that the ground staff and the sun could repair the damage.On resumption, it became obvious that play was impossible, and after seven more deliveries the game was called off for the day. Following further discussions between the umpires, match referee, captains and Muzzell it was decided the match had to be abandoned.”Both umpires as well as both captains will be required to submit a report,” Brian Basson, Cricket South Africa’s general manager for cricket operations, said after the abrupt end. “There will also be a report from Muzzell, who went to the ground as soon as we established that there was a problem with the pitch.”The umpires were of the opinion that the pitch would get worse even if it dried out and that it would not be suitable for a first-class match.”This is not the first time that matches in South Africa have been abandoned due to an unfit pitch, and a penalty could be enforced. “Yes, action can be taken – a maximum fine of R150 000 and points can be deducted from the Titans,” Tiffie Barnes, the match referee, told SuperCricket. “Muzzell also inspected the pitch and he said there was a lot of moisture underneath. He said it probably will not have improved by tomorrow, but might be better by Saturday.”

Fawad Alam, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal fashioned an extraordinary turnaround on the second day at the P Sara Oval, as Pakistan dominated as completely as they had been dominated on the opening day

The Bulletin by S Rajesh13-Jul-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outFawad Alam’s tenacious yet fluent effort made him the 10th Pakistan batsman to score a century on debut, but the first to do so overseas•Associated Press

Fawad Alam, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal fashioned an extraordinary turnaround on the second day at the P Sara Oval, with Pakistan dominating as completely as they had been dominated on the opening day. Led by superb spells from Gul and an outstanding century on debut from Fawad, Pakistan recovered from a disastrous first innings, limited their deficit to 150, and, by the end of the day two, had wiped off the arrears and moved ahead, losing only one wicket in the process.When the day began, Sri Lanka were so far ahead it seemed almost inevitable they would rectify their record of never having won a home series against Pakistan. However, so thoroughly did Pakistan control all three sessions that Sri Lanka will have uncomfortable thoughts about chasing a stiff fourth-innings target on a wearing pitch. So far Pakistan had set all the wrong records in this series, but they got it right here: Fawad’s tenacious yet fluent effort made him the 10th Pakistan batsman to score a century on debut, but the first to do so overseas. Thanks to that effort and the amazing bowling display, Pakistan can dream about chasing another record: only once have they won a Test after conceding a larger first-innings deficit – against New Zealand in Wellington in 2003, when they trailed by 170 but eventually won by seven wickets.There were question marks being raised about Pakistan’s commitment after there capitulation in the series so far, but as is their wont, they hit back just when their chances had been written off. The pitch remained a pretty good one for batting, though the bounce had diminished, butPakistan relied on lethal spells of reverse swing, aided by steady spin and an inspirational bit of fielding, to launch an astonishing revival, and then continued it with an utterly disciplined and purposeful batting display.The morning session belonged to Gul. He was completely lacklustre in Galle, but here was back near his best, reverting to his original action instead of trying to hide the ball with both hands. He generated late swing, bowled at a brisk pace, and maintained excellent control overlength and line. He also bowled the ball that announced Pakistan’s comeback, slipping in a quick delivery from round the wicket that crashed through Kumar Sangakkara’s defences. Sangakkara had progressed serenely to 87 and looked good for many more, but that delivery was an emphatic declaration of the fact that Pakistan were back in business. That’s exactly how it turned out, as Sri Lanka lost five wickets after that for just 52.Gul received plenty of support from Ajmal, who bowled unchanged through the day and finished with deserving figures of 4 for 87. The pitch didn’t offer much, but Ajmal maintained excellent control, seldom giving the batsmen easy scoring opportunities. He also had some help from umpire Daryl Harper, who adjudged Tillakaratne Dilshan caught behind though ball made no contact with bat.It was a day when almost everything went right for Pakistan, with even the fielding getting better. The day started with a superb direct throw from Mohammad Aamer that found Thilan Samaraweera short of his crease. And when Gul returned for a second spell before lunch, Sri Lanka’s misery exacerbated, as he struck twice in successive balls. Nuwan Kulasekara drove hard to slip, while Rangana Herath was caught-and-bowled as he tried to check a drive, thus improving Gul’s morning figures to 3 for 15 from eight overs.Angelo Mathews offered some resistance after being reprieved in the slips on 4, but that was hardly enough to stop the rampaging Pakistanis. With the deficit controlled to manageable proportions, their batsmen then set about making further inroads into Sri Lanka’s hold on the game.Khurram Manzoor and Fawad did that by adding 85 for the first wicket, looking untroubled at most times on a pitch that had lost most of its pace. Kulasekara, the first-innings destroyer, didn’t get much swing, while the lack of pace meant both batsmen had enough time to adjust theirstrokes.Fawad’s tendency to shuffle had been his downfall in the first innings, and while he continued to use that technique in the second innings, he was quick enough to work the ball on the leg side every time the bowlers targeted his pads. The most impressive aspect of his batting, though, was his temperament. He was assured in defence, never looked flustered or bogged down by the huge deficit, and worked the ball away impressively against both pace and spin. Nothing demonstrated his temperament better than the way he tackled the 90s – on 92, he stepped back and pulled Rangana Herath high over midwicket for six; then he stepped back and worked the ball behind point for a couple of runs to get to his century.It contained only six fours and a six, but yet came off just 151 balls, indicating just how well he worked the ball around. His staple run-scoring was the arc between backward point and mid-off, as he drove the ball fluently off both front and back foot, picking the gaps and ensuring thatthere were never long scoreless periods.Younis had a close shave for lbw when on 4 – replays showed the ball had hit pad before hitting bat – but he slowly got into his groove, timing the ball sweetly down the ground and giving the bowlers no chance. By the time the last ball of the day was bowled, the Sri Lankans were more than ready to walk off, and the hopes of a series win was suddenly much farther away than it had been eight hours earlier.

يأمل نادي برشلونة في حسم صفقة جديدة خلال 72 ساعة من أجل التدعيم المستمر في الميركاتو الصيفي الحالي لصفوف الفريق الأول لكرة القدم.

ترغب إدارة العملاق الكتالوني في التوصل لاتفاق مع نظيرتها في تشيلسي لضم الظهير الأيسر، ماركوس ألونسو، قبل يوم الأربعاء المقبل على أن تكون سعر الصفقة لا يتعدى 8 ملايين يورو.

وبحسب صحيفة “سبورت” الكتالونية أن نادي برشلونة لن يعلن عن الصفقة رسميًا إلا عندما يجد حلًا لتسجيل ألونسو في قائمته في بطولة الدوري الإسباني.

اقرأ أيضًا | مرتضى منصور: أراهن بكل تاريخي على إلغاء حكم حبسي.. وقبول اعتذار أبو جبل في يد فيريرا

لقد توصل برشلونة بالفعل لاتفاق مع ألونسو للتوقيع على عقد لمدة 3 سنوات، بعد مجهود كبير من اللاعب الإسباني الذي خفض راتبه السنوي ليتوافق مع معايير هيكل الرواتب ولم يعد يتدرب مع تشيلسي في الوقت الحالي في انتظار الضوء الأخضر للرحيل.

لكن الصفقة تأجلت في الأيام الماضية نظرًا لرغبة تشيلسي في ضم ثنائي برشلونة، فرينكي دي يونج وبيير إيمريك أوباميانج، بالإضافة إلى سيرجينيو ديست، لكن انتقال ألونسو قد يتم دون الحاجة إلى لاعبين في المقابل.

يرغب تشافي في ضم ألونسو إلى برشلونة من أجل منافسة، جوردي ألبا، على مركز الظهير الأيسر في الموسم الحالي وهو ما سيعني رحيل، أليخاندرو بالدي، عن “كامب نو” لعدم وجوده ضمن خطط المدرب خاصة مع وجود عروض له في الدوري الإسباني.