Scary Football

Here is the TOTW from the Dutch Eredivisie’s 12th GameWeek.

MD12 Eredivisie Team of the Round: Bijlow (Feyenoord), Lewis (Willem II), Te Wierik (Groningen), Van der Heijden (Feyenoord), Cavlan (Emmen), Doan (Groningen), Van de Beek (Ajax), Odegaard (Vitesse), Ziyech (Ajax), De Jong (PSV), Mlapa (VVV Venlo)

Feyenoord, Ajax and Groningen have three representatives each, with Willem II, Emmen, PSV, Venlo and Vitesse contributing one each.

Feyenoord ended Heracles’ unbeaten run at home, coming away with an impressive 2-0 victory. Groningen dragged themselves out of the drop zone with a 2-0 win over Heerenveen. Ajax continued their excellent run with a 7-1 win over Excelsior. Continue reading “Round 12 Dutch Eredivisie Team of the Week- November 10-11 2018”

Chelsea coach Marco Ianni has been fined £6,000 for his role in the fracas that occurred towards the end of the game between the Blues and Manchester United earlier this month. The 36 year old, who was brought to Stamford Bridge by new Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri (the pair had worked together at Sarri’s previous club Napoli), admitted to a charge of “improper conduct”. Mourinho was reprimanded by the FA as well, but no fine was imposed on him Continue reading “Chelsea coach fined for goading Jose Mourinho”

West Ham are one of the clubs being linked with a winter move for Porto winger Yacine Brahimi. The Hammers were interested in him in the summer as well, but a move didn’t materialise, but with the Algerian star out of contract at the end of the 2018/19 season, Porto are said to be ready to listen to offers.

There are no shortage of suitors for the 28 year old, with Lazio and Roma both interested, and the likes of Marseille, Lyon and Besiktas also keeping tabs on the winger’s situation. Back in England, Wolves and Everton are also mulling bids. Continue reading “West Ham linked to Algerian winger Brahimi”

Spain have appointed Luis Enrique as their new manager. La Roja sacked previous boss Julien Lopetegui just days before the commencement of the 2018 World Cup after he had been announced as Real Madrid manager, leading to Fernando Hierro being appointed as caretaker for the duration of the tournament.

Under Hierro, Spain made it out of Group B, although not as convincingly as they might have liked, drawing with Portugal and Morocco and edging Iran for their solitary triumph. That earned them a Round of 16 clash against hosts Russia, where they created a record for passes, but it didn’t get them the goals they needed, and they were eventually knocked out on penalties.

Enrique has managed both Barcelona and Roma during his short managerial career, with the highlight of his stint being the Champions League final win over Juve in 2015, the only non-Real CL triumph in the last four editions of the tournament.

SFF president Luis Rubiales, who had a key hand in Lopetegui’s sacking, said that they had only talked with Enrique for the job. The former Barca and Real Madrid star apparently had more lucrative offers in England, but has chosen to remain his native country.

Enrique’s first game will be against England at Wembley in September, and his first task will be to ensure that Spain qualify for Euro 2020. He has inked a two year contract with the national federation.

Huddersfield Town suffered their second straight 2-0 loss to Manchester United in the space of a fortnight as they went down to Jose Mourinho’s side at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Town, currently 17th in the league, had NINETEEN shots to United’s five, but could not fashion a goal and were troubled by Romelu Lukaku’s pace and power Continue reading “Second 2-0 loss for Huddersfield against United- Town exit Cup”

Real Sociedad’s Inigo Martinez has become the most expensive Spanish defender after Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao completed his signing by paying his 32 million euro release clause. The transfer eclipses the 27 million euros Real paid Sevilla for Sergio Ramos back in 2005, and also makes the 26 year old Athletic’s record transfer signing. Continue reading “Most Expensive Spanish defender | Inigo Martinez to Athletic Bilbao 2018”

According to sources in the Spanish media, Barcelona will let French defender Lucas Digne go this summer and bring in another backup at left back to Jordi Alba. Digne, an extremely capable player in his own right, hasn’t been able to dislodge Alba, and it’s probably a case of “too good to be a backup player, but not good enough to displace Alba” for the French international, who moved to the Nou Camp in the summer of 2016 after stints with Lille and PSG in his native France and a period on loan with AS Roma Continue reading “Lucas Digne to leave Barcelona? Blaugrana to transfer list defender in summer”