Football News: Review Of The Day 28th January 2018

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Review of the Day

Newport Boss Hails Huge FA Cup Result

Despite the disappointment of conceding a late equaliser, Newport County manager Mike Flynn was delighted with the result his team earned in the FA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur. The 4th Round replay at Wembley will earn the club a huge amount. "The players have made me the proudest manager in the country," Flynn said. "It's huge. It can save clubs, not just keep you ticking over. I'm hoping it's on TV again because that's an extra bit of money. You wouldn't believe me how much it's needed. That's not a sob story, it is what it is in League Two and a lot of League One clubs. It feels we're in a nice position to be able to provide for the football club. We turn over £2.2m a year as a club and a business and I would say with this cup run it's going to be in excess of £700,000. It's huge. It allows us to lay foundations for the future and do things right. We've got good people running this club and I'm sure they'll make the right decisions."

Warm Weather Training Helped Wolves

Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Nuno Espirito Santo has hailed the winter warm weather training camp in Spain for helping Wolves to victory over Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Midlands club headed off to Marbella after a long unbeaten run was ended by Nottingham Forest beating them 2-0. "It was not about going there and just sitting in the sun," Nuno told BBC WM: "The boys worked really hard and it creates bonds that are important between them."

Celtic Hit By Injury Trouble

A 1-0 win over Hibs was marred for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers by injuries to two key players. Leigh Griffiths, who scored the goal, suffered a recurrence of a calf problem and is likely to struggle to be ready for the next game in the Europa League against Zenit St Petersburg. There was also a potentially serious knee injury to goalkeeper Craig Gordon caused by a collision with former Celtic defender Efe Ambrose at the end of the first half. "Both are struggling," said Rodgers. "Craig looks a bit more serious in terms of his knee. We need to have a look at that and the scan because he could be out for a period of time. Efe's weight maybe twisted his MCL (medial collateral ligament) so we will see how that is."

Hughton No Hesitation Picking Murray

Despite Glenn Murray and his wife being arrested on suspicion of tax fraud on Tuesday, Brighton manager Chris Hughton has told reporters that he had no hesitation about picking the forward, who scored the winner against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup 4th Round win. "He's been focused as normal and I had no hesitation in bringing him off the bench," said Hughton.

Moyes Hits Out At Masuaku's 'Despicable' Spit

After West Ham suffered defeat against League One leaders Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup, David Moyes was quick to condemn one of his own players after a spitting incident which saw him sent off. Arthur Masuaku saw a straight red after reacting to a challenge by Nick Powell by spitting at him and now faces a lengthy ban, at a time when the Hammers have been hit by injuries to key players, including Pedro Obiang who was stretchered off with a knee injury. "He will deserve everything he gets and he will get something he deserves from us. It's unacceptable," said Moyes. "It was despicable. I've not seen it from him. We like him, he's a really good boy around the club. I've enjoyed him so I'd have to say it is out of character." Obiang's injury has made it 11 injuries to West Ham United's first team players.

Transfers

Republic of Ireland U21 defender Shaun Donellan has moved to Yeovil Town on a free transfer from West Bromwich Albion. Donellan was never able to get into the Baggies first team and spent the first half of the season on loan in League One.

Goalkeeper Stuart Moore has quickly found a new club following his release from Barrow. He has joined Swindon Town until the end of the season.

Monaco have won the battle to sign up and coming young starlet Pietro Pellegri from Genoa. The 16 year old had been subject to interest from a number of clubs around Europe, but chose AS Monaco. "I am very happy to join Monaco. I was very quickly convinced by the project, which allows youngsters like me to progress and flourish in the future," Pellegri told Monaco's website. "I will work hard to become an important player for the club in the future." Pellegri tied the record for Serie A's youngest ever player when he made his debut at the age of 15 years and 280 days in December 2016.

VAR To Blame For Hamstring Injuries Claims Pardew

After the FA Cup 4th Round clash between Liverpool and West Brom was overshadowed by the use of VAR, manager Alan Pardew, who saw his side have a goal ruled out and a penalty given against them due to the VAR system, has labelled it "bizarre". Pardew has, rightly, claimed that is affected the atmosphere at the ground and left everyone in the dark about what was going on. He has also said it was the reason his team was hit by a couple of hamstring injuries in the first half. "In the stadium, it was bizarre, because we got no evidence of what happened," Pardew told BBC Sport. "There's no screen for us. So it's not like tennis, when the ball's in or out. We're completely in the dark. Everybody's in the dark. Is it a goal? Isn't it a goal? I think if you were in the stadium today, and you experienced that system in the first half, you would have to doubt it." Pardew added: "The other issue, which I think is more concerning, is that I lost two players to hamstrings in that first half. We have to keep our players ticking over. It took so long. You're going from such high-tempo work to literally waiting. That's something we need to look at."

Pep Claims Even Man City Are Constrained By Finances

Despite the Premier League leaders spending half a billion pounds since Pep Guardiola took charge, the Spaniard has now claimed his team are constrained by finances. "Four competitions at a high level, you need 22 players," said Guardiola. "Today, 22 top players is so expensive. You cannot buy that. Even City." Guardiola has even hinted that it was budgetary reasons that stopped City completing the signing of Alexis Sanchez. "There are salaries we cannot pay. There are parts of the transfer we cannot pay," said Guardiola. "Maybe in the future it is going to happen, but we have not paid more than £100m for a player, or £90 or £80m. We cannot pay that right now. They told me. And the salaries and some things. We cannot pay. That is the truth." Sounds like not so much juicy oranges as sour grapes that Jose should have been talking about.

Klopp Expects To Lose Can On Free

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has ruled out the sale of German midfielder Emre Can during the transfer window, but still expects to lose the player in the summer on a free transfer. "He'll stay beyond the winter," Klopp told DAZN. "Emre is still a young lad but he has developed into a great player and is very important for us. Sometimes a player just wants to sit out his contract. That's not cool for the club, but there are moments in which you have to accept it. And as long as the player behaves like Emre does, then I have absolutely nothing to complain about. He gives everything he has and identifies with the club."

Messi Says Barca Better Without Neymar

Lionel Messi has told 'World Soccer' that Barcelona are a better side without the world's most expensive player Neymar Jr. "Without Neymar we are more balanced," Messi told World Soccer. "His departure meant a change in our way of playing, we lost a lot of attacking potential, but it helped in the defensive sense. We are currently very well armed in the midfield; this makes us stronger in defence."

Ronaldo Expanding Hotel Chain

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to expand his portfolio of CR7 hotels with three new franchises set to open. At the moment there are two CR7 hotels in Portugal, but the new ones will expand the hotel worldwide, with one in New York, one in Madrid and the other in Marrakech.

Klopp Hits Out At Liverpool's 'Bad' Defending

As Liverpool followed up their toothless and limp defeat to Swansea City in the Premier League with a defeat to another struggling side in West Brom in the FA Cup 4th Round, manager Jurgen Klopp has hit out at the defensive display. "We changed the system three or four times today," said Klopp. "We scored late and then how it is in a game like this, we tried, we pushed, but in the end they defend, big hearts and try everything. They deserved it, to be honest. I don't like to say it but it's the truth. West Brom deserved it so compliments to Alan and his side. In the decisive part of the game around the goals it was poor," Klopp said. "Bad defending. We go 1-0 up which is perfect in a game like this usually. But then it felt like it was a second later we conceded the goal. Long ball but we win the first one, then open ball and we lose that challenge when we could have shot the ball somewhere. Into the stand or whatever and then it's done. We lose the second challenge as well and then the disaster starts with the run of Rodriguez and a fantastic finish. Rodriguez, alone in the box, which makes no sense. The third one was unbelievable because it's really easy to defend," added Klopp. "You only have to push up then Dawson is one hundred percent offside. But he wasn't."

Heynckes Praises On-Loan Gnabry After He Scores Against Parent Club Bayern

Bayern Munich head coach Jupp Heynckes has praised Serge Gnabry after the on-loan winger scored against his parent club for Hoffenheim. The former Arsenal player is on a season long loan from Bayern to Hoffenheim and played yesterday as the two clubs met in the Bundesliga. Gnabry opened the scoring and then missed a penalty as Hoffenheim took a shock early 2-0 lead before Bayern hit back to win 5-2. "Last week against [Bayer] Leverkusen he had some great moments during the first half," Heynckes said. "He's a player with a lot of potential, but you have to keep in mind, that he's already suffered quite a few injuries in his young career and due to that has missed some time. He's very talented, but I think such young players have to adapt their lives to playing, working and training on such a high professional level and I think he can still improve in that aspect."

Adams Accepts Plymouth Blame For Collapse Of Grant Move

Plymouth Argyle had agreed a deal to sign Everton's young midfielder Conor Grant on loan for the rest of the season, only for the deal to collapse when it was realised that Grant was ineligible to play for the Pilgrims. The FIFA rule which prevents players from appearing for more than 2 clubs in a season has come into play as Grant spent the first half of the season on loan with Crewe ALexandra, but also played once for Everton in the Checkatrade Trophy back in August. Despite the Checkatrade Trophy not being for first team players, it counts as a first team fixture under FIFA rules. Adams said: "We found out on Friday. It was an oversight and the football management team have got to take full responsibility. Ourselves and Everton. They obviously knew he had played in the Checkatrade Trophy and had been out on loan. We didn't double check that he had played in the Checkatrade Trophy. So as a football department we take the full responsibility of that, but it got to a stage where we filled in the papers. We knew the rules, but we didn't know he had played that one game in the Checkatrade Trophy."

Umbro Announce Nike Club Man City Signing

Bizarrely sportswear manufacturer Umbro have announced a signing by Manchester City. The signing of Mix Diskerud, a USA international, was on loan to IFK Gothenburg from Man City group owned New York City FC but now, according to Umbro, Diskerud has signed a 4 and a half year deal with Man City after his NYCFC deal expired. This despite Man City being a Nike-sponsored club and that Diskerud will almost certainly never play for the Manchester club. Neither Man City nor New York City have confirmed the deal.

Written by Tris Burke January 28 2018 06:15:25