Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has responded to Jamie Carragher’s criticism of Mohamed Salah and insisted the forward is “not distracted”.
Salahhas entered the final year of his Liverpoolcontract and it remains to be seen whether he will sign a new deal.
The 32-year-old is showing no sign of slowing down as he’s been in fine form for Liverpool this season. He has 12 goals and ten assists in his 18 appearances across all competitions this term.
After scoring a brace in Liverpool’s 3-2 win against Southampton, Salah revealed he is “more out than in” and is “disappointed” not to have been offered a new contract.
Slot was asked about Salah during his press conference on Tuesday afternoon. He was adamant that he did not have a contract update to share but insisted that his star player is “not distracted at all”.
“We don’t share this over here, at least I don’t. The only thing I can say is, if I look at my line-ups, Mo is more in than out,” Slot said.
READ: Liverpool fans clash on Mo Salah contract; one year or THREE on table?
He added: “I don’t think he’s distracted at all. I haven’t seen that after the United game where he had some comments, I haven’t seen it after a post you told me about, he just kept on scoring. I haven’t seen anything today, he is just fully focused on the game tomorrow.
“If you would have been at the Axa today, I don’t think any player spoke about it, at least not when I was there.
“Players are focused on the short-term and that is Madrid and that is City. By the time Mo’s contract is extended, players don’t look at it that way. There is no distraction for him, the players and definitely not for me.”
Carragher also claimed Salah is one of Liverpool’s “five best-ever players” and Slot decided to focus on this comment when asked for his response to the “selfish” dig.
“I focus a bit more on what else he said. He said he was one of the five best players Liverpool have ever had and I completely agree with him which is not an easy thing because we have had so many great players at this club,” Slot continued.
“I don’t think it distracts Mo at all – maybe even brings the best out of him. Like I have said already a few times, my main focus is the next game. I talked to Mo about what I expect from him like I do all the other players. He is in a good place at the moment.
“I am not distracted at all by his comments and I don’t feel his teammates are. It’s nice that we have a story in the media because you guys have some work now as well.”
CAS rejected Evgeny Ustyugov's appeal and stripped him of his gold and bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The athlete was disqualified for 4 years due to anti-doping rule violations.
The court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeal of Russian biathlete Yevgeny Ustyugov in the case of anti-doping rule violation. The athlete was stripped of the gold and bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
This is stated in the message of the International Biathlon Union, reports UNN.
Details
According to the International Biathlon Union, the court of appeal of the court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the conclusions of the Anti-Doping Department, which found that Ustyugov committed an anti-doping rule violation based on anomalies found in his biological passport of the athlete.
Ustyugov was sentenced to a four-year suspension, and the court annulled all results between January 24, 2010 and his retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 season, including being stripped of the gold and bronze medals he won at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
In February, the CAS annulled all the athlete's results from 2010 to 2014, including the Sochi 2014 gold medal.Ustyugov can appeal this decision to the Swiss Federal Court (SFT), but such appeals are allowed only on narrow procedural grounds.
addition
Ustyugov-two-time world junior champion, 2010 Olympic champion in the mass start and bronze medalist in the 4×7.5 km relay,Honored Master of sports of Russia (2010), winner of 3 World Cup stages, winner of the Small World Cup in the mass start (2009-2010), two-time silver medalist of the 2011 World Championship, two-time vice-champion of Europe.Ustyugov won a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics, but was found guilty of doping (oxandrolone), so all his results from August 27, 2013 to the end of the 2013-2014 Cup were annulled.
recall
Former football player of the Ukrainian national team Anatoly Tymoshchuk, who claimed that he sees no difference between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples and called the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine a "special military operation", won a court in Lausanne against the Ukrainian Football Association. The court ordered the UAF to lift sanctions against Tymoshchuk, which were imposed after a full-scale invasion for supporting the war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree that put into effect the decision of the national security and Defense Council to deprive 34 people of state awards, including Tymoshchuk.
Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Manchester City are having a bit of a time of it. They’ve now lost five games in a row and internet law requires us to come up with five reasons – no more, no less – for why that is so.
And these are they.
Rodri’s injury Obvious starting point is obvious, but the numbers are entirely insane. It’s barely an exaggeration or simplification to note that City never lose when Rodri plays but very frequently lose when he doesn’t, and he’s been out since September and is almost certainly gone for the rest of the season.
Which all means that while we can just shrug and go “Yeah, he’s real good at the football, isn’t he?” that option doesn’t exist for Guardiola and his team. They’ve got to come up with an actual real-world solution to minimise the impact of that loss or their season is going to circle the drain real fast.
It now seems safe to say that deploying Ilkay Gundogan and his ageing legs (about which more later) in an innovative deep-lying pointing role as he frantically indicates to assorted befuddled team-mates the precise location of whichever threat has just jogged past him doesn’t seem to be working, so it might need some fresh thinking.
There are few teams who could effortlessly cope without the one player, whatever their position happens to be, who knits the whole thing together – look at Arsenal without and with Martin Odegaard over the last few weeks, for instance – but however well-known the phenomenon has become it really is jarring that any one player can make such a monumental difference to the fortunes of a club as hefty and successful as City.
Ruben Dias and the Other Injuries As well as playing a legendary set at Reading in 92, Ruben Dias and the Other Injuries represent a further obvious point of concern for City.
There is a solid case to be made that – and we are most specifically talking about that absolute atrocity of a performance against Spurs at the weekend – Rodri isn’t even the most damaging missing piece of the puzzle.
Even without Rodri they managed to roll on a bit after that Arsenal game and churn out a few results here and there – often unconvincingly, sure – before the wheels fell off. The loss of wheels has arrived simultaneously with the loss of easily their best defender in Ruben Dias.
City have never once conceded four goals in any of his 169 Premier League and Champions League appearances for the club. In his current absence, they’ve done it twice in four games. And hardly covered themselves in defensive glory in the other two either.
Throw in awkward absences at various points for Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Ake and Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, and a squad Guardiola likes to keep small by design has been stretched beyond its elastic limit.
Everyone has injuries, but Dias, Rodri, De Bruyne is proper ‘spine of the team’ stuff.
Old lags and young bucks And you wonder how much those first two issues are down to the make-up of City’s squad. An average age of 27.8 doesn’t seem so bad, but it’s a deceptive mean that one. Because City’s squad simply has too few players in that 24-29 sweet-spot peak. Especially when you take out Rodri and Dias from that already under-represented group. Sure, you’ve still got Erling Haaland and Phil Foden at 24, but they’re both having their own struggles at the moment – relative to the absurd top level both possess.
Too many of the remaining key players in this squad are younglings or old heads. And it skews too far towards old head. De Bruyne is 33. Gundogan and Kyle Walker 34. Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic all 30.
At the other end of the scale you have huge demands and responsibility being placed on the shoulders of your Josko Gvardiols, your Rico Lewises and the Savinhos of this world. They’re all high-quality young players, but a lot is being asked of them.
The problem of having lots of youngsters and lots of old warhorses but nothing much in between will be a familiar one to anyone who has ever tried to captain a village cricket team. It seems a careless situation for the most successful football club in the country to find themselves in.
READ: Premier League winners and losers: Postecoglou, O’Neil, Amorim, Leicester, Man City, Everton and more
Overwork If you’ll allow us further opportunity to slap on the ol’ hindsight goggles… maybe this was always going to happen. Maybe this was always going to be a weird unpredictable season – something that wouldn’t ever play into City’s hands given the metronomic nature of their success. Maybe all the international football that’s been crammed into the schedule over the last few years via the combination of Covid-delayed 2020 tournaments and the winter World Cup in 2022 had to catch up with people sooner or later.
And City would always be vulnerable to it given a) the sheer number of their players who would obviously be involved in all that football and b) that slimline squad Guardiola likes to maintain.
Nine members of City’s squad have already racked up 1000 minutes of club football alone this season, with Ruben Dias picking up his injury four minutes shy of that mark and Gundogan only a handful of minutes adrift. They really might just be a team that has, for now at least, simply run out of puff.
Playing Tottenham twice Let’s not make it more complicated than it need be. There’s simply no escaping the fact that 40% of Manchester City’s five-match losing run has come against Tottenham, who we know to be the stupidest football team on earth.
And one of the very best and also stupidest things about Tottenham is the fact they are absolute Kryptonite to Manchester City. They have a far better record against them in the Guardiola Era than makes any kind of sense.
In Guardiola’s time, he has faced Spurs 22 times. Spurs have won nine of those games and drawn a further three and lost only 10. Given the relative success of the teams over that period, with City winning approximately all of the trophies and Spurs none of the trophies, it’s absurdly even. Especially when you throw in the fact that one of City’s 10 ‘wins’ was the 4-3 Champions League quarter-final second leg that definitely didn’t feel like much of a win.
The great irony, of course, is that to every other team pretty much ever, there’s no more invigorating and encouraging sight when in the midst of a terrible run of form than that of Dr Tottenham rolling into town. For City, the best and most successful team of the age, the exact opposite is true. They would rather have faced literally anyone else on Saturday night. We don’t have to explain it – we can’t – we just have to acknowledge its truth.
READ: 16 Conclusions on Man City 0-4 Spurs: atrocious Walker and Gundogan, brilliant Kulusevski and Maddison
Gary Neville has picked out Luke Shaw and three other Man Utd players as the big “winners” of the new system under Ruben Amorim.
The Red Devils have not had very long at all on the training pitch as they look to learn Amorim’s new style of play and 3-4-3 formation.
Amorim took charge of his first training session eight days ago with many of his players not joining in until the end of last week because of international duty.
Man Utd drew their first match under Amorim 1-1 against Ipswich Town on Sunday as they moved up once place to 12th in the Premier League as the new manager realised the size of the job on his hands.
And former Man Utd defender Neville has picked out four players that he thinks will emerge as “winners” from the new system under Amorim.
Neville said on Sky Sports: “Luke Shaw, if he can keep fit. As I think that left centre-back needs to eventually be able to play out as a left-back, so he is well suited to do both. The same must be said of the right centre-back.
“We saw Mazraoui do it against Ipswich. I think Ugarte will be a winner, just because I think in midfield, not just because he’s played for him before.
“I think it’s how you fit in the likes of Rashford, Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes. Because one thing you know with that system, you’ve got two wing-backs, you’ve got a back three and you’ve got a two in front.
“It’s then that three, which obviously the two that he likes to play sort of come inside a little bit. So, you’re wondering about sort of Amad… Amad played obviously wide yesterday, but Garnacho, Rashford, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Fernandes. That’s the conundrum of those attacking positions where I can’t quite see what’s going to happen.
“I think Mainoo and Ugarte for me, playing midfield, I think they’re absolute certs. I think Luke Shaw’s a certainty to play. I think he would be anyway in a back four or a back three.
“I think ultimately you’ll end up with Yoro as the right-centre-back, I think just because of that energy and that pace. So, I think the winners will be the ones who I think are adaptable.
“When we played with a back five with Terry Venables or a back three with Glenn Hoddle, the outer centre-backs do have to be able to go out wide. So, I think the ones who are more flexible and agile are going to be the winners.”
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Round 14 of the UPL: “Dynamo defeated Chornomorets 3-1 and took a 2-point lead over Oleksandriya, which drew 1-1 with Veres. “Shakhtar defeated Ingulets 6-0.
Kyiv's Dynamo pulls away from Oleksandriya, which drew against Veres, Ingulets loses 0-6 to Shakhtar Donetsk, super safes, air raids, red cards – this is how the 14th round of the Ukrainian Premier League ended. UNN decided to tell you the results, new achievements and what the next round of the UPL will be remembered for.
"Karpaty" thanks to a beautiful goal Bruninho wins "Kolos"
On Friday, it fell to the local Karpaty to open the next round of the UPL in Lviv, with Kolos Kovaliv visiting. Traditionally, the first symbolic kick was taken by a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The first shot in the match was taken by Oleh Lyubinsky, a scout with the Special Forces who participated in battles near Kyiv, in the Kharkiv sector, in Pokrovsk and Bakhmut. He is currently undergoing treatment after being wounded.
At the start of the match, the teams exchanged chances, but Kolos was closer to scoring, but the Giant lacked accuracy. After 6 minutes, Tsurikov made a great pass to Bolivar, but the Venezuelan hit his chest inaccurately. During the half, Diego and Alefirenko had their chances for Kolos, but it was the home team that opened the scoring.
First, Bruninho intercepted the ball, passed it to Neves, who passed it to captain Ambrosio Chachua. Chachua gave a subtle scoop pass to the same Bruninho, who hit Pakholyuk with a powerful second touch – 1: 0 in favor of Karpaty in the 32nd minute.
“Karpaty could have doubled their lead in a minute when Neves decided to take a shot from the top of the box, but this time Pakholyuk made the save. At the end of the half, Kolos got its own episode, but Krasniqi's scissor shot was right at Kemkin.
The second half was significantly inferior to the first in sharpness. The first moments began to arise only after the 60th wave, "Karpaty" had its own episodes, but in the first case, the ball passed by after a rebound, and Pakholyuk coped with Kostenko's shot.
In the 73rd minute, Colos forward Bolivar had a killer moment, but the crossbar took the shot. But in the end, the" Carpathians "managed to keep the goal" dry " and get a minimal victory – 1:0.
Vorskla beat LNZ with goals in each half.
In the first match of Saturday, Vorskla Poltava was visited by LNZ Cherkasy. Before the start of the match, the players observed a minute of silence in memory of the Holodomor victims.
The home team created the first chance in the 2nd minute of the match when Kucherenko pulled Krupsky's long shot from under the post. “LNZ” answered in 5 minutes when Yashari threw forward to Mollo, Isenko came out of the goal, averted the threat, but passed it right to Yashari's foot, but the midfielder could not throw the ball over the goalkeeper.
Vorskla's goal was unexpected, especially after the game had calmed down a bit. On the right flank, Iede made a diagonal left to Myakushko, who handled the ball, moved to the center and put the leather one into the corner of the LNZ goal – 1-0 in favor of Vorskla.
The teams had their moments before the break. Vorskla defender Batsula could have cut into his own goal, but he was lucky, and instead the Poltava midfielder shot straight into the keeper's hands.
After the break, Vorskla still managed to double the advantage. Ides, who has already scored an assist in this match, scored himself. Kane gently threw into the penalty area on Yede, the striker tamed the ball, and shot exactly past Kucherenko – 2:0, although three minutes earlier Yede missed a super chance.
“LNZ tried to seize the initiative, but things got really bad for Cherkasy in the 70th minute when center back Salihu received two yellow cards in 6 minutes and was sent off the field. In the 88th minute, LNZ defender Daiko could have reduced the deficit, but Isenko managed to save the shot.
In the end, the final whistle recorded a confident advantage of Vorskla with a score of 2:0.
Buyalsky's beautiful goal, Chornomorets' defenders' “deliveries”, Surkis' gift
In another match on Saturday, Dynamo Kyiv hosted Chornomorets Odesa. Before the start of the match, the players honored the memory of the Holodomor victims with a minute of silence, as well as the representative of the Obolon Kyiv ultras Pavlo Vedybida, nicknamed Obolonchyk, who died on November 13, 2024, in the battle near Chasovyi Yar, Donetsk region.
Vedibida has been a combatant since 2014, in particular as part of the DUK PS, defending Savur-Mohyla, Donetsk airport and other strategic positions. In 2022-2024, he served with the 112th Brigade of the Obolon District Military District, participated in the defense of Kyiv, the battles near Lysychansk, the liberation of Klishchiyivka, and the defense of Chasovyi Yar.
To the surprise of the audience, it was Chernomorets, which was an outsider in this match according to bookmakers ' forecasts, that started the match actively, but by the 8th minute the capital's grandee seized the initiative when Vladimir Brazhko first hit the leg of the Chernomorets defender, and on the second attempt hit the rack. Later, Alexander Karavaev could not hit the empty goal, shooting higher.
Chernomorets snapped back at Hoblenko, who hit the net from the outside from an acute angle.
In the 15th minute, Denys Popov intercepted the ball in the other half of the field, passed it to Buyalsky, who passed it to Vanat, and the forward scored exactly in the corner – 1: 0.
Kyiv continued to control the course of the match, striking at Chornomorets' goal, but it did not come to anything concrete. The ball either went past or Rudko controlled the situation.
After the break, Dynamo again looked sharper, not allowing Chernomorets to create chances. First, Karavaev shot higher from a killing distance, three minutes later Karavaev shot again with his head, but Rudko repelled, and two minutes later the same Karavaev earned a penalty, but after reviewing the VAR, the referee canceled his decision.
Still, Dynamo managed to score – in the 69th minute Buyalsky received a pass from Vanat in front of the penalty area, the Captain adjusted the ball under his right foot and powerfully shot into the far nine. The goalkeeper of the" Mariners " failed to help out in this situation 2:0.
In the 86th minute, The Defenders of Chernomorets played too much at their own goal, as a result of which Daniil Hoopoe gave a pass to Rudko, who was intercepted by Buyalsky, the goalkeeper did not have time to reach the ball, and the captain of Kiev gave it to the empty goal exactly on the leg of Valentin Rubchinsky, who had to send the ball into the empty goal – 3:0.
The Mariners managed to score a prestige goal in stoppage time – Skiba blocked Petryak's free-kick with his head. It should be noted that Roman Salenko made his debut in this match, who came out in the 90-1 minute instead of Buyalsky, the forces of the legendary Dynamo forward in the past Oleg Salenko.
The final whistle signaled a confident victory, with which Kyiv congratulated their president Ihor Surkis, who celebrated his 65th birthday the day before, and extended their unbeaten streak in the UPL, which has lasted for 15 games.
the fourth consecutive penalty deflected by Palamarchuk did not allow his Ingulets to burn down Shakhtar
In the last match on Saturday, Shakhtar Donetsk played host to Ingulets from Petrovo, which has not yet tasted victory in the UPL, with only 6 draws and 7 defeats. The first shot in the match was scored by police lieutenant Vasyl Ivanovych (call sign Professor), a fighter of the Special Operations Battalion “Aeneas” of the united assault brigade of the National Police “Rage.”
In May of this year, Vasyl, together with his brothers, performed combat missions in the Kharkiv region, liberating Ukrainian lands from the enemy. In June, his unit was transferred to the Donbass, where a soldier was seriously wounded in fierce battles near Toretsk.
Both teams decided from the start not to sit out in defense. Already in the 5th minute, Shakhtar forward Daniil Sikan created a chance, but shot past. "Ingulets" responded a minute later, when Pyatov processed the ball in the penalty area, shot, but Dmitry Reznik parried the shot. After 4 minutes, petrovtsev keeper Palamarchuk entered the game, eliminating the threat after Alexander Zubkov's shot.
In the end, by the end of the half, Shakhtar took possession of the initiative, but the final stage was not enough. In the 38th minute, the same Pyatov broke through the flank and shot, but the shot was not strong, so Reznik confidently fixed the ball.
In the 41st minute, Shakhtar earned the right to a penalty, after playing with their hand in Nuri Malysh's own penalty area. Georgy Sudakov took the shot, but could not beat Palamarchuk, who became the 4th penalty deflected in a row this season.
But Ingulets players did not rejoice for long. Already in the first minute added to the first half, Artem Bondarenko scored his 30th goal in the UPL – Zubkov in the center passed to Bondarenko on the flank, the midfielder passed the ball to Sikan, who returned it back to Bondarenko, who scored exactly in the corner – 1: 0.
The beginning of the second half was a disaster for Ingulets. In the 47th minute, Zubkov made a cross from the flank exactly on the head of Bartol Franic, who shot Palamarchuk from a few meters – 2:0.
In 3 minutes, the Donetsk team brought the score to a crushing one – again Zubkov went down the flank, shifted slightly to the center and gave it to Kevin, who sent the ball into the net in touch from outside the penalty area-3:0.
Ingulets responded only in the 67th minute, when Belotserkovets dragged the ball from the flanks, reached the penalty area and shot into the far corner, but Reznik helped out again.
Then everything only got worse for Ingulets – in the 69th minute, the Donetsk team ran out on the counterattack, Pedrinho burst into the penalty area, where he gently hung Eginaldo on his head, who shot the goal with his head-4:0.
After 10 minutes, Zubkov played Sudakov into the wall, got the ball back and scored from outside the penalty area into the far corner – 5-0.
Two minutes later, Eginaldo scored a double from Neverton's pass and put a bold point – 6:0. Shakhtar even scored 7 goals, but the referee recorded an offside position.
The final whistle recorded the crushing victory of Ingulets, which extended the unbeaten streak of the club to 15 games in the UPL.
"Alexandria" gave in to The Post and releases "Dynamo"
In Sunday's match, Veres Rivne was visited by Alexandria from Kirovohrad region, which needed a victory in order not to let go of Dynamo, which, as noted, defeated Chernomorets. The start of the match was postponed for 1.5 hours due to an air alert in the region.
42-year-old sergeant Oleg Adamchuk received the right to the first symbolic kick on the ball in the match against Alexandria. He gained combat experience in the Pokrovsky direction in the 68th separate Jaeger brigade named after Oleksa Dovbush, and now conducts training, working as an instructor in basic military training in the 233rd Unit Training Center.
The hosts started the match more actively, which is not surprising, because the players of "Alexandria" knew about the victory of "Dynamo". But by the 10th minute, Veres seized the initiative. Vitaly Dakhnovsky was the sharpest member of Oleg Shandruk's team. At first, he ran away on a date with Ermakov, but did not beat Ermakov low, and then the goalkeeper took a shot from dakhnovsky's fly.
Later, Dakhnovsky brought Gaiduchyk into the operational space, but failed to beat Yermakov.
In the 25th minute, Ivan Kalyuzhny played with his hand in his own penalty area, which is why the referee awarded a penalty, which was realized by Haiduchik – 1:0 in favor of Veres.
The goal shook up "Alexandria". After scoring a goal," Alexandria " even managed to quickly close the gap, but the referee canceled Belyaev's goal due to offside.
At the end of the half, Belyaev could have closed the gap of his team, but the ball went higher after a header. After the break, the Alexandrians looked more active. First Belyaev shot near the bar, then Giovani shot higher, Filippov's shot pulled Kozhukhar.
In the end, the goal was brewing, which actually happened in the 78th minute-Kalyuzhny shot in the direction of the goal after a corner, and Bezerra put his foot in front of the goalkeeper in time – 1:1. already in added time, Veres could have taken the lead, arranging an invasion of Ermakov's goal, but Kirovohrad fought back.
"Alexandria" lost important points, which allowed "Dynamo" to break away from the wards of Ruslan Rotan by two points.
"movement" breaks the winless streak
In the final match of Sunday, Lviv's Rukh met with Kyiv's Left Bank. “Before this match, Rukh had a disappointing winless streak – 6 draws, 2 defeats, so the Lviv team had to win. The first symbolic blow was made by Yulian Garasymov, a machine gunner with the 53rd separate rifle battalion of the 116th separate mechanized brigade. Yulian fought in Bakhmut and Staromayorske, where he carried his wounded comrade 5 kilometers to the evacuation point after the battles. He is currently undergoing treatment.
The first half turned out to be not rich at the moment, you can recall the shot of the left defender of Kiev Sydney, which Ledway coped with and Kogut's shot higher.
"Rukh" woke up before the end of the half and created several chances, one of which ended with a penalty against the "Left Bank". In the 42nd minute, the visiting player Yakimov knocked down Didyk in his own penalty area, the referee pointed to the point that the Carbine clearly realized.
The second half turned out to be interesting for moments – at first Dedukh could have equalized the score, but Ledviy managed, the Carbine and Kvasnitsa had half-moments, but they lacked accuracy.
The game was mostly like a football saying:"some couldn't, others didn't want to." "Rukh" mostly sat in defense, trying to save the result, and "Left Bank" in the second half almost nothing came out ahead. In the end, the final whistle recorded a minimal victory for Rukh, which broke the unbeaten streak.
a draw closed the Tour
In the final match of the tour, local Polesie and Luhansk Zarya met at the snow-covered Central Stadium in Zhytomyr. The first symbolic kick on the ball was performed by Nikita Maksimchuk, the son of a combat officer of the 132nd separate Reconnaissance Battalion of the DSHV, captain Andrey Maksimchuk, who now defends Ukraine.
The match started quite quickly. In the 5th minute, Alexey Gutsulyak, who returned from the national team camp, could have opened the scoring, but zleta shot over the goal. Later, Paishao, who had long been Gutsulyak in the previous episode, could not beat the Zarya keeper.
In the end, in the first half, Polesie looked more active, but the accuracy failed. Paishao, Hutsulyak, Nazarenko had their chances again, but Sarapiy successfully deflected the shots.
Zarya responded only closer to the end of the half, but Alexander Yatsyk's long-range shot went near the post. After the break, the home team continued to attack, but the sharp moments were created by the Zarya players. At first, Gorbach hit Verny after Yatsyk's cross, but the polesie keeper made an incredible save, turning the ball over to the corner.
Subsequently, Philip Budkovsky, who played for Polesie, shot higher over the nine. But still, Budkovsky had his say in this match. "Zarya" in the 65th minute went into a positional attack, which, it would seem, did not end in anything, but the striker of "Polesie" brought at his goal, Yatsyk took away, Juninho rolled to the left, where there was a locksmith, who in turn rolled to Budkovsky, who shot weakly, but accurately – 1:0 in favor of "Zarya". Smolyakov could have knocked the ball out of the goal belt, but waved past the ball.
In 2 minutes, Zarya could have doubled the advantage, but Volynets managed after a free kick. A minute later, Zarya remained in the minority – Roman Vantukh received the second yellow card and left the field.
A goal from Polesie was clearly brewing, which could have happened in the 80th minute, but Sarapiy gave the safe no worse than Volynets, pulling the ball out of the nine goals. Nevertheless, at the end of the match, the Wolves managed to equalize the score – Mustafayev served to the near post, Taylor threw a header at Sarapiy, and he literally brought the ball into the goal 1:1.
In the end, the final whistle recorded a draw.
The standings after 14 rounds are as follows: Dynamo continues to lead, breaking away from Alexandria by two points, Ingulets and Obolon continue to be in the relegation zone.
Earlier, UNN wrote that Kryvyi Rih "Kryvbas" minimally outplayed the capital's "Obolon". The fate of the match was determined by the only goal of Yegor Tverdokhleb from the assist of the 18-year-old debutant.
UPL: “Kryvbas narrowly defeated Obolon on the roadNov 24 2024, 01:50 PM • 21326 views
Jamie Carragher has picked out what he believes are the “weaknesses” in Ruben Amorim’s system after analysing his first game in charge of Manchester United.
Marcus Rashford gave Amorim the dream start, scoring inside two minutes on Sunday, but the game finished 1-1 after Omari Hutchinson’s fine long-range strike levelled things up.
Much has been made of Amorim’s switch to a 3-4-3 system and the new Red Devils boss insists his players will need time to adapt to the new setup.
But Carragher picked out what he believes will be a “big problem” going forward on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
Carragher said: “I hear a lot of managers including Ruben Amorim saying systems don’t matter too much. I believe that they do, no matter how many times managers tell me they don’t because, well why do you play a different system? Different systems give you different things in different areas.
“For me, the weaknesses are in these spaces here, either side of the two central midfield players. The reason why is, when you play a conventional back four, your wide man can tuck in and help.
“But because you play a back three, when they get the ball they naturally go wider and wing backs go wider and higher. It means there’s a lot more space around these two central midfield players, especially if the two attacking 10s don’t drop back. There were the same issues on the Ipswich side as well.
“The big problem is – is it a midfielder who should drop in to fill that space or should a centre-back step in with someone?
“We listened to Ruben Amorim after the game and he spoke a lot about Jonny Evans not making that jump into the space to pick up a man. Because they played the same system, it almost became a man-to-man game. Football has become that.”
Amorim called out Joshua Zirkzee as well as Evans after the game, claiming his players are currently “confused” after his limited time working with him.
Amorim told Sky Sports: “I think that [decision-making] is a concern, you don’t need to coach them at this level.
“You have to keep the ball and know the momentum to put the ball in front. Sometimes you feel that you can’t keep the ball and you [have to] put the ball in front.
“Then you have like we are in the end of the game, we were around the box with two strikers. Josh [Zirkzee] has to understand that he has to go to the box to have the crosses.
“So we are doing some things that were not at the right moment, so that is something we have to address.
“Sometimes people talk about the 3-4-3, that is not the concern, the system is the system but the understanding of the game is what we have to improve a lot in this area.”
Amorim also insisted that Evans should have been getting tighter to Hutchinson with the Ipswich winger allowed too much space.
Amorim added: “If you see the first half, we were a little bit afraid. The No.5 [Sam Morsy] was always alone, we have to jump on him.
“Hutchinson was always in the dead space, Jonny Evans should be pressing his guy, but when we don’t have the training and it’s hard to see say all the reactions to the players.
“We had two days, they are confused a little bit. If you stay here, you don’t run, you defend but you don’t run. You feel that in the data, but we have to understand the data to understand what happened in the game, then we have to be so much better physically to cope with the high pressure, the volume of the high-speed running, we need time to work on these things.”
Gary Neville says Ipswich played like they have a “better coach” in a scathing assessment of Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge of Manchester United.
Marcus Rashford gave Amorim the dream start, scoring inside two minutes on Sunday, but the game finished 1-1 after Omari Hutchinson’s fine long-range strike levelled things up.
Much has been made of Amorim’s switch to a 3-4-3 system and the new Red Devils boss insists his players will need time to adapt to the new setup.
And as Jamie Carragher highlighted the “big problem” for Amorim, Neville claimed the “red flags” present under Erik ten Hag remain under the new manager.
“I mean, the red flags that were there yesterday have probably been there in the last few months and the last season and a half,” Neville told Sky Sports.
“It’s a team that is very difficult to actually like watching, and I say that with respect because I genuinely do believe what Ruben Amorim said at the end of the game.
“No football player goes out onto the pitch and wants to lose or doesn’t want to win or work hard or do well. They don’t want criticism.”
Neville went on to claim that 18th-placed Ipswich – managed by former United assistant Kieran McKenna – looked the better coached side.
The former United defender continued: “But you watch them play, even yesterday, in the new system, and you look at Ipswich, who are very near the bottom of the league.
“They looked more organised, [like they had a] better coach, they looked like they had more appetite for the game and more enthusiasm.
“And that’s a constant, and it has been a constant, not just, obviously, on Sunday, but a constant for the last year and a half, two years, three years.
“So we’ve got a situation where these group of players, to be honest with you, have created a pattern for themselves and become what they are.
“And it wasn’t just a red flag yesterday because the same things that we’ve seen in the last six to eight months, 10 months, we saw yesterday.
“With Ruben Amorim being the manager, he saw it as well. I think he obviously knew how big a job this was. I think he recognised that yesterday.”
The Sky Sports pundit did though back United to improve under the Portuguese coach once more of his squad becomes available.
He concluded: “It will get better in the next few weeks because, like you say, that back five that he picks, and I’m not talking about the actual wing-backs here.
“I’m talking about the three at the back and the two in midfield. That will become more energetic and better when the personnel changes occur.
“But there’s a long way to go. I think Roy [Keane] yesterday said that Manchester United were an average team, and that’s being kind.”
We can all enjoy/endure a steady increase in transfer rumours surrounding Manchester United as we approach the January window; even more than usual thanks to the arrival of Ruben Amorim, who will be handed the requisite leeway until then by dint of not having His Players to call upon.
The transfer gossip-peddlers have predictably chosen to interpret that cliched caveat very literally thus far, with plenty of focus on the Sporting players Amorim may be looking to poach to get the band back together, having observed Erik ten Hag’s rudimentary transfer policy in his time at Old Trafford.
But the hearsay net has been spread wide, with some of the players tipped to be his ‘first signing’ perfectly reasonable suggestions and others indicating profound delusion over the lure of a once-great football team.
We’ve ranked 21 players linked with being the first through the door in the Amorim era from least to most likely.
*Remember, this isn’t the chances of them ever joining Manchester Untied, just of them being the first signing*
21) Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) Absurd, obviously. Musiala could just about have his pick of any club in world football and already plays for one that’s in the Champions League and on top of the Bundesliga. Manchester United are a long way from even being on the radar for someone like him. But we need to consider when this rumour emerged.
United fans were understandably excited on November 1 when Amorim was officially announced as their next manager, trawling the interweb for any story – hokum or otherwise – on their saviour, giddily clicking on links in the false hope that his arrival opened a portal to the mid-noughties when they had the clout to attract a footballer of such repute and hadn’t spunked hundreds of millions of pounds on average players in the interim to make his transfer an impossibility.
20) Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) A report that starts with ‘PSG have made a £100m offer for the Serie A sensation’ should at no point suggest that Manchester United are in the running for the same transfer.
19) Lautaro Martinez (Inter) The gall required by a Spanish outlet that will remain nameless to suggest that Inter are so desperate to sign Joshua Zirkzee that they’re willing to send their £100m captain to Old Trafford in exchange is extraordinary, particularly as they supposedly only want £50m as well as the flopping striker United literally just paid £34.5m for. Not gonna happen.
18) Geovany Quenda (Sporting) It’s fair to say Diogo Dalot, Ten Hag-nail-in-the-coffin miss against West Ham aside, has been one of Manchester United’s better players this season, looking comfortable either on the left or right of defence. But there will be doubt over his suitability for the right wing-back role, and even if he thrives there, the grind and energy levels required to play that position will likely see United prioritise wing-back signings so that they have two players for the left and two for the right.
Amorim clearly has great faith in Quenda, having promoted the 17-year-old to the first team and made him a staple in his side this season. There’s always a bloody release clause though, and while Sporting may well be willing to soften their stance in the summer, they’re currently of a mind that the £83m they’re asking for ‘reflects his long-term value and potential in European football’.
If United are going to spend that much on a Sporting player, it’s not going to be Quenda…
17) Lorran (Flamengo) Us neither. He’s an 18-year-old attacking midfielder who’s been promoted to the Flamengo first team this season and has one goal and one assist in 17 appearances. Like 99 per cent of the people on social media now hailing him as The Next Vinicius, that’s the sum-total of our knowledge of Lorran, aside from what we’ve gleaned from the two dozen Welcome To Manchester United 2024 Best Skills And Goals videos that have emerged in the last month.
Chelsea are of course also scouting the teenager, who has a release clause of €50m, which, whether United sign him in the future or not, they’re not about to spend in January on a player who in all likelihood won’t be ready for first-team action for some time yet.
16) Christian Pulisic (AC Milan) There may be a sense of Unfinished Business in the Premier League for Pulisic, who was on United’s radar before his move to Serie A and can quite reasonably feel as though he was never truly given a fair shot at Chelsea. But by all reports he’s loving life in Milan and we really can’t see him wanting to rock the happiness boat ahead of leading his nation in a home World Cup in 2026.
15) Jarrad Braithwaite (Everton) In an alternate but not all that distant reality, Branthwaite would currently be licking his wounds following an Old Trafford baptism of fire under the doomed Erik ten Hag and hoping – like the rest of his Manchester United teammates – that the manager was the problem.
Had Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS not been at the helm in the summer, the Red Devils would have got to deadline day, panicked, and bent to Everton’s crazy demands for their centre-back.
The new ethos of not paying over the odds for players, particularly young British talent, led United to instead sign Matthijs de Ligt for around half the £70m they would have had to stump up for Branthwaite.
We won’t know for a while yet whether Eric Dier’s understudy has struggled because of Ten Hag, his system or the team’s general hardships, but there is a sense – particularly as Amorim wants to play a back three – that further centre-back recruits will be required.
It makes sense for Branthwaite to be on that shortlist. He’s young, left-footed and has Everything You Want In A Centre-back. One for the summer though probably, as Everton surely won’t listen to offers in January; certainly not the sort of offers United will be prepared to put on the table given their financial constraints.
14) Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea) We have little doubt having watched Nkunku’s fits-and-starts Chelsea career to date that if given a run in the team he would score plenty of goals. Cole Palmer aside, perhaps even including the Blues Starboy, Nkunku is the most natural and instinctive finisher in a squad bulging with attacking talent and potential.
He just doesn’t offer the same things as Nicolas Jackson, who’s very much the man in possession of the No.9 spot in the Premier League XI and doesn’t look likely to cede that role any time soon. If anything, he looks set to strengthen his grip, with his ceiling for improvement as high as anyone’s in Enzo Maresca’s squad.
There are already understandable rumblings of discontent from Nkunku, who – as the kids say – could Slap for a big side if given the game time.
The problem for United – and we’re not ruling it out because up until very recently Chelsea has been a madhouse under the new owners – is that it would take a special kind of stupid for the Blues to sign off on Nkunku moving to a Premier League rival.
They apparently turned down more money from Tottenham for Conor Gallagher and for the same reason would presumably only accept offers from abroad if the Frenchman angles for the exit.
13) Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting) Definitely a transfer that could happen, though probably not in January, presuming Amorim is not a total snake.
A high chance of them making a move in the summer for sure, when Sporting have said they will listen to offers around the £60m mark: a price too low for United not to consider as they a) would love a proper goalscorer, and b) won’t want rival clubs to steal him away, as they will surely try to do.
Rasmus Hojlund has got a big six months ahead of him to prove to Amorim that they need not spend that cash on Gyokeres as they’ve already got a striker capable of producing consistent performances and banging in goals for fun. That’s surely the hope, though a report on Amorim’s plans for the United front three may well throw a spanner in the works.
READ MORE: Rasmus Hojlund must prove he’s Viktor Gyokeres, or Man Utd will sign Viktor Gyokeres
12) Jules Kounde (Barcelona) The Premier League transfer rumour that just won’t go away. It seems everyone wants him, all of the time. Kounde feels like an odd focus as Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s supposed ‘obsession’, but he would clearly work very nicely on the right of a back three under Amorim.
To that end it’s claimed United have had offers of £37.5m and then £57m for the France international rejected by Barcelona, who presumably smell a bidding war involving all of the Premier League Big Six at some point over the next couple of years that will see Jules f*cking Kounde named the most expensive footballer in history.
11) Arda Guler (Real Madrid) Arsenal are also thought to be keen as they look to safeguard Martin Odegaard by copying the transfer that landed them their now captain, the difference being it’s pretty clear Real Madrid are well aware that they have a potentially world class talent in Guler.
They don’t want him to leave but are supposedly considering his loan exit as the Turkey international seeks ‘more prominence’, which is why we’ve not dismissed Manchester United’s interest out of hand, we are though dismissing their attempt to send Antony the other way; so too have Madrid.
READ MORE: Arda Guler to Arsenal? Every Premier League club repeats their best signing
10) Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Chelsea) His signing always felt like a bit of an odd one, seemingly joining Chelsea more as an assistant coach to Enzo Maresca than a player, as someone who knows what the manager wants and can impart his ethos and tactics from within while Maresca works on them from the top down.
Dewsbury-Hall likely knew he wasn’t set to be a key cog in the midfield of a club that also has Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Enzo Fernandez as options, but presumably also hoped for more than 43 Premier League minutes in the opening 11 games of the season.
Perhaps even Maresca thought he would have called on him more often, but it’s all going rather well with Caicedo and Lavia in the middle, and if Dewsbury-Hall was indeed signed to ease the transition of styles, there’s a sense that his job is already done.
Our suspicion is that he’s not quite good enough for Chelsea, and therefore probably not quite good enough for Manchester United, or at least where they want to be, and we can’t imagine stumping up what we assume would have to be a similar fee to the £30m Chelsea paid Leicester for Dewsbury-Hall would engender great hope for the future among the Red Devils fans.
9) Yunus Akgun (Galatasaray) “Yunus is struggling a little bit with the rhythm, probably because he said in Turkey the rhythm is a little bit low. Here it’s more quick, the pace of the game.” Enzo Maresca there, explaining why Akgun barely played for Leicester in the Championship last season.
We have very little doubt that £5m-rated Akgun and his people would bite Manchester United’s hand off were they to make him an offer in January, and it’s for that reason that Manchester United probably shouldn’t make an offer for £5m-rated Akgun in January.
8) Randal Kolo Muani (PSG) We really like the sound of this one. Kylian Mbappe’s gone and the poor b*stard still can’t get a game at PSG. He’s started more games for France this season (5) than his club (2), with Marco Asensio of all people usually keeping him out of the team.
United haven’t got the cash to sign him in January but reports suggest PSG would listen to loan offers with an option or obligation to buy. Sounds as though it makes sense for all parties, particularly as Kolo Muani is well versed in Amorim’s 3-4-3 having played in that formation at Frankfurt.
7) Chris Rigg (Sunderland) When asked about the futures of both Ring and Jobe Bellingham, Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris said: “I think it is important for them to be here until the challenge is not high enough for them. Probably, when they feel that they need something more to develop, that should be the right moment to leave.”
On the one hand it would be a bit of a d*ck move for Rigg to leave midway through a season in which the club that nurtured him is pushing for promotion, on the other a big-money contract from one of the biggest clubs in the world is going to be tough to turn down for the 17-year-old, who’s been described as The Next Roy Keane. No wonder Amorim is so keen to sign him and United are ‘serious’. They well think it’s worth making a move in January as come the summer there may be many more suitors.
6) Karl Hein (Arsenal) We really like what we’ve seen and heard from Amorim so far. He wants the Manchester United players to have “fun” for the first time in over a decade, didn’t bow to Gary Cotterill’s ludicrous Little Englander demand, looks genuinely excited to be the new manager and has spoken eruditely about the challenges ahead. In short, he’s come across as a smart and passionate guy.
No smart guy would arrive at Old Trafford and think the first thing they need to do is change the goalkeeper. Andre Onana has been very good this season, and even when supposedly bad last season he wasn’t actually that bad.
We wouldn’t just question the intelligence but the sanity of someone who wants to replace statistically the second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League with a guy sent out on loan from a team that currently has the 16th-best as their No.1.
The content of the story was nonsense, but United signing Hein from Arsenal is perfectly possible, as a back-up, with a view to him surpassing Onana as No.1 in the future.
5) Douglas Luiz (Juventus) Another Zirkzee swap patsy; one that may surprise a few as the Brazilian was brilliant for Villa last season and they’re not doing all that brilliantly without him. But Luiz and Juve boss Thiago Motta supposedly aren’t seeing eye to eye and the midfielder has started just two of the 11 games he’s been available for so far this season.
4) Danilo (Juventus) It doesn’t reflect hugely well on us so-called journalists here at Football365 that it came as a surprise to learn that a footballer who’s played close to every game in the last two seasons for – and is the actual captain of – Juventus, is still playing football at all.
In our defence Danilo left the Premier League five years ago, at which point we stop caring about any player not making waves in the Champions League.
He’s now 33 and out of contract in the summer but, judging by his three Serie A starts from 11 this season, is on something of a downward slope in career terms. That certainly doesn’t rule out a move to United, particularly as he would cost them close to nothing in January, but it would strike us as an unnecessary move if not quite entirely pointless given the experience the Brazilian would bring.
3) Sverre Nypan (Rosenborg) A likely first signing for two reasons: he’s not going to cost a lot – around £10m supposedly – and the Norwegian season is about to finish, easing his path to Old Trafford in the January transfer window.
He plays in central midfield, where Amorim will definitely need reinforcements; the hugely optimistic assumption that Manuel Ugarte will immediately return to his Sporting levels is not enough to offset concerns over his ageing competition for that role alongside Kobbie Mainoo.
Nypan’s only 17 and we can’t see a £10m teenager arriving and slotting immediately into the Manchester United team, but Big Sir Jim and the INEOS lads have promised signings for the future and he fits that bill…if they can steal a march on Manchester City and Chelsea.
2) Milos Kerkez (Bournemouth) A bombing Hungarian left-back with a mullet playing for Bournemouth, they don’t come more hipster than that. But Kerkez has emerged from the footballing subculture this season, with his name being put forward among the best full-backs in the top flight no longer requiring a hand-knitted beanie to be doffed after a thoughtful sip of an oat latte, but a nod between sips of a pint of Stella.
Fun and brilliant though Bournemouth are, he’s destined for bigger things. There will be significant competition for his signature, from Liverpool, where Arne Slot is reportedly unconvinced by both Kostas Tsimikas or Andy Robertson, and from abroad, with Serie A and La Liga giants said to be keeping tabs on his situation.
But United seems like a really good option for Kerkez, particularly given how well suited he would be to Amorim’s system and the opportunity to fly forward as a left wing-back.
1) Andreas Christensen (Barcelona) We can imagine the crestfallen reactions of Manchester United fans clicking on links tipping a Barcelona star to be the marquee first addition under Amorim and discovering that man is Andreas Christensen. Understandable but a tad unfair.
He’s been injured this season but was more or less a mainstay for Barcelona last term, and an attractive signing in that he can operate both at centre-back and in defensive midfield. Cheap given his contract expires in 2026 (possibly even free as Barca look to trim the wage bill), he has lots of experience, both in the Premier League and in Europe, though with enough left in the tank as a 28-year-old.
Christensen has also crucially played plenty of football in a back three, Amorim’s preference, having come into the Chelsea team after Thomas Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard before playing a key role in their Champions League win. It makes total sense for the Denmark international to be Amorim’s ‘winter priority’.
Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe have been told that he should’ve “tried to get Man Utd going again” instead of signing for the La Liga giants.
The France international moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid in the summer transfer window after his contract at the Parc des Princes expired.
Mbappe has not managed to find his best form since joining Los Blancos despite scoring nine goals in 17 matches for Carlo Ancelotti’s side in all competitions.
The Real Madrid striker was a shock omission from the France squad for their Nations League matches earlier this month with Didier Deschamps describing it as a “one-off” following discussions with Mbappe.
He has been deployed centrally under Ancelotti but Mbappe is reportedly frustrated that the Real Madrid squad is not ‘playing for him’ like his team-mates did at PSG.
Mbappe moved out wide against Leganes in a 3-0 win over the weekend as Vinicius Junior came central in a move that seemed to pay off.
On his decision to switch Mbappe’s position, Ancelotti said: “Playing on the outside is more tiring than through the middle. Vini Jr returned from international duty on Thursday and Mbappe was fresher than Vini Jr. He scored a goal with a fantastic assist from Vini Jr. They’re both improving bit by bit.”
And now former L’Equipe CEO Cyril Linette insists Mbappe should have ended up at Man Utd in a fresh challenge for the Frenchman, rather than at a club like Real Madrid, which is already winning titles.
Linette told RMC: “I’m not saying that Mbappe is heading towards failure but he joined a club where, in his position, there is a player at least as good as he is. It makes no sense.
“He will have spent his whole career playing at clubs where there is a left winger at least as good as him, with Neymar at PSG and Vinicius Jr at Real.
“He could have gone to England, tried to get Man Utd going again, for example. There, he could have played in his position and could have written a great story.
“I don’t see what exceptional things he can achieve at Real, who have already done everything without him.”
Speaking recently about his position in the team at Real Madrid, Mbappe said: “My position? It’s the story of my career. I play on the left, right, middle and with two up top. It doesn’t matter to me. I want to help the team and score goals.”
GGBET became the title sponsor of FC Zorya (Luhansk).
GGBET became the title sponsor of FC Zorya (Luhansk). The licensed bookmaker continues to support Ukrainian football clubs and the development of Ukrainian sports. The cooperation with Zorya will include sponsorship in the current UPL season, as well as updating the team's media platforms, joint digital projects, and creating various content and special offers for fans.
“We continue to hold our line and do everything possible so that Ukrainian teams can feel the support of the business and focus on new achievements,” said GGBET UA CEO Sergey Mishchenko. ”Zorya Luhansk has undergone many trials in its century-long history. Unfortunately, the challenges that some teams faced during the full-scale invasion are not new to Zorya. Nevertheless, the Luhansk team is an example of resilience, loyalty to its position, values and supporters, and continues to strive for change and development. We will be happy to go this way with Zorya and provide all the necessary resources.
FC Zorya CEO Igor Guz commented that this cooperation is important for the club and its fans: “Our team has a great sporting career and achievements that we are proud to carry despite all the circumstances. We are grateful to GGBET not only for their financial support, but also for their ideas that will help us modernize our online platforms and open up new opportunities for fans. Together we will show the strength of Luhansk football.
Zorya's first game with the support of the new title sponsor will take place against Polissia (Zhytomyr) on November 25. The match kicks off at 18:00, the broadcast will be available on UPL TV. On the social networks of GGBET and the club, fans will be able to find interesting activities before the match.
