Posted on November 2, 2024 • by liquidsp

• Vinicius controversially finished second in Ballon d’Or running
• Award won by Man City & Spain star Rodri
• Pau Cubarsi not surprised by decision

Many had expected Real Madrid star Vinicius to pick up the prize earlier this week before news broke confirming he had not won, at which point everyone associated with the Spanish side decided to boycott the ceremony.

While many Madrid stars took to social media in support of Vinicius, Barcelona’s Cubarsi confessed he felt Rodri was a deserving winner.

“I was not surprised that Vinicius did not win, he was very even with Rodri,” Cubarsi told RAC1.

Cubarsi also voiced his disappointment towards Madrid’s decision not to attend the ceremony, insisting those nominated for awards should be present.

Cubarsi was nominated for the Kopa Trophy /GettyImages

“Being among the top 10 or top 20 of the Ballon d’Or is already a good prize and it is important for a footballer to be there,” Cubarsi continued. “Dani Olmo and I were there and we didn’t win.”

La Liga president Javier Tebas accused Madrid of acting childish in the face of defeat and condemned the La Liga giants’ decision not to turn up.

“I believe Real Madrid has lacked the gentlemanly conduct that has always been one of its hallmarks, which is also part of their anthem, to shake hands when they lose,” he explained. “A lack of gentlemanly conduct that has been missing for some time. I wasn’t surprised. It was a childish attitude, an exaltation, call it what you want.

“We already saw it in the attitude of Real Madrid TV with the videos. We see a supremacist behavior that everything has to revolve around them.”

Credit:90Mins

Posted on November 2, 2024 • by liquidsp

Man United and Chelsea face each other this Sunday at Old Trafford, and it id widely expected that the clash will be cinema of the highest order. Let’s look at Chelsea, and specifically at manager Enzo Maresca, who so far has done a remarkable job on and off the pitch.

Fans of the game judge success by what they see on the field, but what happens in those 90 minutes is a result of the work on the training ground. The top managers implement scenarios in training that translate to success in the games. It doesn’t always go as planned, but more frequently than not, a victory or solid performance draws from the lessons applied in good training. As the legendary, Hall of Fame NFL coach Vince Lombardi once said, “practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

Look at the top four managers in the Premier League right now: Pep Guardiola, Arne Slot, Mikel Arteta and Unai Emery. All of them are obsessed with preparation and detail, and it’s their all-consuming hunt for perfection that separates them from everyone else. Maresca is cut from the same cloth. He is a hungry student of the game.

We know him most recently as a former assistant to Guardiola at Man City who then led Leicester City to a Championship title and promotion last season, but his managerial training began way before that. He was a former multipurpose, traveled midfielder once coached by Carlo Ancelotti, Marcello Lippi and Manuel Pellegrini, who told him he could one day become a great coach.

He wrote a thesis comparing football to chess, as he was enamored with positional play and strategy. And that’s how his philosophy has quickly succeeded at Chelsea, the club with a million chess pieces. In his first season, he is giving structure and strategy to a squad that’s been dysfunctional recently. He has several players who are not just delivering but becoming stars, and one of them in particular — Cole Palmer — is in my opinion the best player in the league. Palmer is their most prized player.

Maresca’s tactics prioritize complete ball domination, but not just for the sake of possession. He wants wave after wave of attacking transition to overwhelm the opponents. There might be some risk as the team can be left exposed, but just like with a Queen’s Gambit in chess (where one side sacrifices a pawn to gain control of the center of the board), the risk can result in reward.

Given the midweek loss to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup, it’s also worth remembering that Chelsea has a young and bloated squad while Maresca continues to rotate players amid a hectic schedule. Overall, though, especially with his current run in the Premier League, the Italian is managing a great season and the risks are paying off.

Credit: ESPN

Posted on November 2, 2024November 2, 2024 • by liquidsp

• Manchester United have officially confirmed Ruben Amorim as Erik ten Hag’s successor
• Amorim has faced off against three Premier League clubs in career
• Former club Sporting beat both Arsenal and Tottenham in same seaso

Ruben Amorim has been officially confirmed as Erik ten Hag’s successor in Manchester, but the Sporting CP boss will not assume the role until the November international break.

Amorim’s Premier League ascent arrives following some excellent work in the Portuguese capital which saw him inherit a situation of considerable dysfunction and quickly evolve Sporting into the best team in the land. He’s highly regarded and already well-decorated, but he’s been handed a poisoned chalice at Old Trafford which has seen some of the sport’s brightest minds succumb.

Excluding a forgettable loan spell in Qatar at the end of his playing days, 39-year-old Amorim has spent the entirety of his football career in Portugal. However, thanks to Sporting’s continental ventures under his reign, the Premier League is a division he’s previously come into contact with.

Amorim faced three Premier League clubs during his time with Sporting, here’s a rundown of his record against each ahead of his arrival on English shores.

Ruben Amorim’s record vs Man City

Amorim did not enjoy of his duels with Pep Guardiola /GettyImages

Sporting were Primeira Liga holders entering the 2021/22 campaign and gunning for an improvement in the Champions League having last progressed into the knockout stages of the competition in 2009.

Amorim’s side advanced from a hotly-contested Group B in second place at Borussia Dortmund’s expense, but were dealt the short straw in the round of 16 as they were paired against a Manchester City side still hunting their first Champions League crown.

City beat Paris Saint-Germain and all their superstars to the top spot in Group A before ending their last 16 duel with Sporting 58 minutes into the two-legged affair. The Cityzens completely overwhelmed Amorim’s side in Lisbon, with goals from Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, and a Bernardo Silva brace thrusting City into a 5-0 lead before the hour mark.

Sterling’s strike proved to be the last of the tie as the two sides played out a pretty dull 0-0 stalemate in Manchester three weeks later.

Ruben Amorim’s record vs Tottenham

Amorim has already visited Tottenham’s swanky new stadium /GettyImages

2022/23 was undoubtedly the most disappointing season of Amorim’s Sporting tenure. His side fell to fourth in the Primeira Liga amid a trophy-less campaign.

However, they did have some success in Europe. Sporting were placed into an even-looking Group D alongside Marseille, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Antonio Conte’s Tottenham. Their group stage started with a 3-0 win over Frankfurt in which they dominated the Bundesliga team in transition before they faced Spurs on Matchday 2.

A tactical affair between a pair of coaches who rely on build-up patterns and stringent work without the ball meant few chances arrived at either end before Sporting nicked it at the death thanks to a flicked Paulinho header from a corner. Arthur Gomes put more gloss on the Portuguese side’s triumph with a fine solo effort in stoppage time.

Sporting’s campaign peaked after two games, though, and both sides were in need of points when they met on Matchday 5 in north London. In the end, the spoils were shared after a controversial finale which saw VAR rule out Harry Kane’s likely winner for offside. Rodrigo Bentancur had headed home a second-half equaliser after former Spurs star Marcus Edwards had given Sporting the lead with a pinpoint effort from distance.

Ruben Amorim’s record vs Arsenal

Amorim’s Sporting knocked Arsenal out of 2022/23 Europa League /GettyImages

A defeat to Frankfurt in their final group game saw Sporting, thanks to Spurs’ 2-1 win over Marseille, finish third in Group D and drop into the Europa League knockout round play-offs.

Danish side Midtjylland were cast aside after an emphatic 4-0 second leg win away from home which set up a meeting with an up-and-coming Arsenal side that were then atop the 2022/23 Premier League table.

Due to their success in the league, the Gunners’ priorities lay elsewhere when they faced off with Amorim’s side, but this was a belting two-legged affair nonetheless. A back-and-forth first leg in Lisbon ended two apiece before Pedro Goncalves cancelled out Granit Xhaka’s early opener in the return leg with an outrageous effort from the halfway line.

Manuel Ugarte was particularly brilliant in midfield for Sporting as the game went to penalties, and the Portuguese side were perfect from the spot. Gabriel Martinelli’s miss allowed Nuno Santos to score the winning spot-kick for the visitors, who were then beaten by Juventus in the last eight.

Ruben Amorim’s record vs Premier League clubs

Credit: 90Mins

Posted on November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 • by liquidsp

Jadon Sancho made a shock loan move to Chelsea in the summer window after a miserable spell at Manchester United.

Manchester United signed Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund for over £70 million in the summer of 2021. It was a long-awaited transfer which excited the majority of United fans.

But things just didn’t work out the way people expected. Sancho couldn’t settle into the team under Ole Gunnar Solskjær before his dismissal and had a fractured relationship with Erik ten Hag.

The winger accused Ten Hag of making him a scapegoat after he explained that Sancho’s training performances were the reason why he was left out of a matchday squad at the start of the 2023/24 campaign.

Sancho was then exiled from the first-team squad, forced to play in the Academy until he apologised. That did not happen.

He was re-introduced into the first-team setup for the 2024 pre-season after he appeared to work things out with Ten Hag, but a summer move looked nailed on.

Despite the initial interest coming from abroad, it was a last-minute move from Chelsea which ended up being Sancho’s destination. He is on an initial loan at Stamford Bridge with the London-based club having an obligation to buy the player.

Sancho started the season well for Chelsea, assisting three goals in his first three games, but has since missed three consecutive games for the Blues. The latest was down to illness, while the prior two were ‘tactical’, according to Enzo Maresca.

Now, ahead of the game between United and Chelsea this weekend, some are unsure on whether Sancho will be eligible to play.

Posted on November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 • by liquidsp

AC Milan are back in Serie A action on Saturday night as they make the short trip to face Monza, looking to right the wrongs from earlier in the week.

The defeat against Napoli on Tuesday night has once again thrust Milan into a state of crisis, at least in the eyes of the media. They have now lost five of their 12 games under Paulo Fonseca across all competitions, and are 11 points behind the leaders in the league.

Paulo Fonseca did not do a pre-match press conference for reasons that remain unknown, but even without being asked any difficult questions he must know the pressure he is under to deliver results quickly.

AC Milan Team News

There was reportedly a meeting between Fonseca and his superiors after the defeat against Napoli. As Calciomercato.com reported, what emerged is that the coach will be evaluated at the next international break, so may potentially have a few games to save his job.

In terms of injury news, there are some long-term absentees that are still not available for selection in Alessandro Florenzi, Ismael Bennacer and Marco Sportiello, each of whom are still recovering from surgery.

Matteo Gabbia, on the other hand, is still on the sidelines with a calf problem. It was expected that he would miss the Monza game, and now all attention is on whether he can return against Real Madrid or if he might be done until the next international break.

Now we move on to the good news. First of all, Luka Jovic and Davide Calabria did the full training session with the rest of the squad which means they will almost certainly be available at the weekend.

In addition to that, Tammy Abraham ‘s recovery continues after the shoulder problem (presumably a dislocation) he suffered in the 1-0 victory against Udinese. The Englishman is also getting closer to returning to the field, but will not be available for this game.

Most importantly, Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders have served their suspensions and will be available again, while Christian Pulisic has fully recovered from the flu that made him sit on the bench from minute on of the Napoli loss.

Looking to the squad, there are no surprises in the fact that Mike Maignan will start from the first minute. However, a surprise arrives in the form of Filippo Terracciano at right-back, instead of Calabria or Emerson Royal. Malick Thiaw should keep his position in central defence, and the returning duo of Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez make up the defensive line.

In midfield, Fonseca reverts to a more familiar partnership, which sees Youssouf Fofana being partnered by the returning Reijnders, which is the favoured midfield duo for the Portuguese head coach.

The front line also sees some change, as Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor will flank the returning Pulisic. Rafael Leao had been heavily reported to be returning to the starting line-up but, there appears to have been a U-turn. There are no shocks provided by Alvaro Morata’s starting spot, though.

Monza Team News

It would be fair to say that Monza built on their first campaign in Serie A last season as they finished 12th, thus comfortably avoiding relegation and asserting themselves as a mid-table side after coming 11th in 2022-23.

However, the Biancorossi were caught up in the coaching merry-go-round that occurred over the summer. Thiago Motta left Bologna for Juventus, Vincenzo Italiano replaced him, and then Raffaele Palladino left Monza for La Viola.

Adriano Galliani turned to someone he knows very well from his days with Milan in Alessandro Nesta, who thus got his first Serie A coaching gig after spells with Perugia, Frosinone and Reggiana.

Monza spent just €3m in the summer, and that was on Georgios Kyriakopoulos from relegated Sassuolo. The other additions were Daniel Maldini, Stefano Sensi and Omari Fosun on frees, plus Stefano Turati, Alessandro Bianco and Samuel Pizzignacco on loans.

In terms of sales, it was also a quiet window. Carlos Augusto’s loan to Inter was made permanent for €13.25m, while Juventus signed goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio for a €4.5m loan fee and Andrea Colpani went to Fiorentina for a €4m loan fee. Both deals are expected to become permanent.

The rather underwhelming mercato seems to have seeped into their start to the season. It took the Brianzoli until matchday eight to win their first game (3-0 away at Verona), and it is their only victory to date.

Draws against Fiorentina and Inter in the first four games boosted spirits, however, they have lost to Genoa, Bologna, Napoli and Atalanta, leaving them hovering above the relegation zone and with talk of Nesta being on shaky ground.

After the loss to La Dea, Nesta is considering wholesale changes of his own and these will start in defence with Armando Izzo and Andrea Carboni set to replace Danilo D’Amborsio and Luca Caldirola – Pablo Mari will remain at the heart of the defence.

In midfield, there is only one change expected which will see Warren Bando return after serving his suspension in midweek, and he will partner the captain Matteo Pessina. On the wings, Pedro Pereira and Georgios Kyriakopoulos will be named once again.

Nesta is considering changing his front three as well, with Dany Mota set to be partnered by the returning Daniel Maldini after the former Rossonero addressed his condition during in his press conference. Milan Duric will start ahead of them.

Match Prediction

When Fonseca has been under the height of pressure and Milan have needed a result with their backs against the wall they have so far delivered, and we expect that trend to continue against a team also struggling for confidence. This will lure us into a false sense of hope, naturally, before a heavy defeat in Madrid.

Monza 0-2 Milan

Credit: Sempremilan

Posted on November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 • by liquidsp

• Arsenal travel to Newcastle in Saturday’s early kick-off
• Gunners controversially beaten at St. James’ Park last season
• Newcastle have endured poor start to 2024/25 Premier League campaign

A tough away trip is next on Arsenal’s radar as they take on Newcastle in the first outing of the Premier League weekend on Saturday lunchtime.

The Gunners enjoyed a serene night on Wednesday as they eased past Preston in the Carabao Cup fourth round, while Newcastle downed Chelsea 2-0 having lost to the Blues in the league on Sunday.

Eddie Howe’s side controversially beat Mikel Arteta’s men in this fixture last season by virtue of an Anthony Gordon strike, but Arsenal were dominant in the previous meeting, winning 4-1 in north London. Arsenal enter Saturday’s game third in the division and five points adrift of leaders Manchester City, but they’re much better off than their upcoming opponents.

Their midweek win was a rare bright spot in what’s been a tough campaign for Newcastle thus far. The Magpies currently sit 12th in the Premier League having picked up just 12 points from their opening nine games. They will always be a tough out at St. James’ Park, however, and have already taken points off Man City and Tottenham on home soil.

Newcastle vs Arsenal score prediction

Trips to St. James’ are always tough, but I think Arsenal will benefit from this game being an early kick-off. While the atmosphere is still bound to be fervent, St. James’ under the lights is a different beast.

Arsenal are facing up against a physical Newcastle team that will aim to disrupt and bullt their visitors through their work without the ball – as they did against Chelsea on Wednesday. However, Newcastle’s pressing success in midweek was rare, with the Magpies struggling to offer much resistance out of possession at the start of 2024/25. There are holes within their structure which Arsenal should exploit, and the return of a strong back four will help the Gunners tame any momentum the hosts build during the match.

Newcastle will have their moments and spells, but Arsenal will edge a physical encounter.

Prediction: Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal

Credit: PainInTheArsenal