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2023-10-08 14:53

Ecuador presidential hopefuls close campaign clouded by violence
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Texas woman accused of threatening to kill judge overseeing Trump election case and a congresswoman
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FanDuel NBA Promo: $1,000 Bonus to Pick Finals Champion!
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2023-05-20 18:29

Farce amid the failure: How 2023 saw Leeds fall apart
The taunts came from 40 miles apart, some from a different game altogether. Perhaps it is a sign of Leeds’ prominence and of their size that their failings bring such schadenfreude. The chorus from Old Trafford was familiar, but it has rarely been truer. “Leeds are falling apart again,” sang the Manchester United fans. And so, at Elland Road, chanted the Tottenham supporters. They weren’t wrong. In 2023, Leeds have lost two managers, their director of football and their Premier League status. They may yet lose prospective owners if the San Francisco 49ers decide they do not want a Championship club. They may be stripped of a host of players, if some of Rodrigo, Jack Harrison, Wilfried Gnonto, Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and Robin Koch are poached by top-flight clubs; each is good enough to remain in the division. Leeds were not. Majority shareholder Andrea Radrizzani had called relegation “impossible” at the start of the season; it became inevitable by the end. Radrizzani had said in 2021 he wanted European football within three years and Leeds face a lengthy journey next season: it is 322 miles to Plymouth. Whether Radrizzani, who has just bought a stake in Sampdoria, is still at the helm remains to be seen. Leeds are falling apart off the pitch. They fell apart on it, too. In 13th place when they won their 29th game of the season, they took a mere two points from the remaining nine. They conceded 29 goals in that time. They fell apart defensively, letting in 18 goals in their last five matches under Javi Gracia and 11 in four under Sam Allardyce, the supposed defensive strategist. Scroll back a couple of years and Leeds were the neutrals’ favourites. Marcelo Bielsa’s team were cavaliers. Allardyce approached a must-win game with six defenders in his starting 11. Leeds still conceded four times to Tottenham. It summed up the shift in identity, or indeed the loss of one. Under Bielsa, Leeds had the clearest, most idiosyncratic philosophy of all: ultra attacking, very high tempo, man-marking all over the pitch. Jesse Marsch was Bielsa’s successor but not his heir; under Gracia and Allardyce, they abandoned many of their pressing principles but without replacing them with anything coherent. “What is the strategy of the club?” Allardyce asked after relegation. In its own way, his own appointment confirmed there is none now, beyond pressing the panic button. There was an element of farce amid the failures. A strategy? Two of Leeds’ coaching staff, Allardyce and Robbie Keane, met at Soccer Aid. Allardyce’s four weeks have included the suggestion no manager is better than him, which he hailed as a masterly deflection strategy, complaints about jury duty and the revelations of his concerns about climate change and AI. He picked up a £5 note from the touchline at West Ham and £500,000 for four weeks’ work; it worked out at £500,000 per point. Some at Leeds had laughed when Allardyce put himself forward for the job in February; they weren’t laughing in early May when they turned to him out of desperation. Chief executive Angus Kinnear wanted him, director of football Victor Orta did not. The season was a hubristic fiasco for both, for Radrizzani, for Leeds in general. Allardyce was a symptom as much as a cause, a four-game exercise in wishful thinking. Leeds had lined up Marsch to succeed Bielsa, perhaps overlooking better candidates, and no one to replace the American; neither Andoni Iraola nor Arne Slot wanted to be parachuted into a relegation battle mid-season, each perhaps thinking he had better options. They can count the cost of two terrible striking decisions: Jean-Kevin Agustin’s 48 minutes of football in a loan spell in 2020 will cost around £40mn while January’s £35m signing Georginio Rutter made one league start and did not register a shot on target. So Leeds spent £150m to regress this season. They did so with several signings who did not work – Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen, Rutter - and it in different ways: losing 25 points from winning positions reflected badly on Marsch and his inability to bring any kind of control. It was also a sign of defensive ineptitude: after conceding 79 goals last season, Leeds let in a further 78. A mere five clean sheets, none in the last 14 games, suggested Orta was a poor judge of a defender – Junior Firpo, a disaster of a left-back, is a particular indictment – and showed what a troubled season Illan Meslier had. “Professional suicide,” said Allardyce and if he was talking about the Spurs game, the comment applied to much of the season. Leeds can wonder if it would have been different but for Patrick Bamford’s missed penalty against Newcastle. The real turning point of the season felt Crystal Palace’s burst of five goals in 32 minutes. Yet problems multiplied: Allardyce said they lacked strength in depth while Luke Ayling questioned their fitness after defeat to West Ham. They were running machines under Bielsa, perhaps burnt out by the end of his reign, while struggling to turn kick and rush into a winning strategy under Marsch. Sporadically, it looked brilliant: August’s demolition of Chelsea was emphatic, October’s win at Anfield historic. But Chelsea finished their own worst season for decades by retrieving Leeds’ messages from last summer to quote-tweet them; schadenfreude abounded at Stamford Bridge, too. Leeds should have more serious concerns. The last time they dropped out of the Premier League, it took them 16 years to return. Unlike in 2004, they are not in financial peril now. But, after a season when Leeds’ plans went horribly wrong, they need an owner, a manager, a director of football and a strategy. Read More Leeds’ relegation confirmed as Harry Kane hits double in Tottenham win How the final day played out as Everton survive and Leicester relegated with Leeds Premier League 2022/23 season awards: Best player, manager, transfer flop and breakthrough act
2023-05-29 17:59

'They think they are untouchable': Fans slam 'RHONJ' star Joe Gorga over unpaid $16K bill for outdoor kitchen
It was recently disclosed that Melissa and Joe Gorga never paid for the installation of an outdoor kitchen at their house 5 years ago
2023-06-12 10:50

Andy Reid again lands the lead spot in AP’s NFL Top 5 head coach rankings
Andy Reid again was a near-unanimous choice by The Associated Press for the top spot among NFL head coaches, receiving eight of nine first-place votes
2023-10-31 04:46

6 teenagers go on trial for their alleged role in the 2020 beheading of a French teacher
Six teenagers go on trial in Paris for their alleged role in the beheading of a teacher who showed caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class
2023-11-27 15:16

Harry Kane arrives in Germany to seal Bayern Munich move
Tottenham’s record goal-scorer Harry Kane has landed in Germany to complete his move to Bayern Munich in a deal that could rise to £120million. Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou confirmed on Friday afternoon that Kane’s transfer to the Bundesliga champions was “imminent” after a breakthrough in negotiations between the clubs was reached on Wednesday night. It left the ball in Kane’s court and he decided on Thursday to leave his boyhood club for Bayern, who will pay an initial £100m, with add-ons potentially taking the deal up to an overall fee of £120m, the PA news agency understands. Reports on Friday morning initially suggested Spurs had refused to give Kane permission to travel to Germany, but they were squashed by Tottenham and hours later he set off for Munich via a private jet from London Stansted airport. Kane landed at his soon-to-be new home city on Friday night to complete his medical ahead of a landmark move. Postecoglou, speaking before Spurs’ trip to Brentford on Sunday, said: “Fair to say I don’t have a blow-by-blow account, but my understanding is it has progressed to the point where it looks like it will happen. “From that perspective, at least it gives us some clarity and we move forward without Harry. “From my perspective it is just about understanding where we are at and the information I have at the moment is the deal is imminent but, like with all these things, you leave yourself some leeway. “But moving forward and training today preparing for Brentford, we are doing it without Harry. “It is best Harry speaks for himself in terms of the decision, but no doubt he is one of the greats of this football club and that never changes. “I am only new in the building, but (it is) fairly evident Harry Kane will always be one of the greats for this football club.” Kane faces a race against time to officially sign early enough to feature in Bayern’s DFL-Super Cup match with RB Leipzig on Saturday night. However, with the clash taking place at Bayern’s Allianz Arena home, England captain Kane could well be unveiled to supporters before kick-off, even if the paperwork is not completed in time. This is not the first summer in which Kane’s future has dominated headlines after Manchester City had a failed pursuit in 2021. Kane sat out the first match of that season – coincidentally against City – but Pep Guardiola’s side never got close to agreeing a fee with Tottenham for the forward. With Kane now into the last 12 months of his contract at Spurs, speculation over his future this time always felt more significant. Bayern saw bids reportedly turned down in June and July but made their intentions clear, with honorary president Uli Hoeness and president Herbert Hainer speaking openly in the media about Kane’s desire to join the Bundesliga champions. A third bid was submitted last Friday and Spurs spent all weekend deliberating before chairman Daniel Levy rejected the offer on Monday. With noises coming out that Kane, who scored four goals in a friendly win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday, had enjoyed working with Postecoglou, confidence started to grow that he could spend the season with his boyhood team. But Bayern’s latest bid proved enough for an agreement to be reached and, after Kane took his time to weigh up the decision, he decided it was the right time to end his 19-year stay at Spurs. It means Kane’s pursuit of Alan Shearer’s Premier League goal-scoring record will be put on hold, with the Tottenham forward still 47 goals off equalling Shearer’s tally of 260. He will leave N17 as the club’s leading marksman after he surpassed Jimmy Greaves’ 266-goal record in February with the winner against Manchester City. Kane will also get the chance to fulfil his career-long ambition of winning trophies at Bayern, while remaining in the Champions League. Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel has been a long-term admirer of Kane, but he was coy when asked about the forward ahead of Saturday’s match with Liepzig. Tuchel told a press conference: “We are working with full pressure on this deal. “I understand there are a lot of ifs and whens. All options are open. The first is to have him as a player and at the moment he is not yet that. “This is a big deal. We are trying to take the England captain away from the Premier League.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live ‘One step at a time’ – Anthony Joshua shuts out Deontay Wilder comparisons Ally Ewing out to emulate Brian Harman with Open win ‘Honorary Welshwoman’ Shabnim Ismail brings international spirit to Welsh Fire
2023-08-12 03:24

Latest Joe Burrow injury update is a massive sigh of relief
The Cincinnati Bengals received great news about QB Joe Burrow in advance of the NFL regular season.The entire Cincinnati Bengals fanbase held its breath when Joe Burrow was carted off the field with a right leg injury in late June. It was the absolute worst case scenario for Bengals training ca...
2023-08-13 04:53

UAW says it files unfair labor practice against GM, Stellantis
By David Shepardson The United Auto Workers union said on Thursday it filed unfair labor practice charges with
2023-09-01 07:58

Minnesota officials investigating fatal officer-involved shooting of a man during a traffic stop in Minneapolis
Three Minnesota State Patrol troopers are on leave after one of them fatally shot a man during a traffic stop early Monday in Minneapolis, and the state is investigating the shooting, authorities say.
2023-08-02 12:48
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