List of All Articles with Tag 'f'

Bukayo Saka will not join up with England for international duty next week, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed. Saka was missing for the Gunners’ 1-0 win over Manchester City after struggling with a hamstring issue during recent matches. The absence of Saka ended his run of appearing in 87 consecutive Premier League games and Arteta says he will now sit out England’s upcoming fixtures with Australia (October 13) and Italy (October 17). “No, he will not make it,” Arteta said. “He has not trained for a single session. He is not available to play football at the moment.” He has not trained for a single session. He is not available to play football at the moment. Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka The 22-year-old winger limped off during Arsenal’s loss at Lens on Tuesday, having also been withdrawn in last weekend’s victory at Bournemouth. England manager Gareth Southgate had stated on Thursday he would take no risks with Saka despite the Italy clash being a crucial European Championship qualifier. “I can only go via what Mikel (Arteta) has said about the last few games,” Southgate said earlier this week. “We look after the players as well as any country. There’s always a focus on our players because they are playing their club football, in the main, in England and then we are playing here as well. “Whereas all the other countries call the players that are playing in the Premier League and nobody looks at how they look after them and how they train them. “When we have really good dialogue with all of their clubs, I think they pretty much all would agree that we probably give better feedback than every other nation. “They have trust in us that we make decisions that are right for the long term whenever we can. We only have 10 matches a year. And there’s been times when… Bukayo, for example, we haven’t always played. “But there are certain key games where, if it’s possible to have your best players, then you do want to have them. “So we’ve got that responsibility of qualifying for the country but… I’ve been a player… I’ve never ever taken a risk on a player’s physical wellbeing. And nor would I.” Read More Arsenal ran out of steam last season – but this is a very different Mikel Arteta team Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hails ‘maturity’ of young Gunners after City win Gabriel Martinelli snatches last-gasp victory for Arsenal against Man City Fortune favours Arsenal as Mikel Arteta finally outdoes Pep Guardiola Pep Guardiola says he learned ‘a lot’ from Mikel Arteta ahead of Sunday reunion Pep Guardiola does not think Arsenal clash will have major bearing on title race

A senior Taliban delegation is visiting western Afghanistan's Herat province in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people and flattened entire villages

At first glance, the Simurgh resembles the Batmobile. Black, low-slung with flared wheel arches, the supercar looks built

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The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is set to be announced in Sweden

BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 9, 2023--

MILAN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 9, 2023--

LONDON Shares in Metro Bank opened 19% higher on Monday, after the embattled British lender struck a fundraising

Barbra Streisand has revealed Robert Redford turned down the chance to star opposite her in classic movie The Way We Were before eventually being persuaded to take part

By Nell Mackenzie LONDON Global hedge fund managers were selling U.S. stocks sensitive to commodities at an accelerated

Fighting between Hamas and Israel raged into a third day Monday with militants launching a fresh barrage of rocket attacks and Israeli forces still battling to expel Hamas gunmen from its soil as jets continued to bombard the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

The defenders have got more Premier League assists than the midfielders and the forwards have between them. The defensive midfielders have three times as many league goals as the many forwards have mustered. Welcome to Manchester United, where few things go quite as planned, where Saturday’s spectacular salvage job from a fan who has been on the books for two decades involved a brace from Scott McTominay, not Marcus Rashford. They trailed for an hour against Crystal Palace. It is the sort of scenario in which managers rarely replace their top scorer. Yet as their leading marksman is another defensive midfielder, Casemiro, that was not the most notable element of his half-time removal. Nor, even, was it Erik ten Hag’s somewhat brutal explanation for introducing Christian Eriksen. “I wanted more football,” the United manager said. “Someone who brings passing and link-up play.” The Brazilian had brought passing: he passed the ball to Bryan Mbuemo to set Brentford on their way to an opener, a goal for which he arguably made three mistakes. And yet the pertinent part was simply the fact he was taken off. Ten Hag’s talismen are no longer untouchables. Rashford has been taken off in the last three games, each at a point when United needed a goal. And if suggests that neither status nor last season’s excellence can protect them forever, it is also an indication that each ranks among this season’s disappointments. All of which meant Casemiro’s status as an award winner was revealing of a wider malaise at Old Trafford. He had won September’s player-of-the-month prize with a whopping 70 percent of the vote. Perhaps a tour de force in the Carabao Cup victory over Crystal Palace, along with some recency bias, helped. Maybe a brace against Bayern Munich did, too, though it came too late to be relevant. Yet it pointed to a lack of alternatives: by Casemiro’s standards, he did not play well in September. It will be still more damning if he retains the award for October. Casemiro’s two appearances this month have ended early: sent off against Galatasaray, hauled off against Brentford, there were two warning signs. The first came from the officials, the second from the manager. If his red card in the Champions League owed much to Andre Onana, with Casemiro’s desperate slide at Dries Mertens coming after the goalkeeper had coughed up possession, it nevertheless felt symbolic. Casemiro’s tackling technique means he goes to ground too often. As he is getting slower, he is likelier to foul. The naked eye suggests he has been exposed, isolated and bypassed too often, in part when Ten Hag’s tactics have left him stranded behind Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount. The statistics show the supposed ball-winner is regaining it less often. In turn, that may mean he is sent off more often. Casemiro is making fewer interceptions: 0.69 per 90 minutes, compared to 1.43 last season and 2.17 for Real in 2020-21. His 2.91 tackles per 90 minutes is down from 3.77. He is winning fewer than half of his duels, according to Soccerment statistics. To put it another way, the defensive midfielder is not protecting the defence. The goals and assists that he, Scott McTominay and the back four have got are welcome but the defensively-minded personnel have failed to do their day job too often. If Onana is the most obvious culprit, he is not the only one. The intriguing element was that, arguably, Brentford was the first time where Casemiro began in midfield but not as the holding player. With Sofyan Amrabat starting in his preferred position, ending the unsuccessful experiment of deploying the Moroccan at left-back, Casemiro was often found in more advanced areas. As Ten Hag indicated, Eriksen is more of a playmaker and was then granted those duties instead. Yet as Casemiro’s United career shows, he can be both scorer and creator. He has the talent to contribute as each. Perhaps his future could lie as a constructive presence. Yet he was bought as a destructive one. His growing immobility provides a concern that this is not just a loss of form or an issue with United’s tactics. There is the opportunity to look for more solidity by pairing Casemiro and Amrabat in front of the back four. But there is the ticking timebomb that came with his transfer. Real Madrid pensioned Casemiro off, taking £63m for a player in his thirties. He has almost three years left on one of the biggest contracts in United’s history. He would not be the first player to be paid to decline at Old Trafford; perhaps now Ten Hag has signalled to Casemiro that he has to prove he is not a fading force, that his past and his Champions Leagues are no guarantee of a place when Amrabat could play instead. “In football it is eat or get eaten,” the United manager said. If Casemiro polished off the partnership of McFred, Saturday was one of the finest days of McTominay’s United career, and among the worst of his. Read More Arsenal deal substantial blow to Manchester City, but the significance will only be felt in May Erik ten Hag wants Man Utd late show to be ‘a turning point’ Erik ten Hag reveals how close Manchester United came to selling Scott McTominay Rasmus Hojlund says Manchester United must ‘stick together’ in ‘tough period’ Erik ten Hag vows to fight on ‘together’ with Manchester United Jude Bellingham helps Real Madrid to victory and Bayern Munich hit back to win