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Herein lies the formula for a high-performing England team. Release the shackles, dole out the confidence, then sit back and marvel at the beast of the Lionesses without limits. There were no concerns about keeping tournament hopes alive; no headaches over managing minutes; no tactical frameworks to devise on the fly; just a chance for the Lionesses to show what they can do best. And that is exactly what England accomplished. Scotland were far from pushovers but were thoroughly outclassed on Friday night. With an enthusiastic Sunderland crowd providing the backing and an evidently more polished shape on their side, England exuded confidence. Raw, unadulterated confidence. From the off it was as if that was all that mattered. Georgia Stanway sized-up Scotland goalkeeper Lee Gibson whenever the ball dropped towards her feet outside the area, Chloe Kelly went on her customary weaving runs, Lauren James – with her usual precision and air of nonchalance, was finally free to toy with opponents once again. Even Lucy Bronze, usually a straight edge, was inspired to try and backheel it through the visitors’ defence. The danger of working at the disposal of a master conductor like Sarina Wiegman had always been that glimpses of individual brilliance were better left repressed than taking risks which may have been to the detriment of the team. Just follow the plan and have faith that results will ensue. Here’s a summary of how that has worked so far: England became a relentless machine, they won the Euros, opponents cottoned on, things turned stale, their winning record ended, an unexpected injuries forced Wiegman to return to the drawing board. The abandoning of such orthodoxy and the move towards a new formation may well be the key to this team’s future. Against Scotland they provided further evidence that the current set-up might just set them on a course for future success. Rachel Daly finally converted an England set-piece after a summer of somewhat underwhelming corners, though she was denied the opener with Kelly standing offside, apparently interfering with Gibson’s sight of the ball. So it fell to Bronze to put England ahead; the fact it was a former Sunderland player coming to the rescue being much to the delight of the home supporters. Katie Zelem dinked the ball over the heads of the Scottish back line and Bronze timed her diving header to perfection, contorting herself low and connecting just on time to direct the ball past Gibson. Then, just six minutes later, it was the turn of her former Manchester City teammate Lauren Hemp to do something rather similar. This time it was Daly who drilled in the cross and Hemp likewise adopted a dive to nod home. Though as much as England’s exuberance had been a delight for fans, at times evoking a sense that the Nou Camp had been plonked on the banks of the River Wear, there were sporadic reminders that this team remains fallible. Real Madrid’s Caroline Weir picked up the ball inside the England box and should have netted for her side were it not for the quick reactions of Mary Earps. Kirsty Hanson carved out openings on the left-hand flank and Weir should likely have had a penalty after Millie Bright brought her down. It came as little surprise, therefore, that Hanson was able to pull one back when she tucked home a loose ball on the stroke of half-time, though after the break the hosts managed to hold back Scotland’s persistence. Zelem, the provider of Bronze’s opener, was a particular standout while filling in for the absent Keira Walsh, who has missed out on a spot in this camp through injury. She hassled tirelessly in the middle of the park and tried to orchestrate chances going forwards, zipping the ball around, and looked a welcome addition. It was somewhat cruel when Zelem, who shone when deputising for Walsh during the latter’s period of absence at the World Cup, was quickly shunted back to the bench after her quick recovery, and her performance against Scotland will have staked a further claim that she is deserving of a spot in this team. The performance of James, starting for the first time since her now-infamous red card in the quarter-finals, was also encouraging and showed that she has now surely cemented her position in the England teams of the future. That she had a late goal ruled out for offside is of little importance. This international break is peculiar for the fact it comes before the domestic campaign begins, and takes place just over a month after the World Cup’s conclusion, but two strong performances will be crucial. If Team GB are to secure qualification for next summer’s Olympics England must win their Nations League group and then progress to their final. Victory over Scotland – and further evidence of a way in which this team can delight audiences and play their top-class football going forwards – helps to set things on a positive course. Now their attention quickly turns to Tuesday’s game against the Netherlands, where they will need to be at their best once again.

Virgil van Dijk believes striker Darwin Nunez is starting to realise the potential which persuaded Liverpool to spend a possible club-record transfer fee on him. The Uruguay international endured a testing start to life at Anfield and although he scored 16 goals, the feeling remained he had underperformed. He has already played a significant part this season, scoring two late goals as a substitute to beat Newcastle, and with Mohamed Salah on the bench he took responsibility for equalising through a penalty in their eventual 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria. Nunez has three goals and two assists this season but his all-round influence has been felt more than just from that contribution. The Uruguayan, who had missed a couple of earlier chances but was denied a certain goal by a brilliant point-blank save by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal in the first half, also played a role in the second goal with his hold-up play on the halfway line. Liverpool’s captain believes the 24-year-old is developing into the striker they hoped they were getting when they paid Benfica an initial £64million, which could rise to £85m, last summer. “Everyone has a role to play whether you start or not. Everyone has now seen the potential and the quality he has. “Against LASK Darwin was important with the goal. Long may it continue, and with the other boys as well. “Up front, the competition is quite good. They all have to push each other and it’s good to see.” One of those “other boys” – quite literally – was Ben Doak who became Liverpool’s fourth-youngest European player with his first start at the age of 17 years and 314 days. The young Scot was given a run in Salah’s right-wing position and showed flashes of his talent despite being starved of opportunities in a poor first-half performance by the team. “It was a big night for him,” added Van Dijk. “It was never going to be easy, it was a difficult pitch, but he could have set up at least two goals in the first half where he went past his man like no one was there but unfortunately nobody was on the end of it. “I am pleased for him and I’m also very excited for him and the future that’s coming. “You’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, if you watch closely it’s a fantastic group to be part of. “We have a lot of quality, a lot of younger players, players who are getting new roles and they are enjoying that as well. “But at the end of the day football is about results. Everybody wants to play their best football each and every game, but sometimes you have to find a way, like we did at Wolves (coming back from conceding first again to win 3-1). “On Thursday it was after we conceded a set-piece, we showed that we stayed calm and found a way as well.”

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou is full of admiration for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, but fails to see many similarities between the pair. Postecoglou’s youthful Spurs side face the biggest test of his early reign on Sunday when they make the short trip to the Emirates for the first north London derby of the season. Second-placed Tottenham travel across the capital in high spirits but face an Arsenal team that are into a fifth season under Arteta, who also took over a club in the doldrums and has overseen a cultural change from top to bottom. While Postecoglou is at the start of the same type of rebuilding job at Spurs, he poked fun at suggestions he is alike his 41-year-old opposite number. He said: “I think Mikel has been outstanding, really strong right from the start by having a real vision for the football club and the club’s backed him, but I don’t think that’s unique. “I think Liverpool did the same with Jurgen (Klopp). Most clubs that end up having a successful period do it on the back of having a really clear idea of what they’re trying to create. “The only problem is that a lot of clubs jump at shadows at the first sign of things not progressing at the rate they were hoping to. Credit to Arsenal and credit to Mikel that they backed each other and they’re reaping the rewards of it but that’s not a blueprint for us to follow. “We’ve got our own blueprint. You don’t have to follow anyone else’s timescale, you don’t have to follow anyone else’s processes. What you’ve got to do is have a clear idea about what you want and provided along the way you see progress, stick to it. There’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us Ange Postecoglou “In terms of similarities, I’m 58, he’s whatever (41). I’ve had 26 years, he’s five years into it. He’s managed in one country, I’ve managed in a few. I’m not sure how he’s got a great head of hair! “He’s a lot fitter than I am. I don’t know, there’s not a lot of threads I can sort of join between us. I wouldn’t say we’re opposites. “We’re different. Even in the way his team plays. Yes he does have a very attacking philosophy but it’s different from mine and that’s the beauty of the game. That’s what you love about it. “It’s why you can’t copy. If you’re an artist and you see a Picasso, yeah you can copy it, but it’s not going to be a Picasso is it? It’s the same with football. “You can see that somebody does something really well, but don’t bring your own personality into it. I have great admiration for the way he’s gone about things and how he’s stuck to his beliefs. It’s a credit to him.” Postecoglou did not claim to have any type of personal relationship with Arteta, but he did reveal a time when he got to view the Spaniard up close. The former Celtic boss watched Manchester City training not long after he was appointed manager at Yokohama, who are part-owned by the City Football Group. “I spent a week at City when I first got the Yokohama job because they were part of the group and were generous enough to invite me in,” he revealed. “I didn’t speak to anyone but I observed training and you could see then how passionate Mikel was about the game and that he was itching to get going and become a manager himself. “He’s had a different journey but he’s made the impact. “As I keep saying, there’s no real defined way to get here.”

Erik ten Hag admits he is at a loss to explain Manchester United’s poor defensive performances. The Red Devils have conceded 14 goals in their last five games and 10 in the last three, with three goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday not enough even to earn them a point. United boss Ten Hag said: “We have shown that we can do it because last year we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League because of the team, because we defended very good as a team, so we have to get back to that standard. “Of course I am pushing the team and demanding from the team, and from the start of the season, but they are human beings, not robots, so, why they are not doing it, I try to find out and I try to give the solutions and try to motivate the players to do the job. “When you are in a period like we are in always as a manager you are asking yourself these questions. My job is to get them to do the job.” On United’s tendency to concede goals soon after a restart, Ten Hag added: “(We’re) not concerned but we are aware of it. Of course you can’t close your eyes for things like this so we coach the players, we coach the team in that fact.” Question marks have been raised about the attitude of United’s squad, with clips from the Bayern game apparently showing players not chasing back as hard as they might. Ten Hag does not believe a lack of willingness was to blame, though, saying: “It’s always a concern when we didn’t run but I think against Bayern it was not the case. “In certain situations yes so it’s also to recognise in which situation is it about they didn’t recognise it and didn’t make the right decisions or is it about willingness? “Against Spurs, we didn’t run too much. But I think against Bayern we did our best from physical outputs but we didn’t always run in the right moment. “If we bounced back like we did in Munich, you can’t say the spirit isn’t right. I think we have other problems than that.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Pep Guardiola has laughed off suggestions he should be concerned about the number of chances Erling Haaland has missed this season. The Manchester City manager claims anyone who says the prolific Norwegian has become wasteful will be proved wrong – and forced to apologise – soon enough. Haaland scored 52 goals in an extraordinary debut campaign at City last season and, on the face of it, has started this one strongly too with seven in eight appearances. Don’t criticise Erling too much. You will be in a position where you have to apologise to him Pep Guardiola Yet analysis shows he has missed 12 ‘big chances’ this term, nine of them being in his last two outings against West Ham and Red Star Belgrade. After eight games last season he had scored 12 goals, with eight ‘big chances’ missed. “I will not sleep tonight!” Guardiola joked when these numbers were put to him at a press conference to preview the champions Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday. “He has had incredible chances and he could have scored 14-15 goals now. What is important is he always says, ‘I have the chance, I have the chance, I have the chance. The problem is when I do not have chances, or I do not get balls or I am in the wrong position’. “My advice is don’t criticise Erling too much. Criticise the full-back, the central defender or the manager, but never, never the striker who scored all those goals because he will and then you will be in a position where you have to apologise to him.” Guardiola concedes Haaland was not fully fit at the start of the season, but that is not unexpected after last year’s exertions. He said: “No (he was not fully fit) – it is quite simple – but in the pre-season I cannot expect him to be fully fit. “Normally the new players come and are fully fit earlier. When you don’t start the last season, you are fitter earlier. “When you win the treble maybe you think, ‘I wait a week longer to be completely fit’. It is a question of time. “Erling is much better than in the first week. Every week he is better and everything is there. “He is an incredible threat. He has had a lot of chances and that means we are playing good. Always I have the sense that the team are doing quite good by the number of chances Erling has.”

A family link is traced to Kent for a victim of a World War Two tragedy who was buried in Ayrshire.

England Women host Scotland Women on Friday night, under the lights in the north east of England - Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is the location for both teams’ first game since the summer. They had contrasting ones, too; while the Lionesses went to New Zealand and Australia to contest the Women’s World Cup, where they went right the way through to the final before losing to Spain, Scotland were sat at home watching, following on from July friendly wins over Northern Ireland and Finland. The Women’s Nations League offers a fresh start for both, with this the first-ever edition of the competition in the women’s game. Group A1 contains England, Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland. Follow all the latest updates from England vs Scotland below and get the latest odds and football tips here:

Kick It Out chief Tony Burnett says the government’s new online safety bill is “brilliant news” but only “a small piece of the jigsaw”. The new legislation, which could help prevent discrimination and abuse on social media platforms, passed its final parliamentary debate on Friday. The football authorities played a significant part in the development of the bill, and a joint statement from The FA, Premier League, EFL, PFA and Kick It Out shortly after the announcement described the legislation as “a significant moment for those who participate in the game”. Only last weekend, Sheffield United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham was subject to online racist abuse after a match against Tottenham Hotspur, which was swiftly condemned by both clubs. While the new bill provides a vehicle to hold social media platforms to account through regulator Ofcom, Kick It Out chief Tony Burnett warns this should not be seen as the end of the issue. “It’s brilliant news,” the CEO of the equality and inclusion charity told the Independent. “We’ve been campaigning for over two years on football governing bodies to try and influence not just the legislation, but also the content of it. So it’s a really positive move. “This is the first step, and now we’ve got to move really quickly from celebrating what’s been achieved to making sure that the way that Ofcom structures the regulation of social media organisations is fit for purpose and they are effective in holding them to account. “We’ve all seen lots of examples where regulators are not as effective as they should be.” Kick It Out recorded a 65.1 per cent rise in reports of discriminatory behaviour in 2022/23, with the 1,007 reports received including a 279 per cent increase in online abuse. Burnett believes while the numbers represent the fact fans are becoming less tolerant of discriminatory behaviour and more likely to report it, the current climate is still seeing a worsening of the state of affairs. “Discriminatory behaviour is absolutely rising – we also saw a double-digit increase in hate-related incidents. It’s absolutely on the rise. “Rather than stoking culture wars, we should be trying to stoke inclusion. But I just don’t think we’ve got the maturity as a society to think that way at the moment.” “What this legislation doesn’t change unfortunately, is the fact there is a significant increase in people pressing the keys. So we still have a massive job to do as a society and culture to try and work out how we got to a position where people with toxic views now have a voice and feel more comfortable than ever to share this in broader society.” Although Kick It Out record their own set of statistics, neither the 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League, nor the governing bodies are obligated to share their own data on how many discriminatory incidents take place every year. Burnett says this makes it difficult to get a full understanding of the extent of the issue, and take subsequent steps to try and deal with it. “We still can’t get a picture right across the sport as to how many discrimination cases are raised every year to develop a comprehensive understanding of the state of play across football. That’s just madness. “We’re not really interested in making people look bad. We’re interested in the facts. We can’t address the challenge until we really understand the facts. If clubs are open and honest with us and say we’ve got a problem, we can help them to solve it. “The football industry, over the last three years, has done more than ever to try and tackle some of these issues, but our worry is that we’re doing the safe stuff. We’re sending people on training courses, and we’re running campaigns, which have got a place, but we’re not doing the hard stuff. “The online safety bill is brilliant, because it gives us a start to hold social media organisations to account – but that’s only a small part of the jigsaw.” Read More Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: Too soon to herald return of my mentality monsters First ever Lioness captain’s legacy lives on as England face Scotland Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: Too soon to herald return of my mentality monsters First ever Lioness captain’s legacy lives on as England face Scotland Tottenham once again have hope – but Ange Postecoglou must learn from Arsenal lesson

Florida State and Clemson have been the class of the ACC for a long time, but when is the last time FSU beat Clemson, and more about the matchup history for the conference rivalry.

Jack Grealish could return for Manchester City as the champions host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday. The England midfielder has missed the treble winners’ last three games with a knee injury and was also unavailable for international duty earlier this month. The 28-year-old is now back in training, easing manager Pep Guardiola’s injury concerns after Bernardo Silva this week joined a casualty list that also includes Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic. Guardiola said at a press conference: “We need the injured players back because we have a lot of games and we cannot play with the same players. “Jack is coming back. He has trained well and maybe he will be ready for some minutes. Kova is almost there, he’s in the last part of the recovery but now we’ve lost Bernardo. John and Kevin are still out.” Silva left the field in little obvious discomfort towards the end of the first half of Tuesday’s Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade at the Etihad Stadium. Guardiola has since given little information on the nature of the Portugal international’s problem other than to confirm he faces a short spell on the sidelines. He said: “He has a little injury. It is nothing much. The clinical development is good but it could be one week, 10 days, two weeks that he will be out.” A fortnight’s absence could mean Silva would also miss the Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle, a Premier League game at Wolves and the Champions League clash at RB Leipzig. City then travel to Arsenal on October 8. City’s immediate task is trying to extend their winning start to the campaign against Forest. City were held to a draw by Steve Cooper’s side last February and Guardiola has been impressed by their progress. He said: “When he took over two years ago in the Championship it was not good at Nottingham Forest. “But he made an incredible run, got them promoted. They struggled last season but in the end they finished well. “There were a lot of good signs and this season they have started really well. They have made more points than last season. “They are physical and well organised. We have to be careful but we are optimistic we can do what we have to do, with our people, to make the sixth win in a row.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Erik Ten Hag: Man Utd players are fighting together to turn around poor form 5 talking points ahead of England’s World Cup clash with Chile North London derby the headline act this weekend – Premier League talking points

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has signed a new five-year contract with the club. The influential Norwegian midfielder, who was Arsenal’s player of the season last campaign, has committed his future until 2028. The 24-year-old initially joined on loan from Real Madrid in 2021 and said he has found his “home” at the Gunners. Odegaard becomes the latest young Arsenal star to sign a new deal with the club, following Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba. “Signing a new contract was a really easy decision for me for lots of reasons,” Odegaard said. “Mainly what we are doing right now as a club is special, and I want to be a part of that. I’m really excited for what’s to come here. I’ve found a place where I can be really settled and call my home. "My story is a bit different maybe, as I moved around different clubs since I was 16. At Arsenal, since the first day, I’ve felt great and this is definitely my home now. “I just want to say thanks to everyone working at the club and of course, our fantastic supporters. I will continue to give everything to bring success to this club in the years to come.” Odegaard scored 15 Premier League goals last season as Arsenal finished second to Manchester City, and the Norway captain says he is determined to help Mikel Arteta’s side take the next step. He scored the fourth goal of Arsenal’s 4-0 win over PSV on Wednesday as the Gunners marked their return to the Champions League with a commanding victory at the Emirates, six years after their last appearance in the competition. “It just shows what we’re doing as a club. People want to be here as part of the project. “What we’re doing is really special and the players see what the manager wants to do and how the club is progressing, the connection we now have with the fans. “I think it’s a no-brainer for the players to be part of that. With so many hungry young players, it’s a great place to be. “Of course, it’s a good thing. You see the players around you want to be a part of what we’re doing and it shows just how connected we are as a team. “All the players want the same thing, they want to stay for a long time and really fight for the club and win things together. It shows the family feeling we have.” Read More Arsenal are back in the Champions League — and they look like contenders too Jack is back – Pep Guardiola provides positive update on Man City star Grealish North London derby the headline act this weekend – Premier League talking points Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praises Ange Postecoglou ahead of Tottenham’s visit

It had taken Tottenham more than 70 days to appoint a new manager but a candidate who emerged from far down the shortlist made a flying start. He was manager of the month for August. September brought a North London derby. It went terribly and he was sacked on the first day of November. For Nuno Espirito Santo read Ange Postecoglou? Obviously not; the similarities are superficial and, unlike in 2021, there are plenty of reasons to believe a haphazard process has produced the right man. But the fixture list does feel familiar: for the third year in a row, Tottenham visit their neighbours at this early stage of the season. It was their seventh league game last season and Antonio Conte’s previously unbeaten side lost 3-1. It was their sixth in 2021 and, after three straight wins had earned Nuno the August prize, another 3-1 reverse was a third successive defeat. Nuno’s felt the more damning defeat, partly because Spurs were 3-0 down after 34 minutes and partly because his midfield was a mess. And yet it proved the less damaging setback; if it helped foster the impression that the Portuguese was miscast as a Tottenham manager, his departure facilitated a surge to fourth place, at Arsenal’s expense. Two years on, Arsenal are a barometer of Postecoglou’s progress, the rivals who look role models. They have effected their own transformation from unhappy, underachieving club to a united camp and an increasingly successful team. In 2021/22, Arsenal were not in Europe. Now, in a week when the Gunners have ended their six-year exile from the Champions League, Tottenham have had more time to prepare: for the first time since 2009/10, their schedule has not included continental competition. If the second half of last season, the unravelling of Conte’s reign and the interim spells under Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason prompted the question of how bad tTottenham were; now the phrasing is more welcome: how good are Tottenham? The second best side in the country, a team likely to earn a top-four finish or one who may slip from their current lofty position? A seven-day spell containing meetings with Arsenal and Liverpool could bring a more definitive answer. Thus far, they have been sufficiently impressive to take 13 points from five games. The fixture list has looked favourable, however, and even the Australian’s flagship win, 2-0 against Manchester United, may have an asterisk applied because of the problems at Old Trafford. But that is scarcely his fault. Where he can be judged, he has passed tests: late goals and impactful substitutions are often signs a coach is exerting an influence and Spurs have had both, particularly last week against Sheffield United. Postecoglou’s sympathetic man-management of Richarlison – perhaps it is unfair to a couple of his recent predecessors to suggest they would have been less supportive of the Brazilian – has added to the positive impression, as does introducing a style of play that feels in keeping with Tottenham’s past. Jose Mourinho, Nuno and Conte could be called the three pragmatists, but there was little pragmatic about some of their defeats. The Italian and the Portuguese, in particular, played too passive a brand of football. Postecoglou has been bolder and, a couple of weeks ago, James Maddison reflected that he is the kind of footballer Tottenham have not had since Christian Eriksen, which highlighted a lack of flair in their recent past. It added to the huge burden Harry Kane shouldered, too, and Postecoglou has navigated the England captain’s departure with the minimum of fuss. They were never going to acquire a player of his calibre as a direct replacement but, shorn of their 280-goal record scorer, they have struck at least twice in each of their five league games. Kane’s reliability may have made him a crutch but, as the years went on, it scarcely guaranteed Tottenham glory. This game is a case in point. Kane has scored more goals in the North London derby than anyone else, with 14, but he only tasted victory at the Emirates Stadium once, and then as a substitute in the Carabao Cup in 2018. Another talismanic figure for Tottenham, Hugo Lloris, was culpable for goals in both derbies last season. Meanwhile, Postecoglou has sidelined one pillar of the side, in Eric Dier, and redeployed another, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, as a substitute. It may prove that only Cristian Romero and Heung-Min Son start for Spurs at the Emirates both last season and this. There was a case for a break with the past and, perhaps, it is again shown by Arsenal, though Mikel Arteta’s fallouts with Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were more explosive than Postecoglou’s decision to move on without Dier. Thus far, he has made change look easy. In the rejuvenated Yves Bissouma, the precocious Destiny Udogie and the influential Maddison, he is shaping a new side with a different ethos. But Spurs could nevertheless be forgiven for travelling the four miles to Arsenal with some trepidation. The Gunners have exposed delusions before, made fine starts to seasons look false dawns. Now Tottenham have more grounds for optimism but, as previous managers can testify, things can go wrong on their shortest trip of the campaign. Read More Son Heung-min believes Arsenal should fear in-form Tottenham Arsenal are back in the Champions League — and they look like contenders too What is wrong with Manchester United’s defence? Everything North London derby the headline act this weekend – Premier League talking points Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praises Ange Postecoglou ahead of Tottenham’s visit Son Heung-min believes Arsenal should fear in-form Tottenham