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Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham have already passed plenty of tests this season – but he will not let the absence of nine first-team players at Wolves offer up an excuse for a dropoff in performance. Spurs suffered their first defeat of the Premier League campaign on Monday in a chaotic 4-1 home loss to Chelsea, which could have further consequences in the long term. Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero were sent off during the London derby, while Micky van de Ven (hamstring) and James Maddison (ankle) suffered serious injuries that will rule them out until January. Postecoglou, however, is no stranger to a challenge given Harry Kane’s departure on the eve of the new campaign. “The first test? Losing the greatest ever player in this competition the day before the start of the season? Nah, piece of cake,” Postecoglou pointed out. “We lost players to almost season-ending injuries. Nah, don’t worry about it. Mate, there are tests all the time. “In my whole career, I figured out there are only two states of being as a manager: under siege, or it’s coming. I’m well aware that every day nothing runs smooth. There’s always challenges out there. “I just try and make sure I don’t change my state of being. It is what it is. “I try and focus on what’s important. We’re still building a team and an environment where people want to win. It’s not going to change from week to week. “It’s fairly extreme even for a person of my experience to lose five players in one game, but that doesn’t mean it’s any worse than anything we faced so far and it’s being a bit disrespectful to this group of players to say that everything has gone their way because it hasn’t. “From day one there’s been a real resilience and character in the group and they’re going to have to show it again. The first test? Losing the greatest ever player in this competition the day before the start of the season? Nah, piece of cake Ange Postecoglou recalls losing Harry Kane from the Spurs squad “We’ve had plenty of reasons not to be where we are, plenty of excuses in terms of the disruptions we’ve had already and some of the challenges we’ve had to face. “Fair to say we won’t be using any kind of reason for us not to perform at our best tomorrow.” Two of Postecoglou’s key decisions at Molineux and over the next couple of months will be trying to fill the void left by both Van de Ven and Maddison. Van de Ven’s injury on Monday resulted in Tottenham adopting an extremely high line and while Guglielmo Vicario impressed in the sweeper-keeper role, pundits questioned the tactic. But Postecoglou said: “I don’t try and lose games purposefully, trust me. I’m very much for trying to win a game of football. I get it’s slightly unconventional, that I kind of understand, but you don’t get from Australia to the Premier League by being conventional. “And trust me, this isn’t the first time people have questioned my madness. It’s got me to where I am and I continue to do it because I believe we can win that way, not because of any other reason.” Eric Dier made his first appearance of the season off the bench on Monday but is set for a regular role with Van de Ven injured until January and Romero suspended until next month. Postecoglou added: “Eric has been part of this football club for a very long time. “Every day he’s another one who has trained hard. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities, but that’s because we’ve been pretty settled in terms of our back four and we haven’t had the need to put him in there. “He’s always been ready to be called up. Now he gets the opportunity. I thought he did well the other night. “I thought he handled it really well. His experience will be important for us, particularly with Micky’s absence and Romero being out for three games.” Read More Harry Maguire ‘showing he can do the job’ – Erik ten Hag ‘I heard what I heard’ – Tom Curry stands by racism claim against Bongi Mbonambi Katie Boulter has come ‘full circle’ as GB return to Copper Box for BJK Cup tie Mauricio Pochettino learned lessons from famous battle to mature as manager Mikel Arteta warns Aaron Ramsdale not to rush decision over Arsenal future Dawid Malan: I want to play on but I don’t know what my England future holds

Mauricio Pochettino claimed it is easier for new players to settle at Manchester City than at Chelsea due to the huge upheaval at Stamford Bridge during the last 18 months. Eight of the 11 that started Chelsea’s 4-1 win at Pochettino’s former side Tottenham on Monday have joined since owner Todd Boehly bought the club in May 2022, with a further nine named amongst the substitutes. Only three of the side that began Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over City in the 2021 Champions League final are still at the club – Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva – whilst all 12 of the substitutes from the game in Porto have departed, along with manager Thomas Tuchel. By contrast, Pep Guardiola can still call upon seven of the 11 that started in the final, with the group having formed the nucleus of the side that won the competition last season along with the Premier League title and FA Cup. Few of the players signed by Chelsea under Boehly have enjoyed an instant impact despite a combined total transfer outlay of over £1billion, whereas City have seamlessly incorporated new recruits into their side, most notably Erling Haaland who netted 52 times during his debut season. Ahead of Sunday’s meeting with the champions at Stamford Bridge, Pochettino said much of that contrast in fortunes is down to City already having in place the kind of settled culture that he is starting to build at Chelsea. “When you arrive at a club and in a team that is very confident and solid in how they operate and in their structure, always it’s easier,” he said. “If you arrive at a club that is in a process of building something – (City) are ahead (of Chelsea). “When a player arrives in a very consistent organisation, it’s only about performing. But the possibility of a player signed by City to perform is higher than if we sign a player here, at the moment. “We are trying to find the best organisation, the best way to operate, the best way to play, to know each other. At City, you arrive and Pep… doesn’t need to talk too much. The player knows everything they need to do and how they need to behave. “They know how it works, the club. But here we are all new. Too many players (are new) and the organisation is in a moment where it is evolving and developing, and trying to find the best way to work.” One player who has impressed since arriving at Stamford Bridge is Cole Palmer, who swapped the Etihad Stadium for west London on the final day of the transfer window. The 21-year-old has been a standout performer during the improved form that has seen Chelsea win three of their last five in the league and discover an attacking fluency that was conspicuously absent last season. “It’s not fair to say it surprised me (that City let Palmer go) because now he’s performing and he didn’t play too much at City,” said Pochettino. “We’re two different clubs with different visions and different objectives. “Maybe Chelsea fits really well for Cole, but maybe it would have happened with different players.” Asked if there was a player whom Palmer reminds him of, Pochettino added: “(Angel) Di Maria, no? It’s difficult find someone to compare.” The Argentina winger struggled after swapping Real Madrid for Manchester United in 2014 and never settled in England, a problem Manchester-born Palmer has not faced. “He’s from Manchester,” said Pochettino. “It’s not easy for a Manchester boy to come to London and to adapt and to settle here. “(But) he knows the Premier League. It’s easy for him to adapt a new club. When a player comes from outside of England, you don’t know if they’ll understand the language, culture, food, weather.”

Harry Maguire will report for England duty next week re-established as a first-choice defender for Manchester United. When Gareth Southgate’s squad met up in October Maguire had made only two starts for Erik ten Hag’s side all season but he has been ever-present in the starting XI since, usually in a partnership with veteran Jonny Evans as Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof have had to bide their time. Maguire and Evans is not a pairing many would have seen coming in the summer, when Maguire was being linked with a move away from Old Trafford and Evans was a free agent after leaving relegated Leicester. An injury to Evans will see a change made when Luton visit on Saturday, but Ten Hag said Maguire was keeping former Real Madrid defender Varane, a key part of last season’s success, out on merit. “Harry Maguire is doing very well at the moment, and I am very happy with that,” he said. “As I always said, Harry Maguire can do the job — and now he is showing he can do the job. “Last year Harry didn’t play a lot, so I was very happy with Rapha’s performances. I have always been happy with his performance. But in this moment, Harry is playing very well and there is internal competition.” Ten Hag sees Maguire and Varane as being in direct competition for the right side of central defence. Although Maguire has spent much of his career on the left, Ten Hag does not like the balance of his side with the 30-year-old there. “There are moments in certain games where they can play together and they have already proven they can do it,” he said. “But the build-up is not that fluid when one of them is playing from the left.” Last season, the partnership Varane formed with Lisandro Martinez, protected by Casemiro, helped United win the Carabao Cup and return to the Champions League. But with Martinez and Casemiro currently out injured along with Luke Shaw, and Varane out of favour, there is a different look at present. “The injuries don’t help us,” Ten Hag said. “So often you have to swap the back four and then you don’t get the routine. In such moments, it is so important to have routines. “We had a new keeper (Andre Onana) coming in and every time you form a new back four and they know the rules and principles, but the routines are not the same. “Communication is so important, but that is all split-second decisions. You need that cooperation and you need it 100 per cent because when it doesn’t work, then you concede goals at this level.” Wednesday’s dramatic 4-3 Champions League defeat in Copenhagen made it nine defeats from 17 games in all competitions for United this season, piling the pressure on Ten Hag amid on the ongoing wait for Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of a minority stake in the club to be completed. “Nothing has changed (in our approach),” Ten Hag added. “We stay in the same issues because we are not in the best moment, but I think I see that we are going forward, like at Fulham (a 1-0 win last weekend), and I thought Copenhagen was a very good game and we have to build on that. “Andre Onana came new in and in the last games has stepped up, Rasmus Hojlund is a new striker and he came in and is stepping up. That is good stuff. “We had some good midfield balance in the last two games, and hopefully we can keep that without new injuries in such departments and then I think we can really improve and find our success this season.” Read More Don’t worry about it – Ange Postecoglou brushes off series of Spurs setbacks ‘I heard what I heard’ – Tom Curry stands by racism claim against Bongi Mbonambi Katie Boulter has come ‘full circle’ as GB return to Copper Box for BJK Cup tie Mauricio Pochettino learned lessons from famous battle to mature as manager Mikel Arteta warns Aaron Ramsdale not to rush decision over Arsenal future Dawid Malan: I want to play on but I don’t know what my England future holds

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Scientists have found that visiting friends and family at least once a month can help you live longer. According to a recent study published by the University of Glasgow in BioMed Central Medicine, researchers discovered that there was a correlation between how often a person was visited by their family and friends with their life expectancy. Those who were never visited by their family reportedly had a higher risk of dying. Amid the ongoing loneliness epidemic, social isolation has previously been linked by researchers to a shorter life expectancy. This latest study sought to understand the effect that different types of social interaction have on our quality of life, with visits from friends and family, participating in a weekly group activity, and not living alone reportedly making the biggest difference among a group of 458,146 participants in the United Kingdom. Participants were between the ages of 37 and 73, with the average age being 56 years old, and data was collected between 2006 and 2010. Researchers asked the participants questions about the five different forms of social interaction: how often they were able to confide in someone close to them, how often they felt lonely, how often friends and family visited, how often they participated in a weekly group activity, and whether or not they lived alone. “We also tried to take into account lots of other factors that could explain the findings — like how old people were, their gender, their socioeconomic status, whether they were a smoker and more,” Dr Hamish Foster, a clinical research fellow at the University of Glasgow and the lead study author, explained to Insider. “And even after removing those factors from the equation it still showed that these social connections were important for risk of death.” Depending on when the participants were recruited, researchers would revisit the questions with the participants an estimated 12.6 years later to follow up. They reportedly found that, within those years, 33,135 or 7.2 per cent of participants died, with 5112 or 1.1 per cent passing from cardiovascular-related deaths. Strikingly, the study also found that “regardless of weekly group activity or functional components,” those who never had friends or family visit while also living alone were 77 per cent more likely to have a higher risk of death. However, Dr Foster cautions that the study is unable to take into account both the complexity and the quality of human social interactions. “Humans are really complicated and so are our connections and our measures in this study are pretty crude compared with what humans are capable of, but this study is still very detailed and is starting to drill down into how different types of connection are important,” Foster said to the outlet. He added that the study cannot prove that less socialisation causes death, but it does prove that loneliness and isolation can lead to not only poorer mental health but also poorer physical health. “We need to see more society-level interventions and support that make social connections easier, more likely, and of higher quality,” Foster added. “For example, community centers, parks, places, and activities that make it easy for people to meet and connect for high-quality relationships.” Dr Foster and his team of researchers aren’t the first to connect the dots between longer life spans and active social lives, with Netflix recently shining the spotlight on the famed blue zones - places with notably high populations of centenarians - in the docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue. Within blue zones like Ikaria, Greece, or Okinawa, Japan, social interaction is prioritised within the community rather than being left on the backburner in favour of economic or individualistic pursuits. As the digital age and the pandemic have brought on an increase in social isolation, Dr Foster stressed that it’s important for young people to nurture their social lives and participate in their communities. Read More Blake Shelton opens up about parenting style with Gwen Stefani To shave or not to shave: How women can participate in No-Shave November Game of Thrones actor announces ‘unbearable loss’ of baby after stillbirth