Heat on Ten Hag at United and Díaz back in Liverpool training: football news – live
While I roll back the tape on some Important Vincent Kompany Chat …
check out this lovely piece from Paul McGreal, on the unexpected joy of sharing matchdays with his daughter: “What started as a slightly selfish opportunity for me to go to football matches masquerading as parental responsibilities morphed into important bonding trips …”
Heat on Ten Hag at United and Díaz back in Liverpool training: football news – live
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Fri 3 Nov 2023 11.35 CET
First published on Fri 3 Nov 2023 11.00 CET
While I roll back the tape on some Important Vincent Kompany Chat …
check out this lovely piece from Paul McGreal, on the unexpected joy of sharing matchdays with his daughter: “What started as a slightly selfish opportunity for me to go to football matches masquerading as parental responsibilities morphed into important bonding trips …”
Martin Ødegaard in contention to start against Newcastle
Arteta’s captain missed last weekend’s heavy defeat of Sheffield United with a hip problem.
Today the manager said:
Arteta had a less positive update regarding another of his midfielders, Emile Smith Rowe, who suffered the latest of his litany of injury setbacks this week.
Smith Rowe set up one of Eddie Nketiah’s three goals against the Blades last Saturday.
Mikel Arteta speaks!
The Arsenal manager suffered a setback with the limp
midweek Carabao Cup defeat by West Ham
.
He admitted his disappointment:
If you take your foot off the gas in any action in this league, against this type of opponent, you get punished. It’s as simple as that so you have to give the standards the maximum level if you want to keep winning and winning.”
Luis Díaz back in Liverpool training
Jürgen Klopp spoke about Díaz this morning:
We must wait. If he feels right, he will be here and train with us. The session he had with us you can see when he is with the boys he is fine, he is OK, but you could see he didn’t sleep a lot.
We have to see how he is and we go from there. The news from Colombia gives us a little bit of hope. We are waiting for the really good news, but that’s it pretty much.
I cannot say what we will do because we just wait where we can pick up the boy from and go from there. But it’s all about him, if he makes himself available or not, and I will not force anything.”
Luis Díaz’s father ‘expected to be freed’ – reports
Reports have emerged overnight that Díaz’s father, Luis Manuel, is expected to be freed in the coming days.
Colombia’s government said the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest guerrilla group, is known to have been behind the kidnapping, and that negotiations for his release are taking place.
Otty Patiño, who leads the government peace delegation that is negotiating, said: “We demand that the ELN releases immediately Mr Luis Manuel Díaz and we say as of now that they are entirely responsible to secure his life and integrity.”
Early dispatches from today’s Premier League press conferences are starting to land.
More detail to follow but a couple of early notable highlights:
Luis Díaz is back training with Liverpool – last week his parents were kidnapped in Colombia, and his father remains missing. Jürgen Klopp’s side visit Luton on Sunday.
Martin Ødegaard is in contention to start against Newcastle tomorrow, having recovered from the hip problem that kept him out against Sheffield United last Saturday. Emile Smith Rowe, however, is expected to be “out for weeks”.
Here’s how the state of play with Erik ten Hag stood and Manchester United overnight …
Erik ten Hag is expected to continue as Manchester United’s manager for Saturday’s trip to Fulham but must oversee an upturn in results to keep his job.
Although there is no desire among the executive to replace Ten Hag, who they have backed as the right man for the long term, there is an acceptance after eight defeats in the first 15 games of the season that the Dutchman needs to turn around this run of form, starting at Craven Cottage.
After Saturday’s 12.30pm kick-off, for which Casemiro is a doubt, United go to Copenhagen for their fourth Champions League group match on Wednesday. Ten Hag’s side have taken three points from their opening three games but are point one behind Galatasaray, who are in the second qualifying position.
Jamie Jackson
A nice curveball to start the day.
Uefa have decided to geg in on the Ballon d’Or from next year …
The prestigious Ballon d’Or awards will be co-organised by Uefa from 2024. European football’s governing body has reached an agreement with Group Amaury, the owner of media companies France Football and L’Equipe, to “enhance the stature and global reach of the awards”.
The merging of the awards means an end to the Uefa awards handed out in August each year, with the exception of the President’s Award which will still be presented alongside the draws for the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
There will also still be accolades for the best player in each of Uefa’s club competitions, which are determined by its technical study group and announced within days of each competition’s final.
Under the new partnership, Uefa said all existing Ballon d’Or awards will remain in place with the addition of men’s and women’s coach of the year prizes. Groupe Amaury retains control of the Ballon d’Or brand under the agreement and of the voting system, which will be unchanged.
PA Media
Preamble
Hello and welcome.
Another one of those Fridays where “your weekend really does start here” … with Leicester hosting Leeds in a Battle Of Two Relegated Sides tonight in the Championship, just after the First Round Proper of the FA Cup kicks off in both Barnsley and Sheppey.
Erik ten Hag has an awkward-looking trip to Craven Cottage tomorrow, in a week where the temperature has risen markedly on his heated seat. On Monday, Mauricio Pochettino returns to Spurs with a Chelsea side that’s variously taken forwards, backwards and sideways steps so far this season.
We’ll be getting into all that, Bayern licking their
Saarbrücken-imposed wounds
with the small matter of a trip to Dortmund, Jonas Eidevall hoping to get his Arsenal women’s side back on track against WSL pacesetters Manchester City, and much, much more.—