Mourinho doubts players’ stamina November 27, 2013 FOOTBALL: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho admits Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Basel has shown the need to use the full depth of his squad. Mourinho kept faith with 10 of the players that started Saturday’s 3-0 victory at West Ham, and said: “Some boys showed me it’s a problem to play consecutive matches.”
Ojo pens three-year Exiles deal November 27, 2013 RUGBY UNION: London Irish’s record try scorer Topsy Ojo, 28, has signed a three-year contract extension. The England wing is set to make his 200th Exiles’ appearance against London Wasps on Saturday. Irish rugby director Brian Smith said: “He is a role model for all our aspiring outside backs.”
Champions League: Tired Chelsea sleepwalk way into knockout stage November 26, 2013 FC BASEL 1 vs CHELSEA 0 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho shouldered the blame for his team’s laboured performance at St Jakob-Park last night, but the other result in Group E ensured they limped through to the last 16 of the Champions League. The Blues made a single change to the starting line-up from the team [...]
England and Australia at odds over pleas to cool Ashes November 26, 2013 ENGLAND boss Andy Flower and Australia counterpart Darren Lehmann are on course for a fresh row over calls for both sides to tone down the climate of increasing animosity between the Ashes rivals. The hosts’ emphatic first-Test victory featured several flashpoints, one of which saw Aussie captain Michael Clarke fined for a foul-mouthed warning to [...]
United plane aborts landing at last moment November 26, 2013 A PLANE carrying the Manchester United team to Germany ahead of tonight’s Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen, was forced to abort its landing moments before it was due to touch down in Cologne yesterday. The chartered Monarch flight was approximately 400m above ground when the pilot had to cease descent with another aircraft blocking [...]
Champions League: Wenger stunned Arsenal could be on brink of exit November 26, 2013 ARSENAL 2 vs OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE 0 ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger admits he can scarcely believe his side could yet crash out of the Champions League at the group stage for the first time since 1999, despite coasting to a fourth win from five games last night. Midfielder Jack Wilshere’s first brace for the club, [...]
Pellegrini not ready to discard goalkeeper Hart November 26, 2013 OUT of favour goalkeeper Joe Hart will not leave Manchester City in January, according to his manager Manuel Pellegrini. Hart has been dropped for City’s last five matches, but is set to return between the posts for tonight’s visit of Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League. The England stopper’s long-term future at the Etihad Stadium [...]
Moyes’ headache as Van Persie heads United list of absentees November 26, 2013 MANCHESTER United boss David Moyes is without a quartet of stars as he looks to lead them into the Champions League last 16 for the first time tonight. Last season’s top scorer Robin van Persie remains sidelined with a groin injury for the trip to Bayer Leverkusen – managed by former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia [...]
Aussies mock Trott illness November 26, 2013 AUSTRALIAN media has proven short on sympathy towards Jonathan Trott, who quit England’s Ashes tour with a stress-related illness. The Sydney Daily Telegraph’s front page declared the batsman had “taken his bat and ball and headed home” and repeated the theme with the headline “Trott does a runner”
England look to desert retreat to revive flagging Ashes effort November 26, 2013 THE SCORCHED desert town of Alice Springs may seem an unlikely sanctuary for an England squad licking its wounds from a mauling in the first Ashes Test. But team director Andy Flower hopes this week’s retreat to Northern Territory, where temperatures are set to hit the high 30s, will have a restorative effect on his [...]