Leeds United have been handed another crushing injury setback ahead of their two Premier League fixtures this week…

What’s the latest?

The Yorkshire giants suffered another defensive disasterclass on Sunday as they were beaten by old rivals Manchester United in a six-goal thriller and the schedule isn’t getting any easier.

They head to Anfield to face second-placed Liverpool on Wednesday night before hosting Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road on Saturday lunchtime, nearly a week after they defeated defending champions and table-toppers Manchester City.

And manager Marcelo Bielsa is expected to be without starting centre-back Robin Koch with a suspected concussion.

The 25-year-old was substituted in the 29th minute at the weekend with a suspected concussion, meaning he will now have to follow the Football Association’s protocols, in which Mail+ claim that players have to rest for a minimum of six games.

That would rule him out of both Premier League fixtures this week.

Crushing blow

When it rains, it pours.

Whilst it was certainly hammering it with rain at Elland Road on Saturday, Leeds’ unrelenting injury problems don’t seem like easing up anytime soon.

Koch has been afforded a place in the starting XI largely due to the absence of club captain Liam Cooper, who has been absent since early December with a hamstring problem.

Now, Bielsa will be without another central defender for two big games against teams either in or around the hunt for a top-four finish, a stark contrast to the Whites’ season as they are on the cusp of being dragged into the relegation mire, sooner rather than later.

It has been the German’s best run of matches in a Leeds shirt since signing from Bundesliga outfit Freiburg in an £11.5m deal back in August 2020.

Indeed, the £15.3m-rated colossus has started each of their last seven matches in the English top-flight, having missed the bulk of the campaign with injury himself.

In that time, the Yorkshiremen have shipped goals for fun, conceding 18 goals in total but now with Bielsa’s backline even more threadbare ahead of games against the likes of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Harry Kane, there’s reason to be immensely fearful.

Without Koch, Cooper, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford, Leeds’ task is all that harder and that will leave both the Argentine and the Elland Road faithful gutted, if not hugely worried heading into their two games this week.

At this rate, Bielsa – a defender in his heyday – may well need to get his boots on.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Bielsa: Leeds eye 48 y/o gem dubbed “amazing” by Haaland, Orta’s “a huge fan”…

Taking to Twitter, journalist Giacomo Iacobellis has shared a transfer update out of Tottenham Hotspur involving Juventus forward Paulo Dybala.

The Lowdown: Dybala set to leave…

As reported by reliable transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano, the Argentine is set to leave Turin at the end of this season as a free agent as he seeks to open talks with new clubs.

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This comes after Juve had originally reached a verbal agreement to extend Dybala’s deal last October, but after the Serie A giants changed terms and conditions of this proposal, it appears the 28-year-old is now seeking pastures new.

As his contract winds down, currently set to expire on June 30, many clubs are now keeping real tabs with Spurs said to be in and among the interested parties.

The Latest: Iacobellis shares update…

Now, according to Iacobellis, there has been an update on Tottenham’s attempts for Dybala with talks now held.

Indeed, the Lilywhites have apparently made contact with his entourage alongside a host of other clubs as they make a pre-summer move.

He explained (via Twitter):

“About Dybala : The two most interested teams today are Inter and Atletico Madrid , although the player’s entourage also talked to FC Barcelona , Arsenal , PSG and Tottenham . On July 1, he will leave the Juventus as a free agent after 7 seasons.”

The Verdict: A must-win race?

Dybala has plied his trade at the very top level for years, racking up a grand total of 113 goals and 48 assists in 283 appearances for Juve.

Taking this into account, especially on a free deal, he could be a very shrewd option to provide support for superstar striker Harry Kane.

Personal terms could be a slight stumbling block given his current £220,000-per-week salary would make him the highest-paid player in Tottenham’s squad according to spotrac.

That being said, it could be too great an opportunity to sign a player once valued at around €120 million (£102m) for nothing.

Pundits in the English press have also gushed over Dybala’s abilities with ex-Spurs keeper Paul Robinson branding him ‘world class’.

On a free deal, it has to be considered at the very least, especially if they can convince the player to take a slight wage hit.

In other news: Tottenham attempts to seal mega-money agreement take new step after major off-field development, find out more here.

خاض لاعبو الزمالك مرانهم عصر اليوم الإثنين على ملعب عبد اللطيف أبو رجيلة بمقر القلعة البيضاء بميت عقبة.

ويتحضر الزمالك في الوقت الحالي لملاقاة المصري البورسعيدي، في إطار منافسات دور الـ8 لبطولة كأس مصر في المباراة التي ستقام يوم 26 نوفمبر الحالي.

طالع أيضًا | مرتضى منصور: أنتظر مقابلة رئيس الوزراء لحل أزمة الزمالك.. وسنفقد السيطرة على العمال

ولم يشارك محمد عبد الغني مدافع الزمالك في المران الجماعي للفريق اليوم، بقرار من الجهاز الطبي للزمالك، نظرًا لإصابته بشد عضلي منذ مباراة الزمالك الأخيرة امام إنبي في الجولة الرابعة لمسابقة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

ويخضع عبد الغني لبرنامج تأهيلي خاص لتجهيزه من أجل العودة للمشاركة في التدريبات الجماعية.

وشهد المران غياب اللاعبين الدوليين بعد انضمامهم لمعسكر منتخب مصر الذي بدأ اليوم استعدادًا لمواجهة بلجيكا وديًا يوم 18 نوفمبر.

وكان البرتغالي روي فيتوريا قد ضم محمد عواد وعبد الله جمعة وحسام عبد المجيد وعمر جابر وإمام عاشور وأحمد مصطفى زيزو لمعسكر الفراعنة.

وفي سياق متصل، واصل نبيل عماد دونجا لاعب خط وسط نادي الزمالك الانتظام في أداء برنامجه التأهيلي الخاص به بعد إجراء عملية منظار الركبة.

وبدأ دونجا التدريبات بالركض حول الملعب في الربع ساعة الأولى، ثم أعقبها بتمرينات بالكرة.

من جانبه، منح البرتغالي جوسفالدوا فيريرا المدير الفني للزمالك مصطفى شلبي جناح الفريق الهجومي تعليمات خاصة خلال مران اليوم.

وحرص فيريرا في تعليماته لـ مصطفى شلبي على توضيح أهمية التحرك الصحيح نحو مرمى المنافس، والركض السريع بالكرة دون أن يفقدها.

وفي الإطار ذاته، أدى محمد طارق مدافع الفريق تدريبات فردية لزيادة معدلات لياقته البدنية، وذلك تحت إشراف أندريه فيليب مدرب الأحمال بتعليمات من فيريرا، الذي يرغب في إعداد اللاعب للفترة المقبلة.

وشارك محمد طارق أيضًا في تدريبات الجزء البدني مع باقي زملائه، ثم تمرن بالكرة.

وخضع محمود عبد الرازق “شيكابالا” صانع ألعاب الزمالك لجلسات علاجية تحت إشراف الجهاز الطبي للفريق بقيادة الدكتور محمد أسامة، إثر تعرضه لإصابة في الكتف أثناء مشاركته في المباراة السابقة.

وحصل شيكابالا على راحة من المشاركة في المران الجماعي، لكنه يؤدي تدريبات علاجية بشكل مستمر حتى تتلاشى الآلام المصاحبة للكدمة في الكتف.

Sussex’s Monty Panesar marked his return to first-team action with three wickets before Chris Taylor led Gloucestershire’s fightback on an even first day of their Championship Division Two tussle at Arundel

07-Jul-2010
ScorecardSussex’s Monty Panesar marked his return to first-team action with three wickets before Chris Taylor led Gloucestershire’s fightback on an even first day of their Championship Division Two tussle at Arundel.Panesar was overlooked during Sussex’s Friends Provident t20 campaign and kept himself ticking over instead by playing league cricket for Bexhill. But he relished the slow turn offered by a dry pitch at the Castle Ground to take three for 68 from 29 overs before Gloucestershire, led by former captain Taylor’s 89, recovered from 142 for six to close the first day on 286 for 9.The left-arm spinner was brought into the attack 75 minutes after the start and wheeled away in four productive spells. He briefly switched ends before lunch to claim his first victim and finish a promising innings by 19-year-old left-hander Chris Dent, who edged to slip.After lunch he ended a patient vigil by opener Kadeer Ali, who sliced a drive to mid-on after making 58 in just over three hours, and Panesar claimed his third wicket when Jon Lewis (32) was bowled heaving across the line having added 73 in 17 overs for the seventh wicket with Taylor.It was an important partnership, for Gloucestershire had looked in some trouble when the persevering Corey Collymore picked up two wickets in three balls. Skipper Alex Gidman and then James Franklin were both lbw stuck on the crease, Franklin falling for a duck. Like Panesar, Collymore has not played competitively since Sussex’s last four-day game finished on June 7 but his control of line and length was exemplary.Yasir Arafat was the ideal foil for Collymore as his skiddy pace proved difficult to master and he picked up two wickets. Opener Jon Batty fell in the fifth over, lbw to one which hurried on, and the Pakistani returned after lunch to bowl Hamish Marshall with an off-cutter.Initially, it was not such a productive day for Robin Martin-Jenkins in his last Championship game before retirement. The all-rounder had Kadeer dropped at slip on 31 and a vociferous appeal for leg before against Dent from the next ball turned down. To add to his dismay, Dent struck the next three balls to the boundary – although Martin-Jenkins did return to take two wickets after tea.Taylor produced the most impressive strokeplay of the day, particularly after tea, driving fluently against the seamers and using soft hands to manipulate Panesar and off-spinner Ollie Rayner into the gaps.He looked on course for a hundred when he feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Matt Prior to give Martin-Jenkins his second wicket just before the close. Taylor’s 89 came from 112 balls and included 12 fours as well as a six off Panesar, but no Gloucestershire batsman has yet scored a Championship hundred this season.

MatériaMais Notícias

A equipe da Ponte Preta se reapresentou nesta terça-feira, para iniciar a preparação para o jogo contra o Ituano, sábado, fora de casa. O time terá a semana livre para se recuperar fisicamente. Vale lembrar que depois de pegar o Ituano, a delegação viaja no domingo para Manaus, onde o time estreia na Copa do Brasil contra o Nacional-AM, na terça-feira.

– Vai ser uma semana fundamental. Foram quatro jogos em 12 dias, com desgaste alto. É recuperar os atletas, mas também treinar situações, se possível um outro sistema, para ter na manga se precisar mudar – afirmou o técnico Eduardo Baptista.

O treinador também precisa definir quem entra no lugar de Tiago Real, suspenso por três cartões amarelos. Marquinhos, João Vitor, Vitinho e até o meia Daniel são as opções para ficar com a vaga. O técnico quer repetir o máximo possívela escalação para a equipe ganhar entrosamento.

O fato de a primeira fase da Copa do Brasil ser em jogo único também pesa para que Eduardo leve em consideração mandar a campo contra o Nacional-AM o que tiver de melhor à disposição.

– Precisamos dar sequência ao time, não dá para falar em rodízio. Depois é ir para Manaus, em jogo único, e voltar para pegar o Novorizontino. Tem que preparar os meninos para essa sequência – disse o comandante.

A Macaca tem 50% de aproveitamento no Campeonato Paulista. Com seis pontos, é lider do Grupo B do Paulistão.

Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar has said the team needs to maintain a level of enthusiasm even if the results don’t always go their way. With the World Cup early next year, Bashar felt it was important for the team to build self belief in the coming months, and that could translate into better results. He added it was a good decision by Shakib Al Hasan to give up the captaincy when he was struggling for form on the tour of England.”I think the level of satisfaction should go up,” Bashar told the . “People always talk about too much expectation, which I think is not a good thing but if there’s no expectation, it does no good to the team. It is time we shed the habit of being happy when we are ‘playing well’. You must have some belief if you are looking for the right results.”Bangladesh recently recorded their first ever win against England, in Bristol, but they failed to convert it to a rare away series win when they lost the deciding ODI by 144 runs at Edgbaston.”I am not saying the win (against England) was insignificant,” Bashar said. “It is a huge achievement to win against England in their home conditions.”Bashar also threw his weight behind the struggling batsman Mohammad Ashraful, who for a long time hasn’t repaid the faith shown by the selectors.”You cannot question [Mohammad] Ashraful’s quality and I’m confident that Ash will make his comeback in the World Cup, but now he’s badly out of form,” Bashar said. “I think he needs a break to do well in the coming months. That will make sure of his return to form as far as I’m concerned.”Mashrafe Mortaza regained the captaincy after regular captain Shakib struggled to combine the roles of leading allrounder and leader. Mortaza only recently returned from a long-term knee injury, and he was the automatic choice to take over from Shakib. Bashar, however, felt Shakib would do better when given a second chance.”Shakib must feel better now that Mashrafe has the captaincy,” Bashar said. “I think it was too much pressure on him. I always felt that he was made captain too soon for his age. He can be the country’s best captain, but only in the future.”Bashar doesn’t expect wholesale changes to the squad for the World Cup, and felt it would be worth investing in the current group. “I see very little chance of that happening because in the past two years, player production hasn’t been too good and backups are not in place. We have a few options but I still think this current team is good enough and talented enough to produce the goods in the World Cup.”

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batsman, has said that he wasn’t surprised at being dropped from the WICB’s list of contracted players

Cricinfo staff04-Sep-2010Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batsman, has said that he wasn’t surprised at being dropped from the WICB’s list of contracted players and that the disappointment would not affect his focus in leading Guyana’s Champions League Twenty20 campaign in South Africa.Sarwan said he had been expecting the setback. “I knew for about three weeks now and even before that I was reading between the lines,” he told CMC. “I am disappointed that it seems I am most times singled out for special attention by the board. At times I get the impression that some people believe that I deliberately get injured and that could be more frustrating than the injury. I continue to be fully committed to representing the West Indies and at this point I am fitter than I was a year ago.”Sarwan’s immediate assignment, is to captain Guyana in the financially-lucrative Champions League, which begins on September 10. “My focus is on ensuring our team represents Guyana and the entire region in the best possible way in South Africa,” he said. “We have a job to do in South Africa and me not getting a contract is not a distraction. They (WICB) made their decision and they must have their reasons.”The WICB announced its list of contracted players on August 31 and later released a statement backing the selection committee’s decision to cut Sarwan. “The team management, selection committee and the WICB are concerned about Sarwan’s extremely indifferent attitude and sporadic approach towards fitness, particularly in recent years,” read the statement. It also said that contracts had not been awarded to fast bowler Jerome Taylor and batsman Narsingh Deonarine because of their fitness issues.

A Newcastle United journalist has now raised a big ‘concern’ involving Chris Wood for their game at home to Everton in the Premier League on Tuesday night.

The Lowdown: New Zealand Covid outbreak

Wood is currently away on international duty with New Zealand, but they have suffered a Covid outbreak in their squad, which forced them to postpone their clash against Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

It is not clear whether Wood has been affected, but just coming into contact with some of his affected teammates may now raise doubts over his participation in the St. James’ Park faithful’s upcoming matches.

The Latest: Scurr’s ‘concern’

Taking to Twitter, The Shields Gazette journalist Dominic Scurr has now raised the ‘concern’ with regards to Wood, and claimed that it could turn out to be a ‘double blow’ for the North East club giving their failure to sign another striker on Transfer Deadline Day:

“Concern regarding Chris Wood.

“The striker is away on international duty with New Zealand, who have had to postpone their match against Uzbekistan today due to a Covid outbreak in their squad.

“No confirmation on Wood’s status, but could leave #NUFC with one available striker.”

He continued:

“Hope those those affected in the New Zealand squad get well soon and make a full recovery.

“But after failing to land another attacking player on deadline day, it could be a double blow for #NUFC – leaving them with just Dwight Gayle as their only natural striker for Everton.”

The Verdict: Saint-Maximin up top?

If Wood has tested positive for Covid, along with Callum Wilson’s injury and the fact that Gayle has not scored yet this season, it may well be an idea for Eddie Howe to stick Allan Saint-Maximin up top against the Toffees.

He is the Tyneside outfit’s second-highest scorer this term behind Wilson with five goals in total over all competitions, and could frighten their centre-backs through the middle with his pace and supreme dribbling ability.

The Magpies could then shift someone like Ryan Fraser out to the left-wing to fill that void, and thus still leave them with a potentially deadly attack.

In other news, find out which ‘amazing’ centre-back NUFC bid for just before Dan Burn here!

Chelsea are keen on making a move for Leeds United winger Raphinha at the end of the season, according to an update from journalist Gianluigi Longari.

The Lowdown: Raphinha on the move?

The Brazilian has continued to be a star player for Marcelo Bielsa’s side this season, providing consistent quality while other key men have either struggled or been injured.

He has scored eight times in the league and averages by far the highest match rating of any player in the squad (Whoscored).

Raphinha should hopefully stay put in the January transfer window but a summer exit feels possible, especially if worst comes to worst and Bielsa cannot save his injury-stricken squad from the drop.

The 25-year-old has already been linked with a move away and now a fresh update has emerged.

[freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

The Latest: Chelsea keen on signing Brazilian

Taking to Twitter on Friday, Longari confirmed Chelsea’s interest in the former Rennes starlet:

“For the summer so many clubs are interested in him, and Chelsea appreciate him so much.”

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The Verdict: Matter of time?

In truth, it is easy to envisage Raphinha enjoying a fresh challenge this summer, as he comes into the peak years of his career at 25 years of age.

In an ideal world, he would stay at Leeds for several more seasons but he may feel he belongs at a Champions League-playing club, having been hailed as ‘wonderful’ by BBC pundit Danny Murphy for his incredible play in Yorkshire.

It would be hard to begrudge Raphinha a big-money switch but Leeds must only sell him if they receive a monstrous bid and then must use the money to bring in top-class additions of their own.

In other news, Victor Orta looks set to miss out on one Leeds target. Find out who it is here.

Trinidad has turned out to be a nightmare for the organisers with yet another match – the second – to be abandoned without a ball being bowled

Cricinfo staff29-Jul-2010 – Match abandonedTrinidad has turned out to be a nightmare for the organisers with yet another match – the second – to be abandoned without a ball being bowled. The afternoons haven’t been kind to the players and spectators with the weather dictating terms. After yesterday’s game between Canada and Leeward Islands was washed out, today it was the turn of Barbados and Guyana to share points. Trinidad & Tobago will now play Guyana in the first semi-final while Barbados will take on Guyana in the other.nowThe rain still puts a question mark on the chances of playing the second game of the evening, the inconsequential one between Windward Islands and Combined Campuses and Colleges. However, yesterday’s late-evening game between T&T and Jamaica went ahead despite the first game being washed out.