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“They could upgrade” – Former invincible says Chelsea could sign 25-year-old Arsenal star

Former Aston Villa star says Unai Emery won’t want to re-sign Jack Grealish

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Video: Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz scores incredible goal directly from a corner

Darren Looney — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 20:03:51 +0000

Aston Villa are level against Bolton Wanderers in their EFL Cup tie after an incredible Douglas Luiz goal.

Villa boss, Steven Gerrard, is under a little bit of pressure at the moment due to the club’s recent results and performances and a win tonight would help ease that tension.

The former Rangers manager has put out a strong team for the tie and the Birmingham club were stunned when they went 1-0 down to the EFL League One club.

However, the Premier League side are now level after Luiz scored directly from a corner, which can be seen below.

DOUGLAS LUIZ SCORES DIRECTLY FROM THE CORNER ?? pic.twitter.com/nbCBkigngu

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) August 23, 2022

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Video: Liverpool loanee scores stunner in EFL Cup clash

Darren Looney — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 07:26:50 +0000

Bolton Wanderers were 5-1 winners over Salford City last night in the EFL Cup first round with a Liverpool loanee, Conor Bradley, appearing on the scoresheet.

Bradley joined Bolton this summer from the Reds and will spend the season on loan with the League One club. The 19-year-old was given his debut by Jurgen Klopp last season but the club felt it would be best to allow the right-back to experience regular first-team football throughout the current campaign.

Bradley certainly experienced the thrill of scoring a stunner in last night’s clash, hitting a long-range strike past the Salford keeper to make it 4-1 to his current club.

Conor Bradley with a sublime strike to open his account for Bolton, in tonight’s EFL cup tie against Salford.

That’s one goal and two assists in his first three outings for #BWFC. pic.twitter.com/LfAGqrgHDi

— Keifer MacDonald (@KeiferMacd) August 9, 2022

Footage Courtesy of Sky Sports News

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Liverpool confirm player exit with more set to follow this summer

Darren Looney — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 16:13:45 +0000

Liverpool have confirmed that right-back Conor Bradley has joined Bolton on loan for the 2022-23 season and more players are set to follow this summer.

The Merseyside club confirmed the deal on their website on Tuesday stating that the 18-year-old will join the League One side for the upcoming campaign after making his debut for the Reds last season.

Bradley played his first game for Jurgen Klopp’s side last season in a Carabao Cup tie away at Norwich City and went on to play two more times in the tournament. The youngster also featured in the FA Cup and Champions League last season and will now earn regular first-team football in order to continue his development.

Conor Bradley has joined Bolton on loan

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Bradley also had a brilliant campaign for Liverpool’s U23s side last season and was nominated for Premier League 2 Player of the Season. The 18-year-old has a contract expiring in 2023 with the Reds and this loan spell could do a lot for his future at the club, especially considering the new arrival of Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen who also occupies a right-back role.

The departure of the Northern Ireland international will not be the last youngster to leave Liverpool this summer, with GOAL’s Neil Jones reporting that a host of Under-23 players are set to head out in search of experience, with Rhys Williams, Paul Glatzel, Vitezslav Jaros, Leighton Clarkson, Billy Koumetio, Owen Beck and Sepp van den Berg all in line for temporary moves.

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£55m Spain star could be open to joining Tottenham

Mark Brus — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 11:51:25 +0000

Villarreal defender Pau Torres is reportedly increasingly open to a transfer to Tottenham this summer.

The Spain international, who is valued at around £55million, was strongly linked with Spurs last year, but reports at the time claimed he turned them down.

Now, however, Torres is warming to the idea of a move to Tottenham, who remain keen on him, according to The Athletic.

Manchester United have also been in the mix for Torres’ signature this summer, but it remains to be seen what choice the player himself might make.

One advantage for Spurs is that they have Champions League football on offer next season, and United don’t.

Pau Torres to Tottenham?

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Torres could be an important part of the continuing rebuild at Tottenham under Antonio Conte.

Ivan Perisic and Fraser Forster have already come in, while the north London giants are also being strongly linked with Richarlison.

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Referees training with Premier League clubs can benefit refs and players, says Mark Halsey

Mark Halsey — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:24:00 +0000

Premier League referees training with clubs is not anything new.

I did it for 12 years with Bolton at their Euxton training ground during the majority of their Premier League days between 2001-13.

I would fully back officials to restart this approach because it certainly made me a better referee.

I lived in Bolton so I felt it was common sense to use their facilities and I contacted then manager Sam Allardyce.

He welcomed me with open arms despite the fact I had previously sent off his striker Eidur Gudjohnsen.

I also spoke to former PGMOL manager Keith Hackett and he did not see a problem with the arrangement.

Working and training alongside top-flight players added to my personality as a high-level referee but also improved my relationship with players. Even now I am friends with Kevin Nolan and Kevin Davies.

I would join in with their pre-season programme which helped me get fit. Sometimes I even beat a few of the players in running tests and they weren’t happy!

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Then during the season, I would referee any training matches, 11 a-side or smaller sided games.

At the same time, because of my background as a non-league goalkeeper, I would also take part in the drills undertaken by Jussi Jaaskelainen and Kevin Poole which were led by Fred Barber.

Training in that environment also aided my understanding of the game and it became a real benefit for me on a matchday.

Due to my locality to Bolton, I did not referee them in the Premier League. But my experience working with them meant I knew what was coming from top-flight rivals, especially their moans and traits as how they behaved in training was replicated on a matchday.

It definitely helped me in my decision-making understanding elite players and therefore I would have no issue with the likes of Michael Oliver training with Newcastle or Kevin Friend at Leicester.

Yes, there will be conspiracy theorists but they need to be ignored. Once a referee crosses the white line they make a decision based on what is in front of them. No one should ever question a referee’s integrity.

Players could benefit from working more closely with referees

We recently saw Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel complaining about Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty technique during the captains’ meeting with PGMOL.

The Frenchman stuttered in his run-up, leaving Schmeichel fuming with the referee at the time, and he brought it up again later, despite the spot kick being perfectly within the laws of the game.

Feigning in the run-up is permitted. Once you get to the ball, you can’t feign. Feigning once the kicker has completed the run-up, is not permitted, and would be a yellow card.

So the Lacazette penalty was correct, by the laws of the game. I remember watching the penalty and Schmeichel was way off his line anyway! Even if there was feigning, he was off his line as well.

The referee got it right, and we had VAR in place to check these things anyway, but the referee was completely correct in law.

That’s the problem we have quite often with players not knowing the laws of the game. On this occasion, Kasper Schmeichel clearly doesn’t know the laws of the game, or at least doesn’t know Law 14 – the penalty kick.

Maybe referees working more closely with Premier League clubs can prevent these kinds of misunderstandings occurring in the future, as fans don’t want to see games dominated by players and match officials clashing over major decisions, especially when there isn’t really an argument to be had anyway.

Referee could’ve managed England vs Ivory Coast friendly better

These days, there’s not really such thing as a friendly game, but in games like England vs the Ivory Coast, you’d tend to be a bit more lenient with things that go on on the pitch.

The players know it’s not a competitive match, so they might not be playing at full tilt, and referees might also let a few more challenges go, so if we look at the Serge Aurier incident, that first caution technically is a yellow card, but I think perhaps in that moment in time the referee could’ve managed it better. Luke Shaw did something similar, blocking a promising attack, but escaped a caution. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that, but there needs to be some consistency, so I think he could’ve managed the first incident with Aurier better, and just given him a warning.

With the second yellow, we don’t know what was said, maybe he used insulting language that offended the referee. It seems like it was enough to warrant a second yellow, but I still think he could’ve managed the first one better.

Looking at the penalty, in real time it looked like a penalty. VAR recommended a review and the referee changed his decision. It looks like that was the right call, and you can’t blame the referee for not spotting the contact with the ball in real time. That’s why VAR is there, and this was an example of it being used well.

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Dagenham and Redbridge do their fans justice unlike West Ham as brother of Kurt Zouma, Yoan, is suspended

Lorenzo Martín — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 20:21:59 +0000

National League side Dagenham and Redbridge announced earlier today that Yoan Zouma, brother of Kurt Zouma, is suspended after vile footage of animal cruelty from the pair went viral online.

Dagenham stated that they ‘fully understand’ the reaction from many of their supporters in light of the incident. The Athletic reiterate that Yoan filmed the moments that his brother abused his cat.

Perhaps after seeing that Vitality pulled their sponsorship of West Ham due to the ‘judgement subsequently shown by the club’, after Zouma started against Watford, Dagenham and Redbridge decided that they needed to make it clear that Yoan will not be involved with the team until the investigation is concluded.

Yoan followed the track of his star brother Kurt to England in the summer of 2018, signing for Bolton Wanderers, but over the last year he has dropped down to National League level.

The full statement from Dagenham and Redbridge can be seen below:

“The Club would like to give a further update on its player, Yoan Zouma.

“Yoan was this week contacted by the RSPCA to assist in their investigation and is fully cooperating with them.

“However, Dagenham & Redbridge FC would again like to reiterate that it condemns any form of cruelty towards animals and fully understands the reaction of many of its supporters.

“The Club has therefore decided that until the RSPCA has completed its investigations, Yoan will not play for Dagenham & Redbridge in any competitive match.

“Any further action deemed necessary to be taken will be made at the conclusion of the RSPCA investigation.”

23-year-old Yoan has actually just started to break into the Dagenham and Redbridge lineup, starting in six of their last eight fixtures, so he’s really hurt his career with this foolish behaviour.

At least Dagenham and Redbridge supporters can be proud of the way their club has handled the incident, though the timing of today’s suspension statement aligning with news of sponsors and partners withdrawing from West Ham for their lack of action may have been a major factor.

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Big Sam Allardyce pulls out the dance moves with Jay-Jay Okocha during Bolton All-Stars game

Andrew Walker — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 15:27:17 +0000

Bolton Wanderers held a charity match on Sunday afternoon.

The former Premier League side faced a star-studded ‘All-Stars’ side that included cult-hero and ex-attacker Jay-Jay Okocha.

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The ‘All Stars’ were well beaten 7-4 by Bolton Wanderers but not before manager Sam Allardyce shared a heartwarming moment with Okocha with the pair seen dancing on the pitch in celebration together.

pic.twitter.com/e0LwpW43fi

— Luke Parkinson (@LUKEYPARKIE) November 14, 2021

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“We know you are ALIVE” – Jlloyd Samuel’s sister accuses wife of FAKING late footballer’s death

Magnus Eriksen — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 07:14:26 +0000

The sister of former footballer Jlloyd Samuel has bizarrely accused his wife of faking his death as part of an insurance scam.

Leslie-Ann Samuel, 39, has posted a series of bizarre posts on social media claiming she expects to see her late brother soon.

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She said: “Jlloyd we WILL see you soon, in this life.”

She also wrote in another post: “Jlloyd brother we know you are ALIVE and well and we know the DNA the pathologist have is not your DNA .. 100%… Lies…”

Samuel, who played for the likes of Aston Villa and Bolton in his Premier League career, was killed in a car crash in May 2018, aged 37.

However, coroners have now confirmed complaints from the player’s family regarding the way his accident was investigated.

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