đ¨ The latest on Ten Hag's position at Man Utd, Newcastle thrash PSG, Klopp calls for Liverpool-Spurs replay, Napoli chief on Osimhen, and more
How much longer can Erik ten Hag survive after an awful start to the season?
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Todayâs top stories:
And was this the goal of the night from Julian Alvarez? [Pictures via TNT Sports]
Al Duhail
Christophe Galtier will fly to Qatar this week in order to become Al Duhailâs new head coach. Agreement reached as revealed here yesterday, story confirmed.
Arsenal
Bukayo Saka is a doubt for the game against Manchester City this weekend, and for Englandâs upcoming international fixtures against Australia and Italy. He will undergo further medical tests today following a scan yesterday.
Barcelona
Barcelona won 1-0 away to Porto last night thanks to this cool finish from Ferran Torres [Pictures courtesy of TNT Sports]
Gavi: âPlaying all my life for Barca? I wish it could be like that! Happier than at Barca Iâm not going to be anywhere else, Iâm sure. Iâd do everything, anything for this club.â
Lamine Yamal made his full debut in Champions League last night. Yamal came off the bench vs Antwerp but yesterday he got into in the starting XI just three days after signing a new deal until 2026.
Jeremie Frimpong has signed a new contract with Bayer Leverkusen, but how close was he to joining Barcelona?
Bayer Leverkusen
Jeremie Frimpong has signed a new contract with Bayer Leverkusen, but how close was he to joining Manchester United and Barcelona?
Bayern Munich
Thomas Tuchel on Mathys Tel: âMathys didnât want to leave, he decided to stay and fight. Heâs a player who says: Iâm here and Iâll do it. The boy is training incredibly well, has the absolutely right attitude towards the role he currently has. And heâs only 18.â
Brighton
Bad news for Brighton as Pervis Estupinan will be out for âlong timeâ, according to Roberto de Zerbi. âEstupinan is injured, I can say that he canât play for a long time. Of course we lose an important player.â
Chelsea
Chelsea captain Reece James has been banned for one game and fined ÂŁ90,000 by the FA - full story here.
Euro 2028
Everton
Feyenoord
Feyenoord striker Santi Gimenez: âIâd be delighted to play for Real Madrid. Of course. Itâs a super big club. That would be fantastic!â
Galatasaray
Mauro Icardi is now on 45 goals and assists in 39 games as a Galatasaray player. He re-joined the club in July for âŹ10m fee from PSG and things are going best way as Icardi loves being at Gala. He didnât want to consider different proposals.
Inter Milan
Lautaro Martinez: âMy agent is working on my new deal here at Inter. Iâm very happy, I give my best for the club and my family also loves being here. I canât see any reason to change and join another club.â
Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp: âI think the only outcome for Tottenham-Liverpool game should be a replay. It probably won't happen. I think it is so unprecedented it didnât happen before.â
Darren England will not be sacked following his error during Liverpoolâs clash with Tottenham but the VAR official will not officiate another match featuring the Reds for the rest of the season - full story here.
Manchester City
Two games, three goals for Julian Alvarez this Champions League season - and what a strike this was in the 3-1 win away to RB Leipzig! [Pictures courtesy of TNT Sports]
Pep Guardiola has overtaken Sir Alex Ferguson for most Champions League wins:
109 â Carlo Ancelotti
đđđ â đđđŠ đđŽđđŤđđ˘đ¨đĽđ
102 â Sir Alex Ferguson
82 â Arsene Wenger
77 â Jose Mourinho
Pep Guardiola on Rico Lewis: âWhat a player. What a player. 18 years old. Iâve been a manager for 15 years, training unbelievable players, to find a player like him in the pockets, moving into the spaces⌠wow. Heâs one of the best I ever trained, by far.â
Manchester United
Erik ten Hag: âWe stick together, we are together in this. Me, directors, team, all together we will fight. We know we have to do better. We are on it.â
Jeremie Frimpong has signed a new contract with Bayer Leverkusen, but how close was he to joining Manchester United?
Whatâs the truth about Jarrad Branthwaite and links with Man Utd?
Napoli
Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis: âOsimhen was not even at issue. Heâs a top player. New deal? Yes, thereâs no problem. There are never problems here. All players are happy at Napoli, maybe the probably is just when they leave the clubâŚ"
Newcastle United
Group of death? Newcastle are now top after thrashing PSG 4-1! [Pictures via TNT Sports]
Eddie Howe: âThey [PSG] are such a good team we had to defend really well and our spirit was brilliant. We created the positive things in the first-half and the aggressive pressing which is a haul mark of ours.â
PSG
After being asked âis it difficult to coach PSG?â Luis Enrique responds: âWhat kind of question is this? These are difficult games to go through as a coach. I think our attitude was very good. I think the result is a bit unfair. Not totally unfair, but it's excessive. By the way, I congratulate Newcastle.â
Enrique added: âIâm responsible for the teamâs results â that is very clear. Iâm the first and last person responsible for the 4-1 defeat against Newcastle.â
Kylian Mbappeâs reaction at the full time whistle says it allâŚ
Rangers
Real Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti: âBellingham is incredible. And what surprises me about Jude Bellingham is that he is only 20 years old! His quality, maturity and character are incredible for his age.â
Real Madrid are receiving excellent reports on Endrick on and off the pitch, waiting for him to join the club in 2024. He has scored 5 goals in 5 starts, also learning new languages, training hard and preparing his arrival in Europe for July.
World Cup
Morocco, Spain and Portugal are set to host the 2030 World Cup. Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will play their first games at home to celebrate 100 years since the first edition. Itâs going be the first time ever that the World Cup will take place in three continents.
For all the very latest transfer news, read caughtoffside.com
The Ten Hag situation is a conundrum for me.
On the one hand, it's true that the club's structure is not great and that Ten Hag should ideally have a Director of football that aids with the behind the scenes work. Especially with buying players, as Ten Hag's choices of players are questionable at best.
On the other hand, it is one of the unique situations where Ten Hag has so much influence at the club that we can hardly blame anyone but him. United gave him large sums of money to spend, and the only three you can say have been successful so far are Martinez, Casemiro, and Hojlund.
He also receives more credit than is due for his first season. United got Champions league and won the Carabao cup, but to put that in context:
1. Based on their expected points, they were the sixth best team in the league last season, as Brighton and Liverpool were both much better than them. This became very obvious when United played those teams during the season.
2. The Carabao cup is a similar situation: they should have been beaten comfortably in the semi-final by Brighton, but they missed an obscene amount of chances. And in the final, Newcastle had to use their 3rd choice goalkeeper due to a bizarre situation.
The final thing that worries me is Ten Hag consistently getting bad performances and then saying "no this is good, actually". I agree he should not be expected to reach the heights of Klopp or Pep, but he's struggling to even reach the heights of Arteta or Emery.