Category: Sports news

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played in his third consecutive match as a starter for Liverpool as they brushed aside his former club Arsenal by four goals to none on game week 12 of the Premier League 2021/22 season.

He played a decent game and also contributed to the second goal for Liverpool scored by Diogo Jota. His pressing led to a mistake by Arsenal’s Nuno Tavares which the Portuguese striker pounced on to score from. He was taken off after 76 minutes, to applause from Liverpool and Arsenal fans.

It is an unusual site to see the injury-prone midfielder grab consecutive minutes for the club but he appears to be benefitting from a packed treatment table for the Reds at the moment.

Speaking after the game, the English midfielder, who is only getting this much game time because of injuries to key players, expressed a desire to keep fighting for a starting shirt in Jurgen Klopp’s super competitive line-up.

“I want to play football, I want to play as much as I can,” Oxlade-Chamberlain told the club’s official website. “Whenever you get chances it’s up to you to put in a good performance and help the team to win – and that’s the only way you keep getting games.

“I’ve been lucky enough to get those opportunities recently, I’ve kept my head down, I’ve worked hard for them, made sure I was ready when the time came.”

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain not fazed by other title contenders

The 28-year-old was asked about how Liverpool see the challenge posed by Chelsea and Manchester City, who are both first and second on the Premier League table.

“You don’t want to focus too much on what’s going on around you, but of course you can’t be naive enough not to look at the situation and where you stand,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said to the club’s website.

“If your competitors go and get a good result, get three points, it’s then over to you to go and respond and do the same thing. I don’t know if it’s added pressure but it just makes it more real what exactly the job and the task ahead is.”

Players and fans got motivated by Klopp and Arteta clash, claims Oxlade-Chamberlain

“It was hard to not notice that,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said. “[But] our job is to keep focused on what’s happening on the pitch. The crowd picked up and benefited from that energy, maybe that was the turning point in terms of energy and atmosphere.

“I’ve been the away side at Anfield and it makes things tougher. On this side, it helps you. We stayed focused and got on with the job in hand it was a good performance and we saw the game out well.”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spoken for the first time after being fired from the Manchester United managerial role on Sunday, 21 November 2021.

Despite heated and almost violent calls by fans for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be axed from the managerial position, there has been an outpouring of goodwill towards the Norwegian manager on social media.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge of the club in the 2018/19 season, stabled a sinking ship and turned the club into a fearsome team. But in the latter days of his time as manager, the team looked out of its depth against teams they would usually run over and teams they would usually have a fierce battle with.

The Norwegian sat down with MUTV for an emotional final interview, where he spoke on his time at the club, his hopes for the future of the club and his plans for his future.

“[I’m] Very, very proud [of my time at the club],” Solskjaer said to MUTV. “Of course, it’s one of those things you dream of in your life. When you’ve been a player, when you’ve been a reserve team coach, the next job then, the only dream and the only thing you haven’t done is to manage the club, and I have now.”

Solskjaer promises to back the new manager

“I don’t want to pre-empt anything but the two times I’ve left Molde, they’ve won the league the year after, so all the best to whoever takes over – that’s the expectation!” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said after expressing his gratitude for the time he spent as head coach.

He also promised to throw his weight behind whoever replaces him as the boss and also come back if he’s needed. “I’ll spend some time with my family [in Norway],” the Norwegian says. “Then, I’ll watch the team of course and hopefully, the next manager comes in and I want to support him. I want him to be successful, hopefully, I’ve laid the foundations for that to happen,” he added.

Four new big names lined up as potential Solskjaer replacements

Before Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer parted ways, there have been a ton of rumours as to who could replace the 48-year-old as Manchester United manager.

Sky Sports reports that former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is the club management’s preferred candidate. Per Sky Sports, Ajax’s Erik Ten Hag is the second choice if Pochettino cannot be convinced to leave his current position at PSG.

Other names that have been mentioned in relation to the Manchester United job are Zinedine Zidane, Brendan Rodgers, and Ralf Rangnick. Other names that have come up since the sacking of Solskjaer are Sevilla’s Julen Lopetegui, Brighton and Hove Albion’s Graham Potter, Al Rayyan of Qatar’s Laurent Blanc, and Spain’s Luis Enrique.

However, Micheal Carrick, once part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coaching staff in his time at the club, will train the team until the club’s management decide on a replacement for the Norwegian. 

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal has seen their unbeaten run come to an end after just 10 games, thanks to a 4-0 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield.

Arsenal went into the game high on confidence after keeping five clean sheets and winning six of their last 10 matches, conceding only four goals. The trip to Anfield would’ve been a big indication of a season turnaround for the club, but Liverpool would prove too much to handle.

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Speaking to Arsenal media (via Arsenal.com) after the match, Mikel Arteta expressed disappointment in the result and of how the pressure from the intimidating Anfield atmosphere got to his team.

“We competed really well in the first half – they had their moments, we had our moments. We were really compact and used the ball in the right way to create some situations. We had a goal disallowed and then we conceded a goal from a set-play.

“In the second half, when we had to build some momentum and start to grow [into] the match, we threw it away in the first 15 to 20 minutes. We gave every ball away in very dangerous areas. We had [them under] no pressure. They punished us, we lost control of the game and they had all the momentum.”

Touchline fracas with Klopp didn’t affect game, says Arteta

In the first half of the game, Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp had a bust-up on the touchline which lasted a few minutes, creating even more tension for the high-profile game.

Both managers clashed over Arteta’s protests following an elbow by Liverpool forward Sadio Mane on Arsenal fullback Takehiro Tomiyasu in the first half.

Only the fourth official stood between both managers as they angrily exchanged words, almost coming face to face with each other until the intervention of both teams’ coaching staff.

Speaking on the situation to Arsenal media, Arteta said: “He was trying to defend his side, I was trying to defend mine and that’s it. I think the atmosphere was incredible right from the beginning, so that’s it.”

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Jurgen Klopp also spoke on the issue. “I am really sick of these situations, where everybody tries to go for Sadio in these moments. He is a physical player, obviously, he does make hard fouls,” the Liverpool boss told Sky Sports after the match.

“We had to take Sadio off against Atletico [Madrid in the Champions League] because they wanted him to get a yellow card. “The referee did really well in that situation – I deserved a yellow card. It was not OK and that is what I said. It just happened at that moment.”

Arteta wants Arsenal to bounce back against Newcastle

Anfield is not a happy hunting ground for many teams in the Premier League, including the Gunners. The result was not a strange one. However, the margins were unexpected following Arsenal’s form going into the game.

Arteta acknowledged this fact to Arsenal media. “Here it doesn’t matter whether you play young or senior players – I’ve seen all types of players suffer [in] this ground. When you go 2-0 or 3-0 down, it’s very difficult and we suffered.

“It’s a learning process – today there are a lot of things that we should take but the most important one after a result like that is the next one, and to forget about this one.

Arteta also acknowledged that Arsenal will have to bounce back against struggling Newcastle in their next Premier League game. “That’s what big and good teams do, and that’s what we have to do.

“On Monday, we’ll start again, review the match, the things that we should have done better and understand the reason why we lost it. Then we’ll correct it and focus completely on Newcastle.”

Manchester United have decided to part ways with Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer after three-and-a-half seasons at the helm of the club.

The 48-year-old Norwegian took over as United head coach during the 2018/19 season as the caretaker manager following the club’s dismissal of José Mourinho. A strong start to his career which saw a change in fortunes for the club earned him the role on a permanent basis that same season.

He would go on to lead the club to sixth, third and runners-up places in the Premier League, as well as the Europa League final and three semi-finals in all competitions during his time at Old Trafford.

However, a lack of direction from the Red Devils has seen the Norwegian fall out of favour among fans and key figures within and outside the club. Fans would be seen on social media constantly trending the hashtag #OleOut every matchday for the better part of 2021.

The 4-1 loss to struggling newcomers Watford FC in the Premier League matchday 13 of the 2021/22 season was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as the club’s management entered into a meeting that lasted for over five hours to discuss the manager’s terms of exit.

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Solskjaer to receive huge payout upon dismissal

As reported by The Times, the Glazers Family group managing director, Richard Arnold, was instructed to go into negotiations with Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer on his severance package to facilitate a smooth exit from the club.

The report states that Manchester United will have to part ways with £7.5 million to end the Norwegian’s tenure at the club. The 48-year-old will be leaving the club after five defeats in seven games and 12 points behind league leaders Chelsea.

Watford vs Manchester United: An opportunity missed by Solskjaer

The trip to Vicarage Road was a trip that Manchester United fans looked forward to, because of Watford’s abysmal goalscoring record. That optimism was dashed after the first half, as Manchester United found themselves 2-0 down going into the break.

Donny van de Beek, a player much maligned by Solskjaer, was the one to get United’s only goal which halved the deficit, until club captain Harry Maguire saw a second yellow for a silly tackle, leading to United’s capitulation.

David De Gea, who saved United on multiple occasions during the game to prevent the scoreline from being even more embarrassing, betrayed what fans believe to be the true feelings of players at the club after the match.

“There’s not much to say – it was embarrassing to see United play like we did today,” a visibly disappointed David De Gea said in his post-match interview.

“It was hard to watch the team playing today – it was nightmare after nightmare. It’s not acceptable. We are trying to give our best and fight for the team but for sure something is very wrong. You can see in the games – it’s very low level, very poor. Sorry to the fans, once again.

“It’s been bad for a long time and we have got to do better.”

Darren Fletcher being lined up for caretaker role

The meeting to discuss Solskjaer’s dismissal from the club also discussed potential replacements, according to the reports. Zinedine Zidane remains the prime candidate for Manchester United’s hierarchy despite turning down the job earlier in the season, and moves have begun to further persuade the Frenchman to change his mind.

In the meantime, Darren Fletcher, technical director of the club, is to take over as caretaker manager until the club can find a new manager, according to The Telegraph. The 37-year-old could begin his role as caretaker boss as early as United’s UEFA Champions League match against Spanish side Villareal.

Arsenal were brought back to earth by a rampaging Liverpool after an unbeaten streak of 10 games following a poor start to the 2021/22 season.

Liverpool scored four goals to which Mikel Arteta’s side had no reply. The Merseyside team were coming from a defeat to another London side, West Ham United, which ended their 25-match unbeaten streak that spanned seven months.

Their response to the 3-2 defeat at the Hammers stadium was emphatic enough for all other title contenders and crushing for the Gunners who had just hit a good run of form. The loss, however, is only Arsenal’s fourth loss in 21 games, which isn’t a particularly bad record for the Gunners and their embattled manager, Mikel Arteta.

Liverpool forwards remain the deadliest in the league

After a shoddy half-hour of football from both sides, Liverpool finally opened the scoring with a headed goal from Sadio Mane, scored from another brilliant Trent Alexander-Arnold delivery. It was a crushing goal for Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, who had been in fine form until that point in the game.

The second half saw Liverpool run riot at Anfield, as wave after wave of attack kept flowing from the Merseysiders. Goals from Liverpool’s other forwards, Digo Jota, Mohammed Salah, and Takumi Minamino who came on for Diogo Jota after he picked up a knock, were the nail on Arsenal’s coffin at Anfield.

The goals from Liverpool’s forwards –  with the exception of Takumi Minamino who hasn’t seen much action this season – took their total tally to 30 goals in all competitions this season.

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However, with the African Cup of Nations coming up in January, Liverpool will be losing both Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah for at least a month. Jurgen Klopp will have to shore up his attack so that his team do not miss the attacking threat from both superstars.

Arsenal fall to mighty Reds as expected

Anfield has not been a happy hunting ground for the gunners in the past few seasons and not many people expected a different result. However, the scoreline is sure to take all fans by surprise, seeing how well Arsenal have defended during their 10-game unbeaten run.

The game got very intense at one point in the first half as both managers had a go at each other and had to be separated by members of their coaching staff. That fire died down, however, as Jurgen Klopp’s side came out guns blazing after the halftime break.

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Arsenal will have another opportunity to regain their confidence as they host struggling Newcastle United in the next Premier League game week, but the players and coaching staff will have to deal with Arsenal’s impatient fans who see this loss as an indictment of the club’s average season.