FRUSTRATED Man United stars held their own private summits into the club’s disastrous start to this season.
The players concluded former boss Erik ten Hag was responsible for a loss of eight points.
Some of the dressing room went through the failures this season in private and tried to identify what was going wrong.
They took culpability for a woeful performance against Spurs and losing against West Ham after missing numerous chances to score.
But they also believed Ten Hag’s tactics and substitutions during games had seen them drop eight points.
Advertisement
If they had bagged those points, United would now have 19 points – one more than Arsenal in third and Aston Villa in fourth.
Instead, they sit in 14th place ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash against Chelsea.
A source said: “The players definitely know they have underperformed in some games this season and have been honest about that.
“But they were also left puzzled by some of Ten Hag’s decisions which didn’t make sense to them.
Advertisement
“Either leaving players out, subbing off players who were playing well at crucial parts in games, or instructing the team tactically in ways that they believe cost them games.
“They reckon his decisions were directly responsible for the equivalent of losing two games and picking up a point instead of a win.”
Ten Hag was sacked on Monday after United dominated the game against West Ham, but still lost 2-1.
The 39-year-old arrives with a strong reputation after leading Sporting Lisbon to two titles in Portugal.
Advertisement
In a statement, the club wrote: “Manchester United is delighted to announce the appointment of Ruben Amorim as Head Coach of the men’s first team, subject to work visa requirements.
“He will join until June 2027 with a club option of an additional year, once he has fulfilled his obligations to his current club. He will join Manchester United on Monday 11 November.
“Ruben is one of the most exciting and highly rated young coaches in European football.
Advertisement
“Highly decorated as both a player and coach, his titles include winning the Primeira Liga twice in Portugal with Sporting CP; the first of which was the club’s first title in 19 years.
“Ruud van Nistelrooy will continue to take charge of the team until Ruben joins.”
ARSENAL cruised through their Carabao Cup tie at Preston.
The Gunners won 3-0 to set up a home tie against Crystal Palace in the next round.
Sun Sport’s Sam Dymond reveals who has done enough to feature in the quarter final – and who might be a bit worried.
Tommy Setford – 6
Advertisement
A clean sheet on debut for the teenager. After a quiet first half, he looked nervous when put under pressure by Preston’s forward.
Jurrien Timber – 7
Really looking the part in the Arsenal defence after injury. His crosses caused chaos before being replaced at half-time
William Saliba – 7
Advertisement
Settled back into the side after suspension, and was rarely troubled on a night where he continually swept up possession.
Jakub Kiwior – 8
Partnered Saliba admirably in defence, but showed his attacking worth by providing two assists.
Oleksandr Zinchenko – 7
Advertisement
A solid display before his removal on the hour, perhaps with one eye on the weekend.
Jorginho – 7
Kept things moving in midfield, and even showed off some sublime skill when the opportunity arose.
Mikel Merino – 7
Advertisement
A much more confident performance from the Spaniard following his goal on Sunday. Combined well with Martinelli and Nwaneri during the opening 45 minutes.
Ethan Nwaneri – 9
Serenaded by the Arsenal fans as ‘one of their own’, this talented teenager once again excited Gooners everywhere.
The scorer of one sublime strike, he came so close to bagging a second goal too.
Advertisement
Raheem Sterling – 7
The Carabao Cup king did everything but score. Perhaps let down by his decision making, he’s looking more at home at Arsenal than he ever did at Chelsea.
Gabriel Jesus – 8
Constantly alive to the ball inside the box, he was rewarded with a first goal since January to get the scoring underway.
Advertisement
Gabriel Martinelli – 8
Often Arsenal’s biggest attacking threat with his direct running and ability to beat defenders. Replaced after taking a couple of heavy knocks.
Subs
Thomas Partey – 6
Advertisement
Replaced Timber at the break and once again did the job asked of him with few complaints.
Kai Havertz – 8
Scored a superb header shortly after his arrival as a half-time sub, and was an imposing figure in both penalty areas.
Bukayo Saka – 6
Advertisement
More minutes in the legs for the Arsenal star as he continues the recovery from his hamstring injury.
Myles Lewis-Skelly – 6
Misplaced a couple of passes after his introduction, but fits in well among the first-team squad.
Ayden Heaven – 6
Advertisement
Offered a glimpse of genuine pace as he made his senior debut for the final ten minutes.
Mike Tyson doesn’t see Jake Paul clashing head on with him when they meet in the squared circle.
Tyson and Paul will fight Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in an eight-round pro bout. The matchup headlines the first combat sporting event to stream live on Netflix for subscribers.
When the bell rings, Tyson believes Paul will do a lot of running once he gets hit. From there, it’s up to the former heavyweight champ to trap him.
“I see him running around, I have to catch him and slaughter him,” Tyson told TalkSport.
Advertisement
“No, [I don’t fear him] because he stepped into the ring. If my mother steps in the ring, she has a problem with me. Whoever’s in that ring, they have a problem. Don’t go in the ring if you don’t want that problem.”
Tyson hasn’t competed since an exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020, fighting to a no decision after eight rounds. The most recent pro boxing bout for “Iron” took place in 2005 where he lost via sixth-round TKO after he couldn’t answer the bell in what was set to be his final pro boxing bout.
Tyson sees what Paul has done to put eyeballs on the sport of boxing, as well as the improvements Paul has made. But the 58-year-old says the experience gap is just plain ridiculous.
Advertisement
“He’s a good little fighter, but he only has [11] fights,” Tyson said. “That’s considered an amateur in our field.”
Former Tyrone gaelic footballer Jody Gormley says he has “no fear of dying whatsoever” after revealing he has been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.
Gormley was a prominent player for the Red Hands during the 1990s, helping the county win the Ulster Championship in 1995 and reach the All-Ireland final later that year.
The 53-year-old, who says doctors told him in mid-September that he has only months left to live, was managing his club Trillick as recently as last week in the Tyrone Senior Football Championship final, after which he told his players the news as they gathered in the dressing room after defeat by Errigal Ciaran.
“I have no fear of dying. No fear of dying whatsoever. I’ve felt blessed my entire life,” Gormley said on The GAA Social.
Advertisement
“The sadness is the people you’re leaving behind. That I’ll not get to see my son, he’s training hard with Trillick, he’s come back after a couple of years, that I’ll not get to see him play and I’ll not get to see my family grow up and mature.
“That’s not scary but sad really. That’s the reality. When you peel it all back, it’s the people close to you that you’re not going to have those experiences with. That is the genuine sadness, there’s no being tough around that, that’s the reality.”
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – The UFC Fight Night 246 fight card now is set following Friday’s official weigh-ins session, where all 28 fighters successfully hit their marks on the scale.
Saturday’s event at Rogers Place (ESPN+) is headlined by key contender matchups in the men’s and women’s flyweight divisions, as well as a slew of Canadian talent.
Advertisement
Check out the weigh-in highlights in the video above and a link to the photo gallery from all of Friday’s happenings below.
It’s no secret that the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew of Denny Hamlin’s car this season is in a slump. This was a crew leading the charts in individual and average pit stop time for the first quarter of the 2024 season. But as the playoffs approached, things seemingly started to fall apart, leaving the fate of Hamlin’s appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 round at Phoenix in uncertain hands.
It’s not that a driver’s performance can’t make an impact on a race, but a pit crew can certainly make or break it. We saw this with the No. 11 crew’s heroic performance in the final laps of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway in March. Hamlin entered pit lane in third but his pit crew sent him out into first place as they beat the crews of the two leading cars by over a second. We’ve also seen the flip side of this over the summer as the No. 11 crew moved too quickly during a pit stop at the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway that resulted in having to jack the car back up to tighten a right rear wheel which lost them over ten positions while sitting on pit road.
“They were just outlier good,” shared the No. 11’s Crew Chief, Chris Gabehart. “My group is a hard working group, very analytical group and they kind of tried to make that better but couldn’t. Then they got into some injuries — that has probably not been very high profile for eight, or ten, maybe twelve races changed the way they could approach the week.”
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Yahoo! Toyota Camry
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
Advertisement
Top tier NASCAR pit crews spend about three to four days per week on practice and preparation for races. The daily schedule is typically set up in multiple hourly blocks split between things like pit stop practice, weight training, cardio, rehab, and film review. With NASCAR racing on so many different types of tracks, this means that there are typically new positions for things like the wheels each week because of changes to suspension setups. So the pit crew needs weekly practice to get used to that new specific setup. Organizations like Joe Gibbs Racing also have development pit crew members that they can use as backups, for instance to use when one of their crewmates are injured, but pit stops require so much chemistry and tight choreography that it can take weeks for a new member of crew to get into that rhythm, let alone adjust for the unique setups from track to track.
“When you’re hurt you can’t practice like you were, especially when you were thrashing every week when that’s kind of your style. So, they had to throttle back a little bit,” Gabehart said. “Then the pressure of the playoffs comes and it’s very disjointed as you know. You go from an Atlanta to a Talladega to a road course, and for a pit crew it’s hard to find a weekly rhythm because races aren’t pit-crew focused. Then you’re expected to step up at Kansas and perform and step up at Bristol and perform — so I think it’s been a rhythm thing for that group coupled with the pressure of the playoffs as any pit crew is going to live. We’ve seen that.”
Based on Gabehart comments it’s easy to see how lower profile injuries can impact the success of a pit crew. Having races like Atlanta and Watkins Glen to start the playoffs doesn’t help restore that cadence either, as those races are more reliant on fuel fill time than tire change time, so it wasn’t until Bristol before the crew had an opportunity to follow a rhythm where they needed to complete fast tire changes.
They still had some hiccups after that but Gabehart is confident in their performance and what he observed at Homestead last weekend.
Advertisement
“The speed and the greatness is still there, we just got to put a whole race together.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login