Author: cimi

Huddersfield Town manager Jan Siewert has begun planning for life in the Championship, revealing some transfer plans for the summer window.

The German boss watched his side fall to their seventh successive defeat at home to Watford on Saturday, but Siewert was positive in his post-match interview, singling out winger Isaac Mbenza and citing the importance of wide players to his system.

Siewert told the ?Examiner Live: “First of all I need to talk about Isaac [Mbenza], because he had his game for 80 minutes when we didn’t think he would be able to do 80 minutes.

“I was very pleased with his game, he had a shot on target and he was a threat, but he gave me a signal for a substitution.

Mbenza is currently on loan with the ?Terriers from Ligue 1 side Montpellier but has been limited to just seven starts this season, with the 23-year-old recently returning from a calf injury. 

Siewert was forced to explain his decision to bring on left-back Chris Lowe in place of Mbenza instead of Alex Pritchard, as well as revealing his target of bringing wingers to the John Smith’s Stadium this summer.

“Then, for me, it was quite obvious because Lowey has the possibility to play in the winger position – Pritchard I see in a different position,” the 36-year-old explained.

“So, for me, Chris was the only possibility I had on the bench and, as I always mentioned, I need wingers in my system and we have to look for them for next season.”

Lowe’s impact from the bench was positive, assisting striker Karlan Grant for Huddersfield’s late consolation goal.

Siewert has three Premier League games remaining for the Terriers return to the Championship following a two-year stay in the top flight, with title hopefuls ?Liverpool up next on Friday night.

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Style icon and former People magazine Sexiest Man Alive winner David Beckham has aged pretty well. Probably too well to be honest.

At 43, Goldenballs looks about as good as he ever has, putting the rest of the footballing world (except these beauties) and the male population at large to shame.

It might have been oh so different though for Becks. Well, at least FourFourTwo thought it might. Back in May 1998, the football magazine ran mocked up images predicting how various footballers would look in 2020. Why? Not sure, to be quite honest with you.

But anyway, they did and it was consigned to the annuls of history until Twitter user and apparent car-boot sale enthusiast ?@fenlandgent dug out the old copy and posted Beckham’s hauntingly unflattering?? mug online.

FourFourTwo’s tongue firmly in cheek caption alongside the image reads: “Things went distinctly pear-shaped for the Man United starlet after his club missed out on the 1998 championship and he lost his entire personal fortune in the Brylcreem crash of 2005.

“Now well into his forties, he is reduced to appearing for England veterans’ teams alongside his fellow Fergie fledgelings and reminiscing wistfully about his glory days.

“Posh Spice, who has ballooned to 20st since her singing career collapsed, now models clothes for ‘the larger lady’.”

Another to get FourFourTwo’s photoshop treatment was then Liverpool star Steve McManaman (above), who ended up looking like a sort of odd cross-breed of David Seaman and Noel Edmonds. 

Beckham, retired since 2013, is currently working to get his MLS franchise Inter Miami off the ground. While the new club has been approved by the league and should enter the competition in 2020, there have been issues over where the team will play. In addition, Internazionale of Serie A have ?taken legal action over the use of the name ‘Inter’.

Maybe another 12 months of turbulent club ownership and legal battles and Becks may just end up with a Sven-Goran Eriksson haircut and missing tooth. Probably not though. 

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?Manchester City have been handed a major blow ahead of their derby clash against Manchester United, with the news that Kevin De Bruyne is likely to be ruled out of action with a hamstring injury.

The Belgian international pulled up with an injury mid-way through the first half of City’s 1-0 win over Tottenham, and is considered to be a serious doubt for the rest of the season.

Now, according to ?The Sun, De Bruyne’s hamstring injury will keep him out of action for Wednesday’s crucial derby clash against United at Old Trafford, although the Belgian did not appear to sustain any further damage to his troublesome left knee.

Further to this, the ?Manchester Evening News revealed that the 27-year-old was conspicuously absent from the side’s training session on Sunday, with both ?De Bruyne and left-back Benjamin Mendy not featuring on a training video published on City’s social media accounts.

Speaking after the game on Saturday afternoon, ?City boss Pep Guardiola admitted he was worried about the length of the midfielder’s potential absence.

He said: “I don’t know how big an impact but I think the next games he will be out.

“I didn’t speak to him, but he put his hands on his hamstring. Tomorrow maybe we will know.”

After Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Cardiff, Manchester City find themselves two points adrift of the Reds with a game in hand, and take on United in mid-week knowing a victory will go a long way in securing back-to-back ?Premier League titles.

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?Aston Villa have broken a 109-year club record after recording their tenth successive league victory in the 1-0 win over Millwall on Easter Monday.

The Villans were marooned in mid-table not long ago, but are now serious contenders for promotion from the Championship after a sensational run of form that has seen them win every game they have played since drawing 1-1 with Stoke on February 23.

Their latest win over Millwall, handed to them by Jonathan Kodjia’s goal on the half hour mark, has cemented their place in fifth – all but sealing their place in the play-off spots alongside rivals West Brom.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for former Brentford manager Dean Smith, who endured an indifferent start to life at ?Villa after being appointed alongside assistant manager John Terry to replace Steve Bruce. 

The now Sheffield Wednesday boss was sacked by the club in early October after a run of just one win in nine games, with Smith taking over from Championship rivals Brentford.

After struggling early on, his team have now found their rhythm and spearheaded by the talented duo of Jack Grealish and Tammy Abraham, now find themselves on a fantastic run of form heading into the final stages of the season.

Their astonishing run has seen them inflict defeats upon Derby, Birmingham, Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough and Blackburn in March, followed by April successes over the aforementioned Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham, Bristol City, Bolton – and now Millwall.

They will hope they haven’t peaked too soon as they head into their final two fixtures of the season, with a two legged play-off against Midlands rivals ?West Brom looking increasingly likely.

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?Juventus were crowned Serie A champions over the weekend for the eighth straight year after victory over Fiorentina saw them stay 20 points ahead of second place Napoli, who can only get a maximum of 18 more points this season.

Paris Saint-Germain also wrapped up the Ligue 1 title in France with five games to spare over Easter weekend as Kylian Mbappe netted a hat-trick against former club Monaco. It is PSG’s sixth domestic triumph in the last six seasons as their dominance continues.

Elsewhere, Barcelona are nine points clear at the top of La Liga and just two wins away from securing a eighth Spanish title in the last 11 seasons.

What’s more, it remains difficult to predict these incredible reigns coming to an end.

But it isn’t quite so straightforward in several other countries across Europe, with the following five leagues still enjoying incredibly close title battles as 2018/19 nears its conclusion.

Süper Lig (Turkey)

Contenders: Istanbul Basaksehir, Galatasaray

Fixtures Remaining: 5

Istanbul Basaksehir lead traditional giants Galatasaray by three points after 29 rounds of fixtures in the Süper Lig and could become only the sixth different club to be crowned Turkish champions.

Bursaspor in 2010 were the last club other than Turkey’s big three to finish top of the pile, while Trabzonspor are the only other to break the stranglehold, but their last title came in 1984.

Promoted to the top flight as recently as 2014 and impressively finishing as Süper Lig runners up in the 2016/17 season, Basaksehir’s current squad includes notable veterans Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho, Gael Clichy, Demba Ba, Gokhan Inler and Emre Belozoglu.

They are tasked with travelling across Istanbul to face Galatasaray at the Türk Telekom Arena in a potential title decider in the season’s penultimate gameweek on 19 May.

Primeira Liga (Portugal)

Contenders: Porto, Benfica

Fixtures Remaining: 4/5

This season’s Portuguese title race is a two-way fight between old rivals Benfica and Porto, who could go into the final four games level on points if the former wins their game in hand on Monday night.

Porto won the title by a comfortable margin last season, but Benfica still hold the overall Portuguese record for most national league titles with 36, compared to Porto’s 28.

Sporting CP, despite a troubled summer last year that saw Rui Patricio, William Carvalho, Gelson Martins leave the club, are impressively only eight points off the pace, although that is too much of a gap to mount any sort of late title challenge at this late stage.

Club	P	GD	Pts
Porto	30	+45	75
Benfica	29	+55	72
Sporting CP	30	+31	67
Braga	30	+23	64

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Eredivisie (Netherlands)

Contenders: Ajax, PSV Eindhoven

Fixtures Remaining: 3

Ajax have wowed Europe with an impressive Champions League run that has so far included away wins against Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout stages, but the Amsterdam club are not having it all their own way back home in the Eredivisie.

They remain locked on the same number of points as reigning champions PSV Eindhoven, with both clubs having just three games left to play in a very tense race.

Ajax haven’t won the Dutch title since the 2013/14 season, the last of four in a row under the guidance of former captain Frank de Boer. PSV have won three out of the four since, with the other one going to Feyenoord in 2016/17.

Ajax can still win a treble this season as the KNVB Cup final also looms in May.

Club	P	GD	Pts
Ajax	31	+78	77
PSV Eindhoven	31	+68	77
Feyenoord	31	+29	59
AZ Alkmaar	31	+21	52

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Bundesliga (Germany)

Contenders: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund

Fixtures Remaining: 4

Bayern Munich have recovered from a poor first half of the season to reel in early leaders and title hopefuls Borussia Dortmund, to the point where the Bavarians now lead the standings by a point with only four games each left to play.

Bayern had won six Bundesliga titles in a row prior to this season and are looking to make it seven, while Dortmund are the last club other than Bayern to finish top of the pile in Germany.

With Dortmund out of Europe and out of this season’s DFB Pokal – Bayern have a cup semi final later this month – the league is the only thing the young squad has to focus on.

Club	P	GD	Pts
Bayern Munich	30	+50	70
Borussia Dortmund	30	+36	69
RB Leipzig	30	+34	61
Eintracht Frankfurt	29	+23	52

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Premier League (England)

Contenders: Liverpool, Manchester City

Fixtures Remaining: 3/4

In 2018/19, Manchester City and Liverpool are likely to record the second and third best points tallies ever seen in a Premier League season, but only one can be crowned champions.

If City, who managed a never before seen tally of 100 points last season, can continue winning the title will be theirs again. But anything less than a perfect record in the remaining four games would open the door for Liverpool, who have just three games left.

The defining game of the season could be Wednesday night’s Manchester derby between City and local rivals United. Despite being at a low ebb this time last year, United delayed City’s title celebrations with an unexpected derby win and are at a similarly low point now.

If Liverpool can do it, it will be their first English league title since 1990.

Club	P	GD	Pts
Liverpool	35	+59	88
Manchester City	34	+65	86
Tottenham Hotspur	34	+29	67
Arsenal	34	+25	66

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