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More United stuff. Captain Bruno Fernandes admits he has to take more responsibility for his lack of goals.
The 30-year-old has not scored in his past 15 club appearances, stretching back to April, and accepts he has not met his own exacting standards.
“As for the club, I want to improve as soon as I get there, and make sure the goals start coming again,” Fernandes told Portuguese media while on international duty preparing for their Nations League match against Poland.
“I have to take responsibility for that too, because I’m a midfielder who scores a lot of goals, and over the years, I’ve always been at a very high level in terms of goals and I have to live up to that, with those expectations.
“I also have my own standards, I don’t hold back on that. I haven’t scored for the club yet and I hope that as soon as I get there I can score and help the club get back to winning ways and to a good level.” PA
Some Manchester United news. And some good news at that. Kobbie Mainoo is reportedly on the brink of a new contract. That’d be richly deserved.
It’s hard to believe it was less than 12 months ago Mainoo burst onto the scene with a memorable Premier League debut against Everton. Since then he’s scored an FA Cup winning goal, broken into the England team, and starred at a tournament, becoming integral for club and country, all by the age of 19.
‘Forever a Blade’ – Sheffield United tributes to BaldockSheffield United owner Prince Abdullah and chairman Yusuf Giansiracusa also paid tribute to Baldock on Friday morning.
“Like all Blades, we received the news of George Baldock’s tragic and premature passing with overwhelming sadness,” a statement read. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, as well as his friends and all who knew him, not least the Sheffield United family.
“George played every minute on the pitch with passion, commitment and the ability associated with our football club, and his role in our campaigns to achieve two promotions will live long in our memories and the history of the club.
“George served United with distinction – he remains a Blade.”
I’d encourage you all to watch this moving tribute to George Baldock by his former manager.
And as sure as night follows day, Football Daily has landed and it starts with an England-related apology.
Speaking of Lee Carsley, as we are quite a lot, England’s Under-21s are in action tonight, under the studious eye of interim boss Ben Futcher.
They’re taking on Ukraine at the Vitality Stadium.
I promised no more England emails but this one comes from Graham Potter. Whether it’s THE Graham Potter or not, who knows?
Southgate’s caution is what protected England’s pretty average defence from the kind of calamity we saw last night. Imagine what a top class team would have done to an England so top heavy and unstructured, trying to shoehorn players in at the expense of any kind of system or method. Last night ought to kill off all the clamours for such obvious nonsense.
Yes, the attacking balance was wrong in the summer – notably on the left – but the front-to-back balance, erring on the side of caution, gave us a platform for the attack to succeed or fail. There was no platform last night; just a loose, open, unstructured shape that exposed a back five who are simply not world-class, have never played together and looked all at sea. England fans seemingly remain as deluded as ever. It’s Palmer or Saka on the right, it’s Palmer, Foden or Bellingham at 10, it’s not all four of them in the same team, no matter how talented they are individually.
Part of me thinks Carsley had a free hit – he likely wants to stay back with the U21s and not the fearsome spotlight of the top job – to bow to the pressure from the media and fans and prove that throwing stars at the pitch and asking them to just “do your thing” wasn’t ever going to work.
This is a lovely chat between Marc Cucurella and Sid Lowe but I’m afraid that horrendous ‘Cu-Cu-Curella’ drunken post-Euros song is stuck in my head whenever I read or hear about the Spain left-back. Sorry, Marc.
While we’re on the subject of Wales and managers, these quotes from Rob Page, speaking to the BBC’s Football Daily podcast, hit hard.
“When you get the sack, you don’t want to leave, it’s not your choice. It was a hard one to take. It took me a little while to come to terms with it, if I’m honest. Nothing surprises you in football.”
On his future, he added: “I’m looking forward now to my next challenge. I’m quite open.
“I loved international football, but if there’s an opportunity to go back into the domestic game, and it’s the right opportunity that fits for both parties, then I’d absolutely consider it.”
If you’ve ever asked ‘whatever happened to Player X’ consider all of those questions answered, here, as we check in on our NextGen 2021 batch:
Craig Bellamy is excited about his second international break with Wales.
“Hopefully we’ve been able to build on the first camp,” he says ahead of tonight’s clash with Iceland. “We’ve been able to spend more time with one another and do more work out on the pitch but also in meetings.
“We will see if it’s able to push us up again. It’s been really positive from not just players but everyone. Everyone is full of energy.
“We have a group of players who know what elite is and there’s a certain standard you have to abide by to be able to do that and these players are doing that.
“I’ve got to be honest, I’m excited. I know this group was good and I knew it was bold to take the manager’s job. I have to be honest, I was excited after the first camp but this camp has gone up again.”
Craig Bellamy oversees Wales training. Photograph: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans/REX/ShutterstockI won’t include too many more England-related emails for fear of over-saturation (and perhaps boredom for those who aren’t English). Consider this your last warning before a Three Lions amnesty for an hour or two.
The England chat continues to pour into my inbox.
Mandy Leeson says let’s not overreact re Carsley: “The Nations League is the perfect opportunity to experiment. This experiment may have been woefully misguided and a huge gamble, but it showed that he is not frightened to take a risk. Don’t write him off just yet.
”And Lee, if you’re reading this, you either need to play Bellingham further back if you want to play all three together, or you’re going to have to alternate. We need a team who play for each other and know their job, rather than an array of outstanding individuals. Good luck!”
Reports in Spain are suggesting Barcelona have postponed their return to the Camp Nou until March 2025, having initially thought (or hoped) the stadium could be ready to host games in November or December this year. Even February looks too soon, with ESPN reporting that possibility is “increasingly unlikely”.
Here’s how it’s supposed to look:
And here’s what it looked like as of yesterday:
Save of the month as well? Oh, go on then. André Onana has been one of the few Manchester United players to start the season well.
Forest’s reply to their hefty FA fine is in – they will, predictably, appeal it. A statement from the club reads as follows:
“Nottingham Forest Football Club is extremely disappointed with the decision of the Regulatory Commission to impose a £750,000 fine in relation to comments posted on social media following our Premier League fixture against Everton on Sunday 21 April.
“We are particularly concerned that The FA, in its submissions, sought a sanction ‘in excess of £1,000,000’.
“We believe that this request, along with the subsequent fine, is wholly disproportionate and the club will be appealing the decision.”
At this point I’m duty bound to include a picture of the corner flag at the City Ground.
The stock ‘club statement’ photo. Photograph: Chris Radburn/ReutersScotland take on Croatia in Zagreb on Saturday night and Ewan Murray reports on the Scots’ rising new star.
Chelsea have completed a double scoop of September’s player and manager of the month awards, with Enzo Maresca’s unbeaten month as Stamford Bridge supremo enough to earn him the latter. (Yet another Pep Guardiola snub).
Maresca would be nowhere, of course, without Cole Palmer who has deservedly been named the Premier League’s best player for September.
The goal of the month? It’s this howitzer:
A classic bit of trolling (presumably) from Pedro on email:
People seem to forget that Greece have won a major tournament a lot more recently than England have. Maybe England should have been considered underdogs here and a loss isn’t really that surprising.
Whereas John Young is backing Carsley:
Unlike Southgate, who did well to apparently bring about a more relaxed and amenable culture, but who was in thrall to structures and systems and had a problem with talent that he couldn’t quite fit (most notably Trent & Jack), Carsley recognises that the current crop of England players contains an immense amount of talent and he seems determined to get the Bellinghams, Palmers, Grealishes, etc playing together in the same team.
Sure, we came unstuck against a workmanlike and enthusiastic Greek side, but Carsley’s determination to pick the most talented players available and to achieve the balance that was so sorely lacking in the England Euros squad, make him, as far as I’m concerned, undoubtedly the right man for the job.
Of course, if we fail to beat Finland on Sunday, Ireland at Wembley and the Greeks in Athens I’ll eat my hat.
Nottingham Forest fined for ‘VAR is a Luton fan’ commentsNottingham Forest have been fined £750,000 and warned over their future conduct after posting comments about VAR Stuart Attwell on social media towards the end of last season.
The club had denied the comments, made in April after during their quest to stave off relegation, brought the game into disrepute by implying bias and/or questioning the integrity of match officials. An independent regulatory commission found the Football Association charge proven.
Forest felt they should have been awarded three penalties during a defeat at Everton last season and after the game, they posted on their official X account: “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
“We warned the PGMOL that the VAR (Attwell) is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”
Even at 32 and after all he’s been through… Christian Eriksen is still integral to club and country at the highest level. But will he remain at United?
🚨🇩🇰 Christian Eriksen when asked on Wednesday by @EkstraBladet if he has spoken to Manchester United about continuing past this season:
“No, we are not there at the moment”.
He has not yet confirmed whether he will be staying or going. #MUFC pic.twitter.com/8wFhIjtsse
— Stretford Paddock (@StretfordPaddck) October 11, 2024 Back to England fallout and Carsley chat and Rick Harris adds a few thoughts on an email entitled ‘what is a team?’. Very meta, Rick.
It was crystal clear in the first half that the decision to play triple number 10s was a total brain fart. As England came out after the break we saw Bellingham as top dog telling Palmer where he wanted him to play, and then there was little Phil Foden scurrying along behind shouting ‘Hey, Jude what about me?’
Greece were clearly hugely motivated by the sad death of George Baldock but more importantly they were a coherent team with every player knowing his job and working to support his team mates. England by contrast had an experimental left back, a continually out of position right back, a holding midfielder (Rice) who thinks he should be a playmaker (he shouldn’t), a total absence of on-field leadership (Stones is not captain material), three guys vying for the ‘creative genius’ role, and wingers who saw no point in taking on their full backs to get to the goal line because there was no striker to cross to.
The Carsley experiment has failed. Just hope the FA can poach Eddie Howe.
Just our Manchester football correspondent out asking the big questions this international break. Respect.
Is cheese on toast underrated???
— jamie jackson (@JamieJackson___) October 11, 2024 “We will never forget him.”