04/11/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | NOV 4, 2025

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Amad frustrated with only point from Forest game

SIDENETTING Saints sack Still after 13 games

Ű BY SIMON PEACH

long way under the Portuguese, he said: “Yeah, of course. It wasn’t easy at the beginning for him and for us. “But the beginning was a start. Now we are try ing to understand the system, and we are trying to do the best every game. “We want to win every game because we want to bring this club to the level where they deserve to be.” United have certainly improved this season thanks in no small part to a summer rebuild that saw the likes of Bryan Mbeumo arrive – a player Diallo is linking up well with on and off the pitch. “I think we have a good relationship, especially because he speaks French,”he said of the Cameroon forward. “We are trying to have that relationship, not only on the pitch but even outside the pitch, to have that connection. “He’s a good guy, he’s a humble guy, he works very hard in training, so we are trying to do the best on the right.” – The Independent

“We were in a good moment, winning three games in a row. We wanted to do the fourth, but we can learn from this and then try to do the best next time.” Ruben Amorim feels the group have already learned some lessons, with the United boss saying there has been a mentality shift from the side that last season would have lost in the same circum stances. “I think winning games always gives players con fidence,” Diallo said of their resilience. “Now I think everyone is in good moments. “As a team, we are learning every day with the manager, with Ruben, because we believe in his sys tem. “But I think today we are really disappointed because as a team we demand a lot.” Diallo is developing well in the right wing-back position under Amorim, who took charge at the City Ground on the one-year anniversary of his appoint ment as United manager. Put to the 23-year-old that the club have come a

AMAD DIALLO’S disappointment at the failure to rack up a fourth straight win was palpable as the Manchester United star vowed to keep fighting to get the club back where they belong. After a wretched 2024/25 season and sluggish start to this campaign, the Red Devils have kicked on with October wins against Sunderland, rivals Liverpool and Brighton. United began November looking to extend that winning run at Nottingham Forest but had to settle for a 2-2 draw after blowing the lead Casemiro had given them from a controversially-awarded corner. Morgan Gibbs-White and Nicolo Savona scored in quick succession at the start of a second half that ended with Diallo fizzing home a fine volleyed equaliser and seeing a stoppage-time shot cleared off the line. “Honestly we are really disappointed to go home with one point,” the Ivory Coast international said.

SOUTHAMPTON have sacked man ager Will Still after just two wins in 13 Championship matches. The 33-year old signed a three-year contract in May but departs with the club 21st in the Championship table, following Southampton’s relegation from the Premier League last season. The Saints have picked up just 12 points this season and lost 2-1 to Preston on Saturday, leaving Still with four wins in his 16 matches in charge across all competitions. “Will is a great person who gave everything to try and improve performances and results,” Southampton’s technical director Johannes Spors said. “Ultimately that process has taken longer than any of us would have liked. By making a change now we believe it gives us the best chance of turning things around this season and climbing back up the league table.”The highly-rated Still left French side RC Lens towards the end of last season, having guided them to an eighth-placed finish in Ligue 1. He initially made a name for himself while in charge of Reims, despite not yet having all his coaching badges. Southampton turned to Still while tar geting an immediate return to the Premier League – but the Saints are instead languishing in the relegation places of the Championship, 16 points behind leaders Coventry. … as Wolves show Pereira exit door WOLVES sacked head coach Vitor Pereira on Sunday after failing to win any of their opening 10 Premier League games. Pereira signed a new three-year deal in September after guiding Wanderers to safety last sea son. However, a return of just two points so far this campaign has put the club’s eight-year stay in the top flight at serious risk. A 3-0 defeat at Fulham on Saturday left Wolves eight points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table. “Wolves have parted com pany with head coach Vitor Pereira, after a winless start to the 2025/26 season,” the club said in a statement. “Upon his arrival at Molineux last December, Pereira and his coaches made an immediate impact, guiding the team to a successful second half of the Premier League campaign. However, results and performances this term have fallen below accept able standards, and as a result a change in leadership was deemed necessary.” After finishing 16th last season, Pereira had to cope with los ing talismanic forward Matheus Cunha to Manchester United, while full-backs Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelson Semedo also departed in the close season for Manchester City and Fenerbahce respectively.

Hammer blow E DDIE HOWE said his Newcastle side were “unrecognisable” after they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at struggling West Ham. Ű BY ANDY SIMS Howe bemoans ‘unrecognisable’ Newcastle after shock loss

West Ham’s Freddie Potts (bottom) celebrates scoring a goal that was later disallowed with Crysencio Summerville during their English Premier League match on Sunday. – REUTERSPIC

The Hammers had not won a home match since February and looked set for another torturous afternoon in front of their own fans when Jacob Murphy put Newcastle ahead, just 26 seconds after Jarrod Bowen had hit a post. So far this season, conceding an early goal at home has been the cue for West Ham to capitulate, with Chelsea, Tottenham and Brentford all leaving Stratford with handsome wins under their belts. But Newcastle, it seemed, had not got the memo and instead of going for the throat, the visitors retreated into their shells. The Hammers had a penalty decision overturned by VAR before they equalised through Lucas Paqueta’s strike from the edge of the area. Sven Botman turned Aaron Wan Bissaka’s cross into his own net to give West Ham the lead at halftime, and despite a bet ter showing from the visitors after the break, Tomas Soucek wrapped up the win in stop page time. “The dynamism wasn’t there today,” said Howe. “The physicality, the energy was missing from our performance. Hugely frustrating for us. A poor performance. We weren’t ourselves today. “The numbers aren’t good in terms of our away form recently. We haven’t repli cated our home form away but I think some of the performances have been good. “But that’s the worse we’ve played dur ing that run of games where we haven’t won. “It didn’t look like a Newcastle team that we’ve seen in recent seasons. I think the body language, the collective spirit on the pitch, loads of little things that contribute to

our performance weren’t there. “The longer that first half went on, the more frustrated I was with our perform ance. We were unrecognisable in certain aspects of our game. “I don’t think that was tactical and I don’t think that was necessarily technical. It was a byproduct of us just not being where we needed to be mentally.” A few thousand West Ham fans staged a sit-in after the match, calling for owner David Sullivan to resign, and for once the team gave them a reason to stay until the end. It was a first win for new boss Nuno Espirito Santo and he savoured it, jumping for joy on the touchline as Soucek slid in the clincher. “We started well, we hit the post, counter-attack, they scored, it felt like, ‘again, we are in this’” he said. “But the reaction of the boys was good. The penalty, overturning, all these feelings against us, but for me it’s the moment of the game, the way immediately we reacted to the things against us and kept believing. “It makes it easier. Now, during the week, the legs will recover faster, there will be smiles, so much, much better to work, much, much easier to try and keep improv ing. “Our idea is to try and give something to our fans. And today we did give them a small thing, and what they gave us back was huge.

“In the end, the noise in London Stadium was amazing. So we cannot thank them enough.” – The Independent Skipper Van Dijk urges Reds to shut out outside noise

Ű BY JONATHAN VEAL

League title last season. But they ended that run on Sunday with a 2 0 win over Aston Villa at Anfield to ease the pressure and silence some of the noise. “What I have noticed over the last couple of weeks especially is that there is a lot of noise that you have no control over and that we have to deal with as a team,” the defender said. “Some of those takes are absolutely ridiculous. But you have to deal with that. It’s outside noise that can reach certain players, the

group. It’s about sticking together.” Van Dijk added on TNT Sports : “We’re not going out there on the pitch to lose games, we’re not going out there to be disappointed after games or leave fans disappointed going home, we want to work our socks off and win games. “But there’s no guarantee. You play in the Premier League, the highest level, in the biggest League in the world, and it’s difficult to stay calm but you have to do if you want to get back to where we want to be. That’s up there. But that’s

something for later in the season to look at. “Now it’s time to keep working, never get too high, never get too low. “We live in a world now, for footballers at least, because that’s the only thing I can speak about, where everyone can have their opinion on so many platforms and everyone knows it better. “We have to try to stay away from that and focus on the hard work we’ve been doing.” – The Independent

LIVERPOOL captain Virgil van Dijk has criticised “absolutely ridiculous takes” of his side’s poor form. The Reds’season had been plunged into crisis after six defeats from seven games in all competitions and four in a row in the Premier League. Questions were being asked of boss Arne Slot and some of the players who coasted to the