16/09/2026

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | SEPT 16, 2026

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ANDONI IRAOLA admitted there would be “ups and downs” for Liverpool as he searches for consis tency early in his Anfield reign fol lowing a stuttering start to the sea son. The former Bournemouth boss, who replaced the sacked Arne Slot, oversaw a frustrating 0-0 stalemate against Fulham on Saturday, follow ing morale-boosting wins over Ipswich and Atletico Madrid. “I understand the frustration the other day (against Fulham) because we were also frustrated,” said Iraola. “We were coming from two good games, and we were consid ering, ‘OK, it’s a step forward’. You switch, it’s a step forward, Atletico Madrid… and then it’s a step back wards. “The performance level is not like the two other days. But this happens in football. We have to accept it in terms of there are going to be ups and downs in this process. “But we are clear that where we want to go is more towards where we’ve been, Atletico Madrid, Ipswich. That’s the kind of style, that’s the kind of football that we want. And I think now the key is the consistency to perform like this.” The Liverpool manager, appointed in June, said he was con tent with the resources at his dis posal, bolstered by the signings of Bradley Barcola, Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz. Iraola suggested he would make changes for the Spurs game as he balances the demands of multiple competitions, confirming Giorgi Mamardashvili would start in goal in place of number one Alisson Becker. “I am very happy with the squad, I value a lot the players we have. If we win games, the squad will look amazing and fantastic,” he said. “If we don’t win, there are going to be problems – if it’s not the depth, it’s going to be whatever.” – AFP Iraola calls for patience at Liverpool

INTER MILAN are in talks to extend the contracts of Italy left-sided player Federico Dimarco, 28, and Turkey midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, 32. FORMER France forward Karim Benzema, 38, has spoken with players at Bayer Leverkusen as he seeks a new club after leaving Al-Hilal in the summer.

year-old Austrian international Paul Wanner. LAZIO have resumed talks with Argentine striker Mauro Icardi, who is a free agent after leaving Galatasaray, and the 33-year-old is open to the move. EVERTON have also been linked with Icardi but Toffees boss David Moyes is

reluctant to enter the free-agent market at present. CRYSTAL PALACE are aiming to tie England goalkeeper Dean Henderson, 29, to a new contract. NOTTINGHAM FOREST will sign Shamrock Rovers striker Michael Noonan, 18, for training compensation in January.

TOUCHLINES

ATLETICO MADRID and Juventus are considering a January loan move for Arsenal and England forward Noni Madueke, 24. LIVERPOOL, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are all interested in bolstering their midfield with PSV Eindhoven’s 20

L EEDS demolished Newcastle 4-1 to climb up to third in the Premier League table yesterday and inflict a punish ing first defeat for Magpies boss Matthias Jaissle. A Lewis Miley own goal opened the floodgates before Jayden Bogle, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor completed the rout at Elland Road. Newcastle had made a positive start under Jaissle despite the upheaval of losing manager Eddie Howe and key players Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali in the off season. Despite being owned by the financial might of the Saudi sov ereign wealth fund, Newcastle targeted rising stars to fill the void of those that left and were outmuscled by a more experienced Leeds. “It was clear from the start and I said that many times that we will have up and downs, challenges along the way,” said Jaissle. “We faced that challenge and it’s tough, it’s really tough.” A bad night for the visitors began inside the first 20 minutes when Nico Gonzalez had to be replaced as a concussion substi tute. That left 18-year-old Sean Steur and Lewis Miley, 20, together at the heart of the Newcastle midfield and the later unfortunately had the final touch after Ao Tanaka’s strike took two deflections before looping into the net. The visitors failed to regain their composure as just two min utes later Leeds doubled their advantage. Calvert-Lewin rose highest to meet James Justin’s cross but his header flicked off Bogle as it found the bottom corner and the right-back was given the goal. Leeds’ number nine did not have to wait long to make sure he did score for the fifth consecutive league game at Elland Road. Calvert-Lewin bulldozed his way past Sven Botman before sliding the ball under Lukas Hornicek in the Newcastle goal. Anton Stach should have added a fourth early in the second period when he pounced on a slack Hornicek pass out from the pack but dinked the ball just wide. Okafor did make it 4-0 before the hour mark when he volleyed in from the edge of the box after Newcastle failed to clear a long throw. “Perfect start right now with eight points, terrific perform ance,” said Leeds boss Daniel Farke. “Energy, quality and good structure in and without possession.” Bazoumana Toure netted a consolation in stoppage time to reduce Newcastle’s arrears, but the damage was long since done. Victory takes Farke’s men behind only defending champions Arsenal and Manchester City. Newcastle remain on five points but slip down to 12th due to their negative goal difference. – AFP

Leeds run riot The Whites to third in the Premier League after ruthless Newcastle rout at Elland Road

Leeds’ Noah Okafor (right) in action with Newcastle’s Amar Dedic during the Premier League match at Elland Road yesterday. – AFPPIC

The Premier League has a self-inflicted VAR problem

“I’M going to need the offside rule explained to me.” No, these are not the words of many a football illiterate significant other who was being forced to watch England vs Mexico at 2am in the summer. This is Gary Neville, a Premier League legend with 19 years of playing experience, plus another 15 years as a pundit, reacting in bafflement as Erling Haaland’s derby winner was allowed to stand. His confusion was a shared experience nation wide. Somehow, someway, Enzo Fernandez was not deemed to be interfering with play or impacting his opponent when he flung himself at Josko Gvardiol’s cross from a blatantly offside position. The decision objectively went against Ifab’s laws of the game, which all top-level leagues adopt. Beyond that initial moment of self-doubt, the fear that maybe we don’t understand football at a rudimentary level after all these years, we all quickly realised that was not the case. VAR had got it wrong; they’d seen black and called it white, again. Within a few hours of fulltime, Pro Ref (formerly PGMOL) recognised the “error of judgement” and confirmed they had contacted Manchester United, presumably with an apology. “It was established that Enzo Fernandez did not play the ball and therefore that makes any offside

Sunderland was a prime example of this, expressing his outrage at the officials for the decision to award Sunderland a penalty – which David Raya saved – while the match was still goalless. “I’m so upset,” he said. “It’s unacceptable at this level. Unacceptable. This can change the course of a season, the championship.” Arsenal now want their own explanation from Pro Ref. Even in victory, a refereeing blunder will still be made the story; scrutiny in this role is relentless. But Arteta has a point: basic errors can cost titles, and maybe even cost jobs. It’s why we continue to beat this dead horse, prolonging this eight-year-old VAR whinge, in an attempt to eradicate these errors from the game. For now, we enter another cycle of error, apol ogy, review. The outcome of that Pro Ref review will mean nothing to Manchester United who are now categorically enduring a bad start to the new season thanks to Haaland’s wrongly-awarded winner. Questions are already being asked of Michael Carrick after four points in four games. The deflating fact of the matter is that United aren’t the first to experience this needless misery, and they definitely won’t be the last. – The Independent

season, there’s been more weight on the on-field decisions. There have also been tweaks to what can be reviewed, with second yellows now allowed to be scrutinised by VAR. But these changes don’t seem to fix the funda mental problem with the technology: that those operating it keep making glaring mistakes. The whole point of VAR is to rectify these faults; in times like these, it feels completely redundant. Is the solution really as simple as to learn the rules of the game? It feels like a cop-out to say that, but from the outside looking in, that remarkably seems to be a primary issue with officiating in this country. Far too often are basic laws being disregarded or simply forgotten when reviewing game-changing incidents. If VAR and the process surrounding it was done right, this would never be allowed happen. Instead, the same old story continues to play out week after week, month after month. With every grovelling admittance of an error, the Premier League’s reputation is hurt. It’s frankly embarrassing. Referees are under an enormous amount of pressure. Mistakes never go unnoticed, even if your team emerges from it relatively unscathed. Mikel Arteta’s post-match rant following Arsenal’s win at

offence subjective, however, on this occasion, the VAR did not recognise the likely impact of his posi tion and should have recommended an on-field review,” read the statement. Unfortunately, we’ve heard it all before. There were 25 VAR errors last season according to a report by BBC Sport, up from 18 the season before, as per the Premier League’s key match inci dents (KMI) panel. Arsenal and Chelsea were the big gest beneficiaries, gaining from seven and eight errors respectively. Six of these mistakes were for failing to issue a red card when it was warranted. There was an argu ment on Sunday that Bruno Fernandes also should have been sent for an early bath for instigating Phil Foden’s kick-out with a little kick of his own – though that was far less cut and dry with the later blunder, so didn’t require the “sorry without saying sorry” statement that we’ve become so familiar to seeing from the refereeing body. It is not a hot take to pile on VAR. We are less than 18 months shy of the 10-year anniversary of the maligned technology first being implemented in England, and we still feel as lost as ever. Every year, there is a new fix to get VAR usage right. We got semi-automated offsides in 2025. This