Slot charged with improper conduct, Amorim says United need to sell: football news – as it happened | Football

That’s all from us on this liveblog. Thanks for reading and for your emails. I’ll be helming the Brighton v Chelsea liveblog a little later, with team news on our website from 7pm GMT. For the rest of this weekend’s team news and predicted lineups, please enjoy this!

Cheers!

This is good from Suzanne Wrack on Chloe Kelly, now (temporarily) of Arsenal.

“There must be something restorative about playing for Real Betis, as you’ve pointed out with Antony,” emails Dan Hamilton in Toronto. “Giovanni Lo Celso joined Balompie after falling out of favour at Spurs and has done well, maintaining his place on the Argentina squad”.

Can’t speak for the culture of impending doom at both Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur, but I’d say spending the winter in Seville is preferable to Manchester or north London (or Toronto, come to think of it).

Here is our news story on Slot being charged for improper conduct.

David Hytner has written about Spurs, David Levy and a discontented fanbase.

The worn-down, grim-faced Tottenham fans. The protest banners. The chants. It is a scene we are familiar with, the anti-Daniel Levy movement, mobilised on the High Road outside the stadium he built, and we are about to see it again.

Here is our take on the Amorim quotes.

And a bonus read from Nick Ames on Ineos and Ratcliffe.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot charged with improper conduct

Greenwood and Hemp resume Manchester City training

In the interests of love, please enjoy this picture of Alessandro Del Piero kissing his girlfriend at a service station while Zinedine Zidane eats a pizza.

Night time at a service station on the Milan-Turin highway,” remembers Del Piero. “Zizou, Sonia and I are returning from Milan after an event organized by Adidas. We ran away before the buffet so we could get home earlier. But hunger is hunger! We stop. There is no one inside, only the cashier and the bar lady.

Usual look at the counter, cutlet sandwich, camogli, fattoria … in the end the choice falls on a slice of Margherita pizza, one of those that remain when it‘s late with a chewing gum-like crust. But as I said, hunger is hunger just look at Zizou! I was faster, the cardboard plate is already crumpled on the table next to the car keys, while the lady at the counter behind us is preparing the coffee, indifferent. My teammate is still very focused on pizza, but I already have other interests.

Picture credit: Gianni Giansanti.

You may have missed last night that Antony scored a very good goal for Real Betis in the Europa Conference League against Gent. In three games for the Spanish club, the Manchester United loanee has two goals and two player of the match awards.

Leeds condemn anti-Palestine chant aimed at Israel international Manor Solomon

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has been impressed by Graham Potter’s impact at West Ham, despite the Irons losing three of his five games in charge. Brentford travel to the Hammers tomorrow.

[Potter] has shown what he is capable of in the past with Ostersunds, Swansea and Brighton. Of course Chelsea was difficult in many ways, but he has proven more than enough that he is a good coach. You can already see that in his West Ham team. His first step was to change the shape.

I have a feeling he won’t stick to that shape throughout his spell at West Ham, but there is some clear structure in what they are doing now. West Ham, in my opinion, offensively and defensively, have clear principles in all phases. They want to control more and more of the ball, and they have some top players: Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen are really, really good.

“Despite Ratcliffe not spending on players and cutting positions, people still blaming the Glazers!” emails Jeff Sax. “Ratcliffe has not delivered. He has to take responsibility.”

I’m not defending Ratcliffe, he seems to have made some very strange decisions – notably sacking staff, raising ticket prices and having an extremely disappointing attitude towards Manchester United’s women’s side. As the figurehead of football operations, he deserves the ire of the fans, and of the wider footballing world.

However, it is important to remember that Ratcliffe and Ineos own only around a quarter of the club. The Glazers – paid £790m for the club in 2005 and sold a quarter of the club to Ratcliffe for £1.25bn – still own nearly half the club. They should still be held accountable for what’s happening at Manchester United alongside Ratcliffe, on and off the pitch.

Not only was the Glazers’ sale to Ratcliffe financially beneficial, but it also meant that the British billionaire is now the lightning rod for the club’s issues.

A penny for the thoughts of Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell. The left-back has been probably the second best English player in his position this season overall (behind Newcastle’s Lewis Hall) but now may well be edged out of Thomas Tuchel’s thoughts for England’s fixtures next month by Myles Lewis-Skelly. I would personally be shocked if the Arsenal man wasn’t called up.

In perhaps worse news for Mitchell, the loan arrival of Ben Chilwell – who is fit and ready to start his first Premier League game in nearly a year – means he also has competition at Palace. It will be interesting to see who Oliver Glasner selects for Saturday’s game at home to Everton. Both Mitchell and Chilwell played 45 minutes in Monday’s FA Cup win over Doncaster.

This is a potentially decisive weekend for Harry Kane’s chances of winning a trophy in the Bundesliga, as leaders Bayern take on second-placed (and defending champions) Bayer Leverkusen, who trail by eight points.

Should Bayern win away, they would see their lead grow to 11 points with 12 matches remaining. Levekusen can cut it to five with a win of their own but either way, Xabi Alonso said this was not the title-deciding game.

It is not a final no, no. We will look at the standings after the game but it is not a final. Against Bayern we need a near perfect performance to have a chance. This Bayern is really dominant in many, many of the games. In the Bundesliga they have this collective dominance and then this individual quality with Harry Kane, [Jamal] Musiala … top, top players.

Aston Villa are victims on their own success in that they face a gruelling run of fixtures which sees them play five times in 14 days.

Villa play Ipswich on Saturday before welcoming Liverpool on Wednesday in a game that was brought forward due to the Reds’ involvement in the Carabao Cup final next month. They then host Chelsea next Saturday night, in a crunch game for their top-four ambitions, before visiting Crystal Palace the following Tuesday and hosting Cardiff in the FA Cup three days later.

When you can feel you are stronger is when you can have some players in the bench really with the performance we are expecting of them to be ready to play,” explained Villa manager Unai Emery. “We are facing different competitions, and the difficulties we will face for the next month in those three competitions we are in now, it’s really necessary to have players not injured and to have players as well on the bench being ready to substitute other players and being good impact.

This year, the idea is (to) try to learn about the last two years we were here, how we can get again stronger the second part of the season, with Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. We needed to join some players like we did. Of course we are very motivated with the players we have as well because they are as well feeling comfortable with the players we joined helping us.

Now, is be competitive, individually, collectively, try to be ready to help the team, playing 90 minutes, playing 70 minutes and sometimes playing even five, 10, 15 minutes. It’s very important, how we can feel stronger.”

Ollie Watkins (groin) and Tyrone Mings (knee) will be involved against Ipswich. January signings Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio are pushing for starts but Pau Torres, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Ross Barkley and Amadou Onana remain out.

Amorim: Manchester United must sell to buy in the summer

Thanks Yara! On such a romantic day, I have treated my wife by letting her know I am going to spend the afternoon relaying the latest transfer and injury news to Guardian readers, before doing the Brighton v Chelsea MBM later. Happy Valentine’s Day, all!

And that’s all from me today! The great Michael Butler is here to take you through the rest of the evening. Happy Friday and happy Valentine’s – may your football team give you some love with a win this weekend.

Some emails from you all on today’s news.

Joe challenges Postecoglou:

I thought Ange’s comment was funny: “If someone shows me someone who has done it in a shorter period without investment, then show me.” Ange, I present to you David Moyes.

Marise challenges Amorim:

Ruben Amorim saying he’s under more pressure than Ange Postecoglou because he is at a bigger club is quite jarring. It may be true but the comparison of them both underperforming is also valid. Sounds like he is just bitter.

And Jean-Paul anticipates Zinedine Zidane:

I have been waiting years for Zizou to come to the France national team. I really think he can get more out of this team. I’d be interested to see how his management of players differs from the current coach.

Manchester United: Ruben Amorim has said he shares a connection with the Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou because of their unwavering commitment to their football ideologies and tactical resolve, irrespective of outside criticism.

The two teams, who face off on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, find themselves in the Premier League standings at 13th and 14th.

Both managers have tried to get their players to adopt a specific style of play, which has often cost them at the back as they leak goals and Amorim believes they have the same problem as both remain steadfast with their tactics.

I’m a huge fan of Ange Postecoglou. I’m from a different culture, I’m Portuguese and all the Portuguese coaches can adapt. I adapt.

The simple thing is that I use one system at the moment because I believe if you work on that system you can play in different systems at the same time. That is my idea. But we are not winning games and I understand the connection between me and Ange, we have the same problems.

In my opinion, with all due respect, I am at a bigger club with bigger pressure. I understand the connection and he’s a really important coach to follow his principles.

Spurs have won only two league games since the start of December while they were also knocked out of both domestic cups in the span of three days last week and Amorim said he sympathises with Postecoglou.

He is a good guy. He’s a very good coach. He wants to play football in the right way, for me that is a good thing. When we choose this profession there are a lot of good things but then you have to feel that pressure when you don’t win.

France: Didier Deschamps sees Zinedine Zidane as a “natural” candidate to take over when he steps down from the national team.

Deschamps announced last month that he will step down from his role after the 2026 World Cup, ending a successful reign which began in 2012 and saw France win the 2018 World Cup and reach the 2022 final.

Speculation has been high – even before Deschamps made his announcement – that Zidane would take over eventually. Many see the former midfield great as the people’s choice and Deschamps told L’Équipe he does not disagree.

Zizou is a very good candidate, a natural and an expected one. But then again, I don’t know if he will want it.

The 52-year-old Zidane has not coached since ending his second spell in charge of Real Madrid, leading the Spanish giant to three Champions League and two La Liga titles.

Zidane and Deschamps played together in midfield – as magical creator and tough enforcer – when Les Bleus won the 1998 World Cup and the European Championship two years later.

Deschamps added that he does not regret his decision to step down next year.

I am not tired or worn out, but I feel that I have done my time. All good things must come to an end. The French team is a very good thing, because it represents twenty-five years of my professional life when I combine my two lives.

He ruled out taking over another national team but remains open to resuming his career at club level.

Before taking charge of France, he guided Monaco to the 2004 Champions League final and won the Ligue 1 title with Marseille in 2010.

I will decide based on what is offered to me. There are plenty of possibilities. AP

Manchester City: Some more from Pep Guardiola on why his team are struggling this season, who says that City are not as comfortable in possession as they used to be and they lack the physicality to compete with their Premier League rivals.

It’s everything, it’s not one [problem]. [If] it’s one, it will be easy to solve it.

We have been so comfortable with the ball and now we are not as comfortable when we have the ball and after, when it doesn’t happen, we have to make use of our physicality and our physicality is not like other teams.

We know the league makes a step forward with all the teams and we make some step backwards compared with previous seasons.

Manchester City are in fifth, two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and face an uphill battle to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League after conceding two late goals against Real Madrid in a 3-2 defeat in the knockout phase play-offs on Tuesday.

Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media about who will be ready to face Manchester United this weekend. As you may know, Spurs have had a bit of an injury crisis this season but are things are starting to look up?

It has been a good week in terms of the health and wellbeing of the men I look after. The guys who have been playing have benefited a fair bit.

On the injury front it is good to have players back because it raises the quality of our training. [Guglielmo] Vicario, yes. Trained really well. James Maddison is good to go. We’ve had Destiny [Udogie], Wilson [Odobert] and Brennan [Johnson] training with the group. They are in a good place.

More on Vicario, who has been out since November with a fractured ankle:

Vic, he is an outstanding goalkeeper. He is such a presence among the boys. He really gets everyone going.

It has been tough without him because we’ve used three other goalkeepers. They’ve all contributed, none of them have let us down. Vic is experienced.

And on his counterpart who will be in the dugout with him this weekend, Ruben Amorim:

I have respect for all managers because I know how tough it is to do the job. Ruben is just doing what he wants to do. Manchester United have scouted him and identified him by looking at the way he does business. You bring him in with a purpose.

If United stick with Ruben for two years then they will see progress. Absolutely, because it’s how long it takes. If anyone believes anything can change in a short space of time, they are living in a alternative universe that is not based on reality.

If someone shows me someone who has done it in a shorter period without investment, then show me.

Newcastle: Here is more on Alexander Isak from Eddie Howe, who says he would not swap his striker for any other forward in the word – Erling Haaland included.

I love working with Alex and I wouldn’t swap him for anyone. We’ve tried to help him by moulding our style of play to suit his game. I really respect Erling and what he’s done in his career is unbelievable, but we really love Alex.

He does things that aren’t like your traditional centre-forward. He’s almost a winger combined into a striker’s mentality because his footwork and dribbling ability is so good. That’s almost winger-like and then you put him into the middle of the pitch and, with his pace and technical ability and exceptional finishing, he’s sort of got the whole package linked into one. He’s very unique and I’d encourage him to stay that way.

More from Louise Taylor here.

Shamrock Rovers: Now this is a fun one. The sixteen-year-old Michael Noonan did not have much time to celebrate his historic goal for Shamrock Rovers … because he was off to school this morning.

Noonan’s second-half goal last night gave his side a 1-0 victory over the Norwegian club Molde in the first leg of their Conference League playoff.

At 16 years, 197 days, he became the youngest-ever scorer in the competition, breaking Romelu Lukaku’s record, but after a flight back to Dublin, he packed his bag for classes Friday morning.

His mother, Sandie Noonan, posted on X: “And back to school he goes …” with a picture of the teenager headed off to class.

Rovers said Noonan had become the youngest scorer in any European club competition, but Nii Lamptey was 16 years, 100 days when he netted for Anderlecht in a Uefa Cup game in 1991.

Noonan, who had a trial with Manchester City, joined Rovers in January from St Patrick’s Athletic, where he had become the Saints’ youngest-ever starter at 15 years, 9 months.

The Rovers coach Stephen Bradley said Noonan “just lives, breathes and sleeps football.” A little less sleep Friday morning, though. AP

Bayern Munich: Jamal Musiala has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2030, the Bundesliga leaders announced today.

I took my first steps in professional football here and firmly believe we can achieve something big with this club in the coming years.

I feel at home both in Munich and at the club with our great fans. We’ve got a lot of things we want to achieve.

The 21-year-old Germany international joined Bayern from Chelsea’s academy in 2019 and has scored 10 goals in the Bundesliga this season, with his team eight points clear at the top.

At Euro 2024, he finished the competition as joint-top scorer and was named in the team of the tournament.

He is the third key Bayern player to extend his deal in February after Manuel Neuer and Alphonso Davies.

Thanks Dave, splendid shift (as quiz master) and hello all! Let’s start with some news from Germany.

And with that, I’ll had over to the fantastic Yara El-Shaboury.

Oh, the quiz answer to the conundrum posted at 12.48? Egypt. Surely you can work out why.

Akanji ruled out for 10 weeks

Here’s the real quiz. Four football questions in there.

Jake Powell gets in touch. “Hi David, Enjoying the live blog today. I must say you referring to Forest as “the Trees” gave me pause however. We’re sometimes referred to as the Tricky Trees, although sadly that seems to have fallen out of fashion. I’ve never come across The Trees before, and I don’t think it fully reflects how tricky we are. I’d welcome your thoughts.”

I’ll level with you Jake, I was trying to be casual and cool, thinking I could drop 50% of Forest’s nickname willy nilly (or Willy Boly maybe) without fear of retribution. It’s backfired and I’ll reflect on that over lunch. I’ll come back stronger.

Here’s a fun quiz to chew over during lunch. Complete this sequence – England, France, DR Congo, Brazil, Netherlands, England, Cameroon, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway… ???

A clue: It’s in reverse order. Answer at 1pm.

Some more from Liverpool boss Arne Slot. This time he was talking about the threat posed by Matheus Cunha when Wolves visit Anfield on Sunday.

“He’s a type of player that I’m referring to when I always say when I compare the leagues that I’ve worked in and this league. I don’t know exactly where Wolves is at the moment – 17th? If you go to the Dutch league and you look at the number 17, there’s no player that can play for Ajax, PSV or Feyenoord. But Matheus Cunha is a quality player and he has the quality to play for one of the top five teams in England.

“That is also one of the reasons why it is so much more difficult to win a game against the number 17 in England than to win against the number 17 in Holland. Again, we already saw when we played against them with Gary O’Neil they had a very good performance back then as well – he [Cunha] in particular. We know that it’s going to be a tough game on Sunday again.”

Here’s more on the sad passing of esteemed football journalist Patrick Barclay. Nice tributes from Philippe Auclair and Barney Ronay.

Here are the weekend fixtures. Note that Liverpool are also in action away to Aston Villa on Wednesday night, the only Premier League fixture taking place in midweek. That means if Arne Slot’s men beat Wolves on Sunday and Villa on Wednesday, they could be 13 points clear if Arsenal lose at Leicester. The Gunners would have a game in hand, but still.

Friday
8pm Brighton v Chelsea

Saturday
12.30pm Leicester v Arsenal
3pm Aston Villa v Ipswich
3pm Fulham v Nottingham Forest
3pm Manchester City v Newcastle
3pm Southampton v Bournemouth
3pm West Ham v Brentford
5.30pm Crystal Palace v Everton

Sunday
2pm Liverpool v Wolves
4.30pm Tottenham v Manchester United

Nottingham Forest news now and boss Nuno Espirito Santo is confident that defender Ola Aina will sign a new contract. The Nigerian full-back has been superb for the Trees this season and, fun fact, is the joint-top scoring defender in the official Premier League fantasy game alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold. Both have 108pts but Aina is two million quid cheaper.

Asked about the discussions over a new deal for Aina, Nuno said: “Things are going well. I am positive and confident everything is going to be solved. He’s been performing fantastically, not only this season, the last season. He’s a big, big influence on the squad, but his experience means he is a role model for everybody, especially for the young guys in the team.”

Forest face Fulham at Craven Cottage this weekend.

Thanks John. Let’s start with our regular weekend preview of things to keep an eye one. The composite features Georginio Rutter, Raheem Sterling and Mathys Tel so there’s a clue for 30% of it.

Right, time to pass over to the blessed David Tindall.

Kylian Mbappé will be returning to a France shirt soon after a rapprochement with Didier Deschamps. He was not included in the squads for their Nations League fixtures in October and November after signing with Real Madrid in July.

DD: “Of course he’ll be there. Why wouldn’t he be? Yes, for very specific reasons (he was not here) But he’ll be there if nothing happens to him between now and then. He’s very attached to the French team, even if he’s had a complicated personal period. He’s back to full fitness, and you can see that in his game, and in his head too.”

Jimmy T gets in touch: “I’m wondering if you can shed and light on the obsession with proclaiming that United players who have moved elsewhere are BACK and FIRING!

“I was perplexed to read an article this week – which has bugged me all week in terms of wondering what is the psychological driving force behind writing such drivel. Is it simply that the generation who watched United dominate English football are now the ones writing the articles and engaging in clickbait backed schadenfreude. Is this their revenge?

”The article in question picks out Marcus Rashford, Jason Sancho, Antony and Malacia as players who are thriving away from Old Trafford. This seems to amount to Rashford nutmegging Pedro Porro in a game his team lost 1-0 whilst he was on the pitch, a graphic on Jadon Sancho that indicates he was better at United, Malacia’s PSV drawing with 12th place Willem II and losing top spot, and Antony being voted Man of the Match in a fan poll.

”By all means this is not me saying United are in any way a competent football team/club, but why is there such an obsession with that fact to the point such articles get written?”

Ian Sargeant gets in touch: “Hello John. The Forest chat reminded me of the last time they played at West Ham. I’m in the home end – we were revelling in our recent crowning of champions in (I can’t sing of – its not right) Europe. Couple of young lads then started pointing to the away end singing ‘Champions of Europe – you’ll never sing that’ Their dad was somewhat embarrassed – I blame the schools. What do they teach them these days?”

Could the yellow ticker be arriving in MLS? Graham Ruthven investigates.

Hasan replies to Raj Raj: “I’m afraid you can expect similar high jinks if Forest manage to qualify for any kind of European football next season. Cartel Six commentary dictates that only specific teams can be discussed, so you can expect a lot of umms, ahhhs, references to the weather and perhaps some polite whistling before any pundits even dare to utter the words “Nottingham Forest” in the same sentence as “title” or “Europe” – it’s pretty amusing.”

Russell George gets in touch with a nice story about Paddy Barclay: “On the news of the passing of Patrick Barclay, a long time ago – 1987 to be precise – I was really keen to become a football journalist. In fact, I used to write my own match reports, usually on Manchester United games. One of these ‘reports’ I posted to Patrick, who was at the Independent at the time, then forgot about it.

“Anyway, one Sunday morning my Mum called me upstairs to take a phone call. It was Patrick. I was 13 at the time, but I remember Patrick spent about 20 minutes talking to me about what I’d written, and giving me advice about what I could do to take it further.

“I never did become a football journalist. But I will always remember feeling absolutely over the moon that Patrick Barclay liked what I’d written, and that he was kind enough to pick up the phone and call a 13 year-old boy on his weekend. A lovely man.”

David Moyes on the derby fall-out. There are allegations Abdoulaye Doucoure received racist abuse amid that explosive aftermath.

“I feel a bit for Arne Slot too because it is the sort of thing I was always getting involved in when I was a younger manager. It tells me that he cares a lot about his club and is fighting for his players.

“I was disappointed in Doucoure because he played so well in the game and did a great job for the team. He wouldn’t have probably done what he did [if he had the chance again]. But it still doesn’t mean that people are allowed to abuse you. If that’s the case, it’s completely wrong.”

Eddie Howe was asked to compare Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland.

“You look at Haaland’s consistency over a long period of time, there’s no doubt in that and Alex is certainly doing the same. Since he’s come to this club, I think he’s been been absolutely sensational for us. So we’re looking to try and get him in the game as much as we can and I always say the same thing, we need to provide the foundation for him to perform at his best levels.”

A correction, from Raj Raj: “Valentines Day so I thought there would be more love in the air? You start your day with the key games in the title race are…then you don’t mention Nottingham Forest.”

Yes, some red-hot Nuno content to come.

Everton news, via David Moyes, on Iliman Ndiaye, who was carried off in the Merseyside derby.

“He has got a medial ligament injury. It’s not looking great at the moment. But probably not sure about how long it is going to be. It’s certainly going to be a few weeks anyway.”

Eddie Howe is fired up for his Newcastle team visiting the Etihad, despite his horrible record against the Guardiola-era Manchester City.

“I think it’s going to be a great few weeks for us, in terms of trying to evaluate our strengths and see where we are, how competitive we are in the league. We’ve been pretty solid this season in that respect, we’ve given every ream good games. This will be a pivotal part of the Premier League season. A defining few weeks for us.

“For me they’re still the benchmark and we have to try and produce our best performance to try and get something for this match.”

Patrick Barclay 1947-2025

John Brewin

Arteta on that weight of injuries: “With the loads and minutes, it’s inevitable, It’s an accident waiting to happen. This season it’s the accumulation of that, the stress. Is it luck? Certainly the schedule is demanding, and for explosive players it becomes an issue.”

Better/good news on Bukayo Saka/Ben White from Arteta:

BS: “It’s too early, he’s in early stage of rehab. When he’s closer, doing more workload, we will see how he is.

“Ben White is in training more regularly now. We have to manage his load, but he is available.”

Mikel Arteta has also been on the early shift, and he’s been discussing that Kai Havertz injury at Arsenal’s warm-weather training camp:

“We were having a great camp in Dubai, recharging , training, connecting with nature and different environment. Then the injury happened in unexpected way, it’s a big blow because of injuries we have. Fortunately we have been through a lot this season, it’s the challenge I have. We love it. Let’s see what the team is made of.

“Any team in this league losses four players in frontline like that and I know what the answer will be.”

More Slot, on fellow red card Curtis Jones: “He will be out for one game. He came back from an injury, so he missed a few games already. I was planning to start him against Plymouth. He wasn’t completely recovered yet.

“I liked him a lot when he came in [against Everton]. He had a very good half hour. It was the best part of our game. That was the only part of the game where I felt a bit of comfort and maybe a bit of control.

“I liked a lot that he stood up for the team, but I also think there are other ways for the team and the fans to do that. I will talk to him about that. But it’s the same for me. I should have acted differently after the game as well.

“It is an emotional sport and sometimes individuals with emotions make the wrong decisions. That is definitely what I did.”

Slot on derby red: ‘I would love to do that differently’

Preamble