| Chelsea debt wiped off by Roman Abramovich but club still record loss Chelsea are operating effectively free from debt after Roman Abramovich wiped off £340 million owed to him. telegraph.co.uk |
Manchester United 0 Leeds United 1: match report Jermaine Beckford consigned Manchester United to FA Cup humiliation by sending League One Leeds into fourth round. telegraph.co.uk |
Today in Sport: Discuss all the latest big issues Discuss the day's big issues, send us your favourite links, follow us on Twitter and take a look at our 2010 sport calendar8.40am: Good morning and welcome to our daily sports news blog. You probably know the drill by now, but if not, the idea is this: throughout the day we will update this page with news, links, and what's expected to happen in the hours ahead. Time permitting, we'll also try to wade in below the line, answering your questions and comments. However we'd like your input as much as possible – please send us your favourite links to stories/clips on YouTube etc and we'll flag up the best above the line. We'll have an update after the morning meeting shortly.You can follow live over-by-over coverage of the second day of the fourth Test with Rob Smyth here. At Liverpool, the crisis is deepening for Rafael BenÃtez as he has been given until the end of the season to sort out the team's problems.9.14am Has Andy Murray got a chance in Australia? Not if the draw he's been handed is anything to go by. Despite being given a tie against a qualifier in the first round, he will - if all goes according to plan - have to face the defending champion, Rafael Nadal, in the quarter-finals, the No 4 seed, Juan MartÃn Del Potro, in the semi-final and the top seed, Roger Federer, in the final.Has Murray got a hope or, as some are suggesting, could this be Del Potro's tournament? What are your predictions? TB9.29am: Just what on earth is going on at QPR? The club have confirmed that Paul Hart, having been in charge of just five games since his appointment on 17 December, has now left. Remarkably, QPR - who have parted with six managers in the 27 months Flavio Briatore has owned the club - say it was Hart's decision to go. There have been other reports, though, that suggest Hart's failure to get along with an on-loan 20-year-old were more the reason for his departure. Just what does that say about how the club is being run? TB10.20am: Scanning the markets for the Australian Open, we're fancying a bit of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 64-1 on the desk this morning. Andy Murray at 7s looks too short for a potentially brutal final-three line-up. Andy Roddick at 33-1 could also represent some value. Personally, Marcos Baghdatis at 139-1 is my long shot, who could be laid off should he advance to the second week. JD11.08am: On the face of it, this weekend's Premier League fixtures don't appear to be the most glamorous but there are banana skins a-plenty. Get your score predictions in to Pick the Score now ahead of all the action. TB11.40am: Vic Marks has just blogged on the Graeme Smith silent snick saga, in which he writes:Life would have been much simpler and quieter (except perhaps for Daryl Harper) if umpire Hill had raised his finger in the first place. If the noise was so loud, how come he couldn't hear it?Have your say on that now. JD12.20pm: It's raining in Johannesburg. Really heavily, mercifully for England. So, in the meantime, here's some lunchtime reading: Raphael Honigstein previews the second half of the Bundesliga season; the latest Talking Horses blog; and our gallery of the best images from the last 24 hours in sport. JD1.05pm: It's worth drawing your attention to this latest OBO entry:One other interesting twist in today's big story is this: Test Match Special, along with several other sources, are now stating that the referral fiasco was explicitly umpire Harper's fault. Apparently he did not realise that he had a volume control switch in his booth, and had failed to turn up the noise when he was confronted with silent footage. Quite simply: d'oh, and double d'oh.JD1.16pm: Goalkeeper news! Hurrah! Having not played for Manchester United since mid-November, Edwin van der Sar may be ready to play this weekend against Burnley. After a series of injuries and the time out he took after his wife suffered a stroke, the 39-year-old has been doing well in training, according to Sir Alex Ferguson.Meanwhile, David James's potential loan transfer to Stoke will now not be going ahead. Stoke had set a deadline for completing the deal for midday today so that James would be available for tomorrow's game against Liverpool at the. Once that had passed, they immediately withdrew from the deal. Given that this deal would have allowed Portsmouth to reduce their wage bill, you have to wonder why they dallied. TB2pm: There's a 2.45pm pitch inspection in the cricket. Meanwhile, news of Rafa BenÃtez's press conference today, where he had a 'funny' dig at his fact-based rant of a year ago. Reading from a statement of 'facts' (honestly) he read:"We are not playing well and we feel sorry for our fans. We know every week things can change in football and we have confidence we can improve."Speaking ahead of tomorrow's trip to Stoke, he then added:"We want to concentrate and it's better we talk about football ahead. We must not talk too much about the other things." JD2.50pm: According to Twitter, it's not just Ricky Gervais who's fed up. This, from Ryan Babel's feed today:Hey people, I got some disappointing news, I m not travelling 2 Stoke.. The Boss left me out the squad. No explanation..And one day, you will see what I m capable off, will it be at LFC or somewhere else... I have faith...Oh, and there will now be another pitch inspection at the Wanderers at 3.10pm. JD3.10pm: Play will restart in the cricket at 3.30pm. The ground, sodden with deep puddles an hour ago, appears to have dried remarkably quickly. Follow the action with Andy Bull. TB4pm: That's the close of play on day two of the final Test, with South Africa on 215-2, 35 ahead of England. Elsewhere, West Ham have just been fined £115,000 by the FA over the crowd trouble at Upton Park in their Carling Cup clash with Millwall. JD4.24pm: There are rumours about that England will put in an official complaint about today's referral controversy. The ICC though looks unlikely to sanction the South African broadcasters for any infringement.5.15pm: Time on the blog, readers. Tom Lutz will be on hand at 6pm for MBM coverage of Ivory Coast v Ghana. In the meantime, thanks for all your posts. We'll be back on Monday morning to reflect on a busy weekend of football, cricket and tennis. Have a good one. JDJames DartTom Bryantguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Mascherano: Blame players, not BenÃtez • 'People will criticise Rafa, but we are a top side'• 'It's easier to criticise one manager than 20 players'Javier Mascherano has said it is unfair that Liverpool's manager, Rafael BenÃtez, is shouldering the burden of criticism when the players are not performing.After the FA Cup replay defeat by Reading and with the club seventh in the Premier League – 14 points behind the leaders, Chelsea – the pressure on BenÃtez is mounting.But Mascherano came to his defence. "It's easier for them to criticise one manager than 20 players," said the Argentina captain. "When the team is not playing well, the press criticises the manager and not the players, but we don't have to pay too much attention."You have to realise that when we are playing like this, people will criticise Rafa, but we are a top side. We need to think about football and try not to worry too much."We have to work, continue training hard and show all our things on the pitch. The mentality among all of us is really good and we want to take Liverpool to the place it deserves to be."Rafael BenÃtezLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Stuttgart beats Freiburg in Bundesliga Ciprian Marica's goal late in the first half was enough for Stuttgart to collect a 1-0 victory at Freiburg and continue its strong run in the Bundesliga on Friday. cbc.ca |