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Manchester United fans recognise the pre-match shiver of optimism. Maybe it is blind hope but they know that their team has been able to raise their level in some of the very biggest Premier League matches under Ruben Amorim. They know there have been signs of improvement this season. And was this not a good time to play Liverpool?

It is often the case that it is the prompt for a sharp reality check. After all, nobody ever really knows which United will turn up. Here, it was the version that Amorim has craved, the one he has claimed has been ready to show itself on a regular basis.

It is one of the curiosities of Thomas Tuchel’s rapidly evolving England side that until today the man in possession of the No 10 shirt had not scored all season.

Morgan Rogers put paid to that statistic with a sumptuous strike to equalise for Aston Villa, before the more prolific substitute Emiliano Buendía scored his third goal in four games to win the match with a lovely finish, condemning the home side to leave the field to a chorus of boos.

• Rooney and Beckham also on ambassadorial shortlist

• Group are seeking finance before approaching Glazers

Eric Cantona has been approached by a consortium of investors based in the United Arab Emirates to act as an ambassador for a potential bid to buy Manchester United. Wayne Rooney and David Beckham are also on the group’s radar for similar roles.

The consortium is still being put together as it seeks the finance to firm up their interest in buying the club before it can approach the six Glazer siblings, who collectively are ­United’s majority owners. The UAE‑based group are intent on ­having prominent former United players as ambassadors as part of this process.

• Fulham manager has reported £13m buyout clause

• Silva won Greek title under Marinakis at Olympiakos

Evangelos Marinakis has made Fulham’s Marco Silva his No 1 target to succeed Ange Postecoglou as Nottingham Forest head coach.

Marinakis, the Forest owner, was considering replacements before sacking Postecoglou immediately after the 3-0 home defeat on Saturday against Chelsea, which extended the Australian’s winless run in charge to eight games. Sean Dyche and Roberto Mancini are among the candidates who have been sounded out.

• Manager follows Steven Gerrard in failing to agree a deal

• Ole Gunnar Solskjær also linked with the job

Rangers’ messy search for a new manager has suffered its latest blow after talks broke down with Kevin Muscat.

The 52-year-old follows Steven Gerrard in failing to agree a deal with the Rangers hierarchy despite detailed and advanced discussions. Danny Röhl, who has admirers on the Ibrox board, ruled himself out of the running after Muscat emerged as a clear favourite. The off-field scenario at Rangers appears increasingly chaotic.

• Atlanta finished 14th in the East and missed the playoffs

• High expectations after high-spending offseason

Atlanta United coach Ronny Deila was fired Sunday, one day after the end of a 5-13-16 season that was the manager’s first in charge of the team. The club had posted just one win in its past 18 matches and finished with 28 points, good for 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

There were high expectations for the season after the club hired an MLS Cup-winning coach in Deila, paid a reported $22m transfer fee for forward Emmanuel Latte Lath from Championship side Middlesbrough FC and re-signed Miguel Almirón from English Premier League side Newcastle United.

Energy secretary calls for lifting of police ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters at upcoming Europa League fixture

Aston Villa’s football ground cannot be a “no-go area” for Jews, Ed Miliband has said as he reiterated calls for a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans to be lifted.

The energy secretary said ministers were working to ensure supporters of the Israeli club could attend the Europa League fixture at Villa Park on 6 November.

• Serie A: Como 2-0 Juventus, Cagliari 0-2 Bologna

• Juve now winless in six games in all competitions

Juventus lost 2-0 at Como in Serie A on Sunday, suffering another disappointing result after five successive draws in all competitions for Igor Tudor’s side.

Como took the lead in the fourth minute when the defender Marc-Oliver Kempf volleyed in from close range at the far post following Nico Paz’s curling cross. Juventus thought they had equalised in the 36th minute when Jonathan David slotted home from close range, but the Canadian’s effort was ruled out for offside in the buildup.

Jack Wilshere got the full managerial experience as Luton lost 2-0 to Mansfield – serenaded and jeered in 90 minutes

Getting booed off after your first match, and booed off with a fair degree of vituperation, was not how Jack Wilshere intended his managerial career to begin. But that was what he endured as he led his players off the Kenilworth Road pitch past a seething Luton fanbase, who two years ago were loving life in the Premier League.

A 2-0 defeat by Nigel Clough’s Mansfield was no disgrace, a finely balanced contest decided by the chances Luton failed to take and those that Mansfield did. It was a loss that left the hosts 14th in League One, eight points off the playoff spots, but Clough was positive about Luton’s prospects of turning things around under Wilshere, and surely that is correct. It would be wrong, though, not to note that there was an eerie note of fatalism in the ground, even as an apparent new era was only just getting under way.

At no stage did the Australian coach seem to understand the assignment he had been given at Nottingham Forest

Well, the Chelsea fans were wrong anyway. Ange Postecoglou was not sacked in the morning. Instead he was sacked in the afternoon. So, another small win there for Ange, even in defeat. Not to mention further proof of the notion to which he has always seemed so fatally in thrall, that he is at any given moment the smartest guy in the room. Even when, as of Saturday afternoon, he’s no longer in the room at all.

The official version seems to be that Postecoglou was fired 18 minutes after his final defeat at the City Ground. In reality he was fired in real time, a live-action televised touchline sacking, gone from the moment Evangelos Marinakis disappeared from his seat midway through the second half with the look of a gamekeeper required now to wring the neck of a dying pheasant.

Contract award at 18 is a false dawn for many who are there to make up the numbers and get no benefit from it

• Search for talent has left market overheated and failing

Cauley Woodrow, Benik Afobe, Emmanuel Frimpong, Nathan Aké, Matthew Pennington, Nathan Delfouneso, Saido Berahino, Dominic Ball, Connor Wickham, Jérémy Hélan and John Lundstram. What connects these 11 men? Answer: they were registered as under-21 players for Premier League teams at the start of the 2012-13 season. Indeed, they were part of an 836-strong group of under-21 players from the 20 clubs that year.

The 2012-13 season coincided with the end of my PhD study, a piece of research that included a sample of 303 players aged 16-18 from 21 clubs across England’s top four divisions. Over the next decade or so, I have been researching the career trajectories of professional football players, and it has led to profound insights.

Second member of Sarina Wiegman’s England setup joins Bay Collective to sail ‘into waters there are no roadmaps for’

On Wednesday, Bay Collective announced the recruitment of England’s general manager under Sarina Wiegman, Anja van Ginhoven, as their director of global women’s football operations. The new multi-club ownership body, with San Francisco’s Bay FC the first club in its portfolio, has previous in recruiting from the Football Association.

The appointment this year of Kay Cossington, the influential former FA technical director, as the chief executive was a signal of intent from Bay Collective. Cossington knows women’s football inside out and now she has assembled a leadership team with a deep understanding of women’s football history and laden with experience.

• Captain has scored one of three spot-kicks this season

• United ready for a hostile Anfield, manager says

Ruben Amorim has said Bruno Fernandes will continue as Manchester United’s penalty taker despite missing two of the three awarded the team this season.

Fernandes missed from the spot in the 1-1 draw at Fulham and the 3-1 defeat at Brentford, scoring in the 3-2 win over Burnley. Amorim said: “Yes, he’s the main taker. I think he has 70 penalties and he misses nine – two with me.”

This was a mechanical performance from Arsenal but it was enough. Enough to see off Fulham, enough to avoid a row over a questionable refereeing decision and enough for Mikel Arteta’s side to increase the pressure on Liverpool before the champions look to move past their slump when they host Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

It never came close to capturing the imagination. There was the inevitable corner to decide a drab contest, Leandro Trossard popping up with an opportunistic goal just before the hour, but there was nothing memorable from Arsenal in open play. They created few openings and for all his graft there was concern about another blunt outing for Viktor Gyökeres, who returned from a troubled international break with Sweden and saw his goalless streak for club and country run into a ninth game.

Erling Haaland’s double seized the points, took him to 23 goals in 13 games for club and country this season, and kept Tottenham as the only foes the uber-striker has failed to score against this season.

The 25-year-old’s goals – on 58 and 63 minutes – shredded the visitors in two high-quality moments that decorated a generally middling affair.

As Brighton’s young hearts ran free, a canny campaigner condemned Newcastle to another defeat at the stadium where they have still never won in the Premier League. Danny Welbeck’s two goals were moments of rare composure amid a slugfest of a contest. They denied the Toon Army’s latest folk hero. Nick Woltemade’s backheel flick, a speciality, had levelled the scoring.

Welbeck’s first was a moment of equal delicacy, his second saw him thrash – first time – a loose ball home; his third winner against Newcastle in the last 12 months. Brighton snatched a third win of the Premier League season, each over opponents in this season’s Champions League, Newcastle following Chelsea and Manchester City. Newcastle, meanwhile, are yet to win away from St James’ Park.

For most of this breathless encounter, Bournemouth supporters were relishing the prospect of going top of the Premier League, albeit perhaps for only a few hours, and inflicting Crystal Palace’s second home defeat of 2025. Andoni Iraola’s impressive side had led through two goals from the teenager Eli Junior Kroupi before being pegged back by Jean-Philippe Mateta and thought they had won it when the substitute Ryan Christie scored with two minutes of normal time remaining.

Mateta, who scored on his first start for France in midweek, had other ideas as he converted an injury-time penalty to complete his hat-trick, although he missed a golden opportunity to win it at the death.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 … and go even further back. Here’s our 2025 world picks

Winger comes up against Real Madrid on Sunday after ‘a low-key friendly’ earned a dream loan move to Getafe

A 0-0 draw is seen by 3,918 people and described by the club’s own website as “a low-key friendly”. With players’ shouts echoing off 21,668 empty seats one early August afternoon, Hull City versus Getafe Club de Fútbol was nothing to write home about. Unless of course you’re Abu Kamara: in which case, that is exactly what it was and now, two months on, he’s smiling. “I didn’t even score but I’m guessing I had a decent game,” the England Under-20 winger says. “Because if not, I don’t think they would just come up to anyone and say: ‘Do you like the idea of playing in La Liga?’”

Did he ever. “At the end of the game, the sports scientist Javi [Vidal], and the technical director, Gonzalo [Fernández], came up to me and asked,” Kamara recalls. “I said: ‘Yeah, I’d be down for it.’ It’s a big league, so I take it as a massive compliment. I went back into the changing room, spoke to my friend Kasey Palmer, messaged my agent and then left the MKM Stadium. I didn’t take no contact number or anything so I don’t know how my agent did it but he got in contact with Getafe and here I am.”

Winning the Premier League means the Dutchman can ride out the setbacks after making radical changes to his gameplan

Replacing a legend is difficult. Even if that legend has lingered too long, even if he has stayed beyond the scope of his powers, coming next is an almost impossible job. David Moyes could not follow Sir Alex Ferguson. Unai Emery could not follow Arsène Wenger. Brian Clough could not follow Don Revie.

When there has been a successful transition it has tended to come from within. George Allison continued Herbert Chapman’s work at Arsenal. Dave Mackay took the Derby Clough had built to another league title.

Manchester United’s striker is a topic of context-free condemnation as social media’s sluice of aggravation sinks us all

The first thing you need to do is find a photo of Rasmus Højlund looking happy in a Napoli shirt. There you are. Now you find a photo of Benjamin Sesko looking sad in a Manchester United shirt. Like he’s just missed an open goal. No, obviously you don’t need to find a photo of him missing an open goal. The less context here, the better. Now pop the photos side by side. Overlay the goal stats in big buffoonish font. Don’t forget the emojis. Post to all social media channels.

Will you mention that Højlund’s tally includes goals in the Champions League while Sesko is not competing in Europe at all? You will not. Nor will you mention that four of Højlund’s goals have come against Belarus and Greece, or the fact that Denmark are a much better team than Slovenia and create many more chances. You run socials for a big media brand, pure liquid engagement is what puts food on your table, United are the biggest meal of all, and as ever, context will be your sworn enemy.

Five months on from coming within a point of Champions League football, Nottingham Forest are in a relegation fight

Hand the keys back, pack the suitcase, take down the pictures, terminate the lease. Ange Postecoglou really should have never left temporary digs for a Nottingham apartment during the international break. Football moves fast, the Australian sacked after just 40 days and eight games in charge.

One hundred and forty-six days ago, Chelsea’s previous visit to the City Ground on a sunny May afternoon, the complexion was different. At kick-off there was a contrasting kind of jeopardy in the air. It was the final game of the season, qualifying for the Champions League still a distinct possibility.

The idea that barring the Israeli club’s supporters from Villa Park will de-escalate a volatile situation just doesn’t stand up

Well, at least we have Ayoub Khan in the house, Birmingham MP and a voice of tolerance, unity and de-escalation in these difficult times. “Sports entertainment events should be enjoyed by all regardless of their race, ethnicity and background,” Khan wrote on X on Thursday. One hundred per cent this. Heart emoji. Slay, king. This is not just the best part of sport. It’s the only real point.

“Now is the time to ease tensions, set aside political difference and focus on the football,” Khan concluded, scattering flowers of all shades, fluttering his fingers to release a cascade of butterflies, and opening his arms to embrace, personally, brothers and sisters of every caste and clime.

Ruben Amorim travels to Liverpool on Sunday trying to become the first United manager to earn three points at their bitter rivals’ home since Louis van Gaal in early 2016

The only Manchester United victory of the past decade came when Marouane Fellaini’s header powered Juan Mata’s cross on to the bar and Wayne Rooney hooked the rebound in on 78 minutes to give the visiting Evertonian a particular thrill. Victory lifted Louis van Gaal’s team to fifth, and sank Jürgen Klopp’s team to ninth. Yet by the summer the Dutchman was sacked despite May’s FA Cup final triumph after United finished fifth, missing out on fourth on goal difference. In June Klopp, who guided Liverpool to eighth in his first part season in charge, signed a new six-year deal. “His leadership will be critical to everything we hope to achieve,” said the club.

• Kane scores as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund

• Barcelona edge Girona via Araújo’s stoppage-time winner

Harry Kane scored once and helped set up another as Bayern Munich battled past Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Bundesliga’s Klassiker to maintain their perfect start to the season with their seventh straight win. Bayern had to survive considerable second-half pressure from the visitors before making sure of their 11th win in 11 matches across all competitions.

They lead the Bundesliga race with 21 points, five ahead of second-placed RB Leipzig. Dortmund, who suffered their first loss in 10 matches across all competitions, dropped to fourth on 14. Kane gave the hosts a deserved lead when he scored his 12th league goal in seven matches with a glancing header from a Joshua Kimmich corner in the 22nd minute.

• Standard Liège led Royal Antwerp 1-0 after 87 minutes

• Final minutes to be played without fans on Monday

A Belgian referee abandoned a Pro League match in the 87th minute after being struck by a plastic cup thrown from the stands.

Standard Liège were leading Royal Antwerp 1-0 when the object hit Lothar D’Hondt at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne on Friday. The match official then surprised the players and dugout staff by blowing his whistle to end the game with three minutes left to play.

By blending diaspora players with homegrown talent the island nation of fewer than 600,000 people has qualified for 2026 tournament

On 5 July 1975, the Cape Verdean flag was raised for the first time at Estádio da Várzea in the capital city of Praia, marking the nation’s declaration of independence from Portugal. At that moment, there was no national football team – and no sign of what was to come.

Exactly 100 days after the 50th anniversary of independence, the country’s flag was waved at the very same ground, where crowds gathered to celebrate Cape Verde’s historic first World Cup qualification with the players who had earlier secured the decisive 3-0 win against Eswatini five miles away at the National Stadium. This island nation off the coast of Senegal, with a population of fewer than 600,000, has become the second‑smallest country to qualify for the tournament, after Iceland in 2018.

• Potter had seven years in charge of club side Östersund

• ‘I love Swedish football. It would be a great opportunity’

Graham Potter has said he would be interested in taking over as Sweden’s new manager because he “loves” the country that gave him his first opportunity in coaching.

The former Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was sacked on Tuesday after a disastrous start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, with a 1‑0 defeat at home by Kosovo leaving Sweden bottom of their group. It is less than a month since Potter left West Ham after winning six of his 23 Premier League games, with the former Chelsea manager having lasted just 31 games at Stamford Bridge.

Arne Slot will hope forward builds on encouraging signs for Egypt when Manchester United visit Liverpool on Sunday

It has been a while, but Mohamed Salah was back playing the starring role last week with two goals in Casablanca that sealed Egypt’s place at the 2026 World Cup. The main man stepping on to centre stage yet again. Liverpool need him to stay there.

There are numerous reasons why inconsistent, unconvincing performances have been the common thread running through Liverpool’s start to their title defence, whether they produced seven straight victories or, before Manchester United’s visit to Anfield on Sunday, three consecutive defeats. The upheaval from so many summer changes, Arne Slot’s search for his best XI, Diogo Jota’s death; Salah has felt the effect of them all during his uncharacteristically subdued opening to the campaign.

More than half the 26 places appear to be locked down but big names are at risk with qualification secured and the tournament looming

Fresh from breaking Gordon Banks’s record for consecutive England clean sheets, Jordan Pickford remains the undisputed pick in goal. A miserly defensive record is a positive for Thomas Tuchel, even if the shutouts have come against poor sides. John Stones, such an elegant centre-back, is back in the team and will start at the World Cup if he stays fit. But who will partner him? Tuchel likes Ezri Konsa, whose versatility also makes him an option at right-back, and Marc Guéhi; big Dan Burn also looks established after making his international debut in March. It is more uncertain at left-back, but Reece James will play at right-back as long as his body does not let him down.

In this mailbag edition of his newsletter, Jonathan answers questions about the evolution of tactics, heat and World Cup outsiders

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Do you believe playing styles are developing incrementally or cyclically? Will things naturally come back around, or is it more a matter of rock, paper, scissors where one style counters another for a short while, as the current style gets broadly adopted? – Paul

I dislike the term “cyclical” for tactics because it implies inevitability. Winter, spring, summer, autumn is a cycle; what happens in football tactics is not. When older ideas are repurposed for the modern age, they come with knowledge of what went before. So, to take an extreme example, when Pep Guardiola started fielding teams in a sort of 3-2-2-3 shape, it wasn’t the W-M used by Herbert Chapman in the late 1920s, because in the 100 years since, football has changed enormously: players are fitter, pitches are better, kit is better, we understand pressing, we have data and sophisticated analytical modelling.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotion

When the first tickets for the 2026 World Cup went on sale last week, millions of fans joined online queues only to discover what Gianni Infantino’s assurance that “the world will be welcome” really means. The cheapest face-value seat for next summer’s final, somewhere in the gods of New Jersey’s 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium where the players are specks and the football’s a rumor, comes at a cost of $2,030 (oxygen tank not included). Most upper-deck seats range from $2,790 to $4,210, according to customers who finally glimpsed the prices that had been closely guarded. The much-touted $60 tickets for group-stage games, propped up by Fifa as evidence of affordability, exist only as comically tiny green smudges on the edge of digital seating maps, little more than mirages of inclusivity.

Fifa had kept the costs under wraps until the very moment of sale, replacing the usual published table of price points with a digital lottery that decided who even got the chance to buy. Millions spent hours staring at a queue screen as algorithms determined their place in line. When access finally came for most, the lower-priced sections had already vanished, many presumably hoovered up by bots and bulk-buyers (and that’s before Fifa quietly raised the prices of at least nine matches after only one day of sales). The whole process resembled less a ticket release than a psyop to calibrate how much frustration and scarcity the public will tolerate.

Our cartoonist on a smooth journey towards the World Cup for England against a backdrop of flags and uproar

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Former England midfielder has always been a disruptor and says Saturday’s match will show his kids he can fight

David Bentley has never been one to turn down a challenge, even if it is to his detriment. In 2008, on England duty, he got roped into playing what was meant to be a lighthearted game with Jimmy Bullard, shouting “Postman Pat” at Fabio Capello in training, on account of the manager’s likeness to the children’s character. Capello – perhaps unsurprisingly – did not see the funny side and Bentley never played for England again.

Bentley has always been audacious. When coming through at Arsenal, he accidentally sat in the seat of the club captain, Patrick Vieira, in the canteen. When the Frenchman tapped the then teenager on the shoulder, ordering him to vacate the seat in front of the rest of the squad, Bentley refused as a matter of principle. “I wasn’t going to let anyone mug me off,” Bentley says. “If I was on the street, no chance. I’m not moving. There’s a hierarchy but I don’t know, I’m not having that. But I can feel his hand on my shoulder now.” He spent the next three months getting kicked in training by Vieira and excluded from nights out with the team.

Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he could take World Cup matches away from US cities he deems ‘unsafe’. Here’s what he said – and what powers he does and doesn’t have

Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds and Nottingham Forest fail to respond to questions sent by the Guardian, while Sunderland refuse to comment

Eleven Premier League clubs will have to find new principal sponsors next season when the ban on front-of-shirt advertising for betting companies takes effect. This will represent a financial blow for the clubs concerned: gambling operators are known to pay a substantial premium on standard industry rates. As Karren Brady told the House of Lords in a debate on the football governance bill last November, “the typical difference between gambling and non-gambling shirt sponsorships is around 40%”. The vice-chair of West Ham warned: “For some Premier League clubs, this decision [to ban front-of-shirt gambling advertising] will mean a reduction of around 20% of their total commercial revenues.”

So how to make for the shortfall? Some clubs seem to have opted for the simplest of solutions: to carry on as before, by adapting the nature of their offer to gambling partners accordingly, which includes hidden partnership deals with Asian-facing operators that are unlicensed in the UK and target illegal markets in China, and south and east Asia. The clubs concerned are Sunderland, Aston Villa, Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.

Clubs’ plan to open new ground in 2031 has been met by local opposition but is required for hosts to stay competitive

A protester outside held a sign insisting “San Siro belongs to the citizens” but Milan’s city council was about to change all that, voting to sell one of the world’s most famous football stadiums to tenants who plan to tear it down. Milan have played home games at what is officially the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza since 1926. Inter moved in with them 21 years later. They propose to build a shared home on the same grounds.

It has been a long time coming. The clubs announced joint plans for a new stadium as long ago as June 2019, with an intention to complete work within three years. International architecture firms were consulted and designs made public, but they never progressed out of this first phase.

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It is English football’s Clásico, Klassiker, Classique. The north-west classic, if you will. Use flat vowels. The TV companies are revving up the performance poets, fizzing pints of lager to denote working-class roots are being artfully placed on unpolished pub tables, regional accents exaggerated as the hype machine revs up. The latest renewal of Liverpool v Manchester United finds the historic rivals in less than classic form. That United are playing like a drain is a state of being near-permanent since the year 2013 when twerking was a dance craze, phablets were a must have and “live blog” entered the Oxford English Dictionary (whatever happened to those? – Football Daily Ed). It has been Liverpool riding a rising tide since then.

What game play is actually happening in David Bell’s Sensible Soccer screengrab [yesterday’s letters]? An Arsenal player simulating death in the penalty area? In complete isolation? In the 46th minute? What drama!” – Alun Williams.

Congratulations on England beating the 137th-best team in the world and managing to qualify for the World Cup alongside only 47 other teams. It sounds like it’s just the right time for some overblown England hype. Ah yes, here we are, with England having its best chance to win the World Cup since 1970, just like in 1986, 1998, 2018 and 2022. One day, we will stop jumping on the England hype train at the earliest possible opportunity. However, today is not that day” – Noble Francis.

Re: Thursday’s Daily – I know that it may run contrary to the thrust of the article but I’m sorry, calling Jack Grealish’s winner against Crystal Palace ‘fluked’ is simply ludicrous” – Stuart Ainsworth [judge for yourselves – Football Daily Ed].

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Manchester City and Netherlands player explains why she has become an LGBT Foundation patron and the importance of keeping football free of hate

In April, after scoring for Manchester City against Everton, I kissed a band in the blue, white and pink colours of the transgender flag on my right wrist. I felt very strongly about the supreme court ruling, politically and emotionally. It really hurt me, even though I’m a cisgender woman, and it still hurts me because it targets people within my community.

I really feel part of the queer community because I grew up in a pretty small town in the Netherlands and didn’t have a lot of queer people in my circle or in school, and there wasn’t a lot of representation on TV. I never really felt a part of any community because I didn’t really know it was out there. Growing up and coming out and being in women’s football, which has a very accepting and open environment, and then moving to Manchester, I felt that I could be myself and I became much more in touch with the community. It has been a new, refreshing part of my life.

I had high hopes of making a difference when I joined Halifax Women but ended up feeling let down. Clubs have a responsibility to look after their players – at all levels

Football has given me some wonderful experiences. As a young Arab and Egyptian woman playing for Stoke City from 2017 to 2021 I broke barriers and that paved the way for some exciting opportunities. Fifa selected me as a 2022 World Cup ambassador and put me in a film with David Beckham; I also became an Adidas ambassador and worked as an Afcon pundit for the BBC.

But there have been less easy times as well. As an Egyptian international, representing a country that stands 95th in the Fifa rankings, there are obstacles to playing in the biggest leagues. Because of the points system for international players I left Stoke for the chance of playing second-tier football in Spain with Albacete. And since coming back to England, I’ve seen a world very distant from the new riches of the WSL.

Plus: more players ignoring tactical instructions, free-kick flurries and Wembley Stadium’s first resident club

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Last month, Jeremy Ngakia scored twice for Watford against Oxford to take his career goals total to three from 116 senior club appearances. Excluding players who scored only once, has anybody with 100+ appearances managed a higher percentage of their career goals in a single match?” wonders Peter Skilton.

Denis Boone writes in with the tale of Matthieu Chalmé. “French right-back Chalmé played 362 professional matches during his career, mostly for Lille and Bordeaux,” Denis writes. “He scored four career goals, with three of them coming in a single game. Chalmé netted all three goals in Lille’s 3-0 win at Ajaccio in March 2004, recording the most unlikely of hat-tricks.”

Any more for any more? Mail us with your suggestions.

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions on a regular basis. In today’s column, Graham Ruthven endeavors to answer three of them

By the time next summer’s World Cup kicks off, it’ll have been 12 years since Italy last played at the tournament they have won more times (four) than any other nation besides Brazil (five) and Germany (also four). The way things are going, the Azzurri’s 12-year wait for World Cup qualification could become a 16-year one at the very least.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Watson and Ben Fisher as the Premier League returns this weekend

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On the podcast today: the panel preview the upcoming round of fixtures including Liverpool at home to Manchester United in a game that feels significant for both sides. Arne Slot has some big decisions to make while a win for Ruben Amorim would potentially blast his side up to the dizzying heights of sixth.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Robyn Cowen and Tom Garry to reflect on Millie Bright’s international retirement, a busy weekend in the WSL and a mixed start for English clubs in the Champions League

On today’s pod: Millie Bright calls time on her England career and the panel reflect on her legacy, leadership and unforgettable moments in a Lionesses shirt.

Plus, the panel runs through all the latest WSL action as Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City all pick up wins, but not without drama. They talk Jess Park’s purple patch, Spurs’ growing resilience, and what’s not clicking yet for West Ham and Everton.

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves