Klopp has ‘no doubts’ about Salah commitment
It would be fair to say that September 7 cannot come quickly enough for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
That is the day the Saudi Pro League transfer window closes and, as long as Salah is still a Liverpool player, the German will no longer have to field questions about the Egyptian’s future … for a few months anyway.
On Sunday, Salah was doing what he does best as he scored goal No 188 in 309 games for Liverpool in their 3-0 demolition of Aston Villa.
But, inevitably, the questions after the game were not centred around Dominik Szoboszlai’s first goal for the club or Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the season, but about Salah’s future with Al Ittihad reported to be planning a new £200 million offer.
When asked whether the 31-year-old had spoken about his desire to say at Anfield, Klopp said: “No. He didn’t tell me, but he didn’t have to. He speaks with his training and performances and behaviour.
“We had meetings this week and the meetings were not about what we did in the past, it was about what we will do in the future.
“I never had any doubt about his commitment to this club.”
It was a breathless end to Arsenal’s home win over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.
With the score deadlocked at 1-1, United substitute Alejandro Garnacho thought he had grabbed an 87th-minute winner, only to be denied by one of those length-of-a-fingernail VAR offside calls.
Then two quick goals deep into injury-time win it for Arsenal, with Declan Rice finding the perfect time to score his first goal for the club before Gabriel Jesus finished calmly to send the Emirates wild.
“It’s the best feeling in the world. This is what we play for,” said Gunners captain Martin Odegaard. “It’s the fine margins of football,” Rice added. “We go up the other end and I score then Gabi [Jesus] seals it.”
Ferguson is latest Seagulls’ star in making
Teenage striker Evan Ferguson looks set to become the latest star turn on the Brighton talent conveyor belt.
The Irishman fired a superb hat-trick in their 3-1 win over Newcastle United and became only the fourth player – after Chris Bart-Williams, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen – to score a Premier League treble before their 19th birthday.
Such a result and performance is particularly impressive when you consider the Seagulls lost key midfielders Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister during the summer – and went into the game on the back of a 3-1 home defeat against West Ham.
“We are happy that the transfer market is closed,” said Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi. “It is good news for us because we want to keep him [Ferguson] and we want to work with him to improve him.”
The likes of Ferguson, Kaoru Mitoma and Julio Enciso, who is out injured, will all soon be targets for the league’s bigger guns in the next transfer windows.
And as De Zerbi’s stock continues to rise, the big question will be how long it takes the Italian to tire of being manager of a feeder club for bigger fish and decides to move on himself
Son stars as Spurs strike it hot
It may seem strange to say there might have been some relief in the Tottenham Hotspur camp after their 5-2 battering of Burnley on Saturday. After all, Ange Postecoglou’s side are unbeaten after four games having taken 10 points from a possible 12.
But, despite scoring six times in their opening three league games, Spurs strikers Richarlison and Son Heung-min had failed to find the target, with the Brazilian in particular looking desperately short of confidence.
And with talismanic goal machine Harry Kane now plying now his trade in Germany, questions were being asked about who was going to supply their cutting edge up front.
At Turf Moor, captain Son stood up to the plate, with the South Korean firing home his fourth Premier League hat-trick.
“Sonny was outstanding,” Postecoglou said. “He’s been an outstanding leader, with the way he presents himself every day in training. He led our press today – and then he has the quality to take his chances. I’m really pleased for him.”
VAR farce leaves Fulham fuming
It has been a week to forget for Fulham manager Marco Silva, who watched his team collapse to a 5-1 defeat at Manchester City on Saturday.
There is no shame in losing to the champions of Europe at the Etihad Stadium but what left Silva fuming was the latest failure of VAR to right an obvious wrong on the pitch.
With the scores level at 1-1 just before half-time, Manuel Akanji was clearly in an offside position as Nathan Ake’s header bounced past him and into the net. But video assistant referee Tony Harrington bafflingly ruled that Akanji was not interfering with play.
Everyone that plays football and has some knowledge of the game would be 100 per cent sure [VAR] has to disallow the goal,” Silva said.
“It was offside,” admitted City striker Erling Haaland. “I feel bad for them – I would be fuming after this as well.”
Adding to Silva’s problems was the absence of key midfielder Joao Palhinha following the collapse of his midweek move to Bayern Munich, even though he had passed a medical, posed in a Bayern shirt and even carried out in-house interviews.
“He had a big chance to go to one of the biggest clubs in the world and he was really close,” added Silva, who revealed the Portuguese was not in the right frame of mind to start. “You can imagine the impact that has on a football player when these type of things happen.”
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