Archives for October 2019

Manchester United Starting XI Prediction at AFC Bournemouth

October 31, 2019 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

It’s crazy how fast things can change in the world of football. Manchester United had just gone 11 straight matches, across all competitions, without a road win. Now they’ll head to the Vitality Stadium on Saturday looking for their fourth straight away triumph.

The venue, Dean Court, and the opponent (AFC Bournemouth) are conducive to such a thing. The Cherries are winless in their last four league outings. At home, Bournemouth have won just two of their 11 last Premier League matches. They are likely to concede at least one goal too; as they have kept just two clean sheets over that span. That all said, let’s take a look at who OGS might select for his first team on the weekend.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Man United Team News at Bournemouth: Maguire, Rashford, Shaw, Matic

October 31, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Manchester United head to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday to begin Premier League match day 11. They’ll do so sitting seventh in the table, two spots ahead of the host Cherries. The Red Devils are certainly streaking, looking to achieve their fourth straight win, road win mind you, across all competitions.

Bournemouth are level on points with United (13), as well as West Ham and Sheffield, but they sit two spots lower, in ninth place, on goal differential. Let’s take a look at the team news for both sides in this one, starting with the hosts.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Manchester United Receive Most Favorable League Cup Draw Possible

October 31, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The draws for the League Cup have been made, and it’s great news for the Manchester clubs, especially United. It hasn’t been the greatest of seasons thus far at Old Trafford, but they did get rewarded for their efforts in ousting Chelsea from the League Cup tournament round of 16 last night.

In the quarterfinals, United will welcome Colchester, the lowest-ranked team left in the field to Old Trafford. Meanwhile Manchester City will travel to Oxford, the other lower division side left in the tourney, to continue their defense of this title.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United

John Calipari Pupils Have Earned Over $2.2 Billion in the NBA

October 31, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

John Calipari has succeeded, at an extremely high level, in the National Basketball Association. What an odd sentence to describe a coach whose record in the NBA was an only 72-112, right? Well, it’s not what Calipari did while leading the New Jersey Nets (1996-1999) or his stint as a Philadelphia 76ers assistant (2000) that matters in this context.

It’s the fact that Calipari-coached players who year after year are the top college basketball picks in the draft have been signed to more than $2.2 billion in NBA contracts. That’s billion with a B and $1.9 billion of that came from the University of Kentucky alone. That’s more than the GDP of the nation of Belize. In fact, Kentucky led the nation with 29 former players present on NBA opening day rosters.

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Filed Under: Business, College Basketball, Kentucky Wildcats, NBA, NBA Draft

Jurgen Klopp Lashes Out at Schedule Makers Amid League Cup Issue

October 30, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Jurgen Klopp, like most Premier League managers, enjoys hitting out at the schedule makers from time to time. The fixture congestion of the festive period is typically slammed by multiple managers when it comes around every year, but 2019-20 brings a unique challenge with the Club World Cup; at least for Liverpool.

The Reds advanced to the next round of the EFL Cup tonight, with a 5-5 draw at Anfield against Arsenal that was decided on penalty kicks. The quarterfinal round is set to begin the week of December 16, which would overlap with the beginning of LFC’s Club World Cup campaign. Oh, by the way, the reigning European champions are defending their UCL title too; on top of the Premier League competition, where they currently sit in first place.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Liverpool

Man United News: Martial, Rashford, Mourinho, Pogba, Williams, Rojo, Fred

October 30, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Manchester United are just minutes away from kicking off at Chelsea in the EFL Cup round of 16. The starting XI was just posted a few moments ago, and we have that embedded for you below.

The first team includes four changes, including the seldom seen Brandon Williams, and Fred, who United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said will take the place of Paul Pogba for the time being. It is thought that the Frenchman will be out of commission until December. It’s also a rare first team appearance (those rare starting assignments have been earned) for Jesse Lingard. Take a look at the line-up below, followed by the match FYIs.

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Chicago Bears Fans Losing Patience with Mitch Trubisky, Team Still Committed

October 30, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

With every major investment there comes a point where you have to ask yourself a couple important questions. Have we seen enough sample size yet to determine whether we’re getting an effective ROI (return on investment) or not? Is this a sunk cost? Are we continuing to throw good money and time after bad?

With Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, the answers to these questions are clear now, at least among much of the fan base. They’ve seen enough, believe it is isn’t working out and that it’s not going to work out. However, the front office is not on the same page, and that’s the opinion that matters.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, NFL

Fred to Replace Paul Pogba in Short Term, but a Long-Term Answer is Needed

October 30, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Paul Pogba is no doubt Manchester United’s most talented and gifted player. However, he simply does not bring his full and total effort every match, and he’s just not a leader. There’s a limit to how much United can achieve when he’s the side’s best player. We’ve seen this in action since 2016.

As the club’s all time most expensive player, and an out of this world talent, there is a huge market for the Frenchman and World Cup winner. He’s out until December due to injury, and in the meantime Fred will start in his place, says manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Jose Mourinho Wants Arsenal FC Job According to Reports

October 30, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The heat is starting to get turned up on Arsenal FC manager Unai Emery. The club is lacking leadership, as the man voted team captain, Granit Xhaka, has been a disaster in the skipper’s role. Midway through year two of the Emery regime, the Gunners haven’t improved at all above where they were at the tail end of the Arsene Wenger era. There is already a fairly strong #EmeryOut contingent present within the base.

So if Emery were to actually be sacked, who would be next? Well, there is one guy out there who definitely wants the job- Jose Mourinho.

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Filed Under: Arsenal, Chelsea, Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Granit Xhaka Should Apologize to Fans Says Unai Emery

October 29, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

There was a lot of controversy when Granit Xhaka was voted team captain by the roster of players on Arsenal football club, and it’s possible his reign at skipper might be coming to an end soon. Xhaka didn’t take it well when his own fans booed him and his side during the Gunners 2-2 home draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday.

He removed his shirt as he stormed off the pitch and swore at the fans. Later he changed his Instagram avatar from a pic of him captaining Arsenal to a photo of his captaining Switzerland. B roll of the incident plays over Arsenal manager Unai Emery addressing the incident in his news conference today ahead of tomorrow night’s League Cup clash at Liverpool.

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Filed Under: Arsenal, Football/Soccer

How David Ross Hire Impacts Chicago Cubs 2020 World Series Odds

October 29, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

We’ve seen it time and time again- former catchers make great managers. There are many reasons for that, but primary is the fact that they played one of just two positions directly involved in every single play in the field. The other is pitcher of course, but hurlers have their back turned to everything else that’s going on in the diamond behind them.

Catchers see it all and perhaps that’s why they often develop an enlightened knowledge of and keener sense for the game. The Chicago Cubs are hoping that this will be the case with David Ross, who won the World Series with the club as a player in 2016. Yesterday brought Ross’ official product rollout/launch (a grand exercise in talking without saying anything), something that is formally referred to in the business as an “introductory press conference.”

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Filed Under: Chicago Cubs, MLB

LSU QB Joe Burrow Starts to Pull Away in Heisman Trophy Race

October 29, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

In the new millenium, the Heisman Trophy is pretty much a quarterback only award, as only two non-QBs have won it since 2000. Both of them played running back, meaning you really can’t even contend unless you play one of just two positions.

It’s also interesting how the current Oklahoma signal caller, Jalen Hurts, is considered a leading contender, because if he claims the honor, it would mark three in a row for Sooners QBs. Maybe at that point it’s just the offensive system that’s winning the Heisman then, maybe?

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Filed Under: College Football, Ohio State Buckeyes