Marcos Alonso to stop taking the knee after admitting it is ”losing strength”
Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso had admitted that he will no longer take a knee before matches as he believes the anti-racism gesture is ”losing strength”.
The left-back says he will instead point to the Premier League ‘No Room For Racism’ badge on the Chelsea jersey while team-mates and opponents kneel prior to kick-off.
After the long break in the summer of 2020 after the coronavirus lockdown. Players, management and officials all agreed to take a knee before kick-off to reinforce racial equality after the death of George Floyd in America.
Alonso spoke about his stance after his team’s 0-3 away win to rivals Tottenham on Sunday;
“I am fully against racism and I’m against every type of discrimination, and I just prefer to put my finger to the badge where it says no to racism like they do in some other sports and football in other countries”.
“I prefer to do it this way and, of course, to say very clearly that I am against racism and I respect everybody.”
When asked rather or not his decision was a political one, Alonso said;
“I don’t know, I just prefer to do it this way. It’s my way to do it, I think it’s another way.
“And maybe I think it’s losing a bit of strength the other way, so I just prefer to do it this way and to show I am fully supportive of fighting against racism.”
The 30-year-old defender had fallen out of favour with former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard before the the arrival of Thomas Tuchel.
Since the German has arrived in England, Alonso has kept first-choice left-back Ben Chilwell on the bench, starting all five Premier League games and captaining the side in their 3-0 win over Aston Villa on September 11th.
Sunday’s 3-0 win over London rivals Tottenham saw Alonso give one of his best performances of the season, helping Chelsea maintain their unbeaten start to the season, winnig four and drawing one.
Marcos Alonso to stop taking the knee after admitting it is ”losing strength”
Chelsea’s next league game is a top of the table clash against reigning champions Manchester City at Stamford Bridge at 12:30 pm live on BT Sport 1.
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Manchester City kick-off their quest to reach a tenth final in the EFL Cup and win their ninth when they face off against League One side Wycombe Wanderers.
City have started the season strongly, even with a few hiccups, and sit three points off the top of the Premier League table.
Wycombe Wanderers come into the third round off the back of two wins via penalties against League Two opposition and face an uphill battle to beat Pep Guardiola’s men.
City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan picked up an injury in his side’s goalless draw against Southampton at the weekend and joins the long list of injury concerns for the club this season.
Rodri, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko have all been sidelined in recent weeks.
Manchester City will have been expected to rotate regardless of injuries but young players may be given a chance as a result of the squad’s current fitness.
Liam Delap and Cole Palmer could earn starts for the cup holders as they mount their challenge for five-in-a-row.
Zack Steffen, Fernandinho and Phil Foden are among the stars set to play against a side that includes veteran striker Adebayo Akinfenwa.
Wycombe, a side who haven’t won a game in 90 minutes in the league cup since 2006, are the side tasked with dislodging the grip of a side who have not lost in the competition in five years.
The Wanderers are focused on the league this season after suffering relegation back to the third tier of English football in the last campaign.
According to the club site, the team is expected to be rotated before an important clash with MK Dons on Saturday.
However, Republic of Ireland international Daryl Horgan could make an appearance against the Premier League champions.
Lineups
Man City (4-3-3): Steffen; Egan-Riley, Burns, Mbete, Wilson-Esbrand; Lavia, De Bruyne, Foden; Sterling, Torres, Mahrez.
Manchester City – Wycombe will kick-off at 7:45 pm. The match will not be shown live on TV. You can follow minute-by-minute updates on ManCity.com and the Man City App through the Matchday Centre, or over on Twitter: @ManCity. Wycombe’s twitter will also provide updates.
Cork man Caoimhin Kelleher and Curtis Jones will start for Jurgen Klopp’s side in the clash as the Liverpool coaching ticket has expressed the importance of the competition for young players.
“It’s gold for young players, proper gold because we like this competition to introduce new players – and that’s why I have to say that Curtis, he’s going to start tomorrow and it’s his 50th game for Liverpool. That all started with this cup,” assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders said on Monday at the pre-match press conference.
Thiago Alcantara will miss both of this week’s games for Liverpool through injury after hobbling off the pitch in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace with a calf injury.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino and Neco Williams are also all unavailable for the tie.
Norwich winger Todd Cantwell will be unavailable due to personal reasons while Christopher Zimmerman and Przemyslaw Placheta remain sidelined.
Head coach Daniel Farke is also expected to rotate his side for the cup clash, as he said in his pre-match press conference: “Once you have to play against the best teams in the world, and we do this on league level and now we do this against Liverpool in the cup, we have to do this with full intensity.
“For that, I trust my whole squad. We have three games in seven days and it is important to bring some recovered players on the pitch, but not to rest other players.
“It is more to have players who can go with this intensity against the ball in order to be competitive.”
Norwich – Liverpool will kick-off at 7:45 pm. The game will be available to watch on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football with coverage from 7 pm.
The focus of the midweek games will be round three of the EFL Cup, Wimbledon will travel to Arsenal looking to cause an upset
The match will kick off at 19:45 on Wednesday, 22nd of September in the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal seems to have turned their season around. Two wins on the bounce against Norwich and Burnley have given the side new energy. Those two victories now put Arsenal in 13th place in the league, only four points off the top five.
They reached this stage of the competition after they sauntered past a West Brom youth team 6-0 last month.
Wimbledon have had a tough start to their bid for promotion this season. After eight games, they have won three and drawn three leaving them in seventh place. Their recent matches were going well until a poor 1-0 defeat at home to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.
Wimbledon played well in their Round Two match against Northhampton, winning by a singular goal to earn their right to face Arsenal.
These two clubs have not faced each other in recent history with Wimbledon currently sitting two leagues below the Gunners in League One. As the sides are split by around 45 places in the English league system, it is clear that Arsenal will be out-and-out favorites.
"Charlie Patino likely to be named in upcoming Carabao Cup game against Wimbledon. He's been really impressing the Arsenal first team players." – @ChrisWheatley_pic.twitter.com/4f9HA1rrta
Although everyone loves cup fixtures because it gives smaller clubs a chance to kill the giants but that only happens once in a blue moon. Arsenal are now playing well and winning games and that will not change tomorrow.
Expect this game to end 2-0 to Arsenal, winning comfortably and easing off the peddle.
The EFL Cup third round takes up this midweek set of fixtures, tomorrow Aston Villa will travel to Chelsea hoping to exact revenge
The match will kick off at 19:45 on Wednesday 22nd September in Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea could not be in better form, having scored seven goals in three wins on the bounce. After beating Spurs 3-0 at the weekend, the Blues are now 11 matches unbeaten.
This will be the club’s first EFL Cup game of the season due to their success last year but they have had plenty of match experience in recent weeks.
Aston Villa has had a decent time coping with the loss of their talisman Jack Grealish to Man City. They have picked up two wins and a draw in their opening five league matches including an impressive 3-0 drubbing of Everton where newcomer Leon Bailey wowed the fans.
Villa polished off League Two side Barrow 6-0 to reach this stage of the competition with Cameron Archer as the star of the show.
It has not been long since the last time these two clubs faced each other, less than two weeks ago Chelsea managed to beat Villa 3-0 playing poorly, with Lukaku netting a brace. The Clarets do not like this fixture, having only won three of their last 18 meetings.
19 – Aged 19 years and 258 days old, Cameron Archer became the youngest player to score a hat-trick for Aston Villa since Gary Shaw (18y 342d) vs Bristol City in 1979. Opportunity. pic.twitter.com/2cuSktZdBJ
Tuchel seems to be on fire with his selection choices and with the squad depth he has it is hard for him to go wrong. Villa’s injury concerns will have a major impact on the result of this tie as their rotation players struggle to contain Champions League stars.
Expect this game to end 3-0 (again) to Chelsea.
Thomas Tuchel said this when he joined Chelsea in January.
The province’s patience reaped a fine reward as the 35-year-old World Cup winner became the second player to join the Irish outfit this summer after fellow 35-year-old Mick Kearney, who returned to Ireland two years in the Italian sun.
Vermuelen has signed a contract with the side until 2023 and will join the squad following the completion of his commitments with South Africa for the year.
“It didn’t have to be in any particular aspect,” McFarland said. “We wanted it to be a back-rower, but we wanted it to be an influential back-rower.
“When we first looked at the names of the list, they were really good players, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve got really good players here, so we held our breath and kept our powder dry.”
The high-profile move comes several months after the collapsed move involving former European Player of the Year Leone Nakarawa, who failed his medical.
The side were so certain of the previous deal that they posted a video showcasing highlights of the Fijian lock titled ‘Welcome to Ulster Rugby Leone Nakarawa’.
However, after the Nakarawa transfer did not work out, McFarland and co. did not panic in their search for a replacement for Marcell Coetzee, who the Ulster boss called a “difference-making player.”
“…One day Bryn [Cunningham, Ulster’s Head of Operations and Recruitment] stuck his head into my office and said what about Duane Vermeulen? I said ‘Yes, please!’ and Bryn took it from there.”
Vermuelen joins as a Springbok half-centurion who is one of the most influential figures in Jacques Nienaber’s side – a defensive captain that knows how to translate a game plan into action.
His new club Ulster kick-off their 2021/22 season when they welcome McFarland’s old employers Glasgow Warriors to the Kingspan Stadium under the lights on Friday, September 24 at 7:35 pm.
The Dunlop Masters Superbike Championship makes its second visit of 2021 to the Mondello Park National Track this weekend, with the Kildare venue set to host rounds ten, eleven and twelve of the hotly contested championship, as well as welcoming an increased number of spectators. The September 25th and 26th event will be the penultimate event of the year with the finale set for just two weeks later on October 9th and 10th.
As the series prepares for two events in quick succession, to round out its shorter than normal season, there are five riders still in contention for the Superbike crown. Wicklow based Derek Sheils leads Kilkenny native Richie Ryan as he attempts to break Ryan’s run of championship victories which stretches back to 2017. Sheils and Ryan have captured most of the wins this season but when not winning both have dropped points, allowing Dubliner’s Michael Sweeney and Thomas O’Grady along with Tralee’s Emmet O’Grady to stay in touch.
The previous event in August produced the closest Superbike races see for many years as the unrelated Thomas and Emmet O’Grady got themselves into the mix at the front of the field. Thomas was particularly impressive as he moved his HVAC Solutions Yamaha into victory contention for the first time since returning to the Masters series. The Dubliner finished second to Ryan’s Mobil 1 Yamaha in race one and did the same behind the Road House Macau BMW of Sheils in race two. Emmett continues to develop his TAG Racing Honda and picked up his best results of the season, including just missing out on the podium twice and taking his first front row start.
The top step of the Supersport podium has been the property of Offaly’s Kevin Keyes for most of the season but he has worked for his victories on all occasions, having had to take on top Road Racers Adam Mc:Lean and Michael Dunlop. His nearest championship challenger is Mike Browne who has so far failed to match his 2020 dominance, and Andrew Murphy who has been a regular podium finisher.
Amongst the other classes the Principal Insurance Pre-Injection class is one of the closest with every race going down to the final lap. Tipperary’s Ian Prendergast has emerged over the last two events as the man to beat and now holds a strong championship lead over former champion Darryl Sharkey and relative newcomer Noel Dunne Jnr.
The main Superbike and Supersport classes will be supported at Mondello Park by The Pre-Injection championship, Twins, Classic Superbikes and Moto 400, the DM Groundworks and FJS Plant backed Junior classes and Sidecars. All classes will qualify on Saturday and will contest three races over the two days.
Spectator admission for Rounds 10 to 12 of the Dunlop Masters is by pre-booked ticket only. Tickets for the two days of racing must be purchased on-line, to find out more see www.masterssuperbike.ie.
With the start of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign delayed until next month, the focus for the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team is on Tuesday’s game with Australia.
Ireland were meant to have played Georgia in their opening Group A game last Friday but that was rescheduled until June 2022. So their preparation this week has been centred on the 11th-highest ranked team in women’s football.
Tickets are almost sold out for the game, with a capacity set at 4,000 due to COVID restrictions.
TEAM NEWS
Midfielder Ruesha Littlejohn is ruled out due to a foot injury.
All of the players & staff have tested negative for COVID-19.
QUOTES
Republic of Ireland Manager Vera Pauw
“Australia are officially the ninth-best team in women’s football and recently finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics. We know just how good they are and this opportunity to test ourselves against such a top-class opponent is one that we are ready to make the most of.
“We have never played against Australia at senior level before so this fixture is a first in many ways. Crucially, though, it acts as another chance for us to work together as a group to be in the best position possible for our first 2023 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
“The start to our qualifying campaign has been delayed due to COVID issues in Georgia – where we faced the possibility of travelling without over 20 players – so we now have to look ahead to a double-header in October at home to Sweden and away to Finland. We know how difficult these games will be so that is why this test against Australia is so important to take positives from our performance.”
Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe
“It’s an exciting game, Australia are a top class side and it will be a great test for us. We’ve been playing against a lot of top quality teams of late and they certainly fall into that bracket.
“I know a few of the Australian players from my club, Arsenal, and we’ve been having a laugh talking about the game. But it will be down to business on Tuesday for them and for us because we want to put on a good performance.
“One of the big things about this game is that we can finally have our fans back in Tallaght after so long away due to COVID. We’re fully aware of the need to maintain social distancing and the protocols in place, but there is no doubt that they will make a difference for us – they have always been fully behind us.”
This year’s showpiece event will be held at Tallaght Stadium with kick-off set for 5:30 pm.
While a big crowd is expected on the day, the game will also be broadcast live on RTÉ2.
The semi-finals are set for the week ending October 10th with current Cup holders Peamount United paired with 2018 and 2019 champions Wexford Youths, while Shelbourne will take on Galway WFC.
The four sides earned their spots in this year’s semi-finals after wins over Treaty United, Athlone Town, Cork City and DLR Waves respectively.
Peamount United took down Shelbourne and Wexford in their run to the cup final last year, where they dispatched of Cork City in a six-goal rout to take their second FAI Women’s Cup.
Their victory over Cork ended a decade-long drought in the competition and the side are favourites to retain their crown this season.
Peamount also lead the Women’s National League currently with Shelbourne and Wexford in second and third and Galway in fifth.
Wexford will be looking to get revenge on the holders for their 1-0 semi-final loss last November and move one step closer to winning a third cup in four years.
Shelbourne are searching for their first piece in silverware in four years and will look to end the wait with a win in Tallaght in November.
They face Galway, who won the competition in 2007 under the name Galway Ladies League.
The county league has since become a feeder for Galway WFC, who are still on course for their second FAI Women’s Cup victory.
Shelbourne will host Galway at Tolka Park while Wexford Youths will make the journey to Greenogue to play rivals Peamount United for a spot in the final.
Ulster second-row Kieran Treadwell is taking it day-by-day after picking up a shoulder injury ahead of the upcoming inaugural United Rugby Championship.
The competition involves all 12 teams that took part in the Pro14 last season, as well as four South African sides – the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions.
All four sides were set to get a taster of the new-look competition during the Rainbow Cup, but coronavirus worries derailed those plans – only the Bulls faced a side in the Pro14; a loss to Benetton Treviso in the final of the competition.
The 25-year-old Irish-capped lock is working on his fitness as he looks to regain the starting berth he had nailed down last season.
He noted that the new rules set to be implemented in the upcoming season also encourage himself and the rest of the Ulster squad to continue improving their fitness.
Former Limerick senior hurling strength and conditioning coach Mikey Kiely will be at the centre of that focus, having joined the province following the Treaty County’s successful Liam McCarthy defence this year.
“He’s a great guy,” Treadwell said. “He’s really knowledgeable and he gives a different perspective.
“His background, it’s very fitness-based and he’s very knowledgeable in what he does and how he delivers it. As a bloke he’s a really, really good guy and I’ve a lot of time for him.
“[Rugby is] similar [to hurling] in that it’s a team sport but the difference is that there’s more continuous play.
“They’re quite transitional is how he put it to me, I’ve spoken to him quite a few times about how it differs.
“He seemed to be saying it was quite similar, but there’s more boys over 100 kilos so it is a bit different.
“We obviously saw that they [Limerick] got to the final and won, obviously the boys were talking about that.
“You see the way that they play, they have serious engines on them, the way they look, they’re big guys.”
Kiely is expected to further improve Dan McFarland’s Ulster setup following the side’s growth under the former Scotland assistant coach.
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