Pocognoli: Lukaku inspired WBA switch

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman insists he is committed to the club amid links to the vacant Everton post.

The Dutchman is reportedly a target for the Merseyside club to replace Roberto Martinez, who was sacked on Thursday after one win in their last 10 Premier League matches.

Koeman – who is contracted until next year – has led Southampton well since arriving at the start of the 2014-15 campaign, and has guided them to seventh and a shot at Europe this term.

However, at his news conference on Friday, the former Ajax and Feyenoord coach said his future was at St Mary s Stadium.

I was surprised [by the reports], Koeman said. I m manager of Southampton. 

Everybody knows I have one more year on my contract and, as I mentioned last week becau…

Michael O’Neill said his Northern Ireland players were “angry and upset” after teenage debutant Callum Marshall saw a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out by VAR for a marginal decision in Friday’s 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Denmark.

Marshall had only been on the pitch for a few minutes when the West Ham youngster flicked on Jonny Evans’ header to find the corner of the net, cancelling out Jonas Wind’s 47th-minute strike and sparking huge celebrations amongst the 1,700 travelling fans.

But hearts sank as referee Daniel Stefanski signalled a VAR check that would last a full five minutes, with Tomasz Kwiatkowski taking an age to review the footage before determining that Evans had been fractionally offside when the free-kick was sent into the box.

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Two sides who are desperately seeking some recent stability, QPR will welcome Birmingham to west London on Saturday afternoon.

Starting with the hosts, while QPR might have managed to claim a much-needed 1-0 victory at home against Watford last weekend, Gareth Ainsworth s new squad came crashing back down to earth a few days ago. Putting in what was a nightmare display on the road and coming under a huge amount of scrutiny, the former Wycombe boss saw his side get hit with a stunning 6-1 defeat against Blackpool. Continuing to freefall down the Championship table, the Hoops have also claimed just a single win from any of their last 15 straight matchups across all formats a run that stems all the way back to December 17th. Likew…

Marcos Rojo is relieved to be playing on the same team as new Manchester United star Alexis Sanchez after admitting the pair always ended up kicking each other as opponents.

Sanchez left Arsenal for Old Trafford in January in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, having spent almost four years in north London.

Argentina international Rojo has often faced Chile forward Sanchez at both club and international level and he admits their aggression would often get the better of them.

I have faced him a number of times, playing either against Arsenal or Chile, he told Inside United. We always seem to have fought on the pitch so it s better we re on the same side as we always ended up kicking each other.

That s my style and the way I play. I ve been this way sin…

Vincent Kompany says Manchester City s EFL Cup final triumph has made his most recent battle against injury worthwhile.

The City captain made his first appearance in this season s competition at Wembley and repaid manager Pep Guardiola s faith with the second goal in the 3-0 win.

It is the third time the Belgium international has won the trophy and the victory is a highlight of what has been another frustrating personal campaign for the defender, who has played only 13 times in all competitions due to persistent fitness problems.

But Kompany insists it is worth going through the lengthy recovery processes in order to get his hands on silverware.

I thought I was going to score. I came close a few times in the game and then it s just the luck on the day, …

Tottenham Hotspur s Gareth Bale has been named the English Professional Footballers Association (PFA) player of the year.

Bale, who also won in 2011, claimed the peer-review award ahead of Manchester United duo Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick, as well as Chelsea pair Eden Hazard and Juan Mata.

The 23-year-old Welsh forward also became the third player to win both the PFA s top prize and the young player of the year award in the same season, following on from Andy Gray (1977) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2007).

Bale also joined Ronaldo as one of five players to have claimed the PFA s player of the year award twice, alongside Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer and Mark Hughes.

Having scored 19 goals in the English Premier League so far this season, Bale only sits b…

Andrea Pirlo acknowledged Juventus are a still a bit angry after failing to beat Atalanta, but their physical well-being is encouraging ahead of Saturday s clash with Parma.

The Bianconeri played out a frustrating draw in their midweek contest after Federico Chiesa s opener was cancelled out by Remo Freuler at Allianz Stadium.

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty and Alvaro Morata was guilty of missing a gilt-edged chance as Juve remained four points adrift of leaders Milan in Serie A.

Speaking to Juve s official website, head coach Pirlo said: We are a bit angry because we played a good match against a great team.

There s regret for not having taken the many opportunities created and that we didn t manage to take home the three points.

The draw e…

Raheem Sterling claimed there was contact from Denmark s Joakim Maehle before he went to ground to win the decisive penalty in England s 2-1 European Championship semi-final victory.

The decision to award England a penalty after 102 minutes of play at Wembley stood up to a VAR check and Harry Kane had the spot-kick saved before he buried the rebound past Kasper Schmeichel.

Earlier, England had fallen behind to a superb long-range free-kick from Mikkel Damsgaard before Sterling forced an equaliser that went in off Simon Kjaer.

Sterling said he felt the decision to award the penalty in extra time was correct, telling ITV: I went into the box, he stuck his right leg out and it touched my leg so it s a clear penalty.

As long as it goes in the back of the net…

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi need each other, according to former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Madrid s Ronaldo and Barcelona star Messi have been regarded as the best two players in the world for the best part of a decade, winning eight Ballon d Or awards between them.

And Ancelotti, who guided Madrid to Champions League glory with the help of Ronaldo in 2014, believes the rivalry between the pair motivates both players to keep improving.

I always get asked about Lionel Messi and how Cristiano regards him, Ancelotti, who will take over at Bayern Munich ahead of the new season, wrote in The Telegraph.  The truth is, we did not spend all our days at Madrid talking about Messi.

Cristiano respects Messi; he respects him a lot. In a way I thin…

Martin Braithwaite has pledged his future to Toulouse for another season but retains a long-term ambition to play with the best .

The Denmark striker has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs, including West Ham, Sunderland and Crystal Palace but, while he admits there has been interest from elsewhere, he is happy to remain at the Stadium Municipal for now.

Braithwaite is coming off a career-best 14-goal effort for Toulouse in 2015-16 and has started the new campaign in similarly impressive form, netting a brace in Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Bordeaux.

There have been a lot of rumours, and some of them are true,  he told Omnisport. There have been some offers but they haven t been good enough for the club to sell me, or anything good enough …