LONDON – Kepa Arrizabalaga menjadi bulan-bulanan setelah Chelsea kalah 0-2 dari Liverpool di pekan kedua Liga Inggris 2020-2021 yang dilangsungkan di Stamford Bridge, Senin (21/9/2020) dini hari WIB. Kiper berpaspor Spanyol itu menjadi bulan-bulanan karena membuat blunder di laga yang berakhir 2-0 untuk kemenangan Liverpool tersebut.
Penjaga gawang 25 tahun itu membuat blunder di menit 54, atau ketika Chelsea tengah tertinggal 0-1. Saat itu, Kepa menerima umpan dari salah satu bek tengah Chelsea, Fikayo Tomori.
Bukannya memberi umpan kepada Kurt Zouma yang berada di sampingnya, Kepa justru berupaya melepaskan umpan jauh. Sayangnya, umpan Kepa terlalu lemah sehingga membentur winger Liverpool, Sadio Mane.
Bola pantulan itu kemudian dikejar Mane dan dengan mudahnya, winger berpaspor Senegal itu membobol gawang Chelsea kawalan Kepa Arrizabalaga. Kelar pertandingan, pelatih Chelsea Frank Lampard menilai Chelsea seharusnya bisa mengakhiri pertandingan dengan skor imbang.
Hal itu terjadi jika Kepa tidak membuat kesalahan, plus Jorginho berhasil mengeksekusi penalti secara sempurna. Sekadar informasi, Chelsea berpeluang mempertipis kedudukan pada menit 75 setelah Timo Werner dijatuhkan Thiago Alcantara di kotak terlarang.
Namun, Jorginho yang menjadi algojo gagal memanfaatkannya secara baik. Saat itu, tembakan gelandang Tim Nasional Italia itu dapat digagalkan secara sempurna oleh Kiper Liverpool, Alisson Becker.
“Kesalahan besar (blunder Kepa). Itu jelas blunder dan ketika Anda merenungkan jika tak ada blunder dan penalti kami masuk, maka kami bermain imbang 1-1. Tugas saya sebagai manajer adalah mencoba memberi kepercayaan kepada Kepa. Itu adalah blunder yang jelas dan Kepa menerimanya,” kata Lampard, mengutip dari BBC, Senin (21/9/2020).
(Alisson saat menahan penalti Jorginho)
Performa Kepa terus mendapat sorotan. Didatangkan seharga 80 juta euro (Rp1,39 triliun) dari Athletic Bilbao pada musim panas 2018, Kepa tak kunjung menunjukkan kualitasnya.
Musim lalu saja, gawang Kepa kemasukan 58 kali dari 41 pertandingan! Karena itu, Chelsea dalam waktu dekat akan mengamankan penjaga gawang asal Senegal yang bermain untuk Rennes, Edouard Mendy.
Kiper bertinggi badan 198 sentimeter itu didatangkan seharga 22 juta pounds atau sekira Rp419,6 miliar. Kehadiran Edouard Mendy sama saja menamatkan karier Kepa bersama Chelsea.
Milan: Andrea Pirlo memulakan karier selaku jurulatih dengan kemenangan selepas Juventus menewaskan Sampdoria 3-0 pada perlawanan pertama dalam usaha kelab itu untuk memenangi kejuaraan liga buat kali ke-10 berturut-turut.
Dejan Kulusevski menjaringkan gol pembukaan selepas 13 minit di Turin dengan Leonardo Bonucci menambah gol kedua minit ke-78.
Bintang Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo melengkapkan kemenangan bergaya pasukannya dengan menyumbang gol ketiga pada lewat permainan.
Perlawanan itu berlangsung di depan 1,000 penonton selepas Serie A membenarkan kemasukan jumlah penyokong yang terhad ke dalam stadium selepas tujuh bulan berikutan pandemik Covid-19.
Kemenangan itu menyaksikan Pirlo dapat memulakan kariernya dengan cemerlang selepas mengambil alih tugas daripada Maurizio Sarri pada musim panas lalu.
Kemenangan ke atas Sampdoria yang dilatih oleh Claudio Ranieri hadir sehari selepas bekas bintang Itali dan Juventus itu menerima diploma kejurulatihan.
Juventus menurunkan pemain yang baru ditandatangani iaitu Weston McKennie dan Kulusevski yang menyertai kelab itu dari Atalanta sebelum dipinjamkan ke Parma.
Juventus akan berkunjung ke Roma minggu depan sebelum menanti kunjungan Napoli.
Real Madrid drew a blank against Real Sociedad on Sunday evening | Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
Real Madrid made a stuttering start to their La Liga title defence on Sunday, drawing 0-0 at Real Sociedad.
Los Blancos deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation with Martin Odegaard playing in a number ten role against the club he impressed for on loan last season. It was the Norwegian’s first appearance for Real since he made a half an hour cameo against Getafe back in 2015.
The visitors dominated possession in the first half but failed to convert this into meaningful chances. Zinedine Zidane’s side had a strong appeal for handball in the box turned down just before the break, but other than that they did not come close to scoring.
It would be the hosts who had the best chance of the opening 45 minutes with Alexander Isak’s shot being smothered by Thibaut Courtois on the stroke of half time.
The second period saw Real create more opportunities with Dani Carvajal and Karim Benzema both forcing excellent saves out of home goalkeeper Alejandro Remiro.
Zidane tried to shake things up by introducing first team debutants Marvin and Alejandro Arribas, as well as Fede Valverde and Casemiro from the bench, but it just wasn’t to be.
The game finished goalless and Real will now look to get back to winning ways against Real Betis next Saturday.
Borussia Monchengladbach v Chelsea – Club Friendly | Soccrates Images/Getty Images
Hậu vệ người Ý được cho là sẽ đến Genoa theo dạng cho mượng trong mùa giải đến.
Davide Zappacosta là một trong những hậu vệ được Antonio Conte mang về Stamford Bridge khi ông còn tại vị, mặc dù đã trải qua khá nhiều mùa giải trong màu áo của Chelsea, anh vẫn chưa thực sự thể hiện được mình và trở thành hậu vệ trái số 1 của Chelsea.
Việc Chelsea đã mang về Ben Chilwell cho hậu vệ trái trong mùa hè này đã trực tiếp khiến suất đá chính của hậu vệ người ý trở nên mỏng manh hơn bao giờ hết. Và việc rời đi để tìm kiếm một suất đã chính để nuôi hy vọng tham dự Euro trong mùa hè đến là thực sự thiết thực cho cầu thủ này.
Mùa trước, Davide Zappacosta không nằm trong kế hoạch của Lampard, và hậu vệ này đã được cho mượn ở AS Roma. Thời điểm hiện tại, với việc Reece James bùng nổ mạnh mẽ, Zappacosta một lần nữa lại chuẩn bị cuốn gói khỏi Stamford Bridge.
Theo tiết lộ từ cây bút Fabrizio Romano, hậu vệ người Ý đã đạt được thỏa thuận gia nhập Genoa dưới dạng cho mượn trong mùa tới, và dự kiến cuộc kiểm tra y tế sẽ diễn ra vào ngày mai. Ngoài ra, các điều khoản cá nhân giữa hai bên cũng đã được hoàn tất.
Trước đó, Zappacosta được HLV Antonio Conte mang về Stamford Bridge thông qua một thương vụ trị giá 25 triệu euro. Tuy nhiên, cho đến nay, anh chưa bao giờ trở thành một nhân tố chủ chốt của Chelsea.
London: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer menyalahkan kurangnya persiapan yang dibuat Manchester United menjadi mimpi ngeri buat mereka apabila memulakan saingan Liga Perdana Inggeris yang menyaksikan Wilfried Zaha meledakkan dua gol ketika turun bertemu bekas pasukannya itu untuk memastikan kemenangan 3-1 milik Crystal Palace di Old Trafford.
United menamatkan musim 2019/20 lebih sebulan lalu berikutan kejayaan mara ke separuh akhir Liga Europa dan hanya menjalani latihan pra-musim selama dua minggu.
“Anda boleh lihat kami kurang cergas dan mereka layak untuk mendapat mata. Mereka lagi tajam daripada kami dalam melancarkan serangan,” kata Solskjaer.
“Anda tidak perlu terlalu terkejut kerana kami bukan berada di tahap terbaik kerana ini adalah perlawanan pertama sejak pertengahan Ogos lalu. Kami menjalani latihan pra-musim yang pendek dan pelik. Kami perlu memperbaikinya dengan cepat.”
United menamatkan musim lalu dengan 14 perlawanan tanpa kalah di Liga Perdana membolehkan mereka menamatkan saingan di kedudukan ketiga sekali gus memberikan harapan untuk mencabar musuh utama, Liverpool dan Manchester City musim ini.
Namun berdasarkan keputusan ini, mereka perlu lebih dari sekadar mendapatkan Donny Van de Beek yang menjaringkan gol pada penampilan sulungnya untuk bersaing di kedudukan atas liga.
Solskjaer, bagaimanapun menolak alasan kerana kurangnya pemain baru menyebabkan mereka bermula perlahan musim ini.
LONDON – Gareth Bale resmi kembali ke Tottenham Hotspur pada bursa transfer musim panas 2020 ini. Kedatangan winger asal Wales itu pun jadi angin segar untuk lini depan The Lilywhites -julukan Tottenham- musim ini.
Seperti diketahui, sebelumnya pelatih Tottenham, Jose Mourinho, mengaku cukup kesulitan mencari opsi untuk lini serang timnya. Tottenham dianggap terlalu bergantung pada sosok Harry Kane di lini serang tim.
“Saya tahu bahwa kami memiliki striker terbaik di negara ini (Harry Kane) dan itu jelas tidak diragukan lagi. Tetapi para pemai yang datang ke sini harus memiliki ambisinya sendiri. Jika dia tidak memiliki ambisi, dia bukan milik kami. Intinya bukan saya meyakinkan striker, tapi striker yang meyakinkan saya,” ujar Mourinho.
“Anda melihat ke semua klub top lainnya dan mereka memiliki banyak pilihan sebagai penyerang tengah dan pertanyaan itu tidak muncul. Saya tidak ingin mereka (manajemen klub) menafsirkan kata-kata saya,” sambungnya.
Dengan kembalinya Bale, Mourinho paling tidak bisa memanfaatkan eks penggawa Real Madrid itu sebagai ancaman lain untuk lain. Meski berposisi sebagai winger, Bale terbukti cukup produktif dan mampu membuat peluang untuk pemain lain.
Seperti diketahui, Tottenham baru saja mengumumkan kedatangan Gareth Bale pada bursa transfer musim panas 2020 ini. Setelah tujuh tahun menjalani karier di Real Madrid, Bale akhirnya pulang ke tim yang telah membesarkan namanya.
Tottenham mendatangkan Bale dari Madrid dengan status sebagai pemain pinjaman. Tim besutan Jose Mourinho itu akan meminjam pemain berpaspor Wales dari Madrid itu selama satu musim.
Arsenal v West Ham United – Premier League | Pool/Getty Images
It could have been quite easy to write off West Ham after the opening day of the new Premier League season.
In fact, many people did. The Hammers crumbled to a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle – a scoreline that probably flattered the east Londoners. This curtain raiser followed a summer of chaos and turbulence, with young prodigy Grady Diangana’s sale to West Brom causing captain Mark Noble to voice his own concerns and anger over the running of the club.
Several teammates shared their leader’s fears and, with the Newcastle loss in the books, Irons fans were probably begging for the football to never return. Relegation was written all over the club, from the very top, almost all the way to the bottom.
But one man refuses to throw in the towel. David Moyes may not be the most fashionable appointment, nor the most exciting or ambitious. He’s probably the most derided coach in the Premier League, following his failures at Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland.
The Scotsman is a stubborn soul though, and he’s clearly up for this fight. All the chips are down, the walls of the club are falling around him, but he is giving it his all. And thank God for that.
West Ham travelled to an Arsenal side with their tails up on Saturday evening, off the back of their 3-0 victory over Fulham last weekend. All signs pointed to a routine home win at the Emirates, and the Hammers would be forced to limp back across London with their own tails between their legs.
Moyes’ men started promisingly however, pressing the Gunners high up the pitch and denying them the space they needed to operate and punish their opponents. And then, yep – you guessed it. The setback. The moment that makes this embarrassing excuse of a team fold.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang worked his magic, fed the ball to Alexandre Lacazette, and the French forward did the rest with his wonderful forehead. Onslaught incoming, you’d imagine.
Not today. West Ham held their own, regrouped, shook off that potential knockout blow, and went again. This time, they got their reward. The relentless Michail Antonio, who epitomises everything that is magnificent about a resilient Moyes setup, showed that extra percent of desire to get to a wicked low cross, snaking a toe out to poke the ball over the line.
It came from a pretty nice West Ham move, too. Right on the stroke of half time, the Hammers were back on level terms, and beginning to stand as an equal to their technically superior adversary. As the game progressed, we began to see a different side to this group of players: courage, heart and skill combined.
Tomas Soucek rattled the crossbar with a towering header, and Arsenal started to creak under the pressure of a barrage of crosses into the penalty area. As the minutes ticked by though, West Ham dropped deeper, aware of the size of the point they were about to claim.
Ultimately, it wasn’t to be. A fantastic five seconds of football saw the Gunners break through the backline, and in a flash, it was game over. One fell slash of their sword, and that was that.
After all that work, West Ham go home empty handed. Twitter will be alight with protests and rage against the board, who are dragging this club to depths they’d hoped to have left behind. Others will be slating the managerial selections on the pitch, the lack of trust in their creative stars or the reluctance to field their most expensive purchases.
Right now though, whether Hammers fans like it or not, Moyes is the best man for the job. Remove basket case Sunderland from the equation, and he has been a trusty and effective manager at a certain level.
The east London club are in dire straits, and with all the chaos behind the scenes, an upheaval in the dugout could be the final nail in the coffin. Moyes proved that he still has the players’ backing on Saturday night, and he has the pedigree to get them out of this mess – again.
