Jamie Carragher retracts comments from Lisandro Martinez, Antonio Conte returns to the sidelines and the Leeds manager’s hunt continues.
Here are the headlines for today’s English football news.
Talk of the day: Carragher turned on Lisandro Martinez
Jamie Carragher believes he was wrong in judging Lisandro Martinez because of his height, adding that the Man United centre-back has been fantastic this season.
The former Liverpool player said at the start last fall:
– His size is a problem for him. No matter what anyone says, 175cm is a problem.
Six months later, Carragher put his hands up and admitted that didn’t have to be true.
– Carragher says it takes a special player to be so short and still be able to play central defence.
– During the World Cup with Argentina, we saw how he fought. When he and Casemiro come along, it will be a much stronger and stronger match. Someone of this stature will be revealed in the main game, and that should happen at some point. All players have weaknesses. The best players hide them and make sure they are not seen. He is a very good player and he surprised me.
Today’s return: Conte’s return
Antonio Conte is expected to return to the sidelines for Tottenham’s meeting with Leicester on Saturday, according to the Daily Mail. The 53-year-old, who underwent surgery to remove his gallbladder last week, was present during Thursday’s training. Assistant coach Christian Stellini took care of the press conference and said that everyone is very happy to have him back.
– Everyone hugged, says Stellini, adding that the final decision on whether Conte will go with him to Leicester will be made on Friday.
On the other hand, Tottenham are forced to cope without both the injured Hugo Lloris and Yves Bisoma.
Coach hunt today: slot open for leeds
Feyenoord boss Arne Sloat believes he is open to talks with Leeds, the Mirror reports. Director of Football Victor Orta was spotted at Manchester Airport yesterday, presumably on his way to the Netherlands. Slot is one of the names on Leeds’ wish list that recently shrunk when Rayo Vallecano refused to release Andoni Iraola. It is also said that Feyenoord were not very keen on meeting Leeds.
Today is ridiculous: Aubameyang doesn’t want to go to MLS
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is expected to refuse to move to the United States. After being left out of Chelsea’s Champions League squad, the Los Angeles club made a bid for the 33-year-old’s contract, which has 16 months left on his current team. According to the Daily Mail, the American club fear that Aubameyang himself is not very keen.
Cross of the day: Kerr’s top scorer with four goals
Chelsea beat West Ham 7-0 in the League Cup. Sam Kerr pitched four of those, three of them coming in the first inning. Magdalena Eriksson returned to the starting lineup and played the entire match. Johanna Rating Canried jumped in with half an hour left. In the final, it will be a truly Swedish encounter with Arsenal standing on the other side.
Today’s SOC with: Wrexham is growing
Welsh National League side Wrexham claim to have increased their social media following by 921 per cent since the change of ownership. This is what can happen when two Hollywood actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhinney, take over the club and start a docu-series.