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John O’Shea’s interim spell in charge of the Republic of Ireland has been extended, the FAI have announced today.
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The former Manchester United defender was appointed as Ireland’s interim head coach earlier this year, taking charge of two games in March against Switzerland and Belgium.
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And his period in charge will now cover the June international friendlies against Hungary and Portugal, with his backroom team – coaches Paddy McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and Rene Gilmartin, plus analyst Stephen Rice and fitness coach Damien Doyle – staying on as well.
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FAI director of football Marc Canham said: “As confirmed last week, the process to appoint a new head coach for our senior men’s team will be concluded ahead of start of the Uefa Nations League. We’re very pleased with what John and the team were able to achieve in the March friendlies and the June fixtures represents another exciting challenge for the team.”
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Happy Friday, gang! Well, that was quite the statement from Manchester City last night wasn’t it? Suddenly the most exciting three-way tussle for the title is looking a little predictable – unless (and there’s always an unless) things change this weekend. There’s another set of fixtures hot on the heels of the midweek batch, with the title in the spotlight and various promotions and regulations to be decided.
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We’ll mop up the best and worst of the Friday press conferences, which will come thick and fast today, and bring you all the other breaking news too.
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Oh … sorry, I’ve just been informed by Pep Guardiola that it wasn’t a statement at all. It was only three points. So there. Just three very important points that might decide the fate of the Premier League trophy.
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Key events
So .. Arne Slot to Liverpool then? Who saw that coming? Dutch football expert Bart Vlietstra provides the inside track on the man who is now the most likely to succeed Jürgen Klopp.
This particular passage might get the Reds’ fans pulses racing:
Slot is an overachiever who can spark a revolution. In many respects he resembles Jürgen Klopp. He is intelligent, relies on attacking football and high pressing, is didactically strong, surrounds himself with skilled assistants, brings wit into his media dealings and is searingly ambitious. His voice in transfer politics has grown at Feyenoord.
Ireland extend O’Shea’s interim spell
John O’Shea’s interim spell in charge of the Republic of Ireland has been extended, the FAI have announced today.
The former Manchester United defender was appointed as Ireland’s interim head coach earlier this year, taking charge of two games in March against Switzerland and Belgium.
And his period in charge will now cover the June international friendlies against Hungary and Portugal, with his backroom team – coaches Paddy McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and Rene Gilmartin, plus analyst Stephen Rice and fitness coach Damien Doyle – staying on as well.
FAI director of football Marc Canham said: “As confirmed last week, the process to appoint a new head coach for our senior men’s team will be concluded ahead of start of the Uefa Nations League. We’re very pleased with what John and the team were able to achieve in the March friendlies and the June fixtures represents another exciting challenge for the team.”
Eddie Howe says Newcastle trio Nick Pope, Joelinton and Miguel Almiron “are getting closer” to full fitness, while Tino Livramento remains a doubt for their home clash with Sheffield United; he has an ankle problem. Callum Wilson returned in the midweek defeat to Crystal Palace, with Howe desperate for some kind of reaction to his team’s surprisingly limp performance at Selhurst Park.
We were disappointing, we acknowledge that and hold our hands up to it. We missed those resilient qualities that we need and that has been too often the case away from home. We have to do better. We must learn and absorb all the lessons from Wednesday.
Every game is so difficult, it is up to us to firstly go into the game with the right mentality and let our players express themselves in the right way. We have to finish the season strongly, we are under no illusions on how important these fixtures are.
Here are 10 things to talk about with your mates while watching the football this weekend.
What else is dominating the headlines today?
We’ll get to Eddie Howe’s press conference at some stage (lots of mentions of “the group” no doubt), we’ll have the latest on Arne Slot’s proposed move to Liverpool, the pressure on Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, the thrilling scrap for automatic promotion in the Championship. And it’s nearly May, so I would have thought we’d be rife for some premature transfer news tittle-tattle, too.
Yay.
Preamble
Happy Friday, gang! Well, that was quite the statement from Manchester City last night wasn’t it? Suddenly the most exciting three-way tussle for the title is looking a little predictable – unless (and there’s always an unless) things change this weekend. There’s another set of fixtures hot on the heels of the midweek batch, with the title in the spotlight and various promotions and regulations to be decided.
We’ll mop up the best and worst of the Friday press conferences, which will come thick and fast today, and bring you all the other breaking news too.
Oh … sorry, I’ve just been informed by Pep Guardiola that it wasn’t a statement at all. It was only three points. So there. Just three very important points that might decide the fate of the Premier League trophy.