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Tuchel’s will not officially start as England manager until January 1, despite being announced as Gareth Southgate’s permanent replacement last month, meaning Carsley faces a difficult task in encouraging the remaining players for the two upcoming matches, knowing that he will not be there in the new year.

In the aftermath of the withdrawals, the Telegraph claim that insiders from several Premier League clubs believe that the delay in Tuchel’s official takeover is the reason for the high number of pull-outs.

There is also the belief that even more players will leave the camp after the match against Greece, considering that so much hinges on that result, and anything but a win will likely make the Ireland clash a dead rubber.

The Telegraph’s source on this issue claims in the report: “At least half of those players would still be with the squad if Tuchel was in charge for these games.

“That’s not to say they don’t have injuries or issues, but players aren’t going to take any risks when they know the current manager won’t be there after this break.

“Players are physically and mentally tired, and many of them, and their clubs, see this as the only opportunity for a break before a run of a lot of games packed into a short space of time.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more withdrawals after the first game against Greece.”
The fact that many pundits and managers in England see the Nations League as a hindrance rather than a competition that should be taken seriously will have not made the situation any easier either.

While not speaking out specifically on multiple first-choice players pulling out, the FA has responded to criticism over Tuchel’s January start date.

They explain that it was their intention all along for the German to start in 2025, allowing him to fully concentrate on long-term objectives for the time being, instead of these upcoming UNL games.

The plan when Carsley was placed in temporary charge was for him to lead the team through the three international windows this autumn, ensuring a smooth transition into Tuchel’s tenure, and the appointment of the ex-Chelsea boss was not intended to change that.

While Algeria have already written their name in the book of qualified nations at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, Equatorial Guinea could join their upcoming opponents on that list when the two sides meet at Neuvo Estadio de Malabo on Thursday afternoon.

The Dessert Warriors boast a perfect record in their 2025 AFCON qualifying bid, after picking up four wins from four matches in Group E so far.

As a result of their scintillating form, Algeria are one of seven teams that have already booked their spot at the Morocco showpiece while Equatorial Guinea will hope to follow suit.

National Thunder currently sit in 2nd spot in Group E after accumulating seven points in four matches played so far. Victory over Algeria will see Equatorial Guinea secure their spot in next year’s edition of the competition.

The Algerian Football Association confirmed that they will be without Hull City forward Bachir Belloumi and Hertha BSC attacker Ibrahim Maza for their upcoming tie.

“The Algeria national team has just arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, for the AFCON2025 qualifier against the Nzalang Nacional on Sunday,” the Algerian FA reported on Tuesday.

“The Desert Foxes made the trip without two players who are injured: Bachir Belloumi and Ibrahim Maza.”

If David Sullivan is serious about replacing Julen Lopetegui this year as West Ham coach then the consensus is that there are two possible calendar opportunities; We are in one right now and there’s no sign of the axe being wielded so we will have to assume that Lopetegui will still be at the helm at the end of the transfer window.

There are big arguments for delaying until the first two games after the Premier League resumption are concluded. Newcastle and Arsenal are – in our current state- unwinnable and it would be something of a poisoned chalice to sack Lopetegui now and then expect a new coach to come in and get something from either of those two games.

Trouble is, time doesn’t work to the Hammers advantage. One of the principal targets named by various sources and a coach we’d love to see at West Ham is former assistant to Slaven Bilic, Edin Terzic. He is well known and liked, has had great success in Germany and is available – at present.

However he has been shortlisted by Roma for their vacant managers role. Gazzetta.it report today that he is in discussions since Roma fired their manager on Sunday. Whilst some sources claim ‘he has turned down Roma’ the truth is that we believe talks are still ongoing and the same report details that the Italian mega club are also considering Graham Potter and Erik ten Hag.

We hope they do the decent thing and appoint Ten Hag, to be honest. Terzic and West Ham have some unfinished business together.

Clubs across Europe are interested in signing the former Coventry hitman, with Arsenal, Chelsea, PSG and now Manchester United all eager to get their hands on a player who has been scoring at a rate of more than a goal per game this season.

Strangely, Gyokeres drew a blank in Amorim’s final game in charge of Sporting before leaving to hook up with Man Utd, yet in a fitting conclusion to the coach’s time at the Lisbon club, it was a player the boss expects to ultimately replace him, Conrad Harder, who scored a late brace to help turn a 2-0 deficit into an incredible 4-2 victory.

“Viktor is a special player and Conrad will take his place,” Amorim said, effectively confirming Gyokeres’ imminent exit for the second time. “I don’t know when it will happen, but I’m happy for the club.”
Sporting’s prospects of retaining Gyokeres at least until the summer have been boosted by the news that Arsenal are looking at alternatives to the striker for the January transfer window.

CaughtOffside reports that a €50 million deal is in the works for Atalanta’s Mateo Retegui as the Gunners seek a ‘Plan B’ to provide additional scoring muscle after falling nine points off the pace in the Premier League.

This should offer encouragement to the likes of Man Utd and PSG, who are the clubs most obviously in need of a centre-forward.

Gyokeres has a release clause of €100m, which would likely have to be triggered to instigate a January deal.

However, there are widespread reports that a gentleman’s agreement is in place between the striker and Sporting that he will be able to leave for €70m if he remains until the summer.

Coventry parted ways with Mark Robins earlier this week, with Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard now expected to take the reins of the Championship club.

The 46-year-old former England international is understood to be at the top of the list of replacements for Mark Robins. Lampard has been out of frontline management since leaving Chelsea for a second time in the wake of Graham Potter’s sacking by the Stamford Bridge club.

But he remains set on a career at the coalface in English football and he is uppermost in the thoughts of Coventry City owner Doug King. It was the businessman who called time on Robins’s seven-year spell in charge of the Sky Blues last week following a limp home defeat by Derby County.

And although Wycombe Wanderers’ boss Matt Bloomfield led the early betting, it appears that King wants a more established name to take the reigns at the CBS Arena.

As he is without a job at the moment, Lampard would be free to take over before Coventry’s next game – at home against in-form Sheffield United after the international break.

Coventry legend Steve Ogrizovic was one of many to question the dismissal of Robins, who has taken the Sky Blues from League Two all the way to a Championship play-off final.

Barcelona’s seven-match winning streak was brought crashing to a halt on Sunday as Real Sociedad handed them a 1-0 defeat in LaLiga, courtesy of Sheraldo Becker’s goal.

Becker’s first-half strike was enough to deal Hansi Flick just his second league loss in charge of the Blaugrana, as they allowed title rivals Real Madrid to make up ground at the summit.
Becker beat Flick’s aggressive offside trap in the 33rd minute, racing onto a Luka Sucic header before slotting a tidy finish just inside the post.

With star winger Lamine Yamal absent due to a muscle injury, Barcelona struggled for chances after Robert Lewandowski saw an early strike chalked off for offside following a VAR review.

In truth, La Real were unfortunate not to win by a greater margin. Mikel Oyarzabal missed a glorious chance following good work from Takefusa Kubo just before half-time, with the home skipper also drawing Inaki Pena into action in the second period.

They ultimately did not need a second goal, however, and the victory takes them eighth in LaLiga with 19 points, six adrift of the top four.

Barcelona still lead the standings on 33 points, six ahead of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand in second, while Atletico Madrid are third on 26 points.
Barcelona could have no complaints about the result on Sunday, having failed to register a single shot on target.

It is just the second time they have failed to do so in LaLiga since Opta records began in 2003-04, after a goalless draw with Malaga in 2014 under Luis Enrique.

After scoring 29 goals across a seven-match winning run that included routs of Real Madrid (4-0), Bayern Munich (4-1), Sevilla (5-1), Young Boys (5-0) and Red Star Belgrade (5-2), the result represents a harsh reality check for Flick’s team.

Pep Guardiola is enduring the worst statistical run of his managerial career after Manchester City lost their fourth straight game on Saturday.

Brighton came from behind to beat the English champions 2-1 in the Premier League to leave second-placed City five points behind leaders Liverpool.

City hadn’t lost four games in a row in all competitions since 2006 — two years before the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club and 10 years before Guardiola’s game-changing arrival on the blue side of Manchester.

As for Guardiola, widely regarded as the world’s best coach, he had never lost four straight matches anywhere in his illustrious time in management that began in 2007.

The closest he had come was in the 2014-15 season when, at Bayern Munich, his team lost in a penalty shootout in the German Cup followed by three straight defeats — two in the Bundesliga, when Bayern had already clinched the title, and once in the Champions League.

So, Guardiola was asked, is this the end of the era, after leading City to an unprecedented four straight top-flight league titles?

“It’s what the people want, right?” he posed. “That’s normal — we won a lot. I would just like to have all the squad [available].”

That won’t be happening anytime soon considering star centre-midfielder Rodri, this year’s Ballon d’Or winner, is out for the season with an ACL injury. Guardiola also had his best four centre-backs — Rúben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Aké — unavailable, while playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is clearly not sharp or fit enough on his return from injury.
Indeed, City were dominant in the first half and went in front when Erling Haaland scored his league-leading 12th goal of the campaign.

However, as in the 4-1 loss at Sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday, City couldn’t sustain its level in the second half and Brighton fought back, with Joao Pedro equalizing in the 78th and setting up Matt O’Riley for the winner in the 83rd on his Premier League debut.

City’s losing run started at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last week, before a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth in the league — their first league defeat in 11 months.

Atlanta United triumphed 3-2 in the best-of-three decider in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after both sides had won one game each.

Miama finished the regular season with a record 74 points from 34 games in the Eastern Conference to win the Supporters’ Shield.

Miami took the lead at Chase Stadium when Matias Rojas scored from a rebound after former Aston Villa keeper Brad Guzan had denied Argentina forward Messi.

Two goals in two minutes from Jamal Thiare put Atlanta in front and, despite Messi equalising with a header, Bartosz Slisz scored the winner as Miami appealed for play to be stopped with defender Tomas Aviles lying on the pitch injured.

Last month Miami, who are co-owned by David Beckham, were named as one of the 32 sides in next year’s expanded Fifa Club World Cup.

“They are now officially one of the 32 best clubs in the world, already after a few years since their existence,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

“And now they can start writing their story also on the global stage.”

In December Miami signed Uruguay striker Luiz Suarez, reuniting him with former Barcelona team-mates Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Atlanta scraped into the play-offs by finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference, then beat Montreal on penalties in a wildcard game to set up a meeting with Miami.

Atlanta will play Orlando City, and New York City face New York Red Bulls, in the semi-finals,, external which are decided by one game rather than three.

The winners will meet in the Eastern Conference final, and the winners of that will play the Western Conference play-off champions in the MLS Cup final on 7 December.

“This season has had good and bad things,” said Miami manager Gerardo Martino.

“If you think about the expectations we had for this play-offs, obviously we came up a little short.

“The players are sad, as they should be when there are so many expectations and the team can’t fulfil them.

“In this final part of the year we got used to achieving the objectives but we couldn’t achieve the most important one.”

Miami defender Alba said the MLS Cup format is “a bit unfair”.

“It’s been done for many years but I think it should be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other to make it as fair as possible,” he said.

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi had suggested ahead of the 2022 staging of FIFA’s flagship event that he would be gracing a global showpiece for the final time. He went on to inspire his country to ultimate glory in Qatar – completing his medal collection in the process.
Messi has opted against announcing his international retirement, with record-breaking tallies of caps and goals for Argentina being taken to 189 and 112 respectively. He has stopped short of making any definitive calls on his long-term future with the Albiceleste.
The door is being left open for him to continue at the very highest level, with head coach Lionel Scaloni never going to rule Messi out of his plans, but it remains to be seen whether the all-time great – who now plays his club football in MLS for Inter Miami – will form part of a World Cup title defence in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Former team-mate Aguero expects his close friend to make another tournament, telling ESPN 12: “I think Messi will make it to 2026, he will take care of himself. Obviously he won’t be the Leo he always was, but give him a few free-kicks or a few assists and he will make them. He can get there physically. If he wants to, he will, because he takes good care of himself.”
Messi is only under contract in Florida through to the end of 2025, but that deal includes the option for a 12-month extension. He has seen eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo play on to 39 and beyond, with the Portuguese showing no sign of slowing down, and may decide to tread a similar career path.

Inter Miami were beaten 2-1 in their visit to Atlanta United with a goal from Xande Silva in stoppage time, which extended the playoff series to a third game to decide the ticket to the next round, in which if all goes according to plan, the Herons will be able to recover Sergio Busquets.

The Spanish midfielder was missed by Inter Miami, after missing the match due to the onset of pneumonia and a knock, but coach Gerardo Martino is confident of having him back for next Saturday’s decisive match.

Although Inter Miami received a heavy blow at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Gerardo Martino trusts in the hierarchy of his players led by Lionel Messi, to get through the series against an Atlanta United team that has history with Tata, who led them to win the MLS Cup in 2018.

Liverpool set to make bid for Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, Manchester United poised to reignite their interest in Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite, Arsenal hold talks with Sporting forward Geovany Quenda.

Liverpool are preparing a £50m bid for Real Madrid’s 24-year-old France midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external

Juventus are keen on Lille striker Jonathan David, but the Serie A club face competition from Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal for the 24-year-old Canada international. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian), external

Manchester United are set to reignite their interest in £70m-rated Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, with the Merseyside club unable to afford a new contract for the 22-year-old England international. (Mail – subscription required), external

Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen are among the clubs interested in Red Star Belgrade’s 17-year-old Serbian defender Strahinja Stojkovic. (Football Insider, external)

Arsenal have held talks with the agents of Sporting forward Geovany Quenda, with the 17-year-old also a target for Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. (Teamtalk), external

Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, 36, is prepared to take a pay cut to stay longer at Barcelona and his impressive form has seen the Catalan club cool any interest in Manchester City’s 24-year-old Norway forward Erling Haaland. (Sport – in Spanish), external

AC Milan are ready to double the wages of Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, 26, to ward off interest from Manchester City and Tottenham. (Calciomercato – in Italian)

Mikel Arteta has confirmed Kai Havertz suffered ‘a big cut’ in the Champions League defeat to Inter Milan but expects him to be ready for Arsenal’s trip to Chelsea this weekend.

The Gunners toiled in Italy as they suffered their first defeat in Europe this season. Arteta was left furious with two penalty decisions, one of them resulting in the winning goal from Hakan Calhanoglu, believing his side should have ‘100 per cent’ been handed a spot kick for a foul on Mikel Merino.

As the visitors pushed for an equaliser, Havertz was forced off heading into injury time after a nasty clash of heads with Inter defender Yann Bisseck.

Physios attended to both players with the Germany international leaving the pitch with blood pouring from his head. Havertz was replaced by Martin Odegaard, making his first appearance for the club since late August having recovered from a significant ankle injury.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta confirmed his forward would likely need stitches but was hopeful the injury won’t rule him out of the trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Arsenal’s season has hit a rocky path having lost away to Newcastle United on Sunday, having not won in their last three Premier League outings.Arteta however is confident his side will react in the right manner on Sunday against Chelsea.