Big blow for Hugo
‘The crime sheet’s long & Ole’s guilty of all the charges’
TOTTENHAM skipper Hugo Lloris has been ruled out for the rest of the year.
The Spurs No.1 (below) dislocated his elbow in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton.
The club believe he will not need surgery but he is not expected to return to training before the end of 2019. A club statement said: “Hugo Lloris has undergone further assessment this morning after sustaining a dislocated elbow against Brighton on Saturday.
“The findings have shown that although
“He’s meant to be one of the leaders, if that was Peter Schmeichel standing there, there’s no chance you’d have seen that interview.
“Rather than him addressing and recognising where the team were going wrong it just felt like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.’
“This is one of the top players, the leaders, who has just signed a five-year contract and he looks like he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. I bet he’s regretting signing that contract.”
Former winger Lee Sharpe believes it will take another £300m to create a competitive team once again and questioned the running of the club by executive vice chairman Ed Woodward, while ex-title winning striker Robin van Persie fears Solskjaer can no longer motivate his stars.
The Dutchman said: “Even though you can see the players are low in confidence, he needs to find a way to reconnect again and to get their confidence high. As a manager, when your team is low in confidence, get them up.
“At the moment, based on what I’ve seen in Sunday’s game, I’m not sure if he really knows how to find the buttons there.” (top) THE list of reasons for Manchester United not to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is growing shorter by the week.
The Norwegian might remain popular with the majority of supporters, he might also remain a likeable bloke whose history will always remain firmly embedded in the club.
But there is no room for sentiment at the top level of football – and United’s rulers need to start letting their heads rule their hearts by accepting their latest managerial appointment was wrong.
Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Newcastle left United in 12th place, two points above the relegation zone.
Forget challenging for a return to the Champions
League, United need to focus on dragging themselves away from the bottom three.
They have not won away since March and while predecessor Jose
Mourinho (top right) was sacked last December after collecting 26 points from 17 games,
Solskjaer has won just 17 from the same number of matches.
United’s tally of nine points from their opening eight games is their worst-ever at this stage of a Premier League campaign, overtaking the 11 points won in 2013 by David Moyes, who was sacked after just 10 months in charge.
Solskjaer has the worst win ratio
CHIEF SPORTS WRITER
(47.5 per cent) of games since Dave Sexton between 1977 and 1981 and since the start of April Liverpool have won three times as many points despite playing a game less. The crime sheet is a long one and despite having injuries, and a mediocre squad, Solskjaer is looking guilty of all the charges.
The basic requirement of any manager is to get the best out of those at his disposal. Solskjaer isn’t.
United have hired and fired three managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and while such a scenario is unhealthy for any club, let alone one of their standing, if things are not working then difficult decisions have to be taken. The team is in freefall and heading backwards under Solskjaer, who is clearly out of his depth.
The role found Mourinho and Louis van Gaal (bottom, left) wanting so, in hindsight, Solskjaer never stood a chance.
He should not have been appointed and needs putting out of his misery. surgery will not be required, our club captain has sustained ligament damage and is not expected to return to training before the end of 2019.
“Hugo is in a brace and will now undergo a period of rest and rehabilitation.”
France boss Didier Deschamps, speaking ahead of his side’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Iceland and Turkey, said: “He has had tests. It is difficult to say how long he will be out, I am not a medical specialist.”
Troubled Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino is scheduled for talks with club chairman Daniel Levy when he returns from a trip to Qatar. They will discuss plans for a squad shake-up in January.
Pochettino spoke about his relationship with Levy in Doha yesterday, saying: “We maintain a very good relationship.”