Jose questions Bale’s Spurs post Wrexham victims of freeze
TOTTENHAM manager Jose Mourinho has questioned Gareth Bale’s midweek Instagram post and described it as a contradiction ahead of today’s trip to Premier League leaders Manchester City.
The Real Madrid loanee missed Wednesday’s FA Cup defeat at Everton after he was absent from training on Monday and asked for a scan following some discomfort.
Bale had been an unused substitute in Sunday’s 2-0 win over West Brom and, despite not being available for the trip to Goodison Park, a social media update from the Welshman a day earlier stated: “Good session today.”
Quizzed on the 31-year-old’s availability, Mourinho said: “I hope the press conference is about the game and not about individuals. I have to admit his post created a need to be addressed.
“It was a contradiction between the post and the reality. Since the beginning of the season in relationship to everything, I try to be very private and try to keep everything indoors, but I felt I needed to address the situation.
“Probably the post was not even his responsibility, I don’t know? But the post was showing ‘training session great and I am ready’ and was totally wrong.
“When I was questioned I had to say the reality of the things which I repeat for the last time and I hope there are no more questions about it. The situation was exactly how I told.
“He was not feeling good, he asked for a scan. He had a scan, the scan didn’t show an injury but his feelings were still there and coaches, sports science and medical people we can never go against feelings because the player’s feelings are much more important than all of us.
“So he was not ready for the game. It is as simple as that. If he is ready for tomorrow, he is selected for tomorrow.”
Mourinho confirmed a final decision on Bale will be made after training.
Even if he is available, the Wales international will most likely have to settle for a spot on the bench against City.
TONIGHT’S game between Wrexham and Notts County in the Vanarama National League has been called off due to the weather.
Following every effort by the groundsmen, the game was called off by a referee yesterday afternoon due to a frozen pitch.
The pitch had been drained after last Saturday’s match and on Sunday frost covers were applied in the morning with lighting rigs on goalmouths to combat the elements.
However, with temperatures on Wednesday at minus-seven and the covers unable to deal with anything under minus-four, the Mold Road stand side of the pitch has frozen despite heat lamps being positioned to thaw the pitch.
Groundsman Paul Challinor said: “We pulled the sheets back but the pitch was much harder than expected, the ref came in and with temperatures not going above freezing the game was called off.
“Frost covers will be removed ahead of Tuesday’s match [with Woking] and with rain forecast and some heat, it should thaw it naturally”.
NATHANIAL Mendez-Laing was sacked from Cardiff City for cocaine use, football authorities have now revealed.
The Football Association has confirmed that the 28-year old was handed a three-month ban, which he has now served, after returning a positive drugs test on July 4, 2020.
Cardiff subsequently sacked the player in September for what it described as an “alleged breach of contract”, a move which baffled fans at the time.
In a statement, the FA revealed: “The Middlesbrough FC player provided an in-competition urine sample to The FA via UK Anti-Doping officials on 04 July 2020 while playing for Cardiff City FC and it was found to contain metabolites of cocaine once subsequently analysed.
“Nathaniel
Mendez-Laing admitted the charge but was able to explain that the substance had been ingested out-of-competition in a context that was unrelated to sporting performance.
“An independent Regulatory Commission was subsequently convened to decide an appropriate sanction and, in line with the revised 2021 WADA Code that permits reduced sanctions for ‘Substances of Abuse’, applied a back-dated three-month suspension from 14 August 2020.”
Back in September, Cardiff City released a statement over the shock announcement that Mendez-Laing’s contract had, seemingly out of the blue, been terminated.
The brief statement confirmed the 28-year-old’s deal at Cardiff City Stadium had been terminated with immediate effect, bringing to an end the winger’s three years with the club which he helped reached the heights of the Premier League.
The statement read: “Cardiff City Football Club has, with immediate effect, terminated the contract of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
“The club will not be making any further comment on the matter.”
Mendez-Laing arrived at the club as a free transfer under previous boss Neil Warnock in 2017, with one of his finest moments in a Bluebirds shirt coming in the win over Manchester United on the final day of the 2018/19 Premier League season, where he netted two goals.
The wide man was recently reunited with his former Cardiff boss, Neil Warnock, at Middlesbrough after signing a deal until the end of the season.
RADICAL new laws have been brought in for this season’s Super Rugby competitions.
The headline change sees the introduction of a ‘captain’s challenge’ in New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa, which will allow each team the chance to force the TMO to look at an incident the referee has missed or potentially got wrong.
The referral, similar to that used in other sports such as cricket, can be used for any incident in the build-up to a try (from the last restart) or an act of foul play.
In the final five minutes of a game, a captain can use the referral to challenge any decision at all made by the referee. Each team will be allowed one referral in a match, which they will keep if they are proved correct.
The basics are: The captain must make a referral within 10 seconds of a try being scored, a referee’s decision, or a stoppage in play.
The captain must be specific about what they are referring and anything referred must be ‘clear and obvious’ in the TMO’s review.
The captain cannot use his referral to stop play following a quick tap penalty or quick throw-in and scrum and lineout are not part of the referral process.
The other big change in New Zealand sees the introduction of a rugby league-style goal-line dropout.
This will be used to restart play when an attacking player carrying the ball is held up in the in-goal or knocks the ball on in the in-goal area, or when an attacking kick, other than a penalty or drop goal attempt, is grounded by the defending team in their in-goal area.
The idea is to reward attacking teams by allowing them to build pressure and to encourage defending teams to clear the ball from their in-goal area.
ENGLAND centre Jonathan Joseph has received a two-week ban for a breach of Covid-19 regulations in line with Government guidelines.
The versatile Bath back mixed households with team-mate Elliott Stooke and Wasps hooker Gabriel Oghre in an incident which has seen all three hit with suspensions.
An online independent panel took place and the trio were charged with breaching RFU Rule 5.12, which relates to conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union and/or game.
Two players travelled to visit the third and after all three accepted the charges, Joseph was given a two-week suspension while
Oghre and lock Stooke have been handed a three-week ban.
A statement from Wasps read: “The club were extremely disappointed to learn of this incident, particularly as we regularly remind all players and staff about the latest protocols and their responsibility to set an example by adhering to them.
“A club investigation has already taken place and this matter has been dealt with internally.”
Stooke will be available again after the clash against Gloucester on February 19. Oghre will complete his ban that weekend once he has missed Wasps’ trip to Leicester the day after.