Virgil van Dijk acknowledges he has not performed to the best of his ability during a frustrating start to the season for Liverpool.  

Liverpool have taken just nine points from their first six matches of the Premier League season, their worst return since Jurgen Klopp took charge in 2015.

Postponements following the death of Queen Elizabeth II mean Liverpool have not played a domestic game since September 3, though they clinched a much-needed Champions League victory over Ajax last time out.

While Van Dijk has been an ever-present for the Reds this season, he has not always lived up to his reputation as steady defensive influence, most notably in a 4-1 thrashing at Napoli.

Speaking after the Netherlands posted a 2-0 Nations League win over Poland on Th…

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque would find it difficult to select David de Gea for Euro 2016 if the goalkeeper is not playing regular football.

De Gea has not featured for Manchester United this season amid a transfer saga that ended in bizarre circumstances this week as his widely anticipated move to Real Madrid did not materialise.

Real were unable to register a deal to sign De Gea and send Keylor Navas to United before the Spanish transfer deadline at Midnight CET on September 1.

Both sides have since engaged in a bitter war of words, with each club blaming the other for the collapsed transfer.

De Gea was selected in Del Bosque s squad for their upcoming qualifiers against Slovakia and Macedonia and the Spain coach is keen for the former Atletico Ma…

Antonio Conte s appointment does not guarantee success for Tottenham, but managing director Fabio Paratici is hopeful his compatriot is the right man to end the club s trophy drought.

Spurs announced Conte as Nuno Espirito Santo s successor on Tuesday after bringing an end to the Portuguese coach s tenure just four months into a two-year deal.

The 52-year-old is reunited with Paratici following their time together at Juventus, where Conte won three successive Serie A titles.

He also won a Scudetto in his second and final season with Inter in 2020-21 and previously lifted the Premier League and FA Cup in two years with Spurs London rivals Chelsea.

With nine trophies across his coaching career, Conte is now tasked with ending Tottenham s wait for silverware…

Leandro Trossard will be trying to bring his Arsenal form into the international break after coming back into the Belgium squad this month.

The 29-year-old has scored two goals in seven Premier League appearances for the Gunners and is enjoying a positive start to the season.

He has the joint second-best conversion rate (20%) of any Arsenal player to have featured in every league game, with his goals having come from 10 shots.

He also ranks third in the squad for expected goals (xG) generated (1.46) and has averaged 0.15 xG per shot.

When asked about how he has performed so far for his club, Trossard was pleased with how things were going.

I feel good, yes, he said. Is this my best form ever? I dare not say, but I think I m performing quite consi…

With the group stages behind us, Euro 2024 now enters the business end of the tournament, when there s no more margin for error.

The favourites are all through in the main, with Croatia the biggest name to drop out in the group stage.

There are some surprise packages that have made the last 16 too, though: tournament debutants Georgia stunned Portugal to reach this stage, while Austria finished above France and the Netherlands to top Group D.

But as the tournament goes on, there are some serious questions being asked of the respective coaches when it comes to team selections, while other players nurse knocks ahead of the knockouts.

And here, using Opta data, we take a look at some of those selection dilemmas.

Should Southgate drop Foden and can Sh…

In what was another remarkable World Cup thriller on Tuesday, Argentina eventually punched their semi-final ticket after clinching a nail-biting 4-3 penalty shootout victory against Holland.

While Brazil might have stunningly come crashing out of this year s tournament after their own spot-kick heartbreak against Croatia earlier in the day, Lionel Messi helped drag La Albiceleste over the finish line with another stellar display.

Converting from the spot in the second-half and producing a sublime assist as Nahuel Molina opened the scoring for Lionel Scaloni s men 10 minutes before the break, it appeared that Argentina were cruising their way to the last four.

However, in what would have been billed as one of the World Cup s most iconic comebacks, the European gi…

Alex Neil believes Norwich City s 2-0 win over Aston Villa can prove the catalyst for an improved showing in the second half of the season.

Norwich reached 20 points by seeing off rock-bottom Villa at Carrow Road, halfway to the 40 mark that is generally regarded as the target to achieve Premier League survival.

Manager Neil had spoken of the importance of the match before kick-off and his side responded well with Jonny Howson s brilliantly-taken first-half volley putting them in front, before Dieumerci Mbokani s late header settled the contest.

Neil paid tribute to his side for a fantastic 2015, which included winning promotion from the Championship, but stressed there is room for improvement in the new year.

I think getting the three points was the …

Inter Milan have announced the signing of former Juventus winger Juan Cuadrado.

The 35-year-old has joined Inter on a one-year deal after arriving at the San Siro on a free transfer.

Cuadrado was a free agent following the end of his Juventus contract this summer, after a successful spell at the club in which he won 11 trophies in eight years.

Official photo

— Inter (@Inter_en)

Cuadrado has also had spells in Italy with Udinese, Lecce and Fiorentina and made the move to Juve in 2017 permanent following a two-year loan spell from Chelsea.

“I’m delighted and would like to thank God for this opportunity. For me, it’s an honour to be here at one of the biggest teams in Europe. I’m happy,” Cuadrado told the Inter website.

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Phil Jones will make his first Premier League start in two years for Manchester United, while Bruno Fernandes was left on the bench for the visit of Wolves.

Jones last started a top-flight game against Burnley in January 2020 but injury issues with Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly, along with COVID-19 complications for Victor Lindelof, have left United short-handed in defence.

The 712 days between games for Jones is the longest gap any player who has not left the club including loan spells  has had between appearances for the Red Devils in the competition.

The former Blackburn defender, who missed the entire 2020-21 season, has been an unused substitute in five league games this campaign, though he will join Raphael Varane at the back on Monday.

Further …

Roger Schmidt lauded Benfica s self-belief after his side clinched top spot in their Champions League group in thrilling fashion.

Benfica had already qualified from Group H ahead of Wednesday s trip to Maccabi Haifa, though having drawn both of their games with Paris Saint-Germain, they needed a huge improvement to their goal difference to beat Christophe Galtier s side, and did what was required by claiming a 6-1 victory.

At 5-1 up, with PSG beating Juve 2-1, Benfica were set to finish second and would be more likely to be handed a tie against one of Europe s heavyweights.

However, Joao Mario scored in stoppage time to make it 6-1, and Schmidt believes it is exactly what his squad deserves.

I congratulated the players, they played a fantastic game, they…