Graeme Souness says Manchester United got it wrong by appointing Jose Mourinho

Former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness believes Manchester United made a mistake in appointing Jose Mourinho.

The former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss took over at Old Trafford last summer and led the Red Devils to League Cup and Europe League Cup wins last season, qualifying for the Champions League in the process.

But Souness insists he is not the right man for the job, claiming that United were influenced by the appointment of Pep Guardiola at their cross-town rivals Manchester City.
"I didn't think Mourinho was right for United and I said that from day one," he told Yahoo Sport.

"Because Guardiola was coming in at Manchester City, the people making decisions at Old Trafford felt compelled to go and get a big name manager and they ended up with Jose."

Despite becoming the first Manchester United manager to win silverware in his first season, Souness believes that Mourinho is still struggling to establish his first-choice XI.
"He has taken on a very difficult job at United and struggled to find his find his best eleven last season, if he ever found it.

"A big concern for me that their best player for most of last season was a 35-year-old in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with 35-year-old Michael Carrick also one of the top performers."
The Red Devils finished in sixth place last season, with any hopes of a sustained Premier League title challenge long gone.

And Souness says this must change next year.
"Mourinho is used to winning league titles and finishing where he did last season in the Premier League will not be acceptable, but it won't be easy to put it right."

Mourinho has already begun his summer recruitment by signing £31million defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica, while the club are closing in on a swoop for Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic.

The Portuguese also looks set to bring in a new striker, with Alvaro Morata being heavily linked. Mirror

Why Klopp's next move has to be defensive

Whilst the justly hype of Mohamed Salah’s move to Liverpool is still rife, most fans are keeping their feet grounded as they know, in order for his impact to prove dividends, boss Jurgen Klopp must bolster his squad defensively.

This has been a problem for the Reds for a number of years, arguably ever since club legend Jamie Carragher hung up his boots in 2013. The biggest realization of this weakness was highlighted in the infamous 2013/14 season after Liverpool missed out on the title after netting 101 goals but shipping a hefty 50 goals at the other end of the pitch.

In fact, last season was the first since then that Liverpool had conceded less than 48 goals in a league season, finishing with 42 against their name. One interesting point to note is every Premier League winning team from the 2000/01 season, barring Manchester United in 2012/13, have conceded less than 40 goals in a campaign.
It’s clear which area needs the most attention.

With the Virgil Van Dijk saga looking to have finally scuppered Liverpool’s chances of attaining the services of the Centre-back, Klopp must look elsewhere for a solid partner to accompany Joel Matip.

With the former Borussia Dortmund boss looking to get rid of Alberto Moreno as quickly as the player looks to get rid of the ball, it’s obvious the left-back position is high on Klopp’s to-buy list.
Several links to young replacements, such as Leicetser City’s Ben Chilwell, Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon and Real Betis’ Riza Durmisi, failing to materialize the club currently have their eye on Monaco sensation Benjamin Mendy. The 22 year-old played a major part in helping Monaco to the semi-finals of the Champions League this season. If they were to capture him, it would be a massive step forward defensively.

Klopp knows his backline is far from title-winning which is why he will be determined more than ever to make a statement this transfer window. Furthermore, if he doesn’t strengthen this area, his attacking purchases will ultimately be void if the clubs’ intentions are to muster a challenge for the league crown.

Attack can sometimes be the best form of defence but Liverpool have demonstrated this cannot be held up across a whole season.

However, if by the time 12th August comes around if the teams protection of their own goal is as good as the potency at the other end, the Reds could muster yet another title challenge.

Video : Huge infestation of CRABS at airport

Passengers on one plane got a rather bizarre surprise when they turned up to collect their suitcases from the airport carousel.

Most travellers are used to standing beside the conveyor belt to wait for bags to make their way off the plane - but while you might expect the odd pram, or huge musical instrument, it's not every day you spot an infestation of crabs.
The crustaceans appeared to shocked passengers, who were waiting to collect their suitcases after a flight.

As the carousel moved around, crabs appeared on the belt, many clinging onto the bags. 
Others decided to make a break for it, with one crab even managing to make it off the conveyor and leaping for freedom (otherwise known as the airport floor).

It is not known where the bizarre video was filmed, although one user suggested the incident occurred at an airport in New York.
It appears that the crustaceans had escaped from box they were being shipped in.

In the strange clip, you can see man putting the lid back on a wooden crate, filled with even more crabs.
Let's hope he managed to get them all rounded up and to safety after their ordeal.

Watch video below;

Barcelona star Messi’s wedding menu revealed

The wedding of Lionel Messi and Antonella Roccuzzo promises to be a star-studded occasion, and guests can expect to eat well at the ceremony.

The Barcelona superstar is set to tie the knot with his long-term partner on June 30 in his hometown of Rosario.
The event is the most eagerly anticipated of the footballing marriages to take place this year, with several stars having already walked down the aisle this summer.

Alvaro Morata, Antoine Griezmann, Phil Jones and Matteo Darmian have all entered into wedlock, while Granit Xhaka and Memphis Depay have got engaged.
Messi is the star attraction, though, and the menu for his wedding – which will be attended by 250 VIP guests – is as classy as he is.

Cheeses, cold meats, bread, salad, sushi - Messi and Roccuzzo will be catering to all tastes.
There will, understandably, also be an Argentine flavour to the food on offer, with several dishes from Messi’s homeland available to the guests – such as pasta balls filled with ricotta, mozzarella and ham and meat/fish empanadas.

Those in attendance will include several of the 30-year-old’s Barcelona team-mates, including Neymar, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets.
Former colleague Xavi is also on the guest list, but former coach Luis Enrique will not be present and eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo did not get an invite – although he is currently away with Portugal at the Confederations Cup in Russia.

Messi and Roccuzzo are requesting that donations be made to his charity, the Leo Messi Foundation, which supports children in health care, education, and sport, rather than receive presents.

Once the celebrations are over, Goal has revealed that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has a new contract waiting for him at Camp Nou which will keep him on Barca’s books until 2021.  - Goal.com

 

Chelsea focussing on Van Dijk after Bonucci snub

Leonardo Bonucci was Chelsea’s number one centre-back target this summer but Antonio Conte may have suffered a fatal blow in his pursuit of the Italian.

Massimiliano Allegri has confirmed that his leading defender will not be leaving Juventus this summer as they view him as the future captain at the club.

“He’s an important player, an extraordinary player and above all he has to understand that he’ll be the future leader of the Juventus dressing room.”
With that in mind, Chelsea have turned their attentions to pursuing a deal for Southampton captain Virgil van Dijk, according to the London Evening Standard.

Liverpool were the leading candidates to sign the £70m-rated defender this summer but have backed away from a deal after being threatened by Southampton for tapping up the player without having a bid accepted.

Chelsea will be going in for the Dutchman this summer as part of a major squad overhaul with Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alex Sandro expected to arrive in the near future for a combined fee of nearly £100m.

Van Dijk is still a target for Liverpool but due to the strained relationship between the clubs, Southampton don’t want to sell to the Reds, putting Chelsea in the driving seat to land the former Celtic defender.

Failed state : Local govt union says 23 states owe council workers

The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) says 23 states of the federation currently owe local government workers salary arrears.

Ibrahim Khaleel, national president of the union, made this known in a statement on Monday.
He said the arrears ranged from one to 16 months.
Khaleel revealed that with between 10 and to 16 months, Bayelsa was leading in states indebted to local council workers,  followed by Kogi which is between seven and 15 months.

Delta state followed closely with eight to 14 months, and Kaduna, 12 months; Oyo, three to 11 months; Edo, 10 months; Abia, five to nine months; Kwara, two to nine months; Benue, nine months and Nasarawa, seven months.
Ondo, Ekiti, Imo have six months each, while Zamfara has not implemented minimum wage; Adamawa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Plateau are owing four months, while Taraba and FCT, three months.

According to the statement, Osun has been paying half salaries for 24 months and a few staff are being owed some months in Enugu.
The union said Ekiti has refused to remit union dues for the past nine months and Ogun has not also remitted its deduction for seven months.
The NULGE president also said that 700 staff members were owed between one to three months in Cross River state.

He called on governors to ensure the salaries and other allowances of local council workers were offset with the second tranche of the Paris loan refund.
He said failure to do so could force it to shut down all local government councils in the country.
Reacting to the statement of governors that the amount released did not conform with figures which were published, he said: “We want to state in strong terms that no governor should either divert or tamper with the fund.

“This should be an avenue where the backlog of arrears of salaries owed the local government workers and some other welfare packages should be settled.
“This is in order to ameliorate the untold hardship they are currently passing through due to this ugly situation.”

Khaleed also commended states that are up to date in the entitlement of local government workers.
According to him, the 14 states are Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Cross River, Niger and Anambra. - Cable Nigeria

Leaked FIFA report claims £1.6m was sent to 10-year-old girl as part of Qatar's bid to host World Cup 2022

Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup looks set to become mired in fresh controversy after the leaking of a secret FIFA report into the 2010 bidding contests.

That highly controversial process saw Russia beat several European bids, including England's, to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup and the tiny but wealthy Gulf state overcome the likes of the United States for 2022.

After repeated claims about corruption in the run-up to those votes, FIFA asked its then-chief ethics investigator Michael Garcia to compile a report into the bidding nations for both World Cup, which he produced in 2014.
His 430-page investigation has never been published before - FIFA, instead, put out a 42-page summary which Garcia promptly disowned - but now German newspaper Bild has obtained a copy of the original.

It is understood that its contents will be published in two parts on Tuesday and Wednesday but the lead journalist Peter Rossberg began releasing extracts via social media on Monday night - the early indications are that his scoop will heap more suspicion on Qatar's bid, in particular.

Among the early revelations from the Garcia report are claims that the Qataris flew three members of FIFA's executive committee to a party in Rio on a private jet shortly before the December 2010 vote on the 2018/2022 hosts, the Qatari bid used access to its state-of-the-art Aspire sports academy to influence voters and £1.6million was sent to a bank account belonging to the 10-year-old daughter of another ExCo voter.

That last allegation was first made by the Daily Telegraph in 2014 and there is a sense from what has emerged so far that much of this has been heard before - Rossberg himself wrote on Facebook that there are "no surprises" for anybody who has followed this story closely.
In fact, he goes on to write that "the report does not provide proof that World Cup 2018 or 2022 has been bought".

But he then accurately describes the Garcia report as another piece in the puzzle and suggests that only when all those pieces are put together will the complete picture be obvious.
The Bild exclusive also reveals how world football's governing body sanitised Garcia's findings in the summary of his report by FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert.

In a section on how the Qatari bid used Aspire, which had satellite operations in five countries with FIFA voters, to "curry favour with executive committee members", Garcia wrote "those actions served to undermine the integrity of the bidding process".

But Eckert translated this as "potentially problematic facts and circumstances" which "were, all in all, not suited to compromise the integrity of the Fifa World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process as a whole".
It is little wonder that an indignant Garcia returned to the US accusing Eckert of making "numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations".

Whether the appearance of his complete work will correct any of those representations enough to threaten Qatar's staging of the World Cup is debatable, as the once-incredible project has withstood everything that has been thrown at it so far and there appears to be little appetite at FIFA to revisit its most contentious decision.

That does not mean, however, Qatar 2022 is out of the woods, though, as criminal investigations into the bid, some fuelled by Garcia's early work, continue in France, Switzerland and elsewhere, while the country's diplomatic row with its Gulf neighbours will raise serious questions about its suitability to stage a major global event if it is not resolved in the coming months.
FIFA has been contacted for comment. - Mirror