Section:GDN 1N PaGe:48 Edition Date:190812 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 11/8/2019 20:35 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Monday 12 Aug ust 2019
(^48) Sport
Football Premier League
Andy Hunter
Andy Lonergan is being considered as
a short-term solution to Liverpool’s
goalkeeping crisis with Alisson
expected to be sidelined for six to eight
weeks with a calf injury.
The 35-year-old is a free agent having
been released by Middlesbrough at the
end of last season and provided cover
for Simon Mignolet during Liverpool’s
summer tour of the US, which Alisson
missed as he recovered from Brazil’s
Copa América triumph. The manager,
Jürgen Klopp, may again turn to the
former Preston, Leeds and Bolton
keeper with the off er of a short-term
contract once the extent of Alisson’s
injury has been confi rmed.
Liverpool’s medical staff are
continuing to assess the calf injury
the Brazil international sustained in
the fi rst half of the Premier League
win against Norwich on Friday. There
are concerns the infl uential No 1 may
be absent until late September or
early October, a period that would
force him out of the fi rst Champions
League group game. Klopp confi rmed
immediately after the 4-1 win on
Friday that his £65m goalkeeper would
miss the Uefa Super Cup fi nal against
Chelsea in Istanbul on Wednesday.
The former West Ham goalkeeper
Adrián will continue to deputise for
Alisson having made his Liverpool
debut only four days after signing on
a free transfer. With Mignolet sold to
Club Brugge, however, and the third
choice Caoimhin Kelleher recovering
from a broken wrist, the 32-year-old
Spaniard is Liverpool’s only available
option for the Super Cup. The
academy goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros
also sustained an elbow injury during
pre-season.
Kelleher returned to training last
week and could be involved in Istanbul
although Klopp is wary of rushing
the Republic of Ireland under-21
international back into competitive
action following his wrist problem.
Lonergan would provide more
experienced cover for Adrián over the
short-term should Liverpool’s fears be
realised over Alisson’s injury.
Klopp ponders
move for
Lonergan as
cover in goal
▲ Andy Lonergan featured in
Liverpool’s summer tour of the US
VAR tension rises after
disallowed Dendoncker
eff ort frustrates Wolves
Paul Doyle
King Power Stadium
Leicester City 0
Wolves 0
Referee Andre Marriner Attendance 32,015
Leicester City
4-3-3
Schmeichel; Pereira,
Evans, Soyuncu,
Chilwell; Choudhury
(Barnes 61), Ndidi,
Tielemans; Pérez
(Albrighton 76), Vardy,
Maddison
Subs not used
Ward, Justin, Morgan,
Iheanacho, Praet
Wolves
3-5-2
Rui Patrício; Bennett,
Coady, Boly; Doherty,
Moutinho, Neves• (Saïss
81), Dendoncker, Otto•;
Jota (Cutrone 76 ),
Jiménez.
Subs not used
Ruddy, Vinagre, Traoré,
Neto, Gibbs-White
Question: what could make a 0-0 draw
even more unsatisfying than usual?
Answer: a goal being celebrated and
then disallowed after a VAR review
leads to enforcement of the draconian
new interpretation of the handball law.
Wolves felt that anguish here: fi rst they
rejoiced when Leander Dendoncker
lashed the ball into the net in the 53rd
minute and then, 98 seconds later,
they cursed their misfortune when
the referee wiped the scoreboard clean
because the ball had struck the arm of
Willy Boly in the buildup.
Boly could have done nothing to
prevent the ball from hitting him –
Dendoncker headed against him from
inches away – but that does not mat-
ter under the guidance introduced by
the Premier League this season, which
states: “Any goal scored or created
with the use of the hand or arm will
be disallowed this season – even if it
is accidental.” That, at least, has the
virtue of being unambiguous. But the
Wolves defender Conor Coady believes
it is absurdly impractical. “We are
going to have to play with our hands
chopped off in future,” he said. “If that
is not a goal there is a problem. No one
appealed for it.”
The Wolves manager, Nuno Espírito
Santo, was more understanding. His
grievance was with the amount of time
it took for the decision to be reached
but he suggested that may be a teeth-
ing problem. “Everybody is going to
speak about this game after game
until things settle down and become
normal,” he said. “We celebrate and
then we don’t celebrate and then the
Leicester fans celebrate a non-goal. It’s
too much time. It is not the mindset of
the game. But I think they are in the
right way [but] they want to keep the
game fl owing.”
His Leicester counterpart, Brendan
Rodgers, said he approves of the new
system and not just because it went in
his team’s favour. “The rule is pretty
clear,” he said. “It was unfortunate for
them and it benefi t ed us, but my feel-
ing is VAR is going to work for you some
weeks and go against you in others.
It’s frustrating if you score and then
there’s a wait to be told it’s not a goal
but I thought it was dealt with fairly
well overall. It’s a part of the game
now that everyone will have to make
an adjustment and adapt to.”
Dendoncker’s non-goal came after
he and Boly outjumped Leicester’s
defenders from a corner. The departed
Harry Maguire’s aerial power was a big
factor in Leicester conceding fewer
goals from set pieces than anyone else
in the Premier League last season. The
man tasked with replacing him here,
Caglar Soyuncu, is not as dominant
in the air. Other than that, however,
Soyuncu did a fi ne job. Leicester’s
main problem was, with Jamie Vardy
shackled , they struggled to create clear
openings despite having most of the
ball. New season, familiar gripe.
Wolves came into their open-
ing domestic fi xture having already
contested three Europa League ties,
most recently on Thursday 3,000 miles
away in Armenia. But they started the
sharper side here.
Gradually Leicester secured more of
the ball but remained unable to prise
Wolves open. James Maddison and the
summer recruit from Newcastle, Ayoze
Pérez, fl itted about on either side of
Vardy in a 4-3-3 formation, with Youri
Tielemans tasked with pulling strings
in midfi eld on a platform secured by
Wilfr ed Ndidi and Hamza Choudhury.
A nice theory, perhaps, but Wolves did
not let the hosts put it into practice.
Frequently Leicester became
bogged down out of range of Wolves’
goal. It took a miscued volley by Mad-
dison to catch the visiting defence
off -guard in the fi rst half, as the mid-
fi elder’s shot landed at the feet of
Tielemans near the byline on the right.
The Belgian fi red the ball across goal
but Vardy did not react fast enough to
turn it into the net from two yards. Too
early in the season, perhaps.
Wolves were dangerous on their
infrequent counter attacks. Diogo Jota
raced through on goal a few minutes
after Dendoncker’s disallowed strike
but dragged his shot wide.
Leicester remained blunt. Harvey
Barnes, a thrillingly anarchic runner at
times, was sent on after the hour but
did not threaten until stoppage time,
when he swapped slick passes with
Vardy before fi ring the ball into the
danger zone. But Boly made an excel-
lent clearance in front of his own goal
to confi rm the stalemate.
▲ Nuno Espírito Santo speaks to the
referee Andre Marriner at full-time
Rashford and
Martial reward
Solskjær’s rejig
Manager sees decision to
shift England forward out
wide and play Frenchman
in the middle vindicated
while Wan-Bissaka makes
an impact going forward
Jamie Jackson
Old Traff ord
A
cross two breathtaking
minutes Manchester
United shot an
electric bolt through
Old Traff ord. Until
then Ole Gunnar
Solskjær’s side clung to a lead
against a Chelsea side who surely
wondered how they still trailed.
Then, in a fl ash, the home
team were transformed. First,
on 63 minutes, Anthony Martial
did something rarely seen for
United in recent times: he scored
an old-fashioned “sniff er’s” goal.
Andrea Pereira smacked a cross in
and there was the Frenchman to
bundle home from close range.
Then came a sweet United
sequence in which Aaron
Wan-Bissaka, Jesse Lingard and Paul
Pogba were all involved before the Aaron Wan-
Bissaka, on his
Manchester
United debut,
gets a cross in
under pressure
from Emerson
Palmieri
MICHAEL REGAN/
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