Daily Mail - 03.03.2020

81

Daily Mail, Tuesday, March 3, 2020^

BLACKPOOL have

lured Liverpool

Under 23 boss

Neil Critchley as

their new manager on a

three-year deal.

Jurgen Klopp has twice

handed the reins to the

41-year-old in domestic

cup competitions this

season, when the club

fielded youthful squads.

Blackpool are 13th in

League One and

Critchley said: ‘I got a

really good feeling

about the people, where

they want the club to

go and how they want it

to grow.’

JACK GAUGHAN

STURRIDGE ‘GUTTED’ aT FOUR-MONTH BaN

DANIEL STURRIDGE has been

banned from football worldwide for

four months after the FA successfully

appealed against the terms of his

original suspension.

The former England forward

agreed to terminate his

contract with Turkish side

Trabzonspor yesterday

when he discovered that,

with immediate effect, he

would not be allowed to play

or be involved in any football

activity until June 17.

Sturridge (left), whose former

clubs include Liverpool, Chelsea

and Manchester City, had initially

been given a two-week ban last

summer, having breached the FA’s

strict rules on betting. He had been

charged over betting incidents in

January 2018 when he left Anfield on

loan. The FA were never happy with

the punishment at the time, since

Sturridge did not miss any football.

Following an appeal to an independent

board, it was deemed that a regulatory

commission had ‘misapplied the FA’s

rules in relation to the use of inside

information’.

Sturridge posted a two-minute video

on YouTube to explain his devastation

at the turn of events. Aside from the

extension of his suspension, he was

fined £150,000.

In a statement, the FA said: ‘In relation

to the sanction, the appeal board

agreed with the FA that the penalty

originally imposed on Mr Sturridge was

unduly lenient and therefore increased

his effective playing ban from two

weeks to four months.’

The case became public in November

2018, when Sturridge was charged.

Though it was clear the 30-year-old

had never placed a bet himself,

members of his inner circle had

gambled on which club he would join

when Liverpool allowed him to

pursue a loan. The FA had been

investigating Sturridge (left) for eight

months before that, but were left

frustrated after a three-day hearing

when it was announced on July 18

that he would only have to serve a

two-week ban.

Sturridge said: ‘It’s very disappointing

to hear the appeal overturned the

original and highly-qualified ruling.

I am absolutely devastated and gutted

that my season is over.’

By DOMINIC KING

By SAMI MOKBEL

FRANK LAMPARD has revealed

Kepa Arrizabalaga is in line for a

Chelsea recall tonight, but

warned the keeper his fading

Euro 2020 hopes are the least of

his worries.

The world’s most expensive

keeper has lost his place to

38-year-old Willy Caballero and

boss Lampard is ready to

recommend the Blues sign a

new No 1.

Arrizabalaga’s spell on the

sidelines has raised concerns

over his place in Spain’s squad

for the European Championship.

And Lampard confirmed

yesterday he is considering

handing his out-of-favour

keeper an opportunity to regain

his regular place in tonight’s FA

Cup tie against Liverpool. Asked

if Arrizabalaga was in the frame

to start at Stamford Bridge

tonight, Lampard answered:

‘Yes. He’s been professional as

expected. He’s trained well, kept

Frank: Kepa

in control of

his destiny

ONLY AN IDIOT

WOULD DOUBT US

Klopp vows Liverpool’s season will not implode

his head down, supported the

team and the group. Every

player is in control of their

destiny in how they train and

how they play.

‘Of course we have to look at the

group in the summer. But there

are no decisions beyond the

game tomorrow night as far as

I’m concerned.’

On the prospect of Arrizabalaga

missing out on Spain’s Euro 2020

squad as a result of his recent

omission, Lampard added:

‘I haven’t discussed that with

him and I can only pick the

team as I see it from a Chelsea

point of view.

‘He must have a positive attitude

and I’m a pretty fair man. I only

call it as I see it, as I see training

and performances.

‘Of course he can play for his

country. He’s shown that

already, so that hopefully isn’t a

big issue at the moment.’

WaTCHING BRIEF...

CHELSEA

v LIVERPOOL

Kick-off: 7.45pm, Stamford Bridge.

TV: LIVE on BBC1 from 7pm.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

J

U R G E N K L O P P

insists Liverpool are

ready to ‘strike back’

o n t h e r o a d t o

Wembley and says he

would be an ‘idiot’ if he

doubted the character of

his players.

Liverpool’s manager found

himself in the unusual position

on Saturday night of having to

conduct a postmortem. He

watched a replay of the 3-0

defeat by Watford when he

returned from Vicarage Road

and identified the areas that led

to the end of a 44-game unbeaten

run in the Premier League.

There was a routine meeting

with the squad at Melwood on

Sunday, in which Klopp aired

his views, and he came out of it

convinced Liverpool are ready

to attack the final phase of the

season with the same gusto that

led to them smashing records

earlier in the campaign.

Chelsea stand in the way this

evening in Liverpool’s first

fifth-round appearance since

2015. They got there courtesy of
      their youngsters overcoming
      Shrewsbury in a fourth-round
      replay at Anfield during the
      Premier League winter break,
      a game Klopp did not attend.
      A n d t h e G e r m a n , w h o i s

expected to name a strong team

f e a t u r i n g J a n u a r y s i g n i n g

Takumi Minamino, denied Liv-

erpool had lost their spark.

He said: ‘They want to strike

back. This is an exceptional

group of players. They did out-

standing stuff — just not against

Watford. I cannot ignore that

game and I told the boys what

areas we must improve.

‘Should I think just because

we want to respond that we’ll

shoot Chelsea out of their own

stadium? No.

‘It will be a tough game. If we

had beaten Watford it would

still have been a tough game.

I am not in any doubt about the

character of the boys.

‘I would be a real idiot if I was

(in any doubt), to be honest,

because they deserve my trust,

my faith and they don’t lose it

after a bad game.

‘We don’t have to make it big-

ger. We lost a football game.

Whenever it happens, it feels

really average. We want to be

very, very intense in a good way.’

The question regarding Liver-

pool in the Premier League

revolves around what date they

will be crowned champions,

rather than if they will win their

first title since 1990.

Such has been their domi-

nance, it has taken an element

of excitement for neutrals away

from the season.

It has led some to suggest that

things might be anti-climactic

for Liverpool if they find them-

selves out of Europe and the

FA Cup, but Klopp, whose

record in domestic knockout

competitions since arriving in

England is chequered, gave

the impression Wembley is on

his mind.

‘One cup competition that

we proved we take really

seriously in the last

couple of years is

t h e C h a m p i o n s

L e a g u e , ’ s a i d

Klopp. ‘The FA

Cup? It’s nothing

to do with us not

wanting to go

t o t h e f i n a l.

I t w a s j u s t

because

d r a w s , p e r-

formances ...

team selec-

tions? They

w e r e a l w a y s

reasonable.

‘We play Chel-

sea with all we have. Then

Bournemouth, with all we have.

Then Atletico Madrid, then

Everton, then Crystal Palace or

the FA Cup, right?

‘It will be with all we have.

Nothing else, 100 per cent. That

is us. What we really blame our-

selves for is that you didn’t see

it at Watford on Saturday.’

by DOMINIC

KING

Up for the

Cup: Klopp

says his

team can

strike back

GETTY iMaGES

FA CUP 81

Pressed into action:

Takumi Minamino in

training GETTY i MaGES