分类： sports

Just 12 months after delivering a joint-record 20th English top-flight title in his sensational debut season at Anfield, Arne Slot has been dismissed as Liverpool manager following a catastrophic Premier League title defence that has left the Merseyside giants searching for a new strategic direction.

The club’s American ownership group Fenway Sports Group (FSG) confirmed the sacking in an official statement released on Saturday, capping weeks of mounting fan pressure and internal speculation over the Dutch manager’s future. The decision ends Slot’s 14-month tenure, which began with huge expectations as he stepped into the enormous shoes left by the departure of club legend Jurgen Klopp.

This season’s collapse has been one of the most dramatic in modern Premier League history. After splashing a league-record £450 million (approximately $605 million) on new transfers last summer, Liverpool finished a full 25 points adrift of new champions Arsenal, landing in fifth place in the final table. The club’s 60-point total was their lowest return since the 2015/16 campaign, marking a stark fall from grace just one season after lifting the trophy.

Slot’s second season at the helm was marred by multiple challenges beyond poor on-pitch results. Discontent among the playing squad spilled into public view earlier this month, when departing star Mohamed Salah posted an explosive message on social media calling for a return to Klopp’s famous “heavy metal football” — a thinly veiled criticism of Slot’s more conservative tactical approach. The post was quickly liked by multiple current Liverpool first-team players, confirming widespread reports of dressing room disharmony. Key summer signings also failed to deliver on their price tags: British record signing Alexander Isak spent much of the campaign sidelined with repeated fitness issues, while £100 million wunderkind Florian Wirtz struggled to adapt to the physical and tactical pace of the Premier League after moving from Bayer Leverkusen. Compounding these struggles, Slot was forced to navigate the devastating emotional blow of the death of fan-favourite forward Diogo Jota in a car accident last July.

Despite a late run of form that ultimately secured Liverpool a place in next season’s Champions League — which had previously led to reports that Slot would keep his job — FSG ultimately bowed to growing fan anger to remove the former Feyenoord manager. In its official statement, the club framed the decision as a necessary change of course, not a rejection of Slot’s personal ability.

“We have collectively come to the conclusion that change is necessary in order for the club to keep moving forward,” the statement read. “Again, it must be stressed that this is not a decision which has been reached lightly, anything but. The conclusion we have come to is built on a belief that the team’s trajectory is best addressed through a change of direction. That does not diminish the work Arne has done here, or the respect we have for him. Nor is it a reflection of his talents. Rather, it is indicative of the need for a different approach. Arne leaves with our gratitude, with a Premier League title to his name, and with the knowledge that he and his family will always be welcomed back at Anfield.”

FSG added that the hiring process for Slot’s replacement is already well underway. While a large section of Liverpool supporters have publicly pushed for the return of fan favourite Xabi Alonso, the former Reds midfielder has already agreed to take the head coaching role at Chelsea for the 2025/26 season, ruling out a return to Merseyside this summer.

Instead, the frontrunner for the job is outgoing Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, who is on track to become Slot’s permanent successor after a historic season with the Cherries. The Spanish manager led Bournemouth to a sixth-place Premier League finish and qualification for European competition for the first time in the club’s 125-year history, capping the campaign with an 18-match unbeaten run that saw the south coast club finish just three points behind Liverpool, despite operating with a far smaller playing budget. Iraola also has an existing working relationship with Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes, who previously held the same role at Bournemouth before moving to Anfield.

The dismissal caps a turbulent season for one of English football’s biggest clubs, and sets the stage for a new era at Anfield as the ownership looks to reset the team’s trajectory ahead of the next campaign.

The 2024 French Open delivered another tense, memorable chapter on Saturday, as four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka fought past 18-year-old American prospect Iva Jovic in a riveting three-set third-round clash to keep her dream of a Paris title alive. The 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4 win marked the furthest Osaka has ever advanced at Roland Garros, extending a historic run that has already defied expectations for the 16th-seeded Japanese star.

Osaka once again turned heads before the first ball even landed on Court Suzanne Lenglen, making a typically dramatic entrance in a glittering gold outer ensemble: a sequined gold jacket paired with a flowing gold train, offset by soft pink tennis sneakers and a black branded visor. Once play began under the bright sun of Paris’ lingering late-season heatwave, she shed the outer layers to reveal a matching gold tennis dress that sparkled across the court, turning her pre-match entrance into one of the tournament’s most talked-about moments. When asked after the win whether more bold, themed outfits were waiting in her hotel wardrobe for upcoming matches, Osaka teased fans with a smile, saying only that every tournament appearance would bring a new surprise.

The match itself was a tightly contested battle of serves, with both players grabbing early breaks of serve in the opening set before locking in to force a first-set tiebreak. Osaka claimed the tight opening tiebreak to take the lead, but the 18-year-old Jovic refused to back down, stepping up her aggressive baseline play to force a second-set tiebreak that she won comfortably to level the match. The decider stayed on serve through the first nine games, before Osaka landed a series of aggressive returns to claim the decisive break in the 10th game, closing out the match when Jovic sent a forehand long on the first match point. Jovic opened the final game with a blistering 162kph ace, but crumbled under pressure from Osaka’s consistent, sharp returns, missing two shots into the net before the final errant shot that sealed Osaka’s spot in the fourth round.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Osaka highlighted her improved mental composure compared to her earlier matches at this year’s tournament, noting that she grows calmer the deeper she advances into a Grand Slam. The 28-year-old has claimed four Grand Slam singles titles to date — two Australian Opens and two US Opens — but had never advanced past the third round at Roland Garros before this year’s run. “It’s such an honour to be here,” Osaka said. “It’s the furthest I have ever been here.”

She also credited her consistent serve as the key to getting past the young, aggressive Jovic, who put heavy pressure on Osaka’s second serve throughout the match. “I am really glad it was working,” she said. “Against some players you need to put your serve in and she was very aggressive on my second serve.”

Osaka will now wait to learn her next opponent, who will be either world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or unseeded Australian Daria Kasatkina, who faced off in their third-round match later on Saturday.

English Premier League giants Liverpool FC have confirmed that head coach Arne Slot has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect, bringing an end to the Dutch manager’s two-season tenure at Anfield. The decision comes on the back of a catastrophic title defense campaign that saw the Merseyside club slump to a fifth-place finish in the 2024-25 league table, falling well short of the high standards expected by the club and its global fanbase. Growing unrest among supporters boiled over into open criticism of Slot after a string of underwhelming performances across the campaign, while internal tensions have also been reported within the first-team dressing room, with star forward Mohamed Salah identified as the most vocal critic of the manager’s leadership. In an official statement released to the public on Saturday, the club confirmed the sudden managerial change and added that the process to identify and appoint a permanent successor is already underway. Club executives explained that the split was prompted by a belief that the club required a fresh strategic direction to return to title contention. The statement was careful to acknowledge Slot’s contributions during his time at the club, stressing that the dismissal does not undermine the work he delivered or the respect the organization holds for him. “Nor is it a reflection of his talents. Rather, it is indicative of the need for a different approach,” the statement read. Slot leaves Anfield having secured a Premier League title in his first season in charge, and the club closed by thanking him for his service, noting that he and his family will always be welcomed back to the stadium in the future.

As the NSW Blues prepare for the second clash of the 2024 State of Origin series, rookie prop Addin Fonua-Blake has pushed back against early criticism of his debut performance, while openly expressing his ambition to form a devastating front-row combination with injured returning star Payne Haas in Melbourne.

Fonua-Blake’s first Origin appearance got off to a notoriously slow start at Sydney’s Accor Stadium. The Blues’ disastrous opening 15 minutes saw the Queensland Maroons race out to an early lead, leaving the powerful front-rower with just two carries for 17 running metres before he was benched shortly after the Maroons scored their third try. But the NSW rookie fought back in the second half, turning the tide of his performance to end the match with 10 carries for 82 metres, as the Blues completed a comeback to claim a tense 22-20 opening game win.

Speaking to media following his club Cronulla Sharks’ victory over Manly just 48 hours after the Origin opener, Fonua-Blake hit back at critics who panned his early-game performance. “You see a lot of stories about not having an impact in the first 15, but I don’t think many people would have had an impact in that first 15 minutes of that game,” he explained. “We only got the ball maybe twice while I was on and then it was a bit of a scrappy fight. We regrouped and we went out there in the second half and I thought I did what I know I could do.”

The 28-year-old, who became eligible to represent NSW after recent changes to State of Origin eligibility rules that allow players with past New Zealand or Tonga representative honours to play for Australian state sides, says he is not worried about being dropped for the second game. “I’m not worried (about getting dropped). I know if I just do my job here and do what I know I can do here, then I give myself the best opportunity to get a call. But if I don’t get a call, then I’ll just work hard. I‘ve just got to keep doing my job here.”

Fonua-Blake’s club coach Craig Fitzgibbon, a former Blues representative and assistant coach who knows the intensity of Origin football intimately, has leapt to defend his star prop, pointing to his dominant performance just two days after his Origin debut where he recorded a team-high 139 running metres and 18 perfect tackles to inspire the Sharks to victory. Fitzgibbon has thrown his full support behind retaining Fonua-Blake in the second game, specifically to pair him with Brisbane Broncos star Payne Haas, who is set to return to the Blues side after recovering from an early injury.

“It frustrates me that front-rowers have to have carries and make metres for people to rate their performance,” Fitzgibbon said. “We need the ball to do that. They had no ball, and him and Mitch Barnett were off before they had one or two carries each. Then their second stints, both of those front-rowers got them back in the game.”

Fitzgibbon also highlighted that Fonua-Blake’s underrated defensive work often flies under the radar of critics. “His defence is always underestimated for Addin, whereas guys like Addin are notorious for their meters and tries and the things that everyone notices. But for what we’re valuing Addin at the moment, he saved three tries, three weeks in a row for us on last plays. It’s actually kicks downfield that he turned up on the try line. So there’s some stuff off the ball that he’s probably not getting credit for.” Fitzgibbon also suggested the pair could combine with Mitch Barnett to create a terrifying forward rotation, leaving incumbent Jacob Saifiti, who did not take the field in game one, fighting to retain his spot in the 17-man squad.

For his part, Fonua-Blake says he is eager for the chance to share the forward pack with Haas, widely regarded as one of the best props in the game. Having faced Haas multiple times at club level, the Sharks prop believes the pair could create an unstopable one-two punch in the middle of the field for the Blues. “That would be an ideal situation to get to play alongside him,” he said. “I definitely think he’s one of the best players to play the game. I’ve never played with him. I’ve played against him a lot of times and seen what he’s capable of. I feel like it’d be a really good one-two punch, but I can’t think about that too much. I have to do my job here back at club level and then give myself an opportunity to get there again.”

The 2025 French Open delivered one of the biggest upsets in Grand Slam history on Friday, as 19-year-old Brazilian wildcard Joao Fonseca completed a spectacular comeback from two sets down to defeat 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, knocking the Serbian great out of the third round and ending his bid for a record-breaking 25th major title.

Fonseca, who already pulled off a similar reverse comeback win in the previous round, pulled off another masterclass in resilient, aggressive power tennis to seal a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 victory after nearly five hours of brutal baseline battles on the clay of Roland Garros. The shock result marks the first time the teenager has ever advanced to the fourth round of a major tournament, and caps off a seismic 24 hours for the men’s draw that has cleared the path for an unprecedented new champion.

When asked how he maintained belief after falling two sets behind to one of the sport’s most mentally tough competitors, the teen kept his response characteristically grounded. “I actually didn’t [keep believing], I just kept playing. I just enjoyed being on court. What a pleasure it was stepping on court with him for the first time, I was trying to hit the ball as fast as I could. Djokovic, he does not miss,” Fonseca explained after the match.

In a show of class, Djokovic was quick to praise his young opponent’s performance, acknowledging Fonseca outperformed him when it mattered most. “What an incredible match to be part of. Huge credit to Joao for really deserving to win the match. Without a doubt he was the better player in crucial moments,” the 36-year-old said. “He played lights-out tennis. I don’t think I’ve done much wrong with my game. He was just better.” Djokovic has been stuck on 24 Grand Slam titles since winning the 2023 US Open, and with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz already sidelined by injury ahead of this tournament, this was widely seen as one of his best remaining chances to add to his historic haul.

Djokovic’s exit comes just one day after world number one and pre-tournament favorite Jannik Sinner was also knocked out in an earlier upset. Combined, the eliminations of the two most dominant men’s players of the recent Grand Slam era guarantee that the 2025 French Open will crown a first-time men’s Grand Slam champion, breaking a streak of nine consecutive major titles won by either Sinner or Alcaraz. Second seed Alexander Zverev, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, now enters the tournament as the clear favorite to capitalize on the wide-open draw, and is set to face French wildcard Quentin Halys in his third round night match. For his next match, Fonseca will take on the winner of the tie between two-time Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud and 24th-seeded American Tommy Paul.

On the women’s side of the draw, four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek continued her steady march toward a fifth title in Paris, advancing to the last 16 with a straight-sets 6-4, 6-4 win over compatriot Magda Linette. Swiatek, who hired former Rafael Nadal coach Francisco Roig after losing to Linette at the Miami Open in March, fought back from an early 2-0 deficit to secure the win, breaking Linette three times in the opening set to grab the momentum before closing out the match in the second. “It was a good match. I played much better than Miami,” Swiatek said of her performance.

The world number one will next face 15th seed Marta Kostyuk, who extended her unbeaten 2025 clay season to 15 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic. Kostyuk, who already picked up clay titles in Madrid and Rouen this season, enters the match in red-hot form. “Marta is having a great season. She always had a game to play well, so good for her. But I’m going to focus on myself, prepare tactically, as before any other match, and we’ll see,” Swiatek said of her upcoming opponent.

Eighth-seeded Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva also advanced to the fourth round with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win over 27th-seeded Czech Marie Bouzkova, and will next face unseeded Swiss Jil Teichmann, who upset former runner-up Karolina Muchova to claim her spot in the last 16. Elina Svitolina, who recently ended an eight-year title drought by winning the WTA 1000 Rome Open, pushed her winning streak to nine matches with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Tamara Korpatsch, and will next face either 11th seed Belinda Bencic or American Peyton Stearns for a quarterfinal spot. Romanian 18th seed Sorana Cirstea rounded out the day’s women’s results with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 shutout win over Argentina’s Solara Sierra.