Andre Ayew's Swansea City 'Reluctantly' Part Ways With Coach Garry Monk

Ghanaian international Andre Ayew looks set to be working under a new coach after his Clubside, Swansea City today reluctantly parted company with manager Garry Monk according to a statement on the Club's official website.

With the recent uncertainty surrounding the club, the decision has been made in the best interests of Swansea City Football Club and its supporters.

Swansea City Chairman, Huw Jenkins, confirmed: “The decision has been made very reluctantly and with a heavy heart.

“To find ourselves in our current situation from where we were in the first week of September, and considering the drop of performance levels and run of results over the last three months, it has brought us to this unfortunate decision today.

“Garry took on the job 22 months ago with the backing of everyone at the club. And when you take into account the excellent campaign we had last season when we broke all club records in the Premier League, nobody foresaw the position we would be in at this moment in time.

“Bearing that in mind and the current uncertainty around the club, we felt the situation needed clarity to move forward.

“It was not a decision we took lightly, especially given Garry’s history and standing within the club. And it goes without saying that we wish Garry all the very best for the future and thank him for his tremendous service, not only as a player over the last decade, but also as our manager. He will always have a warm welcome at this football club.

“We hope to appoint a replacement as soon as possible.’’

No further comment will be made at this stage, but we will endeavour to keep our supporters informed of future developments. 

UCL: Ronaldo Sets Record As Real Madrid Hit Eight Against Enock Kofi Adu's Malmo FF

Cristiano Ronaldo struck four times to set a new record for goals scored in the Champions League group stage as Real Madrid also equalled the record victory in the competition with an 8-0 mauling of Malmo on Tuesday.

Troubled French striker Karim Benzema also scored his first hat-trick for five years, whilst Mateo Kovacic added his first goal for the Spanish giants.

The scoreline equalled Liverpool's 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas in November 2007.

Ronaldo's tally of 11 goals in the group stages surpasses the previous record of nine held by himself in 2013/14 and Luiz Adriano for Shakhtar Donetsk last season.

With top spot in Group A already assured, Madrid boss Rafael Benitez took the chance to rest some of his stars including Gareth Bale, but Madrid were still in a different league to a Malmo side that ended their domestic season over five weeks ago.

Benzema will learn on Thursday if he is to be suspended from the French national team due to his alleged involvement in a blackmail scandal involving a sex tape of international teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

However, he remains in fine form for Madrid as he scored his first hat-trick since another 8-0 Real win over Levante in December 2010 to take his tally to five in his last two games.

The opener arrived on 12 minutes when Benzema was on hand to sweep home into an empty net after Isco's initial effort had been cleared off the line.

Poor defending allowed Benzema to double the hosts' advantage midway through the first-half as he headed in unmarked from Ronaldo's cross.

Ronaldo then had two fierce efforts well saved by Malmo's veteran goalkeeper Johan Wiland, but the 34-year-old was to blame when the World Player of the Year opened his account for the evening with a free-kick that bobbled into the far corner.

Unlike in recent matches when Madrid have eased off in the second-half after accumulating a comfortable half-time lead, Benitez's men went for the kill after the break as they sensed history.

Ronaldo took advantage of a loose ball inside the area to make it 4-0 and then fired across Wiland into the far corner to register his record-breaking 10th goal of the group stage inside the first four minutes of the second-half.

Not content with 10, Ronaldo side-footed home Isco's cross 10 minutes later for his 88th Champions League goal with all 11 in the group stage coming in just four matches as he failed to score in two games against Paris Saint-Germain.

Croatian international Kovacic smashed home his first Madrid goal since a big money move from Inter Milan to pile on the misery for Malmo coach Age Hareide in his final match in charge.

With the visitors clearly tiring, Madrid's pressing teed up Benzema to continue putting his off-field troubles behind him with his 12th goal of the season.

Real could easily have gone on to set a new record as Wiland made a series of saves in the final 15 minutes and Denis Cheryshev clipped the post.

However, referee Daniele Orsato took pity on the visitors as he blew up for full-time without adding any stoppages as Madrid's recovery since being thrashed 4-0 at home by Barcelona last month continued in fine style.

© AFP

Wolfsburg 3-2 Man Utd: Champions League Exit For Van Gaal's Men

Manchester United's Champions League dream came to an abrupt halt as a 3-2 defeat in Wolfsburg saw them eliminated from the competition and drop into the Europa League.

United travelled to the Volkswagen Arena knowing only a victory would guarantee progression into the knockout phase, but defeat, coupled with PSV Eindhoven 2-1 draw with CSKA Moscow saw Louis van Gaal's crashed out of the group stages for the fourth time in the club's history.

Anthony Martial's 10th-minute strike had given United the perfect start before Wolfsburg wrestled back the initiative with two classy first-half goals from Naldo (13) and Vieirinha (29).

The visitors, who saw a Jesse Lingard goal disallowed late in the first half, looked to have sealed qualification eight minutes from time when Maroune Fellaini's goal-bound header was deflected into his own net by Joshua Guilavogui.

But Naldo's second of the night two minutes later sealed United's fate as the Bundesliga side held on for the win and with it, top spot in Group B.

Source: skysports

Holders Arsenal Start Fa Cup Defence Against Sunderland

FA Cup holders Arsenal will kick off their attempt to retain the trophy with a third round tie against Sunderland in January.

Arsene Wenger's side defeated Sunderland 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday and just 48 hours later they were paired with the Black Cats in Monday's draw for the third round. The Gunners, who routed Aston Villa in last year's final, will host the tie at the Emirates Stadium as they start on the road to Wembley in a bid to win the competition for a third successive year.

Elsewhere in the draw, new Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was handed a trip to fourth tier Exeter in his first taste of the competition following his recent arrival as replacement for the sacked Brendan Rodgers. Manchester United, who haven't won the Cup since 2004, take on League One outfit Sheffield United at Old Trafford, while troubled Chelsea will host the winner of a second round replay between Leyton Orient and Scunthorpe.

There are several all-Premier League ties, with surprise leaders Leicester City travelling to Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester City head to Norwich, Southampton entertain Crystal Palace and Watford host Newcastle. Part-timers Whitehawk have been handed a possible trip to Everton if the sixth tier side get through their second round replay at home to League Two club Dagenham and Redbridge.

Three other non-league teams feature in the draw. The lowest-ranked among them, Salford City of the seventh tier -- co-owned by former Manchester United stars Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and brothers Gary and Phil Neville -- will host Championship high-fliers Derby if they can get past League Two team Hartlepool in their second round replay. Eastleigh, the only one of the non-league sides to have made it through outright, were handed a home tie against Championship strugglers Bolton, while Grimsby will travel to Cardiff if they can beat Shrewsbury.

Draw for the English FA Cup third round:

Watford v Newcastle

West Brom v Bristol City

West Ham v Wolves

Salford or Hartlepool v Derby

Exeter v Liverpool

Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City

Colchester v Charlton

Peterborough v Preston

Northampton v Milton Keynes Dons

Arsenal v Sunderland

Newport v Blackburn

Ipswich v Portsmouth

Birmingham City v Bournemouth

Wycombe v Aston Villa

Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham

Oxford v Swansea City

Brentford v Chesterfield or Walsall

Bury v Bradford City

Manchester United v Sheffield United

Everton v Dagenham or Whitehawk

Southampton v Crystal Palace

Eastleigh v Bolton

Nottingham Forest v QPR

Carlisle v Yeovil

Chelsea v Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe

Doncaster v Stoke City

Leeds v Rotherham

Cardiff v Grimsby or Shrewsbury

Huddersfield v Reading

Middlesbrough v Burnley

Norwich City v Manchester City

Hull City v Brighton

Ties to be played between 8 and 11 January

Andre Ayew Could Be Playing Under Former Liverpool Coach Brendan Rodgers

Ghanaian international Andre Ayew and his colleagues could be playing under  a new as Swansea City will make an ambitious move to reunite with Brendan Rodgers when they cut ties with Garry Monk.

Chairman Huw Jenkins met with Monk on Monday morning, but even though the 36-year-old is still in a job, senior club officials believe time could be called as early as Tuesday.

At the very least, there is almost no expectation within the club that Monk will be in his position by Saturday's game at Manchester City.

It will be an uncharacteristic move by Swansea with Jenkins privately, if not publicly, strongly supportive of his manager throughout the slump in results.

But the distinct feeling within the club is that a change is inevitable.

Thoughts within the club have already turned to what happens next and members of the board are understood to be keen on a stunning move to re-sign Rodgers, who led Swansea to the Barclays Premier League in 2011 before leaving to join Liverpool a year later.

While that would be largely popular within the club and its support, sources at Swansea are not optimistic that they would be able to lure the Northern Irishman back and they have also ruled out a move for David Moyes.

The increasing uncertainty over Monk's has spread to the dressing room, with first-team players such as Andre Ayew, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Neil Taylor among others, in the dark over whether the Englishman will lead the team on Saturday.

Hearts Coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi And Team Manager Sabahn Quaye 'FIGHT' At Training Grounds On Monday

Information reaching the desk of ghanafootballnews.com has it that had it not been for the players and other members of the technical team, Hearts coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi and team manager Nii Sabahn Quaye would have traded blows at the team's training grounds on Monday morning.

According to our sources, the coach was not happy with certain comments made by the team manager prior to the commencement of the days training and that was the genesis of the supposed misunderstanding between the two.

Narrating the incident to ghanafootballnews.com, our sources mentioned that before the day's training session could commence, the coaches spoke to the team about a few issues, one of which was their heavy defeat at the hands of WAFA in a pre-season inter- club friendly match played last Saturday.

According to him, the coach was very tough on the team in his presentation, but when it got to the turn of the team manager, he mildly mentioned that he feels the defeat to WAFA should not be a measuring tool for the performance of the team since its early days yet.

“He told us that we should buck up and not to dwell too much on the defeat against WAFA, and this did not go down well with the Coach who immediately interrupted and told the TM to shut up if he

has nothing tangible to say.”

“Both men exchanged words and had to be separated by other members of the technical team as well as some of the players, and the team manager left the field to sit on the bench,” our sources   mentioned to ghanafootballnews.com.

The Phobians since the end of the 2014/15 football season have been in the news for various reasons, most of which have centered on their recruitment drive ahead of the next football season among other matters.

All attempts by this website to reach the Club’s public relations officer to confirm or deny the story proved futile as he failed to answer our many calls to his phone.