Jack Grealish has offered the perfect response after former player turned pundit Graeme Souness said he’d like to go out for a pint with him.
Phoning into to talkSPORT radio to try and dismiss the suggestion that he has an agenda against the Manchester City star, Souness said he has “absolutely no” problem with Jack and that he only has his manager to impress.
Defending his stance on the player, he added that outside of football and his professional critique, he’d “love a night out with him”. It was this comment that saw the City no.10 come up with the perfect reply.
🤣🤣 let’s do it!! As long as I can bring Pogba as a +1
As you can see, Grealish jokingly responded by saying ‘let’s do it!! As long as I can bring Pogba as a +1″. Well played, Jack, well played indeed.
If you’ve paid any kind of attention to football five years or so, the 69-year-old former Liverpool player has long-held a reputation for homing in on select players with his criticism, none more so than former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. Well, only Pogba, really.
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Having taken umbrage with everything from his haircut and work rate to his style and perceived attitude on and off the pitch, the Scot’s seemingly unwavering problem with the Frenchman became one of the biggest football memes in history.
That being said, since Pogba left the Premier League it would seem the Brummy boy has become Souness latest target, labelling him a “precious” player and suggesting that he is “not a quick learner”.
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Their spat is now getting so much publicity in fact that even prior to his social media quip, the 27-year-old even took time out of training at the latest England camp to address the situation, insisting: “I don’t know what problem to he’s got”.
Explaining his criticism during the broadcast, Souness went on to argue that while he doesn’t have a problem with the “cheeky chappy”, he does thinks he “technically fantastic”, he still believes he’s “entitled to an opinion”.
He went on to argue that pundits can’t be critical of “modern players” these days, even citing the reaction to his own feud with Pogba and arguing he was proved “100% right at the end of the day”.
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Despite retaining his place in the England squad and opening his account in the league for City last weekend, Souness believes that there isn’t enough evidence to suggest that Grealish is among the “great” players in the Prem right now.
While he hasn’t been a regular starter for Pep’s side since arriving as the most expensive British signing of all-time, he is still one of the nation’s brightest talents and his international break would be a great opportunity to make a point.
An official Guinness Fan Zone is coming to Manchester for the Six Nations
Danny Jones
One of the biggest Guinness Fan Zones in the UK is coming to Manchester city centre for the Six Nations this February and the best part of all is, it’s absolutely free.
With the beloved rugby union tournament kicking off on Saturday, 4 February, Guinness are bringing their popular fan zone to our lovely city and just in time for the Wales vs Ireland game, not to mention England vs Scotland later the same day.
Popping up on Baring Street, Mayfield, just round the corner from Piccadilly Station, the Six Nations fan zone will be the biggest outside of London and runs all the way until Saturday 18 March.
Transformed into a dedicated space for rugby lovers to watch the match and enjoy a fresh pint of ice-cold Guinness, the fan zone festivities don’t stop there.
Credit: Supplied
To keep the party rolling, they will also be hosting a series of interactive shows, activities and live performances, including bagpipes, Irish dancers and more. There’s even an interactive beer wall – the first one to be available outside of rugby union’s historic home at Twickenham.
Once again, general admissions tickets to the fan zone are absolutely free, but you can bag yourself a table reservation for £10 per person. Better still, for super fans, you can even grab an exclusive Season Pass for a limited time only, granting you access to all five games in the competition.
This includes a special edition team jersey, access to the best seats in the house and the first 150 customers will also get a Guinness Six Nations tote bag filled with beanies, cushions and foam fingers, even temporary tattoos and face paints for you to get your full colours on.
Last but not least, those who do grab a Season Pass will also be in with a chance to win one of Guinness’ exclusive ‘Money Can’t Buy Experiences‘, this year’s main prize being four tickets to a Six Nations match, a dressing room tour and being trusted with flag bearer duty before kick-off. Mint.
Russian supporters waving Putin flags and wearing ‘Z’ war symbols questioned by police at Australian Open
Danny Jones
A number of Russian supporters attending the Australian Open were spotted waving pro-Putin flags and wearing ‘Z’ war symbols during Novak Djokovic’s match on Wednesday evening.
Spotted in the crowd whilst watching Djokovic’s quarter-final tie against Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev, the group of fans cheering on Rublev are now said to have been questioned by local police following the stunt as a further investigation is expected to be carried out.
The nine-time tournament winner might have seen off the world number six seed in straight sets to progress to the penultimate round of the major, but the controversy that the pro-war display has caused is understandably all anyone can focus on.
You can see a significant number of Russian fans chanting “Putin!” with their flags in the stands below, as well as another man clearly flaunting the ‘Z’ symbol — synonymous with the invasion of Ukraine.
Police have detained four spectators for questioning at the Australian Open after they held up Russian flags with Vladimir Putin’s face.
Another man was seen inside the stadium during the match wearing a t-shirt with a pro-war ‘Z’ symbol. pic.twitter.com/lt8VLuZupF
According to a statement issued by Tennis Australia, four men were questioned by local authorities in Melbourne after they revealed their pro-Putin emblems and reportedly threatened security guards inside the Rod Laver Arena then they were asked to remove them.
Victoria Police have now confirmed that while charges were made, the group of supporters were quickly ejected, with Australian Open organisers reassuring that they will “continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies.”
To make matters worse, Djokovic’s father, Srđan, was later seen posing with what appears to be the same group of fans and images of Vladimir Putin outside the stadium.
The Serbian has not long put his own controversy behind him after being deported from the country due to covid regulations and his anti-vax stance last year. This surely won’t help.
The father of tennis star Novak Djokovic is under fire for posing with pro-Russian fans at the Australian Open. It's sparked a new political storm, as spectators clashed with security guards. https://t.co/b3nAU1JF34#7NEWSpic.twitter.com/ieZoVIJ2il
The Russian invasion has been an ongoing issue at the Open, with Russian and Belarusian players now having to compete under a neutral flag.
This comes after spectators had initially been allowed to bring any flag into the arena with them. However, following the incident, certain Russian flags are now prohibited and security guards have been provided with pamphlets in order for them to check for approved national emblems.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was both surprised and relieved to find out that Germany has confirmed they will be sending Leopard 2 tanks to bolster his country’s defences, which he only learned whilst in the middle of an interview with Sky News’ Kay Burley.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Sky News he is "very happy" and "thankful" that Germany has decided to supply 14 Leopard 2 tanks – but warned the quantity and delivery time of the vehicles is "critical".