EVERTON BOSS SAM Allardyce will miss Evertonโs Europa League outing on Thursday due to a prior medical appointment.
The Toffees are taking on Apollon Limassol in a Group E game in Cyprus, with first-team coaches Craig Shakespeare and Duncan Ferguson stepping in to take charge for the trip.
Neither side can progress to the knockout stages of the competition, with Everton sitting at the bottom of the group on the back of four defeats in five games in the group stages of the competition.
The newly appointed Allardyce has already said that he considers this game to be a โdead rubberโ fixture and appears to be concentrating on the Merseyside derby coming up this weekend.
Speaking to the The Telegraph this week, Allardyce said he will not be taking too many risks ahead of the Premier League clash on Sunday.
โI would suggest to the fans that if you are going to spend some money to go and watch them be mindful that I am going to send a team that is not going to be risking too many players who are going to be involved for Liverpool.
โIt would be foolish of me to consider getting a player injured in that game and not have him available. I have too many injuries already.โ
The42 has just published its first book, Behind The Lines, a collection of some of the yearโs best sports stories. Pick up your copy in Easonโs, or order it here today (โฌ10):
Itโs scary to think how war mongering the UK is. For every war in the world the USA and UK always get involved like itโs some sort of videos game. Also the war crimes done in Ireland, Iraq, number of countryโs in Africa and Asia by the British Army is something not to be proud off.
Totally agree.
Stick to the football lads. Itโs in need of your full attention.
Of course theyโre planning to, thereโs still plenty of empire nostalgia in England as reflected in recent Brexit vote
@An_Beal_Bocht: Whats commemorating the lives of those who died fighting in WWI & WWII have anything to do with the British empire? Its showing respect for those who gave their lives in an awful conflict.
Itโs not just ww1 and ww2. Itโs every war and conflict they have ever been in, including Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, India etc etc etc etc etc.
A leopard never changes its spots. They just canโt help been themselves. They tried their best bless the murdering, Racist B@@@@@@!!!!
So theyโre commemorating the inhabitants of Nagasaki and Nazi soldiers as well?!
Way to stick it to the man.
Theyโre dead right. To hell with fifa.
But we all know there is more to this poppy wearing for the Brits than commemoration of their fallen heroes.
100yrs on its more about nationalism.
Iโm also sure there are families of innocents in places like Iraq, Syria and perhaps even Belfast who donโt take so kindly to the liberators tag that the British army like to align with.
Iโm also sure there are a few Germans in FIFA who just joy in rubbing it in the noses of the brexiteers
The Scots are also planning on having poppys on their kit that day, why is this being ignored??
And James McLean to get the usually abuse from the stands and online by the brave knuckle daggers.
Its plain to see very few commenters on here havenโt a scooby what the Poppy represents.
The real question is if Fifa prohinits display of symbols on international jerseys which could be interpreted as a political, religious or commercial why was nothing said about the 1916 commemoration on the Ireland jerseys earlier this year?
let them wear the poppy. thereโs no harm in it. itโs symbols that blatantly want to stir up trouble fifa should be more concerned with rather than symbols of remembrance and honour.
So what does it represent? I think maybe you are the one who doesnโt have the Scrooby doo.
What it was originally intended to represent, what it has come to represent and what it actually stands for are all different things.
The media poppy pressure in the U.K. is relentless. Itโs become a massive propaganda tool for the British Army.
Oh , you mean the one we wore to celebrate 100 years? These fools wear that bloody poppy every year. The pro Britannia vibe is cringe to the point that it makes me want to vomit
If very FEW havenโt a scooby then the vast majority completely understand the stupidity of footballers wearing the poppy. Nice double negative you ignoramus!
The 1916 commemoration was for a friendly game, which is not against FIFA rules.
And to be even more pedantic about it, it did not contain the Lily but merely โรire 1916-2016โฒ. In my opinion it was subtle and classy. There is nothibg subtle about the poppy and its appearance on our screens en masse for the month of November.
Is the FA chairman not Greg Dyke instead of Greg Clarke??
Hi Sean, No it was Greg Dyke but he has since been succeeded by Greg Clarke. Greg Dyke stepped down during the summer.
Hi Sean. No Greg Clarke replaced Greg Dyke earlier this summer.
No
@sean mcgoey: Hi Sean, just getting back to this comment now. Greg Clarke succeeded Greg Dyke as FA Chairman in July of this year.
And we careโฆ.Nooooo
Surely the British parliament has more pressing concerns than worrying whether or not their football teams wear a poppy on their shirt. Always happens at this time of year and I find it funny how far they go with it