Sheffield United have no immediate plans to sack Paul Heckingbottom after the club suffered their heaviest league defeat when they were hammered 8-0 by Newcastle.
The Blades were put to the sword by a rampant Newcastle to go six games without a win on their Premier League return, but Heckingbottom’s job is currently safe, the PA news agency understands.
There has been speculation linking former boss Chris Wilder to a Bramall Lane return, but even this embarrassing defeat will not change the board’s position.
When asked whether he will be the manager for the next game, he said: “Yes, 100 per cent.
“This might be a theme now by the looks of it. I can’t answer any of that, the game, the players, my department, yeah no problem, but things like that you are asking the wrong man.”
Heckingbottom, who guided the club to promotion last season, has overseen a difficult few days following the death of women’s player Maddy Cusack earlier in the week.
The midfielder, who also worked for the club’s marketing department, was just 27 and the club were left “devastated”.
And the boss admits he will be glad to see the back of a horrible week.
There were poignant pre-match tributes to Cusack and Heckingbottom said: “It has affected a lot of people, there were tears on the pitch before the game.
“But we were determined to end what has been a really tough week strongly and we weren’t able to do that. It has been a tough week for everyone at the club and one we want over.”
The Magpies rewrote the history books, registering their biggest away win and also becoming the first Premier League side to have eight different players score in a game.
Eddie Howe’s side, who endured a difficult start to the season, now look like they are clicking and performed superbly on the back of their midweek Champions League trip to AC Milan.
They did not take their foot off the gas in the second half as they racked up the goals and that was the most pleasing thing for the boss.
Howe said: “It has been a great week for us. That is football for you.
“Before the Brentford game, we knew the importance of that game, a massive point in the week and great to see us back to our very best today.
“I never doubted us in the final third, we have got some outstanding players, and we have had a very tough start to the season in terms of fixtures, but today we were ruthless and kept looking to score, which is they key thing.
“We respect Sheffield United and Paul Heckingbottom and the job he has done here but we just had to do our thing and keep pushing and trying to score goals.
“We weren’t aware of anything during the game regarding the records. We were just trying to keep pushing the lads to keep scoring goals, having that mentality and desire that we want in every game.
“We want to attack well, we want to entertain and be good value when people come and watch us play. One of our fundamental beliefs is that we are always looking to score.
“With top-quality players, results like this can happen, but very rarely, that is why we will enjoy it tonight.
“You hope this ignites something in us and we try to repeat, not the scoreline, but the performance on a regular basis. That is our aim, but the Premier League is very difficult.”
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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