West Ham weren't good enough against Liverpool, admits Slaven Bilic

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic says his team will benefit in the long-term after a hard opening season at the London Stadium

Slaven Bilic admitted West Ham weren't good enough in their 4-0 thrashing by Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.

Goals from Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi, either side of a Philippe Coutinho brace, saw the Reds on their way to victory at the London Stadium.

"We spoke before the game about wanting to put in the same performance as against Spurs, but it wasn't to be," Bilic told Sky Sports. "We were slower and [Liverpool] were quicker.

"We could have scored the first goal and maybe it would have [changed] the game and we should have equalised with [Andre Ayew's] chance. But it wasn't good enough, especially in the second half. There was a little bit of complacency that we wanted to avoid.

"There was no place for that in such a big game, but it was probably there subconsciously."

Bilic also admitted a little bit of relief that such a challenging debut season at West Ham's new home was coming to an end.

"It's been a very difficult one and a very long one," he said. "We've had many obstacles today but it wasn't all about the stadium. We need time to adjust, and we knew that before, but we've also had too many injuries.

"That's why I'd like to give credit to the players, because it was a very hard [season]. We've achieved our minimum goal and we're going to benefit from this in the long-term."

West Ham's business was poor last summer, with very few of their new signings making an impression in the first team, and Bilic says they will need to add some quality to their squad before next season.

"We have to find good players for a few positions and we need to improve the squad as we've had to improvise [in certain positions] at times this season," he said.

Information : skysports.com

Jurgen Klopp: It's 'really silly' to assume Liverpool will beat Middlesbrough

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says his side deserved all three points after a dominant 4-0 win at West Ham.

Jurgen Klopp is taking nothing for granted after Liverpool's 4-0 victory over West Ham left them on the brink of securing Champions League football for next season.

Liverpool ran out comfortable winners at the London Stadium on Sunday and know victory at home to Middlesbrough in their final game next Sunday will guarantee a top-four finish.

Manchester City could yet leapfrog Liverpool into third if they win or draw their game in hand against West Brom on Tuesday, while Arsenal realistically need a victory over Sunderland on the same night to take their slim hopes of securing a Champions League spot to the last day.

But even with Liverpool in pole position, Klopp does not want his side's intensity to drop when they welcome already-relegated Boro next weekend.

"We play Middlesbrough and it will be difficult. They have nothing to lose while we have everything to win," Klopp told Sky Sports after the match.

"I said in the dressing room immediately after, that we've known for weeks that we will have to go until the end, so that's no problem for us.

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"We want to do this, we want to be successful. If we win, we deserve to be in the Champions League, if not, then we don't deserve it. That's pretty easy.

"I thought we found a really good mood for this game, and if we can do it in a similar way in the next game then that's good. But counting points before you have them is really silly, so we will not do this. We prepare ourselves and try to do our best."

It turned out to be an emphatic victory at West Ham, who just one week before had beaten London rivals Tottenham to all-but end the club's hopes of catching leaders Chelsea.

Daniel Sturridge opened the scoring in his first league start since January, while Philippe Coutinho fired in a quick double before Divock Origi added a fourth.

And with Klopp opting to switch to a 4-4-2 diamond formation, the German said he was delighted to welcome Sturridge into the starting XI, which also saw Coutinho play in a deeper role.

"It's a cool thing having Daniel in this shape. We had two options because we could have played Adam [Lallana] at eight instead of Phil, but we wanted to create more space for Coutinho to play more passes and be more influential.

"You need to get used to things. It's not about a system, it's about how the players use it. We defended well so that was really good.

"Each player in the world, even a world-class player like Daniel, needs training. I cannot change this, it's not about me, we all have to use our body.

"It's nice that we can bring him into these games. His smartness was fantastic, and hopefully we can go through this week without injuries."

More : skysports.com

Gerard Pique out of Barcelona's clash with Las Palmas after release from hospital

Gerard Pique will not play against Las Palmas on Sunday, live on Sky Sports 5HD

Gerard Pique has been released from the hospital a day after needing treatment for abdominal pain, Barcelona have confirmed.

The club said on Sunday that Pique will continue to recover at home and he will not play in Barcelona's game at Las Palmas on Sunday.

The 30-year-old centre-back is also a doubt for the team's final La Liga game of the season next weekend, as the Catalonians battle Real Madrid for the title.

Pique and the club will hope he recovers in time to also make an impact in the Copa del Rey final against Alaves on May 27.

Pique had not been able to train all week because of the problem, despite playing in their last match - a 4-1 win over Villarreal.

Barcelona are currently top of La Liga on goal difference with two games left, but they have played a game more than Real Madrid.

More : skysports.com

La Liga roundup: Misery continues for Tony Adams at Granada

Tony Adams' Granada were beaten by Osasuna

Osasuna won the battle of the basement clubs with a 2-1 win over Granada, while Jose Gaya's second-half goal gave Valencia a 1-0 away win at Espanyol.

For several weeks both teams have had nothing but pride to play for, hovering around mid-table, and Saturday's fixture had a real end-of-season feel about it.

A game of little goalmouth action and few chances was settled after 75 minutes when 21-year-old defender Gaya scored with a left-foot shot from the left side of the penalty area.

Espanyol could not muster a response and slipped to a third straight home loss, following defeats to city rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, while Valencia secured back-to-back wins.

Elsewhere, Osasuna beat fellow strugglers Granada. Jhon Steven Mondragon handed the home side the lead after 24 minutes, before Gustavo Ramos fired an unlikely equaliser for Tony Adams' men four minutes before the break.

Kenan Kodro then slotted home from close range 15 minutes from time to record a morale-boosting win and condemn Adams to yet another defeat in charge of El Grana.

More : skysports.com

Derek Jeter Set to Take His Place in Monument Park. But Where Exactly?

Fans visiting Monument Park at Yankee Stadium before the Yankees’ season opener in 2015. On Sunday, Derek Jeter will have his plaque and his number unveiled there.

Members of the University of South Florida baseball team wandered through some of the better-known real estate in New York on Thursday. They moved slowly, soaking up the history in every crowded corner of Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.

Chris Chatfield, a sophomore outfielder from greater Tampa, explained that he and his teammates were in the area for a three-game series against Connecticut and were given a day off to attend a Yankees game. Monument Park was a must-see stop on their tour, even if they came three days too soon.

“Where is it going?” Chatfield asked as he stood by a grand monument honoring Babe Ruth and scanned the park.

On Sept. 11, 2016, pitcher Dellin Betances and Manager Joe Girardi carried a wreath to the September 11th memorial in Monument Park. 

CHis teammates, including D. J. Roberts, a right-handed pitcher wearing a Derek Jeter No. 2 Yankees jersey, also looked around. To their right were the monuments to Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Behind them loomed the massive plaque honoring George M. Steinbrenner, the owner. On the other side of a wall were the most recent additions, the blue-and-white pinstriped discs commemorating the numbers worn by Andy Pettitte (46), Jorge Posada (20) and Bernie Williams (51).His teammates, including D. J. Roberts, a right-handed pitcher wearing a Derek Jeter No. 2 Yankees jersey, also looked around. To their right were the monuments to Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Behind them loomed the massive plaque honoring George M. Steinbrenner, the owner. On the other side of a wall were the most recent additions, the blue-and-white pinstriped discs commemorating the numbers worn by Andy Pettitte (46), Jorge Posada (20) and Bernie Williams (51).His teammates, including D. J. Roberts, a right-handed pitcher wearing a Derek Jeter No. 2 Yankees jersey, also looked around. To their right were the monuments to Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Behind them loomed the massive plaque honoring George M. Steinbrenner, the owner. On the other side of a wall were the most recent additions, the blue-and-white pinstriped discs commemorating the numbers worn by Andy Pettitte (46), Jorge Posada (20) and Bernie Williams (51).

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“There isn’t a lot of space left,” Roberts said.

Already brimming with the historical markers of a distinguished baseball legacy, Monument Park will welcome its newest resident on Sunday, when the Yankees unveil Jeter’s plaque and permanently retire his No. 2 somewhere within the confines of this outfield shrine.

Jeter won five World Series in his 20 years with the club and amassed more hits than any Yankee — 3,465. Sunday’s ceremony has been planned for months, but as of Friday, only a handful of people knew exactly where Jeter’s new permanent markers — the plaque and the circular numerical plate — would go.

“It’s a secret,” said a smiling Doug Behar, the Yankees’ senior vice president for stadium operations.

But there are clues.

For the plaque, there is ample space beside the plaques for Yogi Berra and Posada along the back wall of Monument Park, near the entrance.

As for his number, the area where Jeter’s former teammates Pettitte, Posada and Williams are honored features a little garden of purple hyacinth flowers. There is scant room left in that plot, but just a few feet down the path, the wall of gray granite blocks has ample space with no plaques on it — yet — and the same type of garden lies in front of it. It aches to be adorned.

“That would be a good spot,” said Gary Skiles, a retiree from Moline, Ill., who was visiting his 29th ballpark Thursday. Skiles said that soaking in Monument Park was part of a bucket-list quest to see the stadiums of all 30 major league clubs. He and his wife, Leslie, were headed to Boston over the weekend to complete the tour at Fenway Park.

Like the Skiles couple, many of the visitors to Monument Park were out-of-towners. John Nolan, a truck driver from Nashville, gazed at all the plaques and monuments squeezed into the park, which sits beyond the center-field wall.

According to the Yankees, 2,000 to 2,500 people tour Monument Park on a typical game day, with up to 250,000 visiting over the course of a year. CreditSuzy Allman for The New York Times

“I grew up a Dodgers fan, and all these guys used to kill us,” Nolan, 55, said. “I didn’t mind Jeter. It’s too bad we missed his plaque, but we can come back.”

Nolan never met Jeter or any of the heroes enshrined at Monument Park, but he proudly told of buying a Coca-Cola for Johnny Cash, the country music legend, at a Tennessee supermarket. Alas, there is no plaque there to commemorate that event.

Music was a theme at Monument Park on Thursday as Ian Koeller and Dave Whittle, both professional drummers and amateur Yankees fans, drove down from Burlington, Vt., to visit. They would have attended Sunday’s ceremony for Jeter, but ticket prices for the game on the secondary market were prohibitive.

“No way we could afford that on a drummer’s salary,” Koeller, 25, said.

The Yankees estimate that 2,000 to 2,500 people visit Monument Park on a typical game day, and that as many as 250,000 show up over the course of a year, but they say the site definitely gets a lot more crowded after a new player is enshrined.

More : Nytimes.com

Jose Mourinho's monumental Europa League gamble will pay off, says Martin Hardy

Jose Mourinho's monumental Europa League gamble will pay off, says Martin Hardy

Jose Mourinho has taken a monumental gamble focusing on the Europa League but it's a gamble that will pay off, says Martin Hardy

Jose Mourinho has taken a monumental gamble focusing on the Europa League but it's a gamble that will pay off, according to Martin Hardy of the Sunday Times.

Manchester United reached the final of Europe's second-tier competition for the first time in their history with a nervy 2-1 aggregate victory over Celta Vigo on Thursday.

With Mourinho publicly all but writing off his side's chances of a top-four finish, winning the Europa League represents the club's best chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League.

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Paul Pogba has not travelled with Man Utd squad for Tottenham clash

Paul Pogba has not traveled with Man Utd squad for Tottenham clash

Paul Pogba has not travelled to London for the clash with Spurs on Sky Sports 1 HD

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has not traveled with the rest of the squad for Sunday's Premier League clash at Tottenham due to the death of his father.

Fassou Antoine, who was 79, passed away on Friday after a long illness, and Pogba is not expected to take part in what will be the final ever match at White Hart Lane, live on Sky Sports 1 HD on Super Sunday.

United are already without fellow midfielder Maryanne Fellini, who serves the last of a three-match ban.