winless

The fact it appears to be isolated errors which are proving costly gives Arsenal some hope that there is a clear path to reviving their campaign.

Captain Kim Little said after the match that the team “cannot always be perfect all of the time”.

“We’re in a lower space just now with the current form, but we’ll come back stronger. We go into our league fixture at the weekend for a big three points,” Little told Disney+.

Understandably, Slegers said her side are “not happy” with their form, but their experience which led to winning this competition last year gives them reason to remain positive.

They lacked a cutting edge in attack and only managed half as many shots as Lyon, but they also lost 2-1 to the French side in the first leg of the semi-final in this competition last year and bounced back to win the second game 4-1 in France.

There is no second leg this time, with this a group phase game, but Arsenal will look to rebound all the same at the first opportunity.

“The important thing is that we manage it really well and we give direction moving forward and stand strong,” said Slegers. “The positive thing is that we have strong foundation in a cultural perspective and a football perspective.

“We need to keep on believing in that philosophy and it gave us a lot last year. When it starts clicking, we know how good we are.”

Should they fail to beat Brighton in the league on Sunday (14:30 BST), they will have gone a month without a win.

“I think there’s lots to it,” Russo said of Arsenal’s slump. “I think, first and foremost, we need to look at ourselves and how we can push our standards. We’re sometimes letting teams get attacks on us by our own mistakes.

“We need to take accountability, we need to focus on what we can do to control that from everyone. It’s all across the pitch. There’s moments in that that were really positive so we’ll lean on that and get ready for Sunday.”

It was at the start of the game where Arsenal were at their best, getting an early goal and showing their attacking qualities, but they could not sustain it.

“In the first 20-25 minutes, they started the game [well], the goal that they scored… but it is fine margins,” added Smith. “And if you make a couple of errors against a top-quality side like Lyon, then they will punish you.

“In the final third, they just needed to be a bit better, more clinical. But certainly positives to take.”

Villa launch their Europa League campaign at home to Bologna on Thursday, and will have to juggle the demands of playing Thursday-Sunday matches.

Their failure to finish in a Champions League position meant restrictions were put in place during the summer to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

In addition, the loss of loan signings Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio has impacted the depth of quality in the attacking department.

They were able to bring in Nice striker Evann Guessand for £26m plus £4.3m in add-ons, but the Ivory Coast forward has registered just two attempts on target.

“After playing 11 against 10 it should be easier to dominate and take advantage, but we were not playing with our identity,” added Emery.

“I’m disappointed and frustrated, more for how we are not achieving our identity, playing the football we’ve been successful with.”

Looking at positives for Emery, the next two Premier League games offer a decent chance of kick-starting their season.

Villa have back-to-back home games against Fulham on 28 September and Burnley on 5 October.

“We’re not happy,” goalscorer Cash told Sky Sports.

“As a team we’ve got to be better. With the quality we have, we need to be higher up the league.

“Over the last few years we’ve had a lot of highs at the club and at the minute we’re in a bit of a tough period.”

There is no doubt Emery’s spell at Villa has been impressive overall and no-one will be pressing the panic button yet.

However, time and patience remains in short supply in the Premier League.

Emery will know that unless Villa pick up a win soon, the pressure will increase.

The DeShaun Foster era is over after 15 games and just five victories, the former UCLA star running back’s storybook rise to head coach at his alma mater coming to an abrupt, deflating end.

After an 0-3 start that included back-to-back losses to Mountain West Conference teams, Foster was dismissed on Sunday in a move that showed the Bruins will no longer accept their status as the laughingstock of the college football world.

Tim Skipper, the former Fresno State interim coach who was brought in as a special assistant to Foster before this season, will serve as the interim coach for the rest of the season as the school commences a search for a permanent replacement.

UCLA was outscored by a 108-43 margin in its first three losses, leading to trolling tweets from the Big Sky and Pac-12 conferences in addition to widespread ridicule from national media figures who noted that the Bruins had clinched last place in the Mountain West and were the only remaining winless team in the Big Ten.

Athletic director Martin Jarmond said he made the decision to remove Foster after consultation with UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk, acting swiftly because there was no clear path to success in the Big Ten even with an extra week to prepare for the conference opener against Northwestern on Sept. 26.

“I felt with the timing, the bye week,” Jarmond said, “it gave our young men the opportunity to just take a breath, recalibrate and change some things that give them the best chance to finish out the season strong and also as a signal to our fans that this is not what Bruin football is going to be.”

Jarmond accepted responsibility for having hired Foster in February 2024 after a process lasting less than 72 hours and said he regretted putting the rookie coach in a difficult situation going into a new conference after national signing day with just half a year to prepare.

“I think you make the best decisions with the circumstances and the resources that you have to work with,” Jarmond said, referring to the constraints of still having the reduced revenue of Pac-12 membership combined with a condensed timeline.

Foster, who compiled a 5-10 record in a little more than one full season, is owed roughly $6.43 million in buyout money per the terms of his five-year contract, barring a new job that offsets that amount. UCLA said it would pay Foster’s buyout from athletic department-generated funds.

“Serving as the head coach at UCLA, my beloved alma mater, has been the honor of a lifetime,” Foster said in a statement. “While I am deeply disappointed that we were unable to achieve the success that our players, fans, and university deserve, I am grateful for the opportunity to have led this program.”

Starting Monday, the coaching change will open a 30-day transfer window for UCLA players who want to leave for other teams. Since the Bruins have not played four games, departing players will have the option to use a redshirt season but not immediately play for their new team.

The Bruins already appear to have lost three high school recruits after Johnnie Jones, a four-star offensive tackle from Bradenton, Fla.; Anthony Jones, a three-star defensive lineman from Irvine Crean Lutheran High; and Yahya Gaad, a three-star edge rusher from Medina, Tenn., said they were no longer committed to the school.

Foster’s dismissal shifts the spotlight onto Jarmond, who made the unconventional move to hire Foster despite Foster’s having no experience as a coordinator or head coach. Jarmond’s reluctance to fire coach Chip Kelly at the end of the previous season after the Bruins had absorbed embarrassing home losses to Arizona State and California necessitated the need for a quick replacement once Kelly left to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, leading some to blame the athletic director for leaving the football program in such a bind.

“I understand the criticism,” Jarmond said. “What I’ll remind you is these decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. There are many stakeholders and factors that go into where and when and how to make a coaching change. That said, ultimately, I’m the athletic director. I’m the steward of this program, and the buck stops with me.”

Foster’s biggest selling points were his status as a legendary UCLA player who had appeared in the Bruins’ last Rose Bowl game in 1999 and his success as a running backs coach at the school under previous head coaches Jim Mora and Kelly.

During a meeting at Jarmond’s home the night before Foster’s hiring, the candidate told his future boss that he would win through a relentless approach.

DeShaun Foster, left, holds up a UCLA jersey with athletic director Martin Jarmond after being introduced as UCLA’s new football coach on Feb. 13, 2024.

(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

“He said, ‘Listen, Martin, no one’s going to outwork me, no one’s going to outwork this program,’” Jarmond said on the day of Foster’s introductory news conference. “ ‘If we lose a game, it’s going to be because we just weren’t good enough that day. But I guarantee you, I’m going to do everything I can and in my power to make this program successful.’ ”

In announcing the move, UCLA said a comprehensive national search for Foster’s replacement would involve Jarmond and executive senior associate athletics director Erin Adkins, who would be assisted by a committee composed of accomplished sports and business executives and UCLA greats that would be announced once finalized.

What will the Bruins be seeking in their next coach during a search that’s expected to last several months unless an ideal candidate who is available suddenly materializes?

“It’s got to be someone who exemplars our true Bruin values — respect, integrity and just understands those four letters,” Jarmond said, “but we’ll be looking for a coach quite frankly who sees the vision to take UCLA to the playoffs. We want to win at the highest level.”

Jarmond emphasized that this search was very different than the one that led to Foster’s hiring, noting the increased resources available because of UCLA’s move to the Big Ten and the extended timeline that will presumably lead to a wider pool of attractive candidates.

Jarmond touted Foster’s passion and integrity among the biggest factors that led to his hiring, and it didn’t hurt that the coach was wildly popular among returning players, allowing the Bruins to keep much of their roster intact heading into his debut season.

But Foster’s inexperience showed in his first game, the coach admitting he was nervous and unsure about how to address reporters after his team rallied for a victory over Hawaii. The Bruins started the season 1-5 before winning four of their last six games, momentarily steadying Foster’s standing with donors and fans.

A flurry of offseason moves in which Foster overhauled his coaching staff and scored a number of big recruiting wins, including the acquisition of star Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava from the transfer portal, appeared to show signs of growing on the job. Another promising development came during Big Ten media days in July, when Foster delivered a coherent opening message one year after stumbling his way through widely mocked and memed remarks that included the coach telling reporters, “We’re in L.A.”

But there was also a curious step backward. The coach who initially said he wanted to give his program a family feel, holding a carnival-like spring practice complete with a fire twirler and putting names on the backs of jerseys to help reporters identify players, severely curtailed access to practices and player interviews during training camp.

Foster shrugged off a season-opening 43-10 loss to Utah, saying his team was close to making the plays it needed to be competitive. But a 30-23 setback against Nevada Las Vegas that was followed by a 35-10 blowout against New Mexico showcased a series of worrisome trends.

Foster’s team couldn’t consistently move the ball, get defensive stops or avoid penalties. The Bruins are still seeking their first lead of the 2025 season after having fallen behind 20-0 against Utah, 23-0 against UNLV and 14-0 against New Mexico.

Foster’s pillars of discipline, respect and enthusiasm clearly never took hold given his players’ repeated penalties, lagging preparation for lesser opponents and lack of passion on the sideline.

In his final meeting with reporters before his dismissal, Foster initially blamed his team’s shortcomings on a lack of execution before finally accepting culpability when pressed by a reporter about who was ultimately responsible.

“Everything that happens can fall on me,” said Foster, who turns 46 in January. “I’m the head coach, so it can fall on me.”

Trying to sound upbeat in a monotone voice, Foster said he would use the bye week to make tweaks before the Bruins opened Big Ten play on the road against Northwestern.

“You know, we’ve got two weeks to fix this,” Foster said, “and just looking forward to this opportunity to get it fixed.”

A proud Bruin having met an inglorious ending, those fixes will now be in the hands of someone else.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Alejandro Zendejas scored in the 30th minute, Folarin Balogun added a goal in the 64th and the United States stopped a seven-game winless streak against top-25 opponents by beating a Japan team of mostly second-string players 2-0 in a friendly on Tuesday night.

The 15th-ranked U.S. was fresh off a 2-0 loss to South Korea on Saturday in the first of eight friendlies before coach Mauricio Pochettino calls in players for training ahead of the World Cup.

No. 17 Japan used essentially a B team, changing all 11 starters from Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Mexico and starting eight players who entered with 10 or fewer international appearances. There were no starters from the group that began the March match against Bahrain when Samurai Blue clinched their eighth straight World Cup berth, though some regulars entered in the 62nd minute.

The U.S. had not beaten a top-25 team since the CONCACAF Nations League final against Mexico in March 2024, including five straight defeats. The Americans dominated throughout before a sellout crowd of 20,192 at Lower.com Field, winning 2-0 for the sixth time in Columbus.

Zendejas took a long cross from left back Max Arfsten and volleyed with his left foot from near the penalty spot for his second goal in 13 international appearances.

Balogun scored his sixth international goal on Christian Pulisic’s through pass, beating goalkeeper Keisuke Osako with an angled shot inside the far post.

Central defender Chris Richards, right back Alex Freeman, midfielder Cristian Roldan, Zendejas and forward Balogun joined the starting lineup in place of Sergiño Dest, Diego Luna, Sebastian Berhalter, Tim Weah and Josh Sargent.

Richards, Tim Ream and Tristan Blackmon started as central defenders in a five-man back line, a formation coach Pochettino switched to in the second half Saturday.

Adams and Roldan had not started together since 2018, and Roldan made his first start in 26 months.

Japan’s Koki Ogawa hit the crossbar in the 70th, as did the Americans’ Jack McGlynn in the 83rd.

Substitute Ousseni Bouda scored in the 74th minute, and the San José Earthquakes extended the Galaxy‘s MLS-record season-opening winless streak with a 1-0 victory Wednesday night.

Bouda slipped between two defenders and got his third goal of the season on a precise pass from fellow substitute Preston Judd for the Quakes, who ended a four-game losing streak in the California Clasico rivalry.

The defending MLS Cup champion Galaxy (0-12-4) are edging toward historic ignominy after dropping yet another game at the stadium where they went unbeaten in 2024 and won their league-record sixth title in December.

The MLS record is 19 consecutive winless matches in league play by the MetroStars in 1999. Real Salt Lake played 18 in a row without a win from 2005-06.

Earl Edwards Jr. made six saves to keep his third clean sheet of the season for San José, which is unbeaten in eight games across all competitions in May. Quakes coach Bruce Arena had a successful return to the stadium where he led the Galaxy for nine seasons and won three MLS Cup championships.

The Galaxy nearly salvaged a draw in the final minute of second-half injury time, but Edwards saved captain Maya Yoshida’s header deep in the San José box. Supporters chanted “We want better!” after the final whistle.

The Galaxy’s woes have only compounded throughout the new season despite the return to health of stars Joseph Paintsil, Gabriel Pec and Marco Reus. All three international veterans played major roles on last year’s championship team,but were limited by injury in the new year.

Reus left in the 59th minute against San José after sitting down on the grass without contact and eventually walking off the field. Reus struggled with a knee injury earlier in the season but had been playing well in recent games.

Disorganized in attack and lacking any crispness in their passing, the Galaxy still look lost without Catalan midfielder Riqui Puig, who orchestrated their excellence throughout the 2024 season before tearing a knee ligament in the conference final. Puig could return this summer, but the Galaxy also had to part with a handful of key contributors to last season’s team due to the salary cap constraints created annually for the MLS champion by title bonuses in their players’ contracts.

The Galaxy’s leadership has declined to panic during this mammoth skid, even extending the contract of coach Greg Vanney two weeks ago when the winless streak was at a mere 13 games.

The Galaxy’s Novak Micovic had to make two diving saves in the first two minutes of play, and he finished with four saves in the scoreless first half. San José’s Ian Harkes hit the crossbar from long range in the 22nd minute.

The Galaxy host Salt Lake on Saturday night. If they don’t beat Salt Lake or win at St. Louis on June 14, they could tie the MetroStars’ record June 25 at Colorado.

SAN DIEGO — Hirving Lozano scored in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time to lift San Diego FC to a 2-1 victory over the Galaxy on Saturday.

Lozano scored on a header from the top center of the box following a well-placed pass by Anders Dreyer.

San Diego FC (8-4-3, 27 points), in its first MLS season, swept the two-game season series from the defending MLS Cup champions, having also defeated the Galaxy 2-0 in February.

The winless Galaxy (0-11-4, 4 points) scored first when Diego Fagúndez connected with a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the middle right zone in the 40th minute.

San Diego drew even a minute later with Luca de la Torre’s right-footed shot from the center of the box to the central bottom zone.

San Diego had a 57.2 possession percentage and outshot the Galaxy 13-9 overall and 2-1 in shots on goal. There were no goalkeeper saves in the match.

San Diego visits Seattle on Wednesday and the Galaxy hosts San José.

Records aren’t supposed to matter in Derby matches. When you’re facing your most bitter rival, the past is just that — the past.

So it meant nothing that the defending MLS Cup champion entered Sunday’s El Tráfico winless in 13 matches while LAFC was unbeaten in six straight.

“That all becomes irrelevant,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “Those games are kind of isolated on their own.”

Perhaps it was fitting, then, that LAFC and the Galaxy played to a 2-2 draw in front of a crowd of 23,083 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The draw kept LAFC (6-4-4) unbeaten since April 5. For the Galaxy (0-10-4), the tie ended a five-game losing streak — their longest since 2020 — but it also extended their winless one to 14 matches, the worst start in franchise history and the worst ever for a reigning MLS champion.

LAFC’s goals came from Denis Bouanga and Nathan Ordaz, one in each half, while Marco Reus had both scores for the Galaxy.

With playmaker Riqui Puig, who hasn’t played since undergoing surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament last December, looking on, the Galaxy attacked from the start and were rewarded in the sixth minute when Reus knocked in the rebound of a Gabriel Pec shot that LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris had stopped. The goal was the second of the season for Reus and it marked just the third time in 14 MLS games that the Galaxy had scored first.

But the lead didn’t last long, with Bouanga tying the score by lining a right-footed shot from about 30 yards into the side netting at the far post in the 13th minute. The goal was Bouanga’s seventh in seven games and was one he celebrated with a trademark front flip.

Former Galaxy midfielder Mark Delgado, who got his team-leading fourth assist on the play, chose not to celebrate the goal against his old team.

LAFC went in front five minutes into the second half when a low through ball from Ryan Hollingshead split Galaxy center backs Maya Yoshida and Emiro Garces and found Ordaz cutting into the penalty area. After catching up to the ball, Ordaz used his first touch to lift a left-footed shot by Galaxy keeper John McCarthy for his third goal of the season and the second in three starts.

The Galaxy appeared to even the game on a brilliant counterattack goal from Pec in the 78th minute, but after a long video review referee Drew Fischer ruled Pec was offside.

The Galaxy refused to quit and were rewarded when Reus chipped in a free kick from just outside the box in the 87th minute, giving the Galaxy their first point in a month — a point McCarthy saved with a brilliant goal-line stop of Hollingshead’s back-heel try deep in stoppage time.

The Galaxy have re-signed coach Greg Vanney to a multiyear contract extension, the team announced Friday, ending speculation over the coach’s future the team.

Vanney, 50, led the Galaxy to their sixth MLS title last season, triggering a one-season contract extension. But the team (0-10-3) is winless in its first 13 games this season, the worst start in franchise history, heading in Sunday’s match with cross-rival LAFC.

In four-plus seasons the Galaxy are 54-56-39 in MLS play under Vanney.

In addition to extending Vanney’s contract, the team also hired Ravi Ramineni as director of quantitative analysis, promoted former midfielder Juninho to the newly created position of special adviser to the general manager and promoted Zack Murshedi to director of team administration and player care.

The moves, a team spokesperson said, “reflect a real commitment to the team’s vision.”

“Greg is one of the most respected and successful coaches in MLS history and we are excited to be continuing under his leadership,” general manager Will Kuntz said in a statement. “While this season’s results haven’t reflected our standards, this was a decision made following our 2024 MLS Cup victory and we remain confident in the project we are building with Greg.”

The team had a magical season in 2024, matching a modern-era franchise record with 19 victories and going unbeaten at Dignity Health Sports Park. After finishing in the penultimate spot in the Western Conference standings the season before, the Galaxy tied for the top spot last season, becoming the first team since 2011 to go from second to last in the conference to the MLS Cup in one season.

It was also the first team in MLS history to have four players — Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec, Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic — reach double digits in goals scored.

This season has been the opposite. Salary-cap issues aggravated by the team’s success in 2024 forced Kuntz to trade MLS Cup MVP Gastón Brugman, valuable midfielder Mark Delgado and Joveljic, who led the team with six goals in the playoffs. The Galaxy have also missed Puig, their midfield playmaker and assists leader, who hasn’t played since tearing his ACL in last November’s conference championship game.

They did return 11 of the 14 players who appeared in December’s MLS Cup final, but injuries have forced nine players to the sidelines for multiple games. As a result Pec and Paintsil, who combined for 26 goals and 24 assists last season, have just one goal and three assists this season for a team that has been shut out six times.

Only three MLS teams have fewer goals than the Galaxy’s 10 and no club has conceded more goals than the 31 the Galaxy have allowed. The -21 goal differential is also worst in the league.

Vanney, 50, a defender on the Galaxy’s original roster in 1996, played 10 seasons in MLS, making 193 of his 270 league appearances during two stints with the Galaxy, with whom he won three Western Conference titles, a Supporters’ Shield, MLS Cup and a CONCACAF Champions Cup. He also played 37 times for the U.S. national team, making the 2002 World Cup roster before being forced out of the tournament with an injury.

Vanney began his coaching career as an assistant with Chivas USA in 2011 and got his first managerial job with Toronto after Ryan Nelsen was fired with 10 games left in the 2014 season.

In his first full season as coach, Vanney guided Toronto to its first playoff berth. A year later, it played in the first of three MLS Cup finals under Vanney, winning the title in 2017.

CHESTER, Pa. — Tai Baribo scored two second-half goals, including the winner in stoppage time, and the Philadelphia Union rallied to beat the Galaxy for the first time at home with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday night.

The Galaxy (0-9-4) continued the worst start by a defending champion in MLS history despite Diego Fagúndez becoming the eighth player in league history to reach 75 goals and 75 assists in a career.

Baribo scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time after tying the match 2-2 with a goal in the 50th for the Union (8-3-2), who are on a five-match unbeaten run. Baribo has a league-leading 10 goals this season.

Defender Mauricio Cuevas scored for the first time this season and the second time in 31 career appearances to give the Galaxy the lead in the 31st minute. Fagúndez scored his second goal this season for a 2-0 lead in the 37th. Marco Reus collected assists on both scores.

Philadelphia tied it in the first five minutes of the second half. Jacob Glesnes headed in a goal off a corner kick by Kai Wagner in the 48th minute.

Homegrown goalkeeper Andrew Rick made the 10th start of his career and did not have a save for the Union.

John McCarthy had four saves as the Galaxy built a 2-0 lead in the first half and finished with seven.

Philadelphia improved to 1-3-2 all time at home in the Galaxy’s first visit since 2018.

The Union travel to play Atlanta United on Saturday. The Galaxy will host rival LAFC on Sunday.