FULL TIME: Swansea City 1-0 Liverpool, home-side deserved win

"62 min: Liverpool are hardly tearing Swansea apart but at some point this level of pressure is going to result in rather more than it currently is, if you see what I mean"






Roberto Firmino scored twice in Liverpool's 5-0 win over Swansea on Boxing Day

Line-ups

Swansea



Substitutes

2. Bony

11. Narsingh

13. Nordfeldt

14. Carroll

27. Bartley

51. Mesa

62. McBurnie



Liverpool



Substitutes

7. Milner

17. Klavan

20. Lallana

22. Mignolet

28. Ings

29. Solanke

66. Alexander-Arnold



Referee: Neil Swarbrick



KICK-OFF

1 mins: Swansea get us started after a minute's applause for Cyrille Regis and Jimmy Armfield.

3 mins: Mane takes a sore one early on as Fer accidentally catches his face... and on replay that doesn't look sore at all. Swansea have started with energy.

5 mins: Swansea are defending deep but keeping those two strikers (Dyer and Ayew) pushed way up the pitch so they can aim long balls towards them and get out of their defensive shape. When Liverpool cross the half way line it becomes a 5-4-1 instead of the 5-3-2.

7 min: Mawson brings the ball out well and tries to slip Ayew down the left, but it’s not a good pass and runs out. The Swans are enjoying good possession so far though and look keen to use the wings.

9 min: First glimpse for Liverpool, as a delightful diagonal ball from – I think – Matip catches Mane running beyond a static back line and Fabianski is out alertly to smuggle the ball away.



11 min: Firmino plays the ball behind Salah as, for a second, Liverpool break menacingly. They’re finding some sort of rhythm now but it’s still been a pretty slow start to this one.

12 min: And now Liverpool win their new corner, Salah getting involved again to earn it. Van Dijk and the rest of the cavalry are up, but Clucas heads away unchallenged before Firmino puts a harmless ball back in.

14 min: Out on the pitch, Mawson is quick to clear a dangerous whipped cross from Robertson.

18 mins: Swansea are defending with buzz and bite, working hard to make sure Liverpool can't enjoy the ball in their half. The problem is that they can't then keep hold of it themselves when they do win possession.

20 min: There really isn’t a lot else to report at the moment. That Mane glimpse aside, Swansea have been comfortable. They look compact, and keen not to allow much space in behind – which is of course the key – without looking very likely themselves.

22 min: Salah basically wins himself a free-kick by stopping playing after a pull from Mawson. Think he was justified to though. It’s a free-kick on the right in a decent area, a chance to put one into the box anyway. Oxlade-Chamberlain does exactly that, and Naughton has to concede a corner.

23 min: from which Van Dijk rises like a salmon at the near post and glances the ball possibly off his shoulder, before seeing it fly across goal and just wide.

26 min: We’ve very much in a pattern of Liverpool dictating possession now, but there really aren’t many pockets of space once they reach the final third and nothing much is coming of. Swansea look very well drilled. It’s still very quiet out there.

29 min: Mane sweeps wide to Gomez and there’s a chance to deliver a teasing ball from the right. But Gomez doesn’t do that; rather, he trickles a terrible ball into Fabianski’s grateful embrace.

30 min: First big chance for Salah – and he should score! Van Dijk is allowed to maraud 20 yards into the Swansea half and chips over a straight, but well-weighted, ball that the back line can’t reach. Salah watches it over his shoulder 12 yards out and, with nobody between him and Fabianski, volleys over the top! It’s a difficult skill, that, but on his current form you expected the net to ripple.

34 mins: Can accelerates with all the lightning speed of a bus, failing to catch up with his own poor touch during another Liverpool attack which Swansea sprint full pace to thwart. There's no way Swansea can defend at this tempo all game - they're racing into tackles and closing down players.

37 mins: Swansea win a free-kick wide right. Clucas delivers... it's headed away... and Naughton balloons his shot from 20 yards, completely misreading it and swiping at his effort.

Liverpool beginning to find their feet. Matip is chipped in over the defence but cant improvise a use for the ball, which is behind him, and Oxlade-Chamberlain shoots from distance into the goalkeeper.

40 min: Goal! Swansea 1-0 Liverpool (Mawson 40)



Well! Clucas delivers the corner from the right, Van Dijk is up to meet it but can only head against Fernandez. It drops perfectly for Mawson, who has a decent nose for goal – he spins onto it and slams low into the corner, and Swansea have a big goal for their season!



45 min: HALF TIME

46 min: Peeeeeep! Second half underway.

No changes. Liverpool need to sharpen up. Swansea need to keep doing what they’re doing.

47 min: Swansea are doing precisely that so far. As are Liverpool.

49 min: Van der Hoorn does very well there, though, to bump Firmino off the ball as he looks to get onto an Oxlade-Chamberlain pass. Rock solid there, and he took a blow to the ribs. The resultant corner is cleared.

51 min: Olsson snakes out a toe to stop Salah bursting through on the right of the box. Liverpool are starting to come on strong.

52 min: Then Van der Hoorn is astute, again, in cutting out a Firmino through ball. Matip, looking frustrated, commits a foul in the aftermath. He’s on a yellow, remember.

54 min: Salah curls well wide after finding a bit of space around the D. Not good. By the way, I was thinking before that happened that Clucas has been exceptional for Swansea tonight. And I (sort of) mocked him at the start!

56 min: Oh what a tackle that is by Naughton, who tracks Robertson brilliantly and perfectly times his intervention just as the left back runs onto a Firmino flick and looks certain to score. Liverpool come again moments later and an inviting Robertson ball across goal just goes beyond his onrushing colleagues!

60 min: They’re finding a lot of those pockets in front of the box, now, and Ki bundles Mane over. Free-kick to Liverpool in a very dangerous area indeed. If only they had Coutinho! But Salah and Firmino are poised ...

62 min: Liverpool are hardly tearing Swansea apart but at some point this level of pressure is going to result in rather more than it currently is, if you see what I mean.

65 min: Here is Carroll, who replaces Nathan Dyer. Dyer’s last action was a very diligent recovery tackle on Roberton.

68 min: 68 minutes was the answer! Lallana is on for Oxlade-Chamberlain.

70 mins: Can tries to shoot from 30 yards. They're running out of ideas!

73 mins: ijnaldum off, Ings on. Klopp's just throwing forwards at this now.

74 mins: Mane keeps getting the ball deep and trying to play through the middle with it, when it seems like he'd be much better off sticking to the right wing and trying to stretch the pitch a bit. Swansea's back five aren't letting anyone through and the middle four are working hard to snap at the feet of Liverpool players who dare approach them.

78 min: Second Swansea sub, Ayew is replaced by Wilfried Bony.

80min: Final ten minutes of the game and Liverpool are no closer to scoring against the deep-sitting Swans. This has been a really poor and mightily frustrating night.

Gomez runs forward and hits one but its wide.

85 mins: Swansea keep showing Liverpool's players inside the pitch. They aren't giving each other enough options when on the ball - each player only really has one and Swansea have blocked it off. And so the ball goes back, left, right, back, left, right. There's no movement where they need it and Swansea can defend it easily.

82 mins: Gomez drives a powerful shot wide of the near post as he steps up from defence. Firmino has to bicycle kick... well he doesn't have to, but he does, and puts the ball back to the edge of the box. It sits up nicely for Van Dijk, who lines up the shot... and slices it high and wide. There was power on that though. A decent effort.

88 min: Firmino’s shot pings off a defender for the latest corner – again totally wasted. Liverpool have just hardly looked like doing anything. It’s been so unusually static.

90 min: Swansea’s half is where literally everything is taking place now, of course, but they just look so comfortable. It’s been a superb rearguard action and the three centre backs have been brilliant. Can they keep it going for FOUR added minutes?

90+1 min: They keep it going for the first one, after Firmino adjusts himself to sky a dropping ball high, high over the bar from 10 yards.

90 mins +2: Gomez chips into the area, the ball is headed up in the sky and Can can't get anything good enough on his shot to keep it from landing somewhere over the bar.

FULL TIME: A superb result is deserved for an outstanding performance by Swansea. To a man they were better here, working harder in every single bit of the pitch. Liverpool still have a lot of work to do.

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Mauricio Pochettino refuses to use illness as an excuse for Southampton draw

"Of course they will be important for us," Pochettino said.

Christian Eriksen was a surprise absentee from the Spurs squad as he and Hugo Lloris were both struck down by illness and unable to travel to the south coast.

Harry Kane cancelled out Davinson Sanchez's own-goal but a below-par Tottenham were held to a 1-1 draw and missed the chance to move into the Premier League's top four.
They will fall five points behind Liverpool if Jurgen Klopp's men beat Swansea on Monday.

Pochetttino, who took his team on a warm-weather training camp to Barcelona last week, would not name the players affected by illness as he maintained they had all recovered.

"A few players were affected last week but it's not an excuse," Pochettino said.

"We are disappointed because our game wasn't great, our performance wasn't the best. The game was even and full credit to Southampton because they fight and play well.

"I think it is a fair result in the end, 1-1. There were massive chances we had in the last minute with Harry Kane but at the end if you analyse the game it's a fair result."

Pochettino also referenced the bobbling pitch at St Mary's, which contributed to an attritional match, full of loose touches and misplaced passes.

Spurs now find themselves in danger of losing touch with the Champions League spots, ahead of three crunch league games against Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal.

"Of course they will be important for us," Pochettino said.
"It is important if we are going to take points and win the games, be sure that we are going to fight and if not, it will be difficult."

Pochettino refused to be drawn on more reports linking Kane with a move to Real Madrid and also played down the club's chances of making new signings this month.

"The other clubs find a way to sign players that can improve and help their team and squads," Pochettino said.

"Nothing to say but for us it is difficult and will be difficult for different reasons. It is obvious."

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Chika Ike shares photos on private jet

"chika ike photos"

The actress shared this photo of herself on Instagram chilling in the first class seat of a plane with her birkin tote in view…

view some chika's photos

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Scarlett Johansson under fire for attacking James Franco at Women's March after defending Woody Allen

“I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on. That just feels irresponsible to me,”

Scarlett Johansson, who slammed fellow actor James Franco in a speech at the Women’s March in Los Angeles, is being called a hypocrite for previously defending Woody Allen and saying the child abuse allegations against the director were “all guesswork.”

“I want my pin back, by the way,” Johansson said on Saturday, in reference to the “Time’s Up” pin Franco wore at the Golden Globe Awards, which inspired five accusers to come forward and call him out.

However, now Johansson, who starred in Allen’s films “Match Point,” “Scoop” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” finds herself feeling the heat after having praised the director and downplayed accusations of child abuse that have been leveled against him.



Congrats to Scarlett Johansson for calling out James Franco and the harmful cool girl narrative but you still haven't denounced Woody Allen and apologized to Dylan Farrow— the orb knows (@swagadragon) January 21, 2018

One month after Allen’s estranged daughter Dylan Farrow penned an open letter accusing him of sexual abuse in 2014, Johansson told the Guardian: “It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, ‘I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.’ I mean, it's all guesswork.”

At the time, Farrow called out the Hollywood actors and actresses who have appeared in Allen’s films, which prompted a response from Johansson in the 2014 interview.




“I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on. That just feels irresponsible to me,” Johansson said.

Allen has denied the allegations from his adopted daughter Farrow, 32, who claimed he sexually abused her when she was 7 years old. However, Farrow’s brother Ronan—who wrote a blockbuster expose for the New Yorker on the allegations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein—has supported her.

Fans reacted swiftly on social media to call out Johansson for the perceived double standard.

One wrote: “Scarlett Johansson the biggest hypocrite that is there…calls out James Franco yet supports Woody Allen and would hem his pants if she had to…wow!”






Congrats to Scarlett Johansson for calling out James Franco and the harmful cool girl narrative but you still haven’t denounced Woody Allen and apologized to Dylan Farrow,” wrote another.

Although Johansson didn’t directly mention Franco by name, a representative of hers confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that she was referring to him with her comments.

“My mind baffles. How could a person publicly stand by an organization that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power?” Johansson said in the speech.

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Senate GOP plans to shutdown votes

"This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present,"






By Richard Cowan and Ginger Gibson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers were locked in a standoff with Democrats on Saturday over the U.S. government shutdown, with Republicans saying they would not negotiate on immigration until the government is reopened.

Funding for federal agencies ran out at midnight with no agreement in Congress, meaning the second year of Trump's presidency began without a fully functioning government.

Democrats stuck to demands that any short-term spending legislation must include protections for young undocumented immigrants known as "Dreamers." Republicans in turn said they would not negotiate on immigration until Democrats gave them the votes needed to reopen the government.

U.S. government workers were told to stay home or, in some cases, work without pay until new funding is approved in the first federal government shutdown since a 16-day funding lapse in October 2013.

The Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives held rare weekend sessions on Saturday, facing a political crisis that could affect November congressional elections. By about 7 p.m. both chambers resigned themselves to failure and agreed to resume work on Sunday.

Both Republicans and Democrats had dug in during the day, each side blaming the other.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote at 0100 EST (0600 GMT) Monday on a bill to fund the government through Feb. 8, unless Democrats agree to hold it sooner.

"We'll be right back at this tomorrow and for as long as it takes" for Democrats to vote for legislation that would reopen the government, McConnell said.

Outside the U.S. Capitol, parks, open-air monuments and Smithsonian museums were open as a second annual women's rights march took place on the National Mall. But visitors were turned away from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

A scheduled trip by Trump and some Cabinet members to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was being assessed on a day-to-day basis, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said.

Republicans said they would refuse to negotiate on immigration until Democrats provide the votes to re-open the government. Democrats insisted they have been willing to compromise but Republicans backed out of deals.

"The president will not negotiate on immigration reform until Democrats stop playing games and reopen the government," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.


Marc Short, the White House's legislative affairs director, said Trump had been in contact with Republican leaders in Congress during the day, but had not reached out to Democrats.

Short said the president likely would be most effective making the case for ending the shutdown directly to the American people, and he did not rule out Trump addressing the nation in the coming days.

The tough message from the White House and Republicans in Congress led to speculation that Washington could be in for a prolonged political battle.

At the U.S. Capitol, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a stinging portrayal of Trump as an unreliable negotiating partner, saying the two sides came close to an agreement several times only to have Trump back out at the urging of anti-immigration conservatives.

"Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O," said Schumer, who met Trump at the White House on Friday for a 90-minute meeting that had briefly raised hopes. "It's impossible to negotiate with a constantly moving target."

'INCHES AWAY'

The federal government had been running on three consecutive temporary funding bills since the new fiscal year began in October.

Democrats had sought to secure permanent legal protections for 700,000 young undocumented immigrants as a condition for new government funding after their attempts to push through the protections in stand-alone bills were rebuffed. Trump ordered the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program to expire in March, requiring Congress to act.

Earlier, McConnell said a solution to the crisis was "just inches away" but he blamed Democrats for blocking legislation to pass the fourth stopgap funding measure.

One idea floated by Republicans was to renew government funding through Feb. 8 to end the shutdown, while working to resolve other issues, including immigration, military and non-military spending, disaster relief and some healthcare matters.

U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat whose northern Virginia district has one of the highest concentrations of federal government employees, said there was no sign that serious bipartisan negotiations were taking place and he would be surprised if Congress reached a resolution before Monday.

"You can hear the crickets chirping in the hallway," Connolly said on Saturday evening. He said if there were negotiations, "it would have to be really deep back channels."

He attributed the lack of talks to "raw feelings" and that Trump had walked away on Friday from a deal on immigration.

A video ad released on Saturday by Trump's presidential campaign that says Democrats will be "complicit" in murders by illegal immigrants could inflame tensions.

Trump had portrayed himself as the ultimate dealmaker, but his inability to cut a deal despite having a Republican majority in both houses of Congress marked arguably the most debilitating setback for his administration.

"This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present," he said on Twitter.

The immediate impact of the government shutdown was eased somewhat by it beginning on a weekend.

The Defense Department said combat operations in Afghanistan and other military activities would continue, while federal law enforcement officers also would remain on duty.

Talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement will continue, as will major cybersecurity functions, and most of the Environmental Protection Agency will remain open, budget director Mulvaney said.

But without a quick deal, hundreds of thousands of government employees will be put on temporary unpaid leave.

"It's ironic that they get paid - meaning Congress - and the rest of the government doesn't," said Dawn Gaither, 57, a Washington teacher. "That's what we need to do, kick these guys in the tail and get them to work."

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Ginger Gibson, James Oliphant, Ian Simpson, and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Richard Cowan and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott and Daniel Wallis)

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