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   When the Dutchman joined us pitchside at a bitterly cold The Valley following our FA Cup victory over Charlton, we put that phrase to him and the man himself couldn’t hide his delight, with a broad smile etched across his face. Signed from Ajax in the summer, he was – you’d imagine – signed to help add to our defensive ranks. He is, after all, known as being a left-back or left-sided centre-half in his homeland. But he will go down in the record books as being the first Chelsea player to score under the tenure of Liam Rosenior, firing home our first in the 5-1 FA Cup victory. And, we should add, it was an absolute bullet of a finish that any striker would have been proud of.  ‘To be honest, I was a little bit surprised when it went in so that’s why I didn’t really celebrate too much!’ Hato explained, with a wry smile, of his first Chelsea goal when asked to talk us through it. ‘I think it was a good hit and I’m just so happy to score for this great club. T...

 After weeks of rumours about ongoing interest and positive talks, Milan confirmed the signing of Füllkrug on an initial loan deal from West Ham United just hours after the window had officially opened on January 2. In actual fact, the striker had been training at Milanello with his new teammates since Boxing Day, thanks to the clearance granted by the London club. The aim was to have him ready for Massimiliano Allegri for the match against Cagliari, and he did indeed make the squad. Not only that, but we got a cameo from the German off the bench, and he grew into the game after a rusty start. What can fans expect from a player many West Ham fans were happy to see the back of? Back story Niclas Füllkrug was born in Hanover on 9 February 1993 in Hanover, Germany. He played for a number of different local sides including TuS Ricklingen – where he spent eight years from 1996 to 2005 – and then Sportfreunde Ricklingen for one year. It is believed that while with the former he averages ...

     Bears survived a nearly disastrous meltdown in Cincy. The Bears led, 41-27, (after having a defensive touchdown nullified) with just over two minutes left but watched Joe Flacco continue to come at them, with the Bengals eventually taking the lead with under a minute left. But Caleb Williams made some massive plays to keep the final drive alive, hitting Colston Loveland on a 58-yard TD with 17 seconds left, thanks to a missed tackle in open space. It capped a wild offensive shootout that saw the Bears accumulate 576 yards of offense and 47 points, but the defensive breakdowns – against a beat-up Flacco who was a question mark to even play Sunday – loomed large. You have to tip your hat to Williams and the Bears’ offense for bailing the team out of a potentially awful loss, but three offensive turnovers, a putrid special teams performance and the defensive collapse can’t be ignored.      Bengals suffered another demoralizing loss, thanks to ...

 Twenty-one different teams have appeared in the College Football Playoff in its history. Below are the college football teams with the most all-time College Football Playoff wins and appearances since the postseason format was introduced in 2014. In 2024, the playoff field was expanded from four to 12 teams. Here are the 12 teams who were selected to the 2024-25 College Football Playoff field, in seeding order:     Oregon (ranked No. 1)     Georgia (No. 2)     Boise State (No. 9)     Arizona State (No. 12)     Texas (No. 3)     Penn State (No. 4)     Notre Dame (No. 5)     Ohio State (No. 6)     Tennessee (No. 7)     Indiana (No. 8)     SMU (No. 10)     Clemson (No. 16) Six schools made their College Football Playoff debut in the 2024 expanded bracket — Arizona State, Boise State, Indiana, Penn State, SMU and Tennessee. Ohio State defeated Notre Dame in the natio...