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Louis van Gaal has come in for criticism this season despite his side being handily placed and his big summer signing from Monaco having made an instant impact Since first arriving at Old Trafford in the summer of 2014, Louis van Gaal has spoken long and loud about the need to impress his philosophy upon Manchester United and recruit his own team in order to get the best results possible. So far this season the signs have suggested that the Dutchman is finally beginning to fashion the United side he had in mind when taking the job, but the style of play hasn't been completely convincing. Results have come largely at the cost of excitement, with fans regularly being heard calling for a more attacking style of play. However, there have been a number of factors behind both the consistency of results and the inability to find their most fluid footing. The signing and emergence of Anthony Martial have given United an outlet of real quality. After scoring on his debut a

Voting for the prestigious prize closes the day before Real Madrid and Barcelona meet at the Bernabeu on Saturday, so the fixture will have no bearing on the individual award Time is up. Even  Cristiano Ronaldo  admitted recently that Lionel Messi will win the Ballon d'Or this year and even if the Portuguese produces a match-winning performance in the Clasico clash on Saturday, it will be too late for either he or Neymar to stake a final claim for the individual award. Ronaldo went on to win the Ballon d'Or in 2013 after the voting period was extended following his heroics in the World Cup play-offs against Sweden. A repeat of that, however, seems highly unlikely this time around. Messi is the huge favourite to win the prestigious prize in Zurich next January after leading Barcelona to the treble in 2014-15. And even though he has missed the last seven weeks through injury and seen Neymar shine in his absence, it is hard to to see voters opting for the Brazili

Boxing champ, Floyd Mayweather has made it abundantly clear that enjoys flashing his wealth, and it seems he’s grooming his son, Koraun, to follow in his footsteps. On Tuesday, Mayweather took to Instagram to show off the birthday present he got for the newly-turned 16-year-old: A brand new Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe.... Read More at thenet.ng/2015/11/floyd-mayweather-buys-son-30000-mercedes-c-class-for-16th-birthday/ Follow us: @theNETng on Twitter | theNETng on Facebook

Dasuki said the Chief of Air Staff confirmed that he received an F-7 N1 aircraft with a combination of 250kg bombs and some accessories worth $2,894,000, including freight cost of $1,200,000, on 10/21/14. Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser has revealed how over N337b was spent, he also gave a breakdown of the departments that got the equipment. The former NSA said he is being witch-hunted, adding that the committee investigating the arms purchase deals, never invited him for questioning. According to Daily Post, Dasuki said all contracts and payments were approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan, adding that he followed due process. He said “And Nigerians should note that all the services generated the types of equipment needed, sourced for suppliers most times and after consideration by the Office of the NSA, the President will approve application for payment. For sensitive sectors (military/security), there was no room for awarding fictit

    Chelsea fear they could fail with a fresh bid to land John Stones in January. The struggling champions have Everton ’s England centre-back in their sights again, after failing with a string of big-money bids for him during the summer. Fellow defender Papy Djilobodji - signed by Chelsea instead from French club Nantes - has played just ONE minute of football for Jose Mourinho's men, and is set to move on when the winter window opens. Stones is not as desperate to force his way out in January, however, as he was in August. Back then, the 21-year-old handed in a transfer request to try to force a move to west London. Now, he is settled at Goodison Park, and although initial talks over a new deal have yet to progress he remains focused on helping Everton into Europe. He is also understood to be unwilling to disrupt his season as he pushes for a place in Roy Hodgson’s final England squad for next summer’s European Championship. It means his future

Three people claiming to be Islamic State supporters stabbed a teacher at a Jewish school in Marseille, France Wednesday, less than a week after the Paris massacre, prosecutors told Sky News . They said the teacher was stabbed in the leg and expected to survive. The suspects approached the teacher while they rode on scooters, prosecutor Brice Robin told Reuters. He said one suspect wore an Islamic State t-shirt, and another showed a picture on his mobile telephone of Mohamed Merah, an Islamic militant who killed seven people in southern France three years ago. It was unclear whether the attackers were linked to the suspects in Friday's massacre, which killed more than 120 people and left hundreds of others wounded. France has been on high alert since the attack, and lawmakers are considering extending the country's state of emergency for three months. "The three people insulted, threatened and then stab

Police in Honduras caught five Syrians who were trying to make their way to the United States with stolen and doctored passports, a law enforcement spokesman for the Central American country said Wednesday. Police spokesman Anibal Baca told the Associated Press the men were detained on Tuesday at the Tegucigalpa International Airport on an alert from Interpol about the passports. He said the international organization followed the group from Syria, to Lebanon and Turkey, then on to Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica and Honduras. There was no indication that the men were suspected of anything except carrying stolen Greek passports to the Central American nation, according to Baca, who added that the men indicated they planned to travel to the United States. At least one suspect in Friday's massacre had reportedly entered Europe with a fake Syrian passport. Honduras is a common route for migrants trying to reach the

French investigators would not publicly identify one of two people killed in a terror raid north of Paris early Wednesday — the other being a woman who detonated a suicide vest — but The Washington Post, citing two senior European intelligence officials, reported that the suspected mastermind of Friday's terror attacks was dead. The man believed to be the architect of the massacre, 27-year-old Belgian Islamic State militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had mocked Western authorities for his ability to slip out of their sights, into and out of Syria. Investigators traced him to an apartment just north of Paris in suburban Saint-Denis by tracking phone conversations and piecing together surveillance images and witness accounts, according to Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazenueve. ADVERTISEMENT The Post reports its intelligence sources spoke on condition of anonymity. Police confirm a

Lionel Messi is reportedly keen on a move to the Premier League - and Arsenal are one of the clubs he is interested in joining. The Daily Star claim Messi's wrangle with the Spanish tax authorities has led him to want to leave La Liga. Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are among the other clubs who would be interested in signing the Barcelona star. However, his buy-out clause of over £175m and his £600,000-a-week wages could prove to be a huge stumbling block even for the Premier League's richest clubs.

  The French President has said his country is "at war" against terrorism by Islamic State, as David Cameron warned the issue of how to dismantle the terror group "cannot be dodged forever". Francois Hollande called for a "large coalition" to work together in destroying the organisation – and warned it was a threat to the whole world. Speaking shortly after a deadly seven-hour siege between armed police and the suspected terrorists behind last Friday's attacks in Paris, Mr Hollande also warned France will not "cede to fear" – telling his people that "life must resume in full". All 129 of those who lost their lives in last week's killings across the French capital have now been identified. The president "saluted the calmness" of residents in Saint Den

  Islamic State militants have published a photo which they claim shows the improvised bomb that brought down a Russian passenger jet in Egypt. The veracity of the image, which was published by Islamic State's propaganda magazine Dabiq, could not be immediately verified. It shows a soft drink can and what appears to be a detonator and switch on a blue background. The Metrojet plane crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 people on board. Sky's foreign affairs editor Sam Kiley said at first glance the IS image does appear to show a detonator. He said: "But that means it would have to have been triggered by a live person and the bomb was in the hold.

  Paris, France (CNN) French authorities took the offensive Wednesday, raiding a purported hideout of the suspected ringleader in last week's deadly Paris attacks in an operation that ended with eight detained, two dead and potentially more bloodshed thwarted. But what about that suspected ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud ? At one point, authorities believe he was holed up on the third floor of an apartment building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday. Whether he was there when scores of heavily armed French police launched their assault at 4:20 a.m. Wednesday (10:20 p.m. ET Tuesday) is unknown. Some residents in the area told CNN they saw Abaaoud recently in the neighborhood and at a local mosque. Investigators zeroed in on the building after picking up phone conversations indicating that a relative of Abaaoud might be there. They met fierce resistance from the start, including an armored door, a woma