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MT 13 April 2016

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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 13 APRIL 2016 20 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Sinisa Mihajlovic replaced by Cristian Brocchi as manager AC Milan have sacked coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and appointed Cristian Brocchi until the end of the season. The move comes after Sunday's 2-1 loss to Juventus left Milan sev- en points adrift of the European places in Serie A. 'Sinisa Mihajlovic has been re- lieved of his role as AC Milan coach,' a club statement said. The club would like to thank Mihajlovic for the dedication and hard work carried out this season. 'Cristian Brocchi will now be in charge of the first team until the end of the season. AC Milan would like to welcome Mr Brocchi and wish him all the best.' Mihajlovic, who took charge last summer and had another season remaining on his contract, re- portedly met with club president Silvio Berlusconi on Monday evening, and later wrote on Twit- ter: 'Thank you for the love, it has been an honour.' Berlusconi had previously sug- gested the Serbian coach's fate would depend on the outcome of the Italian Cup final against Juve on May 21 - a match which may now be their best hope of playing in Europe next season. Milan are without a win in their last five Serie A matches. Sinisa Mihajlovic Cristian Brocchi Newcastle could face a huge cost if they suffer the drop NEWCASTLE will face pay- ing huge salaries in the Sky Bet Championship if they suffer the drop, having failed to insert rel- egation clauses into the contracts of new signings. The Magpies have spent in the region of £80million in the last two transfer windows but have not been able to avoid another scrap for safety after surviving only on the final day of last sea- son. But Newcastle decided not to negotiate relegation clauses in the contracts of several players as they lured potential signings to Tyneside, and that could prove very costly. January arrivals Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend, who cost the club a total of £24million and were handed lucrative wage deals, are understood to have no relega- tion clause in their contracts. Shelvey has already indicated he will stay at St James' Park even if the worst happens. Newcastle found themselves in a similar position seven years ago when they slipped out of the Pre- mier League with a squad com- prised of expensively acquired international players. Many of them left in the after- math of relegation - Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia had al- ready jumped ship at the end of the winter transfer window, but out-of-contract duo Michael Ow- en and Mark Viduka were joined by Obafemi Martins, Sebastien Bassong, Habib Beye and Damien Duff in heading swiftly for the exit. However, several senior players remained to form the backbone of the side which came straight back up with Steve Harper, Fab- ricio Coloccini, Jonas Gutierrez, Alan Smith, Nicky Butt, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan leading the way. There is little doubt there would be wholesale change once again if Newcastle go down - the chances of Rafael Benitez remaining as manager look slim for a start - as they would miss out on the huge revenues which will come with the Premier League's new broad- cast deal. Benitez's men are six points adrift of safety with as many games remaining. The host Swansea on Saturday in a must-win fixture, but will likely have to do without Daryl Janmaat, who is understood to have broken two fingers when he punched the dressing room wall at St Mary's at the weekend as Newcastle lost 3-1 to Southamp- ton. Newcastle did not comment on the incident involving the Dutch- man, who also suffered a suspect- ed groin injury during the match. Andros Townsend: No relegation clause in Newcastle deal Remove headphone and talk to team mates, Koeman tells players THE sight of elite football- ers getting off team buses with headphones on does not impress Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, who insists the near- obsession with smartphones and social media leads to a communi- cation breakdown on the pitch. The Dutchman, whose team are seventh in the Premier League, revealed how he was sending his players to weekly communication sessions to get them talking to each other again. "The whole lifestyle has changed," Koeman told the Re- turn To Play football medical conference in London. "One of the problems you see now in football is there is not enough communication on the pitch. That's all about social me- dia. Everybody goes on it straight away on their phones." The 53-year-old former Dutch international and member of Jo- han Cruyff 's "Dream Team" at Barcelona, spoke of how things were different before the advent of smartphones, when team mates on long coach journeys interacted more with each other. "When I was playing, we played cards on the coach when we went to matches, we talked and we had communication," he added. "Now everyone just puts on his headphones and is in his own world. For young players it is all about themselves and less about communication with the rest of the players. "That is maybe one of the rea- sons they don't talk any more on the pitch. Communication on the pitch is so important even if it is just to help your team mates and say 'time' or 'turn'! "That's so difficult now. To deal with this we do sessions in train- ing, different exercises every week which are all about focus, communication and concentra- tion." Southampton manager Ronald Koeman

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