#defence

#defence

The Ministry of Defence is to offer an army funded "drone degree" at a British university as part of a £240,000 investment package. The drone degree will be based on the lessons which have been learnt over the past four years that Ukraine has been at war. The Ministry of Defence is to train up 15 civilian students and up to five soldiers per annum who will end up being drone specialists.

Despite Xabi Alonso's side suffering another injury crisis defensively, the newspaper reports president Florentino Perez is not intending to sanction a major acquisition this month. The news will be a big disappointment for the club's supporters, who have had to watch as Madrid have struggled through to this stage of the season, churning out a series of average performances. They remain four points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona despite the weekend win over Real Betis.

With consistency and confidence, the real De Winter will emerge. I'll try to give my best as always, and then, with the team and staff, I'll try to fit in well.

"There have been plenty of games when we have defended them very well. But the fact is we've conceded too many set-piece goals and we don't score enough," said Van Dijk. "It's something we have to improve. I would say at least 75% of the time or even more, it's not even about the first contact. It's the second phase that is the killer. "Is it a mental thing? I hope not. If that's in your head then it's an issue. Personally, it's not in my head."

"To answer this is not easy. For one side, I'm really happy how we come back. It shows a lot of our attitude and our mentality,"

The first period saw Tampa Bay generally carry the play, as they were more organized and efficient in their breakouts/puck play, while the Leafs frequently flipped the puck away and struggled to get it back. More excellence from Dennis Hildeby - and a last-ditch goal-line save by Troy Stecher - kept the Lightning at bay despite a 25-13 Tampa advantage in shot attempts and a 7-3 Tampa advantage in high-danger chances.

Manchester United have been linked with a surprise move for the Spanish international defender, Sergio Ramos. The 39-year-old has been linked with a move back to Europe despite joining Monterrey at the start of this year, and it will be interesting to see if Manchester United can get the deal done. According to a report via Fichajes, Manchester United are hoping to sign him during the January transfer window.

San Siro. Absolutely. On Thursday I'll be playing at Wembley for the first time, but I'm almost certain it can't compare to the San Siro. The Milan stadium is a true temple of football.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are in the same category as Gabriel and William Saliba. Everyone talks about the best Premier League centre-back pairing being Gabriel and Saliba. You can also make a case for Liverpool's defensive partnership: Virgil van Dijk is still a fantastic player, although there are still question marks around Ibrahima Konate. But I would place Van de Ven and Romero in the same bracket as those two pairings.

As they like to say in the US, dee-fense wins championships. The sentiment is not an exclusively American thing. Attack wins you games, defence win you titles, Sir Alex Ferguson once said. And he should know, having won quite a lot of them with Manchester United. As England look forward to next summer's World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, the idea has come to resonate, mainly because of how miserly they have been at the back under Thomas Tuchel.

Kyiv has announced that it is sending a delegation to Washington for talks on strengthening its defence and energy resilience as Russian forces continue targeting Ukraine's power infrastructure ahead of the cold winter months. The departure of a senior delegation, led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, was announced on Monday, just as Ukraine's Energy Ministry said it had imposed power outages across the country in a bid to reduce pressure on the grid in the wake of damaging Russian attacks.

A coach must be able to do it all, I have to set my ego aside and do what is best for the team,

Liverpool's injury concerns deepened after centre-back Ibrahima Konate was substituted during the 2-1 defeat at Chelsea, leaving Arne Slot with another selection headache as the Reds search for answers. The French defender's early exit, described by Slot as the player feeling his quad a little bit and noticeably limping, raises fresh doubts over Liverpool's defensive depth at a time when the squad is already thin in central defense.

Looks like the perfect fit, a real coup for Connacht, who now have the infrastructure in place to make big improvements.

I've always said my superpower is not being part of that [2022] because it means I don't carry that on my shoulders and that gives a different perspective on this tournament. It doesn't matter who we are playing, it will be the exact same energy, the exact same emphasis. We just have to remember it's 80 minutes of rugby, it's what we love, so let's go out there and give it everything. We've got one last chance to change the game in England.

The Israeli defence ministry said in a statement that the "outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations."

The Army Ranger Wing (ARW) is set to enhance its facilities with a €46m new headquarters and training centre, as announced by Defence Minister Simon Harris.