Football Comment: No sympathy for reckless Matic February 22, 2015 FIRST and foremost, Nemanja Matic will have been one of the first names on the Chelsea team sheet this season along with Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas and will be sorely missed in next Sunday’s Capital One Cup final against Tottenham at Wembley. He is very much a launchpad for what Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea do [...]
Premier League: Rodgers revels in Liverpool’s surge towards top four February 22, 2015 SOUTHAMPTON 0 LIVERPOOL 2 LIVERPOOL manager Brendan Rodgers believes his side overcame a sizeable hurdle in their quest for Champions League qualification after beating fellow top-four challengers Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium yesterday. Brazil midfielder Philippe Coutinho curled home a stunning early opener while England forward Raheem Sterling ensured maximum points by firing past Saints [...]
Lack of attacking thrust dents Exiles bid for top-fight safety February 22, 2015 LONDON Irish interim head coach Glenn Delaney demanded greater attacking potency from his side after Leicester maintained their hopes of a top-four finish with a narrow 12-6 victory at the Madejski Stadium yesterday. Leicester have failed to score a try in over 300 minutes of top-flight rugby but led 9-3 at the break thanks to [...]
Premier League: Leicester’s Pearson unconcerned by job speculation as Foxes held February 22, 2015 EVERTON 2 LEICESTER CITY 2 LEICESTER boss Nigel Pearson brushed off further speculation over his job security after a late Matthew Upson own goal denied the Foxes a pivotal victory in their relegation scrap at Goodison Park yesterday. Upson turned Christian Atsu’s cross into his own net with two minutes remaining after bottom of the [...]
Horror tackle could have ruined midfielder’s career, insists Jose February 22, 2015 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho insists the tackle by Burnley striker Ashley Barnes on Nemanja Matic during the drawn Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge on Saturday could have ended the Serbia midfielder’s career. Matic was caught just below the knee and was sent-off for his subsequent reaction, and will now be suspended for the Capital [...]
Alonso escapes crash at testing February 22, 2015 TWO-TIME world champion Fernando Alonso escaped without injury after a heavy crash on the final day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona yesterday. An ambulance was dispatched after the McLaren driver hit the wall on the exit of the 150mph turn three, before being airlifted to hospital. McLaren confirmed scan results showed [...]
Photography review: Human Rights and Human Wrongs February 20, 2015 Photographers’ Gallery | ★★★★☆ Starting with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Human Rights and Human Wrongs exhibition features 300 prints taken from the Black Star collection of twentieth century photoreportage. The prints depict racism, oppression and a common struggle uniting movements as diverse as American Civil Rights and north Africans’ attempts at [...]
Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector – art review February 20, 2015 Barbican | ★★★★☆ What art do artists like? From Damian Hirst’s extensive collection of stuffed animals and skulls to Peter Blake’s near-bottomless stock-pile of vintage road signs, many of today’s leading artists are as enthusiastic about accumulating stuff as they about making it. Over two levels of the Barbican, Magnificent Obsessions presents 8,000 objects belonging [...]
Film review: Duke of Burgundy February 20, 2015 Cert 18 | ★★★★☆ That The Duke of Burgundy’s release falls within a week of a certain other sadomasochistic soap opera is probably no coincidence (get them while they’re still hot), but the association does Peter Strickland’s filthy-but-tender love story a disservice. We are first introduced to Evelyn, a maid whose sadistic mistress Cynthia [...]
Theatre review: Mark Strong stars in A View From the Bridge February 20, 2015 Wyndham’s Theatre | ★★★★☆ The set in Ivo van Hove’s lauded adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic A View From the Bridge (first shown at the Young Vic in 2014) evokes both a boxing ring and a pagan temple. It’s an ideal space for a play in which desire wrestles with reason on the way to [...]