Confidence: England’s magic ingredient working wonders December 16, 2010 OUR cricket columnist, former England batsman and Warwickshire chairman Andy Lloyd, has been poring over all the Ashes action. Here he dissects what he’s learned from the play so far. CONFIDENCE Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, Harry Redknapp: all the best sports coaches instil confidence in their teams because it makes all the difference. In [...]
Euro cheer for Wasps and Quins but Sarries and Exiles face tricky trips December 16, 2010 The England great mulls over another few days of London clubs in European action and sees wins for former side Wasps, and Harlequins, but not such glad tidings for Saracens and out-of-form London Irish. RACING METRO 92 v SARACENS (HEINEKEN CUP, TONIGHT) Amlin Opta analysis: Sebastien Chabal is Racing’s leading player in Europe this season, accruing [...]
Lampard set to return for Chelsea date with United December 16, 2010 CHELSEA have received a major boost ahead of their crunch Premier League clash with Manchester United after Frank Lampard came through a practice match unscathed. Lampard completed the 60-minute game behind closed doors at the Blues’ Cobham training ground yesterday in what was an urgent bid to boost his fitness ahead of the match with [...]
Grant optimistic West Ham’s luck will change December 16, 2010 UNDER-FIRE West Ham manager Avram Grant is confident his players will collect enough points over the Christmas schedule to keep him in a job beyond the festive period. With the Hammers in danger of being cut adrift at the bottom of the Premier League it is understood that Grant has been given three games to save [...]
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2010-11 December 16, 2010 AFTER 96 group stages matches and 276 goals, the wheat has been cut from the chaff. Among the remaining 16 teams are the English quartet of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs, who will find out thier next opponents in today’s draw. The Gunners will be most worried, with Barcelona or Real Madrid potentially next [...]
Olazabal set for Europe role December 16, 2010 GOLF: Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal is expected to be named as Europe’s new Ryder Cup captain next month. The 44-year-old, who has played in seven Ryder Cups and been assistant captain in two, is tipped to be unveiled as Colin Montgomerie’s successor for the 2012 tournament at a European Tour media conference on 18 January.
Jo ensures top spot for City December 16, 2010 FOOTBALL: Manchester City secured top spot in Group A after coming from behind in their Europa League match to earn a 1-1 draw against Juventus in Turin. Brazil striker Jo cancelled out the opening goal from Niccolo Giannetti. The 23-year-old kept a cool head in the 77th minute to sweep the ball home at the [...]
Title rivals are hard to split in massive match December 16, 2010 CHELSEA vs MANCHESTER UNITED SUNDAY, 4.00PM, SKY SPORTS CARLO Ancelotti was much happier with his team’s performance at Tottenham on Sunday, but how he must wish that Didier Drogba had converted his injury-time penalty. A draw was probably a fair result in the end and taking a point from White Hart Lane is never a [...]
Kauto to be Kempton Star again December 16, 2010 IF the weather forecast is to be believed, then tomorrow’s Ascot meeting looks highly unlikely to go ahead. However, they have been wrong before and for that reason I’ll give you a couple of horses to look out for just in case. Firstly, MILLE CHIEF looks terrific each-way value at 7/1 with Paddy Power in [...]
Euro glory the target for Kuyt December 15, 2010 LIVERPOOL forward Dirk Kuyt believes the Europa League will offer the club a major opportunity to end their five-year trophy drought. Liverpool finished top of Group K after two wins and four draws following last night’s goalless draw against Utrecht at Anfield. And Kuyt hopes this will be a season when the Reds can bring [...]