Hiring Jose Mourinho is a roll of the dice, but Daniel Levy must’ve felt keeping Mauricio Pochettino was the bigger gamble November 20, 2019 Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy doesn’t strike me as a gambler but his decision to sack the manager who took the club to a Champions League final and replace him with Jose Mourinho is a roll of the dice. On the face of it, Mauricio Pochettino’s departure is a surprise. While being 14th in the Premier [...]
Pochettino’s legacy may haunt his Tottenham successor after Levy takes unpopular but perhaps necessary action November 19, 2019 On 1 June Mauricio Pochettino had reached the high point of his managerial career and was ready to enjoy the culmination of five years of hard work. He had transformed Tottenham from also-rans into Champions League finalists. Today, just 123 days later, he was sacked. Poor results, 14 points from 12 games and a Premier [...]
Mauricio Pochettino: Tottenham Hotspur sack manager after poor results November 19, 2019 Tottenham Hotspur have sacked manager Mauricio Pochettino after a poor run of results left them 14th in the Premier League table. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said club had been “extremely reluctant” to cut their ties with Pochettino, who joined the club from Southampton in May 2014. The club are without an away league win since [...]
Archer has the ability to be the difference on New Zealand’s flat pitches – if England use him cleverly November 19, 2019 England’s bowlers have been readying themselves for the first Test against New Zealand tomorrow knowing that they need to adopt a different approach to the one they use at home. It sounds like the Bay Oval pitch could be a flat one and England, who are used to a Dukes ball, swing-friendly conditions and Jimmy [...]
Determined, organised, patient: The makings of England Test debutant Dom Sibley November 19, 2019 An England Test debut has been a long time coming for Dom Sibley, and yet his timing could hardly have been more opportune. The string of unsuccessful England opening batsmen may stretch back a long way, to the retirements of Andrew Strauss and Sir Alastair Cook, but the change of tack from gung-ho head coach [...]
Tommy Fleetwood’s in form but Jon Rahm is my favourite to win Race To Dubai in season finale November 19, 2019 With classic catch-up golf at Sun City on Sunday, Tommy Fleetwood put himself in a prime position to claim the Race To Dubai this week for the second time in three years. Fleetwood played fantastically, shooting a seven-under-par final round of 65 that included a phenomenal three eagles in the space of six holes, to [...]
DTM and Super GT set for inaugural ‘Dream Race’ at Japan’s Fuji Speedway November 19, 2019 This weekend a decade of talks between Japan’s Super GT and the German DTM will reach fruition when the two motor racing series come together to take part in the inaugural Dream Race at Japan’s Fuji Speedway. The unprecedented crossover event will see one of the world’s most renowned GT racing series, comprising manufacturers such [...]
Stefanos Tsitsipas: Why the charismatic, gangly Greek likened to Bjorn Borg is the man most likely to challenge Federer, Nadal and Djokovic November 18, 2019 It’s a question that feels almost as old as the old guard themselves: is [insert name of young buck here] the man to break Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s stranglehold on men’s tennis? Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev have all been touted as saviours, yet none has managed to [...]
Guy Kinnings interview: European Tour deputy CEO on growing the Ryder Cup, criticism from Rory McIlroy and the prospects of a single global tour November 18, 2019 It has been an eventful first year in the job for Guy Kinnings, golf’s poacher-turned-gamekeeper. The former agent to Colin Montgomerie and head of the sport at industry behemoth IMG joined the European Tour 14 months ago with a wide-ranging brief that includes maximising prize asset the Ryder Cup, overseeing all commercial activity and acting [...]
Ad court more important than deuce court November 18, 2019 | Sponsored Craig O’Shannessy, strategy analyst for the ATP Tour, reveals how Tsitsipas defeated Thiem at the Nitto ATP Finals. The role of the forehand is to hit winners and make the opponent miss. The role of the backhand is to not miss, and that’s exactly the script that Stefanos Tsitsipas followed to win the Nitto ATP [...]