West Indies v England preview: Hosts beset by off-the-field problems ahead of Test opener January 21, 2019 As well as with the idyllic Caribbean landscape, England begin their Test series against the West Indies on Wednesday against a backdrop of stark contrasts. While Joe Root’s side are looking up from their position of No3 in the world rankings following a positive run of results and the hosts languish in eighth, it is off [...]
Why have Premier League clubs made so few signings in the January 2019 transfer window? January 21, 2019 On the field, the action continues to come thick and fast in the Premier League. Liverpool and Manchester City remain locked in a title race of the highest quality, there are compelling battles both to finish in the top four and to avoid relegation, and the most recent round of fixtures saw not one but [...]
Stuart Law: Middlesex’s new hard-nosed head coach believes he can turn around club’s fortunes in 2019 January 20, 2019 It’s all change at Middlesex in 2019. After a disappointing season in which the team failed to secure promotion back to Division One and flopped in white-ball cricket, heads rolled. Richard Scott was sacked as head coach midway through the campaign, with coaches Richard Johnson and Dave Houghton then leaving for new roles at Surrey [...]
Fulham 1-2 Tottenham: Five things we learned as Harry Winks’ late header wins it for below-par Spurs January 20, 2019 This was a match which summed up both sides’ seasons. Fulham played some exciting, expansive football at Craven Cottage yesterday; the visitors played some ordinary, limited football. Yet after 93 minutes the score read Fulham 1-2 Tottenham as Spurs turned around their mediocrity to snatch three points and the hosts capitulated embarrassingly to lose yet [...]
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has chosen a dangerous time to gamble on his criticism provoking a positive reaction January 20, 2019 Conventional wisdom dictates that football managers shouldn’t criticise their players in public. Point out their flaws, tear strips off them and give them the hairdryer treatment behind closed doors, but in front of the cameras it’s generally regarded as counter-productive. Maurizio Sarri has never been one for convention, though. The Chelsea manager, who had a [...]
Forward thinking: Eddie Jones reveals unorthodox idea to field nine forwards ahead of England’s Six Nations campaign January 17, 2019 Eddie Jones is no stranger to causing a stir, and in his first media appearance of a World Cup year he was at it again. The England head coach said on Thursday, as he named his squad for the Six Nations opener against Ireland on 2 February, that he is considering turning conventional wisdom on [...]
Arsenal v Chelsea preview: London clubs meet in “small final” for Premier League top four with cracks appearing January 17, 2019 This season was supposed to be about fresh starts for Arsenal and Chelsea. With new managers in place, there was renewed optimism for the future. Unai Emery was the man to step into the void following Arsene Wenger’s long-awaited departure from Arsenal after 22 years, while Maurizio Sarri succeeded Antonio Conte to become the latest [...]
Ollie Phillips: England’s exciting back line can trouble any team in crucial Six Nations January 17, 2019 Eddie Jones announcing his squad for the Six Nations yesterday marks the start of a make-or-break period for the England coach. England can’t feel their way into the competition, with defending champions Ireland up first in Dublin on 2 February, so Jones has named 35 fit and in-form players. With big challenges ahead in this [...]
Beautiful Boy film review: Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet star in harrowing but flawed drug addiction memoir January 17, 2019 The drug movie is a tough genre to navigate. Go too far in one direction and it becomes preachy; too far in the other and you end up glamourising the fetid reality of addiction. Beautiful Boy is drawn from a pair of memoirs by the journalist David Sheff and his son Nicolas, and relates the [...]
Saint Claudio: Ranieri will have to pull off another miracle if Fulham are to survive January 17, 2019 When it rains, it pours. And when fighting relegation down at the bottom of the Premier League table, it can seem as though everything is going wrong. It felt that way for David Wagner, who left basement club Huddersfield earlier this week, and it must feel that way for Claudio Ranieri, whose Fulham players recently [...]