Trevor Steven: Arsenal coach Unai Emery must get defence and midfield in sync but will need time to fine-tune his new team August 21, 2018 Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday was the sort of random early-season match that’s great fun to watch but unlikely to be repeated later in the campaign when teams like these with new managers have corrected the relationship between defence and midfield. From what I have seen of them under new coach Unai Emery, [...]
Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United future: Why former Chelsea manager could only ever be a short-term fix at Old Trafford August 21, 2018 The twin tenets of Manchester United’s ethos are stated in black and white in their investor prospectus of summer 2014, issued when the Glazer family put shares up for sale on the New York Stock Exchange. Under a section highlighting the qualities that made then-manager Louis van Gaal an attractive hire, it notes that the [...]
Crystal Palace 0-2 Liverpool: Five things we learned as Mohamed Salah makes the difference for the Reds August 20, 2018 Mohamed Salah is often at the forefront of games and tonight was no different. Liverpool’s star man had the most shots of any player on the pitch and was the instigator in all of the match’s major incidents. Strangely for him he was wayward in front of goal and yet he was still vital to [...]
Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend: Man City can do no wrong, Man Utd worries mount, don’t write off Chelsea, Spurs calm in storm and West Ham need support August 19, 2018 No Kevin De Bruyne? No problem. Come to that, Manchester City also rested Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker and used Leroy Sane sparingly against Huddersfield on Sunday. Ominously, the record-breaking Premier League champions still won 6-1. City can currently do no wrong; every tactical tweak made by Pep Guardiola pays off in spades. Here, it was [...]
England v India: Same old problems for collapse-prone hosts at Trent Bridge August 19, 2018 “I watched in a bit of disbelief. It was a poor performance. I wish I could explain it as it has happened over the last few years: we put in one good game and then a poor game.” England head coach Trevor Bayliss was not happy with his team’s performance at Trent Bridge. But this [...]
Tottenham v Fulham: London sides in completely different boats ahead of Premier League clash August 17, 2018 Tottenham and Fulham could hardly be in different states coming into their Premier League match at Wembley tomorrow. Spurs have a great deal on their minds. The delay to their new stadium construction is chief among them and manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted yesterday it was “massively disappointing for everyone”. With the transfer window closed and [...]
Day in the life: Olympic freestyle skier Rowan Cheshire August 16, 2018 When I’m away on a training camp I wake up early, around 6am, to make sure I can get onto the mountain for 9am. Breakfast tends to be porridge with some fruit and nuts, but I alternate that with avocado on toast with tomatoes or smoked salmon. I normally use an app called Headspace to [...]
Vitality Blast: Domestic Twenty20 tournament flourishing despite ECB direction August 16, 2018 The group stages of England’s domestic Twenty20 competition comes to a close tomorrow. But with England’s Test series against India taking much of the attention of late, the Vitality Blast has occupied its own space, largely away from television and the back pages. Meanwhile, the England and Wales Cricket Board has been busy blue-sky thinking, [...]
Eleven Sports: Live-streaming service grapple with the future of sports broadcasting August 15, 2018 It’s fair to say Eleven Sports’ first foray into the UK sports broadcasting market did not go to plan at the weekend. The new boys on the scene arrived with hopes high and viewers intrigued, offering two days of the US PGA Championship for free, with a seven-day trial making the entire tournament available on [...]
Trevor Steven: Why Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri had the best result of the Premier League’s opening weekend August 14, 2018 On an opening weekend that saw most Premier League results unfold as you would have expected there was one that stood out. Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Huddersfield was no upset, but a long trip to Yorkshire still represented a tough test for a new-look Blues team and it could have turned into a difficult afternoon. [...]