La Liga to play matches in the US: Why the Premier League will be watching Spanish football’s stateside experiment closely August 22, 2018 The hackneyed joke about Spanish football’s top flight used to be that there was only one fixture worth watching: the bi-annual collision of domestic superpowers Real Madrid and Barcelona. La Liga’s announcement today that it is to stage matches in the United States has rubbished that notion further still – there will be no shortage of [...]
Cristiano Ronaldo: The sports streaming service DAZN aim to build on back of Juventus forward’s endorsement August 22, 2018 As a new face in the marketplace it’s advisable to make a splash in order to get noticed. The sports broadcasting industry is currently in flux as new players challenge the big names for their slice of a lucrative business. For sport live-streaming service DAZN – pronounced “Da-zone” – the best way to attract attention [...]
Former Arsenal shareholder settles lawsuit with Deloitte and Linklaters August 22, 2018 Former major Arsenal Football Club shareholder Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, has settled a lawsuit with her advisers over the sale of her shares in the club in 2011 to US businessman Stan Kroenke. Bracewell-Smith accused magic circle law firm Linklaters and Big Four accountant Deloitte of negligence in relation to the sale of her 15.9 per cent stake [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
World Cup 2018: Tournament review – Heavyweight drop-outs, VAR, penalties, set pieces, wonder goals, concussion and politics July 15, 2018 After 64 matches – including a pointless third-place play-off – over 30 days the World Cup has come to its conclusion. France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final in a match that neatly summed by the whole competition. There were goals from set pieces, a VAR-assisted penalty and lots of quality to boot. But you [...]