Manuel Pellegrini must wake up and take West Ham back to basics to avoid the sack December 10, 2019 Manuel Pellegrini says he not worried about West Ham being relegated from the Premier League, but he needs to wake up because right now that is a possibility. Monday’s 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal means the Hammers have taken just four points from their last eight games – a run that leaves them one point [...]
Forget Brendan Rodgers and Mauricio Pochettino, Arsenal should make Patrick Vieira their Frank Lampard December 3, 2019 Mid-season can be a difficult time for clubs to recruit a new manager, with big moves tending to happen in the close season and next summer in particular looking like being one of major appointments. So Arsenal need to be realistic as they seek a successor for Unai Emery and in my eyes there is [...]
Chelsea look an ideal destination if Jadon Sancho quits Borussia Dortmund and comes home next year November 26, 2019 Jadon Sancho is an exceptional talent and that’s why he will be courted by the very biggest clubs in Europe if, as seems increasingly likely, he looks to leave Borussia Dortmund next summer. At the age of 17 he quit Manchester City and moved to Germany in an attempt to accelerate his development. It worked: [...]
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 [...]
Raheem Sterling-Joe Gomez row: Gareth Southgate’s firm response has ensured this won’t happen again November 12, 2019 It’s rare, but I can’t say I’ve never witnessed two England team-mates coming to blows on international duty, as Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez did on Monday at St George’s Park. On one occasion, four of us were in a taxi back from an official England team function – including two Scousers who played for [...]
VAR has not helped the Premier League at all – but here is a how it can be fixed November 5, 2019 We all want to see the correct decisions being made and that is why video assistant referees were introduced but their implementation doesn’t seem to have been thought through. The introduction of VAR to the Premier League this season has not advanced the game at all but with every passing week has instead created more [...]
Granit Xhaka must apologise or lose the Arsenal captaincy October 29, 2019 Captains tend to be brilliant leaders, have great communication skills, or a bit of both. I’m not sure that’s Granit Xhaka but Arsenal aren’t blessed with a host of players who fit that description and someone’s got to wear the armband. In fact I’m not sure what Xhaka is great at. Yes, he comes up [...]
West Ham win simply has to be the turning point for Everton and Marco Silva October 22, 2019 When you break it down, Everton’s weekend win over West Ham – ending a run of four Premier League defeats with victory over a team with similar ambitions – could prove absolutely massive. They mustn’t celebrate it too much, though. For the sake of their season and Marco Silva’s prospects of still being manager in [...]
Improving Ross Barkley should strive to be England’s Kevin De Bruyne October 15, 2019 Only two competitive fixtures stand between England and their opening Euro 2020 match at Wembley next summer, yet Gareth Southgate’s jigsaw is still missing a piece. The one glaring weakness is the midfield combination and, specifically, the lack of someone to take a hold of games when the chips are down. A midfield general, in [...]
There is an undercurrent of unrest at Tottenham and the big players are not turning up October 8, 2019 No one could have seen Tottenham’s disastrous start coming but, having finished the last campaign on a low after losing the Champions League final, they just haven’t turned up this season. Their most consistent run of results so far has been two defeats and they have not had their eye on the ball at all [...]
